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Quotes of the Day:
"Nothing is more liberating than to fight for a cause larger than yourself, something that encopasses you but is not defined by your existence alone."
- John McCain
"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint and that voice will be silenced."
– Vincent Van Gogh
"A book must be an axe for the frozen sea inside of us."
– Franz Kafka
1. Dictator’s dilemma: Kim’s unquestioned power cuts both ways for North Korea
2. Early-voting turnout for general elections hits record 31.28 pct (South Korea)
3. In South Korean election, North Korea and its nukes barely move the needle
4. North Korea’s Ballistic Missiles Are Getting Valuable Battlefield Testing in Ukraine
5. U.S. Army Pacific commander says SM-6, Tomahawk missile launchers to be deployed in Indo-Pacific
6. ‘Gladiator Politics’ Dominate Election Season in Polarized South Korea
7. She Slept With a Violin on Her Pillow. Her Dreams Came True in Italy. (South Korea)
8. Chinese tourist tower overlooking North Korea could be demolished
9. Regular inter-Korean liaison contact remains severed for 1 year amid frosty ties
10. Korean chipmakers to benefit as Taiwan quake spurs supply chain diversification calls
11. [INTERVIEW] Ihn Yo-han calls for grand role of politics befitting global top 10 power
12. All you need to know about Korea's general election
13. Will Kishida’s political woes put Japan-Korea ties in Jeopardy?
14. (Yonhap Feature) Vandal Training Center offers live, virtual training for allies
1. Dictator’s dilemma: Kim’s unquestioned power cuts both ways for North Korea
I am not so sure Kim is unpredictable. He continues to act in accordance with the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime.
Three points for consideration from this important article:
1. Ri Byong-chol bears watching. He is an important figure.
2. KJU has a better understanding of the outside world than many think . And we must use that to our advantage. And his knowledge of the outside world gives him confidence but it is also why he perceives his biggest threat from within. He fears his elite, the second tier leadership and the Korean people in the north more than he fears the throat from the ROK and US military alliance. We need to use that to our advantage rather than showing our fear of his missiles and nuclear weapons.
3. This gets to my ongoing question for ROK and US political and military leaders: What would we do now if we learned today that Kim Jong Un is dead? And the follow-on question is what are we doing now to be prepared for that eventuality? (hint: necessary policies established and information preparation of the environment conducted)
Excerpts:
Periodic purges can end in execution – notably of Jang Song-thaek, Mr. Kim’s uncle, executed in 2013. But purges are not necessarily fatal.
The source cited Party Secretary for Defense Industries Ri Byong-chol, a senior cadre and member of both the Politburo and the CMC, as an example.
“He is sometimes gone for six months at a time — he obviously said the wrong things — but always comes back,” the source, who sees Mr. Ri as Mr. Kim’s “best informed advisor,” said. “Nobody knows issues better than him: He knows the destructive power of the U.S., and would probably tell the truth to Kim.”
...
“We see how North Korea works, structurally, and how decisions are very difficult to take without the signature of the leader. If the leader is dead, who is to say, ‘Do this?’” asked Chris Green, a senior consultant on the Koreas with the International Crisis Group think tank. “It’s a structural flaw, … a security vulnerability built into the system.”
Andrei Lankov, an expert on North Korea at Seoul’s Kookmin University, agreed.
“Kim should have a back-up option, and he informed the world of that,” Mr. Lankov said. “But that’s not enough: He should do something to demonstrate the system, if it exists. Otherwise it would be tempting to have him and his family killed and — problem solved.”
Mr. Lankov, however, said he did not share the source’s view of Mr. Kim’s limited access to accurate information. He cited Mr. Kim’s Swiss education as a young man and his direct contacts with the leaders of China, South Korea, Russia and the U.S. since taking power from his father in 2011.
“He is determined, remarkably well-educated and can read foreign languages — some English and some German, probably,” Mr. Lankov said. “He knows some things about the outside world, so personally, I am optimistic.”
Dictator’s dilemma: Kim’s unquestioned power cuts both ways for North Korea
Pyongyang watchers see unpredictability abroad, brittleness at home for regime
washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon
By - The Washington Times - Friday, April 5, 2024
SEOUL, South Korea – It’s a paradox.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s unchallenged leadership at home makes him strategically unpredictable to the U.S. and its allies. But that same unquestioned grip on power makes Mr. Kim tactically vulnerable, due to systemic weaknesses built into his top-down chain of command.
That’s the view of one well-placed Pyongyang watcher who has advised U.S. commanders for decades on the North Korean threat and who spoke on background of the challenges facing the North Korean leader.
While Mr. Kim himself remains a puzzle to outsiders, the ability of North Korea’s military to strike U.S. assets Pacific-wide is becoming increasingly clear.
Pyongyang state media this week confirmed the test launch of a new intermediate-range ballistic missile, or IRBM. The missile, a solid-fuel Hwasong-16B, with hypersonic speed and maneuverability, splashed in the Sea of Japan.
Mr. Kim, who has made it a habit to be on hand personally when major new military assets are unveiled, monitored the launch as he had a previous hypersonic missile test in January.
North Korea’s state-controlled media claimed that the regime’s arsenal of “tactical, operational and strategic missiles with various ranges” are now solid-fueled and capable of delivering nuclear weapons. While questions still hang over the North’s guidance systems and the re-entry vehicles that bring warheads into Earth’s atmosphere, the force’s increasing sophistication presents mounting challenges for U.S. and South Korean defense planners.
IRBMs could feasibly strike U.S. bases and other installations supporting South Korea in Japan, Okinawa and Guam. Mr. Kim’s intercontinental ballistic missiles have already demonstrated the range needed to strike the U.S. mainland since 2017.
These new weapons offer new capabilities.
Solid-fuel missiles can be launched more quickly than liquid-fuel missiles, making them harder to preempt. Hypersonic weapons, which combine flight speeds of Mach 5 with unpredictable maneuverability, are harder to shoot down than previous-generation projectiles.
But while Mr. Kim’s unquestioned power makes the situation even more dangerous, the North Korean expert says the North faces inbuilt vulnerabilities that negate some of the weapons’ effectiveness, and raises questions for the regime of what would happen if their commander in chief was suddenly eliminated from the equation.
The ‘dictator’s dilemma’
“The weak point of not only our military and government officials, but also our media at large, is that they don’t really have an understanding of how ill-advised Kim is,” the analyst warned, basing his view in part on extensive interviews with former members of the Kim regime.
Mr. Kim’s inner councils could fail to prevent him from launching an unwise attack as members are predisposed to offer rosy views, not harsh realities, about the leader’s proposals, the expert said.
Mr. Kim governs via three key bodies: the Politburo, the Korean Workers Party Central Military Committee (CMC) and the ruling party’s Organization and Guidance Department (OGD).
The 27-member Politburo is essentially a cabinet, while the CMC, at about half that size, comprises leading party officials and senior military officers. The OGD controls personnel decisions in all major positions of the governing structure.
“You cannot succeed in these organizations unless you are a yes man,” the analyst noted. “If you are a yes man, you cannot tell the leader something he does not want to hear, and even worse, you are in competition with fellow committee members to remain in your position.”
Hence Mr. Kim does not “necessarily get the truth, or factual information.”
Periodic purges can end in execution – notably of Jang Song-thaek, Mr. Kim’s uncle, executed in 2013. But purges are not necessarily fatal.
The source cited Party Secretary for Defense Industries Ri Byong-chol, a senior cadre and member of both the Politburo and the CMC, as an example.
“He is sometimes gone for six months at a time — he obviously said the wrong things — but always comes back,” the source, who sees Mr. Ri as Mr. Kim’s “best informed advisor,” said. “Nobody knows issues better than him: He knows the destructive power of the U.S., and would probably tell the truth to Kim.”
Commissars and control
Unpredictability can be a useful asset in international relations, but it creates vulnerabilities, too – notably its cumbersome command and control protocols.
All military assignments come from the CMC rather than the military hierarchy, the source said. Military officers down to company level are overseen by a political officer, or commissar. Officers can question assignments and policies, but cannot use their initiative without their commissar’s agreement.
Beyond the commissar, more control is added by a security officer, who ensures military units do not target Pyongyang.
This politicized chain of command likely undercuts the accelerated speed-to-launch timings of the North’s new solid-fuel weapons.
“Anyone who thinks this will not be an issue for the North Korean nuclear launch system does not know how North Korea works,” the source said. “Communications between Kim and a missile unit go through three channels: commissar, military officer and security officer. All have to match.”
If tensions rise to the point where forces are actively redeploying on and around the peninsula, North Korean signals traffic would increase much more than for a military controlled via a more streamlined chain of command.
“The more serious the crisis, [U.S.] actions of intercepting communications expand exponentially,” the source explained. “What we pick up is going to indicate what actions we have to take.”
Washington stations three Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines in the Indo-Pacific region able to strike the North. South Korea, too, has a “Kill Chain” system designed to eliminate North Korea’s leadership in a serious crisis.
Both governments have repeatedly warned Pyongyang that war would end the Kim regime.
One hedge against a potential decapitation strike or other loss of the political command is decentralization of launch authority, via automated protocols or delegation.
‘Dead hand’ vs. dead response
Even if a state’s leaders were taken out, the theory went, the attacker would still face a devastating retaliatory strike. The Cold War-era Soviet system has been informally dubbed a “dead hand” capability.
In September 2022, Pyongyang promulgated a new law for its nuclear weapons. It reiterated Mr. Kim’s sole authority to launch nuclear weapons, but for the first time noted that “a nuclear strike shall be launched automatically and immediately” according to an “operation plan decided in advance” if the leader’s control “is placed in danger owing to an attack by hostile forces.”
It is unclear how this would work, whether through an automated or even artificial intelligence protocol or through some pre-planned delegation of launch authority to individual missile units farther down the chain of command. But close watchers of North Korea say they are doubtful such a “dead hand” approach could operate in a regime as centralized — and paranoid — as Mr. Kim’s.
“We see how North Korea works, structurally, and how decisions are very difficult to take without the signature of the leader. If the leader is dead, who is to say, ‘Do this?’” asked Chris Green, a senior consultant on the Koreas with the International Crisis Group think tank. “It’s a structural flaw, … a security vulnerability built into the system.”
Andrei Lankov, an expert on North Korea at Seoul’s Kookmin University, agreed.
“Kim should have a back-up option, and he informed the world of that,” Mr. Lankov said. “But that’s not enough: He should do something to demonstrate the system, if it exists. Otherwise it would be tempting to have him and his family killed and — problem solved.”
Mr. Lankov, however, said he did not share the source’s view of Mr. Kim’s limited access to accurate information. He cited Mr. Kim’s Swiss education as a young man and his direct contacts with the leaders of China, South Korea, Russia and the U.S. since taking power from his father in 2011.
“He is determined, remarkably well-educated and can read foreign languages — some English and some German, probably,” Mr. Lankov said. “He knows some things about the outside world, so personally, I am optimistic.”
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
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2. Early-voting turnout for general elections hits record 31.28 pct (South Korea)
Now we wait for the results this week.
(6th LD) Early-voting turnout for general elections hits record 31.28 pct | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · April 6, 2024
(ATTN: ADDS parties' response in paras 9-11)
SEOUL, April 6 (Yonhap) -- Turnout for the two-day early-voting period that wrapped up Saturday ahead of the parliamentary elections next week hit a record 31.28 percent, the election watchdog said.
A total of 13,849,043 out of 44,280,011 eligible voters cast their ballots at 3,565 polling stations during the early-voting period that ended at 6 p.m., according to tentative data from the National Election Commission. Those who missed the opportunity this weekend will have to vote on Election Day on Wednesday.
It marked the first time the early-voting turnout for general elections exceeded 30 percent since South Korea introduced the system in 2014. In the previous parliamentary elections in 2020, the turnout was 26.69 percent.
Voters cast their ballots during the early-voting period for the parliamentary elections at a polling station in Gwangju, 267 kilometers southwest of Seoul, on April 6, 2024. (Yonhap)
On Friday, about 6.9 million voters, or 15.61 percent, went to the polls, a record for the first day of early voting for parliamentary elections.
On the first day of early voting, turnout exceeded 10 percent in all 17 major cities and provinces nationwide, led by South Jeolla Province with 23.6 percent. The turnout in Seoul was 15.83 percent.
South Jeolla continued to lead the way on the second and final day of early voting with 41.19 percent. The southeastern city of Daegu brought up the rear at 25.6 percent. The turnout in Seoul reached 32.63 percent.
The quadrennial race is considered crucial for the ruling People Power Party (PPP) as failure to regain a majority could potentially render President Yoon Suk Yeol a lame duck for the remaining three years of his single five-year term.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP), which enjoyed a landslide victory in the previous elections, aims to retain its parliamentary majority.
Voters cast their ballots at a polling station in Incheon, just west of Seoul, on the second day of early voting for the parliamentary elections on April 6, 2024. (Yonhap)
PPP leader Han Dong-hoon assessed the all-time-high early-voting turnout as a sign of strong support from conservative voters and encouraged them to help persuade others who are still deliberating.
Rep. Kang Sun-woo, spokesperson for the DP's election committee, attributed the record-high figure to voters wishing to "judge" the Yoon administration.
"The angered sentiment of the public that hopes to judge the Yoon Suk Yeol regime as soon as possible has been confirmed through the record-high early-voting turnout for general elections," Kang said in a press briefing.
According to a survey conducted jointly by Yonhap News Agency and Yonhap News TV earlier this week, 80 percent of respondents expressed a definite intention to cast their votes.
Among those intending to vote, 39 percent planned to visit polling stations during the early-voting period, while 58 percent intended to vote on Election Day.
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · April 6, 2024
3. In South Korean election, North Korea and its nukes barely move the needle
Not a surprise. Domestic politics usually always trumps foreign policy or in this csae inter Korea relations.
But aside this also illustrates an interesting phenomenon. That is that it is the US, especially officials in the US government and the US military, who fear north Korean nuclear weapons more than the Korean people in the South (or anyone and anywhere else for that matter). We should consider why that is.
In South Korean election, North Korea and its nukes barely move the needle
Voters are ignoring inter-Korean issues in favor of economy, while political parties are mirroring the public’s apathy
https://www.nknews.org/2024/04/in-south-korean-election-north-korea-and-its-nukes-barely-move-the-needle/
Jeongmin Kim April 5, 2024
A collage of South Korea's presidential election in 2022 and North Korean state media images of Kim Jong Un voting in a DPRK election and articles on anti-ROK government protests in Seoul | Image: NK News (May 2022), Rodong Sinmun (April 2024), KCNA (July 2015)
South Koreans are set to go to the polls in less than a week to choose their lawmakers for the next four years, but despite heightened inter-Korean tensions and even warnings about the possibility of war, North Korea has been almost completely absent from the election.
Both the ROK public and the vast majority of candidates have demonstrated a marked disinterest in North Korean issues ahead of the April 10 general elections, concentrating instead on more pressing domestic concerns.
Polls show that voters are far more worried about economic issues, governance and the cost of living than North Korea and national security, with few identifying inter-Korean issues as a decisive factor when choosing whom to support.
The public’s apathy about the DPRK is mirrored in the policy platforms of the major People’s Power Party (PPP) and Democratic Party (DP), with the conservative ruling party barely mentioning North Korea and the progressive opposition recycling outdated policies.
And while it’s common for inter-Korean policy to feature less in parliamentary than presidential elections, experts say a driving factor this year appears to be North Korea’s recent move to frame the South as an enemy — a policy that has given the South Korean left and right little to fight about when it comes to Pyongyang.
A collage of North Korean state media reports in April 2024 on anti-Yoon protests in Seoul and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2023 | Image: Rodong Sinmun (April 2024), KCTV (Sept. 2023)
VOTERS DON’T CARE
There is a noticeable gap between much of the world’s perception of the North Korean military threat as the most pressing issue facing the ROK and most South Koreans’ indifference to what’s happening north of the Demilitarized Zone.
Experts told NK News that the discrepancy stems from the long-standing polarization of South Korean society due to ideological divisions over North Korea, with the latest statements from leader Kim Jong Un and DPRK missile launches doing little to change people’s opinions.
Hahm Hyeon-ho, a professor of policy studies at Hanyang University, said that while views on North Korea is one of the proven factors that has long divided voters into different groups, these divisions have become entrenched and static over time.
“That divide is detected pretty coherently … especially between the PPP and DP supporters,” said Hahm Hyeon-ho, a professor of policy studies at Hanyang University. “The voters have already been split.”
Gallup Korea surveys in the past three months have consistently shown negligible voter concern for North Korea. Economic issues and inflation have been the dominant factors driving disapproval of the government, while the Yoon administration’s handling of a doctors’ strike led to a spike in its approval rate.
North Korea’s relevance only momentarily rose after Kim Jong Un denounced unification at the end of last year, but even then, only 1% of voters cited this as a reason for disapproving of the government.
Ha Shang-eung, a professor at Sogang University, said there has been a “natural” tendency for South Korean general elections to focus less on specific policies such as North Korea-related pledges than presidential elections.
“It’s not something the lawmakers can really do something meaningful about anyways,” he said.
Ahead of the 2022 presidential election, South Koreans in most age groups said the “priority task” for the new ROK leader was to improve the economy (far left) and resolve real estate issues (second from left), over 30% on average. A little over 5% on average (second from right) responded that inter-Korean relations should be a priority, with people over age 70 supporting this position more than those in their 20s and 30s. | Chart: ROK National Assembly Research Service, based on Gallup Korea’s Jan. 2022 survey
However, even in the last presidential election in 2022, North Korea barely moved the needle.
In one Gallup Korea poll, voters overwhelmingly said the next president should focus on the economy and real estate, while only around 5% named inter-Korean relations.
Another significant factor behind faltering voter interest in the DPRK has been the tendency for younger generations to dismiss North Korea issues as a concern of older ideologues that has little relevance to everyday life, experts said.
“The older generation has memories of the Korean War and the Cold War, but the millennials and Gen Z youth do not have any memory or experience directly related to unification and division. They see the status quo as the ‘normal’ state,” said Cho Han-bum, a senior research fellow at the Korean Institute for National Unification (KINU).
When North Korea has cropped up during the current general election, it’s usually been when candidates have made partisan attacks accusing adversaries of being pro-DPRK or North Korea spies, rather than substantive policy stances on North Korean military or inter-Korean threats.
The central election committee of the PPP issued an emergency notice last week instructing candidates to hang campaign banners about punishing and driving away “pro-North Korea forces” from the National Assembly, but various PPP candidates quickly pushed back, citing concerns about losing centrist voters who disdain ideological quarrels.
The PPP leadership dropped the instruction within a few hours.
Yoon’s supporter holding his photo at an outdoor rally | Image: Yoon Suk-yeol’s presidential campaign team (March 8, 2022)
CAMPAIGN PLEDGES
Declining voter interest in North Korea directly translated into policy pledges for this election. Out of hundreds of pages of pledges from both major parties, North Korea and defense issues only get a few brief mentions.
The ruling PPP came up with 10 main policy themes, eight focused on socioeconomic woes. North Korea only receives a passing message under the theme of making South Korea a “Global Pivotal State.”
The PPP’s pledge on the DPRK largely recycled the government’s policy line, such as vowing to “lead international society’s diplomatic effort toward denuclearizing North Korea” as a non-permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.
It also endorsed Yoon’s “principled and coherent North Korea policy” so that Pyongyang “gives up” its nuclear program, stressing strong trilateral security cooperation with Japan and the U.S.
The ruling party’s policies on defectors and human rights largely reiterated initiatives that are already in motion, such as tax breaks for companies who hire escapees and calling for North Korea to return South Korean detainees.
The only pledge that is somewhat new is the PPP’s call to “proactively prepare for unification by neutralizing North Korea’s psychological operations and promoting its transformation,” though even here the party concedes “declining interest” in unification.
Pledge booklets of the DP satellite party and Cho Kuk’s new minor party | Image: NK News (April 3, 2024)
On the other side, the opposition DP outlined four main policy visions, the last one on “reinstating peace” mentioning North Korea policies and geopolitical issues.
While the progressive party has more to say about the DPRK, it largely recycles the Moon administration’s engagement policies, sometimes copying language word for word from past inter-Korean summits.
The chapter starts by endorsing a more lenient stance toward China and Russia, while vowing to prevent trilateral ties from evolving into a military alliance with Japan.
The DP then outlines its “bipartisan North Korea policy for denuclearization and peace-building.” This includes a call for “simultaneous and step-by-step action,” Moon-era language that refers to lifting international sanctions as North Korea takes steps to give up its nuclear weapons.
The policy platform also recycles other inter-Korean policies from the past, such as implementing the now-defunct 2018 Comprehensive Military Agreement, promoting inter-Korean dialogue, suspending “hostile activities” and promoting inter-Korean exchanges.
In the provincial pledge section, the DP even promises to build inter-Korean railways and highways, even though the North Korean leader recently called for destroying these symbols of the country’s past unification policy.
Experts told NK News that the DP’s memory of Moon’s 83% approval rate after his first summit with Kim Jong Un is the main reason why the opposition has endorsed old policies despite changes in inter-Korean ties that have rendered that approach infeasible.
Cho of KINU said the DP has developed a “policy inertia” in inter-Korean relations since 2018.
Meanwhile, he said North Korea’s rejection of unification has left little space for either party to make meaningful proposals regarding inter-Korean policy.
“North Korea’s new no-unification policy effectively blurs the North Korea policy differences between the PPP and DP,” Cho said. “Hence the influence of the North Korea variable on the elections is diminishing, with the two major parties not having much to fight over about that.”
Campaign brochures of South Korean fringe parties that focus on North Korea or inter-Korean issues | Image: NK News (April 3, 2024)
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FRINGE VIEWS
Despite the overwhelming mainstream indifference to the DPRK, the ballot for the upcoming election still features signs of the entrenched ideological division in South Korea over North Korea.
Nearly 40 parties are competing for spots in the National Assembly under the proportional representation system, bringing the ballot itself to a record 20 inches (51.7 cm) long.
Among these parties, three fringe groups — the Anti-Communism Party Korea and Korean Peninsula Future Party on the conservative side, and the Unified Korea Party on the liberal side — place North Korea at the heart of their campaign promises.
Their extreme proposals include forced unification and dismantling the DPRK regime (Anti-Communism Party Korea), seeking Trump’s support for economic unification (Korea Peninsula Future Party) and establishing a new unified capital in the demilitarized zone (Unified Korea Party).
Although North Korea was not its main focus, the Nation Revolutionary Dividends Party also pledged to relocate the U.N. headquarters to Panmunjom.
But these radical agendas are unlikely to resonate with the broader electorate, further underscoring the marginal significance of North Korea in the broader South Korean political landscape.
Joon Ha Park contributed reporting to this article. Edited by Bryan Betts
4. North Korea’s Ballistic Missiles Are Getting Valuable Battlefield Testing in Ukraine
This is from the major force provider of ground forces to the ROK/US CFC. This is another illustration of our nearly myopic focus on north Korean nuclear weapons and missiles.
But he is right that Ukraine provides the north with a useful laboratory. But it should also provide us with useful intelligence insights as well. How are north Korean missiles helping Rusia? What effects are they having on the battlefield? Are there any decisive effects? Are they as bad as we fear? I think not and I think we ought to not allow ourselves to support Kim Jong Un's political warfare strategy which includes using nuclear weapons and missiles to create divisions and sow fear. Every time we show fear we support Kim's strategy. We must understand and approach the north with a thorough understanding of the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime. I fear we do not operate with that knowledge fully in mind.
North Korea’s Ballistic Missiles Are Getting Valuable Battlefield Testing in Ukraine
By Soo-Hyang Choi and Jon Herskovitz
April 6, 2024 at 11:00 PM EDT
Updated on April 7, 2024 at 12:20 AM EDT
Russia’s use of North Korean missiles in its assault in Ukraine is giving Pyongyang a rare chance to test its weapons in combat and perhaps take away lessons that could improve their performance, a top US general said.
“I don’t believe that in my recent memory that the North Korean military has had a battlefield laboratory quite like the Russians are affording them to have in Ukraine,” said General Charles Flynn, the US Army Pacific’s commanding general.
That gives North Korea an opportunity to gain valuable information in technical matters, procedures and the munitions themselves. The US will be watching closely how this unfolds, Flynn said Saturday during a visit to the sprawling US Army Garrison Humphreys, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Seoul.
Flynn said a great concern for him and others is that North Korea will be able to learn things about their weapons “they would otherwise not have access to absent a conflict” like the war in Ukraine.
The US will be deploying missile systems with mid-range capability to the Indo-Pacific region soon, Flynn said, without giving further details on timing or locations. Such a move could draw the ire of China, which in 2019 warned that US allies in the region risked countermeasures if they accepted the deployment of intermediate-range American missiles.
The US, South Korea and others have accused North Korea of sending to Russia its newest nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that are easy to hide, quick to deploy and hard to shoot down. Images provided by the US indicate they are Hwasong-11s, a wide class of short-range ballistic missile that can reliably hit targets with a high degree of precision, according to weapons experts.
They have ranges of 380 to 800 kilometers and increase the pool of weapons Russian President Vladimir Putin can draw upon. Prosecutors in Kharkiv said in March that Russian forces have fired North Korean missiles at Ukraine about 50 times since the start of the invasion, providing documentation for what it said included a Hwasong-11 family missile, specialist service NK News reported.
The North Korean missiles sent so far are similar in size and flight dynamics to Russia’s Iskander series, weapons experts have said. A report last year by the Center for Strategic and International Studies showed that the US Patriot air defense system has so far been largely effective in countering Russia’s missiles.
US allies South Korea and Japan both deploy Patriot batteries. These air defense systems have a powerful radar able to track as many as 100 targets including cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and aircraft, according to a report from the Congressional Research Service.
The US, South Korea, Japan and Europe have accused North Korea of sending massive amounts of munitions to Russia, which are interoperable with the Soviet-era systems being used in Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied the charges despite a multitude of satellite photos released by research groups and the US government showing the flow of weapons from North Korea to Russia and then to munitions dumps near the border with Ukraine.
In return for the arms, which are likely valued at several billion dollars, Russia is providing North Korea with food, raw materials and parts for weapons manufacturing, South Korean officials have said. This has helped North Korean leader Kim Jong Un increase food security and further develop his weapons systems.
Flynn called North Korea’s continued testing of ballistic missiles concerning and destabilizing. Last week, Kim oversaw the test of a new ballistic missile designed to deploy a hypersonic glide vehicle that can deliver a nuclear payload to US bases in Japan and Guam.
(Updates with comments on missile deployments in paragraph five.)
5. U.S. Army Pacific commander says SM-6, Tomahawk missile launchers to be deployed in Indo-Pacific
We need more of these statements about our confidence from our leaders. Too often we only focus on the threat and not our ability to defend against it. When you combine our fears of the regime's nuclear weapons and missiles with the administrations continued statements about our fear of escalation and a nuclear exchange we are first "self-deterring" restricting our actions for fear of crossing some unknown red line that will provide a response from aout adversaries , thereby ceding the initiative to them. Second, by self-deterring we are playing right into our adversaries political warfare strategies. More about our strength and confidence in our capabilities and will and less about our fear is necessary.
And we also need to talk about and prepare for the full range of threats and not just nuclear weapons and missiles, this includes the too often overlooked potential for instability and regime collapse (that could lead to conflict) which is something I know most officials do not want to even think about.
Excerpts;
The U.S. Forces Korea operates low-tier PAC-3 missiles and the upper-tier Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors. The U.S. missile shield is complemented by South Korea's homegrown surface-to-air missile (M-SAM) defense system, called Cheongung, against mid-tier threats.
...
Flynn, who was on a three-nation Asia tour, including stops in Japan and Thailand, addressed concerns over North Korea's recent string of missile tests but showed confidence in the alliance's "integrated and layered missile defense system."
"Continued testing is concerning and, in many ways, destabilizing," he said. "I am confident, given our recent activities in the region, about layered missiles defense of what we have."
(Yonhap Interview) U.S. Army Pacific commander says SM-6, Tomahawk missile launchers to be deployed in Indo-Pacific | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · April 7, 2024
By Kim Eun-jung
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea, April 7 (Yonhap) -- The United States will deploy ground-based launchers capable of firing SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles in the Indo-Pacific region soon to address rising security threats, the Army Pacific commander has said.
During his visit to South Korea, Gen. Charles Flynn said the U.S. Army has developed "long-range precision fires," listing the SM-6 interceptor and the maritime-strike Tomahawk as missiles that could be launched from the new launch system.
It marks his first confirmation of the types of weapons systems to be fielded in the region this year.
"That system will be deploying into the region soon. Where and when it's going to go, I'm not going to talk about that now," Flynn said during the interview with Yonhap News Agency at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, on Saturday.
Gen. Charles Flynn, the commanding general of U.S. Army Pacific, speaks during an interview with Yonhap News Agency at Vandal Training Center in Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, on April 6, 2024. (Yonhap)
The SM-6 is designed to intercept ballistic missiles with a range of over 240 km, and the Tomahawk is a subsonic cruise missile that can strike a target about 2,500 km away.
Experts widely speculate the system could be the ground-based Typhon system, which has been operated by the U.S. Army since last year. Guam, a U.S. territory in the Western Pacific Ocean, is considered a potential site for the system, according to Japanese media.
It marks a significant development as such a weapon system would be deployed in the region for the first time since the U.S. and the former Soviet Union signed a treaty in 1987 to abolish the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF).
After the U.S. withdrew from the INF treaty in 2019, citing alleged Russian violations, the U.S. Army has developed and deployed new intermediate-range missiles amid China's muscle-flexing in the Indo-Pacific region.
Flynn, who was on a three-nation Asia tour, including stops in Japan and Thailand, addressed concerns over North Korea's recent string of missile tests but showed confidence in the alliance's "integrated and layered missile defense system."
"Continued testing is concerning and, in many ways, destabilizing," he said. "I am confident, given our recent activities in the region, about layered missiles defense of what we have."
North Korea said Wednesday it test-fired a new hypersonic intermediate-range ballistic missile, called the Hwasongpho-16B, claiming all of its missiles are now solid-fuel and nuclear capable with warhead control capability.
A hypersonic missile is usually hard to intercept with existing missile defense shields as it can travel at five times the speed of sound, changes its flight paths and flies at low altitudes.
The U.S. Forces Korea operates low-tier PAC-3 missiles and the upper-tier Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) interceptors. The U.S. missile shield is complemented by South Korea's homegrown surface-to-air missile (M-SAM) defense system, called Cheongung, against mid-tier threats.
Gen. Charles A. Flynn (R), commander of the U.S. Army Pacific, and Defense Minister Shin Won-sik pose for a photo after Flynn received a state medal from the South Korean government for his contributions to the bilateral alliance at the defense ministry's headquarters in central Seoul on April 4, 2024, in this photo provided by the defense ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
The top commander of the U.S. Army's largest component also highlighted potential risks associated with North Korea's supplying of arms to Russia for its ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Seoul officials have raised concerns over Pyongyang advancing its weapons programs with the help of Moscow in return for supplying thousands of containers carrying munitions and other weapons since last year.
"More concerning, though, is the fact that North Korean capabilities are being used by the Russians in that laboratory on the battlefield," he said. "To me, that is an area that we are going to continue to watch."
Flynn lauded the South Korean Army for going beyond its territory to join multinational drills with the U.S. and its allies abroad, believing it sends "an important message" to the broader region amid rising security challenges posed by China.
"They are also projecting that alliance into the region at a time when we absolutely need our friends and allies across the region to be together so we can be a counterweight to some of the irresponsible and insidious behavior of China," he said.
The four-star general, whose father previously served in South Korea, said he feels grateful to see the progress that the South Korean military and Army have made over the decades and the long-standing alliance between the two countries.
"For two generations now, my father's generation and my generation, being able to bring those experiences and see the gains that have been made since the late '90s to now, it's pretty dramatic," Flynn said.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · April 7, 2024
6. ‘Gladiator Politics’ Dominate Election Season in Polarized South Korea
Something that is useful for us outsiders to try to grasp South Korean politics and this week's elections.
‘Gladiator Politics’ Dominate Election Season in Polarized South Korea
This week’s parliamentary elections are widely seen as a referendum on both President Yoon Suk Yeol and his archrival, Lee Jae-myung, the opposition leader.
Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party and Yoon Suk Yeol of the People Power Party during the presidential election campaign in Seoul in 2022.Credit...Yonhap, via Associated Press
By Choe Sang-Hun
Reporting from Seoul
April 7, 2024
Updated 6:59 a.m. ET
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The elections are ostensibly about the 300 seats in Parliament, but when South Koreans go to the polls on Wednesday, they will also be signaling support for one of two leaders who are locked in what is known here as “gladiator politics.”
The do-or-die rivalry between President Yoon Suk Yeol and the opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, whose party holds the majority in the National Assembly, has made the elections as fraught with fear and resentment as any in South Korean history. Neither leader commands broad popularity, instead relying on hard-line supporters who either want to see Mr. Yoon, a conservative, impeached for abuse of power, or Mr. Lee, a progressive, imprisoned for corruption.
“This election is about who you want to punish, Yoon Suk Yeol or Lee Jae-myung,” said Eom Kyeong-young, an election analyst at the Zeitgeist Institute in Seoul.
On the global stage, South Korea is the dynamic exporter of cars, phones, K-pop and K-dramas. But at home, voter discontent runs deep. The country’s economy is slowing. Its birthrate is the world’s lowest. Its Gen Z youth — frustrated with widening economic inequity and priced out of the housing market — fear that they will be the first generation in the country’s history economically worse off than their parents.
Amid these fundamental crises, the country’s politics are more divided than ever. Online demagoguery proliferates through YouTube and other social media, mainstreaming hate. In January, a disgruntled older man stabbed Mr. Lee in the neck with a knife. (The attacker said South Korea was “in a civil war,” adding that he wanted to “cut the head” of the country’s “pro-North Korean” left wing, according to a manifesto he sent from his prison cell to Choo Chin-woo, an investigative journalist.) A few weeks later, an angry youth attacked a governing-party lawmaker, striking her in the head with a stone.
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Lee Jae-myung, who lost the presidential race in 2022 but continues to lead the opposition Democratic Party, was attacked in January by a man who stabbed him in the neck.Credit...Yonhap, via Reuters
Mr. Yoon and Mr. Lee’s parties have released reams of similar campaign promises on how to address problems like the country’s dismal birthrate. But their campaign focus, analysts said, has been on demonizing their rivals.
More on South Korea
South Korea’s politics have long been dominated by revenge and resentment, so much so they have become a vindictive “gladiators’ arena,” Cho Youngho, a political science professor at Sogang University, wrote in an analysis last month. Presidents, elected for a single, five-year term, have often pursued their predecessors or domestic rivals with criminal investigations, creating a vicious cycle of political retaliation.
Mr. Yoon and Mr. Lee first clashed in the 2022 presidential election, a race South Korean news media deemed “a contest between the unlikable.” Mr. Yoon beat Mr. Lee by a narrow margin. Their rivalry has only intensified since then.
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Presidential candidates, from left, Sim Sang-jung of the Justice Party, Ahn Cheol-soo of the People’s Party, Yoon Suk Yeol of the People Power Party and Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party ahead of a debate in Seoul in 2022. Mr. Lee narrowly lost to Mr. Yoon, and the two have continued their bitter political rivalry.Credit...Pool photo by Kim Min-Hee
Under Mr. Yoon, state prosecutors have pursued Mr. Lee, his wife and his former aides with a series of investigations. Mr. Lee has been indicted on bribery and other criminal charges, accusations he denies. Denounced as a “criminal suspect” by Mr. Yoon’s People Power Party, he has failed to win an audience with the president to discuss policies.
Instead of stepping aside after his electoral loss, Mr. Lee was back in the center of politics within a few months. He won a parliamentary seat and, in effect, a political shield from prosecutors. And Mr. Lee, who wants to run again for president in 2027, also tightened his grip on his Democratic Party.
He has since made it his mission to fight what he says is Mr. Yoon’s “dictatorship by prosecutors,” staging a three-week hunger strike.
Mr. Lee’s party has refused to endorse Mr. Yoon’s cabinet nominees. Mr. Yoon has vetoed parliamentary bills passed by Mr. Lee’s party, including one mandating an investigation of corruption claims involving the first lady, Kim Keon Hee.
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Mr. Lee staged a hunger strike last year to protest what he called Mr. Yoon’s misuse of prosecutors to harass political opponents.Credit...Yonhap/EPA, via Shutterstock
In parliamentary polls, South Koreans often vote for the parties and their leaders, not for individual candidates. About 20 percent of eligible voters want to see both Mr. Yoon and Mr. Lee punished, and this election could be decided by how they eventually vote, said Jeong Han Wool, a polling expert at the Research Institute of Korean People.
A victory for Mr. Lee’s Democratic Party would help revive his presidential prospects — as well as his efforts to pass new bills for special prosecutors to investigate accusations of corruption and abuse of power involving Mr. Yoon’s government and his wife.
The election is mainly a contest between the two largest parties for parliamentary majority. But a host of small and even obscure startup parties have also joined the fray. Candidates of Mr. Lee’s party and two small parties closely allied with it are running their campaign with calls to “punish” Mr. Yoon or turn him into an early “lame” or “dead duck.”
“An election defeat will leave Yoon hardly able to do anything until his term expires,” said Shin Yul, a political scientist at Myongji University in Seoul.
Mr. Yoon and Mr. Lee hail from sharply different backgrounds, making their clash not only political but also cultural.
Mr. Yoon, a son of a college professor, was an elite prosecutor, rising to the ranks of prosecutor-general before becoming president. His supporters praise him for strengthening ties with the United States in the face of nuclear threats from North Korea. But his detractors call him a hamfisted elitist who favors the rich and uses coercive measures to silence critics.
Under Mr. Yoon, prosecutors and the police have raided news outlets accused of spreading “fake news.” State regulators have reprimanded a TV station for not attaching the Korean equivalent of “first lady” or “Ms.” to the name of Mr. Yoon’s wife. His bodyguards gagged and removed an opposition lawmaker and a student who shouted criticism at Mr. Yoon during government and campus events. In its 2024 Democracy Report, the V-Dem Institute of Sweden ranked South Korea under Mr. Yoon as one of the 42 countries undergoing “autocratization.”
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Mr. Yoon and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, during a ceremony last year for Independence Movement Day, a holiday commemorating the Korean struggle against Japanese colonial rule.Credit...Pool photo by Jung Yeon-Je
Mr. Lee, a son of public toilet cleaners, was a teenage sweatshop worker in rubber and glove factories before becoming a labor lawyer, a mayor and a provincial governor. His supporters see him as an outspoken outsider who can fix establishment politics. But his critics call him a devious populist who cut corrupt deals while in office and quashed dissenting voices within his party in attempts to consolidate power.
Mr. Lee is now on trial on charges of giving illegal favors to a private investor in a real estate project while he was a mayor. Another accusation prosecutors have made is that when he was a governor, he asked a local businessman to illegally transfer $8 million to North Korea to promote economic exchanges with his province.
Many analysts expect the coming election to amplify polarization in the country.
“Politics will continue to be dominated by a struggle between the one who wants to kill and the one who wants to survive,” said Mr. Cho of Sogang University. “Issues the people care about — the livelihoods of the public, the economy, low birthrates and welfare — take a back seat.”
Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea. More about Choe Sang-Hun
7. She Slept With a Violin on Her Pillow. Her Dreams Came True in Italy. (South Korea)
The diversity of South Korean soft power.
She Slept With a Violin on Her Pillow. Her Dreams Came True in Italy.
As a teenager in South Korea, Ayoung An decided to become a violin maker. Her journey eventually took her to Cremona, Italy, a famed hub for masters like Antonio Stradivari.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/arts/violin-italy-antonio-stradivari-ayoung-an.html
Text by Valeriya SafronovaPhotographs and Video by Sasha Arutyunova
Reporting from Cremona, Italy
Art of Craft is a series about craftspeople whose work rises to the level of art.
When Ayoung An was 8, her parents bought her a violin. She slept with the instrument on the pillow next to her every night.
Two years later, a shop selling musical instruments opened in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, her hometown, and An became a fixture there, pelting the owner with questions. “I think I bothered him a lot,” An, now 32, said.
As a teenager, she decided she would become a violin maker. Eventually, a journey with twists and turns took her to Cremona in northern Italy — a famed hub for violin makers, including masters like Antonio Stradivari, since the 16th century. There, An, a rising star in the violin-making world with international awards under her belt, runs her own workshop.
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Ayoung An, a rising star in the violin-making world, at her studio in Cremona, Italy, home to famed masters like Antonio Stradivari.
Set on a quiet cobblestone street, An’s studio is bathed in natural light and filled with books and piles of wood chunks that must air dry for five to 10 years before becoming instruments or risk warping. She shares the two-room studio with her husband, Wangsoo Han, who’s also a violin maker.
On a recent Monday, An was hunched over a thick 20-inch piece of wood held in place by two metal clamps. Pressing her body down for leverage, she scraped the wood with a gouge, removing layers, her hands steady and firm. She was forming a curving neck called a “scroll,” one of the later steps of making a violin or cello. On this day, the violin maker was immersed on a commission for a cello, which shares a similar crafting process.
Violins like An’s, made in the tradition of Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri, require about two months of work and sell for about 16,000 to 17,000 euros, or $17,500 to $18,500. “I can make a violin in three weeks, but I don’t want to,” An said. “This object is very precious to the person purchasing it.”
An was 17 when she hatched her plan to learn the craft: She would move in with an American family in a Chicago suburb so that she could attend a local high school, master English and eventually study at the Chicago School of Violin Making. There were no such schools in Korea at the time. Her parents, distraught about her moving so far away to pursue an uncertain career path, tried to stop her.
“I didn’t eat for days,” An said. Finally, they gave in. “When I said goodbye to my parents at the airport, they were crying,” she said. “I wasn’t. I was too excited.”
Two years after moving to Illinois, she discovered that one of the best known schools for violin makers, the International School of Violin Making, was actually in Cremona. So in 2011, at age 20, she moved to a new country again.
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An closes a cello that she has built after affixing inside a label of her Italian artist name.
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An heats up a tiny brand with her signature to burn into the inside of the instrument.
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An works meticulously with tools and substances to make a violin look more antique. She also builds cellos, which share a similar crafting process.
Cremona was home to some of history’s most famous luthiers, makers of stringed instruments: Stradivari; Andrea Amati, considered “the father of the violin”; and the Guarneri family. For the 160 to 200 violin makers in Cremona today, the sound quality of the masters remains the ultimate goal. “The traditional method is not about experimenting,” An said.
Around the studio, small pots of pigment, for varnishing, sat on shelves and tables alongside jars of powders — ground glass and minerals — for polishing. On a wall were dozens of knives, chisels and saws. Also present: dentist’s tools to scratch the instrument for a more antique look.
An is the youngest member of a consortium in Cremona dedicated to upholding violin-making traditions. She is so immersed in the Cremonese method of violin making that, at the suggestion of a mentor, she created an artist’s name, Anna Arietti, to better fit in with Italian culture.
An important moment is when luthiers place their label inside the instrument, called a “baptism.” To make her label, An stamps her ink signature onto a small piece of paper — a browned page from a secondhand book, giving the impression of age. Then, using a traditional homemade mixture of melted bovine skin and rabbit skin as a long-lasting adhesive, she glues the label inside one half of the instrument. She also burns the signature of her Korean name into the instrument with a tiny heated brand.
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The violin maker uses tweezers to glue her label inside the instrument.
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An’s bookcase contains pots of pigment for polishing and jars of powder for varnishing.
Afterward, the two halves are sealed together, completing the main body of the instrument. Her Italian artist’s name remains inside, intact as long as the violin is.
“That’s why I wanted to be a violin maker,” An said. “At least one person who plays my violin will remember me 100 or 200 years later.”
7. Chinese tourist tower overlooking North Korea could be demolished
There is no love between the Chinese and Korean people in the north.
Chinese tourist tower overlooking North Korea could be demolished
Tower at Changbai Millennium Cliff City shuttered after hostility between North Koreans and Chinese tourists.
By Moon Sung Hui for RFA Korean
2024.04.05
rfa.org
A gigantic steel tower in China – part of a tourist attraction with views into the North Korean city of Hyesan – that leans almost over the Yalu River between the two nations could be demolished after several tense interactions between Chinese tourists and North Koreans below, residents in both countries told Radio Free Asia.
The 50-meter-tall, 70-meter-long (164-foot-tall, 230-foot-long) tower is part of the Changbai Millennium Cliff City built in 2021 in the town of Malugou in the Changbai Korean Autonomous County in China’s northeastern province of Jilin.
The tower’s glass-floor bridge that looks over the river and into Hyesan is the tourist complex’ main attraction. Using binoculars, visitors can peer into North Korea to catch a glimpse of life in one of the world’s most isolated countries.
The complex also has a ferris wheel and a catapulting swing ride that launches visitors towards the border.
Chinese tourism to North Korea has been shut down since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and the tower was a popular attraction that offered glimpses of North Korea for just 7 yuan (US$1).
‘Illegal structure’
But the tower ceased operations on March 15, a resident of Chiangbai, who requested anonymity for personal safety, told RFA Korean. He said authorities shut it down for safety reasons and he does not know when it will operate again.
“North Korean authorities considered the steel tower an illegal structure that violates the border management agreement and have insisted on its demolition,” the resident said.
A 164’ tall, 230’ long glass-bottomed bridge, at left, is part of the Changbai Millennium Cliff City, Changbai Korean Autonomous County, China. (Google Earth)
The tower is popular among the tourists who come to China to visit Mt. Paektu, he said.
The peak, which straddles the border between China and North Korea, is the tallest mountain on the Korean peninsula and is considered the setting of myths about the origin of the Korean people.
The tower was built by a wealthy businessman from Yanji city in the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture with his own money, he said.
“If you climb up the steel tower, which is designed to be climbed on foot, you can observe living conditions in Hyesan City, Ryanggang Province, North Korea, as vividly as if you were seeing it right before your eyes.”
Throwing rocks and bottles
A contributing factor behind its closure appears to be a series of hostile exchanges between people on the tower and those below, another Changbai resident said.
“In September last year, three North Korean border guards aimed their automatic rifles at tourists on the steel tower,” he said.
In another incident, a North Korean college student threw rocks in the direction of the tower when tourists were taking pictures of him – who then responded by throwing water bottles and banana peels at the student, an official from a judicial agency in North Korea’s Ryanggang province said.
The North Korean side “issued a warning to Chinese public security agencies that if this repeatedly occurs, a conflict between the two countries could develop later,” he said.
A sign was installed on the tower that told visitors not to shout or throw objects at any North Koreans they could see.
And at one point, officials from both sides met and blamed each other, so reached no conclusion, the second Changbai resident said.
Because of the tower, people on the ground feel almost like zoo animals, the North Korean official said.
“Since our living conditions are so poor in North Korea, they are taking pictures from the steel tower as if they are observing a group of uncivilized animals,” he said.
The North Korean side argues that the tower violates an agreement signed in 2009 that says neither North Korea nor China can install propaganda materials that slander each other or threaten the regime on the border, nor can they place facilities that insult or hate the other side on the border, he said.
They are asking the Chinese side to demolish the tower completely, he said.
Translated by Claire S. Lee. Edited by Eugene Whong.
rfa.org
washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon
8. FM Cho discusses cooperation, N.K. threats with NATO chief
FM Cho discusses cooperation, N.K. threats with NATO chief | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · April 6, 2024
SEOUL, April 6 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top diplomat and the chief of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have discussed bilateral cooperation, and the ongoing military cooperation between Pyongyang and Moscow during a meeting in Brussels, the foreign ministry said Saturday.
The talks between Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday came as Cho visited Brussels for a NATO meeting of foreign ministers earlier this week.
In their meeting, Cho said the government is working with friendly nations to draw up a new monitoring mechanism against North Korea after the U.N. Security Council failed to extend the mandate of the expert panel monitoring the enforcement of sanctions against the North.
Cho also called for NATO's cooperation as he explained the government's ongoing diplomatic efforts to hold a U.N. general assembly meeting to denounce Russia over vetoing the extension.
In response, Stoltenberg agreed on the need for concerted efforts by the international community against military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, and expressed continued support for South Korea's efforts to establish sustainable peace on the Korean Peninsula, the ministry said.
Cho and Stoltenberg also discussed strengthening bilateral cooperation in areas such as cyber security and the defense industry, according to the ministry.
Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul (L) and Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, pose for a photo in Brussels on April 5, 2024, in this photo provided by the foreign ministry the following day. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
mlee@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · April 6, 2024
9. Regular inter-Korean liaison contact remains severed for 1 year amid frosty ties
But not all communications:
The military has relied on the U.S.-led U.N. Command that maintains a line with the North and oversees activities in the Demilitarized Zone, separating the two Koreas, to send messages.
Regular inter-Korean liaison contact remains severed for 1 year amid frosty ties
The Korea Times · April 7, 2024
The two Koreas used to hold routine calls twice a day — once in the morning and the other in the afternoon — via liaison and military hotlines, but the North has stopped answering calls from the South since April 7, 2023. Yonhap
Regular communication between the two Koreas through cross-border hotlines has remained severed for one year as the North continues to be unresponsive to calls from the South amid increasingly frosty ties.
The two Koreas used to hold routine calls twice a day — once in the morning and the other in the afternoon — via liaison and military hotlines, but the North has stopped answering calls from the South since April 7, 2023.
The move came a day after Seoul called on Pyongyang to stop its unauthorized use of the now-shuttered joint Gaeseong Industrial Complex.
Due to the severed lines, Seoul's unification ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs has had to make public announcements through the media to communicate with the North.
The military has relied on the U.S.-led U.N. Command that maintains a line with the North and oversees activities in the Demilitarized Zone, separating the two Koreas, to send messages.
Seoul has called on Pyongyang to restore the lines in an effort to prevent accidental military clashes and for humanitarian purposes, such as rescuing ships adrift at sea and responding to natural disasters.
The North has previously severed and later restored the hotlines with the South, although it remains uncertain whether the lines will open again.
In July 2021, the North restored the inter-Korean hotlines, about a year after it severed them in June 2020, in protest of anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets sent via balloon by North Korean defectors in Seoul.
In January 2018, it opened the channels after refusing contact since February 2016, in protest of the South's decision to stop operations at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the namesake North Korean border city.
But hopes of a restoration remain dim this time as the North's leader late last year called inter-Korean ties as "two states hostile to each other" instead of those seeking unification.
In January, the North's leader also called for defining South Korea as the North's "invariable principal enemy" in its constitution.
"In the past, the communication channel could be restored once North Korea's complaints were resolved, but it will likely be considerably more difficult to restore it if South Korea is stipulated as a hostile country in the constitution," said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · April 7, 2024
10. Korean chipmakers to benefit as Taiwan quake spurs supply chain diversification calls
Korean chipmakers to benefit as Taiwan quake spurs supply chain diversification calls
The Korea Times · April 7, 2024
TSMC's plant in Hainan, Taiwan / Reuters-Yonhap
Suspended operations at TSMC raise concerns over single supply chain
By Baek Byung-yeul
Korean semiconductor companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK hynix stand to gain from the escalating demand to diversify global chip supply chains in response to the recent earthquake in Taiwan on April 3, according to industry experts, Sunday.
The production disruption in Taiwan's semiconductor industry, which holds a pivotal position in the global chip market, is anticipated to raise concerns about the vulnerability of a single supply chain. Consequently, experts suggest that this event may drive a push for supply diversification in the future.
Taiwan hosts semiconductor giants like TSMC, UMC, and the U.S.-based memory chip manufacturer Micron Technology. Following the earthquake, some of these companies have suspended operations at certain production lines.
TSMC, the world's leader in the chip foundry business, said a day after the earthquake that it had resumed operations at its facilities that were temporarily halted in the aftermath of the powerful earthquake, saying "overall tool recovery of its fabrication facilities exceeded 80 percent." But it added, "certain production lines in areas that faced greater impact were likely to take more time to return to fully automated production."
With TSMC commanding over 60 percent of the global foundry market share and serving major U.S. chip design firms like Apple and Nvidia, experts are voicing concerns regarding the need for diversification in chip supply chains. The halt of some of TSMC's production lines could potentially inflict significant damage on the entire industry.
"We believe this could lead to supply disruptions in the tech supply chain. While we note some companies have reported limited damage and many of the semiconductor fabs should have been designed to withstand strong earthquakes, halts in some operations at high-tech semiconductor fabs could mean disruptions," Bum Ki Son and Brian Tan, analysts at British investment bank Barclays, said in a report.
"Some of the high-end chips need 24/7 seamless operations in a vacuum state for a few weeks. Operation halts in Taiwan’s northern industrial areas could mean some high-end chips in production may be spoiled," they added.
Kim Dae-jong, a professor of business administration at Sejong University, also said that global chipmakers need to diversify the semiconductor supply chain concentrated in Taiwan to reduce risks.
"Chip companies need to reduce their dependency on Taiwan and diversify their orders to other countries to lower the risk when facing a special crisis like this earthquake," the professor said. "Chip design companies should diversify their non-memory demand to Taiwan, Korea and the U.S. as a way to prepare for crises."
The professor said prices of memory semiconductors are also on a rising trend due to the Taiwan earthquake, adding that Samsung and SK hynix have reportedly halted memory chip price negotiations with clients because the supply of memory chips will decrease, leading to higher prices.
Kim Dong-won, an analyst at KB Securities, said in a report released after the Taiwan earthquake, "The production disruption in foundries caused by this earthquake is poised to serve as a pivotal moment, shedding light on the industry's structure. With 69 percent of global foundry production concentrated in Taiwan, it underscores the risk associated with relying on a single supply chain.”
"TSMC's Fab12 plant, where all production personnel evacuated following the earthquake, is encountering operational uncertainty due to damaged water pipes and system errors in certain front-end equipment. As a result, further inspections are necessary to assess the situation," the analyst said. "The Korean semiconductor ecosystem is emerging as the optimal alternative for diversifying the memory and foundry supply chain, with long-term benefits expected."
However, another expert predicts that while TSMC did sustain some damage from the earthquake, it is not likely to have a substantial impact on the foundry industry's market share. This is because the foundry industry has long-term contracts with chip design companies, and it is difficult to suddenly change the order and design of the chips to be produced.
"The foundry business needs to supply products tailored to the design requirements of chip design companies. Stable supply is key in maintaining long-term cooperative relationships with customers, so it is difficult for TSMC to lose its customers just because of the earthquake damage," said Lee Jong-hwan, a professor of the department of system semiconductor engineering at Sangmyung University.
The professor also forecast that in the memory semiconductor industry, Samsung and SK could benefit from the earthquake as the industry has a different structure.
"The memory semiconductor industry may be affected by the earthquake. As production facilities of Micron Technology and Nanya Technology were reported to have suffered damage, rival memory semiconductor companies, Samsung Electronics and SK hynix, are likely to benefit from the market where chip production and supply are more directly connected," the chip professor added.
The Korea Times · April 7, 2024
11. [INTERVIEW] Ihn Yo-han calls for grand role of politics befitting global top 10 power
[INTERVIEW] Ihn Yo-han calls for grand role of politics befitting global top 10 power
The Korea Times · April 7, 2024
Ihn Yo-han, or John Linton, the election committee head of the ruling People Power Party's satellite party, casts his ballot for early voting at a polling station in Yeouido, Seoul, Friday, for April 10 general elections. Yonhap
Descendant of US missionary family poised to take on new mission as politician
By Kim Chang-young
A renowned Korean American medical practitioner, celebrated for treating elusive illnesses at a Seoul hospital for three decades, now faces a new task: tackling the diverse range of visible and invisible afflictions plaguing South Korea. He is vying for a seat in the April 10 general elections and if elected, he will become the first parliamentarian with a dual nationality.
It’s not surprising to see John Linton, also known as Ihn Yo-han in Korean, entering the political arena, given his prior leadership role in the innovation committee of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) last October. However, what truly astonished observers was his composed demeanor upon receiving a phone call during an interview with The Korea Times in his office on March 18, informing him of his unexpected eighth position on the list of candidates for a PPP-affiliated party for proportional representation seats.
Ihn’s party is likely to win well over 10 seats, according to political analysts. The interview was repeatedly interrupted by congratulatory calls and messages until he switched his mobile phone to mute.
“This upcoming election carries unprecedented significance. It will decide whether our nation can navigate through challenging tensions and risks, both domestically and internationally. We must persist on the path toward peace and prosperity by any means necessary,” he said in the distinctive Honam dialect. “I couldn't simply stand by on campus, witnessing the potential whirlwind that could disrupt the foundations of a free democracy and capitalist economy. These very foundations were built with the collective effort, sweat, tears, and blood of the past.”
He has been spearheading nationwide campaigns for the ruling camp, working closely with PPP interim leader Han Dong-hoon.
“Politicians must lead the charge in reforming our society, fostering unity among our people, and being willing to make personal sacrifices,” he said, vowing to consolidate national interests befitting "one of the global top 10 powers" in international relations and to engage North Koreans once elected.
Ihn, a professor at Yonsei University, has served as the director of the International Medical Care Center at Severance Hospital for 33 years and visited North Korea almost 30 times on humanitarian missions.
Ideal relief pitcher
Yonsei University professor Ihn Yo-han poses at his office at Severance Hospital, Seoul, March 18. Courtesy of Kim Chang-young
Born and raised in southwestern Gwangju and Jeolla provincial area, also known as "Honam" that is generally favorable to progressive parties, Ihn is widely anticipated to resonate with the sentiments of the populace.
“Former President Kim Dae-jung remains my favorite politician of all time,” he said.
The late Kim was revered as the undisputed hero of Honam residents, having risked his life in the pro-democracy movement of the 1980s and emerged victorious in the 1997 presidential election.
Ihn shifted to a moderate conservative stance after his meeting with President Yoon Suk Yeol in December 2021, shortly after the prosecutor general-turned-political novice secured the PPP primary for the upcoming presidential election. Yoon sought his assistance, prompting Ihn's ideological shift.
“He possesses a frank and affectionate demeanor, speaking candidly and forging warm relationships quickly, even with people he just met. This ability has enabled him to establish rapport with world leaders and achieve notable successes in global diplomatic efforts focused on sales,” he said.
Yoon was appointed by former President Moon Jae-in as the country's top prosecutor in 2019 to arrest two former conservative leaders in a political purge. He eventually became the conservative party's presidential candidate and won the election by a margin of less than 1 percentage point, just one year after entering politics.
Now, facing the upcoming general elections, he finds himself under siege from progressive forces joining hands in an anti-Yoon coalition. Lee Jae-myung, his rival in the presidential election and leader of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), advocates for "harsh judgment against the Yoon administration," while Cho Kuk, a former justice minister during the Moon administration, loudly demands his impeachment.
Both Lee and Cho, along with other candidates of their parties, have been accused or found guilty of various charges. However, their parties enjoy strong popularity in the ongoing campaigns, partly due to Yoon's failure to fulfill his key election promise of upholding "justice and common sense" in public administration, and partly because support has waned due to his perceived failure to energize the South Korean economy.
“The pillars of our society lie in compromise and tolerance. Politicians must abstain from stoking anger for their own partisan conflicts and power struggles. The DPK has forsaken the longstanding virtues of progressivism since leadership shifted to Lee Jae-myung's hands,” he said.
South Korea has succeeded in industrialization and democratization and remodeled the poor and divided state into a robust, democratic economy during the past seven decades. However, it has overlooked endeavors to address the aftermath of rapid economic growth, which is currently marked by income disparity and social inequality.
The enduring legacy of unbalanced development has ignited bitter political clashes between the haves and have-nots, conservative and progressive factions, and the relatively affluent southeastern Yeongnam (Busan and Gyeongsang provinces) and disadvantaged Honam regions, the bastions of the PPP and the DPK, respectively.
The progressive movement ousted President Park Geun-hye from office in 2017 amid a massive corruption scandal, paving the way for Moon to assume the presidency. While the impeachment marked a triumphant conclusion to the so-called "candle revolution," where millions of citizens took to the streets holding candles on weekend nights, it also heralded the start of more intense struggles. According to Ihn, the new power holders monopolized values and left entrenched societal issues unaddressed, signaling a fresh beginning of bitter challenges.
Ihn Yo-han, left, holds hands with People Power Party interim leader Han Dong-hoon during a canvassing event in Seoul, March 25. Joint Press Corps
Huge tasks ahead
In addition to mounting external challenges, South Korea grapples with a plethora of enduring and emergent issues: social conflict, moral decline, sluggish economic growth, a record-low birthrate, and a high suicide rate, among others.
A seasoned physician and a witty optimist who always sees the silver lining beyond the clouds, Ihn appears to be one of the most able politicians capable of diagnosing society's ailments from a physician's perspective and offer effective policy alternatives from the viewpoint of a political outsider.
“Koreans have demonstrated remarkable resilience, triumphing over colonial rule, division of their land, a three-year war, poverty, and myriad other adversities. As a people, we have the capacity to transform every bitter crisis into a better situation,” he said.
Since his youth, he has been characterized by a positive outlook and dynamic activism. During the pro-democracy uprising in Gwangju in 1980 against the military junta led by Army Gen. Chun Doo-hwan, Ihn sought his father's permission and drove a truck from his hometown of Sunchun to Damyang. From there, he walked 25 kilometers to reach the bloody site, risking his life in the pursuit of justice.
"At the age of 21, I served as a voluntary interpreter for foreign journalists at the South Jeolla Provincial Government hall," he recalled, reminiscing about that pivotal moment in history. "The site resembled a vast mortuary. The hall was overrun by armed militia, while the rest of the city was encircled by armed servicemen."
His courageous actions incurred harsh repercussions not only from the U.S. Embassy, but also from the South Korean government. Embassy officials labeled him a "political headache," while local government agents subjected the "subversive" individual to constant surveillance.
Upon returning to Yonsei University to resume his medical studies after the uprising subsided, he volunteered to participate in a student military camp in an effort to demonstrate his innocence, contrary to the accusations of being a "subversive." Notably, students with foreign nationality were not obliged to undergo the short-term drill, highlighting his commitment to dispel any doubts about his loyalty.
His family has a rich tradition of sharing in the glory and shame, honor and disgrace, and joys and pains of the Korean people since 1895. This legacy traces back to Eugene Bell, the father of his grandmother, who took his first step onto a remote village in the hermit kingdom of Joseon as a Southern Presbyterian missionary.
All of his ancestors adhered to the principle of noblesse oblige, dedicating their lifetimes to religious, educational, and welfare services for Koreans. They played pivotal roles in establishing hundreds of churches and schools, leaving a lasting legacy of service and compassion.
Born in 1926 in Gunsan, another city in Honam, his father Hugh Linton, along with his family, was deported to the U.S. by Japanese colonialists in 1940. During World War II, he fought against Japan as a U.S. Navy officer. When North Korea invaded South Korea, the veteran volunteered for Operation Chromite in 1950 and subsequently settled in the Honam area as a missionary.
His father tragically passed away in a taxi on the way to the hospital in 1984, after his truck was struck by a bus. With no ambulance available in Suncheon and lacking medical services, this tragedy spurred him to develop a spacious Korean-style ambulance capable of providing emergency treatment. In recognition of this contribution to Korean society, Ihn was granted Korean nationality through a special naturalization process in 2012.
Having philanthropic roots, Ihn has visited North Korea 29 times since 1997, initially traveling to Pyongyang to donate one of the new-type ambulances. He holds a deep interest in humanitarian aid for the North Korean people. However, he expresses regret over the deadlock in inter-Korean relations, primarily due to repeated nuclear provocations by the Kim Jong-un regime.
He said politicians have to learn former President Kim Dae-jung’s political philosophy of reconciliation and engagement.
“Politicians require a blend of a cool head and a warm heart, whereas statesmen must possess both a cool head and a cool heart. It is the statesmen who can craft strategies that withstand the test of time, even in the event of opposition rivals assuming power.”
Kim Chang-young worked for The Korea Times for 15 years before he assumed the posts of vice spokesman and spokesman of political parties and later served as deputy minister for public relations at the Prime Minister's Office. He has translated and authored books including Bob Woodward's "Bush at War" and "Plan of Attack."
The Korea Times · April 7, 2024
12. All you need to know about Korea's general election
Another helpful article for us. Graphics at the link: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-04-07/national/general2024/All-you-need-to-know-about-the-general-election/2020117
Sunday
April 7, 2024
dictionary + A - A
Published: 07 Apr. 2024, 19:34
Updated: 07 Apr. 2024, 19:56
All you need to know about Korea's general election
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-04-07/national/general2024/All-you-need-to-know-about-the-general-election/2020117
From left: Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, People Power Party leader Han Dong-hoon, Saemirae Party leader Lee Nak-yon, Reform Party leader Lee Jun-seok and Rebuilding Korea Party leader Cho Kuk [YONHAP]
Koreans are likely to feel a sense of déjà vu as they cast their ballots for a new National Assembly on Wednesday in a general election framed as a chance to choose which of the country's two main parties they distrust less.
Although the election is ostensibly about electing 300 lawmakers, the spotlight of the campaign season has fallen mainly on one person who isn’t on the ballot: President Yoon Suk Yeol, who was elected by a razor-thin margin two years ago in what was then called an election between two “unlikeables.”
He has since struggled to maintain support from more than one-third of the electorate amid widespread woes over inflation, livelihood issues and the country’s slowing economy.
The liberal Democratic Party (DP), which has held the National Assembly for the past four years, is determined to make this election a referendum not only about Yoon’s performance but also various controversies surrounding his wife and administration officials. If the party maintains or expands its parliamentary majority, it could hobble Yoon for his remaining three years in office.
But the conservative People Power Party (PPP), which backs Yoon, is urging voters to repudiate the DP and its leader, Lee Jae-myung, who has been dogged by allegations of corruption and bribery since he ran against Yoon in the 2022 presidential election. Should the PPP wrest control of the legislature, the president would also be empowered to pursue wide-ranging but controversial domestic reforms while continuing to draw closer to the United States and Japan.
The framing of the election as a contest of perceptions by both main parties and the media has left little room for debate over policy as the country faces a myriad of challenges with no easy answers, such as a rock-bottom birth rate, sky-high housing prices and ever-rising security threats from North Korea and the broader region.
Why does the election matter?
For Yoon, who is constitutionally limited to a single five-year term in office, this election presents both opportunity and peril. The election is the only occasion that the legislative balance of power could tip in his favor while he is president, but it could also render him an early lame duck if the DP retains its majority.
The DP faces comparatively lower stakes, but losing control of the National Assembly would limit its current ability to check Yoon’s agenda and shape political discourse around his presidency.
Wielding its parliamentary majority, the party has held up presidential appointments and pushed through contentious bills, embarrassing no-confidence motions and probes scrutinizing the Yoon administration.
One recent example is the DP’s railroading of a special counsel probe bill to investigate first lady Kim Keon Hee for her acceptance of a luxury Dior bag from a Korean American pastor, alleged involvement in a stock price manipulation scheme and the rerouting of a planned motorway over land owned by her family.
Although the DP lacked the two-thirds majority necessary to override Yoon’s veto of the bill, its efforts put the president on the back foot and further dented his public standing. If the party wins more than 200 seats in the 300-member legislature, it could simply disregard any opposition from the president.
Ultimately, the composition of the new National Assembly is likely to affect the outlook of the government’s planned reforms in health care, education, labor rights and pensions.
Who are the key players?
One reason why this election is so much about dueling personalities is that both Yoon and Lee have largely succeeded in consolidating control over their parties, leaving little doubt over whose vision and governance style will prevail if either wins a legislative majority.
The president, who made his name as a hard-knuckle prosecutor general investigating key liberal figures before entering politics, cemented his hold over the conservative movement with the ouster of PPP leader Lee Jun-seok in August 2022 and installation of right-hand man Han Dong-hoon, also a former prosecutor who served as justice minister until December.
The PPP’s list of candidates running in the general election is stacked with Yoon loyalists, and 12 of those running under the party’s banner are former presidential officials and aides who did not have to go through internal primaries.
Following his expulsion, Lee Jun-seok now heads his own splinter group, named the Reform Party, but has failed to gain traction in the polls.
A similar situation has played out in the DP, whose slate of candidates is dominated by stalwarts of leader Lee Jae-myung.
Lee won the DP’s presidential nomination in 2021 despite being an outsider in a party traditionally stacked at the top with former leaders of the country’s pro-democracy movement.
Despite losing to Yoon in the 2022 race, he won a seat in the National Assembly through a by-election before going on to claim victory in the party’s leadership contest later that same year.
However, the DP-controlled National Assembly’s unexpected approval of an arrest motion against him on charges of corruption and bribery in September last year prompted his supporting faction within the DP to openly call for retribution against the party’s lawmakers who voted in favor of his arrest.
By declining to nominate 64 of its 163 sitting lawmakers for the upcoming election, the DP has been accused deliberately sidelining candidates deemed insufficiently loyal to Lee.
One of the major figures who left the party in protest over Lee Jae-myung’s leadership is Lee Nak-yon, a former prime minister who founded the Saemirae Party in February to offer liberal-minded voters an alternative to the Lee-dominated DP.
But that splinter party has also barely registered in opinion surveys.
One minor party that could throw a spanner in the traditional two-party contest is the Rebuilding Korea Party, led by former Justice Minister Cho Kuk.
Cho was a rising political star under former President Moon Jae-in until the state prosecution service in 2019, then led by Yoon, launched an investigation into allegations that he and his wife had falsified their children’s academic credentials to give them a leg up in university admissions. Both were later convicted.
The progressive Justice Party, led by Lee Jeong-mi, has in turn formed a coalition with the Green Party, and is considered to be aligned with the DP.
Related Article
What are the parties promising?
Korea is confronting a raft of problems that have long defied solutions: a slowing economy, rising housing prices, a rapidly graying population, a plummeting birth rate and mounting security challenges from the surrounding region.
With the number of voters older than 60 surpassing that of voters in their 20s and 30s for the first time this election, both major parties are scrambling to attract the support of the elderly, who are also increasingly impoverished.
The PPP and DP have pledged to extend national health insurance coverage to caregiver expenses and provide free lunches at senior centers, but failed to explain how they intend to fund such initiatives.
After Yoon pledged to supply 3,000 public rental housing units annually for older people, the DP countered with its own pledge to create 100,000 housing units for older people over the next four years.
Both sides have also laid out new housing subsidy proposals to encourage people to have children, reflecting an increasing sense of urgency over the country’s abysmal birth rate, which last year fell to a new low of 0.72 — far below the 2.1 births per woman needed to maintain a stable population without immigration.
Last week, Yoon said his government would expand eligibility for low-interest housing loans for married couples with newborn children, while the PPP pledged to pass a new child care leave policy entitling workers to up to five days of paid annual leave to care for a sick child.
The DP has proposed more subsidies and advantages for couples to have babies, such as free public housing for families with two or more children, as well as zero-interest loans for newlyweds with at least one child.
Amid the ongoing standoff between the Yoon administration and striking junior doctors over the government’s plan to increase annual medical recruitment by 2,000 spots, PPP leader Han has positioned his party as a mediating force between doctors and the government.
But with both parties so indelibly stamped with the personalities of their respective figureheads, it is perhaps unsurprising that much of their campaigning focuses on stoking voter misgivings about each other.
In his speeches at PPP rallies, Han has repeatedly mentioned criminal allegations against his DP counterpart and opposition candidates in his descriptions of the rival party as a “haven” for corruption and “anti-state forces,” a term often invoked by conservatives to portray liberals as North Korea sympathizers.
The DP chief and Cho, who have been subjected to probes by the state prosecution service, have in turn called on voters to “punish” the government and the PPP, which they characterize as a “dictatorship run by prosecutors” who habitually target liberal rivals for criminal investigation.
An official at the National Election Commission's headquarters in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, monitors CCTV footage of ballot boxes used in early voting that are being stored in various locations on Sunday. [YONHAP]
How is Korea’s National Assembly structured and selected?
Voters in the general election are given two ballots at the polling station: a short one for choosing a candidate to represent their local parliamentary constituency in the National Assembly, and another longer paper to choose one of 38 parties that are competing for seats selected by proportional representation.
Of the National Assembly’s 300 seats, 254 represent regional constituencies where winners are selected by first-past-the-post voting. These directly elected seats are usually contested by only the PPP and the DP.
The remaining 46 spots in the legislature are filled by party-list proportional representation, but two parties on the longer ballot — the People Future Party and the Democratic United Party — are actually satellites created by the PPP and DP to gain extra seats through the parallel voting system.
The minor parties, such as the Rebuilding Korea Party, Saemirae Party, and Reform Party, are expected to gain some seats through proportional representation, potentially affecting the balance of power between the PPP and DP.
Related Article
Where are the most hotly contested constituencies?
In the run-up to the election, rival parties are working especially hard to woo voters in the Seoul metropolitan area, which holds 122, or nearly half, of the 254 directly elected regional constituencies.
The most hotly contested constituencies among the capital’s 48 electoral districts are 11 seats representing the Yeongdeungpo, Gwangjin, Jung, Seongdong, Yongsan and Dongjak districts, which line the Han River.
Other tight races in the capital region that are being closely watched include Seongnam’s Bundang-A constituency, where former presidential hopeful and PPP candidate Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo is running against DP rival Lee Kwang-jae, and Incheon’s Gyeyang-B electoral district, where DP leader Lee is running against Won Hee-ryong, Yoon’s former land minister.
Another key election battleground is the “Nakdong River belt,” which includes nine electoral districts in Busan and neighboring South Gyeongsang where the rival parties are neck-and-neck in polls. In the 2020 general election, the DP won five seats in this region and the PPP won the remaining four.
PPP chief Han spent the weekend campaigning around Chungcheong, another swing region with 28 constituencies up for grabs, while DP leader Lee campaigned in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, which leans conservative.
The DP is expected to sweep the southwestern city of Gwangju and the surrounding Jeolla region, which is traditionally a liberal stronghold.
Related Article
How could the outcome of the general election affect Korea's foreign policy?
Contentious foreign policy issues include relations with Japan, a possible trilateral summit between South Korea, Japan and China and escalating regional tensions tied to North Korea’s continued weapons tests and military cooperation with Russia.
If the PPP wins a majority, the Yoon administration could feel empowered to pursue even closer security cooperation with the United States and Japan. If the DP wins a majority, however, the government could face stronger resistance as it seeks rapprochement with Tokyo, a stance reviled by liberals.
The DP last year strongly criticized the Yoon government’s muted response to Japan’s decision to release treated radioactive water from the ruined Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, although the International Atomic Energy Agency said the plan was safe.
DP leader Lee has also argued the Yoon government should approach relations with China and the United States in a more balanced fashion to avoid being caught in between the superpowers in a potential conflict over Taiwan.
The PPP and DP also differ sharply in their approach to North Korea.
The DP’s campaign has criticized Yoon for Seoul’s deteriorating relationship with Pyongyang. The party argues that trust between the two Koreas can be rebuilt through humanitarian aid and economic cooperation, and that improvements in North Korean human rights will come about from better relations.
For its part, the PPP, which deeply distrusts the North, has focused on expanding state assistance to North Korean defectors and their families.
Where to find more information on the 2024 Korean general election:
General election articles by the Korea JoongAng Daily
National Election Commission website
13. Will Kishida’s political woes put Japan-Korea ties in Jeopardy?
Sunday
April 7, 2024
dictionary + A - A
Published: 07 Apr. 2024, 19:25
Updated: 08 Apr. 2024, 00:09
Will Kishida’s political woes put Japan-Korea ties in Jeopardy?
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-04-07/opinion/columns/Will-Kishidas-political-woes-put-JapanKorea-Ties-in-Jeopardy/2020147
Michael Green
The author is CEO of the U.S. Studies Centre at the University of Sydney and Henry A. Kissinger Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
Japan-Korea relations are like a roller coaster. And the factor that usually proves most important is the political commitment and strength of the leaders in Tokyo and Seoul. Chun Doo Hwan and Nakasone Yasuhiro made progress in the 1980s when both were at the top of their popularity. Kim Dae Jung and Obuchi Keizo issued an historic bilateral joint statement on future relations in 1998 when they both enjoyed the strongest public support of their tenures. Strong leaders sometimes choose not to improve relations — which was the case when Abe Shinzo and Moon Jae-in presided over a negative period in Japan-Korea relations despite having won major elections at home. And international factors such as the pressure of Soviet Russia or Xi Jinping’s China or sometimes American prodding can also be important. But real progress in Japan-Korea relations ultimately comes down to whether the two countries’ leaders have the intent and the political wherewithal to overcome domestic opposition and put bilateral relations on an even keel.
President Yoon Suk Yeol and Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are the most recent leaders to demonstrate that determination and political acumen. Though Xi Jinping’s coercive diplomacy and Joe Biden’s July 2023 Camp David trilateral summit certainly helped, it was Kishida and Yoon who saw the historic opportunity for their countries and seized it.
So what does it mean for Japan-Korea relations now that Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio’s political position is collapsing around him? Plagued by funding scandals, Kishida’s support rate recently hit a new a new low of just 20% in public opinion polls. The speculation in Nagata-cho (Tokyo’s political district) is not whether Kishida will survive, but who will replace him as president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and thus prime minister in the party convention in September. Will the new momentum behind Japan-Korea relations now also collapse — as has happened so often in post-war history?
I do not believe so.
First, President Yoon has seen his own political fortunes rebound in recent months. He now enjoys almost 40% in the polls and one reason for his success is that the public supports his foreign policy, including improved relations with Japan. The Korean public knows that under Moon their country was too isolated from other democracies around the world and that putting Korea back on the global map meant repairing relations with Japan. We will see what happens with April 10 parliamentary elections, but Yoon is in a strong position to help a new Japanese prime minister keep up Kishida’s momentum, whoever it is.
Second, there is now a strong consensus in Tokyo that strong relations with Korea are essential for Japan’s own regional and global position. During the Park and Moon years, I found Japanese strategic experts divided on whether Korea really mattered to Japan when domestic Korean politics were so difficult and there was so much more momentum for Japan in relations with the Quad countries like India and Australia. That dynamic has completely changed. In a soon-to-be published survey of security experts in Tokyo conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington and the U.S. Studies Center in Sydney, over 90% of Japanese strategic experts agreed that continuing to improve relations with Korea was essential for Japan’s own security.
And third, Kishida’s most likely successors have no reason to interrupt the progress being made with Korea — which is an important change from the past. My own list of post-Kishida prime ministers in order of likelihood would go like this:
• Yoko Kamikawa, the current foreign minister, seems poised to be Japan’s first woman prime minister. Harvard-educated and considered a tough law-and-order justice minister in her previous role, there is every reason to believe that she would get on famously with President Yoon. She has the strongest support behind the scenes with strong factional leaders in the LDP, though her public standing is not that much higher than the other contenders.
• Motegi Toshimitsu, the LDP secretary general, was the minister of economy, trade, and industry. Another Harvard grad, Motegi has internationalist instincts and would be inclined to continue Kishida’s Korea policy. He has a prickly personality, though, and his poll numbers and popularity with the LDP are well below the quality of his resume.
• Koizumi Shinjiro, son of former Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro and a former researcher at the Center for Strategic and International Studies under this author, is very popular with younger voters but considered by the elders of the LDP to be still too young for the top job. He has largely focused on domestic issues since returning from Washington and joining the Diet, but I have seen him in action and his internationalism is well entrenched.
• Kono Taro, the former foreign and defense minister, is extremely popular in the United States and especially at his alma mater Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He has struggled in his current role overseeing the digital agency and he threatens older politicians who have jumped on these policy problems to slow him down. He was tough on Korea as Foreign Minister (like Kishida when he had that role) but this was primarily because he was frustrated with the Moon government’s reversal of the agreements struck between Abe and Park Geun-hye. He is instinctively an internationalist thinker who’s father Kono Yohei went to great lengths to strengthen ties with Korea and he could be expected to do the same.
• Sanae Takaichi is the most hawkish and nationalistic of the possible successors to Kishida and might be one to worry Seoul. However, her path to the party leadership seems narrow and political observers have noted that she has very few colleagues joining her study group in the Diet, a sign of weak support in the party. Even if she did become head of the party and Japan’s first female prime minister through backroom factional arrangements, she may well prove a supporter of furthering Japan-Korea ties, focusing her hawkishness on China instead.
• Ishiba Shigeru is somewhat popular with the public, but he has many enemies in the LDP. He would need Kono and Koizumi to back him, but he now represents an older generation and that is not their game. Ishiba’s policy positions are quirky and driven by whim rather than ideology — which makes officials nervous — but there is no reason to suspect he would reverse Kishida’s Korea policy, even if he would reverse many other initiatives.
Of course, it is possible that Kishida survives, but one thing comes through reviewing his possible successors — nobody is going to run against Korea. It appears that for now Korea-Japan relations have enough momentum to withstand political turbulence at home in either country.
.
14. (Yonhap Feature) Vandal Training Center offers live, virtual training for allies
It is nice to see the late Lt Gen Vandal honored with his name on this training center.
(Yonhap Feature) Vandal Training Center offers live, virtual training for allies | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · April 7, 2024
By Kim Eun-jung
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea, April 7 (Yonhap) -- In a room filled with a suffocating odor and the intense sounds of gunfights, a medic rushes to a mannequin lying on the ground, swiftly ripping off its military uniform to provide emergency medical treatment.
Blood gushes from the mannequin's thigh, a result of a gunshot wound. The medic quickly plugs gauze and bandages directly into the hole, attempting to stop the bleeding from an artery.
Under the dim red light, the mannequin's badly mangled right leg continues to twitch.
"This room replicates the chaos of the battlefield as realistically as possible," remarked Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Maldonado during a training session held at the Vandal Training Center in Camp Humphreys, located 60 kilometers south of Seoul.
"There's very little light and no communication. If you can perform under these conditions, then you can likely succeed anywhere else," Maldonado added.
A medic instructor provides emergency treatment to a mannequin soldier during a training session at Vandal Training Center in Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, on April 6, 2024. (Yonhap)
The Medical Simulations Training Center is one of the many cutting-edge training facilities housed within the Vandal Training Center at Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. base abroad.
Named after the late Lt. Gen. Thomas Steven Vandal, former commanding general of the Eighth Army, the US$61 million complex, spanning 23,226 square meters, has provided a diverse array of live, virtual and realistic training opportunities since 2019. Last year alone, over 88,000 U.S. and South Korean military personnel underwent training for a total of 37,000 hours.
The training center unveiled its facilities to a group of reporters Saturday, allowing them firsthand experiences with simulators and the opportunity to familiarize themselves with critical survival procedures in various settings.
Notable among these was the Humvee Egress Assistance Trainer (HEAT), designed to prepare soldiers for vehicle rollovers and emergency egress scenarios.
If the truck rolls beyond 30 degrees, vehicle crews are trained to anticipate the impending roll before it is completely turned upside down to prepare for their emergency exit.
Training on HEAT has shown a significant increase in survival rates, with soldiers trained on the simulator demonstrating a 250 percent greater chance of survival in emergencies compared with untrained individuals, a training instructor said.
An instructor turns the Humvee egress assistance trainer to simulate rollovers during a media session at Vandal Training Center in Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek on April 6, 2024. (Yonhap)
The center offers immersive training experiences for tank crews through the M1A2 tank simulator, replicating real-life combat scenarios in a game-like setting.
The simulator is equipped with crew positions for a commander, a gunner, a driver and an instructor position to train them in modern warfare settings.
An instructor trains reporters on a M1A2 tank simulator at Vandal Training Center in Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek on April 6, 2024. (Yonhap)
In addition to ground vehicle simulations, water survival training is available at a 3.5-meter-deep swimming pool to ensure comprehensive readiness across various combat environments.
During a session, rescue divers and swimmers demonstrated how to save pilots from a ditched, rapidly sinking helicopter, using a training simulator cage that combines the environments of CH-47 and UH-60 helicopters.
Joseph Crandall, a water survival training manager, emphasized the necessity of repeated training to teach crews how to escape and find their way up and out of upside-down helicopters.
"You're now fish food and don't climb up," Crandall said as one reporter failed to properly egress the cockpit within a set time period. "This is why you need a class to be trained for the emergency."
Divers rescue a helicopter pilot during an underwater egress training held at Vandal Training Center in Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek on April 6, 2024. (Yonhap)
Based on know-how from operating the center, U.S. officials said they will explore ways to link the Vandal Training Center with other high-tech training complexes to enhance interoperability and military readiness.
Gen. Charles Flynn, commander of the U.S. Army Pacific, highlighted plans to connect advanced training centers like the Vandal Training Center with other facilities, such as the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center and the Korean Combat Training Center, in the future.
"We're going to try to link those centers up with simulations run right out here on the Vandal Training Center to do live, virtual and constructive training environments for the forces in the field," Flynn said during an interview with Yonhap News Agency at the center Saturday.
"That creates all kinds of additional levels of complexity so people become proficient at their individual skills, small unit skills and collective skills," he added.
ejkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Eun-jung · April 7, 2024
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
| 
