Informal Institute for National Security Thinkers and Practitioners

Quotes of the Day:

"Nothing is more securely lodged than the ignorance of experts."

- Friedrich August von Hayek

“It will begin with its President taking a simple, firm resolution. The resolution will be: To forego the diversions of politics and to concentrate on the job of ending the Korean war–until that job is honorably done. That job requires a personal trip to Korea. I shall make that trip. Only in that way could I learn how best to serve the American people in the cause of peace. I shall go to Korea.”

- Republican presidential nominee Dwight D. Eisenhower laying out his plan for ending the Korean War, October 25, 1952.

"Every deep thinking is more afraid of being understood than of being misunderstood."

- Friedrich Nietzsche

1. U.S., South Korea hold largest-ever live-fire drill near DMZ

2. South Korea launches first commercial-grade satellite, as North Korea plans first spy satellite

3. US has credible deterrence against NK, seeks to institutionalize trilateral cooperation with S. Korea, Japan: officials

4. Can free and unified Korea create economy aimed toward its youth?

5. N. Korea sends hacking emails using fake accounts

6. Why North and South Korea Have Big Ambitions in Space: An ‘Unblinking Eye’

7. The U.S. and South Korea Hold Largest-Ever Live-Fire Drills

8. Kim's daughter seen in public may be his 1st child: head of state-run think tank

9. Pyongyang slams EU for 'inciting hostility' on Korean Peninsula

10. Presidential office denies Japanese news report on Yoon's possible visit to Ukraine

11. South Korean Artillery Supply Allows U.S. to Delay Decision on Cluster Munitions for Ukraine

12. Unification ministry's NK report disclaimer creates controversy

13. North Korea’s War Against Outside Information and Culture

14. North Korea to Send More IT Workers Abroad to Fund Arms, US Says

15. 5 Nuri rocket satellites make successful communication

1. U.S., South Korea hold largest-ever live-fire drill near DMZ

Good. There should never be any doubt as to the power of the combined ROK/US military even if north Korea has more tanks and missiles than the alliance. (See north and South military comparison here: https://www.globalfirepower.com/countries-comparison-detail.php?country1=north-korea&country2=south-korea)

Excerpt:

The exercise demonstrated the "realization of 'peace through strength' with overwhelming cutting-edge military capabilities," the South's Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.

U.S., South Korea hold largest-ever live-fire drill near DMZ - UPI.com

upi.com

1/9

The United States and South Korea kicked off their largest-ever combined live-fire exercise Thursday in Pocheon, South Korea, just 15 miles south of the DMZ. Photo by Thomas Maresca/UPI

POCHEON, South Korea, May 25 (UPI) -- The United States and South Korea held their largest-ever combined live-fire exercise on Thursday at a training site just miles from the demilitarized zone as tensions remain high with nuclear-armed North Korea.

Thursday's drill, the first of its kind in six years, took place at the Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, 15 miles south of the inter-Korean border.

The exercise demonstrated the "realization of 'peace through strength' with overwhelming cutting-edge military capabilities," the South's Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.

It also commemorated the 70th anniversary of the U.S.-South Korea alliance and the 75th anniversary of the founding of the South Korean military, the ministry said.

Some 2,500 troops and more than 600 assets, including F-35A stealth fighters, AH-64 Apache attack helicopters and K2 tanks, took part before a crowd of soldiers and invited civilians watching from a viewing stand.

The show of force comes amid a state of heightened tensions with Pyongyang, which has kept up a record pace of weapons tests since last year, including the April launch of its first solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected a military reconnaissance satellite last week and gave the go-ahead for its launch.

Washington and Seoul, meanwhile, have shored up their military cooperation over the past year and have returned to large-scale joint exercises. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden recently adopted the Washington Declaration, an enhanced nuclear cooperation pact that will include greater information sharing and visits by U.S. nuclear submarines to South Korea.

North Korea has regularly condemned the allies' joint exercises as preparation for an invasion. Last week, state-run Korean Central News Agency called the upcoming live-fire drill "a typical [N]orth-targeted war rehearsal."

"We cannot but take a more serious note of the fact that they are going to make gunfire in such dangerous war exercises, which will last for more than 20 days, frantically in an area only a few kilometers away from our front," the unsigned KCNA commentary said.

The allies "are bound to face corresponding responses for their madcap nuclear war racket," the article added.

The 130-minute program on Thursday "strengthen[ed] North Korea deterrence through realistic maneuvers and live-fire exercises based on North Korean provocation scenarios," the Defense Ministry statement said.

After introductory videos and a high-volume playlist of martial songs and heavy metal music, rocket launchers began a barrage that struck targets across the training field, sending out thunderous shockwaves and clouds of billowing smoke.

South Korean forces continued the assault with ground and air assets, including K2 battle tanks, K21 armored vehicles, F-35A fighters, AH-64E Apache and AH-1S Cobra attack helicopters.

U.S. Forces Korea also deployed M270A1 multiple launch rocket systems, M1135 nuclear, biological, chemical, reconnaissance vehicles and Apache helicopters.

"[The exercise] sends a message generally to the whole world about how strong the alliance is," U.S. Army Capt. Anthony Lopez told reporters after the drill. "It creates a shared understanding and it helps us learn how we can better create a stronger alliance through these interoperability exercises."

The allies plan to stage the combined exercise four more times through June 15.

upi.com

2. South Korea launches first commercial-grade satellite, as North Korea plans first spy satellite

The north-South space race.

South Korea launches first commercial-grade satellite, as North Korea plans first spy satellite

AP · May 25, 2023

1 of 5

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea successfully launched a commercial-grade satellite for the first time Thursday as part of its growing space development program, as rival North Korea is pushing to place its first military spy satellite into orbit.

The two Koreas, technically in a state of war, have no military reconnaissance satellites of their own and both are eager to possess them. The South Korean launch Thursday will likely assist its efforts to develop a space-based surveillance system.

The domestically built three-stage Nuri rocket lifted off from a launch facility on a southern island with a payload of eight satellites, including a main commercial-grade satellite whose mission is to verify radar imaging technology and observe cosmic radiation in a near-Earth orbit.

Science Minister Lee Jong Ho later told a televised news conference that the launch was successful, saying it proved the rocket’s reliability and South Korea’s potential to operate various satellites and explore space.

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Lee said seven of the eight satellites including the main one were successfully released from the rocket. He said more time is required to confirm the release of the eighth satellite.

“Today, we confirmed that dreams can come true,” South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol wrote on Facebook. “I hope our future generations have a great dream and challenge while looking at the Nuri rocket soaring into space.”

The launch boosted South Korea’s hopes of catching up with Asian neighbors such as China, Japan and India in a regional space race. Lee, the science minister, said South Korea plans to conduct three more Nuri rocket launches by 2027 and will seek to develop more advanced launch vehicles.

The launch was initially scheduled for Wednesday but was postponed at the last minute due to a technical problem.

Last year, South Korea used a Nuri rocket to place a “performance verification satellite” in orbit, becoming the world’s 10th nation to send a satellite into space with its own technology. But that launch was primarily designed to test the rocket.

Many experts say Thursday’s launch will also help South Korea accumulate technologies and knowhow to operate military spy satellites and build long-range missiles.

South Korea is expected to launch its first spy satellite later this year. It currently relies on U.S. spy satellites to monitor North Korean facilities.

Lee Choon Geun, an honorary research fellow at South Korea’s Science and Technology Policy Institute, noted that the satellite launched Thursday is designed to be placed in a sun-synchronous orbit, which is typically used for reconnaissance satellites.

South Korea already has missiles capable of reaching all of North Korea. But experts say it needs longer-range missiles to prepare for future security threats from potential adversaries China and Russia.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula remain high following North Korea’s barrage of missiles tests since the beginning of last year. Some of the tests demonstrated its potential ability to launch nuclear strikes on the mainland U.S. and South Korea and Japan.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is seeking to develop more sophisticated weapons systems, including a spy satellite, to cope with what he calls intensifying U.S. and South Korean hostilities. Analysts say Kim wants to use an expanded weapons arsenal to win greater concessions from Washington in future dealings.

“North Korea must be so concerned about the South Korean satellite launch Thursday because much of Kim Jong Un’s interest now is in possessing a spy satellite,” said Moon Seong Mook, an analyst for the Seoul-based Korea Research Institute for National Strategy. “He has a strong desire to launch a spy satellite before South Korea does.”

Recent commercial satellite imagery of North Korea’s main launch center in the northwest shows activities that suggest “a new level of urgency in making the site ready to accommodate satellite launches,” 38 North, a North Korea-focused website, said Wednesday. It said the images indicate progress on a new launch pad is moving forward “at a remarkable pace.”

Last week, Kim examined a finished spy satellite and approved a plan for its launch during a visit to the country’s aerospace agency.

The spy satellite disclosed in North Korean state media doesn’t appear sophisticated enough to produce high-resolution imagery. But Lee, the expert at the Science and Technology Policy Institute, said it is likely to be capable of monitoring deployment of U.S. strategic assets such as an aircraft carrier and the movements of South Korean warships and fighter jets.

AP · May 25, 2023

3. US has credible deterrence against NK, seeks to institutionalize trilateral cooperation with S. Korea, Japan: officials

Excerpts:

"We want to make clear, in as strong as possible terms, that our extended deterrence commitment to the ROK is ironclad, is backed by the full range of our capabilities, including conventional capabilities and nuclear capabilities," said Mohandas.

Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, insisted that the Washington Declaration has also reaffirmed South Korea's confidence in U.S. extended deterrence.

The Pentagon officials emphasized the importance of U.S.-South Korea-Japan trilateral cooperation, highlighting the recent thaw in the Seoul-Tokyo relations that they said was possible due to the courage and bravery of the South Korean president and his Japanese counterpart.

US has credible deterrence against NK, seeks to institutionalize trilateral cooperation with S. Korea, Japan: officials

The Korea Times · May 26, 2023

Siddharth Mohandas, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, is seen speaking during a seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank based in Washington, in this captured image, May 25. Yonhap

The United States maintains ready and capable deterrence against North Korea's evolving threats together with its key allies South Korea and Japan, ranking U.S. officials said Thursday.

They also said the U.S. seeks to institutionalize trilateral defense cooperation between the three countries.

"We share the widespread concern about North Korea's nuclear and missile programs, certainly a concern shared by our allies in the region, notably Japan and the ROK," Siddharth Mohandas, deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, said during a seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

"I think what we do in response is to ensure that we, alongside our allies, are maintaining combat credible deterrence," he added, noting that North Korea has fired some 80 ballistic missiles since the start of last year.

ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.

Mohandas noted that U.S. deterrence against North Korean threats begins with its conventional capabilities, including some 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, and that it is backed by Washington's ironclad commitment to providing extended deterrence to Seoul.

Extended deterrence refers to U.S. commitment to help defense its ally, using all its military capabilities, including nuclear.

President Joe Biden agreed to bolster U.S. commitment to extended deterrence last month when he and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol signed a bilateral agreement, dubbed the Washington Declaration, that calls for increased deployment and visibility of U.S. strategic assets to and around the Korean Peninsula.

"We want to make clear, in as strong as possible terms, that our extended deterrence commitment to the ROK is ironclad, is backed by the full range of our capabilities, including conventional capabilities and nuclear capabilities," said Mohandas.

Ely Ratner, assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, insisted that the Washington Declaration has also reaffirmed South Korea's confidence in U.S. extended deterrence.

The Pentagon officials emphasized the importance of U.S.-South Korea-Japan trilateral cooperation, highlighting the recent thaw in the Seoul-Tokyo relations that they said was possible due to the courage and bravery of the South Korean president and his Japanese counterpart.

"I think the flipside of that is that it is actually in our interest, in all three countries' interest to seek to protect military and defense cooperation from the vicissitudes of politics, and I think the way we do that is by trying to do everything we can to institutionalize trilateral cooperation going forward," Mohandas told the seminar.

Ratner said the U.S. is doing everything it can to institutionalize U.S. network of alliances and partnerships in the region to be "more durable." (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · May 26, 2023

4. Can free and unified Korea create economy aimed toward its youth?

Conclusion:

If young Koreans saw unification as a one in 500 years opportunity to reinvent both the North and South and create a democratic economy that permitted them to build their own futures, there would be no more opposition to unification. If anything, we would see the start of a mass movement that would change our world.

Can free and unified Korea create economy aimed toward its youth?

The Korea Times · May 25, 2023

By Emanuel Pastreich

It has become a common practice for Koreans trying to explain their country to foreigners to remark that young Koreans are opposed to the unification of the Korean Peninsula because they fear a loss of job opportunities.

Although this statement in itself has been reaffirmed by multiple public opinion surveys, it is deeply flawed and profoundly misleading. This is because Korean youth form their opinions based on tired tales repeated in the media, which highlight how unification might hurt them. They fear the economic impact of unification because no one has ever mentioned a single positive benefit of a free and unified Korea in newspaper articles or television broadcasts.

Those surveys do not ask them whether they would support a free and unified Korea if it allowed them to transform Korea's inflexible society, in which they live, and to create businesses with other youth that allow them to be CEOs, to be entrepreneurs.

If young Koreans thought that unification meant that they could realize their own potential without being subject to grueling exams at universities aimed at preparing them for ruthless job interviews, I am certain that all of them would back a free and unified Korea.

Unification is not something that one chooses at a fast-food restaurant, like a Pepsi or Coke. Unification for Korea will be the result of complex geopolitical forces beyond the power of the individual, which combine with inspiring visions of Korea's future that are powerfully articulated by individuals.

If the Korean Peninsula moves toward unification in the years ahead, then unification will not be stopped, nor even slowed down, by the opinions offered in newspapers.

If there is a choice, it will be a choice between an inspiring and constructive unification that transforms Korea, East Asia and the world and a grey, lackluster, bureaucratic unification that benefits the few.

Unification, if properly articulated, offers the potential for Korean youth, in both the North and the South, to realize their dreams and to play a substantial role in the formation of a society that they could never achieve in the currently divided nation.

Unification should not be about the short-term interests of Korean conglomerates who want to build factories and exploit cheap North Korean labor, or build highways and expensive shopping malls in Pyongyang, which poor people in North Korea cannot afford.

The nature of finance in a unified Korea will be critical to the future of the youth of the North and the South.

I have found the writings of Preston Moon about how financial reform can catalyze a transformative unification of the Korean Peninsula to be inspiring and to offer a workable blueprint for Korean youth, and youth around the world.

Moon envisions a profound type of financial reform that changes the role of banks and money and that would allow innovative and energetic youth in Korea to have access to the funding that they need to realize their dreams.

The greatest frustration for young people in Korea, graduating high school or college with a solid education, is that there is no support for their dreams.

Banks cater to Korean conglomerates and finance projects that offer few opportunities for innovative young Koreans.

Moon suggests a revolution in finance whereby young Koreans would have access to the financial help they need to start their own businesses, in their own communities.

Moon extends this vision so that the future of finance includes a larger spiritual and social movement, what he calls "the Korean dream," which embodies the best of the Korean tradition. At the heart of this vision is the ancient Korean vision of "hongik," an inclusive human society that is committed to mutually beneficial situations and inclusivity.

Whereas the beneficiaries of conglomerate-dominated Korea are a tiny handful of men, mainly old men, this new concept of finance inspired by the "hongik" philosophy could bring together the youth in the North and South to form businesses and associations that are focused on the real needs of future generations.

A unification project that empowers youth in both the North and South to work together to create a new society focused on the vitality of youth, will have the power to transform the entire world, not just Korea.

Imagine if the role of finance was to support the creative projects that young people come up with after late-night brainstorming sessions with their peers in the North. Nothing could do more to bring new hope and promise to Korea, to create peace and stability in the region.

If young Koreans saw unification as a one in 500 years opportunity to reinvent both the North and South and create a democratic economy that permitted them to build their own futures, there would be no more opposition to unification. If anything, we would see the start of a mass movement that would change our world.

Emanuel Pastreich is researcher at Council on East Asian Studies, Yale University and senior fellow at Global Peace Foundation.

The Korea Times · May 25, 2023

5. N. Korea sends hacking emails using fake accounts

This is part of the regime's active subversion campaign in support of its political warfare strategy against the ROK.

N. Korea sends hacking emails using fake accounts

donga.com

Posted May. 26, 2023 07:55,

Updated May. 26, 2023 07:55

N. Korea sends hacking emails using fake accounts. May. 26, 2023 07:55. yea@donga.com.

North Korea has been revealed to have sent approximately 68% of the "hacking emails" targeting individuals and organizations in South Korea over the past three years by impersonating officials from domestic portal sites such as Naver and Kakao.

On Thursday, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) released a report titled "Cyber Attacks and Damages by North Korean Hacking Organizations from 2020 to 2022," containing such information. According to the NIS, the most prevalent method used by North Korea in hacking attacks was through email, accounting for 74% of the cases. North Korean hacking organizations would send emails disguised as if they were from the administrators of portal sites like Naver, and upon clicking on the email, malicious codes would be implanted in the victim's computer, or their account information would be extracted. Other methods employed by North Korean hackers included exploiting vulnerabilities in computer security programs (20%) and spreading malware through "watering hole" attacks, where users are lured into accessing specific websites (3%).

Among the institutions most frequently impersonated by North Korea in the hacking emails, Naver topped the list with 45%, followed by Kakao with 23%. Financial, corporate, broadcasting, and media entities accounted for 12%, while diplomatic and security-related institutions made up 6%. Particularly, North Korean hacking organizations cleverly modified one or two characters in the official names of companies, such as“Neiver Customer Center,” and used these modified names as the sender's name in the emails. The subject lines of these emails included phrases like "The usage of your account has been restricted" or "Overseas login blocking has been activated." Additionally, North Korea attempted to deceive individuals and organizations who opened the emails by urging them to click on buttons such as "Register your account again" or "Delete cookies," thus allowing the hackers to steal personal information. The email addresses of the senders were also disguised as "Navor" or "Daurn," aiming to trick users into opening the emails unknowingly.

"Even if the sender's name in the email is the same as 'Naver,' the icons for legitimate emails and hacking emails are different," an official from the NIS advised. "It is crucial to verify whether an 'administrator' icon is attached to the sender's name and whether the sender's email address is correct."

한국어

donga.com

6. Why North and South Korea Have Big Ambitions in Space: An ‘Unblinking Eye’

The space race in Northeast Asia.

Why North and South Korea Have Big Ambitions in Space: An ‘Unblinking Eye’

Seoul’s technology advances as Pyongyang prepares a first-ever launch of a spy satellite

By Dasl YoonFollow

May 25, 2023 12:00 pm ET

https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-north-and-south-korea-have-big-ambitions-in-space-an-unblinking-eye-c0361b33?utm_source=pocket_saves

SEOUL—The two Koreas are elevating a space race aimed at modernizing how each country monitors the other’s improving military firepower.

As hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough have dimmed in recent years, North and South Korea have grown more antagonistic toward one another and upped their displays of military might. They have traded missile tests. Pyongyang has sent drones that flew over downtown Seoul. South Korea has sharpened security and defense ties with the U.S. and Japan.

The rise in tensions has elevated the importance—and need—for spy-satellite technology that neither country now has.

South Korea cleared a significant technological marker on Thursday, launching multiple commercial satellites aboard a homegrown rocket for the first time. North Korea’s Kim Jong Un regime stands poised to soon fly its first military reconnaissance satellite.

Nuri, South Korea’s three-stage liquid-fuel rocket, blasted off at 6:24 p.m. local time Thursday from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, a city on the country’s southern coast. The 200-ton rocket launched into space and deployed eight satellites into orbit about 342 miles above Earth, about 13 minutes after liftoff.

A crowd watched the Thursday blastoff of South Korea’s homegrown space rocket Nuri from the space center in Goheung. PHOTO: YONHAP/SHUTTERSTOCK

Seoul has the clear technological advantage, weapons analysts say, though Pyongyang has been quick to advance its sanctioned missile program to develop long-range rockets that can carry satellites. Both nations remain years away from having a full-fledged network of spy satellites. But attaining the technology would allow the countries to identify military targets to precisely launch strikes during potential conflict without relying on their allies’ satellite technology for information.

In North Korea’s case, space-based satellite technology is essential for its nuclear strategy. Having eyes in the sky would serve as an additional asset to launching nuclear strikes with better accuracy, said Yang Uk, a military expert at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank in Seoul. Should the technology progress enough, North Korea could potentially identify nuclear strike targets in the U.S., he added.

“This triggers concerns for the U.S. and its neighbors in the region,” Yang said.

The U.S. possesses the most military satellites in the world, and allies like South Korea rely on Washington for information, such as monitoring the Kim regime’s strategic facilities. But Seoul has long held ambitions to harness an independent space reconnaissance program. Doing so, South Korean officials have said, would enable the country to keep an “unblinking eye” on their northern neighbors.

Furthermore, Seoul’s military has been in the process of regaining full operational control of its military from Washington, which South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said would require South Korea to secure and operate reconnaissance assets.

An image released by North Korea shows leader Kim Jong Un, with fingers crossed, inspecting a military reconnaissance satellite at an undisclosed location. PHOTO: STR/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES

South Korea’s homegrown rocket Nuri, which means “world” in Korean, serves no military purposes, though the technology is overlapping and places the country among a rarefied group of nations that have developed rockets that can carry a satellite weighing more than 1 ton into space. The main satellite carried by Nuri is tasked with validating imaging radar technology and observing cosmic radiation, according to the science ministry.

As South Korea has vowed to strengthen its deterrence posture along with the U.S., it is important for the country to advance domestic technology that could aid the allies’ combined forces in countering North Korea, said Kim Gi-bum, an associate research fellow at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, a state-funded think tank in Seoul.

“South Korea taking steps forward in space-based technology contributes to the joint posture of Washington and Seoul,” Kim said.

South Korea has sent satellites using foreign rocket technology into space since the early 1990s. The country plans to launch its first homegrown spy satellite in November atop a SpaceX rocket, and place five homegrown reconnaissance satellites into orbit by 2025.

North Korea is preparing a satellite launch of its own. Last week, the country’s leader, Kim, examined the country’s first military reconnaissance satellite, calling it crucial in countering the U.S. and South Korea. North Korean state media said the satellite was ready to be loaded onto a rocket but didn’t disclose when the launch would happen. The military reconnaissance satellite is one of Kim’s key pursuits in the five-year weapons strategy revealed in January 2021.

A South Korean news program in December broadcast a North Korean rocket lift off with a test satellite. PHOTO: KIM JAE-HWAN/ZUMA PRESS

But North Korea would need at least 24 large and smaller satellites in space to monitor the Korean Peninsula around the clock, meaning Pyongyang would continuously launch military satellites into space, said Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.

North Korea has launched satellites into orbit in 2012 and 2016, but they are considered nonfunctional dead satellites that cannot transmit any data back. Even if North Korea successfully launches a military satellite into orbit and it can relay data, the images would have limited use unless they have a constellation of numerous satellites in orbit, as they would provide less information than images from commercial vendors, said Markus Schiller, a rocket scientist at ST Analytics, a research and consulting firm in Munich.

The United Nations Security Council has banned North Korea from launching satellites into space, because such launches can be used to test long-range ballistic-missile technology. Last week, a spokesman for South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said North Korea’s military satellite launch would be met with a firm response.

Based on photos released by state media last week, North Korea’s hexagon-shaped satellite appears to weigh about 440 to 660 pounds, weapons analysts said. Kim hailed the satellite as a technological advance that will provide real-time information about the military movements of the U.S. and its allies.

“Launching the satellite won’t pose an immediate military threat, but it will prove they possess the technology to launch more,” Kim of the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses said.

Write to Dasl Yoon at dasl.yoon@wsj.com

Appeared in the May 26, 2023, print edition as 'Both Koreas Hold Big Space Ambitions'.

7. The U.S. and South Korea Hold Largest-Ever Live-Fire Drills

Excerpts:

These live-fire drills follow a visit by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to the White House last month. The visit, which included a state dinner, resulted in a declaration signed by Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden that committed to enhancing nuclear deterrence coordination between the two allies. The declaration also aimed to reassure South Korea that it remains protected under the U.S. nuclear umbrella and thus doesn’t need to consider acquiring its own nuclear arsenal—a diplomatic move that Graham Allison called a “big win for Team USA” and for nuclear nonproliferation.

North Korea previously warned that it would not tolerate what it calls “war rehearsals” and said the United States and South Korea would face unspecified consequences for their “madcap nuclear war racket.” Pyongyang has test-launched more than 100 missiles since the beginning of 2022 in what it says is a response to expanded military drills, though most experts say the primary aim is to improve its weapons development.

The U.S. and South Korea Hold Largest-Ever Live-Fire Drills

The exercises seek to deter North Korea and maintain “peace through overwhelming strength.”

By Emily Tamkin, a global affairs journalist and the author of The Influence of Soros and Bad Jews.

Foreign Policy · by Emily Tamkin · May 25, 2023

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at the United States and South Korea holding military drills, a boycott by the Indian opposition, and refugee relocation in Malawi.

“Peace Through Overwhelming Strength”

The U.S. and South Korean militaries held their largest-ever live-fire drills near the North Korean border on Thursday, the first of five rounds of such drills that will be carried out between now and the middle of the next month. The exercises marked seven decades of military alliance between the two countries and were intended to demonstrate their ability to counter threats from North Korea in order to maintain “peace through overwhelming strength.”

The so-called combined annihilation firepower drills involved 2,500 troops and 610 weapons systems, including attack helicopters and tanks. By comparison, the most recent such exercises in 2017 involved about 2,000 troops and 250 weapons systems. The U.S. and South Korean militaries also conducted large field exercises earlier this year.

These live-fire drills follow a visit by South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol to the White House last month. The visit, which included a state dinner, resulted in a declaration signed by Yoon and U.S. President Joe Biden that committed to enhancing nuclear deterrence coordination between the two allies. The declaration also aimed to reassure South Korea that it remains protected under the U.S. nuclear umbrella and thus doesn’t need to consider acquiring its own nuclear arsenal—a diplomatic move that Graham Allison called a “big win for Team USA” and for nuclear nonproliferation.

North Korea previously warned that it would not tolerate what it calls “war rehearsals” and said the United States and South Korea would face unspecified consequences for their “madcap nuclear war racket.” Pyongyang has test-launched more than 100 missiles since the beginning of 2022 in what it says is a response to expanded military drills, though most experts say the primary aim is to improve its weapons development.

Foreign Policy · by Emily Tamkin · May 25, 2023

8. Kim's daughter seen in public may be his 1st child: head of state-run think tank

All we can do right now is speculate

Kim's daughter seen in public may be his 1st child: head of state-run think tank | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 김수연 · May 26, 2023

SEOUL, May 26 (Yonhap) -- The daughter of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un who has been seen in public may be his first child and she may be one of the "candidates" who could inherit his power, the head of a state-run think tank specialized in North Korea said Friday.

The remarks by Koh Yu-hwan, head of the Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, were compared with an assessment by South Korea's spy agency, which told lawmakers that the daughter, Ju-ae, is Kim's second child.

The National Intelligence Service has said Kim is believed to have three children and there is intelligence that his first child is a son, with the gender of the third one being unknown.

"Personally, I think there is a high possibility that Ju-ae may be the first child of (Kim Jong-un)," Koh told reporters without disclosing the grounds for his claim.

He said it is too early to say that Ju-ae has been groomed as a successor to the current leader, but he thinks she appears to be among "candidates" of the next leader.

Ju-ae, believed to be 10 years old, has shown up at military events since her first public appearance in November last year, when she attended the firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile, along with her father.

Despite her frequent appearance in state media, many observers see the possibility of Ju-ae becoming a hereditary successor as low, given the North's patriarchal society and the rumored existence of an eldest son among Kim's children.

This photo, carried by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on May 17, 2023, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un (R) inspecting the country's non-permanent committee designed to prepare for the launch of a military spy satellite, along with his daughter, known as Ju-ae. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

sooyeon@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 김수연 · May 26, 2023

9. Pyongyang slams EU for 'inciting hostility' on Korean Peninsula

The regime needs to cultivate more enemies.

But on a serious note, this recognition that north Korea is a global threat.

Pyongyang slams EU for 'inciting hostility' on Korean Peninsula | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 김나영 · May 25, 2023

SEOUL, May 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Thursday denounced the European Union (EU) for "inciting confrontation and hostility" on the Korean Peninsula, in response to a recent South Korea-EU summit, during which the leaders condemned Pyongyang's nuclear and missile provocations.

Citing an article by North Korean international affairs analyst Pak Myong-chol, the official Korean Central News Agency accused the EU of pursuing an "unbalanced" policy in favor of South Korea to gain its support for Ukraine.

"The EU, getting exposed to a security crisis after the outbreak of the Ukrainian event ... is now extending their begging hand even to South Korea completely subordinated to the U.S. militarily and taking a very unfair and prejudiced stand on the Korean Peninsula issue at the end of its desperate efforts for winning military support for Ukraine," the report said.

On Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel held a summit with President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul and issued a joint statement condemning Pyongyang's repeated ballistic missile launches and nuclear threats.

The European leaders also visited the Demilitarized Zone which separates the two Koreas on the same day.

The report said the EU has lost its "strategic independence almost completely" under its alliance with the United States.

"The EU should awake to the fact that if it blindly follows the U.S. hostile policy toward the DPRK as now, it will be held accountable for escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula together with the U.S.,"

DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the North's official name.

The article also noted that during their visit to Seoul, the EU leaders called the North's nuclear programs a threat to regional peace and said the EU won't accept North Korea's possession of nuclear weapons

"The EU had better get used to the status of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state now," the analyst said, noting it has never asked the EU to recognize North Korea as a nuclear weapons state.

President Yoon Suk Yeol (C) speaks during a joint press briefing with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen (R) and European Council President Charles Michel after their talks at the presidential office in Seoul on May 22, 2023. (Yonhap)

nyway@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 김나영 · May 25, 2023

10. Presidential office denies Japanese news report on Yoon's possible visit to Ukraine

The Japanese press has been notoriously inaccurate in past reports.

Presidential office denies Japanese news report on Yoon's possible visit to Ukraine | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 김한주 · May 26, 2023

SEOUL, May 26 (Yonhap) -- The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol on Friday denied a Japanese news report that Yoon could visit Ukraine in July.

Japanese broadcaster TBS reported Thursday, citing multiple Japanese government sources, that discussions are under way about Yoon attending a NATO summit to be held in Lithuania in July, and he could visit the war-torn Ukraine before or after the summit.

"There is no such plan whatsoever," a senior presidential official told Yonhap News Agency. "Only when there is a qualitative change in our assistance to Ukraine would it be possible to make a visit and hold a summit."

South Korea has sent various forms of nonlethal aid to Ukraine but has stayed away from weapons aid.

Yoon met for the first time with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the margins of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on Sunday and promised additional aid, including demining equipment and ambulances.

Another presidential official dismissed the report as "inaccurate," expressing concerns that such misleading reports could undermine trust between the two countries.

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) shakes hands with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during an expanded session of the Group of Seven summit in Hiroshima, Japan, on May 21, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

khj@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 김한주 · May 26, 2023

11. South Korean Artillery Supply Allows U.S. to Delay Decision on Cluster Munitions for Ukraine

Partners in the arsenal of democracy.

But Ukraine needs DPICM.

South Korean Artillery Supply Allows U.S. to Delay Decision on Cluster Munitions for Ukraine

White House considers sending weapons banned by more than 110 nations

https://www.wsj.com/articles/south-korean-artillery-supply-allows-u-s-to-delay-decision-on-cluster-munitions-for-ukraine-4e41c04b?utm_source=pocket_saves

By Gordon LuboldFollow

and Michael R. GordonFollow

May 24, 2023 10:00 am ET

WASHINGTON—South Korea is proceeding with the transfer of hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds for Ukraine, a move that U.S. officials said would make Kyiv’s planned offensive against Russian forces effective and allow the White House to delay a fraught decision about whether to supply cluster munitions banned by many countries.

The decision marks a turnabout by Seoul, which had pledged the artillery in November but then balked at providing lethal assistance, following months of U.S. pleas for help as the Pentagon’s own supply of artillery dwindles.

Under the confidential arrangement, South Korea is transferring the shells to the U.S., which in turn has arranged for them to be sent to Ukraine. The White House declined to comment, as did a South Korean government spokesman in Seoul.

The Pentagon declined to say how the shells are being sent or when the transfer is to be completed, but acknowledged that it has been in discussion with Seoul on buying its ammunition.

South Korea’s contribution of rounds has enabled the Biden administration to delay for now a decision on whether to send cluster munitions—the “dual-purpose improved conventional munition” in Pentagon parlance—to the Ukrainians.

“Cluster munitions would provide a missing piece for the Ukrainian counteroffensive to complement their precision medium-range missiles, tanks and troops,” said Michael O’Hanlon of the Brookings Institution, an independent Washington research organization. “But for those in the administration unready to make that leap, unitary 155 shells would meet some of the same requirements.”

President Biden hosted South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol at the White House in April. PHOTO: ANDREW HARNIK/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The breakthrough on South Korea’s ammunition supply comes soon after Washington and Seoul issued a joint declaration on security issues during South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol’s visit to Washington last month, another move to strengthen ties.

That declaration gave Seoul a greater voice in consultations over a potential American nuclear response to a North Korean attack, in return for a pledge to forgo the development of its own nuclear weapons.

Yoon said during his visit that the international community should stand up to Russian aggression in Ukraine and hinted his government was considering providing lethal assistance.

“We are closely monitoring the situation that’s going on the battlefield in Ukraine and will take proper measures in order to uphold the international norms and international law,” he said in remarks at Harvard’s Kennedy School.

Washington first approached the Seoul government last year and asked it to provide artillery for the war in Ukraine. The two sides worked out an initial confidential agreement, but the South Koreans got cold feet after it emerged in the media, according to U.S. officials.

Unification ministry's NK report disclaimer creates controversy

The Korea Times · May 26, 2023

Lee Hyo-jung, deputy spokesperson of the Ministry of Unification, speaks during a press conference at the Government Complex in Gwanghwamun, Seoul, Friday. Newsis

By Nam Hyun-woo

The Ministry of Unification's report on North Korean human rights is stirring controversy, as its English version included a disclaimer noting the ministry does not guarantee the government-published report's accuracy, triggering doubts over its credibility.

"In the Korean version, we have provided a detailed description that there are limitations to the report because it is based on testimonies of defectors," Lee Hyo-jung, deputy spokesperson of the ministry, said Friday.

"Considering the importance of legal matters in foreign cultures, the disclaimer was particularly emphasized in the English version."

The ministry published the 2023 Report on North Korean Human Rights in March, and subsequently released an English version on April 26. The government has been producing the report each year since 2017 under its North Korean Human Rights Act, but this was the first time that it was revealed to the public.

In a disclaimer clause of the English version, the ministry said: "The Ministry of Unification does not warrant the accuracy, completeness, reliability or timeliness of any information contained in this report, including but not limited to any data, analysis, or opinions," even though it has made reasonable efforts to ensure the information's accuracy.

It continued that the ministry "is not responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the results obtained from the use of this information."

A screenshot of the disclaimer in the Ministry of Unification's 2023 Report on North Korean Human Rights / Captured from Ministry of Unification websiteThis disclaimer has raised concerns that it could undermine the credibility of the report, which the South Korean government has been circulating to international audiences to improve "awareness" on Pyongyang's human rights situation, as part of President Yoon Suk Yeol's idea that the North's dire human rights should be brought to global attention.

After publishing the report, Yoon mentioned it during his speech at a joint session of the United States Congress last month, saying "we must inform the world of the gravity of North Korea's human rights violations."

As the disclaimer does not warrant the accuracy of the report, however, it became a dent in the government's campaign to increase international pressure on North Korea.

In comparison, the U.S. Department of State's annual country report on human rights practices does not have a disclaimer that disavows its accuracy.

"As far as we know, some credible United Nations reports also have disclaimer clauses," the deputy spokesperson said. "We believe the inclusion of the disclaimer clause and the credibility of the human rights report are separate matters."

The Korea Times · May 26, 2023

13. North Korea’s War Against Outside Information and Culture

I can be done. It must be done. Information will get through. We just have to try and try hard.

Conclusion:

Bringing information into the black box that is North Korea has never been an easy task. Following social controls that have been unprecedented since the Arduous March and the introduction of Draconian laws, such as the anti-reactionary thought law, that aim to instill fear, this task has only become more difficult. However, the development of new technologies and the rise of a new generation of North Koreans who are familiar with and hungry for foreign content also presents a critical opportunity. Protecting North Koreans’ right to know is one of the few freedoms the international community can help protect right now, both through outside pressure campaigns and the monitoring of human rights abuses. It is my belief that freedom of information and diversity of thought are equally essential to the formation of civil society and, hopefully, in North Korea’s case, can help pave the road to eventual democracy.

North Korea’s War Against Outside Information and Culture

In recent years, the North Korean government’s war against outside information and culture has intensified.[1] At its core, this war stems from the government’s belief that outside information and culture, which fall under the umbrella of “non-socialist culture,” causes fissures in people’s loyalty toward the regime, particularly the young generation, and poses an existential threat to society’s status quo.[2]

The acute awareness North Korean authorities have about the impact of outside information and culture on their citizens has led them to create an atmosphere of fear by explicitly mentioning the death penalty in recent laws aimed at cracking down on outside influence. Given these circumstances, there is an imperative to find ways to circumvent the regime’s controls on information and communicate directly with the North Korean people to improve their access to outside information.

Crackdowns on Non-Socialist Activity: A Long History

North Korea’s efforts to crack down on outside information and culture are nothing new. Upon the founding of the regime in the late 1940s, the North Korean government immediately implemented several policies aimed at promoting socialist and communist ideology throughout its society. However, as the country grew more focused on its domestic personality cult and the blurring of socialism and ethno-nationalism, the regime put forth the banner of “independence in ideology” and intensified its rejection of cultural trends that fell outside of traditional Marxism-Leninism. With the fall of the Communist Bloc in the 1980s, the North Korean regime abandoned the universal socialist ideology altogether and made clear that anything clashing with the Suryong (Supreme Leader) dictatorship of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il was considered to be anti-party and anti-state.

This trend towards increasing isolation and idiosyncrasy came to an inflection point in the 1990s when the country was struck by nationwide famine and the collapse of its public rations system. Outside media and information entered the country alongside imported foods and household goods. As smuggling activities continued to expand into the 2000s, the North Korean regime attempted to crack down on its people through surveillance, raids and propaganda efforts. Attempts to enforce bans on outside media, however, were insufficient as the organizations tasked with enforcement often took bribes to look the other way. Faced with this situation, the regime has turned to even more oppressive methods to end its people’s consumption and distribution of outside information and culture.

New Fronts in the War on Outside Information and Culture

Today, North Koreans have more options for consuming outside information and media than ever before. While they were previously limited to modified radios and television sets, they can now also watch South Korean movies on USBs, DVDs, and SD cards via their TVs, computers, handheld media devices or even smartphones.

As the technology for consuming “illicit” outside media advances, the North Korean authorities are likewise upgrading their instruments of control. Originally, the most prominent tool of control employed to crack down on outside information was Group 109.[3] However, after the Eighth Party Congress in 2021, another organization, the Unified Command on Non-Socialist and Anti-Socialist Behavior, was formed.[4] Unlike previous enforcement organizations, reports from inside the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) suggest that Unified Command units also include computer specialists. These teams mount surprise raids on people’s homes to inspect their storage devices, logs and records on their computers while also randomly inspecting the phone records of citizens walking down the street.

All of this has led to a technological cat-and-mouse game. North Korea is making efforts to develop technology to prevent its people from accessing outside information via cell phones, but tactics to skirt around these access blockers also continue to emerge. Given the reactive nature of these technological crackdowns, and the incentives to find ways to circumvent government restrictions, the authorities’ ability to maintain control over citizens’ access to information looks set to gradually decrease over time.

COVID-19 Leads to Increased Oppression

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, North Korean authorities shut down the border with China, which presented a perfect opportunity to crack down on people consuming South Korean visual content.[5]

North Korea’s enactment of the “DPRK Law of Rejecting Reactionary Thought and Culture” in late 2020 was a key development in the regime’s war on outside information and culture. While existing laws on the books were sufficient for cracking down on the spread of outside information, the new law represents the North Korean government’s most overt attempt yet to crack down on external information.[6]

What sets the anti-reactionary thought law apart from existing laws is, first and foremost, its explicit mention of the death penalty. The fact that the regime has moved to the use of execution as punishment for what the West understands to be such minor infractions would imply that North Korea feels the need to maximize the atmosphere of fear in the country.

Daily NK has tracked cases in which executions have taken place inside North Korea for violations of the anti-reactionary thought law. The table below provides a glimpse of the kinds of punishments North Koreans face for violating this exact law.

The DPRK is also leveraging public shame to create an atmosphere of fear. Public shaming campaigns include conducting public struggle sessions and trials against people who have consumed and distributed South Korean visual content and music.[8] The authorities film these public struggle sessions and distribute the videos to “educate” people throughout the country, including in the capital of Pyongyang. One such video obtained by Daily NK shows the photos of North Koreans along with their names, birthdays, addresses and workplaces, as well as an explanation of their alleged crimes.

In a similar vein, DPRK authorities are using speakers installed in people’s homes and workplaces in Pyongyang to spread the personal information of those who have violated the anti-reactionary thought law.[9] These efforts seem designed to strike fear in the hearts of young people in North Korea, who are at the center of the consumption and spread of outside media content.

Improving Access to Outside Information for the North Korean People

Freedom of information is a two-way street. While it is imperative that the outside world makes an effort to continue to provide North Koreans with access to external information, it also needs to continue to gather information about North Korea and monitor and document the country’s human rights situation. The South Korean government’s recent publication of a report containing the testimonies of 508 defectors is one particularly notable example of this kind of critical documentary work.

While it will take time to pressure the regime into improving human rights in North Korea, those outside of the DPRK can continue raising North Korean citizens’ awareness and expectations regarding their own rights. Testimony by North Koreans does suggest that people in the country are already gaining an enhanced sense of the rights they are entitled to.

I hear the phrase “human rights” here and there. In the past, I just thought of it as a phrase, but now I believe that we need to protect human rights across society. I say that if my right to dignity isn’t protected, then I’m suffering from human rights abuse. I’ve even gotten into an argument with implementers of the law [about this].[10]

This and other testimonies by North Koreans impliy that, thanks to continuous criticism of North Korea’s human rights situation, awareness about this issue in the country is changing. Protecting the right to know—both the world’s right to know about the DPRK and North Koreans’ right to know about the world—is essential to monitor, track, and, eventually, end human rights abuses.

As part of these efforts, the responsibility is on the world outside the DPRK to craft a comprehensive strategy to flood the country with external information. North Korean citizens are thirsty for outside information and actively ask questions about their own society. Some experts on information dissemination into the DPRK are even calling for any and all means necessary to be used to aggressively send information into the country and simply overwhelm the government’s ability to block it all.[11]

Nevertheless, it is important to ensure that information dissemination activities consider the safety and security of North Korean consumers of this information. The DPRK government continues to conduct and intensify crackdowns and inspections on people who smuggle in and distribute South Korean dramas by executing or sending those who consume or distribute such content to political prison camps. In attempting to improve the human rights situation through providing access to information and spreading civic education content, it is my opinion that we must not cause further human rights abuses in the short term.

Moreover, I believe this “flood” of information must be tailored to different classes of society. Cadres, for example, will have different preferences for content than everyday citizens. They will also have different background contexts and knowledge by which they understand information about the outside world. Ultimately, the aim of this strategy would be to circumvent the North Korean government and provide a channel to communicate directly with those inside the country.

Conclusion

Bringing information into the black box that is North Korea has never been an easy task. Following social controls that have been unprecedented since the Arduous March and the introduction of Draconian laws, such as the anti-reactionary thought law, that aim to instill fear, this task has only become more difficult. However, the development of new technologies and the rise of a new generation of North Koreans who are familiar with and hungry for foreign content also presents a critical opportunity. Protecting North Koreans’ right to know is one of the few freedoms the international community can help protect right now, both through outside pressure campaigns and the monitoring of human rights abuses. It is my belief that freedom of information and diversity of thought are equally essential to the formation of civil society and, hopefully, in North Korea’s case, can help pave the road to eventual democracy.

[1]
The author would like to thank the staff at 38 North for their comments on the original draft, along with Rose Adams and Robert Lauler for their assistance in putting this article together.
[2]
In North Korea, non-socialism (commonly used along with the phrase “anti-socialism”) refers to all acts that lead to the destruction of the socialist system. These acts can include access to outside information and the leakage of inside information but can also include religious acts, acts of superstition, the consumption and distribution of illicit drugs and the wearing of unsanctioned clothing.
[3]
This organization was established on the basis of an order made by Kim Jong Il on October 9, 2004, in which he called for the: “Elimination of foreign capitalist ideology.” As a result, the organization has begun to crack down on people who consume or distribute foreign movies, music, published works and broadcasts.
[4]
Renamed the “Unified Command 82” in June 2021, this organization is focused primarily on cracking down on the consumption and distribution of South Korean cultural content.
[5]
In a letter sent on March 28, 2022, to participants at a meeting for propaganda-related officials, Kim Jong Un called for: “Innovation in bringing about ideological uniformity.”
[6]
For example, Article 193 (Entry, Storage and Distribution of Decadent Culture, also translated as Import, Keeping and Distribution of Decadent Culture) of North Korea’s Criminal Code states that the authorities can designate outside content as “decadent culture” and that violators can face up to 10 years of reform through labor. However, there have been frequent cases where executions have been carried out based on arbitrary interpretations of the law.
[7]
The Reconnaissance General Bureau is a North Korean intelligence agency tasked with managing the government’s clandestine operations.
[8]
Public struggle sessions refer to public spectacles where “class enemies” are humiliated and persecuted. A clip recently published by Daily NK from a video obtained from inside North Korea shows a public struggle session in progress. See “N. Korea produces video for Pyongyangites underscoring crime does not pay,” Daily NK, March 24, 2023, https://www.dailynk.com/english/north-korea-produces-video-pyongyangites-underscoring-crime-does-not-pay/.
[9]
Referred to as the Korean Central Third Broadcasts (조선중앙3방송), North Korean homes and workplaces have wired speakers installed for the authorities to broadcast messages.
[10]
Testimony by defector Kim Yoon Ah and Kim Tae Hoon, et al., “10 Years of Changes After the North Korean “Human Rights Commission of Inquiry,” People for Successful COrean Reunification (PSCORE) (2022): 27, https://pscore.org/human-rights-in-the-dprk-10-years-after-coi-2/.
[11]
At an event celebrating North Korea Freedom Week in September 2022, Kim Heung Gwang, the head of NK Intellectuals’ Solidarity (NK지식인연대), called for new media technology to be used to aggressively disseminate information into the DPRK.

14. North Korea to Send More IT Workers Abroad to Fund Arms, US Says

North Korea to Send More IT Workers Abroad to Fund Arms, US Says

US diplomat says North Korea could step up efforts post-Covid
Deputy US envoy to North Korea urges China to use pressure

By Iain Marlow

May 25, 2023 at 8:04 PM EDT

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-26/north-korea-to-send-more-it-workers-abroad-to-fund-arms-us-says?srnd=politics-vp&sref=hhjZtX76&leadSource=uverify%20wall

North Korea is ramping up efforts to deploy information technology workers overseas as it increasingly relies on cyberattacks and other online crimes to fund its weapons programs, US and South Korean officials said, anticipating the easing of the isolated country’s strict Covid lockdown.

“This is a growth industry, because as we see the DPRK potentially opening up borders, they could be dispatching additional laborers to all parts of the world to generate revenue,” said Jung Pak, the US deputy special representative for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the country’s formal name. “We think it’s actively getting worse.”

This week, the US Treasury Department sanctioned four entities linked to North Korea’s military and intelligence services, as well as one North Korean based in the Russian city of Vladivostok who received cryptocurrency payments from North Korean tech workers.

Pyongyang, forced to shift tactics in response to sanctions programs targeting its nuclear weapons efforts, is increasingly relying on thousands of North Korean programmers who were sent abroad, mainly to China and Russia, before the regime shut its borders during Covid-19, according to the US and South Korea.

They say these in-demand workers can make as much as $300,000 a year, working abroad — often remotely through freelance platforms with falsified or stolen identification — and can assist in enabling cyber attacks and cryptocurrency thefts that helped North Korea earn an estimated $1.7 billion in 2022.

US efforts to sanction North Korea — including at the United Nations — have done little to halt leader Kim Jong Un’s weapons program, with the country launching more than 70 ballistic missiles last year.

One of the main reasons North Korea can continue these efforts is because China and Russia continue to protect North Korea in the United Nations Security Council, as well as host the bulk of the country’s overseas information technology workers as they seek more revenues, Pak said, adding that Beijing should use its leverage to pressure Pyongyang.

“The elephants in the room, obviously, are Russia and China,” Pak said. “It’s extremely difficult to shape the DPRK’s behavior if Russia and China continue to shield it from overwhelming international condemnation of their ballistic missile and nuclear weapons activities.”

Although North Korea has also sent out manual laborers to work in sectors such as construction, Kim’s government views crypto thefts and IT revenue as a “new frontier,” according to Lee Jun-il, the director general for North Korean nuclear issues at South Korea’s Foreign Ministry.

“Since they closed down their border, and their other revenue streams suffered, they have increasingly concentrated on making money out of cyberspace, and as the cryptocurrency market grows, they find more vulnerabilities in the sector,” Lee said in a phone interview from San Francisco, where he was meeting with Pak and other officials.

15. 5 Nuri rocket satellites make successful communication

5 Nuri rocket satellites make successful communication

koreaherald.com · by Byun Hye-jin · May 26, 2023

With South Korea’s homegrown Nuri rocket’s successful launch to space, five out of eight satellites carried on board made two-way communication with ground stations, the Ministry of Science and ICT said Friday.

The country’s King Sejong Station in Antarctica received the first signal from the main payload NEXTSat-2 or second next-generation small satellite at 7:07 p.m. Thursday, according to the ministry. A ground station in Daejeon also made contact with the satellite at 7:58 p.m.

Earlier Friday, the 180-kilogram satellite also carried out two-way communication seven times with the Daejeon station and other overseas bases, the ministry said.

The satellite’s transmitter and receiver, data processing, the solar panel’s power generating ability and other functions were operating normally, it added.

For the next seven days, the ministry and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute will stabilize the satellite and deploy its imaging radar antenna. Under the mission of observing Earth and space radiation, it will rotate Earth 15 times a day on a dawn-dusk orbit for the next two years.

Among the seven other satellites, Scale MagNetospheric and Ionospheric Plasma Experiment, or SNIPE, which was developed by the state-led Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, received contact from two out of four of its cube satellites.

Of the remaining two -- one cube satellite’s communication signal has not reached any ground station, while it has not been confirmed whether the last one has been released to space, as of Friday afternoon.

One of the three commercial cube satellites made by private company Lumir has yet to make contact as well. The ministry confirmed the signals from the two cube satellites built by Justek and Kairo Space.

“We will make effort to make contact with the remaining (three) satellites,” said Cho Sun-hak, an officer at the space, nuclear and big science policy bureau at the Science Ministry.

At 6:24 p.m. Thursday, Nuri rocket blasted off from Korea’s space center in South Jeolla Province. The first, second and third-stage rockets were successfully separated at their respective targeted altitudes, completing the flight that lasted 18 minutes and 58 seconds.

By Byun Hye-jin (hyejin2@heraldcorp.com)

koreaherald.com · by Byun Hye-jin · May 26, 2023

De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com

De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com

If you do not read anything else in the 2017 National Security Strategy read this on page 14:

"A democracy is only as resilient as its people. An informed and engaged citizenry is the fundamental requirement for a free and resilient nation. For generations, our society has protected free press, free speech, and free thought. Today, actors such as Russia are using information tools in an attempt to undermine the legitimacy of democracies. Adversaries target media, political processes, financial networks, and personal data. The American public and private sectors must recognize this and work together to defend our way of life. No external threat can be allowed to shake our shared commitment to our values, undermine our system of government, or divide our Nation."

Access NSS HERE

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