Quotes of the Day:
"O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country love
And mercy more than life."
– America the Beautiful
"Heroes never die. They live on in the hearts and minds of those who would follow in their footsteps."
– Emily Potter
""I have long believed that sacrifice is the pinnacle of patriotism.""
– Bob Riley
1. N. Korea launches unidentified projectile southward over Yellow Sea: S. Korean military
2. Opinion The U.S.-Japanese-South Korean relationship deepens, as does China’s threat By Max Boot and Sue Mi Terry
3. Experts call NK's satellite announcement attention-grabbing political maneuvering
4. North Korea say it plans to launch another satellite within a week
5. China silent on North Korea’s satellite launch plans at Seoul trilateral summit
6. Exclusive: From poison pens to suicide lipsticks, North Korean spy weapons on display in U.S.
7. South Korea flies fighters near border over North Korean spy satellite alarm
8. Editorial: China must commit to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula
9. Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo reaffirm Korean Peninsula denuclearization commitment
10. U.S. calls on N. Korea to refrain from 'unlawful' space rocket launch
11. Leaders agree to revive 3-way cooperation, reaffirm security efforts (ROK, Japan, China)
12. Korea ushers in new space era with KASA launch (South Korea)
13. N. Korea decries S. Korea's commitment to 'denuclearization' after trilateral summit
14. S. Korea, U.S, Japan to hold vice foreign ministerial talks in Virginia this week
15. The truth behind Kim Jong Un's "anti-reunification" policy
1. N. Korea launches unidentified projectile southward over Yellow Sea: S. Korean military
First report.
N. Korea launches unidentified projectile southward over Yellow Sea: S. Korean military | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · May 27, 2024
SEOUL, May 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea launched an unidentified projectile, South Korea's military said, after the country announced a satellite launch plan.
The North launched the projectile in a southward direction over the Yellow Sea, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a message to reporters without providing further details, including where it was launched from.
Pyongyang had earlier notified Japan that it will launch a satellite sometime before June 4 and designated three areas, where rocket debris will fall, as a precaution for safety. The liftoff came on the first day of the eight-day launch window.
The launch also came after President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang held a trilateral summit in Seoul on Monday and reaffirmed their commitment to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula.
During the summit, Yoon and Kishida also urged the North to call off the launch plan.
If confirmed, it would mark the North's second satellite launch after the country successfully put its first military spy satellite into orbit in November last year after two unsuccessful attempts in May and August, respectively.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to send three more spy satellites into orbit in 2024.
The North's space rocket launches have drawn condemnation from Seoul, Washington and others, as they violate U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban the country from launches using ballistic missile technology.
This file photo released by the North's official Korean Central News Agency on Nov. 22, 2023, shows North Korea's Chollima-1 space rocket lifting off from the launch pad at the Sohae satellite launch site in Tongchang-ri in northwestern North Korea at 10:42 p.m. on Nov. 21. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · May 27, 2024
2. Opinion The U.S.-Japanese-South Korean relationship deepens, as does China’s threat By Max Boot and Sue Mi Terry
US alliances are key to US national security. Could the current strong relationships be undone in the next administration depending on who is elected?
Opinion The U.S.-Japanese-South Korean relationship deepens, as does China’s threat
Trilateral cooperation grows regarding economic security, intelligence sharing and military readiness.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/05/27/united-states-japan-south-korea-relationship-deepens/?utm
By Max Boot and Sue Mi Terry
May 27, 2024 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
Warships of South Korea (bottom), the United States (middle) and Japan (top) sail during a drill off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on April 17, 2023. (South Korean Defense Ministry/AP)
Max Boot, a Post columnist, and Sue Mi Terry are senior fellows at the Council on Foreign Relations.
SEOUL — From Gaza to Ukraine, the world is a pretty bleak place right now. One bright spot is the nascent trilateral relationship among the United States, Japan and South Korea that was heralded less than a year ago at the historic Camp David summit by President Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol. The Seoul-Tokyo relationship had been fraught since the end of Japan’s colonial occupation of Korea in 1945. The Camp David meeting was a breakthrough moment when Biden announced a “new era” of partnership that would strengthen deterrence not only against North Korea but also China.
Sign up for Democracy, Refreshed, a newsletter series on how to renovate the republic.
In the nine months since then, all three countries have sought to deepen cooperation, particularly in economic security, intelligence sharing and defense policy. Where once the United States relied on bilateral relationships with South Korea and Japan — two of its closest allies — now there is a regular schedule of trilateral sit-downs and exchanges. The three militaries are even conducting exercises together, including their first-ever combined aerial exercise last October and their biggest-ever combined naval exercises in January. More recently, in early April, the three navies held two days of joint drills in the East China Sea, where China has been pressing its aggressive territorial claims.
Over lunch at his official residence in Tokyo, U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel, one of the biggest boosters of the trilateral relationship, told us: “One of China’s principal regional objectives is that the United States, Japan and Korea are never in strategic alignment. China’s tactics are to isolate each country and use their coercive tools to bend them to their will. President Biden at Camp David flipped the script. He fundamentally shifted the landscape in favor of the three democracies and their collective interest. Ever since, China has been playing catch up.”
OPINIONS ABOUT FOREIGN POLICY
Next
OpinionGOP talking points are out of date. Border crossings have plummeted.
OpinionFinally, a possible explanation for why Biden’s Iran envoy was suspended
OpinionWhat it means when the mercenaries appear
OpinionIn the shadow war with Iran, Biden just scored an unheralded victory
OpinionTrump’s anti-Ukraine view dates to the 1930s. America rejected it then. Wil...
OpinionHow to beat the backlash that threatens the liberal revolution
OpinionHas the U.S. learned how to help Haiti?
OpinionA cry for the refugees of emptied Nagorno-Karabakh: ‘We are nobody’
OpinionThree island nations show how America is failing to stand up to China
OpinionEurope is panicking about Ukraine aid. Biden’s team should tell the truth.
OpinionThree crises that give Biden a chance to prove the doubters wrong
OpinionHow Trump is already damaging U.S. national interests
OpinionYes, North Korea is preparing for war — in Ukraine and the Middle East
OpinionAt Davos, all eyes are on America’s presidential election
OpinionThe Houthis sink an arrow into the West’s Achilles’ heel
OpinionLloyd Austin doesn’t deserve to be the piñata of the day in Washington
OpinionAmericans are far too pessimistic about the future
OpinionFarewell to the last U.S. chemical weapon
OpinionThe 10 best things President Biden did in 2023
OpinionBiden needs to prevent Trump from having unlimited control over nuclear wea...
A sign of how eager China is to regain diplomatic momentum can be found in the summit in Seoul on Monday between leaders of South Korea, Japan and China — the first such high-level meeting since 2019. China’s desire to meet is seen as a ploy to interject itself into the close Japanese-South Korean alignment with Washington. In the past, such gatherings highlighted the joint Sino-South Korean suspicion of Japan. Now, the meeting highlights the joint Japanese-South Korean suspicion of China — which, with its bullying tactics, has become deeply unpopular in both countries.
You're following Max Boot's opinions
Following
China is part of another triangular relationship of its own — with Russia and North Korea — that has only grown deeper since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With North Korea providing munitions to Russia for use in Ukraine, and Russia and China shielding North Korea from any accountability at the United Nations, alarms are growing in both Seoul and Tokyo about the threats they face from this alignment (if still short of an alliance) of illiberal states. The concern is all the greater amid fears that Russia will help North Korea to expand and improve its nuclear arsenal.
A pro-American trilateral alignment is the best possible answer to the menace posed by the anti-American trilateral alignment of China, Russia and North Korea. But, because the Japanese-South Korean-U.S. relationship is so recent, it might be imperiled by changes of leadership in those countries. Although it has little to do with the trilateral relationship, Biden, Yoon and Kishida are all unpopular.
Kishida’s approval rating in Japan just edged up in a new poll — to a meager 18.7 percent. Yoon’s approval rating, at 30.3 percent, is better but still dire, and his conservative People Power Party was just defeated in National Assembly elections by a liberal opposition party that is more suspicious of Japan. But at least Yoon has three more years left in office, and Kishida is likely to stay as prime minister by winning the support of his Liberal Democratic Party in September. Biden is in more immediate danger of ouster: His approval rating is just 38.7 percent, and he is lagging behind former president Donald Trump in most of the key swing states.
A Trump return to the White House would be a serious setback for the United States’ system of alliances — and the trilateral relationship is no exception. Trump likely would be averse to the trilateral relationship simply because it was negotiated by his opponent. He certainly wouldn’t expend diplomatic capital to keep it alive.
Moreover, Trump is obsessed with the cost of defending South Korea without considering all of the benefits that accrue from a close relationship with the world’s 13th-largest economy — and a stalwart liberal democracy. As president, Trump demanded that South Korea increase its subsidies for the U.S. troop presence to more than $1 billion a year, but he still isn’t satisfied. Sounding a refrain he has echoed consistently since at least 1990, Trump told Time magazine in April, “I want South Korea to treat us properly. … They’ve become a very wealthy country. We’ve essentially paid for much of their military, free of charge.”
It doesn’t seem to matter to Trump that South Korea spends 2.7 percent of its gross domestic product on its defense — higher than the NATO target — and has one of the most capable militaries on the planet. Trump previously suspended joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises; in the future, he is unlikely to fund trilateral exercises.
If he is shrewd, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could take advantage of another Trump term by slightly sweetening the offer he made at their 2019 summit in Hanoi, where Kim demanded the lifting of all major sanctions in return for the closure of only the Yongbyon nuclear facility. (The U.S. government believes that North Korea has at least two additional enrichment plants.) Trump rejected that gambit, because he was surrounded by hawks such as then-national security adviser John Bolton, but Bolton, who now calls Trump “unfit” to be president, surely wouldn’t be found in another Trump administration.
Left to his own desires, Trump could decide to make a deal with Kim even at the cost of pulling U.S. troops out of South Korea. Or he could go in an entirely different direction and resurrect threats of “fire and fury” against North Korea if Kim stages fresh provocations. Trump is nothing if not unpredictable.
Little wonder that, during a recent trip to both Japan and South Korea, we found considerable anxiety in both countries about the prospect of another Trump term. The nervousness is particularly palpable in South Korea because Japan had more success in managing Trump when Shinzo Abe was prime minister. (Abe was assassinated in 2022, two years after leaving office.)
The Biden administration is now in the midst of talks with South Korea on a new cost-sharing agreement for U.S. forces in the hope of reaching a deal before Trump can return to office. Japan, the United States and South Korea are also seeking to deepen and institutionalize their mutual cooperation so that it can survive changes of government in any of the three countries. Emanuel told us there had been more than 50 trilateral engagements since the Camp David summit nine months ago.
Yet the three countries still have much to do to increase real-time intelligence sharing, link together missile defense systems, expand cooperation on defense industrial production and take other steps to make the trilateral relationship a permanent part of the security architecture of East Asia. “We need to put down roots … into the system,” Emanuel told the Asian Leadership Conference in Seoul. “It requires constant investment.”
All three current leaders — Biden, Yoon and Kishida — have made that investment. Their successors might not do so, and thus could fritter away this significant diplomatic achievement. All three leaders would do well to act urgently right now to lock in the trilateral progress.
Share
7
Comments
Opinion by Max Boot
Max Boot is a Washington Post columnist and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. A Pulitzer Prize finalist in biography, he is the author of the forthcoming “Reagan: His Life and Legend.” TwitterUS alliances are key to US national security. Could the current strong relationships be undone in the next administration depending on who is elected?
3. Experts call NK's satellite announcement attention-grabbing political maneuvering
Advance their missile and satellite programs.
Externalize threats to deal with internal stresses.
Support political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies.
Experts call NK's satellite announcement attention-grabbing political maneuvering
Pyongyang to launch space rocket by June 4
By Kwak Yeon-soo
The Korea Times · May 27, 2024
This Nov. 21, 2023 photo carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency shows the launch of the North Korean military spy satellite Malligyong-1. Yonhap
Pyongyang to launch space rocket by June 4
By Kwak Yeon-soo
North Korea’s notification to the Japan Coast Guard about its plan to launch a military spy satellite just ahead of a trilateral summit involving Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing was aimed at attracting the attention of neighboring countries, according to experts, Monday.
In the notice, North Korea identified three maritime danger zones that could be affected by the planned launch sometime between Monday and June 4 — two over the West Sea and the third zone east of the Philippines.
The warning from the North came hours before South Korea, Japan and China held their first trilateral summit in more than four years in Seoul.
“The timing is purely political. North Korea wants to draw attention and show it has control over the situation on the Korean Peninsula. It also wants to create a rift between Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing by testing how China reacts to its announcement,” said Yang Moo-jin, the president of the University of North Korean Studies.
Cho Han-bum, a senior research fellow at the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification, agreed that North Korea can draw attention to itself by announcing its plan to launch a satellite during the three-way talks, but its announcement comes as part of its plan to launch three more satellites this year after the first successful launch in November 2023.
“I don’t think North Korea will launch its spy satellite when China’s Li and Japan’s Kishida are in Seoul because it can put China in an ‘awkward’ position and the North is still seeking a dialogue with Japan. I think the weather condition is crucial in deciding when to launch,” Cho said.
President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks as Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and China's Premier Li Qiang listen during a joint press conference following their trilateral summit meeting in Seoul, Monday. APF-Yonhap
A spy satellite is among several high-tech military assets North Korean leader Kim Jong-un publicly vowed to develop.
Cho said North Korea may have developed a new satellite and a space rocket, which could be a reason for delaying the launch, which was widely anticipated to happen sometime in April but is believed to have been delayed for technical improvements.
“It has been reported that a number of Russian experts went to North Korea to help with its satellite development. The North has reportedly staged more engine tests, potentially to upgrade its launch capabilities,” he said.
The Ministry of Unification called the North’s satellite launch plan a “clear violation” of a U.N. Security Council resolution that prohibits North Korea from using ballistic missile technology.
“It is a provocative act that seriously threatens our security and regional security. We strongly urge North Korea to immediately cease its satellite launch plan,” the ministry’s spokesperson said during a press briefing.
South Korea’s military said it staged air drills near the inter-Korean border in response to North Korea’s planned satellite launch. Around 20 fighter jets including F-35A, F-15K and KF-16 jets conducted drills in a central region south of a no fly-zone near the border, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
“The exercise was conducted to demonstrate our military’s capabilities to sternly punish the enemy immediately if they carry out a provocation," the JCS said in a statement.
The Korea Times · May 27, 2024
4. North Korea say it plans to launch another satellite within a week
North Korea say it plans to launch another satellite within a week
Announcement of May 27-June 4 launch window for latest space rocket coincides with South Korea-Japan-China summit
https://www.nknews.org/2024/05/north-korea-says-it-may-launch-another-satellite-within-week/
Shreyas Reddy May 27, 2024
North Korean "Chollima-1" rocket lifts off at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on Nov. 21, 2023 | Image: Rodong Sinmun (Nov. 22, 2023)
North Korea has announced that it plans to launch a satellite as soon as Monday, according to Japanese authorities the same day, potentially coinciding with a trilateral summit between South Korea, Japan and China.
Pyongyang notified Tokyo of plans to conduct the launch of what would likely be a military spy satellite between May 27 and June 4, according to the Japanese Prime Minister’s Office in an overnight statement. The office added that Japan should be prepared for “unforeseen circumstances.”
The Japanese coast guard also disclosed coordinates for rocket stage drop zones in the Yellow Sea, indicating the launch will take place from North Korea’s main spaceport, the Sohae Satellite Launching Grounds on the northwest coast.
The coordinates exactly match the predicted rocket stage drop zones for all three DPRK satellite launches last year. The first two attempts in May and August ended in failure, dropping into waters southwest of North Korea. Pyongyang finally succeeded the third time in November.
North Korea’s notification indicates a planned launch window of a week, but on the three previous occasions it launched at the very beginning of the announced period, suggesting a rocket could take flight as early as Monday.
Since successfully placing North Korea’s first spy satellite in orbit, leader Kim Jong Un has prioritized the expansion of space-based military reconnaissance capabilities and announced the planned launch of three more Malligyong-1 satellites in 2024 during a ruling party meeting at the end of last year.
Based on the similarities to previous drop zone coordinates, Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics told NK News that North Korea likely seeks to place this satellite in a similar orbit to the November launch to photograph the same areas from a different angle.
“If they are clever they might be able to get stereo imagery from that and tell the heights of buildings,” he said Monday. “But probably it’s just simply going to be used to add additional capacity — more photos per day.”
He added that it’s possible this launch could fail, as two of the three previous attempts with the same Chollima-1 rocket ended up in the sea.
“But if it succeeds, that suggests they have indeed debugged the rocket and makes future successes much more likely.”
News of the planned satellite launch comes as the South Korean president and the premiers of Japan and China prepare to hold their first trilateral summit in more than four years in Seoul on Monday, following a series of bilateral meetings the previous day.
During the summit, President Yoon Suk-yeol condemned the planned launch as an act that “undermines regional and global peace and stability” and called on the international community to respond firmly.
The planned launch also comes three days after South Korea’s military reportedly stated that it detected signs Pyongyang was preparing for its fourth attempted launch. NK Pro analysis previously observed signs of a rocket engine test at Sohae in late April, similar to a previous test a month before the failed Malligyong-1 launch last August.
South Korean KF-16 and FA-50 fighter jets take part in aerial drills, May 27, 2023 | Image: ROK Ministry of National Defense
South Korea’s air force conducted aerial drills south of the no-fly line between the two Koreas to demonstrate its “determination and ability to punish the enemy” in the event of “provocations,” the ROK defense ministry said in a press release Monday, following the DPRK’s announcement on the planned launch.
The exercises featured 20 aircraft, including the F-35A fifth-generation fighter jet, the F-15K and KF-16, and focused on flight training and strike training.
Meanwhile, Japan’s defense ministry authorized the use of “destructive measures” in the event of a North Korean space launch.
The ministry previously issued similar instructions to the Japanese military after North Korea announced last April that its first spy satellite was ready for launch, ordering the deployment of Patriot PAC-3 and Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) missile defenses and ground forces to minimize potential risks to Japan’s territory and residents.
Edited by Arius Derr
Updated at 8:25 a.m. with expert comments about planned orbit and launch prospects and at 3:16 p.m. with South Korean and Japanese responses.
5. China silent on North Korea’s satellite launch plans at Seoul trilateral summit
What would we expect them to say? Neither support nor condemn.
China silent on North Korea’s satellite launch plans at Seoul trilateral summit
South Korean and Japanese leaders call for denuclearizing DPRK, as Chinese premier stresses need for ‘restraint’
Jeongmin Kim | Joon Ha Park May 27, 2024
(From left) Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Chinese Premier Li Qiang during a joint press conference on May 27, 2024 | Image: ROK Presidential Office
South Korea, Japan and China reaffirmed standard talking points about the denuclearization of North Korea in a rare trilateral summit on Monday, even as Beijing’s premier remained silent about Pyongyang’s announcement hours earlier that it will soon launch another satellite.
But despite the reiteration of long-standing positions, the DPRK responded angrily to the reference to denuclearization and asserted again that it is a nuclear state, accusing the three countries of infringing on its sovereignty.
Speaking after the summit in Seoul, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida condemned Pyongyang for announcing hours earlier that it would conduct a satellite launch as soon as Monday.
But Chinese Premier Li Qiang was silent on the DPRK’s stated plans, instead emphasizing the need for risk management on the Korean Peninsula and for stakeholders to show “restraint.”
The three countries “reaffirmed that it is in the common interest and responsibility of the three countries to maintain peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula,” Yoon said at a press conference after the summit on Monday, calling for the “faithful implementation” of U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea.
“In addition, the so-called satellite launch that North Korea announced today is a clear violation of Security Council resolutions, and the international community must respond decisively,” he added.
Kishida “strongly” urged North Korea to halt the plans to launch the satellite while echoing Yoon’s remark that the DPRK’s denuclearization serves the interest of all three countries.
The Japanese prime minister stated that Li and Yoon also “expressed their understanding” when he asked for their help in resolving the issue of North Korea’s past abduction of Japanese citizens.
Li, who spoke last, commented only briefly on security issues but stressed the importance of pursuing peace through “multilateralism” — a Chinese government codeword against U.S.-led security initiatives — while urging the three to be generous in handling “sensitive issues, conflicts and disagreements.”
“China has constantly been pushing for peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and is pushing for a political solution to the Korean Peninsula issue,” Li stated without directly mentioning North Korea.
“I think the parties concerned should maintain restraint and prevent things from getting worse and more complicated.”
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Chinese Premier Li Qiang shake hands during a joint press conference on May 27, 2024. | Image: ROK Presidential Office
Lee Sang-man, a professor at the Kyungnam University’s Institute of Far Eastern Studies, said the Chinese premier’s remarks reflected Beijing’s more cautious approach to dealing with Pyongyang in recent years.
China’s ambiguity in comments on the Korean Peninsula is a “deliberate strategy” that allows the country to maintain diplomatic flexibility, the expert explained.
“China fears that exerting too much pressure on North Korea could drive it closer to Russia, leaving China in a precarious position, sandwiched between the two neighboring countries,” he said.
After three North Korean satellite launches last year, China’s foreign ministry similarly asked stakeholders to stay calm and resolve each others’ “legitimate concerns” in a balanced manner through dialogue.
NORTH KOREA RESPONDS
The three countries’ 38-point joint statement published later Monday also only made a passing reference to the DPRK, stating the three leaders agreed to make “positive efforts to politically resolve Korean Peninsula issues.”
“We reiterated our respective positions on regional peace and stability, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the abduction issue,” according to the statement, which largely focuses on cultural and economic cooperation.
Multiple South Korean media outlets reported that the three sides failed to agree on how to include the denuclearization issue in the sentence, opting for the language about their “respective” positions.
Lee of Kyungnam University said the joint statement differed little from past statements as South Korea and Japan have continued to condemn North Korean military activities while China has strived to “maintain the status quo.”
“[China] will not want to break the current state or actively expand the situation,” the expert said, stating that China sees little need to address DPRK issues with the ROK or Japan.
Despite this, the DPRK foreign ministry issued a spokesperson’s statement later on Monday denouncing the joint statement and the meeting as “interference in internal affairs.”
The trilateral statement’s mention of peninsula denuclearization is an infringement of North Korea’s sovereignty and a “provocation that completely denies the constitution of the DPRK” that asserts the country’s nuclear status, the spokesperson wrote.
North Korea amended its constitution last year to reflect its new nuclear doctrine.
But the DPRK statement focused its direct condemnation on South Korea rather than Japan and China, citing Seoul’s joint drills and security cooperation with the U.S. as the backdrop of the summit.
“In such a severe security environment, the word ‘denuclearization’ will only bring about a nuclear crisis, not peace and stability,” the DPRK statement reads.
“Denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula means a void of power and a rushing of war. The phrase, ‘the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,’ has already died and is now extinct, theoretically, practically and physically.”
Yoon, Kishida and Li at a welcome banquet a day ahead of the trilateral summit | Image: ROK Presidential Office (May 26, 2024)
This week’s summit marked the three countries’ first leader-level meeting since Dec. 2019, as well as the first time a Chinese premier has visited Seoul in nine years.
China often opts to send its premier — the head of government — to attend summits instead of the head of state, President Xi Jinping.
Ahead of the trilateral summit, Yoon held a separate meeting with Li on Sunday, and a high-level official told reporters after the meeting that the South Korean president discussed both the DPRK nuclear threat and Pyongyang’s growing military ties with Russia, asking China to serve as a “bastion of peace as a permanent member of the Security Council.”
Yoon also requested China’s cooperation on “defector issues,” the official said, likely referring to Beijing’s forced repatriation of North Koreans in the country since last year.
Li reportedly responded that China “is aware” of such concerns and said Beijing would continue to communicate with Seoul on the issue.
Human rights experts have warned that defectors face interrogation and torture when forcibly returned to the DPRK, but China has long insisted that North Koreans in the country are illegal migrants and not refugees, defending its right to expel them from the country.
Edited by Bryan Betts
Updated at 8:30 p.m. KST on Monday to include a statement by the North Korean foreign ministry
6. Exclusive: From poison pens to suicide lipsticks, North Korean spy weapons on display in U.S.
The Spy Museum.
North Korea
Exclusive: From poison pens to suicide lipsticks, North Korean spy weapons on display in U.S.
Exhibited at the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.
https://www.chosun.com/english/north-korea-en/2024/05/27/YKHAEMHU7RESDJNO5HYVCYKRHI/
By Kim Eun-joong (Washington),
Yeom Hyun-a
Published 2024.05.27. 15:36
Exhibit on North Korean spies at the International Spy Museum in the US: ① Pen concealing a poison needle, ② Lipstick concealment, ③ Transmitter for internal communication, ④ Radio for long-distance communication, ⑤ Infrared scope, ⑥ Code transmitter. This is the first time the museum has displayed tools related to North Korean spies./Kim Eun-joong (Washington)
“It’s amazing and creepy to think that these weapons were used just ten years ago,” remarked a group of visitors, including students on a field trip, as they entered the fourth-floor exhibition hall of the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C., on May 23.
The International Spy Museum has been attracting attention since last week by exhibiting seven new items, including poison pens, infrared cameras, and communication equipment that were used by North Korean assassins and South Korean agents.
The Museum, founded in 2002, is considered to have the world’s largest collection of espionage-related exhibits, with more than 10,000 items. Last year alone, it attracted 690,000 visitors. Four years ago, it even made the Guinness Book of World Records. This is the first time the Museum has exhibited North Korean objects.
“We look for artifacts scattered around the world that have new stories to tell, and these (North Korean) exhibits are fantastic, like nothing else we’ve ever seen,” museum manager Aliza Bran said in an interview with the Chosunilbo.
Pen concealing a poison needle exhibited at the International Spy Museum./Kim Eun-joong (Washington)
One of the biggest draws for visitors is a pen concealing a poison needle, an assassination tool. It was reportedly in possession of a North Korean reconnaissance officer who was caught trying to assassinate Park Sang-hak, a defector from North Korea and an activist and president of Fighters for a Free North Korea, who was responsible for leafleting North Korea in 2011. Park was reportedly scheduled to meet with the man but was fortunately stopped by intelligence officials.
The pen looks like an ordinary silver ballpoint pen from Parker, but it has a poisoned needle inside instead of a nib. Twist the top to the right three or four times and then press it down, and one prick from the poisoned needle would cause muscle paralysis, leading to suffocation and death. The poisoned needle is easy to hide in ballpoint pens and fountain pens and has an effective range of 10 meters, making it effective for surprise attacks at close range. It was also used in the 1968 attack on the Blue House, and Kim Dong-sik, an operative who defected twice between 1990 and 1995, is said to have used this poison pen.
Lipstick concealment exhibited at the International Spy Museum./Kim Eun-joong (Washington)
Another popular exhibit is the lipstick concealment, which is said to have been used by both assassins and agents. The black lipstick body contained an ampule of deadly liquefied poisoned gas. “Lipstick usually costs less than 10 dollars, but if there is poison in it, the user will die immediately,” the Museum said, adding that it is often used for suicide rather than assassination.
Radio for long-distance communication used by North Korea, exhibited at the International Spy Museum./Kim Eun-joong (Washington)
Code tables, a tool used by North Koreans for interpreting random number broadcasts to communicate with their home country from a distance, exhibited at the International Spy Museum./Kim Eun-joong (Washington)
There is also a Japanese Panasonic RF-B65 shortwave radio, used by North Korean spies to effectively communicate with their home country from a distance, and “code tables,” a tool for interpreting the random number broadcasts it transmits. The Museum explained that the number ‘86093′ translates to ‘assassination.’ An infrared scope that a North Korean soldier would have relied on in the dark as he roamed the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and an old transmitter that a North Korean assassin would have used to report information back home after an operation is also on display.
The Museum’s display of North Korean spy paraphernalia was inspired by a public interview with North Korean defector Kim Hyun-woo, conducted by museum historian Andrew Hammond in July of last year. Kim, a former North Korean intelligence agent, defected and has worked at a research institute in South Korea since 2015. Hundreds of people flocked to hear about his turbulent defection and resettlement in South Korea despite being a weekday evening. The Museum decided to display North Korean objects for the first time with the cooperation of the South Korean National Intelligence Service.
Infrared scope exhibited at the International Spy Museum./Kim Eun-joong (Washington)
Transmitter for internal communication exhibited at the International Spy Museum./Kim Eun-joong (Washington)
6. South Korea flies fighters near border over North Korean spy satellite alarm
South Korea flies fighters near border over North Korean spy satellite alarm
koreaherald.com · by Kim Arin · May 27, 2024
Seoul military on the lookout for simultaneous satellite, ICBM firings by Pyongyang
By Kim Arin
Published : May 27, 2024 - 15:44
F-35A stealth fighters (Yonhap)
South Korea on Monday staged an air exercise near the inter-Korean border in response to an announcement from North Korea that it would launch a military reconnaissance satellite within the next seven days.
According to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the drills involving some 20 fighter jets -- including F-15Ks, KF-16s and the stealth F-35As -- were carried out in the skies south of the no-fly zone from around 1 p.m.
Col. Lee Sung-jun, the South Korean JCS spokesperson, said in a press briefing Monday that North Korea would be violating United Nations Security Council resolutions with its announced launch of what would be its second reconnaissance satellite.
“North Korea has told international organizations of its plans to launch a so-called military reconnaissance satellite on this day. As this is an act of provocation that violates UN Security Council resolutions, our military will take steps to demonstrate our capabilities,” he said.
He added that South Korea was closely working with the US and Japan to monitor and track North Korea’s possible satellite launch.
The North Korean announcement came just before the trilateral summit of South Korea, Japan and China in Seoul on Monday. The Japanese Kyodo News agency, citing Japan’s coast guard, said in a report that Pyongyang informed Tokyo of its plan to launch a space rocket carrying the satellite before June 3.
Three days prior on Friday, the South Korean military also warned that it had detected increased activities in North Korea suggesting possible signs of an imminent satellite launch.
On the possibility of North Korea taking other forms of provocations, such as the firing of intercontinental ballistic missiles, the JCS said that the South Korean military was “fully prepared for” either scenario.
“I would say that we are at full preparedness, for a reconnaissance satellite and missiles being launched at the same time,” Lee said. “The military is prepared for a kind of possibilities, and we are maintaining that level of preparedness and readiness.”
The presidential office made a similar assessment in a closed-door briefing to reporters on Sunday that North Korea may launch ICBMs alongside a reconnaissance satellite.
“We understand that North Korea’s launch of a satellite using ICBM technology or ICBMs themselves may be imminent,” the official said.
“There is also a possibility of other missile launches happening simultaneously, so our government will thoroughly prepare for security and defense readiness during and after the South Korea-Japan-China summit.”
South Korean military authorities believe Russian help was behind the successful launch of North Korea’s first spy satellite last November. The launch succeeded after two failed attempts earlier in the same year.
After his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last September, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would help North Korea with its space program.
South Korea has two military reconnaissance satellites, the first one sent to space last December and the second last month.
koreaherald.com · by Kim Arin · May 27, 2024
8. Editorial: China must commit to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula
Must? But it will not.
Excerpts:
However, China’s stance on North Korea’s nuclear program has notably regressed as U.S.-China tensions intensified over the past four years. After joining Russia in submitting a UN Security Council resolution to ease sanctions on North Korea in 2021, China now opposes sanctions even when North Korea blatantly violates Security Council resolutions by launching ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, North Korea and Russia are trading arms, and Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, used its veto to block the renewal of a UN panel that monitors sanctions against North Korea.
North Korea currently possesses more than 45 nuclear weapons and continues to improve and enhance the capabilities of missiles and submarines to carry strategic and tactical nuclear warheads. With China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, stepping back from enforcing sanctions, North Korea faces fewer international constraints. It would be significant if China reaffirmed the principle of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and committed to implementing UN Security Council resolutions in cooperation with South Korea and Japan. If China desires meaningful cooperation with South Korea and Japan, it must return to the basics of denuclearization and the implementation of UN resolutions, even if they are still far from complete.
Editorial: China must commit to a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula
https://www.chosun.com/english/opinion-en/2024/05/27/O6PWMPU4HFAKHNVZG2V3UCNTO4/
By The Chosunilbo
Published 2024.05.27. 08:36
Updated 2024.05.27. 08:37
South Korean President Suk-yeol offers his seat to Chinese Premier Li Qiang after shaking hands with him during the trilateral summit held in Seoul on May 26, 2024. / Yonhap News
The draft of the joint declaration for the trilateral summit hosted by South Korea with China and Japan, set to be held for the first time in four years and five months since December 2019, reportedly includes the “complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” as a common goal. The draft also contains the phrase “Dialogue, diplomacy and the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions are important to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” according to Japanese media reports.
Although working-level officials are discussing the draft, China may oppose reaffirming the principles of denuclearization and sanctions against North Korea for violating Security Council resolutions. The final text of the joint declaration will be confirmed at the trilateral summit on May 27. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang will attend the summit.
South Korea does not have any nuclear weapons, so the term “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula” is somewhat misleading as it seems to refer to both North and South Korea. The more accurate term would be “denuclearization of North Korea,” but China has used the ambivalent phrase “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” At the last Korea-China-Japan summit in 2019, then-Premier Li Keqiang stated, “We reaffirmed that the realization of the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and lasting peace in East Asia are common goals for the three countries.” It was the kind of common-sense statement that barely met the international community’s expectations.
However, China’s stance on North Korea’s nuclear program has notably regressed as U.S.-China tensions intensified over the past four years. After joining Russia in submitting a UN Security Council resolution to ease sanctions on North Korea in 2021, China now opposes sanctions even when North Korea blatantly violates Security Council resolutions by launching ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, North Korea and Russia are trading arms, and Russia, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, used its veto to block the renewal of a UN panel that monitors sanctions against North Korea.
North Korea currently possesses more than 45 nuclear weapons and continues to improve and enhance the capabilities of missiles and submarines to carry strategic and tactical nuclear warheads. With China, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, stepping back from enforcing sanctions, North Korea faces fewer international constraints. It would be significant if China reaffirmed the principle of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and committed to implementing UN Security Council resolutions in cooperation with South Korea and Japan. If China desires meaningful cooperation with South Korea and Japan, it must return to the basics of denuclearization and the implementation of UN resolutions, even if they are still far from complete.
#사설
9. Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo reaffirm Korean Peninsula denuclearization commitment
Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo reaffirm Korean Peninsula denuclearization commitment
A joint statement came after North Korea told the Japanese government it would launch a satellite before June 4.
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/nkorea-satellite-launch-plan-05272024001351.html
By Taejun Kang for RFA
2024.05.27
Taipei, Taiwan
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Chinese Premier Li Qiang attend the business summit at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry on May 27, 2024 in Seoul, South Korea.
Chung Sung-Jun/Pool via Reuters
Updated 27 May, 2024, 07:07 a.m. ET.
Leaders of South Korea, Japan and China reaffirmed their commitment to pursuing the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula during a summit in Seoul on Monday, hours after the North announced a plan to launch a satellite.
President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang reached the agreement after the North notified Japan of its plan to launch a space rocket carrying a military spy satellite sometime before June 4.
“We reiterated positions on regional peace and stability, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the abduction issue, respectively. We agree to continue to make positive efforts for the political settlement of the Korean Peninsula issue,” the three leaders said in a joint declaration.
“We reaffirmed that maintaining peace, stability and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia serves our common interest and is our common responsibility,” they added.
North Korea condemned the summit declaration as a “grave political provocation and sovereignty violation.”
"To discuss the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula today constitutes a grave political provocation and sovereignty violation that totally denies the DPRK's inviolable sovereignty and constitution reflecting the unanimous will of all the Korean people," North Korea's foreign ministry spokesman said in state media. He was referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
At the summit in the South Korean capital, Yoon and Kishida denounced the North’s planned satellite launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban its use of ballistic missile technology.
“The international community must respond firmly,” Yoon said during a joint press briefing.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks as Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang listen during a joint press conference in Seoul, South Korea, May 27, 2024. (Kim Hong-Ji/Pool via Reuters)
Yoon’s concerns were echoed by Kishida.
“If it proceeds, it will be a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions. We strongly urge North Korea to cease this activity,” he said.
China’s Li called on all “related countries” to exercise restraint to mitigate tensions, without referring to North Korea directly.
“China has consistently worked to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and is pushing for a political resolution to the peninsula issue. Relevant parties should exercise restraint and prevent the situation from worsening and becoming more complicated,” Li said during the briefing.
“Korea, Japan and China should properly handle sensitive issues and conflicts, consider each other’s core interests and significant concerns, and practice genuine multilateralism to jointly safeguard stability in the Northeast Asian region,” he added.
North Korea notified Japan of its plan to launch a satellite on the eve of the trilateral gathering, the first the leaders of South Korea, Japan and China have held since 2019.
Japan’s Cabinet Secretariat said on Sunday that North Korea had informed it of plans to launch a rocket carrying a satellite before June 4, the Kyodo News Agency and Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.
The North designated three areas where debris will fall -- two west of the Korean Peninsula and the other east of the Philippine island of Luzon, according to the reports.
Last week, the South Korean military said it had detected signs of Pyongyang preparing for a military spy satellite launch at a site on its west coast.
North Korea, which has conducted six nuclear tests, launched its first military reconnaissance satellite in November and has made public a plan to launch three more this year.
The trilateral session focused on promoting cooperation in six key areas: economy and trade, sustainable development, health issues, science and technology, disaster and safety management, and people-to-people exchanges.
The leaders also agreed to formalize the trilateral cooperation by holding regular summits and ministerial meetings.
Monday’s session marked the first three-way meeting since December 2019, following a prolonged suspension due to COVID-19 and historical disputes among the Asian neighbors.
Edited by Mike Firn.
Updated to add North Korea's reaction.
10. U.S. calls on N. Korea to refrain from 'unlawful' space rocket launch
U.S. calls on N. Korea to refrain from 'unlawful' space rocket launch | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · May 27, 2024
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, May 27 (Yonhap) -- The United States urged North Korea on Monday to refrain from further "unlawful" activities and return to dialogue, after Pyongyang has notified Japan of a plan to launch a space rocket to put a satellite into orbit before June 4.
A State Department spokesperson made the call, reiterating that any launch using ballistic missile technology, including that of a space launch vehicle, runs afoul of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The North has notified Japan's Coast Guard of the launch plan as it seeks to launch three more satellites this year. It put its first military reconnaissance satellite into orbit in November.
"Space launch vehicles incorporate technologies that are identical to, and interchangeable with, those used in ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles," the spokesperson said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency.
"We urge the DPRK to refrain from further unlawful activity and call on Pyongyang to engage in serious and sustained diplomacy," the official added, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
In its notice to Japan, the North designated three areas where debris will fall -- two west of the Korean Peninsula and the other east of the Philippines' island of Luzon, according to Kyodo News.
Observers said the North appears intent to secure intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) assets as it is far behind the allies in ISR capabilities despite its focus on developing an array of formidable weapons systems, including submarine-launched ballistic missiles and tactical nuclear arms.
The State Department in Washington (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · May 27, 2024
11. Leaders agree to revive 3-way cooperation, reaffirm security efforts (ROK, Japan, China)
Some good words. What about substantive action?
Leaders agree to revive 3-way cooperation, reaffirm security efforts
koreaherald.com · by Son Ji-hyoung · May 27, 2024
Chinese premier urges stakeholders to exercise restraints over Korean peninsula in 1st trilateral talks in 4 1/2 years
By Son Ji-hyoung
Published : May 27, 2024 - 15:39
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (center) speaks during a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (left) and Chinese Premier Li Qiang at the guesthouse of the former presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, in Seoul on Monday. (Presidential Office)
Leaders of South Korea, Japan and China reaffirmed Monday that maintaining peace, stability and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula serves their common interest and is their responsibility, amid continued provocations from North Korea that have undermined regional peace in Northeast Asia.
In the first trilateral summit in 4 1/2 years hosted in Seoul, the three countries represented by President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang reiterated their stances on "regional peace and stability, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the abductions issue, respectively," according to a joint statement Monday.
President Yoon, both in the trilateral meeting and the subsequent joint press conference at Cheong Wa Dae, called on the three countries to stem North Korea's provocations jointly, bringing up Pyongyang's notification to Tokyo the same day about launching a new space satellite.
"In order to ensure regional peace and security, which is to the common benefit of all three countries, it is important to achieve a free, peaceful and united Korean Peninsula," Yoon told reporters after the three-way summit.
In the opening remarks of the three-way summit, Yoon also said, "I hope that, as active members of the United Nations Security Council, we the three countries can contribute to global peace and prosperity by gathering wisdom and strength in the face of geopolitical tensions."
Yoon described any attempt by North Korea to launch a military space satellite as "an apparent breach of the United Nations resolution," and urged the international community to take bold action against North Korea's provocation, during the trilateral summit.
Kishida echoed Yoon in urging North Korea to stop its satellite launch plan.
North Korea last launched a space satellite into orbit in November. But South Korea claimed the satellite did not appear to be operational, and the satellite launch breaches UN Security Council sanctions banning North Korea from launching ballistic missiles, out of a belief that North Korea has disguised a test of the ballistic missile technology as a satellite launch.
Kishida added that North Korea's denuclearization and the stabilization of the Korean Peninsula benefit all three countries. He also said Yoon and Li expressed their understanding about solving the Japanese abductee problem in North Korea.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (center) and Chinese Premier Li Qiang (right) listen to Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speak during a joint news conference held at the guesthouse of the former presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)
Li, who represented a longtime ally of North Korea, said at the conference that the parties involved should stop the situation on the Korean Peninsula from further escalating.
"I think the relevant parties (on the Korean Peninsula) should exercise restraint," said Li in his remarks translated into Korean, in an apparent reference to the parties concerned, including North Korea. The presidential office declined to clarify what Li had meant by saying "the relevant parties."
"China has always been committed to maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula," Li also said, and wants to "push forward the process for a political settlement."
According to presidential spokesperson Kim Soo-kyung, Yoon asked Li for China to play a constructive role as a UN Security Council permanent member to ensure nuclear nonproliferation across the world, including in North Korea.
Yoon also sought Li's cooperation on North Korean defector issues, apparently referring to China's forced repatriation of defectors back to the regime. Human rights group North Korean People's Liberation Front estimated that China sent back 2,000 refugees to North Korea between August and September.
Li responded that Beijing was aware of Seoul's concern, adding that he stressed both the peaceful resolution of issues on the Korean Peninsula and regional stability.
This came a day after Yoon, Kishida and Li gathered in Seoul for bilateral talks, respectively. On Sunday, South Korea and China agreed to initiate talks involving their foreign ministers and defense ministers beginning in June, at the summit of Yoon and Li.
According to Yoon's office Sunday, the trilateral talks would "unlikely lead to an uncluttered three-way agreement regarding North Korea issues, the regime's denuclearization and inter-Korean relations."
President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks during a trilateral summit held atheld at the guesthouse of the former presidential office, Cheong Wa Dae, in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)
The three countries also agreed to resume the annual three-way summit, which had been stalled because of the turbulence in the three countries' relationship coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, with the next rotating chair being Tokyo in 2025.
Achieving regional and international peace and prosperity was one of the key goals laid out in the joint statement following the trilateral summit.
The three countries agreed to carry out projects aimed at people-to-people exchanges; climate change response for sustainable development; economic cooperation and trade; public health and aging society; digital transformation; and disaster relief and safety.
Regional cooperation in and near East Asia will also be at play, on the foundation of the trilateral ties. For example, the three countries agreed to tackle problems arising from yellow dust and sandstorms by trying to collaborate with Mongolia through the Trilateral+X Cooperation framework.
The three countries also agreed to designate 2025 and 2026 as years of cultural exchange between the three countries, in hopes that a total of 40 million people from the three countries combined would travel to one of the other two countries for the purposes of culture, tourism and education by 2030.
"When we faced the unprecedented challenge of the Asian financial crisis in 1997, we opened up a new opportunity for trilateral cooperation," Yoon said in the opening remarks for the three-way summit. "I believe that the many challenges we face today at the regional and global levels can also be transformed into new opportunities to promote communication between the three countries and expand the horizons of cooperation."
koreaherald.com · by Son Ji-hyoung · May 27, 2024
12. Korea ushers in new space era with KASA launch (South Korea)
The Korean space race.
Korea ushers in new space era with KASA launch
koreaherald.com · by Kan Hyeong-woo · May 27, 2024
Korea AeroSpace Administration to focus on talent, R&D, industry and international cooperation, its chief says
By Kan Hyeong-woo
Published : May 27, 2024 - 15:26
Yoon Young-bin, chief of Korea AeroSpace Administration, speaks to reporters on the way to the first day in the office at the new space body in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province, Monday. (Ministry of Science and ICT)
South Korea officially opened its first independent space-dedicated body, the Korea AeroSpace Administration, on Monday.
“The role of KASA can be divided into four main sectors: establishing national aerospace policies, fostering talents while conducting R&D, promoting industry and international cooperation,” said Yoon Young-bin, chief of KASA and former aerospace engineering professor at Seoul National University, as he addressed his fellow officials in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province.
As the Korean government has continuously emphasized the importance of expanding the space industry, the KASA chief again highlighted the need to prioritize support for the private sector so that companies can advance and lead commercial space businesses.
“The establishment of KASA will be an important stepping stone that guides the way for Korea to become a powerhouse in space economy by setting up the private-led space ecosystem,” he said.
The KASA has not laid out its detailed plans for projects or roadmaps for developing space technologies as the new space body had just taken off. It is expected to announce specific goals and visions later on.
“Although we say that our country has entered the list of top seven countries in the space sector worldwide, the cold reality is that there is a large gap (between Korea and) the top six countries,” said the KASA chief, referring to the successful launch of the Nuri rocket in May last year that made Korea the seventh country in the world with the capabilities to put a homegrown satellite weighing a metric ton into orbit on a homemade launch vehicle.
“In order to become a true space powerhouse, we need active cooperation and efforts from the public, private, academic and research sectors. Moreover, we must present clear mid- to long-term goals and visions in space development and secure a big enough budget to back them up and conduct drastic investments in strategic areas.”
The office of the Korea AeroSpace Administration in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang Province (Ministry of Science and ICT)
With the maximum quota of KASA employees set at 293, the new space body began operation with about 110 people, including public officials who transferred from the Science Ministry and elsewhere. The Ministry of Science and ICT reorganized its institutional chart as the space bureaus have been switched to handle policies regarding public integration technology and future energy technology.
KASA will continue its talent search, including from overseas, as it looks to fill up the rest of its positions by the end of this year.
“What KASA has to do from now will be a series of challenges and accomplishments,” said the KASA chief.
The launch of KASA came a little over a year after the government initiated the legislation process when the Ministry of Science and ICT submitted special acts for the establishment and operation of the new space body in April last year.
The government’s aim was to pass the act as early as possible to establish KASA before the end of last year but political tussles at the National Assembly between the ruling People Power Party and the main opposition Democratic Party dragged out the process.
KASA's establishment was one of President Yoon Suk Yeol’s campaign pledges. In November 2022, Yoon laid out ambitious goals of reaching the moon and landing on the lunar surface in 2032 and planting the Korean national flag on Mars in 2045 when the country commemorates the 100th anniversary of its liberation day.
The president reiterated the government’s commitment to the space sector, pledging to bring out investments of 100 trillion won ($73.2 billion) by 2045 as he attended the launch ceremony of the Korean space industry cluster in Sacheon in March this year. He vowed to cultivate 1,000 space companies and turn 10 of them into global top-tier space firms, also pledging to increase Korea’s share of the worldwide space market to 10 percent by 2045 from the current 1 percent and create over 100,000 jobs.
koreaherald.com · by Kan Hyeong-woo · May 27, 2024
13. N. Korea decries S. Korea's commitment to 'denuclearization' after trilateral summit
Please remember that the regime uses all our comments about nuclear weapons to support its propaganda program to legitimize the regime. This is why all nuclear comments should also include comments about the north 's human rights abuses an crimes against humanity and how it makes the people suffer and sacrifice for the dear leader's vanity projects.
N. Korea decries S. Korea's commitment to 'denuclearization' after trilateral summit | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · May 27, 2024
SEOUL, May 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea denounced South Korea on Monday for stating its commitment to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula in a joint declaration with Japan and China following their trilateral summit, casting it as a "mockery" of the region and the international community.
The North's foreign ministry issued the statement hours after President Yoon Suk Yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Chinese Premier Li Qiang held the trilateral summit in Seoul and reaffirmed their commitment to promote peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
In the joint declaration, the three sides reiterated positions on denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and the abduction issue, respectively, and continue efforts for the political settlement of the peninsula issue.
"It is a mockery of and trickery against the regional countries and the international community that the ROK is talking about 'denuclearization,' 'peace and stability,'" a spokesperson at the North's foreign ministry said in the statement released by the Korean Central News Agency.
ROK stands for the Republic of Korea, South Korea's official name.
"The complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula has already died out theoretically, practically and physically," the ministry said.
The North then accused the South of being the root cause for creating "a grave security crisis" on and beyond the peninsula by "frantically strengthening military alliance for aggression."
"The DPRK Foreign Ministry strongly denounces and rejects it (denuclearization commitment) as a blatant challenge to the sovereignty of the DPRK and wanton interference in its internal affairs."
DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea will "firmly defend" its sovereignty and national dignity from any attempts by "hostile forces" to deny its sovereignty, the statement read.
Hours before the three-way summit took place, the North announced its plan to launch a space rocket carrying a military spy satellite by notifying Tokyo of such a plan sometime before June 4.
President Yoon Suk Yeol (C) and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida (L) listen to Chinese Premier Li Qiang speaking during a joint press briefing of the ninth trilateral summit at the former presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on May 27, 2024, in this photo provided by Yoon's office. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
elly@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · May 27, 2024
14. S. Korea, U.S, Japan to hold vice foreign ministerial talks in Virginia this week
Quick facts
Little Washington is a now mostly uninhabited African American village in Loudoun County, Virginia, United States.Wikipedia
S. Korea, U.S, Japan to hold vice foreign ministerial talks in Virginia this week | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · May 27, 2024
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, May 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold a trilateral vice foreign ministerial meeting in Virginia this week to discuss North Korean threats, cooperation on economic security and critical technologies and other issues, the State Department said Monday.
South Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun, Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano are set to attend the trilateral dialogue in historic Little Washington, Virginia, on Friday, according to it.
The meeting comes as Seoul, Washington and Tokyo share concerns over Pyongyang's plan to launch another satellite-carrying rocket before June 4. They see the planned launch as a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
"This dialogue ... will reaffirm the importance of trilateral cooperation in advancing a free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient Indo-Pacific region," the department said in a media note.
"This dialogue will focus on utilizing our collective capacity to strengthen cooperation on economic security, critical and emerging technologies, and maritime security, as well as a range of regional and global challenges, including the threats posed by the DPRK to regional and global peace and security," it added.
DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
The three sides are also set to discuss Russia's prolonged war against Ukraine, the "importance of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," and humanitarian support for the people of Gaza, according to the department.
The department called the upcoming meeting a "key deliverable" from the landmark trilateral summit that South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held at Camp David in Maryland in August.
On Friday morning, Campbell plans to meet bilaterally with Kim to discuss the role of the South Korea-U.S. alliance in promoting peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
On the eve of the trilateral meeting, he and Okano are set to attend the inaugural meeting of the vice-ministerial U.S.-Japan Strategic Diplomacy and Development Dialogue, the department said.
The upcoming meetings follow the trilateral summit that Yoon, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Kishida held in Seoul on Monday.
The State Department in Washington (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · May 27, 2024
15. The truth behind Kim Jong Un's "anti-reunification" policy
The South Korean government and leadership and resistance are to be wiped out and the Korean people in the South enslaved just as the Korean people in the north are. This is the real vision.
It is clear that Kim is taking away all of the previous hope that unification would change their lives for the better. This is going to backfire on Kim and the regime.
Excerpt:
I don’t think so. Kim Jong Un’s two-nation narrative is not just an expression of dissatisfaction with the Yoon administration. The real aim of the doctrine is to prevent the reunification of the Korean Peninsula under the leadership of South Korea. If a progressive party figure wins the next South Korean election, could North Korea adopt a policy of “DPRK-ROK friendship” instead of “North-South friendship”? I would expect that North Korea would regard South Korea as a completely different nation. The country could also demand that Seoul and Pyongyang establish diplomatic relations or that South Korea amend Article 3 of its constitution, which defines the territory of the ROK as the Korean Peninsula and its attached islands. We can’t know whether a South Korean progressive government would accept these proposals, but I don’t think we can completely rule them out, either.
For North Koreans, this period still offers some hope. Leaving the North to come to the South is very risky, but the rewards are just as great. Those rewards are personal freedom, living like a human being, and the benefits of being a South Korean citizen. One of the goals of Kim Jong Un’s two-nation narrative is to eliminate that hope. If Kim Jong Un’s new state ideology succeeds, it will be a great victory for the Kim family.
The truth behind Kim Jong Un's "anti-reunification" policy - Daily NK English
North Korea has moved to an ideological position emphasizing that South Korea must be wiped out, not liberated
By Fyodor Tertitskiy, Kookmin University - May 27, 2024
dailynk.com · by Fyodor Tertitskiy, Kookmin University · May 27, 2024
A screenshot from a music video of the song "Friendly Father," which praises the leadership of Kim Jong Un. (KCTV)
In January 2024, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made a major shift in state ideology. Since the division of the Korean peninsula in 1945, North Korea had always held the reunification of North and South as one of its core goals. However, Kim abandoned this goal and declared that reunification was unnecessary. The word “reunification” cannot even be used in North Korea anymore. The Pyongyang subway system’s Unification Station became simply “Station” when authorities removed the word “unification” from its name.
The Korean People’s Army (KPA), for its part, was founded to reunify the peninsula. North Korea’s late founder, Kim Il Sung, who dreamed of reunifying the peninsula by force, worked to create the army even before the country was declared a state. In 1950, the KPA attempted to reunify Korea by force when it invaded the South, but failed. The Korean War ended in an armistice in 1953, but Kim Il Sung did not give up his dream of reunifying the peninsula by force. Kim even asked China for help in starting a second Korean War in the 1960s, while the KPA continued its propaganda about a “future great war of reunification” through the reigns of Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un.
This year, however, marked the beginning of a new era in North Korea’s state ideology. Kim Jong Un’s anti-unification policy will bring about obvious changes in North Korea and the KPA. Of course, we can probably confirm this precisely through internal KPA materials and North Korean military personnel who defected after January 2024. However, in this column, I will present predictable changes based on common-sense assumptions.
North Korea’s attitude toward South Korea is very different from that of the 1940s and 1950s. The North Korean authorities considered South Korea to be the “occupied southern half” of the country. In the parts of South Korea occupied by the North Korean military during the Korean War, North Korea conscripted locals into the army as well as North Koreans. Even after the armistice in 1953, South Korean soldiers who defected to the North were given the same or equivalent rank in the KPA that they held in the South Korean military. For example, a South Korean lieutenant colonel who defected to the North could receive the rank of lieutenant colonel in the KPA by order of the North Korean Ministry of State Security.
North Korea also has its songbun caste system, which first appeared in the 1950s and was systematized in the 1960s. As is well known, this system divides North Koreans into several “classes.” The most important internal North Korean document on songbun is a 1993 manual on citizen registration published by the Ministry of Social Security. This document describes “righteous people who enter the North” – as defectors to the North are called – as follows:
“Righteous people who come to the north are those who, after living under the rule of the south Korean puppets, risk their lives to go to the northern half [North Korea] out of sincere sympathy for the socialism of our country”.
Defectors belong to the songbun system’s “complex class.” That is, they are on the same level as former inmates of political prisons or re-education camps. This shows that the North Korean authorities did not trust the South Koreans who entered the country. Later, however, the North Korean authorities considered South Koreans who defected to the North as citizens of the North. For example, when a South Korean named Kang Tong-rim defected to the North in 2009, state media recognized his new citizenship.
But things are likely to change from now on. North Korea, it seems, can no longer pursue a policy of recognizing North Korean defectors as citizens. Of course, if the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the Republic of Korea (ROK) are completely different countries, South Koreans would have no right to North Korean citizenship. As such, I would expect major changes to take place in North Korea’s defector policy.
What’s more, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has not only recognized South Korea as a separate country, but has even declared it an “enemy nation.” Previously, North Korean propaganda referred only to Japan and the United States as “enemy nations.”
North Korean literature places a strong emphasis on “cruelty to the enemy.” Most cultures stress that even enemy soldiers are human beings. In North Korea, however, even acts of cruelty such as beating “American imperialist bastards” and “Japanese imperialist bastards” or smashing their skulls represent “the Korean people’s revenge on the enemy.” Mercy to the enemy is the prerogative of the Supreme Leader or his successor. For example, in a novel about the North Korean seizure of the USS Pueblo in 1968, the only North Korean who saw the American prisoners as human beings was Kim Jong Il. The author emphasized the “superhuman virtue” of the “Dear Leader, Comrade Kim Jong Il.”
North Korean propaganda erases the humanity of Americans and Japanese. I believe that documents depicting South Koreans as inhuman are likely to emerge sometime soon. While “rotten South Korea” was to be liberated in the past, “the enemy state, the ROK” must now be wiped out.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol won by the smallest margin in the country’s electoral history, 0.73%. The possibility of a progressive candidate winning the 2027 presidential election cannot be ruled out. If a leftist government comes to power in South Korea, will North Korea abandon its “anti-reunification” doctrine?
I don’t think so. Kim Jong Un’s two-nation narrative is not just an expression of dissatisfaction with the Yoon administration. The real aim of the doctrine is to prevent the reunification of the Korean Peninsula under the leadership of South Korea. If a progressive party figure wins the next South Korean election, could North Korea adopt a policy of “DPRK-ROK friendship” instead of “North-South friendship”? I would expect that North Korea would regard South Korea as a completely different nation. The country could also demand that Seoul and Pyongyang establish diplomatic relations or that South Korea amend Article 3 of its constitution, which defines the territory of the ROK as the Korean Peninsula and its attached islands. We can’t know whether a South Korean progressive government would accept these proposals, but I don’t think we can completely rule them out, either.
For North Koreans, this period still offers some hope. Leaving the North to come to the South is very risky, but the rewards are just as great. Those rewards are personal freedom, living like a human being, and the benefits of being a South Korean citizen. One of the goals of Kim Jong Un’s two-nation narrative is to eliminate that hope. If Kim Jong Un’s new state ideology succeeds, it will be a great victory for the Kim family.
Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com · by Fyodor Tertitskiy, Kookmin University · May 27, 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
|