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Quotes of the Day:
"Wars begin when you will, but they do not end when you please."
– Niccolò Machiavelli
"Without a doubt, psychological warfare has proven its right to a place of dignity in our military arsenal."
– General Dwight D. Eisenhower
"The influence of politics on war do not belong to the nature of war, but, on the contrary, contradict it."
– Carl von Clausewitz
I want to emphasize this point: The response to north Korea's demand to stop information is that we will stop sending information to the Korean people in the north when you lift all information restrictions and allow the free flow of all information to all of the Korean people. Until that occurs we will follow the UN Commission of Inquiry and work to overcome one of your many significant human rights abuses.
1. Psychological warfare and K-pop: South Korea to blast loudspeakers at North Korea
2. DP leader urges two Koreas to stop 'childish chicken game' of trash balloons, loudspeakers
3. PM says spirit of June 10 democracy uprising should be passed on
4. S. Korea, U.S. hold 3rd Nuclear Consultative Group meeting
5. THE US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 2024 AND THE FUTURE OF DENUCLEARIZATION
6. S. Korea not to turn on border propaganda loudspeakers Monday
7. Putin to visit N. Korea, Vietnam as early as this month: report
8. N. Korea launches some 310 trash-carrying balloons: Seoul military
9. Rival parties show different reactions to NK trash-carrying balloons
10. Sister of North Korean leader warns South on border broadcasts
11. Tit-for-tat clashes
12. Russian cargo ship likely transported N.K.-made weapons and ammunition
13. Is there no solution to break the vicious cycle of tension?
14. North Korea Sent Excrement Balloons. South Korea’s Response: Blasting BTS Hits.
1. Psychological warfare and K-pop: South Korea to blast loudspeakers at North Korea
BZ to the ROK government and ROK military. Now just please sustain the psychological operations campaign (and grow it).
The comment from a defector that K-Pop left a lasting impression because there are songs with no actual ideological message. That is similar to the comments I received from 7 former nPKA soldiers who were impressed with the K-Drama (rom-com) of Crash Landing On You. They assessed that because South korea would allow entertainment produced that did not prottray the nKPA as monsters or the enemy it must mean that South Korea is a strong and confident country that was the complete opposite of the north where everything about the South had to portray them as the enemy and inferior to the north and puppets of the US among many negative themes.
Excerpts:
Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in 2016 the loudspeaker broadcasts were "the most effective form of psychological warfare" and they had encouraged North Koreans to risk their lives and defect to freedom in the South.
Defectors who fled the North have backed up the statement.
South Korea's military has called the broadcasts "Voice of Freedom," with four major themes: the superiority of liberal democracy, the history of South Korea's economic success, the justification for reunification and the reality of North Korean society.
World news, commentary on the North's political system and its leader, and weather reports are mixed with K-pop hits, which some North Korean defectors have said left a lasting impression that there were actually songs with no ideological message.
Psychological warfare and K-pop: South Korea to blast loudspeakers at North Korea
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/psychological-warfare-k-pop-south-korea-blast-loudspeakers-north-korea-2024-06-09/
By Jack Kim
June 9, 20244:39 AM EDTUpdated 17 hours ago
A worker dismantles loudspeakers that were set up for propaganda broadcasts near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, South Korea, May 1, 2018. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/Pool/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights, opens new tab
SEOUL, June 9 (Reuters) - South Korea said on Sunday it would resume loudspeaker broadcasts at the border directed at North Korea for the first time in six years as a response to balloon launches by Pyongyang sending trash to the South.
The following are some facts about the broadcasts as tensions once again heighten on the Korean peninsula.
THE SPEAKERS
Up to 24 high-power speakers are stacked in large stationary racks as tall as 6 metres (20 ft)and 3 metres wide and positioned at different locations just south of the barbed wire fence marking the southern edge of the Demilitarized Zone border.
Other units are mobile and mounted on trucks.
South Korea's military operates the speaker system and the broadcasts.
At maximum output, the speakers blast voice and music more than 20 km (12.4 miles) into North Korea, far enough to reach many soldiers and civilians.
WHAT DO THE BROADCASTS ACCOMPLISH?
Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye said in 2016 the loudspeaker broadcasts were "the most effective form of psychological warfare" and they had encouraged North Koreans to risk their lives and defect to freedom in the South.
Defectors who fled the North have backed up the statement.
South Korea's military has called the broadcasts "Voice of Freedom," with four major themes: the superiority of liberal democracy, the history of South Korea's economic success, the justification for reunification and the reality of North Korean society.
World news, commentary on the North's political system and its leader, and weather reports are mixed with K-pop hits, which some North Korean defectors have said left a lasting impression that there were actually songs with no ideological message.
HOW DOES NORTH KOREA REACT?
North Korea considers criticism of its leader Kim Jong Un included in some past broadcasts as an attack against "supreme dignity" and launched an artillery strike across the border.
The broadcasts featured prominently in the joint declaration signed by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in at a peace summit in 2018.
In the declaration, it was referred to as a "hostile act" and South Korea pledged to cease the operation and dismantle the speakers.
North Korea's military is believed to have conducted a crude operation to interfere with the broadcasts reaching its soldiers and residents by playing its own loudspeakers. They did not have sufficient output to deliver messages that were comprehensible from the South.
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Reporting by Jack Kim; Editing by Kim Coghill
2. DP leader urges two Koreas to stop 'childish chicken game' of trash balloons, loudspeakers
The DP leader, Lee Jae-myung, has it wrong. This is not tit for tat. This is not a childish game on the South's part. This is not about "getting back" at north Korea. This is about doing the right thing - complying with the UN Commission of Inquiry that calls on people around the world to call out north Korea for its human rights abuses, one of which is the isolation of the people and the censorship of all information going into the north. It is about doing the right thing in helping the Korean people help themselves by giving them the truth, facts, and knowledge. While north Korea belittles itself and undermines its own legitimacy with its filth barrage balloons and a S**T show. Escapees/defectors in South Korea are working from the moral high ground doing what is right. And we should remember that north Korea is acting out because of Kim Jong Un's failed promises, failed policies, and failed strategy. And he is threatened by information and more than the combined ROK and US military he is afraid of the example of South Korea and what that means to the Korean people in the north because he is unable to provide to the Korean people in the north the peace and prosperity that exists in the South.
DP leader urges two Koreas to stop 'childish chicken game' of trash balloons, loudspeakers | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · June 10, 2024
SEOUL, June 10 (Yonhap) -- Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung called on the two Koreas to halt a chain of retaliatory actions, such as South Korea's border loudspeaker broadcasts and North Korea's trash balloon campaign, calling it a "childish chicken game" that can lead to war.
On Sunday, South Korea resumed propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts near the inter-Korean border for the first time in six years in retaliation against the North's recent launch of balloons carrying trash into the South.
The broadcasts began after President Yoon Suk Yeol last week endorsed a motion to fully suspend a 2018 inter-Korean tension reduction pact.
"What started as a leaflet can eventually escalate into a localized war or war," Lee said during a Supreme Council meeting. "We must put a stop to this childish chicken game where both North and South Korea become the loser."
The resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts came as Pyongyang sent nearly 1,000 balloons carrying trash to the South since late May in what it called a "tit-for-tat" action against anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns by activists in Seoul.
The North had initially said it would temporarily halt the campaign following the South Korean government's warning of "unendurable" measures but launched its third round of trash-filled balloons over the weekend after a North Korean defector group in Seoul sent balloons carrying anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border on Thursday.
Lee Jae-myung, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, attends a Supreme Council meeting at the National Assembly on June 10, 2024. (Yonhap)
julesyi@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Yi Wonju · June 10, 2024
3. PM says spirit of June 10 democracy uprising should be passed on
We need one in Pyongyang.
PM says spirit of June 10 democracy uprising should be passed on | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · June 10, 2024
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, June 10 (Yonhap) -- Prime Minister Han Duck-soo called Monday for inheriting and developing the "noble spirit" of the June 10, 1987, pro-democracy uprising that is often considered a turning point in the country's democratization.
Han made the remark during a ceremony marking the 37th anniversary of the uprising, which saw large numbers of students and citizens take to the streets in protest against the military-backed government of President Chun Doo-hwan.
"The noble spirit of the June 10 pro-democracy movement is a valuable inheritance that we should pass on and develop," he said at the ceremony held at Seoul City Hall. "Our government is doing its best to build a free and just nation, a peaceful and prosperous nation, based on a more mature democracy."
Han credited the uprising with helping establish the foundation for democracy in all areas, including through the introduction of a direct presidential election system.
He said the current administration of President Yoon Suk Yeol is working to guarantee the people's sovereignty in all sectors, revive people's livelihoods, better support vulnerable groups, and realize social integration.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo gives a speech during a ceremony marking the 37th anniversary of the June 10, 1987, pro-democracy uprising at Seoul City Hall on June 10, 2024. (Yonhap)
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · June 10, 2024
4. S. Korea, U.S. hold 3rd Nuclear Consultative Group meeting
S. Korea, U.S. hold 3rd Nuclear Consultative Group meeting | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · June 10, 2024
SEOUL, June 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and the United States opened the third session of the bilateral Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) in Seoul on Monday amid tensions on the Korean Peninsula over North Korea's recent launches of balloons carrying trash into the South.
Cho Chang-rae, South Korea's deputy defense minister for policy, and Vipin Narang, principal U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, will lead the meeting, joined by security, defense and foreign policy officials from both sides, according to the defense ministry.
During the session, the allies will review developments over the past year in various areas, including intelligence sharing, nuclear consultation procedures during a crisis, and integration of conventional and nuclear capabilities, it said.
After the second NCG session in December, Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo said the two sides agreed to complete the establishment of guidelines on the planning and operation of a shared nuclear strategy by mid-2024.
The latest meeting comes as North Korea has ratcheted up cross-border tensions with various provocative acts in recent weeks, such as launching trash-carrying balloons into the South and jamming GPS signals around the South's northwestern border islands.
In response, Seoul fully suspended a 2018 inter-Korean tension reduction pact last week, and conducted propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts on Sunday for the first time in six years.
The NCG was established under the Washington Declaration that President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden adopted during their summit in Washington in April last year as part of efforts to enhance the credibility of extended deterrence.
Extended deterrence refers to the U.S. commitment to using the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear weapons, to defend an ally.
The first two meetings were led by the National Security Councils of the two countries, before the allies agreed for the body to be led by the defense ministry and the Pentagon.
Cho Chang-rae (L), South Korea's deputy defense minister for policy, shakes hands with Vipin Narang, principal U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, after signing a framework document on the Nuclear Consultative Group at the Pentagon on Feb. 12, 2024, in this file photo provided by the defense ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · June 10, 2024
5. THE US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 2024 AND THE FUTURE OF DENUCLEARIZATION
Read Syd Seiler's entire 9 page report a this link: https://emma-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/0oueb/9f8c07cedfff2df4fab922fa360332cb/The_US_Presidential_Election_in_2024_and_the_Future_of_Denuclearization.pdf
THE US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION IN 2024 AND
THE FUTURE OF DENUCLEARIZATION
SYDNEY A. SEILER
Senior Adviser Center for Strategic and International Studies Korea Chair
June 2024
ALL EYES ON WASHINGTON? WHAT ABOUT PYONGYANG? To no one’s surprise, 2024 is turning out to be a unique U.S. election year in which speculation about changes in U.S. foreign policy under each of the two candidates if elected far exceeds actual comments or insights provided by either camp. Candidate Trump is, not surprisingly, leaving options open and speaking more in terms of where President Biden is allegedly failing, while the Biden team is defending its current policy and avoiding suggestions that fundamental changes are necessary. Filling the vacuum of substantial policy debate thus far are experts across the political spectrum, and of course the North Korea issue is no exception.
There is much rumination about possible new policy directions regarding North Korea and its growing nuclear weapons program. There is universal consensus North Korea’s nuclear capability poses a growing dangerous threat that will challenge the winner of this year’s election for the coming four years. The foundational questions being asked boil down to two: “If reelected, does President Biden have any North Korea Plan B for term two?” and “What would a resumed Trump-Kim Jong Un relationship yield?”
There is an otherwise predictable claim of a failure of Washington’s current policy toward Pyongyang and an unacceptability of the status quo. Predictable, since this is what foreign policy wonks are paid to do, not necessarily because there exist alternative policies superior to those in place now that would have a better chance of success. There are growing calls for shifting away from the goal of complete and verifiable denuclearization of North Korea to an allegedly more reasonable arms control approach that would accept the reality that North Korea has nuclear weapons and find ways in which the threat those weapons posed might be mitigated or at least controlled. Others focus on the need for Washington to somehow identify the right incentives that would bring Pyongyang back to the table, assuming Washington is largely to blame for the stand-off while asserting, despite evidence to the contrary, that somehow Pyongyang is ready to talk in a way it so far has refused to do under the current Biden Administration.
Continued here: https://emma-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/0oueb/9f8c07cedfff2df4fab922fa360332cb/The_US_Presidential_Election_in_2024_and_the_Future_of_Denuclearization.pdf
6. S. Korea not to turn on border propaganda loudspeakers Monday
As I have written this should not be tit for tat. The ROK (and the US and the international community) need to provide information to north Korea because it is the right thing to do. The soldiers need and deserve the information along the DMZ so they can know the facts and truth and to help them make their own decisions.
(3rd LD) S. Korea not to turn on border propaganda loudspeakers Monday | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · June 10, 2024
(ATTN: CHANGES headline, lead para; UPDATES with details throughout; TRIMS)
SEOUL, June 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's military has decided not to operate its propaganda loudspeakers near the border with North Korea on Monday, a day after turning them on for the first time in six years in response to the North's trash-carrying balloon campaign.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) announced the move amid questions over the loudspeakers' possible operation for the second straight day after the North launched some 310 trash-carrying balloons overnight in apparent retaliation against Seoul's loudspeaker broadcast Sunday.
The JCS had earlier warned that additional broadcasts would depend "entirely" on the North's actions.
"Loudspeaker broadcasts did not take place as of yet, and none are known to be conducted today," the JCS said in a statement. "If North Korea conducts despicable acts, (we) are prepared to immediately make the broadcasts."
The JCS also noted that it detected signs of the North installing loudspeakers of its own near the border, but it has yet to make broadcasts.
South Korean troops conduct an exercise operating propaganda loudspeakers near the border with North Korea in June 2024, in this undated photo released by the Joint Chiefs of Staff on June 9, 2024. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
The latest batch of waste-loaded balloons sent late Sunday contained scrap paper and plastic, with no toxic material detected so far, according to the JCS. No additional balloons were detected floating in the air as of 8:30 a.m.
JCS spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun said many of the balloons failed to reach South Korea due to the wind blowing in an eastward direction, with around 50 balloons being found across the border.
The North did not stage more launches early Monday, but the number of fallen balloons in the South is expected to increase as the military continued to receive reports on them, Lee told reporters in a regular briefing earlier in the day.
Sunday's launch marked the latest in the North's balloon campaign that started on May 28, which it described as a "tit-for-tat" response to anti-Pyongyang leafleting by activists in South Korea. The North is estimated to have launched more than 1,600 trash-carrying balloons so far.
Lee said the military did not detect any unusual North Korean military activity after the broadcasts, which lasted for about two hours from 5 p.m. and marked the first since they were halted under an inter-Korean declaration in 2018.
"Considering the strategic and operational situation, (we) will conduct operations flexibly," Lee said when asked why the military did not resume the broadcasts after the latest balloon launch.
Pyongyang has reacted angrily to the broadcasts in the past, firing artillery shots toward the South in August 2015 over the propaganda loudspeaker campaign.
A balloon carrying garbage, presumably sent by North Korea, is seen floating on the Han River in Seoul on June 9, 2024, in this photo provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Late Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned that South Korea will face unspecified "new counteraction" should it continue to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets and play loudspeaker broadcasts across the border.
When asked about the statement, Lee said the North Korean military's activities are being closely monitored, and that the military will be able to fully respond to what Kim called a "new counteraction."
"Our military has the capabilities to respond to any North Korean provocation overwhelmingly," he said.
A military source, however, noted that Kim's rhetoric appeared to be less threatening than expected.
"At this point ... (we) need to watch the situation, remain calm and show restraint," the source said.
For years, North Korean defectors in the South and conservative activists have sent leaflets to the North via balloons to help encourage North Koreans to eventually rise up against the Pyongyang regime.
North Korea has bristled at the propaganda campaign amid concern that an influx of outside information could pose a threat to its leader Kim Jong-un.
In 2014, the two Koreas exchanged machine-gun fire across the border after the North apparently tried to shoot down balloons carrying propaganda leaflets critical of North Korea.
mlee@yna.co.kr
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · June 10, 2024
7. Putin to visit N. Korea, Vietnam as early as this month: report
(LEAD) Putin to visit N. Korea, Vietnam as early as this month: report | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · June 10, 2024
(ATTN: RECASTS throughout with more details)
SEOUL, June 10 (Yonhap) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit North Korea and Vietnam in the coming weeks, a news report said Monday, amid growing speculation the widely expected trip to Pyongyang by the Russian leader is nearing.
Putin is expected to make the trip to Pyongyang as early as this month before paying a visit to Hanoi, according to the Russian daily Vedomosti.
The newspaper also quoted Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora as confirming that Putin's visit to Pyongyang "will happen and is actively being prepared."
If realized, it will mark a reciprocal visit by the Russian leader after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un traveled to Russia's Far East in September last year for a summit with Putin.
It will also mark Putin's first visit to the North in 24 years. He last visited North Korea in July 2000, when Kim Jong-un's late father, Kim Jong-il, was in power.
North Korea and Russia have increasingly been stepping up military ties and expanding the scope of cooperation since the leaders' summit.
Their tightening relationship has stoked concerns over suspected arms transfers between the two countries, in which Pyongyang has been providing weapons and munitions to Moscow for use in its war in Ukraine in exchange for Russia's assistance in advanced military technologies.
It has been widely expected that Putin's visit to the isolated regime is quite imminent, as there have been many high-level exchanges between the two countries over the recent months, including ministers and cultural delegations.
Russia's TASS agency reported last month quoting the Kremlin that the preparations for Putin's envisioned trip to the North were "proceeding at their own pace."
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) holds talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin during Kim's visit to Russia's Far East, on Sept. 14, 2023, in this photo released by the North's state-run Korean Central TV. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
elly@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · June 10, 2024
8. N. Korea launches some 310 trash-carrying balloons: Seoul military
The filth balloon barrage and the S**t show continues.
(LEAD) N. Korea launches some 310 trash-carrying balloons: Seoul military | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · June 10, 2024
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with details)
SEOUL, June 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has launched around 310 trash-carrying balloons toward South Korea overnight, Seoul's military said Monday, amid escalating tensions over the North's repeated balloon campaign to which South Korea has responded with the resumption of loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts after six years.
The latest batch of waste-loaded balloons sent late Sunday contained scrap paper and plastic, with no toxic material detected so far, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). No additional balloons were detected floating in the air as of 8:30 a.m.
JCS spokesperson Col. Lee Sung-jun said many of the balloons failed to reach South Korea due to the wind blowing in an eastward direction, with around 50 balloons being found across the border.
The North did not did not stage more launches early Monday, but the number of fallen balloons in the South is expected to increase as the military continued to receive reports on them, Lee told reporters in a regular briefing.
Sunday's launch marked the latest in the North's balloon campaign that started on May 28, which it described as a "tit-for-tat" response to anti-Pyongyang leafleting by activists in South Korea. The North is estimated to have launched more than 1,600 trash-carrying balloons so far.
It also came hours after South Korea resumed loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts in the border area after condemning the North's attempts to cause public concern as "unacceptable" and vowed to take "corresponding measures."
A balloon carrying garbage, presumably sent by North Korea, is seen floating on the Han River in Seoul on June 9, 2024, in this photo provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
Lee said the military did not detect any unusual North Korean military activity after the broadcasts, which lasted for about two hours from 5 p.m. and marked the first since they were halted under an inter-Korean declaration in 2018.
The JCS has warned that whether the broadcasts will take place again will depend on the North's actions.
"Considering the strategic and operational situation, (we) will conduct operations flexibly," Lee said when asked why the military did not resume the broadcasts after the latest balloon launch.
Pyongyang has reacted angrily to the broadcasts in the past, firing artillery shots toward the South in August 2015 over the propaganda loudspeaker campaign.
Late Sunday, Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned that South Korea will face unspecified "new counteraction" should it continue to send anti-Pyongyang leaflets and play loudspeaker broadcasts across the border.
When asked about the statement, Lee said the North Korean military's activities are being closely monitored, and that the military will be able to fully respond to what Kim called a "new counteraction."
"Our military has the capabilities to respond to any North Korean provocation overwhelmingly," he said.
For years, North Korean defectors in the South and conservative activists have sent leaflets to the North via balloons to help encourage North Koreans to eventually rise up against the Pyongyang regime.
North Korea has bristled at the propaganda campaign amid concern that an influx of outside information could pose a threat to its leader Kim Jong-un.
In 2014, the two Koreas exchanged machine-gun fire across the border after the North apparently tried to shoot down balloons carrying propaganda leaflets critical of North Korea.
mlee@yna.co.kr
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · June 10, 2024
9. Rival parties show different reactions to NK trash-carrying balloons
Don't appease the regime. But do not make information tit for tat or some could be a negotiating point. Send information into north Korea because it is the right thing to do.
The response to north Korea's demand to stop information is that we will stop sending information to the Korean people in the north when you lift all information restrictions and allow the free flow of all information to all of the Korean people. Until that occurs we will follow the UN Commission of Inquiry and work to overcome one of your many significant human rights abuses.
Rival parties show different reactions to NK trash-carrying balloons
The Korea Times · June 10, 2024
Balloons carrying garbage sent by North Korea are seen in the waters off Incheon, Sunday. Yonhap
Pyongyang launches around 1,600 balloons as of Monday, warns of more unless Seoul halts loudspeaker broadcasts
By Lee Hyo-jin
Ruling and opposition parties are responding differently to the government's approach to North Korea's trash-carrying balloons, particularly as South Korea resumes loudspeaker broadcasts in the border area as a retaliatory measure.
The conservative ruling People Power Party (PPP) supports the move, calling the broadcasts an appropriate response to threats to national security, while the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is urging the government to halt what they perceive as a "game of chicken" that could escalate into skirmishes.
As of Monday, Pyongyang has sent approximately 1,600 balloons on four occasions since May 28, with the latest release occurring on Sunday night, just hours after South Korea resumed its propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts directed toward the North.
"I believe that the public does not want the government to respond too passively to North Korea's provocations, as was the case during the previous Moon Jae-in administration," PPP Rep. Cho Kyung-tae said during a radio interview, Monday, describing the resumption of loudspeakers as an appropriate move.
Cho advocated for a stronger response beyond loudspeaker broadcasts, calling for enhanced military capabilities to effectively counter any threats posed by North Korea.
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, a fellow PPP lawmaker, also supported the government's hardline response.
"There should always be an immediate response and retaliation. Psychological warfare, such as loudspeaker broadcasts, is an effective tool to destabilize the North Korean regime," Ahn wrote on Facebook.
Some other PPP members, including former lawmaker Yoo Seong-min, even called for more active measures such as shooting the balloons down instead of waiting for them to land and remove the trash.
A North Korean village in Hwanghae Province is seen near the western front-line border with South Korea, in this photo taken from an observatory on Ganghwa Island off the coast of Incheon, Monday. Yonhap
On the other hand, the liberal DPK criticized the resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts as a rash decision that would only heighten military tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
"We must stop this childish game of chicken where both South Korea and North Korea inevitably end up as losers. While condemning the North Korean authorities, I urge the government to exercise restraint and respond prudently," DPK Chairman Rep. Lee Jae-myung said during a party meeting, Monday.
Rep. Kim Byung-joo of the DPK, a retired Army general, said during a radio interview, "It's very concerning that, without putting the brakes on this escalating conflict, the situation could lead to a direct confrontation, possibly even a military conflict."
The opposition party also criticized the Yoon Suk Yeol administration's passive stance on anti-North Korean leaflets sent by South Korean civic groups. The North Korean regime claimed that its balloon launches were retaliations for these leaflets.
The activist groups, mainly comprised of North Korean defectors, put cash, USB drives loaded with K-pop and leaflets critical of the Kim Jong-un regime in their balloons, viewing them as effective means to help North Koreans see the truth about their leadership and eventually flee the reclusive country.
The Yoon administration, citing a 2023 Constitutional Court ruling that deemed the leaflet launches a matter of freedom of expression, has not requested activists to refrain from sending them.
This stance remains unchanged even in the aftermath of the trash-filled balloon episode.
"There is no change in our stance. We are approaching the issue according to the Constitutional Court's decision to guarantee freedom of expression," Unification Ministry spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam told reporters, Monday.
North Korea warns of new counteractions
Amid the rising tensions, Kim Yo-jong, sister of the North Korean leader, warned of potential new retaliatory measures beyond trash-filled balloons if Seoul continues loudspeaker broadcasts and leaflet launches.
"If South Korea continues to engage in leaflet distribution and loudspeaker broadcasts across the border, there is no doubt that we will respond with new measures. The distress of having to pick up waste paper will become their daily lives," she said in a statement released on Sunday night.
She did not specify what those "new measures" would be.
In August 2015, when the South Korean military resumed propaganda broadcasts in retaliation against a North Korean land mine attack that maimed two South Korean soldiers, Pyongyang fired artillery rounds at the speakers.
The South Korean military said it will operate the propaganda speakers in a flexible manner.
"We are conducting operations as necessary, taking into account various situations and circumstances," Army Col. Lee Sung-joon, spokesperson for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said during a briefing on Monday, when asked why the military operated the speakers for only two hours the previous day.
The military operated several of the fixed loudspeakers installed on the frontline for two hours from 5 p.m., Sunday.
Lee declined to comment on the schedule for further broadcasts, but added, "Our military has the capability to overwhelmingly respond to any provocation from North Korea, and we are closely monitoring the movements of the North Korean military."
According to the JCS, the military did not operate the speakers on Monday, but remains prepared to do so in case of any provocations from the North. The North Korean military was spotted installing loudspeakers for broadcasts aimed at the South in the frontline border area.
Army Col. Lee Sung-joon, a spokesperson for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff, speaks during a briefing at the Ministry of National Defense in Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
The Korea Times · June 10, 2024
10. Sister of North Korean leader warns South on border broadcasts
This is not tit for tat - there is no moral equivalency between supporting the Korean people in the north with information that they are denied than the hostile and malign activities being conducted by the Kim family regime. RFA reminds us that it is not only filth balloons but it is also electronic warfare with GPS jamming that took place last week for some days.
Sister of North Korean leader warns South on border broadcasts
Tit-for-tat responses raise tensions
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/korea/korea-sister-warning-06092024224816.html
RFA staff
2024.06.09
Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at a 2022 meeting.
KCNA/AFP
The powerful leader of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned South Korea of danger after it resumed cross-border propaganda broadcasts, the latest response in an series of tit-for-tat measures that has increased tension along their border.
North Korea last month began sending balloons carrying trash over the border into the South in response to earlier balloon flights by activists in the South who sent propaganda materials drifting into the North.
Both sides have used such tactics for decades but this recent round of actions has brought renewed tension to one of the world’s most sensitive and highly fortified frontiers.
Last week, South Korea suspended a 2018 pact aimed at reducing tension on the border and on Sunday it resumed propaganda broadcasts through loudspeakers into the North.
Kim Yo Jong, the influential sister of the North Korean leader, denounced the South for what she called its “despicable political agitation” in comments broadcast by the Noth’s KCNA state news agency on Sunday and warned of a North Korean response.
“This is a prelude to a very dangerous situation,” she said.
North Korea had said earlier it would temporarily suspend its cross-border balloon campaign, though threatening to resume it if more anti-Pyongyang leaflets were sent from South Korea.
Kim Yo Jong said the North Korean action was being resumed in response to the South’s loudspeaker broadcasts, which the South said it started up again on the weekend.
South Korea considers its loudspeaker campaign to be an important psychological warfare tool involving blaring messages over the border including criticism of the North’s human rights record, news and K-pop songs, to the fury of North Korea.
Separately, the North staged GPS jamming attacks in waters near South Korea’s northwestern border islands for several days last week.
Edited by RFA staff
11. Tit-for-tat clashes
Between the lines Korea times is counseling appeasement. That is not the way to deal with the Kim family regime.
Tit-for-tat clashes
The Korea Times · June 10, 2024
Steps needed to prevent military conflicts, open dialogue
Tensions are escalating on the Korean Peninsula as South and North Korea continue to engage in a tit-for-tat exchange over the North’s release of trash-laden balloons. In response to these actions, the presidential office announced on Sunday a plan to commence loudspeaker broadcasts along the border areas.
This is the third trash balloon campaign of its kind by North Korea since late May, launched in retaliation against South Korea-based activists who have been floating anti-North Korean leaflets across the border. Military authorities noted that the North resumed releasing the balloons on Saturday. By 10 a.m. Sunday, they had found 330 balloons, with 80 landing in South Korea. Many balloons presumably fell into the sea or onto North Korean soil. Previously, North Korea had sent approximately 1,000 balloons from May 28 to June 2.
North Korea claims its release of trash balloons is a direct response to the activists’ distribution of anti-North Korean leaflets. On June 2, the North’s vice defense minister initially vowed to halt the balloons but threatened to resume if the leaflet activities continued. Alongside the balloons, the North has employed various provocative methods, including GPS jamming offensives and ballistic missile launches.
South Korean civic groups sent the leaflets on Thursday and Friday, prompting the North to resume the release of the trash balloons. The presidential office convened an emergency meeting of the National Security Council on Saturday and decided to resume loudspeaker broadcasts along the heavily fortified inter-Korean border. North Korea has reacted strongly to the broadcasts due to their far-reaching impact on its frontline soldiers and the citizens in the nearby city of Gaeseong. The broadcasts will resume for the first time since 2018, just before the inter-Korean summit between then-President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The Yoon Suk Yeol government has vowed to implement measures that North Korea cannot tolerate, including the loudspeaker broadcasts, should the North continue its balloon campaign. On June 4, the Yoon administration decided to scrap the 2018 tension-easing inter-Korean military agreement, paving the way for live-fire drills and other military activities in border areas to counter possible provocations by the North.
Reopening the loudspeaker broadcasts will likely prompt North Korea to take countermeasures nonetheless. There are growing concerns that the North might be inclined to launch surgical strikes near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea. North Korea should abstain from military provocations and intimidation. The South has cautioned North Korea by warning Pyongyang that it "will be held accountable for any escalation of tensions in the future."
First and foremost, the military authorities should maintain solid defense postures to safeguard the people’s lives and safety. They should ensure military preparedness against North Korea's possible provocations.
In this context, it is troubling that a battalion commander on the frontline was discovered to have been wining and dining with his staff members despite warnings regarding North Korea's trash balloons. This incident significantly erodes trust in the military. Stringent punitive measures should be implemented against the commander and other relevant personnel to prevent future occurrences and foster greater awareness within the military.
A momentary lapse in vigilance could provoke North Korea into initiating further provocations. Concerns are also mounting over the potential escalation of the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, particularly amidst the escalating confrontation without any available channels for dialogue between the two Koreas.
Coincidentally, President Yoon Suk Yeol embarked on trips to three central Asian nations —Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan — from Monday until Saturday. However, the absence of the military's top commander should not lead to a lapse in security.
Prudent and measured actions are essential to forestall sudden conflicts and maintain stability in the region. Security and diplomatic authorities should explore proactive and innovative methods to revive the suspended inter-Korean dialogue and ease tensions while strengthening security measures.
The Korea Times · June 10, 2024
12. Russian cargo ship likely transported N.K.-made weapons and ammunition
Russian cargo ship likely transported N.K.-made weapons and ammunition
donga.com
Posted June. 10, 2024 08:08,
Updated June. 10, 2024 08:08
Russian cargo ship likely transported N.K.-made weapons and ammunition. June. 10, 2024 08:08. by 도쿄=이상훈특파원 sanghun@donga.com.
The Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Sunday that a Russian-flagged cargo ship departed from Vostochny Port in the Russian Far East and docked at Rajin Port in northeastern North Korea in April this year. Russia may have transported North Korean-made weapons and ammunition, potentially violating UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea.
Katsuhisa Furukawa, a former member of the UN Security Council's North Korea Sanctions Committee expert panel, analyzed satellite images from the US private satellite service Planet Labs and ship information from the International Maritime Organization (IMO). Satellite photos of Vostochny Port taken on April 2 and 3 showed a vessel resembling the Russian cargo ship 'LADY R' docked at the port. On April 14, a ship that appeared to be the same vessel was observed at Rajin Port in North Korea.
The ship did not activate its Automatic Identification System (AIS) during its voyage between Russia and North Korea. This system, installed for maritime safety, allows tracking of the ship's location, speed, and course. However, these details cannot be confirmed if the device is turned off.
In May 2022, the U.S. government designated the 'LADY R' as the subject of independent sanctions, citing its alleged involvement in transporting weapons. U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety raised suspicions that the ship was headed to Russia after reportedly loading weapons and ammunition from a South African naval base in December 2022. Similarly, for the same reason, the Japanese government also added the Russian company that owns the ship to its sanctions list last month.
한국어
donga.com
13. Is there no solution to break the vicious cycle of tension?
We need to seize this opportunity to really execute a comprehensive information campaign to help the Korean people in the north. The ROK must not back down. north korea will find its own face saving measure to allow it to back down.
Is there no solution to break the vicious cycle of tension?
donga.com
Posted June. 10, 2024 08:07,
Updated June. 10, 2024 08:07
Is there no solution to break the vicious cycle of tension?. June. 10, 2024 08:07. .
In response to North Korea's distribution of 'filth balloons,' military authorities abruptly resumed loudspeaker broadcasts on Sunday. This action marks the first time such broadcasts have been reinstated since their discontinuation in April 2018. The decision was made during a standing committee meeting of the National Security Council (NSC), with the government asserting, “Any attempt to incite public unrest and social chaos cannot be tolerated.” Following this, Minister of National Defense Shin Won-sik convened a meeting of all major military commanders and directed that North Korean provocations, under the pretext of loudspeaker broadcasts, be met with resolute punishment in accordance with the principle of immediate and robust response.
The resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts against North Korea represents a key component of the psychological warfare strategy, which North Korea fears most among the "unbearable measures" announced by the government a week ago. In response to North Korea's recent provocations, the government has already suspended the entire September 19 military agreement, lifted all restrictions on military activities in the border area, and initiated the restart of loudspeakers. Despite North Korea declaring a 'temporary suspension' after detonating waste balloons twice at the end of last month and earlier this month, it resumed its provocations when our North Korean defector group launched anti-North Korea leaflets, releasing approximately 330 waste balloons on three separate occasions the night before.
The government's decision to restart the loudspeakers constitutes an inevitable response to North Korea's blatant provocation. Particularly significant is the swift implementation, driven by a determination not to be influenced by North Korea's attempts to incite a 'South-South conflict' by attributing responsibility for the provocation to the South's dissemination of anti-North Korea leaflets. With border area residents expressing concerns and even the opposition party criticizing the government's lack of action regarding anti-North Korea leaflets, it was concluded that any delay in the anticipated response would only exacerbate internal discord. Consequently, the military intends to expedite the resumption of military training along the ceasefire line.
However, the current situation of heightened military tension between South and North Korea is deeply concerning, given the potential for North Korea to engage in hard-line provocations, such as targeting the loudspeakers, in response to our immediate measures. A similar escalation occurred in August 2015 when North Korea's placement of wooden box land mines and our military's resumption of loudspeaker broadcasts led to a military standoff, with shots exchanged between the two Koreas. While emergency negotiations between the Koreas helped resolve the crisis at that time, the current state of inter-Korean relations is so strained that such dramatic crisis management seems increasingly unlikely.
At this rate, it appears increasingly challenging for North and South Korea to avoid the path towards military conflict. The situation may soon transition from political, psychological warfare involving balloons launched from the South to the North to an armed confrontation where bullets are exchanged, potentially escalating into a bloody local war. To break this cycle of retaliation, punishment, and further retaliation in response to provocations, a concerted effort is required to seek solutions through diplomatic channels and a willingness to confront the risk of conflict. Above all, there is an urgent need to establish and maintain inter-Korean communication channels during these critical times.
한국어
donga.com
14. North Korea Sent Excrement Balloons. South Korea’s Response: Blasting BTS Hits.
I do not know why no one in the press discusses the north Korean human rights abuse of denying the Korean people in the north access to information without restriction.
This is not tit for tat. There is no moral equivalency. The South has the moral high ground and should never again stop sending information into the north unless the regime lifts all restrictions and allows the free flow of information.
North Korea Sent Excrement Balloons. South Korea’s Response: Blasting BTS Hits.
The tit-for-tat shows how the two Koreas express their displeasure without military strikes
https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/north-korea-sent-excrement-balloons-south-koreas-response-blasting-bts-hits-1f8522e1?mod=Searchresults_pos1&page=1
By Dasl YoonFollow
June 10, 2024 6:42 am ET
SEOUL—After enduring days of balloon bombardment from the Kim Jong Un regime, South Korea countered with an airwaves assault of its own: blaring the chart-topping hits of boyband BTS.
For two hours on Sunday, a South Korean loudspeaker near the two countries’ border played a local radio program called “Voice of Freedom,” run by the Seoul military’s psychological warfare unit. North Korean soldiers and border residents would have been within earshot.
The broadcast began with the South Korean national anthem. A news anchor delivered reports that the U.S., South Korea and Japan had condemned the Kim regime’s missile tests and military cooperation with Russia. And then there was K-pop.
The Kim regime flew into South Korea more than a thousand massive balloons carrying bags of trash and excrement PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
South Korean soldiers install a loudspeaker near the border in Paju, South Korea. PHOTO: DEFENSE MINISTRY/ZUMA PRESS
One of the BTS hits chosen was 2020’s “Dynamite,” which has racked up nearly 2 billion views on YouTube and topped the Billboard Hot 100 list. BTS, short for Bangtan Sonyeondan, or “Bulletproof Boy Scouts,” is a seven-member band whose fans worldwide officially dub themselves the “ARMY.” Sung in English, the upbeat Dynamite tune includes references to the basketball star LeBron James, King Kong and the Rolling Stones.
“So watch me bring the fire,” the song’s lyrics go, “and set the night alight.”
The two Koreas—which technically remain at war with one another—have embarked in a bizarre tit-for-tat showdown. Neither Pyongyang nor Seoul have expressed a clear-cut desire for actual fighting. But with tensions simmering, the two countries are left with limited ways to express their mutual discontent.
Starting late last month, the Kim regime flew into South Korea more than a thousand massive balloons carrying bags of trash and excrement. The air deliveries stopped for several days. Then, on Thursday, a South Korean activist group floated balloons containing anti-regime leaflets and foreign media into the North. Pyongyang re-upped its aerial campaign in response.
BTS is a seven-member band whose fans worldwide officially dub themselves the “ARMY.” PHOTO: YONHAP NEWS/ZUMA PRESS
That prompted Sunday’s loudspeaker broadcast, which also featured a reference to South Korea’s Samsung Electronics being a popular smartphone brand around the world.
Within hours, Kim’s younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, North Korea’s go-to critic of the U.S. and South Korea, warned of a “new counteraction” should the unwelcomed transmissions continue. “This is the prelude to a very dangerous situation,” Kim Yo Jong said in a late Sunday night statement.
K-pop, in particular, has served as a barometer for relations between the North and South— and is a sore spot for Kim Jong Un, who wants to limit exposure to the outside world inside his impoverished country. In 2015, after loudspeakers boomed out several songs by the girl group “Girls’ Generation,” Kim declared a “semi-war state” and ordered North Korea to fire artillery shells near the border.
An image provided by the South Korean Defense Ministry on Sunday showed items believed to be North Korean trash from balloons that crossed the inter-Korea border, on a street in Seoul. PHOTO: HANDOUT/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
As ties warmed roughly three years later, one of the Girls’ Generation members sang a North Korean song—called “Blue Willow Tree”—in Pyongyang during an inter-Korean summit. Kim and his wife attended the “Spring Is Coming” concert.
During that bout of diplomacy, the two Koreas struck a 2018 military accord meant to tone down military hostilities. That included the South dismantling roughly 40 loudspeakers.
South Korea chose not to broadcast anything on Monday, though could resume at a moment’s notice.
North Koreans were spotted dusting off their own loudspeakers, Seoul’s military said.
A visitor looked toward North Korea from an observatory in Paju, South Korea, on Sunday. PHOTO: LEE JIN-MAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Write to Dasl Yoon at dasl.yoon@wsj.com
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
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