Quotes of the Day:
“Show him there is a road to safety, and so create in his mind the idea that there is an alternative to death. Then strike.”
- Tu Mu, quoted in the Art of War. Sun Tzu (450 B.C.)
“It is by combined use of politics and force that pacification of a country and its future organization will be achieved. Political action is by far the more important.”
-Joseph Simon Gallieni. Marshall Gallieni’s instructions to the French forces occupying Madagascar, 22 May 1898.
“Let us learn our lessons. Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on that strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events. Antiquated War Offices, weak, incompetent or arrogant commanders, untrustworthy allies, hostile neutrals, malignant fortune, ugly surprise, awful miscalculations - all take their seat at the Council Board on the morrow of a declaration of war.”
- Sir Winston Churchill, My Early Life, 1930
1. N. Korea names Choe Son-hui as new foreign minister in decision from party meeting
2. North Korea appoints nuclear negotiator as first woman foreign minister
3. S. Korea, U.S., Japan agree to ramp up joint efforts to counter N.K. missile threats
4. Stop Dawdling—Name a Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights
5. Readout of Secretary Lloyd Austin’s Meeting With Republic of Korea Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup
6. N. Korean leader urges stronger national defense; no new direct message toward U.S., S. Korea
7. Fifth Enlarged Plenary Meeting of Eighth WPK Central Committee Held
8. Austin stresses push for stronger 'extended deterrence' against N.K. nuke, missile threats
9. S. Korea, U.S., Japan discuss combined military exercises amid N.K. threats
10. S. Korean defense minster meets senior Ukrainian diplomat in Singapore
11. S. Korea to actively consider economic support for Ukraine
12. Biden's mounting nuclear threats from North Korea, Iran
1. N. Korea names Choe Son-hui as new foreign minister in decision from party meeting
This is the only report of this I have seen in the Korea press. CNN is reporting it. No further details. We have some diplomats who have worked with her in the past to include the previous Special Representative (though as I recall she played "hard to get" in terms of agreeing to meetings). What does this mean, if accurate?
(URGENT) N. Korea names Choe Son-hui as new foreign minister in decision from party meeting | Yonhap News Agency
URL is copied.
(URGENT) N. Korea names Choe Son-hui as new foreign minister in decision from party meeting
2. North Korea appoints nuclear negotiator as first woman foreign minister
Regime political warfare. Keep us guessing (and hoping).
North Korea appoints nuclear negotiator as first woman foreign minister
CNN · by Yoonjung Seo, Jake Kwon and Kathleen Magramo, CNN
Seoul, South Korea (CNN)North Korea has named a top nuclear negotiator as the nation's first female foreign minister, state media reported Saturday, amid warnings from the US that Pyongyang is preparing to conduct a nuclear test.
Career diplomat Choe Son Hui was appointed at a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea from June 8-10, overseen by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, state-run outlet KCNA said.
Her appointment comes at a time of tension on the Korean Peninsula as North Korea aggressively ramps up its weapons testing program in defiance of United Nations sanctions.
On Tuesday, US Special Representative for North Korea Policy Sung Kim warned that Washington believes North Korea is preparing to conduct a seventh nuclear test -- which would be its first since 2017.
The International Atomic Energy Agency also said Tuesday that North Korea is "readying their nuclear test site," warning the situation surrounding Pyongyang's nuclear program "is quite concerning because we have seen a fast-forward in every line," based on the activity at the Punggye-ri site.
Read More
North Korea has conducted 17 missile launches this year alone, including two successful tests of presumed intercontinental ballistic missiles.
South Korea and the US put on an aerial show of force to North Korea on Tuesday, flying 20 fighter jets over waters west of the Korean Peninsula in response to Pyongyang's recent missile tests.
It came a day after the two allies fired eight missiles into nearby waters, which they said demonstrated that "even if North Korea provokes with missiles from multiple locations, (South Korea and the US have) the ability and readiness to immediately strike with precision."
The KCNA report of the plenary meeting Saturday made no mention of North Korea's nuclear capability, missile tests, the US or South Korea.
However, Kim reaffirmed the principle of "power to power," which "will not yield a single inch," in defending national sovereignty, and presented military tasks for North Korea's forces and defense research department, KCNA said.
Who is Choe Son Hui?
Born in 1964 in Pyongyang, Choe is the daughter of former North Korean prime minister Choe Yong Rim, according to South Korean Unification Ministry data.
She first appeared in the media in 1997 as the interpreter for North Korean delegates in four-party nuclear negotiations with its neighbors. She again joined the negotiation during six-party talks in the 2000s.
Choe played a key role during North Korea's summits with the US, leading an aggressive negotiation effort aimed at the US leadership of former President Donald Trump. Her statements published on North Korean state media alternated between threatening a "nuclear showdown" to offers of dialogue.
She accompanied North Korean leader Kim for summits in Singapore in 2018 and Hanoi a year later, sitting alongside him at the negotiation table.
In her latest statement in March of last year, she demanded the US cease its "hostile policy" against North Korea, including its joint drills with South Korea.
CNN · by Yoonjung Seo, Jake Kwon and Kathleen Magramo, CNN
3. S. Korea, U.S., Japan agree to ramp up joint efforts to counter N.K. missile threats
The three most important words: Integrated Missile Defense.
(4th LD) S. Korea, U.S., Japan agree to ramp up joint efforts to counter N.K. missile threats | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in paras 5, 21)
By Song Sang-ho
SINGAPORE, June 11 (Yonhap) -- The defense chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan agreed Saturday to step up cooperation to counter North Korea's missile threats through their combined regular security exercises, including missile warning drills, Seoul's defense ministry said.
Lee Jong-sup and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Lloyd Austin and Nobuo Kishi, reached the agreement during their gathering held on the margins of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
The first in-person meeting since November 2019 of the regional powers' top defense officials followed a series of North Korean ballistic missile launches. Speculation has also abounded that Pyongyang has completed preparations for a nuclear test.
They "agreed to conduct the South Korea-U.S.-Japan missile warning and ballistic missile search and tracking exercises," the ministry said in a press release. It did not specify when the training programs will take place.
The three sides have held the missile warning and tracking exercises every quarter and biennially, respectively, -- or at irregular intervals. Since 2018, the trainings have proceeded in a low-key manner, apparently to support efforts to engage the North in dialogue.
Those programs are now expected to take place "more publicly," a source said, a move that could help send a stronger warning signal to the recalcitrant North.
Washington has been striving to bolster trilateral security cooperation despite longstanding stand-offs between Seoul and Tokyo, mainly stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonization of Korea.
Lee drew a clear line between the South Korea-U.S. exercises, involving field troop maneuvers, and three-way ones.
"We should approach them in different ways," Lee told reporters.
Lee, Austin and Kishi also agreed to identify "additional" three-way steps to respond to the North's missile threats, the ministry said.
They pledged that their countries will work closely together for the shared goal of achieving the complete denuclearization and lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula, and reaffirmed the importance of the "full" implementation of U.N. Security Council resolutions on the North, the ministry said.
"The three underscored the importance of continued international cooperation with the goal of deterring, disrupting and ultimately eliminating the North's illicit ship-to-ship transfers," the ministry said.
The three defense chiefs also sent an apparent message to China.
"The three expressed strong opposition to any unilateral acts that change the status quo and heighten regional tension," the ministry said. "The three underscored the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait."
Prior to the trilateral session, Lee and Austin met bilaterally and discussed joint deterrence to counter North Korean threats.
"Basically, we discussed various ways to increase the enforceability of extended deterrence," Lee told reporters after the talks without elaboration.
Extended deterrence refers to America's stated commitment to mobilizing a full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear options, to defend its ally.
Austin stressed Washington's determination to offer extended deterrence involving the whole range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, conventional and missile defense capabilities, according to Seoul's defense ministry.
Lee and Austin also reiterated the two countries' commitment to expanding the scope and scale of combined military exercises and training as agreed upon during last month's summit between President Yoon Suk-yeol and his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden.
Lee used the talks to stress the importance of joint efforts to reactivate the two countries' Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group, hold tabletop exercises on the use of deterrence assets and deploy U.S. strategic military assets in a coordinated, timely manner, according to the ministry.
The two sides also touched on the Ukraine issue. Austin mentioned Ukraine's shortage of weapons while thanking Seoul for sending aid to the war-torn country and for participating in enforcement of sanctions on Russia, a Seoul official told reporters.
Saturday's meeting marked the first face-to-face talks between Lee and Austin since Lee took office last month.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
4. Stop Dawdling—Name a Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights
The US has not had a special envoy for north Korean Human Rights since Ambassador Robert King left the position in 2017. In addition South Korea has not had an Ambassador for north Korea Human RIghts since Ambassador Lee Jung Hoon stepped down at the end of the Park administration.
Both the US and the ROK need to appoint their ambassadors immediately and then the two need to work together to ensure we take an alliance human rights upfront approach.
My recommendation for US special envoy is Greg Scarlatoiu (see his bio here: https://www.hrnk.org/about/staff-interns.php)
. He is the executive director of the US Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. He has lived under north Korea like oppression in Romania and experienced the revolution there. He is a fluent Korean speaker (in addition to Romanian and French), knows the escapee (defector) community. knows the UN community, and most importantly knows the issues and is passionately committed to working for the good of humanity and the Korean people living in the north.
Stop Dawdling—Name a Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights
csis.org · by Senior Adviser (Non-resident), Korea Chair · March 31, 2022
June 9, 2022
It is well past time for President Biden to appoint a U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights with rank of ambassador. The president has now been in office for nearly a year and a half—and still no candidate has been nominated for that position. The last time the United States had a special envoy was on January 13, 2017—the day my resignation as special envoy took effect, just a few days before Barack Obama left the White House at the conclusion of his tenure as president. That was five and a half years ago.
The Special Envoy Post Is Established in U.S. Law
The North Korea Human Rights Act was initially adopted by Congress in the fall of 2004, and the legislation called for appointment of a special envoy for North Korean human rights issues. In August 2005, President Bush appointed Jay Lefkowitz as “special envoy on human rights in North Korea,” a position he held while continuing his law practice in New York City. When the legislation was reauthorized in 2008, Congress changed the legal requirements and specified that the special envoy was to be a full-time position at the Department of State, and the individual in that position would hold the rank of ambassador, requiring confirmation by the U.S. Senate.
Donald Trump’s first secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, proposed eliminating the North Korea human rights position, which provoked a bipartisan outcry from Congress. He did not remain in office long enough to get beyond that initial proposal. Mike Pompeo, Trump’s second secretary of state, dropped Tillerson’s reorganization plan, but made no effort whatsoever to secure the appointment of a special envoy for North Korean human rights. When questioned about the issue at congressional hearings, he disingenuously played down the human rights atrocities in North Korea. The effort to improve relations with Pyongyang by ignoring egregious human rights abuses and holding two summits with Kim Jong-un was a dismal failure.
Ironically, in June 2018, in the midst of this lack of action from the Trump administration, Congress approved legislation reauthorizing the North Korea Human Rights Act, including the provision for confirmation of a special envoy for North Korean human rights issues with rank of ambassador at the Department of State. The legislation was approved by “unanimous consent” in the Senate, and the only recorded vote taken in the House of Representatives on this issue approved it by a vote of 415 to 0. The legislation was signed by Trump in July 2018. Despite the law’s requirement for appointment of a special envoy, Trump retired two and a half years later in January 2021 without ever nominating an individual to fill the position.
Biden Administration Expressed Support for the Human Rights Envoy
After the inauguration of Joe Biden as president, the new administration made reassuring noises that the position of special envoy for North Korea human rights issues would be filled. When Antony Blinken made his first foreign trip as secretary of state to South Korea in March 2021, he told a South Korean journalist from KBS that “President Biden has been very clear from day one that he was determined to put human rights and democracy back at the center of American foreign policy. North Korea, unfortunately, is one of the most egregious human rights situations that we know around the world.”
Three months later in June 2021, in an appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Blinken was questioned about the human rights envoy. He said the administration would follow the law and President Biden would nominate a North Korean human rights envoy. At that time, nearly six months into the new administration and with no indication of progress on appointment of the special envoy, Blinken blamed what he called a “laborious” vetting process as the reason why a special envoy had not yet been named.
The “laborious” vetting process has not stopped the administration from making other appointments and securing congressional approval for individuals nominated for other special envoy positions. The administration announced its nominees for special envoy for international religious freedom and the special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism in July 2021. The religious freedom envoy was confirmed in December 2021, and the envoy on anti-Semitism was confirmed in March 2022.
The secretary of state’s statement about the “laborious” vetting process for the North Korea human rights ambassador was made one full year ago, and there has been no indication yet that the administration is any closer to making a nomination. The president and the secretary of state are surrounded by highly competent officials who conduct the vetting, and when vetting is carried out and decisions are made, it does not require a year. The bloody conflict in Ukraine has taken a toll on the focus of senior foreign policy officials, but senior officials need to be able to “walk and chew gum at the same time,” to cite Lyndon Johnson’s comment about a member of Congress when he was president.
Cruz’s blocking of ambassadorial appointments was unpopular with many of his Senate colleagues, and his delaying tactics were finally abandoned several months ago. In fact, the new U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Philip Goldberg, was nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate in less than three months. The nomination was announced February 11, 2022, and the nomination was confirmed by a voice vote of the Senate on May 5, 2022.
Bipartisan Congressional Support for North Korea Human Rights Act
In this era of frenzied partisanship, the North Korea human rights legislation, which established the position of special envoy for North Korean human rights, continues to enjoy remarkably broad support on both sides of the political aisle. In 2018, the North Korea Human Rights Act was reauthorized with overwhelming bipartisan support. The legislation will expire later this year if it is not reauthorized by law. Legislation has already been introduced in both the House and Senate to extend the provisions of the act for another five years.
In the U.S. House of Representatives, legislation was introduced on March 31, 2022, by Representative Young Kim (R-CA), with the democratic chair of Subcommittee on Asia of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Ami Bera (D-CA). The reauthorization bill (117th Congress, H.R. 7332) extends the North Korea human rights provisions of the existing law for an additional five years (2022 to 2027) and updates the language, but fundamental provisions remain the same, including the requirement for the appointment of the special envoy for North Korean human rights.
The Senate companion bill (117th Congress, S. 4216) was introduced two months later on May 12, 2022, by Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tim Kane (D-VA). Both are members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The two bills are twin versions of the same legislation. With identical bills in the House and Senate, and with both Democrats and Republicans supporting the legislation in both houses of Congress, the prospect for adoption of the reauthorization legislation is very good.
One of the new requirements in the reauthorization legislation is that the administration must deliver a report to Congress “within 180 days” of the passage of the bill “on progress towards appointing a special envoy for North Korean human rights, which has remained vacant since 2017.” That requirement is a politically polite way of emphasizing to the president and his administration that Congress supports the appointment of the special envoy and expects the president to move quickly to make the special envoy nomination.
And the Special Envoy Is . . . ?
A few months ago, Voice of America journalists queried the office of the State Department spokesperson about the status of President Biden’s appointment of the special envoy for North Korea Human Rights. The email response from the spokesperson was a typical bureaucratic nonanswer: “I don't have any administrative announcement or updates at this time. . . . We remain concerned about the human rights situation in the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] and the United States is committed to placing human rights at the center of our foreign policy.” Six months later, that “concern” still has not led to any action for the appointment of a special envoy.
Phil Robertson, deputy director of the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch, responded to the Biden administration’s dawdling on the appointment of the special envoy with this particularly appropriate observation: “For an administration that claims to care greatly about promoting human rights and democracy in the world,” it is critical that it “immediately act to nominate a person well versed in human rights issues in North Korea to take on this important position.”
Ambassador Robert R. King is a senior adviser in the Office of the Korea Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. Previously, Ambassador King served as special envoy for North Korean human rights issues at the U.S. Department of State from November 2009 to January 2017.
Commentary is produced by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a private, tax-exempt institution focusing on international public policy issues. Its research is nonpartisan and nonproprietary. CSIS does not take specific policy positions. Accordingly, all views, positions, and conclusions expressed in this publication should be understood to be solely those of the author(s).
5. Readout of Secretary Lloyd Austin’s Meeting With Republic of Korea Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup
Excerpt:
They decided to coordinate closely on responses to future DPRK provocations and re-affirmed that trilateral cooperation with Japan sends a strong deterrent signal to the region.
Readout of Secretary Lloyd Austin’s Meeting With Republic of Korea Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup
Release
Immediate Release
June 11, 2022
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III met with Republic of Korea (ROK) Minister of National Defense Lee Jong-sup today in Singapore to reaffirm the strength of the U.S.-ROK Alliance.
During the meeting, Secretary Austin underscored that the U.S. commitment to the defense of the ROK is ironclad and underpinned by the full range of U.S. capabilities, including nuclear. Secretary Austin and Minister Lee concurred that the Biden-Yoon Summit held in Seoul last month underscored the close bonds between the two countries and the strategic importance of the Alliance.
The two leaders discussed the recent missile launches by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). They decided to coordinate closely on responses to future DPRK provocations and re-affirmed that trilateral cooperation with Japan sends a strong deterrent signal to the region. Secretary Austin and Minister Lee committed to continuing robust conversations on extended deterrence and trilateral security cooperation.
Secretary Austin and Minister Lee also exchanged views on the Indo-Pacific security environment. Both sides affirmed the importance of the international rules-based order, peaceful resolution of disputes, and freedom of navigation.
They also confirmed the importance of preserving peace and stability inthe Taiwan Strait. Finally, Secretary Austin thanked the Minister Lee for continued ROK support to Ukraine.
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6. N. Korean leader urges stronger national defense; no new direct message toward U.S., S. Korea
Excerpts:
It instead announced the promotion of Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, who used to play a key role in denuclearization talks, to the post of foreign minister.
Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon has been tapped to lead the party's United Front Department tasked with handling inter-Korean relations.
I think these excerpts reinforce the strategy laid out in the 8th Party Congress.
The North said that the right to self-defense is a matter of protecting national sovereignty, stressing that the security circumstance for the North is "very serious" and at risk of being further aggravated, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
He then reaffirmed the principle of "power for power and head-on contest" and urged efforts to accomplish the goal of bolstering national defense capabilities "as soon as possible," the KCNA said.
"And he set forth the militant tasks to be pushed forward by the armed forces of the Republic and the national defense research sector," it added in an English-language report without elaborating.
My assessment from the 8th Party Congress.
North Korea Strategy Reaffirmed by 8th Party Congress
- Political Warfare
- Subversion, coercion, extortion
- “Blackmail diplomacy” – the use of tension, threats, and provocations to gain political and economic concessions
- Example: Kim Yo-jong threats in June – ROK anti-leaflet law in December
- Negotiate to set conditions - not to denuclearize
- Set Conditions for unification (domination to complete the revolution)
- Split ROK/US alliance
- Reduce/weaken defense of the South
- Exploit regional powers (e.g, China and Russia)
- Economics by Juche ideology – the paradox of “reform”
- Illicit activities to generate funds for regime
- Deny human rights to ensure regime survival
- Continue to exploit COVID threat to suppress dissent and crack down on 400+ markets and foreign currency use
- Priority to military and nuclear programs
- For deterrence or domination?
(3rd LD) N. Korean leader urges stronger national defense; no new direct message toward U.S., S. Korea | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with S. Korean ministry's analysis in last paras)
By Yi Wonju
SEOUL, June 11 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for stronger "self-defense" measures to tackle "very serious" security challenges as he presided over a key ruling party session earlier this week, Pyongyang's state media reported Saturday.
But there was no specific message issued from the fifth enlarged plenary meeting of the party's eighth Central Committee with regard to the possibility of the secretive regime carrying out another nuclear test.
The North stopped short of delivering new major messages toward the United States or South Korea through the three-day high-profile session that ended Friday.
It instead announced the promotion of Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui, who used to play a key role in denuclearization talks, to the post of foreign minister.
Foreign Minister Ri Son-gwon has been tapped to lead the party's United Front Department tasked with handling inter-Korean relations.
The North said that the right to self-defense is a matter of protecting national sovereignty, stressing that the security circumstance for the North is "very serious" and at risk of being further aggravated, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
He then reaffirmed the principle of "power for power and head-on contest" and urged efforts to accomplish the goal of bolstering national defense capabilities "as soon as possible," the KCNA said.
"And he set forth the militant tasks to be pushed forward by the armed forces of the Republic and the national defense research sector," it added in an English-language report without elaborating.
A decision was made for the principles and strategies to be "maintained in the struggle against the enemy" and in the field of foreign affairs. The "enemy" appears to be referring to South Korea, with the expression used amid heightened tensions on the peninsula in June 2020 when the North unilaterally cut off all inter-communication lines.
The KCNA did not specify whether Kim made a direct mention of the North's reported plan for another nuclear test.
The South Korean government noted that the North's latest high-profile meeting chaired by Kim had focused on internal affairs, including economic recovery and the fight against COVID-19.
"In the midst of difficult situations at home and abroad, (it) placed a focus on creating a new momentum and boosting public support," the Ministry of Unification said in a press release.
The ministry also pointed out that the North has not mentioned any specific accomplishments in a drive for economic growth, which is understood to suggest a lack of tangible progress in related policies, except for the construction and agricultural sectors.
The ministry took note of new appointments to top positions, a move seen as aimed at strengthening the party's control and Kim's grip on power.
The North announced a partial reshuffle of top military officials. Ri Thae-sop was appointed chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) and Jong Kyong-thaek as director of the KPA General Political Bureau, the KCNA said.
Kim was also quoted as saying during the session that the state anti-epidemic work has "entered a new stage" from a blockade-based prevention system to preventing the spread of the virus based on both a lockdown and eradication of the virus.
(END)
7. Fifth Enlarged Plenary Meeting of Eighth WPK Central Committee Held
This may be the closest we get to seeing the full transcript until someone leaks it to VOA, RFA, RIMJIN-GANG, or NK Daily.
Excerpts:
The following agenda items were brought up at the meeting:
1. Organizational matters
2. On the interim review of the implementation of the major Party and state policies for 2022 and measures
3. On the tasks for controlling the current emergency anti-epidemic situation and building up the state anti-epidemic capability
4. On amending and supplementing some parts of the Party rules and the guide to them
The meeting unanimously approved the agenda items.
Good thing they have an emphasis on literature and arts as well as defense:
The conclusion stressed the importance of the roles of literature and arts and media in dynamically encouraging the all-people advance this year, which is accompanied by unprecedented severe trials, and giving full play to the revolutionary spirit of implementing the Party's policies on all fronts of socialist construction, and indicated the orientation of the struggle for them.
The General Secretary stressed the need to steadily direct great efforts to strengthening the national defence capability.
The current security environment of the country is very serious and the surrounding situation carries a danger of being further aggravated. This urgently calls upon the DPRK to attain the goal of bolstering the national defence capability as soon as possible.
The General Secretary said that the right to self-defence is an issue of defending sovereignty, clarifying once again the Party's invariable fighting principle of power for power and head-on contest. And he set forth the militant tasks to be pushed forward by the armed forces of the Republic and the national defence research sector.
Fifth Enlarged Plenary Meeting of Eighth WPK Central Committee Held
The Fifth Enlarged Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) was held at a conference hall of the office building of the Party Central Committee from June 8 to 10, Juche 111 (2022) amid the accelerated all-people grand advance for glorifying this historic year as a great watershed in developing the revolution while braving the unprecedented difficulties facing the nation with the faith, will and unity peculiar to Juche Korea under the guidance of the ever-victorious Party Central Committee.
The meeting, convened amid great expectations and attention of all the Party members and other people of the country, made an interim review of the implementation of the major Party and state policies for 2022, which are of important significance in carrying out the decisions of the Eighth Party Congress, decided on the work orientation and struggle policies for the second half of the year and discussed the action plans for powerfully and correctly pushing ahead with the important national affairs.
Kim Jong Un, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea, attended the meeting.
When he took the platform, all the participants burst into thunderous cheers as a token of their highest tribute to him, the great leader of the WPK and outstanding leader of the Juche revolution.
The meeting was attended by the members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee, members and alternate members of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee and members and alternate members of the WPK Central Committee.
Present as observers were officials of the departments of the Party Central Committee and leading officials from ministries, national institutions, provincial-level guidance organs, cities, counties and major industrial establishments.
The presidium of the meeting was formed by members of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee.
The Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee authorized General Secretary Kim Jong Un to preside over the meeting.
The General Secretary referred to the purpose and importance of the convening of the plenary meeting.
He said that the first half of the year witnessed the accumulation of weighty experience and lessons in the overall state affairs through the efforts for firmly preserving the struggle orientation to carry out the tasks set forth at the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Central Committee of the WPK and dauntlessly tiding over a number of ordeals and crises.
He noted that the harsh situation accompanied by the severe health crisis requires us to correctly see through the current national hardship and proactively take far-sighted steps to cope with any future sudden trials.
He stressed that the purpose and importance of the current meeting is to encourage and enlarge the positive achievements, made in the struggle for the first half of the year to implement the policies of the Party and the state for 2022 set forth at the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth WPK Central Committee, remedy shortcomings, provide a timely and scientific guarantee for the fulfillment of the colossal tasks for this year and awaken and rally the entire Party and all the people once again.
The following agenda items were brought up at the meeting:
1. Organizational matters
2. On the interim review of the implementation of the major Party and state policies for 2022 and measures
3. On the tasks for controlling the current emergency anti-epidemic situation and building up the state anti-epidemic capability
4. On amending and supplementing some parts of the Party rules and the guide to them
The meeting unanimously approved the agenda items.
The first agenda item, an organizational matter, was discussed.
Members and alternate members of the WPK Central Committee were recalled and by-elected.
Pak Ji Min, Pak Su Il and Choe Son Hui, alternate members of the Party Central Committee, were by-elected as members of the Party Central Committee. Jo Chun Ryong, Pak Hui Chol, Kim In Chol, Ri Chang Dae and Han Kwang Sang were directly by-elected as members of the Party Central Committee.
Jang Chang Min, Kim Sun Chol, Sin Chang Nam, Ma Hyok Chol, Pak Hyong Ryol, Kwak Jong Jun, Ri Tu Il, Kim Tu Il, Kwak Yong Ho, Ryo Chol Ung, An Yong Hwan and Jon Sung Guk were by-elected as alternate members of the Party Central Committee.
Members and alternate members of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee were recalled and by-elected.
Jon Hyon Chol and Ri Thae Sop, alternate members of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee, were by-elected as members of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee. Pak Thae Song was directly elected as member of the Political Bureau of the WPK Central Committee to fill a vacancy.
Jo Chun Ryong, Pak Su Il, Ri Chang Dae, Choe Son Hui and Han Kwang Sang were by-elected as alternate members of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee.
Secretaries of the Party Central Committee were dismissed and elected.
Kim Jae Ryong, Jon Hyon Chol and Pak Thae Song were elected as secretaries of the Party Central Committee.
Members of the Central Military Commission of the Party were recalled and by-elected.
Ri Thae Sop, Jo Kyong Chol, Pak Su Il and Ri Chang Ho were by-elected as members of the Central Military Commission of the Party.
Department directors of the Party Central Committee were dismissed and appointed.
Jo Yong Won, Jo Chun Ryong, Jon Hyon Chol, Ri Chung Gil, Ri Son Gwon and Han Kwang Sang were appointed as department directors of the Party Central Committee.
The chairman and a member of the Central Auditing Commission of the WPK were recalled and by-elected.
Kim Jae Ryong was by-elected as chairman of the Central Auditing Commission of the Party and Kim In Chol as its member.
Some cadres of government organs were dismissed or appointed.
Jon Sung Guk was appointed vice-premier of the Cabinet, Choe Son Hui minister of Foreign Affairs, Pak Hyong Ryol minister of Food Industry, Kwak Jong Jun minister of Commerce, Ri Tu Il chairman of the State Commission of Science and Technology, Kim Tu Il director of the Political Bureau of the Cabinet and concurrently chief secretary of its Party Committee.
The meeting examined and approved the proposal on a partial reshuffle of the armed forces organs put forward by the Central Military Commission of the WPK.
Ri Thae Sop was appointed chief of the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA), Jong Kyong Thaek director of the KPA General Political Bureau, Pak Su Il minister of Public Security and Ri Chang Dae minister of State Security.
The meeting discussed the second agenda item "On the interim review of the implementation of the major Party and state policies for 2022 and measures".
Kim Tok Hun, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, vice-president of the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and premier of the Cabinet, reported to the meeting the results of the state work in the first half of the year for implementing the economic policies for 2022 assigned by the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Party.
He detailed the successes and shortcomings witnessed in the work for implementing the economic policies of the Party.
Ri Chol Man, department director of the Central Committee of the WPK, reported to the meeting the state of this year's farming.
The Party Central Committee heard, analyzed and appreciated the reports.
The General Secretary made a conclusion on the second agenda item.
He first referred to the successes gained in the state political activities and management, the state development and the work for reacting to and controlling crisis for the past six months.
The first half of the year witnessed the striking demonstration of the irresistible might of Juche-oriented socialism to the world on several political occasions along with the efforts for giving full play to the spirit of our idea-, our system- and our state-first principle and further consolidating the single-minded unity of our Party, state and people.
Responsible and indispensable measures were taken and a resolute struggle launched to cope with the ever-changing international political situation and the ever-aggravating security environment of the Korean peninsula and its vicinity. As a result, historic progress was made in consolidating the foundation of guarantee and trust in the national security.
The economic sector strived to implement the decisions made at the plenary meeting of the Party Central Committee on increasing the overall production and laying a firm guarantee for carrying out the 5-year plan, thus enabling its many fields to boost their production and keeping the trend of development of the overall economy.
The success deserving important appreciation in implementing the state economic policies is that the stability and developing speed are being surely kept in the sudden emergency anti-epidemic situation.
The economic sector rapidly tackled the temporary confusion despite the activation of the maximum emergency state anti-epidemic system and the nation-wide lockdown, and scrupulously organized and commanded the work for acclimatizing to the emergency situation so as to strenuously push forward with the implementation of the economic policies.
For the past one month since the activation of the maximum emergency anti-epidemic system, the economic sector has further developed its capability for coping with crisis and undergone the days of nurturing its ability for meticulously guiding operation, thus gaining and drawing invaluable experience and lessons.
The construction sector has pushed ahead with the projects for building large modern streets for people's better living conditions and environment and with construction of various production bases as a follow-up to the last year's efforts. So, important projects are nearing completion.
Precious successes were made in the work to update the major national industrial bases and set an example in developing the local industry, true to the decisions of the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Party Central Committee.
The agricultural sector has directed efforts to wheat and barley farming and simultaneously and vigorously propelled the campaign for combating drought and springtime farming, thus displaying a new ideological viewpoint and enthusiastic working manner of going all out for the implementation of the Party's policies.
Appreciating that the deepened confidence of all the people in the Party's leadership and policies is, indeed, a valuable political success never to be compared with any material assets, the General Secretary declared the will of the Party Central Committee to lead all state affairs to success so as to powerfully promote the faster development in all sectors.
The conclusion pointed out the deviations manifested in implementing the policies of the Party and the state in the first half of the year and their causes, and referred to the ways and Party measures for tackling them.
The General Secretary clarified the tasks for thoroughly implementing the economic policies of the Party and the state in the second half of the year, stressing the importance of making a new turn in economic guidance and management with the plenary meeting as an occasion.
The conclusion set forth in detail the work orientation and the practical measures to be taken in key industrial sectors including metal, chemical, electrical power and coal industries in the second half of the year.
It set farming and consumer goods production as the most urgent of the economic tasks for this year.
It also referred to the practical ways for powerfully accelerating the implementation of the Party's agricultural policy. Among them are the issue of making the Party's new agricultural revolutionary policy prove effective from the first year of its enforcement by successfully concluding the farming of wheat and barley planted as earlier crops, the issue of directing all efforts to making full advance preparations for protecting crops from natural disasters to the maximum, the issue of putting manuring and cultivation of crops on a scientific basis, the issue of increasing the proportion of the farm work done by machines and the issue of intensifying guidance on scientific farming and rendering stronger state support to farming.
It specified the feasible measures to be taken in the light industrial sector to substantially promote the living standard of the people by waging a vigorous campaign for increased production on the principle of giving priority to fulfilling the demands of the people in their life.
It set forth the fighting tasks the construction sector should fulfill by completing without fail this year's important building projects one after another to demonstrate the mettle of Korean-style socialism to the world.
It importantly mentioned the issue of helping agricultural workers realize in practice the validity and vitality of the programme for socialist rural construction of our Party by making sure that the Cabinet, all provinces, cities and counties carry out without fail the first year's task for the rural housing construction launched on a full scale this year, the issue of regarding science and technology as the lifeline of economic development and concentrating state efforts on rapidly developing science and the issue of decisively renovating the economic management.
In the conclusion the General Secretary placed a special emphasis on having a proper viewpoint on education at present.
Saying that education is not the work whose results are immediately visible but the long-term one and that exact efforts for it are the springboard to future development, he called for further enhancing guidance and assistance to the nationwide improvement in education, including the Party and policy-oriented guidance on the educational work and technical guidance on educational contents.
The conclusion stressed the importance of the roles of literature and arts and media in dynamically encouraging the all-people advance this year, which is accompanied by unprecedented severe trials, and giving full play to the revolutionary spirit of implementing the Party's policies on all fronts of socialist construction, and indicated the orientation of the struggle for them.
The General Secretary stressed the need to steadily direct great efforts to strengthening the national defence capability.
The current security environment of the country is very serious and the surrounding situation carries a danger of being further aggravated. This urgently calls upon the DPRK to attain the goal of bolstering the national defence capability as soon as possible.
The General Secretary said that the right to self-defence is an issue of defending sovereignty, clarifying once again the Party's invariable fighting principle of power for power and head-on contest. And he set forth the militant tasks to be pushed forward by the armed forces of the Republic and the national defence research sector.
The conclusion clarified the principles and strategic and tactical orientations to be maintained in the struggle against the enemy and in the field of foreign affairs.
It strictly analyzed and reviewed the struggle against anti-socialist and non-socialist practices conducted in the first half of the year and referred to the principled issues arising in steadily enhancing the intensity of the struggle.
It indicated the directions of work to achieve a signal success by enhancing the responsibility, role and organizing ability of the Party organizations at all levels and their officials and conducting the Party's guidance over the economic work in an effective way.
The General Secretary called for opening up a new phase of the vigorous state development by taking the current harsh and difficult period unprecedented in the history as an opportunity of getting stronger and more tested and displaying the firm will and staunch and strenuous spirit and for doing our best to make every work for this year be correctly executed at the scheduled development speed.
Finishing the conclusion, the General Secretary called for successfully carrying out the plans for this year of great significance by focusing all efforts on them, mindful that the fulfillment of the national economic plan means loyalty towards the Party and the people and devoted service to them.
With the enthusiastic cheers, all the participants expressed full support and approval of the conclusion made by the General Secretary, which indicated the struggle stratagem for strengthening the leadership and fighting efficiency of the Party in every way as required by the developing revolution and proactively overcoming all existing difficulties and obstacles with their absolute might to strongly propel the period of comprehensive development of socialism.
His important conclusion serves as a valuable action programme and a powerful militant banner as it showed the clearest guideline of struggle and scientific ways for reversing the current severe situation into an opportunity of bolstering our own strength and internal driving force and making definite progress in the year 2022, an important stage in implementing the five-year plan of development and change.
The meeting discussed the third agenda item "On the tasks for controlling the current emergency anti-epidemic situation and building up the state anti-epidemic capability".
The General Secretary made a report clarifying the strategic and tactical plans for finally defusing the malignant epidemic crisis, restoring the stability and vigorously promoting the building of the state anti-epidemic capability, its capacity to cope with crisis.
He referred to the intention to discuss the anti-epidemic issue as a separate agenda item at the current plenary meeting after several major Party meetings which had discussed the emergency anti-epidemic since the outbreak of the malignant pandemic.
He said that under the current situation in which the state anti-epidemic work entered a new stage of turning into prevention work based on blockade and eradication of the epidemic from the blockade-based prevention after the unexpected serious crisis, the urgent task facing our Party and state is to immediately remedy the shortcomings and evils in the anti-epidemic work and take decisive steps for building up the country's epidemic prevention capability.
He said that the overall state anti-epidemic work should be correctly examined and the more intensified and developed anti-epidemic policy fixed and enforced to firmly guarantee the security of socialist construction and the state administration and provide the people with a reliable anti-epidemic environment.
He also underlined the need and urgency to strengthen the country's foundations for public health and speed up the building of the anti-epidemic capacity. He called for making an in-depth analysis and review of the evils and shortcomings revealed in every sector during the maximum emergency anti-epidemic work from a critical and developmental viewpoint and adjusting and reinforcing in a more scientific and revolutionary way the state work system to cope with epidemic crisis.
He advanced important tasks and ways to be thoroughly carried out by the Cabinet, emergency anti-epidemic and public health sectors and the judicial, prosecutory and security organs with the aim of finally defusing the pandemic crisis and restoring the anti-epidemic stability.
He said that only when the anti-epidemic policy is enforced in a strict, scientific and advanced way, can it prove successful, stressing the need to steadily improve the anti-epidemic system and methods.
Our epidemic prevention work is based on the people's voluntary unity in action, not on any institutional mechanism or material and technical means, he said, adding that a great victory in this work can be won through an all-people resistance.
He called on the Party organizations at all levels to conduct a vigorous ideological work for arousing all the people to the anti-epidemic war and guide the emergency anti-epidemic work in a responsible manner.
He said that the victory in the ongoing anti-epidemic war can be brought earlier only when all the Party cells proactively find the work to be done in the current anti-epidemic situation and make the Party members fulfill their duties and responsibilities with the same thought and act.
He called on officials to always lead Party members and all other broad sections of people in the van of the anti-epidemic front, learn in detail about and grasp the enforcement of the emergency anti-epidemic system on the spot and take timely steps.
He repeatedly stressed the need for the Party organizations at all levels to display the organizing ability and leadership which no others can have in the on-going anti-epidemic campaign, and to make the overcoming of the crisis lead to the strengthening of Party organizations.
He also underlined the need to successfully tide over the anti-epidemic crisis and simultaneously push ahead with the building of the state anti-epidemic capacity.
He said that the state epidemic prevention capability to be built by us is the integrated whole of consolidated work system and order, technical personnel, material foundations and potentials able to contain, control and defuse any possible health crisis initiatively in a stable way.
He reviewed and analyzed the invaluable experience and lessons gained and drawn in the course of ensuring the preventive security of the country for over two years by enforcing our style anti-epidemic policy and of running the maximum emergency anti-epidemic system. He said that all the emergency anti-epidemic policies and guidelines, measures and policies pursued so far by the Party and the government serve as a great foundation for building up the state anti-epidemic capabilities.
He set forth the immediate goal, long-term goal and detailed ways for firmly consolidating the material and technical foundations for bolstering up the state anti-epidemic capabilities.
Noting that the current anti-epidemic war is an occasion for gaining priceless experience and stratagems for creditably defending the security of the country and the people in any future health crisis, he called for bringing about an unprecedented miracle in restoring the stability in the anti-epidemic work by further intensifying the Party work, economic organization and public healthcare to give fullest play to the organizing ability of our united society and the advantages of the socialist public health system.
He ardently called for firmly protecting the health and wellbeing of our dear people by organizing and launching the emergency anti-epidemic work scrupulously, flexibly and successfully with confidence and courage and powerfully accelerating the building of the country's capabilities for coping with any pandemic disease and crisis.
Listening to his report, all the participants hardened the resolve to give full play to their utmost enthusiasm, fighting spirit, capabilities and wisdom in the forefront of the anti-epidemic campaign out of their high sense of responsibility and loyalty to the revolution and the spirit of unconditional and devoted service for the people.
True to the idea and spirit of the important conclusion and report of the General Secretary, the enlarged plenary meeting had sectional study and consultations for working out a scientific measure to thoroughly implement the fighting tasks for 2022 assigned by the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Party Central Committee.
Members of the Presidium of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee and members of the Political Bureau of the Party Central Committee guided the study and consultations.
Divided into nine sections, the study and consultations deeply studied and discussed the tasks specified in the draft resolution before presenting many constructive proposals amid the sincere and mobilized stand and high enthusiasm of the participants.
Jo Yong Won, member of the Presidium of the Political Bureau and secretary for Organizational Affairs of the Party Central Committee, reported to the plenary meeting the proposals put together by the resolution-drafting group.
The plenary meeting finally examined the suggestions brought together and adopted with unanimous approval a resolution on the second agenda item "On adjusting some of the major Party and state policy-oriented tasks for the year 2022" and a resolution on the third agenda item "On taking a decisive measure to signally enhance the state anti-epidemic ability".
It discussed the fourth agenda item "On amending and supplementing some contents of the Party rules and the guide on them".
Members of the Party central leadership organ unanimously recognized that the relevant contents referred to the discussion are of important significance in further enhancing the Party's fighting efficiency and leadership and consolidating its organizational and ideological foundation.
A relevant resolution was adopted at the meeting with unanimous approval.
The General Secretary of the WPK concluded the meeting.
Saying that the advanced and innovative plans, worked out at the enlarged plenary meeting, are an expression of self-confidence, great courage and firm will of the members of the Party central leadership body who bravely respond to the demands of the Party and the revolution without the slightest hesitation despite the unprecedented national crisis, he extended greetings of militant encouragement to them and, through them, to all the Party organizations and members.
The important tasks facing us at present are a supreme order issued by our people to the Party and the government, he said, expressing the expectations and belief that all the members of the Party central leadership body would stand in the van of the advancing ranks, deeply aware of their responsible duty before the Party, the revolution, the country and the people, to win brilliant victory in the two fronts of socialist construction and anti-epidemic war.
The enlarged plenary meeting, held amid the high revolutionary enthusiasm of all the participants, successfully concluded its work, solemnly vowing to remain intensely faithful to the revolutionary idea and cause of President Kim Il Sung and Chairman Kim Jong Il.
The 5th Enlarged Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the WPK will be significantly recorded in the history of the Juche revolution as a meeting of struggle and advance that clearly demonstrated once again the revolutionary appearance and indomitable militant spirit of our Party courageously ushering in the new era of a prosperous and powerful country, the period of comprehensive development of socialism, by dint of the invincible driving force which has been consolidated in the trials with the revolutionary idea and monolithic leadership of the Party Central Committee as lifeline.
The full texts of the important conclusion and report made by the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un at the enlarged plenary meeting will be distributed to all the Party organizations at all levels through publication by the Workers' Party of Korea Publishing House.
8. Austin stresses push for stronger 'extended deterrence' against N.K. nuke, missile threats
Excerpts:
Extended deterrence refers to Washington's stated commitment to using a full range of military capabilities, both nuclear and conventional, to defend its allies.
Austin cited nuclear threats from Pyongyang as one of the regional challenges also including "coercion by larger states against their smaller neighbors, and cruelty and violence from the regime in Myanmar."
"These challenges demand shared responsibility and common action, and we must all reaffirm our common commitment to uphold international law, defend global norms and oppose unilateral changes to the status quo," the secretary said.
Austin also used his speech to strongly condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Let me be clear. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is what happens when oppressors trample the rules that protect us all, is what happens when big powers decide that their imperial appetites matter more than the rights of their peaceful neighbors," he said. "It's a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil that none of us would want to live in."
The Pentagon chief also took a swipe at what he calls China's "more coercive and aggressive approach" to its territorial claims. On the Taiwan issue, he stressed Washington's determination to uphold the "status quo."
"Let me be clear. We do not seek confrontation or conflict, and we do not seek a new Cold War and an Asian NATO or a region split into hostile blocs," he said, stressing the U.S. will do its part to manage tensions "responsibly" and pursue peace.
Austin stresses push for stronger 'extended deterrence' against N.K. nuke, missile threats | Yonhap News Agency
By Song Sang-ho
SINGAPORE, June 11 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reaffirmed America's commitment Saturday to reinforcing "extended deterrence" against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.
He made the remarks during a session of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore amid speculation that Pyongyang has completed preparations for a nuclear test following a series of ballistic missile launches.
"We all face a persistent threat from North Korea. The United States will always stand ready to deter aggression and to uphold our treaty commitments," Austin said, noting the North's "habitual" provocations only underscore the urgency of the security challenge.
He added, "We're deepening security cooperation among the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Together, we will continue to strengthen our extended deterrence against nuclear arms and ballistic missile systems."
Extended deterrence refers to Washington's stated commitment to using a full range of military capabilities, both nuclear and conventional, to defend its allies.
Austin cited nuclear threats from Pyongyang as one of the regional challenges also including "coercion by larger states against their smaller neighbors, and cruelty and violence from the regime in Myanmar."
"These challenges demand shared responsibility and common action, and we must all reaffirm our common commitment to uphold international law, defend global norms and oppose unilateral changes to the status quo," the secretary said.
Austin also used his speech to strongly condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"Let me be clear. Russia's invasion of Ukraine is what happens when oppressors trample the rules that protect us all, is what happens when big powers decide that their imperial appetites matter more than the rights of their peaceful neighbors," he said. "It's a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil that none of us would want to live in."
The Pentagon chief also took a swipe at what he calls China's "more coercive and aggressive approach" to its territorial claims. On the Taiwan issue, he stressed Washington's determination to uphold the "status quo."
"Let me be clear. We do not seek confrontation or conflict, and we do not seek a new Cold War and an Asian NATO or a region split into hostile blocs," he said, stressing the U.S. will do its part to manage tensions "responsibly" and pursue peace.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
9. S. Korea, U.S., Japan discuss combined military exercises amid N.K. threats
If we can get combined military exercises we should be able to work toward integrated missile defense.
(2nd LD) S. Korea, U.S., Japan discuss combined military exercises amid N.K. threats | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with minister's remarks, details; CHANGES headline, lead; ADDS photo)
By Song Sang-ho
SINGAPORE, June 11 (Yonhap) -- The defense chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan discussed combined military exercises, including missile warning drills, during their talks in Singapore on Saturday amid North Korea's growing security threats, Seoul's defense minister said.
Lee Jong-sup made the remarks after holding trilateral talks with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Lloyd Austin and Nobuo Kishi, on the margins of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.
The meeting came amid growing concerns that the North has completed preparations for what would be its seventh nuclear test.
"The issue of the South Korea-U.S.-Japan military exercise was discussed at a comprehensive level," Lee said. "There were more concrete talks about such things as missile warning trainings or missile tracking and monitoring (drills)."
He was referring to the warning trainings that the three countries already have in place but have not disclosed to the public since 2018 amid Seoul's diplomacy for inter-Korean rapprochement.
Lee's remarks raised speculation that the three countries could step up their military cooperation to help rein in the North's missile provocations.
But he drew the line between the South Korea-U.S. exercise, involving field troop maneuvers, and the three-way exercise.
"We should approach it in a different way," Lee said.
Washington has been striving to bring its two Asian allies closer together for deeper security cooperation between them. Historical tensions stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula have gotten in the way.
Despite lingering historical tensions, the North's continued saber-rattling appears to have driven home the importance of collaboration among the three democracies.
"Regarding the North's nuclear and missile threats, we have shared the understanding on the importance of security cooperation among the three countries, and it was an opportunity to affirm our will to cooperate in that regard," Lee said.
Prior to the trilateral session, Lee and Austin met bilaterally and discussed joint deterrence to counter North Korean threats.
"Basically, we discussed various ways to increase the enforceability of extended deterrence," Lee told reporters after the talks without elaboration.
Extended deterrence refers to America's stated commitment to mobilizing a full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear options, to defend its ally.
Austin stressed Washington's determination to offer extended deterrence involving the whole range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, conventional and missile defense capabilities, according to Seoul's defense ministry.
Lee and Austin also reiterated the two countries' commitment to expanding the scope and scale of combined military exercises and training as agreed upon during last month's summit between President Yoon Suk-yeol and his U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden.
Lee used the talks to stress the importance of joint efforts to reactivate the two countries' Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultation Group, hold tabletop exercises on the use of deterrence assets and deploy U.S. strategic military assets in a coordinated, timely manner, according to the ministry.
Lee and Austin strongly condemned the North's recent series of missile launches and its preparations for a nuclear test, calling them "provocative acts that seriously threaten peace and stability" on the peninsula and beyond.
In a separate press release, the Pentagon said that Lee and Austin confirmed the importance of "preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait" and of the "international rules-based order, peaceful resolution of disputes, and freedom of navigation."
Saturday's meeting marked the first face-to-face talks between Lee and Austin since Lee took office last month.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
10. S. Korean defense minster meets senior Ukrainian diplomat in Singapore
Again, an opportunity for the ROK to step up in accordance with President Yoon's vision.
S. Korean defense minster meets senior Ukrainian diplomat in Singapore | Yonhap News Agency
By Song Sang-ho
SINGAPORE, June 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup had a meeting with a senior Ukrainian diplomat on the margins of a security forum in Singapore on Saturday, Seoul's defense ministry said.
Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Dmytro Senik explained to the minister "Ukrainians' will to fight" against Russia's invasion and called for Seoul to provide assistance "in any form," according to the ministry.
South Korea has so far provided three batches of non-lethal aid, such as bullet-proof helmets and vests, tents, blankets and medicine. But it has taken a cautious stance on the provision of lethal weapons to Ukraine.
Lee and Senik were in the city state to attend the annual three-day Shangri-La Dialogue that ends Sunday.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
11. S. Korea to actively consider economic support for Ukraine
Good, but....
S. Korea to actively consider economic support for Ukraine | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL June 11 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will actively consider joining a global move to support the war-torn Ukraine by participating in multilateral development banks, a Seoul senior official has said.
During the annual meeting of the OECD Council at the Ministerial Level, which ran in Paris from Thursday to Friday, First Vice Finance Minister Bang Ki-sun said the South Korean government will look at the option of using low-rate loans for infrastructure development in Ukraine, if needed, according to the finance ministry on Saturday.
The vice minister also met with Yoshiki Takeuchi, deputy secretary-general of the OECD, and Yuriko Backes, the finance minister of Luxembourg, to discuss ways to enhance cooperation.
Bang also signed a deal in London on Friday to chip in an additional US$1 million for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
sam@yna.co.kr
(END)
12. Biden's mounting nuclear threats from North Korea, Iran
Why has diplomacy stalled with north Korea? Because of Kim Jong Un's political warfare.
Biden's mounting nuclear threats from North Korea, Iran
As diplomacy stalls, the peril posed by Iran and North Korea grows.
While the world's focus has been trained on Russian President Vladimir Putin's nuclear saber-rattling over Ukraine, two other longstanding threats to U.S. national security have been not so quietly amplifying their ability to wreak international havoc.
In recent months, North Korea has test-launched an unprecedented number of ballistic missiles, and the U.S. assesses the country has imminent plans to resume nuclear testing after a five-year hiatus.
The U.N.'s atomic watchdog announced this week that Iran is mere weeks away from enriching enough uranium to potentially manufacture a nuclear explosive device and is blatantly blocking its surveillance efforts.
The threats posed by a Tehran or Pyongyang with weapons of mass destruction are vast, and the U.S. diplomatic approach to both countries is nuanced.
But the core question facing the Biden administration is straightforward: What -- if anything -- can it do to stop to prevent Iran and North Korea from becoming nuclear powers?
A missile is fired during a joint training between the United States and South Korea in East Coast, South Korea, June 6, 2022.
Handout/South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images
A cold shoulder from North Korea
The State Department has publicly messaged to Pyongyang that the door for diplomacy is open, but the U.S. Special Representative to North Korea says that sentiment has been communicated through "high-level personal messages from senior U.S. officials" via "private channels" as well.
Sung Kim revealed on Tuesday that in recent weeks, officials have even laid out specific proposals for humanitarian assistance in response to the Hermit Kingdom's coronavirus outbreak.
But these offers have gone unanswered, Kim said, as the country continues "to show no indication that is interested in engaging."
The silence of Pyongyang's leadership is in direct contrast to the explosive missile launches that regularly light up the sky over the waters surrounding the Korean peninsula.
"North Korea has now launched 31 ballistic missiles in 2022. The most ballistic missiles it has ever launched in a single year, surpassing its previous record of 25 in 2019. And it's only June," Kim said, adding the country has "obviously done the preparations" to resume nuclear testing as well.
A TV screen showing a news program reporting about Sunday's North Korean missile launch with file image, is seen at a train station in Seoul, South Korea, June 5, 2022.
Lee Jin-man/AP
Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said earlier this week the response to any such test by North Korea would be "swift and forceful," but so far, no official has publicly stated what exactly the reaction would be.
State Department Spokesperson Ned Price downplayed the extraordinary displays of force on Monday, calling them "cyclical."
"We've seen periods of provocation; we've seen periods of engagement. It is very clear at the moment that we are in the former," Price said.
But Bruce Bennett, a defense researcher at the RAND Corporation who has previously worked with Department of Defense, says it might be time for the U.S. to take a bolder approach.
Bennett argues that giving North Korea's authoritarian leader Kim Jong Un the opportunity to rebuff an invitation from the U.S. plays into his hand.
"He's just able to say no, makes him look superior, like he's in control. So that's not helping us on the deterrence issue," he said.
Similarly, Bennett argues that following up Kim Jong Un's test launches by firing off short-range missiles with South Korea, as the U.S. did on Sunday, is unlikely to yield results. A better route, he says, would be directly punishing the dictator.
Some options? Bennett suggests threatening to fly reconnaissance aircraft along the country's coast, playing off Kim's abhorrence for spying. Or perhaps vowing to drop hard drives loaded with what he has called a "vicious cancer": K-Pop.
"That's where we've got to get creative -- with what Kim hates himself," Bennett said.
While those strategies might seem lighthearted, Bennett says the threat North Korea poses is anything but.
"The last North Korean nuclear test was of a 230 kiloton nuclear weapon. That size weapon detonated, focused on the Empire State Building will kill or seriously injure just under three million people," he said. "We're talking about massive damage that this North Korea threat can do if it's ever really completed and made operational. And so the U.S. should be very anxious to stop and to rein it in. But we don't seem to have figured out what we need to do to do that."
A cleric walks past Zolfaghar, top, and Dezful missiles displayed in a missile capabilities exhibition by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard in Tehran, Iran, Jan. 7, 2022.
Vahid Salemi/AP, FILE
Iran on the verge
As the top brass of the International Atomic Energy Agency warned of Iran's stockpiling of enriched Uranium and failure to comply with U.N. inspectors this week, the U.S. and its allies successfully pushed for a censure.
The rebuke is largely symbolic, but it may be telling when it comes to the administration's dimming hopes of returning to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA)—the 2015 nuclear agreement former President Trump withdrew from in 2018.
When President Joe Biden entered the White House, top officials promised "a longer and stronger" deal. The administration loosened the enforcement of some sanctions and held back in forums like IAEA meetings in order to create space for negotiations. But after more than a year of indirect, stop-and-go talks, the odds of reviving the even the original JCPOA seem slim to none.
The Biden administration said in February it would soon be "impossible" to return to the deal given the pace of Iran's nuclear advances. But Ali Vaez, the Iran Project Director at The International Crisis Group and former Senior Political Affairs Officer at the U.N., says there is still time—but not much.
"Iran has never been closer to the verge of nuclear weapons," Vaez said. "And restoring the JCPOA is going to become more and more difficult as time passed."
While Vaez notes that having the material to make an explosive isn't the same as having the capability to manufacture a nuclear weapon, he says the U.S. and other agencies have little oversight of those next steps.
"The reality is that we have no visibility over the weaponization part of this," he said.
Despite the diminishing sunset clauses—expiration dates of provisions in the nuclear agreement—Vaez argues the JCPOA still holds value and is the most straightforward path to curbing Iran.
"The break out time -- if the original deal is restored with all of its thresholds -- will be about six months. But six months is better than six days," he said, adding that many key restrictions would remain in place until 2031. "It basically puts this issue on the back-burner for a long period of time."
But because of the time needed to lock in an agreement, the approaching midterm elections, and the possibility that Democrats may lose control of one or both chambers of Congress, Vaez says if an agreement is going to be reached, it likely needs to happen this month or next.
Vaez also warns that failure could spell political disaster for the president if he is blamed for allowing Iran to develop weapons of mass destruction under his watch.
"Six months from now, that breakout time will be really near zero. And so the president will face an impossible choice of either acquiescing to a virtual nuclear weapons state in Iran or taking military action against Iran's nuclear program," he said. "So six months from now, it will be Biden's war or Biden's bomb."
A more dangerous world
While the hazards posed by Iran and North Korea are separate from the nuclear threats posed by the Kremlin, Putin's shadow extends far beyond Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
"The whole conflict has a nuclear dimension that is going to have an effect on how we deal with Iran and North Korea, with other proliferators" said John Erath, Senior Policy Director for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and a 30 year veteran of the State Department.
"We need to maintain this idea that Russia should not be allowed to benefit from using nuclear blackmail," he added. "Because what happens when North Korea then says I'm going to nuke the South?"
Bennett adds that if adversaries are allowed to acquire functional nuclear weapons, other countries following suit, like South Korea and Japan. Although these countries are allies to the U.S., more nuclear powers means more opportunity for catastrophic wars and destruction unlike the world has ever seen.
"You have this dynamic going on in the region which is really not what the U.S. wants," he said. "That's a world which we're reluctant to have happen, but we're kind of letting happen."
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
