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Quotes of the Day:
Immediate Release
June 27, 1950
Statement by the President
In Korea the Government forces, which were armed to prevent border raids and to preserve internal security, were attacked by invading forces from North Korea. The Security Council of the United Nations called upon the invading troops to cease hostilities and to withdraw to the 38th parallel. This they have not done, but on the contrary have pressed the attack. The Security Council called upon all members of the United Nations to render every assistance to the United Nations in the execution of this resolution. In these circumstances I have ordered United States air and sea forces to give the Korean Government troops cover and support.
The attack upon Korea makes it plain beyond all doubt that communism has passed beyond the use of subversion to conquer independent nations and will now use armed invasion and war. It has defied the orders of the Security Council of the United Nations issued to preserve international peace and security. In these circumstances the occupation of Formosa by Communist forces would be a direct threat to the security of the Pacific area and to United States forces performing their lawful and necessary functions in that area.
Accordingly I have ordered the 7th Fleet to prevent any attack on Formosa. As a corollary of this action I am calling upon the Chinese Government on Formosa to cease all air and sea operations against the mainland. The 7th Fleet will see that this is done. The determination of the future status of Formosa must await the restoration of security in the Pacific, a peace settlement with Japan, or consideration by the United Nations.
I have also directed that United States Forces in the Philippines be strengthened and that military assistance to the Philippine Government be accelerated.
I have similarly directed acceleration in the furnishing of military assistance to the forces of France and the Associated States in Indochina and the dispatch of a military mission to provide close working relations with those forces.
I know that all members of the United Nations will consider carefully the consequences of this latest aggression in Korea in defiance of the Charter of the United Nations. A return to the rule of force in international affairs would have far-reaching effects. The United States will continue to uphold the rule of law.
I have instructed Ambassador Austin, as the representative of the United States to the Security Council, to report these steps to the Council.
President Harry S. Truman
https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/truman-statement-korea
(now that I have returned from Mongolia, I will try to get back on my news distro schedule as I recover from jet lag)
1. S. Korea marks 73rd anniversary of Korean War
2. N. Korea claims expansion of BRICS could speed up end to U.S. dollar's supremacy
3. Opinion | America’s Asian allies are quietly joining forces to confront China
4. Taiwan and South Korea, once tech industry rivals, are joining forces under geopolitical pressure
5. N. Korea voices 'strong' support for Russia over Wagner's armed rebellion
6. Yoon lauds sacrifice of fallen soldiers on 73rd Korean War anniversary
7. As Putin’s Trusted Partner, Prigozhin Was Always Willing to Do the Dirty Work
8. The REAL power behind the North Korean throne revealed: Explosive new book exposes Kim Jong-un's little-known sister as a ruthless psychopath
9. A new approach to saving the old homes of Seoul
10. North Korean Market Prices Suggest Serious Food Shortages
11. Will full THAAD deployment trigger retaliatory measures from China?
12. Five inmates at political prison camp publicly executed for causing a “disturbance”
13. S. Korea calls for peace through strength on 73rd Korean War anniversary
14. Inside North Korea’s strategy to stop defections by officials stranded abroad
15. Blinken called South Korea to discuss China visit; North Korea warns of stronger response
16. F-35 Stealth Fighters Are Training for War in North Korea's Backyard
17. North Korea's COVID-19 border closure prompted suicide spike, widespread starvation: 'it's heartless'
1. S. Korea marks 73rd anniversary of Korean War
Let us never forget.
A few tweets:
Eighth Army
@EighthArmyKorea
2023 marks the 73rd Anniversary of the Korean War. 36,574 U.S. service members were killed along with millions of Koreans. About 4,000 UN forces also died. Today reminds us of the enduring alliance between the ROK & Eighth Army, and why we remain in Korea to this day. #KoreanWar
David Maxwell
@DavidMaxwell161
Let’s not forget this cost: the war resulted in roughly 4,000,000 casualties, including civilians. ROK casualties were some 1,313,000 (1,000,000 civilians); communist casualties were estimated at 2,500,000 (including 1,000,000 civilians). The blood is on Kim Il Sung’s hands.
Kim Jae Yeop
@KimJYeop
Remembering the 73rd anniversary of the Korean War.
It was also SUNDAY when the war started by Pyongyang's aggression in 1950; just like TODAY.
David Maxwell
@DavidMaxwell161
And we should remember that June 24th is the anniversary of the opening of the ROK Army officers club with most ROK Army officers in attendance. Kim Il Sung chose the perfect time for his attack on the South.
S. Korea marks 73rd anniversary of Korean War | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Deok-Hyun Kim · June 25, 2023
SEOUL, June 25 (Yonhap) -- Marking the 73rd anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo on Sunday vowed to defend the nation with "strong self-defense" capabilities.
The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, when tank-led North Korean troops invaded South Korea. The United States and 20 other allied countries fought on the side of South Korea under the U.N. flag. The conflict ended in a cease-fire three years later.
"The government will protect our security with strong self-defense, not with fake peace based on North Korea's false good intention," Han told a national ceremony marking the start of the war.
Tensions have continued to ripple through the Korean Peninsula over North Korea's weapons testing, including last month's botched launch of a military spy satellite.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks at a national ceremony marking the start of the Korean War on June 25, 2023. (Yonhap)
Han said, "North Korea is still unable to wake up from the empty delusion of the Korean War."
Earlier this month, South Korea was elected as a nonpermanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for 2024-2025, expanding its foothold in the U.N. body to better address the North Korean issue and other global security challenges.
In the wake of the election as a nonpermanent member of the UNSC, Han said South Korea will step up cooperation with the United States and Japan to counter North Korea's nuclear threat.
"South Korea's entry into a nonpermanent state of the U.N. Security Council is an opportunity to further expand solidarity and cooperation among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan over North Korea's nuclear threat," Han said.
kdh@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Deok-Hyun Kim · June 25, 2023
2. N. Korea claims expansion of BRICS could speed up end to U.S. dollar's supremacy
N. Korea claims expansion of BRICS could speed up end to U.S. dollar's supremacy | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Deok-Hyun Kim · June 25, 2023
SEOUL, June 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's state media claimed Sunday that an expansion of the so-called emerging BRICS nations could challenge and eventually speed up an end of the domination of the U.S. dollar.
In an article carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Jong Il-hyon, an international affairs analyst of North Korea, criticized the U.S. for using the dollar and its military might as means for "hegemonism."
BRICS -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- held a meeting of its foreign ministers in South Africa earlier this month.
"The unprecedented international moves to limit the use of dollar and the tendency of many countries to join BRICS are accelerating the end of dollar as a key currency and the end of the U.S. hegemonism pursuant to it," the analyst said.
"Today, the U.S. has resorted to every means and method to maintain the supremacy of dollar as the key currency, and unhesitatingly committed despicable acts of imposing financial sanctions on those countries which incur its displeasure by abusing the predominant position of dollar," Jong said.
Recently, North Korea has voiced criticism on U.S. foreign policies via KCNA articles written by international affairs analysts.
This photo provided by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on June 19, 2023, shows a plenary meeting of the eighth Central Committee of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea taking place, with leader Kim Jong-un in attendance. The three-day meeting took place from June 16-18. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
kdh@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Deok-Hyun Kim · June 25, 2023
3. Opinion | America’s Asian allies are quietly joining forces to confront China
Opinion | America’s Asian allies are quietly joining forces to confront China
The Washington Post · by Josh Rogin · June 22, 2023
Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s trip to China over the weekend clearly showed that Beijing is unwilling to address any of the national security issues that worry the United States and its Asian allies. Chinese President Xi Jinping sent Blinken home empty-handed, refusing even to establish basic military-to-military crisis communications. Perhaps Xi was humoring Blinken while he awaits visits by President Biden’s more accommodating economic officials.
But Blinken wasn’t the only senior U.S. national security official in Asia last week. While the Beijing talks grabbed all the headlines, national security adviser Jake Sullivan was in Tokyo, participating in high-level diplomatic meetings with America’s top regional partners. Sullivan’s counterparts from Japan, the Philippines and South Korea all met with U.S. officials and (in various groupings) with each other. These meetings — in the long run — will prove more consequential for dealing with China’s rise than Blinken’s Beijing visit.
The White House’s readout of Sullivan’s trip failed to capture the unprecedented nature of this quiet diplomacy. For the first time, national security advisers from Japan, the Republic of the Philippines and the United States met as a trio. This is an elevation of a new trilateral grouping insiders call JAROPUS, combining the names of the three countries in a similar way to AUKUS, the more formal grouping of Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Another meeting in Tokyo that brought the U.S., Japanese and South Korean national security advisers together would have been unthinkable not long ago. But Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol have both taken significant political risks to move past historical grievances and join forces to confront their shared concerns regarding China’s regional aggression. The two leaders are expected to meet together with Biden for the first time in Washington later this year.
The concerns these important Indo-Pacific nations have about China’s strategy are not a product of Washington’s attempts to “contain” China, as Beijing alleges. The biggest driver of these moves is, in fact, Xi himself. He has ramped up China’s regional military expansion, bellicose wolf warrior diplomacy and economic coercion across the region.
“The Chinese have basically now, through a process of confrontation, helped us organize our allies on multiple layers,” U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel told me in an interview. “Xi does not get enough credit for all the work he has done to contain China, and I’m willing to give it to him.”
To be sure, the Indo-Pacific region is huge and diverse and China’s economic lure remains strong. Even as leaders such as Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., also known as Bongbong, seek more security cooperation with the United States and other allies, they can’t afford to completely alienate Beijing. But these new diplomatic groupings — known informally as “mini-laterals” — are reshaping the security architecture in Asia in significant ways. The Chinese government’s negative reactions show it understands the importance of these developments.
“Many big countries in the region have a perception of being leaned on and coerced. That is the enduring and consistent feature of Chinese diplomacy in the Indo-Pacific,” a senior administration official told me. “They have systematically alienated a number of countries with their activist pursuit of what they think their nationalist goals are.”
In Washington, its common to view Asia only through the narrow lens of the U.S.-China bilateral relationship. This plays into Beijing’s desire to set up a false narrative positing America as the aggressor. But the fact that these other regional leaders are making these moves shows that concerns about China’s actions cannot be attributed to U.S. hawkishness or groupthink. The demand signal is coming from the region itself.
“U.S. allies and partners are increasingly turning to collective security approaches in the Indo-Pacific quite literally because China is digging its own grave,” Derek Grossman, senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation, told me.
The race is on to develop these connections into genuine partnerships that will endure after the current leaders of these democracies depart. Encouragingly, there have been substantial advances in military cooperation, strategic planning and diplomatic coordination — moves surely driven by Beijing’s increasingly threatening stance vis-à-vis Taiwan.
But many regional allies worry the Biden administration’s policy lacks a robust economic component and fear that Americans’ appetite for internationalism is waning. U.S. plans to build out real cooperation in areas such as technology and energy security have yet to be fulfilled. To meet Asian allies’ desire for more American engagement and presence, the U.S. government, Congress and the American people will all have to support a surge of resources to this region.
The objective is not to “contain” China but rather to preserve the sovereignty of regional allies and the order that underpins the region’s prosperity. Beijing wants to split off Asian allies from the United States and each other, but its actions are pushing them together. What remains to be seen is whether Washington can take advantage.
The Washington Post · by Josh Rogin · June 22, 2023
4. Taiwan and South Korea, once tech industry rivals, are joining forces under geopolitical pressure
Taiwan and South Korea, once tech industry rivals, are joining forces under geopolitical pressure
- Tech firms from Taiwan and South Korea are seeking increased cooperation despite still also competing as global exporters of tech hardware
- Along with Japan, both are part of the US-led ‘Chip 4’ alliance that aims to strengthen a semiconductor supply chain excluding China amid rising geopolitical tensions
Ralph Jennings
+ FOLLOW
Published: 11:00am, 24 Jun, 2023
https://www.scmp.com/economy/article/3225187/taiwan-and-south-korea-once-tech-industry-rivals-are-joining-forces-under-geopolitical-pressure
Taiwanese app developer Gogolook counts South Korea as one of its top seven markets worldwide.
Its Whoscall app for phone scam detection has been used in South Korea since 2012 and Korean online services platform Naver became an investor in the company in 2013.
“Whoscall remains popular in the Korean market, where it shows a great demand from caller ID apps,” company spokesman Marco Tsai said.
The Taiwanese developer, with 100 million app downloads worldwide, is no outlier.
Tech firms from the two Asian economies, that industrialised quickly around the same time around half a century ago, are scoping each other out more lately as business allies rather than competitors.
Economically, South Korea and Taiwan are still competitors, but they will show a more cooperative attitude toward science and technology
Hu Jin-li
They still compete as fellow exporters of tech hardware, but now they are keen on working together to weather world geopolitical shifts, including hard questions about China and US pressure to join its chip supply chain.
“Both economies are now repositioning themselves to the side of the US-led supply chain and economic integration,” said Hu Jin-li, a professor with the Institute of Business and Management at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taipei.
“Economically, South Korea and Taiwan are still competitors, but they will show a more cooperative attitude toward science and technology.”
While tech giants on the two sides have not jumped into any mergers or acquisitions, officials have been talking this year while companies such as Gogolook are eyeing business deals – including in its case an unnamed potential Korean partner.
Some of the flash memory modules from tech giant Samsung are being assembled in Taiwan, according to market research firm IDC, while the iconic Korean firm’s smartphones also use application processors designed by Taiwanese chip designer MediaTek.
“[Taiwan and South Korea] have different advantages, and further cooperation can help reduce costs,” IDC senior research manager Galen Zeng said.
“As long as proper measures are taken for information security protection and patent protection, the risks associated with collaboration should be small.”
Taiwan-based chip maker United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) makes Samsung’s driver integrated circuits, which control other circuits in the same device, according to IDC.
Korea is an important market for UMC, and the company actively seeks to increase collaborations with existing and potential Korean customers
United Microelectronics Corporation
“Korea is an important market for UMC, and the company actively seeks to increase collaborations with existing and potential Korean customers,” a UMC spokeswoman said.
On June 1, business councils from South Korea and Taiwan drew around 60 participants from each side to a conference.
Many took part in an “active” discussion about cooperation in chips, according to a spokeswoman from the Taipei-based organiser, the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association.
Taiwan’s exports to South Korea rose from US$15.1 billion in 2020 to US$22.2 billion last year, according to Taiwan’s Bureau of Foreign Trade. Imports from South Korea also jumped from US$20.6 billion to US$34.3 billion during the same period, it added.
Politicians in Seoul have answered worries about China by plugging more tightly into US-led world supply chains, said Sean Su, an independent tech commentator in Taipei.
South Korea specialises in memory chips, Su said, while Taiwan depends more on processor chips, meaning the two could work together without risking their competitive edges.
Washington launched its “Chip 4” dialogue with Taiwan, Japan and South Korea last year to focus on strengthening a semiconductor supply chain alliance excluding China – amid the heightened tech war between the world’s two biggest economies and Washington’s concerns that China uses foreign technology for military purposes.
Seoul looks to the US as a security ally and economically relies on the Chinese market, but relations between Beijing and Seoul are seen to be worsening under pro-Washington President Yoon Suk-yeol, especially over the Taiwan issue.
China imposes restrictions on US chip maker Micron, escalating tech war
In April, Beijing summoned a senior diplomat from South Korea expressing “strong dissatisfaction” over the country’s joint statement with the United States targeting China in the Indo-Pacific, which was made during Yoon’s visit to the US. According to the White House, Yoon and US President Joe Biden also reiterated the “importance of preserving peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait”.
The US and China have been embroiled in their own trade and tech-sharing disputes since 2018, while economic competition between Beijing and Seoul has also heightened in recent years.
Yoon’s economic and foreign policies are moving towards the US and Japan, Hu added.
Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway region of China that must be unified, by force if necessary. Most countries, including South Korea and the US, do not recognise the island as a sovereign state, but are opposed to any forcible change in the status quo.
Countries that have diplomatic ties with Beijing, including the US, acknowledge the existence of the one-China principle stating that Taiwan is part of China, but they may not explicitly agree with it.
The Koreans are really important players, especially when it comes to Samsung
Keith Krach
“The Koreans are really important players, especially when it comes to Samsung,” said Keith Krach, a former US undersecretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, who visited Taiwan in 2020.
But Krach said that South Korea has been “slow on uptake” to join the so-called Chip-4 alliance and that “if Korea keeps selling to China, it puts [the US] at a disadvantage”.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in Seoul did not answer a request for comment.
South Korea’s representative to Taiwan, Lee Eun-ho, told domestic media outlets in Taipei earlier this year he wants to support closer semiconductor ties between the two sides to “improve global supply chain resilience”, the Taipei Times reported in March.
Lee met the head of the Taiwan government’s National Development Council earlier this month for discussion about two-way cooperation, with chips in focus, the council said in a statement.
Council chairman Kung Ming-hsin told Lee that although the two sides used to compete because of similar economic development courses, “it seems that there are still many opportunities for cooperation between the two sides”, the statement added.
“Taking the semiconductor industry as an example, South Korea’s strength is memory, and Taiwan’s wafer contractors are developing well, and Taiwan and South Korea can complement each other in supply chain roles,” the statement said.
CONVERSATIONS (12)
Ralph Jennings
+ FOLLOW
Ralph Jennings joined the Politcal Economy desk as a Senior Reporter in August 2022 having worked as a freelancer since 2011. Ralph previously worked for Thomson Reuters in Taipei and for local newspapers in California. He graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a bachelor’s degree in mass communication.
5. N. Korea voices 'strong' support for Russia over Wagner's armed rebellion
At least Putin has Kim. I do wonder what lesson Kim takes from this. Of course no one works harder to prevent internal resistance than Kim Jong Un. This must justify his actions in his mind. This will likely result in no relief from the north Korean population and resources control measures implemented in response to the "COVID paradox" in north Korea. Kim fears the Korean people in the north more than he fears the US military.
N. Korea voices 'strong' support for Russia over Wagner's armed rebellion | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · June 25, 2023
SEOUL, June 25 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's vice foreign minister voiced his "strong" support for any decision by the Russian leadership over the recent armed rebellion by the Wagner mercenary group, according to the North's state media Sunday.
Vice Foreign Minister Im Chon-il made the remarks during his meeting with Russian Ambassador to the North Alexander Matsegora earlier in the day, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
Im "expressed firm belief that the recent armed rebellion in Russia would be successfully put down in conformity with the aspiration and will of the Russian people, saying the DPRK will strongly support any option and decision by the Russian leadership," the KCNA said, using the acronym of the North's full name.
Im also expressed his confidence that Russia's army and people will overcome their ordeals and "heroically" emerge victorious in the war with Ukraine, it added.
Yevgeny Prigozhin, the chief of Wagner Group, launched an armed revolt against the Russian military leadership Friday, ordering his troops to march on Moscow. But he halted his armed forces' advance to Moscow a day after a deal, brokered by Belarus, was reached with the Kremlin.
North Korea has been strengthening its ties with Russia despite international condemnation of the war, amid allegations that Pyongyang has provided arms to Moscow for use in the war.
This file photo, taken April 22, 2019, shows North Korea's Vice Foreign Minister Im Chon-il in Vladivostok, Russia, in the run-up to a summit between the leaders of the North and Russia. (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · June 25, 2023
6. Yoon lauds sacrifice of fallen soldiers on 73rd Korean War anniversary
So much blood and treasure sacrificed. Let us never forget.
(LEAD) Yoon lauds sacrifice of fallen soldiers on 73rd Korean War anniversary | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Deok-Hyun Kim · June 25, 2023
(ATTN: ADDS details in para 5; CHANGES photo)
SEOUL, June 25 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol on Sunday lauded the sacrifice of fallen troops from the 1950-53 Korean War and called on the nation to remember their "bloodshed uniforms" on the 73rd anniversary of the war's outbreak.
In a Facebook post, Yoon said the "blood and tears shed by the war veterans and their families shall never be forgotten," stressing that "only strong power can guarantee real peace."
He also vowed to further defend South Korea and contribute in bringing prosperity and freedom to the people so that the "sacrifices of the heroes who fought against the invasion of the communist forces do not go in vain."
Yoon noted that 1.95 million U.N. soldiers, including 1.78 million U.S. soldiers, came "rushing to protect" the freedom of South Koreans during the Korean War.
Later in the day, Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee visited an exhibition marking the 70th anniversary of the South Korea-U.S. alliance.
The Korean War broke out on June 25, 1950, when tank-led North Korean troops invaded South Korea. The United States and 20 other allied countries fought on the side of South Korea under the U.N. flag.
Around 140,000 South Korean troops were killed in action, with some 1.95 million U.N. troops from 22 countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada and Turkey, participating in the war.
The two Koreas are still technically at war, as the war ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty.
President Yoon Suk Yeol (2nd from R) signs a guest book, with first lady Kim Keon Hee (R) watching by his side, at a special exhibition marking the 70th anniversary of the South Korea-U.S. alliance in the National Museum of Korean Contemporary History on June 25, 2023. (Yonhap)
julesyi@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Deok-Hyun Kim · June 25, 2023
7. As Putin’s Trusted Partner, Prigozhin Was Always Willing to Do the Dirty Work
Who is going to do the dirty work now? Unless Putin actually wants some dirty work done from the north in Belarus and he has actually orchestrated this to send Prigoshin there.
As Putin’s Trusted Partner, Prigozhin Was Always Willing to Do the Dirty Work
By Anatoly Kurmanaev and Kyle Crichton
The New York Times · by Kyle Crichton · June 25, 2023
Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the mercenary leader of the Wagner Group, had earned the trust of Vladimir V. Putin. Then he staged a mutiny that rattled the Kremlin.
Wagner fighters in the center of Rostov-on-Don, Russia, on Saturday.
Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the mercenary leader who led an armed rebellion in Russia on Saturday, was never afraid of a dirty task, many say.
Emerging from jail as the Soviet Union was collapsing, he began his post-criminal career selling hot dogs on street corners in St. Petersburg, Russia. There, he befriended Vladimir V. Putin, then a minor official in the city government, developed a catering business and earned billions on government contracts when his friend Vladimir became prime minister and then president of Russia.
Mr. Prigozhin quickly earned the trust of his benefactor, who assigned him a number of important tasks that were best handled at arm’s length from the government. The first and most notorious of those was overseeing the Internet Research Agency, a troll farm founded in 2013 to flood the United States and Europe with disinformation that discredited liberal elites and promoted hard-right ideologies.
From there, he raised mercenaries to fight in Syria and Libya, and, most fatefully, founded the private military group Wagner, which emerged during Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. It quickly earned a reputation for ruthless violence in pursuit of lucrative diamond and gold concessions, while building political influence for the Kremlin in countries like the Central African Republic, Libya, Mali and Sudan.
Throughout those years, Mr. Prigozhin kept an extremely low profile, never even admitting to the existence of Wagner, let alone his having a role in it.
That began to change during the war in Ukraine, as the Russian military suffered setback after setback and Mr. Prigozhin became disgusted with the greed, corruption and ineptitude he claimed to see in the upper echelons of the military.
“These are Wagner guys who died today; the blood is still fresh,” Mr. Prigozhin said, addressing Russia’s defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, and the commander of the armed forces, Valery V. Gerasimov. “They came here as volunteers and they die so you can get fat in your mahogany offices.”
As his critiques of Russia’s top military leaders grew more frequent and intemperate, he began to emerge as a public figure, insisting that his forces could do the job far better than the Russian regulars.
He recruited thousands of convicts from Russian prisons and threw them into the bloody fight over the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, often with the ruthlessness and indifference to human life that he attributed to Russian commanders. Along the way he feuded with General Shoigu and General Gerasimov, accusing them of depriving his forces of ammunition to try to destroy Wagner, an action he said “can be equated to treason.”
For Mr. Prigozhin, a breaking point was reached on Friday night, when, he says, Russian forces attacked his men as they slept in their camps (something that Russia denies and that has not been independently confirmed). On Saturday, he led a force he claimed to number 25,000 out of Ukraine and into Russia, where he seized the city of Rostov-on-Don, a military hub, with virtually no resistance.
Wagner forces took control of Rostov-on-Don, a strategically important military hub in southern Russia, on Saturday without encountering any resistance.
Always a complex figure, he was prone to vituperative outbursts and threats that were quickly forgotten or contradicted, as happened on Saturday. After first claiming he would march his forces all the way to Moscow, he reversed course later in the day. He had agreed to a proposal by the Belarusian leader, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko, “to stop the movement of armed persons of the Wagner company” and move to Belarus. In return, the Russian government would drop the charges of treason against him and grant amnesty to his soldiers.
It remains unclear if he can return to Russia, but he has capitalized on his feud with the generals to fashion himself as a populist political figure, fighting for humble servicemen and others suffering at the hands of “unqualified scoundrels and intrigants.”
He has contrasted that with what he sees as the decadence of Russian elites and the injustice in society.
“The children of the elite smear themselves with creams, showing it on the internet; ordinary people’s children come in zinc, torn to pieces,” he said, referring to the coffins of dead soldiers, and adding that those killed in action had “tens of thousands” of relatives. “Society always demands justice,” he said, “and if there is no justice, then revolutionary sentiments arise.”
Where Mr. Prigozhin goes from here is hard to pin down, as is the fate of Wagner.
If he remains in control of the company, and that is by no means assured, he will still command considerable military assets, but they will be devalued if they cannot rely on the support of the Russian military.
Apart from his standing force, Mr. Prigozhin claimed this month that 32,000 former convicts who had served with Wagner in Ukraine had returned to their homes in Russia. Many of these veterans have expressed strong loyalty to Mr. Prigozhin and have considered returning to its ranks, according to interviews with survivors and their relatives, providing an additional pool of potential recruits to the rebel cause.
Yet most experts believe Wagner’s real strength is far below what Mr. Prigozhin claims, and that he is hoping more Russian soldiers and security agents disgusted by the corruption and mistreatment they see will respond to his populist critique of the leadership and join his ranks.
The U.S. government estimated in December that Wagner had 10,000 professional soldiers. That number most likely fell in recent months as Wagner was forced to throw its most experienced units into battle to finalize the capture of Bakhmut, according to Ukrainian and Western intelligence officials.
Mr. Prigozhin himself said this year that after the capture of Bakhmut, his force would “downsize” as it prepared for new missions.
With Mr. Prigozhin ostensibly on the way to Belarus, the fate of Wagner and its fighters is hard to pin down.
Notably, Mr. Prigozhin had managed to run a force numbering tens of thousands of fighters largely on cash. Veterans and their relatives had received salaries, as well as death and injury compensations, through an elaborate network of nameless intermediaries spread across the nation.
The mutiny is likely to have erased that logistical support. And most experts believe that no personal wealth can maintain a large military force capable of challenging a regular army for long, especially without access to the state-controlled financial system.
Earlier on Saturday, videos circulating on social media showed purported Wagner convoys moving through Russia toward Moscow with mounted tanks, air defenses and self-propelled rocket launchers. Most of the rebels’ convoys, however, appeared to be made up of unprotected trucks carrying soldiers.
Mark Galeotti, a Russia military expert, said the limited amount of heavy weaponry would make it difficult for Wagner to operate independently of the Russian military.
“Without artillery you can’t really fight straight-up warfare,” he said.
Before the crisis on Saturday, many analysts had said that Mr. Prigozhin was looking to transition to the political sphere in Russia, though he had been careful not to pose any threat to Mr. Putin.
“He sees his future at risk, and he is scrambling to present a place for himself after Bakhmut within the larger war,” said Jack Margolin, a Washington-based expert on Russia’s private military companies.
Neil MacFarquhar contributed reporting.
Anatoly Kurmanaev is a foreign correspondent covering Russia’s transformation after its invasion of Ukraine. @akurmanaev
Kyle Crichton is a senior editor for international news in London.
A version of this article appears in print on , Section A, Page 12 of the New York edition with the headline: Wagner Boss Was Always Willing To Get His Hands Dirty for Putin
The New York Times · by Kyle Crichton · June 25, 2023
8. The REAL power behind the North Korean throne revealed: Explosive new book exposes Kim Jong-un's little-known sister as a ruthless psychopath
More than a bad cop. She is the evil wicked witch of the north.
Another review of Professor Lee's forthcoming book.
Excerpts:
According to US academic Sung-Yoon Lee, whose new book ‘The Sister’ provides the first detailed insight into Yo-jong, it’s not for nothing that some Pyongyang officials have nicknamed her ‘bloodthirsty demon’ and ‘the devil woman’.
The de facto second-in-command to her brother, Yo-jong can have even the most senior government officials executed on just a word.
The REAL power behind the North Korean throne revealed: Explosive new book exposes Kim Jong-un's little-known sister as a ruthless psychopath who executes officials for 'getting on her nerves' and is tipped to succeed him as dictator
PUBLISHED: 08:37 EDT, 25 June 2023 | UPDATED: 09:03 EDT, 25 June 2023
Daily Mail · by Tom Leonard For Dailymail.Com · June 25, 2023
Always careful to walk at least several paces behind her baby-faced brother and keep out of shot if cameras are around, she looks so pale and fragile that its seems a strong wind might knock her down.
Indeed, compared to her obese and surly-looking sibling – North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un – she seems a gentle soul, charming even, who couldn’t hurt a fly.
When her brother met President Trump for a historic summit in 2019, she was seen shyly peering out from behind a wall. Observers thought it almost adorable.
And yet – according to a ground-breaking and revealing new book – those who judge Kim Yo-jong on appearances may be making a fatal mistake.
Believed to be 35, the youngest child of former North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il is actually a ruthless political operator (even by her brutal family’s standards) who some tip to succeed her brother and who their father regarded as the most able of his offspring.
Yo-jong may even be heading for an explosive power struggle with her niece – Jong-un’s daughter Ju-ae – who is thought to be just 10 but has already been publicly hailed as her father’s heir apparent.
According to a ground-breaking and revealing new book, those who judge Kim Yo-jong on appearances may be making a fatal mistake.
Believed to be 35, the youngest child of former North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Il is actually a ruthless political operator who some tip to succeed her brother Kim Jong-un (pictured with his sister) and who their father regarded as the most able of his offspring.
But judging by what this new book reveals about Aunt Yo-jong with her ‘trademark Mona Lisa smirk’, it would be foolish to assume that little Ju-ae will one day be sitting on the throne of the Hermit Kingdom.
For Yo-jong, say North Korea experts, is ‘the brains behind the operation’ – and terrifying brains, at that.
According to US academic Sung-Yoon Lee, whose new book ‘The Sister’ provides the first detailed insight into Yo-jong, it’s not for nothing that some Pyongyang officials have nicknamed her ‘bloodthirsty demon’ and ‘the devil woman’.
The de facto second-in-command to her brother, Yo-jong can have even the most senior government officials executed on just a word.
In 2021, she was elevated to the nation’s most powerful body – the State Affairs Commission. And since then, Lee says, she has had ‘the ultimate power of the cruel dictator; the power to play God and decide who lives and who is killed’.
Doted on from childhood, Yo-jong was largely hidden from public view for decades. But in 2018, she sparked a media frenzy when she attended the Winter Olympics in South Korea as her country's official representative and was pictured sitting close to Vice President Mike Pence.
Journalists hailed a glamour, delicacy and charm so lacking in her dumpy brother and many wondered if North Korea could finally be veering away from its dreadful past.
Instead, predicts Lee, Yo-jong is her 39-year-old brother’s zealous and spittle-flecked chief propagandist and is potentially ‘fiercer and more ruthless’ than him.
Yo-jong may even be heading for an explosive power struggle with her niece – Jong-un’s daughter Ju-ae (pictured with her father) – who is thought to be just 10 but has already been publicly hailed as her father’s heir apparent.
But judging by what this new book reveals about Aunt Yo-jong with her ‘trademark Mona Lisa smirk’, it would be foolish to assume that little Ju-ae will one day be sitting on the throne of the Hermit Kingdom. (Pictured: North Korean missiles).
And, given his health problems with suspected heart disease, diabetes and obesity – the regime as good as admitted he was nearly killed by Covid-19 – North Korea may need a new leader sooner than expected.
Of course, obtaining information about the ferociously secretive dictatorship is immensely difficult but in 2021 Yo-jong reportedly ‘ordered several executions of high-ranking government officials for merely “getting on her nerves”.’
Those she found ‘less disagreeable’ were simply banished – along with their entirely innocent families – to detention camps and gulags, ‘where a life of grueling forced labour, beatings, torture and starvation rations awaited’.
According to Lee, rumors of Yo-jong’s ‘impulse to purge and kill’ soon became so rife that top officials started holding their breath in her presence. If she approached them they would avert their gaze or stare at the floor.
Ignoring her is apparently far safer than trying to win her praise – for ‘just being recognized by her might in due course lead to a fall from favor and a brush with death’.
A computer science graduate, Yo-jong doesn’t reserve her bloodthirsty impulses just for cowering officials. On the few occasions she’s been allowed to show her teeth on the international stage, she’s left little doubt that her finger on Pyongyang’s nuclear button would be every bit as unsettling as her saber-rattling brother’s.
In April last year, the First Sister dropped the sweetness act and warned South Korea that if its military ‘violated even an inch of our territory, our nuclear combat force will have to inevitably carry out its duty… and a dreadful attack will be launched’.
The South Korean army, she added, ‘will have to face a miserable fate little short of total destruction’.
Doted on from childhood, Yo-jong was largely hidden from public view. But in 2018, she sparked a media frenzy when she attended the Winter Olympics in South Korea as her country's official representative and was pictured sitting close to Vice President Mike Pence.
Journalists hailed a glamour, delicacy and charm so lacking in her dumpy brother. But Yo-jong is actually her 39-year-old brother’s zealous and spittle-flecked chief propagandist and is potentially ‘fiercer and more ruthless’ than him. (Pictured: Yo-jong lurks behind her brother).
As the head of propaganda, she has also demonstrated a knack for concocting particularly vile blasts against her nation’s enemies.
When, 2014, South Korea elected their first female leader, Pyongyang state media carried quotes calling her a ‘wicked sycophant’, ‘dirty old prostitute’ and ‘capricious whore’.
President Obama was outrageously branded a ‘wicked black monkey’, and a gay High Court justice in Australia was labelled a ‘disgusting old lecher with a 40-odd-year-long career of homosexuality’.
All of the comments were either written or signed off by Yo-jong.
Certainly, she’s come a long way since 2011 when her brother succeeded their father. At the time, few people outside Pyongyang even knew her name.
North Korea is also a staunchly patriarchal society. And one in which, for all its socialist pretensions, women generally look after the family at home while the men handle the politics.
Nonetheless Yo-jong’s own parents were said to be the first to recognise she was special. Even if they felt they couldn’t acknowledge it in public – her father instead elevating her underwhelming, basketball-obsessed brother.
Kim Jong-il had seven children by four women, either wives or concubines, but he reserved his chief affection for a dancer named Ko Yong-hui who bore him both Jong-un and Yo-jong.
Kim Jong-il (pictured) had seven children by four women, either wives or concubines, but he reserved his chief affection for a dancer named Ko Yong-hui who bore him both Jong-un and Yo-jong.
Yo-jong’s own parents were said to be the first to recognise she was special. Even if they felt they couldn’t acknowledge it in public. (Pictured: Female North Korean soldiers march in parade).
They and elder brother Kim Jong-chul lived in the ruling family’s gated compound, given every luxury including the best food and toys money could buy, while their countrymen and women languished in poverty.
Up to the early 2000s, Jong-chul was all but set to succeed their father – until it was announced in 2009 that he wasn’t.
According to the family’s sushi chef, his father suddenly decided Jong-chul was ‘no good because he is like a little girl’.
And while Jong-chul reportedly now lives a quiet life in Pyongyang, appearing at occasional Eric Clapton concerts as far afield as Singapore and London, the actual ‘little girl’ in the family was clearly made of sterner stuff.
As a child, she was addressed by her proud parents as ‘sweet princess’ despite having a reputation for being strong-willed and stubborn.
Interestingly, the couple referred to their sons as ‘Big Brother’ (Jong-chul) and ‘Little Brother’ (Jong-un), in other words from the perspective of their sister.
Soon after she was born in 1987, she became the ‘axis of the royal family’, always sitting next to her father at meals while her brothers sat further down the table.
By the age of eight she was sufficiently sure of herself to fire her personal aide. Aged nine, she physically dragged her older brother – who was 16 – out of a women-only theatre on their family estate after he sneaked in.
As a child, she was addressed by her proud parents as ‘sweet princess’ despite having a reputation for being strong-willed and stubborn.
Soon after she was born in 1987, she became the ‘axis of the royal family’, always sitting next to her father at meals while her brothers sat further down the table.
She and her brothers were sent to be schooled in Switzerland, using pseudonyms and pretending to be the children of North Korean diplomats.
Her father was a psychopath who had his own half-brother Hyon murdered in 2007 to protect his children’s succession right. In the 1980s he attempted to assassinate the South Korean president and blew up a passenger plane in mid-air as one of many terrorist acts.
Lee says Jong-un and Yo-jong have clearly both inherited his murderous instincts. Indeed, Jong-un is suspected of having his own half-brother, Kim Jong-nam, assassinated in Kuala Lumpur airport with nerve agent in 2017.
Quite what his sister would be capable of is yet to be seen. But in the meantime she remains an increasingly powerful and vindictive presence in the background.
Even aged 21, when she was spotted trailing her father to an important meeting with Bill Clinton, it is thought she was already playing a key role in government.
And, unlike her Supreme Leader brother, she can speak English – a notable advantage when it comes to global politics.
When, during a meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in 2018, the US delegation cracked a joke, she laughed while Kim Jong-un stared blankly ahead, clearly not understanding.
This may be one of the reasons as to why Jong-un clearly depends on his sister and keeps her close.
Her father was a psychopath who had his own half-brother Hyon murdered in 2007 to protect his children’s succession right. Yo-jong has clearly inherited his murderous instincts.
During the funeral eulogy for Kim Jong-il in 2011, his daughter – evidently overcome with emotion – suddenly left the official line-up.
For anyone else, such an outrageous break with protocol at a sacred ceremony would have been considered even worse than ‘half-hearted clapping’ and punishable by death.
But, from the earliest days of her brother’s rule, Yo-jong has been ‘untouchable’, says Lee.
Not that ordinary North Koreans would have known: state media never mentioned her once until March 2014 and that was only to say she’d cast a vote for her brother in an ‘election’.
She was mentioned twice more that month when she accompanied Jong-un to concerts. On both occasions, her name came last in the list of more than a dozen attendees and with no reference to her ‘blue blood’.
All considered then, it’s hardly surprising that her private life remains a mystery.
In 2018, during the trip to South Korea for the Winter Olympics, she appeared on one occasion without a coat and seemed to have a slight bulge around her abdomen.
Intelligence analysts speculated that she might be pregnant and South Korean media claimed she confirmed as much to Olympics officials. As to the likely father, she reportedly married Choe Song, a government official’s son, in 2014. It’s also claimed she had a child in 2015.
Jong-un clearly depends on his sister and keeps her close. From the earliest days of his rule, Yo-jong has been ‘untouchable’.
Intelligence analysts speculated in 2018 that she might be pregnant. As to the likely father, she reportedly married Choe Song, a government official’s son, in 2014. It’s also claimed she had a child in 2015. (Pictured: Yo-jong and her brother).
According to Lee, Yo-jong and her brother have devised a ‘good cop, bad cop’ strategy on the world stage whereby she employs her femininity and deceptive charm to offset Jong-un’s surly aggression.
But while it might publicly appear that she’s in a subservient role – standing happily aside and handing her brother a pen for him to sign the historic joint statement with President Trump in Singapore in 2018, for example – once again, appearances can be deceptive.
In 2019, Jong-un took a long train ride to Vietnam for a second meeting with Trump. He and his sister were caught on camera at a rest-stop during the journey, standing by themselves as he had a smoke and she held up a crystal ashtray for him with both hands.
Some commentators said it smacked of her subservience but in fact, says Lee, she was making sure he left no cigarette butts bearing traces of his DNA for foreign intelligence services to examine.
‘No one else, aside from his wife, has such intimate access to the Supreme Leader,’ says Lee.
But will she be loyal forever?
Just as her butter-wouldn’t-melt appearance hides a woman who kills on command and revels in vile abuse, perhaps nothing about Kim Yo-jong can be taken for granted.
Daily Mail · by Tom Leonard For Dailymail.Com · June 25, 2023
9. A new approach to saving the old homes of Seoul
The other contributing factor in 1987 was the development boom in preparation for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul. The city was transformed (actually starting with the Asia ames in 1986). That was an interesting period and the start of my association with Korea. Observing the democracy movement and preparation for the Olympics while having to worry about the threat from the north was a fascinating time.
Excerpts:
As South Korea swiftly industrialized in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, rural dwellers flooded Seoul for work and vast swaths of old homes were bulldozed to make space for modern infrastructure. Population density necessitated endless blocks of high-rise apartments — convenient and comfortable, but aesthetically barren — which now dominate the cityscape.
The second wave of destruction — one that continues to this day — was sparked by democratization in 1987. Land owners vocally protested for their right to develop, even in areas noted for concentrations of hanok housing. The motive was profit: multi-story buildings are more remunerative for landlords.
A new approach to saving the old homes of Seoul
washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon
By - The Washington Times - Sunday, June 25, 2023
SEOUL | South Korea boasts thousands of years of history, but save for a few signature, heavily-restored sites like medieval palaces, tourists in Seoul have to dig deep to discover the capital’s architectural heritage.
Within living memory, the bulk of the city’s population lived in hanok, or traditional homes. These single-story, wood-framed, thatch- or tile-roofed cottages lined picturesque lanes, or golmok, granting Olde Seoul a timeless, uniquely Korean quality.
With much of the millennial, wealthy, wired capital now an international “Everycity,” that quality is gone.
Some districts were smashed in street fighting during the Korean War in 1950, but many were untouched. But the real architectural game-changer was post-war development.
As South Korea swiftly industrialized in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, rural dwellers flooded Seoul for work and vast swaths of old homes were bulldozed to make space for modern infrastructure. Population density necessitated endless blocks of high-rise apartments — convenient and comfortable, but aesthetically barren — which now dominate the cityscape.
The second wave of destruction — one that continues to this day — was sparked by democratization in 1987. Land owners vocally protested for their right to develop, even in areas noted for concentrations of hanok housing. The motive was profit: multi-story buildings are more remunerative for landlords.
While Seoul has preserved and updated monumental architecture — royal palaces and Buddhist temples — the heritage of ordinary citizens has been virtually obliterated, and Seoul’s historic hanok today teeter on the brink of extinction.
Into this vortex has stepped American Robert Fouser.
“Unless the real estate development mechanism loses power, it will keep building — which means destroying everything in its way,” Mr. Fouser said. “Seoul is going to end up a generic concrete jungle with no connection to Korean heritage or tradition.”
However, he sees hope in the rising generation of young South Koreans, a newfound appreciation of the country’s heritage, and in nascent changes to long-held investment practices.
American champion of Korean cottages
Mr. Fouser, 61, is an author and academic who divides his time between his home base in Rhode Island and stays in Japan and South Korea. His love for traditional Asian architecture was in the family.
“My father was in the U.S. occupation army in Japan,” he recalls. “He had studied draftsmanship, so was sent to Kyoto to do architectural drawings.”
Mr. Fouser’s father introduced Asian elements to his U.S. home and told many a tale of the buildings and sights he witnessed while in Asia. It rubbed off.
Mr. Fouser himself spent a year in Japan as a high school exchange student. He then took degrees at the University of Michigan and Trinity College, Dublin and relocated to Asia, eventually spending 29 years overseas.
He has lived in three different hanok and published five books in Korean. A pending work, covering architectural preservation benchmarks in Europe and the U.S., is set for publication late this year.
He delivers hanok lectures, offers tours and writes columns in leading popular media — he has even led visiting British royalty down little-known golmok.
He is following a lead set by the late Englishman David Kilburn, who died in 2019 and the late American Peter Bartholomew, who passed away two years later. In a country where — unlike the West — celebrity endorsements of issues are not customary, the three expatriates, with their passion for hanok, won a large and respectful following here.
“We also believed in the values of our own traditions, so listening to them was confirmation,” recalled Hwang Doo-jin, one of South Korea’s leading boutique architects, and a friend of Mr. Fouser. “But they were these very educated gentlemen from the West, so that was a different kind of confirmation.”
Mr. Fouser’s predecessors were diehard restorationists, demanding utmost historical authenticity.
Both despised the practice of deploying City Hall funds to destroy frail old hanok and raise new hanok in their place. That practice changed the face of Bukchon, Seoul’s most famous — but now hardly historic — hanok quarter.
Neo-hanok properties are the new wave. Seoul City announced in February a policy to create 10 “hanok villages” city-wide. These will offer grants to property owners who raise new hanok, or add hanok-style features to existing buildings.in sites across the capital.
This approach may reek of kitsch, but Mr. Fouser is flexible on authenticity. He calls himself a “hanok enthusiast” rather than a “hanok activist” like his predecessors, both of whom suffered injuries at the hands of thuggish property developers as they pursued the preservationist cause.
“Rather than follow the orthodoxy of authenticity and integrity, my line is to preserve or enhance as much of the cityscape as possible,” he said. “If an old house cannot be repaired, I am OK building a new hanok.”
But it is rarely about one home when entire neighborhoods can be on the development chopping block. Powerful, politically connected construction companies buy out locals, then flatten neighborhoods to raise high rises.
Absent top-down change, Mr. Fouser hopes for a bottom-up solution related to accepted investment practices which encourage property owners to develop and redevelop.
“There is no vehicle in Korea for growing your money except property,” he said. “If you really want to preserve hanok and cityscapes, you have to have vibrant capital markets — then real estate could be more of a place to live.”
Speculators and markets
While South Korea is the world’s 10th largest economy, the Korean Stock Exchange, or KSE, is the world’s 15th largest by market capitalization, according to 2023 date from Robust Trader. The KSE is home to mega brands like Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, but lags exchanges in smaller economies such as Switzerland and Australia.
The result: A post-war history of bricks and mortar building emerged for many as the only viable route to wealth.
“The older generation’s entire investments were real estate: They bought homes, and home prices always went up,” said James Kim, a Seoul-based portfolio manager. “Koreans tend to put a lot more weight on real estate than on equities and other financial instruments in other countries.”
But with Seoul property shooting through the roof, change is afoot.
“The young generation is staying away from real estate as it needs a lot of capital,” Mr. Kim said. “They are investing in small-cap equities and [crypto currencies].”
Mr. Fouser hopes that youth, locked out of property markets, will value their hanok heritage differently than their parents and grandparents, who considered them old-fashioned, uncomfortable and unprofitable.
There are encouraging signs. While Bukchon is a city-financed, official preservation district, another Seoul neighborhood getting fresh notice for its hanok stock is not.
In Ikseon Dong, young people have organically preserved hanok. Though many interiors have been gutted and are no longer suitable as homes, they are sustainable, having been converted into chic cafes, bars, restaurants and shops.
Mr. Hwang, whose architectural firm operates a hanok practice, is a fan.
“Architecture changes with time,” he said. “Even old buildings have to find a way to adapt to their new environments.”
“There is a third way between orthodox preservation, and tearing down and building new hanok: That is creative adaptation,” Mr. Fouser added. “This is still destruction, and they are not beautifully restored, but it is better than the alternative, which is raising big towers.”
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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10. North Korean Market Prices Suggest Serious Food Shortages
Graphics at the link.
We have to ask, will food shortages lead to unrest, instability, and threats to the regime? It has never done so before. But never say never. We need to observe for the indicators of instability and we need to ensure we have updated contingency plans in place.
North Korean Market Prices Suggest Serious Food Shortages
https://www.38north.org/2023/06/north-korean-market-prices-suggest-serious-food-shortages/
Recently, the BBC became one of few global outlets to succeed in interviewing ordinary North Koreans inside the country about the food situation, and the picture they painted is dire: starvation, empty markets and other signs of severe food shortages.
(Source: KCNA)
In the past few years, when reports of food scarcity have surfaced from North Korea, market prices have given remarkably little credence to the claims. However, this is not the case at the moment. When comparing current price levels with historical ones, the overall picture suggests that market prices, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting border closure by the North Korean government, have moved to a consistently higher level, which indicates that the country’s overall food supply is lower. While this does not provide us with a specific idea as to how severe the food shortage actually is, it does give quantitative evidence that food has become significantly scarcer since the onset of the pandemic.
Note on Sources
To examine the current food situation from a market perspective, this article uses market price data gathered and reported by Rimjingang (also written as Rimjin-gang), an online news outlet with sources inside North Korea that regularly publishes market prices. This specific data set was chosen because it is transparent and specific about where in the country the data comes from. Due to tightened border controls under Kim Jong Un’s tenure, information from inside North Korea has become even more difficult to access. Therefore, transparency about the data is crucial.
The price data almost exclusively comes from the region bordering China in the provinces of Ryanggang and North Hamgyong. The border region is different from the rest of the country in several crucial respects, with perhaps the most important being that it is much more involved in trade and smuggling with China than other regions. Nonetheless, different parts of the country are connected, and their economies, to some extent, are integrated with one another, with goods being transported around the country for sale. Although dilapidated infrastructure and harsh state regulations make internal travel difficult, the overall price trends in this region quite likely hold for the national level.
Market Changes After COVID-19
Prices fluctuate frequently in North Korea’s markets, but usually within a more or less fixed span. The following graph shows the prices for North Korea’s two main staple goods of rice and corn from 2017 until mid-June 2023. The prices are shown in renminbi (RMB, the most commonly used foreign currency in the border region) to check for inflation in the North Korean currency, the Korean People’s won (KPW).
Figure 1. Rice and corn prices in RMB, 2017-2023. Graph: Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein. (Source: Rimjingang)
The left side of the graph shows prices before COVID-19. Aside from a few insignificant bumps, prices hovered between 1-1.5 RMB for 1 kg of corn and 3.5 RMB for 1 kg of rice for the most part prior to the pandemic and fluctuated over time according to mostly seasonal patterns. Interestingly, although North Korea closed its borders in January 2020 to protect against the virus, prices did not really begin to increase until October of that same year.
However, over the course of the next few months, prices for both rice and corn climbed significantly.
Figure 2. Rice prices in RMB, 2020-2023. Graph: Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein. (Source: Rimjingang)
Rice prices rose from their regular level to move between 4 RMB per kg and close to 6 RMB per kg in late 2020 and early 2021 and shot up drastically during the spring and summer before the fall harvest. Prices typically go up during these months, as they are during the lean season when the food storage starts to dry up, but the spreading awareness that the border wouldn’t open anytime soon may have also pushed prices up much further than normal. After shooting up to close to 15 RMB and remaining much higher than usual for several months, prices stabilized at an interval between 4-4.5 and 8 RMB from the fall of 2021 until the end of 2022, when prices moved to somewhere around 5 RMB, which is about a 1.5 RMB or 42 percent difference from the normal price level before COVID-19.
On the one hand, prices now are much more stable than last year’s fluctuations to very high levels. On the other hand, the price level is now consistently higher than before COVID-19, which impacts North Korean consumers. Higher prices would logically suggest that the supply has dropped.
We see the same dynamics in the price of corn. Graph 3 below shows the corn prices from the fall of 2017 until the latest observation in mid-June 2023.
Figure 3. Corn prices in RMB, 2017-2023. Graph: Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein. (Source: Rimjingang)
Corn is a generally less preferred staple for North Korean consumers, meaning that people tend to increase their consumption of corn when food overall becomes more expensive. From hovering around 1.5 RMB per kg before the pandemic, the price of corn climbed significantly starting in late 2020 and had doubled by March 2021 when it hit 3 RMB. Prices continued to increase the rest of that same year and then went down to around 4 RMB in the late summer and fall. Since late 2022, prices have moved between 2.3 and close to 3 RMB, meaning they have increased by more than half on the lowest end of the price spectrum and doubled on the higher end.
Conclusion
None of this is evidence of widespread famine in North Korea, and the BBC’s three eyewitness testimonies also do not fully prove this to be true. Nevertheless, the fact that the country is experiencing a significant food shortage seems beyond doubt, as suggested both by reports from people inside the country as well as market prices.
However, these prices do not tell the full story either. The food situation likely varies significantly between regions, and the state appears to have increased food ration distributions to sections of the public (see one example here). The fact that trade with China had continued to open up little by little this year has probably contributed to food prices stabilizing as well. Still, current price levels remain far higher than normal, and for a population whose margins to tackle price increases are mostly very small, while this may not result in starvation, it does clearly indicate that an already difficult situation is going from bad to worse.
11. Will full THAAD deployment trigger retaliatory measures from China?
I think China may think twice this time. It may not be able to be as effective with economic warfare as before. And of course the ROK withstood the Chinese "attacks" especially well with little to no help from allies (the US) and friends. But recently the Financial Times reports that the US now receives more exports from the ROK than China.
The Korea Times · June 23, 2023
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery base is seen in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, Thursday. The government completed its environmental assessment of the base the previous day, paving the way for full-fledged deployment of the anti-missile system. Yonhap
NK's growing nuclear threats may discourage Beijing from taking strong sanctions, experts say
By Lee Hyo-jin
Bilateral relations between South Korea and China could turn from bad to worse, according to diplomatic observers, as Seoul prepares for full-fledged deployment of a U.S. anti-missile system at the displeasure of Beijing.
However, China seems to have limited options if it is to take retaliatory measures, as it would not want to further harm the already-strained relationship between the two nations, the experts said.
The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, capable of intercepting incoming ballistic missiles, was first deployed in 2017 in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, to deter North Korean nuclear and missile threats.
The anti-missile system had remained as a "temporary" installation for the past six years due to fierce backlash from China, as well as residents of Seongju. China claims that THAAD's radar can be used to spy on its airspace, while residents of the southeastern town are concerned about health and environmental impacts.
But earlier this week, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of National Defense completed the environmental impact assessment of THAAD, paving the way for its operation at full capacity.
According to the ministries, the assessment found that the maximum amount of electromagnetic waves generated by the base was just 0.2 percent of the legal safety standard. Seongju residents claimed that this was enough to pose severe health hazards.
The announcement immediately drew strong backlash from the residents who protested the "hasty and flawed" research.
President Yoon Suk Yeol shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a summit in Bali, Indonesia, Nov. 15, 2022. Yonhap
Diplomatic experts think that the full-fledged THAAD deployment could widen the rift between Seoul and Beijing. Relations between the two nations have soured under the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, with China expressing discontent about South Korea's pro-U.S. foreign policy.
"The decision (for full installation of THAAD) will certainly not be helpful in improving the strained relations," said Lee Sang-man, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University.
But he said Beijing should look at the fact that Seoul is facing growing nuclear threats from Pyongyang, as justification for the South Korean government's rationale in pursuing stronger self-defense and deployment of THAAD.
Lee said the chances of China implementing strong economic sanctions on South Korea, similar to those of 2017, are slim, as Beijing would not want to deteriorate the already-strained bilateral ties.
"Rather than retaliatory economic measures, it is likely to protest in the form of scaled-up military exercises in the West Sea and more frequent intrusions of its warplanes into the Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ)," he said.
When THAAD was first deployed here in 2017, Beijing responded with massive economic sanctions on Seoul, as well as a tacit ban on South Korean entertainment content.
Against this backdrop, the previous Moon Jae-in administration created the so-called "Three Nos" policy to mend ties with China. The policy refers to no additional THAAD deployment, no South Korean integration into a U.S.-led regional missile defense system and no trilateral alliance with the U.S. and Japan.
The incumbent Yoon administration has been hinting at abandoning the policy adopted by its predecessor. During the presidential campaign, Yoon pledged additional deployment of THAAD.
However, South Korea's defense ministry said on Wednesday that there are so far no plans to add more THAAD units here.
The Korea Times · June 23, 2023
12. Five inmates at political prison camp publicly executed for causing a “disturbance”
of course you have to take these reports with a grain of salt. But this seems plausible based on other reports we have read. It does really demonstrate the inhumanity of this criminal regime.
Five inmates at political prison camp publicly executed for causing a “disturbance”
dailynk.com
Image: pixabay
Five inmates at Susong Concentration Camp (otherwise known as Camp No. 25 in Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province) were executed by firing squad in broad daylight in mid-May, according to a source in the country on Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
According to the source, inmates in one section of the prison camp were outside on a work detail in mid-May when two of the workers were found missing during roll call.
Prison camp officials soon found the missing workers, who had collapsed in a shaded area. But the jailers were so annoyed by the incident that they punished the two by making them stand in the blazing sunlight while holding a bucket of water on their necks. Then one of the other inmates was put watch over them.
When one of the inmates grew faint and nearly dropped the bucket, the inmate who was watching stepped forward to help. Seeing that, the jailers decided to make an example of the inmate on the grounds that helping someone being disciplined out of pity is grounds for receiving the same discipline.
Those two inmates were then made to balance a bucket of water on a wooden plank resting on their shoulders. Their fates were tied together — if either of them moved, it would send the bucket tumbling to the ground, with more punishment in store.
While the three inmates were being thus disciplined, the inmate who was balancing the bucket of water on their neck passed out and fell to the ground. Leaving that inmate where they had fallen, the jailers called over the inmate responsible for monitoring the others and the inmate in charge of the roll call and gave them the same punishment.
By subjecting the monitor to collective punishment, the jailers apparently meant to encourage the other monitors to be more diligent about observing and controlling the inmates.
Now there were four inmates being punished in pairs of two. After a while, all four dropped to the ground at the same time, as if on cue. The jailers demanded they stand up, but one of the inmates said, “I’d rather you just killed me!” The refrain was taken up by the other three inmates.
Soldiers who were monitoring the situation from a guard post noticed the disturbance and immediately arrived at the scene carrying machine guns.
From simple punishment to execution
Since inmates at a political prison camp are forbidden from speaking without permission of the jailers, these inmates’ behavior was treated as serious insubordination. An execution order was issued, and the four inmates who had been punished and the one who had fainted were immediately shot in front of the other inmates at the worksite.
“At the end of May, the central headquarters of the Ministry of State Security was notified that a collective disturbance had occurred and been dealt with according to regulations. At the beginning of June, the ministry sent cadres to the camp to confirm what had happened. The cadres wrote in their final report that several inmates who had tried to mob a jailer were executed on the spot according to internal guidelines,” the source said.
In North Korea, some political prison camps are run by the Ministry of State Security, while others are run by the Ministry of Social Security. The camp in the Susong District of Chongjin is among those run by the Ministry of State Security.
“This incident wasn’t reported to the Central Committee. The jailer who was responsible for the incident was transferred to another section of the same prison camp, but that transfer wasn’t intended as a reprimand,” the source said.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
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13. S. Korea calls for peace through strength on 73rd Korean War anniversary
S. Korea calls for peace through strength on 73rd Korean War anniversary
koreaherald.com · by Ji Da-gyum · June 25, 2023
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo speaks at a national ceremony marking the start of the Korean War held on Sunday at the Jangchung Arena in Seoul. (Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs)
South Korea's prime minister on Sunday called for the establishment of genuine peace by further strengthening the military, saying that North Korea's persistent missile and nuclear threats are driven by an outdated mindset and perceptions stemming from the Korean War.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo delivered a speech during a ceremony commemorating the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War on June 25. The Korean War began 73 years ago in 1950 when North Korea launched a sudden and armed invasion of South Korea with the goal of unifying the Korean Peninsula under the communist North Korean leadership.
"Even to this day, North Korea has yet to awaken from the futile delusion of the Korean War. The country persists in undermining the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and the international community through successive missile launches and the ongoing threat of nuclear tests," Han said during the ceremony in Seoul.
"The government will protect our security, not by relying on North Korea's deceptive intentions for false peace, but through strong self-defense," he said.
Han emphasized that the Korean War, which lasted for 1,129 days, claimed the lives of around 175,000 South Korean armed forces and members of the United Nations coalition consisting of 22 countries, leaving more than 28,000 individuals missing.
Millions of people -- men, women and children -- tragically lost their lives or sustained injuries, while tens of millions of people endured the anguish of separation.
"The Korean War, initiated by North Korea's armed invasion in the early morning of June 25, 1950, stands as the greatest tragedy in the history of our nation," Han said. "The war left the entire country in ruins."
The South Korean prime minister underscored that a crucial foundation of national security lies in collaborating with countries that uphold universal shared values, such as liberal democracy.
Han elucidated that President Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to the United States in April presented an opportunity to elevate the South Korea-US alliance, which was established 70 years ago, into a "nuclear-based security alliance."
"Furthermore, the strained relationship between South Korea and Japan is also progressing towards a forward-looking cooperative relationship, and therefore, the security cooperation among South Korea, the US and Japan will be further strengthened."
Korean War veterans clad in white uniforms provided by the South Korean government salute in front of participants during a commemorative ceremony held in Seoul on Sunday. (Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs)
Han underlined that safeguarding South Korea in collaboration with like-minded nations is a true expression of gratitude and repayment to the South Korean and foreign veterans who selflessly devoted their youth to the causes of freedom and peace against North Korea.
"We must remember that the freedom, peace and prosperity we enjoy today are the result of the sacrifices made by the young heroes who shed their blood, sweat and tears on the battlefield," he said.
The televised commemorative event in Seoul was attended by around 1,500 participants, including Korean War veterans who were clad in white uniforms provided by the South Korean government and descendants of UN forces who participated in the Korean War.
The ceremony began with a display of the national flags of the 22 UN sending states, and it culminated with all participants joining together to sing the "Korean War song."
"Ah, ah, how can we forget the day? When the enemy of our motherland came and trampled our soil," they sang together. "Justice will prevail, it shall prevail in the end. We'll fight and fight again for freedom. And make sure this day never comes again."
President Yoon also expressed deep gratitude and reverence for the dedicated sacrifices made by South Korea and the UN forces in a message shared on Sunday on his Facebook page.
"We must never forget the bloodshed and tears shed by war veterans and their families. We must remember the significance of the military uniforms stained with the blood of heroes that have established the free Republic of Korea," Yoon said.
Yoon said 1.95 million UN forces, including 1.78 million American troops stood together with South Korea to protect the country's freedom. Approximately 620,000 South Korean soldiers and 150,000 UN forces, including 130,000 American troops, endured casualties, including fatalities, missing individuals and injuries, throughout the three-year-long war.
"Only strong power guarantees genuine peace," Yoon said. "We will steadfastly defend the free Republic of Korea, ensuring that the sacrifices made by the heroes who defended freedom by fighting against the invasion by communist forces will not be in vain."
By Ji Da-gyum (dagyumji@heraldcorp.com)
koreaherald.com · by Ji Da-gyum · June 25, 2023
14. Inside North Korea’s strategy to stop defections by officials stranded abroad
Excerpts:
Hyun-seung Lee, a former DPRK businessman and contributor to the Ask a North Korean series, told NK News that overseas North Koreans could also defect because of financial issues. Those affiliated with companies could face pressure and possible dismissal from overseas operations if they fail to meet demand, he explained.
North Koreans abroad struggled to make money even before the pandemic. Not only did they engage in illicit activity to raise money for Pyongyang, but they also felt the need to bolster their own low incomes.
Ambassadors seem to make around $1,000 and ministers about $700-900 per month, according to Tae. He added that the low wage means diplomats have to make extra income “using all means possible.”
Han Jin Myung, a second secretary in Vietnam who defected in Jan. 2015, said that he was paid around $400 per month. His decision to defect was sparked by a dispute with colleagues over his refusal to share the money he made from selling a car given to him by the Vietnamese government, according to an interview with NK News in 2017.
Inside North Korea’s strategy to stop defections by officials stranded abroad
The regime uses family as collateral and encourages snitching to prevent escapes, which could pick up ahead of reopening
James Fretwell June 23, 2023
https://www.nknews.org/2023/06/inside-north-koreas-strategy-to-stop-defections-by-officials-stranded-abroad/?utm_source=pocket_saves
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An illustration of North Korean diplomats
Hundreds of North Koreans diplomats, businesspeople and other relatively privileged citizens have been stranded overseas for more than three years on account of the DPRK’s pandemic border controls.
And as rumors abound that inbound travel could soon resume, reports suggest that some of these North Koreans might jump ship before they’re recalled by Pyongyang.
The country has faced a self-described “food crisis” during the pandemic and is clamping down even more severely on personal freedoms, giving those outside the country more reason than ever to seek greener pastures.
Earlier this month, a North Korean woman and her son went missing in Russia, prompting speculation that they were attempting to defect. The two might be the wife and son of a diplomat or a trade representative at the DPRK consulate in Vladivostok, according to reports.
A North Korean diplomat working in Europe also reportedly defected just a few weeks ago, according to information from the South Korean government. Tae Yong-ho, a former North Korean diplomat himself and now a lawmaker in South Korea, said he recently met two defectors previously working at DPRK embassies as trade representative staff.
But defector testimony shows escaping the regime is far from straightforward even for those overseas. And the authorities will likely be on guard against further defections as North Korea inches toward an eventual reopening.
Lawmaker Tae Yong-ho on the campaign trail in 2020 | Image: Tae’s official Facebook page
PUSH AND PULL
Documents reportedly obtained through South Korea’s National Assembly by local media on June 18 indicate that the number of high-level defections is increasing.
According to the Korea Herald, the documents revealed that eight “important” (주요) North Koreans, including family members, had defected since South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol entered office one year ago. This is higher than the reported average of five per year under the country’s previous president Moon Jae-in.
The Yoon administration appears to have started giving high-level defectors jobs at government research institutes again, which could be another factor encouraging them to come to South Korea.
South Korean intelligence has reportedly assessed that recent defectors have fled for a variety of reasons, including disillusionment with the DPRK system and concerns about their children’s education.
Hyun-seung Lee, a former DPRK businessman and contributor to the Ask a North Korean series, told NK News that overseas North Koreans could also defect because of financial issues. Those affiliated with companies could face pressure and possible dismissal from overseas operations if they fail to meet demand, he explained.
North Koreans abroad struggled to make money even before the pandemic. Not only did they engage in illicit activity to raise money for Pyongyang, but they also felt the need to bolster their own low incomes.
Ambassadors seem to make around $1,000 and ministers about $700-900 per month, according to Tae. He added that the low wage means diplomats have to make extra income “using all means possible.”
Han Jin Myung, a second secretary in Vietnam who defected in Jan. 2015, said that he was paid around $400 per month. His decision to defect was sparked by a dispute with colleagues over his refusal to share the money he made from selling a car given to him by the Vietnamese government, according to an interview with NK News in 2017.
“The next thing I realized was that my name was listed on the State Political Security Department,” Han said. “It was obvious I would lose my position and status as a diplomat and other punishments would follow.”
Han Jin Myung (right) said that disputes over money influenced his decision to defect | Image: NK News
FOR THE CHILDREN
In addition to poor material prospects, North Koreans abroad may be driven to defect by the prospect of providing a better life for their children.
But Lee told NK News that the regime often forces citizens who go overseas to “leave at least one child in North Korea, thereby preventing their entire family from defecting.”
Likely because of this, many high-profile defectors in recent years only defected after working out a way to bring their children with them.
Jo Song-gil, North Korea’s acting ambassador to Italy, disappeared with his wife in Nov. 2018 after he became disillusioned with the Kim government. He had been allowed to bring his daughter to Italy with him because she had a disability that required a lot of attention.
However, when the moment to leave came, Jo and his wife were unable to convince their daughter to defect with them. North Korea then reportedly forced her to return to the country.
Jo Song-gil (third from left), then the acting North Korean ambassador to Italy at an event near Treviso, Italy, March 2018 | Image: Municipality of San Pietro di Feletto
The uncertainty surrounding the fate of Jo’s daughter helped convince the activist group Free Joseon of the importance of making a mass defection from the DRPK Embassy in Madrid look like a kidnapping.
But while the commercial attache So Yun Suk had planned to defect, others were taken aback when Free Joseon burst into the compound. One of the North Koreans escaped and reported the raid to the police, and So was apparently so shaken that he called off the defection.
Tae Yong-ho has also said he still worried about the rest of his family in the DPRK despite managing to defect with his children.
North Korean propagandists arranged an interview with his brother and sister in 2017, who claimed that nobody in the family had been punished for Tae’s actions and called him a “rotten scumbag.”
However, his brother lamented, “if I don’t wash this sin away by myself, my sons and generations will have to work harder to pay for this,” hinting at the stigma and consequences of having a defector in the family.
WALLS HAVE EARS
North Koreans abroad are required to monitor one another and report back on suspicious behavior.
“The regime closely monitors each member’s actions through weekly ‘self-criticism’ sessions,” Lee, the former DPRK businessman, told NK News. “Even overseas, these sessions and lectures are conducted every week, allowing the regime to maintain control over people’s ideology and activities.”
Tae Yong-ho has said it was his job to report to DPRK state security about whether his colleagues, including the ambassador, exhibited any signs of ideological changes or met any South Koreans or Brits in secret. But he added that he “always reported good things.”
A man called “Mr. Pak” accompanied Jo, the former acting ambassador, wherever he went, according to people who met them. They concluded he was there to keep an eye on the acting ambassador.
Perhaps fearful that more of its staff abroad will defect amid rumors of a border re-opening, North Korea has increased surveillance on officials stationed abroad in order to prevent defections over the past year, according to the documents obtained through the National Assembly by the Korea Herald.
These measures have reportedly included banning overseas officials from leaving their official residences alone and monitoring their cell phones.
South Korean intelligence also reportedly discovered that the North is working with public security authorities in China and Russia to quickly locate and detain defectors.
But as the last few months show, Pyongyang’s system isn’t airtight.
Edited by Arius Derr
15. Blinken called South Korea to discuss China visit; North Korea warns of stronger response
Blinken called South Korea to discuss China visit; North Korea warns of stronger response
Reuters · by Joyce Lee
SEOUL, June 24 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called key ally South Korea to discuss results of his visit to China this month, South Korea's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday.
Blinken told South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin he had an honest, practical and constructive dialogue with the Chinese side, and wanted to explain the results of his visit in as much detail as possible, a ministry statement said.
Blinken and Park decided to continue to communicate regarding relations with China and to urge Beijing to play a constructive role in North Korea's suspension of provocations and denuclearisation, the ministry said.
During the visit to China where Blinken met President Xi Jinping and other top officials, the two sides agreed to stabilise their intense rivalry so it does not veer into conflict, but failed to produce any major breakthrough.
Meanwhile, North Korea criticised Blinken for trying to get China to pressure Pyongyang to lay down arms, and warned that its response will grow "more overwhelmingly and aggressively" to any stronger military measures by the United States on the Korean Peninsula, state media KCNA said on Saturday.
Blinken's "threats" for China to pressure Pyongyang expresses a "dangerous hegemonic mentality", KCNA said, citing a North Korean foreign ministry official.
KCNA also criticised the U.S. for sending military assets including a nuclear-powered submarine to the Korean Peninsula, risking "peace and security".
North Korea fired two short-range missiles off its east coast last week, less than an hour after Pyongyang warned of a response to military drills by South Korean and U.S. troops.
The isolated country is under international sanctions over its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programmes.
Reporting by Joyce Lee; Editing by William Mallard and Tom Hogue
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Reuters · by Joyce Lee
16. F-35 Stealth Fighters Are Training for War in North Korea's Backyard
F-35 Stealth Fighters Are Training for War in North Korea's Backyard
19fortyfive.com · by Maya Carlin · June 22, 2023
On June 16th, U.S. and Japanese forces carried out a bilateral aviation integration drill over the Sea of Japan. During the joint exercise, American F-35 Lightning II airframes flew alongside Japan Air Self-Defense Force F-2 fighters, showcasing cooperation between the two nations.
This drill was conducted shortly after North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles towards the East Sea last week, which fell into Japan’s exclusive economic zone. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida called the missile launches a “violent action” that threatened peace in the region.
South Korea’s military mirrored this rhetoric, denouncing the launches as “grave provocations.” Hours before Pyongyang conducted the launches, U.S. and South Korean troops completed a fifth round of joint drills near the Military Demarcation Line separating the Koreas.
Pyongyang is protesting U.S.-South Korean partnership
Over the last year or so, North Korea has ramped up its test launches, carrying out roughly 100 missiles since the start of 2022. While Pyongyang was likely just looking for a reason to continue to test out and develop its missile arsenal, experts also believe the launch was a direct response to the collaborative American-South Korean drills on the border.
A professor at Ewha University in Seoul told the Associated Press that “This launch is not to make up for the recent failure, because North Korea will almost certainly make another attempt later to put a spy satellite into orbit. The message of today’s missiles is more likely Pyongyang’s protest against South Korea’s combined defense exercises with the United States, as well as a demonstration of North Korea’s own military capabilities and readiness.”
Another failed North Korean test launch
Last month, a North Korean rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite crashed shortly after liftoff. Pyongyang condemned the officials involved in the unsuccessful launch who “irresponsibly” carried out preparations for the satellite. North Korea has been working to develop and expand its space-based surveillance system in recent years in an effort to more accurately monitor both South Korea and America.
The North Korean government frequently insists that such launches are necessary to combat what they call U.S.-led hostility in the region. The recent U.S.-South Korean military exercise certainly falls into this “hostile” category, according to Pyongyang.
The U.S.-Japanese aviation exercise was not the only collaborative military drill to take place in the western Pacific this month. Amidst rising tensions over the Taiwan Strait and increasing provocations by the People’s Liberation Army, the U.S. and its allies have conducted drills to display military cooperation. For the first time, the coastguards of the U.S., Japan and the Philippines launched maritime exercises in the South China sea this month.
China’s Navy has reportedly used “military-grade lasers” to target vessels near the Philippines, which has caused the country to become more vocal about the PLA’s agenda in its surrounding waters.
While these joint efforts between the U.S. and allies around the Pacific are encouraging, Beijing is also expanding its own joint military exercises with other nations. In 2023 alone, China has participated in drills with Singapore, Cambodia and Laos. Additionally, Chinese warships are expected to join a multilateral naval exercise near Indonesia later this month.
Maya Carlin, a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.
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17. North Korea's COVID-19 border closure prompted suicide spike, widespread starvation: 'it's heartless'
Human rights is not only a moral imperative, it is a national security issue. Kim Jong Un denies the human rights of the Korean people in the north in order to remain in power.
North Korea's COVID-19 border closure prompted suicide spike, widespread starvation: 'it's heartless'
foxnews.com · by Peter Aitken | Fox News
Video
Biden warns North Korea that nuclear attacks would be 'the end' of regime that fires missiles
President Biden spoke at a joint press conference with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday, April, 26, 2023, where he said a nuclear attack by North Korea against the U.S. or allies would be "unacceptable."
This story discusses suicide. If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
North Korea continues to struggle as its borders remain closed since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, with many people losing hope, and leader Kim Jong Un forced to allegedly ban suicides.
"The stories of the plight of the North Korean people are heartbreaking. The Kim regime does not care about the North Korean people," Anthony Ruggerio, Senior Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and former National Security Council Director for North Korea, told Fox News Digital.
"The Kim family spends the billions it makes from illicit activities on missiles, nuclear weapons and luxury goods to sustain their lifestyle," he added. "The best way to help the North Korean people is to sanction the regime and Chinese companies, individuals and banks who allow this tragedy to continue."
In a recent BBC report in cooperation with NK Daily, the U.K. outlet spoke with three ordinary North Koreans about the state of the country following the devastating toll COVID19 had on the nation.
KIM JONG UN BALLOONS PAST 300 LBS. AMID REPORTS OF PILL 'HOARDING,' HEAVY DRINKING
A medicine seller using the name Myong Suk told the British outlet that businesses that were once healthy have dwindled to virtual non-existence. She claimed that the country’s food situation "has never been this bad."
Increasing poverty has caused suicides to spike 40% over the past year alone, Radio Free Asia reported, citing government officials but unable to confirm the tally.
Pedestrians walk past a poster with a slogan that translates as "March forward for a new victory!" near the Pyongyang Grand Theatre in Pyongyang on March 31, 2023. (Kim Won Jin/AFP via Getty Images)
"There are a lot of internal unrest factors in North Korea due to the hardships of people," the South Korean National Intelligence Service told the outlet.
In response, Kim officially declared suicide an "act of treason against socialism" and ordered his government to take preventative measures – an order delivered in emergency meetings in each province at the provincial, city and county levels. An official from the northeastern province of North Hamgyong also claimed that violent crimes have increased.
NORTH KOREA STATE MEDIA MOCKS US FOR BLINKEN'S ‘DISGRACEFUL BEGGING TRIP’ TO MEET WITH XI
"Our meeting was held at the provincial party committee’s building located in Pohang district, in the city of Chongjin," he said. "The large number of suicide cases in the province was revealed, and some officials . . . could not hide their anxious expressions," the North Korean official told the BBC.
Party officials told local politicians that suicide has a greater social impact than starvation, but the party offered no solution as to how the local governments could effectively prevent further attempts.
A man walks past a television screen showing a news broadcast with file footage of North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul on May 31, 2023. (Jung Yeon-Je/AFP via Getty Images)
"Most of the suicides were caused by severe poverty and starvation, so no one can come up with a countermeasure right now," the anonymous official said. He described hearing about a boy whose parents died of starvation and whose grandparents subsequently consumed rat poison when their hunger became too much for them.
The correspondence between the BBC and the three North Koreans living inside the country add the much-needed context to understand the true severity of the situation most people face: Myong Suk said she had gone from feeding her family rice to scraping out meals of corn alone for her family, with neighbors daily begging her for food.
US NUCLEAR SUBMARINE ARRIVES TO SOUTH KOREA A DAY AFTER NORTH KOREA RESUMES MISSILE TESTS
She says that the people are "living on the front line of life."
"Before COVID, people viewed Kim Jong Un positively, but now almost everyone is full of discontent," she said.
This photo taken April 11, 2023, shows people taking photos and writing notes as dishes are displayed during the 26th Cooking Festival, which marks the Day of the Sun, the birth anniversary of late North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, at the Pyongyang Noodle House in Pyongyang. (Kim Won Jin/AFP via Getty Images)
A construction worker calling himself Chan Ho told the BBC that his income – 4,000 won, equivalent to $.50 a day – is no longer enough to buy the rice needed to feed his family, forcing him to rely on government rations, which he also stopped receiving.
The prices of rice, corn and seasonings have risen so high that no one can afford them anymore, he said, and the country does not produce enough food to support its population. In addition to limiting food imports, the border closure denied workers access to fertilizer and machinery needed to grow crops.
US IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON NORTH KOREAN COUPLE IN BEIJING FOR ALLEGED BALLISTIC MISSILE EQUIPMENT PROCUREMENT
He even described how a friend’s son became so malnourished that the military released him from service.
"At first, I was afraid of dying from COVID," he said. "But then I began to worry about starving to death."
In this photo taken on April 15, 2023, people visit the statues of late North Korean leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il on Mansu Hill, as part of celebrations marking the 111th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, known as the "Day of the Sun," in Pyongyang. (Kim Won Jin/AFP via Getty Images)
Residents attempted to supplement their income, such as the case of Ji Yeon, who would sell stolen fruit and vegetables as well as cigarettes her husband got as bribes from co-workers, but the party ordered more stringent security measures, leading to more thorough checks that have made it impossible to move anything.
"We survive by thinking 10 days ahead, then another 10, thinking that if my husband and I starve, at least we will feed our kids," Ji Yeon said, revealing that she had recently gone two days without eating.
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"It’s a disaster," she added. "With no supplies coming from the border, people do not know how to make a living."
"Even if people die next door, you only think about yourself. It’s heartless," she said.
Peter Aitken is a Fox News Digital reporter with a focus on national and global news.
foxnews.com · by Peter Aitken | Fox News
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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