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Quotes of the Day:
"I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist and that there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit."
- John Steinbeck “On Teaching”
“A prudent man imbued with the scientific spirit will not claim that his present beliefs are wholly true, though he may console himself with the thought that his earlier beliefs were perhaps not wholly false. I should regard an unchanging system of philosophical doctrines as proof of intellectual stagnation. Philosophical progress seems to me analogous to the gradually increasing clarity of outline of a mountain approached through mist, which is vaguely visible at first, but even at last remains in some degree indistinct.“
- Bertrand Russell, The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell (1961), Preface, xiv
“If there's one American belief I hold above all others, it's that those who would set themselves up in judgment on matters of what is "right" and what is "best" should be given no rest; that they should have to defend their behavior most stringently. ... As a nation, we've been through too many fights to preserve our rights of free thought to let them go just because some prude with a highlighter doesn't approve of them."
- Stephen King, Bangor Daily News, Guest Column of March 20, 1992”
1. North Korea targets U.S. intel figures on a secret cyber hit list
2. S. Korean military continues operation to salvage N. Korean rocket debris
3. S. Korea, Japan agree to hold working-level talks to prevent repeat of 2018 maritime incident: Seoul's defense chief
4. N. Korean leader's sister slams UNSC meeting on space rocket launch
5. S. Korea imposes sanctions ‘Kimsuky’ for satellite technology theft
6. Two anchors for security in the Pacific
7. President Yoon to attend NATO Summit in Lithuania next month
8. Pence, Haley and DeSantis slam Trump for congratulating North Korea's Kim Jung Un
9. S. Korea eyes UN seat as NK rebukes UN body
10. EU’s top diplomat corrects he ‘explains’ Ukraine’s needs for ammunition to S.Korea
11. Why does South Korea want to be Australia's best friend?
12. Astray Into the Zone (Aviation in Korea)
1. North Korea targets U.S. intel figures on a secret cyber hit list
Recognize north Korean strategy, understand it, EXPOSE it, and attack it with superior capabilities.
Excerpts:
In interviews with more than a dozen current and former national security officials, The Washington Times learned that a core aspect of the threat involves hackers tied to North Korean intelligence using bogus email accounts to impersonate U.S. officials.
While the fake accounts are initially used to spur conversations with high-level policy experts, sources told The Times that the hackers are likely engaged in a more sinister campaign to burrow deep inside the computer networks of companies and institutions intimately engaged in national security.
The cybersecurity firm Mandiant has access to a list of the targets and has kept a close grip on the information, even among the firm’s peers at its parent company, Google.
Sources at Mandiant who are familiar with the cyber campaign say it is being carried out by the North Korean hacking group APT43, an apparatus of North Korean intelligence. The attackers are after officials with sensitive knowledge of security policymaking and nuclear proliferation.
Joseph DeTrani, a former CIA official and longtime American diplomat who represented the U.S. in talks with the North Koreans, said he learned in recent months that the hackers had targeted and impersonated him — using a fabricated email address very similar to his to send queries to a range of people in his contact lists.
“Most likely this is not only about trying to trick U.S. analysts and experts into revealing their thinking and assessments on North Korea,” Mr. DeTrani said. “The cyber operation is also about trying to penetrate clandestinely into sensitive computer systems.”
North Korea targets U.S. intel figures on a secret cyber hit list
By Ryan Lovelace and Guy Taylor - The Washington Times - Friday, June 2, 2023
washingtontimes.com · by Ryan Lovelace
Exclusive
By and Guy Taylor - The Washington Times - Friday, June 2, 2023
Details of a secret North Korean cyber hit list are spreading in Washington, with a widening slate of high-level current and former U.S. intelligence officials, media executives and national security scholars finding themselves in the hackers’ crosshairs.
The Biden administration is scrambling to respond.
The FBI, the National Security Agency and the State Department are preparing a new cyber strategy to specifically counter what officials describe as a sophisticated North Korean “spear phishing” threat. The administration remains tight-lipped about the effort, although sources familiar with it say the strategy will be made public in the coming days.
In interviews with more than a dozen current and former national security officials, The Washington Times learned that a core aspect of the threat involves hackers tied to North Korean intelligence using bogus email accounts to impersonate U.S. officials.
While the fake accounts are initially used to spur conversations with high-level policy experts, sources told The Times that the hackers are likely engaged in a more sinister campaign to burrow deep inside the computer networks of companies and institutions intimately engaged in national security.
The cybersecurity firm Mandiant has access to a list of the targets and has kept a close grip on the information, even among the firm’s peers at its parent company, Google.
Sources at Mandiant who are familiar with the cyber campaign say it is being carried out by the North Korean hacking group APT43, an apparatus of North Korean intelligence. The attackers are after officials with sensitive knowledge of security policymaking and nuclear proliferation.
Joseph DeTrani, a former CIA official and longtime American diplomat who represented the U.S. in talks with the North Koreans, said he learned in recent months that the hackers had targeted and impersonated him — using a fabricated email address very similar to his to send queries to a range of people in his contact lists.
“Most likely this is not only about trying to trick U.S. analysts and experts into revealing their thinking and assessments on North Korea,” Mr. DeTrani said. “The cyber operation is also about trying to penetrate clandestinely into sensitive computer systems.”
Such penetration would likely depend on hackers’ ability to persuade targets to click on malware links embedded in emails, although the extent to which that may have occurred as part of the ongoing North Korean campaign is not clear.
Bruce Klingner, a former high-level CIA official in Korea now with The Heritage Foundation, said it has been understood for years that a hacker group known as “Kimsuky” operates as part of a global intelligence gathering mission for the isolated regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, which has traditional diplomatic information collecting footprints in only a handful of countries around the world.
He told The Times that he has been targeted by bogus North Korean phishing emails at least eight times in recent years. “The speculation would be that they think getting access to our email accounts is useful either to understand our analysis views or maybe to glean emails to and from government officials … perhaps toward the goal of targeting government systems.”
One of the sources who spoke with The Times said the North Korean campaign has grown so prevalent in recent months that FBI, NSA and State Department officials were convening a meeting Friday to brief policy experts outside the government on the threat, with plans to go public over the coming week with a new strategy for responding to it.
The FBI, which is the lead federal agency for investigating cyberattacks and countering foreign intelligence operations in the United States, did not answer repeated requests for comment. The bureau partnered with the NSA, the State Department, and South Korean government agencies in issuing a cybersecurity advisory on Thursday evening warning of social engineering and hacking threats posed by Kimsuky.
Another former U.S. intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that on at least one occasion, North Korean hackers had contacted them via an email address claiming to belong to Jung H. Pak, the State Department’s deputy special representative for North Korea.
The former official became suspicious and contacted Ms. Pak via a separate email channel and she said: “No, that’s not me and other people have reported receiving that as well.”
The developments come amid heightened tensions surrounding North Korea, a military treaty ally of China. North Korea has engaged in a slate of missile and nuclear weapons provocations in recent years against a backdrop of increasing regional security cooperation between the U.S. and its allies South Korea and Japan.
Most recently, the Biden administration announced that Washington will soon deploy a nuclear weapons-armed submarine to South Korea for the first time in more than 40 years.
Links to North Korean intelligence
Mandiant, which has tracked North Korean hacking operations for the past five years, published findings in March asserting that the hackers are linked to North Korea‘s main foreign intelligence service, the Reconnaissance General Bureau or RGB.
The hackers, identified by Mandiant as APT43, have been observed in cyberspace targeting businesses, governments and researchers in the U.S., Europe, South Korea and Japan.
Mandiant cyber espionage analysis senior manager Benjamin Reed has more recently said that the firm has observed APT43 hackers targeting media organizations, including employees at The Times.
“We also have [uncovered] some of the ways in which this was done, sort of the infrastructure that was used,” Mr. Reed said in an interview. “We have other, kind of technical ways of linking back to this group.”
He declined to elaborate on how Mandiant obtained information about APT43’s targeting.
The firm also appears not to have shared every detail with its colleagues at Google’s Threat Analysis Group, which works to combat government-based hacking and cyberattacks and has tracked the North Korean hackers since 2012.
Adam Weidemann, who works in the Threat Analysis Group, published a blog post in April saying the North Korean hackers’ targets included government and military personnel, think tanks, policymakers, academics and researchers.
He told The Times in an interview that his team homed in on a subset of the hackers, which Google calls ARCHIPELAGO. The hackers’ techniques were initially rudimentary, he said, but he has watched them closely as they have mastered their art.
“Plenty of adversaries are impatient and, first email, it’s like, ‘Here, click this, executable,’” Mr. Weidemann said. “ARCHIPELAGO, we’ve seen in cases like well over a month, they’ll send emails back and forth with a target, and have that target fully believing that this person is harmless and they are who they say they are.”
A growing hit list
Smash-and-grab digital intrusions to get funding for its nuclear program are in North Korea‘s cyberattacker playbook. So is more sophisticated impersonation.
A 2020 article by The Times revealed how Suzanne Scholte became aware of attempts to hack her email.
Ms. Scholte, who was involved in efforts to broadcast shortwave radio and other informational messages from South Korea into North Korea, said the hackers also impersonated a South Korean diplomat. She suspected North Korean intelligence officials were aiming to undermine her work.
The more recent activity has targeted a wider group in Washington.
Robert Manning, a former State Department official and intelligence community adviser, said he received an email from the North Korean hackers mimicking a colleague, changing only the colleague’s middle initial.
Upon learning of the impersonation effort, Mr. Manning’s colleague said sorry for the confusion caused by the North Korean hackers — and then the hackers imitated that message and issued their own apology.
“They pretended they were sending me a piece to review,” Mr. Manning said. “And so it’s very easy to mistake because it looks like his email if you don’t carefully look at the one letter, a middle initial, and fortunately, I didn’t click on the link.”
Patrick Cronin, an expert who chairs Asia-Pacific security at the Hudson Institute, said he was recently notified of efforts to target his email account and is aware of previous efforts by North Korean hackers dating back years.
At least 50 researchers have been targeted and North Korea‘s efforts have grown more sophisticated in recent months, according to Mr. Cronin, who told The Times that the hackers’ English has improved.
After a recent meeting with a South Korean government official in Washington, Mr. Cronin said, he soon received an email from someone impersonating that official. The experience made him wonder whether someone affiliated with the hackers had observed his whereabouts.
Mr. DeTrani, meanwhile, said he was incensed to learn of the impersonation operation against him. As a seasoned diplomat with decades of experience working in the region, he is no stranger to North Korean subterfuge, but he said he could not refrain from having an emotional response to being targeted.
“It’s anger. It’s anger that they’re using these tools to collect,” said Mr. DeTrani, who praised the work of outfits such as Mandiant in tracking the North Koreans but remained concerned about the lack of awareness of the threat.
At least two high-level representatives of The Times involved in producing “The Washington Brief,” a virtual, monthly event series backed by The Washington Times Foundation and regularly hosted by Mr. DeTrani, are among those who have been targeted.
Over the past two years, The Washington Brief has featured appearances by a wide range of former and current high-level U.S. officials focused on North Korea.
“Are we prepared?” Mr. DeTrani asked. “Should we be more prepared?”
Penetrating systems
The sophistication of North Korean cyber operations made global headlines in 2014 when a massive hack of Sony Pictures that was blamed on Pyongyang saw troves of confidential data from the company leak.
At the time, the movie studio was making a film that mocked Kim Jong Un.
Mr. Klingner cited hacking operations dating back as far as 2014 that resulted in the theft of millions of dollars from international financial institutions and cryptocurrency exchanges in Bangladesh, Chile, India, Mexico, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and Vietnam.
Mr. Klingner told The Times those cybertheft operations followed the same “modus operandi” as the bogus email spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. experts. The hackers start by luring bank employees, and over many months, succeed in either penetrating a bank’s system through malware or gleaning enough sensitive information from the targeted individual to carry out fraud.
He cited a 2016 incident in which North Korean hackers stole $81 million from the Central Bank of Bangladesh’s New York Federal Reserve account. An attempt by the hackers to steal an additional $851 million was thwarted.
With that as a backdrop, the Biden administration is seen to be marshaling federal agencies to get answers to difficult questions about the North Korean hacking.
Top White House cyber official Anne Neuberger said in May that North Korean cyber operations that generate funding for the Kim regime’s missile programs are eating up “a lot of time and thought” in the administration.
The Treasury Department is tracking funding for North Korea‘s cyberattacks and the departments of Defense and State are digging for information on the identity of the attackers, according to Ms. Neuberger, White House deputy national security adviser.
She listed questions that federal agencies are seeking to answer at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event, including whether U.S. officials may have overlooked a potential presence of North Korean operatives in the global tech industry.
“How could it be that a country like the DPRK is so darn creative in this space?” she said. “Is there a link between the fact that they have tech workers building some of the software around the world and perhaps the success of their offensive cyber teams in magically finding and exploiting vulnerabilities and gleaning hundreds of millions of dollars?”
The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned four entities and one individual in May for malicious cyber activities that support North Korea.
The FBI, Treasury and Justice Department published an advisory in May warning people against unknowingly hiring and using North Korean information technology workers.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
Copyright © 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.
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washingtontimes.com · by Ryan Lovelace
2. S. Korean military continues operation to salvage N. Korean rocket debris
Excerpts:
In a message sent to reporters at around 5 p.m., the Joint Chiefs of Staff said it will wrap up the operation for the day due to unfavorable conditions and resume Monday.
"Depending on the circumstances at the site tomorrow, we plan to conduct salvage operations," it said.
Apart from the debris spotted by the South Korean military Wednesday, which is believed to be the second and third stages of the launch vehicle, officials have not found additional parts.
South Korea and the United States plan to jointly examine the debris of the wreckage once it is retrieved.
S. Korean military continues operation to salvage N. Korean rocket debris | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 이민지 · June 4, 2023
SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean military continued its work Sunday to search and salvage the wreckage of a North Korean rocket that crashed into the Yellow Sea earlier this week but wrapped up the day's operations due to unfavorable conditions.
The rocket, that the North claimed was carrying a satellite, crashed into the waters some 200 kilometers west of the western South Korean island of Eocheong on Wednesday morning after an "abnormal flight," Seoul's military had said.
The Navy has been trying to recover a 15-meter part of the vehicle, named Chollima-1. It is estimated to have a length ranging from 29 to 30 meters.
On Saturday, the military deployed deep-sea divers from the Sea Salvage and Rescue Unit to the remote area to attach high-strength ropes to the debris, which sank to a depth of 75 meters on the seafloor.
In a message sent to reporters at around 5 p.m., the Joint Chiefs of Staff said it will wrap up the operation for the day due to unfavorable conditions and resume Monday.
"Depending on the circumstances at the site tomorrow, we plan to conduct salvage operations," it said.
Apart from the debris spotted by the South Korean military Wednesday, which is believed to be the second and third stages of the launch vehicle, officials have not found additional parts.
South Korea and the United States plan to jointly examine the debris of the wreckage once it is retrieved.
This photo, provided by South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff on May 31, 2023, shows an object believed to be part of North Korea's space launch vehicle that was discovered in the Yellow Sea. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
mlee@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by 이민지 · June 4, 2023
3. S. Korea, Japan agree to hold working-level talks to prevent repeat of 2018 maritime incident: Seoul's defense chief
Improved cooperation continues. I think working on this issue is a good indicator of how serious the ROK and Japanese militaries are about improving cooperation.
(2nd LD) S. Korea, Japan agree to hold working-level talks to prevent repeat of 2018 maritime incident: Seoul's defense chief | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 채윤환 · June 4, 2023
(ATTN: RECASTS lead; UPDATES throughout with more details)
By Chae Yun-hwan
SINGAPORE, June 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea and Japan agreed Sunday to craft measures to prevent the recurrence of a yearslong military dispute, involving their maritime operations, Seoul's defense chief said, in the latest effort to improve bilateral relations.
After his talks with his Japanese counterpart, Yasukazu Hamada, in Singapore, Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said the two sides will hold working-level talks to address the issue -- still a lingering irritant in bilateral defense cooperation.
The dispute flared up in December 2018, when a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft made an unusually low-altitude flyby over a South Korean warship. Seoul has decried the plane's approach as a "menacing" flight, while Tokyo has accused the South Korean vessel of having locked its fire-control radar on the plane.
"Regarding the issue, (we) agreed to resolve it by starting working-level talks and placing a focus on coming up with measures to prevent its recurrence," Lee said.
Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup (L) shakes hands with his Japanese counterpart, Yasukazu Hamada, at bilateral talks on the sidelines of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 4, 2023. (Yonhap)
The two countries' positions on the issue remain unchanged, but they agreed to focus on formulating measures to prevent such an incident from happening again, a senior Seoul official told reporters, requesting anonymity.
The first defense ministerial talks between the countries since November 2019 came amid recent efforts to mend bilateral ties strained over long-running historical spats stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea.
Their relations have recently taken a turn for the better after Seoul's decision in March to compensate Korean victims of Japanese wartime forced labor on its own without asking for contributions from Japanese firms.
During the talks, the two ministers agreed on the importance of further advancing security cooperation between their countries, as well as trilaterally with their shared ally, the United States, to deter and respond to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, according to Seoul's defense ministry.
On Saturday, Lee and Hamada held trilateral talks with their U.S. counterpart, Lloyd Austin, on a range of issues, including trilateral cooperation against the security challenge that the North poses.
Lee and Hamada also "strongly condemned" Pyongyang's launch of a "long-range ballistic missile under the guise of a so-called satellite" last week as a "grave" violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning any launch using ballistic missile technology, the ministry said.
The North carried out the failed yet defiant launch of a purported space rocket Wednesday.
Lee and Hamada also agreed that the two countries' defense authorities will continue close communication to enhance security cooperation, citing their leaders' agreement to develop bilateral ties to another level, the ministry added.
President Yoon Suk Yeol visited Tokyo in March for a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Kishida visited Seoul last month, resuming so-called shuttle diplomacy between the two countries' leaders after 12 years.
1st S. Korea-Japan defense ministers' talks in nearly 4 yrs
South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup (L) and his Japanese counterpart, Yasukazu Hamada, meet for bilateral talks on the margins of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 4, 2023. (Yonhap)
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by 채윤환 · June 4, 2023
4. N. Korean leader's sister slams UNSC meeting on space rocket launch
The evil sister continues to play her bad cop role for the regime.
N. Korean leader's sister slams UNSC meeting on space rocket launch | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · June 4, 2023
SEOUL, June 4 (Yonhap) -- The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sunday lambasted last week's meeting of the U.N. Security Council (UNSC) on the country's recent failed space rocket launch as "the most unfair and biased act of interfering in internal affairs."
In a statement carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), Kim Yo-jong expressed displeasure over Friday's open UNSC briefing, stressing the North will continue to exercise "all the lawful rights" as a sovereign state, including one to launch satellites.
The North launched what it claimed to be a satellite-carrying rocket Wednesday, but it fell into the Yellow Sea following an abnormal flight, according to the South Korean military. The U.S. and other nations called the launch a breach of multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions. North Korea is banned from any use of ballistic missile technology under U.N. resolutions.
"I am very unpleased that the UNSC so often calls to account the DPRK's exercise of its rights as a sovereign state at the request of the U.S., and bitterly condemn and reject it as the most unfair and biased act of interfering in its internal affairs and violating its sovereignty," Kim said, referring to her country by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
This file photo, captured from the homepage of North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 11, 2022, shows Kim Yo-jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister and vice department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, making a speech during a national meeting on anti-epidemic measures in Pyongyang the previous day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
Kim, a vice department director of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, argued the meeting was held at the U.S. "gangster-like" request to take issue with a sovereign state's right to space development.
"This should be regarded as an insult to and serious distortion of the spirit of the UN Charter and as a deliberate delinquency in the genuine mission of the organization," she said.
She also called attention to various countries launching and operating satellites in a move to defend the North's space launch attempt.
"It is today's universal reality that over 5,000 satellites with various aims and missions are now in their orbits around the Earth and even private companies are taking an active part in the space development," she said. "This being a hard reality, the UNSC is continuously taking discriminative and rude action to take issue with only the launch of a satellite by the DPRK."
Kim added that the recalcitrant regime will continue to take "proactive" measures to exercise "all the lawful rights of a sovereign state," including the launch of a military reconnaissance satellite.
Meanwhile, Kim Myong Chol, a North Korean international affairs analyst, criticized the adoption by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of its first-ever resolution condemning North Korean missile launches.
Adopted at the 107th session of the IMO's Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) in London on Wednesday (local time), the resolution denounced the launches as a serious threat to the safety of international navigation and urged compliance with due regulations, including giving prior notice ahead of any missile tests.
The North Korean analyst claimed the IMO has been reduced to a "tool moving under the control of the White House," while hinting that the North may not notify the organization of future launches.
"This goes to prove that IMO has been completely politicized, abandoning its original mission of promoting international cooperation in the field of maritime security," he said in an article carried by the KCNA.
He defended the launch as an exercise of the North's sovereign right for self-defense to protect the country and its people from "ever-more reckless military hostile acts of the U.S. and its vassal forces."
"As IMO responded to the DPRK's advance notice on its satellite launch with the adoption of an anti-DPRK "resolution", we will regard this as its official manifestation of stand that the DPRK's advance notice is no longer necessary," he said.
"In the future, IMO should know and take measures by itself over the period of the DPRK's satellite launch and the impact point of its carrier and be prepared for taking full responsibility for all the consequences to be entailed from it."
This photo provided by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on June 1, 2023, shows the launch of the North's new Chollima-1 rocket, allegedly carrying a military reconnaissance satellite, Malligyong-1, from Tongchang-ri on the North's west coast at 6:29 a.m. the previous day. The projectile fell into waters some 200 kilometers west of the South's southwestern island of Eocheong following its flight over the waters far west of the border island of Baengnyeong. In just about 2 1/2 hours after the launch, the North confirmed its failure, citing the "abnormal starting of the second-stage engine." (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · June 4, 2023
5. S. Korea imposes sanctions ‘Kimsuky’ for satellite technology theft
I hope they run down how north Korea stole secrets. How were they assisted and by whom? They need to dismantle the regime's intelligence networks in the South and around the world.
Excerpt:
“In addition, North Korean hacking organizations including ‘Kimsuky’ have been directly or indirectly involved in the development of North Korea’s so-called ‘satellite’ by stealing advanced technologies globally related to weapons development, artificial satellites, and space,” the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the day.
S. Korea imposes sanctions ‘Kimsuky’ for satellite technology theft
donga.com
Posted June. 03, 2023 08:31,
Updated June. 03, 2023 08:31
S. Korea imposes sanctions ‘Kimsuky’ for satellite technology theft. June. 03, 2023 08:31. by Na-Ri Shin journari@donga.com.
South Korea announced new sanctions against ‘Kimsuky,’ a North Korean hacking group believed responsible for major cyber attacks and the theft of satellites and space development technologies worldwide. These sanctions serve as a warning against launching satellites in response to North Korea's recent attempt to launch Chollima-1, a new spacecraft carrying the military reconnaissance satellite Malligyong-1. In addition, South Korea issued a joint cybersecurity advisory with the U.S. Department of State on North Korean hacking campaigns, stating that Kimsuky conducts social engineering campaigns to gather intelligence.
“In addition, North Korean hacking organizations including ‘Kimsuky’ have been directly or indirectly involved in the development of North Korea’s so-called ‘satellite’ by stealing advanced technologies globally related to weapons development, artificial satellites, and space,” the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the day.
The North Korean hacking group has been cyberattacking against countries worldwide for over a decade. South Korea has been a target of four notable cyberattacks orchestrated by Kimsuky. These include the 2014 document leakage from Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, the 2016 impersonation of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), an incident last year in which Kimsuky posed as a South Korean reporter, a National Assembly member's office, and a public institution in e-mails, and the hacking incident in July 2021, where Kimsuky gained unauthorized access to the records of 7,000 patients at Seoul National University Hospital.
This sanction marks the eighth independent sanction on the North and the fourth independent sanction related to the cyber domain issued by the Yoon Suk Yeol administration.
한국어
donga.com
6. Two anchors for security in the Pacific
Arguably one of the greatest foreign policy successes of the Biden administration is the improvement in alliance relations and the most important alliance relationship for the US is with the ROK and Japan. We should consider how a strong trilateral alliance would benefit the US and what it would mean for all three countries. But politics will keep this at some distance. for some time.
Excerpts:
Last, they must cooperate in implementing their Indo-Pacific strategy, maintaining the liberal international order and jointly responding to international issues on the global stage. Cooperation in such fields can maximize the synergy effect of cooperation between Korea and Japan.
The arrow has left the bow. The time has come for the government to take the momentum to better bilateral ties as quickly as possible and develop them into a mechanism that helps ensure peace and prosperity in East Asia. The two neighbors sharing the same democratic values and alliance with the U.S. must not forget their obligations as reliable anchors in the Pacific.
Sunday
June 4, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Two anchors for security in the Pacific
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/06/04/opinion/columns/Korea-Japan-cooperation/20230604201838341.html
Shin Kak-soo
The author, a former deputy foreign minister, is a senior advisor at the law firm Shin & Kim and a member of the diplomacy and security division of the JoongAng Ilbo’s Reset Korea campaign.
President Yoon Suk Yeol had a hectic diplomatic schedule in the past two months — a trip to Japan in mid-March, a visit to the United States late April, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s return visit to Seoul early May, and attending the G7 summit in Hiroshima late May. The tight itinerary represents the shifting of the Yoon administration’s diplomatic axis from North Korea and China to the United States and Japan in a remarkable contrast with the liberal Moon Jae-in administration.
Above all, the Korea-Japan relationship which suffered multiple fractures over past issues for nearly a decade has started to recover thanks to the conservative administration’s ambitious step to resolve the wartime forced labor issue through “third-party” compensation.
Over the Mar. 6 government-proposed solution to the forced labor issue, nearly 60 percent of Koreans showed opposition, probably due to the government’s rush to announce the solution based on a third-party fund even without statements of regret and apology from the Japanese companies or their voluntary participation in the fund. President Yoon most likely reached a political decision prioritizing the strategic interests expected from weathering complex uncertainties in the global transitional period by restoring frozen bilateral relations over tactical interest from drawing concessions from Japan through protracted diplomatic overtures.
President Yoon’s decision also reflects his administration’s determination to cut the Gordian knot originating from the conflict between the 2018 Korean Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of compensation for the wartime forced labor and the Japanese government’s claim that the issue was already addressed by the claims settlement in 1965 between Seoul and Tokyo. After Japan attacked Korea for violating the agreement and international laws, Korea was suddenly pushed to take a defensive position and lost the moral high ground. President Yoon’s decision is likely aimed at turning the tide through the a third-party solution.
Such a bold diplomatic initiative seems to be reaping the strategic gains the government sought from the beginning. First of all, the Japanese prime minister paid a return visit to Seoul in just 52 days — much earlier than expected — and helped pave the way for normalized relations. Besides, Tokyo stopped its one-track policy firmly based on “no cooperation without first addressing the forced labor issue” and started to move toward improving bilateral ties for further cooperation on broader issues.
Following welcome remarks from U.S. President Joe Biden and State Secretary Tony Blinken, Biden appreciated Yoon’s aggressive step aimed at improving Seoul-Tokyo relations in a joint statement released after his summit with Yoon in Washington in April. The developments have helped the joint statement from Yoon, Biden and Kishida at the trilateral summit on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to take a more concrete form for the tripartite cooperation. The restoration of Korea-Japan relations and the reestablishment of trilateral relations will certainly help the countries to respond to North Korea’s unfettered sophistication of its nuclear weapons capability and China’s wolf warrior diplomacy for national security.
However, Kishida’s lukewarm regret about the past — as manifested by his rhetoric in Seoul to succeed the historical recognition of the past Cabinets — and the uncertainty over Japanese companies’ voluntary participation in the third-party fund have left diplomatic challenges for Yoon. In his return trip to Seoul, Kishida consoled the battered souls of the forced labor victims, and showed his sincerity by jointly paying tribute to the Korean victims of the atomic bombing at a peace park in Hiroshima with Yoon. But such moves still stopped short of meeting Koreans’ expectations. As the forced labor issue is not completely addressed yet, the government needs to fix possible loopholes as soon as possible.
The bilateral relations have entered the phase of acceleration at last after getting out of a long, dark tunnel. The government must change the paradigm of bilateral relations from a past-oriented, bilateral, emotional and existing generation-based one to a future-oriented, glocal, rational and young-generation-based one. The following is my advice for the transition.
First, the Yoon administration must end the forced labor dispute fast. The March 6 solution aims to resolve it through a third-party compensation to avert the liquidation of assets of Japanese companies in Korea. However, considering the need to create a fund to compensate more than 1,080 plaintiffs awaiting court rulings and the need to avoid a clash with the top court ruling, special legislation is the best option. The government must hurry to set up a civilian-government committee, including the opposition Democratic Party, to prepare for the enactment. At the same time, the government must make diplomatic effort to encourage Japanese companies to apologize — just as Kajima Corp., Nishimatsu Construction and Mitsubishi Materials did to Chinese forced labor victims in 2000, 2009 and 2016, respectively — and volunteer to contribute to the fund, while persuading victims and seeking public support for the move.
The Yoon administration also must pursue historical reconciliation in the mid-to-long term. As the job can better be done by historians, the government needs to reestablish the Korea-Japan joint committee on historical issues and find various ways for Japan’s young generation to correctly recognize the past through history education and cultural exchanges.
Second, the government needs to start from areas where the fruits of bilateral cooperation can be reaped as early as possible. The two countries should create an environment for their companies to actively exchange and cooperate on macroscopic levels. Both countries also must kick-start economic dialogue to strike an FTA, cooperate on such diverse areas as standardization, patents, information, space, cyber, science and technology for the fourth-industrial revolution, support for their joint advance to other countries, supply chains, financial help, and sharing information on economic security.
Third, the Yoon administration must hurry to recover the trust asset. To dispel mutual ignorance, misunderstanding and prejudice and raise the level of mutual understanding and trust, what’s important is an endeavor to expand — and systematize — the suspended human exchanges, including the young. The two countries can get a clue from the 1963 Elysée Treaty signed in the spirit of reconciliation and exchange to put the seal on the friendship between Germany and France.
Fourth, the Yoon administration must reactivate the shut-down communication channels and open new ones if needed. Since the significance of strategic dialogue grew, both countries should have communications on high levels. Establishing a joint civilian-public committee to help stabilize their relations by presenting future visions for the two countries also could be a good idea.
Last, they must cooperate in implementing their Indo-Pacific strategy, maintaining the liberal international order and jointly responding to international issues on the global stage. Cooperation in such fields can maximize the synergy effect of cooperation between Korea and Japan.
The arrow has left the bow. The time has come for the government to take the momentum to better bilateral ties as quickly as possible and develop them into a mechanism that helps ensure peace and prosperity in East Asia. The two neighbors sharing the same democratic values and alliance with the U.S. must not forget their obligations as reliable anchors in the Pacific.
Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
7. President Yoon to attend NATO Summit in Lithuania next month
Yes I am beating a dead horse: The ROK is a global piviol state and a partner in the arsenal of democracy.
President Yoon to attend NATO Summit in Lithuania next month
The Korea Times · June 4, 2023
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference after the meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Oslo, Norway, June 1. AP-Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
President Yoon Suk Yeol will attend the 2023 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit in Lithuania next month, prompting speculation about another trilateral summit between South Korea, Japan and the United States.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a press conference on June 1 that "we'll have all the leaders of the (NATO's) four Asia Pacific partners, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, attending our summit in Vilnius," the capital of Lithuania.
The summit will take place on July 11 to 12 and will be the second time for a South Korean president to attend the gathering of the U.S. and its European allies, following Yoon's appearance at the 2022 edition in Spain last year.
At the summit, Yoon is anticipated to brief the European leaders on North Korea's escalating nuclear and missile threats ― including the regime's recent launch of a spy satellite ― and ask for greater support in achieving peace on the Korean peninsula.
Also, speculation is growing that a trilateral summit between Yoon, U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, may occur on the sidelines of the NATO Summit. During last month's Group of Seven Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, the three leaders met but did not hold an official meeting due to time constraints.
Along with the North Korea issue, attention is turning to whether Yoon will make statements concerning China and Russia.
China has warned Seoul about its NATO relations, saying South Korea would be unable to gain anything by participating in a summit that shows hostility to Beijing.
The Korea Times · June 4, 2023
8. Pence, Haley and DeSantis slam Trump for congratulating North Korea's Kim Jung Un
Here is some linkedin commentary that should be considered with this article.
As an aside I honestly do not know Mr. Holmes and I have never run across him in any Korea events in DC or anything related to SOF (though I suppose that his because he resides in Tampa).
Anthony W. Holmes
Anthony W. Holmes
• 2nd
• 2nd
Senior Expert for International Relations @U.S. Special Operations Command; Contributing Editor @1945; Sr. Fellow @Project 2049; Covering Geopolitical risk, Defense & Intelligence, National Security, and Foreign Policy
Senior Expert for International Relations @U.S. Special Operations Command; Contributing Editor @1945; Sr. Fellow @Project 2049; Covering Geopolitical risk, Defense & Intelligence, National Security, and Foreign Policy
14h • Edited •
14h • Edited •
Connect with Anthony W. Holmes
I was special advisor for North Korea in the Office of the Secretary of Defense during Trump's presidency. I co-represented the Department of Defense at the first summit in Singapore between Kim Jong Un and President Trump. I supported the U.S. negotiating team. I led the team that designed the Maximum Pressure Campaign.
So believe me when I say there is no reason, none, to celebrate North Korea being appointed to the WHO. There is no reason to congratulate Kim.
Also, contrary to emergent myth North Korea didn't behave during his presidency. As I will discuss in an upcoming article for 19FortyFive.
Pence, Haley and DeSantis slam Trump for congratulating North Korea's Kim Jung Un
foxnews.com · by Paul Steinhauser , Rich Edson , Timothy H.J. Nerozzi | Fox News
Video
Pence, Haley, and DeSantis slam Trump for congratulating North Korea's Kim Jung Un
Mike Pence, Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis commented on North Korea's appointment to the World Health Organization.
DES MOINES, Iowa – Two top members in former President Donald Trump's administration who are now rivals to Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race are heavily criticizing Trump for celebrating North Korea's appointment to the World Health Organization.
Former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration are taking aim at the former president in interviews in Iowa on Saturday with Fox News. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also took a swipe at Trump over his comments about the North Korean dictator.
"Congratulations to Kim Jung [sic] Un!" Trump wrote in the message on his social media platform Truth Social on Friday afternoon.
"I was surprised to see that," DeSantis told Fox News Digital Saturday. "I mean I think one, I think Kim Jong Un is a murderous dictator."
TRUMP CONGRATULATES NORTH KOREA'S LEADER
Trump linked his message to an article from American Greatness about the North Korean official recently elected to the executive board of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Trump and Kim shake hands during their 2019 meeting. (AP/KCNA) ((AP/KCNA))
The North Korean Ministry of Public Health's Dr. Jong Min Pak has been seated on the WHO's executive board with a term set to last until 2026.
The communist state's new position on the board allows them say in determining the organization's agenda and policy prescriptions.
The decision sparked immediate criticism from the government of neighboring South Korea, which pointed to North Korea's history of ignoring policies put forward by the WHO and its parent organization, the United Nations.
Pence, who's expected to launch a 2024 presidential campaign next week in Iowa, told Fox News The World Health Organization let America and the world down during the COVID pandemic. They were literally complicitous in covering up what was happening in China and we held them to account during our administration.."
NORTH KOREA ELECTED TO WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION EXECUTIVE BOARD
"Whether its my former running mate or anyone else, nobody should be praising the dictator in North Korea or praising the leader in Russia, who has launched an unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine," Pence said. "This is a time when we ought to make it clear to the world that we stand for freedom and we stand with those who stand for freedom."
Haley, who declared her candidacy for the White House in February, told Fox News that "you don't congratulate a thug. I mean, let's keep in mind this. This thug has threatened America. It's threatened our allies over and over again. This is not something to play with."
FILE - In this Feb. 27, 2019 file photo, President Donald Trump, left, meets North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, in Hanoi. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File) (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)
"He's a terrible individual. He's terrible to his people. He's terrible to our allies in the world. And I don't think he deserves congratulations," Haley emphasized.
Trump became the first sitting American President to meet with a dictator of North Korea when he shook hands with Kim Jong Un in 2019.
"It started off rough, remember that? I was saying ‘little rocket man’ and he was saying ‘I've got a red button on my desk, and I’m willing to use it,'" Trump recalled in an April 2023 interview.
"And then all of a sudden we get a call — they want to meet," he added. "We would have had that whole situation straightened out shortly after the beginning of my second term."
Pence and Haley spoke with Fox News on Saturday as they attended Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa's annual roast and ride, a motorcycle ride that benefits veterans. All of the declared presidential candidates — other than Trump — spoke at the gathering.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Asked for a response, the Trump campaign took aim at DeSantis, which they view as the former president's top rival for the 2024 GOP nomination.
"President Trump achieved peace through strength and, as a result, no new wars were started under his presidency. On the other hand, Ron DeSantis is a puppet of the establishment war mongers and doesn’t have the strength, fortitude, or will to stand up against America’s adversaries," Trump campaign spokesman Steve Cheung told Fox News.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.
foxnews.com · by Paul Steinhauser , Rich Edson , Timothy H.J. Nerozzi | Fox News
9. S. Korea eyes UN seat as NK rebukes UN body
The ROK is "stepping up" on the world stage while north Korea demonstrates that it is not a responsible member of the international community.
S. Korea eyes UN seat as NK rebukes UN body
koreaherald.com · by Choi Si-young · June 4, 2023
South Korea is preparing to play a bigger role on the international stage as it aims to secure a seat on the United Nations Security Council at an election Tuesday, an opportunity for Seoul to serve as a two-year term member on the UN’s most powerful body.
Running unopposed, the South is expected to get approval from two-thirds of the General Assembly, ending the country’s 10-year hiatus from the 15-member body that includes five permanent members with veto power: the US, UK, France, Russia and China.
The annual election, which selects countries to replace five member states each year, comes at a time when South Korea is stepping up efforts to put checks on North Korea -- a country still defying international sanctions on its nuclear and missile programs. Last week, Pyongyang launched what it claims was a military satellite, amid speculation that the launch could be a cover for missile tests.
UN Security Council resolutions ban the North from using such ballistic missile technology. But Pyongyang, which has hinted at a second launch following Wednesday’s failed attempt, lashed out at the International Maritime Organization, a UN agency responsible for ship safety.
In a dispatch by the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Sunday, the country said the IMO could no longer function as an independent group because the US has too much sway over it. Following the North’s launch, the group adopted a resolution condemning the failed test because it threatens international shipping.
“The fact that the IMO passed such a resolution for the first time for a single country means the group has strayed from its mission and become politicized,” the dispatch said, citing a North Korean expert on international relations.
North Korea will no longer inform the IMO of any upcoming launches, the expert noted, saying the resolution has rendered such a courtesy unnecessary. Pyongyang, like any other countries, has the right to conduct tests it sees fit because they are meant for self-defense, the expert added. The North says it needs spy satellites to monitor US military activities.
South Korea’s chief nuclear envoy on North Korea, Kim Gunn, and his US and Japanese counterparts said that any launches using ballistic missile technology are a violation of UN sanctions and that the three partners that have been working on the North’s disarmament will respond firmly to Pyongyang’s repeated attempts to retry such tests.
At the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Friday, an annual summit on security, Kim underscored the need to improve oversight on North Korea’s overseas workers and its illegal cyber activities -- all used to bankroll the country's nuclear and missile programs by bypassing international sanctions.
The same day, the UN Security Council failed to condemn North Korea’s attempted launch because Russia and China dismissed the US call, saying Seoul and Washington are to blame for escalating inter-Korean tensions with their regular military drills. Pyongyang calls them a rehearsal for invasion, while Seoul labels them a test for readiness.
By Choi Si-young (siyoungchoi@heraldcorp.com)
koreaherald.com · by Choi Si-young · June 4, 2023
10. EU’s top diplomat corrects he ‘explains’ Ukraine’s needs for ammunition to S.Korea
Two steps forward and one step back. The ROK continues to try to walk the tightrope between the major powers, domestic support, and its own laws.
EU’s top diplomat corrects he ‘explains’ Ukraine’s needs for ammunition to S.Korea
koreaherald.com · by Ji Da-gyum · June 4, 2023
SINGAPORE – The European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, clarified Sunday that he "explained Ukraine's needs for ammunition" to the South Korean defense minister, correcting his statement on the bilateral talks.
The correction came hours after South Korea's Defense Ministry issued a statement and said there was no discussion between Defense Minister Lee and Borrell regarding ammunition support for Ukraine. Both held a separate meeting on the sidelines of the Shangri-La dialogue in Singapore on Saturday.
"While the EU side mentioned the need for various weapon systems and other support to improve the security situation in Ukraine, it unilaterally expressed its stance that ammunition is particularly important," the ministry said.
"But ammunition support for Ukraine was part of topics for discussion, so there were no further conversations on the matter."
Borrell said Saturday that he and Lee "shared alarm at continued DPRK provocations and discussed Ukraine's needs for ammunition" on his Twitter. He used the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
"We are working together to build a new security and defense partnership, following up on our successful summit," he added.
His Tweet has briefly sparked debates once again about a potential change in South Korea's stance on supplying lethal weapons to Ukraine.
South Korea has stated that it is challenging for the country to provide lethal weapons to Ukraine considering the security situation on the Korean Peninsula. Instead, Seoul has provided nonlethal military aid and equipment to Kyiv.
Lee also held one-on-one meetings with his counterparts from Canada, Germany and the Netherlands during the three-day Shangri-La dialogue that ended on Sunday.
The defense leaders of South Korea and Germany on Sunday agreed to "continue to strengthen defense cooperation to uphold the rules-based international order," based on their shared values.
Defense Minister Lee and his German counterpart Boris Pistorius held a meeting on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, a top defense meeting in Asia, which took place in Singapore. This marked the first defense ministerial meeting between South Korea and Germany since May 2021.
During the meeting, both sides discussed ways to enhance defense and arms industry cooperation, acknowledging the longstanding cooperative relationship between the two countries as traditional friendly countries.
Notably, the ministers recognized the active cooperation between their naval forces. Furthermore, they agreed to continue promoting military exchanges and cooperation, such as mutual port visits and joint participation in multinational training exercises in the latter half of the year.
Lee and Canadian Defense Minister Anita Anand also held a meeting on Saturday and agreed to actively work towards expanding the scope of cooperation, including in the defense industry, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.
This agreement is particularly significant as the Canadian delegation visited South Korean defense contractors in May, and as the Canadian Navy is currently considering the purchase of up to 12 new submarines. The meeting between the defense ministers signals the intent to strengthen collaboration in defense-related areas, with a specific focus on potential cooperation in the defense industry.
The defense cooperation was also the main agenda during a separate meeting between Lee and Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren on the same day, according to South Korea's Defense Ministry.
During the meeting, Ollongren saw that "both countries will conclude a memorandum of understanding on defense industry cooperation soon," expressing her hope to further develop defense industry cooperation with South Korea.
By Ji Da-gyum (dagyumji@heraldcorp.com)
koreaherald.com · by Ji Da-gyum · June 4, 2023
11. Why does South Korea want to be Australia's best friend?
This should be a very strong relationship. Good for both countries and good for the US.
Why does South Korea want to be Australia's best friend?
sbs.com.au
Key Points
- Australia and South Korea have strengthened defence ties.
- Defence Minister Richard Marles travelled to South Korea to meet his counterpart.
- Mr Marles also attended the Pacific Islands Forum.
When China and North Korea are your noisy neighbours, it pays to have good friends.
Some commentators say that South Korea is looking to Australia for a closer relationship and stronger defence cooperation.
Defence Minister Richard Marles met his Korean counterpart Lee Jong-sup in Seoul this week, and the two countries agreed to strengthen bilateral ties on defence and other security-related issues.
Mr Lee said South Korea would participate for the first time in the Australian-led multinational exercise Indo-Pacific Endeavour and in Operation render safe, aimed at disposing of submarine explosives from World War Two from the bottom of the Pacific.
It comes the same week as a North Korean nuclear-armed satellite launch failed, sending a rocket plunging into the ocean.
“There are many challenges emerging in the region, and we need all the friends we can share our values with, and Australia is at the top of that list,” Retired South Korean General Chun In-Bum told the ABC.
What happened during the Defence Minister's Korea visit?
After Mr Marles met with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, he and Mr Lee agreed to “work on an enhanced bilateral framework,” Mr Marles said in a statement.
These meetings happened on the sidelines of Seoul hosting the inaugural South Korea-Pacific Islands Summit.
Dongkeun Lee, a PhD student at Australian National University, said Mr Marles’ visit was significant and joint military exercises could be interpreted as the two countries manifesting a closer relationship.
“The two countries have had a long strategic relationship for a while, but it seems like they’ve been forgetting about it.” Mr Lee said.
“Currently, we have a right-wing president, which means that he prefers more deterrence (to North Korea) or strengthening alliances or partnerships with like-minded countries in the region, and will normally firm up ties with the US, Australia and Japan.”
This is a pattern when it comes to South Korean foreign policy, and China does not like this approach.
South Korea is growing as a major weapons dealer globally - arms sales jumped to more than US$17 billion ($25.7 billion) in 2022 from $7.25 billion (11 billion) the year before, according to the country's defence ministry.
In 2021, Australia signed a $1 billion contract for armoured vehicles from Korean company Hanwha, the country's largest defence contract with an Asian country.
South Korea wants to sell more weapons to Australia and “would be very interested in selling warships,” to its ally, Mr Lee said.
“Australia is a really attractive market because Australia has a lot of purchasing power, and the countries are sharing weapons systems as allies of the United States,” he said.
South Korea is in the running to win a US$12 billion ($18 billion) deal to supply Australia’s next infantry fighting vehicle.
According to Korean media, Hanwha has expressed interest in buying an Australian shipbuilding company.
Associate Professor at Yonsei University, Jeffrey Robertson, is sceptical and said South Korea sees Australia as more of a customer than a partner.
“If you speak to leftist politicians in Korea, they've got a totally different view. If you read Korean language media, if you live in Korea, you see that Australia is just not significant in Korea. The only rationale is natural resources and selling defence materials," he said.
He added the current administration is conservative and "uses a lot of rhetoric, including terms such as freedom, democracy, human rights, and all the rest, but to tell the truth, the diplomacy hasn't really changed all that much, there's just more rhetoric".
What are the two countries hoping to achieve in the Pacific?
The Korea Pacific Islands Forum marked the first time where Korea gathered leaders of Pacific Island nations in order to discuss South Korea's new plan to engage more with their countries.
“The Summit demonstrates our shared commitment to stronger cooperation between Korea and the Pacific Islands Forum in support of a secure, peaceful and prosperous region,” Mr Marles said.
In May last year, China shelved its plan to sign a controversial regional agreement with Pacific Island nations.
Australia, South Korea and the US are hoping that Pacific Island nations will remain on their side in terms of trade and defence partnerships.
The forum represented “Korea showing admirable leadership within the region in which both of our countries live," Mr Marles told Channel 7.
"It says a lot about how both Korea and Australia are seeing the world in very similar terms. You know, we both see that our security lies in the collective security in the region ... "
What is next for Australia-South Korea relations?
Professor Robertson said the relationship needs modernisation, and Australia should look to expand its cultural presence in South Korea.
"A really big issue is making Australia relevant," he said.
"They've got to do things like have more media interacting with Korea, more media exchanges, more exchanges between government officers, even think tanks, making joint programs between think tanks and translating work."
In the unlikely situation that South Korea engaged in armed conflict across its northern border, Australia and the US would come to its defence.
But Professor Robertson said despite North Korea ramping up that rhetoric and nuclear testing, it won't fire weapons at the South.
"I don't think North Korea really wants to engage in any conflict with South Korea, because they will lose," he said.
PhD student Mr Lee said both countries have selfish reasons to come to each other's aid.
"We are relying on so much on maritime shipping, so if there would be conflict in the South China Sea, for example, both South Korea and Australia would not be able to use this maritime communication channel, which means that there will be some impact on trade of both countries."
With additional reporting by AAP.
sbs.com.au
12. Astray Into the Zone (Aviation in Korea)
For all my aviation friends who flew in Korea.
Astray Into the Zone - FLYING Magazine
God smiles upon fools—and lieutenants.
By Samuel Dawson
June 2, 2023
flyingmag.com · by Samuel Dawson · June 2, 2023
As a newly minted U.S. Army aviator and UH-60 Black Hawk pilot, being based in the Republic of Korea in 1988 was an ideal first assignment. The cost of living was low, the people were friendly, and the food was great. And then there was the flying. There were few rules in Korea, and as young lieutenants and warrant officers we took advantage and “aired out” our UH-60s often.
This Article First Appeared in FLYING Magazine
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The rules were simple. Don’t fly into the prohibited area of the capital, Seoul, aptly named P-73. Don’t fly into the Korean president’s TFR. As with the U.S., these were likely to pop up unannounced, or sometimes even move. And don’t ever, ever, stray north of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone), into the People’s Republic of Korea, also known as North Korea. The North Korean military was known to try and lure aircraft across the DMZ through MIJI, or meaconing, intrusion, jamming, and interference. They’d set up false NDBs to mimic stations in South Korea. In the winter, when fresh snow covered panels indicating the DMZ, they would set up false panels in North Korea, or use other means to lure crews across the border, then shoot them down. Part of our Korea check out was testing on our ability to navigate the DMZ.
One day I found myself on the mission board with another lieutenant and longtime friend, John. We had gone through the lieutenant basic course together and he was one class ahead of me in flight school. We were told to put some hours on an airframe, so we decided to make a day of it.
We would fly up to the northeast corner of South Korea by Sokcho and follow the DMZ to the west. We would hop into Camp Page in Cheongju for some gas and lunch, continue westbound to just north of Incheon, then follow the west coast of Korea down to our base, Camp Humphreys, near Pyeongtaek. A storm had recently come through and dumped some snow, so it promised to be a nice day for flying. Joining us was our crew chief, Sergeant Morey.
The western side of Korea is dominated by the Taebaek Mountain range, so the first half of our flight would follow valleys and ridgelines. It would be much like navigating in the Rockies. Our UH-60 was well equipped with two HSIs. There were rumors about some newfangled navigation system that was slowly coming online and would use satellites, but that was in the future. We did have a Doppler inertial navigation system, but it was so unreliable we would joke that if we taped 25 cents to it and threw it out the window, we could at least say we lost a quarter. So, we relied on our map, clock, and HSI. I would navigate the first half while John flew, then we would change out after lunch.
The flight progressed well. We hit the east coast of Korea, followed it up to the DMZ, then made a left turn to the west. I was right on the map, and our times were working out. At some point things started to seem a little off to me. A bridge was not where I thought it should be… a valley was not there… At some point I told John to keep flying up a valley to the west. He looked over at me and said, “You mean to the north?” I said no, to the west, and pointed to my HSI that was showing 270 degrees, or a west heading. He responded, “No, my HSI and the magnetic compass show us flying north, and we’ve been flying north for some time.”
I looked at the standby compass; it showed north. I looked at my HSI and it showed west. At some point my HSI had failed and drifted off by 90 degrees, but I did not get a “fail” flag. John then asked the question that was on all our minds. “Sam, are we in North Korea??” I looked at him and responded, “That’s one possibility.”
John immediately turned south, dove down as low as he could, and pulled the collective to get every knot of speed he could milk from our trusty stallion. He would throw in occasional jinks to the left and right in case a young North Korean conscript got a lucky shot off at us. I continued to try and locate us on the map, but everything was running together. Eventually we spotted a South Korean flag at a remote mountain airstrip. This was nothing more than a small dispersal strip with a control tower to be used if war broke out. At this point we knew we were in South Korea. The airstrip had no identifier, and I did not see it on a map. We were getting low on fuel but decided to continue a bit to see if we could nail down our location and proceed to Camp Page. But we agreed that if we got to a certain fuel state we would return to this airstrip for gas.
We continued for about 15 minutes, but our luck didn’t change. John, as pilot in command, made the decision to return to the South Korean airstrip and get gas. I made some calls on guard but got no response. As we made our final approach the control tower flashed red lights at us warning us off. Unfortunately by this point, other lights were flashing at us. Our low fuel lights.
We landed and were immediately surrounded by Jeeps mounted with .50 caliber machine guns and mean looking Republic of Korea (ROK) soldiers. Their tedium of being assigned to guard a remote airstrip was broken. They had purpose and life. We were escorted to the parking ramp, then given the signal to shut down.
I told Sergeant Morey to tell the guards we were Americans; we just needed some gas. He got out with his hands raised and was only able to get out “We’re Americans…” before being thrown to the ground and having a rifle put to his helmet. We eventually convinced the ROK soldiers we were not North Korean infiltrators, got some gas, and continued our merry way back home, deciding it was best to cut things short. Well, merry except for Sergeant Morey who, for some reason, was silent and sulking the entire way home. We wrote up the errant HSI and it was checked out by maintenance. The response was the one every pilot dreads. “Checked. Could not duplicate.” We then encountered the nonstop comments about lieutenants and maps. Until… a few days later our XO (executive officer) and the maintenance officer were flying the same aircraft, and it happened again. They, however, became hopelessly lost and had to land in a frozen rice patty, hike to a phone, and call for a fuel truck. I guess it goes to show you. Sometimes God smiles on fools and lieutenants.
This article was originally published in the March 2023, Issue 935 of FLYING.
flyingmag.com · by Samuel Dawson · June 2, 2023
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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