Quotes of the Day:

“The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free.” 

- Baruch Spinoza

And the little screaming fact that sounds through all history: repression works only to strengthen and knit the repressed.

- John Steinbeck, “The Grapes of Wrath”

"Simplicity is the glory of expression"

- Walt Whitman

1.  Yoon gov't unveils National Security Strategy highlighting N.K. threat

2.  Yoon government releases first security strategy paper

3. Yoon hails S. Korea's election as UNSC member as 'victory of global diplomacy'

4.  Experts skeptical about effectiveness of S. Korea's UNSC seat to rein in N. Korea

5. North Korea’s most dangerous woman: Meet Kim Jong-un’s sister Yo-jong

6. Why the North Korea 'War Alert' Is a Warning We Must Take Seriously

7. The WHO Welcomes North Korea

8. US Senate launches 'Korea Caucus' to mark 70th anniv. of alliance

9. N. Korean youth group donates multiple rocket launchers to military

10. South Korea, Japan bank on improved ties to counter North Korea

11. The Benefits of Pulling Back from NE Asia —Time for Korea and Japan to Step Up | Opinion

12.  North Korea hackers suspected in new $35 million crypto heist

1. Yoon gov't unveils National Security Strategy highlighting N.K. threat

Just released in the last few hours. I have not been able to find it - so far only 3 articles on it from my searches (though the Korea Tiomes article is jsut a repouublication of the Yonhap artilce.. It is not posted on the Office of the president web site and I cannot find the Office of National Security web site.

This is a very comprehensive strategy based on the reports about it.  

Key points about the nK threat, preparing for unification, and the importance of trilateral cooperation (ROK, Japan, US).

This is Korea as a global pistol state stepping on the world stage (note also the ROK being elected to the UN Security Council in 2024-25).

As soon as I find or receive a copy I will send out the link to the 150 page English version

Yoon gov't unveils National Security Strategy highlighting N.K. threat | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · June 7, 2023

By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, June 7 (Yonhap) -- The Yoon Suk Yeol administration on Wednesday unveiled a National Security Strategy highlighting the threat of North Korea's nuclear and missile programs and outlining its objectives for the realization of a "global pivotal state."

The Office of National Security under the presidential office published the strategy in a booklet -- 107 pages in Korean and 150 pages in English -- to present the administration's policies for foreign affairs, unification and defense in the context of a rapidly changing security environment marked by North Korea's advancing nuclear capabilities, the intensifying strategic competition between the United States and China, and emerging security issues, such as supply chain anxieties and climate change.

Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo briefs reporters on the Yoon administration's National Security Strategy at the presidential office in Seoul on June 7, 2023. (Yonhap)

"We find ourselves at a critical inflection point in history once again," Yoon wrote in the preface, citing an unprecedentedly turbulent future that breaks from the stability and prosperity experienced by the world over the past half century.

"Clashes of values, ideas, and interests around the globe are shaking the existing world order anchored in rules and principles," he said, noting the rise of transnational threats, such as infectious diseases, climate change, and food and energy crises.

"In light of these challenges, the concept of national security can no longer be limited to the prevention of external threats and invasions," he said.

Yoon said the key to the country's future lies in developing a national security strategy that anticipates approaching changes and maximizes the interests of the nation and its people.

"We will continue to develop our military into a strong and technologically advanced force, thereby creating a solid foundation of security," he wrote. "Our goal is to foster a sustainable peace that guarantees freedom and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, as opposed to a fragile and short-lived peace that merely postpones war."

He added that South Korea will spearhead efforts to overcome global challenges, such as disease, famine, poverty, illiteracy, the digital divide and environmental pollution, and strive to expand its contribution to the international community.

The strategy identified North Korea's continued advancement of its nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction capabilities as the most pressing security challenge facing South Korea.

"It is more critical than ever to strengthen our military's defense capabilities and reinforce a robust ROK-U.S. combined defense posture," it said, referring to South Korea by the acronym of its formal name, the Republic of Korea.

The strategy also pointed to a "compelling need" to transform the deteriorated South Korea-Japan relationship into a forward-looking, cooperative partnership as trilateral security cooperation among South Korea, the U.S. and Japan becomes increasingly important to counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

hague@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · June 7, 2023

2. Yoon government releases first security strategy paper

This provides the direction for the next four 4 years and the remainder of President Yoon's single term in office.

This seems to align well with the US NSS and INDOPACIFIC strategies.

Is this a grand strategy? Would it survive the election of a liberal government?

Wednesday

June 7, 2023

 dictionary + A - A 

Yoon government releases first security strategy paper

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/2023/06/07/national/politics/Korea-National-Security-Strategy-Yoon-Suk-Yeol/20230607184116614.html

Kim Tae-hyo, principal deputy national security adviser, announces the release of the Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s first National Security Strategy paper in a press briefing at the Yongsan presidential office in central Seoul Wednesday afternoon. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

President Yoon Suk Yeol's office issued its first National Security Strategy Wednesday.

The paper highlighted its vision to become a "global pivotal state for freedom, peace and prosperity" amid the rapidly changing international environment and intensifying regional security threats.

The leading government policy paper in the field of diplomacy, unification and national defense was released for the first time in five years, outlining the Yoon administration's goals to address current and future security challenges while defending liberal democracy and contributing to global prosperity and solidarity.

"Our three goals are to protect our national sovereignty and territory to promote public safety, establish peace on the Korean Peninsula and prepare for a unified future and lay the ground for prosperity in East Asia while expanding our global role," Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo said in a press briefing announcing the document at the Yongsan presidential office.

The document pinpointed the "most pressing" issues as North Korea's continued advancement of its nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction capabilities.

It highlighted the importance of trilateral security cooperation among South Korea, the United States and Japan to counter such nuclear and missile threats, and with a "shared understanding of the strategic significance of the Indo-Pacific region."

It also stressed that there is a "compelling need to transform the deteriorated Korea-Japan relationship into a "forward-looking, cooperative partnership." 

Other challenges include intensifying U.S.-China strategic competition and emerging security issues such as supply chain stabilization, climate change and cyber warfare. 

The strategy report was first published in 2004 under the Roh Moo-hyun administration and released by succeeding governments amid changing security environments and state policies. There are two versions, including a public document accessible to everyone and a confidential version distributed to each ministry to be used as a policy implementation guideline.

The Office of National Security released simultaneously on Monday a 107-page Korean-language version and a 150-page English-language version. It plans to distribute 10,000 copies of the document, including 3,000 English-language copies, to publicize the Yoon government's foreign affairs and security strategy both domestically and abroad, said the presidential office. 

The Moon Jae-in government also published its national security strategy paper in 2018, focusing on building a peaceful and prosperous Korean Peninsula.

The 2023 paper described the Yoon government's core strategic tenets as diplomacy advancing national interests; reinforcing defense through enhanced military power; establishing inter-Korean relations based on principles and reciprocity; proactively seeking economic security; and responding to new security threats. 

"We will continue to develop our military into a strong and technologically advanced force, thereby creating a solid foundation of security," Yoon wrote in the preface to the document. "Our goal is to foster a sustainable peace that guarantees freedom and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula and in Northeast Asia, as opposed to a fragile and short-lived peace that merely postpones war."

Yoon shared a vision of working with the international community to "safeguard universal values, such as freedom, human rights and the rule of law, and to uphold the international order based on rules and principles," as well as in overcoming global challenges including environmental pollution and diseases. 

Referring to Yoon's summit with U.S. President Joe Biden on April 26, the document said the two countries deepened their comprehensive global strategic alliance and upgraded the South Korea-U.S. alliance "to a new paradigm based on nuclear deterrence."

Regarding China, the paper called to "foster a healthier and more mature relationship" built on "mutual respect and reciprocity."

It also noted "we will make it clear that the Thaad deployment is a matter of our security sovereignty," referring to the deployment of the U.S.-led Terminal High Altitude Area Defense antimissile system to Korea, which had been strongly protested by China. 

Noting the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year, the document said that there is "an increasing necessity for the government to conduct a thorough reevaluation of our diplomatic policy toward Russia," as it aims to manage relations in a "stable manner guided by international norms."

The Yoon government also stressed that Asean is a "critical partner for promoting regional peace and shared prosperity," as a part of its broader Indo-Pacific strategy announced last December. 

Seoul plans to create a strategic environment that encourages Pyongyang to engage in negotiations through "deterrence" of North Korea's nuclear threats, "dissuasion" of its nuclear development and "dialogue" for denuclearization, sometimes referred to as the "3D" approach. 

The Yoon government outlined its so-called "audacious initiative" in more detail, stating that if Pyongyang "genuinely" returns to denuclearization negotiations, Seoul will lead discussions by "implementing initial measures to improve the living conditions of North Koreans." Once a roadmap for denuclearization is agreed upon, comprehensive measures covering the economic, political, and military sectors will be implemented simultaneously, the document added. 

Seoul also plans to establish an "Inter-Korean Joint Economic Development Committee" to focus on five major projects in infrastructure-building, improvement of living conditions and economic development. 

BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]

3. Yoon hails S. Korea's election as UNSC member as 'victory of global diplomacy'

Excellent coincidence or well timed release of the ROK National Security Strategy. This is the ROK stepping up as a global pivotal state.

(LEAD) Yoon hails S. Korea's election as UNSC member as 'victory of global diplomacy' | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · June 7, 2023

(ATTN: UPDATES with additional remarks by presidential officials)

By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, June 7 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday hailed South Korea's election as a nonpermanent member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as a "victory of global diplomacy," his spokesperson said.

South Korea won the seat after garnering 180 votes from 192 member states at the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

"Our entry as a nonpermanent member with the consent of 180 nations out of 192 U.N. member states is a victory of global diplomacy," Yoon said, according to presidential spokesperson Lee Do-woon.

South Korea will serve a two-year term from 2024-25, its third time on the council as one of 10 nonpermanent members.

President Yoon Suk Yeol (Yonhap)

The presidential office said the Yoon administration will meet the expectations of countries around the world, and fulfill a diplomacy of values and responsibility.

"This is an outcome that confirmed that President Yoon Suk Yeol's diplomacy, which seeks to realize a global pivotal state through solidarity with nations sharing the universal values of freedom and human rights, is winning the wide sympathy and support of the international community," senior presidential secretary for press affairs Kim Eun-hye said.

Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo told reporters South Korea's membership will allow it to lead the council's response to North Korea's nuclear and missile threats.

He also noted next year will be the first time since 1997 that South Korea, the U.S. and Japan will all serve as UNSC members, presenting an opportunity for stronger cooperation between the three countries and the council.

hague@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by 이해아 · June 7, 2023

4. Experts skeptical about effectiveness of S. Korea's UNSC seat to rein in N. Korea

I think it is foolish to think that the ROK will be able to rein in north Korea as an elected member of the UNSC clearly does not understand the nature, objectives, and strategy of the Kim family regime or the effectiveness of the UN Security Council broadly and the influence of a single elected non-permanent of the UNSC more narrowly.

But it is important for the ROK to win election to this seat to further the ROK's global diplomacy.

Experts skeptical about effectiveness of S. Korea's UNSC seat to rein in N. Korea

The Korea Times · June 7, 2023

The U.N. General Assembly opens at the U.N. headquarters in New York, June 6 (local time). In a vote at the meeting, South Korea was elected as a non-permanent member of the 15-member United Nations Security Council for a two-year term starting on Jan. 1, 2024. Yonhap 

Yoon urged to take advantage of status to advance national interests

By Jung Min-ho

Soon after South Korea was elected to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as one of the five new non-permanent members, Wednesday (KST), President Yoon Suk Yeol described the achievement as a "victory of global diplomacy."

South Korea, which secured the Asia-Pacific seat after winning 180 votes from 192 member states, hopes to expand its influence in the key principal organ of the U.N. to better address issues related to North Korea at a time when Pyongyang is perfecting its nuclear weapons program.

Experts contacted by The Korea Times said, however, that South Korea's ability to change North Korea's trajectory will be limited, during its two-year membership, amid a new Cold War climate in which China and Russia ― permanent UNSC members with veto powers ― increasingly refuse to join any U.S.-led sanctions against the North.

The experts added that whether winning the seat will be remembered as a South Korean victory in diplomacy depends on what the country will do with it, urging Yoon to take advantage of all the opportunities it offers to advance key national interests ― even if that sometimes means a conflict of interest with the U.S. or other allies.

"With the right set of priorities and strategies, we can make meaningful contributions on a range of global issues while advancing the topics of great importance to us," said Kim Sung-soo, a professor of international relations at Hanyang University. "The UNSC's role has been limited ― and will likely remain so ― in terms of resolving many issues regarding North Korea. So South Korea should think about how to use the status to create or help create a network that would be helpful."

The UNSC is made up of 15 member states including five permanent ones ― Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States. South Korea's new term starts in 2024. This is the third time South Korea has sat on the council. It was elected in 1996-97 and 2013-14.

A TV screen shows an image of a North Korean rocket launch during a news program at Seoul Station in Seoul, June 1. AP-Yonhap Kim Sung-joo, an international relations expert at Sungkyunkwan University, said the current geopolitical environment is much different from the past and requires different solutions to the same problem.

"China and Russia used to join the UNSC for resolutions and sanctions against North Korea's significant provocations. That time is over," he said.

"I think much of South Korea's success at the body depends on how it handles its relations with the two countries, especially China. The U.S. appears to have tried hard to manage the risks and fallout from its intensifying rivalry with China … Given the considerable impact Beijing can have on its bilateral relations with Seoul as well as on inter-Korean relations, we should ponder how to take advantage of the UNSC seat to advance our own agenda instead of blindly following the U.S.' lead."

Chung Jae-hung, a senior researcher at the Sejong Institute, agreed. But he said, given what the Yoon administration has shown on the diplomatic front, any change of direction is unlikely.

"French President Emmanuel Macron, for example, has said that France's interest is not the same as the U.S.' interest, raising doubts over the West's unity over issues like Taiwan. This position has drawn criticism from other countries and his own. Yet it has also drawn praise from the people who thought it would be more in France's interest," Chung said.

The UNSC is one of the six principal organs of the U.N. and is charged with ensuring international peace and security. Although it has largely been ineffective during the Cold War decades as well as now, amid the Washington-Beijing rivalry, it did authorize military interventions in the Korean War and the Congo Crisis and a number of peacekeeping missions across the world.

The Korea Times · June 7, 2023

5. North Korea’s most dangerous woman: Meet Kim Jong-un’s sister Yo-jong

A very good profile of the evil sister and regime bad cop, Kim Yo Jong. This is a good teaser for Professor Lee's forthcoming book.

You may pre-order it now. 

The Sister: North Korea's Kim Yo Jong, the Most Dangerous Woman in the World Hardcover – September 12, 2023

https://www.amazon.com/Sister-North-Koreas-Dangerous-Woman/dp/1541704126/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3PBKHEXVC78J&keywords=Sung+Yoon+Lee&qid=1686133276&s=books&sprefix=sung+yoon+lee%2Cstripbooks%2C59&sr=1-1

North Korea’s most dangerous woman: Meet Kim Jong-un’s sister Yo-jong

Tipped to be the future leader, she is also a ruthless force who reportedly ordered the executions of officials for ‘getting on her nerves’

The Telegraph · by Sung-Yoon Lee

Under a foggy February sky, a plane made its descent towards Incheon International Airport in South Korea. Inside sat 23 passengers – five officials, three reporters and the rest bodyguards. But one mattered above all.

At 1.46pm, Korea Standard Time, on 9 February 2018, the Soviet-era Ilyushin-62 touched down. It was the first time a direct descendant of North Korea’s dynastic founder Kim Il-sung had set foot on South Korean soil since Kim Il-sung himself in July 1950, one month after invading the South.

Cameras clamoured to catch a glimpse of the guests. First to emerge from the airport was Kim Yong-nam, the then-90-year-old nominal head of the North Korean mission, who got into the first of two black sedans. Then, shadowed by a tall, male North Korean bodyguard and a female South Korean bodyguard, came a slightly built woman, around 30 years old. As she made her way to the second car, her gaze was still and her posture erect, as though she was entirely at ease with being at the centre of such a historic moment.

This was Kim Yo-jong, the sister of leader Kim Jong-un. As the youngest of the late leader Kim Jong-il’s seven children, she was doted on from childhood, known as ‘sweet princess Yo-jong’ to her parents. But unlike her other brother Kim Jong-chol, a royal sibling without real power, Kim Yo-jong was also ambitious.

From at least 2014 she had been ‘censor in chief’, running the nation’s Propaganda and Agitation Department (PAD), whose mission is to indoctrinate North Koreans with state ideology. Her role in government has dramatically increased since 2018, and she has played an integral part in statecraft, expanding her dynasty’s power by drawing on lessons learned from her father – along the way earning the nicknames of ‘bloodthirsty demon’ and ‘devil woman’ from certain North Korean officials.

And yet until that South Korea trip, few outside her country had even heard of her.

For two days, as the mysterious princess from Pyongyang attended lunches, receptions and the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, she had South Koreans enthralled, despite doing very little besides walking, sitting, shaking hands, ignoring US vice president Mike Pence in the Olympic stands, infrequently smiling and frequently looking down her nose at South Koreans – including President Moon Jae-in.

Kim Yo-jong alongside North Korea's nominal head of state Kim Yong Nam and behind Mike Pence as she watches the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea Credit: AP

She didn’t give a single public statement or interview. The only moment that betrayed what she really thought of anything came during the opening ceremony. When the US athletes made their entrance, she stayed in her seat while others applauded, her nose in the air, scowling slightly. (By then US-North Korea relations were at a particularly low ebb, with much name-calling between Kim Jong-un and then-President Trump, that ‘mentally deranged US dotard’.)

Kim Yo-jong eschewed small talk at photo ops too, and sat silently, her face expressionless, while others made polite chit-chat about the weather. Yet throughout that 56-hour trip, she was the talk of the nation and beyond.

Press commentary was over the top, unpicking every detail from her plain black outfits and the flower-shaped clip that kept her hair back in a ‘no-nonsense style’, through to the fact that she was seen wearing thick make-up, even though she usually wore little of it at all. What could this mean? One expert concluded that her eyeshadow must be positive news – a sign that she took her mission seriously.

‘She is not only pretty but also polite!’ gushed another commentator after a wrangle over seating in the airport VIP room. In their excitement, they failed to see what was really at play: the South Korean hosts had indicated to Kim Yong-nam to take the centre seat but he motioned to the princess to take it instead. With a smile, she pointed for him to sit. ‘How gracious she is!’ remarked South Korean pundits, not noticing that Kim Yo-jong’s outstretched fingers were less a gesture of respect than the boss telling her underling to sit down.

Kim Yo-jong arrives to attend the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea Credit: AFP

Had she wanted to show true deference, Kim Yo-jong would have motioned with both hands cupped. But imperviousness and self-confidence bred from an early age do not lend themselves to modesty; and here she was calmly exuding arrogance.

The most important event of her trip was a visit with President Moon at the Blue House, then the presidential office and mansion, followed by a luncheon. It would be here that she delivered a personal letter from her brother, paving the way for a series of historic meetings between the North and South Korean leaders.

That this letter was delivered by Kim Yo-jong, not Kim Yong-nam – a government veteran of six decades, who had for the past 20 years been President of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, the rubber-stamp parliament – spoke volumes. It was a snapshot of a peculiarity in North Korean political culture, in which official ranks often belie the true hierarchy, and the lives of cabinet members and four-star generals can hang on the whims of a real power-holder of a much lower rank. Indeed Kim Yo-jong could, if she wished, order the execution of any one of the 250-strong Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, except Kim Jong-un.

It is the First Sister of North Korea who wields real power.

When Kim Il-sung died in 1994 and Kim Jong-il became the Supreme Leader, the outside world – even foreign intelligence agencies – knew little about the new man, nor his seven children, born to four different women. Of his three youngest children – Jong-chol, Jong-un and Yo-jong, all born to his most favoured consort, dancer Ko Yong-hui – they knew nothing at all.

0606 Kim Jong-Il’s seven children

Kim Jong-il had his children home-schooled initially, then sent them to study abroad in Geneva, Bern and Moscow. This was also to protect his own interests: to minimise the spread of rumours among potential schoolmates about his lavish lifestyle and excesses, like his penchant for the best food and wine money can buy, or falling prey to ‘reactionary thought’ by watching James Bond films and South Korean soap operas, even as he punished others caught engaging in such criminal acts.

Some of the most illuminating details about family life behind closed doors come from Kim Jong-il’s Japanese sushi chef of 13 years. Kenji Fujimoto (a pseudonym) worked for him from 1988 to 2001 and enjoyed direct personal access to the leader and his three youngest children. He never saw any of Kim Jong-il’s other four children, though – back then the leader forbade his children from different mothers from meeting each other.

Fujimoto was invited to banquets and late-night drinking parties by Kim Jong-il. He played games with the royal family, taught the boys how to fly kites, and when Kim Jong-un was in his mid-teens, was his secret smoking buddy.

According to Fujimoto, Yo-jong’s parents addressed their daughter as ‘Princess’ – and from childhood she was the axis of the royal family. At mealtimes, she sat to her father’s left, while her mother sat to his right.

Fujimoto paints her as a strong-willed girl. Not quite yet ‘iron-willed’, but determined and stubborn. Her father stationed Kim Jong-nyo, a singer in his favourite band, at his estate to serve as the little princess’s playmate – she even accompanied the family on trips overseas – but one day Fujimoto found she had gone. Princess Yo-jong, then around eight or nine, had fired her.

Helping Kim Jong-un sign a joint statement after a summit with then-President Moon Jae-in of South Korea, September 2018 Credit: Pyongyang Press Corps Pool

The princess was seen scolding Jong-chol, too, after he developed a crush on one of her female aides. One day, when he was about 16, he snuck into a women-only theatre on one of his father’s estates, where Yo-jong was watching a film, to steal a glance at the aide, but Yo-jong physically dragged him out even though he was seven years older and presumably far bigger. (She never had to repeat the same for her middle brother – Kim Jong-un was more engrossed in sports and video games than girls.)

When Ko Yong-hui died in 2004, likely from breast cancer, her daughter was just 16. But already she was being prepared for her future.

Along with her two brothers, she had received special training on how to act like royalty. A photograph taken in 2009 shows the three siblings accompanying their father at Wonsan Agricultural University, a glimpse of their apprenticeship.

Soon she was supporting her father in important meetings, and when former US president Bill Clinton made a short trip to Pyongyang that August, Kim Yo-jong, not yet 22, was waiting on the tarmac.

That encounter would give a telling view into her leadership style: ignoring the former president and neglecting to introduce herself, she went straight to Clinton’s aide Doug Band and – in English – asked if he had a document she was expecting (a letter of thanks from President Obama that had been promised to her father in return for releasing two American hostages). There was no cordiality; she was all business.

Kim Jong-il’s death from a heart attack in December 2011 thrust his youngest son, still in his 20s, into the spotlight as the new Supreme Leader – but from the start his sister was at his side, frequently accompanying him on official visits to military bases, factories, museums, farms, orphanages and a nuclear-missile assembly facility.

To Kim Jong-un, only he, his sister and his brother belonged to the core trunk of the ‘Mount Paektu’ family tree. Their older half-siblings inhabited, in his view, a space outside the direct line of descendants. And of the three core siblings, Kim Jong-chol appears content to live out of the spotlight, while Yo-jong, capable and trusted, is of an entirely different mould.

At the Inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, 2018, Kim Yo-jong waits at Pyongyang International Airport for the arrival of South Korean President Moon Jae-in Credit: Newscom/Alamy

The closest thing to a public launch for her came in November 2012 when, not quite a year into Kim Jong-un’s reign, Kim Yo-jong, then 25, was shown riding a white horse with her paternal aunt Kim Kyong-hui, who had run the party’s Light Industry Department for more than two decades. Each of their horses featured a five-pointed silver star on its headstall, an emblem of the Kim dynasty and the nation it rules. The suggestion was clear: Kim Yo-jong’s official role was set to expand.

A further indication of her importance came in October 2019, when she and Kim Jong-un were photographed, again on horseback, riding up Mount Paektu together. Plans to vastly strengthen Kim Yo-jong’s official role in government were already in place.

At her uncle’s suggestion, Kim Yo-jong had also joined a 50-person class that had been specially created for her at Kim Il-sung University’s politics and economics department, where her fellow classmates were masters and doctoral students. The crash course lasted six months. It was intended for her to brush up her knowledge but it was also a way for her to meet a future husband. She was, the other students observed, very good with computers. She used two monitors simultaneously with ease, while typing away deftly. Whether the matchmaking worked or not is a state secret, but there is speculation that she went on to marry and have two children.

By at least late 2014, Kim Yo-jong was in charge of the PAD, working under the alias ‘Kim Ye-jong’; her father had also led the department when he was being prepared for power. To many, she was still Kim Jong-un’s ordinary, happy-go-lucky sister – spotted joking around at an amusement park opening, and attending music concerts with her brother and sister-in-law – but behind the scenes she seems to have gotten down to work.

In 2014, a sudden and unusual surge of foul language poured from propaganda outlets around North Korea, and articles in the state media brimmed with profanity, aggressive racism, sexism and homophobia.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) called Michael Kirby, a retired high court justice in Australia, who is gay, ‘a disgusting old lecher with a 40-odd-year-long career of homosexuality’. His ‘offence’ was to have chaired the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on human rights in North Korea, whose monumental 372-page report, released in February 2014, had found extreme human rights abuses to be the work of the state.

Kim Yo-jong (3rd L) walks with Kim Jong-un (2nd R-front) to the Military Demarcation Line in 2018 Credit: AFP

Concurrently, the KCNA targeted South Korea’s first female elected leader, President Park Geun-hye, carrying quotes that called her a ‘wicked sycophant’ and ‘dirty old prostitute’. Referring to President Park’s warm welcome of President Obama to South Korea, propagandists stated that Park reminded them of a ‘capricious whore who asks her fancy man to do harm to another person while providing sex to him’.

Soon after, state media called President Obama himself a ‘wicked black monkey’ who should ‘live with a group of monkeys in the world’s largest African natural zoo and lick the breadcrumbs thrown by spectators’.

Such invective could never be published without the approval of the Supreme Leader and his chief propagandist, Kim Yo-jong, who might have come up with some of these words, or at the very least signed them off.

She steamed through the ranks, assuming ever more powerful roles including de facto head of the Organisation and Guidance Department, the nation’s central locus of political power, overseeing daily decisions on key personnel matters, including in the military. Political surveillance, punishment and commendation were suddenly her prerogatives. In theory she could decide who was monitored, demoted, promoted, punished, banished or even tied up to be executed in the town square or in a sports stadium behind closed doors.

Effectively she was becoming ‘Deputy Dear Leader’.

Later, Kim Jong-un pushed her higher still. In 2021, he appointed his sister to the State Affairs Commission, the top governing body. And in January 2023, aged 35, she assumed the pivotal role of chief spokesperson on Russia’s war on Ukraine and the renewed Cold War dynamics. Warning the US that any tanks supplied to Ukraine for defence against Russia will be ‘burnt into pieces in the face of the indomitable fighting spirit and might of the heroic Russian army and people’, she added that her nation will always ‘stand in the same trench’ with Russia.

Like her brother, Kim Yo-jong has been underestimated in the past. Solely by virtue of having attended school in Switzerland, Kim Jong-un was initially viewed by many as a potential reformer. Similar fancies swirled around the sister, with 2018 a banner year after the glamour and gossip she brought to South Korea.

Kim Jong-un talks with his daughter Kim Ju-ae at a banquet to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Korean People's Army, in Pyongyang Credit: KCNA

But that view has since shifted in some quarters. At home, it is rumoured that she has gone beyond merely issuing threats to life. She reportedly ordered several executions of high-ranking government officials for merely ‘getting on her nerves’. She is said to have banished those less disagreeable and their families to detention camps and gulags, to a life of forced labour, beatings, torture and starvation rations.

Ordinary North Koreans are said to refer to her as ‘Empress Dowager Cixi’, after the ruthless de facto ruler of China’s last imperial dynasty, in power for nearly 50 years.

The office Kim Yo-jong holds is not that of the head of state – but she is the only person in Kim Jong-un’s entourage who has his complete trust, able to approach him at any time without being summoned. On matters of statecraft, no other person has such ease of access to the Supreme Leader. And under him, her power has only grown.

The pandemic accelerated it, no doubt adding the pressure to build a succession plan should he become incapacitated. He is, after all, not in optimal health, and suffers from heart disease, diabetes and obesity like his father and grandfather.

Kim Yo-jong seems the natural choice, even in the rigidly male-dominated society: her elder brother Jong-chol has long been passed over as heir; her half-brother, Jong-nam, the eldest son, died in February 2017, aged 45, following a nerve agent attack in Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Though once tipped to be leader, by then he was an outspoken critic, living in exile. As for the three older half-sisters, none have held any significant government roles, or been given public acknowledgement.

Kim Jong-un himself is reported to have three young children. In November 2022, he publicly revealed one of them for the first time – a daughter, Ju-ae, aged about 10 – during the launch of a powerful intercontinental ballistic missile. Some North Korea watchers predicted that she had been chosen as his successor. But even if true, it will be some time before she is old enough, like Aunt Yo-jong, to issue formal statements in her own name or lead a delegation.

Kim Yo-jong is certainly best prepared to be the torchbearer. Over the past three years, she has remained her nation’s chief censor, spokeswoman, mocker, and threat-and-malice dispenser, with the country’s foreign policy at her fingertips and unfettered access to her nuclear-button-controlling brother.

As her power grows and tales of her ruthlessness spread, it would be dangerous to overestimate the goodwill of the Mount Paektu princess. Her brother willing, she will wield this unique power for decades to come, as his deputy or, perhaps one day, as the first female Supreme Leader in her nation’s history.

Abridged extract from The Sister: The Extraordinary Story of Kim Yo Jong, the Most Powerful Woman in North Korea, by Sung-Yoon Lee, which is out on 15 June (Pan Macmillan, £20). To order from Telegraph Books for £20, call 0844 871 1515 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk

Sung-Yoon Lee is the Kim Koo-Korea Foundation Professor in Korean Studies at Tufts University. He was previously an associate in research at the Korea Institute, Harvard University

The Telegraph · by Sung-Yoon Lee

6. Why the North Korea 'War Alert' Is a Warning We Must Take Seriously

A victim of success: Seven decades of successfully detering war breeds complacency.

Why the North Korea 'War Alert' Is a Warning We Must Take Seriously

19fortyfive.com · by Robert Kelly · June 6, 2023

Last week, North Korea launched a missile over the Yellow Sea. Ostensibly it was a spy satellite, but North Korea has obfuscated its missile tests before with such descriptions. Pyongyang tests a lot these days, but this test made headlines because of Seol’s confused response — the South Korean government sent out a text message telling people to take shelter.

Worse, the English-language version of the message was titled “wartime alert.” For a moment, the global media thought a war had broken out in Korea. Twenty minutes later, the government abruptly canceled the alert. Everyone was confused. No one knew what to do or where to seek shelter. Predictably, the criticism was withering.

Civil Defense is Not a Priority

The botched alert illustrated just how unready South Korea is to face the North Korean missile threat. Although everyone knows how many missile tests North Korea conducts — they are in the news all the time — South Korea has made surprisingly little effort to prepare its civilian population for the rain of missiles that would mark the start of a conflict.

In the 15 years I have lived in South Korea, I have never seen a civil defense drill taken seriously. About 10 years ago, the government gave up altogether. In the past, there were drills once a month. An air raid siren would ring for 15 minutes, and citizens were encouraged to find shelter, but few did. Most people just waited around for the siren to end, then they went back to work.

But at least that drill was something. It showed that the government realized the main North Korean threat to the South came from the air. Now there is nothing. I have asked my students and colleagues about this informally for years. No one has any idea what to do.

If there is a silver lining to last week’s confusion, it may be that the South Korean government finally gets serious about civil defense.

It’s All about the Missiles Now

The need for civil defense planning is obvious. Missiles are really the only way North Korea can seriously strike South Korea now. This is a crucial point, too often lost in the intense focus on North Korea’s nuclear weapons. Pyongyang will almost certainly place nukes on some of its missiles, but even if it does not, its missile force is now large and well tested. That force, and not the North Korean army, is the primary threat to South Korea.

The conventional North Korean military attracts a lot of attention. It is large. All North Koreans must serve, so the country’s infantry reserves potentially exceed 10 million soldiers. The army is routinely on TV. We see ferocious-looking cadres marching through Pyongyang. In South Korean movies depicting the Korean War, one sees a committed, efficacious Northern conventional military.

But this military is also underfed, undertrained, and equipped with obsolete weapons. In a hot war with the U.S. and South Korea, allied airpower would take a devastating toll on North Korea’s conventional formations. Most of the ground combat would occur in a narrow area north of Seoul that allied airpower would pound relentlessly. With little room to maneuver — the middle of the Korean peninsula is mountainous — the North Korean traditional military would likely not survive long.

Hence the attraction of missiles to the Northern leadership. They are fast and hard to shoot down. They avoid the conventional strengths of the U.S. and South Korean militaries. And due to the mountainous conditions of much of the peninsula, most South Koreans live in a few, densely populated cities. South Korean cities do not sprawl outward; there is no room. Instead, South Korea builds upward. Its cities are filled with apartment buildings and tall office complexes. These are obviously vulnerable to missile strikes, even without considering nuclear weapons. This is probably why North Korea tests so many missiles.

Missile Defense and Civil Defense

Missile defense, then, is the most pressing strategic issue for South Korea. Missile defense is expensive, and it does not work well, but there is no choice. South Korea is a wealthy country. Its economy is the tenth largest in the world. It has the resources to invest in a roof, even if that roof is leaky.

The obvious supplement to air defense is preparing the population to respond to a missile attack. This entails more organized drilling, more locations deemed as shelters, and more budgetary authority to harden and expand those shelters.

This will be politically uncomfortable. The U.S. gave up on such drills early in the Cold War. But there is no obvious alternative. Last week’s botched drill illustrated how unready South Korean civilians are. Whether one likes it or not, missiles are North Korea’s future, and South Korea should prepare for that.

Expert Biography: Dr. Robert E. Kelly (@Robert_E_Kelly; RoberEdwinKelly.com) is a professor of international relations in the Department of Political Science at Pusan and a 19FortyFive Contributing Editor.

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19fortyfive.com · by Robert Kelly · June 6, 2023

7. The WHO Welcomes North Korea

Sigh....

But the Wall Street Journal does not approve...

The WHO Welcomes North Korea

Kim Jong Un gets a seat on the executive board. Trump approves.

By The Editorial BoardFollow

June 6, 2023 6:55 pm ET

Listen

(2 min)

The World Health Organization headquarters in Geneva. PHOTO: LIAN YI/ZUMA PRESS

The World Health Organization had a bad pandemic, bowing far too much to Chinese influence and making it harder to discover the origin of Covid-19. The WHO added to that embarrassment recently when the World Health Assembly voted to allow North Korea to serve on the WHO executive board.

Yes, that’s the government in Pyongyang known for its network of camps where political prisoners starve to death. On the executive board, Pyongyang will have a say in setting and enforcing international norms about global health—which it will no doubt flout if WHO ever dared apply them to North Korea.

The farce continued when Donald Trump congratulated North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un on his social media platform, Truth Social. “Congratulations to Kim Jung Un!” [sic] wrote the former President. Keep in mind Mr. Trump withdrew the U.S. from the WHO after its Covid blunders, only to have President Biden rejoin.

Mr. Trump’s comments didn’t sit well with his rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination. “No one should be praising the dictator in North Korea or praising the leader of Russia who has launched an unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine,” former Vice President Mike Pence told Fox News. Nikki Haley, Mr. Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, said “you don’t congratulate a thug.” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said “we need to be getting out of WHO” rather than “congratulating” Kim for being involved in the WHO.

Meanwhile, WHO denied Taiwan even observer status to the World Health Assembly, and singled out Israel for condemnation over claims it violated the health rights of its Palestinian and Druze populations. Kim Jong Un will fit right in.

8. US Senate launches 'Korea Caucus' to mark 70th anniv. of alliance

​Korea has always benefited from bipartisan support for Korean security issues.​

US Senate launches 'Korea Caucus' to mark 70th anniv. of alliance

The Korea Times · June 7, 2023

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff speaks during an interview with Yonhap News Agency at a Seoul hotel, April 6. Yonhap

A group of U.S. senators with keen interest in the Korean Peninsula has launched a bipartisan caucus earlier this week to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korea-U.S. alliance.

The U.S. "Senate Korea Caucus," led by Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), was launched Tuesday (U.S. time) to promote exchanges and strengthen the relationship between the two countries, according to the senator's office.

Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Todd Young (R-IN) were other members participating in the caucus, the first of its kind to be launched among senators.

"I am a champion of the U.S.-Korea alliance and Georgia's 100,000 strong Korean American community. That's why we're bringing together Republicans and Democrats to launch the Bipartisan Senate Korea Caucus," Ossoff was quoted as saying in the press release.

"I look forward to working with my colleagues and the strong, patriotic Korean-American community in Alaska to deepen and strengthen this critical 70-year old alliance," he added.

Sen. Young pointed out that strong ties between Seoul and Washington are critical as "threats continue to increase from China and North Korea."

"This caucus will bolster the U.S.-Korea alliance, develop strategies for countering mutual security and economic threats, and advocate for greater U.S.-Korea cooperation on preserving a stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region," he said. (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · June 7, 2023

9. N. Korean youth group donates multiple rocket launchers to military

What are youth groups doing with MRLs? Do they go to the artillery range for recess? 

Could this kind of work generate funds for an MRL? (note sarcasm).

The labor movement is known to be staged to raise funds for the North Korean military by utilizing child and female labor to harvest medicinal herbs and collect leftover crops and scrap iron.

N. Korean youth group donates multiple rocket launchers to military

The Korea Times · June 7, 2023

Multiple rocket launchers donated by the Korean Children's Union moving along outside Mangyongdae School children's Palace in Pyongyang are seen in this June 7 photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency. Yonhap

A major North Korean youth organization has donated multiple rocket launchers to the country's military on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of its founding, state media reported Wednesday.

The Korean Children's Union (KCU) made the donations at a ceremony Tuesday in Pyongyang after taking part in a labor movement designed to help secure the weapons, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The donated rocket launchers were named "Sonyeon," which means a boy in Korean, and were sent to the country's military units after the ceremony, the KCNA said. It did not specify details on the weapon systems.

The KCU, founded in 1946, is a youth organization composed of children aged around 7 to 14. The number of its members, known for wearing red neckerchiefs, is presumed to have reached some 3 million. (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · June 7, 2023

10.  South Korea, Japan bank on improved ties to counter North Korea

South Korea, Japan bank on improved ties to counter North Korea

Defense News · by Mike Yeo · June 5, 2023

SINGAPORE — Japan and South Korea’s defense ministers have agreed that improving ties will be key to countering nuclear-armed North Korea, during a regional security summit in Singapore.

Japan’s Yasukazu Hamada met with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jong-sup, at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, an event organized by the International Institute of Strategic Studies that ran June 2-4.

Hamada told reporters after the meeting that both sides agreed to “accelerate talks, including steps to prevent a recurrence” of a 2018 radar incident. That incident saw Japan accuse a South Korean warship of locking onto a Japanese maritime patrol aircraft with its fire control radar in international waters between the countries, a allegation South Korea has denied.

The administration of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol has sought stronger bilateral ties following years of a frosty relationship over Japan’s occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1910 to 1945.

In their respective plenary speeches at the Shangri-La Dialogue, both ministers flagged improving ties as a way for their nations to counter North Korea. Lee said in his speech that strengthening South Korean-Japanese ties, plus trilateral security cooperation with the United States, is “an inevitable measure taken to protect regional freedom and peace from the advancing North Korean nuclear and missile threats.”

He added during a question-and-answer session that bilateral relations “should not merely focus on the issues of the past, but rather we have to share the sentiment that we have to develop this in a future-oriented manner, especially regarding the nuclear and missile threats by North Korea.”

In a separate plenary session, Hamada said improving ties with South Korea is crucial in light of the increasingly tough security situation in the Indo-Pacific region. He also said he looked forward to enhancing communication with the South Korean government.

North Korea is technically still at war with South Korea, with an armistice to end the Korean War in 1953 still holding in the absence of a formal peace treaty. The North has continued its nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs despite international sanctions and pressure, with missile tests flying over Japan’s territory on several occasions.

About Mike Yeo

Mike Yeo is the Asia correspondent for Defense News.

11. The Benefits of Pulling Back from NE Asia —Time for Korea and Japan to Step Up | Opinion

The benefits for Kim Jong Un perhaps?

If you want conflict then withdraw US forces.

The Benefits of Pulling Back from NE Asia —Time for Korea and Japan to Step Up | Opinion

Newsweek · June 6, 2023

With South Korea attending on the sidelines of the recent summit in Hiroshima, the G7 issued rejoinders to China and Russia for their aggression and economic coercion. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol met with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for the third time this year, and there is even talk of Korea possibly joining the G7 as a formal member.

The U.S. has made many attempts to push Korea and Japan closer over the years and has achieved much success toward that end this year, although the positive relations between Seoul and Tokyo may not last in the long-term.

It might feel counterintuitive, but the United States should pull back from its current over-extended position in Asia. It would be easier to achieve a sustainable security equilibrium in Northeast Asia and a solution to the on-again, off-again Korea-Japan feud if the two maritime neighbors could settle things themselves without heavy-handed American involvement. The U.S. would be able to lessen its burden, and Korea and Japan might be able to create a feasible balancing coalition.

It is necessary to acknowledge that the current U.S. approach of encouraging Korea to make amends with Japan has borne fruit in the short-term. Yoon Suk-yeol dropped demands for Japan to compensate victims of WWII-era forced labor, and that allowed for the two countries to resume military cooperation and intelligence sharing.

While those moves were positive for the Biden's administration's pursuit of trilateral cooperation, they might not last beyond the next Korean administration. Korea did not solve its real problems with Japan, and it could again cause a flare up or a change of policy.

Koreans do not perceive that they have precisely the same interests toward Japan and China as the United States. Some of America's policies toward China would even harm South Korea. American attempts to decouple the global economy from China would hurt Korean companies that still do much sourcing from China and manufacturing in China. How far will Korea go before it threatens their economy and they have to rethink their alignment with the U.S.?

There are arguably benefits to using treaty allies to extend U.S. hegemony, but those benefits come at a cost. According to the GAO report released in March 2021, the U.S. paid $13.4 billion from 2016-2019 to station 28,500 troops in South Korea, while the Republic of Korea only paid $5.8 billion. The burden for the $33.5 billion cost of stationing 50,000 troops in Japan also fell mostly on the U.S.

A U.S. soldier from the 2nd Infantry Division-ROK-U.S. Combined Division participates in the Best squad competitions at Camp Humphreys on May 4, 2023, in Pyeongtaek, South Korea. Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images

At their summit in April, Biden committed the U.S. even more deeply to high-stakes nuclear deterrence. That limits flexibility and raises tensions with China and Russia, but it doesn't do very much to deter North Korea, its ostensible purpose, as DPRK targets are out of range of the subs when in Korean waters.

The Yoon administration, meanwhile, is not actually increasing its contributions to defense. Yoon cut the ROK's rate of defense spending increase by nearly half. His 2023 budget calls for a 4.6 percent hike, while his liberal predecessor Moon Jae-in increased defense spending by 8.7 percent.

Putting Korea more squarely in charge of its own self-defense would increase their defense spending and make them take responsibility for prioritizing the right weapons and strategies. Korean leaders and policymakers would be able to analyze their national interests soberly, without influence from across the Pacific and without Korean politicians trying to curry favor with U.S. presidents.

A Korea with defense independence would also be less vulnerable to Chinese economic coercion. When Korean President Park Geun-hye chose to deploy the American missile defense system THAAD, in part to win favor with the U.S., China became skeptical of the purpose of the missiles and responded with informal sanctions. If Korea had deployed its own domestically-produced missile system that was not tied into American radar systems, there might not have been as much pushback from Beijing. South Korea is already becoming adept at producing its own advanced weaponry.

Korea and Japan, along with other allies, might choose to form a balancing coalition, and maintain security in Northeast Asia without as extreme of a commitment by the U.S. A real discussion and compromise between Korean leadership and Japan of their shared interests and remaining grievances—which Yoon has papered over—would be possible without the U.S. putting its finger on the scale.

Korea might end up taking a hawkish line on China, and it might not. There is little appetite in Seoul for an all-encompassing new Cold War. But whatever position Korea ends up at, it would be more sustainable than the current carrot-and-stick approach the U.S. relies on now, which results in Korea often calibrating its policies toward what its leaders think the U.S. wants of it. Even after stepping back from involvement in South Korean affairs, the U.S. would still be able to find many shared interests on which to work with the ROK.

Mitchell Blatt is an international journalist who covers issues related to Asia.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.

Newsweek · June 6, 2023

12. North Korea hackers suspected in new $35 million crypto heist

​Hardly news any more. The all purpose sword just keeps stealing money. We must not be complacent. This is key to regime survival.

North Korea hackers suspected in new $35 million crypto heist | CNN Business

CNN · by Sean Lyngaas · June 6, 2023

New York CNN —

North Korean hackers were likely behind the theft of at least $35 million from a popular cryptocurrency service, multiple crypto-tracking experts told CNN Tuesday.

It’s the latest in a string of hacks of cryptocurrency firms linked to Pyongyang that US officials worry could be used to fund the North Korean regime’s nuclear and ballistic weapons programs.

The hackers drained the cryptocurrency accounts of certain customers of Atomic Wallet, an Estonia-based company that claims 5 million users of its software.

Atomic Wallet said on Saturday that “less than 1%” of monthly users appeared to be affected by the hack. The firm has not specified how much money might have been stolen or who was behind the hack. CNN has requested comment from the firm.

Some of the apparent victims of the hack took to Twitter to beg the hackers for their money back, posting their cryptocurrency addresses in case the hackers took pity on them.

North Korean hackers have stolen billions of dollars from banks and cryptocurrency firms over the last several years, providing a key source of revenue for the regime, according to reports from the United Nations and private firms.

In the Atomic Wallet incident, the hackers’ money-laundering techniques and the tools they used matched telltale North Korean behavior, according to London-based crypto-tracking firm Elliptic.

An independent cryptocurrency tracker known as ZachXBT told CNN that North Korean hackers were very likely responsible. The amount confirmed stolen could rise above $35 million as Atomic Wallet continues to investigate the incident, the analyst said.

“The pattern was similar to what we saw with the laundering of Harmony funds back in January,” ZachXBT said, referring to the laundering of $100 million stolen from a California-based firm.

The FBI blamed North Korea for the hack of Harmony. CNN reported on how private investigators and South Korean intelligence operatives were able to claw back a fraction of that money.

Thwarting North Korean hacking and money laundering has quickly become a national security priority for the Biden administration. About half of North Korea’s missile program has been funded by cyberattacks and cryptocurrency theft, a White House official said last month.

CNN has requested comment from the FBI on the Atomic Wallet hack.

CNN · by Sean Lyngaas · June 6, 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