Quotes of the Day:
“This will be the final message from Saigon station. It has been a long and hard fight and we have lost. This experience, unique in the history of the United States, does not signal necessarily the demise of the United States as a world power. The severity of the defeat and the circumstances of it, however, would seem to call for a reassessment of the policies of ... half-measures which have characterized much of our participation here despite the commitment of manpower and resources, which were certainly generous. Those who fail to learn from history are forced to repeat it. Let us hope that we will not have another Vietnam experience and that we have learned our lesson. Saigon signing off."
- Thomas Polgar, Chief of Station, Saigon, April 30, 1975
“The only thing that we learn from history is that we learn nothing from history.”
- Georg Hegel
“As authority increases, however, so does self-consciousness. With more people watching, practice becomes performance. Reputations now matter, narrowing the freedom to be flexible. Leaders who’ve reached the top…can become prisoners of their own preeminence: they lock themselves into roles from which they can’t escape.”
- John Lewis Gaddis, On Grand Strategy
1. Afghanistan crisis stirs debate over stability of South Korea-US alliance
2. South Korea's ruling party calls for faster transfer of military control from U.S.
3. The world is turning its back on North Korean refugees
4. US will not be fighting in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight, says Biden (Korean perspective)
5. North Korea Cracks Down on Employees Skipping Work to Earn Money Elsewhere
6. White House assures Korea it isn't pulling its troops
7. Seriously? North Korea Continues to Claim Zero Coronavirus Cases
8. ‘Lips and Teeth’: The Enduring China-North Korea Relationship
9. South Korea's ruling party poised to enact media law that penalizes 'fake news'
10. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ Electricity situation deteriorates further: “Even in the city centre, supply is limited to one or two hours a day.” Equipment and parts not coming in from China.
11. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ Supply of COVID-19 Disinfectant and Protective Clothing Improves. “If you eat garlic, you won't be infected,” said residents.
12. North Korean media denounces South's plan to build new frigate
13. North may have attempted missile launches on Liberation Day
14. North Korea-China border wall running into trouble due to lack of supplies
15. North Korea crafts new legal provisions to punish businesses that fail to regularly pay electrical bills
1. Afghanistan crisis stirs debate over stability of South Korea-US alliance
We need to nip this in the bud ASAP. Korea is not Afghanistan. Of course I think South Korea should continue to pursue advanced warfighting capabilities. But I also think both our nations are better off as allies. We need to ensure we sustain the strength of the alliance.
We are in Korea first and foremost for our national interest which is to deter war on the Korean peninsula.
But Koreans should be careful what they ask for. Per the final paragraph, one the US is very good at doing is leaving if a host nation asks us to leave. If the Korean government asks the US to withdraw forces we would do so in a very rapid manner. We cannot force Korea to allow US troops to remain. If they ask, we will be gone.
But Moon Sung-mook, a senior researcher at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, said despite the differing situations of South Korea and Afghanistan, the Afghan crisis left a lesson to South Korea that it also needs to be aware of the possibility of a withdrawal of U.S. troops if the U.S. does not see the stationing of its troops here as part of its own national interests.
"I know there are people who say the U.S. would never leave South Korea because of its strategic importance when the U.S. wants to keep China in check. But aside from its strategic importance, if the government adopts an anti-U.S. policy and people here say they do not want U.S. troops in the country, they could withdraw from South Korea too," Moon said.
Afghanistan crisis stirs debate over stability of South Korea-US alliance
By Thomas Maresca
A U.S. Chinook helicopter flies over the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, to evacuate U.S. diplomatic personnel. AP-Yonhap
Korea faces questions over whether to prioritize self-reliant defense or US alliance
By Jung Da-min
In the wake of the crisis in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of U.S. troops, a debate has arisen among defense watchers here over the stability of the current South Korea-U.S. alliance and if Seoul should also prepare for a possible withdrawal of U.S. forces.
Some defense watchers, especially those in the country's conservative bloc, expressed concerns over a similar scenario occurring here, saying the country's military has been neglecting joint military exercises with U.S. troops under the Moon Jae-in administration, which has been focusing on an engagement policy toward North Korea.
But others said the situation here is different from Afghanistan, as Seoul has a strong military capability with support from a democratic government and has strategic value to the United States.
"The Afghan crisis, in which the Islamic militants took full control of Afghanistan, is the result of the government's incompetence, the incapacitated military and the cold-hearted nationalism of the international community," Rep. Kang Min-kuk, floor spokesman of the conservative main opposition People Power Party (PPP), said Tuesday.
"Unless its partner has strong defense capabilities and strong will for self-reliance, the U.S. could leave the partner to pursue its own national interests. The Moon Jae-in government and the military should do their best to strengthen the Republic of Korea-U.S. alliance and maintain a strong military, using the Afghan situation as a turning point."
The PPP spokesman said there are concerns over South Korea's military defense capabilities, as the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises have been conducted only in computer simulations for several years in order to support diplomatic efforts, such as North Korea's denuclearization. Kang said, "How can the military protect our people in an emergency without having practical experience?"
Armored vehicles and other military equipment are lined up at the U.S. military base in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 10, as the pre-training for annual Republic of Korea-U.S. joint military exercises begin. Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issued a statement the same day to condemn the annual drill, calling it a hostile policy toward the North. Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han
But Cho Han-bum, a senior research fellow at the Korea Institute of National Unification, said the situation in Afghanistan is different from that of South Korea, which is a country with a strong military capability with 600,000 of its own troops and ranked sixth out of 138 countries in terms of military strength on an annual list drawn up by Global Firepower (GFP).
"There are political intentions behind such views of linking the situations in Afghanistan and South Korea. Those with such views want to attack the ruling bloc as they believe the current government is pro-China and pro-North Korea when the alliance with the U.S. should be prioritized. But that is also wrong as Moon and U.S. President Joe Biden have vowed to elevate the Korea-U.S. alliance to a global alliance that goes beyond the Korean Peninsula," Cho said. The researcher also said the Moon administration has been committed to strengthening defense capabilities by increasing the defense budget more than under the previous conservative administrations.
But Moon Sung-mook, a senior researcher at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, said despite the differing situations of South Korea and Afghanistan, the Afghan crisis left a lesson to South Korea that it also needs to be aware of the possibility of a withdrawal of U.S. troops if the U.S. does not see the stationing of its troops here as part of its own national interests.
"I know there are people who say the U.S. would never leave South Korea because of its strategic importance when the U.S. wants to keep China in check. But aside from its strategic importance, if the government adopts an anti-U.S. policy and people here say they do not want U.S. troops in the country, they could withdraw from South Korea too," Moon said.
2. South Korea's ruling party calls for faster transfer of military control from U.S.
It is amazing to see how a single short paragraph in Thiessan's article is spun for the agenda of the ruling party.
That should come as no surprise. There is not a single U.S. ally in the world that could defend itself without U.S. help. There is a reason we have had American troops deployed in Japan, Germany and South Korea for more than seven decades — and why we have more than 170,000 active-duty troops stationed in over 170 countries around the world today.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/16/biden-is-blaming-everyone-himself-hes-one-who-gave-taliban-green-light/
While I agree that the nKPA is antiquated and is struggling due to lack of resources and because of COVID response, that may make it all the more dangerous. We should never assume the enemy will not attack because to do so puts your security at risk. But the most important contribution the US presence on the Korean peninsula makes is for deterrence. While South Korea can and must be able to defend itself it is the US presence and the belief by the north the US will support that South that deters the decision to attack except in extremis when Kim may believe he has no other option.
But the OPCON transition (or more correctly the change of command of the ROK/US Combined Forces Command) is not going to do what Rep Song thinks. The ROK/US CFC will remain a combined command answering to both nations through the military committee. What he may be hoping for is an old plan that would have dissolved the ROK/US CFC and led to separate warfighting commands - ROK and US - but that is no longer the plan.
Rep Song's remarks also illustrate one of our fundamental problems with the OPCON transition process: the lack of an effective information plan that explains the process and intent to the press, public, pundits, and politicians.
South Korea's ruling party calls for faster transfer of military control from U.S.
By Thomas Maresca
SEOUL, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- The chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan underscores the urgency for South Korea to gain full operational control of its military, the head of the country's ruling Democratic Party said on Wednesday.
"The Afghanistan crisis should be used as an opportunity to further nurture the will and ability of a strong independent defense by recovering wartime OPCON," Rep. Song Young-gil wrote in a Wednesday Facebook post.
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In wartime, combined U.S. and South Korean forces would be led by the head of United States Forces Korea, currently Gen. Paul LaCamera. The administration of South Korean President Moon Jae-in has looked to accelerate the process of gaining full control over its military.
"We need not only the importance of the ROK-U.S. alliance, but also an attitude of self-defense that our country will protect itself," Song wrote. The Republic of Korea is the official name of South Korea.
Song was writing in response to tweets by The Washington Post columnist Mark Thiessen, who drew a parallel between the swift takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and the situation on the Korean Peninsula.
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"If we had withdrawn all U.S. forces from the Korean Peninsula after the Korean War, the Korean Peninsula would have been quickly unified under NK rule," Thiessen wrote on Monday. "The reason our troops are still there is because they are still needed to deter Pyongyang and prevent that outcome."
Thiessen added in another tweet that South Korea would "collapse just as quickly without U.S. support" under a sustained assault from the North.
Song ridiculed the premise that Afghanistan and South Korea were in equivalent situations.
"[South Korea] cannot be compared to the Afghan government, which is tainted with incompetence and corruption," he wrote, pointing out that South Korea has the world's sixth-most powerful military and is its 10th-largest economy,
Song also said that North Korea is no match militarily for the South, which has a GDP more than 50 times higher than its neighbor.
"The Republic of Korea is at a level that cannot be compared with North Korea in terms of its military power," he wrote, citing the South's F-35 fighter jets and other advanced hardware.
"In North Korea, all weapons systems are outdated, and fuel for tanks and fighter jets is not being properly supplied due to economic sanctions by the United Nations and the United States," he wrote. "Far from being able to invade the South, the survival and maintenance of the system is desperate."
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In his post, Song pushed back on the contention by former President Donald Trump that South Korea should be paying far more of the costs of maintaining U.S. troops on the peninsula, saying their presence was mutually beneficial for regional security.
"The ROK-U.S. alliance is necessary not only to respond to North Korea, but also to balance power and maintain peace in Northeast Asia," he wrote. "The existence of USFK is essential to U.S. security."
The comments come as U.S. and Korean troops are conducting scaled-down joint military exercises, which are slated to run until Aug. 26. Pyongyang reacted angrily last week to the drills, warning they would ignite a "security crisis" on the peninsula.
Moon had hoped to complete the transfer of wartime operational control before the end of his term in May 2022. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused several disruptions to preparations for the transfer, and no official timeline is in place.
3. The world is turning its back on North Korean refugees
Unfortunate timing for this as it will fall on deaf ears because of the unfolding Afghan tragedy. Many refugees from north Korea may play important roles in the future of the Korean peninsula and they and all refugess must not be neglected.
The world is turning its back on North Korean refugees
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
North Korean refugees are once again endangered by China’s policies of forcible repatriation.
Taking advantage of North Korea’s partially reopened border, China is believed to have deported roughly 50 individuals back to North Korea. Human Rights Watch recently reported that more than 1,000 North Korean refugees are currently held in detention and also at risk of deportation.
Vulnerable North Koreans face systematic repression upon their return to North Korea. A 2014 report from the United Nations Commission of Inquiry (COI) found that most of those returned are thrown into prison camps, ordinary or political, where they will most likely be subject to torture, malnourishment and forced labor. China’s actions demonstrate a willingness to appease Pyongyang even if it means violating international law.
The U.N. officially classifies North Koreans as “refugees sur place,” meaning that any nation that deports North Koreans is in violation of the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention and the U.N. Convention Against Torture. As a signatory to the Refugee Convention, China violates it every time it repatriates a North Korean.
China’s actions come as refugee resettlement for North Koreans has hit a record low. In 2020, only 229 North Koreans were resettled in South Korea, down from 1,047 in 2021. In the second quarter of 2021, a mere two people were resettled in the South.
Defections are low, due in no small part to the Kim regime’s brutality. At the start of the pandemic, North Korea created buffer zones along its border and gave its soldiers shoot-on-sight orders for individuals entering or leaving the country. These measures mean that, despite possible indications of famine, fewer people are willing to risk exiting the country.
North Korean refugees are betrayed with increased frequency by the third countries they are required to pass through in order to get to freedom in South Korea.
In December 2019, Vietnam arrested and promptly deported three North Koreans. Last year, Thailand gave in to Pyongyang’s demands to deport 13 North Koreans. Fair-weather friends in Southeast Asia have been unreliable partners in ensuring North Koreans reach safety, but conditions inside North Korea are so grave that defectors often take the risk anyway.
Another factor is the changing political landscape in South Korea.
Moon Jae-In’s government, favoring friendly relations with the North, has failed to intervene to prevent third-country deportation. Instead, it is spending its resources auditing South Korean human rights organizations and forbidding them from sending leaflets into the North.
The United States must place more pressure on China and other third-country destinations to uphold their obligations under international law. The U.N. COI made clear that China could be held accountable for violating its obligations under the U.N. Refugee Convention.
The U.S. should do more to condemn Beijing for its failure to uphold its obligations under the convention. Equally important, the U.S. must press Seoul to be a more reliable partner in protecting North Koreans seeking a better life in the South.
Timely and consistent diplomatic pressure has been proven successful in securing the release of imprisoned refugees. American diplomats saved 13 defectors after protesting plans for their deportation in 2020. Human rights organizations based in the EU saved 20 more defectors in Vietnam scheduled to be deported last year.
Time is of the essence for the 1,000 or more North Korean refugees currently trapped in China. The U.S. should consider whether it can pressure Beijing not to forcibly repatriate these refugees and find ways to ensure that North Koreans find safety, in South Korea or within our own borders.
• Olivia Enos is a senior policy analyst in the Asian Studies Center at The Heritage Foundation. Patrick Coe is a graduate of the think tank’s Young Leaders Program.
4. US will not be fighting in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight, says Biden (Korean perspective)
Excerpt:
South Korea has been building back and developing itself since its liberation based on its alliance with the U.S. Historically, a one-sided alliance where one party gives and the other takes – as seen during the Cold War – is rare. Alliance is basically a give and take relationship. We should take a lesson from the situation in Afghanistan that a country that only brings burden to its allies – whether in terms of military or economy – can be dismissed by allies at any time.
US will not be fighting in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight, says Biden
Posted August. 18, 2021 07:31,
Updated August. 18, 2021 07:31
US will not be fighting in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight, says Biden. August. 18, 2021 07:31. .
U.S. President Joe Biden firmly said on Monday that he does not regret his decision amid a chaotic evacuation of people from Kabul since the Taliban seized the capital of Afghanistan. “Our mission in Afghanistan was never supposed to have been nation-building. Our only vital national interest in Afghanistan remains today what it has always been: preventing a terrorist attack on the American homeland,” he said. Biden added that he will not repeat the mistake of staying and fighting indefinitely in a conflict that is not in the national interest of the U.S.
Following former President Donald Trump who insisted on “America First,” Biden publicly announced that there would be no more case in which the U.S. neglects its own national interests and plays the role of the international police despite his declaration that America is back.
The withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Afghanistan was simply the Biden administration’s implementation of the agreement made between the U.S. and the Taliban in February 2020 when former President Trump was in office. While some argue that President Biden should be held responsible for the chaos in Kabul, there are few people who criticize the withdrawal itself regardless of political biases. Criticism is mainly on the U.S.’s failure to keep the promise of ensuring Afghan citizens’ safety in the process of withdrawal, which led to a loss of trust in the U.S. among Afghan citizens and in the international community.
“We spent over a trillion dollars. We trained and equipped an Afghan military force of some 300,000 strong. Incredibly well equipped. But if Afghanistan is unable to mount any real resistance to the Taliban now, there is no chance that one year — one more year, five more years or 20 more years — that U.S. military boots on the ground would have made any difference.,” President Biden said. “American troops cannot and should not be fighting in a war and dying in a war that Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.” It may sound reasonable remarks but carries serious meaning to the allies of the U.S. It cannot be expected that the U.S. will continue to fight for a country whose leaders are unwilling to train its military to protect the country and make comments damaging to the alliance.
South Korea has been building back and developing itself since its liberation based on its alliance with the U.S. Historically, a one-sided alliance where one party gives and the other takes – as seen during the Cold War – is rare. Alliance is basically a give and take relationship. We should take a lesson from the situation in Afghanistan that a country that only brings burden to its allies – whether in terms of military or economy – can be dismissed by allies at any time.
5. North Korea Cracks Down on Employees Skipping Work to Earn Money Elsewhere
"Free market" like activity is the key to the survival of the Korean people living in the north. Yet Kim Jong-un's policies are designed to crush that and further the suffering.
North Korea Cracks Down on Employees Skipping Work to Earn Money Elsewhere
Unable to support themselves at their assigned jobs, workers are seeking greener pastures.
North Korea has begun sending citizens to labor camps for skipping out on their low-salary government-assigned jobs to try to make a living elsewhere in an economy that has gone from bad to worse under the coronavirus pandemic, sources in the country told RFA
The double squeeze of international nuclear sanctions and the closure of the border and suspension of trade with China at the beginning of the pandemic in Jan. 2020 has devastated the North Korean economy.
Commerce has dried up, factories lay idle for a lack of raw materials and food prices have jumped sharply over the past year and a half as shortages mount.
Though all North Korean men must, in principle, report to government-assigned jobs every day, the salaries they earn are not enough to live on or support a family.
Sources confirmed to RFA that it is becoming increasingly common for workers to leave their homes and jobs to move about the country like migrants, looking for any job they can find.
“It is because going to work or leading a working life is not important at all for those who don't have rice to eat right now or can't make an everyday living,” a resident of the eastern coastal province of South Hamgyong told RFA’s Korean Service Aug. 12.
“These days, more and more residents are selling their houses and moving to a remote place or wandering around the country because it is difficult for them to make a living in the face of rising food prices,” said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.
The crackdown on absentee workers began at the beginning of August, according to the source.
“They’ve been cracking down on absentees by ruthlessly sending them to the disciplinary labor center, probably on internal orders from above that outline such punishment,” the source said.
“The leaders of factory and company workers, and their organizations are looking for those who stopped coming to work for no reason, or those who stop coming to organizational meetings, to ask them to return,” said the source.
Investigators are visiting the missing workers’ homes, talking to family members and casual acquaintances to find out where they are, according to the source.
“Each company used to have to report employee attendance to the local police office every day, but now they must report it twice a day, in the morning and the afternoon,” said the source.
The crackdown is causing people to return to work in factories they have not set foot in for several months.
“Once the investigation for the crackdown is over for a day or two, they stop coming again,” the source said.
“They are openly complaining about the party, saying that they are only strengthening the crackdown rather than providing relief measures even when people are starving to death.”
A neighborhood watch unit leader in nearby North Hamgyong province confirmed to RFA that authorities there are cracking down on the unemployed, those not living in their official residences, social security beneficiaries who skip neighborhood watch unit meetings, and students who are not regularly attending classes.
“When I look back on my experience as a neighborhood watch unit leader, it's been a long time since I received an order to identify and report social security beneficiaries and even students who miss school for a long time,” the second source said.
“Even though the police department or the local police office already knows who is unemployed, who isn’t living in their residence and who is receiving social security, they ordered the local probate office to double check,” said the second source.
The source said that it was more difficult for the authorities to control the lives of male workers.
“Unlike women, who are strictly controlled by the Socialist Women’s Union of Korea, all the social security beneficiaries are men, and… control over them is very loose,” the second source said. Authorities are also having trouble keeping tabs on students, he added.
“The coronavirus outbreak has made earning a livelihood extremely difficult, and many residents are recalling the Arduous March they experienced in the mid 1990s,” said the second source, referring to the 1994-1998 North Korean famine that killed millions, or as much as 10 percent of the population by some estimates.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimated in a recent report that North Korea would be short about 860,000 tons of food this year, about two months of normal demand.
RFA reported in April that North Korean authorities were warning residents to prepare for economic difficulties as bad as the Arduous March.
RFA also reported in May that a machinery factory in the country’s northwestern border city of Sinuiju had been sending out agents to track down workers skipped out on their factory jobs to work in the more lucrative fisheries industry.
Reported by Changgyu Ahn for RFA’s Korean Service. Translated by Jinha Shin. Edited by Joongsok Oh. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
6. White House assures Korea it isn't pulling its troops
But is it troubling that we have to provide this assurance.
Wednesday
August 18, 2021
White House assures Korea it isn't pulling its troops
U.S. Army soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division arrive home from a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan on Dec. 8, 2020, in Fort Drum, New York. [AFP/YONHAP]
Washington has no plans to withdraw forces from Korea, said U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, as it did from Afghanistan.
“As he has said repeatedly, [the president] has no intention of drawing down our forces from South Korea or from Europe where we have sustained troop presences for a very long time,” Sullivan said during a press briefing in Washington on Tuesday.
“It is a fundamentally different kind of situation from the one we were presented with in Afghanistan.”
A day after the Taliban takeover of Kabul on Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden emphasized that staying on in Afghanistan and fighting indefinitely in the Afghan civil war was “not in the national interest of the United States.”
The U.S. government, which declared war on Taliban in 2001, signed a peace deal with them in February 2020 to pull American troops from Afghanistan, which numbered at about 12,000 at the time, by May 2021.
The agreement, signed by former President Donald Trump, was respected by Biden, who extended the leave date to Sept. 11, 2021. The withdrawal, however, took place weeks earlier, as the Afghan government and its military collapsed.
This speed of the U.S. withdrawal worries some Korean experts, who see the Afghan example as a warning to Korea.
“There have been ongoing talks in Korea about signing an inter-Korean peace treaty, but such a treaty ought to wait until there is complete denuclearization of North Korea,” said Shin Beom-chul, a foreign policy expert at Research Institute for Economy and Society, a Seoul-based think tank.
The two Koreas have been at war since the Korean War (1950-53), which ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. The United States, which sent the highest number of troops to defend the South during the war at 1.78 million, stayed on afterwards, maintaining around 28,500 troops today.
Proposals for an inter-Korean peace treaty by politicians and experts in Korea have often raised the question of the presence of U.S. forces in Korea, a thorn in the side for North Korea.
Just earlier this month, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong, who is also vice director of the Workers' Party, demanded the United States withdraw “its troops and weapons of war” from the South.
Since the start of the Moon Jae-in administration, which supports an official declaration ending the war on the Korean Peninsula, some think tanks have published proposals on what such a declaration would say.
The Korea Institute for National Unification, a think tank affiliated with the Prime Minister’s Office, published a draft of a peace treaty in December 2018.
“It would be best to sign a peace treaty with the North once it is about 50 percent denuclearized,” a researcher who worked on the draft told the JoongAng Ilbo at the time.
The paper called for a step-by-step withdrawal of U.S. forces in Korea following such a peace treaty.
It drew criticism from some experts who called the publication “too hasty.”
The last time the United States withdrew forces from South Korea, which was in 1949, it took the North just a year to invade. The United States had maintained forces in the South from 1945 following Korea’s independence from Japan.
History tends to repeat itself, some experts said.
“When you look at what happened in Afghanistan, you see the United States sent out a signal unfavorable to itself by proposing withdrawal of U.S. troops as a bargaining chip in the negotiations,” said Lee Ki-beom, professor of law at Yonsei University.
That U.S. forces in Korea could be a bargaining chip in Seoul and Washington’s negotiations with Pyongyang has been suggested in the past.
Others say the Afghan situation is completely different from Korea’s.
“The Korean Peninsula and the Asian region consist of the core of American national interests,” said Chung Han-beom, professor of international security studies at Korea National Defense University. “At such a time as this when the U.S.-China rivalry is deepening, it’s hard to imagine the U.S. government considering pulling out of the region.”
Korea is second to Japan in the region in terms of the size of U.S. military assets hosted. Japan is host to around 55,000 American troops.
“Korea should actually expect to be asked by the United States to play a bigger role as a partner in the alliance in the region,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korea studies at Ewha Womans University. “The United States has zeroed in on competition with China and the role and function of the U.S. forces in Korea may also change to adapt to this outlook.”
If there is one lesson that Korean can draw from the Afghan case, it may have to do with the attitude of the Korean people, according to a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of Korea.
“If South Korea has no will to fight, then the United States cannot help her,” said the former chairman, who spoke in condition of anonymity. He was recalling a comment by Biden on Monday in which he said that Americans shouldn’t be fighting and dying in a war where “Afghan forces are not willing to fight for themselves.”
U.S. National Security advisor Jake Sullivan looks on during the daily press briefing on the situation in Afghanistan at the White House in Washington, DC on Tuesday. [ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/ AFP/YONHAP]
BY ESTHER CHUNG, PARK YONG-HAN, PARK HYUN-JU [chung.juhee@joongang.co.kr]
7. Seriously? North Korea Continues to Claim Zero Coronavirus Cases
This is what the regime does best. It lies.
Seriously? North Korea Continues to Claim Zero Coronavirus Cases
With cross-border trade on hold, many traders have taken up part time jobs to support themselves.
Since the start of the pandemic, North Korea has continued to claim that it has zero cases of coronavirus, much to the disbelief of the worldwide medical and diplomatic establishments.
Some reports earlier this month indicated that North Korea appears not to have a strategy for mitigating the virus. The Voice of America has reported that the North Korean regime “has done little to advance the process to receive vaccines from COVAX,” which is an international organization for distributing coronavirus vaccines.
North Korea was scheduled to receive nearly two million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, although negotiations stalled at some point.
“News of countries vaccinating their people or life returning to normal is rarely, if ever, transmitted within North Korea, perhaps over fears that it might trigger resentment against the regime for its failure to secure shots,” Pratik Jakhar of BBC Monitoring wrote in an op-ed published by Foreign Policy this month. “In contrast, the propaganda apparatus has been unusually quick to report on cases rising abroad and the spread of COVID-19 variants.”
Now, a new report says North Korea is once again reporting zero positive tests.
The North Korean regime has told the World Health Organization (WHO) that they still have no cases, following the testing of 693 people. That brings the total of those tested in North Korea to 35,947, according to NK News.
“North Koreans are well aware that when making contact with family or friends living in South Korea, there is always a chance that they are being wiretapped,” a North Korean pharmacist told Amnesty International. “So phone calls and letters are usually made under the premise that someone might be listening to or reading their conversations. They will never say a word related to COVID-19, as this can cost their lives.”
Last week, the president of South Korea said in a speech that he hopes to cooperate with North Korea on fighting the pandemic. This includes inviting North Korea into the Northeast Asia Cooperation Initiative for Infectious Disease Control and Public Health. That organization currently consists of South Korea, Japan, China, Russia, Mongolia, and the United States. Its goals include “information sharing, shared stockpiling of medical supplies and joint training of COVID-19 response personnel.”
“It is clear that the COVID-19 threat is not temporary, which makes [the initiative] even more important,” Moon Jae-in said in the speech.
“For us, division is the greatest obstacle to our growth and prosperity and a tenacious barrier that obstructs permanent peace,” the South Korean president added. “We can also remove this barrier.”
Stephen Silver, a technology writer for the National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
Image: Reuters
8. ‘Lips and Teeth’: The Enduring China-North Korea Relationship
worn dentures and damaged gums.
‘Lips and Teeth’: The Enduring China-North Korea Relationship
Publication: China Brief Volume: 21 Issue: 16
By: Pratik Jakhar
August 17, 2021 02:21 PM Age: 19 hours
Introduction
The leaders of China and North Korea marked the 60th anniversary of the China-North Korea Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance (Peking Review, July 11, 1961) on July 11, and pledged to renew the treaty for another 20 years (UPI, July 7). “Despite the unprecedentedly complicated international situation in recent years the comradely trust and militant friendship between the DPRK [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] and China get stronger day by day,” North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un said in his message to Chinese President Xi Jinping. In a reference to the U.S., he also highlighted that the “hostile forces become more desperate in their challenge and obstructive moves” (Rodong Sinmun, July 11). Although many aspects of the notoriously opaque China-North Korea relationship are difficult to judge, the fluctuating bilateral ties recently appear to be on a firmer footing, driven by an alignment of interests, growing tensions with the U.S., and an increased emphasis on shared ideological roots.
Xi said that the signing of the treaty was a “far-sighted strategic decision,” and that he was ready to work with Kim to “strengthen strategic communication, chart the course for the China-DPRK relationship and lift the friendly cooperation between the two countries to new levels” (PRC MFA, July 11). Although the treaty serves as a firm legal basis for their friendship, its renewal was not a certainty as bilateral relations were seemingly going astray until recently. Kim’s much publicized visit in March 2018 to Beijing seemed to have put Sino-North Korean ties back on track after what had appeared to be a gradual drifting apart of the two traditional allies. Since then, the two countries have increased their public displays of friendship and camaraderie, but underlying mistrust of the other side’s motives and commitment towards the alliance remains.
Aspects of the treaty, in particular Article II, which compels Beijing to provide “mutual assistance” to Pyongyang in the event of an “armed attack,” had led some to wonder if Beijing might seek to modify its language. A debate has been underway in China for some time about whether the treaty—born under different circumstances and originally aimed at balancing against the Soviet Union—is becoming “outdated” and increasing the risk for Beijing to be drawn into an unnecessary conflict (Global Times, May 3, 2017; NK News, July 10).
Nevertheless, the treaty’s renewal shows that for now the motivations underlying close ties are stronger than those fostering divisions. North Korea confronts multiple challenges including COVID-19, sanctions and food shortages arising from a spate of extreme weather and natural disasters (Aljazeera, August 8), and it is expected to rely on China for greater support. Beijing, for its part, sees preventing a North Korean collapse as crucial to its security interests.
Deep-Rooted Ties
The Sino-North Korean relationship, often described as being “as close as lips and teeth,” goes back decades, with formal diplomatic ties being established in 1949. The two also fought together in the 1950-53 Korean War. Since then, China has provided political and economic support to sustain the North Korea regime. But the relationship has seen periods of turmoil, particularly in the 1990s when Pyongyang was upset over Beijing’s decision to normalize ties with Seoul. In 2001, the two countries restored high-level exchanges with then-Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s visit to North Korea.
North Korea’s test of a nuclear weapon in October 2006 and China’s subsequent endorsement of UN sanctions on Pyongyang again put a strain on their relationship. Beijing clearly signaled that it would not hesitate to punish Pyongyang for ignoring its appeals to not disturb peace on the Korean peninsula (Global Times, February 17, 2013). Over the years, North Korea’s repeated nuclear and missile tests have taken place despite China’s disapproval, and Beijing’s continued support for sanctions against Pyongyang also added to the deterioration in relations. Kim and Xi did not meet for several years, fueling suggestions about relations being frosty between the two countries.
China’s approach towards resolving the North Korea nuclear issue has evolved from advocating for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks to proposing the “double suspension” idea, which calls for North Korea to suspend all nuclear tests and the U.S. to halt its annual military drills with the South (Xinhua, March 8, 2017).[1] However, despite Beijing’s repeated insistence, the proposal did not manage to gain much traction. As South Korea and the U.S. took on a larger role to resolve the North Korea crisis after Pyongyang’s diplomatic outreach in 2018, many analysts said that Beijing was being marginalized (Global Times, May 28, 2018).
In March 2018, Kim’s first foreign visit since taking office in 2011 was to China, putting to rest theories about China losing its influence over North Korea. The two leaders have met four more times since then: in May 2018, June 2018, January 2019 and June 2019. The most recent meeting took place in Pyongyang, marking the first time that a Chinese leader visited North Korea since 2005 (Xinhua, June 20, 2019). The momentum of improved ties has been maintained with a flurry of messages, letters and meetings between officials.
Shared Mutual Interests and a Marriage of Convenience
The core component that underpins the relationship remains shared mutual interests, encompassing economic cooperation, geopolitical concerns and strategic rationale. Although there has been a recent decline in trade flows, China remains by far the largest economic and aid partner of North Korea. Informal trade across the porous border between the two countries has also become a crucial aspect of the bilateral relationship. Up until the COVID-19 pandemic, China-North Korea trade rose steadily from 2000, peaking at $6.86 billion in 2014. Although sanctions caused trade to plummet in 2018, Chinese exports to the DPRK climbed back up in 2019. But in 2020, Sino-North Korea trade tumbled 80 percent due to public health-related border restrictions as well as ongoing sanctions (Yonhap, February 12; 38North, February 25, 2020).
Geopolitical imperatives also dictate the two neighbors’ close relations, with China being one of the very few allies that the North Korean regime has in the face of Western pressure and sanctions. For China, its interest in sustaining the North Korean regime is more strategic than economic. It is deeply worried about the possibility of a unified Korean Peninsula under the leadership of Seoul, which is aligned with the U.S. A buffer state with close links to China is crucial to maintaining a regional strategic balance.
Further, regional stability is of particular interest to Beijing, which fears that being dragged into a spiral of conflict or chaos in the DPRK would result in political, social and economic upheaval inside China. While the Chinese certainly would prefer that North Korea not have nuclear weapons, their greatest fear remains regime collapse. Beijing also aims to ensure that it remains a significant party in the negotiations over North Korea’s nuclear program.
Ideological Bonds: ‘Comrades-in-Arms’
Recent trends suggest that the growing bonhomie between the two countries is being increasingly guided by common principles of revolutionary socialism and shared animosity towards the U.S. The ratcheting up of tensions between Beijing and Washington has had the unintended effect of bringing China and North Korea closer. Beijing and Pyongyang both increasingly see themselves engaged in a long-running ideological competition with the West, and the leaders of the two countries consistently reinforce this viewpoint in their public remarks.
For example, during his June 2019 visit to Pyongyang, Xi Jinping said that, “We will pass down the China-North Korea friendship from generation to generation, consolidate and develop the two countries’ socialist cause, better enrich our citizens and advance regional peace, stability, development and prosperity” (The Korea Times, June 21, 2019). Kim said during the same meeting that the “invincible DPRK-China friendship will be immortal on the road of accomplishing the cause of socialism” (KCNA, October 6, 2019).
Strong ideological bonds between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) have also played a role in strengthening the alliance. Both countries have sought to amplify their shared history in the Korean War, emphasizing a friendship that has been “forged in blood” and reinforcing the notion of two single-party Communist states united in fighting against imperialism and U.S. interventionism. In a recent letter to Xi commemorating the centenary of the CCP, Kim said that the WPK and the CCP are “true comrades and the comrades-in-arms that have shared life and death in the protracted struggle for opposing imperialism and building socialism, writing the proud history of friendship” (Global Times, July 1).
Meanwhile, state media in both countries has pushed propaganda extolling the two communist countries’ socialist ties and shared opposition to the U.S. “As imperialists now have united and are plotting to isolate and crush socialist countries, it is required of North Korea and China to further develop their friendly relations based on the spirit and principles of the bilateral treaty,” said the Rodong Sinmun, which is the official newspaper of the WPK, said recently (Yonhap, July 11).
North Korean officials have also come to the defense of China as it faced mounting international criticism over actions in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, North Korean Ambassador to China Ji Jae-ryong said that the U.S. has openly smeared the CCP and the country’s socialist system, constantly agitating China-U.S. relations, which then turned into a confrontation of ideologies and systems (Global Times, July 3). Pyongyang appears to be signaling to China that it will publicly back Beijing against the U.S. on criticisms of domestic and international issues. In June, the two countries’ envoys stressed the importance of bilateral relationship in coordinated rare opinion pieces published in their respective host country’s state media to mark the second anniversary of Xi’s trip to Pyongyang (PRC Embassy in the DPRK, June 21; The Paper, June 21).
Conclusion
Both interests and ideology are driving the two countries together, and their traditional alliance is likely to solidify further with the Sino-U.S. rivalry as a key factor. In a message to Xi last month, Kim said that it is “the fixed stand” of his government to “ceaselessly develop the friendly and cooperative relations” between the countries (Rodong Sinmun, July 11). In another exchange, Xi pledged efforts to “defend, consolidate and develop” relations with North Korea, while Kim said that he will push to elevate the two countries’ ties to a “new strategic point” (Yonhap, July 30).
The contemporary status of the bilateral relationship should be seen through the framework of the simmering U.S.-China strategic rivalry. Under this dynamic, China and North Korea will likely remain steadfast allies despite the ebbs and flows in their relations. Zheng Jiyong (郑继永), director of the Korean Studies Center at Fudan University, has said that the ties between China and North Korea will not be severed but will instead grow stronger, adding that “wishful thinking held by some Western elites and observers who expect China-North Korea ties to split has collapsed” (Global Times, July 11).
The Biden administration has reiterated the long-held view that the U.S. and China have a common interest in the nuclear disarmament of North Korea, with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken noting that Pyongyang is also a concern for Beijing as it represents a regional “source of instability” (South China Morning Post, March 18). But Washington should not count on support from Beijing to help end North Korea’s nuclear program; indeed, China’s incentives for doing so appear to be shrinking. Instead, Beijing may become even more reluctant to enforce sanctions and use its supposed leverage over Pyongyang to persuade Kim to adhere to international norms and laws.
China has recently stepped up calls for international sanctions on North Korea to be lifted and accused the U.S. of stoking regional tensions after it held talks to conduct military exercises with South Korea. “Given that North Korea has already stopped nuclear and long-range missile tests, its legitimate concerns should be addressed. An effective way to resolve the current deadlock is to lift sanctions imposed on North Korea by the United Nations Security Council,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said earlier this month (South China Morning Post, August 7).
The economic troubles caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and sanctions against North Korea as well as worsening food shortages are likely to further push Pyongyang into Beijing’s orbit. Fearing a humanitarian disaster on its border, China has already said it is “ready to positively consider” providing assistance to Pyongyang if needed (PRC MFA, June 30).
At the same time, suspicion and mistrust will continue to cloud the relationship. North Korea has shown no signs of abandoning its nuclear missile program, which irks China. For China, even a troublesome partnership with North Korea has strategic value, although recent warm ties would be at risk again if Pyongyang were to resume nuclear or long-range missile testing. Kim fears China gaining too much leverage through deepening economic and trade links, but he has skillfully managed the asymmetric relationship so far, constraining Beijing’s ability to influence Pyongyang.
Under the changing geopolitical landscape, China has shown itself willing to take the hit on its international reputation that comes with supporting North Korea as a fair price to pay to put pressure on Washington, and perhaps even begrudgingly accept a nuclear North Korea.
Pratik Jakhar is an East Asia specialist at BBC Monitoring, with over eight years of experience covering the region. He has written extensively on China and North Korea’s foreign relations, security issues, domestic politics and economic policy.
Notes
9. South Korea's ruling party poised to enact media law that penalizes 'fake news'
South Korea's ruling party poised to enact media law that penalizes 'fake news'
By Elizabeth Shim
Aug. 17 (UPI) -- South Korean lawmakers of the main and opposition parties disagreed on revisions to a media law that includes stiffer penalties against news organizations, as critics decried the pending amendment as an attack on press freedoms.
South Korea's parliamentary Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee submitted to the Agenda Coordination Committee the revision to the Act of Press Arbitration despite resistance from the political opposition, Yonhap reported Tuesday.
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The bill, known as the "fake news" law locally, would allow plaintiffs to sue for five times the actual damages, including for emotional distress incurred by inaccurate media reports.
The Culture Committee held three plenary meetings since last week to reach a consensus among lawmakers on the revised media bill. South Korean politicians were unable to narrow their differences, however, the report said.
The governing Democratic Party holds a majority in parliament, and the Democrats lead the Agenda Committee, making it likely the media bill will pass at the National Assembly.
South Korea's Democrats have said that they plan to pass the legislation in August, but opposition conservatives of the People Power Party have said the bill's provisions are "toxic," according to the report.
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The law is designed to protect plaintiffs against misinformation, and against "false or manipulated reports" that are the result of intention to deceive or "gross negligence," according to the Korea Herald.
Lawyers are condemning the bill, however. The Korean Bar Association issued a statement Tuesday expressing disapproval, Newsis reported.
The bar association said that the law discourages journalists from publishing articles critical of the government. The watchdog role of the media will "inevitably shrink," the group said.
Seoul could be trying to reassure news organizations.
President Moon Jae-in said Tuesday in a message to the Journalists Association of Korea that freedom of the press is the "pillar of democracy."
Moon also said on the occasion of the group's 57th anniversary that the press environment is encountering new challenges to accurate reporting amid digitization, News 1 reported Tuesday.
Powerful South Korean politicians have sued local newspapers. In July, former Justice Minister Cho Kuk filed a $900,000 lawsuit against the Chosun Ilbo for a cartoon that featured figures bearing a likeness to his family.
10. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ Electricity situation deteriorates further: “Even in the city centre, supply is limited to one or two hours a day.” Equipment and parts not coming in from China.
We must observe for the indications and warnings of instability.
＜Inside N. Korea＞ Electricity situation deteriorates further: “Even in the city centre, supply is limited to one or two hours a day.” Equipment and parts not coming in from China.
Kim Jong-un is standing during a review ceremony at the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Workers' Party. However, there was criticism within the country for excessive waste despite the hardship caused by the coronavirus, quoted from the Rodong Sinmun, October 2020.
Sixty to seventy per cent of North Korea's electricity comes from hydropower. As a result, the country suffers from chronic power shortages every winter when rivers freeze over. In early spring, when the ice melts, the electricity situation recovers. Still, for the past several years, houses in the northern region of the country have received electricity for only about three to five hours a day.
This year, the electricity situation is even worse. In North Korea, electricity for civilian use is called the "residents' line," and electricity for production facilities, the party and administrative organs, and cooperative farms is called the "industrial line."
As of May, the "residents' line" in the country's northern region was only supplied for about one to three hours a day. This is because it was cut to give priority to the "industrial line." According to our reporting partner living in the northern area, the "industrial line" was in service for about eight hours a day at that time.
After that, however, the reporting partner said that the power shortage became worse day by day. During the high temperature and low rainfall in July, we received reports from many places that they could not pump water into their fields because of the lack of electricity. In addition, the "industrial line" has also begun to be paralyzed.
◆Even in the city centre, the power only comes on for an hour or two hours a day.
"In my apartment in the city centre, the electricity only comes on for one or two hours a day. In some areas, there is no electricity at all. Recently, the electricity supply to the 'industrial line' has also been disrupted."
In mid-August, a reporting partner living in the Hyesan city in the northern region of Ryanggang Province reported it to us.
What is the cause? The reporting partner met with an official of the Electricity Distribution Department, which oversees the electricity supply and facilities, and asked him about the situation.
“The reason for the lack of electricity supply is partly due to the lack of water resources, but also because the power generation system itself has been paralyzed. Even if the power generation and transmission facilities fail, we cannot import machines and parts from China. Even if they try to make up for it with domestically produced equipment, the quality is so poor that it breaks down immediately.”
Machines and parts are not coming in from China because the Kim Jong-un regime has blocked the Chinese border to prevent the coronavirus from spreading, resulting in a sharp decline in trade.
Currently, there are plans to install solar and wind power at the national level. The installation will go ahead once the border with China opens, an official of the power distribution department said, according to the report. However, with the Delta variant, which is now spreading worldwide, the reopening of border trade with China is not promising.
As the power shortage has become chronic, households that can afford solar power have been buying and using Chinese-made solar panels for about ten years. A small one costs about 2,000 to 3,000 yuan. However, now that Chinese trade has been stopped, "you can't get them even if you pay 20,000 yuan," said the reporting partner. ※One Chinese yuan is about 1.54 USD.
The "electric hardship" of the North Korean people is likely to continue for the time being (Kang Ji-won).
※ASIAPRESS contacts its reporting partners in North Korea through smuggled Chinese mobile phones.
11. ＜Inside N. Korea＞ Supply of COVID-19 Disinfectant and Protective Clothing Improves. “If you eat garlic, you won't be infected,” said residents.
Garlic is all they have for "vaccination."
＜Inside N. Korea＞ Supply of COVID-19 Disinfectant and Protective Clothing Improves. “If you eat garlic, you won't be infected,” said residents.
(photo) Is covering one's nose with a mask annoying in every country? A young border patrol officer (left) and a soldier guard inside the barbed wire. Photograph of the Sinuiju city, taken from the Chinese side, in mid-July 2021 (ASIAPRESS).
"In our country, instead of using disinfectants, we burn mug wort, and we can't even make thermometers. So, the material and technical means of the quarantine system are zero."
This is what Kim Jong-un said at an expanded meeting of the Political Bureau of the Workers' Party Central Committee held on February 27, 2020. It was published in an internal document designated as an "absolute secret."
In response to the COVID-19 outbreak that began in China, Kim Jong-un expressed a strong sense of crisis over his country's feeble health and sanitation.
In fact, until last summer, disinfection was done by spraying saltwater in local cities. More than a year has passed since then. So, how is the domestic quarantine system now? In mid-August, I asked our reporting partner in North Hamkyung Province (Kang Ji-won).
(photo) Kim Jong-un laments poor quarantine conditions, saying that "We are burning mugwort instead of disinfectant." An internal document was designated as an "absolute secret" in February 2020 (ASIAPRESS).
◆Disinfectants made in China are coming in
――Is there still a shortage of disinfectants and other products?
Until last year, there were no disinfectants, but now I think there is a sufficient supply. Markets are being disinfected every day, and there is a crackdown on the wearing of masks. The quarantine station in North Hamkyung Province has received a lot of quarantine equipment made in China. These machines automatically spray disinfectant solutions like a mist and are installed at market entrances, institutions, and companies in areas where many people are coming and going.
――The movement of people was strongly restricted due to the coronavirus quarantine, how is it now?
Movement restrictions are still severe. The border area with China is still closed after 8 pm. It is also difficult to travel across the road, but going to the next county is not impossible. However, there are so many checkpoints that many people have given up on travelling.
――A checkpoint for coronavirus?
There were many coronavirus quarantine patrols at the borders of counties and villages. If you have a written verification, you can pass through, but they inspect all your luggage, claiming it is for quarantine purposes. They even put disinfectant on your luggage, and it's a lot of work. Once the inspection is over, a transit pass is issued, but you have to go through the same procedure again at the next outpost, so it takes a long time to travel.
――How about people who travel for business?
Very few people travel far for business because of the difficulties they face with their luggage. Instead, they travel to and from other areas to visit relatives. The rest of the travellers are wanderers. Kochebi (homeless) and impoverished people roam around the outposts and head for rural areas. The crackdown on these vagrants is severe.
◆Residents Believe in the “Garlic Effect”
――What are the residents' attitudes toward corona?
The authorities advertise that “there is no coronavirus in our country,” and there are no rumours of recent outbreaks of infected people anywhere. The residents believe that if they eat garlic, they will not be infected with coronavirus, and they even have the campaign to eat one clove of garlic a day.
Another reporting partner reported that quarantine personnel were well supplied with protective clothing and masks. It is believed that a large amount of coronavirus quarantine related supplies is being provided from China.
※ASIAPRESS contacts its reporting partners in North Korea through smuggled Chinese mobile phones.
12. North Korean media denounces South's plan to build new frigate
Because they are far superior to any nK naval vessels.
North Korean media denounces South's plan to build new frigates
By Elizabeth Shim
Aug. 17 (UPI) -- A North Korean propaganda service condemned the South's military Tuesday for a decision to build new frigates, calling the policy "preparations for a war against the North."
Propaganda outlet Uriminzokkiri, which targets a Korean-speaking audience outside the North, said Tuesday that the "warlike actions" of the South's military are leading to an "incurable disease" of confrontation among a unitary Korean people.
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North Korea's criticism of South Korean defense policy comes two weeks after Seoul's Defense Acquisition Program Administration disclosed plans to invest $3.1 billion to build new frigates.
South Korea's defense project promotion committee approved the Ulsan-class Batch IV project, Defense World reported earlier this month.
According to DAPA, the project is to "enhance the military's maritime operational capabilities, as well as contribute to securing up-to-date technologies and creating jobs."
Uriminzokkiri said Tuesday that the "South Korean military is burning through taxpayers' money to spend astronomical amounts of funds on modernized arms and steal state-of-the-art technology to speed up preparations for war against the North."
The propaganda service also condemned incidents of sexual harassment in South Korea's military, including the case of a female chief petty officer who died by suicide Friday, after she reported sexual abuse in the South Korean Navy.
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The woman died after her supervisors declined to protect her confidentiality, according to Yonhap on Tuesday.
North Korean media did not issue a statement condemning the ongoing U.S.-South Korea exercises Tuesday, South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Shinmun reported.
A South Korean unification ministry official said that the government is monitoring North Korea during the exercises until the drills end on Aug. 26, the report said.
North Korea's Kim Yo Jong has claimed the joint training is "preliminary exercises for nuclear war." Washington and Seoul has said the drills are for defense purposes.
13. North may have attempted missile launches on Liberation Day
I have not seen any other reporting on this.
I also did not know our aircraft could detect earthquakes. That is new information for me.
But the information below is pretty thin and I wonder if the South Koreans are reading too much into our ISR flights.
Wednesday
August 18, 2021
North may have attempted missile launches on Liberation Day
North Korea may have attempted missile launches on Liberation Day, according to intelligence sources.
A 4.3 magnitude earthquake in Rajin, in the far northeastern corner of the country, was detected by U.S. reconnaissance aircraft on the evening of Aug. 16.
“North Korea issued navigation warnings on Aug. 15 and 16,” an intelligence source said, adding that northeastern waters in the East Sea had been designated as the alert area.
Navigation warnings are commonly issued by the North before its military conducts drills involving coastal artillery or test launches of missiles to warn ships passing through the area.
Observers had predicted that North Korea could launch missile provocations to coincide with the start of the joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises in the second half of the year.
On Aug. 10 and 11, the North issued consecutive statements by Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and deputy information department director of the Workers' Party, and Kim Yong-chol, head of the party’s Unification Front Department, which criticized the exercises, upping the possibility that the North would respond with a show of force.
The detected quake coincided with a short window of clear weather on the eastern coast of North Korea last weekend, when difficult weather conditions posed an obstacle to a test launch through most of Saturday and Sunday.
North Korean cities on the East Sea experienced several days of rain and periodic lightning strikes over the weekend.
On Monday, the U.S. military simultaneously deployed a Northrop Grumman E-8C Joint Star ground surveillance aircraft, which tracks and monitors up to 600 ground targets, and a Boeing RC-135S (Cobra Ball), which monitors trends such as intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM).
The source said that apart from the seismic event in Rajin, no other suspicious movements on the eastern coastal area were detected.
Despite North Korea’s navigation warnings, there are mixed observations that it possibly failed to launch a missile in the face of adverse weather conditions, or was simply demonstrating its intent and ability to respond to the allied exercises with force.
Missile tests are sensitive to weather conditions such as wind and humidity. Tests become difficult to measure and observe in inclement weather.
If unexpected technical problems are found in the preparation process for missile launch, the test will have to be stopped.
At the same time, the possibility remains that North Korea only pretended to test fire a missile. A South Korean military official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said, “North Korea may have just pretended to launch a missile to watch the response from South Korea and the U.S.”
He added, “We are considering including the possibility of their waging a psychological war.”
BY MICHAEL LEE, PARK YONG-HAN [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
14. North Korea-China border wall running into trouble due to lack of supplies
But tunnels, walls, and barriers are a north Korean specialty.
North Korea-China border wall running into trouble due to lack of supplies - Daily NK
North Korean authorities have provided only 40% of the supplies needed to build the “bulletproof wall” and high voltage wires, a source claimed
Construction work on a concrete wall and high voltage lines along the Sino-North Korean border is reportedly running into trouble due to lack of supplies. Moreover, a source says the military is selling supplies they have received to buy food for soldiers working on the wall.
A Daily NK source in Yanggang Province said Friday that the authorities have provided only 40% of the supplies needed to build the “bulletproof wall” and high voltage wires. “So many supplies need to be sent to different sectors of the people’s economy,” he said. “This means that the authorities aren’t properly supplying the construction work along the border.”
According to the source, the authorities have mobilized many soldiers from the military’s construction, engineering and roads bureaus to build the concrete wall and high voltage lines. Progress has been slow simply due to the lack of supplies. If the soldiers were properly supplied, they could carry out all their construction assignments, the source claimed.
North Korea’s leadership has ordered that work on the wall and wires be completed by Party Foundation Day on Oct. 10. However, the source says with supplies not arriving according to plans, construction is moving even more slowly as work teams have to refashion the supplies they receive because they arrive so they can be used properly on the wall.
“As there’s not enough food now, either, many soldiers are getting sent to military labor or reeducation camps for burglarizing civilian homes or, when they fail, beating people to death,” said the source. “They don’t start off intending to beat people to death, but most of those incidents happen when they get caught stealing and try to escape.
“Some soldiers are so weak from malnutrition due to lack of food that they are being put in military infirmaries when they try to escape [after being caught stealing], but are instead beaten to a pulp by civilians,” he added.
The source said the government should provide food to the soldiers mobilized under the guise of preventing the spread of COVID-19. It is utterly failing to do so, however, and the relevant provincial, city and county authorities are not taking charge. As a result, thin soldiers with bodies swollen from hunger are commonplace.
Meanwhile, commanders of the construction units mobilized for the effort will not even mention the word “rice,” fearing that they will needless court trouble if they ask their superiors for rice at a time when the entire nation is suffering from food shortages. Soldiers are surviving on barely a single meal made from arrowroot dug up from the hillsides, according to the source.
North Korean soldiers seen constructing fences along the border last year. / Image: Daily NK
This being the case, military logistics departments responsible for providing food to the troops are secretly pilfering and selling the supplies they have received to buy food.
“Logistics officials who are tasked with feeding the troops have nothing, and they’re getting no help from either the localities or from Pyongyang. So they’re [selling] rebar, cement and sand and buying freshly harvested potatoes or corn to feed the soldiers,” said the source. “Nobody is coming to check, so they are secretly pilfering the supplies and using them to feed the troops.”
North Korea’s entrepreneurial class, or donju, are buying up most of the rebar, cement and sand the military is selling. These donju boast that they are “greatly profiting from buying them from the foolish and blockheaded military,” who are “ignorant of the market value of what they are selling.”
“The soldiers are now setting the prices at whatever the donju say they are,” said the source. “Having no other options, the military is selling the supplies at the quoted prices.”
In particular, the donju are reportedly making money by selling the supplies to local residential and industrial construction sites for two or three times the price for which they bought them. With the state telling local construction sites that they should secure supplies on their own in the name of “self-reliance,” supply managers are buying up the donju’s wares as soon as they appear.
Meanwhile, a special labor brigade dispatched by the Cabinet to certain border regions of Yanggang Province to speed up construction of the border wall and high voltage lines reportedly moved to the border region of North Hamgyong Province early this month.
“The Cabinet labor brigade sent to Huchang [Kimhyongjik], Sinpa [Kimjongsuk] and Samsu counties had no work to do because supplies failed to arrive for a while,” said the source. “Then suddenly a flood of supplies came in, and – working 18 hours a day in a ‘speed battle’ – they completed all the technical tasks required for the groundwork of the walls, while accounting for the particular topography of the region.”
The source said that as the labor brigade moved to North Hamgyong Province, about 10% of its personnel were rotated out. Those replaced included people who were “ideologically suspect,” people suffering from diarrhea, and older people who were having a tough time doing the work.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
15. North Korea crafts new legal provisions to punish businesses that fail to regularly pay electrical bills
The regime is going to milk every single won from its own "businesses" and people. You would think in the Socialist Workers' Paradise you would not have to pay for electricity.
North Korea crafts new legal provisions to punish businesses that fail to regularly pay electrical bills - Daily NK
The provisions also target ordinary people who fail to properly account for their electricity usage
By Mun Dong Hui - 2021.08.18 12:52pm
North Korea has reportedly crafted new legal provisions to punish people and businesses who fail to regularly pay their electrical bills. This suggests the authorities intend to strictly deal with defaulters while simultaneously rooting out widespread corruption in the assessment of electrical fees.
Daily NK confirmed that a recently obtained copy of North Korea’s Administrative Penalties Law, revised in 2020, includes a new provision on “violating the legal order on the payment of electricity fees” (Article 123).
The article calls for “stern warnings, fines or up to three months of unpaid labor or reformatory labor” for those who fail to pay their electricity bill. In “serious circumstances,” defaulters face more than three months of unpaid labor or reformatory labor, or even demotions, firings or dismissals.
By “serious circumstances,” the law means repeated “violations of the legal order on the payment of electricity fees” or owing more than KPW 20,000 in unpaid electricity fees.
The first part of the article states that “failing to pay electricity usage fees precisely and on time for poor reasons or excuses” will be punished.
“Failing to precisely pay electricity usage fees” is defined as “failing to precisely pay per-purpose, seasonal and time-of-use electrical fees at the chosen time” and “failing to precisely pay electrical fees for active power, shutting off power and reactive power.”
In South Korea, electrical bills are calculated by several standards, including season (summer, spring, autumn and fall), time of use (light usage hours, medium usage hours and high usage hours), residential use and industrial use (mining, manufacturing, other industrial uses).
The article in question in North Korea’s recently revised Administrative Penalties Law. / Image: Daily NK
Going by the legal article, it appears North Korea levies its electrical fees using similar standards.
As ordinary households would have a difficult time understanding the specific standards, the section of the law in question appears aimed at workplaces. This is to say, if workplaces fail to calculate and pay their electricity bill properly, they face punishment.
The article also defined as illegal “failing to calculate electrical fees accurately and on time.”
The article defined this as “failing to calculate electrical fees at the given time, or arbitrarily omitting electrical consumption details, or completely denying or minimizing electrical fees by failing to record or only partly recording electricity consumption details or your fee payment status.”
In North Korea, most people in large cities or provincial capitals pay their fees according to how much electricity they consume using wattmeters.
In small provincial cities, however, many places lack such wattmeters. Because of this, the heads of local people’s units (inminban) tell residents their electrical bills every month.
One of the standards the inminban heads use to calculate the bill is power consumption by household appliances registered with the inminban. The inminban head levies the bill based on the total amount of electricity entering the district in question and energy consumption by appliances in each home. The bills are not based on accurate use numbers, but on rough calculations by the inminban heads.
Some locals pay lower electrical fees by neglecting to register electrical appliances with the inminban or falsely reporting that they have sold them.
This second list of violations in the article seemingly points out issues in calculating the fees for home electricity use and warns of punishments.
The new addition to the law is apparently a measure to boost local awareness regarding the calculation of household and industrial electrical bills.
Meanwhile, North Korean authorities have mandated the use of wattmeters since 2017. They also reportedly have a plan to levy in earnest a so-called “progressive tax” based on a family’s electricity consumption. However, they have been unable to put this plan into action due to resistance from locals concerned about rising electrical costs.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
