Quotes of the Day:
"There is no greater impediment to the advancement of knowledge than the ambiguity of words."
- Thomas Reid
“But there is another reason: science is more than a body of knowledge; it is a way of thinking. I have a foreboding of an American in my children’s or grandchildren’s time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the key manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, no one representation the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness. The dumbing down of America is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influence media, the 30-second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentation on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.”
- Carl Sagan, The Demon Haunted World
"This has always been a man's world, and none of the reasons that have been offered in explanation have seemed adequate."
- Simone de Beauvoir
1. Washington is ready to fall into Kim Jong Un's trap, again
2. Top nuke envoys of S. Korea, U.S., Japan to meet in Tokyo next week
3. Unmasked: Vessel Identity Laundering and North Korea's Maritime Sanctions Evasion — C4ADS
4. N. Korea's suspension from Olympics augurs ill for Seoul's peace efforts
5. Ministry of Social Security officer in Hyesan arrested for colluding with remittance broker
6. The worsening plight of North Korean soldiers
7. Kim parades at midnight but China muffles his guns
8. N.Korean Troops Parade in Hazmat Uniforms
9. North Korean Restaurants Abandon Price Controls Amid Food Shortages
10. The highest-grossing film in South Korea this year is a true story set in Somalia
11. Is Kim Jong Un On The Same Weight Loss Program As Most North Koreans?
12. S. Korea too important for U.S. to withdraw troops: U.S. lawmakers
13. Members of Congress Urge Biden Administration To Proceed with Caution On North Korea Sanctions
14. The Real Reason the North Korea Parade Was Weird as Fuck
1. Washington is ready to fall into Kim Jong Un's trap, again
I have to disagree with my colleague. I have seen no evidence of the Biden Administration falling into Kim Jong-un's trap. Biden's Korea team is much smarter than that.
Washington is ready to fall into Kim Jong Un's trap, again
by Anthony Ruggiero | September 09, 2021 11:00 PM
How many times will the United States pay North Korea to shut down the same nuclear reactor? The answer so far is three, although the Biden White House seems increasingly ready to make it four.
North Korea once again restarted its Yongbyon reactor in July after it had been dormant for two and a half years. To earn the expected payoff, Kim Jong Un appears to be following the same playbook his father and grandfather used to fleece the U.S. during their respective tenures as lead despot.
The premise is simple: Initiate a crisis so that Washington persuades itself that the only possible choices in front of it are a deal or a war. In fact, it’s already working. White House press secretary Jen Psaki stated late last month that the new activity at Yongbyon “underscores the urgent need for dialogue and diplomacy so we can achieve the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
For good measure, the Kim regime also reportedly reprocessed plutonium from pre-2018 reactor operations to generate fissile material for use in additional nuclear weapons. One estimate indicates that Pyongyang already has between 20 and 60 nuclear weapons. If Joe Biden continues to follow Kim’s script, his North Korea policy is destined to fail just like that of his four immediate predecessors.
The reactor, and the larger Yongbyon complex, have played a pivotal role in U.S.-North Korea negotiations since 1994. The reactor may be the most valuable nuclear facility in the world, since American presidents keep rewarding the Kim family with money and sanctions relief to shut it down.
Bill Clinton nearly went to war with North Korea in 1993-1994 to stop Kim Il Sung and his son Kim Jong Il from gaining access to the fissile material produced in the reactor. The crisis was “solved” when former President Jimmy Carter negotiated the parameters of what would become the 1994 Agreed Framework that froze, but did not eliminate, the nuclear threat. In exchange for shutting down Yongbyon, Washington committed to building two, less dangerous nuclear reactors for Pyongyang as part of a multibillion-dollar package.
George W. Bush declared in 2002 that the Kim regime was part of the “Axis of Evil” but then negotiated a deal for the same reactor in September 2005. A little more than a year later, Pyongyang conducted its first-ever nuclear test. Bush still eventually paid North Korea $2.5 million to destroy the reactor’s cooling tower, although that did not alter the reactor’s operations.
Barack Obama reached the so-called Leap Day Deal on Feb. 29, 2012, to freeze and disable the Yongbyon reactor in exchange for humanitarian aid. The deal fell apart after only six weeks when North Korea launched a long-range missile. Obama then shifted his attention to securing a nuclear deal with Iran while rechristening his do-nothing North Korea policy as one of “strategic patience .” This gave Kim Jong Un ample time to build up his nuclear and missile programs, culminating in three intercontinental ballistic missile tests in 2017.
Kim offered to dismantle the Yongbyon reactor complex at his 2019 Hanoi summit with Donald Trump, but only in exchange for near-total sanctions relief. Trump made the right call and walked away from the talks because Yongbyon is only one component of the North Korean nuclear enterprise. Yet instead of ratcheting up the pressure after Hanoi, Trump settled into a policy that resembled Obama’s.
By restarting the Yongbyon reactor, Kim wants Biden to feel pressure to negotiate a quick deal. Already, the Biden team has been urging North Korea in public and private to answer its offers of negotiations.
Biden, like many of his predecessors, ordered a North Korea policy review when he came into office. In April, Psaki said the administration would pursue a “calibrated, practical approach that is open to and will explore diplomacy with [North Korea].” The administration billed it as a middle ground between the policies of his two immediate predecessors, but the administration’s thirst for a deal, what Pyongyang calls “action for action,” is more like the North Korea policy of the late Bush and early Obama years, or the Iran policy of the late Obama years.
Kim is watching Biden’s negotiations with Iran and must like what he sees. Biden is willing to grant Iran, which does not yet have a nuclear weapon, near-total sanctions relief in exchange for its return to an expiring nuclear deal that features only limited restraints and can once again be undone by his successor. It would seem there’s not enough champagne in North Korea for Kim to celebrate his good fortune: another American president eager to pay off enemies for unenforceable promises to shutter their nuclear weapons programs.
Biden’s flawed Iran strategy comes with other consequences as well. There is no way that Kim will agree to a nuclear deal that is more stringent than what Biden offers Iran. Far from deescalate, ironically, Biden’s Iran deal, as currently envisioned, would eliminate any incentive for Pyongyang to denuclearize.
Plus, Biden has already given Kim de facto sanctions relief. The last new North Korea sanctions were issued by the Treasury Department in December 2020. There have been none since Biden took office. Yet if sanctions are not continually maintained, they lose their effectiveness. North Korea continues its proliferation activities and the development of its nuclear and missile programs. Pyongyang also finds new and creative ways to evade the sanctions.
In 2016, Congress adopted a North Korea sanctions bill with near unanimity, highlighting that North Korea presents a unique threat. Obama felt obliged to sign it, and his administration began to impose the mandatory sanctions the law calls for. Yet Biden is ignoring the requirement. Congress should push the administration to explain why Kim deserves such forbearance while he continues development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles targeted at America’s allies and our homeland.
Kim’s ultimate goal is reunification of the Korean Peninsula under his control. And while he is probably still processing Biden’s Afghanistan withdrawal, it is likely to make him ask: Is the United States really committed to defending South Korea? If Biden is willing to leave Americans and Afghan allies behind, how firm will he be when dealing with a country that could threaten U.S. allies and the United States itself with a nuclear strike? Is Biden going to trade San Francisco for Seoul? Kim may begin to test the limits of Biden’s patience, and things may get more dangerous on the peninsula in the near term.
The good news is there is still time for Biden to correct his course on North Korea. It could also present him an opportunity. If he wants to rescue his foreign policy after the Afghanistan fiasco, what better way than to show that he now understands the price of letting the enemy define the terms of engagement?
Anthony Ruggiero is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. He previously served in the U.S. government for more than 19 years, including as director for North Korea on the U.S. National Security Council. Follow Anthony on Twitter @NatSecAnthony . FDD is a Washington, D.C.-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
2. Top nuke envoys of S. Korea, U.S., Japan to meet in Tokyo next week
This is probably the best issue to sustain some working level coordination among the three nations. We should note that in Yokosuka there is a maritime operations center tracking north Korea sanctions evasion activities that include ROK, Japan, and US naval officers (as well as other allies). The one good thing about north Korea is that it does engender some cooperation.
Top nuke envoys of S. Korea, U.S., Japan to meet in Tokyo next week | Yonhap News Agency
By Song Sang-ho
SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top nuclear envoy, Noh Kyu-duk, will visit Tokyo next week for bilateral and trilateral talks with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, the foreign ministry said Friday, as Seoul steps up diplomacy to resume dialogue with Pyongyang.
Noh and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Sung Kim and Takehiro Funakoshi, respectively, plan to hold a trilateral meeting on Tuesday, as they strategize on reengaging with Pyongyang, amid concerns over signs of the reclusive regime restarting a plutonium-producing nuclear reactor.
Noh also plans to meet bilaterally with Funakoshi on Monday and Kim on Tuesday, a ministry official said.
"Through this round of consultations, South Korea, the United States and Japan are expected to discuss ways to cooperate to stably manage the Korean Peninsula situation and resume the peninsula peace process at an early date," the ministry said in a press release.
Noh, Kim and Funakoshi are expected to discuss humanitarian aid and other incentives to encourage the North's return to dialogue, as the country struggles with economic and other hardships exacerbated by pandemic-driven border closures.
They held their last three-way meeting in Seoul in June. Noh and Kim also held talks in Seoul and Washington last month -- in an indication of beefed-up cooperation over the North Korean issue.
During his last visit to Seoul, Kim stressed the U.S. does not hold hostile intent toward the North and renewed his offer to "meet with my North Korean counterparts anywhere, at anytime."
The recent report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on the North's apparent operation of the five megawatt nuclear reactor could be part of the agenda for the trilateral meeting.
The IAEA report said, since early July, there have been indications, including the discharge of cooling water, "consistent with the operation of the reactor." The North had obtained spent fuel rods from the reactor to extract plutonium, a fissile material used for a bomb.
Nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have remained stalled since the Hanoi summit in 2019 between then U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended without a deal.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
3. Unmasked: Vessel Identity Laundering and North Korea's Maritime Sanctions Evasion — C4ADS
Unmasked: Vessel Identity Laundering and North Korea's Maritime Sanctions Evasion — C4ADS
Unmasked
Vessel Identity Laundering and North Korea’s Maritime Sanctions Evasion
Authors: Andrew Boling, Lucas Kuo, Luke Snyder, Lauren sung
Executive Summary
Vessel identity laundering operations jeopardize the integrity of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) ship registration system, which the world relies upon in order to identify, track, and interact with the 60,000 ships that travel the world’s oceans transporting 90% of global trade.
Vessel identity laundering is a novel tactic in which one or more vessels adopt a different identity on Automatic Identification System (AIS) transmissions in order to allow “dirty” (i.e. associated with illicit activities) ships to assume “clean” identities, and involves at least one vessel in this operation assuming an identity that is obtained by defrauding the IMO. Vessel identity laundering is significantly more sophisticated than previously observed instances of “vessel identity tampering,” in which vessels modify their physical appearance or broadcast false data on AIS transmissions. Given its complexity, vessel identity laundering presents unprecedented challenges for maritime regulators and risks undermining global shipping practices.
In recent years, C4ADS has observed at least 11 ships engaging in elaborate schemes to create fraudulent ship registrations with the IMO, which are subsequently used to “launder” the identity of vessels that have been associated with illicit activities. In particular, we have seen networks involved in DPRK sanctions evasion and smuggling use these tactics to avoid the heightened scrutiny of the sanctions regime.
This issue brief seeks to empower law enforcement and civil regulators to detect and disrupt vessel laundering identity operations by explaining how vessel identity laundering operations work and demonstrating how they can be detected using AIS data, satellite imagery, IMO registration records, and other sources of publicly available information. We cover two previously unreported case studies of vessel identity laundering involving DPRK fuel smuggling networks:
The KINGSWAY (IMO 9191773), sanctioned by the UN Security Council (UNSC) for engaging in a ship-to-ship transfer with a North Korean tanker, laundered its identity into the APEX/SHUN FA (IMO 8528864) in late 2018.
The SUBBLIC (IMO 8126082), recommended for designation by the UN Panel of Experts for numerous deliveries of fuel to North Korea, laundered its identity into the HAI ZHOU 168 (IMO 8514045) in mid-2019.
This report finds that in order to counter vessel identity laundering, the IMO and other maritime regulators must take steps to strengthen due diligence processes to secure a ship’s registered, digital, and physical identities. We offer recommendations to prevent the proliferation of fraudulent ship identities and mitigate risk by improving data collection, authentication, and transparency.
4. N. Korea's suspension from Olympics augurs ill for Seoul's peace efforts
No reprise of the 2018 Olympic engagement. This was the Moon administration's last chance for engagement.
(News Focus) N. Korea's suspension from Olympics augurs ill for Seoul's peace efforts | Yonhap News Agency
By Song Sang-ho and Yi Wonju
SEOUL, Sept. 10 (Yonhap) -- The International Olympic Committee (IOC)'s recent suspension of North Korea until the end of next year is dealing yet another dispiriting blow to South Korea's efforts to use sports diplomacy to reengage with Pyongyang, experts said Friday.
The suspension came as Seoul has been angling for top-level inter-Korean engagement during the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics while struggling to resume dialogue with Pyongyang through humanitarian assistance and other incentives.
Earlier this week, the IOC announced the suspension of the North's national Olympic committee for having unilaterally skipped the Tokyo Olympics. The decision will bar the North from competing in the Beijing Games slated for February, though the IOC noted its "right to reconsider the duration of the suspension at its discretion."
"Current conditions appear to make it difficult for South Korea or other countries to use the Olympics to reach out to the North though it would have been a good opportunity," Lim Eul-chul, a professor at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University, said.
The suspension dimmed the prospects of South Korean President Moon Jae-in seizing the Winter Games to make progress in his vaunted drive for peace before the end of his five-year term in May next year, as he did during the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics.
During the PyeongChang Games, the visit by high-level North Korean delegates, including Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of leader Kim Jong-un, paved the way for a cross-border thaw and set Moon's peace initiative in high gear.
The mood of cross-border rapprochement led to a series of summit meetings between Moon and leader Kim, as well as historic talks between Kim and then U.S. President Donald Trump, the first-ever summit between the two Cold War foes.
Seoul had pushed to use the Tokyo Olympics to salvage the peace process with Pyongyang, but the efforts ran aground when the North announced its decision to pull out of the games, citing coronavirus concerns.
The latest setback came in the midst of growing skepticism over Moon's outreach to the North, as the International Atomic Energy Agency has recently reported signs of the reclusive regime reactivating a key plutonium producing nuclear reactor at its main Yongbyon complex.
Washington's preoccupation with its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan and other pressing policy tasks has also raised doubts over whether full-fledged engagement with Pyongyang could come in the coming months.
Despite rising concerns that the IOC suspension may bode ill for Moon's peace crusade, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae vowed to double down on his efforts for lasting peace on the divided peninsula.
"The government will continue efforts to find ways for sports exchanges through various occasions and for progress in the efforts for peace on the Korean Peninsula," a presidential official told reporters earlier this week.
Experts see little chance of any immediate turnaround in inter-Korean relations, citing a series of challenges, such as the North's domestic hardships and the unfavorable political environment in the South ahead of its presidential poll in March next year.
"South Korea, as well as the United States and the international community, will attempt to drive up the peace process, but the North is unlikely to respond as it is faced with unfavorable conditions such as the coronavirus," Lim at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies said.
Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies, said that nuclear talks are likely to remain stalled as Pyongyang could fall behind on the U.S. foreign priority list with Washington expected to focus on the aftermath of its troop withdrawal from Afghanistan while the North continues to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
"North Korea could fall behind on the priority of the U.S., and the speed of the inter-Korean drive could naturally slow down as President Moon Jae-in is nearing the end of his term and the North is faced with the protracted global pandemic," Yang said.
Yang, however, pointed out that the door remains open for the IOC to reconsider its decision.
"I believe there is still room for the IOC to reconsider its decision if China strongly urges the North's participation," he said. "The participation of the two Koreas in the Beijing Olympics will restore inter-Korean relations and create momentum for denuclearization and peace on the peninsula."
Despite the latest blow to the peace drive, Seoul officials are also pinning hopes on the ongoing diplomatic endeavors to encourage Pyongyang's return to dialogue.
Seoul's top nuclear envoy, Noh Kyu-duk, and his U.S. counterpart, Sung Kim, met twice last month alone to discuss a range of incentives to restart the stalled peace process, such as humanitarian cooperation with the North in areas such as health care, antivirus efforts, sanitation and safe water.
Noh, Kim and their Japanese counterpart, Takehiro Funakoshi, are also expected to meet in Tokyo next week to discuss trilateral cooperation to resume nuclear diplomacy with the North, news reports said.
"The recent whirlwind of diplomacy underscores that efforts among concerned countries for the North's return to the table are picking up pace," a foreign ministry official told Yonhap News Agency on condition of anonymity.
The suspension of the North's Olympic committee is only the latest in a series of setbacks in Seoul's peace efforts, including Pyongyang's rejection of calls through recently restored communication lines in protest over last month's South Korea-U.S. military exercise.
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
5. Ministry of Social Security officer in Hyesan arrested for colluding with remittance broker
I guess he was not paying off his superiors with enough money.
Evenparty and security officials are having a hard time making ends meet and they have to resort to various means to survive.
But the key point is the ability to get money to families inside north Korea through these remittance brokers.
Ministry of Social Security officer in Hyesan arrested for colluding with remittance broker - Daily NK
A Ministry of Social Security officer working at Hyesan Station, in Yanggang Province, was recently sent to a political prison camp for colluding with a remittance “broker.” As it is very rare for Ministry of Social Security agents to be arrested and punished by the Ministry of State Security, the incident has become a major talking point in North Korea.
A source in Yanggang Province told Daily NK on Thursday that the Ministry of Social Security officer — a man in his 40s identified by his surname of Choe — was put under emergency arrest by agents from the provincial branch of the Ministry of State Security in mid-June. After being questioned for over two months, he was finally sent to a political prison camp on Sept. 4.
THE OFFER
A Ministry of Social Security agent at Hyesan Station and secretary of a local party cell, Choe received an offer from a Hyesan woman in her 40s identified by her family name of Han in March. In return for bringing some people from the interior to Hyesan, Choe would receive RMB 2,000 a head.
Having a tough time making ends meet with the border sealed and local movement restricted due to COVID-19, Choe took up Han on her offer. Until the time he was arrested, Choe transported locals from South Pyongan Province, South Hamgyong Province, and Chagang Province to Hyesan.
In particular, Choe made sure the family members of defectors living in South Korea or China arrived safely at the border city of Hyesan. Han played the role of intermediary, contacting defectors and transferring remitted money to their families.
In this undated photo, a view of Hyesan, in North Korea’s Yanggang Province. / Image: Daily NK
In fact, Choe could bring families of defectors from the interior without papers by using his connections with station and train crews, inspectors and announcers.
“Their pockets hurting due to economic difficulties from the infectious disease [COVID-19], crews and inspectors didn’t turn down Choe’s money and accepted his requests,” said the source. “Because they looked the other way, the relatives of illegal border hoppers or fugitives to South Korea could safely come to Hyesan.”
Choe took money to take care of the conveniences of relatives of defectors, individuals North Korea designates as traitors. Publicly, however, he was a well-regarded public servant who even participated in a congress of party cell secretaries in Pyongyang in April.
CHOE’S ARREST
In June, Han was arrested by agents of the provincial branch of the Ministry of State Security for using an illegal foreign-made mobile phone and aiding defections. Choe, too, was arrested. During its investigation, the Ministry of State Security discovered Choe’s long-time side gig transporting the families of defectors to Hyesan.
“Given that this was a Ministry of Social Security officer who should take the lead in combating non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior and a party cell secretary who aided in the crime, he inevitably got sent to a political prison,” said the source. “His family, too, was exiled to the boonies as punishment for guilt by association, having failed to turn in Choe despite knowing of his crimes.
“Recently, the security authorities are upping their struggle against non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior,” he continued, adding, “In particular, they clearly intend to be completely unforgiving with crimes connected to using Chinese-made mobile phones.”
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
6. The worsening plight of North Korean soldiers
This is a key indicator. How is the "coherence"of the military? Can it keep it together? Will it continue to support the regime?
And the competition for resources could spread to competition not only between the military and party/government agencies but also between military units when Kim Jong-un has to completely deprioitize support to certain military forces.
This is a path to instability and a threat to the regime. it bears watching and we need to be thinking about our alliance contingency plans.
The worsening plight of North Korean soldiers - Daily NK
Soldiers are going beyond robbing homes and are now even targeting food storage facilities run by government agencies
By Gabriela Bernal - 2021.09.08 3:04pm
Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out last year, the lives of North Korean soldiers have become even more difficult than usual. Food shortages, work period extensions, deployment to construction sites, a rise in crime by military personnel—these are but some examples of how North Korea’s military has been fairing since the start of the pandemic.
With North Korea’s borders still largely closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the plight of North Korea’s entire population has taken a turn for the worst. Although some issues such as food shortages affect the majority of the population, North Korean soldiers have been facing particularly dire circumstances this year.
Unwanted and unexpected deployments
One of the main causes for discontent among soldiers these days are deployments to cooperative farms, disaster-stricken zones or construction sites. The move to relocate military personnel came as a result of the decision made during the January Workers’ Party Congress to shorten the military service period from 13 years to 8 years for men and from 8 years to 5 years for women while soldiers who had reached maturity were to be discharged as of 2020. Although a reduction in military service time may seem like a good thing, those who expected to be discharged soon suddenly found themselves being deployed to remote areas doing labor-intensive work.
For example, according to AsiaPress, in July a large number of discharged military personnel were sent to a cooperative farm in North Hamgyong Province to provide much-needed labor. But far from providing help to the community, they wreaked havoc by harassing women in the area and engaging in other violent behavior. Once a discharged soldier is sent to the countryside to work on a farm, it becomes increasingly difficult for them to climb up the social ladder and receive better job promotions or join the Workers’ Party.
But it is not just soldiers being dispatched to remote areas for manual labor. According to a recent Daily NK report, officers over the rank of major in Yanggang Province are also being deployed to build makeshift structures as part of efforts to prevent border crossings and defections along the Sino-North Korean border. According to a Daily NK source, the reason why officers of higher ranks are being chosen for work near the border is because authorities fear ordinary enlisted soldiers—whose food rations and overall living circumstances are far worse—may choose to defect if sent to such areas. “While majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels have been mobilized for the work, they are so thin they look malnourished,” the source said. “The officers look so unwell, it goes without saying that the enlisted men must be even worse.”
Food shortages
Worse than being deployed to remote areas is the lack of food many in the military continue to experience. Due to the severe food shortages caused by the prolonged border closure with China as well as natural disasters, there is not enough to eat, even for military personnel. As a result, soldiers are going beyond robbing homes and are now even targeting government agency food storage facilities. Although they do receive food from the military, the quality is poor and the quantity little.
North Korean soldiers seen walking near Namyang, North Hamgyong Province. / Image: Daily NK
“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,” one source explained. According to the source, soldiers deployed to that area are surviving on barely a single meal made from arrowroot dug up from the hillsides.
The situation at the border is unlikely to improve any time soon as work to complete high-voltage wires and walls have a long way to go, with many locals doubting the ability of the soldiers to complete the work by the Oct. 10—North Korea’s Party Foundation Day— deadline.
Besides food shortages, a lack of construction equipment and other necessary supplies is also making the work of the soldiers all the more difficult. According to one Daily NK source in Yanggang Province, authorities have provided only 40% of the supplies needed for the construction work in that area. To make matters worse, some logistics officers have been forced to sell some of the construction supplies in order to feed the soldiers. “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,” one source explained.
Lower compensation, higher demands
Despite the dire situation faced by soldiers and military personnel in the country, their workload is unlikely to be reduced any time soon. With the borders still closed, food shortages will likely continue affecting both ordinary citizens and military personnel. Moreover, with the Oct. 10 deadline fast approaching, even larger efforts to mobilize soldiers are likely to ensue.
Although many in the military are being deployed to border zones to prevent people from defecting, the conditions under which they are working and living only serve to further prove to ordinary people the deep failures of their government.
If those working in the military already face such dire circumstances, it is difficult to imagine how much worse the situation of the ordinary citizen must be.
Still, North Korea maintains that its COVID “prevention measures” are not violating the human rights of its people, despite a UN report last week arguing the opposite. With North Korea continuing to reject foreign aid and doubling down on efforts to blockade the border, the North Korean people have a tough winter ahead of them.
Views expressed in Guest Columns do not necessarily reflect those of Daily NK.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
7. Kim parades at midnight but China muffles his guns
Or perhaps the regime conducted a relatively normal parade as it usually does on September 9th. It rarely shows off strategic assets at this parade.I doubt CHina was a factor in this. Let's see what we see in October.
Kim parades at midnight but China muffles his guns
Floodlit event is visually impressive but its restrained march is in step with Beijing's desire to keep the US off its doorstep
SEOUL – North Korea’s capital Pyongyang resounded to the sound of marching boots Thursday as the state held a low-profile and apparently hastily arranged military-civilian parade.
It celebrated the 73rd anniversary of the official foundation of the North Korean state under the late “Eternal President” Kim Il Sung, grandfather of current national leader Kim Jong Un.
The after-dark event follows an emerging pattern that experts say is based on Kim Jong Un’s personal aesthetic sense, reflected in upgraded lighting installed last year around the most iconic square in Pyongyang.
No new weapons systems were reportedly showcased and elite military units – such as strategic rocket forces and commandos – did not get the limelight. As such, the parade is in synch with a non-provocative trend from what is widely seen as a menacing state.
The non-threatening nature of the parade, experts say, indicates deference to China, on which isolated North Korea is now almost totally reliant for energy and trade.
With the US having just undertaken a humiliating retreat from Afghanistan, Beijing does not want to give Washington – which has boots on the ground in Japan and South Korea, and is encouraging its allies to extend naval interoperability in the South and East China Seas – any excuse for further moves in East Asia.
March of the militia
According to North Korean state media monitored in Seoul, the parade began at midnight Thursday and lasted for just an hour. It was smaller than the two previous parades, held in January this year and October last year.
Unusually, it was mostly conducted by the Worker Peasant Red Guard, a civil defense militia believed to be over 5 million strong, rather than by the regular North Korean People’s Army, or NKPA.
Tractor towed rocket artillery is paraded. Photo: KCNA via AFP
Giant flags were unfurled, while military dogs and rocket-artillery tow tractors paraded. So, too, did workers dressed in hazmat suits and respirators; the workers are believed to man customs posts on the border with China.
The community of pundits who keenly dissect images of North Korean parades to uncover details about the NKPA’s latest hardware – such as ballistic missiles and launch vehicles – was disappointed. According to a South Korean military source quoted by Seoul’s Yonhap news agency, no cutting-edge weaponry was on display.
Some believe that national leader Kim has put new priority on party mechanisms and offered other personalities, including his sister, Yo Jong, major speaking roles, in a bid to give his nation a more “normalized” appearance and procedures than the “one-man state” it is widely believed to be.
Dressed in a western-style grey suit Kim, looking slimmer than in the past and sporting a less idiosyncratic hairstyle than his usual flattop, attended and waved at crowds but did not address the gathering.
Instead, Party Secretary Ri Il-hwan spoke.
Without offering detail, Ri stressed the need to upgrade juche – the nationalist “self-reliance” concept attributed to Kim Il Sung – and to increase the power of the NKPA. In a possible nod to the main attendees, he said party policy is to put “all people under arms” and to “turn the whole country into a fortress.”
Kim’s mysterious midnight parades
But if the aim of a parade is to showcase might, why hold it at midnight – North Korea’s third such after-dark parade in a row – rather than in daylight?
“The Soviets never did parades at midnight – never, period,” said Andrei Lankov, a North Korean watcher at Seoul’s Kukmin University. “When it comes to nighttime parades, there was the idea that these were basically Western romantic ideas, and they have bad political associations, with the Nazis.”
Paramilitary and public security forces march to celebrate the 73rd founding anniversary of North Korea at Kim Il Sung Square. Photo: AFP / KCNA / KNS
While night marches and even torch-lit parades have been held in North Korea dating back to the 1980s, Kim said, the current taste for after-dark military parades dates back to last October. Another after-dark parade took place in January this year.
Experts say the reason is aesthetic. It is an analysis backed up by the remodeling and re-lighting of Kim Il Sung Square – the Pyongyang landmark built on paved-over rubble from the Korean War ruins of the city.
“They invested in repurposing Kim Il Sung Square and installed lighting arrays just before last October’s midnight parade,” Chad O’Carroll founder of specialist media NKNews told Asia Times. “Aesthetically, it looks better… the lights are stadium-quality and are excellent for propaganda.”
It’s a convincing explanation, given how important optics are to the regime. But given how North Korea likes to showcase the hardware of its strategic rocket forces, as well as the exemplary foot drill of its elite units, why were militia, rather than regular forces chosen for the parade?
Evidence over the last weeks suggests that the parade was hastily arranged, meaning troops had to be supplied from the capital area.
“It could have been logistics,” said Go Myong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Seoul-based think tank the Asan Insititute. “If they prepared this at the last minute, they probably did not have time to bring in active-duty troops, whom they would have had to get there from different areas of the country, and quarantine.”
Though no TV broadcasts of the parade had been released by North Korean state media at the time of writing, the footage may be spectacular, given how the state has also been upgrading filming protocols.
O’Carroll mentioned remote-controlled trolley drones that can film marchers and the undersides of armored vehicles from knee height, as well as airborne UAV cameras. All, he said, are based on the latest techniques China uses to film its own parades, which North Korea has copied.
Why the low profile?
The minimalist nature of the parade – the first since President Joe Biden took office – is part of a trend in which North Korea has not launched any significant provocation since 2017.
That year, the country test-detonated what it claims was a hydrogen bomb and test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile which analysts assessed could hit anywhere in the continental US.
This picture taken on September 8, 2021 and released from North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on September 9, 2021 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (C) taking part in celebrations to mark the 73rd founding anniversary of North Korea in Pyongyang. Photo: KCNA via KNS / AFP
Since then, the country has conducted a number of short and medium-range missiles tests, and blown up an inter-Korean liaison office. Kim’s sister has also unleashed a number of rhetorical barrages. But none of these activities are on the scale of 2017’s moves.
One reason for this low profile is that North Korea’s key national partner does not want its ally raising tensions in East Asia.
“China does not like it, and now North Korea is more dependent on China than at any time in the last 70 years,” said Lankov. The time period referred to is the 1950-53 Korean War, when the North Korean state was saved by Chinese military intervention.
Currently, Beijing provides a lifeline of such necessities as fuel and food, while also being Pyongyang’s major trade partner and lead investor. Experts believe that while North Korea constantly trumpets the concept of juche, Pyongyang’s elite recognizes the reality of their dependence upon China, however galling it may be.
“They don’t like China,” said Lankov. “But they have to listen to China and make compromises.”
One key compromise is not raising regional tensions that would provide Washington an excuse to increase leverage in the region.
“Does China wants to see more US troops in region?” Lankov asked rhetorically. “Is it happy to see how pro-American South Korea and Japan are becoming? Is China happy to provide excuses to America to station more troops in not just Japan and Korea but also somewhere else?”
Kim stuck in his own trap
Pressure from China is not the only reason behind Pyongyang’s restrained behavior in recent years. Kim, arguably, is a victim of his own success.
Previous parades featured North Korea’s latest military hardware. This parade on October 10, 2020, shows what appears to be new intercontinental ballistic missiles. Photo: AFP / KCNA
He has upgraded the weapons of mass destruction programs that make his country relevant in international society. However, these assets, developed at colossal economic and political cost, have failed to lead North Korea out of international isolation. Nor have they earned it sanctions relief.
Soon after his major WOMD tests in late 2017, Kim won North Korea’s first-ever direct negotiations with a sitting US president in 2018. But the following year, the distrust dividing the two nations came to a head. Negotiations fizzled.
As of now, there is little indication that Biden is keen to re-start what will inevitably be a tortuous negotiation process. Relatedly, Pyongyang’s relations with key US ally Seoul remain in a virtual freeze.
This leaves Kim isolated, sanctioned and likely facing a simmering undercurrent of domestic social and economic challenges resulting from harsh anti-Covid-19 measures.
His next move is unclear, for, having repeatedly shot his WOMD bolt, Kim is stuck in a strategic dead-end from which there is no clear exit.
“There is a growing consensus internationally that North Korea is a de facto nuclear state, so there a diminishing utility to provocations,” said Go. “North Korea has reached the level they wanted to be at, now they have to go to a new level.”
8. N.Korean Troops Parade in Hazmat Uniforms
Yes, I will be using this photo in my Korean presentations. We often think of the Kim family regime being from another planet and this provides us a visual.
N.Korean Troops Parade in Hazmat Uniforms
September 10, 2021 13:43
North Korean troops in colorful hazmat uniforms paraded through Pyongyang in the small hours of Thursday morning to mark the country's 73rd anniversary.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un poses at a military parade marking the 73rd anniversary of the foundation of North Korea in Pyongyang on Thursday, in this grab from [North] Korean Central Television.
No strategic weapons like intercontinental ballistic missiles or submarine-launched ballistic missiles were displayed during the parade in Kim Il-sung Square, but there were service dogs, mounted troops, tractors, and motorcycles.
Greeted with a 21-gun salute, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wore a brightly colored suit and a tie on the podium and was holding hands of a little boy and a little girl.
He did not deliver a speech. In his stead, Ri Il-hwan, a secretary of the Workers Party, said the regime "will firmly defend the dignity and the fundamental interests of our people and solve everything our own way with our own efforts on the principle of self-reliance and self-development under any circumstances."
Marching in the front of the parade were a contingent of Pyongyang municipal party members who had taken the lead in recent flood restoration efforts, followed by red guards from the provinces. A mechanized unit of red guards drove motorcycles and tractors carrying conventional weapons such as 122-mm multiple rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles.
A midnight dance party by young men and women followed and fireworks crackled in the night sky. The regime seemed to focus on tightening controls and displaying the people's loyalty to Kim rather than a show of force to the outside world.
North Korean soldiers in hazmat suits march in a military parade marking the 73rd anniversary of the foundation of North Korea in Pyongyang on Thursday, in this photo from the [North] Korean Central News Agency.
Intelligence authorities here said the event only took about an hour and a half, much shorter than the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the party on Oct. 10 last year.
Normally, the regime prepares for a military parade for about two months, but this time it rehearsed for less than a month.
"The latest parade was aimed at tightening controls and cheering up civilians who were mobilized in efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic and recover from flood damage," a government official here said. "They seem to have made the utmost efforts to create a festive atmosphere because they can’t afford a full-size military parade amid protracted international sanctions and food shortage."
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com
9. North Korean Restaurants Abandon Price Controls Amid Food Shortages
More indicators of potential instability.
North Korean Restaurants Abandon Price Controls Amid Food Shortages
Pyongyang’s Okryu-gwan restaurant can no longer carry out its state-sponsored mission to serve naengmyeon noodles to the masses.
With food prices on the rise in North Korea, a Pyongyang restaurant serving the city’s signature dish has had to abandon price controls, causing a more than twentyfold increase and making a casual meal outside the house an expensive luxury that ordinary residents of the capital can no longer afford, sources told RFA.
Naengmyeon is a savory buckwheat noodle dish served cold that is enjoyed by many during the hot summer months. Though the dish is believed to have originated in North Korea, it exploded in popularity in the South after the Korean War and is available in Korean restaurants worldwide.
The two most popular styles of naengmyeon are the spicy, brothless variety that originated in the eastern coastal city of Hamhung, and Pyongyang naengmyeon, served in chilled beef broth, with a healthy accompaniment of vegetables and sliced beef, if available.
In Pyongyang, naengmyeon in a state-run restaurant could be had for about 300 won (U.S. $0.05), a price that was locked in by government policy to keep the cost of living stable for the capital’s residents, who have the privilege of not living in the impoverished provinces, sources told RFA.
But food shortages brought on by the closure of the Sino-Korean border and suspension of all trade with China since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic have made prices in even the state-run Pyongyang restaurants skyrocket to the point that a quick lunch of cold noodles is too expensive for the average person.
“Okryu-gwan, a state-run restaurant that is an official showcase restaurant of Pyongyang and specializes in naengmyeon has raised the price above the state-controlled rate to actual market price, causing resentment among the people,” a resident of the capital city recently told RFA’s Korean Service.
“The symbolism of Okryu-gwan as an institution that serves the people has completely disappeared, because the price of food, which had always been low because of price controls, has suddenly increased more than twenty times,” said the source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.
Okryu-gwan has a storied history. Originally founded in the 1960s under the direction of national founder and then leader Kim Il Sung, grandfather of current leader Kim Jong Un, the restaurant was in some ways a center of culinary culture in the city, according to the source. Okryu-gwan was the site of a luncheon during the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit, where Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-In symbolically dined at the same table, with Pyongyang naengmyeon as the main course.
Food supplies had always been guaranteed by the government, and this allowed the restaurant to keep prices well below market cost, making it one of the most popular dining destinations in the city.
“The restaurant provided meal vouchers to the factories and neighborhood watch units. Then they provided food, such as naengmyeon, to people who could have the meal vouchers at a low, nationally guaranteed price,” the source said.
“However, since June, the meal voucher disappeared, and they raised the price from 300 won ($0.05) for a bowl of naengmyeon to the market price of 7,000 won ($1.15),” the source said.
“The average monthly salary of ordinary workers in Pyongyang is 2,000 to 3,000 won ($0.32-0.49), but a bowl of naengmyeon is more than two months’ wages, so how can ordinary citizens afford that?”
Divided by class
Even though Okryu-gwan had in the past been affordable, there had always been a two-tiered system in place, the source explained.
“These state-run restaurants would provide food at market prices to foreigners, high-ranking officials, and the rich,” said the source.
“The privileged people who could pay market price dined in a separate space inside Okryu-gwan and were able to enjoy various other dishes besides naengmyeon. But ordinary people who had to show a meal voucher would only be able to eat naengmyeon,” the source said.
Another resident of Pyongyang confirmed to RFA Sept. 5 that Okryu-gwan had raised its prices to market rates.
“The price increase, coupled with shortened restaurant hours due to the food shortage, has caused a drop-off in the number of customers visiting the restaurant to eat naengmyeon,” said the second source, who requested anonymity to speak freely.
The second source said that the sharp increase in the restaurant’s prices signified that Okryu-gwan no longer has the mission of serving the citizens of the capital.
“Criticism from the citizens is pouring in. Before the pandemic, Okryu-gwan was open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. with plenty of food supplied by the state. These days it’s only open twice a day, from noon to 2 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. because of the food shortage,” the second source said.
“It’s not only Okryu-gwan, but also other famous restaurants made to serve the people like Cheongryu-gwan, the Koryo Hotel restaurant, and the restaurant at the Daesung Department Store have raised their food prices all at once.”
The price increases are causing the people to grumble that the country’s leadership does not care about them, according to the second source.
“The citizens complain that General Secretary Kim Jong Un has repeatedly emphasized his ‘people-first principle’ in various important government meetings this year, but their living standards continue to get worse and worse.”
A quarter century after famine killed as many as a tenth of North Korea’s 23 million people, the food situation in North Korea is again dire, with starvation deaths reported in the wake of the closure of the Sino-Korean border and suspension of trade with China in Jan. 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
In addition to heavy rains in summer that caused severe flooding and destroyed crops in some areas, output at many farms is reduced by a lack of equipment and materials, a result of the long closure of the border with China.
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.
Reported by Jeong Yon Park for RFA’s Korean Service. Translated by Leejin Jun. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
10. The highest-grossing film in South Korea this year is a true story set in Somalia
I still have not seen this. But as I have mentioned this could have great potential for information and influence activities in the north.
The highest-grossing film in South Korea this year is a true story set in Somalia
A new South Korean film set during the Somali civil war in 1991 is the highest-grossing film in the Asian country so far this year.
With $26.9 million in ticket sales, Escape from Mogadishu has raked in more than the Hollywood movies Black Widow and , according to the Korean film council, despite being released after them and being shown on less screens. It is also the first film to surpass 3 million ticket sales in the country this year.
Directed by South Korean Ryoo Seung-wan, Escape from Mogadishu is based on real events of 1991 when North Korean and South Korean embassy workers and their families, trapped and stranded in the civil war, unexpectedly unite despite their countries’ differences to make a dangerous attempt to escape the city.
“This is a story about humanity—living against adversity,” Peter Kawa, who plays the role of a police officer called Khalil in the film, tells Quartz. He is one of six Kenyan actors in the film, .
Escape from Mogadishu was entirely shot in Morocco in 2019 and it was released in South Korea on July 28 of this year. It stars the South Koreans Kim Yoon-seok, Jo In-sung, Heo Joon-ho and Kim So-jin.
Escape from Mogadishu is one of many films related to the Somali civil war, including the 2001 Hollywood movie Black Hawk Dawn by director Ridley Scott.
The Somali civil war started in 1988, with the country’s military forces fighting against different rebel groups who were opposing President Mohamed Siad Barre’s dictatorship. Barre was eventually overthrown by opposition groups in 1991.
South Korea had sent diplomats to Somalia in 1987, the same year the two established diplomatic ties, to earn the support of African members of the United Nations as part of its efforts to be admitted to the global body. North Korea and Somalia had established diplomatic relations earlier, in 1967.
Well Go USA Inc.
Seeking safety.
North Korea and South Korea have had a tense relationship for decades as both claim to be the legitimate government of the entire Korean Peninsula, which the US and the Soviet Union divided in 1945. But in Escape from Mogadishu, this rivalry takes a back seat as their citizens work towards a common goal.
“However much people do not agree according to country,” Kawa says, “when it comes now not to saving lives, they get to work together and they remind themselves that they’re all they have—each other.”
11. Is Kim Jong Un On The Same Weight Loss Program As Most North Koreans?
If we could just lift sanctions north Korea could make a lot of money as a spa for "weight loss tourism." Need to trim down? Spend a month in a north Korean gulag. (please note sarcasm).
Is Kim Jong Un On The Same Weight Loss Program As Most North Koreans? (PICTURES)
North Korea’s Head of State Kim Jong Un attended an event Thursday to celebrate his country’s 73rd anniversary and made headlines for what appears to be a significant amount of weight loss.
The event lacked some of the usual military fanfare, and focused instead on healthcare workers wearing hazmat suits to show a “display of force” against COVID-19, according to The New York Post.
“It’s striking how much healthier Kim Jong Un is looking in these photos from yesterday. However he is doing it — and there are theories — he looks a lot better than he did a few months ago,” Journalist Martyn Williams tweeted.
It’s striking how much healthier Kim Jong Un is looking in these photos from yesterday. However he is doing it — and there are theories — he looks a lot better than he did a few months ago. pic.twitter.com/DKqCOFSBF8
South Korea’s National Intelligence Service estimates that he has lost up to 44 pounds, The New York Post reported. The dictator’s health has become a concern for the U.S. and South Korea, as well as for North Korean intelligence agencies because he has yet to name a successor. The leader’s family has a history of heart problems with his father and grandfather both dying from heart issues, as previously reported.
What a difference 5 weeks makes! North Korea’s Kim Jong Un had not been seen in public for about a month. He’s now reappeared looking considerably thinner. Kim’s weight matters to spy agencies. Kim’s health affects regional security. His father & grandfather died of heart attacks pic.twitter.com/0cMjQFzzyB
“The parade shows that the government felt a need to build unity domestically — the population is clearly suffering amid the pandemic and social complaints are likely building up,” said South Korean analyst Hong Min, The New York Post reported.
12. S. Korea too important for U.S. to withdraw troops: U.S. lawmakers
Korean security remains a strongly bipartisan issue.
But the pursuit of a peace regime could cause some issues. I am surprised that was not discussed (or reported on )
S. Korea too important for U.S. to withdraw troops: U.S. lawmakers | Yonhap News Agency
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korea is too important to the United States for it to ever be able to simply pull out its troops as it did in Afghanistan, U.S. lawmakers said Wednesday.
Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA) also said South Korea's strategic importance would only increase as the U.S. rivalry with China grows.
"To audiences in Korea, I would tell them not to read too deeply in the decision by President (Joe) Biden to withdraw out of Afghanistan," he said in a webinar hosted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
"Korea's a totally different country. It's one of the most developed democracies in the world. It's certainly a developed economy. We have a long geopolitical strategic relationship, and our security commitments are extremely important to members of Congress in a bilateral way," added Bera, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who also serves as chairman of the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, Central Asia and Nonproliferation.
His remark comes after the U.S.' departure from Afghanistan stoked concerns the U.S. may one day decide to withdraw its troops from its treaty ally, South Korea.
Bera underlined the U.S.' growing commitment to the region amid its seemingly growing competition with China.
"You know the commitment to the region is probably more important than ever because of that other Asian nation ... China, certainly. As we look at the various values and so forth, the geopolitical importance of East Asia is not lost on anyone," said the U.S. lawmaker.
Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) agreed South Korea is different from Afghanistan.
"We are there as a deterrence to any potential conflict in the Korean Peninsula. We will be there and I really want to assure you -- as long as Ami Bera and I are in Congress ... we will be there to lend our voice and be your advocate," she told the webinar.
The U.S. has maintained a significant military presence in South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War and currently has some 28,500 troops stationed there.
On the North Korean nuclear issue, both lawmakers agreed on the need to resume dialogue with North Korea but warned against moving too quickly or giving unwarranted concessions.
"It was both clear in our meetings with President Moon but also with his Cabinet members (that) resumption of dialogue with North Korea is seen as a legacy item," Bera said of his recent meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in during his bipartisan visit to Seoul in July.
"And that's one where, you know, we may have pushed back a little bit to say, 'We're open to the dialogue but let's make sure we don't move too fast and ... that it's done, you know, in a manner that we're also getting some victories as well'," he added.
North Korea has ignored a series of overtures the Joe Biden administration has made since its inauguration in January, while it also remains unresponsive to daily calls from South Korea through their direct communication channels, which were restored in late July after a 13-month suspension.
Kim emphasized the need to keep pressure on the North.
"I don't believe in relaxing sanctions just for Kim Jong-un to come back to the table. We tried that approach before, and it's led to a rogue nuclear regime that has used its power to oppress its people for decades," she said, referring to the North Korean leader.
"So in order to move towards harsher sanctions relief, I would like to see serious signs from North Korea that it is willing to move forward with reforms and denuclearization and human rights," added the Korean-American lawmaker.
She insisted any humanitarian assistance for North Korea must also be closely monitored to make sure they reach the North Korean people, instead of propping up "their malign regime."
The top nuclear envoys of South Korea and the U.S. earlier said they may consider providing humanitarian assistance, including COVID-19 vaccines, to the North if asked by the impoverished nation.
Bera said providing COVID-19 vaccines to the North may be a dialogue opener.
"I think, for lack of a better way of describing vaccine diplomacy, providing vaccines to the North could be a door opener to dialogue," he said, while also highlighting the need to vaccinate the world, including the North Korean population" to end the pandemic.
"From a humanitarian perspective certainly, providing vaccines, and U.S. vaccines, I think, could be really important."
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
13. Members of Congress Urge Biden Administration To Proceed with Caution On North Korea Sanctions
I have seen no evidence of the Biden administration contemplating the premature lifting of sanctions. But it is good that bipartisan support for sanctions continues though there are some in Congress who are under the influence of the appeasers.
Members of Congress Urge Biden Administration To Proceed with Caution On North Korea Sanctions - USNI News
Photo of an Oct. 2, 2019 North Korean Pukguksong-3 test. Rodong åSinmun Photo
Two members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee this week urged the Biden administration to proceed with caution in potentially easing sanctions against North Korea as a way to re-open denuclearization negotiations, particularly as South Korea gears up for presidential elections.
Having recently returned from a trip to South Korea, where they met with parliamentary peers and President Moon Jae-in, Rep. Young Kim (R-Calif.) said any new talks should begin with Washington pushing “for verifiable, irreversible denuclearization” of the peninsula.
Kim and her colleague Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.) expressed concern over a new round of negotiations beginning as the United Nations agency charged with monitoring nuclear activity earlier this month called the North Korea’s re-opening of a reactor “deeply troubling” and in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Bera said that Moon, who was elected in 2017 on a campaign pledging to improve relations with Pyongyang, could be moving for “a resumption of dialogue with North Korea [as] a legacy item,” despite Pyongyang closing its borders since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and ignoring the Biden administration’s offers to meet again.
The South Korean constitution limits the president to a single term. New elections are scheduled for March.
Both members of Congress mentioned that a new Korean administration might have a very different approach to Pyongyang.
Bera agreed that Kim Jong-un’s regime “is hard to get a reading” on. He cited known problems in the North with the pandemic, malnutrition, a stalled economy and the leader’s own health as key “internal domestic issues” that also seem to affect the regime’s approach to foreign affairs.
Bera, who is a doctor, said an offer of COVID-19 vaccines to the Pyongyang “could be a door opener,” but he added that the North would also have to be transparent as to who is getting the shots. Kim said the same standard of transparency should apply to all shipments of humanitarian aid to North Korea.
On the American pullout from Afghanistan, Bera said he tells constituents “not to read too deeply” into Biden’s decision. “Korea is a totally different country,” a democracy, and the United States’ “commitment to the region is greater.”
Kim, whose southern California district is one-third-Asian American, said she tries to alleviate her constituents’ concerns by saying what she has said to congressional colleagues: “We will be there … the U.S. can lead.”
When it comes to Seoul’s relations with Beijing, its largest trading partner, Kim said the difference comes down to “long-term interests” with Washington. “We have values” that the Chinese don’t share.
“It’s not a question of the U.S. or China,” Bera added. “This is also a battle of ideas” that includes trade, freedom of navigation through international waters, and democracy. But “I don’t think Korea wants to formally enter a Quad Plus One” arrangement as a counter to Beijing in the Indo-Pacific.
Kim did see combating the COVID-19 pandemic as a way the Quad – an informal security arrangement between the U.S., Japan, Australia and India and South Korea – “could come together.”
Related
14. The Real Reason the North Korea Parade Was Weird as Fuck
I wonder who came up with this headline? Don Kirk or a Daily Beast headline editor.
Just remember every dollar (or Won or RMB or Euro) spent on the parade is money that does not go to the welfare of the Korean people living in the north. Another of Kim's policy decisions and priorities.
Excerpt:
“One of the purposes of North Korean military parades is to divert the elite and public attention from the North’s internal problems.”
The Real Reason the North Korea Parade Was Weird as Fuck
From the hazmat suits to an oddly silent Supreme Leader, Pyongyang’s midnight march on Thursday was even stranger than prior parades.
JUNG YEON-JE/AFP via Getty Images
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un was natty in a light gray suit, smiling broadly as he greeted red-scarfed Young Pioneers high on the reviewing stand before thousands of his subjects summoned at midnight for a parade marking the 73rd anniversary of the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on Thursday.
Beneath the forced gaiety, however, was an obvious reality. Economic duress, poverty, and hunger had to take priority while his vaunted missiles, so proudly shown off at the last big military parade in January, remained in storage. Instead, old artillery pieces and armored vehicles trundled by, accompanied by high-stepping troops as the crowds cheered in unison, on command.
But Kim’s appearance at the parade also may have conveyed an upbeat message. Contrary to so many negative reports over the years about his weight and health, he did look fine in the photos. His weight was down, which may have been one reason for him to show up conspicuously while saying nothing beyond a few words of greeting.
“One of the purposes of North Korean military parades is to divert the elite and public attention from the North’s internal problems.”
Instead of listening to rhetoric, citizens had to read the state media for inspiration. “Our Republic is a valuable crystal of the people-first idea and guidance of the peerlessly great men,” effused Rodong Sinmun, the party paper. “The cause of building a socialist state centered on the popular masses has entered a new stage of its development under the guidance of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un.”
The blitz of verbiage scarcely hid the strangeness of the parade, including the insistence on holding it at midnight rather than upsetting a skeptical populace by staging the spectacle in daylight hours.
The masses, as Kim himself has made publicly plain in a series of speeches before the politburo and party congress, are far more concerned about getting their next bowl of rice than hearing about nukes and missiles.
The mass craving for food is “tense,” Kim acknowledged at the latest politburo meeting, conjuring memories of the great famine of the mid-1990s when as many as two million died of hunger and disease in the worst period of the country’s history since the Korean War.
“Yes, one of the purposes of North Korean military parades is to divert the elite and public attention from the North’s internal problems,” Bruce Bennett, North Korea expert at the Rand Corporation, told The Daily Beast. Bennett cited “a lack of food and consumer goods, corruption, and brutal Kim purges.” Always, he said, Kim must “create the perception that the North is superior to the South and would thus be able to dominate the South at some point in the not-too-distant future.”
The bizarre nature of this parade, said Bennett, suggests Kim is also conveying another message, telling the North’s elites, “We are getting there”—albeit “not yet.”
Despite pervasive economic duress, North Korea still is not reporting the spread of COVID-19 that Kim still claims has not killed or even stricken any of his people. Marchers clad in protective gear, from masked faces to white footgear, belied the impression that his country, from which most foreigners, including diplomats and UN people, have fled in recent months, was not deeply concerned about the pandemic.
But while shutting borders and refraining from ordering missile tests, Kim has been able to conduct at least some business as usual.
The International Atomic Energy Agency reports the reactor at the main nuclear complex at Yongbyon, about 60 miles north of Pyongyang, is again humming away, presumably fabricating more nuclear warheads. North Korea is believed to have about 60 warheads but has not tested a nuke since Kim ordered the sixth underground test in September 2017.
“The most interesting missile-related development on the peninsula recently.”
Climate change, as Kim made clear in his remarks to the top echelons of the party, over which he reigns as chairman, is clearly taking its toll, as seen in the twin menaces of floods and drought on top of erosion and crop failures. North Korea, like the rest of the world, is “vulnerable.”
One reason Kim has not displayed his galaxy of missiles may be that South Korea has beaten North Korea to the draw in conducting its first test of an SLBM, submarine-launched ballistic missile. One SLBM was dragged through Pyongyang aboard a massive Chinese-made vehicle at the North’s parade in January, but North Korea watchers are still waiting for the North to test the darn thing.
Meanwhile, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported three days ago that the South’s Agency for Defense Development had test-fired an SLBM from a 3,000-ton submarine. “After a round of additional tests, the SLBM will be mass-produced for deployment,” said Yonhap, making the South “the eighth country in the world to develop an SLBM after the United States, Russia, Britain, France, India, China, and North Korea.”
Evans Revere, a former senior diplomat at the American embassy in Seoul, called the South Korean SLBM test “the most interesting missile-related development on the peninsula recently.”
That test, he said, “was a useful reminder to Pyongyang that two can play this game and that Seoul is prepared to take major steps to defend itself against the North’s nuclear and missile threats.” It was “a welcome and unusual change of pace from the Moon administration’s policy of offering Pyongyang nothing but starry-eyed calls for dialogue and engagement—which Pyongyang has treated with contempt.”
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.
