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Quotes of the Day:
"The Navy has never let me down in the past and it will not let me down this time." ... "We shall land at Incheon and I shall crush them!"
– General Douglas MacArthur , regarding the Incheon landing on September 15, 1950
"The major part of our intelligence was the result of good old-fashioned intellectual sweat."
– William J. Donovan
"Plans are nothing. Planning is everything."
– Dwight D. Eisenhower
1. Yoon says issue of separated families is 'most pressing task'
2. Nearly 2,000 aging separated family members die in first 8 months of year: gov't data
3. N. Korea launches trash balloons toward S. Korea for 2nd day: JCS
4. North Korean Aid To Russia Poses Biggest Threat To Ukraine, Intelligence Chief Says
5. Fatal flaw in North Korea's 'strategic submarine'
6. S. Korea trying to figure out N. Korea's intentions behind uranium enrichment facility disclosure: official
7. Was North Korea’s latest missile launch meant to sway US election, test weapons for Ukraine war?
8. U.S. says it continues monitoring N.K. nuclear ambitions after uranium enrichment facility disclosure
9. North Korea’s Kim, Breathing Defiance and Emboldened by Russian Alliance, Showcases Nuclear Facility
10. North Korea Ramping Up Weapons Production for Russia as Human Rights Abuses Worsen, Seoul Report Warns
11. North Korean soldiers 'defect' over border as locals 'jealous' of duo's freedom
1. Yoon says issue of separated families is 'most pressing task'
Unfortunately the only solution to this tragedy is the establishment of a free and unified Korea. Sadly separate families do not have much time.
Excerpts:
"The North Korean authorities are rejecting even humanitarian exchanges, but we are finding things we can do and going ahead with them first," he said.
Yoon recalled that a survey of separated family members was conducted across North America last year, with similar surveys being carried out in other parts of the world this year.
"We will strengthen the basis for cooperation by continually calling for international attention to the issue of separated families on the international stage, including at the United Nations," he said.
Yoon says issue of separated families is 'most pressing task' | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · September 15, 2024
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol said Sunday that addressing the issue of family members separated by the 1950-53 Korean War is "the most pressing task."
Yoon made the remark in a speech read on his behalf by Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho at a ceremony marking the second Separated Families Day.
"The issue of separated families is the most pressing task we must resolve," Yoon said, noting that around 3,000 of the 130,000 applicants for government-arranged reunions die every year without having reunited with their loved ones in North Korea.
"The North Korean authorities are rejecting even humanitarian exchanges, but we are finding things we can do and going ahead with them first," he said.
Yoon recalled that a survey of separated family members was conducted across North America last year, with similar surveys being carried out in other parts of the world this year.
"We will strengthen the basis for cooperation by continually calling for international attention to the issue of separated families on the international stage, including at the United Nations," he said.
Last year, South Korea designated Aug. 13 on the lunar calendar, or two days before the Chuseok fall harvest holiday, as a commemorative day for separated families.
This year's Chuseok falls on Tuesday.
Unification Minister Kim Yung-ho delivers a speech on behalf of President Yoon Suk Yeol at a ceremony marking the second Separated Families Day at KBS Hall in Seoul on Sept. 15, 2024, in this photo provided by the unification ministry. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · September 15, 2024
2. Nearly 2,000 aging separated family members die in first 8 months of year: gov't data
And this data does not include those who remain in the north.
Nearly 2,000 aging separated family members die in first 8 months of year: gov't data | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · September 15, 2024
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- Nearly 2,000 separated family members in South Korea died in the first eight months of this year without having an opportunity to reunite with their loved ones in North Korea after being separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, government data showed Sunday.
A total of 1,961 applicants for government-arranged reunions for separated families died in the January-August period, raising the total number of such people to 96,352, according to the data from the unification ministry.
As of end-August, around 134,160 people had registered with the unification ministry for family reunion events.
The number of surviving people came to 37,806 as of the end of last month, with 66.5 percent of the total aged 80 or older, according to the data.
Separated families in South Korea have had no exchanges with their relatives in North Korea either at government or civilian levels for more than a year amid frosty inter-Korean ties.
Since the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, the two Koreas have held 21 rounds of separated family reunions. Since the last event in August 2018, state-arranged family events have been suspended.
The government plans to hold a ceremony to mark the second Separated Families Day later in the day in a bid to help solace divided families' pain, the ministry said.
Last year, South Korea designated Aug. 13 on the lunar calendar as a commemorative day for separated families by reflecting their wish to reunite with family members in the North around the Chuseok fall harvest holiday. Chuseok, which falls on Aug. 15 on the lunar calendar, is one of the country's two biggest traditional holidaysnd
This file photo, taken Sept. 8, 2022, shows an official at the Korean Red Cross checking a collection of video messages by South Korean families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War. The video letters were produced for delivery to the separated families' kin in North Korea. (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · September 15, 2024
3. N. Korea launches trash balloons toward S. Korea for 2nd day: JCS
Kim Jong Un's Chuseok gift to the South?
N. Korea launches trash balloons toward S. Korea for 2nd day: JCS | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · September 15, 2024
SEOUL, Sept. 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Sunday launched balloons likely carrying trash toward South Korea for the second straight day, the South's military said.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the latest launches, noting the balloons could travel toward the northern part of Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul, and the broader capital area.
The launch came after the North flew around 50 trash-carrying balloons toward the South from Saturday night to early Sunday, with about 10 trash bundles landing in Gyeonggi Province and Seoul, according to the JCS.
The JCS said the trash mostly consisted of paper, plastic bottles and other household garbage, while no hazardous substances have been found.
Since late May, the North has launched thousands of trash-carrying balloons toward the South in retaliation against anti-Pyongyang leaflets sent across the border by North Korean defectors and activists in South Korea.
In response, South Korea's military has been blasting daily anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasts through its loudspeakers on the border.
North Korea has bristled at the leaflet and loudspeaker campaigns on fears that an influx of outside information could pose a threat to the Kim Jong-un regime.
This file photo, provided by the fire services of Gangwon Province, shows a bundle of trash presumed to be sent by North Korea in Chuncheon, 75 kilometers northeast of Seoul, on Sept. 7, 2024. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · September 15, 2024
4. North Korean Aid To Russia Poses Biggest Threat To Ukraine, Intelligence Chief Says
North Korean Aid To Russia Poses Biggest Threat To Ukraine, Intelligence Chief Says
September 14, 2024 20:09 GMT
https://www.rferl.org/amp/ukraine-russia-north-korea-budanov-ammunition/33120176.html
Russian President Vladimir Putin (right) and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport outside Pyongyang, North Korea, on June 19.
Military aid provided to Russia by North Korea is the most damaging for Ukraine, intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said on September 14 at a conference in Kyiv. "Our biggest problem from all these allies of Russia is from North Korea. Because with the volume of military products that they supply, they actually affect the intensity of the fighting," Budanov said. His remarks came as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un pledged to deepen ties with Russia. Kyiv has been monitoring arms deliveries from Pyongyang to Moscow and feels their effect on the battlefield. "There is a direct correlation. They are supplying huge volumes of artillery ammunition, which is critical," Budanov said.
5. Fatal flaw in North Korea's 'strategic submarine'
A Google translation of an RFA report.
Excerpts:
( Lee Il-woo ) There is something that 38 North missed . In the case of a general surface warship, extensive equipment installation such as radar, weapons , and electronic equipment is carried out after launch , but for a submarine, which has a fundamentally different hull structure from a surface warship, it is a general process to complete the installation of most of the onboard equipment before launch .
Since submarines are sealed structures made by connecting pressure hull modules , it is very difficult to install additional equipment inside once the hull is completed . Sonars, in particular, are very large, so the hull must be cut open to install or replace them . The outfitting work that a launched submarine usually involves installing communication equipment or observation equipment in the shale section . In other words , the currently in dry dock was not put into dry dock for outfitting work .
In this regard, we have received some intelligence from South Korean government intelligence officials . This intelligence, reported by some media outlets in South Korea, states that several very serious defects have been discovered on the Kim Gun-ok Hero , and repair work is currently underway .
The defects of this submarine identified by the Korean government include “air bubbles are generated after submerging and the submarine sinks” and “the hull tilts to the side when surfacing . ” These are serious defects that would be surprising to experts with knowledge of submarine structure and design if they heard about them .
Fatal flaw in North Korea's 'strategic submarine'
https://www.rfa.org/korean/weekly_program/c2e0bc15d55cd55cbc18b3c4c2e0bb34ae30b300bc31acfc/armencyclopedia-09132024162456.html
WASHINGTON-Kim Jin-guk kimj@rfa.org
2024.09.15
The Kim Gun-ok Hero ship with dents visible throughout the hull
Source: Korean Central News Agency
00:00 /16:23
( Host ) We will accurately grasp the current state of the military standoff on the Korean Peninsula and seek a path to peace . This is Kim Jin-guk hosting ' Encyclopedia of New Weapons on the Korean Peninsula' from Washington D.C. We will connect with Lee Il-woo, Secretary General of the ' Independent Defense Network ' of Korea .
The story of how the North's proud ' hero ' submarine was moved from water to land
( Anchor ) About a year ago , in September 2023 , North Korea unveiled a new submarine classified as a so-called "tactical nuclear attack submarine . " A year after its launch, this submarine, which should be busy preparing for operational deployment , has been moved back to land ?
( Lee Il-woo ) Looking at Kim Jong-un’s on-site guidance reports by state-run media ahead of North Korea’s September 9th holiday, as well as Kim Jong-un’s military-related messages in recent years , we can see that Kim Jong-un is very interested in the navy . Kim Jong-un visited a naval base under construction for expansion and emphasized several times that North Korea is a country surrounded by the sea on two sides, and that building up naval power is very important . Kim Jong-un also said during the visit that “we plan to have large ships and submarines in the near future . ”
The large submarine that Kim Jong-un mentioned is the , which was launched on September 6th of last year. The existence of this submarine was first officially confirmed in July 2019 , when it was revealed that it was being built in an indoor dock . However , based on photos released during its construction and photos released at its launching ceremony last year, many have assessed that it is a submarine with many problems .
According to a recent report by 38 North, a U.S.-based North Korea-specialized media outlet , commercial satellite images taken of North Korea's Sinpo Shipyard in August showed the submarine lifted from the sea onto land and anchored in a "dry dock" while undergoing some kind of work .
has been moored at a dock with a camouflage net installed to avoid reconnaissance for a long time since its launch last year, undergoing outfitting work . Outfitting is the process of installing various additional equipment on the hull after the hull is completed and launched . The submarine was dry docked last May , and 38 North analyzed the movement as “extensive outfitting work,” saying, “This is partial work to install the steering gear, sonar , and torpedo launchers . ” Judging from this, it seems that North Korea’s tactical nuclear attack submarine is normally preparing for operational readiness .
Fatal ( unable to dive ) defect of ' Kim Gun-ok Hero '
( Host ) North Korea has been promoting this submarine as its best strategic weapon , but South Korean intelligence authorities have recently confirmed that this submarine has a fatal flaw ? What is the problem ?
( Lee Il-woo ) There is something that 38 North missed . In the case of a general surface warship, extensive equipment installation such as radar, weapons , and electronic equipment is carried out after launch , but for a submarine, which has a fundamentally different hull structure from a surface warship, it is a general process to complete the installation of most of the onboard equipment before launch .
Since submarines are sealed structures made by connecting pressure hull modules , it is very difficult to install additional equipment inside once the hull is completed . Sonars, in particular, are very large, so the hull must be cut open to install or replace them . The outfitting work that a launched submarine usually involves installing communication equipment or observation equipment in the shale section . In other words , the currently in dry dock was not put into dry dock for outfitting work .
In this regard, we have received some intelligence from South Korean government intelligence officials . This intelligence, reported by some media outlets in South Korea, states that several very serious defects have been discovered on the Kim Gun-ok Hero , and repair work is currently underway .
Kim Gun-ok Hero ship, unusually long compared to the diameter of the pressure hull (Source: Korean Central News Agency)
The defects of this submarine identified by the Korean government include “air bubbles are generated after submerging and the submarine sinks” and “the hull tilts to the side when surfacing . ” These are serious defects that would be surprising to experts with knowledge of submarine structure and design if they heard about them .
First, there are two possibilities when it comes to bubbles . First, there are bubbles generated from the screw propeller, which is a propulsion device . This is a problem that occurs in all submarines . The screw propeller, as the name suggests, is a device that pushes water while rotating at a high speed . The speed of the seawater around the propeller increases due to the propeller blades rotating very quickly underwater . There is something called Bernoulli's law . It is easy to understand if you think of a helicopter . When a helicopter's propeller rotates quickly, the pressure below increases and the pressure above decreases, and the increased pressure below pushes the propeller, creating lift . Submarine screw propellers also generate bubbles due to this pressure difference around the propeller , which is commonly called cavitation .
These bubbles are natural , but because they generate a huge amount of noise , they are a very critical weakness for the submarine's survivability . If the bubbles generated by the are cavitation, this means that the submarine is vulnerable and can be detected from a long distance .
Another reason for bubbles is if the pressure hull is not welded properly or the joints cannot withstand the water pressure, causing gas to leak out from inside the hull . This is a very serious problem , because you are literally leaking water .
The reason for this problem was introduced in the past when we talked about the 'Frankenstein submarine' . It was explained that North Korea's is not a newly built ship, but a ship that was made by cutting and attaching the pressure hull of an existing Romeo-class submarine, so it is bound to have durability issues . It is precisely because of this durability problem that cracks appear throughout the hull , and as air escapes through these cracks, bubbles are created . This is also why there was talk of the hull sinking along with the air bubbles when submerged . Submarines have several ballast tanks inside the hull . When these tanks are filled with water, the submarine submerges , and when the water is drained , it surfaces. However, if bubbles appear while submerged and the submarine sinks to the point where it cannot control its depth, it means that water is entering somewhere other than the ballast tanks .
The intelligence report that the ship tilts to the side when surfacing is also due to a design flaw . was made by connecting several Romeo-class pressure hulls, so its length is more than 10m longer than the Romeo-class , but the diameter of the pressure hull remains at around 7m . Although the length of the ship has increased , the width has remained the same , and the space behind the shale has been greatly expanded to install missile launchers, so it is natural that the balance will be lost .
In particular, because of the missile launch space at the back of the shale that has become incredibly large, the center of gravity of this submarine has risen, making it extremely difficult to keep its balance left and right . On the side of the shale of the there is a wing-like rudder , usually called a diving plane, and the US Navy calls it a hydroplane . This is used to balance the submarine when diving or surfacing , but despite having it, the design of the hull's balance was so poor that it was difficult to keep balance left and right .
Based on the information revealed so far , it seems that the will be difficult to use in actual combat . First , it can go out to sea alive and fire SLBMs ( submarine ballistic missiles ) , but if it were to submerge, it would not be able to maintain its depth and would likely sink , or the ship would capsize and sink . These are the issues that were warned about when the 'Frankenstein Submarine' was introduced .
Will Russian technical assistance solve the North Korean submarine problem ?
( Host ) According to information obtained by a U.S. think tank via satellite , North Korea is known to be building additional submarines of the same type . They are building submarines with design flaws one after another. If North Korea , which has recently strengthened military cooperation with Russia, receives Russian technical support , could the problem be solved starting with the second submarine ?
( Lee Il-woo ) Recently, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell pointed out that Russia is providing submarine technology to China , and the Financial Times also reported that Russia is providing technical support for the construction of China's next-generation strategic nuclear submarine , the Type 096 submarine . This naturally leads to speculation that North Korea, which is actively cooperating with Russia, will also be able to receive Russian technology .
However, China and North Korea have fundamentally different environments . China is an advanced country in submarines that has already developed and built various types of submarines on its own , and the support it can receive from Russia is limited to submarine noise reduction technology . Since most of the sonar, weapons , and electronic equipment that go into submarines are domestically produced, it is possible to receive technical advice through discussions with Russia .
But North Korea is a completely different situation . North Korea has virtually no infrastructure to build modern submarines . It has no infrastructure to produce high-strength alloy steels needed for submarine pressure hulls , and no electronics industry capable of producing internal equipment . So even if Russia provides technical advice, North Korea has no basis to receive it and produce any equipment or results .
And North Korea is already building a second submarine , preparing a pressure hull by dismantling several Romeo-class submarines . It is said that the second submarine is also being built in the same way as the Kim Gun-ok Hero . The reason why there are bubbles and it is unbalanced is because it was built by attaching the hull of an old submarine . Even if Russia teaches it welding technology and how to balance the hull , it is said that it is impossible to resolve the defects because the hull material itself is problematic .
The only way for North Korea to solve this problem is to get high-strength steel from Russia and ask them to build a factory that can shape the high-strength steel into a pressure hull . In effect, this means that Russia should do it , but this is realistically impossible . In other words , as long as North Korea does not directly import strategic submarines from Russia and insists on using its own model , North Korean strategic submarines will not be able to function as normal submarines .
[ Encyclopedia of New Weapons on the Korean Peninsula ] US mine ' Quickstrike' knocks out North Korean submarine
[ Encyclopedia of New Weapons on the Korean Peninsula ] Fact vs. Rumor? " First ballistic missile -equipped K- nuclear submarine being built"
“ America has a plan ” North Korean submarine ‘ Quickstrike ’ out
( Host ) In a broadcast last July , it was introduced that the United States had developed a tactic to block submarines from enemy countries, such as North Korea, from going out to sea using stealth bombers. Can Korea also use this tactic ?
Quick-Sink anti-ship guided bomb mounted on an F-15E fighter jet (Source: U.S. Air Force)
( Lee Il-woo ) Now that we know that North Korean submarines have difficulty diving due to the problem of bubbles forming on their hulls , South Korea can devise a response strategy accordingly . The technological roots of North Korea's underwater missile launch system are the PSD-4 underwater launch system developed and used by the Soviet Union . This system's missile launch depth is around 50m , which means that a submarine must dive to a depth of about 50m to launch a submarine-launched ballistic missile .
Since the pressure in water increases by 1 atm for every 10m you go down , when a North Korean submarine goes down to the launch depth of 50m , the pressure will be 5 atm . From this point on, the hull will start leaking and warping , so it will not be able to go any deeper than this .
Usually, strategic submarines stay hundreds of meters deep in the sea and surface to launch depth only when firing a missile , but has to maintain a depth of only a few tens of meters , so it cannot benefit from the sound wave scattering and distortion effects provided by the thermocline located 100 to 200 meters below sea level . In other words , it is easily detected from a distance by anti-submarine means such as aircraft or warships that are outside the water .
Quickstrike mines on board a U.S. B-52H bomber (Source: U.S. Air Force)
The US aircraft-launched mine 'Quickstrike' introduced in a previous broadcast is an improved version of the GPS -guided bomb JDAM , so it can be loaded onto the South Korean military's F-35 fighter jet with just a simple software installation . If there are any unusual signs from North Korea , a stealth fighter can be launched over the East Sea and the 'Quickstrike' can be launched between Mayangdo and Sinpo to create a minefield and prevent it from leaving port. If a submarine has left, its location can be pinpointed by a maritime patrol aircraft escorted by fighters and the guided bomb can be dropped to destroy it . The shock wave from the bomb's explosion is better transmitted underwater than on land , so if the approximate location is identified, a bomb detonated from a distance of several hundred meters can cause a tremendous shock wave to the North Korean submarine . And since the hull of a North Korean submarine is very fragile, even a small shock wave will cause tremendous damage .
A target ship being blown to pieces by a quick-sink anti-ship guided bomb (Source: US Air Force)
North Korea's strategic submarines are not submarines that can dive properly , so they have no value as submarines . We should admit the failure of the strategic submarines now and stop wasting money on building and repairing submarines .
(Host) That was Lee Il-woo, the director of the Korea Independent Defense Network. Now, we're back with Kim Jin-guk from RFA in Washington.
Editor Lee Jin-seo, Web Editor Han Deok-in
6. S. Korea trying to figure out N. Korea's intentions behind uranium enrichment facility disclosure: official
All warfare (to include especially political warfare) is based on deception.
S. Korea trying to figure out N. Korea's intentions behind uranium enrichment facility disclosure: official
The Korea Times · September 13, 2024
President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol /Yonhap
South Korea is trying to figure out North Korea's intentions behind its disclosure of an uranium enrichment facility for the first time, a senior presidential official said Friday.
The disclosure, made earlier in the day in the form of a state media report on leader Kim Jong-un's visit to the facility, has sparked concern that it could be a precursor to Pyongyang conducting what would be its seventh nuclear test.
"We're trying to figure out the North's intentions behind the disclosure while monitoring and analyzing the overall situation in North Korea," the official said. "The timing of a nuclear test can be different depending on the North Korean leadership's decision."
The North is expected to weigh various factors, including the U.S. presidential election, in determining the timing of a nuclear test, the official said.
"With all possibilities in mind, South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities are closely tracking" the North, the official said. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · September 13, 2024
7.
Multiple things may be true at the same time,
We should keep in mind that almost everything the north produces is for sale.
Excerpts:
Leif-Eric Easley, Political Science Professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said the recent missile tests represented “incremental progress in its development and deployment of new offensive capabilities”.
“Politically, these launches suggest the Kim regime is staying the course with its Cold War 2.0 policies, despite domestic natural disasters, the US presidential campaign, and South Korea updating its strategy toward the North”, he said.
Was North Korea’s latest missile launch meant to sway US election, test weapons for Ukraine war?
The missile launches come after Pyongyang warned Seoul and Washington of a ‘dear price’ for joint military exercises
Reading Time:
3 minutes
https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3278260/was-north-koreas-latest-missile-launch-meant-sway-us-election-test-weapons-ukraine-war
Park Chan-kyong
Published: 8:00am, 13 Sep 2024
North Korea test-fired short-range missiles for the first time in 73 days in a sabre-rattling move seen to be aimed at the lead-up to the US presidential election and also test weapons that could potentially be deployed in the Ukraine war.
Thursday’s launch, which involved multiple ballistic missiles, came a week after Pyongyang warned that Seoul and Washington would pay a “dear price” for joint military exercises.
The missiles were launched near Pyongyang’s Sunan airport and travelled roughly 360km east before landing in the Sea of Japan, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, who condemned the launch as a “provocative act that gravely threatens the peace and stability” of the Korean peninsula, vowing a “stern” response.
It also said South Korea and the United States were closely monitoring the North’s military activities.
Lim Eul-chul, a senior researcher at the Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES), suggested that North Korea had been focused on recovering from recent flooding that devastated its northern regions.
“The North is now trying to catch up with its weapons tests that were delayed due to the natural disasters,” Lim told This Week in Asia.
A target explodes during a performance test of an upgraded rocket launcher system overseen by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Photo: KCNA via Reuters
According to the Korean Central News Agency, despite the floods, leader Kim Jong-un recently expressed optimism about crop production and pledged to enhance the country’s nuclear capabilities to counter threats from the US and its allies.
Kim Yong-hyun, a political-science professor at Dongguk University, interpreted the missile launches as an attempt by Pyongyang to gather test data for potential weapons sales to the Kremlin for its war in Ukraine.
“North Korea was showcasing its short-range missile capability, likely with the intention of exporting them to Russia and strengthening their bilateral relationship,” he said.
Additionally, Professor Kim suggested that Pyongyang might try to influence the US presidential election in Donald Trump’s favour.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un oversees test of newly developed ‘suicide drones’
“The North may continue with provocative acts to demonstrate that the [Joe] Biden administration’s North Korea policy has failed, and these missile launches could mark the start of that campaign,” he added.
But Lim of the IFES said the North had almost given up on hopes of mending ties with the US soon.
“North Korea also knows it can’t influence the US election, and it is currently too preoccupied with the tasks laid out at the 8th party Congress in 2021, including the development of weapons of mass destruction, to worry about what is happening to the rest of the world,” he said.
Leif-Eric Easley, Political Science Professor of international studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said the recent missile tests represented “incremental progress in its development and deployment of new offensive capabilities”.
“Politically, these launches suggest the Kim regime is staying the course with its Cold War 2.0 policies, despite domestic natural disasters, the US presidential campaign, and South Korea updating its strategy toward the North”, he said.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers a speech to celebrate the National Foundation Day of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Photo: KCNA/KNS/dpa
In his August 15 liberation day speech, South Korea’s conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol doubled down on his freedom-based approach toward the North, linking Korean identity to democratic values and market economics.
He pledged greater access to international news for North Koreans, increased funding for human rights NGOs, and more government help for defectors. Contradicting these moves, he proposed a working group for inter-Korean dialogue and humanitarian cooperation.
But the Kim regime has so far ignored his overtures and he could possibly respond more aggressively, Easley said.
“Personnel changes and legislative opposition in Seoul will complicate policy implementation. Yoon has made great strides in trilateral cooperation with the US and Japan, but his Camp David partners, Prime Minister [Fumio] Kishida and President Biden, will soon leave office”, he said.
“Most challenging of all, North Korea is gaining support from Russia and China while rejecting diplomacy and escalating threats toward South Korea”, he added.
Park Chan-kyong
FOLLOW
Park Chan-kyong is a journalist covering South Korean affairs for the South China Morning Post. He previously worked at the Agence France-Presse's Seoul bureau for 35 years. He studied political science at Korea University and economics at the Yonsei University Graduate School.
8. U.S. says it continues monitoring N.K. nuclear ambitions after uranium enrichment facility disclosure
(2nd LD) U.S. says it continues monitoring N.K. nuclear ambitions after uranium enrichment facility disclosure | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · September 14, 2024
(ATTN: ADDS State Department's response in paras 7-10)
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Sept. 13 (Yonhap) -- The United States continues to monitor North Korea's progression in its nuclear ambitions and ballistic missile program, a White House official said Friday, after the recalcitrant regime made a rare disclosure of a uranium enrichment facility this week.
National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby made the remarks, highlighting that the Biden administration has striven to strengthen a network of alliances and the U.S.' intelligence and reconnaissance capabilities for security on the Korean Peninsula.
The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Friday (Korea time) that leader Kim Jong-un recently visited a uranium enrichment base and called for increasing the number of centrifuges for uranium enrichment to bolster its nuclear weapons arsenal.
"I am not able to get into an intelligence analysis one way or the other here. I would simply say that we continue to monitor North Korean progression in their nuclear ambitions as well as their ballistic missile technology and program," Kirby said in an online press briefing.
This photo, taken on June 4, 2024, shows White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby speaking during a press briefing at the Foreign Press Center in Washington. (Yonhap)
"That is exactly why or one of the reasons why President Biden has worked so hard to revitalize a network of alliances and partnerships in the region. It is also why he has devoted more, in particular, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, prioritizing those for the area on and around the Korean Peninsula," he added.
He also stressed that Washington continues to make clear to Pyongyang that it is willing to sit down without preconditions.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that he saw a video on the uranium enrichment facility, and that it does not change the overall U.S. policy on North Korea.
"New video ... I don't know that it represents any new capability by the North Korean regime," he said during a press briefing.
"We are going to continue to make clear that we will defend our South Korean and Japanese allies, and will continue to work for the full denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
Asked if a North Korean nuclear test is imminent, Miller said he does not want to make any prediction on that.
The North's disclosure of the nuclear facility, coupled with its short-range missile launches this week and other acts, has added to concerns that Pyongyang could engage in major provocations near the U.S. presidential election in a move to bolster its leverage.
In its Friday report, the KCNA said that Kim visited the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the "production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials." The dispatch did not elaborate on where that facility is located or when Kim had visited the site.
Highly enriched uranium and plutonium are essential nuclear materials for the production of nuclear warheads.
South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies believe North Korea operates uranium enrichment facilities in Kangson on the outskirts of Pyongyang and at the Yongbyon nuclear site, north of its capital.
In 2010, the North invited Siegfried Hecker, a renowned American nuclear scientist, to inspect its uranium enrichment facility in Yongbyon.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (in black suit) visits the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the production base of weapons-grade nuclear materials, in this image provided by the North's official Korean Central News Agency on Sept. 13, 2024. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · September 14, 2024
9. North Korea’s Kim, Breathing Defiance and Emboldened by Russian Alliance, Showcases Nuclear Facility
North Korea’s Kim, Breathing Defiance and Emboldened by Russian Alliance, Showcases Nuclear Facility
The North wants its enemies, ranging from Washington to Seoul to Tokyo, to know that Kim is not just engaging in meaningless rhetoric when he boasts of the strength of his nuclear program.
Kim Jong-un, center, at a facility for nuclear materials at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP)
DONALD KIRK
Friday, September 13, 2024
06:59:08 am
https://www.nysun.com/article/north-koreas-kim-breathing-defiance-and-emboldened-by-russian-alliance-showcases-nuclear-facility
nysun.com
SEOUL — North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, eager to prove he can annihilate his enemies with nuclear weapons, has for the first time personally shown off a facility where they are made, and he’s put out a photo of himself to prove it.
Accused of shipping short-range missiles capable of firing nukes for the Russians in Ukraine, Mr. Kim breathed defiance as he “inspected the Nuclear Weapons Institute and the production base of weapon-grade nuclear materials,” as reported by Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency.
While there, said KCNA, he acquainted himself with the production of nuclear warheads and current nuclear materials and set forth important tasks for long-term plan for increasing the production of weapon-grade nuclear materials.”
Mr. Kim’s visit provided an unprecedented glimpse of a facility exposing the North’s program for fabricating nukes with highly enriched uranium. It was the first time since the former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Siegfried Hecker, visited the North’s main nuclear complex at Yongbyon ten years ago that the North has distributed photos of the interior of such a facility.
The impression was that the North wants its enemies, ranging from Washington to Seoul to Tokyo, to know that Mr. Kim is not just engaging in meaningless rhetoric when he boasts of the strength of his nuclear program and his willingness to nuke his enemies.
Emboldened by his alliance with Russia, strengthened by a new treaty signed with Mr. Putin while shipping thousands of artillery shells, missiles and other armaments through Russia to Ukraine, Mr. Kim proudly authorized a detailed account of what he did and saw in his visit to the HEU facility.
Accompanied by the first vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, Hong Sung Mu, KCNA reported, Mr. Kim “highly praised the scientists, technicians and officials in the field of nuclear weapons production for having carried out without fail the plan for producing weapon-grade nuclear materials needed for manufacturing nuclear warheads.”
The goal, he said, was to develop “the strongest nuclear force” — a vague phrase that could mean anything from tactical nukes for firing at targets at South Korea, including America’s largest overseas base, Camp Humphreys, 40 miles south of the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas, to targets anywhere in North America.
In his tour of the facility, Mr. Kim “went round the control room of the uranium enrichment base to learn about the overall operation of the production lines,” said KCNA. “Being briefed on the fact that the base is dynamically producing nuclear materials by studying, developing and introducing all the system elements including centrifugal separators and various kinds of sensors and controllers with its own efforts and technology, he expressed his great satisfaction over it.”
KCNA, however, omitted important details. There was no mention of the site of the facility, assumed to be at the Kangson nuclear complex, near Pyongyang, not at the main, original site at Yongbyon, 90 miles to the north, where North Korea operates a five-megawatt nuclear reactor for producing warheads from plutonium.
“South Korean and U.S. intelligence agencies believe North Korea operates uranium enrichment facilities at the Kingston nuclear complex near Pyongyang and at the Yongbyon nuclear site,” said South Korea’s Yonhap News. The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, said construction of an annex to the main building in the Kangson complex was “externally complete,” Yonhap reported.
North Korea, said Yonhap, “is reportedly shifting its reliance from producing plutonium at the Yongbyon reactor to producing HEU underground, which can be done more covertly and in greater quantities.”
North Korea, after conducting its sixth nuclear test in September 2017, has not tested a nuke since then. Communist China, the source of most of the North’s oil and much of its food, is believed to have warned Mr. Kim against another nuclear test.
Mr. Kim’s father, Kim Jong-il, who died in 2011, ordered the North’s first two nuclear tests, in 2006 and 2009, and Mr. Kim ordered four more, in 2013, two in 2016 and the 2017 test that is believed to have been a hydrogen bomb that blew up much of a mountain and reportedly killed some 200 people.
10. North Korea Ramping Up Weapons Production for Russia as Human Rights Abuses Worsen, Seoul Report Warns
North Korea Ramping Up Weapons Production for Russia as Human Rights Abuses Worsen, Seoul Report Warns
The communist regime at Pyongyang commits every imaginable abuse, ranging from murder and enslavement to rape and sexual violence to repression of speech and dissent.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at Pyongyang on April 25, 2022. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP, file
DONALD KIRK
Thursday, September 12, 2024
06:49:37 am
https://www.nysun.com/article/north-korea-ramping-up-weapons-production-for-russia-as-human-rights-abuses-worsen-seoul-report-warns
South Korea is painting a horrifying picture of human rights abuses in North Korea a decade after a United Nations study castigated the North for virtually every imaginable abuse ranging from murder and enslavement to rape and sexual violence to repression of speech and dissent.
“People in North Korea often describe feeling as though they are trapped in a matchbox, aware their lives are confined within the narrow limits and devoid of freedom,” says a defector quoted in a lengthy report on North Korean Human Rights by South Korea’s unification ministry.
The report accompanies promulgation by President Yoon of South Korea of a “unification doctrine” that has no chance of inspiring a response by North Korea other than denials of human rights abuses and rhetorical attacks on Seoul’s alliance with Washington.
Nonetheless, the South Korean report provides a stunning, detailed update to the landmark study of a UN commission of inquiry led by an Australian jurist, Michael Kirby, which ranks as the most detailed indictment to date of the horrors inflicted by the Kim dynasty since the end of Japanese rule in 1945.
“Some things have definitely got worse,” said Mr. Kirby in an interview with the director of the Committee on Human Rights in North Korea, Greg Scarlatoiu, at Washington. “Overwhelmingly the recommendations in our report have not been implemented.”
The unification ministry report cites steady worsening of human rights for North Koreans while the government provides a rising stream of thousands of artillery shells as well as short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for the war in Ukraine in the face of UN sanctions.
The regime of the Kim dynasty’s third-generation leader, Kim Jong-un, “pursues nuclear and missile development….while neglecting the livelihood of North Korean residents,” says the report. “The people of North Korea are subjected to horrific human rights violations, including forced repatriation of defectors, as well as the suppression of outside information, intense privacy surveillance and public executions.”
The report offers what’s seen as an unrealistic goal, concluding, “When the human rights of North Korean residents are ensured, a unified Korean peninsula that is free and at peace will be realized.”
North Korea routinely denounces any criticism of its human rights record, most recently a statement by the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, calling on North Korea to “investigate, prosecute and bring to justice those accused of having committed human rights violations.”
Not surprisingly, the North’s vice foreign minister, Kim Son-gyong, denounced the report as “fabricating and distorting,” according to Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency. It was, he said, “the enemy forces’ move to slander our country’s dignity and system in the name of the U.N. as a political provocation.”
The 607-page unification ministry’s report on North Korean Human Rights, supplemented by a 372-page Report on North Korea’s Economy and Society as Perceived by 6,351 Defectors, goes into far greater, more explicit detail than any study since that issued by Mr. Kirby’s Committee of Inquiry in 2014.
“In 2022, I witnessed a public execution at a mine,” one defector is quoted as saying. “At the execution site someone who was presumed to be a judge announced that the individual was arrested for listening to 70 South Korean songs and watching South Korean movies.”
Those captured by Chinese after having escaped from North Korea are often doomed. “I experienced a colleague being forcibly repatriated to North Korea after being caught by state security officials watching South Korean dramas on a mobile phone,” says yet another defector. “I heard that my colleague was executed.”
Senior officials fare no better. A party secretary and a chairman of the People’s Committee in one county “were executed without trial by firing squad for violating the law on emergency anti-epidemic work,” says the report. “They were executed for allowing quarantine residents to visit a public bathhouse.”
nysun.com
11. North Korean soldiers 'defect' over border as locals 'jealous' of duo's freedom
I do not think we often hear that jealousy is a motivator for escape.
The importance of information and the example of the South:
Excerpts:
“People want to defect more and more, as life becomes harder by the day, while the crackdown and restrictions intensify.
“People who have heard about the successful defections by sea and through the front line are even saying that they should move to Kangwon province or South Hwanghae province. The reality is that people believe the only hope for the future is to leave this place (North Korea).”
North Korean soldiers 'defect' over border as locals 'jealous' of duo's freedom
A North Korean soldier defending the East Sea coast in Koson on August 20 and is thought to have walked across the Military Demarcation Line into South Korea without returning
News
ByAdam CaillerSenior reporter and Reddit lead
dailystar.co.uk · by Adam Cailler · September 14, 2024
North Korean locals are fuming – and reportedly jealous – after a duo managed to escape across the border and defect to neighbouring enemy nation South Korea.
The pair escaped on different days, as the first was a North Korean soldier defending the East Sea coast in Koson on August 20. He is thought to have walked across the Military Demarcation Line into South Korea, and never returned.
The second was 12 days later when another North Korean soldier used the low tides of the Han River to flee to Kim Jong-un's biggest enemies. And now, speaking to NK Daily, a North Korea source said locals are fuming and “jealous” of what happened.
Click for more of the latest news from the Daily Star.
Two soldiers fled via different routes (Image: Getty Images)
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They said: “With the ban on smuggling, border residents are suffering serious hardships, and indeed, the lives they lived before COVID-19 and those they live now are incomparably different.
“People want to defect more and more, as life becomes harder by the day, while the crackdown and restrictions intensify.
“People who have heard about the successful defections by sea and through the front line are even saying that they should move to Kangwon province or South Hwanghae province. The reality is that people believe the only hope for the future is to leave this place (North Korea).”
Locals are said to be very jealous (Image: Getty Images)
It comes just days after it was announced that Dear Leader was thought to be doubling the country's State Security operations overseas to help keep track on anyone who managed to escape his clutches, and his enemies.
According to a source, a new £100m spy centre will be “eight stories high” and take up around 20,000 square metres in floor space. And bizarrely, the country aims to surpass “Israel's Mossad” and “American CIA” in terms of being the best in the world at . . . spying.
Local news sources claimed that the funds to build the site will come from a special budget made up of unused government budgets plus “unofficial funds gathered overseas”.
It is thought that the construction project will be completed before the end of 2026.
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dailystar.co.uk · by Adam Cailler · September 14, 2024
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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