Quotes of the Day:

"I have simply tried to do what seemed best each day, as each day came." 

–​ Abe Lincoln

"A man doesn't begin to attain wisdom until he recognizes that he is no longer indispensable." 

–Richard Byrd

"Read, observe, listen intensely. As if your life depended upon it." 

–​ Joyce Carol Oates

​1. S. Korea's 1st spy satellite transmits 'good-resolution' images of central Pyongyang

2. North Korea renovated major concentration camp during pandemic, imagery shows

3. How to decipher conflicting estimates of North Korean artillery aid to Russia

4. U.S. investigations into F-16 crashes in S. Korea ongoing amid public safety concerns

5. How We Interviewed North Koreans Working in China

6. South Korea Needs Foreign Workers, but Often Fails to Protect Them

7. Traveling to North Korea? No wifi, limited hot water and bring your own TP

8. [INTERVIEW] Migration will be part of Korea's future: IOM chief

9. Number of marriages in Korea down 40% over past 10 years, driving down total fertility rate

10. The US mocked Russia for its motley cast of allies in Ukraine. It's not laughing any more.

11. South Korea’s Nuclear Paradox – AnalysisSouth Korea’s Nuclear Paradox – Analysis

1. S. Korea's 1st spy satellite transmits 'good-resolution' images of central Pyongyang

No surprise. The ROK has superior technological capabilities.

S. Korea's 1st spy satellite transmits 'good-resolution' images of central Pyongyang | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · March 3, 2024

SEOUL, March 3 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's first military spy satellite has successfully transmitted "good-resolution" images of central Pyongyang back home following the satellite's launch in December, military sources said Sunday.

The first indigenous South Korean military spy satellite was placed into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Dec. 2, allowing South Korea to independently gain satellite imagery on the North Korean military and leadership.

According to the sources, the electro-optical and infrared (EO/IR) satellite has been sending home satellite images of North Korean regions, including Pyongyang, in a test transmission.

"Seen from the results of the editing on recently transmitted satellite photos, the resolution is as good as expected," a military source said.

"Pyongyang's central area and vessels at a port are clearly seen (in the photos)," the source noted.

The photos currently being transmitted need some heavy editing, but the satellite is expected to send home higher-resolution images beginning next month, other sources also said.

Sources did not specify the exact subjects photographed in the images, citing intelligence reasons. Central Pyongyang houses the headquarters building of the Workers' Party of Korea, where leader Kim Jong-un's office is located.

"Given the current conditions, (the satellite) is anticipated to enter its full reconnaissance mission by June or July as planned," another source noted.

Once the indigenous satellite goes into its full mission phase, it is expected to help reduce South Korea's heavy reliance on U.S. satellite imagery on North Korea, which could boost Seoul's independent monitoring capabilities of North Korea.

By 2025, South Korea plans to send four more satellites into space to better monitor North Korea, including the second, synthetic aperture radar satellite, scheduled to be launched in April from an air force base in Florida.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying South Korea's first indigenous spy satellite lifts off from U.S. Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Dec. 1, 2023 (local time), in this photo provided by SpaceX. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

pbr@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Park Boram · March 3, 2024

2. North Korea renovated major concentration camp during pandemic, imagery shows

The regime's "important" work was not stymied by the pandemic. Important to the regime because it is what helps keep it in power.

Excerpts:

According to the 2014 U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) report on North Korean human rights, prisoners at Kwalliso No. 25 “are incarcerated for life without trial on political grounds.”

The concentration camp was established in 1968 and houses between 2,500 and 5,000 prisoners, according to the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK).

...

North Korea’s penal system consists of three types of facilities: pre-trial detention centers (kuryujang), reeducation facilities (kyohwaso) and political prison camps (kwalliso). 

Kwalliso, located in remote areas, are the most “extreme” among the three, according to Hanna Song of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights.

“Kwalliso are where North Korea keeps what they think are their most severe criminals. And so North Korea is very conscious of any information getting out,” she said. “This is the place I think they would want to keep hidden the most.” 

North Korea renovated major concentration camp during pandemic, imagery shows

https://www.nknews.org/pro/north-korea-renovated-major-concentration-camp-during-pandemic-imagery-shows/

Expert says Kwalliso No. 25 was likely preparing for rise in prisoners due to harsh new laws and border reopening

Ifang Bremer | Jacob BogleMarch 1, 2024

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A construction site in North Korea | Image: NK News (April 2018)

North Korea renovated a major political prison in the country’s remote northeast during the pandemic, NK Pro analysis shows, in what one expert described as likely part of preparations for an influx of prisoners.

High-resolution Google Earth satellite imagery reveals that North Korea constructed new buildings and upgraded security infrastructure at Kwalliso No. 25, also known as the Chongjin concentration camp, between 2020-2023.

The renovations began in 2020 when authorities built a 1476 square foot (450 square meter) structure within the walls of the prison camp. A building outside of the main detention facility was reconstructed the same year, while the roof of another building within the prison walls was replaced in 2021.

In 2021 and 2022, North Korea added coverings over two gates.

Satellite imagery also shows ongoing renovation at the facility’s main gate in May 2023, possibly adding a barrier to create a sally port and improve security. 

This image comparison shows renovations at Kwalliso No. 25 from 2020-2023. | Images: Google Earth, edited by NK Pro

Joanna Hosaniak, deputy director general at the nonprofit Citizens Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, suggested the changes to Kwalliso No. 25 were a result of Pyongyang’s COVID-19 policies.

The renovations “must have been a preemptive response to an expected rise in prisoners due to border openings and increased deportations after the pandemic, along with harsher punishments targeting access to independent information and technologies based on new laws that North Korea introduced at the time,” she told NK Pro.

The Chongjin concentration camp is one of North Korea’s four known kwalliso, penal facilities where the regime holds prisoners for political and religious reasons. 

According to the 2014 U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) report on North Korean human rights, prisoners at Kwalliso No. 25 “are incarcerated for life without trial on political grounds.”

The concentration camp was established in 1968 and houses between 2,500 and 5,000 prisoners, according to the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK).

A North Korean watchtower and fence near the border with China | Image: NK Pro (Jan. 2017)

TOTAL CONTROL

North Korea’s penal system consists of three types of facilities: pre-trial detention centers (kuryujang), reeducation facilities (kyohwaso) and political prison camps (kwalliso). 

Kwalliso, located in remote areas, are the most “extreme” among the three, according to Hanna Song of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights.

“Kwalliso are where North Korea keeps what they think are their most severe criminals. And so North Korea is very conscious of any information getting out,” she said. “This is the place I think they would want to keep hidden the most.” 

Song explained that testimonies of life inside the camps are thus exceedingly rare. “We are not aware of any testimonies of persons who have experienced kwalliso post-2010.”

Ahn Myong-chol, a former kwalliso guard cited by the COI, testified at a public hearing in 2013 that kwalliso inmates “are no longer registered citizens, so you do not need a law to decide the sentences.”

“They are already eliminated from society,” he said.

According to the COI, another guard at the now-dismantled Kwalliso No. 13 said he had to “transport political prisoners to secret execution sites in the mountains.” 

“The victims had to shovel their own graves before other security officials killed them by a hammer blow to the back of the skull,” he reportedly said.

The 2014 COI report stated that kwalliso are divided into two zones. The “revolutionary zone” houses prisoners who are eligible for release after undergoing ideological “reeducation” and hard labor. By contrast, the “total control zone” is for “irredeemable” inmates who are incarcerated for life.

According to the COI, authorities can send “entire families” up to the third generation to prison camps based on the principle of guilt by association. At the time, the U.N. commission estimated that “hundreds of thousands of political prisoners have perished in camps over the past five decades.”

“The inmate population has been gradually eliminated through deliberate starvation, forced labor, executions, torture, rape and the denial of reproductive rights enforced through punishment, forced abortion and infanticide,” the commission concluded. 

North Korea has always denied the existence of political prison camps. In a statement submitted to the U.N. in December, Pyongyang again insisted that “there is no such thing as ‘kwalliso’ in the DPRK,” accusing “hostile forces” of spreading rumors about such camps to defame the country. 

The regime only officially acknowledges the operation of kyohwaso, long-term prison camps where it says criminals undergo labor-based reform.

Edited by Bryan Betts

3. How to decipher conflicting estimates of North Korean artillery aid to Russia

Excerpts:

But while assessing that Seoul’s estimate is likely overstated, one expert said even Ukraine’s lower figure suggests North Korea is playing an important role in supporting Russia’s invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists on Sunday that North Korea has agreed to supply Russia with about 1.5 million rounds of artillery. He said he doesn’t expect Pyongyang’s transshipments to exceed this figure in the future.

Zelensky added that the Russian military has also used North Korean missiles to carry out strikes on Ukraine but that their number is “unknown.”

However, the very next day, ROK defense minister Shin Won-sik reportedly said that North Korea has transferred around 6,700 containers of ammunition to Russia since August, which could amount to over 3 million 152mm artillery shells or 500,000 122mm self-propelled rockets.

How to decipher conflicting estimates of North Korean artillery aid to Russia

Expert says South Korean figure of 3M shells is likely exaggerated but that DPRK help gives Moscow ‘breathing room’

https://www.nknews.org/2024/03/how-to-decipher-conflicting-estimates-of-north-korean-artillery-aid-to-russia/

Anton Sokolin March 1, 2024

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North Korea conducts artillery drills in 2022. | Image: KCNA (Oct. 10, 2022)

South Korea and Ukraine offered conflicting estimates this week of how many artillery rounds North Korea has supplied to Russia, raising questions about the extent of Pyongyang and Moscow’s military cooperation.

But while assessing that Seoul’s estimate is likely overstated, one expert said even Ukraine’s lower figure suggests North Korea is playing an important role in supporting Russia’s invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told journalists on Sunday that North Korea has agreed to supply Russia with about 1.5 million rounds of artillery. He said he doesn’t expect Pyongyang’s transshipments to exceed this figure in the future.

Zelensky added that the Russian military has also used North Korean missiles to carry out strikes on Ukraine but that their number is “unknown.”

However, the very next day, ROK defense minister Shin Won-sik reportedly said that North Korea has transferred around 6,700 containers of ammunition to Russia since August, which could amount to over 3 million 152mm artillery shells or 500,000 122mm self-propelled rockets.

He said the DPRK receives food supplies in exchange for its arms shipments, with 30% more containers entering North Korea from Russia than the other way around.

The U.S. State Department assessed in recent weeks that North Korea has transferred a total of 10,000 containers in a clandestine shipping operation between the DPRK and Russia.

Joost Oliemans, an arms specialist and author of “The Armed Forces of North Korea,” told NK News that Shin’s estimates are likely exaggerated, calling Ukraine’s figure of 1.5 million shells more credible.

The expert explained that according to his rough calculations, “6,700 containers only translates to 3 million rounds if they are filled with 122mm shells,” noting that North Korea’s supplies included “a mix of 122mm, 152mm, 122mm rockets and 120mm mortars.”

“Both the 152mm shells and especially 122mm rockets are heavier and bulkier so that the total would almost certainly be much lower than 3 million,” Oliemans said. 

He also noted that it is still unknown “how many containers may be taken up by armaments such as ballistic missiles or other weaponry,” which could “bring down the ‘shell density’ pretty close to Kyiv’s estimates.”

Another point in favor of Kyiv’s estimate is that it is likely “based on more than mere tracking of container totals,” Oliemans said.

But despite the different figures, the expert said that North Korean supplies give Russia “breathing room and flexibility of operations.”

“Every million rounds delivered roughly exceeds Ukraine’s entire yearly usage and allows an additional 2,700 shells fired per day for a year,” Oliemans said. “Russia can exert additional pressure to force breakthroughs and fend off Ukrainian offensives more easily.”

He noted that Ukraine may have received only 300,000 artillery rounds from the EU late last year, just a third of the 1 million it was promised in March 2023.

South Korean defense minister Shin Won-sik (left) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky | Images: ROK Ministry of Defense and Office of the President of Ukraine

Meanwhile, a report published last week found that a North Korean ballistic missile Russia allegedly launched at Ukraine in early January used foreign-sourced parts, exposing holes in the DPRK sanctions regime.

Oliemans said the appearance of foreign components in a DPRK-made missile wasn’t surprising, explaining that North Korea has to rely on some outsourced parts because it ”lacks in indigenous semiconductor industry.”

“Even when all U.N. countries are cooperating, North Korea can quite easily smuggle both these and more obvious [items subject to] sanctions in, which should give some idea of how difficult it is to enforce similar sanctions for a country like Russia.”

Edited by Bryan Betts

4. U.S. investigations into F-16 crashes in S. Korea ongoing amid public safety concerns

U.S. investigations into F-16 crashes in S. Korea ongoing amid public safety concerns | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · March 3, 2024

By Chae Yun-hwan and Kim Eun-jung

SEOUL, March 3 (Yonhap) -- The U.S. military's investigations into three recent F-16 fighter jet crashes in South Korea remain ongoing, a U.S. Air Force official has said, as safety concerns remain unabated over the series of crashes.

Last May, a U.S. F-16 crashed in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, followed by another crash into the Yellow Sea in December and a third one into the waters in January. All three pilots from the crashes ejected from the aircraft and were rescued.

Ten months on since the May crash, its cause still remains unknown to the public as concerns have mounted from the subsequent crashes and a U.S. F-16 dropping two of its fuel tanks over the Yellow Sea last month in an in-flight emergency.

"The full investigations for these separate incidents are ongoing," Maj. Rachel Buitrago, spokesperson for the 7th Air Force, told Yonhap News Agency by email. "As a result, we can't speculate on the causes behind them until the results are publicly released."

In this file photo taken Oct. 30, 2023, an F-16 fighter jet takes off from Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, to join a combined air exercise between South Korea and the United States. (Yonhap)

Buitrago reaffirmed her unit's commitment to safety, noting that it understands the security and safety concerns of residents living near operational bases, especially in light of the recent incidents.

"We want to assure our partners that we take every precaution to avoid any aircraft incident and prevent the loss of life or property for Korean and U.S. personnel," she said. "Steps are taken during emergency situations for those purposes, so that when emergencies do occur, the impacts to civilian populations are mitigated as much as possible."

The U.S. military's follow-up measures, however, have faced questions, considering that the South Korean Air Force carries out mass grounding of aircraft in response to its fighter jet crashes.

In September, the South Korea Air Force grounded some 150 fighter jets after a crash of a KF-16C -- a variant of the F-16 -- until it completed its investigation in December.

Buitrago explained that her unit treats each major aircraft incident as an independent and unrelated event.

"For these past three F-16 crash incidents, initial findings did not indicate a related cause that would require a prolonged suspension in operations," she said.

After the January crash, Lt. Gen. David R. Iverson, the commander of the 7th Air Force, said his unit paused flying operations to focus on search and recovery efforts of the aircraft before resuming some operations a day later.

The F-16 serves as a key asset for the 7th Air Force, which operates one F-16 fighter squadron in Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek and two such squadrons in Kunsan Air Base in Gunsan, 178 km south of Seoul. A squadron is usually made up of up to 24 aircraft.

In this file photo provided by the Air Force on July 28, 2023, U.S. F-16 and South Korean F-35A fighter jets stage a formation flight during a combined exercise over South Korea. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

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en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · March 3, 2024

5. How We Interviewed North Koreans Working in China

How We Interviewed North Koreans Working in China

TIME

IDEAS

BY IAN URBINAMARCH 1, 2024 3:42 PM EST

Urbina is the director of The Outlaw Ocean Project, a non-profit journalism organization that produces investigative stories about human rights, environment and labor concerns on the two thirds of the planet covered by water.

Perhaps the only thing tougher than interviewing workers in China about human rights is doing the same in North Korea.

Still, it seemed worth trying because it might shed new light on the experiences of thousands of relatively invisible people who, as it turns out, provide much of the seafood consumed in the U.S. and Europe. What we found was chilling: women held captive in processing plants in China, dispatched there by the North Korean government, only to face violence, wage theft and rampant sexual abuse. And much of the seafood coming from these plants supplies major American companies, which is a violation of U.N. sanctions and the 2017 U.S. Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, which established a “rebuttable presumption” categorizing work by North Koreans as forced labor unless proven otherwise, and levying fines on companies that import goods tied to these workers.

An investigation from The Outlaw Ocean Project revealed that fifteen seafood-processing plants together seem to have used more than a thousand North Korean workers since 2017. Ten of these plants have, in the same timeframe, cumulatively shipped more than 120,000 tons of seafood to more than seventy American importers, which supplied grocery stores including Walmart, Giant, ShopRite, and Weee! This seafood also went to importers that sent the products to restaurant chains including McDonald’s and Sysco—which supplies nearly half a million restaurants, as well as U.S. public schools, military bases and the U.S. Congress—and to an importer who supplies the cafeterias of the E.U. Parliament.

Such revelations were tough to land because Western journalists are restricted in China and barred from entering North Korea, whose citizens are prohibited from talking freely to reporters.

In late 2023, I set out to find ways around these obstacles. I hired a team of investigators in South Korea who help new organizations report on North Korea. The investigators have contacts across the border whom they employ to get information out of the country. The investigators and their contacts worked to compile a list of two dozen North Koreans who had been dispatched to China, most of whom have since returned home; the workers and managers were a range of ages, came from a variety of regions in the country, and had worked at half a dozen different Chinese factories. The investigator’s contacts met with the workers in secret, often in open fields or on the street, where it is tougher for security agents to listen in on conversations.

The workers were told that their responses would be shared publicly by a U.S. media outlet. They faced legitimate risk; if they were caught, experts told me, they could be executed. But they agreed to talk because they want the world to know what happens to them in China. The North Korean contacts transcribed their answers by hand, and then sent photos of the questionnaires, using encrypted communication channels, to the investigators, who sent them to me. Because of these layers of protection, it is impossible to fully verify what was said. But the responses were vetted by experts to make sure that they line up with what is known about the program, and with other interviews of North Korean defectors.

The investigators recently checked in on the interviewers and interviewees, and everyone was safe.

TIME

6. South Korea Needs Foreign Workers, but Often Fails to Protect Them

​Yes the ROK needs foreign workers because of its demographics. But we also should consider how unification will help reduce these problems.

South Korea Needs Foreign Workers, but Often Fails to Protect Them

Though a shrinking population makes imported labor vital, migrant workers routinely face predatory employers, inhumane conditions and other abuse.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/02/world/asia/south-korea-foreign-workers.html?

Migrant workers harvesting and packaging vegetables in a greenhouse in Gasan-myeon, South Korea, in December.Credit...Jun Michael Park for The New York Times

By Choe Sang-Hun

Reporting from Pocheon, South Korea

March 2, 2024

Samsung phones. Hyundai cars. LG TVs. South Korean exports are available in virtually every corner of the world. But the nation is more dependent than ever before on an import to keep its factories and farms humming: foreign labor.

This shift is part of the fallout from a demographic crisis that has left South Korea with a shrinking and aging population. Data released this week showed that last year the country broke its own record — again — for the world’s lowest total fertility rate.

President Yoon Suk Yeol’s government has responded by more than doubling the quota for low-skilled workers from less-developed nations including Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, the Philippines and Bangladesh. Hundreds of thousands of them now toil in South Korea, typically in small factories, or on remote farms or fishing boats — jobs that locals consider too dirty, dangerous or low-paying. With little say in choosing or changing employers, many foreign workers endure predatory bosses, inhumane housing, discrimination and other abuses.

One of these is Chandra Das Hari Narayan, a native of Bangladesh. Last July, working in a wooded park north of Seoul, he was ordered to cut down a tall tree. Though the law requires a safety helmet when doing such work, he was not given one. A falling branch hit his head, knocking him out and sending blood spilling from his nose and mouth.

Image

Bangladeshi migrant workers Badhan Muhammad Sabur Kazi, Asis Kumar and Chandra Das Hari in Haksa Village, a small complex of cheap and rundown apartments in Pocheon, a town northeast of Seoul. Once inhabited by Korean students, the village is now occupied by migrant workers and international students.Credit...Jun Michael Park for The New York Times

After his bosses refused to call an ambulance, ​a fellow ​migrant worker ​rushed him to a hospital, where​ doctors found internal bleeding in his head and his skull fractured in three places. His employer reported only minor bruises to the authorities, according to a document it filed for workers’ compensation for Mr. Chandra without his approval.

“They would not have treated me like this if I were South Korean,” said Mr. Chandra, 38. “They treat migrant workers ​like disposable items.”

The work can be deadly — foreign workers were nearly three times more likely to die in work-related accidents compared with the national average, according to a recent study. Such findings have alarmed rights groups and foreign governments; in January the Philippines prohibited its citizens from taking seasonal jobs in South Korea.

Image

Greenhouses in Gasan-myeon. Many migrant workers end up in agricultural jobs.Credit...Jun Michael Park for The New York Time​s

But South Korea remains an attractive destination, with more than 300,000 low-skilled workers here on temporary work visas. (Those figures do not include the tens of thousands of ethnic Korean migrants from China and former Soviet republics, who typically face less discrimination.) About 430,000 additional people have overstayed their visas and are working illegally, according to government data.

More on South Korea

• Doctor Protests: Procedures at some of the largest hospitals in South Korea were disrupted after thousands of medical interns and residents walked off their jobs over a dispute with the government.
• Doctors Walk Out: Hundreds of interns and residents at major South Korean hospitals walked off the job to protest the government’s plan to address a shortage of doctors by admitting more students to medical school.
• Big Tech: South Korea’s antitrust regulator wanted to enact the toughest competition law outside Europe, curbing the influence of major technology companies. After a furious backlash from lobbyists and consumers, it is backtracking.
• Seoul Crowd Crush: A South Korean court found three former police officers guilty of destroying evidence that indicated the police’s awareness of the safety risks at Halloween festivities that resulted in a deadly crowd crush. For families of victims, it was a bittersweet win.

Migrant workers often land in places like Pocheon, a town northeast of Seoul where factories and greenhouses rely heavily on overseas labor. Sammer Chhetri, 30, got here in 2022 and sends $1,500 of his $1,750 monthly paycheck to his family in Nepal.

“You can’t make this kind of money ​in Nepal,” said Mr. Chhetri, who works from sunrise to dark in long, tunnel-shaped plastic greenhouses.

Image

A migrant worker covering vegetables with a sheet of plastic inside a greenhouse to protect it from the cold.Credit...Jun Michael Park for The New York Times

Another Nepalese worker, Hari Shrestha, 33, said his earnings from a South Korean furniture factory have helped his family build a house in Nepal.

Then there is the allure of South Korean pop culture, its globally popular TV dramas and music.

“Whenever I call my teenage daughter back home, she always asks, ‘Daddy, have you met BTS yet?’” ​said Asis Kumar Das, 48, who is from Bangladesh.

For nearly three years, Mr. Asis worked 12-hour shifts, six days a week, in a small textile factory for a monthly salary of about $2,350 — which he did not regularly receive.

“They have never paid me on time or in full,” ​he said​, showing an agreement his former employer signed with him promising to pay part of his overdue wages by the end of this month.

Image

Nepali factory worker Hari Shrestha says earnings he makes in South Korea helped his family build a house back in Nepal.Credit...Jun Michael Park for The New York Times

Mr. Asis is far from alone. Migrant workers ​annually report $91 million in ​unpaid wages, according to government data​.

The Labor Ministry said it is “making all-out efforts” to improve working and living conditions for these workers. It is sending inspectors to more workplaces, hiring more translators and enforcing penalties for employers who mistreat workers, it said. Some towns are building public dormitories after local farmers complained that the government was importing foreign workers without adequate housing plans.

The government has also offered “exemplary” workers visas that allow them to bring over their families. Officials have said that South Korea intends to “bring in only those foreigners essential to our society​” and “strengthening the crackdown on those illegally staying here.”

But the authorities — who plan to issue a record 165,000 temporary work visas this year — have also scaled back some services, for instance cutting off funding for nine migrant support centers.

Image

A migrant worker dormitory in Gasan-myeon. Some Korean farm owners provide housing in the form of a container box inside a greenhouse for their workers, though this is illegal.Credit...Jun Michael Park for The New York Times

In the decades after the Korean War, South Korea exported construction workers to the Middle East and nurses and miners to Germany. By the early 1990s, as it emerged as an economic powerhouse churning out electronics and cars, it began importing foreign workers to fill jobs shunned by its increasingly rich local work force. But these migrants, classified as “industrial trainees,” were not protected by labor laws despite their harsh working conditions.

The government introduced the Employment Permit System, or E.P.S., in 2004, eliminating middlemen and becoming the sole job broker for low-skilled migrant workers. It recruits workers on three-year visas from 16 nations, and in 2015 also started offering seasonal employment to foreigners.

But severe issues persist.

“The biggest problem with E.P.S. is that it has created a master-servant relationship between employers and foreign workers,” said Kim Dal-sung, a Methodist pastor who runs the Pocheon Migrant Worker Center.

Image

Pastor Kim Dal-sung, head of the Pocheon Migrant Workers Center, in front of an illegal greenhouse dormitory in Gasan-myeon.Credit...Jun Michael Park for The New York Times

That can mean inhumane conditions. The “housing” promised to Mr. Chhetri, the agriculture worker, turned out to be ​a used shipping container hidden inside a tattered greenhouse-like structure covered with black plastic shading.

During a bitter cold snap in December 2020, Nuon Sokkheng, a Cambodian migrant, died in a heatless shack. The government instituted new safety regulations, but in Pocheon many workers continue to live in substandard facilities.

If E.P.S. workers have abusive employers, they often have only two choices: endure the ordeal, hoping that their boss will help them extend or renew their visa, or work illegally for someone else and live in constant fear of immigration raids, the Rev. Kim said.

Image

A makeshift latrine next to to an illegal greenhouse dormitory.Credit...Jun Michael Park for The New York Times

In December 2022, Ray Sree Pallab Kumar, 32, lost most of the vision in his right eye after a metal piece thrown by his manager bounced off a steel-cutting machine and hit him. But his employers, in southern Seoul, sought to blame him for the accident, according to a Korean-language statement they tried to make him sign even though he didn’t understand it.

Migrants also say they face racist or xenophobic attitudes in South Korea.

“They treat people differently according to skin colors,” said Mr. Asis, the textile worker. “In the crowded bus, they would rather stand than take an empty seat next to me. I ask myself, ‘Do I smell?’”

Image

Ray Sree Pallab Kumar, a Bangladeshi migrant worker, in his makeshift room on top of the metal factory where he suffered an eye injury in an industrial accident. His right eye is permanently damaged.Credit...Jun Michael Park for The New York Times

Biswas Sree Shonkor, 34, a plastics factory worker, said his pay remained flat while his employer gave raises to and promoted South Korean workers he helped train.

Mr. Chandra said that even worse than workplace injuries like the one he suffered in the arboretum​ was how managers insulted foreign workers, but not locals, for similar mistakes.

“​We don’t mind doing hard work​,” he said. “It’s not ​our body but our mind that tires.”

Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea. More about Choe Sang-Hun

7. Traveling to North Korea? No wifi, limited hot water and bring your own TP

Excerpts:

“Propaganda promoting the Western way of life, as well as books about North Korea published in the West (including tourist guides), are officially prohibited from being imported,” the guidelines said.

“Since 2015, the rules for importing literature into North Korea have been tightened,” it continued. “We have encountered several cases of confiscation of North Korea travel guides during customs inspection at the airport.”

The travel guide said that tourists have free time after scheduled sightseeing tours, but this must be spent inside their hotel.

When Voskresensky, the Russian tourist in the first tour group this year, asked why he couldn’t go for a walk, he was told: “You don’t know the Korean language and you will have problems.”

Traveling to North Korea? No wifi, limited hot water and bring your own TP

A Russian travel agency issues guidelines to tourists going to the reclusive country.

By Cho Jinwoo for RFA Korean

2024.03.01

rfa.org

North Korea is opening back up to foreign tourists, and Russians planning on visiting this month have been given a long list of travel guidelines and tips, from warnings that hotels will have no wifi and limited hot water to suggestions to bring warm clothing as buildings are generally not well-heated.

There are also strict dress codes for certain landmarks. Visitors to Pyongyang’s Kumsusan Palace of the Sun – the final resting place of former leaders Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il – are not allowed to wear blue jeans, T-shirts, miniskirts or sandals.

Don’t drink the tap water, bring toilet paper to use in public restrooms and vegetarians beware: North Korea doesn’t make accommodations for you.

That’s all according to the guide issued by Russian travel agency Vostok Intour, which is leading about 100 travelers each on trips that depart Vladivostok on March 8 and March 11. They will be the second and third such tours to North Korea in four years.

On Feb. 9, some 97 Russians became the first group to visit the isolated country since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

One tourist on that trip, Ilya Voskresensky, told RFA he was struck by the empty streets in Pyongyang, the cult of personality of the leaders and how he was not allowed to go outside his hotel.

The visitors were banned from filming construction sites and decrepit buildings, and only allowed to shoot picturesque scenes, including at the ski resort they visited, he said.

Desperate for cash

After the pandemic, the cash-strapped North Korean government is desperate to get tourism back on track, and Pyongyang in recent months has been pursuing warmer relations with Moscow, including through various sports and cultural exchanges.

Vostok Intour is offering a four-day tour departing on March 8 for US$800 and a five-day tour departing on the 11th for $900. These will be the final tours that offer access to North Korean ski facilities this year.

People gather to celebrate the 109th birth anniversary of North Korean founder Kim Il Sung near Kumsusan Palace of the Sun in Pyongyang, April 16, 2021. (KCNA via Reuters)

In addition to the strict dress code for the Kim Dynasty’s mausoleum, Vostok Intour’s guidelines told travelers that their ability to communicate with the outside world will be limited.

While they will be allowed to bring their mobile phones, without a roaming contract they won’t be able to use them.

Even then, the users must purchase a SIM card for $120, which will allow them to make calls internationally, but domestic calls will still be forbidden. If they need to send messages during their visit, they can pay $2.20 to the hotel to send emails on their behalf from the hotel’s account.

The guidelines also assured travelers that if they had stamps from either the U.S. or South Korea in their passport, this would not be a problem.

Another section of the guidelines discussed poor economic conditions in North Korea, including a severe lack of infrastructure.

Visitors should bring extra clothing because many North Korean buildings are not heated properly, if at all. Most buildings cannot expect hot water except for at specific times in the morning and evening.

Information ban

The guide also advised against taking photographs in certain situations or bringing in Western literature.

Ilya Voskresensky and his friend received their North Korean tourist visas at Vladivostok Airport. Voskresensky, who resides in St. Petersburg, a city in the far west of Russia, took nearly two days to reach Vladivostok. (Courtesy Ilya Voskresensky)

“Propaganda promoting the Western way of life, as well as books about North Korea published in the West (including tourist guides), are officially prohibited from being imported,” the guidelines said.

“Since 2015, the rules for importing literature into North Korea have been tightened,” it continued. “We have encountered several cases of confiscation of North Korea travel guides during customs inspection at the airport.”

The travel guide said that tourists have free time after scheduled sightseeing tours, but this must be spent inside their hotel.

When Voskresensky, the Russian tourist in the first tour group this year, asked why he couldn’t go for a walk, he was told: “You don’t know the Korean language and you will have problems.”

Translated by Claire S. Lee and Leejin J. Chung. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster.

rfa.org

8. [INTERVIEW] Migration will be part of Korea's future: IOM chief

[INTERVIEW] Migration will be part of Korea's future: IOM chief

The Korea Times · March 3, 2024

Amy Pope, director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), speaks during an interview with The Korea Times at the IOM's Seoul office, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Migrants should be recognized as community members, not just labor

Editor’s note

This article is the third in The Korea Times' 2024 series focusing on diversity, inclusiveness and equality. — ED.

By Lee Hyo-jin

Accepting migrants will become a part of Korea's future, according to Amy Pope, director general of the International Organization for Migration (IOM). She stressed that the narratives about migrants should be reshaped to portray them as essential members of society, beyond merely meeting labor needs.

"Migration will have to be part of Korea's planning for its future. It is a country that does not have a long history of migration. So working with communities that are hosting migrants to make sure they are well integrated and understand the culture so that they can become part of the society here is critical," Pope said in an interview with The Korea Times during her visit to Seoul, Wednesday.

The visit marked Pope's first official trip to Korea since assuming her five-year term as the head of the U.N. immigration agency in October. She is the first woman to lead the organization in its 73-year history.

"It is also important to attract some of the best talent across a wide range of skills ... making sure [Korea] can access talent from across the range, and doing so in a way that advances the government's key national development objectives," Pope said.

She called for a transformation in the discourse on migration, moving away from viewing migrants as a "group of foreign nationals addressing labor needs" to a narrative centered on "making migrants and their families part of the local community."

Foreign workers work at a foundry in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, in this Oct. 21, 2021 photo. Korea Times photo by Lee Han-ho

Pope's message resonates with Korea's strengthened efforts to attract more migrants to address a shrinking labor force amid the rapid population decline. The latest data from Statistics Korea released on Wednesday showed the nation's fertility rate dropped to a historic low of 0.72 in 2023, down from 0.78 the previous year. The quarterly rate even fell to just 0.65 in the last quarter of 2023.

While Korea has become a popular destination for unskilled workers, especially through a government program that brings in tens of thousands of temporary foreign workers mostly from Southeast Asian countries, attracting skilled foreign workers remains a challenge.

Pope suggested that providing international students with longer stay opportunities could be an effective strategy for retaining them once they complete their education in Korea.

"People who are coming in to study to get their degrees within Korean universities are being exposed to the culture and the language over the period of their studies. Those are people you want to retain in the country to keep them here once they already know what their communities look like," she said.

She recommended expanding opportunities for migrants to obtain long-term visas.

"Having too many short-term visas can actually work against the government's goals and having better migration practices," she said. "When you have someone who knows Korean culture, language and the workplace, you don't want them to go and work somewhere else and lose all the years of investment that have already been made."

The migration expert also advocated for family-based immigration, which would significantly help foreign workers integrate more easily into the local community.

"When you're only recruiting single migrants who come and get separated from their families, sometimes they have less of a commitment to their community. But when someone brings their families, for instance their children, they then become interested in the neighborhood as a whole. Children can often be the bridge between the migrant and the host culture," she said.

Amy Pope, director general of the International Organization for Migration, speaks during an interview with The Korea Times in Seoul, Wednesday. Korea Times photo by Choi Won-suk

Pope also discussed a global surge in anti-immigrant political rhetoric, particularly in the lead-up to elections.

"It's interesting that we see an increased anti-migrant rhetoric, particularly at votes. They are a very easy community to target by blaming whatever is happening within a country on the migrants — frankly, because they don't have a voice," she said.

"But the evidence shows overwhelmingly that migrants are actually more rule-abiding. They're less likely to [commit] crimes or contribute to criminal behavior than other communities."

The former deputy director general for management and reform at the IOM and senior adviser on migration for U.S. President Joe Biden said one of her primary goals during her tenure at the IOM is to address climate-induced migration.

Pope noted Pacific islands and African nations like Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya as some of the most vulnerable regions to environmental migration.

Yet, for many Koreans, the issue of climate migration appears distant, as the Asian nation experiences fewer climate disasters.

Nevertheless, Pope believes Korea could be a crucial partner for the IOM in addressing the issue, given its leading role as a supporter of development and humanitarian response.

The IOM's engagement strategy with climate-affected regions not only involves supporting the construction of infrastructure and resilience but also includes job training for climate migrants.

"Korea has a long history of dealing with building resilience, water infrastructure and disaster response — all the skills that could be transferred elsewhere through an exchange of migrants," she said.

The Korea Times · March 3, 2024

9. Number of marriages in Korea down 40% over past 10 years, driving down total fertility rate

Excerpts:

The survey also showed that more than 30 percent of those in their 20s or 30s cited "lack of money" as a reason they are not getting married.

About 19 percent and 14 percent of those in their 20s and 30s said they "do not feel the need" to get married.

Fewer marriages have also led to a fall in the country's fertility rate in recent years, as most people in South Korea give birth to a baby after they get married.

The number of newborns here dropped for the eighth consecutive year in 2023 to 230,000, down 47.3 percent from 436,455 tallied in 2013, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.

South Korea's total fertility rate — the average number of children that are expected to be born to a woman over her lifetime — fell to an all-time quarterly low of 0.65 in the October-December period in 2023, much lower than the replacement level of 2.1 that would keep South Korea's population stable at 51 million. 

Number of marriages in Korea down 40% over past 10 years, driving down total fertility rate

The Korea Times · by 2024-03-03 17:01 | Companies · March 3, 2024

A person walks by a wedding dress shop in northwestern Seoul, taken March 18, 2022. Newsis

The number of marriages in Korea plummeted 40 percent over the past 10 years, leading to a decrease in the country's birthrate, government data showed Sunday.

A total of 193,673 marriages were reported last year, sharply down from 322,807 cases in 2013, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.

The 2023 tally was slightly higher than the 191,690 marriages reported in 2022, but the yearly tally decreased for 11 consecutive years from 2012 to 2022.

According to a survey by Statistics Korea, only 15.3 percent of those aged 13 or above said "marriage is a must" in 2022, down from the corresponding tally of 20.3 percent 10 years ago.

The proportion of those who answered "getting married is better" also dropped to 34.8 percent from 42.4 percent over the same period.

Ironic upswing of baby care stocks amid low birthrate draws investors' interest

The survey also showed that more than 30 percent of those in their 20s or 30s cited "lack of money" as a reason they are not getting married.

About 19 percent and 14 percent of those in their 20s and 30s said they "do not feel the need" to get married.

Fewer marriages have also led to a fall in the country's fertility rate in recent years, as most people in South Korea give birth to a baby after they get married.

The number of newborns here dropped for the eighth consecutive year in 2023 to 230,000, down 47.3 percent from 436,455 tallied in 2013, according to data compiled by Statistics Korea.

South Korea's total fertility rate — the average number of children that are expected to be born to a woman over her lifetime — fell to an all-time quarterly low of 0.65 in the October-December period in 2023, much lower than the replacement level of 2.1 that would keep South Korea's population stable at 51 million. (Yonhap)

The Korea Times · by 2024-03-03 17:01 | Companies · March 3, 2024

10. The US mocked Russia for its motley cast of allies in Ukraine. It's not laughing any more.

The US mocked Russia for its motley cast of allies in Ukraine. It's not laughing any more.

Business Insider · by Mia Jankowicz

Politics

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at the Angara rocket launch complex on September 13, 2023, in Tsiolkovsky, Russia.

Contributor/Getty Images

• Russia's dealmaking with Iran and North Korea has attracted mockery from the West as "desperate."
• But what appeared a motley alliance is cementing the power of all three countries, experts said.
• It's helped Russia in Ukraine — and North Korea is likely to be doing well out of it.

In the fall of 2022, President Vladimir Putin was in a bind. Expecting to have already overrun Ukraine, his forces were instead being routed from huge swathes of the country.

"They just didn't have the weapons they needed. They didn't have the soldiers prepared. They didn't have the defensive positions prepared," RAND defense researcher Bruce W. Bennett told Business Insider.

Isolated from much of the world by sanctions, Putin turned to rogue states like Iran and North Korea for munitions.

The US will have watched very closely. But publicly, officials were sanguine, even dismissive.

Secretary of State Anthony Blinken quipped in September that the rag-tag partnerships came off like a "Star Wars bar scene of countries."

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"Nothing from Pyongyang will be a game changer in Ukraine," Mark Milley, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, remarked in September last year.

More recently, UK Defence Minister Grant Shapps poked fun at Putin by saying he had humiliatingly gone "cap in hand" to North Korea to support his war machine.

But as Western support wavers, the impact of Pyongyang's ammunition supply — along with bombardments of Iranian Shahed drones — is likely giving Russia a distinct edge in Ukraine, experts said.

And beyond Ukraine, it is having ripple effects on the international order.

Tipping the scales

The three-way axis is "fragile in many ways," Beth Sanner, a former intelligence official under the Trump and Biden administrations, said at a recent Atlantic Council event.

But, she said, it has "a quite serious and very real effect."

As Russia's invasion stalled in mid-2022, Putin had already started the groundwork to procure Shahed drones from Iran.

Russia has fired thousands of them across Ukraine since then.

Given that neither Russia nor North Korea has admitted to arms transfers, there is no way of knowing exactly how significant their contribution is to Russia's wider supply of munitions for the war.

But "the volume of stuff that's been going over is huge. It's significant," Joseph Byrne, an open-source researcher and North Korea specialist at the Royal United Services Institute, told BI.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at an aircraft manufacturing plant in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur in Russia, on September 15, 2023.

Government of Khabarovsk Region via REUTERS

Since September, South Korea says that it has observed North Korea sending about 6,700 containers to Russia, potentially holding about three million 152mm artillery shells, or half a million 122 mm shells.

Bennett said this is a "major contribution" to Russia's war efforts, even factoring in the possibility that many of the shells — likely drawn from Soviet-era stockpiles — may be duds.

And North Korea's factories are now working round the clock to bring Russia fresh weapons and shells, South Korea said on Wednesday.

Asked if these supplies were a "game changer" for Russia, John Herbst, a former US ambassador to Ukraine, put it bluntly.

They're a "game continuer," he told the Atlantic Council.

Given Ukraine's desperate ammunition shortages, that may be all Putin needs.

Last year, Russia was estimated to be burning through 30,000 shells a day in Ukraine — roughly what the US could produce in a month at the time, Bennett said.

The US has since ramped up production, but "it's going to take us years to get anywhere close to what North Korea has been providing to Russia," he told BI.

Byrne added: "You see Russia's ability to continue to fire artillery, fire rockets on Ukrainian positions just massively increase and sustain over a long period of time, very likely because of this uplift from the North Koreans."

Going rogue

Russian President Vladimir Putin at his year-end press conference in Moscow on December 14, 2023.

ALEXANDER KAZAKOV

Despite the criticism of his allies, Putin is showing little sign it bothers him.

To work with North Korea, Putin has contravened UN Security Council resolutions he himself signed onto.

For Bennett, Putin's thinking is simple. "If Russia failed to achieve success in Ukraine, meaning it got pushed out of Ukraine, is Putin going to survive physically?" he asked. "The answer is probably no. So Putin's desperate."

Motivated by self-preservation, Putin has little reason to mind the jibes of Ukraine's allies.

"What matters is power," Bennett said.

A boon for North Korea

Much the same can be said for Kim Jong Un, whose regime shows signs of gaining a great deal from the partnership.

The terms of the exchange are unknown, but Byrne outlined several ways North Korea might benefit.

Cold hard cash is one.

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Thanks to international sanctions, North Korea is obliged to hold much of its money abroad, Byrne said.

Western intelligence officials recently told The New York Times that Russia had unfrozen millions of dollars of North Korean assets in a possible exchange for ammunition supplies.

A rocket carrying North Korean spy satellite Malligyong-1, in a handout image released on November 21, 2023.

KCNA

Another area of gain is technological: It might be sophisticated technology transfers for electronic warfare systems, air defense systems, and ballistic missiles, Byrne said.

The opportunity to see how its homegrown ballistic missiles perform on the battlefield is also "absolutely invaluable" for Kim, Byrne said.

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South Korea has accused its northern neighbor of using Ukraine as a test site for its nuclear-capable missiles.

Meanwhile, Russia has already been seen boosting North Korea on the international stage, like in September when Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, suggested that UN sanctions against the country were outdated.

Operating like this "really emboldens North Korea, Iran, and any other autocratic state," said Sanner.

An opportunistic cartel

It's unlikely that ties between Moscow and Pyongyang run deep, since they have little basis in shared ideology, experts said.

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In supplying weapons, Kim Jong Un's regime is unlikely to be driven by a dislike of Ukraine, Bennett said.

"But they sure love Russian money and they sure love Russian grain," he said, describing it as "more a cartel kind of relationship."

But as shallow as the ideological kinship might run, there is little doubt Russia's dealmaking with Iran and North Korea has changed the picture, he said. Signs of that are already emerging — in January, Russia and Iran announced their intention to sign a wide-ranging treaty.

"Two years ago, people would've said, 'well, Russia's got some power, but not a big deal. Iran, oh, it's a nuisance, but it's not a big deal. North Korea's a nuisance, we're worried about their nukes, but not a big deal,'" Bennett said

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Now, he said, "all three countries look more powerful, more threatening. And so yeah, it's changed the landscape."

​11. South Korea’s Nuclear Paradox – Analysis

Yesterday Elbridge Colby and I discussed the alliance on VOA's Washington Talk.. He made the point that we should place the alliance and security over non-proliferation. That assumes that ROK possession of nuclear weapons would deter north Korea. What I have said to my Korean friends is that for a nuclear deterrent to be effective the ROK must have a concept of nuclear employment against the north. Mere possession of nuclear weapons is not an effective deterrent unless there is a credible concept for employing those weapons.

South Korea’s Nuclear Paradox – Analysis

https://www.eurasiareview.com/02032024-south-koreas-nuclear-paradox-analysis/

 March 2, 2024  0 Comments

By IPCS

By Shivani Singh

South Korea faces a paradox of choice. On one hand, it must address growing domestic public pressure in favour of acquiring nuclear weapons to combat the North Korean threat. On the other, this decision must be weighed against Seoul’s rapid nuclear energy expansion, which could suffer a setback if accompanied by nuclear weapons development as the latter might invite sanctions. 

What factors drive these fundamentally incompatible goals? And why are they incompatible in the South Korean context?

The Nuclear Deterrent Debate

The growing North Korean threat has renewed domestic debates around waning trust in America’s extended deterrence guarantee and the viability of an independent South Korean nuclear deterrent. This erosion of allied trust in the US nuclear umbrella is not new and dates back to the Obama and Trump administrations’ inconclusive policies towards North Korea.

The 2013 US-South Korea agreement aimed to establish a tailored deterrence strategy against North Korean nuclear weapons to ensure “a full [range] of military capabilities, including the US nuclear umbrella, conventional strike, and missile defense capabilities.” In a show of good faith given the worsening security situation in the region and to boost deterrence, the strategy was updated in November 2023. Despite this, over 60 per cent South Koreans registered a lack of trust in the US nuclear umbrella and over 71 per cent favouredthe country building its own nuclear weapons.

The massive support for nuclear weapons in South Korea is not surprising, especially following a spate of provocative North Korean actions over the past two years. Pyongyang is reported to have conducted close to 80 ballistic missile tests since 2022, and a series of intercontinental ballistic missile tests in 2017, 2022, and 2023. The most recent addition is the test launch of its new-generation strategic cruise missile, Pulhwasal-3-31, and nuclear-capable “underwater attack drone” Haeil-5-23, to deter military manoeuvres by the US and allied navies through the creation of large radioactive explosions underwater. More importantly, Kim’s recent declaration on the impossibility of Korean reunification and calling South Korea a belligerent, enemy state has hiked up tensions. Kim’s charged statement and rapid nuclear modernisation could be an attempt to leverage declining US credibility over the Russia-Ukraine war and apprehension regarding the upcoming US presidential elections, and use both to North Korea’s advantage.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration has come under the scanner for its rather hawkish and inflexible approach towards North Korea, further deepening a lack of trust in US policy. Apart from the uncompromising goal of eliminating North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, there seems to be no clarity in US strategy. Denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula is a Sisyphean task, especially now, with an evident shift in Supreme Leader Kim Jong-Un’s focus: from achieving rapprochement with South Korea to having its nuclear-armed status internationally legitimised.

Ramping Up Nuclear Energy Trade

The other side of the nuclear dilemma are the economic imperatives of nuclear energy expansion. Public attitudes in South Korea concerning civil uses of nuclear energy and construction of nuclear power plants are largely positive. A 2021 poll showed that 72.1 per cent of respondents supported the use of nuclear power to meet energy needs. A 2022 survey showed majority support for nuclear energy, at 69.2 per cent. The quandary for South Korea, however, lies in pursuing the incompatible twin goals of nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. Unlike his predecessor, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is leading an expansive nuclear energy campaign which requires cooperation from Western allies. 

The 26 reactors in operation in South Korea meet 27.8 per cent of the country’s electricity needs. Seoul plans to ramp up production to a minimum 30 per cent of total electricity by 2030 and 34.6 per cent by 2036. South Korea further plans to boost investment in its nuclear export industry, confirming an export target of 10 nuclear power plants by 2030, which includes developing Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). To meet these ambitious targets, the Yoon government announced a stream of nuclear projects with several countries. These include a November 2023 clean energy partnership with the UK to boost low-carbon, civil nuclear energy; an agreement with the Netherlands in December 2023 for the construction of new nuclear power plants; and talks of supplying SMRs to African countries.

Moreover, the US-RoK civil nuclear partnership is guided by a 1974 agreement that was further extended for 20 years in 2015. The agreement imposes strict restrictions on uranium enrichment and spent fuel reprocessing, which are required to make a nuclear bomb. Violation of the agreement can invite automatic US sanctions and termination of international nuclear cooperation, thus adversely affecting nuclear industry. South Korea is also party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an IAEA safeguards agreement, and has signed the Additional Protocol, and any violation violating can further jeopardise nuclear energy expansion.

Yoon is unlikely to risk the favourable uptick in nuclear commerce and profitable collaborations by promoting nuclear weapons talk. This is visible in the stark change in his stance: from hinting in early 2023 that South Korea could “get its own nuclear arms if the security situation in North Korea worsens,” to the present-day position, which is that South Korea “would not seek its own nuclear deterrent in the face of threats from nuclear-armed North Korea.” This change can attributed to the threat of sanctions should Seoul go down the nuclear weapons route, which would “ruin a trade-dependent economy.”

The Yoon government has its work cut out. Managing domestic pressures for a nuclear deterrent against mushrooming nuclear energy contracts—and needs—is going to be a tough balancing act.

Shivani Singh is Senior Researcher with IPCS’ Nuclear Security Programme (NSP).

IPCS

IPCS (Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies) conducts independent research on conventional and non-conventional security issues in the region and shares its findings with policy makers and the public. It provides a forum for discussion with the strategic community on strategic issues and strives to explore alternatives. Moreover, it works towards building capacity among young scholars for greater refinement of their analyses of South Asian security.

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