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Quotes of the Day:
"Only passions, great passions, can elevate the soul to great things."
– Denis Diderot
"Our power is our ability to decide."
– Buckminster Fuller
"People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid."
– Soren Kierkegaard
1. Experts call for placing human rights at center of NK policy
2. Lee Il-gyu: “Kim Jong-un adopts ‘party first’ policy due to fear of coup”
3. [Lancome] Let's not unify?
4. Seoul should engage Kim Jong-un’s elites for change, ex-North Korean diplomat says
5. U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights: “Possibility of Internal Uprising in North Korea is Low”
6. S. Korea pledges to maintain 'positive momentum' with Japan under Ishiba
7. “If we accept the ‘two-state theory’, we will lose the basis for protecting North Korean defectors”
8. S. Korea had 'constructive' talks with U.S. for defense cost sharing: official
9. Expanding access to information in N. Korea is 'key pillar' of U.S. policy: U.S. envoy
10. U.S. Air Force blames flight instruments failure for December F-16 crash
11. ＜Lighting Up North Korea's Dark Four Years＞ (3) The Second Link in the Tragedy – Ruthless Quarantine Policy, "The State is Scarier than the Virus"
12. N. Korea raises number of criminal charges subject to death penalty: report
13. The Wily Spy Who Risked His Life to Meet North Korea’s Secretive Leader
14. Forum discusses how US presidential election will impact US-ROK alliance
1. Experts call for placing human rights at center of NK policy
Experts call for placing human rights at center of NK policy
The Korea Times · September 27, 2024
Hyun Jin Preston Moon, founder and chairman of the Global Peace Foundation, gives a keynote speech during the International Forum on One Korea at a hotel in Seoul, Friday. Newsis
Pyongyang's drastic policy shift highlighted at International Forum on One Korea
By Jung Min-ho
Reunifying the Korean Peninsula into one nation has always been a challenging mission. But over the past year, skepticism has grown to an unprecedented level. After the North Korean regime officially abandoned its goal of unification late last year, some politicians in the South have also joined increasing calls for “peaceful coexistence.”
During this year’s International Forum on One Korea, co-hosted by the Global Peace Foundation (GPF), Action for Korea United and One Korea Foundation, political leaders, security experts and human rights activists urged the government and people in the South to reject that shift, saying that permanent division on the peninsula betrays Korea’s founding vision and would not bring lasting peace.
“The fact that (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-un abandoned unification, which was a key policy of both his father and grandfather, is an admission that he has already lost,” Hyun Jin Preston Moon, left, founder and chairman of the GPF, said at Friday’s event held in Seoul.
According to Moon, that decision was tantamount to abandoning the aspirations of modern Korea's forefathers who led the independence movement from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule and those who established the nation under the founding value of “Hongik Ingan,” interpreted as “to benefit humanity widely.”
“Who’s carrying the torch of those aspirations and staying true to our 5,000-year history and the destiny of the Korean people (now)? It’s you,” he said, calling on the government to reform its unification ministry as a pan-government, nonpartisan entity for that critical task.
North Korea’s attempt to leave the peninsula divided will not be supported by any countries, not even China, one of its most important allies, according to Hao Su, professor emeritus at Renmin University of China.
“The Chinese government has always supported the policies for the peaceful reunification of the peninsula led by the people of the peninsula. North Korea’s recent policy changes will not affect China’s perception, nor will it change China’s stance of supporting the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula,” he said.
Dignitaries, including security scholars and human rights experts, pose during the International Forum on One Korea at a hotel in Seoul, Friday. Courtesy of Global Peace Foundation
Dozens of prominent scholars and activists shared their insights and discussed ways to make the vision possible there. One thing they all agreed on was that prioritizing denuclearization of North Korea above the human rights of its people has achieved neither of the objectives.
“For 30 years, our North Korea policy has sacrificed human rights for the sake of addressing nuclear weapons. Both North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs have thrived. Sidelining human rights to appease the regime is not the answer, but a fundamental flaw in policy. Our task is to turn this record of failure into success,” said Robert Joseph, a senior scholar at the National Institute for Public Policy and former special envoy for nuclear nonproliferation in the U.S.
Given that the greatest vulnerability of the Kim regime is from within, from the alienation of its own people who suffer under its totalitarian repression, Joseph suggested placing human rights and a comprehensive information campaign at the center of a new strategy for North Korea.
His view was echoed by Suzanne Scholte, a U.S. rights activist and chief of the North Korean Freedom Coalition.
“Today, the people of North Korea are far more informed about the outside world than ever before. It is precisely why Kim Jong-un is using such draconian measures to isolate them from the outside world: It is the only way he can stay in power,” Scholte said. “He is terrified that he is losing control over their minds, which will mean the end of this triple family dictatorship.”
What those experts suggest is to maximize the international efforts to let ordinary people in North Korea know what the whole world already knows — the reality of their terrible human rights situation, the incompetence of their leaders and the world outside their borders.
David Maxwell, a GPF senior fellow and vice president at the Washington-based Center for Asia Pacific Strategy, said such efforts matter not just for the country’s peaceful unification but also for another important mission of creating a new Korea.
One of the subjects addressed during the forum was the economic cost of unification, which is one of the major reasons for growing skepticism, particularly among young South Koreans.
According to Nicholas Eberstadt, a political economist, such worries are vastly overblown.
“First: the economic reconstruction of northern Korea will be an immense project — but if the returns on investment in this project are high, the project can basically pay for itself in the long run,” he said. “Second, thanks to generations of market-led modern development, both South Korea and the world as a whole are richer and more productive than ever before — better poised to mobilize and deploy the immense amounts of capital and know-how a successful Korean reunification will surely require.”
If reunification suddenly occurred today, the newly reunified Korean Peninsula would count as a fairly affluent country, he noted.
Rough calculations indicate that overall wealth per adult for a reunified Korea would be over $150,000 today, he added — about the same level as in much of Southern Europe.
“None of this will be easy of course — but all of it is surely doable,” Eberstadt said. “But Korean reunification is ‘unthinkable’ only if we fail to think about it.”
The Korea Times · September 27, 2024
2. Lee Il-gyu: “Kim Jong-un adopts ‘party first’ policy due to fear of coup”
The party always comes first because it must be 100 percent to Kim Jong Un. Kim fears all the korean people in the north ()especially "Mr. X" - that unknown person who has access and placement and a will to act that no one will see coming).
Lee Il-gyu: “Kim Jong-un adopts ‘party first’ policy due to fear of coup”
https://www.rfa.org/korean/in_focus/nk_nuclear_talks/kim-jong-un-coup-09272024090139.html
Seoul-Hong Seung-wook hongs@rfa.org
2024.09.27
Former director Lee Il-gyu, who worked at the North Korean embassy in Cuba and defected last November, is speaking on the topic of “Assessment of North Korea’s Kim Jong-un’s Current State” at the NK Forum hosted by the Institute for National Security Strategy at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul on the afternoon of the 27th.
/Yonhap News
00:00 /03:36
Anchor : Former North Korean Embassy in Cuba counselor Lee Il-gyu concluded that General Secretary Kim Jong-un adopted the so-called " Party First " policy because of the possibility of a coup due to public discontent . Hong Seung-wook reports from Seoul .
A discussion on ' Assessment of Kim Jong-un's Current Situation and Prospects for Changes in the North Korean Regime ' held on the 27th in Seoul by the Institute for National Security Strategy under the National Intelligence Service of Korea .
Former North Korean embassy in Cuba counselor Ri Il-gyu, who defected in November last year , spoke as a presenter and said that public sentiment in North Korea has completely turned its back on General Secretary Kim Jong-un of the Workers' Party of Korea .
It is said that discontent has reached its peak not only among the residents but also among the elite class including his close associates due to the successive dismissals and demotions.
Former Counselor Lee then said that the most important reason General Secretary Kim adopted the so-called ' Party First ' policy was fear of a coup .
Former North Korean Embassy in Cuba Counselor Ri Il-gyu : In order to protect the regime from the risk of a military coup, Kim Jong-un judged that control , monitoring, and dominating society were more important than ever, and the method he chose can be seen as party-first politics .
' Coup d'état ' refers to an act by a certain force within the ruling class to overthrow the government by force and seize power .
Former Ambassador Lee made this diagnosis, saying that he had concluded that if General Secretary Kim did not urgently establish a control system by the party, he would not be able to control the military, and the risk of a coup or other collapse of the regime could become a reality .
The South Korean government has proposed taking General Secretary Kim to the International Criminal Court (ICC) .
Former Ambassador Lee assessed that there is sufficient grounds to refer General Secretary Kim to the International Criminal Court, claiming that he is carrying out illegal activities such as supplying weapons to Russia, which is waging war in Ukraine .
Former North Korean Embassy in Cuba Counselor Lee Il-gyu : Kim Jong-un is committing truly endless illegal and unlawful acts, such as supplying weapons to Russia, so I think it is necessary to put serious pressure on him. Rather than filing a lawsuit, I think it is important to put a big burden on him so that he cannot commit such illegal acts as he wants .
He also expressed his position that it is still too early to discuss the possibility of the collapse of the North Korean regime.
Former Director Lee said that he also hopes for the collapse of the North Korean regime and that it could be the ultimate goal, but he does not think it is very realistic right now, and that it would be more realistic to first bring about a change in the system .
He then listed five measures: international pressure, inflow of external information into North Korea, strengthening of the South Korea-US alliance and continuous persuasion of countries in the region , securing the South Korean government’s initiative in the unification process , and inducing North Korea to reform and open up .
Former Director Lee Il-gyu : “ North Korea-Russia Military Cooperation Must Pressure Kim Jong-un to Report to ICC ”
North Korean defector diplomat Lee Il-gyu: “ North Korea is isolating itself through ‘ diplomacy to protect the leader ’ ”
Experts in South Korea also expressed their opinion that the Kim Jong-un regime is still durable and that its early collapse is unlikely.
At the discussion held that day, Professor Park Won-gon of Ewha Womans University analyzed that during the 10 years of the Kim Jong-un regime, “ it is judged that the goals of changing the national governance system and developing nuclear weapons, which are key to national defense, have been achieved to a significant extent, ” and that “ no direct challenges to the Kim Jong-un regime have been found . ”
Lee Seung-hyun, a researcher at the National Assembly Research Service, predicted that the Kim Jong-un regime will be the biggest beneficiary of the US-China strategic competition or the confrontation between South Korea, the US, and Japan versus North Korea, China, and Russia, and that North Korea will stick to its “ endurance strategy ” for the time being .
This is Hong Seung-wook of RFA's Radio Free Asia in Seoul .
Editor Lee Hyun-joo, Web Editor Kim Sang-il
3. [Lancome] Let's not unify?
Thesis a Google translation of an RFA report. Therefore Lancome is Andrei Lankov.
Here is the litmus test. You with support a free and unified Korea , (Korean unification) or you support Kim Jong Un's political warfare strategy to split the ROK/US alliance, drive US forces from the peninsula, subvert the ROK government and political system to achieve domination of the Korean peninsula under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State.
[Lancome] Let's not unify?
https://www.rfa.org/korean/commentary/lankov/column_lankov_unification-09252024095923.html
Lancôme ∙ Professor, Kookmin University
2024.09.26
Lim Jong-seok, chairman of the 2018 Inter-Korean Summit Preparatory Committee, is speaking at the '9/19 Pyongyang Joint Declaration 6th Anniversary Commemoration Ceremony' held at the multipurpose hall of the Kim Dae-jung Convention Center in Seo-gu, Gwangju on the afternoon of the 19th.
/Yonhap News
00:00 /06:06
Professor LankovIn South Korean society, which has long been indifferent to North Korea, the North Korea issue has become a topic of discussion and political debate again since last week. On September 19, Lim Jong-seok, former chief of staff to former President Moon Jae-in, argued that “we should not achieve unification between North and South Korea.”
This was a very shocking statement, because Im Jong-seok is a representative politician who has advocated for unification and taken a very positive attitude toward North Korea since his youth .
Listeners, you may still remember the incident of Lim Soo-kyung's visit to North Korea. Lim Soo-kyung was the subject of great interest in North Korea, called the ' flower of unification ' because of her appearance and behavior . The person who sent Lim Soo-kyung to North Korea at that time was Lim Jong-seok, one of the student movement leaders in his early 20s .
Lim Jong-seok, who planned Lim Su-kyung’s visit to North Korea in 1989, can also be seen as one of the people who planned Moon Jae-in’s visit to Pyongyang in 2018. He was one of the key figures in North Korea policy and once declared that he would devote himself to the unification movement .
Because of this background, his statement that “ unification should not happen ” caused a political explosion . He said that the goal of the two Koreas at this stage is “ peaceful coexistence ” rather than unification . Of course, he acknowledged that we are in a situation of two hostile countries, as Kim Jong-un had mentioned some time ago , but he said that in the long term, we should fight for the emergence of two countries with good relations on the Korean Peninsula .
Interestingly, on the same day, former President Moon Jae-in said that the discourse on North-South unification should be reexamined. Considering this, it can be seen that Im Jong-seok's ' two-nation theory ' is not Im Jong-seok's personal idea, but rather a signal flare for a new political line of the Korean opposition party, that is, the progressive faction .
On the other hand, conservative politicians including South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol strongly criticized Im Jong-seok’s remarks and insisted that unification must be achieved. Of course, the unification referred to here is peaceful unification and must be achieved under liberal democracy .
Let's look at the logic from both sides.
Progressives have long tended to consider the North Korean regime's attitude very important when implementing their North Korea policy. In other words, they do not say things that North Korea does not want to hear . They have long realized that unification is impossible , but they have not been able to admit this fact because they are conscious of Pyongyang . When Kim Jong-un began to advocate the " two-state theory, " progressives began to argue that unification should not occur .
Conversely, conservatives have an advantage because progressives have given up on the slogan of unification. Koreans are deeply patriotic and still have strong nationalist tendencies . Their worldview considers overcoming division and achieving national unification as the nation's highest goal . Therefore, many Koreans , especially the elderly, will see progressives who say, " Unification is not necessary, " as people with weak patriotism and national consciousness . On the other hand, conservatives who still pursue unification may be seen as people who maintain national consciousness .
Despite these political calculations, Im Jong-seok’s remarks are interesting. For a very long time, South Korean society has not been interested in the declarations of North Korean leaders such as Kim Jong-un and Kim Jong-il . However, his remarks this time have caused a great debate in South Korea about the claims of the North Korean leader .
* The contents of this column may not be consistent with the editorial direction of Free Asia Broadcasting *
Editor Yang Seong-won, Web Editor Kim Sang-il
4. Seoul should engage Kim Jong-un’s elites for change, ex-North Korean diplomat says
In particular the military leadership must know that if they do not obey orders to attack the South and if they do not obey orders to suppress resistance among the Korean people in the north, they will have a place in a free and unified Korea. The ROK and US military PSYOP forces should be aggressively employing the full range of their combined PSYOP capabilities to transmit this message to the nKPA forces in the north. They need to execute a military PSYOP campaign against the Korean military in the north.
Seoul should engage Kim Jong-un’s elites for change, ex-North Korean diplomat says
koreaherald.com · by Kim Arin · September 27, 2024
By Kim Arin
Published : Sept. 27, 2024 - 19:14
Lee Il-gyu
South Korea should make it easier for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s elites to switch sides and stir change, Lee Il-gyu, who was Pyongyang’s counselor of political affairs in Cuba, said Friday.
“South Korea should engage not only North Korea’s general public but also its elites to elicit change from within North Korea,” he said at a forum hosted by the Institute for National Security Strategy, a National Intelligence Service think tank, at the National Assembly in Seoul.
Lee was apparently referencing the “Unification Doctrine” unveiled by President Yoon Suk Yeol on Aug. 15 for pursuing a regime change while advocating North Korean people’s rights.
“For members of the North Korean elite, they fear that they will be together held accountable if the Kim regime collapses,” he said. “We have to reassure them that is not going to be the case, and make it easier for them to come over to our side.”
He fled from Cuba in November last year, becoming the latest known high-level North Korean diplomat to defect to South Korea since Tae Yong-ho. Tae, who was a minister at the North Korean embassy in London, arrived in South Korea in 2016.
Lee characterized the North Korean leader’s rule as “party-first,” a principle that also guided his foreign policies.
“The foreign policy principles that North Korea is advocating are simple -- to develop ties with parties of socialist countries and strengthen solidarity with countries that stand against the US. So the list of countries North Korea is willing to work with is not long,” he said.
“North Korea needs to be reminded that ultimately, opening up is the only way and that its isolationist politics will only lead to their fall, as exemplified by its friends.”
The breakthrough moment Kim hopes for with the reelection of former US President Donald Trump is “hard to come by,” Hyun In-taek, who was Minister of Unification in Seoul in 2009-11, said.
Also speaking at the forum, he said the US bypassing South Korea to engage directly with North Korea, cited by some as a risk of a possible second Trump term, was “highly unlikely.”
“The next US administration will have to spend its first half working with the Yoon administration. I think it is highly unlikely that the US, as an ally, would negotiate one-on-one with North Korea when there is staunch opposition from the South Korean government,” he said.
The former minister said Kim’s friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin was also on “shaky grounds.”
“Kim probably thinks he has made a longstanding commitment with Putin. That’s why he could afford to distance himself from China. But Putin is not going to stick around once Russia’s war with Ukraine is over,” he said.
“He had already experienced something similar with Trump, being abandoned after he had served his purpose.”
Hyun said the North Korean leader appeared to be having a hard time dealing with the gap between the country’s economic standing and the diplomatic ventures he was able to pull.
“The father Kim had limited foreign policy options as in his time, North Korea’s military power was still incomplete. Kim Jong-un on the other hand has held summits with world leaders like Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and recently, even Vladimir Putin,” he said.
“But domestically, he’s in a very bad place. He cannot even feed his own people.”
South Korea could play a more active role in bringing about change in North Korea, rather than waiting for history to do its job, Yoo Seong-ok, an expert at the NIS think tank, said.
“North Korea faces the choice of embracing the influx of outside information and the demands of its freedom-seeking people, or keeping its doors shut,” he said. “We could play a role in helping them make a choice.”
koreaherald.com · by Kim Arin · September 27, 2024
5. U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights: “Possibility of Internal Uprising in North Korea is Low”
Do not discount the Korean people in the north and their desire to free themselves. We should pay attention to the words of the Korean people from the north.:
We should heed the words of an escapee from north Korea who is now blessed with freedom in the South. Kim Gumhyok of the North Korean Young Leaders Assembly recently gave an impassioned plea at the Hudson Institute on July 29, 2024 making three important points:
1. Change is coming.
2. Make human rights a number one priority.
3. Do not be disappointed or frustrated because change has not happened yet.
Change is coming to the north. The question is whether the Korean people in the South, the U.S., Japan, and the civil societies of the international community will help the people in the north to transform the regime and seek peaceful unification under the principle human right of self-determination of government.
U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights: “Possibility of Internal Uprising in North Korea is Low”
WASHINGTON-Lee Sang-min lees@rfa.org
2024.09.26
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), a US federal agency, held a video hearing on the topic of religious freedom in North Korea on the 26th. At the center right is Julie Turner, the US special envoy for North Korean human rights issues.
/ Hearing video capture
00:00 /03:00
Anchor : Julie Turner, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, said that it is very unlikely that North Korean citizens will rise up in revolt due to fear . Reporter Lee Sang-min reports . On the 26th , the U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) , a U.S. federal agency, held a video hearing on the topic of religious freedom in North Korea .
Julie Turner, the special envoy for North Korean human rights, who appeared as a witness, said that many of the laws enforced in North Korea during the COVID- 19 period are particularly targeting youth, and that the severity of punishment has also increased, leading to a sharp increase in public executions in the past year or two .
Turner said that cases of teenagers receiving the same punishment have been observed, and that earlier this year, many youths were sentenced to 12 years of forced labor for watching South Korean dramas . In response, Vicki Hartzler, a member of the Commission on International Religious Freedom, asked if there is a movement toward freedom among young North Koreans , and if they have a tendency to resist and change the oppression of the North Korean regime . [ Special Envoy Turner ] I think a large part of the reason why crackdowns on outside information are being strengthened in North Korea is because of the power of the younger generation, who are increasingly exposed to outside information .
He assessed that, for example, young North Koreans have begun to adopt Korean slang or Korean speech, and the North Korean regime views this as a threat and is strengthening repression to crack down on it.
However, he said that he has talked to many defectors over the past few years, and many of them said that ideological control in North Korea has weakened over the past 10 years, but they still feel fear .
[ Special Envoy Turner ] Because of that fear, the possibility of internal change ( uprising ) is very low . The recent increase in public executions is fanning this fear . It seems that the regime is trying to strengthen its weakened control through this .
Unification Minister : “ North Koreans are exposed to Juche culture during the day and Korean culture at night ”
10th Anniversary of COI Report … Special Envoy Turner: “ Focus on Investigating Accountability for North Korean Human Rights Violations ”
Special Envoy Turner also said that his priority goals are to increase the inflow of independent information into North Korea , document cases of human rights abuses in North Korea so that those responsible can be punished , and negotiate with North Korean authorities to discuss specific ways to improve the human rights situation in North Korea .
Meanwhile , Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director of the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) , who attended as a witness that day, said that underground churches in North Korea could lead to internal change in North Korea .
[ Secretary General Scalatu ] Public discourse and advocacy on North Korea has largely focused on markets and information , which are important factors driving change . But there is another agent of change inside North Korea : the growing underground church .
Secretary General Scalatu emphasized that conveying information from the outside world to North Korea and supporting the underground church in North Korea is the best way to empower the North Korean people and promote peaceful change from within.
Editor Park Jeong-woo , Web Editor Kim Sang-il
6. S. Korea pledges to maintain 'positive momentum' with Japan under Ishiba
But will Prime Minister Ishiba reciprocate?
S. Korea pledges to maintain 'positive momentum' with Japan under Ishiba | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Han-joo · September 27, 2024
SEOUL, Sept. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea on Friday pledged to continue its cooperation with Japan's incoming government in order to maintain "positive momentum," following the ruling party's election of former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba as leader, setting him up to become the country's new prime minister.
"We will continue to work closely with the new Japanese cabinet to ensure the positive flow of South Korea-Japan relations," said a senior presidential official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The official emphasized that Japan is South Korea's closest neighbor and partner, sharing common interests rooted in freedom, human rights and the rule of law.
A South Korean foreign ministry official also voiced optimism, noting that both countries will maintain open channels of communication to uphold the "positive bilateral momentum."
Ishiba, known for his dovish stance on historical issues between the two nations, is set to become prime minister next week, as the Liberal Democratic Party's ruling coalition holds a majority in the Japanese parliament.
Ishiba defeated Economic Security Minister Sanae Takaichi, a conservative candidate who was vying to become Japan's first female prime minister.
This undated file photo shows the South Korean presidential office. (Yonhap)
khj@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Han-joo · September 27, 2024
7. “If we accept the ‘two-state theory’, we will lose the basis for protecting North Korean defectors”
You either support unification (ROK 8.15 Unification Doctrine) or you support Kim Jong Un's political warfare strategy.
“If we accept the ‘two-state theory’, we will lose the basis for protecting North Korean defectors”
Seoul-Mokyongjae moky@rfa.org
2024.09.26
A discussion on 'Implications and Tasks of the August 15 Unification Doctrine' held by the Korean Political Science Association on the 26th.
/RFA PHOTO
00:00 / 00:00
Anchor : Recently, some in South Korea have suggested that we should accept North Korea's " two-state theory, " and there are claims that this could have negative effects on both the South and the North . Reporter Mok Yong-jae reports from Seoul .
On August 15, South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol announced his “ unification doctrine ,” or plan to promote unification, and urged North Korea, which declared a “ two-state hostility ,” to respond .
The unification doctrine announced by President Yoon at the time contained three visions , three strategies , and seven unification promotion plans that emphasized “ free unification . ” Following this announcement, some in South Korea have argued that North Korea’s two-state theory should be accepted, sparking a debate .
Kim Soo-kyung, Vice Minister of Unification of South Korea, reaffirmed the government's position that South Korea seeks unification based on the Constitution and universal values during a discussion titled " Implications and Tasks of the August 15 Unification Doctrine " hosted by the Korean Political Science Association on the 26th .
Kim Soo-kyung, Vice Minister of Unification : Freedom, as a universal human value, is something that North Koreans should also enjoy today. Achieving unification where all members of the Korean Peninsula can enjoy freedom and prosperity is a mission of our time that no one can deny .
Professor Park Won-gon of Ewha Womans University, who attended the discussion as a presenter that day, mentioned the negative effects that could occur if the two-state theory, which has been recently raised in some quarters, is accepted.
In particular, they pointed out that if the South Korean government accepts the two-state theory and deletes Article 3 of the Constitution , the so-called territorial clause, the legitimacy of protecting North Korean defectors will be undermined .
In the case of North Korean defectors who have already settled in South Korea, protection is possible through new legislative measures, but in the case of defectors who are living in third countries such as China or who are heading to South Korea, the South Korean government has no legal basis to protect them .
Professor Park also emphasized that if a sudden change occurs in North Korea, South Korea's room for intervention will also be reduced. The analysis is that if South Korea, which is in a " two-nation " state, enters North Korea together with the United States, China will be able to intervene more easily in a sudden change on the Korean Peninsula based on the " North Korea-China Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Relations Treaty . "
President Yoon: “ I don’t understand the ‘ two-nation theory ’ … Promoting peaceful , free unification ”
Korean Senior Officials Continue to Criticize Claims of Accepting the 'Two-State Theory '
Ministry of Unification announces implementation plan for 'August 15 Unification Doctrine '
Professor Park also analyzed that the two-state theory would be a great political and economic burden to North Korea .
Professor Park pointed out that while the North Korean authorities are carrying out the work of ' ethnic erasure ' , they are not providing specific explanations to the North Korean people through state-run media, etc., and analyzed that if the North Korean regime defines the South and the North as independent political systems, North Korea will bear the burden of having to prove the superiority of its system vis-à-vis South Korea .
Furthermore, he pointed out that North Korea has no future blueprint that can replace the hope of ' unification . '
Professor Park said, “ Declaring hostile relations with the South will have a more negative impact on the North Korean economy as it will be accompanied by constant preparations for war and its strengthening ,” and evaluated that North Korea’s declaration of giving up on unification is a denial of the legitimacy of the North Korean regime .
Meanwhile, criticism was raised at the debate that day that the concept of ' free unification ' , which is the core value of the August 15 Unification Doctrine proposed by President Yoon Seok-yeol , was not clear .
Cho Hyun-jung, a research fellow at the Institute for Unification Studies and a North Korean defector herself, said the meaning of “ freedom ” is so broad that it is confusing .
Hyun-Jeong Cho, Associate Researcher at the Institute for Unification Studies : I thought that when a term comes up in discourse, there needs to be an understanding and explanation of that term, and that some kind of agreement on that concept needs to be reached first through national consensus .
Professor Ha Sang-eung of Sogang University also pointed out that the Korean government is using the English word ' Free Unification ' instead of 'free unification', which it emphasizes in its unification doctrine , and that there is a possibility that people from English-speaking countries may misunderstand the word when they come across it .
Professor Ha said, “ When I asked foreigners what comes to mind when they hear the phrase ‘Free Unification,’ I often heard the somewhat absurd answer, ‘ free unification . ’ ” He emphasized , “ In order to gain support from the international community , we need to think of a message that can be intuitively conveyed from the perspective of foreigners . ”
This is Mok Yong-jae from RFA's Radio Free Asia in Seoul .
Editor Yang Seong-won, Web Editor Kim Sang-il
8. S. Korea had 'constructive' talks with U.S. for defense cost sharing: official
S. Korea had 'constructive' talks with U.S. for defense cost sharing: official | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · September 27, 2024
By Kim Seung-yeon
SEOUL, Sept. 27 (Yonhap) -- South Korea had "constructive" talks with the United States this week to advance the negotiations for determining Seoul's share of the cost for the upkeep of American troops here, a Seoul official said Friday.
The allies wrapped up the three-day defense cost-sharing talks in Seoul, amid growing speculation that the two sides might be nearing an end to renew the multi-year deal for stationing 28,500-strong U.S. soldiers in South Korea.
"South Korea and the United States held constructive discussions aimed at narrowing their differences on key issues of mutual interest," a foreign ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
Since the negotiations were launched in April, eight rounds of talks have taken place, giving rise to the possibility that the two sides may soon strike a new Special Measures Agreement (SMA).
Activists stage a protest rally against the defense cost-sharing talks between South Korea and the United States, in front of the Korea National Defense University in Seoul, where the talks were held, on Aug. 27, 2024. (Yonhap)
CNN recently reported that Seoul and Washington could reach a new deal before the end of this year, citing incumbent and former U.S. officials.
Following the seventh round of the talks in August, Linda Specht, the U.S. chief negotiator, said the two countries had made "good progress" toward an agreement.
The latest negotiations are taking place amid speculation that South Korea is seeking an early deal to apparently avoid tough bargaining in case former U.S. President Donald Trump returns to the White House.
Under Trump's presidency, Washington demanded more than a fivefold increase in Seoul's payment to US$5 billion.
South Korea has called for an agreement that will set its share at "a reasonable level," and the U.S. has stressed the goal of reaching "a mutually acceptable" deal.
The current six-year SMA committed South Korea to paying $1.03 billion for 2021, a 13.9 percent increase from 2019, and increasing the payment every year for the subsequent four years in line with the rise in Seoul's defense spending.
Under the SMA, Seoul has since 1991 partially shared the cost for Korean USFK workers; the construction of military installations such as barracks, as well as training, educational, operational and communications facilities; and other logistical support.
elly@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · September 27, 2024
9. Expanding access to information in N. Korea is 'key pillar' of U.S. policy: U.S. envoy
There is a unique relationship among denuclearization, human rights, and unification. The only way to achieve denuclearization and end the human rights abuses being committed against the Korean people in the north is by achieving unification. Perhaps counterintuitively it is the focus on human rights that must lead to unification and only when unification is achieved can there be denuclearization. And the connective tissue among the three is information.
Expanding access to information in N. Korea is 'key pillar' of U.S. policy: U.S. envoy | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · September 27, 2024
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (Yonhap) -- Increasing access to information in North Korea is a key pillar of Washington's policy on the reclusive state, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights said Thursday, noting "informed" people can help promote security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.
Ambassador Julie Turner made the remarks during an online hearing that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom held to discuss religious freedom in the North, North Korean refugees and policy options for the U.S. government.
"Access to information, including information about religion and the freedom of religion and belief, is a key pillar of our DPRK policy," Turner said, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"An informed citizenry in North Korea can help build stability and prosperity on the peninsula in the region and beyond," she added.
This photo, taken on Oct. 18, 2023, shows Ambassador Julie Turner, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights, speaking during a meeting with reporters in Seoul. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
The ambassador also lambasted North Korea over the detention of South Korean missionaries, including Kim Jung-wook who was arrested in Pyongyang in 2013 and sentenced to hard labor for life on charges of spying for South Korea's spy agency.
"The DPRK's practice of unjustly detaining missionaries and perceived political opponents is a blatant attempt to curtail freedom of religion or belief, silence individuals and limit access to outside information," she said.
Turner reiterated that the human rights situation in the North is "inextricably" linked to international peace and security.
"Food insecurity remain pervasive in North Korea, yet the regime invests billions of dollars in its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs," she said.
"Systematic repression is what allows the Kim regime to continue to develop these unlawful programs, in violation of numerous Security Council resolutions, and to act in increasingly provocative ways."
She went on to say that addressing restrictions on religious freedom is a "fundamental" step towards guaranteeing security in the region.
The ambassador also underscored the U.S.' interest in resuming dialogue with the North on "any issue without preconditions," including human rights.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · September 27, 2024
10. U.S. Air Force blames flight instruments failure for December F-16 crash
U.S. Air Force blames flight instruments failure for December F-16 crash | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · September 27, 2024
By Chae Yun-hwan
SEOUL, Sept. 27 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. F-16 fighter jet crash in the Yellow Sea last December occurred due to loss of primary flight and navigation instruments during poor weather conditions, the U.S. Air Force stationed in South Korea said Friday.
On Dec. 11, the single-engine fighter jet assigned to the U.S. 7th Air Force's 8th Fighter Wing crashed into waters near Kunsan Air Base in the western coastal city of Gunsan, 176 kilometers south of Seoul. The pilot safely ejected and was rescued.
This file photo, taken March 16, 2022, shows an F-16 flying over Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, about 65 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)
After an investigation, the U.S. Air Force's Accident Investigation Board found the jet experienced an embedded GPS inertial navigation system (EGI) failure, resulting in the loss of primary flight and navigation instruments about 13 minutes after takeoff, according to the 7th Air Force.
The pilot experienced disorientation but continued to fly with navigation and altitude information provided by a wingman, it said, noting the weather conditions at the time required a reliance on flight instruments to maintain control.
But the mismatch in data between a standby attitude indicator experiencing errors and the wingman's cues resulted in further spatial disorientation, and the pilot decided to eject, it said.
The total destruction of the fighter jet limited the investigation board's ability to analyze physical evidence and determine the cause of the EGI failure, it added.
The incident was one of three recent U.S. F-16 crashes in South Korea.
A U.S. F-16 crashed into farmland in May 2023, followed by the December incident, and another crash into waters off Gunsan in January this year. All of the pilots ejected from the aircraft and were rescued.
The investigation board blamed the May crash on a partial aircraft power loss.
An investigation into the January incident is still being conducted, but preliminary findings do not indicate that it was related to the previous two crashes, the 7th Air Force said.
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · September 27, 2024
11. ＜Lighting Up North Korea's Dark Four Years＞ (3) The Second Link in the Tragedy – Ruthless Quarantine Policy, "The State is Scarier than the Virus"
＜Lighting Up North Korea's Dark Four Years＞ (3) The Second Link in the Tragedy – Ruthless Quarantine Policy, "The State is Scarier than the Virus"
asiapress.org
Masked soldiers are visible through barbed wire. Photographed from the Chinese side of the border across from Sinuiju in July 2021. ASIAPRESS
＜Lighting Up N. Korea's Four Dark Years＞ (1) Almost the Only Escape Route -The New Generation ‘Donju’ Who Crossed the Sea Tell About COVID-19, Chaos, and Social Change
Shortages and rising prices due to the border closure were the first hardship imposed on North Koreans. However, the government's ruthless and indiscriminate quarantine policy was the second hardship forced on the North Korean people, terrorizing the population and threatening their livelihoods. This article examines the government's quarantine policy and its impact on people's lives. (JEON Sung-jun)
◆ Frozen Production and Distribution, Signs of a Humanitarian Crisis
Overzealous quarantine measures by the authorities to prevent COVID-19 from entering and spreading added to the chaos caused by the border closures. Fearing that COVID-19 could be introduced by sea, the authorities banned fishing activities as part of the "quarantine measures." Kang Kyu-lin, a 23-year-old fishing boat owner, recalls:
"They brought all the boats that were in the water ashore and later told us to get rid of them. People spent a lot of money (building the boats), but they didn't compensate us, and they took them all away."
Meanwhile, on the west coast, Kim Chung-yeol says boats were broken by the typhoon as authorities banned access to the coast.
"A little trimming of the anchor line would have been fine... but they have orders to shoot you [if you approach the coast], so the coast guard soldiers who we knew were begging, 'please don't go out (to sea).'"
Transportation to distribute goods was also paralyzed as the government controlled movement in the name of containing the virus. "It was just a nightmare," Kim recalls.
By then, signs of a humanitarian crisis were already emerging. On July 15, 2020, ASIAPRESS warned of signs of a humanitarian crisis when it introduced an internal survey of major cities in the North, including Hyesan, Sinuiju, Hoeryong, and Chongjin.
Reporting partners said there was an increase in the number of homeless people in markets and in front of train stations, people from urban areas abandoning their homes in the city and moving to the mountains, and married women being forced into prostitution due to living difficulties. In the fall, there was a noticeable increase in the number of city dwellers traveling to the countryside to pick up corn left over by farmers or to beg.
＜Internal Survey of N. Korea＞ Coronavirus Economic Crisis Forces Married Women into Prostitution, Urban Poor into Foraging, and Orphans into Begging
This is due to the stagnation of circulation and the drop in cash income of urban residents because of the quarantine policy.
North Korea's COVID-19 Timeline. ASIAPRESS
◆ "I Didn't Think It Would Be This Bad," Amplifying Discontent with the State
During this time, the public's perception of the country and its leaders also seems to have changed significantly.
"We thought, 'Our economy has hit rock bottom,'" says Kang.
"The price of domestic food had gone up so much, and when I said, 'Why is it going up when candy is domestic,' they said, 'You're so naive, where is domestic? They imported everything from the wrappers to the ingredients and just changed the letters.’ What, you can't even make sweets, but you lied and advertised them as ours? That made people's perception of things even worse."
When asked what the pandemic has changed most for North Koreans, Kim Chung-yeol doesn't hesitate for a second before answering: distrust of the state.
"We all knew our country isn’t wealthy, but we didn't think it would be this bad," he says.
"Before, there was an expectation that (the leader) would develop the economy, but COVID-19 has changed people's perception of Kim Jong-un 100 percent," says Kim Myung-ok.
The pandemic also seems to have affected residents' attitudes about their lives and the future.
Kim Chung-yeol says the COVID-19 experience solidified his decision to defect.
"I just wanted to live well with my family. I did know the nature of North Korea, but I thought I could live well on my own land. But when COVID-19 happened, North Korea became a strange country, so I thought, 'I can't live in my own country, and neither can my children... we can't do this anymore.'"
◆ 'Quarantine is Aimed at Protecting the Supreme Leader'
Authorities have responded to growing public discontent with harsh punishments and controls.
Proclamation obtained by ASIAPRESS: "On Not Engaging in Activities that Hinder the Northern Border Blockade Operation" August 2020, Photo by ASIAPRESS
In late August 2020, North Korea issued a declaration on behalf of the Ministry of Social Security (the national police agency) vowing to severely punish anyone who disrupts the border closure. The statement said, "People and animals who enter our side of the Yalu and Tumen rivers will be shot without warning." The decree also imposed a nighttime curfew, prohibiting the passage of people and vehicles from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. during the summer solstice and from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. during the winter solstice.
The proclamation reads, "We will shoot without warning any objects or animals that invade our banks of the Amnok and Tuman rivers." August 2020, Photo by ASIAPRESS
＜Secretly Obtained N. Korean Documents＞ “People Approaching the Border will be Shot on Sight”...Police Notice Reveals Ruthless Coronavirus Measures
At the same time, the authorities tightened supervision and control over organizations and businesses.
Kim Chung-yeol's duty as captain of a fishing base during the pandemic was to monitor, identify, and report to the authorities the trends of the fishermen and to inform the fishermen of the directives issued by the party and to enforce them. Fishing production took a back seat, and the care and management of the sick was a distant second.
"The social atmosphere was such that you were treated as a pariah if you were sick, and it was very scary because the quarantine work was directly linked to the reception guard, and people around me were being punished, and it was five years (in prison), 10 years for the most serious cases, so I was hoping I wouldn't get caught."
It is noteworthy that the authorities linked the prevention of COVID-19 to the security of the "highest dignity," thus legitimizing the repression.
An acquaintance who worked for the Ministry of Social Security at the time told Kim that more than 600 cadres had been punished for violating quarantine regulations. Given that this was before the virus had even spread in North Korea, it's not unreasonable to think that people feared state punishment for more than just the virus.
What is clear is that the suffering of North Koreans began before COVID-19 arrived, and it will not be the last. Here's a look at how the government’s anti-market policies, designed to take food off people's plates, have plunged them into even more pain. (to be continued)
Map of North Korea ASIAPRESS
＜Lighting Up N. Korea's Four Dark Years＞ (1) Almost the Only Escape Route -The New Generation ‘Donju’ Who Crossed the Sea Tell About COVID-19, Chaos, and Social Change
＜Lighting Up North Korea's Dark Four Years＞ (2) The First Link in a Tragic Chain - Border Closure... "Corona Was a Nightmare, It Was Difficult to Buy Even a Single Needle"
asiapress.org
12. N. Korea raises number of criminal charges subject to death penalty: report
We believe in the rule OF law. The regime believes in rule BY law and keeps the people in check through rule BY fear.
N. Korea raises number of criminal charges subject to death penalty: report | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · September 27, 2024
SEOUL, Sept. 27 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has increased the number of criminal charges subject to the death penalty to 16 from 11 by revising the penal code several times between 2022 and 2023, a report showed Friday.
Since revising the criminal law in May 2022, North Korea has further amended it three times, including the latest revision in December 2023, according to the report by the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU).
North Korea newly added five criminal charges that could lead to the death penalty as a maximum sentence, when compared with the revisions in the penal code between May 2022 and December 2023, according to the report.
Anti-state propaganda and agitation acts, as well as illegal manufacturing, use and transfer of weapons, ammunition and explosives, fall under such charges.
The report said North Korea seems to be strengthening state control and punishment over the management of ammunition and explosives in a bid to help fulfill the country's five-year weapons development project and better protect the North's leader Kim Jong-un and his family.
"North Korea has revised the criminal law in a way that bolsters the regime's security," it said, adding that the move points to instability in the North Korean regime.
Meanwhile, the KINU said North Korea had erased unification-related clauses in the penal code even before a key party meeting in December 2023, when Kim Jong-un defined inter-Korean ties as those between "two states hostile to each other."
At a year-end party meeting, Kim said there is no point in seeking reconciliation and unification with South Korea, calling for removing unification references.
This file photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 5, 2024, shows the North's leader Kim Jong-un delivering a speech at a ceremony to commemorate the transfer of a new tactical ballistic missile system the previous day. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · September 27, 2024
13. The Wily Spy Who Risked His Life to Meet North Korea’s Secretive Leader
"The Spy Gone North" was an interesting and entertaining film. I do wonder what is the real "rest of the story."
The Wily Spy Who Risked His Life to Meet North Korea’s Secretive Leader
NY Times · by Choe Sang-Hun · September 27, 2024
The Global Profile
Park Chae-so was so successful in infiltrating the North that Kim Jong-il, the enigmatic ruler, once gifted him blueberry wine. So why was the celebrated undercover agent later jailed by South Korea?
Listen to this article · 9:05 min Learn more
“Whenever I visited the North, I knew my life was on the line,” said Park Chae-so, a South Korean spy who met with the then-leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-il.Credit...Woohae Cho for The New York Times
By
Reporting from Cheongju, South Korea
Sept. 27, 2024, 5:00 a.m. ET
When the South Korean spy met with Kim Jong-il, he declined the late North Korean leader’s offer of a toast, citing a promise to his mother that he would never drink.
But the undercover agent, masquerading as a businessman, vowed to break his abstinence when the two Koreas reunified, until recently an overriding policy goal of the leaders of both countries.
Park Chae-so, the spy, amused Mr. Kim when the North Korean dictator gave him a bottle of blueberry wine as a parting gift. He asked for another.
“Mr. Chairman, don’t we Koreans say one is one too few?” he said.
Mr. Park’s 1997 meeting with Mr. Kim, the father of the current leader, Kim Jong-un, lasted only 35 minutes. But it was a coup for South Korea’s intelligence community: He was its only known undercover agent to penetrate the security cloaking the world’s most secretive regime and finagle an audience with its enigmatic leader.
Until then, Mr. Kim was so reclusive that even his own people had heard his voice only once, in 1992, when he shouted one sentence into the microphone while inspecting a military parade: “Glory to the heroic soldiers of the People’s Army.”
Mr. Park posing in front of a statue of Kim Il-sung, North Korea’s founder and the father of Kim Jong-il, in Pyongyang, in 1995.Credit...Kim Dang
But Mr. Park was impressed with Mr. Kim’s speaking style.
“There was a flow — and not a single repetition,” Mr. Park, 70, said of his conversation with the supreme leader.
Mr. Park’s identity and his meeting with Mr. Kim, who ruled North Korea from 1994 to 2011, were exposed in a political scandal in 1998, turning him into a celebrated — but former — spy in the South.
These days, the ex-spy is a cautious but vivid storyteller, and this account is based on his version of events, which have inspired a book about his life and a movie, “The Spy Gone North.” While parts of his story have been corroborated by officials and associates, neither North Korea nor his former spy agency has officially commented on his work.
Mr. Park visited North Korea more than a dozen times, convincing North Korean officials that he could get them badly needed cash, including by helping them sell porcelain and other ancient North Korean artifacts abroad.
He said that whenever he was there, he folded his clothes — and left a couple strands of hair in his bag — in such a way that he would know whether his belongings were searched while he was away from his hotel. When the searching stopped, he knew he had gained the trust of his minders.
Mr. Park, center, in Pyongyang, in 1995. He was masquerading as a businessman. Credit...Kim Dang
A senior North Korean official once put a gun to his head when he refused to cooperate with a plan to have him sleep with a North Korean woman and have a baby in the North, he said during an interview in Cheongju, where he lives, one of a few conversations he had in Cheongju and in Seoul with The New York Times. Mr. Park was told that Mr. Kim had already named the prospective baby: Tongil, or “Unification.”
“Whenever I visited the North, I knew my life was on the line,” Mr. Park said. “When the plane took off from Pyongyang and was up in the air, I could breathe again, relieved that I had survived another trip.”
A son of a farming family in Cheongju, south of Seoul, Mr. Park was an army major in 1990 when he was recruited by the Defense Intelligence Command. He began creating a new reputation as part of a carefully choreographed plan to eventually have him infiltrate North Korea. He borrowed money, squandering it in real estate deals gone wrong, and often got into trouble with superiors. He added a few criminal records to his file.
Three years later, in 1993, he was tapped by the country’s top intelligence service, the Agency for National Security Planning, just as North Korea’s clandestine nuclear program had turned into an international crisis.
By this time, he was known among his friends and former military colleagues — and hopefully among the North Korean spies in the South who would check up on his background — as a disgruntled former military intelligence officer, heavily indebted and dabbling in various private business enterprises.
Mr. Park, who was outed as an intelligence operative in 1998, ending his career as an undercover agent, going through photos of his time as a spy in North Korea.Credit...Woohae Cho for The New York Times
For agents spying on North Korea, the famine there in the 1990s created rare opportunities. The North’s elites traveled to China to trade and earn badly needed cash. There, they met South Korean businessmen, some of them undercover agents who piggybacked on business deals to meet North Korean officials and establish an intelligence-gathering foothold.
Mr. Park had his first breakthrough when he learned that one of North Korea’s biggest players in such deals was a nephew of Jang Song-thaek, Mr. Kim’s brother-in-law and at the time one of the country’s most powerful figures.
To get the nephew in trouble with his Chinese creditors, Mr. Park arranged for a shipment of walnuts and pine nuts to be confiscated at a South Korean port. He then gave the nephew $160,000 to pay off his debt, and the grateful Jang family began pulling strings for Mr. Park and doors started to open.
One of his new contacts, Ri Chol, a North Korean Workers’ Party trade official, later introduced him in turn to a senior official from the Ministry of State Security, the North’s secret police, in Beijing. After learning that the security official had a son and daughter about to get married, Mr. Park delighted him with a pair of expensive watches as a wedding gift.
Such episodes convinced him that money talked among the elites of the impoverished North.
“My mission was to penetrate as deep inside the Pyongyang leadership as possible to learn what they were thinking,” Mr. Park said. “If I had any success, it was because I figured out their taste for money.”
Mr. Park with Ri Chol, a trade official with the North Korean Workers’ Party, who was his main contact in the North.Credit...Kim Dang
As his contacts expanded up the hierarchy, the scrutiny increased. No matter how good his cover story, Mr. Park’s North Korean contacts would have known that anyone doing business with them was at least being watched by South Korean intelligence.
North Korean officials once showed him photos of his mother working at a garden and his two daughters going to school in South Korea. The message: Don’t betray us or else.
By the time Mr. Park met Mr. Kim, he had already crafted a lucrative business deal for North Korea that involved bringing a film crew to the North to shoot South Korean TV commercials. Mr. Park said Mr. Kim personally had blessed this proposal.
Surprisingly, the leader also asked Mr. Park to “read his face,” having heard from his aides that Mr. Park practiced the Asian art of fortunetelling based on facial features.
But Mr. Kim also had a more serious plan for Mr. Park.
North Korea wanted him to help with its scheme to block Kim Dae-jung, the longtime opposition leader in the South, from winning its 1997 presidential election. Pyongyang instead wanted the South led by a less-experienced conservative leader.
Money that Mr. Park was going to take with him to North Korea in 1997. “If I had any success, it was because I figured out their taste for money,” he said.Credit...Kim Dang
At home, Mr. Park’s spy agency also did not want Kim Dae-jung, a former dissident whom it once attempted to assassinate, to win the election either. His agency and North Korea, sworn enemies of each other, both plotted separate smear campaigns designed to depict Kim Dae-jung as an untrustworthy communist.
Mr. Park personally opposed such interference. He tipped off aides to Kim Dae-jung so they could prepare against such plots, while urging North Koreans to embrace an opposition victory.
After the opposition leader won the presidency, Mr. Park’s bosses at the spy agency went to prison for illegally meddling in the election. Before they did, they leaked classified intelligence reports that mentioned an undercover agent code-named “Black Venus” who had met Mr. Kim in Pyongyang. There was enough detail for journalists to figure out who Black Venus was.
Mr. Park was preparing for a trip to North Korea in 1998 when South Korean media identified him as Black Venus. His agency discharged him with a $224,000 bonus.
“I had no regrets,” Mr. Park said. “I could not let an enemy country interfere with an election in my country.”
He then made a second fateful decision.
Since being freed from prison in 2016, Mr. Park spends his days in his hometown, Cheongju, where he is building a new cemetery for his clan and playing golf. Credit...Woohae Cho for The New York Times
He reconnected with Mr. Ri, the North Korean trade official, and worked as a freelancing agent for inter-Korean projects — a genuine businessman this time. In 2005, he and Mr. Ri arranged the filming of a Samsung cellphone commercial in Shanghai, the first of its kind, that featured two female celebrity entertainers from both Koreas.
After the political mood changed in South Korea with the conservatives taking back power in 2008, his old agency caught up with him. In 2010, agency officials arrested Mr. Park on charges of illegally contacting North Koreans and sharing sensitive military data with them. Mr. Park argued that none of it was secret, but he was sentenced to six years in solitary confinement.
Since he was freed in 2016, he has not had a formal job.
Although Mr. Park has no plans to reconnect with his North Korean contacts, he often wonders if they might reach out to him as he had helped them hide money abroad when he was a spy.
“They need my help to access the money,” he said.
Choe Sang-Hun is the lead reporter for The Times in Seoul, covering South and North Korea. More about Choe Sang-Hun
7
NY Times · by Choe Sang-Hun · September 27, 2024
14. Forum discusses how US presidential election will impact US-ROK alliance
My crystal ball is much more cloudy than these experts.
Forum discusses how US presidential election will impact US-ROK alliance
The Korea Times · September 26, 2024
This combination of photos shows Vice President Kamala Harris, left, on Aug. 7, and Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump, July 31. AP-Yonhap
Experts discuss necessity of South Korea’s nuclear armament
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Regardless of who wins the U.S. presidential election, the outcome is expected to significantly impact South Korea's national interests, particularly the U.S.-South Korea alliance and East Asian security, according to political analysts on Thursday.
At a forum titled "The U.S. Presidential Election, the Restoration of the Russia-North Korea Alliance and South Korea's Nuclear Strategy," hosted by The Sejong Institute, a Seoul-based think tank, U.S. and South Korean experts discussed how the change in U.S. administration could see it shift its policies regarding the Indo-Pacific region and affect its alliance with South Korea.
Two U.S. experts assessed how the outcome of the U.S. presidential race could change the United States' commitment to the alliance and the Indo-Pacific region.
Jennifer M. Lind, professor of government at Dartmouth College, said a Kamala Harris victory would reassure South Koreans that the U.S. would continue to station military forces on the Korean Peninsula.
"If elected, Harris is expected to follow the Biden administration's policy with respect to the U.S. alliance with South Korea and its nuclear umbrella against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats. She would oppose South Korea developing its independent nuclear arsenal," Lind said, adding that the Biden administration has engaged in bilateral diplomacy with President Yoon Suk Yeol, notably at the 2022 summit in Washington, to dispel concerns over whether the U.S. nuclear umbrella remains a credible deterrent.
However, she argued that the shift in the global balance of power from U.S.-dominated unipolarity to bipolarity, along with the enduring appeal of the anti-globalization backlash in the U.S., could pose challenges to South Korea's future foreign policy direction.
"South Korean hedging vis-a-vis China and North Korea's growing ability to strike the U.S. with nuclear weapons has significantly raised the risks of the alliance to the U.S.," Lind said.
Daryl G. Press, professor of government at Dartmouth College, said a second Donald Trump presidency wouldn't disrupt the U.S.-South Korea alliance because the two have substantial shared interests on every issue — the economy, international governance, markets and peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.
"Trump will say things like burden-sharing that will frustrate South Korea, but the foundation of the alliance will remain strong," Press said.
Press, however, pointed out two sources of tension for U.S.-South Korea relations. "The first is the asymmetry at the core of the U.S.-South Korea alliance. The reliability of U.S. promises on nuclear assurance comes into question as North Korea's nuclear arsenal matures and begins to hold the U.S. mainland at risk," he added.
He noted that the Washington Declaration failed to fix the problem of deterrence. Instead, it was aimed at reassuring its allies of the U.S.' extended deterrence and increasing visibility.
"If Trump is reelected, his administration will likely make (an) adjustment to the U.S. nuclear posture. The U.S. arsenal size would likely grow, and some modernization efforts would move forward. South Korea could provide the additional security its partner needs as it stands out among U.S. allies in actual military capabilities," he said.
Daryl G. Press, professor of government at Dartmouth College, second from left, speaks at a forum titled "The U.S. Presidential Election, the Restoration of the Russia-North Korea Alliance and South Korea's Nuclear Strategy" in Seoul, Thursday. Courtesy of The Sejong Institute
South Korean experts discussed the necessity of South Korea's nuclear armament.
"Nuclear-armed South Korea can effectively deter North Korea's attack more than the U.S. extended deterrence. The balance of terror between the two Koreas can contribute to peace and stability to the peninsula. By removing the need to deploy strategic assets, it is likely to relieve the financial burden for the U.S.," Kim Min-hyung, professor of political science at Kyung Hee University, said.
He also shared the cons of South Korea's nuclear armament, saying, "It could reduce the possibility of a nuclear war but increase low-intensity conflicts and result in regional instability. It could also weaken the role of the U.S.-South Korea alliance in security."
Lee Jeong-kyu, former South Korean ambassador to Sweden and another advocate of the country's own nuclear armament, argued the Washington-Seoul alliance would presumably be upgraded to a "nuclear alliance."
The Korea Times · September 26, 2024
15.
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
| 
