|
Quotes of the Day:
“Nobody is superior, nobody is inferior, but nobody is equal either. People are simply unique, incomparable. You are you, I am I.”
– Osho
“My prayer is that when I die, all hell rejoices that I am out of the fight.”
– C.S. Lewis
“Humility is the foundation of all virtues, for it allows us to approach every situation with an open mind and a willingness to learn from others.”
– Marcus Aurelius
1. US prioritizes deterrence over denuclearization on North Korea, experts say
2. Kim Jong Un Abandoned Unification. What Do North Koreans Think?
3. RFA Insider #14b: North Korean escapee interviews: Life after Pyonghattan part 2
4. It’s Texas 60 miles from the DMZ: The US military’s largest overseas base
5. Why are Britain’s diplomats virtue-signalling to South Korea?
6. Once neglected, Asian Americans now courted in knife-edge election
7. Gov't designates Oct. 1 Armed Forces Day as temporary holiday
8. Ex-U.N. chief Ban voices need to 'persuade' China to understand benefit of Koreas' unification
9. Trump says his talks with N. Korean leader Kim prove 'real change' is possible
10. What is South Korea's new unification policy?
11. N. Korea earned over US$6 bln through illicit activities over past 7 years: report
12. Japan's outgoing PM Kishida to visit South Korea
13. U.S. nuclear umbrella against N.K. threats may weaken under second Trump term: senior security official
14. Survivor of DMZ crossing: The man behind South Korea's 'Escape' film
15. Mobile menace: North Korea flexes nuclear muscle in TEL drills
1. US prioritizes deterrence over denuclearization on North Korea, experts say
Unification. The most important word not used in this article.
Yes deterrence must always be prioritized. Absolutely. Without deterrence we cannot accomplish anything else.
However, when it comes to denuclearization it is time for a new US policy and that is simply support for President Yoon's 8.15 Unification Doctrine. Unfortunately this is not a widely held view.
Too many Americans, especially among government officials, but also Korea watching pundits, suffer from a unique American disease. They are infected with what might be called “U.S. unification dismissiveness.” They are often myopically concerned with only denuclearization, or they believe surveys that say the Korean people no longer desire unification.They also think unification is only a Korean problem. This leads them to dismiss all discussions as well as policy and strategy recommendations about unification which means they do not understand the Korea problem and do not know how or even care to solve the “Korea question” which is the unnatural division of the peninsula. This is a strategic weakness for the U.S., and the alliance, especially as the ROK pursues its unification policy.
However, with President Yoon’s 8.15 Unification Doctrine the U.S. and Japan have an opportunity to take action to support a human rights upfront approach and an information campaign to pursue a free and unified Korea that will radically but positively alter the security situation in Northeast Asia.
Although denuclearization of the north remains a worthy goal, it must be viewed as aspirational if the Kim family regime remains in power. The conventional wisdom has always been that denuclearization must come first and then unification will follow and that there should be no discussion of human rights out of fear that it would prevent Kim Jong Un from making a denuclearization agreement. Today even a blind man can read the tea leaves and know that Kim Jong Un will not denuclearize even though his policies have been an abject failure. His political warfare and blackmail diplomacy strategies completely failed in 2022 and 2023 because ROK and U.S. presidents refused to make the political and economic concessions he demanded just to come to the negotiating table: namely to remove sanctions. His strategy continues to fail through 2024. His promises to the Korean people in the north (namely that nuclear weapons would bring them peace and prosperity) have failed. It is time for the U.S and the ROK/U.S. alliance to execute a political warfare strategy that flips the conventional wisdom and seeks unification first and then denuclearization.
The three countries and the intentional community should not worry about what Kim is doing or will do. They should make him worry about what they can and will do if he does not change his behavior and become a responsible member of the international community. And most importantly he should fear change and transformation inside the north. What does Kim fear the most – not the ROK/U.S. military alliance but the Korean people in the north armed with information. Therefore, the three countries should focus on human rights and public diplomacy/information, along with cyber, sanctions, and military readiness to support deterrence, while pursuing a free and unified Korea. They must present him with a broad front effort to bring peace, prosperity, and stability to the Korean peninsula by showing the Korean people in the north that their sacrifice and suffering is the result of Kim Jong Un's failed policies and strategy. In summary, they must create the conditions that will cause Kim to change his behavior or be faced with change from within. The two most important activities that will create those conditions is an uncompromising human rights upfront approach and information to empower the Korean people in the north.
US prioritizes deterrence over denuclearization on North Korea, experts say
September 02, 2024 2:38 PM
voanews.com · September 2, 2024
washington —
As North Korea's nuclear and missile programs become increasingly sophisticated, U.S.-based experts see the United States shifting the focus of its diplomacy from the pursuit of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula to one of deterrence.
Officially, the U.S. State Department insists that denuclearization remains the primary goal of the United States and South Korea, a policy that is unlikely to change regardless of the outcome of the November U.S. presidential election.
But in a series of email interviews with VOA Korean, more than half a dozen experts said they saw scant hope that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un could be persuaded to give up his growing nuclear arsenal and that the U.S. must concentrate instead on seeing that it is never used.
"I think, in practical terms, most Americans believe we have little choice at this point but to prioritize deterrence, at least for the foreseeable future," said Michael O'Hanlon, director of foreign policy research at the Brookings Institution in Washington, in an email to VOA Korean this week.
Robert Peters, research fellow for nuclear deterrence and missile defense at the Heritage Foundation, told VOA Korean via email that American politicians on both sides of the political spectrum are questioning whether North Korea would even consider abandoning its nuclear weapons.
"I think there is little appetite in either political party to seek denuclearization with North Korea, given the failures of the late 2010s," Peters said, referring to the collapse of the nuclear talks between former U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who met three times in 2018 and 2019.
"I think all sides recognize that Kim will not give up nuclear weapons at any price."
FILE - U.S. President Donald Trump shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as they meet at the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjom, June 30, 2019. (KCNA via Reuters)
Shifting priorities
Negotiations over North Korea's nuclear program between Washington and Pyongyang have been nearly nonexistent since October 2019.
Peters added, "Bottom line — without question, the ground has shifted regarding how we think about the North Korean nuclear threat."
Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction during the Obama administration, said Washington's shift in direction was inevitable.
"The U.S. government has been forced to place more emphasis on deterrence over denuclearization because Kim Jong Un has shown no willingness to negotiate a nuclear deal or even meet with the U.S. to discuss denuclearization," Samore told VOA Korean via email.
"Instead, North Korea has continued to advance its nuclear and missile program, and the U.S. has responded by strengthening military cooperation with the ROK and Japan, including joint efforts to enhance extended deterrence."
ROK stands for Republic of Korea, the official name of South Korea.
Denuclearization of North Korea is now viewed in Washington as a "mission impossible," said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corporation.
"I think it is fair to say that the U.S. government is now more focused on deterrence, which is largely succeeding, than on denuclearization," Bennett told VOA Korean via email.
"This change does not mean that the U.S. and ROK have abandoned trying to negotiate for denuclearization, which North Korea steadfastly refuses to do, but rather that our governments no longer see denuclearization as a viable solution to the North Korean nuclear weapon threat."
Markus Garlauskas, director of the Indo-Pacific Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council, told VOA Korean via email it was "fully appropriate" that Washington has been paying more attention in recent years to deterring North Korean aggression than attempting to negotiate denuclearization.
FILE - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects nuclear warheads at an undisclosed location in this image taken from video. (KRT via Reuters)
"I have long argued that Kim Jong Un does not intend to give up his nuclear weapons, that the nuclear weapons and missile capabilities of North Korea have grown and will continue to grow, meaning that we in the United States and its allies must adjust our strategy and policy accordingly," he said.
"We should not let hopes of negotiations get in the way of making tough decisions to improve deterrence," added Garlauskas, who served as the U.S. national intelligence officer for North Korea from 2014 to 2020.
He stressed, however, that "accepting the reality that North Korea is nuclear-armed and will remain so while under Kim Jong Un's leadership" does not mean that the U.S. should or would give up denuclearization as a goal.
"Our principled stand can and should remain that North Korea must comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions by halting its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and relinquishing its nuclear weapons, and I do think there is still broad agreement on that in Washington," Garlauskas said.
Commitment to denuclearization
Sydney Seiler, who until last year was the national intelligence officer for North Korea on the U.S. National Intelligence Council, said the U.S. should keep denuclearization as a priority, adding that "denuclearization and deterrence are not mutually exclusive."
"We have a responsibility on a day-by-day basis to deter provocative actions, coercion, blackmail and even possible invasion by North Korea and have been doing so for the last 70 years of armistice," said Seiler, who is now a senior adviser on Korean affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"Successfully ensuring deterrence does not mean abandoning the goal of the denuclearization of North Korea," he told VOA Korean via email.
Robert Abrams, a retired U.S. Army four-star general who served as commander of U.S. Forces Korea from 2018 to 2021, emphasized that a strategy of deterrence should be clearly differentiated from the goal of denuclearization.
"The U.S. strategic deterrent was never about stopping the North Korean regime from developing their own nukes," Abrams told VOA Korean in an August 20 email.
"Sanctions and diplomatic efforts were intended to stop North Korea's nuclear program. The strategic deterrent is to deter North Korea from ever using nuclear weapons, and that has obviously been very successful."
Officially, Washington reiterates that denuclearization of North Korea remains a goal of the U.S.-South Korea alliance.
"The United States and the ROK continue to pursue the shared objective of the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," a State Department spokesperson told VOA Korean via email this week. "We believe that the only effective way to reduce nuclear threats on the peninsula is by curbing the proliferation of nuclear weapons."
But the spokesperson stressed that deterrence was also a crucial element of U.S. policy toward North Korea.
"At the same time, the United States and the ROK will continue working together to strengthen extended deterrence in the face of increasingly aggressive DPRK rhetoric about its nuclear weapons program," the spokesperson said.
He added that the 16-month-old Washington Declaration "reinforces the fact that any nuclear attack by [North Korea] against [South Korea] will be met with a swift, overwhelming and decisive response from the United States."
In April 2023, U.S. President Joe Biden and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol adopted the Washington Declaration, which outlines a series of measures to deter North Korea's nuclear weapons use.
voanews.com · September 2, 2024
2. Kim Jong Un Abandoned Unification. What Do North Koreans Think?
An important article with an important conclusion excerpted below.
And one additional important point. While Kim Jong Un has given up peaceful unification and the traditional idea of one country two systems and gradual unification, he remains firmly committed to the Kim family regime of domination of the Korean peninsula under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State to ensure the survival of the regime.
My assessment:
The ROK has the moral high ground.
Kim Jong Un has implemented two new policies in 2023-2024. Kim Jong Un appears to have made a radical policy change in two related statements. He has declared the Republic of Korea (ROK) as the “main enemy.”He also stated that he no longer seeks peaceful unification with the South. The reason for this change is that Kim Jong Un has failed to keep his promise to the people– when the regime developed nuclear weapons it would bring peace and prosperity to the people. Because of this he must do what the regime has always done when faced with internal problems – externalize the threat. He must use the perception of South Korea as the enemy to justify the suffering and sacrifice of the Korean people in the north. However, by discarding the possibility of peaceful unification the has taken away the hope of the Korean people because they believed that unification was the path to a better life. But no one should believe that Kim is seeking co-existence with the South. His objective remains that of his father and grandfather and that is to dominate the Korean peninsula to ensure regime survival. This may be the proverbial “inflection point” for Korean security. Kim appears to have provided the ROK and the US with an opportunity for a new strategy that could exert pressure from within the north on Kim Jong Un to change or face the possibility that change could be forced upon him.
What the Koreas are left with are two competing visions:
"If more North Koreans come to recognize that unification through freedom is the only way to improve their lives... they will emerge as strong allies for a freedom-oriented unification."
– President Yoon Suk Yeol, August 15, 2024
“The party’s comprehensive conclusion after reviewing decades-long inter-Korean relations is that reunification can never be achieved with those ROK riffraffs that defined the ‘unification by absorption’ and ‘unification under liberal democracy’ as their state policy. That is in sharp contradiction with what our line of national reunification was: one nation [minjok], one state with two systems. Reunification is realistically 'impossible' and the two Koreas are separate 'belligerent states' at war."
– Kim Jong Un, January 1, 2024
President Yoon has taken the bold step to implement a new strategy to seek peaceful unification. Most importantly, by seeking peaceful unification, while Kim Jong Un’s quest is only for domination, the ROK is standing on the moral high ground. Although there are many naysayers among pundits in Korea and the international community, no one should argue against freedom for all Korean people. Furthermore, none of the critics have offered any alternative plan for unification. The question before all freedom loving people around the world is how to support the Korean people in achieving unification and reaching their destiny.
The emphasis on liberal democracy and freedom for all is not new for the Yoon Administration. It has been constant theme as outlined in the 8.15 Unification Doctrine. This illustrates the administration’s evolution to what can be described as a truly revolutionary unification vision that is in accordance with the ROK Constitution and reaches back to the March 1919 Korean Declaration of Independence.
Excerpts:
Conclusion
It is not unusual for policy to precede changes in public opinion, or for policy to lead to eventual changes in social norms. However, North Korea’s lack of responsiveness to public opinion may well be a two way-street. The regime can change policy, but without the sense of buy-in or participation found in democratic governance, the regime will struggle to convince residents to internalize that policy.
In fact, if anything, many of our North Korean correspondents indicated a growing desire for unification in recent years, seeing unification as a path to enjoying the prosperous lifestyle of their southern neighbors. If the Kim regime cannot offer a convincing vision for an affluent North Korean future independent of the South, it will struggle to counter the people’s yearning for a better life and decades of its own pro-unification propaganda.
Monuments and song lyrics are easy to change; hearts and minds will take far more time. Even as South Koreans grow increasingly disinclined toward unification, we must remember and continue to work for the millions of Koreans who continue to dream of a peaceful unified future.
Kim Jong Un Abandoned Unification. What Do North Koreans Think?
thediplomat.com
In North Korea, unification has been erased from monuments and textbooks, but not from hearts and minds.
By Kwangbaek Lee and Rose Adams
September 02, 2024
Participants hold a unification flag in front of the military wire fences during a rally to mark the first anniversary of a summit between then-South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, at the Imjingak Pavilion in Paju near the demilitarized zone of Panmunjom, South Korea, April 27, 2019.
Credit: AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon
Subscribe for ads-free reading
In January this year, Kim Jong Un broke with decades of precedent and propaganda to declare that South Korea was an enemy nation and that the North would no longer be working toward reunification.
This August, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol paralleled Kim’s pivot away from ethno-nationalism when he announced a new “freedom-based” vision for unification that espouses a more universal human rights-based approach. While not going as far as Kim with threats to “pacify” or “occupy” the other Korea’s territory, critics have interpreted Yoon’s new doctrine as a threat to unify the two Koreas through absorption of the North.
While divergent in their goals, these high-level changes in unification policy indicate a move away from minjok-based justifications for unification. “Minjok” refers to a “common ethnic people,” usually connoting a shared Korean race, and has been a fundamental concept underpinning the rationale for the re-unification. The narrative shift is paralleled by growing risk of conflict that would compromise the possibility of the “peaceful unification” promoted by previous leaders.
Yet, do these rhetorical changes reflect the hearts and minds of ordinary Koreans?
South Korean opinion surveys demonstrate general apathy or even antipathy toward unification. Only 46.5 percent of South Korean millennials saw unification as necessary, and unlike their parents and grandparents, overwhelmingly cited national security as their primary reasoning, not minjok ties.
What do North Koreans think about unification? Public opinion in the North is far more difficult to gauge – but not impossible.
Unification Media Group, a Seoul-based NGO focused on freedom of information in North Korea, has been tracking North Korea’s efforts to erase decades of pro-unification indoctrination and propaganda. The regime has been systematically demolishing unification monuments and revamping its propaganda system, but eliminating pro-unification sentiment from residents’ hearts and minds has proved to be a much more challenging task. Read on to hear how the Kim regime is trying to literally and figuratively “erase” unification and how North Korean residents are reacting, in their own words.
Erasing “Unification” and “Minjok”
In January, Kim announced that “independence [자주], peace, and solidarity on the basis of minjok [must] henceforth be erased from the [North Korean] constitution” and added that “the very concepts of unification, reconciliation, and a shared [Korean] minjok must be eliminated.” Kim’s remarks turned out to be more than just empty words.
The most obvious symbol of the change in policy was the sudden demolition of the “Monument to the Three-Point Charter for National Reunification,” commonly known as the “Arch of Reunification.”
In his January 15 policy speech before the Supreme People’s Assembly, Kim described the Arch of Reunification as “an unseemly sight at the southern gate to the capital of Pyongyang” and ordered it to be torn down immediately. Satellite images confirm that the monument, located on Unification Street of Pyongyang’s Nakrang District, was demolished in late January, 24 years after its initial establishment.
The Arch of Reunification as it appeared in 2001, shortly after its construction. Image via Wikimedia Commons/ Bjørn Christian Tørrissen.
Other unification monuments across the country faced a similar fate and were demolished or otherwise had references to unification removed. (One such botched attempt was picked up by Radio Free Asia, when officials accidentally destroyed a monument entirely while removing a unification-related slogan.)
Another clearly visible and troubling indicator has been the thousands of soldiers deployed to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to destroy railroads connecting the two Koreas and to plant thousands of new landmines, further entrenching the division of the Peninsula. While these actions are ostensibly taken to demonstrate that the North has “cut ties” with the South, it is likely that new landmines and barriers are actually aimed at making it more difficult to defect across the inter-Korean border. (Despite these risks, two North Koreans have made rare DMZ crossings in the last month.)
While not visible by satellite, another “erasure” order also spread quickly across the country, as the government called on schools to remove the word “unification” from textbooks. Beginning in March, the North Korean government issued orders for schools to “use ball pens or pencils to cross out and erase words in textbooks that the government has banned [such as unification, reconciliation, and shared minjok].” It was also reported that the government planned to issue new textbooks next year without these words.
At the same time, authorities also began to retroactively strike references to unification from state propaganda and films. Even the national anthem underwent modification, with its title shortened from “Three Thousand Li, Korea’s Natural Tapestry” to “Korea’s Beautiful Natural Tapestry.” The deleted phrase “three thousand li” generally alludes to a unified Korea, which would measure “three thousand li” from north to south.
No reference was too minor, evidenced as media authorities redrew the borders on a map of the Korean Peninsula to only highlight North Korea in a TV rebroadcast of a documentary about Kim’s activities in 2023.
North Korean Residents Confused by Kim’s “Anti-Unification” Policies
The government’s implementation of the new anti-unification policy appears drastic, yet it remains unclear whether these actions have the intended effect of convincing residents to give up hopes for peaceful reunification.
To better understand the relationship between rhetoric and public opinion, DailyNK and UMG surveyed multiple current North Korean residents to solicit their reactions to the new South Korea policy and unification erasure efforts. While the government’s policy changes have been swift and often permanent, our research suggests that people’s attitudes are significantly more resistant to change. The majority of residents expressed that they were thoroughly taken aback or confused by the new policies.
Daily NK reported that a man in his 60s in Pyongsong, North Pyongan Province, was arrested in March by the Ministry of State Security for allegedly expressing doubts about unification erasure measures. The man was arrested for “reactionary remarks” after allegedly complaining that “Reunification of the fatherland was the Dear Leader’s [Kim Il Sung’s] final wish, so I can’t understand why they are suddenly telling us not to use the word unification.”
This man was not alone in his skepticism. In the course of our research, UMG has collected remarks from multiple residents in response to the Kim Jong Un regime’s unification erasure efforts. We share some of them here, so you can hear residents’ reactions in their own words. Identifying information has been withheld to protect respondents’ identities.
“There’s no way to know when [the two Koreas] will be unified, but I had long privately wished that we would unify soon so that we could live well like people in other countries,” said a resident of North Hamgyong Province. “But now it seems like unification is completely impossible, so I’ve lost strength.”
Another resident of North Hamgyong Province said: “While I’d never had too high of expectations for unification, I had thought it would happen eventually. But after this plenary session [of the party] it became clear that there would be no unification going forward…It’s been shocking and disappointing.”
“After the Supreme People’s Assembly [session], the printing houses have been carrying out work to compile and remove phrases like ‘independence [자주],’ ‘peaceful unification,’ ‘unification of the [Korean] minjok,’ ‘solidarity of the Korean people,’ and [Kim Il Sung’s] ‘Three Principles [for Unification] Line’ from college textbooks and lecture plans,” said a 20-something student living in Pyongyang. “They really did demolish the Monument to the Three-Point Charter for National Reunification on Reunification Street.
“People seem bewildered by the current atmosphere and chaotic state of affairs,” the student continued. “Do we really need to completely throw away hope for reunification and optimism for the future? I hadn’t thought about this too deeply before, but it seems like Kim Jong Un is completely destroying the final teachings and accomplishments of the Leader [Kim Il Sung] and General [Kim Jong Il] and just looking to maintain good relations with Russia and China.”
“As this news has made its way through [the country], there have been lots of questions and even arguments between people sharing the news… But is it possible that we could go to war? If war breaks out, won’t people all just try to save themselves and run away?” wondered a government worker in their 40s.
“I think unification would be good for us, but looking at all of this fooling around I don’t think I’ll see unification in my lifetime,” lamented a 40-something salesclerk. “Given my age, if war suddenly breaks out, I think I might try and head to another country. Also, if we don’t reunify, I wonder if the Leader [Kim Il Sung] and General’s [Kim Jong Il’s] ideology will all disappear. The people just do as they are told, and if the party decides something, we have to do it.”
A housewife in her 50s had a similar perspective: “I had the depressing thought that I won’t get to see unification before I die. My heart aches. When they were building the [Reunification Arch], people from all over the country were mobilized to contribute money and manpower. By destroying that, do they think that the people’s long-cherished wish for fatherland reunification or their thoughts of ‘one peninsula, one Korea’ will disappear?”
Conclusion
It is not unusual for policy to precede changes in public opinion, or for policy to lead to eventual changes in social norms. However, North Korea’s lack of responsiveness to public opinion may well be a two way-street. The regime can change policy, but without the sense of buy-in or participation found in democratic governance, the regime will struggle to convince residents to internalize that policy.
In fact, if anything, many of our North Korean correspondents indicated a growing desire for unification in recent years, seeing unification as a path to enjoying the prosperous lifestyle of their southern neighbors. If the Kim regime cannot offer a convincing vision for an affluent North Korean future independent of the South, it will struggle to counter the people’s yearning for a better life and decades of its own pro-unification propaganda.
Monuments and song lyrics are easy to change; hearts and minds will take far more time. Even as South Koreans grow increasingly disinclined toward unification, we must remember and continue to work for the millions of Koreans who continue to dream of a peaceful unified future.
Authors
Guest Author
Kwangbaek Lee
In 2001, Kwangbaek Lee started studying North Korean ideology and ways to democratize North Korea with Hwang Jang Yop, former international secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, and this experience became the catalyst for a life career advocating for North Korean human rights and democracy. Lee applied his experiences listening to North Korea’s radio broadcasts targeting South Korea in the mid-1990s to inform his own activism. In 2005, he started participating in radio broadcasting to North Korea as a host for two broadcasts: “Open Radio for North Korea” and “Radio Free Chosun”. He was later promoted to the president of Radio Free Chosun and went on to form Unification Media Group (UMG) in 2014. He currently serves as president of both UMG and Daily NK, a specialized new site that uses a network of informants inside North Korea to report local news and developments.
Guest Author
Rose Adams
Rose Adams is a North Korea researcher specializing in media, marketization, and women's rights in North Korea. She currently works in the human rights field as part of the team at Unification Media Group (UMG). Her previous academic work includes publications analyzing KCNA coverage of the Trump-Kim summits, depictions of women in North Korean film, and the advent of advertising and product placements in North Korean television. Rose holds an MA in East Asian Studies and a BA in International Relations from Stanford University.
Subscribe for ads-free reading
thediplomat.com
3. RFA Insider #14b: North Korean escapee interviews: Life after Pyonghattan part 2
A podcast from RFA with two of my very good friends from north Korea. They provide important insights from their perspectives as escapees now living in the U.S (and both having just graduated from Columbia University with their Masters' degrees)
As a friend described on social media when I posted this: " This interview is a pretty “penetrating” experience." And these are "alert, intellectually engaged, articulate and adaptive people, these siblings, have lived as residents of North Korea."
Access it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpBGk2pG05U
RFA Insider #14b: North Korean escapee interviews: Life after Pyonghattan part 2
This is part two of a two part episode featuring a lengthy interview with Seohyun and Hyunseung Lee, who have been described as Pyonghattanites because they were part of North Korea's 1% prior to escaping North Korea.
In part two, the focus is about the issues that North Korean escapees face, including the proper term that we should use when talking about them, and then covers the siblings as they get used to life in New York city
4. It’s Texas 60 miles from the DMZ: The US military’s largest overseas base
Video at the link. https://www.cnn.com/2024/09/02/asia/camp-humphreys-us-south-korea-dst-intl-hnk/index.html
Just for comparison we could easily walk from one end of Yongsan Garrison in Seoul from north to south and east to west. If the Camp Humphreys "footprint" were placed over Washington, DC it would extend from Georgetown to National sStadium and the Pentagon to Capitol Hill.
Camp Humphreys is an amazing military base as you can see from the article (in terms of being a "little America.")
And as we think about trying to demand more funding from our allies for US forces in Korea we should spencer these facts which are certainly unknown to all those who do demand the Korean pay more.
Excerpts:
After more than 10 years of work, the transformation became official on June 29, 2018, when the new, relocated headquarters of UN Command and US Forces Korea opened at Humphreys.
The expansion had cost $10.8 billion, 90% of which was paid by the South Korean government, Gen. Vincent Brooks, then-commander of USFK, said in a dedication speech that day.
“For that 90%, the US remains with you, 100%!” Brooks told the Koreans in attendance.
Then-South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo told the crowd the UN and US forces at Humphreys would play “a crucial role of contributing to the world’s peace by achieving a balance as the stabilizer of Northeast Asia and peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
Since 2018, the base has continued to expand with construction cranes towering over new housing blocks as the US military adds capacity.
At the end of May, two eight-story housing blocks opened for enlisted personnel without families, with room for more than 300 residents in each tower.
The $67 million cost was funded by South Korea, an Army release said.
Eleven projects valued at more than $1 billion are expected to be completed by September 2026 under the Humphreys modernization plan, said Daniel Hancock, deputy to the garrison commander. Those include barracks, vehicle maintenance facilities, a satellite communications facility, an elementary school, and aircraft support facilities.
Plans for the next decade include more aviation hangars, a new airport runway and aircraft parking areas, a consolidated headquarters and new maintenance, laundry and dining facilities, Hancock said.
Camp Humphreys is preparing for a workday population of 45,000 in the next three to five years – almost double the 26,000 people who report for duty each day at the Pentagon in Washington DC.
It’s Texas 60 miles from the DMZ: The US military’s largest overseas base | CNN
CNN · by Brad Lendon, Mike Valerio, Gawon Bae, Yoonjung Seo · September 2, 2024
How big is the largest US military base overseas?
01:04 - Source: CNN
Camp Humphreys, South Korea CNN —
Rock stars get to see more of the world than most of us, but when members of the quintessential 2000s’ rock band Hoobastank jetted into the US military base of Camp Humphreys in South Korea, they were struck by the familiarity.
“When we came in through the gates, I was like ‘dude, this is, this looks like Texas somewhere,’” lead singer Doug Robb told CNN before the band headlined the Fourth of July celebrations for service members and their families.
“It’s like we’re in a different part of the world, and then, all of a sudden, we’re back in the States,” Robb said of the sprawling US base, home to 41,000 people, south of the capital Seoul.
Humphreys’ main street on the Fourth wouldn’t seem out of place in hundreds of small American cities. Kids splashed in a sidewalk fountain. Mobile food trucks served up barbecue, American and Korean. Schools and scouts held fundraisers. Military spouses sold sweets from their home-based businesses.
The difference here is that these scenes played out under the protection of Patriot missile defense launchers, just 60 miles from North Korea, and just a few minutes’ flight time for the arsenal of rocket launchers and artillery guns that point south and are commanded by Kim Jong Un, one of the world’s most isolated autocrats.
Camp Humphreys’ importance has only grown as North Korea has expanded its military threat in recent years, building a nuclear missile program in defiance of United Nations resolutions banning it, and releasing a steady stream of bellicose rhetoric against South Korea and its American ally.
North and South Korea agreed an armistice deal to end fighting in 1953, but no peace treaty was ever signed, so they’re still technically at war. Meanwhile, South Korea and the United States have a decades-old mutual defense treaty which means both must come to the aid of the other if they are ever attacked.
As tensions have steadily increased along the demilitarized zone over the past several years, so too has Camp Humphreys grown.
Garrison commander Col. Ryan Workman calls the base the “center of gravity of the military alliance” between South Korea and the United States.
But as the largest US base in South Korea, its presence also sends a message of deterrence across Northeast Asia.
Speaking to the Senate Armed Services Committee in March, the commander of US troops in South Korea, Army Gen. Paul LaCamera, said US adversaries China and Russia must be “mindful” of the tens of thousands of US troops on the peninsula in any conflict scenario.
LaCamera called South Korea the “linchpin of security in Northeast Asia and a treaty ally we must defend.”
A Texas Road House restaurant near the center of Camp Humphreys, seen on the Fourth of July, 2024.
Brad Lendon/CNN
One of Camp Humphreys' younger residents poses for photos during the base's 2024 Fourth of July celebration.
Yoonjung Seo/CNN
Krispy Kreme doughnuts are baked within Camp Humphreys by the thousands, delivering "a taste of home" from the United States.
Gawon Bae/CNN
A bull’s eye on the peninsula
Some say in the event of a renewed war on the Korean Peninsula, Camp Humphreys would be North Korea’s biggest target.
Humphreys is the headquarters of US Forces Korea, the US Eighth Army and the Army’s 2nd Infantry Division.
It also hosts the US-South Korea Combined Forces Command and the United Nations Command, which was created to fight the Korean War and lives on as an international guarantor of South Korean security.
The installation has the US Army’s most-active airfield in the Pacific, humming with helicopter units and intelligence aircraft.
A drive around its miles of roads reveals hundreds of military vehicles and logistical equipment, all ensuring US units are ready – as the base’s motto says – to “fight tonight.”
“We do have a real mission here in Korea. And that is really to defend both of our homelands and maintain peace and security in the region,” says Col. Workman.
A howitzer in front of the UN Command Headquarters on Camp Humphreys.
Charlie Miller/CNN
That mission, and that conglomeration of commands on Humphreys’ 3,600 acres, make it an obvious target for North Korea, said Mark Hertling, a retired US Army general and CNN military analyst.
“It is a huge target … a big bull’s eye,” he said.
Hertling, a former commander of the US Army Europe, said that ever-looming threat means everyone – from generals to high school juniors – must always be in a state of readiness. Military members must be ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, the troops to the fight, the families to safer areas to the south.
Everyone keeps a “go bag” – vital documents, medicines, essential clothes – in their quarters, and they drill on evacuation protocols, he says. If they have a car on base, they are required to keep a minimum amount of fuel in it to ensure a hasty retreat.
“Just like soldiers practice going to the front lines, family members will have rehearsals of what to do in case there is a threat that seems significant and that they have to get off the peninsula,” Hertling said.
Holding down the homefront
US Army Sgt. Terry Cook and his wife, Tyrese, pose with their five children at Camp Humphreys, July 4, 2024.
Yoonjung Seo/CNN
If any of those possible dangers and readiness drills are on Tyrese “Re” Cook’s mind on a June afternoon, she shows none of it.
She has her hands full, probably not that much different from thousands of parents around Cincinnati, Ohio, the Cook family’s hometown.
Her husband, Sgt. Terry Cook, works in IT support, keeping computers ready for the office and battlefield.
Together, they have five children – all girls – two sets of twins age 6 months and 5 years, as well as a 2-year-old in the middle.
Re juggles making meals, getting the older twins to school and back, changing diapers on the younger twins and making her own YouTube videos to introduce life in South Korea to the world.
They’ve only been at Humphreys a couple of months, but it already feels like home, Re said as she sat down to chat for a few minutes.
“I feel this is a base full of opportunity … it’s a mini-America,” Cook said.
On July 4, Hoobastank played their holiday gig at an outdoor stage just off the base’s main street, which looks more like an export of a Dallas suburb than any town in South Korea.
A Texas Road House restaurant welcomes diners across the plaza from a bowling alley with dozens of lanes, video gaming stations that look like something from a sci-fi movie, and a line of massage chairs with a waiting list on a sultry holiday afternoon.
Classic American food staples are available at the base commissary – think H-E-B, Kroger or Safeway – and residents are even treated to authentic Krispy Kreme doughnuts, made on site with the original recipe, which remains a closely guarded secret.
Sugar glaze goes on doughnuts at the Camp Humphreys bakery.
Charles Miller/CNN
Most of the ingredients for the doughnuts are imported from the States, said Choi Sung Ha, manager of the Army Air Force Exchange (AAFES) Bakery on Camp Humphreys, who is also an Army veteran and naturalized American.
He said, for families stationed at the base, biting into those gooey doughnuts is like biting into a piece of home.
“That’s our intent, and that’s what I’m proud of,” Choi said.
The 300 dozen Krispy Kremes the bakery produces daily are just one of the products hot off its production lines. Its bakers also produce Wonder Bread – 1,400 loaves a day – brioche buns for Popeye’s chicken sandwiches and sesame seed buns for Burger King Whoppers.
All told, the bakery goes through 5,400 pounds of dough a day, officials said.
Why the food matters
00:26 - Source: CNN
Believe it or not, familiar baked goods are a subliminal part of military readiness, according to Air Force Col. Jason Beck, Pacific region commander for AAFES.
If a soldier in the field knows their family back on base is enjoying “a taste of home,” they’re more likely to be more focused on their mission, Beck said.
And troops that know their families are happy are more likely to stay in the military and stay in South Korea, he said.
The Cook’s military-supplied apartment has echoes of home, with three bedrooms, modern American appliances and a large, comfortable couch.
Its electrical sockets take American plugs, which means small appliances brought from the US are easily used without adapters.
“That’s so simple and little” but provides “a piece of comfort of home,” said Re.
Another military spouse, Dymen McCoy, started a home-based business, LeahCole’s Delights, after arriving in South Korea two years ago from North Carolina.
During the July Fourth festival, she sold baked treats from a stand on the base’s main promenade. Business was brisk. By midafternoon, cupcakes were still available, but the brownies were gone, save for a few crumbs she offered as a sample.
“I hit my stride here, when we got to Korea,” McCoy said, explaining that the business is now finding customers across Humphreys’ many commands and those in nearby Osan Air Base.
“We just kinda blew up here bigger than we imagined,” McCoy said, as customers stopped by, with some saying friends had told them about her “must try” products.
Long before it was called Camp Humphreys or later, US Army Garrison Humphreys, K-6 airfield south of Seoul, Korea was home to US Marine Air Group 12 during the Korean War.
J.R. Boyer via AG Humphreys/Flickr
100% commitment to South Korea
The military history of Camp Humphreys dates back more than 100 years, when the Japanese colonial occupiers of Korea built Pyeongtaek Airfield on the site. During the Korean War, US forces repaired and expanded it for American use, naming it K-6.
In 1962, K-6 was renamed Camp Humphreys in honor of Army Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin Humphreys, a helicopter pilot who was killed in an accident.
The base took on various functions for more than four decades until 2007, when land was broken for an expanded Humphreys to be known as US Army Garrison Humphreys.
Under a 2004 deal with the South Korean government, the US moved troops from bases in and north of the South Korean capital, including the US Forces Korea headquarters at Yongsan in central Seoul, to Humphreys.
It saw the footprint of Humphreys triple, from 1,210 acres to more than 3,600 acres.
In the 2000s, that expansion saw protests as some South Koreans decried forced evictions of local landowners and the effects on land prices and noise levels the expanded Humphreys would bring.
But the South Korean government stressed the need for the base, especially having Yongsan return to Korean control. In a 2006 statement, then-Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook called it “a matter of boosting national pride.”
After more than 10 years of work, the transformation became official on June 29, 2018, when the new, relocated headquarters of UN Command and US Forces Korea opened at Humphreys.
The expansion had cost $10.8 billion, 90% of which was paid by the South Korean government, Gen. Vincent Brooks, then-commander of USFK, said in a dedication speech that day.
“For that 90%, the US remains with you, 100%!” Brooks told the Koreans in attendance.
Then-South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo told the crowd the UN and US forces at Humphreys would play “a crucial role of contributing to the world’s peace by achieving a balance as the stabilizer of Northeast Asia and peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
Since 2018, the base has continued to expand with construction cranes towering over new housing blocks as the US military adds capacity.
At the end of May, two eight-story housing blocks opened for enlisted personnel without families, with room for more than 300 residents in each tower.
The $67 million cost was funded by South Korea, an Army release said.
Eleven projects valued at more than $1 billion are expected to be completed by September 2026 under the Humphreys modernization plan, said Daniel Hancock, deputy to the garrison commander. Those include barracks, vehicle maintenance facilities, a satellite communications facility, an elementary school, and aircraft support facilities.
Plans for the next decade include more aviation hangars, a new airport runway and aircraft parking areas, a consolidated headquarters and new maintenance, laundry and dining facilities, Hancock said.
Camp Humphreys is preparing for a workday population of 45,000 in the next three to five years – almost double the 26,000 people who report for duty each day at the Pentagon in Washington DC.
“We’ve grown exponentially and continue to grow,” Hancock says.
The newest Americans in Korea
US military service members are naturalized as American citizens at Camp Humphreys, July 23, 2024.
Mike Valerio/CNN
Enlisted Barracks at Camp Humphreys.
Charlie Miller/CNN
Some of that growth is organic.
Eight of the 68 beds at the Brian. D. Allgood Army Community Hospital – Humphreys’ base medical center – are reserved for labor and delivery. And on average, a baby is born on Camp Humphreys almost every day of the year, hospital officials say.
Not far from the hospital, on a rainy July morning, enlisted soldiers head down a hallway of the clubhouse restaurant at the camp’s 18-hole golf course to a ballroom.
Inside, a TV screen links to a State Department official in Guam, the closest actual American territory to Camp Humphreys.
Ten chairs, in two rows of five, are lined up in the center of the room. In them, 10 men and women united by improbable journeys to Camp Humphreys raise their right hands and recite the American citizenship oath of allegiance at the direction of the official in Guam.
It is an eye-watering moment – US Army service members born in Cuba, India, South Korea, the Philippines, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Vietnam, Nigeria, and Mexico, all becoming citizens of the democracy they swore to defend.
When the oath ended, there was not just applause, but a roar from the audience.
Soldiers celebrate with Staff Sgt. Vanessa Ramo after she is made a US citizen.
Charles Miller/CNN
Smiles were luminous. For the 10 men and women, it was a present born proudly, a new chapter as Americans.
“For me, this is 12 years in the making,” exclaimed Staff Sgt. Vanessa Ramo, who was born in the Philippines.
“I came (to Hawaii) on a plane with my parents when I was 7 years old. They’ve been working on getting me my permanent residency… We didn’t have enough money to get it done. So, the best way to go about it was to enlist in the Army.”
A friend held Ramo tight, giving her balloons and three roses, one red, one white, one blue.
The moment was both a familiar ritual and a microcosm of Humphreys’ international identity – the base naturalized 188 service members in 2023, according to Hancock, the deputy to the garrison commander.
“It is a great honor and privilege for United States Army Garrison Humphreys to support the naturalization ceremonies,” Hancock said. “Our nation and Army are built upon people from all societies, and we are appreciative to support this long legacy of helping our soldiers and their families from all over the world go from immigrants to citizens.”
In the audience for Ramo was her platoon leader, 2nd Lt. Jacob Han – born in South Korea, naturalized as a US citizen in Philadelphia.
“It just makes me really proud because I’m a Korean-American, meaning, I can serve the country I was born in, but also, the country that gave me a lot of opportunities,” Han said.
“I moved to the US when I was in first grade, and I feel like I got a lot of opportunities that I wouldn’t have gotten if I were in South Korea. So, I think I owe the country some service as well.”
Ramo said to be an American in Korea, stationed at Humphreys, now amplifies her deployment on the peninsula.
“It gets me where I wanted to be in life,” she said. “I have a lot of things I do want to accomplish, and I want the soldiers who think they can’t get citizenship that they can. And they can make a difference in everyone’s life.”
US Army Staff Sgt. Vanessa Ramo is naturalized as an American citizen at Camp Humphreys, July 23, 2024.
Mike Valerio/CNN
Sgt. Cook’s surprising find
The key role immigration plays in the US military, and Camp Humphreys, is on vivid display on a June afternoon during a change of command ceremony for the Headquarters and Headquarters Company of the 2nd Infantry Division.
Capt. Emily Sevilla, a Filipino woman, is turning over leadership of the 80- to 100-member unit to Capt. Earlson Suico, also a native of the Philippines.
They are products of what Suico, in remarks at the ceremony, sees as a family.
“Today, I officially adopted a good amount of extended family members in the formation,” he said.
The two captains are also both embodiments of the American dream.
Standing in the ranks as the command changes hands is Sgt. Cook, himself realizing the American dream through the US military, with his wife, Re, and their five daughters.
US Army Sgt. Terry Cook and his wife, Tyrese, walk with their five children to their new home in Korea, Camp Humphreys.
Charlie Miller/CNN
Cook was a truck driver back in Cincinnati before he joined the Army, earned a college degree, learned IT and began the journey that brought him and his family to Humphreys.
Earlier in the day, the sergeant was part of a different ceremony. He and others were getting their yellow belts in Taekwondo, the Korean martial art, with five key tenets: Courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit.
Cook says all those qualities apply to a soldier.
Taekwondo “just teaches discipline, mental toughness and showing off your agility and things like that,” he said after the yellow belt ceremony. He’ll be a black belt, the top level in the art, after passing several more stages.
Getting there is “really perfect for the discipline, which goes hand in hand with the US military,” Cook said.
And Taekwondo helps him understand his South Korean military allies, he said.
Camp Humphreys and the Cook family
00:30 - Source: CNN
Cook is in a combined division, as close as allies get, their units enmeshed with one another.
“They’re in our ranks, so we do immerse with them, within the culture, within our job and what we do in our workplace every day,” he said.
And that relationship, the Korean experience, the Humphreys’ experience, gives him something outsiders might find surprising from a man who brought his family halfway around the world to this piece of America just 60 miles from North Korea.
“In the two months I’ve been here, what stands out the most is the peace,” Cook said.
“The peace that you have here, here at Camp Humphreys, (it’s) just different from anywhere else in the world.
“There’s just a calm here, and a peace here, that’s really easy to get sucked into.”
CNN’s Rhee Sooyoung, Kim Jiyeon and Francois Saikaly contributed to this report. Digital video elements by Henry Zeris.
CNN · by Brad Lendon, Mike Valerio, Gawon Bae, Yoonjung Seo · September 2, 2024
5. Why are Britain’s diplomats virtue-signalling to South Korea?
Because they can.
As an aside, the organizers of every conference I have been involved in over the past recent decade have reached out to a diverse group of experts. I have never seen any effort to not include some group. The focus is usually first and foremost on getting the diversity of views and ideas. As noted in the article, sometimes those who are invited or sought after are just not available at the time of the scheduled conference for a variety of reasons. Critics rarely see the efforts that go into organizing these conferences.
In addition to expert women, the other two categories of experts that are too often underrepresented are young scholars and practitioners and those who are from north Korea. We need more voices from north Korea.
Excerpts.
The UK’s response could be a reaction to a build-up of criticism over the last few days from South and North Korean academics and journalists. In response to the announcement of the Global Forum line-up for example Michelle Lee, the Seoul Bureau Chief for the Washington Post, wrote: ‘Surely they could have found ONE female expert who’s available to go to the Lotte Hotel on September 3’. Ji Hyun Park, a North Korean escapee and senior fellow at the Centre for Asia Pacific Strategy, posted on LinkedIn that she felt ‘gender equality is not being considered at all in the unification dialogue’.
This may be unfair. The organisers of the event have hit back at the accusations by saying that ‘many female experts informed us of their inability to attend… due to attendance at academic conferences, teaching commitments and personal circumstances’, suggesting that effort was made to enlist female academics but in vain. Assuming this is true, it is hard to see what more could have been done to satisfy the equity zealots, short of cancelling the forum altogether. And in response to the row, the Unification Ministry has pledged to do more to find speakers in future events.
Why are Britain’s diplomats virtue-signalling to South Korea?
The Spectator · by Philip Patrick · September 2, 2024
An important international conference will take place this week in South Korea, focused on the peninsula’s security concerns. The UK will not be participating. The reason? A lack of female ‘representation’, apparently. It seems that all the 18 of the initially invited speakers to the Global Korea Forum were men, though since the UK pullout three more speakers have been included, one of whom is female.
A spokesperson from the British Embassy told the Korea Times that ‘the ambassador (Colin Crooks) is unable to take part in the Global Korea Forum next week. The British Embassy is committed to gender equality. We believe that events are enriched by the diversity of perspectives of those participating.’
The Global Korea Forum has been held, under the auspices of South Korea’s Ministry of Unification, since 2010. This year’s iteration has the theme ‘Unified Korean Peninsula for Freedom, Peace and Prosperity’. It’s a high-profile event, with a premium location, a budget of half a million dollars, and some distinguished speakers (Former UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon is attending this year). It has added relevance, given the recent launch by the South Korean government (under President Yoon Suk Yeol) of a new unification policy.
This isn’t the first time that all-male panels (‘manels’) have sparked controversy in South Korea, but the UK government snub, likely to be taken as an insult in an etiquette-based culture, marks an escalation. The implication is either that the organisers (effectively the South Korean government) are prejudiced, and/or that they should be looking for gender balanced, rather than wholly merit based panels, and have failed to do so.
Most popular
Kristina Murkett
The UK’s phone signal is infuriatingly poor
The UK’s response could be a reaction to a build-up of criticism over the last few days from South and North Korean academics and journalists. In response to the announcement of the Global Forum line-up for example Michelle Lee, the Seoul Bureau Chief for the Washington Post, wrote: ‘Surely they could have found ONE female expert who’s available to go to the Lotte Hotel on September 3’. Ji Hyun Park, a North Korean escapee and senior fellow at the Centre for Asia Pacific Strategy, posted on LinkedIn that she felt ‘gender equality is not being considered at all in the unification dialogue’.
This may be unfair. The organisers of the event have hit back at the accusations by saying that ‘many female experts informed us of their inability to attend… due to attendance at academic conferences, teaching commitments and personal circumstances’, suggesting that effort was made to enlist female academics but in vain. Assuming this is true, it is hard to see what more could have been done to satisfy the equity zealots, short of cancelling the forum altogether. And in response to the row, the Unification Ministry has pledged to do more to find speakers in future events.
It is certainly true that South Korea has traditionally been and to a great extent remains a male dominated society. But it is equally undeniable that strenuous efforts have been made to increase the number of women in top positions in recent years. So strenuous in fact that it even provoked a male backlash, with young men forming groups to campaign against what they saw as feminist overreach.
Despite its reputation as a patriarchy, men in South Korea are subject to various disadvantages, most notably the requirement to complete up to two years of military service (women are exempt). This puts young men at a significant disadvantage in their careers when they leave the armed forces and find their female colleagues several years ahead (the British Embassy in Seoul’s views on the lack of female representation in the conscripted ranks is unknown).
Former president Moon Jae-in ran a self-declared ‘feminist’ administration. The initiatives of the Gender Equality Ministry included incentives to businesses to promote a gender balance on their boards, loans for female entrepreneurs, and a 30 per cent female quota for cabinet posts. Given this focus, which has not been significantly relaxed under the supposedly conservative Yoon Suk Yeol, if a government forum ended up with an all-male panel it is far more likely to have been by accident (as the organizers claim), than by design.
Is this a first taste of Sir Keir Starmer’s (or David Lammy’s) idea of progressive diplomacy? If so, it is hard to see what good will come of it. This swipe at an important ally feels like the opposite of diplomacy, a pointless signalling of supposed virtue that will only damage relations while not advancing the cause of women in society one inch. It sets a troubling precedent.
It also leaves the Foreign Office open to charges of hypocrisy. It is notable that while South Korea had a female ambassador to the UK as recently as 2021, the UK has never had a female ambassador in Seoul, or the equivalents posts of charge d’affaires, envoy extraordinaire, Consul General or Minister to Korea, in the 140 years of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Perhaps the South Koreans should boycott British embassy functions until this inequality is rectified.
The Spectator · by Philip Patrick · September 2, 2024
6. Once neglected, Asian Americans now courted in knife-edge election
Please go to the link to view the charts.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Asia-Insight/Once-neglected-Asian-Americans-now-courted-in-knife-edge-election?utm
Asia Insight
Once neglected, Asian Americans now courted in knife-edge election
Tiny margins in battleground states spotlight voters like Wisconsin's Hmong community
PAK YIU and EMMA OCKERMAN, Nikkei staff writers
September 3, 2024 06:00 JST
NEW YORK -- On July 27, Doug Emhoff walked onto a stage in a small Wisconsin city 1,200 kilometers northwest of Washington. He spoke on behalf of his wife, Kamala Harris, just six days after the vice president of the U.S. launched her bid to win the presidency for the Democratic Party this November.
The event wasn't a union rally, a civil liberties gathering or a climate change conference. It was the Hmong festival in Wausau, the city with the most Hmong per capita in the entire U.S.
"This community right here could decide the election in this state, which could decide the entire election," Emhoff told festival-goers. "You have the power, right here in this Hmong community. You have more power than you realize."
While Harris has an edge over Republican Party nominee Donald Trump in some polls, swing and battleground states like Wisconsin broadly remain too close to call. The Hmong community, previously largely overlooked, could be crucial in Wisconsin, a state that President Joe Biden won by a wafer-thin margin of about 20,000 votes in 2020. There are close to 60,000 eligible Hmong voters in Wisconsin, according to data from APIAVote, a nonprofit dedicated to voter engagement among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
The skinny 2020 winning margins in traditional swing states like Wisconsin, Georgia (fewer than 12,000 votes) and Nevada (under 34,000) have thrust Asian American voters, a small minority in many states, into the spotlight of U.S. politics in a way that hasn't been seen before.
Since becoming the Democratic Party's presidential nominee, Harris, who could become the first Indian American and Black woman president, has sought to energize the South Asian community, prompting groups like South Asian Men for Harris and South Asian Women for Harris to quickly raise money.
Asian American voters are the fastest-growing group of voters in the United States, according to the Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan think tank focused on demographics and social issues.
In the audience at the Wausau festival was Yee Leng Xiong, 29, a Democrat running to represent Wisconsin's 85th District, which includes Wausau and nearby Weston, as the first Hmong American in the Wisconsin Assembly.
Xiong's refugee parents fled Laos and came to the U.S. at great personal sacrifice after the Vietnam War, a story shared by many Hmong families in central Wisconsin, he said.
"Wisconsin is a very, very purple state where candidates win by 1%," Xiong said. "Purple" refers to swing states that may vote either Democratic, typically associated with blue, or red Republican. "We know the Southeast Asian community in the state of Wisconsin here is the margin of victory."
Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, arrive at a campaign rally in St. Cloud, Minnesota, on July 27. © AP
To have Emhoff at the Hmong Wausau Festival, chaired by Xiong, previously the executive director of the local nonprofit Hmong American Center, underscored that importance. "I spoke with several of the (community) elders," Xiong said, "and they said they have typically local elected officials -- statewide officials -- but never really individuals of that stature."
In his remarks onstage, Emhoff confirmed he had never been to the festival before, and set out his own family history of ancestors fleeing persecution in Europe.
Xiong recognized that in the past, Asian Americans rarely engaged with politics and instead focused on daily economic struggles.
"It's hard for them to really grasp the impact of policies on their day-to-day life," he noted.
"[We're] going out there, knocking on doors, talking with them and communicating with them and providing them with the information that they need ... on when, how and where to vote ... so that they can truly get their voices heard."
Harris participated in a presidential town hall organized by Asian Americans in July. Trump did not appear or send a representative. But last month he visited Eden Center, a Vietnamese commercial center in Virginia, to court the Vietnamese American vote.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff addresses the Hmong Wausau Festival in Wausau, Wisconsin, on July 27. (Screenshot from Hmong Community YouTube page)
The Trump campaign did not respond to multiple Nikkei Asia requests for comment.
The Harris-Walz spokesperson for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, Andrew Peng, said Harris has been a champion for Asian American communities.
"That's why Team Harris is making significant investments in staffing and paid media, crafting in-language materials to combat disinformation in Asian American communities and organizing culturally specific direct voter contact activities and events to reach Asian American voters where they are, across every battleground state," he said.
Political parties, Asian community leaders say, have in the past overlooked the voting bloc and engaged little.
"While that has actually improved over time, the level of engagement is still quite low," said Terry Ao Minnis, the vice president of Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
While the numbers are still small -- 15 million out of 246 million eligible voters, or 6.1%, compared to the 34.45 million Black voters -- Asian Americans, many of whom were first-time voters in the last presidential election, play an increasingly important role in the U.S. electoral system.
In Georgia, 2.5% more Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders turned out in the 2022 midterm election than in 2018, the biggest jump of all voter groups by race and ethnicity. Black and Hispanic turnouts fell, while white participation rose 0.4%.
"Demographics in Georgia have changed so much that now people know that in order to really win the state, you have to be able to talk to voters of color," said Aisha Yaqoob Mahmood, the executive director of the Asian American Advocacy Fund. "You have to be able to mobilize this base, in particular with Asian American voters.
"Our voters will often be part of this multiracial democracy, multiracial voting bloc that will help to win elections, as we've seen over the last couple of years."
But when it comes to understanding what Asian American voters prioritize, political parties face hurdles. For a start, there is limited survey data available on these voters, despite their being the fastest-growing group. Campaigns conduct their own polling but there is little public polling done, leaving Asian Americans with limited visibility throughout the election campaign season.
AAPI Data, a research organization that focuses on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, publishes monthly public opinion research on them.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and running mate Vance arrive a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 20. © AP
The most-cited data comes from the Asian American Voter Survey, jointly conducted every two years by Asian Americans Advancing Justice, APIAVote, AAPI Data and AARP. The multilingual questionnaire began in 2012 and provides political parties, the media and the public an insight into the political views and attitudes of Asian Americans.
The latest survey was released on July 10, before the assassination attempt on Trump and the end of Biden's reelection bid. Another survey will now be released in September to reflect those unprecedented events.
"We keep hearing the excuse, that it's still quite expensive to be able to oversample Asian Americans, especially when it comes to languages," said Christine Chen, APIAVote's executive director. "It just boils down to whether it's a priority. If it's really a priority, then they should be including that."
But it is also crucial to understand the nuances among Asian Americans, who come from as many as 20 countries, speak numerous languages and have varied cultures and religions. Polls conducted in English alone are not accurate, community leaders say.
The economy, education, inflation and immigration are high on the list of issues important to Asian Americans this cycle, according to the Asian American Voter Survey, but vary widely between people from East Asia and those from South Asia.
The Asian American Advocacy Fund's Maqoob noted that East Asian communities place more emphasis on issues such as xenophobia and anti-Asian hate, while inflation and cost of living are slightly more important to Indian Americans. The war in Gaza is a top issue for Muslim communities from Asia, she added.
With 90% of Asian Americans planning to vote in this November's election, according to the Asian American Voter Survey, engagement by the two main political parties has improved over the past several election campaigns, APIAVote's Chen said, but continues to fall short. Half of the survey's respondents had not been contacted by the Democratic Party, and 57% said the same of Republicans.
"They need to go ahead and engage the Asian American voters, because we are actually bringing in a larger number of first-time voters, and so that's a clear example in terms of how we are actually seen as a margin of victory," she said.
One challenge, though, is the language barrier.
Most Asian American voters are naturalized citizens, the Pew Research Center has found, with English being their second language. The Michigan city of Hamtramck began providing Bengali-language ballots and other assistance for Bangladeshi American voters in July 2021 after a lawsuit filed by a resident, Rahima Begum, who had limited English proficiency. Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act requires bilingual voting materials in communities with significant language minorities.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Harris attend a reception celebrating Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month in the Rose Garden of the White House on May 13. © Reuters
"I'm excited to vote, and I am lucky to have the resources to understand the election and the issues both parties stand for, but without that I would feel helpless," said 37-year-old Milwaukee resident Li Daren, who is voting for the first time since becoming an American citizen after moving from China.
While Asian Americans typically lean Democratic -- 72% of English-speaking Asian voters said they voted for Biden in 2020, and analysts point to the Democratic Party being more racially and religiously inclusive than the Republicans -- they tend not to align themselves with a political party, making them a prime target for political candidates, said Minnis of Asian Americans Advancing Justice.
"If somebody isn't declaring, hard stop, 'I am a Democrat' or 'I am a Republican,' there seems to be that opportunity to engage them and gain their vote," she said. "But we haven't necessarily been seeing that level of engagement and election outreach by the parties."
Those untapped votes have been noticed by both main parties. But candidates like Republican Anna Cheng Kramer lament the high costs of translating ballot materials.
"There are many people that still require a ballot language that's in their native tongue," said Kramer, who is running for the U.S. House seat representing California's 15th District. Kramer said a translation of a candidate statement -- not mandatory, but crucial for engaging with voters -- costs almost $10,000 for Chinese, Tagalog, Spanish and other languages.
Democratic Party candidate Yee Leng Xiong talks to voters as part of his campaign to become the first Hmong American to serve in the Wisconsin Assembly. (Yee for WI)
At the presidential level, Harris most recently pledged $90 million in spending on campaign ads that target Asian American voters and formed a team to engage with the Asian American community nationally and in key swing states. The Democrat's campaign said it works closely with local Asian community groups to distribute fact sheets translated into different languages.
The Republican Party has also increased its South Asian representation since the last presidential election, notably with vice presidential nominee JD Vance's wife, Usha Chilukuri Vance, and presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Back in Wausau, candidate Xiong hopes to become the kind of elected official that Asian Americans can recognize as a reflection of their own heritage.
"I think it's important to note that many of the AAPI community don't see individuals that look like them," Xiong said. "And they don't have governments or representatives that look like them, so it's hard for them to understand the impact of our government."
7. Gov't designates Oct. 1 Armed Forces Day as temporary holiday
(2nd LD) Gov't designates Oct. 1 Armed Forces Day as temporary holiday | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · September 3, 2024
(ATTN: UPDATES with details in paras 4, 7)
By Lee Haye-ah
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) -- The government on Tuesday designated Armed Forces Day on Oct. 1 as a temporary holiday this year to boost troop morale and domestic consumption.
A motion to designate the holiday was passed during a Cabinet meeting and will be sent to President Yoon Suk Yeol for approval.
The designation, which came at the request of the ruling People Power Party, adds an additional public holiday to the current two in October -- National Foundation Day on Oct. 3 and Hangeul Day on Oct. 9.
It marks the first time that Armed Forces Day will be celebrated as a public holiday since 1991, when it was excluded from the list of the country's public holidays.
An image depicting Oct. 1 Armed Forces Day (Yonhap)
"By designating this year's Armed Forces Day as a temporary holiday, the government plans to heighten public interest in the importance of national security and remember the role of our armed forces and the hard work of our troops," Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said during the Cabinet meeting, noting the serious security situation at home and abroad due to North Korea's continued provocations and the conflict in the Middle East.
"Strong security is the foundation of a country and a pillar supporting our economy," he added. "I hope our troops, who even at this moment are sweating on the front lines of national defense for the country and the people, will gain a morale boost and a heightened sense of duty amid the people's support."
The defense ministry welcomed the move, saying that heightened public interest will help bolster troops' morale and combat power.
Also during the meeting, the Cabinet approved three bills recently passed by the National Assembly, including a bill aimed at assisting victims of "jeonse" home rental scams.
Jeonse is a unique Korean system whereby tenants give landlords a large returnable deposit instead of paying monthly rent.
Under the bill, jeonse fraud victims will be allowed to lease public housing for up to 20 years.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo (2nd from R) speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the government complex in Seoul on Sept. 3, 2024. (Yonhap)
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · September 3, 2024
8. Ex-U.N. chief Ban voices need to 'persuade' China to understand benefit of Koreas' unification
Although it goes against the conventional pundit wisdom, China is already preparing for unification (see 50 and 100 year mineral leases with the north which is one way it will attempt to ensure economic domination). And China will eventually support unificacion when the status quo can no longer be maintained, particular itf can be accomplished somewhat peacefully without instability and potential conflict. (recall China's three no's - no war, no instability and regime collapse, and no nukes it will maintain the status quo until the status quo cannot be maintained). China also does not want to bear the burden of absorbing north Korea or propping it up under Chinese control because of the expense and the resistance from Koreans in the north who hate China (like most all of them). But the most important reason it will likely eventually support unification is because it is the likely path to achieving one of its main objectives: the removal of US troops from Korea and the Asian landmass. Ironically, the strongest demands to remove US troops from Korea after unification will likely come from the US public. Once that happens China will be able to dominate the Korean peninsula politically, economically, and culturally.
Ex-U.N. chief Ban voices need to 'persuade' China to understand benefit of Koreas' unification | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Han-joo · September 3, 2024
By Kim Han-joo
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) -- Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Tuesday South Korea needs to continuously "persuade" China to understand that the two Koreas' unification will not only contribute to global peace but also serve its own interests.
Ban made the remarks during the Global Korea Forum (GKF), a global forum hosted by the unification ministry and designed to garner international support for South Korea's bid for peaceful unification.
"It is strategically vital to convince China and Japan that unification will significantly contribute to global peace and will be beneficial for them as well," Ban said in his keynote speech.
The former diplomat also emphasized the need for South Korean officials to persuade the Chinese government that the South Korea-U.S. alliance is not adversarial and will ultimately benefit peace and stability in the region.
The forum aligns with a new unification doctrine announced by President Yoon Suk Yeol last month, which focuses on expanding North Koreans' access to external information and proposes establishing an official dialogue channel between the two Koreas to discuss various issues.
Later in the day, Ri Il-gyu, a former counselor of political affairs at the North Korean Embassy in Cuba, will participate in a session discussing the situation in North Korea. Ri, a seasoned North Korean diplomat known for overseeing Cuban affairs, defected to South Korea with his family in November of last year.
The forum, themed "Unified Korean Peninsula for Freedom, Peace, and Prosperity," is an expanded version of an annual event that focuses on security and policy issues related to the Korean Peninsula.
Former U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon speaks during the Global Korea Forum (GKF), an inaugural event aimed at garnering international support for the unification of the two Koreas, held in Seoul on Sept. 3, 2024. (Yonhap)
khj@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Han-joo · September 3, 2024
9. Trump says his talks with N. Korean leader Kim prove 'real change' is possible
Sigh... I think the former president's ghost writer has no idea about nature, objectives, or strategy of the Kim family regime.
No change can ever take place in the north as long as Kim Jong Un remains in power. The sooner people realize that, the sooner we can move on to more effective policies and strategy.
Trump says his talks with N. Korean leader Kim prove 'real change' is possible | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · September 3, 2024
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- Former U.S. President Donald Trump said in a soon-to-be published book that his summitry with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un during his time in office showed "real change" was "indeed" possible, portraying it as "honest, direct and productive."
The Republican presidential candidate made the remarks in the photo book, titled "Save America," reinforcing speculation that should he win the Nov. 5 general election, he could revive his personal diplomacy with the recalcitrant leader in Pyongyang.
He also took stock of his engagement with South Korea during his White House term from 2017-2021, saying he forged a "great" relationship with the Asian ally though he pointed out having Seoul start "paying more" for defense was "very important" to him.
"Chairman Kim Jong-un has an opportunity like no other -- to be remembered as the leader who ushered in a glorious new era of security and prosperity for his people," he wrote in the book, set to be released Tuesday.
"Our unprecedented meeting, the first between an American president and leader of North Korea, proves that real change is indeed possible. My meeting with Chairman Kim was honest, direct and productive. We got to know each other well in a very confined period of time," he added.
This AFP file photo shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) and U.S. President Donald Trump at the Sofitel Legend Metropole Hanoi hotel on Feb. 28, 2019. (Yonhap)
During his presidency, Trump pushed for an unconventional leader-to-leader approach toward North Korea, leading to three in-person meetings with Kim, including the first-ever summit between the United States and the North in Singapore in June 2018. But nuclear diplomacy stalled after the summit in Hanoi ended without a deal.
Among the photos related to the North was one showing Trump briefly crossing the Military Demarcation Line into the North on foot and becoming the first sitting U.S. president to do so during his visit to the inter-Korean border truce village of Panmunjom in June 2019.
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un cross the Military Demarcation Line into the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone, which separates the two Koreas, on June 30, 2019. (Yonhap)
During a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Friday, Trump boasted about the crossing of the inter-Korean border, casting him as the "first person to ever walk over from this country" and claiming that "getting along" with Kim is a "good thing."
The book also carried a photo of Trump, former President Moon Jae-in, and first ladies Melania Trump and Kim Jung-sook posing for a photo during Trump's visit to the then presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul in November 2017.
"Moon Jae-in, president of South Korea -- I developed a great relationship with South Korea, even though it was very important to me that they start paying more money for defense," Trump wrote.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in (R) and U.S. President Donald Trump hold a joint conference following their bilateral summit at the South Korean presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul, in this Nov. 7, 2017, file photo. (Yonhap)
During his presidency, Trump demanded a hefty increase in Seoul's financial contributions to stationing the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea, raising questions over what was seen as his "transactional approach" to regional allies and causing friction in the Seoul-Washington relationship.
The release of the book comes as Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are in a tight race for the White House with this week's Labor Day signaling the final stretch of their campaigns.
Trump took a jab at Harris, tripling down on his criticism of the Biden administration's policy on border security.
"Kamala Harris, the border czar, was a disaster! She had no idea what she was doing and never went to the border. That is what will happen to our country -- same thing, bigger scale!" he said.
"It happened under her watch in San Francisco, also. We won't let this happen to the U.S.A. Make America Great Again!"
The book also carried photos of the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July. He recounted that he survived it and shouted to the crowd, "Fight, fight, fight."
"There was blood pouring everywhere, and yet, in a certain way, I felt very safe, because I had God on my side," he said.
Former President Donald Trump is rushed off the stage at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, after an assassination attempt, in this photo released by the Associated Press. (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · September 3, 2024
10. What is South Korea's new unification policy?
There is more to it than in this useful summary.
Excerpt:
Kim Jong Un’s regime tightly controls the country, and there are precious few avenues for North Koreans to receive outside information. While we await the Yoon Administration’s implementation of “freedom-based unification,” his commitment to engaging with the North Korean people by increasing efforts to send reliable information to them is a welcome development. The Bush Institute has long argued that North Korean human rights and security are inextricably linked; therefore, an effective policy must address both.
Here are some more details from the actual policy:
Here's a brief summary of the key sections:
1. Background: The doctrine is grounded in the South Korean constitution, which advocates for peaceful unification based on a liberal democratic order. The Yoon administration emphasizes freedom, peace, and prosperity as core values guiding national governance.
2. Structure: The doctrine is structured around three unification visions, three strategies, and seven action plans, forming a "3-3-7" framework.
3. Three Visions:
o Individual: A nation where citizens' freedom and safety are guaranteed.
o National: A strong and prosperous country driven by creativity and innovation.
o Global: A country that leads international harmony and contributes to world peace and prosperity.
4. Three Strategies:
o Domestic: Cultivating values and capabilities within South Korea to drive unification.
o North Korea: Fostering a desire among North Koreans for unification.
o International: Securing international support for unification based on universal values of freedom and human rights.
5. Seven Action Plans:
o Activation of Unification Programs: Focusing on educating and inspiring future generations about unification.
o Improving North Korean Human Rights: Taking multidimensional efforts to address human rights issues in North Korea.
o Humanitarian Support for North Korean Survival: Providing humanitarian aid regardless of political or military situations.
o Expanding Information Access for North Koreans: Ensuring North Koreans have access to external information.
o Incorporating the Role of North Korean Defectors: Leveraging the experiences of defectors in the unification process.
o Proposal for a Dialogue Framework between South and North Korean Authorities: Suggesting a dialogue mechanism to discuss wide-ranging issues.
o Establishment of the International Korean Peninsula Forum: Creating an international forum to garner global support for unification.
What is South Korea's new unification policy?
bushcenter.org · by Learn more about Joseph Kim.
Read August 30, 2024
By
Joseph Kim
Research Fellow
George W. Bush Institute
The National Assembly of South Korea in Yeouido, Seoul.
Share
Explore our Work
More From Joseph Kim
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced a new policy approach to dealing with North Korea during a speech on Aug. 15, commemorating Korea’s Liberation Day from Japanese occupation. He described the new effort as a “freedom-based unification” strategy, which means South Korea will increase the flow of reliable information to the North Korean people. The aim of doing so is to provide North Koreans with an alternative to Pyongyang’s propaganda about the outside world and spark a greater desire for freedom and democracy through unification with the South. To effectuate this strategy, President Yoon announced the creation of a “North Korea Freedom and Human Rights Fund,” which will support civil society groups working on North Korean human rights.
At the same time, Yoon has left the door open to diplomatic engagement with North Korea by calling for a new dialogue channel between Seoul and Pyongyang. Yoon wants to achieve three goals through a working-level dialogue:
- Ease heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
- Promote economic cooperation to foster mutual understanding.
- Increase collaboration around humanitarian efforts.
Since early June, the Korean Peninsula has experienced heightened tensions. North Korea deployed balloons containing trash and human feces over Seoul. South Korea retaliated by activating loudspeakers on its border with North Korea that blasted pro-democracy rhetoric; the speakers had been turned off in 2018 as a sign of South Korea’s intention to enhance diplomatic engagement. While no casualties have been reported, there’s anxiety over further escalation. Developing a new dialogue channel with North Korea could de-escalate tensions.
Yoon’s proposal for economic cooperation and promoting mutual understanding between North and South Korea was unexpected by some experts. South Korea’s conservative party, to which Yoon belongs, has long opposed this kind of outreach to the North. The conservative party believes that engaging in economic policies with North Korea primarily benefits the regime rather than the North Korean people.
Yoon’s final objective is to increase efforts to send more humanitarian aid to North Korea, which is generally a welcome development, provided that aid providers or agents are granted access to the country to monitor and evaluate that the support goes to people in need.
Yoon explicitly mentioned facilitating the return of POW remains from the Korean War, and creating opportunities to reunite divided families in the North and South, even if only for short visits.
Divided families are those who were separated during the Korean War between 1950 and 1953. Reuniting these families is a policy that has gained bipartisan support in South Korea, especially as most of these people are elderly.
Kim Jong Un’s regime tightly controls the country, and there are precious few avenues for North Koreans to receive outside information. While we await the Yoon Administration’s implementation of “freedom-based unification,” his commitment to engaging with the North Korean people by increasing efforts to send reliable information to them is a welcome development. The Bush Institute has long argued that North Korean human rights and security are inextricably linked; therefore, an effective policy must address both.
bushcenter.org · by Learn more about Joseph Kim.
11. N. Korea earned over US$6 bln through illicit activities over past 7 years: report
I bet that is a conservative or low estimate.
N. Korea earned over US$6 bln through illicit activities over past 7 years: report | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · September 3, 2024
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is estimated to have earned more than US$6 billion through hacking and other illicit activities over the past seven years despite facing heavy international sanctions, a state-run think tank report showed Tuesday.
North Korea's income through illegal activities from 2017 to 2023, such as smuggling out coal, reached a total of $6.29 billion, according to the report from the Institute for National Security Strategy.
The U.N. Security Council has imposed wide-ranging sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear and missiles programs, such as an arms embargo and a ban on coal exports, while requiring countries to repatriate North Korean workers.
The report said the North's illegal coal exports brought in $2.15 billion over the period, followed by income from workers in China and Russia at $1.75 billion, and illegal cyber activities at $1.35 billion.
North Korea is estimated to have also generated $540 million by exporting arms, such as artillery shells, to Russia last year.
The report estimated the arms export value based on data released by South Korean, U.S. and Ukrainian authorities. South Korea and the U.S. have accused Pyongyang of supplying arms to Moscow to fuel its war against Ukraine.
This file photo, provided by Conflict Armament Research on Jan. 24, 2024, shows a Hangeul letter written on debris of a missile fired by Russia into Ukraine. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · September 3, 2024
12. Japan's outgoing PM Kishida to visit South Korea
Japan's outgoing PM Kishida to visit South Korea
03 Sep 2024 05:38PM
channelnewsasia.com
SEOUL: Japan's outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will head to Seoul on Friday (Sep 6) for a two-day visit to meet South Korea's leader after the pair worked to significantly boost bilateral ties.
The East Asian neighbours, both key security allies of the United States, have long been at odds over historical issues linked to Japan's brutal colonial occupation of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945, including sexual slavery and forced labour.
However, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol made resetting ties with Japan a top priority in the face of growing threats from North Korea and made his first trip to Tokyo as head of state in 2023. He also restarted so-called shuttle diplomacy between the two countries' capitals.
"Japan and South Korea are important neighbours to each other that should work as partners to tackle a wide range of international issues," Japan's top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi said on Tuesday, confirming the trip.
Kishida has said he will not seek re-election as leader of the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) when his tenure expires this month.
The conservative LDP is expected to decide its new leader on Sep 27.
Japanese media reports said Kishida wanted to see Yoon and tell him that warmer ties would continue under the next administration.
"Prime Minister Kishida, anticipating his resignation, eagerly sought to visit South Korea to discuss the future direction of development between the two countries," the Presidential Office in Seoul said.
"The two sides will reflect on the achievements of South Korea-Japan cooperation," it said, and will "discuss the future direction of Korea-Japan cooperation, regional cooperation and global cooperation".
It said Kishida "expects to continue to give constructive advice on the foreign policy of the successor".
Kishida and Yoon met at a trilateral summit with China in May, with Yoon saying that trust and exchanges had "dramatically increased over the past year", pointing to booming bilateral tourism.
Yoon said last week he had held 11 summits with Kishida to discuss issues including nuclear-armed North Korea.
"I would like to say that no matter which leader is in charge of state affairs, cooperation and synergy for the future between Korea and Japan will be maintained," Yoon said.
Source: AFP/dy(kg)
13. U.S. nuclear umbrella against N.K. threats may weaken under second Trump term: senior security official
Kim Jong Un is sitting in Pyongyang smiling and saying, see, my political warfare strategy is working. I am undermining the ROK/US alliance.
U.S. nuclear umbrella against N.K. threats may weaken under second Trump term: senior security official | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · September 3, 2024
By Kim Seung-yeon
SEOUL, Sept. 3 (Yonhap) -- The United States' commitment to providing South Korea with its "nuclear umbrella" against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats might weaken under the presidency of Donald Trump if he is reelected, a senior South Korean security official said Tuesday.
Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo made the projection, citing Trump's well-known perspective of alliances as costs that U.S. allies should pay for more or shoulder a bigger share of.
"Trump as candidate can be seen as pursuing transactional benefits in terms of the South Korea-U.S. alliance," Kim said at a forum hosted by the Sejong Institute.
"It is not unlikely that he would suggest negotiating defense cost-sharing or the deployment of U.S. strategic assets from a cost perspective," Kim said.
Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo speaks during a parliamentary session at the National Assembly in Seoul on Aug. 27, 2024. (Yonhap)
Since the launch of the Joe Biden administration, South Korea and the U.S. have bolstered efforts to cement the U.S. "extended deterrence" commitment to using its full range of capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its ally.
The Nuclear Consultative Group, launched after their leaders' April summit last year, is part of such efforts to strengthen the U.S. credibility of the deterrence commitment.
Yet, the potential second Trump administration will inherit the framework of the trilateral cooperation among the U.S., South Korea and Japan, Kim said, citing the need for Washington to maintain security partnership in areas like the real-time information sharing on the North's missile launches and multi-year three-way military drills.
Kim, meanwhile, said Trump, if reelected, would still consider holding another summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who would likely use this to sideline the South in its talks with Washington.
"(Trump) talks during his campaign about how he is close to Kim Jong-un, but since the no-deal summit in Hanoi in 2019, it's clear that Trump and his advisers have significantly lowered their expectations about the North Korean regime," Kim said.
During his term, Trump met Kim three times in person, including the first-ever summit between the U.S. and the North in Singapore in June 2018. But nuclear diplomacy has stalled since the Hanoi summit ended without a deal.
elly@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · September 3, 2024
14. Survivor of DMZ crossing: The man behind South Korea's 'Escape' film
Excerpts:
“The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) has never once let its guard down. Despite that, there will continue to be North Korean soldiers like me who cross the DMZ in search of freedom.”
In an interview with The Chosun Ilbo on Sunday, Jang Han-ul, 30, recounted his 2012 defection from North Korea by crossing the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone. “The hardest part was making the decision to risk my life. But once I made up my mind, there was nothing left to fear,” Jang said.
Jang is the real-life inspiration behind the South Korean film ‘Escape,’ which tells the story of a North Korean soldier’s defection. In the film, released in July, actor Lee Je-hoon plays Kyu-nam, a soldier who risks everything to escape across the DMZ just before completing his 10-year military service. Unlike the character in the film, Jang defected in August 2012 after serving for only a year and five months.
Survivor of DMZ crossing: The man behind South Korea's 'Escape' film
https://www.chosun.com/english/north-korea-en/2024/09/03/RY3HUDVFJRDG7E6NLKFZFT6AQI/
By Kim Min-seo,
Park Su-hyeon
Published 2024.09.03. 15:15
Jang Han-ul, the real-life inspiration behind the South Korean film 'Escape,' is interviewed by The Chosun Ilbo at an office in Chungmuro on Sept. 1, 2024./Cho In-won
“The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) has never once let its guard down. Despite that, there will continue to be North Korean soldiers like me who cross the DMZ in search of freedom.”
In an interview with The Chosun Ilbo on Sunday, Jang Han-ul, 30, recounted his 2012 defection from North Korea by crossing the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone. “The hardest part was making the decision to risk my life. But once I made up my mind, there was nothing left to fear,” Jang said.
Jang is the real-life inspiration behind the South Korean film ‘Escape,’ which tells the story of a North Korean soldier’s defection. In the film, released in July, actor Lee Je-hoon plays Kyu-nam, a soldier who risks everything to escape across the DMZ just before completing his 10-year military service. Unlike the character in the film, Jang defected in August 2012 after serving for only a year and five months.
Born in Hamhung in 1994, Jang enlisted in the North Korean military after graduating from middle school. At the time of his defection, he was 18 years old, and it was the first year of Kim Jong Un’s rule following Kim Jong Il’s death. “Kim Jong Il, who had promised national reunification, died without fulfilling that promise, leaving me deeply disappointed,” Jang said. “After his death, I started picking up South Korean leaflets that had been dropped in North Korea, hoping to find some truth.”
The leaflets, which criticized Kim Jong Un’s regime, had a profound impact on the young soldier. One phrase in particular—”South Korea is an economic powerhouse with abundant electricity and lush forests”—struck a chord with him. “It felt like I had been hit over the head. From that moment on, I started planning my escape while on guard duty, something I had never paid much attention to before,” Jang recalled. At night, he would watch the lights in the South Korean villages through his binoculars.
Jang carefully planned his defection, choosing a day in August 2012 when a powerful typhoon had damaged the DMZ’s triple-layered fence, which included electric and barbed wire barriers. “That day, the senior soldier on duty with me disappeared, saying he was going to take a nap. It felt like a sign from above—I knew I couldn’t miss this chance,” Jang said. He pocketed two grenades and took his AK rifle with 90 rounds of ammunition as he made his way to the fence. The grenades were meant for suicide in case he was caught by North Korean forces.
Although he managed to cross the fence, Jang encountered unexpected obstacles. “Unlike what I had seen from the North Korean side, the DMZ was filled with 2-meter-tall reeds and thorny bushes that I had to fight my way through. My entire body was scratched and bleeding, and my uniform was torn to shreds,” Jang said. It took him 18 hours to cross the roughly 2-kilometer stretch of the DMZ. “Even now, I can’t tell if those 18 hours were a dream or reality. I remember hearing the North Korean soldiers calling my name, and 12 bullets whizzed past my head as they fired at me. Bullets also hit the river next to the reed field,” he recalled. During the crossing, he lost 2 kilograms. Weighing 43 kilograms immediately after his defection, he now weighs 67 kilograms.
A scene from the film 'Escape.'/MEGABOX PLUSM
Now in his 12th year living in South Korea, Jang reflects on the hardships he’s faced since his defection. “There have been many difficult times since coming to South Korea, but whenever things get tough, I think back to the day I risked my life to escape,” he said. After arriving in South Korea, Jang studied for six years before entering college in 2018, where he majored in political science and diplomacy. Since February 2020, he has run a YouTube channel called BukSital with Kim Kang-yoo, another defector who crossed the DMZ in 2016. The channel aims to raise awareness about the harsh realities faced by North Korean soldiers. It was through this channel that Jang was contacted by the production team of ‘Escape,’ who sought his advice and offered him a small role in the film. In January of this year, Jang also released a short film he directed and produced, titled Two Soldiers, which highlights human rights abuses in the North Korean military.
Jang hopes that societal prejudice and discrimination against defectors will diminish. “There’s discrimination in any society, but I wish the bias against North Korean defectors would disappear,” he said. “I also hope that negative perceptions of reunification—such as the idea that it’s a burden or that we shouldn’t have to take responsibility for North Koreans—will improve.”
15. Mobile menace: North Korea flexes nuclear muscle in TEL drills
The photo at the link looks like a very nice target for us. Why can't we access the regime's training/parade schedule so we could send a few JDAMs or whatever the targeteers tell us we need to take out the TELs on display (only said with some sarcasm).
On a slightly more serious note, are all these TELs operational or are they mock-ups to make us think they have all these systems? All warfare is based on deception.
https://www.dailynk.com/english/mobile-menace-north-korea-flexes-nuclear-muscle-tel-drills/
Mobile menace: North Korea flexes nuclear muscle in TEL drills - Daily NK English
The drills aim to perfect covert nuclear launches from mobile platforms, boosting tactical readiness and operational finesse
By Jeong Tae Joo - September 3, 2024
dailynk.com · by Jeong Tae Joo · September 3, 2024
North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun reported on Aug. 5 that a “ceremony for celebrating the transfer and receiving of new-type tactical ballistic missile system took place on Aug. 4” and that “a ceremony for transferring 250 new-type tactical ballistic missile launchers, produced at major munitions enterprises, to the first-line units on the border of the DPRK took place in the capital city of Pyongyang with splendor.” (Rodong Sinmun, News1)
The Supreme Command of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) has ordered the Strategic Force to launch an intensive command drill on the wartime use of nuclear weapons, The Daily NK has learned.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source in the North Korean military said that the headquarters of the Strategic Force “received a telegraphic order from the Supreme Command on Aug. 24 instructing it to conduct an intensive command exercise for launching surprise nuclear strikes using transporter erector launchers (TELs).”
According to the source, the exercise focuses on verifying the process of conducting surprise nuclear missile launches using the covert and mobile capabilities of TELs to avoid enemy detection. The drill is apparently aimed at strengthening the Strategic Force’s tactical nuclear weapons operations system by improving the force’s ability to conduct surprise launches using TELs and instilling procedural competence.
“The Strategic Force’s latest intensive command drill is part of its 2024 plans to achieve the goals presented at the Eighth Party Congress,” the source said. “The Supreme Command is taking direct command of the exercise, which is aimed at more precisely strengthening the Strategic Force’s nuclear weapons operational capability from the headquarters to the lowest tactical unit on the front line.”
North Korea has advanced the development of miniaturized nuclear warheads, tactical nuclear warheads, super-large nuclear warheads and hypersonic glide warheads in accordance with the five-year plan for the development of defense science and weapons systems announced at the Eighth Party Congress in 2021. This year, it is conducting large-scale deployments of mass-produced TELs to strategic force units.
The Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported on Aug. 5 that “a ceremony to celebrate the transfer and reception of a new-type tactical ballistic missile system was held on Aug. 4” and that “a ceremony to transfer 250 new-type tactical ballistic missile launchers produced by major ammunition enterprises to the frontline units on the border of the DPRK was held in Pyongyang, the capital, with great splendor.”
The source told The Daily NK that “the results of this drill will be additionally reflected in next year’s annual drills to check the military’s readiness for war.”
This means that the KPA plans to prepare for war more thoroughly and ensure an immediate response capability by verifying the Strategic Force’s preparations and command posture for launching surprise attacks with the TELs through the exercise and supplementing and improving the problems and shortcomings discovered.
“The latest exercise will last about a month until the end of September,” the source said. “The Strategic Force Headquarters expects that the intensive wartime command exercise with the TELs deployed this year will strengthen the Strategic Force’s operational capability with nuclear weapons.”
Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
Please send any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com · by Jeong Tae Joo · September 3, 2024
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
| 
