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Quotes of the Day:
"Most propaganda is not designed to fool the critical thinker but only to give moral cowards an excuse not to think at all."
- MIchael Rivero
"We speak not only to tell other people what we think, but to tell ourselves what we think. Speech is part of thought."
- Oliver Sacks
"Insanity in individuals is something rare – but in groups,parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule."
- Friediech Nietzsche
1. Russia proposed three-way naval exercise with N. Korea, China: NIS
2. U.N. rapporteur for North Korean human rights arrives in Seoul
3. UN rapporteur urged to help lay groundwork to prosecute North Korean leader at ICC
4. South seeks to track and freeze North's crypto assets
5. Yoon likely to ask China, Russia to get tougher on North
6. Russian, Chinese officials likely to attend another North Korean military parade this week
7. Can North Korea play off Russia against China?
8. 'Arsenal of Evil': Why North Korea Could Sell Russia Weapons for Ukraine War
9. Biden’s ‘Hotline’ With Japan and Korea Doesn’t Guarantee Mutual Defense
10. Cause to fear a Russia-N Korea arms nexus
11. N. Korean teacher replaced after encouraging competition among students
12. South Korea warns the North to stop nukes program or risk regime instability
13. Russia proposes joint naval drill with China, North Korea
14. North Korea's Navy Is Starting to Look Like a True Threat
15. Two clothing wholesalers in Pyongsong make fortune from bra-making business
1. Russia proposed three-way naval exercise with N. Korea, China: NIS
Are they afraid of JAROKUS? The combined naval power of Japan, the ROK, and the US is likely far superior to the combined naval power of the PRC, RUssia, and north Korea.
And of course imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.
(LEAD) Russia proposed three-way naval exercise with N. Korea, China: NIS | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kang Jae-eun · September 4, 2023
(ATTN: ADDS more info in paras 4-8, photo at bottom)
SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- Russia proposed conducting three-way naval exercises with North Korea and China when Moscow's defense minister held a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in late July, South Korea's intelligence agency was quoted as saying Monday.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the proposal when he held a one-on-one meeting with the North's leader, National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Kim Kyou-hyun said during a close-door briefing to the parliamentary intelligence committee, according to Rep. Yoo Sang-bum of the ruling People Power Party.
Shoigu visited the North from July 25-27.
Asked about the agency's analysis of North Korea's recent increase in military provocations, Yoo said they appear to be in response to the South Korea-United States joint Ulchi Freedom Shield military exercise conducted from Aug 21-31.
Kim Kyou-hyun (C, back), chief of the National Intelligence Service, attends a plenary session of the intelligence committee at the National Assembly in Seoul on Sept. 4, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
The agency reportedly confirmed North Korea's two short-range ballistic missile launches last Wednesday, saying only one succeeded while the other failed. North Korea has claimed both were successfully conducted.
The NIS was also quoted as saying that it is "too early" to conclude whether Kim Jong-un has designated his daughter Ju-ae as his successor.
"Currently, North Korea is very obsessed over the Baekdu bloodline, so it's too early to conclude that Kim Ju-ae is his successor," Yoo said, citing the intelligence agency.
According to Yoo, the NIS also shared intelligence with lawmakers that the North has issued orders to "anti-state forces" in the South to carry out protest movements related to Japan's discharge of contaminated water from its crippled Fukushima power plant.
This photo, carried by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 31, 2023, shows the North's leader, Kim Jong-un (3rd from R), pointing at a South Korean region with a baton during a visit to the training command post of the General Staff of the North Korean army on Aug. 29. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
fairydust@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kang Jae-eun · September 4, 2023
2. U.N. rapporteur for North Korean human rights arrives in Seoul
The international community needs to follow her lead and take a human rights upfront approach to north Korea.
It is good to see the focus on the ROK POWs that the north never allowed to return.
(LEAD) U.N. rapporteur for North Korean human rights arrives in Seoul | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · September 4, 2023
(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; UPDATES with more details in paras 5-6)
SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- The U.N. special rapporteur for North Korea's human rights arrived in Seoul on Monday for a nine-day visit to meet with Seoul officials and defectors from the reclusive regime over Pyongyang's dismal human rights situation.
During her stay, Elizabeth Salmon plans to meet with foreign, unification and justice officials, as well as North Korean defectors and rights groups, according to the foreign ministry.
She is also scheduled to hold a press conference in Seoul on Sept. 12.
Elizabeth Salmon, the U.N. special rapporteur for North Korea's human rights, holds a news conference on the outcomes of her visit to South Korea at a hotel in Seoul, in this file photo taken Sept. 2, 2022. (Yonhap)
The rapporteur will submit a report on North Korean human rights issues to the U.N. based on the results of this week's visit.
Later in the day, Salmon met with Son Myung-hwa, representative of the Korean War POW Family Association, a civic group dedicated to resolving the issue of South Korean prisoners of war (POWs).
Son delivered a letter to Salmon that calls for the South Korean government to establish a fact-finding commission to investigate the POW issue and publish a comprehensive report on it, according to the group.
The special rapporteur position was first created in 2004 to investigate and report to the U.N. Human Rights Council and General Assembly on the human rights situation in the reclusive regime in light of international human rights law.
This photo, provided by the Korean War POW Family Association on Sept. 4, 2023, shows Elizabeth Salmon (R), U.N. special rapporteur for North Korea's human rights, meeting with Son Myung-hwa, representative of the association in Seoul. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
julesyi@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · September 4, 2023
3. UN rapporteur urged to help lay groundwork to prosecute North Korean leader at ICC
Although it is unlikely Kim will ever be brought before the ICC, it is important to put this kind of pressure on him.
UN rapporteur urged to help lay groundwork to prosecute North Korean leader at ICC
The Korea Times · September 4, 2023
Elizabeth Salmon, right, the U.N. special rapporteur for North Korean human rights, poses with Son Myung-hwa, a representative of the Korean War POW Family Association, in Seoul, Monday, as she begins her nine-day trip. Courtesy of Korean War POW Family Association
Evidence for Kim's crimes against humanity 'more than sufficient,' rights activists say
By Jung Min-ho
Evidence of atrocities committed in North Korea by the Kim Jong-un regime is abundant. Therefore, human rights activists are wondering whether the evidence collected in the South would meet the U.N.'s requirements to bring him to justice at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Speaking to The Korea Times on Monday, rights advocates said this is one of the main issues they are planning to raise if given the opportunity to speak with Elizabeth Salmon, the U.N. special rapporteur for North Korean human rights.
Arriving Monday in Seoul, Salmon began her nine-day trip where she will meet with government officials, members of civic groups and North Korean escapees.
"My first question to Salmon would be whether it is possible to bring the case against Kim to the table of the U.N. Security Council based on evidence collected by state prosecutors and investigators here," an official at a rights organization, who refused to be named, said.
"That would be unprecedented and help unite international support even if the case fails to elicit action from the ICC due to objections from China and Russia."
Despite numerous accounts from victims and other proof accumulated over many years, the ICC, the Hague-based independent judicial body for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, has not issued an arrest warrant for Kim.
The court says it has "no jurisdiction" over North Korea, which is not a party to the Rome Statute, a treaty that established the ICC. Moreover, the U.N. Security Council, which has the power to refer a situation to the ICC for investigation, has not taken such steps.
"Monitoring how human rights are respected in North Korea was one of the key reasons for setting up the Seoul branch of the OHCHR in 2015," Lee Ji-yoon, program manager at the Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, said.
"If rights are being violated and practical hurdles are preventing any meaningful ICC action, Salmon needs to check whether there are other ways to bring justice through the U.N. system."
Compared to previous cases whereby the ICC issued an arrest warrant for a head of state ― for Sudan's Omar al-Bashir in 2009 and Libya's Muammar Gadhafi in 2011 ― the evidence in Kim's case seems more than sufficient, she said.
This March, the ICC surprised the world by granting an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for allegedly deporting Ukrainian children against their will after invading the country last year. This was only possible after the Ukrainian government approved the ICC to investigate crimes against humanity and war crimes committed on Ukrainian territory by Russian forces.
Given that Russia ― just like North Korea ― does not recognize the ICC, its warrant is unlikely to result in the arrest of Putin. However, experts say this carries a symbolic significance and would limit his travel to the nations that recognize the ICC's authority, which could be a frightening message to Putin ― and Kim.
On her first day, Salmon had a meeting with families of South Korean prisoners detained by the North during the Korean War. Based on the results of her visit, Salmon will submit a report on human rights issues in North Korea to the U.N. next month.
The Korea Times · September 4, 2023
4. South seeks to track and freeze North's crypto assets
Good. One of many actions that is necessary in the cyber war with north Korea.
Monday
September 4, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Published: 04 Sep. 2023, 16:27
South seeks to track and freeze North's crypto assets
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-09-04/national/northKorea/South-seeks-to-track-and-freeze-Norths-crypto-assets/1861813
President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks at a Cabinet meeting at the presidential office on Aug. 29. [YONHAP]
The South Korean government plans to submit a bill to track and freeze North Korean cryptocurrency and virtual assets used to fund Pyongyang's illicit weapons programs, multiple government sources said Sunday.
An earlier version of the bill was first announced by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) in November but was sent back for further revision on the orders of President Yoon Suk Yeol, who wanted it to contain “practical measures to bolster national security,” according to administration insiders who spoke to the JoongAng Ilbo on condition of anonymity.
The revised bill is the result of 10 months of consultations between different South Korean government ministries to add teeth to the South’s existing sanctions against the North.
In his comments to the JoongAng Ilbo, one high-ranking government official who declined to be named said that the new bill reflects the president’s belief that “the country’s cyber security framework urgently needs repair” after the previous Moon Jae-in administration “allowed it to fall into ruin in order to avoid offending North Korea.”
An administration insider with in-depth knowledge of the bill said the latest version contains measures to “track and neutralize virtual coins and other cryptocurrency assets stolen by the North through hacking,” which were not included in the original bill proposed by the NIS last year.
South Korean intelligence reported that the North stole 1.7 trillion won ($1.28 billion) worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum through various hacking outfits in 2022 alone.
Rep. Yoon Han-hong of the conservative People Power Party (PPP), who sits on the legislature’s National Policy Committee, said during the National Assembly’s audit of the government last year that virtual assets worth a total of $52.46 million from the crypto wallets of North Korean hacking groups had likely been laundered after entering South Korean cryptocurrency exchanges over the past four years.
North Korean hackers have stolen over $3 billion over the past five years, according to a recent report by blockchain analysis company Chainalysis.
The growth in Pyongyang’s haul from cyber crime has corresponded with a sharp rise in missile tests by the regime, which launched over 90 cruise and ballistic missiles last year and conducted its first successful test of a solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile in April.
About half of North Korea’s missile program has been funded by cyberattacks and cryptocurrency theft, according to Anne Neuberger, the U.S. deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technology, in May.
Experts who report to the United Nations Security Council committee for sanctions against North Korea have also previously accused Pyongyang of using cyberattacks to fund its nuclear and missile programs.
In addition to its new cyber security bill, the Yoon administration also plans to create a national cyber security committee under the direct control of the president to enforce measures to strengthen the country’s online defenses against foreign hacking attempts.
The new committee will be headed by the chief of the National Security Office and include the NIS director as a member.
The committee will have the power “to ban the manufacture, import and sale of the products that interfere with cyber security,” according to a PPP official with knowledge of the government’s plans who spoke to the JoongAng Ilbo.
The NIS conducted a fact-finding mission in April to figure out whether government ministries and public institutions were unintentionally using information technology products subject to sanctions at home and abroad.
The NIS probe paid particular attention to products by Chinese and Russian companies, such as Huawei, according to the PPP official.
BY HYUN IL-HOON,MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
5. Yoon likely to ask China, Russia to get tougher on Northeeee
But China and Russia will remain complicit in north Korean human rights abuses, north Korean sanctions evasion, and north Korea's pursuit of advanced military capabilities.
Monday
September 4, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Published: 04 Sep. 2023, 19:14
Yoon likely to ask China, Russia to get tougher on North
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-09-04/national/diplomacy/Yoon-likely-to-ask-China-Russia-to-get-tougher-on-North/1861947
A bomb squad unit leads sniffer dogs as they patrol outside the venue of the upcoming Asean Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Monday. [AP/YONHAP]
President Yoon Suk Yeol is expected to urge the international community to respond more sternly to North Korea's escalating missile provocations and nuclear threats and work towards cutting off funds for its weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program in a series of upcoming multilateral forums.
On Tuesday, Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee will begin a weeklong trip to Indonesia for a series of Asean-related meetings and India for the Group of 20, or G20, summit.
"As North Korea reopened its borders after the Covid-19 pandemic, a large number of workers sent to Russia and China are unable to keep the money they have earned and send a significant amount of dollars back to North Korean authorities," a senior presidential official told reporters Monday.
The official said Yoon could urge Russia and China, permanent members of the UN Security Council, to play a more responsible role in preventing North Korea's illegal nuclear and missile programs.
He noted that banks in China are being used in the process of converting stolen virtual assets into cash. The official said that "there is room for China and Russia to cooperate" on such issues.
Yoon told the Associated Press in an interview published Monday that Beijing "seems to have considerable leverage" over Pyongyang, noting that about 97 percent of North Korea's total external trade volume last year was with China.
He said Beijing must put forth "constructive efforts" to denuclearize Pyongyang and realize that North Korea's nuclear program has "a negative effect on China's national interests by further disrupting regional order among other things."
Yoon told AP that the G20 summit in New Delhi will be an opportunity to underscore the need to actively deter North Korea from stealing cryptocurrency, dispatching overseas workers, facilitating maritime transshipments and other illegal activities, seen as main funding sources for its missile and nuclear weapons programs.
This comes as he plans to call on the international community "to resolutely respond to North Korea's ever-escalating missile provocations and nuclear threats."
In Jakarta, Yoon will attend meetings with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, and hold a bilateral summit with Indonesian President Joko Widodo as the two countries mark the 50th anniversary of bilateral ties.
Yoon will spend four days in Jakarta and head to New Delhi Friday.
"Geopolitical competition between powerful countries is fierce, as is competition in values and ideologies, but from our perspective, synergy can be created in terms of national interest, and the two countries are very important regions in terms of expanding practical networking and business diplomacy," the senior presidential official said Monday on the upcoming visits.
The official noted that the Korea-India and Korea-Indonesia relations "have a special advantage in that they have pursued diverse cooperation, not only defense industry cooperation, but also in economic security, cutting-edge technology and the environment."
He added that "In particular, with Korea's combined soft power and cultural charm, our countries are creating a more special bond through youth and student exchanges, and social and cultural exchanges."
There are at least 14 confirmed bilateral summits on the sidelines of the gatherings, according to the presidential office. This includes bilateral talks with Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Cook Islands, Canada and Laos on the margins of the Asean gathering, and India, Spain, Argentina, Mauritius, Bangladesh and Comoros on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.
Schedules are being coordinated with six other countries, said a presidential official.
A separate summit of Mikta countries, a gathering of five middle-power countries involving Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea, Turkey and Australia, will be held in India.
It is unclear if Chinese President Xi Jinping will take part in the G20 Summit, which could be an opportunity for a second bilateral summit with Yoon after their first talks in November 2022 in Bali, Indonesia, on the margins of last year's G20 gathering.
"As things stand now, I don't think we are in a position to plan a summit between South Korea and China in India," said the official.
The multilateral summits will also be a venue for Yoon to promote Busan's bid to host the 2030 World Expo, ahead of the secret ballot in November.
BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
6. Russian, Chinese officials likely to attend another North Korean military parade this week
Comrades in arms.
Monday
September 4, 2023
dictionary + A - A
Published: 04 Sep. 2023, 16:00
Russian, Chinese officials likely to attend another North Korean military parade this week
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2023-09-04/national/northKorea/Russian-Chinese-officials-likely-to-attend-another-North-Korean-military-parade-this-week/1861758
In this footage broadcast by Pyongyang's state-controlled Korean Central Television on July 28, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu stands next to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who is using binoculars to review a military parade held in downtown Pyongyang the previous evening to celebrate the end of active hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War. [YONHAP]
Representatives from China and Russia are expected to be present at a large-scale North Korean paramilitary parade later this week in a sign of the three countries' continuing efforts to deepen cooperation.
In an interview with Russian state news agency TASS on Saturday, Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora said that both Moscow and Beijing will send delegations to attend the parade in Pyongyang on Sept. 9, which marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the current regime.
A communist government was formally established in the North on Sept. 9, 1948, after Soviet forces and eventual regime founder Kim Il Sung refused entry to United Nations supervisors to conduct elections in the northern half of the Korean Peninsula.
The North customarily holds especially large celebrations on every 5th and 10th anniversary of events that it considers to be key milestones.
Satellite images taken in recent weeks have shown troops practicing marching in large formations at the Mirim parade training ground on the outskirts of Pyongyang. The training ground is a replica of the capital’s downtown Kim Il Sung Square, where the regime usually stages its military and paramilitary parades.
The upcoming North Korean paramilitary parade is the second to be attended by Russian and Chinese representatives this past year.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chinese Politburo member Li Hongzhong led their respective national delegations to the North’s most recent military parade on July 27 to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of active hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War, which Pyongyang claims ended in victory for North Korean and Chinese forces.
In his interview with TASS, Matsegora also suggested the North could be invited to joint military exercises by Russia and China but added that he did not know of any ongoing preparations for Pyongyang’s inclusion.
The expected attendance of representatives from Russia and China at the North’s Sept. 9 parade comes after U.S. President Joe Biden hosted a historic trilateral summit last month for South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, where the trio pledged to hold regular military exercises to deepen security cooperation against Pyongyang’s escalating nuclear and missile threats.
On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said he expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping soon, following comments by Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov in July that the Russian leader plans to visit China in October.
China and Russia have deepened diplomatic and security ties since the latter launched a full-scale of Ukraine in February last year.
Beijing has refused to blame Moscow for the war and condemned U.S. and European sanctions against Russia.
China has also bought discounted Russian oil and gas now eschewed by Europe and has been accused by the United States of exporting dual-use technology to Russia that have found their way into Russian weapons.
Washington has also disclosed intelligence that Moscow is courting Pyongyang for weapons and materiel, and battlefield reports from Ukraine have exposed Russian use of North Korean artillery shells.
In its briefing to the South Korean National Assembly last month, Seoul’s National Intelligence Service said Shoigu likely sought to purchase artillery and missiles from the North during his visit to Pyongyang in July and also proposed a combined military exercise.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
7. Can North Korea play off Russia against China?
This has been a characteristic or capability of the Kim Family regime since Kim Il Sung.
Excerpts:
But Kim Jong-un will not have it easy like his grandfather did. The reason Kim Il-sung succeeded in manipulating Russia and China was due to the then poor state of Sino-Soviet relations. Things are different now between Russia and China. The “no limits partnership” sees the two countries uniting, instead of diverging, in opposition to the United States and its allies. Neither Beijing nor Moscow wants to compete for influence in North Korea, which is the most important condition for a successful North Korean exploitation of China-Russia differences.
Importantly, China can better exploit Russia’s weakness than North Korea. In this triangular relationship, China is the greater power, economically and with fast-growing military strength. Unlike during the Split, neither Russia nor North Korea can or want to form an alliance directed against China.
Kim will be able to procure advanced military technologies from Russia, but he will have to gauge China’s possible reaction before any radical steps, such as deciding to test a nuclear device. The revived United States-South Korea-Japan trilateral alliance will consolidate the China-North Korea-Russia security bloc. However, that does not mean Kim will get to do whatever he wants. It’s not quite 1961 all over again.
Can North Korea play off Russia against China? | Lowy Institute
Pyongyang might have designs to take advantage of an
increasingly desperate Moscow, but power rests with Beijing.
lowyinstitute.org · by Khang Vu
Flanking North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the podium in Pyongyang several weeks ago, top Russian and Chinese officials watched a show of the country’s assembled missile forces and surveillance drones. Kim wanted the world to know that North Korea, China and Russia would stand shoulder-to-shoulder against the revived United States-South Korea-Japan trilateral coalition, and that his weapons program has the backing of Russia and China.
Hosting Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and vice chairman of the Chinese National People’s Congress Standing Committee Li Hongzhong held an echo of 1961. Back then, Kim Jong-un’s grandfather Kim Il-sung successfully convinced Russia and China to sign two separate alliance treaties with North Korea mere days apart, allowing him to codify the military backing of two communist giants against a renewed US-Japan alliance in 1960. Kim Il-sung capitalised on the Sino-Soviet Split, during which Moscow and Beijing went to great lengths to court Pyongyang at each other’s expense. The Split effectively gave Kim the leverage at any bilateral negotiations with Russia and China that he had not had in 1950, when China and Russia rejected his idea of an alliance treaty out of fear of being entrapped into Kim’s military adventures in the days before the beginning of the Korean War.
Younger Kim has drawn on his grandfather’s playbook. Although Kim Jong-un welcomed both the Russian and the Chinese delegations to the anniversary, he offered the Russians a better reception, introducing them to the parade ahead of his Chinese guests. North Korean media also focused more on the Russian delegation, highlighting the four separate events between Kim and Shoigu. Shoigu also delivered a letter from Russian President Vladimir Putin during a mass meeting, a rare move by a foreign delegation. Kim toured Shoigu around his intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) amid speculation that North Korea would soon boost its arms trade with Russia. (There are signs that North Korea’s ICBM technology came from Russia, although some scholars dispute this claim.)
Kim Jong-un will not have it easy like his grandfather did.
Even though the Chinese delegation was not the centre of attention in Pyongyang, China is more important to North Korea than Russia. North Korea and China share a 1,350-kilometre border and China bore much of the fighting during the Korean War – and is expected to come to North Korea’s aid under the 1961 alliance treaty should the war resume. North Korea’s rapprochement with China since 2018 has helped it undermine international sanctions over its nuclear and long-range missile tests. And while having met China’s President Xi Jinping five times in 2018 and 2019, Kim only met Vladimir Putin once in 2019.
Still, North Korea wants an alternative option to lessen its dependence on China. Playing Russia off against China is a chance to get the best deals from both, just as North Korea did under Kim Il-sung in 1961. Exploiting Russia’s isolation and desperation because of its invasion of Ukraine will give Kim further leverage, which possibly includes access to weapons technologies that China would not be comfortable transferring to North Korea.
Signing Sino-North Korean Mutual Aid and Cooperation Friendship Treaty, 11 July 1961 (Wikimedia Commons)
But Kim Jong-un will not have it easy like his grandfather did. The reason Kim Il-sung succeeded in manipulating Russia and China was due to the then poor state of Sino-Soviet relations. Things are different now between Russia and China. The “no limits partnership” sees the two countries uniting, instead of diverging, in opposition to the United States and its allies. Neither Beijing nor Moscow wants to compete for influence in North Korea, which is the most important condition for a successful North Korean exploitation of China-Russia differences.
Importantly, China can better exploit Russia’s weakness than North Korea. In this triangular relationship, China is the greater power, economically and with fast-growing military strength. Unlike during the Split, neither Russia nor North Korea can or want to form an alliance directed against China.
Kim will be able to procure advanced military technologies from Russia, but he will have to gauge China’s possible reaction before any radical steps, such as deciding to test a nuclear device. The revived United States-South Korea-Japan trilateral alliance will consolidate the China-North Korea-Russia security bloc. However, that does not mean Kim will get to do whatever he wants. It’s not quite 1961 all over again.
lowyinstitute.org · by Khang Vu
8. 'Arsenal of Evil': Why North Korea Could Sell Russia Weapons for Ukraine War
'Arsenal of Evil': Why North Korea Could Sell Russia Weapons for Ukraine War
North Korea and Russia are reportedly taking steps to secure a joint arms deal. The U.S. and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries have condemned the move, which would prop up the weapon arsenals of both rogue countries.
19fortyfive.com · by Maya Carlin · September 1, 2023
North Korea and Russia are reportedly taking steps to secure a joint arms deal. The U.S. and other North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries have condemned the move, which would prop up the weapon arsenals of both rogue countries. The White House is particularly concerned with how increased cooperation between North Korea and Russia could fuel the Kremlin’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
As detailed by National Security Spokesperson John Kirby, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong Un exchanged letters pledging to ramp up their cooperation. “We urge the DPRK to cease its arms negotiations with Russia and abide by the public commitments that Pyongyang has made to not provide or sell arms production,” Kirby noted.
Earlier in August, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met with North Korean officials in person during a trip to Pyongyang. The U.S. believes that Shoigu first proposed increasing the sale of munitions to Moscow to aid its war efforts in Ukraine during this time.
Why Weapons Exchange Could Be Beneficial to Russia’s Invasion Efforts
Both Russian and Ukrainian forces have experienced critical ammo shortages throughout the last year and a half, making Pyongyang’s potential contribution to Moscow significant. Now that Kyiv’s counteroffensive is in full swing, both countries will be seeking support from outside parties to fuel their respective war efforts.
The U.S. and its NATO allies have provided billions of dollars worth of military aid, including ammunition, to Ukraine since February 2022. Russia has leaned heavily on Iran to supply its forces with a variety of lethal unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including kamikaze loitering munitions.
Similar to Iran, North Korea is isolated by the majority of the international community through sanctions. Putin is clearly desperate to procure additional military aid since he is willing to approach the Kim regime.
North Korea, Russia, and Iran also share a vehement anti-American hegemony sentiment. Moscow could be using the U.S.’s involvement in its ongoing invasion in order to persuade Pyongyang to join its side.
North Korea has carried out a litany of provocations in recent years, targeting its regional adversaries and threatening American presence on the Korean peninsula. In fact, since 2022, Pyongyang has launched at least 100 test launches and has pledged to carry out more.
Recently, Seoul reported that its northern neighbor had fired two short-range ballistic missiles to simulate nuclear strikes on military targets in South Korea.
North Korea’s army confirmed that the missiles had been fired late on Wednesday in a “tactical nuclear strike drill simulating scorched earth strikes at major command centers and operational airfields” in South Korea’s population centers.
The Kim regime has pointed to U.S.-Japanese-South Korean cooperation as the culprit behind its escalating hostile rhetoric. Washington and Seoul’s annual military drills are ongoing.
Separately, the U.S. Air Force is also conducting joint drills with Japan, which include B-1B bombers and F-15 fighter jets. Russia, North Korea, and Iran will likely turn toward each other and to Beijing in order to develop what they perceive as a counter to the U.S. and NATO.
Maya Carlin, a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin.
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19fortyfive.com · by Maya Carlin · September 1, 2023
9. Biden’s ‘Hotline’ With Japan and Korea Doesn’t Guarantee Mutual Defense
There is no guarantee of "mutual defense" if that is described as an "automatic response" by the parties to mutual defense. I think it is instructive to look at the words of the ROK-US Mutual Defense Treaty and the Japan-US Mutual Defense Treaty.
Here are the key excerpts from the 1953 ROK/US Mutual Defense Treaty:
Article II
The Parties will consult together whenever, in the opinion of either of them, the political independence or security of either of the Parties is threatened by external armed attack. Separately and jointly, by self help and mutual aid, the Parties will maintain and develop appropriate means to deter armed attack and will take suitable measures in consultation and agreement to implement this Treaty and to further its purposes.
Article III
Each Party recognizes that an armed attack in the Pacific area on either of the Parties in territories now under their respective administrative control, or hereafter recognized by one of the Parties as lawfully brought under the administrative control of the other, would be dangerous to its own peace and safety and declares that it would act to meet the common danger in accordance with its constitutional processes.
https://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/kor001.asp
Nothing is automatic and both countries must follow their constitutional processes.
Japan-US MDT
https://www.mofa.go.jp/region/n-america/us/q&a/ref/1.html
ARTICLE III
The Parties, individually and in cooperation with each other, by means of continuous and effective self-help and mutual aid will maintain and develop, subject to their constitutional provisions, their capacities to resist armed attack.
ARTICLE IV
The Parties will consult together from time to time regarding the implementation of this Treaty, and, at the request of either Party, whenever the security of Japan or international peace and security in the Far East is threatened.
Biden’s ‘Hotline’ With Japan and Korea Doesn’t Guarantee Mutual Defense
Published 09/03/23 09:00 AM ET
Donald Kirk
themessenger.com · September 3, 2023
China is telling North Korea not to test another nuclear warhead — at least not for now. That’s the view of one of the most famous North Korean defectors, Tae Yong-ho, who was the North’s deputy ambassador to Great Britain when he defected with his wife and two sons from the North’s embassy in London six years ago.
Tae, elected to South Korea’s national assembly in 2000, believes the challenge for China, the source of most of North Korea’s oil and half its food, is to support the North against South Korea, the U.S. and Japan while keeping the North’s leader, Kim Jong Un, from creating a crisis and risking a war. With that aim in mind, he believes, Chinese President Xi Jinping does not object if Kim orders missile tests — including that of a Hwasong-18, the North’s latest-model intercontinental ballistic missile, thought to be fabricated with Russian technology — but just doesn’t want to deal with the shock of what would be the North’s seventh nuclear test.
“The Chinese don’t care about missile tests,” said Tae. The North has conducted hundreds of them on Kim’s orders, mostly mid- and short-range models capable of hitting targets in Japan and South Korea, but another nuclear test would reverberate throughout the region.
The Chinese are all the more anxious to keep Kim from acting on his rhetorical threats, Tae said, in the wake of this month’s trilateral summit at Camp David, north of Washington, at which President Biden hosted South Korea’s President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
If the three made real history at Camp David, it was because they got together, inked a couple of vaguely worded documents, and shook hands. Biden got his guests to appear in accord on mutual defense against all the bad guys in the region — notably North Korea but also China — but how close did they come to a substantive, hard-and-fast guarantee for mutual defense?
If the image of the leaders of South Korea and Japan looking so friendly was significant, a reading of what they actually signed shows the vacuity of the tryst. In a mix of double-talk and self-congratulations, the three no doubt tightened their “trilateral” relationship, but the rhetoric and hype masked how little they agreed on anything substantive.
Look at the fuss they made over a “hotline” over which they could talk about whatever was bothering them. These days it’s nothing to call anyone just about anywhere on earth.
Would this hotline rest on the desks of the American, Korean and Japanese leaders? Might it be in the offices of the defense chiefs or the U.S. Secretary of State and the foreign ministers of Korea and Japan? Is a clerk already standing by the phone ready to pick it up at the first ring and hand it to an assistant who will give it to a chief of staff who will give it to the leader?
Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio hold a news conference following three-way talks at Camp David on Aug. 18, 2023 in Maryland.Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Just as silly as talk of a “hotline” was the assurance that the American, Korean and Japanese leaders would confer at any sign of danger. At the first few words of alarm, would two of the three ride to the rescue of their beleaguered colleague as befitting the meaning of trilateralism, an understanding that’s not quite an alliance?
This assurance is about as meaningless as the hotline. In the event of a war, the conditions at the time, the nature of the leadership of each of the three countries will determine their willingness to rush to defend one another.
If Donald Trump is elected the next American president, we can be sure of nothing. Consider the record. In the White House before, Trump destroyed the deal that had committed Iran not to go nuclear, and he jettisoned an economic and trading arrangement that would have bound nations on both sides of the Pacific against China’s commercial inroads. Then, for good measure, he talked about pulling U.S. forces from both Korea and Japan.
Trump or a Trump clone would not be the only menace to instant cooperation among the trilateral leaders. We can be none too sure what kind of person Koreans will elect next. The 1987 “democracy” constitution bans Yoon from serving more than one term. He has less than four years to go in his current five-year term.
South Korean presidents since 1987 have swung from right to left to conservative and back again. Who can be sure the next Korean president will want to stick to the terms of this “historic” agreement that Biden believes will endure for the ages?
And what about Japan? Granted, the country is pretty certain to remain in the clutches of the same Liberal-Democratic Party that has ruled the roost for most of Japan’s post-war history, but can we be confident the fundamentally conservative, nationalist Japanese regime will want to go on appreciating Korean sensitivities?
If Yoon has appeared conciliatory to the Japanese, he is still besieged by a range of issues. Controversy surrounds the deal he made, in a bow to Japan, for Korea, not Japan, to pay Koreans forced to slave for Japanese companies during the war. Then there’s the never-ending question of compensation for the few remaining “comfort women” and their heirs. Will Japanese and Koreans ever agree on revisions of colonial and imperial history, among a slew of hot topics?
For that matter, can anyone imagine the Japanese telling the Koreans, those huge rocks that you call Dokdo and we say are Takeshima, in waters you call the East Sea and we say is the Sea of Japan, are yours? Korea may cling to Dokdo forever, but the Japanese aren’t going to relinquish their demand.
China claims that Biden, Yoon and Kishida conspired to set up a “mini-NATO,” but there’s no solid guarantee of anything. The U.S., Korea and Japan are not treaty-bound to defend one another, to defend Taiwan, or to join NATO nations in the defense of Ukraine.
What counts is that these three — Biden, Yoon and Kishida — reviewed carefully crafted documents and then exchanged pleasantries. That’s better than nothing but still no firm assurance of security for the region.
Donald Kirk has been a journalist for more than 60 years, covering conflict in Asia and the Middle East. Now a freelance correspondent covering North and South Korea, he is the author of several books about Asian affairs.
themessenger.com · September 3, 2023
10. Cause to fear a Russia-N Korea arms nexus
Two of the axis of authoritarians.
Cause to fear a Russia-N Korea arms nexus
Pyongyang would likely seek Russian tech to advance its nuclear and missile programs in a UN sanctions-defying arms transfer to Moscow
asiatimes.com · by Daniel Salisbury
US National Security Council official John Kirby noted on August 30 that arms transfer negotiations between North Korea and Russia are “actively advancing” as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, seeks to feed his war machine.
Under an array of Western-led sanctions, Russia and its military contractor, the Wagner Group, have already allegedly turned to Pyongyang for artillery shells and what has been reported as “infantry rockets and missiles” in the past year.
While these sales and a flourishing business relationship with North Korea may have an important impact on the battlefields of Ukraine, my research on North Korea’s arms trading and procurement networks suggests that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is likely to seek technology from Russia in exchange.
This would be a huge boost to the DPRK’s weapons programs and, at the same time, greatly to the detriment of the UN sanctions regime that seeks to limit those programs.
Flourishing military relationship
Recent developments have suggested a burgeoning arms trading relationship, despite denials from North Korea and the recently deceased Wagner Group owner, Yevgeny Prighozin.
In September 2022, the US suggested that the DPRK was supplying Russia with artillery shells in “significant” numbers. And in January 2023 – two months after North Korea allegedly supplied the Wagner Group with the battlefield rockets and missiles – Kirby shared satellite imagery of a train at the DPRK-Russian border carrying the deadly cargo.
In March, Ashot Mkrtychev, a Slovakian national, was sanctioned by the US Treasury Department for working with DPRK officials to procure “two dozen kinds of weapons and munitions for Russia.” This suggests that the two countries have several avenues of contact.
In July, the US sanctioned North Korean arms dealer Rim Yong Hyok for facilitating unspecified arms transfers to the Wagner Group. A 2019 UN report lists an individual with the same name as having been the deputy representative of the North Korean arms trading company Komid in Syria.
This is a theater in which the Wagner Group has operated extensively, suggesting this may be where at least one arms trading connection was forged.
Brothers in arms
It was, however, the visit of Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defense minister, to Pyongyang that was the most significant sign of a flourishing relationship. Shoigu – in town to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice – was front and center of the celebrations, attending a military parade and other pageantry, overshadowing the Chinese delegation.
Most significantly, Shoigu was guided around an arms exhibition by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The exhibition featured intercontinental ballistic missiles, long-range hypersonic missiles and newly unveiled advanced drones, among a range of other weapons systems.
A screen grab taken from a KCNA broadcast on October 10, 2020, shows what appears to be new North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles during a military parade marking the 75th anniversary of the Workers’ Party of Korea, on Kim Il Sung square in Pyongyang. Photo: Asia Times Files / KCNA
North Korean arms exports have grown steadily along with its defense industrial base since the 1970s. Many transfers were made to Cold War ideological allies, but the country also increasingly sold weapons for hard currency and barter to soothe its economic woes. Iran was one of North Korea’s biggest customers in the 1980s during its war with Iraq.
Since 2006, the country has been under an increasingly complex regime of UN sanctions imposed to counter the DPRK’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) programs. The UN arms embargos have prohibited the import of major weapons systems from North Korea from 2006, and the import of all arms from North Korea from 2009.
Russia – a UN Security Council permanent member with veto power – actively endorsed the creation of the DPRK sanctions regime for more than a decade through its votes for sanctions resolutions. The most recent package of sanctions was passed in 2017.
But the country’s implementation of the sanctions regime – alongside fellow permanent UN Security Council member China – has been far from assertive. There is little evidence of Russian government action against North Korea’s procurement networks in Russian territory.
Indeed, both countries have increasingly dragged their feet over further sanctions resolutions.
Pyongyang hungry for tech
Clearly, Russia stands to benefit on the battlefield in Ukraine. But its purchases will undermine the North Korea sanctions regime and help to generate revenue for the Kim regime. It could also spur a broader renaissance for North Korea’s arms export enterprise.
North Korea desperately wants commodities such as food, oil, fertilizer and other goods. The sanctioned Slovakian individual mentioned above, for example, worked with DPRK officials to procure weapons for Russia “in exchange for materials ranging from commercial aircraft, raw materials and commodities to be sent to the DPRK.”
But more worrying than sanctioned commodities, North Korea has long relied on arms sales to fund its weapons development – including its nuclear and long-range missile programs.
This has been termed “proliferation financing.” Great efforts have been made by civil society to encourage governments and the private sector around the world to implement UN sanctions.
Russia has a vast military, nuclear and missile industrial complex, which – although much of it is struggling because of sanctions – could provide Pyongyang with much-needed technological fruits. While evidence of state-sanctioned transfers of WMD technology by Russia is scant, changing circumstances could potentially affect this.
Russia has shown itself to be a bountiful market for North Korean procurement. A 2022 UN report highlighted the role of a North Korean diplomat in Moscow in procuring a range of technologies for ballistic missiles, and even attempting to procure 3,000 kilograms of steel for North Korea’s submarine program between 2016 and 2021.
The irony of Russia’s new interest in North Korean weaponry is that – historically alongside China – Moscow was North Korea’s top arms supplier before the sanctions era. It also more broadly bankrolled the North Korean regime through aid before the collapse of communism and the end of the Cold War.
If Moscow does move towards becoming a regular customer for embargoed North Korean arms, it will help Putin sustain his war on Ukraine. But the potential technological payoff for Pyongyang could pose longer-term hazards for the world and must also be considered.
Daniel Salisbury is Visiting Research Fellow, King’s College London
He does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond his stated academic appointment.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
asiatimes.com · by Daniel Salisbury
11. N. Korean teacher replaced after encouraging competition among students
Who does Kim Jong Un fear more: The US and the ROK/US military or the Korean people living in the north? This article helps provide insights into the answer.
N. Korean teacher replaced after encouraging competition among students
The local people's committee claimed that the teacher had encouraged behavior found in capitalist societies
By Kim Jeong Yoon - 2023.09.04 5:08pm
dailynk.com
N. Korean teacher replaced after encouraging competition among students | Daily NK English
FILE PHOTO: North Korean children in the Yalu River near Hyesan, Yanggang Province. (Daily NK)
On Aug. 31 of last year, the teaching staff at an elementary school in Taegwan County, North Pyongan Province, nervously gathered for an emergency meeting in the staff room.
The school principal had ordered the meeting after being informed that seven or eight boys in one of the second grade classes had failed to show up for assembly that day, when the school was rehearsing the beginning of the fall semester. After all the teachers had gathered, the principal had the homeroom teacher of the missing students stand in front and explain the situation.
As everyone looked on, the homeroom teacher said he had contacted the families of the boys who had failed to show up to the rehearsal while insisting he had not done anything wrong. But while the homeroom teacher was giving this account, the principal was on the phone, listening quietly to something before putting down the receiver.
The basic outline of the incident is as follows.
Before the summer vacation, the homeroom teacher had asked the boys in his class to collect maggots in bottles and submit them during the vacation as a means of improving hygiene around town.
After checking on the boys’ progress, the homeroom teacher based their classroom seating based on how well they had completed their assignment, from first place to twenty-fourth place.
One of the boys who got a low grade told his father, who was working at the county prosecutors’ office, about the assignment, and his father then filed a complaint with the education office at the county people’s committee. That boy and several others with a similar grievance were the ones who refused to attend the assembly on the fall semester rehearsal day.
While informing the school principal about the complaint, the county people’s committee instructed him to suspend the homeroom teacher who had forced his students to compete with each other and humiliated them so openly. Instead, the homeroom teacher was instructed to write a self-criticism at the committee’s education office and to receive three more months of teacher training.
The people’s committee also sharply criticized the teacher for encouraging the boys to compete by basing their seating on their performance on an assignment. That is the sort of thing done in capitalist societies, the committee noted.
The homeroom teacher was immediately replaced because of this incident, but that was not the end of the story. Even after the fall semester began, the group of boys who had boycotted the rehearsal continued to complain, prompting the school to give them several days of punishment including a self-criticism writing session in the activity room of the Korean Children’s Union.
The boys’ parents then filed a group complaint with the education department of the North Pyongan Province People’s Committee, arguing that the school itself was to blame for what had happened to the boys.
In the end, the education department ordered the school to apologize to the boys’ families. While there was nothing wrong with giving elementary school students the summer assignment of collecting maggots, department officials said, the school was wrong to base their classroom seating on their performance on that assignment and to immediately punish them and make them write self-criticisms instead of attempting to reason with them first.
Thus ended the hoopla that occurred at the beginning of last year’s fall semester.
Translated by David Carruth. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Daily NK works with a network of sources who live inside North Korea, China and elsewhere. Their identities remain anonymous due to security concerns. More information about Daily NK’s reporting partner network and information gathering activities can be found on our FAQ page here.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
12. South Korea warns the North to stop nukes program or risk regime instability
South Korea warns the North to stop nukes program or risk regime instability
Yoon said global community’s resolute to deter Pyongyang must exceed its will to pursue nuclear development.
By Jeong-Ho Lee for RFA
2023.09.04
Seoul, South Korea
rfa.org
South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol has issued a fresh warning to North Korea Monday, urging Pyongyang to halt its nuclear program if it wants to avoid regime instability.
“North Korean authorities are wasting scarce financial resources on the development of nuclear and missile capabilities,” Yoon said in a written interview with the Associated Press. “Consequently, the hardships faced by North Koreans in their everyday lives are worsening, and its economy continues to register negative growth.
“Amid such circumstances, unless North Korea stops its nuclear development, the regime’s instability will continue to increase.”
The South Korean leader on Monday also pressed China to take “constructive efforts to denuclearize North Korea.” He added that Beijing must realize Pyongyang’s nuclear provocations pose “a negative effect on China’s national interests by further disrupting regional order among other things.”
Yoon’s remarks came on the heels of North Korea’s simulated strike on the South on Saturday, in what Pyongyang called a “tactical nuclear attack” drill to bolster its nuclear capability against Washington and Seoul.
North Korea launched two cruise missiles carrying mock nuclear warheads towards the West Sea of the Korean peninsula. The missiles traveled about 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) for more than two hours, before detonating at an altitude of 150 meters, the official Korean Central News Agency said. While firing cruise missiles isn’t prohibited by the U.N., they present a significant threat to U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.
General view of a simulated “tactical nuclear attack” drill at an undisclosed location in North Korea. Credit: KCNA via Reuters
The North’s repeated nuclear provocations, combined with U.S.-China rivalry, have placed the Korean peninsula at the forefront of the ideological clash between democracy and authoritarianism. While Pyongyang’s provocations have strengthened trilateral security cooperation among the U.S., South Korea and Japan, both China and Russia are defending North Korea on the international stage, with the North reciprocating this backing.
“The international community must clearly demonstrate that its determination to stop North Korea’s nuclear program is much stronger than North Korea’s will to continue developing it,” Yoon, who is set to attend ASEAN and the G20 summits this week, said.
Cruise missiles pose a major security challenge to Seoul and U.S militaries stationed in South Korea, said Cheon Seong-whun, a former security strategy secretary for South Korea’s presidential office.
“They are challenging to intercept, and arguably, there's no current defense system entirely adequate against them,” Cheon noted. “Given North Korea declaring its intention to deploy nuclear warheads on the cruise missiles, the allies must strategize and respond accordingly.”
“The allies must address this issue within the NCG framework agreed upon by the United States and South Korea,” the former aide continued.
Saturday’s launches also coincided with the end of the U.S. and South Korea’s 11-day training exercises, which North Korea had labeled as invasion rehearsals.
The U.S. and South Korea held their inaugural Nuclear Consultative Group (NCG) meeting in July, where they discussed “information sharing, consultation mechanisms, and joint planning and execution to enhance nuclear deterrence against North Korea,” according to South Korea’s presidential office.
The NCG framework was announced during the bilateral summit in Washington in April against the backdrop of growing demands in South Korea for its nuclear armament in light of Pyongyang’s escalating nuclear threats.
North Korea has been ramping up its nuclear provocation over the past few weeks. The country disclosed that it had performed a “scorched earth” nuclear strike simulation targeting South Korea on Thursday. Earlier in the same week, Kim Jong Un characterized the heads of the U.S., South Korea, and Japan as “gang bosses,” in an apparent derision to the three leaders’ summit on Aug.18 in Camp David, Maryland.
In response, the U.S. and South Korea imposed sanctions on individuals and entities implicated in illicit financing for weapons of mass destruction programs.
Edited by Elaine Chan and Taejun Kang.
rfa.org
13. Russia proposes joint naval drill with China, North Korea
Russia proposes joint naval drill with China, North Korea
Defense chief raised the idea to the North in his recent visit, said South Korean spies.
By Jeong-Ho Lee for RFA
2023.09.04
Seoul, South Korea
rfa.org
Russia has formally proposed to China and North Korea for a joint naval drill in July, South Korea’s spies said on Monday – a move that could further escalate tensions in East Asia.
“Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has made an official proposal for a trilateral naval drill to Kim Jong Un when he last visited North Korea,” Yoo Sang-beom, a lawmaker who was briefed by the nation’s spy agency, in the National Assembly, told reporters.
The assessment by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service followed Shoigu’s visit to Pyongyang two months ago, which has raised suspicions that the two nations were looking to enhance their military cooperation including arms trading that would support Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Washington issued a stern warning against North Korea last month regarding weapons transactions with Russia. The White House’s national security spokesperson John Kirby said the U.S. was concerned about potential arms deals between Russia and North Korea.
While Pyongyang’s recent provocations have strengthened trilateral security cooperation among the U.S., South Korea and Japan, both China and Russia are defending North Korea on the international stage, with the North reciprocating this backing.
The South Korean spies also saw North Korea’s missile launch Saturday as a response to the U.S.-South Korea joint drill, according to Yoo, hinting that authoritarian regimes in the world are seeking their own ways to counter military ties among democracies.
North Korea launched two cruise missiles carrying mock nuclear warheads towards the West Sea of the Korean peninsula. The missiles traveled about 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) for more than two hours, before detonating at an altitude of 150 meters, the official Korean Central News Agency said. While firing cruise missiles isn’t prohibited by the U.N., they present a significant threat to U.S. troops stationed in South Korea.
North Korea’s latest cruise missile launch marked only a partial success. The Intelligence Service confirmed that one of the two missiles launched on Saturday was unsuccessful. The partial success, however, hints at Pyongyang’s revamped strategy to integrate its conventional arsenal and tactical nuclear weapons to threaten allies.
“It seems clear that they are thinking of a short-term war, if there is any, merging their conventional arsenal with tactical nuclear weapons,” Yoo said, citing the assessment of South Korea’s spy agency.
He said the intelligence agents have emphasized North Korea’s inability to wage a long-term war, as the hermit state is strapped by an ongoing economic crisis.
North Korea had imposed strict COVID restrictions in early 2020, shutting down its borders, including that with its biggest trading partner, China. The North Korean economy contracted for the third straight year in 2022, according to the Bank of Korea. COVID restrictions, compounded by international sanctions, are widely seen to have further depressed the North’s struggling economy.
The South’s spies also reiterated the position that the agency has yet to draw any conclusion that Kim Ju Ae, Kim Jong Un’s daughter, will succeed her father as North Korea’s next leader.
Kim Ju Ae was seen accompanying her father during the North's Navy Day last week. It was her first public appearance since May 16, when she showed up for an on-site inspection of a preparatory committee related to the North's attempt to launch a military spy satellite.
The appearance was widely seen as a rare window of the regime’s motivations to familiarize the North Korean public with potential future leaders, a strategy that Pyongyang has employed for decades.
Edited by Elaine Chan and Mike Firn.
rfa.org
14. North Korea's Navy Is Starting to Look Like a True Threat
I am skeptical but I will defer to the naval experts.
North Korea's Navy Is Starting to Look Like a True Threat
The North Korean navy has grown even more dangerous over the last few years, creating more problems for the U.S. in the Indo-Pacific region.
19fortyfive.com · by Christian Orr · September 3, 2023
China’s never-ending acts of saber-rattling in the Pacific Rim – including its most recent shenanigans in the South China Sea – have the United States and her allies and partners in the region justifiably concerned. This in turn underscores the importance of America bolstering her ties with those partners, from Japan to South Korea to Australia – embodied most prominently in the AUKUS pact – to even former adversaries like Vietnam.
But it should not be forgotten that there is another tyrannical, totalitarian Communist nation-state in the region (and critical ally to China) that’s looking to expand its own naval power and prestige in the region. That nation-state, of course, is the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), better known as simply North Korea.
The Basics
The latest news comes from reporter Andrew Salmon of The Washington Times, in a 31 August 2023 article titled “North Korea’s Kim Jong-un signals a new focus on beefing up navy.” To wit:
“North Korean leader Kim Jong-un staged war games this week that culminated in tactical nuclear strikes and the conquest of South Korea, the country’s state-controlled media reported, while also calling for an unexpected upgrade of the country’s naval capabilities…But analysts question whether poverty-struck North Korea, already saddled with heavy investments in its nuclear and missile forces, can afford the stronger navy its leader covets…Even so, Pyongyang has good reasons to improve maritime capabilities, which could make its nuclear deterrent more secure and possibly open up opportunities to drill with Russian warships.”
Mr. Salmon concludes his article by discussing the frightening prospect of North Korea deploying its nuclear weapons arsenal at sea, which “makes it harder for adversaries to take out Pyongyang’s nuclear programs, while potentially extending their range in a crisis.”
This in turn merits an examination of what the current Korean People’s Navy [KPN] – which boasts roughly approximately 870 vessels and 60,000 personnel – brings to the table.
Current North Korean Naval Capabilities Part I: The Submarine Fleet
This arguably represents North Korea’s greatest threat to the navies of the U.S, South Korea, and Japan.
As I stated in the concluding paragraph of my 19FortyFive article titled “North Korea’s Submarine Fleet: Could It ‘Sink’ The Navy In A War?”: “The KPN submarine fleet may not have the numbers or technological capabilities that PRC’s PLA Navy does. But the Hermit Kingdom’s subs are still quite lethal, and any USINDOPACOM naval war planner who chooses to take them lightly does so at his/her own peril.”
The largest and newest submarine in Comrade Kim’s submersible arsenal is the Sinpo-C/Gorae (신포급 잠수함/고래급; “Whale) class diesel-electric submarine, which boasts a top speed of 10 knots, a hull length of 219 feet, a beam width of 22 feet, and a surfaced displacement of 1,455 tons. The sub lacks the Air-Independent Propulsion (AIP) system that is a significant booster to the overall survivability and endurance of diesel-electric subs. Nonetheless, the “Whale” showed its mettle back on 22 October 2021, when it successfully launched a KN-23 short-range ballistic missile (SRBM), thus scoring prodigious political propaganda points for the KPN.
Meanwhile, the most numerous boat type in the North Korean submarine fleet is the Sang-O diesel-electric coastal submarine; it is estimated that the North Koreans have a total of 40 of these warships. The original Sang-O variant is of 1991 vintage, whilst the longest, faster, and heavier Sang-O II debuted in 2005. There are also approximately 20 of the Romeo-class Type 033 diesel-electric boats – which would presumably be the sub of choice for transporting North Korean Special Forces on maritime infiltration missions – and anywhere from five to 20 of the Yugo and Yono-class diesel-electric midget submarine. One of these midgets subs is the prime suspect in the 26 March 2010 sinking of the South Korean Navy Pohang-class corvette Cheonan.
Current North Korean Naval Capabilities Part II: The Surface Fleet
That surface fleet is no slouch either, its comparative lack of technological sophistication vis-à-vis the U.S. and her Pacific allies notwithstanding.
As I noted last week in my 19FortyFive article titled “Why The U.S. Marines Love (And Purchased) Iron Dome,” the DPRK revealed a new cruise missile-armed corvette in August 2023, the Amnok class. This vessel recently put on a demonstration for the so-called “Supreme Leader,” during those war games described by Mr. Salmon. According to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA; the official North Korean news agency), “The ship rapidly hit target without even an error.”
According to Dmitros Mitsopoulos of Naval News, “This type of warship is by far the most modern main surface combatant in the DPRK inventory we have ever seen…At first glance, this 2,000-ton (?) vessel features many of the attributes of a modern warship. There is a serious effort to reduce radar cross section (RCS) as much as possible and to add the most modern weapons and sensors available in North Korea. However, despite the fact that the majority of the weapons and sensors on board are severely obsolete in comparison with western or Asian designs, it is a major step forward for North Korea…This new vessel has been spotted under construction for the first time in 2011 but was identified as new naval ship in late 2016.”
The KPN also has an estimated 43 guided missile patrol boats such as the Osa-class and Soju-class; these wield fearsome weapons systems such as the Soviet-designed P-15 Termit (Термит; “Termite;” Western reporting name SS-N-2 or “Styx”) and the Chinese-made “Silkworm” missile.
Christian D. Orr is a former Air Force Security Forces officer, Federal law enforcement officer, and private military contractor (with assignments worked in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany, and the Pentagon). Chris holds a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an M.A. in Intelligence Studies (concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch and The Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security.
19fortyfive.com · by Christian Orr · September 3, 2023
15. Two clothing wholesalers in Pyongsong make fortune from bra-making business
Capitalism.
Two clothing wholesalers in Pyongsong make fortune from bra-making business
"North Korea may have developed a contract manufacturing industry, but bras were nearly all made in China before COVID-19," a source told Daily NK
By Lee Chae Un - 2023.09.04 10:00am
dailynk.com
Two clothing wholesalers in Pyongsong make fortune from bra-making business | Daily NK English
FILE PHOTO: North Korean sellers peddle goods on the fringes of a market in Sunchon, South Pyongan Province, in October 2018. (Daily NK)
After the outbreak of COVID-19, two clothing wholesalers in Pyongsong, South Pyongan Province, have made a fortune from selling women’s bras, a source in the province told Daily NK on Aug. 28, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
Before COVID-19, the two business people manufactured women’s underwear with fabric imported from China and sold it to marketplaces all over the country. Now, their bras have become hugely popular as substitutes for Chinese-made bras, which saw a drop in supply after North Korea closed its borders with China.
According to the source, most North Koreans faced financial difficulties after the outbreak of COVID-19, and people are talking about how these two business people have greatly profited despite difficult circumstances.
“Wholesalers who made money by importing cloth from China were going through a rough patch for a while with the COVID-19 border lockdowns, but [the two business people] seized the opportunity of the lack of Chinese-made bras in markets to make the bras themselves with imported cloth,” the source explained.
“North Korea may have developed a contract manufacturing industry, but bras were nearly all made in China before COVID-19, so it was rare to find anyone wearing, manufacturing or selling domestically produced bras. That is why the supply of bras dried up in the markets due to the COVID-19 border lockdowns, and why these two business people have been so successful in selling their bras.”
After all their stock was sold out, the two business people gathered cloth that was not yet sold because of COVID-19, along with cloth that other retailers had in stock, and turned them into bras, which then earned the two a fortune, the source explained.
“Due to COVID-19 and the lack of Chinese-made products, the two business people improved their ability to contract manufacture things like clothing and shoes. The bras they made are still being sold in markets throughout the country.
“Even if bras are imported from China when the borders open up again, people will still choose the products made by these two business people if the Chinese products are not significantly cheaper.”
Translated by Annie Eun Jung Kim. Edited by Robert Lauler.
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Lee Chae Un
Lee Chae Un is one of Daily NK’s full-time journalists. She can be reached at dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
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De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com
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