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Quotes of the Day:
"The totalitarian mash leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest if they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness."
– Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 1951
“Political language is designed to make lies, sound, truthful and murder, respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
– George Orwell
"The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country."
– Abraham Lincoln
1. Decade After the UN COI Report: Michael Kirby on North Korea's Human Rights Landscape (please read my comments)
2. State Department Suggests Possibility of US-North Korea Foreign Ministers' Meeting During Choi Sun-hee's UN Attendance
3. N. Korea holds celebrations to mark 76th state founding anniv.
4. North Korea’s New Naval Base: Tapchon
5. China's Xi vows to strengthen ties with N. Korea in message to leader Kim
6. Nation With Lowest Birthrate Is Rocked By Soaring Sales of Dog Strollers
7. N. Korea slams U.N. report on its human rights as 'fabricated' document
8. Monitoring and surveillance activities by Italy against illicit maritime activities including ship-to-ship transfers
9. North Korea's trash balloon causes record damage with fire at Paju warehouse
10. Poland Strengthens Artillery Capabilities with 500 HIMARS and 288 Homar-K Systems Rocket Launchers
11. Cheorwon Plain filled with rice ahead of the Chuseok harvest holiday
12. North Korean farmers in Hoeyrong resist corn guard duty
13. Welcome to the Resistance: Call for Papers—SOF in Competition
1. Decade After the UN COI Report: Michael Kirby on North Korea's Human Rights Landscape
This video is very much worth 30 minutes of your time to understand the human rights situation in north Korea. Justice Kirby and HRNK Executive Director Greg Scarlatoiu have an important discussion about the current human rights situation. At the end of the discussion in passing Greg mentions funding challenges for HRNK so I want to expand on that so people can understand the situation.
Please note that the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) made significant contributions to the Commission of Inquiry and every year has provided detailed input to the State Department or the UN Universal Periodic Review as well as other US State Department Human RIghts reports. I mention this because funding for HRNK comes from private donations and grants and continues to face funding challenges since the Department of State (DOS) of the Biden administration has disapproved every grant request from HRNK.
I state this because DOS funded HRNK's satellite imagery project investigation of North Korea's political prison camps, its research of North Korean workers officially dispatched overseas, and its scrutiny of North Korea's information environment for nine years, from 2014 until 2023. HRNK received about $800,000 in DOS support under the Obama administration, and about $1.2 million in DOS support under the Trump administration. The Biden administration has completely defunded HRNK, while providing no debriefings or just pro forma debriefings on the rejected proposals or rather flimsy reasons for those rejections.. DOS is currently funding groups from Canada and South Korea, but not HRNK, America's premier NGO focused on North Korean human rights. Yet DOS has continued to use HRNK research and data to inform its annual human rights reports.
For full transparency, I am a member of the Board of Directors of HRNK. I feel that it is important to raise this issue and ask why DOS refuses to fund HRNK during the Biden admiration.. It is difficult to understand how the United States cna have a human rights upfront approach to north Korea and yet deny modest funding requests from HRNK.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndfRMOls-S8
Decade After the UN COI Report: Michael Kirby on North Korea's Human Rights Landscape
In this profound interview with HRNK's Executive Director Greg Scarlatoiu, Justice Michael Kirby, former Justice of the High Court of Australia and lead investigator of the 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry into Human Rights in North Korea, reflects on the enduring challenges and scant progress in North Korea's human rights issues a decade after the landmark report. Kirby discusses the unchanged and deteriorating conditions in North Korea, the complexities of international intervention, and the intertwined nature of human rights and global security.
2. State Department Suggests Possibility of US-North Korea Foreign Ministers' Meeting During Choi Sun-hee's UN Attendance
I haven't seen any other reporting on this possibility.
Thi is is a Google translation of an RFA report.
State Department Suggests Possibility of US-North Korea Foreign Ministers' Meeting During Choi Sun-hee's UN Attendance
https://www.rfa.org/korean/in_focus/nk_nuclear_talks/us_nk_talks-09052024153943.html
WASHINGTON-Lee Sang-min lees@rfa.org
2024.09.05
Robert Koepke, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, delivers a keynote speech at the 'Korea-U.S. Relations Conference' held at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. on the 4th.
/ RFA PHOTO
00:00 /03:55
Anchor : The State Department has stated that it is open to the possibility of pursuing a US-North Korea foreign ministers’ meeting if North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui attends the UN General Assembly at the end of this month . Reporter Lee Sang-min reports . Ahead of the 79th UN General Assembly general debate that begins in New York on the 24th , attention is focused on whether Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui will attend and give a keynote speech . When asked by Radio Free Asia (RFA) on the 4th whether Foreign Minister Choe would be willing to contact North Korea to arrange a US-North Korea foreign ministers’ meeting with Secretary of State Tony Blinken if she attends the UN General Assembly, a State Department spokesperson responded , “ The United States has made its position very clear that it pursues diplomacy and dialogue with North Korea without preconditions . ” This can be interpreted as indicating that it is open to the possibility of pursuing a US-North Korea foreign ministers’ meeting if Foreign Minister Choe attends the UN General Assembly . The spokesperson continued, “ We have also made it clear that we will seek cooperation on humanitarian issues regardless of whether or not discussions are held on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and missiles . ” North Korea’s current position is that it will send an ambassador (CD · Corps Diplomatique) -level keynote speaker to the UN General Assembly . However, North Korea could later change this to a ministerial -level speaker and send Foreign Minister Choe .
UN “North Korea’s UN General Assembly keynote speaker at ambassadorial level”… Interest in changing ministerial level “North Korea coordinating sending Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui to UN General Assembly”
Meanwhile, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Robert Koepke revealed in his keynote speech at the “ South Korea-U.S. Relations Conference ” held at George Washington University in Washington , D.C. on the 4th that Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Krittenbrink visited China with White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan at the end of last month and spoke directly to the leadership about the North Korean issue . Deputy Assistant Secretary Koepke : We shared with ( the Chinese ) that the North Korean regime poses a grave threat, not only to the North Korean people, but also to our Indo-Pacific alliance and the entire world . And we told them that this concern is growing as North Korea-Russia relations deepen . Deputy Assistant Secretary Koepke said that he is open to dialogue with North Korea , that there is a strong security commitment with South Korea and Japan , and that sanctions are being enforced against North Korea’s illicit activities .
He went on to point out that North Korea launched more than 30 ballistic missiles last year , including five intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) , and in 2022, it launched a total of 69 ballistic missiles , including eight ICBMs . This, he noted, shows North Korea’s will to continue developing its weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile capabilities despite international condemnation .
Deputy Assistant Secretary Koepke also revealed that since September of last year, Russia has procured more than 16,500 containers of ammunition and military supplies from North Korea . He went on to introduce that since December of last year, Russia has launched 65 ballistic missiles supplied by North Korea on battlefields in Ukraine . Deputy Assistant Secretary Koepke : Russia is using North Korean ammunition and missiles to kill Ukrainian civilians, destroy Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, and prolong the war . He said he believes that North Korea is seeking fighter jets , surface-to-air missiles , armored vehicles , ballistic missile production equipment and raw materials, and other advanced technologies in return for providing military supplies to Russia . Meanwhile , South Korea and the United States held the 5th Senior Officials’ Meeting of the Extended Deterrence Strategy and Consultative Group (EDSCG) at the U.S. Department of State in Washington , D.C. on the 4th .
The meeting was attended by First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Kim Hong-gyun and Defense Policy Office Director - General Cho Chang-rae from the South Korean side, and by Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Bonnie Jenkinson and Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Kara Abercrombie from the U.S. side . According to press releases from the U.S. Department of Defense and the State Department, the participants discussed deterrence and specific response measures based on scenarios of North Korean nuclear threats for the first time in order to strengthen policy planning and cooperation in light of the worsening security environment . Editor Park Jeong-woo , Web Editor Kim Sang-il
3. N. Korea holds celebrations to mark 76th state founding anniv.
N. Korea holds celebrations to mark 76th state founding anniv. | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · September 9, 2024
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has held celebrative events to mark the 76th anniversary of the regime's founding, with senior officials visiting a mausoleum to pay tribute to the country's late former leaders, state media reported Monday.
Premier Kim Tok-hun and other key officials on Sunday visited the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the embalmed bodies of the current leader's father, Kim Jong-il, and grandfather, Kim Il-sung, lie in state, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
The North's leader visited the mausoleum in 2012, 2018 and 2021 to mark the Sept. 9 anniversary, but he seems to have skipped the visit this year, given that there is no such media report.
North Korea established the regime on Sept. 9, 1948, led by national founder Kim Il-sung, and has celebrated the date as the national founding day.
This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Sept. 9, 2024, shows Premier Kim Tok-hun and other senior North Korean officials visiting the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun the previous day to pay tribute to the late national founder Kim Il-sung and former leader Kim Jong-il to mark the 76th anniversary of the state founding. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
The North also held an outside rally and an evening gala in Pyongyang on Sunday to mark the anniversary, the KCNA said.
The events brought together "labor innovators and meritorious persons from various fields" across the nations as well as veteran cadres, it said. Among the audience were also visiting delegates from an association of Koreans residing in Japan.
North Korea usually held a military parade on every fifth or 10th major holiday anniversaries.
Last year, North Korea staged a paramilitary parade centered around its reserve forces to mark the 75th anniversary of the country's founding. In an exceptional case, it held a civil-paramilitary parade on Sept. 9, 2021, on the 73rd anniversary.
This photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on Sept. 9, 2024, shows the North holding celebrations at Kim Il Sung Plaza in Pyongyang the previous day to mark the 76th anniversary of the regime founding. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · September 9, 2024
4. North Korea’s New Naval Base: Tapchon
Images at the link: https://www.38north.org/2024/09/north-koreas-new-naval-base-tapchon/
North Korea’s New Naval Base: Tapchon
https://www.38north.org/2024/09/north-koreas-new-naval-base-tapchon/
Commercial satellite imagery indicates the new naval base under construction, recently visited by Kim Jong Un, is a long-time naval hovercraft facility in Tapchon (located within Wonsan Bay). This site has been under on-and-off construction for the last decade.
When complete, Kim expects the site to be one of the country’s flagship naval bases, meant to house the country’s latest warships and submarines that cannot be anchored at other bases.
Large surface warships require deep water. However, North Korea’s west coast is shallow and not well suited for such vessels. This new east coast facility is well positioned, with access to the deep sea. It is also surrounded by high mountains to either side, perfect for the placement of artillery and missile stations that will provide protection for the base. Moreover, the piers at the Tapchon site are already long enough to accommodate a number of large warships.
Work at the site began around 2015 but stalled for several years. Kim’s visit and instructions should lead to a significant expansion in construction activity to repurpose the site. This construction pattern is common after a visit by the leader, but especially so in this case, given Kim’s reported “need to make epochal progress” in “bolstering up the naval combat power” of the nation.
Figure 2. Overview of site visited by Kim Jong Un in September 2024. Image © 2024 Planet Labs, PBC cc-by-nc-sa 4.0. For media licensing options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Site History
The site in Tapchon, in Kangwon’s Munchon county, has been a Korean People’s Navy hovercraft base since at least 2003. Images of the facility in 2013 show four large hovercraft sheds and numerous hovercraft observed along the coast.
Figure 3. Four large hovercraft sheds and numerous hovercraft observed at site in Tapchon on imagery from March 2013. Image: Google Earth, annotation by 38 North. For media licensing options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
But the site started to change a year later. From mid-2014, hovercraft began to appear at nearby ports and beaches, apparently moved from Tapchon. Imagery shows that by November of that year, many of the houses at the base were being demolished.
In 2015, land reclamation work was underway at the coast; in 2016, several of the piers that are now visible at the port were under construction.
Figure 4. Land reclamation work and beginnings of pier construction occurred at the site in 2015. Image: Google Earth, annotation by 38 North. For media licensing options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
In 2017, a railway line was extended from the neighboring October 3 dockyard across a newly constructed bridge into Tapchon Port. At the end of that year, thousands of concrete blocks are visible, waiting to be used to build up the piers.
Figure 5. A railway line was extended at the site and concrete blocks visible alongside piers on imagery from November 2017. Image: Google Earth, annotation by 38 North. For media licensing options, please contact thirtyeightnorth@gmail.com.
Most of the piers that are visible today were completed by 2019, and in the preceding five years, a handful of buildings were constructed, including those visible behind Kim Jong Un in state media images.
Figure 6. Korean Central News Agency shows Kim Jong Un visiting under construction naval base at Tapchon. (Source: Korean Central News Agency)
Progress at the site has been relatively slow, however, and certainly pales in comparison to the speed of other priority projects, such as the Sohae Satellite Launching Station, Wonsan Kalma tourist zone and Pyongyang housing projects. Given Kim’s instructions, a significant uptick in construction activity is expected in the near term to ready the site for the country’s naval expansion plans.
5. China's Xi vows to strengthen ties with N. Korea in message to leader Kim
And we can expect Kim to eventually begin playing Xi and Putin off against each other just as his grandfather did with Mao and Stalin.
China's Xi vows to strengthen ties with N. Korea in message to leader Kim | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · September 9, 2024
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Yonhap) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping has vowed to strengthen "strategic communication" with North Korea in his message to the North's leader Kim Jong-un on the occasion of the 76th founding anniversary of the North Korean regime, state media reported Monday.
The message -- the first in eight months -- came as relations between Pyongyang and Beijing have become relatively estranged, in contrast to Pyongyang's deepening military and other cooperation with Russia amid Moscow's war with Ukraine.
In the message, Xi said China will continue to develop traditional relations with North Korea from a strategic and long-term perspective, as this year marks the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two nations, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
"We will deepen strategic communication and strengthen cooperation with the North in a bid to further consolidate and develop the friendly ties between the two," Xi was quoted as saying by the KCNA.
This file photo, carried by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency on June 22, 2019, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) looking at the list of patriotic martyrs at a memorial hall in Pyongyang after visiting the North Korea-China friendship tower to pay tributes to fallen Chinese troops fighting alongside the North during the 1950-53 Korean War. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
It marked Xi's first message to Kim since Jan. 1, when he sent a New Year's greeting to the North's leader.
China is the North's longtime ally and largest economic benefactor. Ahead of the Oct. 6, the 75th anniversary of North Korea and China forging diplomatic ties, their relations seem to be chilly, with no signs of preparations for grand celebrations yet.
For North Korea, it could be disturbing to see that China held a three-way summit with South Korea and Japan in May at a time when Beijing appears to be cautious about joining Pyongyang's drive to deepen trilateral solidarity with Russia and China.
Kim has also received congratulatory messages over the anniversary from Russian President Vladimir Putin and Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel, the KCNA said.
In a message to Kim, Putin said relations between Russia and North Korea have reached a higher level, as evidenced by "constructive" summit talks between him and Kim in June in Pyongyang.
After the talks, Kim and Putin signed a new partnership treaty that includes a mutual defense clause in a sign of the two nations bolstering military cooperation.
"I am sure that the comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and the DPRK will be strengthened in a planned way thanks to our joint efforts," Putin said, using the acronym of North Korea's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Cuba's Diaz-Canel also sent a message to Kim and expressed his willingness to continue to strengthen close solidarity with North Korea.
South Korea and Cuba forged diplomatic ties in February in a surprise move that probably dealt a blow to Pyongyang, which has long boasted brotherly ties with the Caribbean nation.
"We are highly appreciating our relations with the DPRK that are based on brotherly ties and historical foundations," Diaz-Canel said.
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · September 9, 2024
6. Nation With Lowest Birthrate Is Rocked By Soaring Sales of Dog Strollers
I have no words to explain this or to make some kind of pithy comment.
Nation With Lowest Birthrate Is Rocked By Soaring Sales of Dog Strollers
Pooches in prams outpace actual baby carriages in South Korea, leaving officials barking mad
https://www.wsj.com/world/asia/nation-low-birthrate-childlessness-dog-strollers-south-korea-e9778517?mod=latest_headlines
South Korea’s now labor minister has scolded young people, saying they choose dogs over kids. Kim Bora
By Dasl YoonFollow
and Soobin Kim
Sept. 8, 2024 9:01 pm ET
SEOUL—After pushing a stroller to a park near her home in a Seoul suburb, Kang Seung-min plopped down on a bench. Then an elderly woman approached, looking for a friendly chat with Kang about motherhood.
“I’m not even married yet,” Kang, 24, responded.
The startled woman stared into the stroller and took in the little passenger: a brown poodle named Coco. She left, imploring Kang to start a family. “I don’t want to get married,” Kang says. “I’d rather spend money on my dog.”
A global discourse has emerged, including in the U.S., about childlessness and the reluctance to bear offspring. But the hand-wringing might be at its fiercest in South Korea, home to the wealthy world’s lowest birthrate, as well as another distinction that has fur flying: the skyrocketing sales of dog strollers, which last year outpaced those of baby strollers for the first time, according to Gmarket, one of South Korea’s largest online retailers. The trend held true for the first six months of this year, too.
Kang Seung-min with Coco. ‘I don’t want to get married.’ Photo: Kang Seung-min
They are so ubiquitous a national broadcaster in January aired a segment titled: “‘Am I the Only One Annoyed By This?’ A Heated Debate Over Dog Strollers.”
In many advanced economies, including the U.S., adults treat their pets like pampered children, with fancy birthday parties, decked-out doggy mansions, private-plane travel and rides in dog strollers.
But pet parents have South Korean officials howling.
‘Demographic national emergency’
The country is confronting a national fertility rate of 0.72—or a mere third of the level needed to maintain the population. At a youth roundtable last year, Kim Moon-soo, the country’s now labor minister, scolded the fresh-faced attendees: “What I worry about is young people not loving each other,” Kim said. “Instead, they love their dogs and carry them around, they don’t get married, and they don’t have children.”
Members of a left-leaning minority party protested Kim’s comments at a recent press conference, and said he should consider intense working conditions and low wages before blaming pet owners for low birthrates.
In a recent local poll, one in two South Korean women aged 20 to 49 said they had no intention of having children, seeing it as inessential and citing financial constraints. While pet-friendly venues proliferate across the country, restaurants and cafes declare “No-kid zones,” pointing to disruptive behavior.
The central government’s entreaty for younger generations to choose children over pets does have a twist: South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol is married without children—and has a menagerie of at least 10 dogs and cats himself.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon-hee pose with puppies at a dog school. Photo: South Korean Presidential Office/AFP/Getty Images
“Sorry, this food’s only for daddy,” reads one of his Instagram posts, which shows two bichon frises staring at him as he eats a sandwich.
Still, in June, Yoon declared a “demographic national emergency” over South Korea’s low birthrate. He called on government ministries to resolve the plummeting birthrates to avoid an “existential crisis.”
Kim Bora, a 32-year-old freelance web designer, isn’t contemplating having kids yet. She finds South Korea too hypercompetitive and costly for child rearing. Instead, she has tricked out her dog stroller, which can also transform into a carseat, for her bichon frise, Salgu, the Korean word for apricot. Salgu luxuriates in her stroller with a heat pack in the winter and an ice pack in the summer.
“If I had a kid,” Kim notes, “I wouldn’t be able to take care of Salgu as much as I do now.”
Kim Bora with her dog, Salgu. She sees South Korea’s intense culture and high costs as deterrents to having children. Photo: Kim Bora
While the number of infants is dwindling, the registered canine population in South Korea jumped to a record high in a tally last year, more than doubling since 2018.
A dog-stroller boom
Dog-stroller sales have quadrupled since 2019, according to Yoon Hyun-shin, head of Pet Friends, South Korea’s largest online pet-commerce platform. Airbuggy is hailed as the “Mercedes-Benz” of them. Their fall-winter “Grey Tweed” special-edition model costs about $1,100, sports Scottish fabric and off-road tires.
Park Soon-jae, head of Airbuggy Korea, says, ‘the market here demands pet strollers.’ Photo: Park Soon-jae
The company began as a baby-stroller maker, but Airbuggy’s Korea division pivoted solely to dog strollers in recent years. “You can put your dog or baby in our strollers,” said Park Soon-jae, head of Airbuggy Korea. “But the market here demands pet strollers.”
Strollers ferrying generally small, healthy dogs are part of the daily landscape, across South Korean department stores, restaurants, sidewalks and recreation areas.
They clog the footpaths at Seoul Forest Park—which is larger than New York’s Central Park—befuddling Lee Sung-kyu, 62, a facilities manager there. “Those strollers should be carrying babies,” he said.
So Lee at first felt a certain dismay when his own adult daughter splurged for a dog stroller that cost roughly $225.
“But the dog won’t ride it,” said Lee, cracking a grin. “The dog keeps jumping out.”
At Seoul Forest Park, which is larger than New York’s Central Park, strollers ferrying pooches are a common sight. Photo: Soobin Kim for WSJ
Write to Dasl Yoon at dasl.yoon@wsj.com
7. N. Korea slams U.N. report on its human rights as 'fabricated' document
Admit nothing, deny everything, and make counter accusations. A human rights upfront approach is a threat to the regime.
Human rights are a moral imperative and a national security issue because Kim must deny human rights to remain in power and the regime could not develop its missiles and nuclear weapons without its human rights abuses - from diverting resources from the people to the massive radiation exposure to workers at nuclear facilities and the nuclear test site.
N. Korea slams U.N. report on its human rights as 'fabricated' document | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · September 9, 2024
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Monday condemned a recent United Nations report on the North's human rights abuses as a document "fabricating and distorting" Pyongyang's rights situation.
In a U.N. report on an update on North Korea's human rights situation, U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres recommended North Korea investigate, prosecute and bring to justice those accused of having committed human rights violations. The report will be submitted to the U.N. General Assembly.
Kim Son-gyong, vice foreign minister of North Korea, said the enemy forces fabricated the report in a bid to slander the North and tarnish its image, according to the Korean Central News Agency.
"I severely condemn the enemy forces' move to slander our country's dignity and system in the name of the U.N. as a political provocation and an act of violating a sovereignty that we cannot tolerate," Kim said.
Kim said the U.N. should first take issue with Washington's human rights abuses before denouncing the North's human rights problems that do not even exist, claiming that rampant hate crimes and other inhumane acts have been committed in the United States.
North Korea has long bristled at outside criticism of its human rights abuses, calling it a U.S.-led attempt to topple its regime.
This image, provided by Yonhap News TV, shows a U.N. meeting on North Korea's human rights situation. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
sooyeon@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Soo-yeon · September 9, 2024
8. Monitoring and surveillance activities by Italy against illicit maritime activities including ship-to-ship transfers
Two points. I think we overlook the fact that Japan hosts an international maritime operations center that tracks north Korean illicit activities and contributes to sanctions enforcement. Second, Italy's engagement for the first time indicates increasing global support for sanctions enforcement against north Korea. (perhaps everyone except China, RUssia, and Iran).
Monitoring and surveillance activities by Italy against illicit maritime activities including ship-to-ship transfers
https://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/pressite_000001_00577.html
September 9, 2024
Japanese
Multi Purpose Combat Ship Raimondo MONTECUCCOLI
(Source: Italian Ministry of Defence)
- From late August to early September, Italian Navy Multi Purpose Combat Ship Raimondo MONTECUCCOLI conducted monitoring and surveillance activities against illicit maritime activities, including ship-to-ship transfers with North Korean-flagged vessels prohibited by the United Nations Security Council resolutions (UNSCRs), in waters surrounding Japan. It was the first time for the Italy to engage in such activities.
- Japan welcomes these activities from the viewpoint of ensuring effective implementation of the relevant UNSCRs in solidarity with the international community toward the realization of North Korea’s dismantlement of all weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles of all ranges in a complete, verifiable, and irreversible manner.
- As Japan has also been conducting information gathering activities for vessels suspected of violating the UNSCRs, Japan works closely with relevant countries and international organizations, including Italy.
9. North Korea's trash balloon causes record damage with fire at Paju warehouse
North Korea's trash balloon causes record damage with fire at Paju warehouse
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-09-09/national/socialAffairs/North-Korean-trash-balloon-sets-Paju-warehouse-ablaze-for-most-expensive-damages-case/2130853
Published: 09 Sep. 2024, 16:12
Updated: 09 Sep. 2024, 19:28
- SEO JI-EUN
- seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr
A fire broke out at a warehouse in Paju, Gyeonggi, after a trash-laden balloon launched from North Korea landed on its roof on Sunday afternoon. [GYEONGGI-DO BUKBU FIRE SERVICES]
A fire broke out at a warehouse in Paju, Gyeonggi, after a trash-laden balloon carrying a detonator that was launched from North Korea landed on its roof on Sunday afternoon.
The fire resulted in the most expensive property damage case to date caused by the North's trash balloons.
A fire broke out at a warehouse in Paju, Gyeonggi, after a trash-laden balloon launched from North Korea landed on its roof on Sunday afternoon. [GYEONGGI-DO BUKBU FIRE SERVICES]
The fire, which began around 2 p.m. and was extinguished after three hours, destroyed 330 square meters (3,550 square feet) of the warehouse roof, according to Gyeonggi-do Bukbu Fire Services on Monday. No casualties were reported.
However, the fire authorities estimate that it caused 87.3 million won ($65,140) in property damage.
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A device suspected to be a detonator attached to the balloon was found at the scene, leading authorities to believe that the fire started when it ignited the trash. They are conducting a further investigation to determine the exact cause of the fire. Debris from the scene has been collected and handed over to military authorities for analysis.
In response to the balloon launches, South Korea's military has been broadcasting anti-North Korean messages via loudspeakers in front line areas. The broadcasts, which were partially resumed on July 18, have been in full operation since July 21.
"The psychological warfare broadcasts [targeting North Korea] need to be carried out for a sustained period to yield effective results," a spokesperson from the JCS said during a press briefing Monday. "We are continuously monitoring and evaluating the impact."
Recently released government data found that the trash balloons from North Korea have inflicted a total of 100.52 million won worth of property damage on the greater Seoul area since May.
A May 29 accident at a logistics center in Yeongdeungpo District, western Seoul, was listed as the most expensive case before the Paju warehouse fire, with a reported cost of 15.71 million won. A vehicle parked in the center’s compound was destroyed after a balloon fell on it.
No legal grounds or provisions cover losses incurred by the North's balloons. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety promised to swiftly help municipalities compensate residents for losses and damages before any legislation is enacted.
BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]
10. Poland Strengthens Artillery Capabilities with 500 HIMARS and 288 Homar-K Systems Rocket Launchers
Some significant combat power for Poland from the partners in the Arsenal of Democracy, the US and South Korea.
Poland Strengthens Artillery Capabilities with 500 HIMARS and 288 Homar-K Systems Rocket Launchers
armyrecognition.com · by Administrator
Poland Strengthens Artillery Capabilities with 500 HIMARS and 288 Homar-K Rocket Launchers.
Poland has taken decisive action to strengthen its artillery capabilities by replacing its aging Soviet-made BM-21 Grad rocket launchers with advanced systems from the United States and South Korea. The Polish Army is set to receive 500 American HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) from the U.S. and 288 Homar-K systems, a South Korean Chunmoo rocket launcher mounted on the locally produced Jelcz 8x8 trucks.
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Polish Army HIMARS M142 rocket launcher displayed at MSPO 2024, defense industry exhibition in Kielce, Poland. (Picture source: Army Recognition)
The M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) is a versatile, highly mobile artillery system developed by Lockheed Martin, mounted on a 5-ton FMTV (Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles) truck. The system is equipped with a launcher that can carry either six GMLRS (Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System) rockets or one ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile System) missile. The GMLRS rockets have a range of up to 70-80 kilometers and are known for their precision-guided capabilities, while the ATACMS missile extends the range significantly, allowing strikes on targets up to 300 kilometers away.
This mobility and flexibility make HIMARS a highly effective tool in modern warfare, capable of "shoot and scoot" tactics—firing and quickly relocating to avoid counterattacks. The system's ability to deliver both short- and long-range firepower ensures it can strike enemy positions, infrastructure, and assets with great accuracy, minimizing collateral damage.
Polish Army Homar-K multi-caliber rocket launcher presented for the first time at MSPO 2024, a defense industry exhibition in Kielce, Poland. (Picture source Army Recognition Group)
The Homar-K is Poland's customized version of the K239 Chunmoo Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS), developed by South Korea's Hanwha Defense and mounted on the Polish Jelcz 8x8 truck. As part of Poland’s modernization efforts, the Homar-K is designed to replace older Soviet-era systems like the BM-21 Grad, offering significantly enhanced firepower, mobility, and precision.
The launcher can be configured with two containers, each holding six guided 239mm rockets, allowing the system to launch up to 12 rockets in one salvo, with a range of 80 kilometers. Additionally, the Homar-K can be configured to carry two long-range tactical ballistic missiles, capable of striking targets at distances of over 290 kilometers. The Homar-K's versatility in handling rockets and missiles makes it highly adaptable for various operational needs.
Mounted on the Jelcz 8x8 truck, the Homar-K benefits from excellent off-road mobility. This design allows for rapid deployment and relocation, enabling “shoot and scoot” tactics to avoid counter-fire. The system is equipped with a modern fire control system for precise targeting and can be integrated with NATO command-and-control networks for seamless joint operations. The high mobility of this advanced MLRS instills confidence in Poland’s ability to respond quickly to threats, ensuring enhanced deterrence and operational effectiveness.
This move is part of Poland’s broader effort to enhance its national defense amid rising regional tensions. The Soviet-designed BM-21, while once effective, has become obsolete in modern warfare. The new HIMARS and Homar-K systems provide Poland with far greater range, precision, and versatility.
The HIMARS rocket launcher system, widely recognized for its battlefield success, will allow Poland to strike targets with pinpoint accuracy at extended ranges. This precision ensures that Poland's military can hit targets accurately, increasing the nation's security. Meanwhile, the Homar-K, based on the South Korean K239 Chunmoo platform, combines advanced rocket artillery technology with the reliable Jelcz truck, ensuring high mobility and adaptability to different terrains.
Polish defense officials have emphasized that the acquisition of these state-of-the-art systems will significantly improve the nation's deterrence capabilities and ensure that Poland remains at the forefront of NATO’s defense initiatives in Eastern Europe. By retiring the BM-21s and introducing the HIMARS and Homar-K, Poland is modernizing its arsenal and ensuring that its military is better prepared for the challenges of 21st-century warfare.
armyrecognition.com · by Administrator
11.Cheorwon Plain filled with rice ahead of the Chuseok harvest holiday
I offer this for the photo at the link. It provides a view of the Cheorwon approach, one of the two major attack axes for north Korea (the other being the Kaesong-Munsan approach). The Cheorwon approach has the most open ground for maneuver as you can see in the photo at the lnk.
Cheorwon Plain filled with rice ahead of the Chuseok harvest holiday
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-09-09/national/socialAffairs/Cheorwon-Plain-filled-with-rice-ahead-of-the-Chuseok-harvest-holiday/2131114
Published: 09 Sep. 2024, 18:58
- SEO JI-EUN
- seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr
The Cheorwon Plain in Gangwon is seen glowing in golden hues as rice fills the fields as viewed from the summit of Mount Soi on Monday, a week before the Chuseok harvest holiday. [YONHAP]
The Cheorwon Plain in Gangwon is seen glowing in golden hues as rice fills the fields, as viewed from the summit of Mount Soi on Monday, a week before the Chuseok harvest holiday. This year's Chuseok holiday is from Sept. 16 to 18. [YONHAP]
BY SEO JI-EUN [seo.jieun1@joongang.co.kr]
12. North Korean farmers in Hoeyrong resist corn guard duty
I read this and I think of Gene Sharp's nonviolent resistance techniques.
And does this indicate nascent resistance to the regime?
North Korean farmers in Hoeyrong resist corn guard duty - Daily NK English
Farmers say that without state protection or compensation for injuries sustained while confronting thieves, no one would risk guarding the crops effectively
By Eun Seol - September 9, 2024
dailynk.com · by Eun Seol · September 9, 2024
A photo taken in October 2014 of a bus driving through North Korean fields with the message “Let’s become a patriot remembered by our homeland” in the background. (Lawrence Wang, Flickr, Creative Commons)
North Korean farmers in Hoeryong are protesting a recent order to double night patrols and set up stationary guards to protect the corn harvest, calling it unrealistic. The order, issued last month by the city’s agricultural management committee, is aimed at safeguarding the fall corn harvest, which began on Aug. 20.
In issuing the order, the city’s agricultural management committee said the “key to ensuring the maximum grain harvest is to prevent thieves from stealing the crop,” a source in the province told The Daily NK recently, speaking on condition of anonymity.
However, when Hoeryong farmers received the order, they complained that increasing patrol personnel would not reduce theft.
Farmers said that without state protection or compensation for injuries sustained while confronting thieves, no one would risk guarding the crops effectively.
In fact, farmers on patrol will often keep their distance if they see villagers eating food in the fields at night. Even when they know thieves have entered, they pretend not to see them or signal them not to approach by using a flashlight to point in their direction, not the thieves, the source said.
“This is because farm workers receive small shares of the harvest, even though the yields are high. Farm workers have no sense of ownership because their share of the harvest is always disappointing, regardless of the farm’s yield.
They can also be injured or even killed while patrolling to protect the corn, so they take great care to avoid harm as much as possible.
Farm workers also complain about guarding the collective fields because they worry about their own private plots.
“As the saying goes, ‘the pigeon’s mind is always on the soybean field,’ so the farm workers also look after their own private plots even when they are patrolling the collective fields,” the source said. “Even the state now has to admit that if the collective plots were managed like private plots, yields would naturally increase.”
According to a South Korean unification ministry report released in February on “Awareness of the Realities of North Korean Economy and Society” based on a survey of 6,351 defectors, corn was the most commonly grown crop by those with experience with private plots at 70.3%, followed by soybeans at 63.5%, potatoes at 60.1%, and vegetables at 44.0%.
Most Hoeryong residents also grow corn on their private plots.
The 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 Eun Seol · September 9, 2024
13. Welcome to the Resistance: Call for Papers—SOF in Competition
I wonder what is the coordination between IWI and JSOU and the Irregular warfare center and CISA at NDU all claiming ownership of the province of irregular warfare.
Some good topics but one of the most important aspects of resistance (and all special operations) is assessment. This is where SOF (SF, PSYOP, and CA) has to get back to its roots and be able to conduct effective assessment to inform campaign planning (and resistance needs to be in support of a campaign plan. We need skilled operators conducting area studies, areas assessments, target audience analysis, civil reconnaissance and civil information management. Why are assessments critical?
4. Assessment - must conduct continuous assessment to gain understanding - tactical, operational, and strategic. Assessments are key to developing strategy and campaign plans and anticipating potential conflict. Assessments allow you to challenge assumptions and determine if a rebalance of ways and means with the acceptable, durable, political arrangement is required. Understand the indigenous way of war and adapt to it. Do not force the US way of war upon indigenous forces if it is counter to their history, customs, traditions, and abilities.
https://maxoki161.blogspot.com/2018/07/eight-points-of-special-warfare.html
I would also offer that one of the topics for resistance study is the resistance potential in north Korea where one of the largest resistance movements could be unleashed and it will have huge implications because what happens on the Korean peninsula will have global effects. But most of SOF and those who study resistance neglect what is happening (or has the potential to happen) in north korea.
Welcome to the Resistance: Call for Papers—SOF in Competition
https://irregularwarfare.org/uncategorized/welcome-to-the-resistance-call-for-papers-sof-in-competition/?utm
September 9, 2024 by Adam Darnley-Stuart, Nicholas Krohley Leave a Comment
Team Resistance – SOF in Competition
To launch the Project the Resistance Team will take center stage! Welcome to the Resistance strand within the SOF in Competition project, we are setting out an initial agenda for the global IW community of practice. We want to drive debate around issues that range from how we integrate resistance activity into geopolitical strategy, to how resistance happens in different contexts (and SOF’s role as a catalyst or enabler of different types of resistance), to how resistance campaigns are executed and evaluated on the ground and online.
As a first step, we want to frame our engagement with the community of IW practitioners, policymakers, and academics on SOF’s approach to resistance. The following inter-connected topics are offered to provoke thought and debate, and we encourage you to take them as inspiration to build out whatever arguments you think are most compelling for your peers.
- Resistance as a Strategic Lever: Strategic competition plays out on a global scale, wherein we seek advantage against our rivals in multiple theaters using multiple levers. What is the role of SOF-enabled resistance activity as we compete with the Russians in the Caucuses, for example, or the Chinese in Sub-Saharan Africa, or the Iranians in the Levant? How might we integrate the actions of resistance movements—violent and nonviolent alike—as lines of effort within strategic campaigns to disrupt our rivals’ roots in the human terrain?
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Building on the ROC: NATO SOF’s Resistance Operating Concept (aka “the ROC”) sets out a strategic framework for the role of resistance activity in national defense strategy. Since its publication in 2020, it has become a foundational document for scholars and practitioners of resistance around the world. What comes next? What tools, authorities, and programs currently exist, or need to be created, to better implement and scale resistance activities? Are they adequately resourced and synced across the SOF and security cooperation/security force assistance (as well as interagency) communities? How should national (government-led) resistance approaches differ from non-state-led efforts? How does support to national resistance activities happen, and under what conditions—not only in the defensive European-centric context of NATO’s ROC but worldwide for both offensive and defensive purposes across the competition continuum?
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Ethics & Effects: How do SOF manage our obligations to the resistance networks that we want to support? What are the pros and cons of direct engagement between SOF elements and local resistance movements, concerning the balance between enhancing capability while preserving authenticity—especially when dealing with nonviolent civil resistance networks? Concurrently, academic literature on nonviolent resistance argues for strict boundaries vis-à-vis armed guerrilla activity. What is the strategic, legal, and ethical view of the SOF enterprise on the operational realities of merging or coordinating violent and nonviolent resistance? How do we compensate and calibrate for our perception of moral, ethical, and legal boundaries in contrast to our adversaries’ employment of concepts like Unrestricted Warfare?
- Engaging the Private Sector: What is the role of the private sector in enabling resistance activity? From logistical and financial support to the provision of equipment and innovative technology, how can SOF build bridges between the private sector (in the West, in the AO in question, or elsewhere) and a given resistance movement? For the SOF enterprise, how does the CIV-MIL interface function in support of different types of resistance activity at varying levels of risk and conflict, and what does/should this look like in practice?
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Resistance in Total Defense: Within Europe, there is growing enthusiasm around the “Total Defense” concept, which combines whole-of-government action with whole-of-society support to achieve an integrated, comprehensive defense posture. This concept, which is embedded in the ROC, places civic mobilization and civil resistance (and guerilla or asymmetric/partisan warfare as well) as subordinate lines of effort within an overarching government-led campaign. To what extent is this model transferrable outside of Europe to the AUKUS alliance and beyond? What is the optimal way to align top-down government-led action with bottom-up civic initiative and resilience? How can governments best harness the potential of civic action and operationalize societal resilience without subsuming or degrading civil society itself?
- Transformative Technologies: How might emerging technologies transform or enhance the practice of resistance? What is the potential of digital resistance movements, and what are the limitations? How can online engagement be synchronized with real-world action? To what extent is the SOF community trained, equipped, organized, and empowered to leverage technology within resistance activity?
Take all of this as inspiration—and send your papers to nkrohley@frontlineadvisory.com with “Resistance Article Submission” in the subject line.
Editorial guidelines can be found here.
Nicholas Krohley, Ph.D. Adam ‘Monster’ Darnley-Stuart
Resistance Team Lead Director
SOF in Competition SOF in Competition
The views expressed are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the official position of the Irregular Warfare Initiative, Princeton University’s Empirical Studies of Conflict Project, the Modern War Institute at West Point, or the United States Government.
Main Image: Military training of Ukrainian border guards from “Stalevyi kordon” (Steel border) brigade in the Dnipropetrovsk region. April 2023. (Petro Zadorozhnyy, the Collection of war.ukraine.ua)
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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
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