Quotes of the Day:

“No thief, however skillful, can rob one of knowledge, and that is why knowledge is the best and safest treasure to acquire.”

– L. Frank Baum

“Military dictatorships exist everywhere but there is no such thing as a naval dictatorship.”

– George Orwell

"Make no mistake: Satan’s specialty is psychological warfare. If he can turn us on God (“It’s not fair!”), or turn us on others (“It’s their fault!”), or turn us on ourselves (“I’m so stupid!”), we won’t turn on him. If we keep fighting within ourselves and losing our own inner battles, we’ll never have the strength to stand up and fight our true enemy."

– Beth Moore

1. Ukraine's Special Operations Forces share more notes by North Korean soldier killed in Russia's Kursk Oblast

2. Mystic allegations, charges of cloak-and-dagger frontier plot roil South Korean impeachment drama

3. What's In The Bill That Aims To Revitalize America's Decaying Naval Industry

4. North Korea To Send More Troops To Fight For Russia Against Ukraine: South Korean Intel

5. Should South Korea have nuclear weapons? Its people now say yes

6. Han says will not appoint Constitutional Court justices until rival parties reach compromise

7. Main opposition submits bill to impeach acting President Han; vote up for Friday

8. S. Korea to ensure next year's APEC meeting not to be affected by political circumstances: official

9. Han asks U.S. businesses to continue investing in S. Korea amid turmoil

10. Ukraine reveals North Korean soldier's last letter from Russian frontlines

11. USFK/UNC/CFC Change of Command 2024

12. Martial law probe into intelligence commander transferred to military prosecution

13. Top military officer inspects readiness of missile unit

1. Ukraine's Special Operations Forces share more notes by North Korean soldier killed in Russia's Kursk Oblast

​Two articles below.

Some tactics are just tactics and common sense. They might be Russian or they might be from north Korea or they might all use similar tactics. This is not rocket science.

Though I guess they assume artillery is like lighting and never strikes the same place twice. They do not know what happens when artillery fires for effect.

Excerpt:

Another way: since artillery does not strike the same point twice, one can take cover at the site of the [previous] hit and then leave the fire zone."

Ukraine's Special Operations Forces share more notes by North Korean soldier killed in Russia's Kursk Oblast

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO — Thursday, 26 December 2024, 07:30

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/12/26/7490742/?utm

83632

Notes of a North Korean soldier killed in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. Photo: Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces

Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces have shared the second part of notes from the notebook of a North Korean soldier killed in Russia’s Kursk Oblast found by Ukrainian soldiers.

Source: press service for Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces (SOF)

Details: According to the latest update from the Special Operations Forces, the North Korean soldier belonged to a special forces unit.

The newly released notes, according to the SOF, reveal that Private Gyeong Hong Jong, prior to his encounter with SOF operators, detailed tactics for downing drones and hiding from Ukrainian artillery.

The SOF noted that it is currently unclear whether these tactics are authentically North Korean or if they were taught to the North Korean troops by the Russians. Either way, the tactics involve using soldiers as bait.

The notebook entry is accompanied by illustrations drawn by the North Korean special forces soldier.

Quote from the notebook: "How to down a drone.

Upon detecting a drone, form a team of three [people]. The person baiting the drone should maintain a distance of 7 metres, while those shooting should be positioned 10-12 metres away.

If the bait remains standing, the drone will also halt its movement. At that moment, the shooter downs [the drone]."

"How to avoid artillery fire zones.

If caught in an artillery fire zone, designate a new assembly point [for the group], split into smaller groups and leave the fire zone.

Another way: since artillery does not strike the same point twice, one can take cover at the site of the [previous] hit and then leave the fire zone."

Previously: Operators of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to kill North Korean soldiers in Kursk Oblast.

The first part of the deciphered notes from the captured notebook of the killed North Korean soldier can be found here.

Background:

• On 19 December, South Korean MP Lee Seong-kweun cited intelligence reports that 100 North Korean soldiers were killed in Kursk Oblast and about 1,000 more soldiers fighting on the side of the Russian Federation were wounded.
• The Pentagon predicted an increase in casualties among North Korean military personnel who continue to participate in fighting in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
• North Korea's military is likely preparing to deploy additional troops and military equipment to Russia, potentially including kamikaze drones, in support of Moscow's war against Ukraine.
• On 24 December, following a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that according to preliminary estimates, the number of killed and wounded North Korean soldiers in Kursk Oblast exceeds 3,000.

Ukraine's Special Operations Forces release notes of North Korean soldier killed in Russia's Kursk Oblast – photo

VALENTYNA ROMANENKO — Tuesday, 24 December 2024, 10:11

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/12/24/7490492/

101522

Notes of North Korean soldier killed in Russiaʼs Kursk Oblast. Photo: Ukrainian Special Operations Forces

Operators of the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to kill North Korean soldiers in Kursk Oblast.

Source: press service for Ukrainian Special Operations Forces 

Details: One of the killed North Korean soldiers had a notebook in which the author, Gyong Hong Jong, congratulated another soldier, Song Ji Myong (or Yong), on his birthday.

Quote from the notebook: "I, having left my homeland and being in Russia, wish my best friend and brother-in-arms Song Ji Myong (Yong) a happy birthday and good health, 9 December 2024."

The Special Forces note that this is the first decoded entry from the trophy notebook.

Notes of North Korean soldier killed in Russiaʼs Kursk Oblast

Photo: Ukrainian Special Operations Forces

While the operators of Special Operations Forces continue to kill the Russians in Kursk Oblast, the translation of other recordings of Jong is underway.

Quote: "When you want to congratulate a friend, but instead of a party, you get a machine gun and a trench on someone else's land, and the candles on the cake are replaced with Ukrainian 5.56 calibre lead."

Background:

• On 19 December, South Korean MP Lee Seong-kweun cited intelligence reports that 100 North Korean soldiers were killed in Kursk Oblast and about 1,000 more soldiers fighting on the side of the Russian Federation were wounded.
• The Pentagon predicted an increase in casualties among North Korean military personnel who continue to participate in fighting in Russia’s Kursk Oblast.
• North Korea's military is likely preparing to deploy additional troops and military equipment to Russia, potentially including kamikaze drones, in support of Moscow's war against Ukraine.
• On 24 December, following a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief's Staff, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that according to preliminary estimates, the number of killed and wounded North Korean soldiers in Kursk Oblast exceeds 3,000.

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North KoreaKursk OblastSpecial Operations Forces

2. Mystic allegations, charges of cloak-and-dagger frontier plot roil South Korean impeachment drama

​This is not helpful to those who oppose the DPK and those who believe that Chinese and north Korean influence is contributing to the domestic turmoil.

Conservative credibility is undermined here.

Mystic allegations, charges of cloak-and-dagger frontier plot roil South Korean impeachment drama

washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon

By - The Washington Times - Tuesday, December 24, 2024

SEOUL, South Korea | It may read like lunatic conspiracy theorizing. But in South Korea, where security never strays far from the headlines and where superstitious practices are ubiquitous on 21st-century streets, truth is often stranger than fiction.

Case in point: As impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol awaits his political fate after his botched martial law decree earlier this month, police say they’ve found evidence of a cloak-and-dagger frontier plot aimed at generating a real national security crisis. At the same time, prosecutors allege that a shaman may have been deeply involved in policy-making at the highest levels.

Those developments are adding more intrigue to the already high-stakes political drama playing out in Seoul.

It wouldn’t be the first time that North Korea, a legitimate security boogeyman, may have been used to influence domestic politics. South Korean operatives were jailed for plotting a DMZ incident in 1997 for just such a purpose.

Mr. Yoon, meanwhile, has appeared in public with a mystical character written on his palm. He is also widely accused of relocating the presidential residence in 2022 on advice from a shaman. Though Shamanism has deep roots in Korean culture, it suffers from modern prejudices.

Allegations related to border security and spiritual counsel also hang over Mr. Yoon, who, citing anti-state forces and parliamentary obstruction, declared martial law on Dec. 3.

Parliamentarians canceled that declaration within three hours. The president was impeached 11 days later.

His future now rests with the Constitutional Court, which has yet to sit to make its decision. In the meantime, police, prosecutors and investigative journalists are working overtime to learn more about Mr. Yoon’s motivations and decision-making processes.

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North Korea crisis as political ploy

Opposition lawmakers claim that plotters sought to generate a security crisis to legitimize Mr. Yoon’s martial law decree. Some evidence has surfaced seeming to back up that contention.

Detained former Gen. Noh Sang-won, a former chief of the shadowy Defense Intelligence Command, was referred to prosecutors on insurrection charges this week. He had a post-military career in a shabby-looking fortune-telling business in the city of Suwon, south of Seoul.

Mr. Noh, who allegedly consulted an elite rural shaman on Mr. Yoon’s future, is believed to have advised troops on martial law targets and tactics during December meetings in a “Lotteria” hamburger franchise (dubbed “Martial Lawterria” by a Taiwanese reporter).

Police discovered a notebook in a Monday raid on Mr. Noh’s residence that contained multiple references to martial law, along with the line, “Induce North Korea’s provocation at the Northern Limit Line,” police said.

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The NLL is the peninsula’s disputed coastal frontier. In the 1990s and 2000s, the western NLL saw deadly patrol-boat clashes, the sinking of a South Korean warship and the shelling of a South Korean island.

A historical precedent for Mr. Noh’s alleged plot exists.

Before the 1997 presidential election, South Korean operatives secretly met North Korean officials in Beijing, a matter today known as “Operation Northern Wind.”

Their intent: Bribe Pyongyang to initiate a security crisis. That, they believed, would benefit conservatives in South Korea.

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The plot was uncovered and the plotters were jailed. One of them, a former intelligence chief, later attempted suicide. Liberal candidate Kim Dae-jung won the 1997 presidency.

“Monkey business of disgusting politicians!” a retired South Korean colonel said of the incident.

Allegations of mystical policymaking

If Mr. Noh is found to be in cahoots with Mr. Yoon, he will be the first individual with mystical connections with proven links to the president.

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Last week, a judge rejected prosecutors’ demands for an arrest warrant for a shaman, citing insufficient evidence of corruption. The shaman was reportedly associated with Mr. Yoon’s 2022 presidential campaign.

Widespread rumors have long circulated about mystics impacting policy.

During the campaign, Mr. Yoon flashed his palm to cameras, revealing the Chinese character for “king” written on it, sparking concerns about a superstitious bent.

His first major decision was to shift the presidential office and residency from the purpose-built Blue House — named after its blue roofing — to a workmanlike office adjacent to the Defense Ministry.

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The Blue House sits behind a 14th-century Seoul palace that boasts superb fengshui, the geomantic art of synching buildings with landscapes.

Nevertheless, some consider the Blue House ill-starred. Mr. Yoon dubbed it “imperial,” and it stands on the site of the colonial-era Japanese governor general’s residence.

Major woes befell multiple previous Korean presidents who occupied it, including exile, assassination, imprisonment and suicide.

In 2022, Mr. Yoon, at a press conference, denied that geomancy was behind the relocation, though an adviser to his own party claimed it was.

Critics liken Mr. Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, who stands accused of stock manipulation, electoral interference and consulting gurus, to Choi Soon-sil.

Ms. Choi was the corrupt confidante of former conservative President Park Geun-hye. It was widely alleged that Ms. Choi, whose late father founded a religion, had links to Shamanism.

In 2017, Ms. Park was impeached, then joined Ms. Choi in prison.

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung slammed 2022 rumors surrounding Mr. Yoon, saying, “In a 21st-century modern society … we absolutely cannot allow a shaman to influence decisions.”

Per 2024 research, 52% of Koreans are non-religious, 32% are Christian and 17% Buddhist. Just 1% profess other spiritual practices.

Among those, shamans can command vast sums for predictions, good-luck rituals, exorcisms, etc. Official data does not exist, but it is widely known that clients sometimes give tens of thousands of dollars to shamans.

Cities, towns and Korean cyberscapes are dotted with the businesses of fortune tellers who offer predictions based on time and date of birth, birth names, facial physiology, even Tarot cards.

While Korean politicians often profess Buddhism or Christianity and meet leaders of these religions without controversy, non-mainstream mystical practices face bias.

“Some say they are believers of Christianity or Buddhism, and that is not a problem,” said Joanne Lee, an expert and writer on Korean folklore.

Shamanism and fortune telling “is not well accepted” she continued. Yet, “it is really deep in the culture, and there are many people living on that business.”

Korea’s last royal dynasty, which fell in 1910, suppressed Shamanism in favor of neo-Confucianism. Ms. Lee, who admits to reading newspaper horoscopes, dates current negative sentiments to Japan’s hated 1910-1945 annexation of Korea.

“The Japanese classified existing folklore and traditions as bad, unenlightened, ignorant and poor,” she said. “It was to be eliminated as it was anti-intellectual, so that was the beginning of this.”

• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.

Copyright © 2024 The Washington Times, LLC. Click here for reprint permission.

washingtontimes.com · by Andrew Salmon

3. What's In The Bill That Aims To Revitalize America's Decaying Naval Industry

​Excerpts:

“Currently, the United States and China have relative parity in overall economic output,” retired Marine Corps Maj. Jeffrey L. Seavy, noted in the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings publication in April. “In terms of shipbuilding, however, China has 46.59 percent of the global market and is the largest builder, with South Korea second at 29.24 percent, and Japan third with 17.25 percent. The United States has a relative insignificant capacity at 0.13 percent.” 

To offset domestic shortfalls, Navy leaders have been exploring the possibility of repairing U.S. ships in Korean or Japanese shipyards, although by law American warships can’t be built outside of the states.

The nation’s sealift capacity has been deteriorating as well. U.S. Transportation Command leaders told Congress in April that sealift readiness was a primary concern, and that 17 of the 47 Ready Reserve Force ships were more than 50-years-old, which was dragging readiness rates to alarming levels.

To bolster the U.S. sealift fleet, the bill would allow the U.S. to enter into agreements with treaty allies to meet sealift requirements. Already, the Navy is testing the waters for using Pacific allies for such logistics needs. 

​And from one of the comments to the story:

ttugates

2 days ago

Might as well accept we aren't going to win a long drawn out war with China, that remains conventional, without Japan or South Korea allied with us.. I wish we used SK to churn out our frigates.

What's In The Bill That Aims To Revitalize America's Decaying Naval Industry

As China's shipbuilding continues to operate in overdrive, the SHIPS Act seeks to rejuvenate America's eroding maritime industrial base.

Geoff Ziezulewicz

Posted on Dec 23, 2024

twz.com · by Geoff Ziezulewicz

A sprawling bipartisan proposal to rebuild America’s long-ailing shipbuilding industry was introduced by a group of lawmakers last week. Known as the Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security (SHIPS) for America Act, the ambitious bill seeks to overhaul and restore America’s military and civilian maritime capacity and capabilities. These industries have increasingly fallen behind over the decades, and concerns have grown urgent as China’s shipbuilding capacity continues to dwarf America’s in many respects.

“This is the first major piece of maritime reform since the Merchant Marine Act of 1970,” Sal Mercogliano, a former Military Sealift Command (MSC) mariner and associate professor of history at Campbell University, told USNI News’ Mallory Shelbourne this week. “So you’re talking about 55 years since we’ve had anything like this.”

Bipartisan SHIPS Act Aims to Revitalize U.S. Maritime Industry, Counter China's Dominance

Key Provisions of the SHIPS for America Act

National Maritime Strategy: Establishes a Maritime Security Advisor within the White House and a Maritime Security Board to coordinate…

— Sal Mercogliano (WGOW Shipping) (@mercoglianos) December 19, 2024

“By supporting shipbuilding, shipping, and workforce development, it will strengthen supply chains, reduce our reliance on foreign vessels, put Americans to work in good-paying jobs, and support the Navy and Coast Guard’s shipbuilding needs,” one of the bill’s co-sponsors, Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), a Navy veteran and the first U.S Merchant Marine Academy graduate elected to Congress, said in a statement.

Among its many provisions, the SHIPS Act would require the Navy to develop a strategy for a “rearm-at-sea” capability for the surface fleet. It doesn’t specify which platforms would get the capability, but the sea service has already been testing systems for reloading vertical launching system (VLS) missile cells at sea, and did it successfully for the first time in October. In that instance, the MSC’s dry cargo ship USNS Washington Chambers (T-AKE 11) transferred an empty VLS weapon container to the USS Chosin (CG-65), a Ticonderoga class cruiser, while underway off southern California.

Such a capability would be vital during a war against China in the expanses of the Western Pacific, one that would likely involve a heavy volume of missile fire by Navy warships far from ports. Being able to reload at sea helps mitigate such a challenge.

Sailors change out an empty Vertical Launching System (VLS) weapon container aboard the Ticonderoga class cruiser USS Chosin (CG-65) in October. (U.S. Navy)

The act would also help private shipbuilders to better service military and commercial customers by requiring the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard to assess and integrate commercial best practices for designing, repairing, and building vessels.

As the United States seeks to get its shipbuilding house in order, China’s Military-Civil Fusion strategy in shipbuilding has already given the country a massive long-term edge in building commercial, naval and support vessels relatively efficiently and cheaply compared to America and its allies.

Some in the U.S. have started to call for similar integration of commercial and naval shipbuilding.

“The United States has substantial latent shipbuilding, sustainment, and repair capacity, including aging but not obsolete capital assets, a strong base of potential skilled-trade labor, and a middle-management and engineering talent base that has become geographically separated from shipyards,” McKinsey and Co., a consultancy, wrote in June. “Rapidly increasing output requires tapping into this latent capacity quickly and confidently.”

The legislation would also mandate a plan for how the Defense Production Act could be used to enhance shipyard infrastructure, the defense shipyard industrial base, and port infrastructure.

It would work to bolster smaller shipyards, providing $100 million annually from Fiscal Year 2025 to 2034. A loan fund would also be stood up for reflagging vessels or “converting a vessel to a more useful military configuration.”

The SHIPS Act further seeks to expand the American shipyard industrial base for military and civilian vessels by way of a 25% tax credit for such investments, while establishing other financial incentives to encourage innovation in shipbuilding and repair.

A U.S. Center for Maritime Innovation, with hubs across the country, would work to accelerate next-generation ship design, alternative energy and manufacturing as well.

All these steps seek to help the Navy and American shipbuilding industry that struggles to get new platforms out on time and on budget, while supporting those that are already in the water. The latter has been a massive challenge as the Navy’s fleet ages while demands for more hulls increase. Crumbling shipyards around the U.S. and a limited number of them that can support mainline military vessels is a huge problem that has led to major delays in maintenance, greatly harming available end strength. It is also of major concern if ships were to get damaged in battle during a conflict and need to be regenerated quickly. While some improvements and investments have been made in upgrading shipyards, it is still a glaring and highly concerning issue.

In the shipyards, America’s shipbuilding capacity was in decline even before the end of the Cold War, and shrunk more afterward. It is at a particularly low point, an ebb helped along by the yards’ struggle to attract a sufficient workforce.

“Currently, the United States and China have relative parity in overall economic output,” retired Marine Corps Maj. Jeffrey L. Seavy, noted in the U.S. Naval Institute’s Proceedings publication in April. “In terms of shipbuilding, however, China has 46.59 percent of the global market and is the largest builder, with South Korea second at 29.24 percent, and Japan third with 17.25 percent. The United States has a relative insignificant capacity at 0.13 percent.”

To offset domestic shortfalls, Navy leaders have been exploring the possibility of repairing U.S. ships in Korean or Japanese shipyards, although by law American warships can’t be built outside of the states.

The nation’s sealift capacity has been deteriorating as well. U.S. Transportation Command leaders told Congress in April that sealift readiness was a primary concern, and that 17 of the 47 Ready Reserve Force ships were more than 50-years-old, which was dragging readiness rates to alarming levels.

To bolster the U.S. sealift fleet, the bill would allow the U.S. to enter into agreements with treaty allies to meet sealift requirements. Already, the Navy is testing the waters for using Pacific allies for such logistics needs.

The U.S.-flagged international fleet would also grow to 250 ships in 10 years via a “Strategic Commercial Fleet Program” to establish “a fleet of commercially operated, U.S.-flagged, American crewed, and domestically built merchant vessels that can operate competitively in international commerce,” according to a summary of the bill provided by Kelly’s office.

“The United States has fewer than 200 oceangoing vessels of the United States, of which only approximately 80 vessels participate in international commerce, compared with more than 5,500 Chinese documented vessels,” the legislation states.

“In order to increase the fleet rapidly, carriers may also submit a bid to bring a foreign-built vessel into the fleet and reflag it,” the bill states.

In a nod to how U.S. officials view China as a threat beyond its military, the bill also calls for an evaluation of the Chinese government-affiliated National Transportation and Logistics Public Information Platform, or LOGINK.

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission warned in 2022 that LOGINK “potentially provides the Chinese Communist Party access to data collected and stored on the platform and could enable the Chinese government to gain insights into shipping information, cargo valuations via customs clearance forms, and destination and routing information.” LOGINK, which operates in more than 20 global ports, could undercut U.S. firms economically and expose supply chain vulnerabilities, according to the commission.

On the personnel side, the bill would give the Navy secretary additional authority to recruit and retain civilian mariners working under the MSC. These mariners would play a vital role manning ships moving troops and materiel in the event of a war with China, but the command has struggled with finding enough people. MSC announced in November that it would sideline 17 support vessels to ease the strain on the civilian mariner workforce amid personnel shortages, USNI News’ Mallory Shelbourne reported.

Japanese sailors aboard the guided-missile destroyer JS Shimakaze say goodbye to civilian mariners aboard the fleet replenishment oiler USNS Harvey Milk following a replenishment-at-sea in September 2024. (U.S. Military Sealift Command)

To keep such civilian mariners around, the bill would also allow merchant mariners or U.S. shipyard employees to qualify for loan forgiveness if they are employed on an American vessel or shipyard for 10 years. Mariners who have received the Merchant Marine Expeditionary Medal or other mariner medals for service in a designated combat zone would also become eligible for G.I. Bill benefits under the legislation, if they were not already eligible.

To find new talent, the bill would enact targeted recruiting campaigns run by private marketing firms to promote maritime industry careers, and would have military recruiters recommend at-sea or shipyard careers to prospects who don’t qualify for military service.

If passed, the bill would also raise the profile of maritime security affairs by creating a maritime security advisor role within the White House that would lead whole-of-government decisions about American maritime strategy.

The SHIPS Act was introduced last week by co-sponsor Kelly and U.S. Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.), a supporter of the plan and President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security advisor.

Other sponsors include Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), U.S. Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Readiness, and U.S. Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.), chairman of the House’s Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee whose home state hosts several major shipyards.

NEW: Today I introduced legislation to revitalize America’s ailing maritime industry. It’s one of the biggest problems no one is talking about — and fixing it will create jobs, lower prices, and strengthen our national security. Let me tell you how.  pic.twitter.com/KEXHq90eBg

— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) December 19, 2024

The legislation is paid for via a Maritime Security Trust Fund, similar to existing highway and aviation trust funds. A Kelly spokesperson told TWZ that the bill authorizes $18.1 billion over a decade. The legislation states those funds will come from duties, fees, and penalties imposed on vessels in international commerce, regular tonnage tax proceeds, special tonnage taxes, light money, duties imposed on foreign nations and tariffs, which are all collected by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Industry appears to support the legislation, as its announcement features a bevy of American maritime interests, including shipbuilding associations, shipbuilding corporations, academia and defense groups.

TWZ has regularly reported on the shortfalls of the U.S. shipbuilding industry over the years. A leaked U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence slide revealed in 2023 that China’s shipbuilders are believed to be more than 200 times more capable of producing surface combatants, support ships and submarines than their American counterparts. This is due to the country being a major shipbuilder globally and the ability to use its yards to build military and commercial vessels as needed. Such a revelation underscored longstanding worries about the U.S. Navy’s ability to challenge Chinese fleets, or sustain its forces afloat, during a war.

Reporting at the time explained the significance of that slide:

“The most eye-catching component of the slide is a depiction of the relative Chinese and U.S. shipbuilding capacity expressed in terms of gross tonnage. The graphic shows that China’s shipyards have a capacity of around 23,250,000 tons versus less than 100,000 tons in the United States. That is at least an astonishing 232 times greater than the United States.”

A U.S. Office of Naval Intelligence slide showcases the differing shipbuilding capabilities of the United States and China. (U.S. Navy)

At more than 370 ships by the Pentagon’s latest count, in terms of hulls alone, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) already exceeds the Navy’s battle force fleet of nearly 300. The ONI slide revealed that, by 2035, the gap between Chinese ships and U.S. vessels will widen substantially.

Navy leaders have at times in recent years sought to downplay the numeric differential between the rival fleets, as TWZ reported last year.

Much legislation gets introduced with great fanfare and urgency, only to fall by the wayside once the sausage-making commences. Whether the SHIPS Act suffers the same fate remains to be seen. It would seem to be inline with incoming President-elect Trump’s general view of the need to revitalize American industrial production. Stabilizing the shipbuilding and vessel support base would seem to be part of that general concept, along with the goal of building a stronger Navy.

Either way, it signals that the U.S. maritime universe’s long-chronicled deficiencies are now attracting attempts at meaningful higher-level action.

Contact the author: geoff@twz.com

twz.com · by Geoff Ziezulewicz

4. North Korea To Send More Troops To Fight For Russia Against Ukraine: South Korean Intel

​Doubling down on the money making enterprise for Kim Jong Un.

North Korea To Send More Troops To Fight For Russia Against Ukraine: South Korean Intel

Ukraine Situation Report: North Korean casualties in Kursk are climbing but more troops and weapons may be on the way.

Howard Altman

Posted on Dec 23, 2024

twz.com · by Howard Altman

As the war in Ukraine drags on toward a fourth year, North Korea is preparing to send Moscow more troops beyond the 12,000 already there, as well as additional weapons, including suicide drones, according to the latest assessment from South Korean intelligence. This comes amid claims that casualties are mounting for Pyongyang’s forces in Kursk.

“A comprehensive assessment of multiple intelligence shows that North Korea is preparing to rotate or increase the deployment of troops (in Russia),” the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, without offering specific numbers, according to the Yonhap News Agency. Ukrainian officials are also seeing signs that North Korea might send more troops to Russia.

“Today, we also received a report from Commander-in-Chief Syrskyi on the frontline and the areas of the Kursk operation,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Twitter. “There are risks of North Korea sending additional troops and military equipment to the Russian army, and we will have tangible responses to this.”

I held a meeting of the Staff.

We thoroughly analyzed our work with Syria after the fall of Assad and his escape.

Today, the intelligence services presented their reports—the Foreign Intelligence Service and the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine—as well as the Ministers of…

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 23, 2024

North Korea also reportedly plans to ramp up production of suicide drones for use against Ukrainian forces, a development we noted last month.

“There are also some signs of (the North) moving to manufacture and supply suicide drones, first unveiled during Kim Jong-un’s on-site inspection in November,” the JCS said, according to Yonhap. The South Korean Joint Chiefs attributed the move to “the North’s efforts to gain practical warfare experience and modernize its conventional weapons system.”

"North Korea appears to be preparing to deploy additional troops and military equipment to Russia, possibly including suicide drones, in support of Moscow's war against Ukraine, the South's military said Monday.

'A comprehensive assessment of multiple intelligence shows that… pic.twitter.com/bj7aVkjTvR

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) December 23, 2024

A recent Wall Street Journal analysis of satellite imagery bolsters the South Korean JCS claim that North Korea is increasing weapons deliveries to Russia.

The imagery shows “that North Korea is shipping more munitions to Russia and is expanding arms production at home to churn out the weapons Moscow needs to feed its voracious war machine,” the publication reported. “Assistance from North Korea is allowing Russia to press its advantage against exhausted Ukrainian troops and could help it resist pressure from the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump to end the conflict.”

North Korea is providing 60% of the artillery and mortar shells used by Russia in Ukraine, Andriy Kovalenko, a Ukrainian army officer heading a government unit tasked with countering Russian disinformation, told WSJ. “North Korean ammunition is holding the Russian defenses,” he said. “North Korea’s missiles now make up nearly a third of Russia’s ballistic missile launches at Ukraine this year, according to Ukrainian officials.”

The North Korean KN-23 short-range ballistic missile seen here may be among the types that Russia has received. North Korean State Media

“Russia is increasingly dependent on the DPRK,” Kovalenko said on Telegram Monday. “They cannot extend the front without their ammunition, they are not able to fight in Kursk without their people, they will become increasingly dependent on their equipment.”

Kovelenko called for Ukraine to continue to strike Russian economic assets to reduce its ability to pay for North Korean assistance.

“This is a great shame for Russia,” he posited. “However, in the future, it is worth understanding that the Russian military-industrial complex will weaken, but the DPRK military-industrial complex will work, and so that it does not provide the Russian Federation’s ability to fight, it is necessary to destroy the Russian Federation’s economic ability to pay.”

As we’ve previously reported, in addition to millions of rounds of artillery ammunition, North Korea has also provided Russia with KN-23 short-range ballistic missiles also known as Hwasong-11s.

The ROK JSC assessment noted that Pyongyang is also supplying Russia with 240-millimeter rocket launchers and 170 mm self-propelled artillery. As we reported last week, shipments of North Korean 170mm M1989 Koksan self-propelled artillery units were seen on rail cars heading to the front lines. The main advantage of the weapon is its long range, with the big 170mm gun assessed as capable of firing a standard shell to a range of around 25 miles, or a rocket-assisted shell to a range of 37 miles. For a long time, the weapon was judged to be the longest-range conventional artillery piece in North Korean service. The Koksans first began to appear in Russia in November. You can see video of the recent rail shipment of these weapons below.

North Korean M1989 'Koksan’ 170mm SPGs during transportation on Russian railways. https://t.co/tZDFz77fHe pic.twitter.com/f32cRcc5Sb

— Special Kherson Cat (@bayraktar_1love) December 19, 2024

The idea to provide troops and arms to Russia was proposed by North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, not Putin, but quickly embraced by Moscow, The New York Times reported on Monday. The arrangement is not an immediate quid pro quo, the publication added, but made by Kim in the hope of future benefits.

“U.S. officials do not believe Mr. Kim has received anything immediate in return,” the Times stated. “Instead, they say, he appears to be hoping that Russia will repay the favor in the future by offering support in diplomatic fights, assisting if a crisis breaks out and providing technology.”

The New York Times reports that the idea of sending North Korean troops to Russia came from Kim Jong Un, not Russia.

U.S. intelligence concluded it was North Korea’s initiative, though Putin quickly accepted it.

According to the report, North Korea has yet to receive anything… pic.twitter.com/MN4NLDesQp

— Clash Report (@clashreport) December 23, 2024

The claim by anonymous U.S. officials that Pyongyang has yet to receive any benefits for its military largesse stands in stark contrast to what has previously been understood about the relationship.

North Korea has received shipments of food from Russia in the past, South Korean lawmakers have said. It has also received “more than a million barrels of oil since March this year, according to satellite imagery analysis from the Open Source Centre, a non-profit research group based in the UK,” according to the BBC.

In exchange for sending troops to Russia, it was believed that North Korea would potentially receive air defense systems and additional energy supplies and was reportedly going to receive fighter aircraft as well.

There have also been concerns that Moscow might provide North Korea with technologies to help accelerate its nuclear and long-range ballistic missile programs. Russia would also be a prime candidate to assist North Korea in pushing forward its submarine program, which also includes a growing family of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) as well as increasingly advanced submarine technologies.

In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un toast during a reception at the Mongnangwan Reception House in Pyongyang on June 19, 2024. Putin enjoyed a red carpet welcome, a military ceremony and an embrace from North Korea’s Kim Jong Un during a state visit to Pyongyang where they both pledged to forge closer ties. (Photo by Vladimir Smirnov / POOL / AFP) VLADIMIR SMIRNOV

Regardless of the details of the deal, North Korean troops and weapons are helping Russia squeeze the salient Ukraine established when it invaded the Kursk region in August. They are being used “as small, light infantry … and a little bit of indirect fire usage with mortar platoons, and things of that nature that they’ve been employing,” a senior U.S. military official told reporters, including from The War Zone, last week. “As far as the capabilities, they’re consistent with what you would think they would have, their lower caliber indirect fire capability, and then direct fire capability, and obviously the kind of communications equipment that you would expect.”

The North Koreans are reportedly paying an increasingly heavy price for aiding Russia. Their complete lack of previous combat experience is contributing to increasing casualties, the senior military official pointed out.

“They’re definitely up on the front line. They’re taking casualties. Based on the latest understanding that we have as of this afternoon, we’re looking at several hundred casualties … everything from wounds, up to being [killed in action] KIA.”

On Monday, South Korea’s spy agency suggested the figure was even higher now, with about 1,100 DPRK casualties, Yonhap reported. Zelensky on Monday claimed there were three times as many North Koreans killed or wounded.

“Now, according to preliminary data, the number of North Korean soldiers killed and wounded in the Kursk region has already exceeded 3,000,” Zelensky said.

️ BREAKING: Over 3,000 North Korean soldiers have been killed or wounded in the battles near Kursk, according to President Zelenskyy.

He warned that Ukraine will respond to any further deployments of North Korean troops and equipment to Russia. pic.twitter.com/oI7Uuozikj

— UNITED24 Media (@United24media) December 23, 2024

The War Zone cannot independently verify any casualty figures. However, you can see some of those casualties in the following video produced by the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SOF) showing several strikes on North Korean targets by first-person view (FPV) drones.

One Ukrainian SOF FPV crew from 8th Regiment has destroyed 77 North Koreans over a period of three days in Kursk region. pic.twitter.com/sfWEZBWXr3

— SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES OF UKRAINE (@SOF_UKR) December 23, 2024

Ukraine is struggling to hold onto the territory it captured in Kursk and defend against Russian pressure in the eastern part of its country. The senior U.S. military official told us that the Pentagon concurs with previous reports that Ukraine has lost about 40% of the territory captured in Kursk during two major counter-operations.

The news about Pyongyang’s additional support for Moscow only adds to the pressure faced by Kyiv as the clock ticks down to a new Trump administration that could be far less supportive than Biden’s.

The Latest

On the battlefield, Russia continues to gain ground in Kursk, but despite a large-scale push across eastern Ukraine, made only incremental gains toward Pokrovsk and Toretsk.

According to the latest assessment from the Institute for the Study of War:

• Kursk: Russian forces recently advanced in the Ukrainian salient in Kursk Oblast amid continued fighting in the area on December 22. Russian forces continued assault operations southeast of Korenevo near Novoivanovka and Kruglenkoye, north of Sudzha near Malaya Loknya, Cherkasskoye Porechnoye, and Pogrebki; and northeast of Sudzha near Martynovka.
• Kharkiv: Russian forces continued ground attacks in the Kharkiv direction on December 22 but did not make any confirmed advances.
• Luhansk: Russian forces recently marginally advanced in the Kupyansk direction amid continued offensive operations along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line on December 22.
• Donetsk: Russian forces conducted offensive operations northeast of Siversk near Serebryanka and Bilohorivka, east of Siversk near Verkhnokamyanske, southeast of Siversk near Vyimka, toward Chasiv Yar, Kurakhove, Vuhledar and near Velyka Novosilka on December 22 but did not make any confirmed advances. However, they recently advanced toward Toretsk and Pokrovsk.
• Zaporizhzhia: Ukrainian forces recently regained lost positions in western Zaporizhia Oblast following reports of localized Ukrainian offensive operations in the area. Geolocated footage published on December 22 indicates that Ukrainian forces recently regained lost positions in central Kamyanske (northwest of Robotyne and south of Zaporizhzhia City).
• Kherson: A Ukrainian official confirmed that Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups recently attempted a limited crossing of the Dnipro River in Kherson Oblast. Ukrainian Southern Defense Forces Spokesperson Colonel Vladyslav Voloshyn stated on December 21 that Russian forces conducted heavy artillery and rocket strikes against the west (right) bank of Kherson Oblast on December 20, during which a Russian sabotage and reconnaissance group unsuccessfully attempted to cross the Dnipro River near the Antonivsky roadway bridge (east of Kherson City) – consistent with recent Russian milblogger claims on December 21.

NEW: Putin repeated his latest assertion that he should have violated the ceasefire he had imposed on Ukraine in 2014 and 2015 by launching a full-scale invasion even earlier than February 2022. (1/3) pic.twitter.com/Hten8bgiZu

— Institute for the Study of War (@TheStudyofWar) December 22, 2024

Ukraine is having so many problems providing enough forces to fight Russians that it is sending air defense troops to the front lines, according to the Guardian.

“Two sources in air defense units told the Guardian the deficit at the front has become so acute that the general staff has ordered already-depleted air defense units to free up more men to send to the front as infantry,” the publication reported. “It’s reaching a critical level where we can’t be sure that air defense can function properly,” one of the sources told the Guardian, adding he had been prompted to speak out by a fear that the situation was a risk to Ukraine’s security.

“These people knew how air defense works, some had been trained in the West and had real skills, now they are sent to the front to fight, for which they have no training,” said the source.

Another concern is that if any of these troops are captured, they could provide critical information about the location and capabilities of Ukrainian air defense systems.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Col. Yuri Ignat pushed back on the assertion that his country’s air defenses would suffer as a result of this mobilization.

“Of course, transferring to the Infantry creates problematic issues with personnel inside the Air Force,” he said Sunday on Facebook. “There are not enough people and that’s also a well-known fact! But why talk about the ineffectiveness of the [air defenses] and that the [interceptions of Russian aerial threats] have become less? After all, the [air defenses] are not just the Air Force! It is an air defense system of the country that includes units of all Defense Forces capable of conducting air fire, and infantry, sailors, and helicopters…”

This all comes as Zelensky has refused to heed public calls from the Biden administration to lower the age at which men can be mobilized from 25, where it currently stands, to 18, citing the sensitivities of sending younger men to fight in a society that already faces a demographic crisis.

"Two sources in air defence units told the Guardian the deficit at the front has become so acute that the general staff has ordered already-depleted air defence units to free up more men to send to the front as infantry."@shaunwalker7 https://t.co/9e5kdT1jCG pic.twitter.com/DaTyO2cop8

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) December 23, 2024

For what appears to be the first time in the history of warfare, Ukraine unleashed a combined-arms attack on Russian forces using only aerial and ground drones.

Speaking on national TV, Sergeant Volodymyr Dehtiarov, spokesperson for the Khartiia Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, said “dozens of units of robotic and unmanned equipment” supported by surveillance drones were used in the assault, the Kyiv Independent reported. The attack took place near the village of Lyptsi, north of Kharkiv.

Dehtiarov said the drones included uncrewed ground vehicles (UGV) equipped with machine guns and kamikaze FPV drones. He did not say when this engagement took place.

“The Battle of Lyptsi is an important step in the transformation of the character of war from a purely human endeavor to something quite different in the 21st century,” retired Australian Army Maj. Gen. Mick Ryan, now a military analyst, postulated on Twitter. “But none of the battlefield functions envisioned for uncrewed systems will be effective without the transformation of military institutions that wish to use them. This includes armies but also the civilian bureaucracies that support them.”

https://publish.twitter.com/?url=

3/ The Battle of Lyptsi is an important step in the transformation of the character of war from a purely human endeavour to something quite different in the 21st century. But none of the battlefield functions envisioned for uncrewed systems will be effective without the…

— Mick Ryan, AM (@WarintheFuture) December 22, 2024

“This attack not only represents a tactical breakthrough but also illustrates a broader trend in modern conflict: the increasing automation of battlefields,” according to Laurent Le Mentec, Director of the French risk management consulting firm Vision Sûreté Française. He was the first to report the all-drone assault.

”While other nations are watching these developments closely, Ukraine is establishing itself as a full-scale testing ground for technologically advanced warfare,” he noted. “The drones and UGVs used in this attack were reportedly mostly indigenously designed or modified from commercial equipment. This ability to tinker and adapt off-the-shelf technologies for military use has become a signature of the Ukrainian forces.”

Une révolution technologique dans la guerre moderne : première attaque ukrainienne menée exclusivement avec des UGV et des drones FPV https://t.co/eGCj7qxr7A

— Laurent LE MENTEC (@le_mentec39629) December 21, 2024

In the fall of 2022, Ukraine launched a massive drone boat attack on Sevastopol harbor, changing the face of naval warfare. Since then, Ukrainian uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) have proven to be a scourge to Russian naval operations in and around the Black Sea. They also present real threats to vessels in port, as well as bridges and other coastal infrastructure.

Now Russia is taking a page from that playbook. Its navy is creating a new training course for USV operators that includes nighttime drills to mimic Ukrainian USV attacks and defenses, according to the Russian RU1 news outlet.

Russian Navy will train USV operators: A new training course for USV operators has been included in the Russian Navy's combat training program, including nighttime drills to mimic Ukrainian USV nighttime attacks and defenses. https://t.co/mJ66zuLuom

— Samuel Bendett (@sambendett) December 21, 2024

In another iteration of the ongoing drone wars, Russians are complaining that Ukrainians are hacking into drones and causing engine shutdowns.

“In FPV chats and channels, information is again coming in that cases of drone disarm in the air have become more frequent,” the Russian Cuckoo’s Nest drone unit claimed on Telegram. “The [Ukrainians] hohols are operating, affecting birds with ELRS firmware. They replace data packets and turn off the engines. The drone turns over in the air and falls. Additionally, they try to get into the video menu and turn off the camera or screw up – set the reverse reflection of the image.”

Cuckoo’s Nest was referring to ExpressLRS, a radio protocol that allows drones using it to communicate with a matched receiver.

The Telegram channel groused that this problem is caused because Russian operators have not updated important drone communications systems “for months.”

Hacking the drone: Russian TG channels are worried that Russian drones with ELRS firmware can be "disarmed" in mid-air – Ukrainians can "replace data packets and turn off the engines, and the drone turns over in the air and falls; they try to get into the video menu and turn off… pic.twitter.com/QRJ1gj6uUl

— Samuel Bendett (@sambendett) December 23, 2024

Uncertain of future aid from the U.S. and its allies, Ukraine is developing several indigenous weapons systems, including one it claims can eventually hit Moscow, roughly 300 miles north of the front lines.

Among them is a cruise missile called Trembita, named for the Ukrainian Alpine horn, The Economist reported on Monday.

“We might miss our target,” Serhiy Biryukov, who heads the missile’s ragtag crew of volunteer engineers, told the publication, “but we’ll fly the thing so low above Russian trenches they will shit themselves.”

“Trembita’s engine is a modern $200 remake of the pulsejet first used on the German V-1 bomb in 1944,” The Economist noted. “The engine tube is rough-and-ready. A more stylish grey rectangular casing hangs below it, hiding the missile’s guidance system and warhead. The basic Trembita flies at 400 km/h with a range of 200km. A larger and more powerful model is being developed to reach Moscow. Serial production is set to follow the final field tests. Getting this far has taken the enthusiasts just a year and a half—a feat in a field where getting from the drawing board to the battlefield usually takes many years.”

Ukraine has developed other long-range strike weapons that could potentially reach Moscow, including the Palyanytsya and Peklo missile drones and, in the future, the Hrim -2 ballistic missile.

Ukraine is developing a powerful missile capable of reaching Moscow. The military hopes to establish serial production of 3,000 missiles by the end of 2025, – The Economist

In total, Ukraine is developing more than 10 missile projects, some of which are already ready.… pic.twitter.com/jjduAdsPsy

— MAKS 24 (@Maks_NAFO_FELLA) December 23, 2024

Ukraine launched a drone attack Saturday morning against targets in the Russian city of Kazan in the Tatarstan region, about 600 miles from the front lines. As a result, six drones hit residential buildings, one hit an industrial facility and one was shot down over a river, according to the press service of Tatarstan’s governor, Rustam Minnikhanov. Officials reported no injuries from the strike, however, media reports indicated that three people suffered cuts from shattered window glass.

A day after the attack, Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened revenge.

“Whoever, and however much they try to destroy, they will face many times more destruction themselves and will regret what they are trying to do in our country,” Putin fumed.

Two Ukrainian drones hitting the same floor of the tallest building in Kazan, Russia, this morning. Roughly 1,000 km east of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/UZ1RfJEGax

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) December 21, 2024

Germany announced new deliveries of military aid for Ukraine. Among other items, the packages included 15 additional Leopard-1A5 main battle tanks and spare parts in a joint project with Denmark. That brings to the total to 103. Also going to Ukraine are 30 more Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles (MRAP) for a total of 103, one new IRIS-T SLM air defense system, for a total of six, one new IRIS-T SLS air defense system for a total of five, two additional Patriot air defense system launchers for a total of four, two more Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns (SPAAG) for a total of 57. The package also includes 65,000 more 35mm rounds of ammunition for the Gepards, 52,000 additional rounds of 155mm ammunition for a total of 358,000, an unspecified number of AIM-9L/I1 Sidewinder missiles and 68 more surveillance drones of various types.

Ukraine also received what the Germans described as “12 Kinetic Defense Vehicles.” We reached out to the German Bundeswehr and manufacturer Diehl for more details.

German Military Aid to #Ukraine updated with

DELIVERED IN THE PAST ~ 5 WEEKS

— 1 IRIS-T SLM (already known)

— 2 IRIS-T SLS launchers

— 12 Kinetic Defence Vehicles

— 2 MIM-104 Patriot launchers

— 2 Cheetah SPAAGs

— 14 Hornet XR UAVs

— 24 RQ-35 Heidrun UAVs

— 30 Vector UAVs

— 1… pic.twitter.com/V13YBxUTxQ

— German Aid to Ukraine (@deaidua) December 23, 2024

While much of Ukraine’s Navy was captured at the beginning of the war, it still has Gyurza-M class armored artillery patrol boats. A rare glimpse of one was recently captured on video. The vessels now typically serve as anti-drone air defense pickets in the Black Sea.

Rare footage of a Ukrainian Navy Gyurza-M-class gunboat patrolling the Black Sea off the coast of Odesa.

Ukrainian gunboats have primarily served as anti-drone air defense pickets in the Black Sea. pic.twitter.com/Bom5XR52Yg

— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) December 21, 2024

Last month, we told you that North Korea’s Type 73 machine guns may be entering the fight in Ukraine. The weapon, chambered in the Russian 7.62x54mmR cartridge, is a unique blending of Cold War Soviet and Czech designs. Photos of it reportedly in Kursk appeared online in November. On Sunday, a video emerged of a Russian soldier examining one at an unspecified range.

A Russian examines a North Korea Type 73 GPMG at a range.

More on these here: https://t.co/MGPvaUc2wn

H/T – Deni. #UkraineRussiaWar #SALW #NorthKorea pic.twitter.com/emfNHoW02S

— Matthew Moss | Historical Firearms (@historicfirearm) December 22, 2024

That’s it for now.

Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com

Howard Altman

Senior Staff Writer

twz.com · by Howard Altman

5. Should South Korea have nuclear weapons? Its people now say yes

​Koreans have every right to consider all they believe is necessary for their defense.

That said, part of the discussion must include how these efforts actually support Kim Jong Un's political warfare strategy. He wants this very public discussion. He is not afraid of South Korea with nuclear weapons and in fact will welcome South Korea with nuclear weapons if it breaks the ROK/US alliance and drives US troops from the peninsula.

To my South Korean friends: Be careful what you wish for.

That said, if South Korea is servious they must answer some questions:

What really deters Kim Jong Un?

Will South Korean nuclear weapons contribute to deterring Kim Jong Un from attacking South Korea either conventionally or with nuclear weapons or both?

What is the South Korean concept for employment if nuclear weapons 

How will South Korean employ nuclear weapons in war time?

What will be the targeting priorities for nuclear weapons?

What will be the command and control system for nuclear weapons?

What will be South Korean nuclear doctrine? First use or no first use?

I do not see any of the above as part of the discussions by Koreans in the South and I only see three aspects:

1) Emotional argument - north Korea has nuclear weapons, so should we.

2) Possessing South Korean nuclear weapons will deter Kim Jong Un (with no supporting evidence to back that up).

3) Lack of confidence in US extended deterrence.

The fundamental question is how can South Korea best be defended either with its own nuclear weapons on its own or as part of the ROK/US alliance?

Of course there are those inte South who believe with the election of Trump and the nomination of Colby as USD(P) they can have both: nuclear weapons and alliance support and nuclear weapons will provide a hedge for when the Trump administration does seek to reduce or remove US troops so the US can focus solely on China as Colby advocates.

Should South Korea have nuclear weapons? Its people now say yes

thetimes.com · by Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor, Seoul

A majority of citizens think the country should build its own bomb but Seoul would risk rupturing the crucial US alliance if it chose the nuclear path

American troops on a joint exercise with South Korean soldiers in Paju. Some observers doubt that the US would risk North Korean retaliation against its own cities by supporting the South in a conflict on the peninsula

CHUNG SUNG-JUN/GETTY IMAGES

Richard Lloyd Parry

, Asia Editor, Seoul

Monday December 23 2024, 2.45pm, The Times

A decade ago it was almost a taboo in South Korea and thought of as a hobby horse for a handful of crackpots and hardliners. Even five years ago it was the minority concern of a few specialists in security and international relations.

But in the past two years it has become a matter of mainstream political debate as a growing majority of its people have concluded that South Korea urgently needs to acquire its own nuclear weapons.

The political and practical obstacles are huge, and a nuclear armed South Korea is still years away at the very least. But momentum is gathering for a change that would have profound and incalculable consequences, not only in Korea itself, but for the whole world. The year 2025 could be decisive in determining if and when the move takes place.

Last year President Yoon, now facing impeachment for an abortive declaration of martial law, caused international alarm by saying that acquiring tactical nuclear weapons was an option for Seoul and that it could be achieved “pretty quickly”, although he later said that it was not realistic. But a poll by Gallup Korea earlier this year revealed that 73 percent of South Koreans believe that the country should develop its own nuclear weapons.

As a treaty ally of the United States, South Korea shelters beneath the US “nuclear umbrella”. US nuclear weapons stationed in the South were, however, removed in 1991. South Korea is a signatory of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and espouses a policy of denuclearisation on the peninsula, aimed at pressuring North Korea into relinquishing its growing arsenal of warheads and the ballistic missiles capable of delivering them.

The problem is that far from making concessions, Kim Jong-un has accelerated his weapons programme. The North Korean leader is reckoned to have dozens of nuclear warheads and has tested rockets of all ranges, up to and including intercontinental ballistic missiles potentially capable of striking the US.

The point of these weapons is not to threaten the US directly. Kim knows that using his puny arsenal to attack the superpower would unleash a massive response that would quickly destroy him, his family and his country. The intention is to sow doubt in the minds of Americans about their own response to a war between the North and South.

Donald Trump with Kim Jong-un in 2019. The US president has said that he is sceptical about alliances

SUSAN WALSH/AP

Its treaty obliges Washington to defend Seoul against an attack and, in a war fought with conventional weapons, combined US-South Korean forces would undoubtedly defeat the North, after a tough, but unequal, fight. But North Korea’s nuclear arsenal changes the strategic equation.

Apart from the damage that they could do to South Korean forces on the peninsula, they raise in the mind of any US president a nagging and terrible question: if the US fights with South Korea, am I risking a nuclear attack on the United States?

Even the loss of one of their cities beneath a nuclear mushroom cloud would be regarded by most Americans as an unacceptably high price for defending a faraway Asian country of which they know little.

This is the same question that President de Gaulle put to President Kennedy in 1961, when France made the decision to go nuclear, despite being a member of Nato: “Would you be ready to trade New York for Paris?” Would any occupant of the Oval Office trade LA or Seattle for Seoul, or even risk them? More and more South Koreans fear that he would not, and that the nuclear umbrella is ragged with strategic holes.

Charles de Gaulle, the French president, with his US counterpart, John F Kennedy, at the Elysee Palace in Paris in 1961

REFER TO SOURCE

“The fact that North Korea possesses the nuclear weapons and ICBMs that could attack the United States makes the United States far less likely to wish to engage in a conflict with North Korea,” says Cheong Seong-chang of the Seoul-based think-tank, the Sejong Institute. “If North Korea attacks South Korea, will the US be prepared to risk the lives of hundreds of thousands, maybe tens of millions, of its own people to respond?”

That nightmare is made the more real by the strategic alliance between Vladimir Putin and Kim, who has sent North Korean troops to fight against Ukraine. The fear in Seoul — as yet unsupported by evidence — is that Russia will reward Kim with ICBM technology that will increase the chance of successfully targeting the US.

The situation is exacerbated by the imminent inauguration of Donald Trump, whose “America First” slogan strongly hints at the answer he would give to De Gaulle’s question. Trump is a sceptic about alliances in any case, and has threatened to force South Korea to pay more for the 28,500 US troops stationed there or to reduce their numbers.

“If I were there now, they would be paying us $10 billion a year,” Trump said before his election, compared to the $1 billion Seoul contributes at present. “They would be happy to do it. It’s a money machine, South Korea.”

Cheong believes that those who oppose nuclearisation “would change their mind if Donald Trump were … to reduce the size of US forces in South Korea”.

In technical terms, South Korea has nuclear reactors that can produce the raw material of warheads and would have few difficulties in developing the necessary enrichment facilities. Testing would be a challenge, unless it followed North Korea’s example in setting off nuclear explosions deep underground, a measure that would undoubtedly meet opposition.

South Korean drones fly in formation during a joint military drill with the US in Pocheon. The two countries could defeat the North in a conventional conflict

YELIM LEE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The biggest obstacles are political. To go nuclear would transform South Korea from a nation with a seat at the table of the world’s rich democracies to a proliferation outlaw, with unpredictable consequences.

Such a huge and expensive military and scientific undertaking would be difficult to keep secret. Exposure of it would entail rapid expulsion from the NPT and international condemnation. This was the reason that Yoon gave for ruling out the move (although he also received renewed security guarantees from Joe Biden): that a nuclear South Korea would be sanctioned in the same way as the North.

Under a provision called the Glenn Amendment, a US president is required by law to impose sanctions on any NPT signatory that explodes a nuclear bomb, including withdrawal of military support. This could leave the South in an excruciating transition period — not yet fully nuclear, shunned internationally, unprotected by the US but menaced by the North which could take the opportunity to launch a pre-emptive attack.

“For South Korea, the decision to go nuclear comes with trade-offs and consequences too enormous to bear,” according to the American nuclear expert, Siegfried Hecker. “The South can have its own nuclear arsenal — at great expense and sacrifice — or work with the Americans to remain under the nuclear umbrella with American troops stationed on the peninsula. It cannot have both.”

Cheong of the Sejong Institute pointed out that India went nuclear, faced sanctions, but eventually re-established itself as a respectable member of the international community. “It doesn’t have to be active support, just tacit acceptance,” he said. “South Korea could take the Indian route of first acquiring nuclear weapons and then receiving the acquiescence or acceptance of the United States afterwards.”

A nuclear-armed South Korea would be unbearably uncomfortable for Japan, with which it has tense relations. The same debate would take place in Tokyo, which could also quickly acquire its own deterrent. The nuclear non-proliferation treaty would then be under unprecedented pressure, raising the prospect of “nuclear dominoes” toppling across the world, such as Taiwan and Vietnam.

When the complexities — and the expense — of going nuclear are pointed out by pollsters, no more than 40 percent of the public support the idea. But like a powerful genie released from a bottle, the debate about a South Korean bomb will continue.

6. Han says will not appoint Constitutional Court justices until rival parties reach compromise

(LEAD) Han says will not appoint Constitutional Court justices until rival parties reach compromise | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · December 26, 2024

(ATTN: UPDATES with more remarks by Han; ADDS byline)

By Lee Haye-ah

SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- Acting President Han Duck-soo said Thursday he will not appoint justices to the Constitutional Court until the rival parties agree on whether he has the authority to do so before an impeachment ruling on President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Han made the remark in an address to the nation amid mounting pressure from the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) to appoint justices to fill three vacancies at the court or face impeachment.

The National Assembly is set to approve three justice nominees later Thursday, a day before the Constitutional Court holds its first pretrial hearing on whether to uphold the Assembly's impeachment of Yoon over his brief imposition of martial law.

"It is the consistent spirit of our Constitution and laws that the acting president refrain from exercising the vital and exclusive authority of the president, including appointments to constitutional institutions," Han said from the government complex in Seoul.

"In the event it is inevitable to exercise such authority, I believe it has been an unbroken custom in our constitutional history that the ruling and opposition parties first reach an agreement at the National Assembly," he said.

The acting president earnestly pleaded with politicians, including National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-shik and the leaders of the ruling People Power Party and the DP, to demonstrate "wisdom and courage" to break the political deadlock.

"I will defer the appointment of Constitutional Court justices until the ruling and opposition parties submit an agreed-upon measure," he said. "Once the ruling and opposition parties submit an agreed-upon measure, I will immediately appoint the Constitutional Court justices."

Acting President Han Duck-soo gives a public address at the government complex in Seoul on Dec. 26, 2024. (Yonhap)

hague@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · December 26, 2024

7. Main opposition submits bill to impeach acting President Han; vote up for Friday

I wonder if the Korean people will be ​a​ble  to see the ​o​pposition party​(ies) for what it is really doing, ​i.e., trying to undermine the Republic.​ Despite President Yoon's egregious error in ordering martial law, the opposition party is providing evidence to support his decision because they are not interested in democratic government. The irony is that by following the vote of the National Assembly and rescinding the martial law order it may be that President Yoon demonstrated that he is the stronger proponent of democracy than the DPK, as counterintuitive as that may seem to some. The DPK is more interested in collapsing the ROK government than in ensuring democratic governance. I think the Korean people may become disillusioned with the DPK and opposition parties and this may be indicated in the size of the demonstrations that are larger for pro-Yoon/anti-impeachment than the opposition demonstrations.

(LEAD) Main opposition submits bill to impeach acting President Han; vote up for Friday | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 26, 2024

(ATTN: UPDATES throughout with details, remarks)

By Yi Wonju

SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) submitted an impeachment motion against acting President Han Duck-soo and reported it to a parliamentary plenary session Thursday.

The decision comes shortly after Han said he will not appoint justices to the Constitutional Court until the rival parties reach a political compromise.

The DP has vowed to impeach Han unless he approves their appointments, as the opposition-controlled National Assembly passed a motion granting parliamentary consent to three justice nominees.

A majority of lawmakers associated with the ruling People Power Party's boycotted the vote.

If appointed, the three nominees will fill vacancies on the court's nine-member bench, where six justices are currently seated, to deliberate President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment trial. By law, at least six votes are required to uphold an impeachment motion.

The DP plans to put the motion up for a vote during a plenary session on Friday.

By law, an impeachment motion must be put to a vote between 24 and 72 hours after it is reported to a plenary session.

Park Chan-dae (2nd from L), floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, speaks during a policy meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul on Dec. 26, 2024. (Yonhap)

The DP cited five reasons for seeking Han's impeachment, including his suspected collusion with and abetting of Yoon's botched martial law imposition, and refusing to appoint Constitutional Court justices.

In a public address earlier in the day, Han said he will defer the appointment until rival parties reach an agreed-upon measure.

"It is the consistent spirit of our Constitution and laws that the acting president refrain from exercising the vital and exclusive authority of the president, including appointments to constitutional institutions," Han said in a public address given at the government complex in Seoul.

"Once the ruling and opposition parties submit an agreed-upon measure, I will immediately appoint the Constitutional Court justices," he said.

Rep. Park Chan-dae, floor leader of the DP, denounced Han's address, accusing him of aiding Yoon's martial law declaration.

"Prime Minister Han is a key figure who carried out major tasks in the Dec. 3 martial law turmoil," Park said, citing former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun's attorney's remarks that the ousted minister reported on martial law operations to Han before proposing the plan to Yoon.

"It has become clear that he has neither the qualifications to carry out the role of acting president nor the will to defend the Constitution," Park said.

In response to the claim by the former defense minister's lawyer, the prime minister's office said Han was not briefed on the plan through any means until he heard about it from Yoon on the night of the declaration and vowed to seek all possible measures against false claims.

julesyi@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 26, 2024

8. S. Korea to ensure next year's APEC meeting not to be affected by political circumstances: official

​Based on everything I have observed, including my recent visit to Seoul last week, the Korean government and its bureaucracy continues to function normally. It has not been paralyzed. I think the Vice Foreign Minister's visit this week is evidence of that as are the continued meetings between the ROK, US, and Japan at the action officer/professional (below the political appointee)levels.

S. Korea to ensure next year's APEC meeting not to be affected by political circumstances: official | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · December 26, 2024

By Kim Seung-yeon

SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea will work to make sure the upcoming leaders' meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member states will not be influenced by the current political situation surrounding President Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment, a Seoul official said Thursday.

South Korea is set to host the APEC gathering in the country's southeastern city of Gyeongju in November next year, an event expected to bring the leaders and top representatives of its 21 member states, including the United States and China.

The official's remark came amid concerns about the prospects of Seoul's key diplomatic engagements in the coming months, as political uncertainties stemming from Yoon's impeachment could plunge the country into yet another whirlwind of leadership change in the first half of next year.

"The APEC meeting is the highest-level international gathering to be hosted by our country, not by an individual, such as the president or a minister," a foreign ministry official told reporters.

"Even if there is a leadership change, our status as the host country remains unchanged. It should not be influenced by political circumstances, and the government will make every effort to ensure that it won't," the official said.

South Korea will be sending official invitations to the leaders of the member states around May and June.

The invitations are in principle sent under the name of the host country's leader, and the government will need to decide on the specifics, including under what name it will send the invitations, considering the current acting leadership under Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, another official said.

Seoul's hosting of the APEC meeting has drawn attention as it will likely set the stage for Chinese President Xi Jinping's potential visit to South Korea -- a trip, if realized, that will come 11 years after Xi's last visit to Seoul in July 2014.

The event also comes at a time when South Korea has been seeking to improve relations with China. At this year's APEC meeting in Peru, the foreign ministers of the two nations agreed on the need to push for a leaders' summit in Gyeongju next year.

China is the chair for the 2026 APEC meeting.

As for Russia, South Korea is expected to follow the precedent in which the invitation was sent out to its government representative, instead of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Putin has not been invited to APEC since its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

This file image, provided by the foreign ministry on Nov. 15, 2024, shows the official emblem for the APEC summit set to be held in Gyeongju, 275 kilometers southeast of Seoul, next year. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

elly@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Kim Seung-yeon · December 26, 2024

9. Han asks U.S. businesses to continue investing in S. Korea amid turmoil

​Businesses should not cut off their noses to spite their face. This (political turmoil) too will soon pass.

Han asks U.S. businesses to continue investing in S. Korea amid turmoil | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · December 26, 2024

SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- Acting President Han Duck-soo asked American businesses Thursday to continue investing in South Korea with confidence in the resilience of its economy despite the political turmoil.

Han made the remark during a luncheon meeting with leaders of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM), including its CEO James Kim, and executives of U.S.-based firms operating in the country.

In particular he acknowledged the concerns U.S. firms may have about the current turmoil triggered by President Yoon Suk Yeol's brief declaration of martial law and subsequent impeachment, but noted the South Korea-U.S. alliance of over 70 years will continue to strengthen across various areas, including defense, economy, advanced industries and culture.

Han also promised the government will always communicate to help ease any difficulties and support the operation of U.S. businesses in the country.

AMCHAM thanked the South Korean government for swiftly sharing information, saying American companies plan to continue their local operations without changes, while also requesting the government's efforts to create a stable and predictable market environment.

Acting President Han Duck-soo (C) speaks during a luncheon meeting with leaders of the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea and executives of U.S.-based firms operating in the country, at his official residence in Seoul on Dec. 26, 2024. (Yonhap)

hague@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Haye-ah · December 26, 2024

10. Ukraine reveals North Korean soldier's last letter from Russian frontlines

​I am looking forward to analysis from my friends from the north Korean diaspora.

Ukraine reveals North Korean soldier's last letter from Russian frontlines

"Here in the foreign soil of Rossiya, away from the arms of his loving father and mother..." writes the fallen North Korean soldier

https://www.chosun.com/english/north-korea-en/2024/12/26/VPJDJXNSLBCLLC2LIUPODMHF2I/

By Ryu Jae-min,

Kim Min-Seo,

Lee Jae-eun

Published 2024.12.26. 16:35

Updated 2024.12.26. 22:08

A letter written by a fallen North Korean soldier in the Kursk region of Russia. / Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces

A letter from a North Korean soldier who died while deployed in Russia’s war against Ukraine was released by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces on Christmas Eve. The handwritten note reportedly found on the body of the fallen soldier in Russia’s Kursk region offers a glimpse into the soldier’s emotional state.

Kursk, a Russian border region captured by Ukrainian forces in August, reportedly hosts around 11,000 North Korean troops.

The letter, written in Korean with a ballpoint pen on lined paper, reads: “My closest comrade-in-arms, Comrade Song Ji-Myong, who is celebrating his birthday here in the foreign soil of Rossiya, away from the arms of his loving father and mother... I also sincerely wish you good health and extend my birthday greetings.” Some parts of the text are illegible due to the soldier’s heavily smudged handwriting.

The passport of a fallen North Korean soldier who left a handwritten letter in his pocket in the Kursk region of Russia. / Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces

At the end of the letter, the date “2024.12.9″ is written, suggesting it was either undelivered or a pre-written draft. The Ukrainian military identified the soldier as Jung Kyung-hong based on the name on his passport. Ukrainian officials said the letter is one of several entries in a notebook, and they plan on revealing translations of more entries soon.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has been publishing drone footage showing attacks on North Korean troops, their bodies, and identification cards. Analysts interpret these releases as part of a psychological warfare campaign aimed at undermining North Korean troop morale by emphasizing that they are being used as “cannon fodder” while simultaneously increasing pressure on North Korea for supporting Russia’s war efforts.

11. USFK/UNC/CFC Change of Command 2024

​For those who missed the change of command on December 20th, the video is at this link. A cold day at Camp Humphreys.

https://www.dvidshub.net/video/948227/usfk-unc-cfc-change-command-2024

​There is one painful view of this ceremony if you watch the video. It takes place in front of the Headquarters of the United Nations Command and United States Forces Korea. You can see those names on the building in the background. What is missing? The ROK/US Combined Forces Command (though you can see the CFC logo on the podium l with it correctly placed in front of the UNC/USFK logos depicting its primacy as the warfighting command). It is located in a separate second class building off to the side out of view. The ROK/US CFC is the most important command since it is charged with deterrence and the defense of the ROK. It is the warfighting command. It belongs equally to both the ROK and the US answering to the Military Committee which consists of the representatives of National Command and Military Authorities of both nations.  

I would recommend at least one of three actions for the new commander:

1) Establish the ROK/US CFC in Seoul. (unlikely to happen because that ship has sailed)

2) Move the CFC HQ into the building with the UNC and USFK (second best but doable and will establish CFC as the primary command. Move lesser functions of USFK and CFC into the current CFC building to use it as overflow spaces - but i believe there is currently sufficient space for most of the CFC HQ in the main building)

3) At a minimum place the name of the ROK.US CFC on the building since that is where the commander's office is. (cosmetic effect only).

USFK/UNC/CFC Change of Command 2024

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CAMP HUMPHREYS, GYEONGGIDO [KYONGGI-DO], SOUTH KOREA

12.20.2024

Video by Staff Sgt. Ian Vega-Cerezo 

U.S. Forces Korea  

 Subscribe17

Video coverage of the Change of Command Ceremony between Outgoing USFK/UNC/CFC Commander Gen. Paul J. LaCamera and the incoming Commander Gen. Xavier T. Brunson, December 20, 2024, at Barker Field on Camp Humphreys, Republic of Korea.

12. Martial law probe into intelligence commander transferred to military prosecution

Martial law probe into intelligence commander transferred to military prosecution | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 26, 2024

SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- A probe into the top military intelligence commander's alleged involvement in martial law operations has been transferred to the military prosecution, the state anti-corruption investigation office said Thursday.

Defense Intelligence Commander Maj. Gen. Moon Sang-ho has been under a probe by the Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials (CIO) for allegedly sending troops to the National Election Commission's office on the night of President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law imposition on Dec. 3.

He is also suspected of discussing martial law operations with Noh Sang-won, a former defense intelligence commander, alongside two other subordinates, at a burger franchise in Gyeonggi Province two days ahead of the martial law imposition.

Moon was released from emergency arrest earlier this month after prosecutors rejected the police's detainment of him, claiming the military court has jurisdiction over the case.

He was formally detained last Friday on charges of participation in critical duties related to the insurrection, as well as abuse of authority, after the case was transferred to the CIO.

The CIO recently extended Moon's detention, initially set to end Friday, to Jan. 6.

The military prosecution is expected to indict Moon after reviewing documents transferred from the CIO.

This undated file photo shows Defense Intelligence Commander Maj. Gen. Moon Sang-ho. (Yonhap)

mlee@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Lee Minji · December 26, 2024

13. Top military officer inspects readiness of missile unit

Top military officer inspects readiness of missile unit | Yonhap News Agency

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · December 26, 2024

SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top military officer on Thursday visited an Army missile unit to inspect its readiness against North Korean military threats, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.

JCS Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo inspected the unit under the Army Missile Strategic Command at an unspecified location amid concerns the North could undertake provocative acts to take advantage of the recent political turmoil in the South.

Kim called for the unit to demonstrate its strength without "hesitation" in a contingency, vowing to make North Korea "pay the price" if it stages provocations, according to the JCS.

Earlier in the day, Kim also visited the headquarters of the Army's VII Maneuver Corps in Icheon, about 50 kilometers southeast of Seoul, where he was briefed on its plans to enhance combat readiness, the JCS said.

The inspections came amid concerns over the military's readiness against the North's threats as multiple top military officials have recently been arrested for their alleged involvement in President Yoon Suk Yeol's short-lived imposition of martial law earlier this month.

This undated file photo, provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), shows JCS Chairman Adm. Kim Myung-soo (C). (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr

(END)

en.yna.co.kr · by Chae Yun-hwan · December 26, 2024

De Oppresso Liber,

David Maxwell

Vice President, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy

Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation

Editor, Small Wars Journal

Twitter: @davidmaxwell161

Phone: 202-573-8647

email: david.maxwell161@gmail.com