Quotes of the day:
“If you concentrate exclusively on victory, while no thought for the after effect, you may be too exhausted to profit by peace, while it is almost certain that the peace will be a bad one, containing the germs of another war.”
- B.H. Liddel-Hart
“Every human is like all other humans, some other humans, and no other human”
-Clyde Kluckhon
"The stranger sees only what he knows."
- African proverb
1. US extends ban on American passports for travel to NKorea
2. Experts: N. Korea May Be Pushing Biden for Nuclear Deal Trump Rejected
3. Trump-era ban on travel to North Korea extended
4. USFK commander calls for more achievements after summertime Korea-U.S. exercise
5. Highly enriched uranium is the key to N. Korea’s nuclear capability, says expert
6. N. Korean troops observed at Pyongyang airfield in possible sign of military parade preparations: sources
7. Military plans more tech, fewer soldiers
8. UN's Scathing Letter over Press Gag Bill Revealed
9. New cost-sharing deal takes effect for stationing US troops in South Korea
10. North Korea sticking to its ambition to be recognised as a nuclear-armed state
11. Eight young people in Musan County put on trial for imitating characters in S. Korean TV programs and films
12. Two North Korean Children Kidnapped by Desperate, Hungry Citizens
13. ＜Interview with a North Korean woman＞ Women Revolt Against Their Husbands. Coronavirus Changes Marriage Relationship.
14. In South Korea, Afghan Evacuees Find Hope in Their New 'Special Merit' Status
15. How Using a Cell Phone Got a North Korean Woman Arrested for Spying
16. The chimera of a unified Korea
1. US extends ban on American passports for travel to NKorea
Good news. I think this is also an indication that the Biden Administration will not allow premature lifting of sanctions.
Of course the appeasers (acting as either witting or unwitting agents of influence for the north Korean agenda) are already tweeting about this with false claims:
Women Cross DMZ
@WomenCrossDMZ
By renewing the travel ban to North Korea for another year, the Biden administration is continuing to undermine family reunions, the delivery of lifesaving humanitarian aid, and people-to-people exchanges and peace-building efforts. https://koreapeacenow.org/bidens-decision-to-renew-trump-era-travel-ban-disappoints-korean-americans-humanitarian-groups/
A good response by Joshua Stanton:
Joshua Stanton
@freekorea_us
1h
The US passport restriction began in 2017, after (so says a federal judge) N Korea tortured a young American into a coma.
When was the last time Pyongyang allowed a US or N Korean citizen to have a family reunion in either country before that?
Also, it refuses humanitarian aid.
US extends ban on American passports for travel to NKorea
AP · by MATTHEW LEE · September 1, 2021
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration has extended for one year a Trump-era ban on the use of U.S. passports for travel to North Korea.
The ban had first been imposed by former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in 2017 after the death of American student Otto Warmbier, who suffered grievous injuries while in North Korean custody. It has been extended annually ever since.
The State Department announced the extension of the ban until Aug. 31, 2022, in a Federal Register notice to be published on Thursday. Humanitarian groups have expressed concern about the impact the initial ban and its extensions have had on providing relief to isolated North Korea, which is one of the world’s neediest countries.
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The ban makes it illegal to use a U.S. passport for travel to, from or through North Korea, also known as the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, or the DPRK, unless the document has been specially validated. Such validations are granted by the State Department only in the case of compelling national interest.
“The Department of State has determined there continues to be serious risk to U.S. citizens and nationals of arrest and long-term detention constituting imminent danger to their physical safety,” the department said in the notice. “Accordingly, all U.S. passports shall remain invalid for travel to, in, or through the DPRK unless specially validated for such travel under the authority of the secretary of state.”
Warmbier was part of a group tour of North Korea and was leaving the country in January 2016 when he was arrested for allegedly stealing a propaganda poster. He was later convicted of subversion and was sentenced to 15 years in prison. In June 2017, North Korean authorities reported to U.S. officials that Warmbier had suffered extensive injuries while in custody, and President Donald Trump’s administration sent a delegation to repatriate him.
Comatose, Warmbier died in a Cincinnati hospital six days after his return to the U.S. Shortly thereafter, Tillerson imposed the ban on the use of U.S. passports for travel to North Korea.
AP · by MATTHEW LEE · September 1, 2021
2. Experts: N. Korea May Be Pushing Biden for Nuclear Deal Trump Rejected
My comments below.
Excerpts:
Former President Donald Trump rejected an offer by regime leader Kim Jong Un to dismantle the Yongbyon site in exchange for sanctions relief when the two met in Hanoi in February 2019. The summit collapsed because Trump wanted Pyongyang to shut down all its nuclear facilities, a move Kim refused to make.
Experts told VOA Korean that the timing of the Yongbyon reactor’s July reactivation may be a test of the Biden administration as it coincided with the beginning of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, a process that concluded on Monday.
Experts: N. Korea May Be Pushing Biden for Nuclear Deal Trump Rejected
By Christy Lee
August 31, 2021 10:55 PM
WASHINGTON - Experts say North Korea’s reactivation of the reactor at its Yongbyon nuclear facility may be a calculated step by Pyongyang to gain leverage in a renewed effort to gain concessions from the U.S.
North Korea resumed the operation of a nuclear reactor at Yongbyon in early July, according to the annual report released by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday. The reactor, capable of producing plutonium to make nuclear weapons, had been dormant from early December 2018.
IAEA: Renewed Activity at N. Korea Nuclear Reactor 'Deeply Troubling'
The IAEA has had no access to North Korea since Pyongyang expelled its inspectors in 2009
Former President Donald Trump rejected an offer by regime leader Kim Jong Un to dismantle the Yongbyon site in exchange for sanctions relief when the two met in Hanoi in February 2019. The summit collapsed because Trump wanted Pyongyang to shut down all its nuclear facilities, a move Kim refused to make.
Experts told VOA Korean that the timing of the Yongbyon reactor’s July reactivation may be a test of the Biden administration as it coincided with the beginning of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan, a process that concluded on Monday.
Evans Revere, a former State Department official who has an extensive experience dealing with North Korea, said, “We cannot rule out that the resumption of plutonium production and reprocessing [reactor] at Yongbyon is Pyongyang’s way of reminding the United States of the dangers posed by the nuclear facilities at Yongbyon in order to see what ‘price’ the United States might be willing to pay to freeze or shut down these facilities if negotiations resume.”
David Maxwell, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said restarting the reactor is North Korea’s attempt at “using threats and increased tensions to try to drive the U.S. to dialogue to obtain concessions of sanctions relief.”
Maxwell continued to say, “Kim may assess that the Biden administration needs some kind of foreign policy success and may really want to show progress on North Korea.”
Gary Samore, former White House coordinator for Arms Control and Weapons of Mass Destruction during the Obama administration, said Pyongyang is trying to enhance its leverage with Washington in future negotiations.
“Starting up the five-megawatt reactor gives North Korea more leverage, gives the U.S. more incentive to accept North Korea’s proposal,” Samore said.
Samore added, “At the end of the day, of course, if the two sides can’t come to an agreement, North Korea can always use the extra plutonium for its nuclear weapons program. So the decision to restart the reactor serves both a diplomatic purpose in terms of enhancing North Korean leverage, and also serves a technical purpose in terms of providing more material for its nuclear weapons.”
President Joe Biden has been dealing with the aftermath of its troop withdrawal in Afghanistan since mid-August as the Taliban moved with unanticipated speed to occupy the nation and its capital, Kabul, with little resistance.
President Joe Biden approaches the podium to speak about the end of the war in Afghanistan from the State Dining Room of the White House, Aug. 31, 2021, in Washington.
Revere said that Pyongyang may increase its military provocations in an attempt to exploit what it sees as a weakened U.S. position.
Revere said, “North Korea may be tempted to view the United States as weak or irresolute in the aftermath of the end of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan, and this in turn could lead to military adventurism by North Korea.”
Experts, however, do not believe North Korea will make threats that would overstep the U.S. refusal to accept testing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) or nuclear weapons.
“An ICBM or nuclear weapons test would push the United States into increasing sanctions pressure on North Korea and make it very difficult for China to push back against the existing U.S. and United Nations sanctions, which are not outcomes that North Korea wants,” said Bruce Bennett, a senior defense analyst at the RAND Corp.
China helps North Korea evade sanctions, particularly with coal exports and petroleum imports, according to the United Nations.
Kim announced in December 2019 that North Korea was ending its self-imposed moratorium on testing long-range missiles and nuclear weapons and demanded concessions from the U.S. Nevertheless, the regime so far has not tested either.
Maxwell said North Korea is likely to raise provocations by carrying out “major mobilization activities” of its conventional military force such as artillery and rocket forces trainings, heightened air defense training, movement of special operation forces and naval vessels, and increased activity along the demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas.
“We will see activities that we can assess as preparations for a possible major attack,” Maxwell said. “This will be somewhat ambiguous because it can be assessed as a major training exercises.”
Talks between Pyongyang and Washington remain largely deadlocked, despite the Biden administration’s attempts to reengage North Korea.
U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Sung Kim met with South Korea’s top nuclear envoy, Noh Kyu-duk, who visited Washington D.C. this week. On Monday, the two discussed ways to bring North Korea to the negotiating table. Kim said he is waiting for a reply from North Korea on the U.S. offer for talks.
3. Trump-era ban on travel to North Korea extended
Unpublished, but as noted it is available online and I guess will be officially published today (Thursday).
Excerpts:
Under the ban, all U.S. passports are invalid for traveling to North Korea unless “specifically validated for such authority under the Secretary of State.”
Trump-era ban on travel to North Korea extended
The Hill · by Jordan Williams · September 1, 2021
The Biden administration is extending a Trump-era ban on travel to North Korea for one year.
Under the ban, all U.S. passports are invalid for traveling to North Korea unless “specifically validated for such authority under the Secretary of State.”
The agency said it determined “there continues to be serious risk to U.S. citizens and nationals of arrest and long-term detention constituting imminent danger to their physical safety.”
The travel ban was first imposed in 2017 by then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson after the death of Otto Warmbier, who was detained in North Korea.
Warmbier was sentenced to 15 years in prison 2016 for allegedly trying to steal a political poster. He only served 17 months before being released and returned to the United States.
While detained, Warmbier suffered an injury which caused him to be in a coma for over a year. He died shortly after returning to the U.S.
The ban was first announced in July 2017, and all passports were declared invalid for travel to North Korea in September 2017. The ban had been extended three times — in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
The forthcoming extension will take effect when it is officially published in the federal register Thursday.
The Hill · by Jordan Williams · September 1, 2021
4. USFK commander calls for more achievements after summertime Korea-U.S. exercise
I hope the leaders of the alliance read between the lines of General LaCamera's comments. We need more training. He did not and will not say this, but I will: We cannot afford to sacrifice the readiness of the combined military force in order to chase the fantasies of appeasement with north Korea. Those who call for cancelation, postponement, and scaling back of exercises put our deterrence and defense capabilities at risk which puts the security of the ROK at risk.
As a side note Yonhap illustrates a continued problem. The press refers to General LaCamera as the commander of USFK who also leads the ROK/US CFC and UNC. The Korean press should always be referring to the ROK/US CFC as that command "belongs" to the ROK and is the one with the solmen mission of deterrence and defense of the ROK. They should state General LaCamera is the Commander of the ROK/US CFC who also leads the UNC and USFK. This is especially important for OPCON transition. All Koreans in the South must recognize the importance of the ROK/US CFC to their security and the press must help properly inform them. The press should note the photo and symbolism of the three organizational insignias on the podium. The ROK/US CFC is in front with the UNC and USFK behind it, supporting it. Note also that General LaCamara's comments are all about the ROK/US CFC and he makes no mention of USFK or the UNC. You would think the press would notice this but. their bias is to always try to make a subtle point about the US (incorrectly) being in charge. The ROK/US CFC belongs to both nations and is equally controlled by both nations. The ROK press needs to acknowledge this.
USFK commander calls for more achievements after summertime Korea-U.S. exercise | Yonhap News Agency
By Oh Seok-min
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) commander Gen. Paul LaCamera has said that the latest joint exercise between South Korea and the United States served as a chance to display readiness and strengthen the bilateral alliance, but the two sides need to and can "achieve more."
The commander, who also leads the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command and the United Nations Command, made the comments in a message sent to the Korea-U.S. Alliance Foundation after wrapping up the joint summertime exercise.
"My impression is the ROK military continues to display initiatives towards the pursuit of constant readiness, professionalism, endurance and focus to meet any challenge. I have been consistently impressed with the ROK-U.S. Alliance. Yet, I know we can achieve more," LaCamera said. ROK is the acronym of South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.
The nine-day regular exercise that ended Friday was held in a smaller scale amid the pandemic. The computer-simulated exercise did not include outdoor drills and involved a smaller number of service members than previous ones also amid peace efforts involving North Korea.
"As we continue to make concrete steps toward critical tasks, such as the bilaterally agreed upon conditions based OPCON transition, we will continue to demonstrate to our adversaries that our alliance is rock solid, ironclad, and holds the indomitable values of two unique cultures forged together in war and maintained during armistice," he added.
The two sides have been working for the transition of the wartime operational control (OPCON) of the Korean troops from Washington to Seoul, and they were supposed to conduct a Full Operational Capability (FOC) test as part of combined exercises to check if South Korea is on course to meet conditions required for retaking OPCON.
But they've not been able to carry out the FOC test since last year due to COVID-19, effectively making it impossible for the Moon Jae-in government to achieve the transition goal within its term that ends on May 2022. The transfer is not time-based but conditions-based.
North Korea warned last month of a "serious security crisis" in protest of the summertime exercise, and has not responded to the South's regular phone calls via liaison and military hotlines since Aug. 10.
Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that North Korea has not shown unusual military activities, and the Seoul military has been closely monitoring their movement in cooperation with the U.S.
Pyongyang has long railed against the combined exercises, denouncing them as a rehearsal for invasion, though Seoul and Washington have stressed that they are regular ones that are purely defensive in nature.
"Together, we will honor our most sacred trust to prepare our combined Service Members to fight tonight and win, on the most dangerous piece of ground, the last 100 meters," LaCamera said.
graceoh@yna.co.kr
(END)
5. Highly enriched uranium is the key to N. Korea’s nuclear capability, says expert
Note the comment on the "appeasement strategy."
Excerpt:
The intelligence authorities in Washington and Seoul postulate that enrichment facilities at Yongbyon and Kangson are capable of extracting as much as 80 to 100 kilograms of HEU a year. Though less than the amount estimated by former deputy director-general Heinonen, this figure suggests the possibility that as much as 240 to 300 kilograms of HEU could have been additionally produced, capable of building around nine to twelve uranium nuclear bombs, in the course of the period from 2018 to 2020, during which the appeasement strategy was adopted with respect to North Korea. Adding 280 kilograms of HEU believed to be possessed by North Korea in 2017, the current stockpile of HEU is expected to reach as much as 520 to 580 kilograms.
Highly enriched uranium is the key to N. Korea’s nuclear capability, says expert
Posted September. 02, 2021 07:30,
Updated September. 02, 2021 07:30
Highly enriched uranium is the key to N. Korea’s nuclear capability, says expert. September. 02, 2021 07:30. by Sang-Ho Yun ysh1005@donga.com.
With North Korea’s Yongbyun 5MWe reactor appearing to have restarted, Olli Heinonen, former Deputy Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), told Voice of America in an interview on Tuesday that North Korea is trying to gain an upper hand over the U.S. with its plutonium production. It is uranium enrichment that constitutes the essence of North Korea’s production of fissile materials, he added.
The former deputy director-general argued that plutonium produced in the Yongbyon nuclear reactor is just around seven to eight kilograms per year, with which only one or two nuclear weapons can be made, falling far short of achieving a significant shift in strategic balance. “Assuming that North Korea gradually ramped up uranium enrichment activities in Yongbyon and elsewhere and used it to produce fuel for the experimental light water reactor (ELWR), approximately 540 kilograms of highly enriched uranium (HEU) could have been produced by the end of 2020,” said Mr. Heinonen. He estimated that North Korea is capable of producing annually 150 to 160 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, the amount enough to make six uranium nuclear bombs.
The intelligence authorities in Washington and Seoul postulate that enrichment facilities at Yongbyon and Kangson are capable of extracting as much as 80 to 100 kilograms of HEU a year. Though less than the amount estimated by former deputy director-general Heinonen, this figure suggests the possibility that as much as 240 to 300 kilograms of HEU could have been additionally produced, capable of building around nine to twelve uranium nuclear bombs, in the course of the period from 2018 to 2020, during which the appeasement strategy was adopted with respect to North Korea. Adding 280 kilograms of HEU believed to be possessed by North Korea in 2017, the current stockpile of HEU is expected to reach as much as 520 to 580 kilograms.
“In view of the recent annual report published by the IAEA, which pointed out that the enrichment facilities in Kangson and elsewhere are currently in operation, North Korea’s HEU stockpile is estimated to exceed 600 kilograms by the end of this year. Should this trend continue, North Korea will possess more than one ton of nuclear weaponry four to five years later,” said the military official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
6. N. Korean troops observed at Pyongyang airfield in possible sign of military parade preparations: sources
I wonder what they want to show us this time. The October 2020 and January 2021 parades seemed to indicate a lot of new military equipment from the strategic to the tactical. However, I have seen no reports that any of that has been fielded to operational units.
But I am always reminded of Murphy's Laws whenever I read reports of north Korean military parades.
No inspection (or parade) ready unit ever passed combat.
No combat ready unit ever passed inspection.
N. Korean troops observed at Pyongyang airfield in possible sign of military parade preparations: sources | Yonhap News Agency
By Oh Seok-min
SEOUL, Sept. 2 (Yonhap) -- Nearly 10,000 troops have been observed at a major airfield in North Korea recently, a possible sign that the communist country is preparing for a military parade to mark major anniversaries, sources said Thursday.
The troops and military vehicles have been spotted at the Mirim Parade Training Ground in the country's capital city since a few days earlier, and the South Korean military is closely monitoring related activities, according to government sources.
The Mirim airfield has been a venue for the North to conduct rehearsals for military parades organized to mark important anniversaries, such as the establishment of its communist government that falls on Sept. 9 and the Oct. 10 founding anniversary of the ruling Worker's Party.
Earlier in the day, 38 North, a U.S. website monitoring the North, also tweeted, "Troop formations are observed at #DPRK's Mirim Parade Training Ground in Pyongyang." DPRK is the acronym of the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
"Practice for big parades generally begins one to two months in advance (sometimes more). This could indicate an upcoming military parade in October," it added.
Last year, the North held a massive military parade to mark the 75th party anniversary, and unveiled a new intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) and several other advanced military assets.
The last known military parade took place in January this year after Pyongyang wrapped up its eight-day party congress. During the event, leader Kim Jong-un pledged to bolster the country's nuclear arsenal.
The latest move came after North Korea warned of a "serious security crisis" in protest over the combined military exercise between South Korea and the United States, which was staged last month.
The North has not responded to the South's regular phone calls via liaison and military hotlines since last month and remains unresponsive to the U.S.' offer for dialogue.
"We've kept close tabs on North Korea's related activities in close coordination with the U.S. intelligence authorities," an official of Seoul's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said. "Further analysis is needed to learn the exact intent of such military activities."
graceoh@yna.co.kr
(END)
7. Military plans more tech, fewer soldiers
Nice in theory but war will always be a human endeavor and manpower intensive, especially for certain operations to include stabilization and post conflict (or post collapse) operations. The ROK would do well to radically change its reserve system, increase the size and capability of reserve forces, and provide them with proper equipment and sustained training. Yes, the number of military age males is declining due to South Korean demographics but that can be offset by maintaining a large reserve force of those up to age 35 who spend 10 years after active service sustaining their military skills to be prepared for augment active forces or fill out reserve mobilization divisions.
Thursday
September 2, 2021
Military plans more tech, fewer soldiers
Defense Minister Suh Wook visits the Navy's Cheonghae unit in Muscat, Oman on Sept. 1. [NEWS1]
The South Korean military will begin to deploy new weapons systems and significantly upgrade its technological capabilities in response to South Korea's shrinking population and the North's development of nuclear weapons, including a ballistic missile as destructive as a tactical nuclear weapon, according to the Defense Ministry's 2022-2026 defense plan which was released Thursday.
It is expected that 315.2 trillion won ($271.8 billion) will be spent achieving the plan, the military's five-year blueprint for upgrading its arsenal.
A highlight of the plan is a surface-to-surface missile that can carry a 3-ton warhead and fly up to 400 kilometers (248 miles), which is in the final phase of development.
The plan comes after the United States agreed to lift Cold War-era restrictions on South Korean missile technology in May, following a summit between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Joe Biden.
The plan would also re-organize the armed forces to reflect the rising significance of technology and the military's declining pool of eligible men to serve.
The Army will be reorganized into a troop-saving unit structure based on high-tech technology, maintaining the current two-fold operational command structure: the Ground Operations Command and the Second Operations Command.
However, with the elimination of the 6th and 8th Army Corps, the number of Army Corps will be reduced from eight to six, while the number of divisions will decrease from 35 to 33.
The Army will also establish a missile brigade to enhance its precision strike capabilities. In the event of a security crisis, a rapid response division has been established to carry out missions on the Korean Peninsula.
In its announcement, the Defense Ministry said, "We will strengthen our operational capabilities with upgrades in artillery, armor, engineering, and aviation, and further strengthen our combat capabilities by introducing advanced equipment such as the warrior platform and drone combat systems."
The "warrior platform" is a defense project to upgrade the equipment of individual troops to increase their survivability and enhance their combat abilities, turning them into "cutting-edge scientific technology soldiers," as described by former Army Chief of Staff Gen. Kim Yong-woo at a press conference in February 2019.
Such equipment includes a ballistic helmet, combat and night vision goggles and an infrared designator used to distinguish friend from foe.
The Army will also deploy the K-9 Thunder self-propelled 155 mm howitzer with automatic firing capabilities, which will enable more destructive and rapid firing with a small number of ground troops.
The Defense Ministry plans to add unmanned defense systems, such as reconnaissance and attack drones and operational support robots to Army units in anticipation of mixed human-robot combat scenarios.
Meanwhile, the Navy will establish the 7th Mobile Fleet as the Mobile Fleet Command, with its own Air Command based in the 6th Fleet.
The Mobile Fleet Command, which will be composed of three taskforces, will expand its operational scope to the deep sea to protect maritime traffic routes. The Navy’s Air Command will introduce and operate maritime patrols and helicopters with enhanced flying distances.
The Navy will be provided with more 3,000-ton submarines capable of firing submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs), the first of which it received earlier this year. The Navy will receive three more Aegis-equipped destroyers, the main combat ships of the mobile fleet, and develop a 6,000-ton "mini-Aegis" destroyer.
The Aegis Combat System is a U.S. naval weapons system that uses computer and radar technology to track and guide weapons to destroy enemy targets.
A light aircraft carrier, the deployment of which is planned for the early 2030s, will be at the eventual head of the Mobile Fleet Command.
The Defense Ministry added, “We are considering installing an appropriate interceptor missile in time for the next Aegis ship in order to secure its ballistic missile response capability.
The Air Force will also be reorganized into a unit structure that maximizes its aerospace and joint operations capabilities while maintaining the current command structure, which encompasses 13 fighter wing and five battalions.
KF-16 and F-15K fighter jets with improved precision strike capabilities will be deployed to the Air Force to enhance its air superiority in combat situations.
The Defense Ministry added that the force will obtain next-generation indigenous fighter jets – the KF-21 developed by Korea Aerospace Industries – as soon as they enter mass production, which is expected to begin in 2026.
Reflecting the country’s demographic decline, the number of standing troops will be gradually reduced from 618,000 in 2017 to 500,000 by next year.
However, the number of officers will be raised from 196,000 in 2017 (31.6 percent of the active-duty troops) to 202,000 in 2026 (40.5 percent). The Ministry also aims to raise the proportion of recruited female soldiers from 5.9 percent in 2017 to 8.8 percent next year.
The Ministry of National Defense explained that the number of civilian workers working in the non-combat field will also gradually expand from 32,000 in 2017 to 62,000 in 2026.
BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]
8. UN's Scathing Letter over Press Gag Bill Revealed
"Kicked the bill into the long grass."
Excerpts:
The party leadership claimed it had passed the letter on to the party caucus, which would share it with all members, but that never happened.
One MP lawmaker said, "I'm sure we will eventually get to see the statement."
But in a last-minute U-turn on Tuesday, the MP agreed with the opposition Liberty Korea Party, which had threatened to filibuster it as long as possible, to kick the bill into the long grass pending "further deliberations."
UN's Scathing Letter over Press Gag Bill Revealed
September 02, 2021 13:33
The Office for the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights has blasted the ruling Minjoo Party's media reform bill as "utterly disproportionate" and limiting "a wide range of expression."
The complaint came in a letter to the government that the ruling party tried to suppress until it became headline news on Wednesday.
The letter was made available on Wednesday. It was sent as long ago as Aug. 27 by Irene Khan, the UN special rapporteur for freedom of opinion and expression.
Khan warned that even if the Korean government's intention is to "establish public confidence in the press," the bill "may just do the opposite if adopted without further changes."
Khan voiced concerns that the media gag bill, which is ostensibly aimed at curbing "fake news," could "limit a wide range of expression that is essential to a democratic society" just as "access to information and the free flow of ideas will be particularly critical ahead of, and during the presidential election of March 2022."
"The punitive damages set forth [in the bill] appear to be utterly disproportionate. I am seriously concerned the excessive punitive damages may result in self-censorship by the media and stifle important debates on matters of public interest," she adds.
Khan reminded Korea of its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which states the "value placed by the Covenant upon uninhibited expression is particularly high in the circumstances of public debate in a democratic society."
"The prohibition of false information is not in itself a legitimate aim to restrict freedom of expression," she stressed. "In effect, people have the right to express ill-founded opinions and statements or indulge in parody or satire if they so wish."
Earlier the government claimed it had passed the letter to the MP because the bill was subject to deliberations in the National Assembly but declined to say what was in it.
The party leadership claimed it had passed the letter on to the party caucus, which would share it with all members, but that never happened.
One MP lawmaker said, "I'm sure we will eventually get to see the statement."
But in a last-minute U-turn on Tuesday, the MP agreed with the opposition Liberty Korea Party, which had threatened to filibuster it as long as possible, to kick the bill into the long grass pending "further deliberations."
- Copyright © Chosunilbo & Chosun.com
9. New cost-sharing deal takes effect for stationing US troops in South Korea
Interestingly I have not seen any reports yet in the English language Korean media. I wonder if it has been reported in the Korean language media. I think the there is a sense that this should not be a headline item for political reasons in South Korea and because it breaks the $1 billion threshold.
New cost-sharing deal takes effect for stationing US troops in South Korea
South Korea's Ministry of Defense is expected to ask the National Assembly for a 4.5% increase to this year’s overall defense budget of $43.7 billion. (U.S. Marine Corps)
CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — South Korea will spend nearly $125 million more this year to station American troops on the peninsula, according to a new cost-sharing deal that took effect Wednesday.
The Special Measures Agreement between South Korea and the United States determines the cost split for keeping roughly 28,500 U.S. troops in the country and employing South Korean civilians on U.S. military bases.
Seoul is expected to contribute $1.02 billion for 2021, a 13.9% increase to the $896.62 million it spent the previous year. The renewed agreement will retroactively apply to South Korea’s contribution from last year, which was carried over from 2019 after negotiations for the agreement’s renewal became deadlocked during President Donald Trump’s administration.
Under the new six-year arrangement, Seoul’s future contributions will be proportional to its overall defense budget, which has risen in recent years. In the past, South Korea’s Special Measures Agreement contributions were determined separately.
The Ministry of Defense is expected to ask the National Assembly for a 4.5% increase to this year’s overall defense budget of $43.7 billion, according to local news reports. That will also increase South Korea’s contribution to the Special Measures Agreement.
Shin Beomchul, director of the Center for Diplomacy and Security at the Korea Research Institute for National Strategy, described the new agreement as “stable” and equitable for the time being.
“A majority of South Korean people support a strong alliance, so they agreed to increase the amount of budget,” Shin told Stars and Stripes on Thursday.
However, the agreement may become inequitable due to the new provision that connects the Special Agreement to the overall defense budget, Shin said.
“It should not depend on the annual defense budget, but on the annual price increase,” Shin said.
The ruling Democratic Party shared similar concerns, saying in a Tuesday statement that “synchronizing annual increase [rates] with the national defense budget could lead to excessive contributions.”
The “South Korean government must negotiate annual increase rates of the agreement aside from national defense budgets in coming negotiations,” the party’s statement said.
South Korea’s revised contribution is a modest increase from the estimated 13% hike Seoul initially offered the U.S. during negotiations last year, but far less than the amount sought by Trump. He described South Korea’s past contribution levels as “peanuts” and demanded that it spend as much as $5 billion to keep U.S. troops on the peninsula.
The State Department during Trump’s administration argued the U.S. “invests significant military resources” to maintain its presence in South Korea, namely, to deter threats from North Korea.
“Sustaining the costs of our global military presence is not a burden that should fall on the U.S. taxpayer alone but is a responsibility that should be shared fairly with allies and partners who benefit from our presence,” the department said in 2019.
South Korean lawmakers from the National Assembly overwhelmingly supported the deal in a 133-11 vote Tuesday afternoon.
Following the vote, the ruling Democratic Party issued a statement saying the two countries are “now in a position to manage the alliance with more stable manner, without any necessity of yearly renegotiations.”
“Unlike Trump administration’s inequitable requests to demand sharp increases in the past, two countries came up with relatively reasonable results,” the party’s statement said Tuesday.
South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in a separate statement Wednesday, said the new agreement “is expected to provide conditions for stable stationing of U.S. Forces Korea and greatly contribute to the enhancement of the … alliance.”
Some lawmakers, such as Justice Party leader Bae Jin Gyo, voiced their opposition to the agreement.
“The value of the [South Korea]-U.S. alliance would be damaged and only unequal … relations would be left,” Gyo said in a speech at the National Assembly on Tuesday. “We cannot, and must not, agree on the unreasonable demand that asks South Korea to raise its contribution, which is defense costs being used by the U.S. for the U.S.’s investments …”
Yoo Kyong Chang
10. North Korea sticking to its ambition to be recognised as a nuclear-armed state
Yes. This is one of Kim Jong-un's key strategic objectives. Failure to recognize this hinders policy and strategy.
North Korea sticking to its ambition to be recognised as a nuclear-armed state: Korea Herald
By The Straits Times3 min
SEOUL (THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - In its annual report made available this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it had detected new indications of the operation of North Korea's main nuclear complex in Yongbyon.
The report based on satellite imagery said there have been indications since early July that a key reactor at the nuclear complex north of Pyongyang has been in operation.
In December 2018, the North suspended the operation of the 5 megawatt reactor, from which it obtained spent fuel rods to extract plutonium, a fissile material used to make nuclear bombs.
The report also said that the radiochemical laboratory at the Yongbyon complex operated for approximately five months from mid-February.
The timeframe is consistent with the time required to reprocess a complete core of irradiated fuel from the reactor, it added.
The UN nuclear watchdog recalled in the report that the continuation of the North's nuclear programme is a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions banning the communist state from pursuing nuclear arms and missile development.
Pyongyang's latest move seems intended to put pressure on the US to come closer to its terms in cutting a nuclear deal without conducting additional nuclear tests or test-firing more long-range ballistic missiles.
It has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and missile testing since late 2017.
It may seek to heighten the value of the Yongbyon complex as a bargaining chip when stalled nuclear negotiations with the US resume.
During his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi in February 2019, then US President Donald Trump rebuffed Mr Kim's offer to dismantle nuclear facilities at Yongbyon in return for lifting a significant part of US-led international sanctions on the impoverished country.
The North has since stayed away from denuclearisation talks with the US.
Mr Trump's successor Joe Biden's administration has repeatedly offered to hold talks with North Korea anywhere, any time and without preconditions.
But it also has made it clear that the sanctions on Pyongyang will not be eased until the regime takes substantial steps toward complete denuclearisation.
If the Biden administration shows no interest in its attempt to revive the old bargaining tactic - as expected by most observers - Pyongyang might seek to build up its nuclear arsenal by continuing to reactivate the Yongbyon complex.
What the latest IAEA report suggests is that the North is sticking to its ambition to be recognised as a nuclear-armed state while drawing concessions from the US to pull itself out of deepening economic difficulties.
It has also stirred up controversy here over the possibility of President Moon Jae-in's administration having hidden or ignored Pyongyang's renewed nuclear activities to push ahead with inter-Korean dialogue and assistance for the North.
The presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae hailed the North's agreement in late July to restore inter-Korean communication lines, which it had unilaterally severed last year, as a move to carry forward the peace process on the peninsula.
It emphasised the agreement came after Mr Moon exchanged a dozen personal letters with Mr Kim over the past months.
Subsequently, Mr Moon instructed military commanders to consider further reducing an annual summertime joint drill between South Korea and the US while the Unification Ministry permitted the shipment of materials by the private sector to the North.
Such moves came as the Moon administration was apparently aware of indications of the Yongbyon complex back in operation, given Seoul officials said after the IAEA report went public that they were closely monitoring the North's nuclear and missile activities in close cooperation with the US.
The reported reactivation of the North's nuclear facilities also harms the credibility of Mr Moon's repeated assurances in 2018, when he held three rounds of summits with Mr Kim, that the North Korean leader had a firm will to work toward denuclearisation.
Commenting on the IAEA's report Tuesday, a Cheong Wa Dae official said the reported escalation in the North's nuclear activities underlined the urgency of engaging with it.
On the same day, Unification Minister Lee In-young stressed the need to expand humanitarian aid to the North by being more flexible on the implementation of sanctions.
The US also seems to be refraining from responding sternly to Pyongyang's latest move, reiterating its commitment to seeking dialogue with the North on issues related to denuclearisation.
Seoul and Washington should react more resolutely and send a clear message that Pyongyang would have to pay a dear price for its repeated reactivation of nuclear sites.
- The Korea Herald is a member of The Straits Times media partner Asia News Network, an alliance of 23 news media organisations.
11. Eight young people in Musan County put on trial for imitating characters in S. Korean TV programs and films
Another indication that the regime views information from the South as an existential threat. Note the impact of the film and the TV program.
But I guess the "enforcers" must be familiar with the show if they can recognize that young people are imitating the characters. Do they break the law as well by watching these shows?
Eight young people in Musan County put on trial for imitating characters in S. Korean TV programs and films - Daily NK
The eight had repeatedly seen the South Korean film “The Spy Gone North” and TV program “Crash Landing on You"
Eight young people in Musan County, North Hamgyong Province, were recently put on public trial for imitating characters in South Korean TV programs or films and telling others about the dramas or films they had seen.
A source in North Hamgyong Province told Daily NK on Monday that the eight were arrested by the Ministry of State Security and publicly tried when locals reported them to the authorities for watching South Korean films, TV programs and music videos.
According to the source, ever since North Korea enacted a law to eradicate “reactionary thought and culture” in December, the authorities have been encouraging residents through their inminban (people’s units) to actively report one another if they discover infractions.
Members of one inminban tipped off the Ministry of State Security about the young people who watched the South Korean videos. After their arrest, they were publicly tried in the courtyard of a middle school in the county seat on Aug. 21.
“Seven legal officers from the provincial unified command [on non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior] convened the public trial, sitting on classroom chairs brought outside and neatly placed on a dais,” he said. “At the trial, they placed the eight youths from Musan in front of them and called them a ‘gang’ that imitated characters in South Korean videos and conveyed or spread the content of those videos to locals.”
The trial determined that the eight youth had repeatedly seen the South Korean film “The Spy Gone North” and TV program “Crash Landing on You,” and that they searched out and saw all other films and TV programs in which the actors and actresses of those two movies appeared. This apparently made their crime a bigger deal.
Musan County, North Hamgyong Province. / Image: Daily NK
“In mentioning their crimes, no mention at all was made of the content of the videos they watched,” said the source. “[The officers of the court] said that South Korean videos scripted of non-existent falsehoods, manipulations and fabrications that harm the dignity of the Republic are threatening our ideological position.
“The party and legal institutions believe the continuous discovery of such acts — despite the state’s tougher legal controls on non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior — amounts to mockery and insults,” he continued, adding, “They sternly pronounced the youth ripe for life imprisonment.”
Accordingly, the authorities reportedly warned others at the trial that “nobody escapes the aware, keen eye of the locals, and that violators will eventually be caught,” noting that the eight youth had been arrested based on a tip from locals.
Because of much tougher punishments of non-socialist and anti-socialist behavior than before, Musan residents — and cadres in particular — are taking more care than ever to control the actions of their family members. In North Korea, an entire family can face ruin if even one member gets caught recklessly watching South Korean videos.
According to the source, Musan residents have complained that with so many local youth getting arrested for ideological issues, “every young person in the country will be arrested at this rate,” and that “everyone should avoid turning each other in [to the authorities] even if they’ve watched [South Korean movies and dramas].”
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
12. Two North Korean Children Kidnapped by Desperate, Hungry Citizens
Such unbelievable desperation. This is another indicator of the increasing potential for internal instability.
Two North Korean Children Kidnapped by Desperate, Hungry Citizens
Tough times drive citizens to try to get ransom money from well-off families.
As economic conditions worsen in North Korea, some desperate citizens have turned to kidnapping, with at least two children snatched in separate incidents in an attempt to extract ransom money from their families, sources in the country told RFA.
An economy already hindered by international nuclear sanctions got worse when the coronavirus pandemic started and Beijing and Pyongyang closed their border and suspended all trade in Jan. 2020. With much of North Korea’s economy based on trading goods from China, commerce in entire towns dried up and chronic food shortages got worse.
The prolonged pandemic has made people increasingly desperate to try to make a living. Some are targeting children that they can hold for ransom.
“A six-year-old girl disappeared in Songchon county while playing by the river in front of her house in the middle of this month,” a resident of South Pyongan province, North of the capital Pyongyang, told RFA’s Korean Service Sunday.
“She was kidnapped and taken hostage by a man in his 30s living in a faraway village from hers. The kidnapper knew that her family was well-off and even got her parents’ cellphone number before he took her to get ransom money,” said the source, who requested anonymity to speak freely.
According to the source, the kidnapper locked the girl up in a storage area in his house and called her parents to demand 500,000 won (about U.S. $75).
“Police were able to track down the cellphone and arrest the kidnapper, and they returned the child to her parents. The kidnapper is in a detention center at the police department,” the source said.
“Once the investigation is complete, he will be sentenced and sent to a correctional facility,” said the source.
Another resident of the province told RFA that another kidnapper took a 10-year-old boy at around the same time.
“In the middle of the month, a 10-year-old boy was walking along a mountain road in Yangdok county when a man in his 40s rode up on his motorcycle to offer the child a ride home,” said the second source, who requested anonymity for security reasons.
The man was caught after the boy reported what happened to a police officer after he managed to escape and return home on his own,” the second source said.
According to the second source, the second kidnapper got the idea for his crime from the movies.
“He confessed during the police investigation that he borrowed his friend’s motorcycle to copy a scene from a foreign movie in which actors took a hostage for ransom. He said he had no food to eat and was suffering from hunger,” the second source said.
“Residents are very anxious about what will happen in the future, and they are blaming the authorities for turning a blind eye to people’s living difficulties, yet still focus on controlling every aspect of their lives,” said the second source.
Hwagyo informers
Conditions in North Korea are much worse than the outside world knows, according to ethnic Chinese residents who traveled to China in mid-July.
Called Hwagyo in Korean, the PRC citizens who come from families who have lived in North Korea for generations have fewer travel restrictions than their North Korean citizen neighbors.
While in China in mid-July, several Hwagyo visitors relayed how dire the situation was to their contacts in China.
“A Hwagyo friend of who returned from Yangdok, South Pyongan province a few days ago confessed that it had been difficult to eat even three meals a day back in North Korea,” a Hwagyo in Dandong, Liaoning province, China told RFA Aug. 26.
“As he was not able to keep his business going due to the coronavirus pandemic, he barely survived each day by borrowing money from acquaintances,” the Dandong source said, adding that the visitor told him the situation was much worse what outsiders are aware of.
Another Hwagyo source in Shenyang, Liaoning province, China, told RFA that a Hwagyo visitor explained that food has become extremely expensive in North Korea.
“A Hwagyo who returned from Pyongsong county, South Pyongan province last month said that he had not even seen white rice for a while, because food prices in North Korea have skyrocketed,” the Shenyang source said.
“Shedding tears, he said that he had been off the seed money for his business for a while, but when that ran out, he had to continually borrow money to survive.”
RFA reported in July that three Hwagyo in different parts of North Korea had starved to death after the border closure ruined their businesses and they had no access to food.
The news was shocking to their communities because Hwagyo are usually among the most well-off residents because they are able to run lucrative import-export businesses because they can more freely travel to China.
A quarter century after famine killed as many as a tenth of North Korea’s 23 million people, the food situation in North Korea is again dire.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization estimated in a recent report that North Korea would be short about 860,000 tons of food this year, about two months of normal demand.
The forecast followed a warning from U.N Special Rapporteur on North Korean Human Rights Tomás Ojea Quintana in March that the closure of the Sino-Korean border had led to reported “deaths by starvation” and growing ranks of children and elderly who have resorted to begging.
Reported by Hyemin Son and Jeong Yon Park for RFA’s Korean Service. Translated by Jinha Shin. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
13. ＜Interview with a North Korean woman＞ Women Revolt Against Their Husbands. Coronavirus Changes Marriage Relationship.
COVID is having an impact in many different ways.
＜Interview with a North Korean woman＞ Women Revolt Against Their Husbands. Coronavirus Changes Marriage Relationship. [ISHIMARU Jiro]
(Photo) The construction of the dam of the Yalu River, a river bordering China in the morning, is done manually. However, residents seem to have been mobilized from workplaces and women's organizations. Photographed from the Chinese side in mid-July 2021 (ASIAPRESS).
A year and a half have passed since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Many people worldwide have been affected in their jobs and livelihoods, and vulnerable people are in dire straits. In North Korea, the prolonged situation with coronavirus has deepened ordinary people's deprivation. The number of cases where women, unable to bear the burden of the disease, have exploded in frustration with their husbands, leaving their homes or asking for divorce has increased. I interviewed a woman who lives in the northern part of the country about the current situation. She is a single mother who has been divorced. We used a Chinese cell phone to contact her.
“Recently, there has been an enormous increase in the number of women leaving their husbands to run away or to seek divorce. The main reason is that life has become difficult due to coronavirus. Men are required to work unconditionally at workplaces located in the country, but there is no salary or food rations because production has almost stopped. Instead, the workplaces demand workers to provide cash, firewood, gasoline and other materials.
Wives have to prepare for it by desperately earning money through business while feeding their families. If a man is absent without notice, he is criticized and sent to the "Labor Training Unit". After Coronavirus, the controls became strict and unforgiving. Even so, many men drink on the bill and don't do housework or help raise children. That's why wives hate being with them.”
※In North Korea, it is mandatory to participate in "organized life" in the workplace for learning and mobilization. A "Labour Training Unit" is a short-term forced labour camp where people are detained for violating the order.
――Men are also in a difficult position.
“At home, they are blamed by their wives for not earning enough money, and at work, they have to work like servants as ordered by their bosses. Many men get so stressed out that they drink and beat their wives. Even in the apartment where I live, I can often hear couples fighting.”
――I've heard that divorce is not easy in North Korea.
“The government doesn't easily grant divorces, and these days it takes about a year because there are so many people who want to get divorced. Also, women have to bribe them to make it go faster. It can be said that the court officials are living off the bribes they receive from women seeking divorce. Even if a woman runs away from home and returns to her parent's house, she cannot stay there for long because she is not registered as a resident and is subject to police control, so she has to return. Therefore, It's a long and hard time for the woman to get her divorce granted.”
――Do men accept divorce?
“No, most of them don't approve it because if they leave their wives, they can't live with themselves. In many cases, they don't give up their children as a condition of accepting the divorce and demand money on the pretext of child support.”
The Kim Jong-un regime has tightened social controls, such as restricting the commerce and movement of individuals under the excuse of the coronavirus quarantine, and many ordinary people are suffering from poverty with reduced cash income. Although North Korea still has a strong male-dominated culture, the increase in divorces is a "revolt" against the male-dominated society by women who have been forced to sacrifice for a long time.
14. In South Korea, Afghan Evacuees Find Hope in Their New 'Special Merit' Status
In South Korea, Afghan Evacuees Find Hope in Their New 'Special Merit' Status
By U.S. News & World Report2 min
FILE PHOTO: A mother carries her child as Afghan evacuees who supported the South Korean government's activities in Afghanistan arrive at Incheon International Airport in Incheon, South Korea, August 26, 2021. REUTERS/Kim Hong-JiReuters
By Hyun Young Yi
SEOUL (Reuters) - After many sleepless nights, a 41-year-old Afghan medical doctor successfully left Kabul with his family before the Taliban seized power last month and is set to begin a new life in South Korea.
The Afghan doctor is one of 390 evacuees who arrived in Seoul last week where the government said it was amending immigration laws to grant long-term residency to those who provided special service to South Korea.
Most of them are the families of people who had worked with the South Korean embassy, the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), and a hospital, among others.
"I'd like to continue my profession and I'd like to work as a medical doctor here," he told Reuters via Zoom during a two-week quarantine at a state-run facility.
"Of course, if getting a certificate is needed, I'll try to get the Korean certificate," he said, requesting to speak anonymously due to security reasons.
Immigration is a contentious issue in South Korea, a country where many pride themselves on ethnic homogeneity. But according to a Realmeter poll this week, about 70 percent of South Koreans support the plan to grant the Afghans special status.
Another Afghan evacuee told Reuters he appreciated the fact that the government had given them the status of "persons of special merit" rather than refugees.
"They don't call us refugees, they call us a special contributor and we are so proud of that name. We are so happy with that name," he said. "We came here and we want to live for a long time in peace," he added.
Dr. Sohn Moon-jun, former head of Korea Hospital in Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, said that the government has made efforts to help the arrivals get accepted but there was much to be done on South Korea's refugee policy.
"The refugee policy is almost absent in our country. In other countries, they have been accepting way more refugees. It is time to begin a discussion to establish policies on it," said Dr. Sohn.
Only 55 out of the 6,684 people who sought refugee status in South Korea in 2020 received it. In 2019, South Korea accepted 79 out of the 15,452 people who applied for refugee status in the country.
(Reporting by Hyun Young Yi; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa)
Copyright 2021 Thomson Reuters.
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15. How Using a Cell Phone Got a North Korean Woman Arrested for Spying
Some circular reporting here, but we should note that cell phones are becoming one of the tools for survival for some Koreans in the north.
How Using a Cell Phone Got a North Korean Woman Arrested for Spying
She was sent to a political prison camp, her family was exiled, and their house was confiscated.
The North Korean regime does not much care for its people using unauthorized cellular phones.
Last year, North Korea started cracking down harder on Chinese cell phones. While mobile phone hardware imports have been illegal in North Korea since the U.N. sanctions of 2017, some phones have found their way in regardless.
Regime authorities are known to have recently held lectures “emphasizing that people who use Chinese-made mobile phones will face punishment.” Those lectures made clear that those in North Korea “caught in the act talking on the phone with those in a foreign country” would face “five years of correctional labor.”
North Korea is believed to have a network that’s the equivalent of about 3G.
Now, there’s a new report that North Korea’s Ministry of State Security has arrested a woman for unauthorized phone use.
“North Korean authorities have apparently taken their sweeping operation against the use of Chinese-made mobile phones to the next level, instituting tough measures against offenders by confiscating their homes and exiling their families,” Daily NK reported this week.
The site’s source in North Hamgyong Province said that a woman in her 20s, known as Han, was placed under emergency arrest in Hoeryong in July.
“In the end, Han was recently sent to a political prison camp on charges of espionage, her family was exiled to a rural area and their house was confiscated,” the source said.
The source claimed that the woman had “handed over money to the family of a North Korean defector in early July,” which got her classified as a “remittance broker.” For that reason, she has been accused of espionage. The source claimed that when Han’s home was searched, authorities found “RMB 60,000 and USD 27,000,” indicating that she had been spying for South Korea.
“Frankly, it only depends on whether the Ministry of State Security decides to press charges,” Daily NK’s source said., “When you enter a Ministry of State Security interrogation room, the torture and violence is so bad you’ll confess even to things you didn’t do. How could a young woman in her 20s withstand the torture of the Ministry of State Security? It’s likely they got her to write a confession through violence.”
The story added that North Korea has been seeking to “mop up” illegal mobile phone use, an effort which has included stepping up the penalties.
“In the past, you could resolve this problem with connections or money, but recently, the authorities are responding to users of Chinese-made mobile phones in extraordinary fashion,” the source told Daily NK. “Now, locals are refraining as much as possible from contacting the outside world.”
Stephen Silver, a technology writer for the National Interest, is a journalist, essayist, and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
Image: Reuters
16. The chimera of a unified Korea
A view from the Catholic Church in Asia.
The author says much depends on the US but what about KimJong-un? He is the biggest impediment to unification and peace on the peninsula.
My view: The only way we are going to see an end to the nuclear program and threats as well as the human rights abuses and crimes against humanity being committed against the Korean people living in the north by the mafia-like crime family cult known as the Kim family regime is through achievement of unification and the establishment of a United Republic of Korea that is secure and stable, non-nuclear, economically vibrant, and unified under a liberal constitutional form of government based on individual liberty, rule of law, and human rights as determined by the Korean people. In short, a United Republic of Korea (UROK).
Excerpts:
The world has much to gain from a united Korea whose economy could surpass that of Germany or Japan in the next 30-40 years, as predicted by US investment bank Goldman Sachs.
The Koreans want to put the Cold War era behind them. But much depends on Washington and its wish for the Korean Peninsula.
The chimera of a unified Korea - UCA News
The Church wishes for the unification of the two Koreas but much depends on Washington and its wish for the peninsula
Before the 1950-53 Korean War, Changchung district of Pyongyang was a deeply religious city known as the “Korean Jerusalem.”
Since the division of Korea and rule by three generations of the Kim family, the world’s only communist dynasty, Changchung Cathedral does not house an ordained priest. Christians in North Korea are targeted as imperialist collaborators.
Living on both sides of the heavily armed military fence that divides the two Koreas, some 75 million people are considering the prospect of a united Korea in which the agrarian, uneducated North Koreans would be expected to cohabitate in the helter-skelter environment of South Korea, which has the highest rates of cosmetic surgery and teenage suicide in the world.
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin and Archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik, the first Korean appointed to a senior position in the Holy See, have stressed the need to unify the two Koreas.
On Aug. 31, Cardinal Parolin presented a paper, "The Role of the Churches in Establishing Peace on the Korean Peninsula," at a virtual Korea Global Forum for Peace, an annual event hosted by South Korea’s Ministry of Unification.
“Peace is more than the absence of war or a balance of power between opposing forces. There cannot be peace unless people’s welfare is safeguarded,” the 66-year-old cardinal said.
Just like virtually every other South Korean, I would very much like to see our nations reunited as one country
South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young urged North Korea to come out for talks on inter-Korean cooperation in humanitarian areas.
“The table for dialogue and negotiations never lies far away, nor does the path toward building fundamental trust that can remove long hostility through dialogue,” Lee said.
Archbishop Lazzaro You Heung-sik, the prefect of the Congregation for the Clergy, also affirmed the Church’s wish for a unified Korea.
“Just like virtually every other South Korean, I would very much like to see our nations reunited as one country,” said the archbishop at a June 12 press conference in the South Korean Diocese of Daejeon, which he headed prior to his Vatican assignment.
Reconciliation of the two Koreas has been a major focus of the Church. A Special Commission for the Reconciliation of the Korean People was set up in 1997 under the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea. Besides liturgical events, the commission organized a Jubilee of National Reconciliation in June 2000.
When Pope Francis visited South Korea in 2014 to celebrate Asian Youth Day in Daejeon, he said: “Jesus asks us to believe that forgiveness is the door which leads to reconciliation.”
During the meeting between former US president Donald Trump and North Korea’s paramount leader Kim Jong-un in the demilitarized zone, the pope prayed that it brings peace “not only on the peninsula but for the whole world.”
The reunification conversation gathered steam with the Trump-Kim summit in 2019.
Nuclear ambitions, repeated human rights violations and dynastic rule have made North Korea a pariah state. It is no match for the free market economy of the South, the fourth largest in Asia and ranked 14th in the world.
Designed after the erstwhile Soviet Union’s centrally planned economy, North Korea under three generations of totalitarian rulers — Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il and Kim Jong-un — remains one of the most isolated nations in the world.
Its prioritizing of self-reliance and militarism above all else and the recalcitrant leader’s relentless pursuit of a nuclear program has brought the country of over 25 million into conflict with the US and European Union, resulting in severe economic sanctions in 2013 that caused food shortages and unemployment.
China, the neighboring communist power, came to its rescue and is today North Korea’s largest trading partner.
Kim has pledged to dismantle the country's nuclear testing site on condition that US troops leave South Korea
Despite years of escalating missile and nuclear tests, Kim Jong-un met South Korean President Moon Jae-in and signed the Panmunjom Declaration for Peace on April 27, 2018.
The security architecture is now delicately balanced on the Korean Peninsula, with South Korea and Japan as the key US allies and North Korea backed by China.
The US maintains some 40,000 troops in Japan and 28,500 in South Korea due to the threat from Pyongyang. South Korea ranks 10th in defense spending and is the fourth-largest buyer of US weaponry.
Kim has pledged to dismantle the country's nuclear testing site on condition that US troops leave South Korea. The North is betting on its nuclear weapon programs in future negotiations with the US and has made it central to the country’s military and political goals.
The 37-year-old Kim has the fate of Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi before him. The African nation’s leader was killed on the streets after he dismantled the country’s nuclear weapon program to earn kudos from the world.
Kim may want to safeguard his dynastic regime and does not want it to be swallowed by the democratic South.
The world has much to gain from a united Korea whose economy could surpass that of Germany or Japan in the next 30-40 years, as predicted by US investment bank Goldman Sachs.
The Koreans want to put the Cold War era behind them. But much depends on Washington and its wish for the Korean Peninsula.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official editorial position of UCA News.
V/R
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Phone: 202-573-8647
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
FDD is a Washington-based nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy.
