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Quotes of the Day:
“When a writer tries to explain too much, he’s out of time before he begins.”
– Isaac Bashevis Singer
"The lesson of history is that no one learns."
– Steven Erikson
"Real listening ... requires being truly present and mindful when you are engaged with the other person – offering the gift of your whole self, undistracted by other matters or, God forbid, your devices."
– Arthur C. Brooks
1. N. Korean military's construction activities spotted inside DMZ: source
2. U.S. House passes annual defense policy bill including USFK troop maintenance
3. Yoon stresses need for 'strong power' on anniv. of inter-Korean naval skirmish
4. S. Korea, Japan, China hold education ministerial talks on cooperation, exchanges
5. Opposition leader calls for inter-Korean talks amid tensions
6. G7 leaders condemn N.K.-Russia military cooperation in 'strongest possible terms'
7. US calls on N. Korea to stop provocative acts, reaffirms security commitment to S. Korea
8. Unification ministry holds talks with anti-Pyongyang leafleting group
9. U.S. commits to pursuit of 'mutually beneficial' defense cost-sharing deal with Korea
10. South Koreans express mixed feelings over balloon warfare with North Korea
11. U.S., South Korea hold emergency call over Putin visit to North Korea
12. Issues and Insights Volume 24, WP 4 – North Korea is Winning the Information War
13. Envisioning a democratic Northeast Asia
1. N. Korean military's construction activities spotted inside DMZ: source
What are we missing? What does the nKPA not want us to be looking at?
N. Korean military's construction activities spotted inside DMZ: source | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · June 15, 2024
SEOUL, June 15 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's military has been carrying out unexplained construction activities inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, according to a military source Saturday.
"Recently, the North Korean military has been erecting walls, digging the ground and constructing roads in some areas between the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) and the Northern Limit Line in the DMZ," the source said.
The source added it was unclear whether these activities indicate an intention to build a long wall north of the MDL or simply to establish defensive structures at specific points.
Earlier this week, about 20 North Korean soldiers briefly crossed the inter-Korean land border before going back to the North's side after the South's military fired warning shots amid heightened tensions over Pyongyang's trash-carrying balloon campaign.
Military watchers speculate the incident could be related to the North's wall construction. At the time of the border incursion, the North Korean soldiers were carrying work tools, such as pickaxes and shovels.
The border crossing came amid heightened cross-border tensions set off by the North's recent trash-carrying balloon campaign.
The MDL horizontally bisects the DMZ, which has served as a buffer zone between the two Koreas since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
North Korean soldiers build a strongpoint in the Demilitarized Zone, in this file photo taken from a South Korean observation tower in Paju, 37 kilometers northwest of Seoul, on June 4, 2024. (Yonhap)
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en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · June 15, 2024
2. U.S. House passes annual defense policy bill including USFK troop maintenance
Still a long way to go before being passed.
(LEAD) U.S. House passes annual defense policy bill including USFK troop maintenance | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · June 15, 2024
(ATTN: ADDS more info in 7th para)
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, June 14 (Yonhap) -- The House of Representatives on Friday approved an annual defense policy bill that calls for maintaining 28,500 American troops in South Korea and reaffirming the United States' deterrence commitment to the Asian ally.
In a 217-199 vote, the House passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2025, which authorizes US$895.2 billion for national defense discretionary programs, an increase of $9 billion from fiscal year 2024.
Congress passes the bill each year to set defense policy and funding priorities and give guidance on a range of key security matters.
The bill highlighted the "sense of Congress" that the U.S. secretary of defense should reinforce the alliance with South Korea by maintaining the presence of 28,500 U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) personnel, enhancing defense industrial cooperation and affirming the U.S.' commitment to extended deterrence.
Extended deterrence refers to the U.S.' pledge to use the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear, to defend its ally.
Before its finalization, the defense bill is set to go through a series of congressional procedures, including the process of narrowing gaps between the House and Senate and merging their respective versions of the bill.
On Friday, the Senate Armed Services Committee voted 22-3 to advance its version of the NDAA to the Senate floor.
The legislation has gained renewed attention in South Korea as questions have lingered over whether former President Donald Trump, if reelected, would threaten to draw down or pull out U.S. troops from Korea to pressure Seoul to take a greater share of the cost for stationing USFK.
This photo, taken on May 21, 2024, shows AH-64 Apache helicopters at Camp Humphreys, a sprawling U.S. base in Pyeongtaek, 65 kilometers south of Seoul. (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · June 15, 2024
3. Yoon stresses need for 'strong power' on anniv. of inter-Korean naval skirmish
The best way to prevent a possible clash is to demonstrate readiness. Kim Jong Un may not be very smart but he is not stupid and is unlikely to attack into strength where his forces might lose.
Yoon stresses need for 'strong power' on anniv. of inter-Korean naval skirmish | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · June 15, 2024
SEOUL, June 15 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk Yeol on Saturday stressed the need for the country to maintain a strong military, as the nation marked the 25th anniversary of a 1999 inter-Korean naval skirmish near the maritime border.
"The history from 25 years ago reminds us once again that peace can be maintained through strong power," Yoon wrote on his Facebook page. "As the commander-in-chief, I promise to maintain a firm state of readiness to ensure the protection of the lives and safety of our people."
Yoon, who was touring Central Asia on a three-nation trip, also extended his gratitude to the military personnel for dedicating themselves to national defense, while pledging to build a stronger country with "our heroes."
The 1999 skirmish took place near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border in the Yellow Sea, scuttling one North Korean ship and wreaking havoc on nine others.
The South's Navy suffered no casualties, while South Korean officials estimated dozens of North Korean soldiers were killed.
President Yoon Suk Yeol delivers a speech at the South Korea-Uzbekistan Business Forum in Tashkent during his state visit to the Central Asian nation on June 14, 2024. (Yonhap)
odissy@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · June 15, 2024
4. S. Korea, Japan, China hold education ministerial talks on cooperation, exchanges
History, education, and the territorial (island) dispute are the three biggest sources of friction.
S. Korea, Japan, China hold education ministerial talks on cooperation, exchanges | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · June 15, 2024
SEOUL, June 15 (Yonhap) -- South Korea, Japan and China held their first education ministerial talks in over four years Saturday to discuss cooperation in related areas and the promotion of exchanges among students.
The trilateral talks, the first since 2020 in China, were headed by Education Minister Lee Ju-ho, with the Japanese and Chinese sides headed by Education Minister Masahito Moriyama and Minister Huai Jinpeng, respectively.
First held in 2016 in South Korea, the tripartite education chiefs' gathering was established to discuss cooperation in areas involving education among the Northeast Asian neighbors.
On the agenda for Saturday's talks were the strengthening of cooperation in future education, the promotion of trilateral exchanges among future generations and ways to develop the joint Campus Asia program.
At a trilateral summit between the leaders of the three countries held last month in South Korea, the three sides emphasized the importance of human exchanges, especially youth exchanges.
This file photo from Jan. 30, 2016, shows the first South Korea-Japan-China trilateral education ministers' talks held at a hotel in Seoul. (Yonhap)
odissy@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Chang Dong-woo · June 15, 2024
5. Opposition leader calls for inter-Korean talks amid tensions
What is the opposition leader doing to get north Korea to come to talks? I am sure the Yoon administration will participate in talks if the north is willing to.
Opposition leader calls for inter-Korean talks amid tensions | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Park Sang-soo · June 15, 2024
SEOUL, June 15 (Yonhap) -- Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on Saturday said the two Koreas should sit together and communicate to ease the escalating tensions over Pyongyang's trash-carrying balloon campaign and Seoul's response.
On social media, Lee said the peace built up on the Korean Peninsula is at risk as the two Koreas have been engaged in tit-for-tat measures.
Referring to the North's sending of balloons carrying trash across the border, South Korean civic group's sending of anti-Pyongyang leaflets and the suspension of the inter-Korean military pact, Lee said North Korea should stop provocative actions and seek to establish an eternal peace regime, which was reflected in the June 15 Declaration, the joint declaration for the two Koreas' first inter-Korean summit on June 15, 2000.
"(The South Korean government) should realize that ordinary citizens and residents near the border will bear any damage should it stick to a hard-line, eye-for-eye stance," Lee said.
Tensions have recently heightened on the Korean Peninsula after Pyongyang sent over 1,000 balloons carrying trash to the South since late May in what it claims is a response to anti-Pyongyang leafleting.
The move eventually led South Korea to fully suspend a 2018 inter-Korean tension reduction pact and resume propaganda loudspeaker broadcasts near the border for the first time in six years.
Defector groups in the South have sent balloons carrying leaflets and other goods across the border, although such acts are banned in the country under a law that was legislated during the previous administration to help reduce tensions in the border regions.
Lee Jae-myung (3rd from R), head of the main opposition Democratic Party, presides over an emergency task force meeting on crisis management of the Korean Peninsula at the National Assembly in Seoul on June 11, 2024. (Yonhap)
sam@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Park Sang-soo · June 15, 2024
6. G7 leaders condemn N.K.-Russia military cooperation in 'strongest possible terms'
G7 leaders condemn N.K.-Russia military cooperation in 'strongest possible terms' | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · June 15, 2024
By Song Sang-ho
WASHINGTON, June 14 (Yonhap) -- The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) countries condemned growing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia in the "strongest possible terms" on Friday amid reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to visit Pyongyang in the coming weeks.
The leaders of the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Canada, Italy and Japan issued a joint statement as they held a G7 summit in southern Italy.
A South Korean presidential official said Thursday (Korea time) that Putin is expected to travel to Pyongyang "in a few days," amid concerns that burgeoning defense ties between the North and Russia could affect security on the Korean Peninsula and beyond.
"We condemn in the strongest possible terms the increasing military cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including North Korea's export and Russia's procurement of North Korean ballistic missiles in direct violation of relevant UNSCRs, as well as Russia's use of these missiles against Ukraine," they said in the statement.
UNSCR refers to a U.N. Security Council resolution.
"We are also deeply concerned about the potential for any transfer of nuclear or ballistic missiles-related technology to North Korea, in violation of the relevant UNSCRs. We urge Russia and North Korea to immediately cease all such activities and abide by relevant UNSCRs," they added.
Putin's upcoming trip to the North has raised speculation that Pyongyang and Moscow might seek to reach another arrangement aimed at bolstering their miliary ties.
Washington has revealed that Pyongyang has shipped over 10,000 containers of munitions or munition-related materials to Russia since September, in addition to its missile shipments.
In return, the North has been seeking assistance from Moscow, including fighter aircraft, surface-to-air missiles, armored vehicles and ballistic missile production equipment, according to U.S. officials.
The G7 leaders also reiterated their call for the "complete, verifiable, and irreversible" dismantlement of all of the North's weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles, while urging the North to accept repeated offers of dialogue.
In addition, they called on the North to refrain from conducting nuclear tests, and sign and ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions, whether for military or for peaceful purposes.
This Sept. 14, 2023, image, taken from Korean Central Television footage, shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
sshluck@yna.co.kr
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en.yna.co.kr · by Song Sang-ho · June 15, 2024
7. US calls on N. Korea to stop provocative acts, reaffirms security commitment to S. Korea
Provocative activities are a better description than provocations. Not everything north Korea does is a provocation.(e.g., missile test). But what Mr. Miller is describing as provocative activities are specifically designed to provoke a reaction.
Also, you cannot "deter" provocations as many seem to say. We can deter war. We can deter nuclear attack. BUt because we are not going to respond kinetically to every provocative activity or provocation we are not likely to deter them since they are an integral part of the Kim family regime's strategy and foundational to blackmail diplomacy and political warfare.
US calls on N. Korea to stop provocative acts, reaffirms security commitment to S. Korea
The Korea Times · June 14, 2024
The spokesperson for the State Department Matthew Miller speaks during a press briefing in Washington, June 6. Yonhap
A U.S. State Department spokesperson called on North Korea Thursday to stop provocative activities as tensions have flared anew due to the North's recent sending of trash-filled balloons to the South and its troops' brief incursion across the inter-Korean border.
Matthew Miller, the spokesperson, made the call, reiterating America's security commitment to South Korea.
"We continue to call on North Korea to halt these activities," he told a press briefing. "We just reaffirm that our commitment to our South Korean allies is ironclad."
On Sunday, some 20 North Korean soldiers crossed the Military Demarcation Line inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) separating the two Koreas, but retreated back to the North after the South Korean military fired warning shots, according to Seoul officials.
The incursion came just hours before the South conducted anti-Pyongyang broadcasts near the border for the first time in six years in response to the North's recent launches of waste-loaded balloons.
Last week, Miller condemned the North's balloon operation as a "disgusting" and "childish" move. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · June 14, 2024
8. Unification ministry holds talks with anti-Pyongyang leafleting group
The government must not stop these activities nor should these groups voluntarily restrict their actions (they are already restricted and limited by the weather and prevailing winds. These organizations and South Korea have the moral high ground. It is the right thing to do to get information to the Korean people in the north to help them. And no one should show fear in the face of the regime's hostile rhetoric. to give in to the north 's demands shows weaknees and allows Kim to assess his political warfare strategy. He will then continue to execute it and try to force ROK appeasement in other areas.
Unification ministry holds talks with anti-Pyongyang leafleting group
The Korea Times · June 14, 2024
This photo shows garbage tied to a balloon launched by North Korea at a rice paddy in Incheon, just west of Seoul, Monday. Yonhap
The unification ministry on Friday held talks with an activist organization that has launched anti-Pyongyang leaflets into North Korea amid heightened tensions over the North's reaction to the campaign.
It is the first meeting with such activists by the unification ministry following the North's launch of more than 1,600 trash-carrying balloons toward the South from May 28 to June 9 in what it has called a "tit-for-tat" response to the leaflets from the South.
A ministry official declined to give details of the closed-door meeting's discussions but noted the ministry plans to meet with other groups that send anti-Pyongyang leaflets to the North amid concerns over the campaign further increasing tensions.
During the talks, the ministry is said to have not requested the group to refrain from such activities.
"As (we) do not want tensions on the Korean Peninsula, we said we would refrain from public activities," the head of the organization told Yonhap News Agency by phone. "There weren't any particular comments from the ministry."
For years, North Korean defectors in the South and conservative activists have sent leaflets to the North via balloons to help encourage North Koreans to eventually rise up against the Kim family regime.
North Korea has bristled at the propaganda campaign amid concern that an influx of outside information could pose a threat to its leader Kim Jong-un.
In response to the North's recent trash balloon campaign, the South's military blared anti-Pyongyang broadcasts through its border loudspeakers Sunday for the first time in six years.
The move prompted the North to send more balloons that night, with Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North's leader, warning of unspecified "new counteraction" if the South sends anti-Pyongyang leaflets and plays its border loudspeakers. (Yonhap)
The Korea Times · June 14, 2024
9. U.S. commits to pursuit of 'mutually beneficial' defense cost-sharing deal with Korea
Common sense says that a deal with an ally should be win-win and mutually beneficial. However, there are some who think zero sum or "I win, you lose."
Friday
June 14, 2024
dictionary + A - A
Published: 14 Jun. 2024, 10:26
Updated: 14 Jun. 2024, 14:26
U.S. commits to pursuit of 'mutually beneficial' defense cost-sharing deal with Korea
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2024-06-14/national/defense/US-commits-to-pursuit-of-mutually-beneficial-defense-costsharing-deal-with-Korea/2068568
A State Department official on Thursday reiterated the United States' commitment to reaching a "mutually beneficial" defense cost-sharing agreement with South Korea, stressing the bilateral alliance is a "pivotal" relationship.
The official made the remarks a day after the two countries wrapped up their third round of negotiations over Seoul's share of the cost for stationing the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) under a deal, called the Special Measures Agreement (SMA). The current SMA is set to expire at the end of next year.
"The U.S.-ROK alliance is a pivotal relationship so we will work together until we get a mutually beneficial agreement," the official said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency. ROK stands for South Korea's official name, the Republic of Korea.
"The United States seeks a fair and equitable outcome to the Special Measures Agreement discussions for both countries that will strengthen and sustain the U.S.-ROK alliance," the official added.
The official was responding to a question of whether the United States has a timeline for the conclusion of negotiations and whether the two sides made headway in the latest negotiations.
"We cannot discuss the specifics of ongoing consultations," the official said. "Consultations end when the two countries reach an agreement."
This week, Seoul's chief negotiator, Lee Tae-woo, and Linda Specht, U.S. lead negotiator for security agreements at the State Department, led the three-day talks in Washington.
The two sides launched the negotiations in April, apparently earlier than usual, amid speculation that should former President Donald Trump return to the White House, he could call for a hefty increase in Seoul's share of the cost for the upkeep of USFK in a way that could cause tension in the alliance.
Since 1991, Seoul has partially shared the cost for Korean USFK workers; the construction of military installations, such as barracks, as well as training, educational, operational and communications facilities; and other logistical support.
Yonhap
10. South Koreans express mixed feelings over balloon warfare with North Korea
And most Koreans would be right per the subtitle below.
Do not give up the moral high ground. Continue to help the Korean people in the north with information they desire and need.
South Koreans express mixed feelings over balloon warfare with North Korea
However, most South Koreans do not appear to believe the current escalations will lead to another conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
channelnewsasia.com
PAJU, South Korea: Some South Koreans who live in the quiet village of Daedong are getting worried about the tensions between North and South Korea.
Daedong is about an hour’s drive from South Korean capital Seoul, in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, near a heavily militarised border.
Many of the roughly 300 Daedong residents are elderly South Koreans, who made the village their home after the end of the Korean War in 1953.
Among those concerned is 58-year-old Park Young-jin, head of Daedong-ri, and one of the youngest residents of the village.
He fears any impact to his livelihood as he works at the villagers’ rice field across barbed wires.
"I have to pass through a tunnel to bring in my farming equipment. However, if there is a standoff or a slight increase in danger, such as fog or other risks, they (soldiers) do not allow us to go out,” he told CNA.
“The soldiers stop us because if we go out and something happens to us like we get hurt, they would be held responsible."
Farmers were prevented from working in the fields many times in the past when tensions were high, although this has not happened since 2018, despite recent escalations.
TENSIONS BETWEEN THE TWO SIDES
The psychological warfare between the two Koreas in recent weeks has been marked by balloons filled with trash or anti-propaganda leaflets, and loudspeaker broadcasts across the border.
Some South Koreans have taken to the streets to hold press conferences and rallies to urge the South Korean government to reduce the tension.
Residents living along the border have also been holding protests because they are afraid that South Korea’s retaliation could provoke stronger reaction from North Korea - for instance, firing at balloons.
This fear is partly grounded on North Korea’s announcement earlier this year that reunification is no longer possible, and that its constitution will be changed to designate the other side as its principal enemy.
A balloon believed to have been sent by North Korea, carrying various objects including what appeared to be trash and excrement, is seen over a rice field at Cheorwon, South Korea, May 29, 2024. (Photo: Yonhap via Reuters)
SOME KOREANS LESS WORRIED
Some, however, are less perturbed.
Madam Jang Seok-geum, an 87-year-old who lived through the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, said she is not fearful of the threats from North Korea but worries for the younger generation.
"I was 13 years old when the Korean War broke out. I have lived here all my life and grown old here. The children are pitiful. It feels like there might be a war again,” she said.
However, the majority of South Koreans do not appear to believe the current escalations will lead to another conflict on the Korean Peninsula.
Rather, they are seen as just some of many tit-for-tat actions between the two Koreas, which remain technically at war.
Mr Cho Chang-hyun, who grew up in Daedong and now lives in Seoul, said that people are not as worried as they used to be about tensions between the two sides.
“Back then, we had limited tanks and weapons, which made us worried and troubled. Nowadays, our country has advanced significantly in terms of weapon development, not to mention economically,” he/she said.
“Additionally, our alliances with friendly nations are much stronger than before. Therefore, from our perspective, there is not much to worry about. Even if a war breaks out."
channelnewsasia.com
11. U.S., South Korea hold emergency call over Putin visit to North Korea
They could probably conclude all their business in secret. It is not necessary to hold this meeting. But they want to achieve influence effects such as making us fear this relationship of the axis of aggressors.
We should not be worried about the meeting. We need to be concerned with what is happening behind the scenes. And we will likely be unable to easily detect some of the high tech support nK might receive from Russia until we see it actually tested.
U.S., South Korea hold emergency call over Putin visit to North Korea - UPI.com
By Thomas Maresca
upi.com
1 of 2 | U.S. and South Korean officials expressed alarm Friday over a pending visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea. File Photo by Kremlin POOL/UPI | License Photo
SEOUL, June 14 (UPI) -- South Korean and U.S. officials held an emergency phone call over an upcoming visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to North Korea, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Friday.
First Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun spoke with U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell, the ministry said in a statement.
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Kim "explained our clear position that Russian President Putin's visit to North Korea should not result in deepening military cooperation that violates North Korea's U.N. Security Council resolutions and undermines peace and stability in the region," the statement said.
Campbell agreed that the visit would heighten "regional instability and challenges" and called for close cooperation between Washington and Seoul, according to the ministry.
Putin's impending trip was first reported on Monday by Russia's Vedomosti newspaper, which quoted Russian Ambassador to North Korea Alexander Matsegora as saying preparations were underway.
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Putin has visited North Korea only once before, in 2000, when he met with then-leader Kim Jong Il -- the father of current leader Kim Jong Un.
A South Korean presidential official confirmed the trip on Wednesday and said it was likely to take place "in a few days," according to news agency Yonhap.
The reciprocal visit comes after Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia in September and is the latest sign of a growing relationship between the two countries that includes weapons sales and economic assistance.
On Wednesday, Kim sent a congratulatory message to Putin for Russia's National Day.
Relations between the two countries have "developed into invincible ties between comrades-in-arms and a far-reaching strategic relationship, thanks to our significant meeting ... in September last year, and they are steadily developing into a new high," Kim said in a statement carried by official Korean Central News Agency.
Washington and its allies have accused North Korea of sending munitions to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine in exchange for fuel, raw materials and advanced technology for its weapons programs. In March, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said that the North had already sent 7,000 containers of ammunition to Russia.
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Pyongyang and Moscow deny the charges, but the use of North Korean missiles on the battlefield in Ukraine has been documented as far back as January.
Jenny Town, director of the Stimson Center's Korea Program and its 38 North website, said Friday that Putin's trip shows that "the military cooperation continues and is likely deepening."
While the long-term relationship between the two countries remains uncertain, North Korea has already seen "immediate and tangible results" for its sanctions-hit economy, Town told reporters at a briefing in downtown Seoul.
"You do see [North Korea] transitioning their economy towards more of a defense industry and defense exports," she said. "It gives them an alternative economic opportunity to what they've been limited to in the past."
However, Town said it was doubtful that North Korea and Russia would formalize a more comprehensive defense pact on this trip.
"I don't expect that we'll see any major pronouncements come out of this summit," she said. "Mainly because a lot of the activity that they're doing is technically sanctioned activity to begin with. And I think there's a reluctance to really put that down on paper."
upi.com
12. Issues and Insights Volume 24, WP 4 – North Korea is Winning the Information War
A fight for the next generation.
Another important contribution to those who study information warfare and north Korea.
We must not be afraid to execute an aggressive information campaign to help the Korean people in the north.
The 13 page report can be downloaded here: https://pacforum.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/II-Vol-24.-WP4.pdf
Issues and Insights Volume 24, WP 4 – North Korea is Winning the Information War
https://pacforum.org/publications/issues-and-insights-volume-24-wp-4-north-korea-is-winning-the-information-war/?utm
Executive Summary
The outside world has been presented with two contradictory images of North Korea’s younger generation. In the outside media, youth are portrayed as rebellious and radical, ignoring the Kim regime’s increasingly harsh crackdowns on foreign media and trends, and instead toting the latest South Korean fashion trends and adopting South Korean lingo. Meanwhile, state propaganda pushes the narrative that North Korean youth are extremely devoted to Kim Jong Un and the regime. Both conceptions of North Korea’s younger generation fail to acknowledge a more complex reality.
Kim Jong Un understands the importance of winning over the younger generation to ensure his regime’s survival. Since coming into power, Kim has increased the severity of punishments for importing, distributing, and consuming foreign media. This strangled information environment amplifies the efficacy of a youth loyalty campaign designed to bear hug the younger generation. As a consequence, when compared with older cohorts, North Korean youth have a more favorable view of the regime, juche ideology, and Kim Jong Un himself. In short, the campaign is working.
A reinvigorated foreign media distribution strategy is needed to break the impasse and win the battle over hearts and minds. Despite the dangers, North Koreans remain highly interested in foreign media. Research shows that those who consume tend to feel more fondly about South Korea and view the North Korean regime critically. Foreign media provides a powerful basis to cross check regime propaganda and can even lay the foundation for a shared understanding of concepts like human rights and civil society. A reinvigorated strategy should focus on content curation and innovative dissemination methods to maximize utility and minimize blowback for end users in North Korea.
Download the full volume here.
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
TWO VERSIONS OF NORTH KOREA’S YOUTH
NORTH KOREA’S NOT SO RADICAL YOUTH
NEXT STEPS
CONCLUSION
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
About the Authors
Jonathan Corrado is Director of Policy for The Korea Society where he produces programming and conducts research on the US-Korea Alliance, North Korea, and Northeast Asia. He teaches at The School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University and SUNY Stony Brook University.
Chelsie Alexandre is the Policy Program Officer at The Korea Society where she works with the Director of Policy to develop and implement events that address issues shaping the dynamics of U.S.-ROK relations, the Korean peninsula, and Northeast Asia.
Alexander Tufto is a student of Political Science at SUNY Stony Brook University.
13. Envisioning a democratic Northeast Asia
An excellent essay. Why aren't we thinking about a free and unified Korea?
I do not want to be one of the idiots.
Who is with me in thinking about this vision?
“A stable, secure, peaceful, economically vibrant, non-nuclear peninsula, unified under a liberal constitutional democratic form of government determined by the Korean people. ”
A United Republic of Korea (UROK or You Rock)
Excerpts:
The explanations I find are, firstly, that countries don’t think that far ahead. That is ironically true in democracies because nobody stays in power that long. In Korea’s case, it’s hard, besides the 10-year Land Use Plan, to think of anything in the public sector that imagines anything further than five years ahead.
The second explanation is that it’s presumptuous. To which, the best response is: so? If the Workers' Party of Korea envisions a future with itself ruling a Unified Korea in the 22nd century, and we decline to imagine anything, who are the idiots?
Envisioning a democratic Northeast Asia
The Korea Times · June 13, 2024
By Michael Breen
If you were to peer into a crystal ball and summon the best future for Northeast Asia, it is hard not to agree that the region envisioned would be peaceful, democratic and with a free market.
You would think that democratic governments would share this as the explicitly desired goal giving birth to their various policies. But they don’t. A peaceful, democratic, free market Northeast Asia seems to be nobody’s vision.
Why is this?
The explanations I find are, firstly, that countries don’t think that far ahead. That is ironically true in democracies because nobody stays in power that long. In Korea’s case, it’s hard, besides the 10-year Land Use Plan, to think of anything in the public sector that imagines anything further than five years ahead.
The second explanation is that it’s presumptuous. To which, the best response is: so? If the Workers' Party of Korea envisions a future with itself ruling a Unified Korea in the 22nd century, and we decline to imagine anything, who are the idiots?
And the most common reason not to bother is that it’s not going to happen. Particularly, people say, for Northeast Asia to be democratic means that China and North Korea must become democracies, and that will never happen.
Really? So hundreds of millions of Chinese who have the wealth to take their vacations in Prague, attend university in Australia and buy summer homes by the beach are quite happy not being able to decide who runs their country? North Koreans find the gulag a valuable learning experience?
What makes us think the Chinese are sufficiently tolerant of dictatorship to live with it forever?
The point of imagining a better future is not to make a prediction about what will happen but to take a step towards its possible realization.
Right now, China is like South Korea in the 1970s under the dictator Park Chung-hee – unfree but going in the right direction. It needs to have its democratization moment, to pry the fingers of the Communist leadership off the neck of the electorate and allow freedom.
As for North Korea, it now is like China was under Mao Zedong, hurtling backwards in the name of revolutionary progress. If it’s unrealistic to expect a North Korean democracy moment, it is not unrealistic to expect that it will at some point go the first step and have its equivalent of Park Chung-hee’s coup.
That would not mean liberal democracy for North Koreans but it could be the point at which reconciliation with the South begins.
How could such a change take place? It’s hard to predict. But what we can see is that once democracy was established in one place in the world, it became possible for others to adopt it in their various ways and spread, historically speaking, at a very rapid pace. There’s no reason to think that it has stopped.
Besides war or an unexpected palace coup or a (much-fantasized) change of heart by Kim Jong-un, people power is a likely scenario. If popular unrest were to break out in North Korea in such a way that the security authorities were no longer willing to kill their own people, history could change in a day. That's what happened this week in this country in 1987.
As a vision for a democratic Northeast Asia makes sense for Korea, so it does for the United States. The implications are obvious for its security and economic relations with China. But also with North Korea.
The United States has made zero progress in 30 years on the issue of North Korean nuclear weapons because there has been no meeting of objectives and neither side has given up. The North Korean objective is survival (or reunification) and nuclear weapons is its strategy. The U.S. objective is a North Korea with no nuclear weapons.
In the interests of peaceful diplomacy, it should be possible to reframe the issue in a way that allows us to reach our goals via a different route.
Michael Breen (mike.breen@insightcomms.com) is the author of "The New Koreans."
The Korea Times · June 13, 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
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