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Quotes of the Day:
“Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.”
- Sir Francis Bacon
“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex. It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction”
- Albert Einstein
“We tend to think that, in a traditional organisation, people are producing results because management wants results, but the essence of a high-quality organisation is people producing results because they want the results. It’s puzzling we find that hard to understand, that if people are really enjoying, they’ll innovate, they’ll take risks, they’ll have trust with one another because they are really committed to what they’re doing and it’s fun”
- Peter Senge
1. N. Korean family attempting defection shot near the border in Yanggang Province in July
2. Kim’s Little Sister Laces Into South Korea’s President
3. North Korea’s ‘corn inspection squads’ patrol rural streets to catch grain thieves
4. [INTERVIEW] North Korean leader’s younger sister is ambitious, bossy
5. North Korean's bubble of certainty
6. Vice FM to visit U.N. headquarters for briefings on N.K. policy
7. Kim Eun-hye returns as senior press secretary
8. N.K. advises people not to eat dirty food washed away in flood waters
9. N. Korea denounces Yoon’s initiative to mend S. Korea-Japan ties
10. S. Korea's chip exports to China jump nearly 13 times, biggest gain over last 2 decades: report
11. N.K. media outlets mention Abe's death for 1st time
12. It Could Happen: A Military Coup Against Yoon Suk-yeol Is Possible
13. U.S., South Korea Revive Live Military Drills After Four-Year Hiatus
1. N. Korean family attempting defection shot near the border in Yanggang Province in July
Read the subtitle. Then read it again. This is the evil nature of the Kim family regime.
Excerpts:
“While it’s understandable that the soldiers may have fired upon people or vehicles approaching the border as part of their duties, the worst part of this incident is that they shot [the daughter] after checking for signs of life at the scene of the incident,” the source said, describing their behavior as “unforgiveable.”
“The army has made monsters of the border guards since the pandemic began. When soldiers shoot people who approach the border, the army praises them for their patriotic behavior, with the result that soldiers no longer think that shooting people is a big deal,” he added.
N. Korean family attempting defection shot near the border in Yanggang Province in July
People were infuriated to learn that the soldiers put another bullet in the daughter to finish her off when they noticed she was still moving, a source told Daily NK
dailynk.com
North Korean border guard. (Kang Dong Wan)
A family of North Koreans attempting to defect near the border in Yanggang Province were fatally shot by soldiers about a month ago, Daily NK has learned.
A source in the province told Daily NK last Friday that a married couple in their 50s and daughter in her 20s had been attempting to cross a river on the border in Pochon County in mid-July when they were shot dead by soldiers from North Korea’s “Storm Corps.”
After North Korea closed its border in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic in August 2020, the authorities set up a “buffer zone” about one to two kilometers from the border and had the police announce that anybody or anything that approached barricades along the border would be shot.
Since the border closure remains in effect, there have been continuing reports about soldiers gunning down people who were attempting to defect or smuggle across North Korea’s border with China in Yanggang and North Hamgyong provinces.
North Korea’s continuing harsh treatment of trespassers on the border — which includes firing upon them with live rounds — largely represents an attempt to deter smuggling and defections through terror, the source said. The government wants it to be clearly understood that anyone who approaches the border will be killed.
North Koreans have responded to the latest incident by bemoaning the fact that innocent people are losing their lives because of the government’s harsh restrictions, the source said.
North Korea’s prolonged and strict closure of the border — ostensibly intended to keep out the COVID-19 virus — has resulted in severe economic difficulties and food shortages that have driven some hungry people to attempt to defect, sometimes with fatal consequences.
In the mid-July incident in particular, people were infuriated to learn that the soldiers, while inspecting the bodies of the family they had shot, put another bullet in the daughter to finish her off when they noticed she was still moving.
“While it’s understandable that the soldiers may have fired upon people or vehicles approaching the border as part of their duties, the worst part of this incident is that they shot [the daughter] after checking for signs of life at the scene of the incident,” the source said, describing their behavior as “unforgiveable.”
“The army has made monsters of the border guards since the pandemic began. When soldiers shoot people who approach the border, the army praises them for their patriotic behavior, with the result that soldiers no longer think that shooting people is a big deal,” he added.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
Read in Korean
dailynk.com
2. Kim’s Little Sister Laces Into South Korea’s President
I don't think anyone is really surprised by Kim Yo Jong based on her past rants (e.g., threats and then action to destroy the South Korean liaison building in Kaesong).
Excerpts:
Such nastiness is a matter of wonder to analysts who’ve been studying North Korean rhetoric for years.
“North Korea's rejection of the initiative was predictable, but I found Madame Kim's remarks blunt and insulting to an unexpected degree,” a long-time senior diplomat in the American embassy in Seoul and also at the state department in Washington, Evans Revere, said.
“My sense,” Mr. Revere told me, “is that Pyongyang has no intention of working with the new government in Seoul, no matter what it offers.” In his view, “the nasty tone of Kim Yo-Jong;s statement and ad hominem attack on President Yoon seem designed to tell Seoul that South-North relations will remain frozen during President Yoon’s term.”
In that spirit, Miss Kim said “the most repulsive point” about Mr. Yoon’s idea “was when he recited absurd words impertinently proposing a ‘bold and broad-based plan’ to radically improve the economy and public welfare if we would stop nuclear development and turn toward substantial denuclearization.”
Kim’s Little Sister Laces Into South Korea’s President
https://www.nysun.com/article/kims-little-sister-laces-into-south-koreas-president?utm_source=pocket_mylist
‘Dogs will always bark,’ she says in respect of Yoon Suk-yeol.
File photo of Kim Yo-jong with the former South Korean president, Moon Jae-in. Bee Jae-man/Yonhap via AP, file
DONALD KIRK
Saturday, August 20, 2022
08:47:46 am
SEOUL — It wasn’t the message that came as such a surprise: It was the way Kim Yo-jong said it.
North Korea for sure was going to reject what South Korea’s president, Yoon Suk-yeol, called his “audacious initiative,” offering aid to the impoverished North in return for gradually getting rid of its nuclear program.
The rhetoric employed by the sister of North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un, was shocking even by the standards of North Korean diatribes. Ms. Kim opened her rejection message by saying “it would have been more favorable for his image to shut his mouth rather than talking nonsense.”
That’s according to the English-language report by Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency. She has made other strongly worded statements over the years, presumably saying what her strongman brother wanted her to say. Her statement Friday pillorying Mr. Yoon, though, was wickedly vicious compared with her previous denunciations of South Korea. One earlier statement threatened revenge for supposed balloon launches that in addition to wafting propaganda she claimed had spread Covid-19 in the North.
“I am talking about Yoon Suk Yeol's ‘commemorative speech marking August 15,’” she said, citing Mr. Yoon’s remarks on Monday, a holiday celebrating Japan’s surrender at the end of World War II. She then derided him for polls showing low levels of popularity — an extraordinary reference considering that her brother has never had to face an election while ruling with an iron fist.
The reference was so unusual as to raise the question of whether her remarks, in the original Korean language, were broadcast inside North Korea, where elections and popularity polls are otherwise unknown.
“In his situation where he is losing the public support,” KCNA quoted her as saying, “it would have been better if he had never presented himself on that occasion.”
Ms. Kim’s verbiage got progressively more colorful — and insulting. She was “sorry to say this,” as reported by KCNA, but “dogs will always bark, as a pup or an adult, and the same goes for the one with the title of ‘president.’”
Such nastiness is a matter of wonder to analysts who’ve been studying North Korean rhetoric for years.
“North Korea's rejection of the initiative was predictable, but I found Madame Kim's remarks blunt and insulting to an unexpected degree,” a long-time senior diplomat in the American embassy in Seoul and also at the state department in Washington, Evans Revere, said.
“My sense,” Mr. Revere told me, “is that Pyongyang has no intention of working with the new government in Seoul, no matter what it offers.” In his view, “the nasty tone of Kim Yo-Jong;s statement and ad hominem attack on President Yoon seem designed to tell Seoul that South-North relations will remain frozen during President Yoon’s term.”
In that spirit, Miss Kim said “the most repulsive point” about Mr. Yoon’s idea “was when he recited absurd words impertinently proposing a ‘bold and broad-based plan’ to radically improve the economy and public welfare if we would stop nuclear development and turn toward substantial denuclearization.”
Mr. Yoon’s “‘bold plan,’” she went on, mimicking his words, “is the height of absurdity as it is an impracticable one to create mulberry fields in the dark blue ocean.” It was “not a new one but a replica,” she said, of a proposal by South Korea’s president between 2008 and 2013, Lee Myong-bak, an idea that was summarily rejected.
“The fact that he copied the policy towards the North, thrown into the dustbin of history, and called it a ‘bold plan’ shows that he is really foolish,” Ms. Kim said, professing to have been “stunned by his ‘bravery’ and excessive ignorance.”
She didn’t dwell on military exercises that American and South Korean forces are conducting for the rest of the month, but they may have played into the ferocity of her remarks.
“A knave who talks about ‘bold plan’ today and stages anti-north war exercises tomorrow,” she said, “is none other than ‘mastermind’ Yoon Suk Yeol.”
South Korean officials responded with dismay — but promised to keep looking for dialog with the North. "It is very regrettable,” the unification minister, Kwon Young-se, who is responsible for relations with the North, said. He added that Ms. Kim “distorted the audacious initiative and criticized it with a rude and undignified expression."
The American secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and South Korea’s foreign minister, Park Jin, talking on the phone about the North Korean rebuff, formally expressed “regret” — an understatement for what had to have been their anger over a statement that was more than merely upsetting.
Mr. Yoon’s “audacious initiative,” Mr. Revere said, was “the right thing to do.” The message was “the new government in Seoul is not reflexively anti-reconciliation and is prepared to be flexible,” he said. Nonetheless, he added, North Korea “is so wedded to its missile and nuke programs, there was no other possible response from the regime.”
3. North Korea’s ‘corn inspection squads’ patrol rural streets to catch grain thieves
Son: Dad what did you do during the famine?
Father: I was on the corn inspection squad.
North Korea’s ‘corn inspection squads’ patrol rural streets to catch grain thieves
The crackdown illustrates the country’s food supply shortfalls, but citizens say they resent the intrusion.
By Hyemin Son for RFA Korean
2022.08.18
rfa.org
Authorities in North Korea have organized “corn inspection squads” that patrol areas near rural collective farms and stop citizens to check their bags for stolen grains, sources in the country told RFA.
The country is suffering from a shortage of food, unable to produce enough to feed its population of more than 25 million people and unable to bridge the gap with imports due to trade restrictions designed to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The CIA World Factbook estimates that the food gap in North Korea is 860,000 metric tons (about 950,000 U.S. tons), or about two to three months’ worth of food consumption.
Sources told RFA that although the patrols are intended to stop thieves, innocent people who happened to be carrying grains and merchants who rely on the grain trade to make a living have also been caught in the dragnet.
In the city of Tokchon, north of Pyongyang in South Pyongan province, the inspection squads have been deployed to every street that goes to the farms to inspect passersby for illicit grains, a source in the province told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“Yesterday, the corn inspection squad consisted of two members who stood guard on the road on the way out to the city from Sinsong village to the city downtown,” the source said. “They stayed there all day, checking people’s bags and bundles. They checked my backpack.
“I had grains of corn and kidney beans in my backpack, which my relative in rural Sinsong village gave me,” the source said. “As soon as the corn inspection squad saw the corn and beans, they tried to confiscate them, accusing me by asking, ‘Didn’t you steal it from the cooperative farm?’ An argument broke out on the spot.”
The source said patrol members forced her to go back to the village to get confirmation that the grain had been given to her by her relatives.
“I was so angry that they told me to do that,” she said.
In North Hwanghae province, south of Pyongyang, corn inspection squads will be on duty until the harvest in September, a source there told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“The crackdown and control by the corn inspection squad is more focused on merchants who load large quantities of corn onto buses and distribute it to other markets at bus stops that take it to various parts of the country,” said the second source.
“Merchants who were targeted by the police lost whole corn sacks. They are protesting that they did not steal the corn from the cooperative farms, but that the individual farmers bought the corn, harvested from the farmers' gardens,” she said.
The second source explained that farmers who live in rural farms own gardens sized 50 pyeong or larger (1779 square feet). There they can plant and cultivate corn for private use. If a merchant can buy corn from 10 farmers, it is almost as if they bought the corn in bulk.
“Residents criticize the crackdown, saying that the authorities are punishing people who trade grain to make ends meet,”she said. “The authorities have not thought of supplying food to the residents but encouraged higher food prices in the marketplaces.”
Translated by Claire Shinyoung Oh Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
rfa.org
4. [INTERVIEW] North Korean leader’s younger sister is ambitious, bossy
Professor Lee is teasing us. This will not be published until June 2023. But seriously, based on his scholarship,this will be an important contribution to understanding the Kim family regime. I only wonder how many times he can get a Shakespeare quote into the book.
Excerpts:
Lee, an expert on North Korea’s leadership, is the author of the new book, “The Sister,” which unravels the rise of Kim Yo-jong. The book will be published on June 15 next year.
“I do reveal a few facts of policy relevance in my book,” he said.
Lee declined to share any future details of his incoming book, saying he is contractually bound not to reveal them until two or three weeks before the publication date.
He said that Kim Yo-jong’s “worse cop” role helps her brother, Kim Jong-un, be viewed as a more restrained and reasonable person.
[INTERVIEW] North Korean leader’s younger sister is ambitious, bossy
koreatimes.co.kr
Kim Yo-Jong, the younger sister of North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un, attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam, in this March 2019 file photo. Reuters-Yonhap
Author of ‘The Sister’ says Kim Yo-jong will succeed Kim Jong-un to become the supreme leader of North Korea, in case her brother is incapacitated
By Kang Hyun-kyung
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s younger sister, Kim Yo-jong, is back in the media spotlight following her explosively critical speech rejecting President Yoon Suk-yeol’s new initiative ― largely referred to as his “audacious initiative” ― a proposal calling for the denuclearization of North Korea in exchange for large-scale food, energy, infrastructural, technological and financial assistance.
Calling it “the height of stupidity,” Kim said in a statement released on Aug. 19 that Yoon’s offer delivered in his Aug. 15 Liberation Day speech is as absurd as “trying to dry the dark blue ocean and turn it into a mulberry field.” She then revealed her visceral dislike of South Korea’s Yoon “as a human being,” rebuking South Koreans for having elected him recently as their president.
Sung-Yoon Lee’s book, titled, “The Sister,” will be published by Pan Macmillan on June 15, 2023.Sung-Yoon Lee, the Kim Koo-Korea Foundation professor in Korean Studies and assistant professor at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University near Boston, said that Kim Yo-jong has been more visible and empowered to speak on behalf of her brother since 2020.
“She is Kim Jong-un’s most trusted aide, adviser, deputy, spokesperson, attack dog and confidante,” he said in a recent email interview with The Korea Times. “In their body language when they are in close proximity, I see genuine mutual trust and affection. She is not a mere ‘secretary.’”
He said now is the time for the world to pay greater attention to the ambitious younger Kim because of her growing influence in her country.
Her multiple crucial roles in the North ― as the deputy director of the Workers’ Party’s Publicity and Information Department, alternate member of the Politburo and member of the State Affairs Commission, among others ― have convinced Lee to believe that Kim Yo-jong could lead the country in case her brother is incapacitated for any reason.
If this happens, he said, Kim Yo-jong will succeed her brother to become the supreme leader of the impoverished state because she is the only adult who is part of the Mount Paektu bloodline, which refers to the three-generation lineage of North Korea’s leadership, descending from founder Kim Il-sung. “There is no doubt that Yo-jong is leadership material,” said Lee.
Kim Jong-un is believed to have children, although no further details about them are known, but they are too young to become leaders, said Lee.
He ruled out Kim Jong-un’s brother Jong-chol from the possible successor list.
“Kim Jong-chol has stayed out of public view since Jong-un ascended to the throne in the wake of their father’s death in December 2011. Jong-chol has long been known to harbor no interest in politics, whereas Yo-jong has been known since her childhood to be ambitious and bossy,” he said. “More importantly, Yo-jong has participated very visibly in policymaking at least since February 2018 when she visited South Korea as her brother’s special envoy.”
Lee, an expert on North Korea’s leadership, is the author of the new book, “The Sister,” which unravels the rise of Kim Yo-jong. The book will be published on June 15 next year.
“I do reveal a few facts of policy relevance in my book,” he said.
Lee declined to share any future details of his incoming book, saying he is contractually bound not to reveal them until two or three weeks before the publication date.
He said that Kim Yo-jong’s “worse cop” role helps her brother, Kim Jong-un, be viewed as a more restrained and reasonable person.
“In the pandemic era, she has been a ‘co-crime boss’ with her brother, often playing, ironically the role of the ‘worse cop’ to her brother’s ‘bad cop,’ rendering her murderous brother as the more restrained and reasonable person,” he said. “It’s quite clever, for when she reverts to the kind of charm offensive the world saw during their visit to South Korea, and in her meetings with then South Korean leader Moon Jae-in thereafter, much of the world will wish to see in her glimmers of hope, peace and reconciliation. By virtue of her gender and youth, she casts a softer, feminine glow on the cold, brutish facade that is her nation, the DPRK. Or that’s how her interlocutors will see her. The latent sexism in her adversaries works to her regime’s advantage.”
North Korea is well-known for its fiery, erratic and offensive statements, in which they have ridiculed several world leaders with undiplomatic characterizations. It called former President Park Geun-hye a “dirty old prostitute,” former U.S. President Barack Obama a “wicked black monkey” and Australian judge Michael Kirby, the chairman of the U.N. Commission of Inquiry report on human rights in North Korea who is openly gay, a “lecherous homosexual.”
South Korea’s former President Moon Jae-in, who had tried to dialogue with the North all throughout his five-year tenure in the presidency and had been criticized by conservative South Korean politicians for his “excessive” concessions he made to the North, was not an exception. In March 2020, the North likened Moon to a “frightened dog barking” after South Korea described the North’s live-fire military exercise as a provocation.
Lee said that Kim Yo-jong signed off on all these invectives against the leaders. “All these nasty attacks bear the same mean streak and sardonic wit of Kim Yo-jong’s recent statements under her own name,” he said.
Sung-Yoon Lee, the Kim Koo-Korea Foundation professor in Korean Studies and assistant professor at Tufts University’s Fletcher School / Courtesy of Sung-Yoon Lee
koreatimes.co.kr
5. North Korean's bubble of certainty
I have previously sent Seo Hyun's video/Ted Talk. Here are her words in print.
They are very much worth reflecting on.
North Korean's bubble of certainty
The Korea Times · August 21, 2022
Lee Seo-hyun, a Keynote Speaker with Freedom Speakers International, is a North Korean defector who recently launched a GoFundMe after she was recently accepted into the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University). She delivered the following speech at TEDxUCLA on June 4, 2022. Courtesy of Casey Lartigue Jr.
By Lee Seo-hyun
It has been said "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." My name is Lee Seo-hyun. I am a North Korean escapee who gave up the certain opportunity to thrive in hell, and instead fled my native country to face certain uncertainty.
My experience as a North Korean escapee might surprise you. I did not grow up in extreme poverty; I was not coerced into human trafficking; nor do I have horrific stories of being a political prisoner. My father was a senior-level government officer for the North Korean regime, and his loyal commitment to the nation and the leader allowed our family to live in the capital Pyongyang, a privilege as North Koreans.
Like most people in North Korea, I had no doubts about the regime because I was brainwashed. I truly believed what our leader said: "Our country is the envy of the world!" Yes, I was living in a bubble. Not of my choosing ― I wasn't even aware of it ― but a bubble, nonetheless.
What about you? Have you ever even considered the possibility that you may be living in a bubble, regardless of your politics or religion, regardless of the color of your skin or your perceived status in life?
What if the 'Bubble' ― the truth I had accepted without question ― is in some way no different from yours ― although yours probably doesn't include political oppression and torture?
For the NK elites, the petty perks come with strings. Very long strings. The higher one is on the ladder, the more severe the intrusion into our privacy. The baseline is the tapping of our phones and homes. The regime crushes dissenters and critics. It would not be an exaggeration to say that they even count tears during forced mourning. The fear of certain punishment is so strong that even after more than seven years, my mother still whispers into my ear when saying something critical about the Kim dictators.
I will never forget the day I unplugged from the regime. It's like the movie "The Matrix." In that movie, Morpheus is the character who helped Neo, the hero of the movie, unplug from the artificial, computer-generated world. My Morpheus was a real-life Chinese taxi driver. He helped me unplug from my "bubble" and opened my mind during a taxi ride. At that time, I was studying finance at Dongbei University of Finance and Economics in China. During the ride, he pointed to a picture of Deng Xiaoping, a Chinese leader, hanging from the rearview mirror and told me how his economic policies reformed China and lifted it out of poverty. He asked me in Chinese, "Why haven't the North Korean leaders done the same and instead left their people to starve?" I couldn't reply to him. I simply had no answer.
With logic too simple to question, the taxi driver had burst my bubble. The bubble that had surrounded me my entire life. For the first time, I realized that my life wasn't so enviable. The certainty of my life and the world around me, thanks to my Chinese Morpheus, began to crumble.
The crumbling was completed when I witnessed my college roommate, my BFF, dragged away from our dorm room while studying in China. In December 2013, NK agents showed up abruptly at our dorm and took my friend away. I never saw her again. I later learned that she and her entire family were sent to a political prison camp after her father was executed for being associated with Kim Jong-un's uncle.
Her last message still lingers in my heart. "I don't think I can come back, could you pack up my personal items and keep them for me? I am texting you inside of the bathroom at a highway rest station. I am going to throw my phone away now." My whole body started to shake when I read the last sentence. I was terrified. It was totally surreal. It was at this moment that so many questions flooded my mind. Why is an innocent person being punished? My friend was a model citizen of North Korea. Even if her father had committed a crime, why is her entire family being punished? How is guilt by association considered justice? And is my family next to be charged for crimes we did not commit?
I realized for the first time in my life that no one was ever truly safe in North Korea. We are nothing more than slaves for Kim Jong-un. We were all disposable. Expendable. Just like batteries, to be thrown away when used up. For the first time, anger and resentment against the regime filled my body. The bubble had burst and what little hope I had for the future of North Korea under the Kim regime vanished. I realized how desperately my country was in need of change.
I couldn't deny that the privileges enjoyed by the elite came with unimaginable exposure to oppression, abuse, and countless executions, not only for individuals themselves but also for three generations of their family. Realizing this paradox led me to doubt everything in my bubble: my belief system, my hope, and even my identity as a North Korean. The question was: Do I continue to live as a North Korean and ignore the tragedies, or abandon everything and plunge into a certain uncertainty of discovering the world beyond my bubble, whatever it might turn out to be?
Right then and there, I chose to escape and to leave my accepted and certain past and jumped head first into an unknown future. It was a very difficult decision for me and my family to give up all of our privileges, status, and loved ones, and to move to a new country where we had to start with nothing. There were no guides. There were no guarantees of success. The possibility of failure and attempts on our life was around every corner. Imagine abandoning all that you know and love and starting all over in the den of your "eternal enemy," thousands of miles away. All because of something you heard from a Chinese taxi driver.
I'm certain that many of you may have questioned the bubble you are in. Seeing glimpses of life beyond the walls that were built to keep you "safe," and wondering if you are on the right side.
So many are born to circumstances beyond their control. Life has dealt them a crappy hand. For me, I ran into my Morpheus who opened my eyes to the certain truth of North Korea. With his pin prick during that cab ride, I realized that I was living in a bubble of "artificial reality" that had been carefully constructed for decades. With his pin prick, I took my first steps down the path out of my bubble in search of a society that respects the rights of people and lives without fear. Even at the expense of losing the "privileges" of life as a North Korean elite, I believed, with my life on the line, that there had to be a better way.
We cannot choose where we are born, however, we can choose how we respond to our circumstances. When we are willing to consider a reality outside of our own, and when we embrace the discomfort and uncertainty... I believe then we can discover important value for each of us and change the world into a better place to live where every human being enjoys the universal values of freedom and human rights.
Casey Lartigue Jr., co-founder along with Lee Eun-koo of Freedom Speakers International and co-author with Han Song-mi of Greenlight to Freedom, edited this text for publication.
The Korea Times · August 21, 2022
6. Vice FM to visit U.N. headquarters for briefings on N.K. policy
Vice FM to visit U.N. headquarters for briefings on N.K. policy | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 장재순 · August 21, 2022
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Do-hoon will visit the U.N. headquarters this week to offer briefings on the government's policy on North Korea, including President Yoon Suk-yeol's "audacious plan" calling for denuclearization in exchange for economic aid, the ministry said Sunday.
Lee will visit New York from Sunday to Thursday for meetings with Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed; Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu; UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell; and U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the ministry said.
Yoon unveiled the "audacious plan" in his Liberation Day address, offering to carry out massive food assistance and infrastructure projects in the North if Pyongyang demonstrates its commitment to denuclearization.
North Korea has reacted negatively, calling the proposal the "height of absurdity."
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 장재순 · August 21, 2022
7. Kim Eun-hye returns as senior press secretary
Other key appointments:
Lee Kwan-sup, 61, former vice minister of trade, industry and energy, was appointed to the newly established position of senior presidential secretary for policy and planning. The post was created to improve "coordination and communication" between the presidential office and government departments, the presidential chief of staff said.
Lim Jong-deuk, a former Army two-star general who served as presidential defense secretary during the Park Geun-hye administration, was named to fill the post of second deputy chief of the National Security Office after Shin In-ho stepped down earlier this month over health issues.
The reorganization comes amid Yoon's low approval ratings, which are blamed partly on poor communication, as the public has reacted furiously to some of his reform policies such as lowering the school entry age by one year. That policy, which would have affected millions of prospective students, their parents and teachers, was proposed in July with little warning; many parents, surprised by the news, demanded its retraction, which resulted in the resignation of Park Soon-ae as education minister and the retraction of the policy.
Yoon's communication problem was exposed earlier when hundreds of senior police officers protested the formation of a police supervisory bureau under the interior ministry. The police, along with opposition lawmakers, painted the move as tightening government control of the police. However, in contrast with their claim, many experts see it as a division of power ― from the presidential office, which had strictly controlled the police in former administrations, to the ministry. Yet, the office was slow and ineffective in presenting this context, which resulted in a further decline of his approval ratings.
Kim Eun-hye returns as senior press secretary
The Korea Times · August 21, 2022
Kim Eun-hye, new senior press secretary for President Yoon Suk-yeol, speaks after a reshuffle announcement at the press room of the presidential office in Seoul, Sunday. Newsis
Ex-Vice Trade Minister Lee appointed senior secretary for policy and planning; Lim named deputy national security adviser
By Jung Min-ho
President Yoon Suk-yeol replaced his senior secretary for press affairs, Sunday, as dismal approval ratings jeopardize his reform agenda before it even starts.
The presidential office announced that Kim Eun-hye, 51, a former lawmaker who had previously been spokeswoman for Yoon's transition team, will replace Choi Young-bum in the top PR post as part of the first major reshuffle of the office since Yoon's inauguration in May.
Kim, a TV anchor-turned-politician who vacated her National Assembly seat to run unsuccessfully in the race for Gyeonggi governorship in June, has now been handed the task of developing media strategies and helping the administration improve communication with the public.
"Given that Kim is well aware of the philosophy of President Yoon's state affairs and that she can communicate effectively about his political agenda and its results with the public, it makes her the most suitable person for the post," presidential chief of staff Kim Dae-ki said at a press briefing.
Lee Kwan-sup, 61, former vice minister of trade, industry and energy, was appointed to the newly established position of senior presidential secretary for policy and planning. The post was created to improve "coordination and communication" between the presidential office and government departments, the presidential chief of staff said.
Lim Jong-deuk, a former Army two-star general who served as presidential defense secretary during the Park Geun-hye administration, was named to fill the post of second deputy chief of the National Security Office after Shin In-ho stepped down earlier this month over health issues.
President Yoon Suk-yeol's new senior press secretary Kim Eun-hye, left, new senior policy and planning secretary Lee Kwan-sup, center, and new second deputy National Security Adviser Lim Jong-deuk stand before reporters during a reshuffle announcement at the presidential office in Seoul, Sunday. Yonhap
The reorganization comes amid Yoon's low approval ratings, which are blamed partly on poor communication, as the public has reacted furiously to some of his reform policies such as lowering the school entry age by one year. That policy, which would have affected millions of prospective students, their parents and teachers, was proposed in July with little warning; many parents, surprised by the news, demanded its retraction, which resulted in the resignation of Park Soon-ae as education minister and the retraction of the policy.
Yoon's communication problem was exposed earlier when hundreds of senior police officers protested the formation of a police supervisory bureau under the interior ministry. The police, along with opposition lawmakers, painted the move as tightening government control of the police. However, in contrast with their claim, many experts see it as a division of power ― from the presidential office, which had strictly controlled the police in former administrations, to the ministry. Yet, the office was slow and ineffective in presenting this context, which resulted in a further decline of his approval ratings.
According to a poll released Friday by Gallup Korea, Yoon's approval rating was 28 percent, a drop from over 50 percent just three months ago. Education was his worst performance area, with only 11 percent approving his policy.
Yoon took office with a promise to push boldly ahead with what is necessary for the nation's future, even if that means he should take an unpopular path. Yet, with his dangerously low popularity, many remain doubtful that he will be able to reform outdated systems, including the national pension and labor systems.
The Korea Times · August 21, 2022
8. N.K. advises people not to eat dirty food washed away in flood waters
But the people are desperate. What is the regime doing to help the Korean people in the north? Execute propaganda operations against the South and build and test more missiles and nuclear weapons.
N.K. advises people not to eat dirty food washed away in flood waters | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 장재순 · August 21, 2022
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried a series of articles last week advising how to act in times of flooding, with one of the directions saying, "Do not eat dirty food washed away in flood waters."
The articles were carried from Wednesday to Friday to advise people about what to and not to do in times of typhoon, lightning and flooding, as a series of heavy downpours have battered the Korean Peninsula in recent weeks.
Noticeable among them was the advice to stay away from dirty food.
That illustrates the food shortages the destitute North has been suffering for decades even as the regime has pushed strongly for the development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.
Other advice include staying away from a street if water is ankle-deep because people can fall in just 15 centimeter-deep water and going up onto the roof when water fills up buildings.
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 장재순 · August 21, 2022
9. N. Korea denounces Yoon’s initiative to mend S. Korea-Japan ties
Like China, north Korea fears an improved ROK-Japan relationship. They are especially afraid of a trilateral ROK-Japan-US alliance.
N. Korea denounces Yoon’s initiative to mend S. Korea-Japan ties
koreaherald.com · by Ji Da-gyum · August 21, 2022
N. Korean media react to Abe’s assassination for first time, in show of enmity toward him
By Ji Da-gyum
Published : Aug 21, 2022 - 17:12 Updated : Aug 21, 2022 - 17:12
South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin (R) shakes hands with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi during a meeting with their counterparts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Phnom Penh on Aug. 4, 2022. (Yonhap)
North Korea’s propaganda outlets denounced South Korea’s diplomatic initiative to mend ties with Japan in articles issued this weekend, claiming the Yoon Suk-yeol government is seeking to capitalize on the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The North Korean external-oriented outlets made mention of Abe’s death for the first time, more than six weeks after Abe was shot to death in the Japanese city of Nara on July 8. The North Korean state media notably expressed antagonism toward the slain former prime minister, lambasting him for playing a leading role in reviving the country’s militarism.
DPRK Today, a propaganda website, undermined the Yoon government’s response to the assassination of Abe in a Korean-language commentary issued Sunday.
“Traitor Yoon Suk-yeol immediately sent condolence messages and built Abe up as a ‘respectable politician’ as soon as he received the news that Abe was shot to death,” DPRK Today said.
“The puppet group made a disgusting gesture to improve ties with Japan, saying that Abe worked tirelessly for the sake of the Northeast Asia region,” the propaganda outlet added, referring to South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo’s message.
DPRK Today also criticized the South Korean presidential office for expressing hopes that Yoon’s visit to a memorial altar at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to pay his respects to Abe would serve as a new starting point for South Korea-Japan relations. The propaganda media dismissed the Yoon government’s plan to dispatch a delegation of condolences to Japan as “making a fuss to curry favor with Japan.”
DPRK Today claimed, “The Yoon Suk-yeol group of traitors is busy trying to turn the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Abe into a decisive opportunity to improve South Korea-Japan relations.”
It adds that the Yoon government “humiliated Korean people by acting unseemly as if their grandfather died about the death of a samurai descendant who committed immeasurable crimes against Korean people through generations and sharpened his sword for reinvasion.”
Calibrating timing?
North Korea’s Uriminzokkiri and Tongil Sinbo, which mainly target external audiences, launched a blistering criticism of the Yoon government’s initiative to improve ties with Japan.
Uriminzokkiri on Saturday censured Yoon’s speech on the occasion of the Koreas’ shared Aug. 15 National Liberation Day holiday, where he pledged to expeditiously restore and develop relations between Korea and Japan based on a future-oriented approach.
The article specifically lambasted National Assembly Vice Speaker Chung Jin-suk for committing to pitch in to fulfill Yoon’s diplomatic goal in the capacity of a co-chair of the Korean-Japan Parliamentarians’ Association. Chung said Monday that South Korea and Japan “share values of liberal democracy and market economy and they are partners in the journey to spread freedom in Asia.”
Uriminzokkiri added, “Chung Jin-suk’s disgusting behavior to exalt Japan and make points with the traitor (Yoon) is sickening,” criticizing that Chung sought to “attend the state funeral for the former Prime Minister Abe who was the symbol of far-right conservativism and viciously insulted our nation.”
Uriminzokkiri’s article notably came on the day that a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Chung, left for Washington for a weeklong visit at the invitation of the US State Department. Japanese lawmakers were also invited to visit Washington for a trilateral exchange with their South Korean and US counterparts.
Checks against trilateral cooperation
North Korea’s weekly Tongil Sinbo echoed that the Yoon government is “trying to use the violent death of former Japanese Prime Minister Abe as an opportunity to improve ties with the island country as they played as if their grandfather died.” The weekly labeled Abe as the one who “ran amok at the forefront to revive militarism and scheme reinvasion.”
Tongil Sinbo conspicuously claimed that Yoon has pursued to improve ties with Japan “despite repeated contempt, disrespect and disregard,” with the ultimate goal to counter North Korea in trilateral coordination with Japan and the United States. The media criticized the recent move to enhance trilateral security cooperation in that context.
“The Yoon Suk-yeol group of traitors’ persistent obsession to improve bilateral relations with Japan ... stems from its ulterior purpose to realize heinous policy to confront the same race while having the US and Japan, their masters, on its side,” the weekly said.
Tongil Sinbo contended that the Yoon government has sought to actively participate in trilateral exercises including a ballistic missile defense exercise targeting North Korea to that end.
Tongil Sinbo also dismissed the Yoon government’s recent efforts to diplomatically resolve the issue of compensating victims of wartime forced labor as a “disgusting play to curry favor with the island country.”
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry recently submitted an opinion to the Supreme Court in the run-up to the final ruling on liquidating assets of Japanese firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to compensate the victims. The ministry also launched the government-civilian consultative body on Japan’s forced labor issue in July.
(dagyumji@heraldcorp.com)
10. S. Korea's chip exports to China jump nearly 13 times, biggest gain over last 2 decades: report
S. Korea's chip exports to China jump nearly 13 times, biggest gain over last 2 decades: report | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 우재연 · August 21, 2022
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's semiconductor industry saw the biggest export growth to China over the past two decades, research showed Sunday.
The research by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) showed that semiconductors took up only 3.2 percent of South Korea's total exports to China in 2000 but jumped 12.4 times to 39.7 percent 20 years later.
Precision machinery was South Korea's top export sector to China at 42.5 percent, followed by fine chemistry at 40.9 percent, semiconductors at 39.7 percent, glass at 39.3 percent and petrochemicals at 38.9 percent.
In 2000, the sectors were timber at 42.3 percent, leather and shoes at 38.8 percent, petrochemicals at 33.4 percent and electronic parts at 27.2 percent.
The KCCI conducted the research to mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties with China in 1992.
"High technology sectors, which are directly related to economic security, are very sensitive to external risk factors," the KCCI warned. "The government should come up with plans to prevent China from weaponizing South Korea's dependence on China for exports through continued multi-sourcing policies."
In 2003, China surpassed the United States to become South Korea's biggest export destination and has been in the top spot since.
In 2000, South Korea's exports to China were US$18.5 billion, 10.7 percent of the total exports of that year. But the figure soared to $162.9 billion last year, accounting for 25.3 percent of the total.
"It is time for the government to devise extensive measures to tackle a possible slowdown of China's economy, China's technological advancement and the tech rivalry between the U.S. and China," Woo Tae-hee, vice chairman of the KCCI, said.
jaeyeon.woo@yna.co.kr
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 우재연 · August 21, 2022
11. N.K. media outlets mention Abe's death for 1st time
I guess it took a little while for the Propaganda and Agitation Department to figure out the message and get it approved.
N.K. media outlets mention Abe's death for 1st time | Yonhap News Agency
en.yna.co.kr · by 장재순 · August 21, 2022
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korean state media outlets mentioned the death of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for the first time on Sunday, calling him a "a samurai descendant" who committed numerous crimes against Korean people.
DPRK Today, a propaganda website, mentioned Abe while slamming South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol for sending a condolence message upon learning of his death and praising him for making efforts for the sake of Northeast Asia.
Yoon "shamed Korean people by acting ugly as if his grandfather died about the death of a samurai descendant who committed unmeasurable crimes against Korean people through generations and honed his sword for re-invasion," the outlet said.
Uriminjokkiri, another propaganda website, also mentioned Abe while criticizing Vice National Assembly Speaker Chung Jin-suk over his plan to visit Japan in September in his capacity as a special presidential envoy and attend the funeral of Abe, "a symbol of the far-right who viciously slandered Korean people."
Tongil Sinbo, a North Korean weekly, carried similar criticism, lashing out at South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin for trying to take advantage of Abe's death as an opportunity to improve relations with Japan.
(END)
en.yna.co.kr · by 장재순 · August 21, 2022
12. It Could Happen: A Military Coup Against Yoon Suk-yeol Is Possible
Wow. Quite a theory.
Excerpts:
By promoting “fairness and common sense” as his campaign slogan, the opposition party candidate, Yoon Suk-yeol, defeated the ruling party candidate, Lee Jae-Myong, on March 9, 2022. Though razor slim, more voters were convinced that Yoon, a former prosecutor general, will do a better job in combatting corruption than Lee, the former governor of Gyeonggi Province. Nevertheless, once elected, Yoon put aside his major pledge—fairness and common sense will prevail in government affairs such as appointing officials with high standards and ethics and exercising power under the rule of law. Instead, Yoon created a government of the prosecutors, by the prosecutors, for the prosecutors.
Yoon’s prosecutor-backed presidency has launched a full criminal investigation targeting Moon and his former officials. However, as a New York Times reporter points out, “going after his predecessor could be a political gamble for Yoon,” since Moon’s average popularity was almost three times higher than Yoon’s as of August 11. The marginalized soldiers are aware not only that Yoon is currently losing political legitimacy to rule the country, but also that he neglects to better soldiers’ economic welfare. Most importantly, how soldiers perceive Yoon’s low approval rating and military budget matters far more than the actual figures (19 percent of the approval and 13 percent of the military budget). If Yoon fails to quickly ameliorate these negative perceptions that are permeating among soldiers, there is a chance that history will record him as the first civilian president subject to a military insurrection since the introduction of the 1987 democratic Constitution.
It Could Happen: A Military Coup Against Yoon Suk-yeol Is Possible
There is a chance that history will record him as the first civilian president subject to a military insurrection since the introduction of the 1987 democratic Constitution.
The National Interest · by Seung-Whan Choi · August 20, 2022
My recent article entitled “Can Biden save South Korea’s Unpopular President from Himself?” has stirred up debate about whether a military rebellion is possible in South Korea. Some contend that since the civilian control of the military took root in the 1987 democratic constitution, a coup has become a distant memory in the country.
However, the shadows of a military coup still linger over the civilian leadership because the feasibility of a coup increases if the military views the incumbent government as illegitimate and perceives themselves to be unfairly treated in an economic sense. Moreover, South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol will be at the risk of facing a military insurrection if his historically unpopular presidency is not properly dealt with and if he neglects to improve the welfare of soldiers who have answered the call to serve out of a sense of patriotism.
First, when the military sees their head of state as illegitimate, it is not uncommon that they question their abilities as the commander-in-chief. In the United States, Senator Jesse Helms once mentioned that Bill Clinton, who dodged the Vietnam draft, is extremely unpopular among armed forces personnel stationed at the six military bases in North Carolina. Many Korean soldiers are not easy with Yoon since he evaded military duty. Further, many soldiers are aware that no other commander-in-chief was as unpopular as Yoon in the first three months of rule.
How unpopular is Yoon? Morning Consult, a U.S.-based online survey firm, revealed on August 11 that only 19 percent of Koreans rated Yoon positively while 72 percent held a negative view. This signals regime illegitimacy especially given the fact that Yoon was elected president only three months ago. Many Koreans faulted Yoon for his abuse of appointment power and incompetent leadership and many others were shocked when Yoon said on June 15 that he does not know how to handle his wife’s politically controversial behavior “because it is the first time he serves as the president of the country.”
Second, once Yoon decided to move his Executive Office into the Korean Pentagon, the military had to empty their entire headquarters in twenty days. Yoon did not consult any military strategist regarding the move and its negative ramifications on national security; his superstitious belief was the only reason. In addition to the befuddlement from losing their command post, many soldiers were largely distressed that Yoon’s unilateral decision was based on superstition.
Third, as bipartisan cooperation concerning critical issues of war and peace is the norm in the United States, it should be the same in South Korea when it comes to national defense. The Korean military community understands that regardless of their political orientation, all soldiers must form a united front against the enemy in the North. However, the principle of bipartisan cooperation was shattered as soon as Yoon was sworn into office.
To replace all high-ranking, seasoned officers who were appointed by his predecessor with younger, less experienced ones who are loyal to him, Yoon put a three-star, instead four-star, general in charge of the Department of Defense. It is worrisome that the new arrivals are almost all Korean West Point graduates. Each year, Korean West Point graduates consist of less than 10 percent of all commissioned officers, but they predominantly occupy the rank of general. This does not happen in the U.S. Army, as the rank of general is diversified among non-West Point graduates.
Since Yoon has favored a very specific portion of the Korean West Point graduates, regardless of their skills, abilities, and accomplishments, the marginalized West Point graduates and non-West Point graduates feel frustrated and angry.
Still, frustration and anger alone do not necessarily incentivize soldiers to rebel against an incumbent regime. If disgruntled soldiers believe that they are still beneficiaries of economic growth, they are likely to put up with promotion discrimination. However, if they feel that they are blocked from having access to economic benefits, they are less likely to tolerate an incumbent regime that they perceive to be illegitimate.
Right after Yoon moved into his new Executive Office in the former Korean Pentagon, he cut the military budget by $12 billion. Many soldiers will not receive new uniforms, combat boots, and bulletproof helmets, lowering the safety of servicemen and women. The budget cut also means that the available funds for renovating kitchens and quarters for soldiers will be reduced, deteriorating the quality of military life. Once completed, the renovation projects would be a great improvement to the places soldiers could call home while on duty.
The commander-in-chief spent more than $40 million to renovate his new Executive Office and residence. This amount would be unnecessary if Yoon continued to use the old Korean White House which was in perfect condition. Soldiers saw Yoon prioritize the improvement of his own quality of life and safety while implementing these cuts in the military budget. This has caused many soldiers to feel economically discriminated against.
Furthermore, when Yoon ran his presidential campaigns, he promised that soldier salaries will be more than doubled as soon as he assumes office. Many soldiers voted for Yoon with the expectation of an immediate, steep raise. But President Yoon reneged on that campaign pledge, provoking many soldiers’ economic grievances against Yoon.
I believe that there is a chance of a military coup not only because South Korea suffers from a historically unpopular presidency with the lowest approval rating in history, but also because it experiences an unprecedented volume of economic grievances among soldiers due to the dwindling military budget. Although these two politico-economic conditions do not mean that Yoon is destined to encounter a military insurrection during his tenure, it suggests that the probability of military insubordination is higher under Yoon than it was under any of his predecessors.
For instance, Park Chung-hee, then a two-star general, was the leader who carried out the first military coup in Korean history. On May 16, 1961, Park rebelled against the civilian government led by Chang Myon and ruled the country until he was assassinated by his close associate on October 26, 1979. Park believed that Chang’s rule was illegitimate since mass protests and civil unrest were rampant. Park frequently complained that the soldiers who successfully defended the country from North communists were suffering from economic hardships, while many corrupt politicians enjoy a luxurious lifestyle.
Proud of being one of the first cadets to graduate from the four-year, not two-year, Korean West Point, Chun Doo-hwan usurped power from Choi Kyu-hah who succeeded Park Chung-hee. As Park’s prime minister, Choi was elected to the office of the president by the Korean electoral college, a rubber stamp composed of pro-Park people. Chun viewed the civilian president to be an illegitimate heir of Park’s military dictatorship since Choi was just a figurehead for the military regime. When Chun orchestrated a coup against Choi, he was a two-star general in charge of the Defense Security Command (DSC). The DSC failed to function as the primary military organization safeguarding internal security, preserving loyalty to the regime, and deterring and investigating subversion. Chun was also convinced that Choi could not protect the economic interests of the military since he does not have military blood in his veins.
Roh Tae-woo, the successor to Chun Doo-hwan, installed another military-backed government. Roh was Chun’s accomplice with whom he successfully initiated the 1979 coup d’état against the civilian government led by Choi Kyu-hah. Starting from Roh, the 1987 revised constitution limited the presidential tenure to one term of five years to protect the country in the future from dictatorship.
Pro-democracy advocate Kim Young-sam took after Roh. As soon as Kim assumed office, he dismantled the Korean West Point’s notorious secret society that was the main force behind the 1979 military mutiny; Kim was enthusiastically cheered by the public. Since the military lost power overnight and was unable to remobilize, they could not dream of a revolt during Kim’s tenure.
Kim Dae-jung succeeded Kim Young-sam. The two Kims were famous for their never-ending struggle for Korean democracy. Although Kim Dae-jung came to power in the middle of the Asian financial crisis, he rescued the country from it. Kim earned the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize for paving the way for a peaceful reconciliation between South and North Korea. He also enjoyed widespread popularity until his two sons were, in the last year of his term, arrested on corruption charges. Since the military appreciated Kim’s dedication to the country and attention to military welfare, they had little incentive to go against Kim. In particular, military expenditures expressed as a percentage of general government spending—a proxy for the military’s economic grievances—were high under Kim, especially compared to the first year of Yoon’s presidency.
Roh Moo-hyun, the successor to Kim Dae-jung, was known for his least authoritarian leadership that was rooted in democratic principles and values. All previous Korean presidents except for Roh Moo-hyun established a dictatorship or imperial presidency in which their presidential power exceeded constitutional limits. Due to a series of politico-economic scandals, the five-year average of Roh’s approval ratings is below 30 percent. The military was uneasy with Roh’s statecraft, but they did not attempt to overthrow the democratic government. A critical reason was that the military appreciated their economic dividends. The five-year military expenditure as a percentage of government spending well exceeded the first-year military expenditure under Yoon as well.
Roh Moo-hyun passed his baton to Lee Myung-bak. Lee made his best effort to revive the Korean economy, but the outcome was short of his campaign marks. His average approval rating was around 35 percent owing mainly to his unilateral decision to import U.S. beef and his older brother’s corruption scandals. The military was displeased with Lee’s governance but remained in the barracks. An important reason was that they noticed that the Lee government spent a bit more money on the national defense than his predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun.
Park Geun-hye succeeded Lee Myung-bak. Park is a daughter of Park Chung-hee, the assassinated military dictator. A 2011 Gallup Korea poll revealed that Korean voters favored Park as a presidential candidate for two reasons. Park was a woman candidate, and her late father made the country economically rich. Before her impeachment in the fourth year, Park had an average approval rating of about 42 percent. The military favored Park since she was considered the heiress of their godfather, Park Chung-hee. There was even evidence that the military plotted a loyal coup to keep, not remove, Park in power when she was undergoing the impeachment process that began due to the abuse of presidential power by Choi Soon-sil, her longtime confidante and a private citizen.
Moon Jae-in was elected as the next president after Park’s impeachment. Moon enjoyed an average approval rating of about 53 percent during his term, the highest among all former presidents. The military had no reason to challenge a highly popular president, despite the country’s economic outlook not being particularly favorable. Yet despite the slow economy, the five-year average military expenditure as a percentage of government spending was higher under Moon than it is under Yoon. The military was able to receive as much money as it could, so it did not have many economic grievances against Moon.
By promoting “fairness and common sense” as his campaign slogan, the opposition party candidate, Yoon Suk-yeol, defeated the ruling party candidate, Lee Jae-Myong, on March 9, 2022. Though razor slim, more voters were convinced that Yoon, a former prosecutor general, will do a better job in combatting corruption than Lee, the former governor of Gyeonggi Province. Nevertheless, once elected, Yoon put aside his major pledge—fairness and common sense will prevail in government affairs such as appointing officials with high standards and ethics and exercising power under the rule of law. Instead, Yoon created a government of the prosecutors, by the prosecutors, for the prosecutors.
Yoon’s prosecutor-backed presidency has launched a full criminal investigation targeting Moon and his former officials. However, as a New York Times reporter points out, “going after his predecessor could be a political gamble for Yoon,” since Moon’s average popularity was almost three times higher than Yoon’s as of August 11. The marginalized soldiers are aware not only that Yoon is currently losing political legitimacy to rule the country, but also that he neglects to better soldiers’ economic welfare. Most importantly, how soldiers perceive Yoon’s low approval rating and military budget matters far more than the actual figures (19 percent of the approval and 13 percent of the military budget). If Yoon fails to quickly ameliorate these negative perceptions that are permeating among soldiers, there is a chance that history will record him as the first civilian president subject to a military insurrection since the introduction of the 1987 democratic Constitution.
Seung-Whan Choi teaches International Relations and Korean politics at the University of Illinois at Chicago. A retired Army officer, he is the author of several books, including Emerging Security Challenges: American Jihad, Terrorism, Civil War, and Human Rights (Santa Barbara: Praeger).
Image: Wikipedia.
The National Interest · by Seung-Whan Choi · August 20, 2022
13. U.S., South Korea Revive Live Military Drills After Four-Year Hiatus
The very first paragraph is wrong. We have not had a four year hiatus of "live action military drills." Yes some training has been cancelled, postponed, scaled back, and renamed,. Scale, scope, timing and intensity of training has been adjusted to support diplomacy since 2018. The major lesson that should be learned is that all efforts to use military training in support of diplomacy or as a "carrot" to provide security guarantees to Kim Jong Un and entice him to negotiate have failed. Kim Jong Un has been in no way swayed by our attempts to moderate training to try to show him that we are not seeking to invade the north (and we are not).
All that said, there has not been a four year hiatus of "live action military training." Yes the Ulchi Freedom Guardian (now Ulchi Freedom Shield and previously Ulchi Focus lens for decades) did forgo a field training component but the main effort of the August exercise has always been command post computer training for high level staffs at the combined force comman/ theater level and the component HQ (air land sea, SOF, etc).
But the key is multi-echelon training that takes place year around with the right type of training being conducted for the right echelon, e.g., field tactical forces and computer simulation training for the higher level operational commanders and staffs. Ulchi Freedom Shield is one exercise of many that take place year round. Of course the only thing the press and pundits focus on are the two exercises (or three) that take place in August and MArch (Key Resolve - a command post computer training exercise and Foal Eagle - a large scale field training exercise). They often overlook the routine field and live fire training that takes place all year round such as in the 2d Infantry Division. Again their have been some challenges - (civilian encroachment on live fire ranges that have impacted helicopter live fire training) but commanders and staff have developed workarounds and not the ROK government is working to solve the issue. The press has reported on some training: air exercises andmartiime exercises that have more visibility than routine ground training.
What we have lost over the years is large scale combined tactical training to develop interoperability between ROK and US tactical forces. We only have one ground combat brigade that rotates to Korea so there are not enough US units to conduct combined training with so many ROK units. Since we ended Team Spirit in 1993 (in support of nuclear diplomacy and the Agreed Framework in 1994 - how did that work out for us?) we have not deployed US forces to the peninsula on an equivalent scale - the quasi-replacement exercise, RSO&I which turned into Key Resolve never lived up to the level of Team Spirit so we have not been sending large numbers of hUS military forces to the peoniusla for training.
But the bottom line is while there has been a decline in training over the past four years due to deliberate decision making (e.g., Trump's unilateral and uncoordinated cancellation of Ulchi Freedom Guardian in 2018 - the field training add-on was cancelled but the command post computer simulation training took place) as well as COVID there has not been a four year hiatus of "live action military training." That is a statement of uniformed journalists and pundits.
General LaCamera's concluding statement should be understood. He is talking about multi-echelon training with the right type of training being conducted that is appropriate for the right level of roce from the tactical to the strategic - one size does not fit all.
Excerpt:
“My preference is to do as much training as possible at all echelons,” Gen. LaCamera said.
U.S., South Korea Revive Live Military Drills After Four-Year Hiatus
Show of military strength is likely to irritate neighboring North Korea and China, security experts say
By Dasl YoonFollow
Aug. 21, 2022 5:30 am ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-south-korea-revive-live-military-drills-after-four-year-hiatus-11661074202?utm_source=pocket_mylist
SEOUL—For the first time in four years, the U.S. and South Korea will revive their live-action military drills, sharpening their preparedness as the North Korean nuclear threat worsens and China steps up its presence around Taiwan.
The 11-day joint drills, which start Monday in South Korea, are expected to feature once again jet fighters soaring in the skies, tanks rumbling down roads and thousands of soldiers simulating a conflict with the Kim Jong Un regime.
The annual summertime training, known as Ulchi Freedom Shield, had been largely reduced to computer simulations since 2018. At the time, President Donald Trump, fresh off his first meeting with Mr. Kim in Singapore, ordered the training to be scaled down, criticizing it as costly and provocative. South Korea’s then-leader, who favored engagement with Pyongyang, didn’t oppose the move.
The U.S. and South Korea have in recent years said readiness levels could be maintained despite the reduced exercises. Retired South Korean military officials have said preparedness has suffered, adding that the digital training doesn’t replicate the shoulder-to-shoulder action required should war erupt.
Some active-duty soldiers have even expressed concern about the lack of field drills, said Cho Dong-youn, a former South Korean army major and a military-studies professor at Seo Kyeong University in Seoul. “The outdoor exercises are essential in building cooperation between the U.S. and South Korean forces and practicing crisis management,” Ms. Cho said.
South Korean soldiers last week after a live-fire exercise north of Seoul held days before joint drills with the U.S.
PHOTO: YONHAP/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
South Korean self-propelled howitzers north of Seoul during preliminary drills last week.
PHOTO: YONHAP/NEWSCOM/ZUMA PRESS
While a return to the large-scale exercises indicates that the U.S. and South Korea are normalizing the alliance, the move will likely only encourage North Korea’s current move toward nuclear modernization, said Van Jackson, a former Obama administration Pentagon official now at New Zealand’s Victoria University of Wellington. For the governments in Beijing and Pyongyang, the military exercises will justify their defiance of Washington and its allies, he added.
“They will nudge China and North Korea closer together,” said Mr. Jackson, referring to the large-scale exercises.
The political and security picture has changed in northeastern Asia since the U.S.-South Korean drills were toned down in 2018. President Biden has made strengthening alliances a priority, while South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office in May, backs a toughened posture with the Kim regime. The two leaders, in a meeting in Seoul, agreed to expand the field exercises and boost deterrence if necessary.
South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, who took office earlier this year, supports a toughened stance regarding North Korea.
PHOTO: YONHAP/NEWSCOM/ZUMA PRESS
North Korea has restarted testing of intercontinental ballistic missiles and appears to be preparing for its first nuclear test since 2017. Russia has invaded Ukraine, while tensions between the U.S. and China have risen after a visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
The return to military training by the U.S. and its allies extends beyond joint drills in South Korea. The U.S., South Korea and Japan recently concluded missile-tracking and defense exercises in the waters off Hawaii, the first such combined training since 2017.
China has expressed concern over U.S. expansion of military exercises with its allies, saying it could raise tensions with North Korea. China is likely most concerned about the U.S.’s surveillance operations conducted during the joint exercises, which can gather intelligence on North Korea’s and China’s military facilities with surveillance aircraft involved in the drills, according to security experts.
The flag of North Korea, atop the blue tower, and South Korea’s near the border between the two countries.
PHOTO: IM BYUNG-SHIK/YONHAP/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Starting on Monday, South Korea and the U.S. will conduct 11 joint field exercises including drills designed to simulate repelling a North Korean attack and exercises simulating joint attacks and removal of weapons of mass destruction, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry.
U.S. Forces Korea, which oversees roughly 28,500 American personnel stationed in South Korea, declined to comment on the drills.
While the U.S. and South Korea argue that the exercises are defensive in nature, the drills have long irritated North Korea, which considers them a rehearsal for an invasion.
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In a speech last month, Mr. Kim referred to the military exercises as he accused the U.S. and South Korea of engaging in “dangerous, illegal, hostile acts.” He threatened to annihilate South Korea’s military and said the country’s nuclear missiles are ready for a conflict with the U.S.
Mr. Kim’s sister, who serves as the regime’s mouthpiece, accused South Korea in a statement published Friday by Pyongyang’s state media of conducting war exercises. In the short term, North Korea will likely use the joint exercises for propaganda purposes to justify future provocations and its seventh nuclear test, according to security experts. The Kim regime has conducted a record number of weapons tests this year, including the test-firing Wednesday of two cruise missiles.
“The joint drills will trigger an angrier response, especially as North Korea has rejected Washington and Seoul’s calls for talks,” said Park Won-gon, a professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.
Earlier this month South Korea’s defense minister said North Korea might conduct “strategic and tactical provocations” in response to the joint exercises.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has accused the U.S. and South Korea of engaging in ‘dangerous, illegal, hostile acts.’
PHOTO: LEE JIN-MAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
The U.S. and South Korea would respond sternly if North Korea conducted a nuclear test by deploying strategic assets to the Korean Peninsula, according to South Korea’s Defense Ministry. Strategic assets refer to weapons such as bombers, aircraft carriers, stealth jet fighters and nuclear submarines.
Pentagon officials have said the joint drills are a “principal method of ensuring the combined alliance’s readiness.” Before the large-scale exercises were restored, Gen. Paul J. LaCamera, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, told the Senate Armed Services Committee in March that he backed such a return.
“My preference is to do as much training as possible at all echelons,” Gen. LaCamera said.
Write to Dasl Yoon at dasl.yoon@wsj.com
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
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