02/08/2020 News & Commentary – Korea
News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs.
1. South Korea’s view on North Korea nuclear issue may cause friction with US
2. North Korea’s human rights most divisive issue for South Korea, US
3. The man with a plan for Korean Peninsula peace (Moon Chung-in)
4. [INTERVIEW] Chinese envoy says ‘anti-China’ grouping will cause confrontation (South Korea and the Quad – a warning)
5. Biden’s NK policy review
6. US needs Korea policy reset
7. Korean students at Harvard demand professor’s apology over controversial claims on comfort women
8. Moon’s Nixon moment
9. S. Korea to develop indigenous long-range radar to boost air defense capabilities
10. FM Kang leaves office after years of daunting diplomatic tasks
11. North Korea conducts lectures on “squashing anti-socialist” acts
12. Four people in a wooden boat disappear from waters off Ryongyon County
13. N.K. paper calls for military role in advancing economy on army founding anniversary
14. Two minor natural quakes hit N. Korea’s eastern region: KMA
15. Acting U.S. ambassador highlights strong bilateral ties in first tweet
16. Marvel reveals new Korean hero ‘Taegukgi’
1. South Korea’s view on North Korea nuclear issue may cause friction with US
The Korea Times · February 8, 2021
It is all about the assumptions of the nature and objectives of the Kim family regime. The ROK and US must get their strategic assumptions sufficiently aligned.
2. North Korea’s human rights most divisive issue for South Korea, US
The Korea Times · by Kang Seung-woo · February 8, 2021
Again, I hate to beat the horse more dead. Human rights would not be a source of alliance friction if the allies could sufficiently align their strategic assumptions about the nature and objectives of the Kim family regime.
One thing both the Moon and Biden administrations should do is appoint special envoys for north Korean human rights.
3. The man with a plan for Korean Peninsula peace (Moon Chung-in)
asiatimes.com · by Andrew Salmon · February 8, 2021
Moon Chung-in:
“Perhaps unsurprisingly, many Pyongyangologists get it wrong. Most notably, a belief persisted among some, from the early 1990s up to the Barack Obama presidency, that North Korea would implode all by itself.
One member of the community never held that belief: Moon Chung-in. But the South Korean academic towers above the crowd for other reasons.
No man has had a bigger policy influence upon the three liberal South Korean presidents who have chosen to engage the Kims than Moon.
He believes he is the only South Korean who has attended every one of the presidential-level inter-Korean summits: In 2000, 2007 and 2018. At those events, he rubbed shoulders with the mysterious and often-demonized figures whose names light up global headlines: Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un and Kim Yo Jong.”
I disagree with most everything Moon Chung-un says and stands for but he makes some important points in this part one interview. Some examples:
“He admits that many consider him a “liberal idealist or a North Korean sympathizer” but describes himself as “a progressive realist.” “Morality and law are beautiful, but we are stuck with reality,” he said. “My argument is we should start with the Korean reality.”
…
That reality is a nuclear armed – and very stable – North Korea. “Kim Jong Un has consolidated political power,” he said. “So if your aim with North Korea is changing the regime, it won’t work.”
Though many around the world believe dictatorships are destined for inevitable collapse, three generations of Kims have deeply entrenched their regime. “It is unprecedented, we should not take these factors lightly,” Moon said. “That is why we should take North Korea as it is, not as we wish to see it.
“Competition among party and state agencies and sometimes between the party and the military was cutthroat – that is how Kim Jong Il ran the system,” Moon said. “Under Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s governing system has become normalized. The Korea Workers’ Party has primacy over the military – unlike under his father.”
…
“In North Korea, you are not supposed to raise this issue!” he said. “She has the bloodline so she could be the most likely successor, but in North Korea you never talk about the second in power.” He warned, “When you do that, it can bring about a deadly boomerang effect on him or her.”
He cited the late Jang Song Thaek, Kim Jong Un’s uncle, who was executed in 2013 for reasons that remain unclear. His death is believed to be linked to disloyalty, to his massing of economic assets, or possibly his closeness to figures in China.
“Jang Song Thaek was the key figure, but now I don’t see any power players – the top players are mostly technocrats,” Moon said, adding, “I was stunned by what happened to Jang.”
4. [INTERVIEW] Chinese envoy says ‘anti-China’ grouping will cause confrontation (South Korea and the Quad – a warning)
The Korea Times · by Yi Whan-woo · February 8, 2021
Chinese ambassador to South Korea provides a warning.
South Korea must stand up to such threats. And we must support the ROK when China conducts economic warfare against it, unlike our failure to do so during the THAAD situation.
5. Biden’s NK policy review
The Korea Times· by Tong Kim · February 8, 2021
Few Americans have spent as much time in north Korea interpreting for high level meetings) than Tong Kim. He offers five “assumptions” for the Biden policy review on north Korea.
I take strong exception to the first assumption especially. When has the Kim family regime ever changed its position on nuclear weapons? The regime may have changed positions on minor issues but I do not think it has changed its national objectives (party, military) for seven decades. And nuclear weapons are key to achieving those objectives. I hate to disagree with my good friend Tong, but I really think we need to begin assumptions with the nature and objectives of the Kim family regime as well as a review of north Korean policy and strategy.
6. US needs Korea policy reset
The Korea Times· by Sandip Kumar Mishra · February 8, 2021
A view from India. His key point:
“I would suggest that your administration, rather than having a “principled inactivism” approach, should pursue a “principled proactivism.” Thus, a better choice would be to mix the principled approach of the Obama administration with the proactive approach of the Trump administration.”
7. Korean students at Harvard demand professor’s apology over controversial claims on comfort women
en.yna.co.kr · by 고병준 · February 8, 2021
Excerpt: “The issue of comfort women is an international inhumane act, and his academic view which justifies and negates the act is an immoral and shameless view,” it added.
8. Moon’s Nixon moment
koreajoongangdaily.joins.com · Ko Dae-hoon
An interesting analogy covering “internal file” on a North Korean nuclear construction project and The controversies surrounding former justice ministers Choo and Cho Kuk.
9. S. Korea to develop indigenous long-range radar to boost air defense capabilities
en.yna.co.kr · by 최수향 · February 8, 2021
10. FM Kang leaves office after years of daunting diplomatic tasks
en.yna.co.kr · by 송상호 · February 8, 2021
Farewell Madam Kang. It has been a challenging four years and you have navigated rough seas well.
Excerpts:
“Having led the ministry since June 2017, Kang described her stint as the nation’s first female foreign minister as “most honorable” in her work life and voiced hope that her successor, Chung Eui-yong, will reinvigorate the ministry going forward.
“Of all workplaces I have gone through over more than 60 years, I think of this as the most honorable, and I think this will be remembered really as the most rewarding period in my life,” she said during a farewell meeting with reporters.
11. North Korea conducts lectures on “squashing anti-socialist” acts
Who does Kim fear more? The Korean people conducting anti-socialist acts.
12. Four people in a wooden boat disappear from waters off Ryongyon County
dailynk.com · February 8, 2021
Hope the ROK Navy secured them or they made it to one of the Northwest Islands. But how much of a conspiracy was this? How important was this “security guidance officer?” It bears watching.
13. N.K. paper calls for military role in advancing economy on army founding anniversary
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · February 8, 2021
The military is the best functioning institution in north Korea.
Excerpt: The paper urged the military to play a leading role in its stationed areas and to turn the mining town of Komdok in South Hamgyong Province into the country’s “model mountainous city.”
And there is this key point. The party is in charge. “The paper, however, stressed that the military is strictly under the control of the ruling Workers’ Party and called for the army’s “absolute obedience.”
14. wo minor natural quakes hit N. Korea’s eastern region: KMA
en.yna.co.kr · by 김나영 · February 8, 2021
My first thought when seeing this report is whether there was a nuclear test. Fortunately the sensors are good enough to determine the differences. And I doubt the north was able to developed the capability to test a device 24km below the surface!
15. Acting U.S. ambassador highlights strong bilateral ties in first tweet
en.yna.co.kr · by 김승연 · February 8, 2021
Very well qualified. But I wonder how long it will be until a new ambassador is nominated and confirmed.
16. Marvel reveals new Korean hero ‘Taegukgi’
More Korean soft power.
——-
“War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men.”
– Georges Clemenceau
“When my brother and I built the first man-carrying flying machine we thought that we were introducing into the world an invention which would make further wars practically impossible.”
-Orville Wright, 1917.
“Air Power is, above all, a psychological weapon—and only short-sighted soldiers, too battle-minded, underrate the importance of psychological factors in war.”
– B. H. Liddell-Hart