News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Riley Murray.
1. The Inter-Korean Liaison Office at Kaesong: Still Standing, Although Clearly Damaged
2. North Korea strengthens internal solidarity by criticizing external enemies
3. N. Korea getting ready to send anti-Seoul leaflets to S. Korea
4. Seoul, Washington must restore powerful deterrence
5. Worrisome reshuffle of foreign policy and national security team (South Korea)
6. US Forces Korea Permits Racial Injustice Protests on Bases
7. Remembering Otto: A Conversation with Cindy Warmbier
8. Six Years after the UN COI Report: A Discussion with Justice Michael Kirby (north Korea)
9. Washington is in constant talks with Seoul about joint military drills
10. North Korea Linked Hackers Used LinkedIn to Get Into European Defense Firms, Claim Security Experts
11. Unification ministry reiterates vow to crack down on anti-Pyongyang leaflets
12. North Korea to target stimulus checks in weekend cyberattack: report
13. More detail from Bolton on the Trump-Kim summits
14. North Korea fury: Real reason 'bullying' Kim Jong-un blew up strategic building on border
15. Kim Jong-un PANIC: The shock truth behind North Korea's furious rallies
16. What Is the Leaflet Campaign?
17. Be Careful Kim: A Single Misstep In Korea Could Spark World War III
18. Otto Warmbier's mom fumes at Trump for praising Kim Jong-un in front of her
1. The Inter-Korean Liaison Office at Kaesong: Still Standing, Although Clearly Damaged
38north.org · by Martyn Williams · June 19, 2020
There is video at the link. So, did the north Koreans not know how to do a controlled explosion? Note the collateral damage. Were they just trying to conduct an explosion that would be more visible just for show? What were they trying to accomplish?
2. North Korea strengthens internal solidarity by criticizing external enemies
The Korea Times · June 19, 2020
This is north Korea "101." It has been doing this in some form or fashion for seven decades. This is one of the ways the regime can justify the great sacrifices it demands from the Korean people living in the north.
3. N. Korea getting ready to send anti-Seoul leaflets to S. Korea
en.yna.co.kr · by 이원주 · June 20, 2020
This is not unusual. I used to have quite a collection of north Korean leaflets from my time on the DMZ. Here is some north Korean propaganda that was found on the Yongsan military installation in 2016.
4. Seoul, Washington must restore powerful deterrence
donga.com – 19 June 2020
Absolutely correct. All the instruments of alliance national power cannot be effective unless there are employed on the foundation of strong military deterrence. Let us this as a wakeup call and repair the alliance. One of the objectives of the north's actions is to split the ROK/US alliance. - "divide to conquer" - divide the alliance to conquer the ROK. Resolving to strengthen the alliance now will undermine north Korean strategy.
But some of the comments below from ruling party members is truly troubling. And our President's statements are equally troubling. Earache exercise does not cost $100 million.
5. Worrisome reshuffle of foreign policy and national security team (South Korea)
donga.com – 20 June 2020
You do not see the Jusapa mentioned in mainstream Korea media. For those unfamiliar with the word, "Jusapa," is a term used to describe student activists in the 1980s and '90s who upheld the "Juche" ideology, the theoretical foundation of North Korea.
Here is a short piece on Jusapa. Although it is from 2012 it is still useful and covers a lot of ground. http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20120611000977
6. US Forces Korea Permits Racial Injustice Protests on Bases
military.com · by Richard Sisk · June 18, 2020
I am sure there are those who will not think highly of this. But I think General Abrams made the right decision to allow this. It was a brilliant and courageous decision. And note his statements in the article.
7. Remembering Otto: A Conversation with Cindy Warmbier
This is a one hour conversation with Mrs Cindy Warmbier, the mother of Otto Warmbier and Greg Scarlatoiu on the three year anniversary of his death at the hands of the Kim family regime.
This is very much worth watching. It is unlike any other Korea event. Mrs. Warmbier provides insights only a mother can and although she said she knew little about politics and north Korea before Otto traveled there, she knows a lot now. She is on a mission against the regime and is arguably doing more to damage the regime than the rest of us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlgvjM2vrDU
8. Six Years after the UN COI Report: A Discussion with Justice Michael Kirby (north Korea)
It has been six years since the UN Commission of Inquiry on north Korean Human Rights was released. We do not spend enough time on human rights.
As Cindy Warmbier said today when we focus on the north's nuclear program, we make Ki Jong-un stronger. When we focus on human rights it is a direct threat to Kim Jong-un. She also said she has seen no progress on human rights since the death of her son Otto. We need a stronger focus on human rights.
Human rights is a moral imperative but it is also a national security issue. Kim Jong-un must deny the human rights of the Korean people in the north in order to remain in power and survive. We need to use this to our advantage and in doing so we can help the Korean people in the north.
De Oppresso Liber (to free the oppressed or better stated: to help the oppressed free themselves).
Six Years after the UN COI Report: A Discussion with Justice Michael Kirby
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVQU6A19XmY&t=17s
9. Washington is in constant talks with Seoul about joint military drills
I hope we resume a robust exercise program.
10. North Korea Linked Hackers Used LinkedIn to Get Into European Defense Firms, Claim Security Experts
ibtimes.sg · by Bhaswati Guha Majumder · June 19, 2020
I recall that north Korea also used Linkedin when they attacked the Chilean ATM system a couple of years ago. Perhaps Linkedin should be warning all of its members.
11. Unification ministry reiterates vow to crack down on anti-Pyongyang leaflets
en.yna.co.kr · by 고병준 · June 19, 2020
This is so disappointing. This plays right into north Korea and the regime's strategy. For north Korea, this is a successful effect of its blackmail diplomacy (coercion/extortion).
The ROK government should not only be protecting the members of these escapee organizations, it should be supporting their work.
12. North Korea to target stimulus checks in weekend cyberattack: report
decrypt.co · by Decrypt / Colin Harper · June 19, 2020
Well, if they pull this off, I wonder what the next survey of the American people will reveal? Will they now want to invade north Korea?
13. More detail from Bolton on the Trump-Kim summits
asiatimes.com · by Bradley K. Martin · June 20, 2020
I do not intend to get caught up in the Bolton book saga, but this article is quite amazing. Bradley Martin, a prominent author, and Korea watcher has taken the Tweets of Sui Mi Terry of CSIS and former CIA analyst, who apparently has read the book, and written this article. So this is a "review" of a specific topic from the book that has not been released based on the tweets of someone who has read the unreleased book.
But I have to say that if what is in the article is true it is, well, let's just say, interesting.
15. Kim Jong-un PANIC: The shock truth behind North Korea's furious rallies
Express · by Brian McGleenon · June 20, 2020
Of course, one might argue that Kim does not want to be outdone by Trump rallies.
But on a serious note ideological indoctrination is the response to all the problems and hardship in the north.
But the buried lede is in this quote: "This is because the families around us with a member who defected are living well despite the difficulties of the national economy." In the past defector (escapee) families would be condemned. Other Koreans would avoid them, and they certainly would not marry someone who had a family member escape. But this begs the question of the continued implementation of the "rule of threes." If someone does something disloyal to the regime three generations of the family would be sent to the gulag or worse. How is it that families with escapees remain functioning in normal society? Is it because of the money that escapees can get back to the families who then are able to protect themselves through the corrupt system in the north? This article raises many questions.
16. What Is the Leaflet Campaign?
english.chosun.com – 20 June 2020
A good overview providing some of the history. One of the things overlooked is the difference in leaflets between north and South. In later years in the ideological war between north and South the disparity in the quality of leaflets was a message itself. The north's leaflets were printed on poor quality paper with cheap printing. Some of the South's leaflets were not only printed on high quality paper with high gloss photos and then laminated. This was one indication to the Korean people in the north of the superiority of the South Korean nation.
17. Be Careful Kim: A Single Misstep In Korea Could Spark World War III
The National Interest · by Robert Farley · June 19, 2020
Yes, it is a miscalculation by Kim Jong-un that I fear most. But in my opinion, he is more likely to miscalculate under two conditions, in the face of weakness in the ROK/US alliance and when faced with internal threats to regime survival. Professor Farley makes the point we have assessed for decades, if faced with a threat to survival the regime may have no other option but to execute its campaign plan to attack and occupy the South to dominate the peninsula under the rule of the Kim family regime. We believe the ability to do so is a fantasy but that does not mean Kim Jong-un may not try if he is faced with no other option to survive.
However, I disagree the regime would attack if it believed the ROKUS alliance was going to conduct a pre-emptive attack. It is unlikely to attack into strength, If the Alliance was planning a pre-emptive strike its military forces would be brought to the highest state of readiness and ensure a north Korean attack would rapidly be defeated. Kim must know this. If faced with a real possibility of a pre-emptive attack he will find another way out. I know it is unfashionable to say this but that is what happened as a result of the fire and fury of 2017. He embarked on his long con not only to try to achieve his objectives of getting sanctions relief while maintaining his nuclear weapons. It was also an attempt to prevent what Kim believes Trump might have done. The bottom line is standing up to the regime's bullying and demonstrating strength and resolve will not cause the regime to attack. Instead it will make Kim blink.
Lastly the majority of the article is an interesting analysis of how the north's campaign might unfold (and the luck it would need to be successful - the kind of luck he would need would be about the same needed to win a $1 billion lottery).
18. Otto Warmbier's mom fumes at Trump for praising Kim Jong-un in front of her
The Sun · by Michael Havis · June 19, 2020
But the article notes she also gave credit to Trump saying that he is the only President that could have brought Otto home. She also criticized Obama for never reaching out to her and her husband and for doing nothing to get Otto released. I commend her video conversation with Greg Scarlatoiu here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlgvjM2vrDU. This article is a kind of "greatest hits" of excerpted comments from Mrs. Warmbier.
"Combat readiness doesn't have a constituency-except for the entire nation- when fighting needs to be accomplished."
-Retired Lieutenant General David Deptula, Dean of the Mitchell Institute of Aerospace Studies.
"If you would persuade, speak of interest, not reason."
- Benjamin Franklin
"But the Viet-Minh had had about ten months in which to establish their administration, train their forces with Japanese and American weapons (and Japanese and Chinese instructors), and kill or terrorize into submission the genuine Vietnamese nationalists who wanted a Viet-Nam independent from France but equally free of Communist rule. The first round of the war for Indochina already had been lost for the West before it had even begun."
- Bernard B. Fall, Street Without Joy: The French Debacle in Indochina