ROK and Inter-Korean relations
March 2011
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Quieter Dispatch of Leaflets to N.Korea Is a Good Idea
Around 100 activists attempted to float propaganda leaflets to North Korea from a hill in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province on Sunday to mark the first anniversary of the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, but locals stopped them by blocking the access roads. The activists wanted to send off some 6 million propaganda leaflets attached to balloons, but the villagers fear reprisal attacks from North Korea that could threaten their livelihood.
Earlier in the week, people in Ceorwon blocked another activist group from sending propaganda leaflets to the North. And village chiefs in the Paju area near the Demilitarized Zone in a joint statement demanded civic groups stop sending propaganda flyers from Imjingak, a park overlooking the DMZ that saw visitor numbers plunge after the North threatened to fire aimed shots at the launch sites.
[Buildup] [Psychwar]
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A Greater Nuclear Threat Lies Just Across the Border
Kim Dae-joong The radiation leaks from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in Japan, touched off by the deadly earthquake and tsunami, are a reminder of the devastating power of radioactivity. Yet we should not forget that nuclear weapons capable of causing mass destruction several thousands of times severer than the radiation leaks are piled up just across the border in North Korea.
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Korea Aging Faster Than Any Other Country
Korea is set to become the nation with the greatest proportion of elderly people in the world in 2050, a report by the Korea Institute of Finance predicted Monday. It said Koreans' average life expectancy will hit 83.5 years in 2050 thanks to better health and nutrition as a result of increased income, and people over 65 will make up 38.2 percent of the population, more than in any other country.
The institute predicted that it will take Korea 26 years to turn from an "aging" society, where more than 7 percent of the population are over 65, into a "super-aging" society with over 20 percent. That is much faster than advanced countries. France would by the same reckoning take 154 years, the U.S. 94, Germany 77 and Japan 36.
[Ageing society]
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Two Koreas Discuss Partnership on Volcano Research Project
Scientists from North and South Korea began talks Tuesday on conducting a joint scientific survey of volcanic and seismic activity on the Korean peninsula's highest mountain.
The two sides met at the South Korean border city of Munsan to discuss potential research on Mt. Baekdu, located along North Korea's border with China. Mt. Baekdu is considered sacred ground by North Korea, which Pyongyang says is the birthplace of leader Kim Jong-il. The mountain last erupted in 1903, but experts believe it may have an active core.
[Joint Korean]
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Following Cheonan friction, S.Korea at a diplomatic crossroads
Seoul must decide whether to adhere to its hardline position or join the international shift towards dialogue
By Yi Yong-in, Staff Writer
The year 2010 began with a timid thaw following the frosty political situation on the Korean Peninsula resulting from North Korea’s 2009 missile launch and nuclear test. In late March of that year, Pyongyang and Washington made secret arrangements for a visit to the U.S. by North Korean First Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan. D-Day was to be mid-April. Just as the two countries were about to finalize the agreement, the Cheonan went down on Mar. 26.
North Korea, in contrast, strenuously denied its involvement, and China aligned itself along with this. A government source familiar with the Cheonan investigation process recounted, “The Chinese military determined that it was not a North Korean attack based on its own intelligence, and this determination was passed on to the highest leadership level.” Russia, which dispatched its own investigation team to South Korea, concluded that the so-called “No. 1 torpedo” was “merely torpedo debris, and [the Cheonan’s sinking] is presumed to be due to a mine explosion.”
Also the subject of sharp clashing was the strategic political response to and use of the Cheonan incident.
[Cheonan] [Coverup] [NCW] [SK NK policy]
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Cheonan 1 year later: enduring doubts and unyielding posture
As the Lee administration released a white paper, scientists continued to question the evidence presented by the JIG
By Kwon Hyuk-chul, Staff Writer
“The investigation findings stating that the Cheonan sank due to a CHT-02D torpedo fired by North Korea are a patently confirmed truth, and it is unfortunate that there are some people who are unable to believe this truth.” This has frequent statement from military authorities has continued recently as the one-year anniversary of the sinking of the Cheonan approaches.
The “conclusive evidence” for the North Korean torpedo strike explanation consists of a propeller fragment from a CHT-02D that was fished out of the waters near the site of the sinking by a pair trawler on May 15 of last year. The Joint Investigative Group (JIG) announced officially that an adhesive substance discovered on the hull of the Cheonan had the same ingredients as another adhesive substance found on the torpedo’s propulsion device, providing that the salvaged torpedo was the same one that struck the Cheonan.
[Cheonan] [Coverup]
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Probe into Truth about "Cheonan" Case and Realization of Peace Called for
Pyongyang, March 27 (KCNA) -- The Joint Action for Probing the Truth about "Cheonan" Warship Case and Realizing Peace on Korean Peninsula in south Korea at a press conference on March 24 called for probing the truth about the case and realizing peace on the peninsula.
[Cheonan] [Coverup]
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S. Korea Urged to Stop Their Moves for Confrontation and War
Pyongyang, March 13 (KCNA) -- The south Korean authorities' pursuance of the policy for confrontation and war is a treacherous one and leads to their self-destruction, warns Rodong Sinmun Sunday in a bylined article.
It continues:
The large-scale Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises staged by the south Korean authorities in collaboration with outside forces are intolerable treachery as they brought the inter-Korean relations to the worst phase and brought the danger of a nuclear war to the Korean Peninsula.
They staged the joint saber-rattling aimed at mounting a preemptive nuclear strike at the DPRK in collaboration with America at a time when the improvement of the inter-Korean ties presents itself as a more urgent issue than ever before. It admits of no argument that this is a deliberate move to deteriorate the north-south ties.
The south Korean authorities are gravely mistaken. They go reckless, without properly knowing who their rival is.
They are vociferating about somebody's "contingency" but it can never happen in the DPRK. Their saber-rattling is as foolish an act as precipitating their own self-destruction.
The DPRK sets store by the improved inter-Korean relations but will never remain a passive onlooker to the reckless war moves of the trigger-happy elements keen to bring them to collapse and step up their moves for confrontation and war.
If the south Korean authorities keep pursuing the policy for confrontation and war, defying the need of the times and desire of all the fellow countrymen, they will not be able to escape the nation's stern judgment.
[Buildup]
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[Editorial] Shameful national security education videos
The Lee Myung-bak administration has been making and distributing national security education videos contending that those who questioned the findings of the investigation in the sinking of the Cheonan were responsible for North Korea’s attack on Yeonpyeong Island. In addition to the patently absurd argument, the fact that the video stars film actor Lee Jun-ki, who is currently performing his mandatory military service, is adding to the controversy.
The 18-minute “Government-standard National Security Video for Young People” was produced by the Defense Media Agency and circulated to kindergartens and elementary, middle, and high schools around the country beginning on Mar. 7. The video introduces Lee while citing “dividing the South Korean people” as one of the reasons for the North Korean artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island. Wearing a black beret and introduced as “national security teacher for a day,” Lee opens by saying, “All South Koreans must properly understand the national security situation and respond with a single mind and a single will.”
[Cheonan] [Coverup] [Buildup]
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N.Korea Ratchets Up Campaign Over Defectors
North Korea's propaganda website Uriminzokkiri on Thursday published letters purportedly written by the families of four North Koreans who have defected to South Korea. The four were among 31 North Koreans whose boat drifted into South Korean waters early last month.
The handwritten letters are two to four pages long and all say, "We're waiting eagerly for your return."
The official KCNA news agency on Wednesday quoted one letter as saying, "We'll never believe your decision to defect. Your family and relatives, and the entire country are concerned about you and are waiting for you. Don't be deceived by any kind of temptation, plot, blackmail or threat. Stand firm and come back into the bosom of the country."
[Refugee encouragement]
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N.Korea Parades Defectors' Families on Video
North Korea on Wednesday released video footage of interviews with the family members of four North Korean drifters who have defected to South Korea, pleading with them to return. The four were among 31 North Koreans whose boat drifted into South Korean waters early last month.
The video, posted on the North's official propaganda website Uriminzokkiri, shows family members of the four accusing the South Korean government for coercing or persuading the four North Koreans to defect. Kim Ok-jin, who claims to be the mother of a 22-year-old female defector, says, "The South Korean puppets are detaining my daughter who drifted in bad weather." She adds the South is "trampling on the hearts of parents who yearn for their daughter's return."
[Media] [Refugee encouragement]
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N.Korea Still Jamming GPS Signals
North Korea has been jamming Global Positioning System signals in South Korea since last Friday, it emerged.
"The North kept jamming GPS devices as of Tuesday," a senior government official said Wednesday. "The attack isn't common knowledge because there's been no tangible damage, but it continues."
[Cyberwar]
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DPRK RC Chief Sends Notice to His South Korean Counterpart
Pyongyang, March 8 (KCNA) -- The chairman of the C.C., the Red Cross Society of the DPRK Monday afternoon sent another notice to the president of the south Korean Red Cross proposing to have the north-south Red Cross working contact to settle the issue of sending back the DPRK inhabitants now in custody in south Korea as already notified.
It is a nonsensical assertion for the south Korean authorities to say they will sent back 27 persons only with those four persons whom the south Korean authorities claimed expressed their intention to "defect" to the south left in south Korea and this can be followed by the discussion of the issue of confirming the four persons' "free will", the notice said, strongly demanding once again them let all 31 detained inhabitants of the DPRK return by their ship through the waters to which they had drifted.
The DPRK cannot recognize the "defection" of the four persons as claimed by the south Korean authorities, it held, stressing the need to confirm it through a face-to-face meeting without fail.
[Refugee encouragement]
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North Korea releases video of defectors' families
By HYUNG-JIN KIM
The Associated Press
Wednesday, March 9, 2011; 7:01 AM
SEOUL, South Korea -- North Koreans pleaded with South Korea to return family members the South says are willing defectors, according to footage released by North Korea's state media on Wednesday.
In the footage, the families accused the South of being "inhumane" as they begged for their relatives back. The video was Pyongyang's latest attempt to pressure Seoul into returning four North Koreans, who were on a fishing boat that strayed into southern waters last month. The South offers asylum to any North Korean who reaches its shores and asks for it.
[Refugee encouragement]
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N.Korea Drops the Mask
North Korea on Monday proposed talks with South Korean Red Cross officials to discuss the return of 31 North Koreans whose boat drifted into South Korean waters last month. Demanding that South Korea return four of the drifters who have decided to stay, the North said it wants to bring them face to face with their families in the North in the border truce village of Panmunjom. Seoul says it would not dream of complying.
[Refugee encouragement] [Buildup]
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Defense Ministry Pushes Stealth Bomber Purchase
The Defense Ministry officially announced plans to purchase stealth bombers capable of avoiding radar detection to counter the threat of North Korea's so-called asymmetrical warfare capabilities.
[Arms sales] [Military balance] [Asymmetry] [Buildup]
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Military Command Structure to Be Streamlined
The top military leadership faces a drastic revamp to improve interoperability of the armed forces, Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin told reporters Tuesday. "The number of generals will be cut gradually by 15 percent by 2020, when the revamp will be complete," he said.
The revamp is part of a military reform plan to streamline the organization by reducing the number of officers and non-commissioned officers by about 1,000, including some 30 generals, and save about W100 billion (US$1=W1,118) per year.
The reform plan envisions combining the separate training and logistics commands of Army, Air Force and Navy to improve interoperability.
The military reportedly plans to completely destroy the North's artillery batteries trained on the Seoul metropolitan area within a day or two of an attack. Previously it only aimed to destroy 70 percent of them.
[Military balance]
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Distribution of propaganda flyers continues despite residents’ objections
Residents say potential for retaliation has contributed to anxiety and a huge blow to the local economy’s tourism industry
» A scare number of cars are parked in a 37,000 square meter parking lot in Imjingak, Mar. 3. (Photo by Park Kyung-man)
By Park Kyung-man, Senior Staff Writer
It was one in the afternoon Tuesday, as the late winter cold snap abated and spring energy was beginning to circulate. A mere twenty or so cars were parked in the Imjingak parking lot in Majeong Village, located in Munsan Township, Paju, Gyeonggi Province. Not a single tour bus was parked in facility, which has some 37,000 square meters of floor space. The restaurants and shops, which should have been bustling with lunchtime crowds, had instead closed their doors in many cases, and those that were open were seeing scarcely any tourists.
[Buildup]
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Defense Development Needs Drastic Overhaul
How would soldiers feel if rounds fired from their state-of-the-art K-11 assault rifles in the heat of battle end up hitting the wrong targets? The scenario is not as unlikely as it seems given the performance of the K-11s that have been distributed to troops so far. The assault rifle, which at W15 million (US$1=W1,119) a piece is 18 times more expensive than the existing K-2 assault rifle, was developed by the Agency for Defense Development and distributed at seven units in June last year.
But 15 out of 39 K-11s have apparently malfunctioned. The rifle uses the 5.56 mm NATO round and can also launch a 20 mm airburst round that explodes over enemies hiding behind walls or buildings, but the laser range finder, which measures the distance to the target, does not function.
Mass production of the main K-2 Black Panther battle tank is being delayed due to problems with the engine and transmission. As a result, the military is considering equipping 100 of 397 K-2s with German-made engines and transmissions to meet its deadline of 2018, while the remaining 297 will be fitted with locally made ones later on
[Arms sales] [Military balance]
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N.Korea Holds Families of Would-Be Defectors Hostage
North Korea on Monday demanded that four North Koreans who decided to stay in the South after their boat drifted into South Korean waters be brought to the truce village of Panmunjom and confront their families, the government said. The North at the same time proposed talks between the Red Cross agencies of the two sides.
The four are part of a group of 31 whose boat drifted across the Northern Limit Line early last month, a Unification Ministry spokesman said. In effectively holding their families to ransom, the North apparently wants to pressure them into returning, a Unification Ministry spokesman said.
He added Seoul has no intention to comply with the demand. "No country in the world has ever allowed defectors to meet their families when they were held hostage," a security official said.
Seoul instead told Pyongyang that ways can be discussed to ascertain that the four are really defecting of their own free will. The North earlier alleged Seoul has "brainwashed" them. But the South said this should be done through the UN Command's Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission, not through inter-Korean channels.
[Refugee encouragement] [Media] [Spin]
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Korean Youngsters Unhappier Than Chinese, Japanese
Young Koreans are significantly less happy than their counterparts in China and Japan, a survey suggests. The survey by the National Youth Policy Institute under the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family polled some 4,579 middle and high school students in the three countries and found that 71.2 percent of Korean students say they are happy, compared to 92.3 percent in China and 75.7 percent in Japan.
The wide-ranging poll also asked the youngsters whether they would do anything for their country in an emergency. Some 48 percent of Korean respondents said yes, up from 38 percent in a 2007 survey, compared to a massive 83.7 percent of young Chinese and a mere 23.9 percent of young Japanese.
When it comes to satisfaction with family life, Korean students were last with 80.3 percent, following 92.6 percent in China and 81.1 percent in Japan.
Asked whether they feel they could achieve their dream jobs, 97.5 percent of students in China said yes, followed by 80.8 percent in Korea and 55.7 percent in Japan. Korean youngsters also seem more dependent on their parents. Only 65.3 percent believe that they should not expect any financial help from their parents when they marry, compared to 79.4 percent of their Chinese and 74.7 percent of their Japanese counterparts.
About two thirds of young Koreans feel that the reunification of the Korean Peninsula is necessary. But only 23.3 percent said it is "very necessary," down nearly half from a similar survey in 2008, while 43.7 percent said "fairly necessary." The question was given only to Korean respondents.
[Public opinion] [Unification]
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Why N.Korea Is Resorting to Open Blackmail
North Korea on Monday tried to put pressure on four North Koreans who want to stay in the South after their fishing boat strayed into southern waters last month, by more or less openly threatening the families they left behind in the North.
Even a South Korean security official said he was "shocked" by the North's demand that the four are brought to the border truce village of Panmunjom to meet their families.
[Refugee encouragement] [Media]
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Seoul 'Develops Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb'
South Korea has developed an advanced electromagnetic pulse device that can be deployed on the battlefield to paralyze enemy computers, a defense official claimed Monday. Electronic bombs have been something of a Yeti in the defense industry, widely discussed by experts but never seen to exist.
Park Chang-kyu of the Agency for Defense Development was asked by ruling Grand National Party lawmaker Kim Hak-song to brief the Defense Committee on the progress of EMP development. Park replied, "We feel we can make use of it in wartime if the military makes such request."
[Military balance]
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North Korea asks Red Cross to mediate defection row
Source: Global Times [08:21 March 08 2011] Comments
US soldiers from the Stryker Brigade Combat Team stand next to their armored vehicle Monday after a live fire drill in Pocheon, near the heavily fortified border with North Korea. The drill was part of ongoing annual joint military exercises, named Key Resolve/Foal Eagle, which the North has described as a rehearsal for invasion. Photo: AFP
North Korea has proposed Red Cross talks to resolve a dispute over the fate of 31 of its nationals in South Korea, four of whom have said they want to defect, officials in the South said Monday.
The South says the four, who came on a fishing boat that drifted into South Korean waters last month, would be allowed to stay, while the remainder would be sent back home.
The four are the 38-year-old boat captain, a 21-year-old female nurse, a 44-year-old unemployed man and a 22-year-old female statistician, according to AFP.
The North accused Seoul of forcing the four to defect against their will.
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DPRK RC Proposes Urgent Talks over Repatriation of Inhabitants
Pyongyang, March 7 (KCNA) -- The chairman of the C. C., the Red Cross Society of the DPRK Monday sent a notice to the president of the south Korean Red Cross proposing to have an urgent north-south Red Cross working contact to discuss the issue of sending back the DPRK inhabitants and a ship now in custody in south Korea.
The notice expressed deep regret at the south Korean authorities for their intention to keep four out of the 31 inhabitants under the pretext of false "defection" despite the repeated demand of the DPRK side. It said:
The south side's outrageous inhuman action is touching off anger among the people of the DPRK. The public at home and abroad is closely following how it will handle this case, concerned about the impact it will have on the north-south relations.
As for those four persons whom the south Korean authorities claim expressed their intention to "defect" to the south, they have no ground whatsoever to do so in light of their socio-political circumstances and family background. Their families, relatives and colleagues absolutely vouch for them.
It suggested to have the contact at the conference room of the former Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission at Panmunjom at 10:00 a.m. on March 9 to accurately confirm the issue of "defection" and realize the early repatriation of all of those in custody.
Three officials concerned including a member of the C.C., the Red Cross Society of the DPRK as well as family members of those four persons will go to the working contact to make face-to-face confirmation, the notice said. It asked those related to the Red Cross of the south side to bring those four persons concerned to the working contact.
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SKorea to get more weapons amid NKorean threat
The Associated Press
Tuesday, March 8, 2011; 3:09 AM
SEOUL, South Korea -- South Korea says it will deploy more fighter jets, helicopters, artillery and advanced spy aircraft to better prepare for potential attacks by North Korea.
The plans are among a package of measures announced Tuesday aimed at building a stronger, more efficient army in the wake of the sinking of a South Korean warship and North Korea's shelling of a South Korean island last year.
Fifty South Koreans were killed.
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin says the attacks left the South Koreans with "enormous shocks and scars" but gave the military a chance to review its readiness to North Korean provocation.
Other measures include streamlining the top military brass and creating a joint military command tasked with defending front-line islands.
[Threat] [Military balance] [Media] [Buildup] [Pretext]
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North Korea: Push could soon turn to shove
January 23rd, 2011
Author: Andrei Lankov, Kookmin University and ANU
Last year was a dangerous year in Korea. Alas, 2011 might become even worse.
At first glance, this statement might appear excessively pessimistic. After all, in the last few weeks tensions on the Korean Peninsula were decreasing, North Korea suggested negotiations and South Korea also said that talks might be a good idea.
However, the appearances are misleading. A better look at the recent crisis and the current mood in Seoul and Pyongyang gives little ground for optimism. It seems that both North Korean strategic calculations and South Korean assumptions about ways to handle its uneasy neighbour will bring the crisis back with a vengeance.
[Buildup]
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Seoul Must Deal More Carefully with N.Korean Drifters
North Korea is demanding the return of all 31 of North Koreans whose fishing boat drifted into South Korean waters on Feb. 5, even though the Seoul says four of them want to stay. Seoul wanted to return the remaining 27 through the border truce village of Panmunjom on Friday, but the North refused, saying all 31 must be sent back.
Since 2004 there have been 29 instances when groups of North Koreans drifted into South Korean waters, and in 18 of those cases all of them were sent back. The entire group stayed in nine cases, but in only two cases did some stay and some go back. The decisions were made after joint questioning by the National Intelligence Service, the military and government.
The North has always blamed the South for "brainwashing" people into defecting, and this time it is muttering darkly that the way Seoul handles the matter will affect the way it looks at the South in general. In other words, the North is going to strain relations further unless Seoul returns all of the 31.
But sending back even a single North Korean who wishes to stay would be unconscionable. They would face horrible punishment. The reason the four defectors hesitated until the last moment to say they want to stay was probably because of their morbid fear of the fate that would await them if they were sent back nonetheless (sic).
It took almost a month before the government reached a decision about the group. The government says the reason it took so long was that there are so many people to question, but it has clearly taken longer than ever before. Besides, the government hastily announced in the beginning that none of the drifters wished to defect. That is why North Korea is now accusing the South of "brainwashing" them.
They will not be the last North Koreans whose boats drift into South Korean waters. If Seoul takes this long to deal with them and gets into a muddle over their fate again, inter-Korean relations will suffer further.
[Refugee encouragement]
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Is N.Korea Planning Fresh Attacks?
North Korea's official news agency reiterated demands on Saturday that all 31 North Koreans whose boat drifted into South Korean waters must be returned. "We will not stand by and watch but mobilize all of our resources to deal with it," KCNA said.
Seoul plans to negotiate with North Korea how to repatriate 27 of the North Koreans, since four have decided to defect.
North Korea did not say what it meant by "all of our resources," but on Friday it jammed GPS signals in northwestern Seoul in an apparent attempt to disrupt the South's annual military drills with U.S. forces and is believed to have launched a massive hacker attack on government websites the same day. North Korea experts say Pyongyang made similar verbal threats shortly before the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan in March last year.
[Buildup] [Inversion]
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Back to the Drawing Board for Korea's New Assault Rifle
Fifteen of 39 new assault rifles issued to troops in June last year have defects, which translates into a 38.4 percent failure rate, it emerged on Sunday. The military has earmarked W448.5 billion (US$1=W1,116) to distribute the Korean-made K-11 assault rifle to troops by 2018, but a committee decided in mid-February to halt production and modify the design. It has cost W18.7 billion to develop so far.
The K-11 uses 5.56 mm rounds and can also fire a 20 mm "airburst" projectile that explodes over targets hidden behind buildings or walls. One rifle costs W15 million. The military has boasted that it would be the first such high-tech rifle in the world to be issued to frontline troops.
According to Agency of Defense Development memos, seven out of 20 K-11 rifles issued to Korean soldiers in Afghanistan had eight different kinds of defects, which caused failures in laser range finders and other targeting systems. Two K-11 rifles issued to an unnamed unit exhibited barrel movements during firing and defects in the striking mechanism that ignites the ammunition. In another two issued to another unit, condensation formed inside the laser reception lens, and the night-time range finder malfunctioned. And five K-11 rifles issued to another unit showed defects in switching from single to automatic fire.
"The rate of malfunction stands at 20 percent, which is unacceptable for issuance to troops," said a defense industry insider.
[Military balance]
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Float Propaganda Fliers Somewhere Else, Paju Residents Say
Residents of Paju in Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday demanded an end to the floating of propaganda leaflets to North Korea from Imjingak, a pavilion overlooking the demilitarized zone there. They said worries about a retaliatory attack by North Korea are keeping tourists away from the scenic area.
[Buildup]
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Lee draws bipartisan criticism for public kneeling
The move has added to ongoing criticism of the president’s religious bias in his administration of a pluralist country
» President Lee Myung-bak and First Lady Kim Yoon-ok attend the National Prayer Breakfast at the COEX Center in Seoul, March 3. (Cheong Wa Dae photo pool)
By Ahn Chang-hyun, Staff Writer
Fundamental questions have continued to arise about President Lee Myung-bak’s participation in the national prayer breakfast following the widely publicized prayer while kneeling down on his knees. Critics are charging that as the president’s religious biases have been placed in relief, cracks have begun to show in the “religious peace” in South Korea, where separation of church and state is the rule.
Politicians in ruling and opposition parties alike expressed their displeasure Sunday.
[Lee Myung-bak] [Religion]
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Rodong Sinmun Calls for Reunifying Country by Federal Formula
Pyongyang, March 6 (KCNA) -- Korea should be reunified by way of not doing harm to both the north and the south. This is the core of the DPRK's proposal for achieving reunification by federal formula.
Rodong Sinmun Sunday says this in a bylined article.
Federal formula is the only way for peaceful reunification provided that the north and the south have differing ideologies and systems which they do not want to give up them, the article notes, and goes on:
The present ruling forces in south Korea have openly pursued treacherous and aggressive "unification of systems" while totally denying the June 15 joint declaration in which both sides agreed on reunification proposal. They adopted the "unification of system" as a policy and set out "three-stage unification proposal" comprising "peaceful community, economic community and community of nation."
The "three-stage unification proposal" diametrically runs counter to the proposal for reunification by federal formula as it denies coexistence of ideologies and systems in the north and the south.
In a word, it is aimed to enforce the ideology and system of south Korea on the DPRK. It is self-evident that the north-south relations will face a catastrophe as the south Korean authorities are working hard to realize their dream for "unification of systems" at any cost, opposed to the coexistence with the DPRK.
The issue of which mode the north and the south select for reunification is a vital issue which may lead the nation to peaceful reunification or national holocaust.
Differing ideologies and systems have long existed in the north and the south. It is impossible to avoid a war if one side coercively tries to change those of the other side. Koreans want peace, not war, and peaceful reunification by federal formula, not "unification of systems."
In order to eliminate catastrophe in the north-south relations and achieve peace and peaceful reunification on the Korean Peninsula it is necessary to abide by the proposal for reunification by federal formula based on coexistence.
[Unification]
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Banned director hopes to reunite with N. Korean family
Right, a scene from “Goodbye Pyeongyang (Pyongyang)” by Yang Yong-hi, who is barred from reentering North Korea for candidly documenting her family there. Her niece Son-hwa holds Yang’s hand while saying goodbye, as the director prepares to leave on the bus after visiting Pyongyang.
/ Courtesy of Kino-Eye DMC
By Lee Hyo-won
Filming stems from a basic human desire to immortalize elusive memories, to capture lasting stories. But for Yang Yong-hi, filming was a more urgent means of keeping her family together — to unite their lives split between North Korea and Japan. The director’s audiovisual love letter for her family, however, ironically deprives her of seeing them again.
Yang’s 2005 directorial debut “Dear Pyongyang” traced the flight of her father, a Jeju Island native who fled to Japan during the colonial period (1910-45), where he adopted North Korean citizenship and became a high-ranking official. He sent his three elder sons to Pyongyang, so they could escape local discriminations against “zainichi” (Japanese term for long-term Korean residents of Japan).
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Crystal Meth Use 'Rampant' in N.Korea
North Korea's collapse will be brought about not by external pressure or the economic malaise but by widespread crystal methamphetamine abuse, say North Korean defectors who have recently arrived in the South.
How serious the problem is can be gleaned from a special instruction issued by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's son and heir Jong-un, who earlier this year ordered the security forces to round up drug users, "regardless of rank" -- implying that addiction is widespread in all strata of society.
[Black] ] [Media] [Drugs] [Collapse]
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Why 4 N.Koreans Decided to Stay at the Last Minute
Four out of the 31 North Koreans whose fishing boat drifted across the maritime border in the West Sea on Feb. 5 want to defect to South Korea, the government said Thursday. Seoul is sending the remaining 27 along with their boat back home through the border truce village of Panmunjom on Friday.
According to a government official, the four who wish to defect are the 38-year-old male captain of the ship, another 44-year-old man and two women aged 21 and 22. They apparently did not decide to stay until Wednesday morning, which was the last day of their questioning by the South Korean military. "Four North Koreans stated their clear intention to defect on Wednesday afternoon during questioning," the official said. "It looks like they waited until the last moment to decide."
The captain is apparently afraid of punishment if he is sent back and made his decision when he saw how different life in the South is from the North during his 20 days here. The other man and the 22-year-old woman are said to be close. It is unclear why the 21-year-old woman decided to defect.
An intelligence official with experience in questioning North Korean defectors said, "In many cases, North Koreans who defect to South Korea after drifting across the maritime border either have few family members in the North or are afraid of being punished for going to the South if they're sent back."
Officials from the National Intelligence Service, Defense Security Command, military intelligence and police who questioned the North Koreans apparently showed them videos showing how South Korea has developed. There are even accounts saying they were taken on a tour of Seoul.
A North Korean fishing boat that drifed into South Korean waters early last month is docked at a naval base on Yeonpyeong Island on Feb. 8. The Unification Ministry said they were free to make their own decision whether to defect or return to the North. "North Korea has recently been criticizing the joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, threatening to launch a nuclear attack, but the North as well as South Korea, the U.S. and China all seem to be looking for a chance to hold talks," an intelligence officer said. "In the circumstances we have no reason to make a great effort to persuade them to defect. As far as I know, all the defectors have their own reasons for choosing to stay in the South."
According to the Unification Ministry, North Koreans have drifted into South Korean waters on 30 occasions since 2004, and in only two cases did some of them choose to stay in the South. In February 2008, in the final years of the Roh Moo-hyun administration, 22 North Koreans drifted across the Northern Limit Line and all of them were sent back after just a day of questioning.
[Refugee encouragement]
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N.Korean Soldiers' Wives Flee Hardship at Home
A North Korean crosses a river to flee the repressive country in this screen grab from a program shown on KBS. /Yonhap Increasing numbers of wives of North Korean soldiers are fleeing the Stalinist country despite its "songun" or military-first doctrine, Open Radio for North Korea said Thursday.
[Black] ] [Media]
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RC Society Urges S. Korea to Repatriate Detained DPRK Citizens
Pyongyang, March 4 (KCNA) -- The chairman of the Central Committee of the DPRK Red Cross Society Thursday sent a message to the president of the Red Cross of south Korea over the issue of DPRK citizens and ship detained in south Korea.
The message demanded again that all of the detained citizens and their ship be sent back through the waters to which they had drifted due to bad weather.
[Refugee encouragement]
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Military to Deploy Early Warning Aircraft
The E-737 The military will deploy E-737 airborne early warning and control aircraft in July that have a 400 km surveillance range. The aircraft are capable of simultaneously monitoring 1,000 aircraft, track 300 targets and search the skies for low-flying North Korean AN-2 infiltration airplanes.
[Military balance]
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Seoul to Watch Mt. Baekdu for Signs of Eruption
The Korea Meteorological Administration announced plans on Wednesday to use the Cheollian weather satellite to monitor volcanic activity on Mt. Baekdu on the North Korea-China border to deal with a possible eruption.
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Gadhafi and Kim Jong-il share a liking for women
Libyan dictator Muammar Gadhafi has a 40-strong female escort known as the Amazonian Guard.
Members of the Amazonian Guard must be virgins and unmarried. It is unknown why Gadhafi insists on their virginity. Attractive features are a standard criterion. Surely as bodyguards they are also required to display martial skills, but the entry standards in this regard are unknown.
[Media] [Bizarre]
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4 NKoreans to resettle in South, 27 to return home
The Associated Press
Thursday, March 3, 2011; 2:19 AM
SEOUL, South Korea -- The Red Cross says that four of the 31 North Koreans held after their boat strayed into South Korean waters have asked to resettle in the South.
The Red Cross said in a statement Thursday that the other 27 North Koreans will be repatriated to the North through the border village of Panmunjom later this week.
The North Koreans were aboard a small fishing motorboat that drifted across the Koreas' western sea border about one month ago.
[Refugee encouragement]
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Psy-Ops Need a Delicate Touch
Cheong Wa Dae apparently chided military officers recently for talking to politicians about their psychological warfare operations against North Korea, which caused the information to become public, and told them to keep quiet about them from now on.
Information that the military sent 3 million propaganda leaflets to North Korea since the North's artillery attack on Yeonpyeong Island in November last year came from a report it gave to Future Hope Alliance lawmaker Song Young-sun. The military apparently attached daily necessities such as instant microwave rice to the leaflets with instructions saying the food was safe to eat, and it plans to send leaflets with the latest information about the uprisings in Egypt and Libya, saying dictatorships and hereditary transfers of power always fail.
[Psychwar] [Subversion]
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Time to Present N.Korea with an Ultimatum
Gary Samore, the White House coordinator for arms control and weapons of mass destruction, proliferation and terrorism, says the U.S. would obviously agree to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons if the South Korean government made an official request. "Tactical" nuclear weapons, which are smaller than "strategic" nuclear weapons, can be delivered via artillery rounds or short-range missiles to destroy targets on the battlefield rather than entire cities.
Samore stressed that his comments reflect his personal views and not the official U.S. position, but as the man in charge of arms control and weapons of mass destruction, he would not have commented completely beyond the official line about such a sensitive issue
[US NK policy] [Nuclear weapons] [MISCOM] [Double standards]
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Why Is Lee Softening on N.Korea?
Cheong Wa Dae seems increasingly keen to open dialogue channels with North Korea. President Lee Myung-bak in a speech marking March 1 Independence Movement Day on Tuesday once again urged North Korea to hold talks with the South.
[Spin] [SK NK policy]
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Respond Swiftly and Strongly to N.Korean Attacks, Soldiers Told
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin inspected frontline troops on Tuesday and ordered soldiers with the 1st Infantry Command Corps to respond first to the North Korean provocations and report up the chain of command later. The corps is in charge of defending the Imjin River area, which is a key target of potential North Korean artillery attacks, the inter-Korean Gyeongui Railroad and entry road into the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
Kim's instructions were apparently meant as a warning to North Korea against provoking the South.
[Buildup]
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More Threats from N.Korea
North Korea on Tuesday renewed threats of a "physical response" to ongoing South Korea-U.S. joint military exercises. "It's becoming inevitable for our military to show a physical response in self-defense," the official KCNA news agency quoted a spokesman for the North Korean Foreign Ministry as saying.
[Joint US military] [Inversion]
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Soju, Beer Consumption Rises in 2010
Korean adults drank an average of 81 bottles of soju and 86 bottles of beer per person last year, data released on Monday shows.
According to the Korea Alcohol and Liquor Industry Association, soju production rose 0.3 percent on-year to 3.27 billion bottles in 2010. That works out to a total of 81.3 bottles per adult, or one bottle every 4.5 days. The most popular kinds were those with alcohol content of 20 percent or less.
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President urges NK to opt for reconciliation
President Lee Myung-bak
By Na Jeong-ju
President Lee Myung-bak said Tuesday he wants to lay a firm foundation for peaceful reunification of South and North Korea, urging the Kim Jong-il regime to choose the path of reconciliation and cooperation
[Spin]
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Defector Recalls Power of S.Korean Propaganda
The best way to reach North Koreans with news about the outside world is propaganda flyers from the South, the head of a defector radio station claimed Monday. Kim Sung-min (50) of Free North Korea Radio on Monday said, "There are no better channels than South Korea's leaflets that deliver accurate news into North Korea's controlled society."
[Subversion]
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N.Korea Issues Fresh War Threats
Balloons carrying propaganda leaflets are floated into North Korea from Imjingak in Paju, Gyeonggi Province near the demilitarized zone on Feb. 16, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's 70th birthday. North Korea on Sunday issued the customary threat of a "full-scale war" in response to annual South Korea-U.S. military exercises, which start Monday. It also threatened to fire aimed shots at sites in Gyeonggi Province from where the cross-border propaganda leaflets are floated.
[US joint military] [Buildup] [Inversion]
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Keep Quiet About Psy-Ops, Gov't Tells Military
The government has apparently told the military to keep quiet about psychological warfare operations against North Korea. A senior government official said Monday "no government would confirm or deny whether its military is engaged" in activities like sending leaflets and goods attached to helium balloons to the North. "But if the military is openly engaging in such activities, it would obviously need to be stopped."
[Buildup] [Psywar]
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31 N.Koreans to Be Sent Home This Week
Thirty-one North Koreans whose fishing boat drifted into South Korean waters on Feb. 5 near Yeonpyeong Island will return home sometime this week, an official said Sunday.
"Questioning by relevant authorities is in the final stage," the official said. "Since none of them expressed a wish to defect, we will repatriate all 31 as early as this week." The boat will also be returned to the North, he added.
North Korea on Feb. 8 demanded the repatriation of the 31. The government responded the next day that investigations were underway and that they would be dealt with according to the outcome and their own decision.
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N.Korea threatens retaliation against psychological warfare
Analysts say joint military exercises and regime collapses in the Middle East have fueled N.Korea’s recent threats
By Son Won-je, Staff Writer
On the eve of the resumption of South Korea-U.S. Key Resolve drills, North Korea said Sunday through its representatives in Panmunjom that the drills were aimed at collapsing the North Korean regime, and that it would respond with a full-scale war. In a separate communication sent in the name of North Korea’s chief delegate for inter-Korean military talks, Pyongyang said, “If the South Korean military leadership continues to engage in psychological warfare, North Korea will in self-defense fire directly on the source of the psychological warfare operations in places such as Imjingak.”
[Psychwar] [US Joint military] [Buildup]
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GNP infuriates Protestant base with Islamic bond bill
Lawmakers will determine if the president overstepped in his bid to strengthen business ties with the Middle East
By Ahn Chang-hyun, Staff Writer
Amid increasing objections from South Korea’s Protestant community, an “Islamic bond bill” currently being pursued by the government faces a low likelihood of passage during the current National Assembly session. The bill in question would change the tax system to give tax exemption benefits for sukuk, financial bills in the Islamic religion that prohibit the earning of interest, granting the holders tax exemption on profits.
[Islam][Halal]
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Drifted N. Koreans to be sent home this week
The 31 North Koreans who arrived in South Korea by boat earlier this month will be sent home sometime this week, a Seoul official said Sunday.
"As far as I know, the joint interrogation (by relevant authorities) is in the final phase," the official said. "And since no one expressed a wish to defect, we will repatriate all 31 of them as early as this week through Panmunjom (the border village)."
On Feb. 5, 11 North Korean men and 20 women crossed the tense Yellow Sea border on a wooden fishing boat to arrive on Yeonpyeong Island, the same island shelled by North Korea last November. They were later towed away to the western port city of Incheon.
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