ROK and Inter-Korean relations
March 2014
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N.Korea Reneges on No-Vilification Pledge
North Korea on Thursday reverted to hostile cold-war rhetoric, reneging on a pledge to stop cross-border mudslinging.
The North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland accused Park of "blabbering" like a peasant woman and described her as a "faithful servant and stooge of the United States."
At the Nuclear Security Summit in The Hague, Park warned on Monday that North Korean nuclear devices could end up in the hands of terrorists and vowed to strengthen cooperation with the U.S. and Japan to deal with the North's nuclear weapons.
The North said Park must learn to stop such reckless talk. This is the first time since the North proposed on Feb. 14 to stop ad-hominem attacks that Pyongyang took aim at Park directly and mentioned her by name.
A spokesman for the committee accused Park of "ignorance."
The government here expressed "strong regret" at the comments and urged the North to stop being "rude."
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North Korean fishing boat seized near maritime border
By Kim Tong-hyung
The Navy seized a North Korean fishing boat Thursday evening after it intruded into southern waters across the West Sea maritime border.
According to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the boat crossed over the Northern Limit Line (NLL) at around 5.26 p.m. and moved about 1.8 kilometers into South Korean waters near Baengyeong Island. A naval ship seized the boat at around 8 p.m. after it refused to retreat despite warning shots.
[NLL] [Buildup]
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Park shows interest in unification by merger
Updated : 2014-03-27 20:36
President Park Geun-hye and German Chancellor Angela Merkel shake hands after holding a summit at Merkel’s office in Berlin, Wednesday.
/ Yonhap
By Kim Tae-gyu
BERLIN — President Park Geun-hye said Thursday that a plan for the unification of the two Koreas will be drawn up after a thorough study of German consolidation is completed.
Park’s remarks indicate that her government does not rule out absorption of the impoverished North.
“Germany has already taken steps beyond unification and achieved national unity,” Park was quoted as telling German Chancellor Angela Merkel during their summit here.
[Absorption]
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Forged documents withdrawn as evidence in espionage case
Updated : 2014-03-27 20:12
North Korean defectors take part in a press conference at Cheonggye Plaza in downtown Seoul accusing defector Yu Woo-sung of being a North Korean spy. Prosecutors appealed a lower court verdict that found Yu not guilty of espionage. / Yonhap
By Kim Se-jeong
Prosecutors have withdrawn three documents submitted to the appellate court as evidence against Yu Woo-sung, a former Seoul city government official from North Korea accused of being a spy.
The documents include travel records for Yu and two statements confirming the authenticity of those records from a Chinese consulate.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) was implicated in the fabrication of the documents. The NIS is claiming that its agents gathered documents through its own sources in China, denying its direct involvement in the forgery.
Despite the withdrawal, the prosecution said it would not drop Yu’s indictment on espionage charges.
[NIS]
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KPA Will Never Pardon Gangsterism of S. Korean Military Warmongers: Spokesman
Pyongyang, March 28 (KCNA) -- The spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army (KPA) gave the following answer to a question raised by KCNA Friday in connection with the fact that a speed boat flotilla belonging to the second fleet of the south Korean navy illegally intruded into the waters of the DPRK side in the West Sea of Korea and forcibly seized a peaceable fishing boat of the DPRK on Thursday night:
22 HP fishing boat "539-52456" belonging to the Ongjin Fishery Station lost its route due to engine breakdown when it was engaged in regular fishing in the waters near Mahap Islet in Ongjin County on Thursday night.
As there was thick sea fog, sailors of the boat dropped an anchor and was judging direction with a compass.
Suddenly unidentified warships appeared and encircled the fishing boat, firing more than 50 bullets.
Speed boats belonging to the second fleet of the south Korean navy crossed the maritime military demarcation line and intruded into the territorial waters of our side all of a sudden.
[NLL]
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Park offers NK massive aid
President Park Geun-hye delivers a speech during a luncheon meeting with Korean businessmen in Germany at the Intercontinental Hotel in Berlin,
Thursday. / Yonhap
Dresden doctrine aims at persuading Pyongyang to act responsibly
By Kim Tae-gyu
DRESDEN, GERMANY ? President Park Geun-hye proposed a package of proposals to North Korea, Friday, including humanitarian aid and the establishment of a development bank as a step toward unification in what she called the “Dresden Doctrine.”
In a speech in this former East German city, Park repeated her requests on Pyongyang’s denuclearization but she did not overtly tag the measure as a precondition necessary to initiate all the programs.
[Unification] [Rhetoric]
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An Initiative for Peaceful Unification on the Korean Peninsula
Dresden – beyond division, toward integration
Professor Hans Mueller-Steinhagen, former Prime Minister Lothar de Maiziere, students and faculty members of the Dresden University of Technology, ladies and gentlemen.
It is my great pleasure to visit this esteemed German institute of higher learning. It is also a unique privilege to receive an honorary doctorate from a university where the presence of history and tradition can be felt.
As the fastest-growing region in the former East Germany, Dresden is an iconic community that has moved beyond division and toward integration. The German people have transformed Dresden into a city brimming with hope - where freedom and abundance suffuse the air.
[Unification] [Rhetoric] [Dresden]
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Park hints at flexible approach in aid to NK
President Park Geun-hye, second from left, visits the Gruenes Gewoelbe (Green Vault) besides Saxony state governor Stanislaw Tillich, left, and Dirk Syndram, director of the Green Vault, third from left, in Dresden, Germany, Thursday. The Gruenes Gewoelbe enjoys is world renown as one of the richest treasure chambers in Europe. AP-Yonhap
By Kim Tae-gyu and Chung Min-uck
DRESDEN ? President Park Geun-hye showed her firm commitment to laying the groundwork for a peaceful unification of the two Koreas in her historical speech in this former East German city.
She proposed a set of humanitarian and economic aid proposals to the North.
However, her tone was quite different from previous ones as she appeared to be less demanding in calling for the North to follow denuclearization conditions.
Experts say Park effectively put into action her Korean Peninsula Trust-building Process, a carrot-and-stick approach meant to induce the North to abandon its nuclear programs and open up to the world; along with her vision for Korean reunification.
Called the “Dresden Doctrine,” the South’s proposal to the North offers a comprehensive package of economic assistance.
“Some projects like extending humanitarian assistance and seeking cultural integration would begin without the North abandoning its nuclear programs,” presidential secretary for foreign affairs Kim Hyoung-zhin said.
Park laid out a roadmap for how the two Koreas could work together to end the division that is nearly seven decades old by offering a bold package of aid and cooperation proposals.
[Aid weapon] [Nordpolitik]
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A Long & Winding Road: South Korea’s “Nordpolitik” (Part I)
By Aidan Foster-Carter
26 March 2014
Comrades, I’m confused. Nay, I am baffled. Flummoxed, even. And who better to share this confusionism with, in hope of enlightenment, than fellow-Korea watchers perusing 38 North?
The subject of my confusion can be simply stated: A year after Park Geun-hye took office as President of the Republic of Korea (ROK), I can’t for the life of me fathom what her policy towards North Korea really is. Her government has said many things and done rather fewer. But they don’t add up to a coherent whole. In fact, they seem to pull in contrary directions.
This is a serious charge, so I shall lay it out fully. That will require two articles. First up, we need to examine the various—very various—strategies towards the Northern regime that previous South Korean leaders had pursued. Our second article will look in detail at the past year, and in particular, how ‘trustpolitik’ jibes with Park’s growing emphasis on unification.
[Park Geun-hye] [Trustpolitik]
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NDC Inspection Team Demands End to Vicious Cycle of Confrontation Caused by "Cheonan" Warship Sinking Case
Pyongyang, March 26 (KCNA) -- The inspection team of the National Defence Commission (NDC) of the DPRK released a memorandum Wednesday four years since the occurrence of the "Cheonan" warship sinking case.
The memorandum clarifies from the objective viewpoint the facts that have so far been disclosed since the occurrence of the case as the present south Korean authorities are beating the worn-out drum of escalating confrontation with fellow countrymen just as the previous regime did.
Noting that the inside story about the hideous farce is being brought to light with the passage of time, the memorandum goes on:
There occurred in waters off Paekryong Islet and Taechong Islet in the West Sea of Korea an incident in which south Korean warship "Cheonan" was broken into two parts for no specific reason at around 21:00 on March 26, 2010.
The then Lee Myung Bak regime made public so-called "results of investigation" on May 20, about 50 days after the incident, and the "final report" in September.
The conclusion was that the ship was sunken by a torpedo of the DPRK.
But as soon as the story about the "torpedo attack by the north" was spread, it drew strong public criticism. The public called it a "collection of all kinds of suspicions" and a "far-fetched assertion based on a strange logic".
Censure and jeers came not only from south Korea but from the U.S., the center for making the hostile policy toward the DPRK, and other western countries.
[Cheonan]
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Korea mulling leasing up to 60 F-16s
By Kang Seung-woo
The Air Force is considering leasing F-16s from its U.S. counterpart to fill its fighter gap, sparked by a delay of the “next-generation” fighter program and the indigenous combat aircraft project.
“As F-4s and F-5s are aging without any reinforcement aircraft, we are reviewing leasing F-16 fighters currently operated by the U.S. Air Force,” an Air Force officer said Wednesday.
He added that the Air Force lacks medium-class fighters like the F-16, so a plan to lease 20 to 60 aircraft is under consideration.
[Military balance]
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N. Korea slams Park for speech on nuclear weapons
North Korea lashed out at President Park Geun-hye Thursday for being ignorant about its nuclear program and called her "a faithful servant and stooge" of the United States.
The North's denouncement was in response to Park's speech made earlier in the week at a global nuclear summit in The Hague, during which she called for ending North Korea's nuclear program as the first step toward realizing a nuclear-free world.
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Prepare for War in 2015, Kim Jong-un Tells Officers
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has mentioned the possibility of a war breaking out on the Korean peninsula in 2015, it was revealed Tuesday. According to a source, Kim told military commanders earlier this year that an "armed confrontation could take place on the Korean peninsula in 2015" and ordered them to stock up on strategic supplies and remain combat ready.
The comments were made at about the same time that Kim spoke about improving relations with South Korea during his New Year's address.
At a loyalty rally in Pyongyang on Feb. 25, Kim also spoke about an "all-out war with the enemy in the name of revolution and final victory." Last year, Kim told key officials his aim of "reunification through force within three years."
[Media] [Unification] [Canard]
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Gov't Has No Plans to Lift N.Korea Sanctions
Seoul has no plan to lift sanctions against North Korea North Korea, Unification Ministry spokesperson Kim Eui-do said Monday.
Speaking a day before the fourth anniversary of the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan, Kim said North Korea, "whose actions prompted the sanctions, has not yet taken any responsible measures."
Asked what would constitute "responsible measures," Kim said, "They should of course include admitting fault in sinking the Cheonan and apologising for it. They can also include censuring relevant officials."
After the attack, Seoul halted all business exchanges between the two Koreas except for the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
Asked whether package tours to Mt. Kumgang in North Korea could resume, Kim repeated that this depends on "responsible measures" from the North.
The government insists that North Korea must apologize for the shooting of a South Korean tourist at the resort in 2008 and ensure that nothing of the kind happens again.
[Sanctions] [SK NK policy] [Cheonan]
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S. Korean companies at Kaesong paying for sand with groceries
Posted on : Mar.26,2014 12:04 KST
Oh Yang-seon, mother of sergeant first-class Cha Kyun-seok, one of the 46 South Korean soldiers who died in the sinking of the Cheonan warship, kneels down and cries in front of her son’s grave in Daejeon National Cemetery, one day before the fourth anniversary of the sinking, Mar. 25. (Yonhap News)
On the fourth anniversary of the May 24 Measures, inter-Korean trade halted while the president talks about the “unification jackpot”
By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter
South Korean companies building factories at the Kaesong Industrial Complex have recently been unable to go ahead with their construction due to a sand shortage. More than two months have already passed. The companies need to purchase the sand from North Korea, but the South Korean government is insisting that any payments be made in food items and other groceries rather than cash. Meanwhile, North Korea is seeking the cash or diesel fuel it needs to extract the sand. This clash of opinions between North and South has left seven to eight companies severely hurting.
[Kaesong] [Sanctions] [Cheonan]
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[Editorial] After four years, time to get over the Cheonon hurdle
Posted on : Mar.26,2014 15:48 KST
March 26 marks the fourth anniversary of the sinking of the ROKS Cheonan warship, which took the lives of 46 sailors guarding the waters of the West (Yellow) Sea. A lot of time has passed since then, but the echoes of that sinking carry on to this day. Like it or not, the time has come to make a realistic decision and escape the shadow of that terrible tragedy.
Seoul‘s official position on the sinking is that North Korea needs to admit its error and take “responsible steps that are acceptable to the South Korean people.” It also mentioned a resolution to the sinking and practical steps toward denuclearization as conditions for “true development in inter-Korean relations” just after North Korea’s National Defense Commission issued an “important proposal” in January calling for a total moratorium on hostile military actions. The nuclear issue is only weakly tied to inter-Korean relations, since it is an issue that really involves many different countries. At the end of the day, the situation with the Cheonan appears to be one of the most important reasons that despite some signs of a thaw - such as the resumption of divided family reunions - no real progress has been made between the two sides. The question is now whether the time has come to relax, or lift entirely, the so-called “May 24 measures” put in place by Seoul two months after the sinking, bringing all exchanges of people and items between North and South to a complete halt.
It’s not easy to find a clean resolution to an incident like the Cheonan sinking. North Korea has consistently maintained that it wasn’t responsible, which means that getting any kind of a direct apology is pretty much out of the question. Back in 2010, the government conducted an investigation, with foreign experts participating, that concluded the sinking to be the result of a North Korean torpedo attack, but it failed to completely convince the international community. Indeed, the debate over what really caused the sinking continues, with many raising questions about the government’s official announcement.
[Cheonan] [Coverup]
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Pres. Park hopes China won’t veto UN N. Korea human rights report
Posted on : Mar.25,2014 12:00 KST
President Park Geun-hye speaks at the opening of the Nuclear Security Summit at The Hague, Mar. 24. (Yonhap News)
In interview with Dutch public broadcaster, Park also urges coordination to deal with N. Korea nuclear issue
By Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent
President Park Geun-hye urged the Chinese government not to veto a final report by the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea (COI).
Appearing in an interview on Mar. 23 with the Nederlandse Omroep Stichting public broadcasting network in the Netherlands, Park was asked whether she would be “disappointed” if China exercised its authority to veto a resolution on North Korean human rights.
[Kirby]
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S. Korean Authorities Accused of Scattering Leaflets Hurting Dignity of Supreme Leadership of DPRK
Pyongyang, March 25 (KCNA) -- The south Korean puppet military group Monday committed such hideous provocations as firing bullets and shells from the five islands and in their vicinity in the West Sea of Korea including Paekryong Island and Taeyonphyong Island and scattering leaflets hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership and the social system in the DPRK.
The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea in its information bulletin 1058 issued Tuesday said that such reckless actions of the puppet military gangsters can never be tolerated as they are a very serious case pushing the north-south relations to an uncontrollable catastrophe.
The above-said leaflets-scattering operation carried out on the five islands and in their vicinity in the West Sea of Korea, the biggest hotspots, is an extremely reckless action that can be perpetrated only by the puppet military hooligans steeped in confrontation hysteria to the marrow of their bones, the bulletin noted, and continued:
With no rhetoric can the south Korean authorities justify the hideous provocative act of hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership and the social system in the DPRK committed by the puppet military group.
The south Korean chief executive had better put under control something serious happening inside south Korea, not resorting to the charade of misleading the public opinion at home and abroad by creating impression that she is interested in the improvement of the inter-Korean relations with such words as "confidence" and "unification".
The reality goes to clearly prove that there can be neither improved inter-Korean relations nor peace on the Korean peninsula as long as the diehard military gangsters are allowed to dare hurt the inviolable dignity of our supreme leadership.
Our army and people will never pardon even the slightest act of hurting the dignity of the supreme leadership and the social system in the DPRK but deal merciless sledge-hammer blows at its perpetrators.
The provocateurs will be held entirely accountable for the disastrous consequences caused to the inter-Korean relations in the future.
[ROK military]
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N.Korean Propaganda Against the South Is Failing
North Korean textbooks describe South Korea as a "fascist, military dictatorship" filled with "poverty and starvation," but fewer and fewer North Koreans are buying the propaganda.
? "Living Hell"
North Korean textbooks teach that South Korea is dominated by "foreign powers" that trample on the Korean people and "taint" its history, language and way of life. A book of writings purportedly by former leader Kim Jong-il describes the South as a "living hell" dominated by the "terror and repression" of the U.S.
The North also teaches students that the U.S. must be driven out and South Korea liberated. Textbooks say U.S. soldiers stationed in South Korea "fire guns in broad daylight, plunder homes and rape women." There are also rumors that North Korean defectors have their "eyes gouged out and limbs severed" if they go to South Korea.
[Propaganda]
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[Interview] German expert calls Four Major Rivers Project “sad” and “frustrating”
Posted on : Mar.24,2014 16:07 KST
Hans Helmut Bernhart, a professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany
Speaking on hugely expensive project, Hans Helmut Bernhart says, “You can’t design nature, and you shouldn’t try”
By Kim Jeong-su, environment correspondent
Hans Helmut Bernhart, a professor at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany, is an expert in river development and the design of canals and weirs. Now 72, he decided to specialize in river restoration after observing and listening to complaints of residents near the Iffezheim Weir on the Rhine River, who said flooding patterns had changed since its construction.
Hankyoreh (Hani): While the Four Major Rivers Project was going on, you came to South Korea to see the rivers. Now you’ve looked at the sites after the project’s completion. What are your impressions?
Hans Helmut Bernhart (Bernhart): From looking at the construction sites on the rivers when I came to South Korea two and a half years ago, I had some idea of what was coming. Still, it’s sad. What I want to know is how it was possible for the rivers here to be destroyed, or why nobody learned anything from the failures in Germany. It’s frustrating. Two and a half years ago, I had some hope. I even wrote a report expressing my strong opposition and submitted it to court [through groups opposing the project]. Now it looks like it’s too late. I don’t think I can be any real help anymore. Now it’s you who need to work for change.
Hani: In past interviews, you’ve said that it would be impossible for something like the Four Major Rivers Project to happen in Germany today. Why is that?
Bernhart: First and foremost, it’s about legal and institutional factors. Water management guidelines established for the European Union in 2000 require member countries to preserve and improve their river ecosystems.
[Lee Myung-bak]
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[Interview] South Korea's exports of lethal tear gas to the Middle East
Posted on : Mar.22,2014 16:40 KST
Modified on : Mar.24,2014 10:52 KST
Bill Marczak (left) from Bahrain Watch, with Ala’a al-Shehabi (right), who moved to London after she lost her job for taking part in democratization movement in Bahrain in 2011, in which her husband was imprisoned. Bill returned to Bahrain from the US where he was working on a doctorate after hearing about human rights abuses there. (by Kim Myung-jin, Hankyoreh 21 photographer)
Activists describe South Korean-made tear gas canisters and shotgun shells used to quell democratization protests
By Shin Woon Dong-wook, Hankyoreh 21 staff reporter
Some seventy people have reportedly been killed by them - young people from direct hits, children from suffocation, elderly people from heart attacks. This was the number they gave for the deaths caused directly and indirectly by them in Bahrain since 2011 and the Arab Spring. When asked about the official figure of 39, they explained that it was the number for the years 2011-13; when recent cases are added in, the figure rises to about 70. Approximately half the 140 people who have died since the democracy protests were killed by South Korean-made tear gas canisters, either from direct hits or suffocation.
[Arms sales] [cbw] [Repression]
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Pres. Park to discuss unification while in Germany
Posted on : Mar.22,2014 16:28 KST
Mar. 25-28 visit will include an address at a prestigious university where Park could send special message to North Korea
By Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent
While President Park Geun-hye has engaged in “sales diplomacy” on most of the overseas trips she has made since her inauguration, emphasizing economic cooperation, her visits to the Netherlands and Germany are focused on security and unification.
After discussing how to work together on the North Korean nuclear issue in a trilateral conference with Japan and the US and talking about mutual cooperation during a meeting with China, both of which are likely to occur during the Nuclear Security Summit, Park is expected to move forward with her plans for unification during her visit to Germany from Mar. 25 to 28.
The agenda item during Park’s time in Germany that is attracting the most attention is a speech scheduled for Mar. 28. “Park will be visiting Dresden University of Technology - the best-known university in former East Germany and one of Germany’s top-five universities - to receive an honorary doctorate and to deliver an address,” said Ju Cheol-gi, Blue House secretary for foreign affairs and security, during a Mar. 21 press briefing on Park’s visit to Germany.
In the past, South Korean presidents, including Kim Young-sam in 1995, Kim Dae-jung in 2000, Roh Moo-hyun in 2005 and Lee Myung-bak in 2011, have utilized visits to Germany as opportunities to announce their policies on unification and North Korea
[Unification] [Park Geun-hye]
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[Editorial] Government should support civil exchange with North Korea
Posted on : Mar.15,2014 12:55 KST
On Mar. 13, an announcement ceremony for a campaign to send a million sacks of fertilizer to North Korea by the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation (KCRC), was abruptly postponed the same day the event was scheduled to take place in Seoul’s Sajik Park. The council’s chairman, Hong Sa-deok, said the delay was due to “inadequate preparation,” and that it only affected the ceremony, but circumstances seem to suggest that it was the South Korean government that put the kibosh on it.
At any rate, the KCRC announced on Mar. 14 that it had gone ahead with launching the fertilizer campaign, and that around 73,000 bags had been donated by 6 pm on Mar. 13.
The KCRC is the country’s permanent council campaigning for unification, with political parties and nearly 200 civic groups taking part. Since its establishment in 1998, it has played an important role in inter-Korean exchange and cooperation, and in shaping the discourse on unification. The fertilizer campaign involves raising contributions of 12,000 won (US$11.20) each from one million different bank accounts through April, each covering the cost of one 20-kilogram bag. It’s a way for ordinary South Koreans to join together and offer support in a way that not only relieves North Korea’s food shortage but also helps lay the groundwork for reunification. It also needs to go ahead on schedule if the support is to arrive in time for the farming season.
[Aid weapon] [Unification]
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'NK could be next Chernobyl'
Updated : 2014-03-25 01:16
President Park Geun-hye shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping after a summit at The Hague, the Netherlands, Sunday. On the sidelines of the biennial Nuclear Security Summit, the two leaders discussed North Korea as well as economic cooperation. / Yonhap
Park proposes Pyongyang as pilot case to make nuclear-free world
By Kim Tae-gyu
THE HAGUE ? President Park Geun-hye proposed denuclearizing North Korea, Monday, as a pilot program to make a world free of nuclear weapons.
“If North Korea transfers its nuclear weapons to terrorist groups, it would pose a great challenge to world peace,” Park told the opening ceremony of the third Nuclear Security Summit.
[Park Geun-hye] [Double standards] [Bizarre]
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S. Korea, DPRK's joint panel hold first talks on dispute arbitration for Kaesong complex
(Xinhua) 07:16, March 14, 2014
SEOUL -- A joint panel composed of officials from South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) on Thursday held their first meeting on dispute arbitration in the joint factory park in the border town of Kaesong, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.
The meeting, the first of this kind since 2000, was attended by five officials each from Seoul and Pyongyang. The two sides have discussed arbitration regulations and procedures in details during the meeting, according to the ministry.
The ministry viewed the meeting as a positive development for introducing international norms to protect investments and rights of companies in the complex, saying both sides agree that the arbitration system is important for solving disputes in the Kaesong complex.
[Kaesong]
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Was inter-Korean civic group pressured by the Blue House?
Posted on : Mar.14,2014 16:35 KST
On May 2011, the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation (KCRC) holds a press conference to ask for the participation in the campaign to send a million sacks of foods to to relieve Pyongyang's severe food shortage.
Abrupt cancellation of event raises questions over government’s stated plans to increase aid to North Korea
By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter
On Mar. 13, the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation (KCRC) canceled an event scheduled for the same day at which it was going to officially announce a campaign to send a million sacks of fertilizer to North Korea. While the KCRC explained that it had not been able to adequately prepare for the event, some are claiming that the Blue House asked the KCRC to hold off on its aid event for North Korea.
During a meeting held at 2 pm on Mar. 12, KCRC executives decided to hold the event announcing the start of the aid campaign at 2 pm on the following day. The event was to be held in front of the shrine to Dangun at Sajik Park in the Jongno district of Seoul. While some of the executives at the meeting suggested holding the event later because of the lack of time to prepare, Hong Sa-deok, permanent chairman of the organization, reportedly pushed ahead with the plan. The KCRC even sent a text message on Mar. 12 informing reporters about the event.
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S.Korea to Upgrade Patriot Missile Defense
South Korea will procure new Patriot missiles capable of intercepting North Korea's ballistic missiles starting in 2016. The Defense Project Promotion Committee chaired by Minister Kim Kwan-jin reached the decision on Wednesday.
The military now has a PAC-2 Patriot air defense system which can destroy an incoming ballistic missile or aircraft with shrapnel by exploding near it.
But it has a low interception rate and debris from the exploded missile can cause damage on the ground.
In contrast, the newer PAC-3 has a higher interception rate and directly hits the target.
The PAC-3 will be able to intercept a North Korean ballistic missile at an altitude of 40 km. It is being produced by U.S. arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin, which also makes the F-35A, a candidate for South Korea's next-generation fighter system.
[Military balance]
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Foreign minister says sanctions against N. Korea are getting results
Posted on : Mar.13,2014 15:24 KST
Speaking at defense conference organized by the Hague, Yun Byung-se says the flow of money into N. Korea is being limited by sanctions
By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer
In regard to North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and missiles, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said on Mar. 12 that the tough sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council are getting some results.
Yun delivered the keynote address at a special academic conference in Seoul on the occasion of the nuclear security summit, which was organized by the Korea National Diplomatic Academy and the Korean Nuclear Policy Association.
“The international community is showing that it is committed to taking firm action in response to North Korea’s provocative behavior,” Yun said in his address. “This has been demonstrated by various domestic measures taken by China and Russia to implement the sanctions passed by the Security Council.”
“Just as was discussed in the report released yesterday by the panel of experts on the North Korea sanctions committee, the recent incident of the Chong Chon Gang [a North Korean cargo ship seized in Panama] is clear evidence that the network of sanctions against North Korea is working effectively,” said Yun. “We can infer from the recent series of events that we are putting a considerable dent in the flow of money into North Korea.”
“Any country that produces and stores more nuclear materials than is necessary will be suspected of ulterior motivations and will be vulnerable to the risk of these materials being stolen. This will put its own security in jeopardy, as well as the security of other countries,” Yun continued. The comment was an oblique reference to Japan, which holds more than 44 tons of plutonium.
“The issue of surplus nuclear material ought to be swiftly addressed so as to alleviate the concerns of neighboring countries through cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other related countries,” he added.
In regard to the negotiations to revise the nuclear power agreement between the US and South Korea, Yun said, “There are quite a few differences of opinion that we have resolved, but there are still areas where more work is needed. We will have to speed things up this year.”
[Sanctions] [SK NK policy]
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DPRK Clarifies Principled Stand
Pyongyang, March 11 (KCNA) -- The spokesman for the north side delegation for north-south high-level contact Tuesday made public a statement clarifying the DPRK's principled stand concerning the grave hurdle lying in the way of implementing the hard-won agreement made at the north-south high-level contact.
It said:
The south Korean authorities have talked a lot about improving the north-south relations and laying a foundation for national reunification through "confidence-building" whenever an opportunity presented itself.
However, they have gone the lengths of daring slander even the election of deputies to the Supreme People's Assembly of the DPRK.
[SK NK Relations] [Slander]
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Spy master turns into liability for President
2014-03-11 18:12
NIS scandal may force Park to act ahead of June 4 elections
By Kim Tae-gyu
NIS Director Nam Jae-joon
National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Nam Jae-joon is a staunch and loyal supporter of President Park Geun-hye.
However, allegations that the NIS fabricated evidence against a man accused of spying for North Korea has, by many indications, landed the former Army chief of staff in hot water.
The circumstances prompt two questions: Whether the scandal will sway public opinion against Park ahead of the June 4 elections, and does she regard the spy master as expendable.
It remains to be seen how events will unfold, but already calls for Nam’s head are increasing.
“I don’t think that Nam was aware of the evidence faking incident or spearheaded it. But he would have led the NIS’s problematic response to deal with the aftermath,” said Prof. Shin Yul at Myongji University.
“Accordingly, I think that Nam must take responsibility and quit. The current scandal is different from previous controversies regarding the disclosure of the (Roh-Kim) summit minutes or allegations of intervening in the 2012 presidential election.”
[NIS]
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Papal visit to soothe divided church
Gabriel Chang Bong-hun, center, bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, addresses reporters on his preparations for Pope Francis’visit to Korea in August. During his time in Korea, Francis is planning to visit Kkottongnae, a Catholic-run community for disabled people in the province’s Eumseong. / Yonhap
By Kim Tong-hyung
When Pope Francis arrives in Korea in August, he will be welcomed by a church deeply divided over political issues and possibly a president desperate for a post-election media boost.
The papal visit from Aug. 14 to 18, announced by the Vatican on Monday (KST), will be a significant social event in Korea and inevitably a political one.
Progressive Catholic groups here have emerged as vocal critics of the Park Geun-hye government in the past year, drawing the ire of senior church leaders such as Cardinal Andrew Yeom Soo-jung who blasted them for getting involved in secular matters.
[Religion]
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Search and seizure operation carried out of NIS headquarters
Posted on : Mar.11,2014 15:17 KST
A bus leaves through the gate early in the morning of Mar. 11 after prosecutors carried out out a search and seizure operation at the headquarters of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) on March 10 seeking evidence in the espionage case of a former Seoul Metropolitan Government employee. The prosecutors search lasted 8 hours. (by Shin So-young, staff photographer)
Prosecutors descend on NIS headquarters seeking evidence that the intelligence agency falsified documents in espionage case
By Kim Jeong-pil, political correspondent and Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent
In connection with charges that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) falsified evidence in the espionage trial of an ethnic Chinese North Korean refugee and former Seoul public servant, the prosecutors carried out a sudden search and seizure operation of the NIS on Mar. 10. This is the third time the NIS has been raided by the prosecutors, following a wiretapping case in 2005 and a 2013 investigation into charges that the NIS manipulated public opinion and interfered in politics during the 2012 presidential election.??
With the country’s highest intelligence agency being raided on multiple occasions for abusing its security assets, it has been suggested that it has given up its reason for existing.??The team headed by Yun Gap-geun from the Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office - which is investigating the case - searched the NIS headquarters in Seoul's Seocho district, at 5 pm on Mar. 10.?
[NIS]
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NIS mouthpiece conservative newspapers making abrupt U-turn on spy case
Posted on : Mar.11,2014 15:01 KST
Conservative newspapers : the Chosun Ilbo, Joong-Ang Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo
Now that evidence of NIS falsification has been substantiated, conservative newspapers no longer defending beleaguered intelligence agency
By Choi Won-hyung, staff reporter
Conservative newspapers are changing their tune on the National Intelligence Service’s (NIS) misbehavior in the Yoo Woo-sung espionage case.?The newspapers, which previously defended the agency by downplaying accusations of evidence falsification, have now started belatedly demanding responsibility from the beleaguered NIS and prosecutors now that the charges are being proved true. Having joined the public security witch hunt, the conservative news outlets are now finding themselves having to make a U-turn.
[NIS]
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NIS found to have shilled for conservatives on Twitter
Posted on : Mar.11,2014 15:09 KST
The National Intelligence Service headquarters in Seoul. (Hankyoreh file photo)
Intelligence agency found to have selected conservative figures and
redistributed their tweets and articles on social media
By Lee Kyung-mi, staff reporter
Evidence has surfaced that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) distributed gifts to senior writers and reporters at conservative newspapers, asking them to cover specific topics in their columns.??In a Mar. 10 hearing in the trial of former NIS director Won Sei-hoon - held in the 21st criminal division of the Seoul Central Court, with Hon. Lee Beom-gyun presiding - public prosecutors revealed that members of the NIS Twitter team had systematically shared articles by conservative and right-wing figures on Twitter. Won, 63, faces charges of manipulating public opinion in the 2012 presidential election and interfering with politics.
According to the prosecutors, a leader of the NIS’s Twitter Security Team No. 5 surnamed Jang sent an email on Apr. 2009 to a civilian contractor surnamed Son and told him to ask editorial writers at conservative papers to run columns on particular topics.
[NIS] [Media]
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Pres. Park still silent on spy case document falsification
Posted on : Mar.10,2014 15:01 KST
Modified on : Mar.10,2014 15:25 KST
Kim Sung-gon (left) and Kim Kwang-jin, lawmakers of the Democratic Party, are holding a hunger strike urging for the appointment of a special prosecutor to investigate state institutions and organizations for their illegal interference in the 2012 presidential election and dismissal of NIS Director Nam Jae-joon. 37 Democratic Party lawmakers are doing a relay hunger demonstration until Mar. 14 in front of the fountain at the entrance of the Blue House. (by Park Jong-shik, staff photographer)
Park appears to be shielding NIS director Nam Jae-joon from criticism due to their close ties
By Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent and Lee Seung-jun, staff reporter
Having said that “normalizing the abnormal” is the core goal of President Park Geun-hye, her keeping silence on the Yoo Woo-sung espionage case is far from normal - or comprehensible.
While even Park’s supporters have decried the alleged falsification of evidence by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) as a criminal breach of the national order, Park herself has stayed completely silent, much as she did when the NIS was first accused last year of illegal interference in the 2012 presidential election.
Now politicians are accusing her of making things worse by shielding the NIS and its director, Nam Jae-joon.
[NIS]
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Seoul must take initiative in improving inter-Korean relations
Posted on : Mar.6,2014 15:57 KST
For all the emphasis Seoul and Pyongyang have put on improving ties, both sides are behaving reluctantly. Though they talk about the importance of trust, it is clear they do not trust each other.
Part of the reason for this is the joint military exercises that are under way between South Korea and the US. North Korea has spent the last few days firing short-range missiles and rockets into the sea as a show of opposition. The war of nerves could keep up until the Foal Eagle field exercises end on Apr. 18. It’s time for South and North in charge to manage the situation so that these volatile ingredients don’t combine to create a full-blown crisis. The best way to handle things would be for South Korea and the US to keep their exercises as low-key as possible, and for North Korea to avoid making a provocative response.
[False balance] [Joint US military]
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Member of Labor Party found dead in her home
Park Eun-ji
By Kim Da-ye
Park Eun-ji, a deputy head of the minor leftist Labor Party, was found dead in her home in southern Seoul in an apparent suicide, Saturday, the International Women’s Day, police said Sunday.
Park, 35, was found hanging from the window of a terrace around 4:30 a.m. by her nine-year-old son who called police.
She is said to have suffered from depression since she divorced her husband, a former student activist; and has been raising her son alone for more than a year.
Park did not leave a suicide note.
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The full picture of the NIS’s falsification to frame a man of espionage
Posted on : Mar.8,2014 11:26 KST
Officials enter the National Digital Forensic Center in Seoul’s Seocho district, Mar. 7. The center concluded that documents submitted to prosecutors by the NIS had been falsified. (News1)
Evidence has emerged of the intelligence agency using state funds to pay an informant to falsify documents
By Kim Jeong-pil, staff reporter
The full picture of the National Intelligence Service’s falsifications in the Yoo Woo-sung espionage case came into sharp focus on Mar. 7 with the release of a note from an NIS informant who attempted suicide after being questioned by prosecutors.
In the note, the man, a 61-year-old surnamed Kim, indicated that he was to receive NIS payment for his activities and the falsification of Chinese documents.
If true, this would mean that the NIS crafted testimony and falsified foreign government documents - at state expense - to deceive the court and give false evidence for espionage charges against Yoo, 34, an ethnically Chinese North Korean refugee who worked as an official for Seoul Metropolitan Government.
[NIS]
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N.Korea Declines Talks on Regular Family Reunions
Pyongyang on Thursday turned down talks about making reunions of families separated by the Korean War a regular fixture. The North Korean Red Cross declined Seoul's proposal in a telephone message, a Unification Ministry official said.
"The environment and atmosphere" for such talks "have not been created," the North said in the telephone message. "Very important humanitarian issues like regular family reunions cannot be resolved in inter-Korean Red Cross talks."
The message implies that the North is unwilling to talk while massive South Korea-U.S. military exercises are going on, and that it wants any talks to involve more senior officials.
"Agencies concerned are consulting on how to respond," the government here said. "We could consider talks at the senior government level."
[Divided families] [Joint US military]
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Korea to Cut Troop Numbers by 110,000
Korea is to reduce the number of soldiers on active duty by 110,000 by 2022.
The Defense Ministry said Thursday it plans to cut 40,000 troops over the next five years from the current 633,000 and 70,000 more between 2019 and 2022.
To fill the gap, the number of reserve soldiers will increase from the current 30 percent to 43 percent by 2025. To better prepare for the handover of full troop control currently scheduled for 2015, the military plans to merge two of its three Army headquarters and set up a ground operations command.
The initial merger date was set for 2030, but that has now been brought forward to 2026.
Experts say all the changes are being made in consideration of the nation's low birthrate as the military attempts to transition into a more efficient and cheaper force.
The military estimates that it will cost over US$201 billion over the next five years to implement the plan, which represents an average annual increase of 7.2 percent of the defense budget.
[Military balance]
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Korea's Defense Spending 'Needs to Increase More'
Korea's defense spending has risen only in the single digits range since 2006 while neighbors such as China have seen double-digit increases.
Korea's defense spending grew two percent in 2010, 6.2 percent in 2011, five percent in 2012 and 4.7 percent last year. It is expected to increase 3.5 percent this year, averaging out to 4.28 percent per year.
The Defense Ministry has been downsizing troops on the assumption that annual defense spending would rise seven percent. The ministry claims the defense budget needs to rise at least that much for Korea to remain prepared to deal with regional threats.
The ministry's calculations include costs to cover the development of a so-called "kill chain," whereby the military can detect signs of an impending ballistic missile launch and preemptively destroy it; an indigenous missile defense system; costs related to preparations to regain full troop control from the U.S.; construction of more Aegis destroyers and submarines; and the purchase of F-35 stealth jets and development of a next-generation Korean fighter jet.
These objectives need to be met, according to the military, if the country is to be ready to deal with a North Korean threat even after troops are downsized from the present 640,000 to 522,000 by 2022.
[Military expenditure] [Threat] [MISCOM]
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N. Korea rejects Seoul’s offer for Red Cross talks on divided family reunions
Posted on : Mar.7,2014 11:43 KST
Sisters Cho Do-soon (center) and Cho Oh-soon from South Korea clasp hands with Cho Won-jae, their older brother from North Korea, Feb. 23.
Pyongyang says talks proposed by the South aren’t high-level enough to find a “fundamental resolution” to divided family issue
By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter
North Korea rejected a proposal from Seoul for working-level Red Cross talks to resolve the issue of divided North and South Korean families. The decision came on Mar. 6, one day after the proposal was made.
Telephone notice was sent that morning through the liaison officer in Panmunjeom, with a message in the name of North Korea’s Red Cross central committee chairman stating that the “environment and atmosphere for inter-Korean working-level Red Cross talks to discuss the divided family issue is not currently in place,” the Ministry of Unification reported.
“In view of the current relationship between North and South, major humanitarian issues such as scheduling regular divided family reunions are not of a kind that can be solved through inter-Korean Red Cross talks,” it added.
The message made it clear that Pyongyang does not feel humanitarian issues like divided families can be discussed with South Korea while it is holding joint military exercises with the US, and that if the issue is addressed at a later date, discussions would have to be held at a higher level - allowing for discussions on a greater range of issues - rather than at lower tier Red Cross talks.
[Divided families] [SK NK Negotiations] [Joint US military]
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[Analysis] Generational divide behind Pres. Park’s approval rating
Posted on : Mar.6,2014 15:55 KST
SNU professor’s findings show Park’s approval rating reflects divide in Korean society and is unlikely to tumble anytime soon
By Ahn Seon-hee, staff reporter
President Park Geun-hye’s approval rating shows that the political polarization that manifested during the 2012 presidential election has intensified during her first year in office, an analyst has found. In the election, Park received more support from the elderly (those in their 50s and above) than from young people (those in their 30s and below).
[Demographics]
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Dailies tell different truth
Judge says liberal, right-wing papers poles apart in spy scandal coverage
By Kang Hyun-kyung
A research judge for the country’s top court has raised the issue of polarizing media reports on a recent espionage trial involving North Korean defector Yoo Woo-sung.
Kim Young-hoon, who conducts research for the Supreme Court, claimed in a paper that conservative media reported the case based on the presumption that Yoo was a North Korean spy, whereas their liberal counterparts focused on the abuse of Yoo’s sister’s human rights.
[NIS]
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South Korea–North Korea: a step forward without a step backwards
On February 12, 2014, a very significant event occurred in the inter-Korean relations, which was immediately compared with the inter-Korean summit of 2007. However, in the author’s opinion, it would be more correct to compare it with the negotiations of 1972 and 1991, when the level of the inter-Korean confrontation was significantly higher.
In brief, the main point of the event is the following: inter-Korean talks were held at the level of senior officials in the village of Panmunjom, located on the border between the two Koreas. The RK (Republic of Korea) was represented by Kim Kyu-hyun, first deputy chairman of the National Security Council, and the staff of the presidential administration, the Ministry of Unification, executive personnel of the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Defense of South Korea. The DPRK was represented by the Deputy Chief of the National Unification Front Won Dong-yeon, and representatives of the State Committee of Defense, the Ministry of Defense and the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Motherland.
[SK NK Negotiations] [Divided families]
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N.Koreans Face Execution for Contact with Missionary
North Koreans who converted to Christianity or received money from a South Korean missionary apparently face execution. A source said Sunday 33 North Koreans will be executed in a secret cell at the State Security Department on charges of attempting to overthrow the regime by receiving money to set up 500 underground churches.
Baptist missionary Kim Jung-wook was arrested in the North last year for allegedly trying to establish underground churches.
[Religion] [Subversion]
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Int'l Community Needs to Think About Korean Reunification
The 5th Asian Leadership Conference opened on Monday in Seoul. Hosted by the Chosun Ilbo and TV Chosun, the conference drew renowned global leaders, who agreed that Korean unification would open a new age for Asia.
President Park Geun-hye delivered the opening speech and said that the "age of a reunified Korean Peninsula" will connect the Korean Peninsula with the Eurasian continent to create "new growth momentum" and lead to prosperity.
Former U.S. President George W. Bush said in his keynote speech that Korean reunification would benefit the entire Asian region.
The topic of reunification has rarely been discussed in gatherings of global leaders, partly due to fears of agitating North Korea, which is extremely sensitive about any mention of a regime collapse. The topic has mostly been confined to experts, and views were predominantly negative due to the huge estimated cost.
[Unification]
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Echoes of Pyongyang as South Korea jails politician for 'subversive' plot
Amid claims of a witch-hunt, president seeks party ban for 'spreading North's ideology'
Justin McCurry in Seoul
The Guardian, Tuesday 4 March 2014
A protest outside the district court in Suwon against the South Korean opposition MP Lee Seok-ki, who was jailed for 12 years. Photograph: Yonhap/AFP
According to the court that sentenced him to 12 years in prison, Lee Seok-ki is a dangerous subversive, guilty of plotting an armed rebellion in support of his country's sworn enemy across the border that separates the Korean peninsula.
It sounds like the rumblings of a typical North Korean purge. Only Lee is an elected representative in the democratic, economically powerful South.
While the world has recoiled from the horrors revealed by the UN's investigation into human rights abuses in North Korea, people in the South have been raising concerns over the future of their democracy, a quarter of a century after the country cast off its military dictatorship.
[Lee Seok-ki]
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Pres. Park speaks on both N. Korea and Japan in Independence Day address
Posted on : Mar.3,2014 15:09 KST
President Park Geun-hye gives an address to mark the anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in central Seoul, Mar. 1. (by Kang Chang-kwang, staff photographer)
Japan is strongly criticized by Park, who asked North Korea to regularly hold reunions for divided families
By Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent
President Park Geun-hye delivered a strongly worded criticism of the Japanese government‘s rightward shift in a ceremony to mark the 95th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement.
“The more [Japan] denies history, the sadder it becomes and the more it backs itself into a corner,” Park said in her Mar. 1 address at the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts in Seoul.
She also urged Pyongyang to allow reunions among divided family members in North and South Korea to become a regular event.
“Meetings between divided families should no longer be some kind of ‘special event,’” Park said in her address.
With its calls for North Korea to “build trust toward peace and cooperation,” the 2014 address marked a step forward from last year’s address, which came just after Park’s inauguration. At the same time, her remarks on Japan made it clear that Seoul would maintain its current distance from Tokyo, with Park insisting there would be “no reconciliation without reflection.”
Analysts took this as signaling that Park plans to hold on to the initiative in Korean Peninsula issues by continuing dialogue with Pyongyang, while coordinating with China and the US and taking advantage of negative international opinion in response to Japan’s far-right lurch.
[SK Japan] [SK NK policy]
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Seoul denies reports on arrest of NK's No. 2 man
By Chung Min-uck
Choe Ryong-hae
The Ministry of Unification denied Monday reports that Choe Ryong-hae, director of the General Political Bureau of the (North) Korean People’s Army (KPA), was arrested and detained for failing to improve the army’s morale under North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
“Our official position is that nothing has been confirmed about the report as of now,” said ministry spokesman Kim Eui-do during a regular briefing. “However, we are keeping a close eye on the situation in the North.”
Free North Korea Radio (FNKR), operated by North Korean defectors in the South, citing a source in the North, reported Sunday that Choe, the North’s second-most powerful man, has been locked behind bars for not fulfilling his duty of ensuring a sufficient show of loyalty from the KPA to Kim as chief of the army.
The report sent a shock wave among North Korean watchers here because it came amid speculation that Kim’ leadership is currently extremely shaky following the execution of his once-powerful uncle, Jang Song-thaek last December.
More than two years have passed since Kim took control of the reclusive country, but his regime appears to be somewhat unstable in the eyes of the outside world.
[Media] [Instability] [Canard]
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Ahn Cheol-soo to Join Forces with DP After All
Ahn Cheol-soo has ditched ambitions to form a third political force and thrown in his fortunes with the main opposition Democratic Party. Ahn's group and the DP are to merge ahead of the June 4 local elections.
That will make the election for Seoul mayor and regional governors and council members essentially a two-horse race between the ruling Saenuri Party and the new opposition bloc.
DP leader Kim Han-gil and Ahn in a joint press conference on Sunday said, "Both sides agreed to push for the creation of a new party as soon as possible and work together to achieve a transfer of power" in the 2017 presidential election.
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Opposition comes together to form new political party before June elections
Posted on : Mar.3,2014 11:40 KST
Ahn Cheol-soo (left) and Democratic Party chairman Kim Han-gil shake hands before the press conference where they announced plans to form a new integrated opposition party, at the National Assembly in Seoul, Mar. 2. (by Kim Bong-kyu, staff photographer)
Ahn Cheol-soo agrees with Democratic Party on integration to challenge the ruling Saenuri Party
By Seong Han-yong and Kim Jong-cheol, political correspondents
The Democratic Party (DP) and independent lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo’s New Political Vision Party (NPVP) made a surprise announcement on Mar. 2 that they plan to join forces and launch a new party.
Ahn, the NPVP’s central steering committee chairman, joined DP chairman Kim Han-gil for a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul to announce their agreement to “join in forming a new party for a new politics as soon as possible, using this as a platform for electing a new administration in 2017.”
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S.Korean Missionary 'Confesses' to Spying in N.Korea
A South Korean missionary arrested in North Korea in October was paraded before the press on Thursday confessing that he spied for South Korea's National Intelligence Service.
Kim Jung-wook, a Baptist, said he had been plotting to turn North Korea into "a religious country" and destroy its present political system.
He added he received money and instructions from the South Korean intelligence services and arranged for North Koreans "to act as their spies."
North Korea often scripts such public confessions from foreigners who are arrested by way of spurring negotiations with their home countries and for propaganda purposes.
The Unification Ministry in a statement on Thursday expressed regret at Kim's detention and urged Pyongyang to send him back to the South.
[NIS] [Espionage]
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Korea, Burma to Stick with Rangoon Bombing Memorial
The foreign ministers of Korea and Burma agreed Thursday to carry on with the construction of a memorial for the victims of the 1983 Rangoon bombing by North Korean agents.
The bombing claimed the lives of 17 South Koreans and wounded 14.
The memorial was originally agreed on Dec. 31 of last year with a memorandum of understanding that set aside a plot in the Aung San National Cemetery to South Korea. But the project was delayed by opposition from some Burmese groups.
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Possibility of document fabrication confirmed
By Kim Da-ye
The results of an examination of travel documents showed Friday that either a number submitted by the prosecution or those by lawyers for a former Seoul city government official suspected of being a spy for North Korea had been fabricated.
The Supreme Prosecutors’ Office (SPO) said its Digital Forensic Center confirmed the official seals of a Chinese municipal authority stamped on documents submitted by the prosecution and by lawyers of the accused were different.
Thirty-four year old Yoo Woo-sung, who came to South Korea in 2004 as a North Korean defector, was arrested in January last year. He was indicted on espionage charges for allegedly passing the personal information of some 200 defectors he obtained through his job to the North.
[NIS]
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Korea's new anti-NK weapons 'made for worst'
(From top) TR-6X, Devil Killer and Korean WIG Ship
By Ko Dong-hwan
Korea’s recently-released military equipments and weapons are marked with such distinguished technological sophistication some reports called them an arsenal born to kill North Korea’s most reputable ordnance.
One example is the tilt-rotor-type drone called “TR-6X.” Developed by Korean Air, it can not only take off and land vertically but fly at fast velocity over high altitude, acting like both a copter and a propeller-flyer.
TR-6X will be used in military missions and for patrolling regions over water or land as well as provide weather forecast. Korea is the world’s second nation, behind the U.S., to own the tilt-rotor technology.
Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) also created a portable bomb-like drone called “Devil Killer.” Weighing 25 kilograms, the drone is portable for one and has bent wings in static mode.
It is capable of destroying remote targets in both water and on land. Once a carrier sends it to midair, it will reach the targets and destroy them as explosives do.
Devil Killer was introduced in Singapore Air Show which ended Feb. 16.
Shipbuilders have also introduced Korea’s very own WIG (Wing In-Ground effect ship) which surpasses its Russian predecessor in function.
WIG enables ships to travel in water at 150 to 200 kilometers per hour by allowing it to float above the surface. The gravitation is possible because the ship’s wings form locked-air below them as they stay close to the water surface while travelling.
What differentiates Korean WIG from Russian crafts is that it can stay aloft higher than the latter ? five meters or higher above surface ? so it can sustain harsh weather conditions resulting from rough waves.
The Korean WIG can work with not just military equipment but can be used for emergency search-and-rescue missions as well.
[Military balance]
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Foreign ministry to ramp up unification efforts
By Chung Min-uck
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said Friday his ministry will actively seek to create favorable global conditions for the peaceful unification of South and North Korea.
“We will make aggressive and active efforts to create an environment favorable to peaceful unification,” said Seoul’s top diplomat in a speech at a local forum. “The coming four years will mark a watershed in our efforts to build peace on the Korean peninsula.”
“Unification” has become a buzzword after President Park Geun-hye said the Korean peninsula’s unification would be a “bonanza” in terms of economic benefits.
[Unification]
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