ROK and Inter-Korean relations
April 2014
Return to Asian Geopolitics indexpage
Return to ROK and Inter-Korean relations page
-
DPRK starts live-fire drill near inter-Korean border
Xinhua, April 29, 2014
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea set off its live-fire drill Tuesday afternoon near the disputed inter-Korean border islands, about a month after conducting the same drill.
A South Korean Defense Ministry official told Xinhua that Pyongyang started the pre-noticed live-fire drill at 2 p.m. local time.
-
Online post criticizing Pres. Park over Sewol response goes viral
Posted on : Apr.29,2014 11:53 KST
A bulletin board on the Blue House website where a message written by documentary film director Park Sung-mi was reposted on Apr. 28 by a user surnamed Jeong.
Park is lambasted for her failure to take responsibility in dealing with fallout from ferry sinking
By Eum Sung-won, staff reporter
A bulletin board on the Blue House website was slowed or blocked by heavy traffic on Apr. 27 and 28 after a post criticizing President Park Geun-hye‘s response to the Sewol sinking resulted in two to three times the site’s regular number of visitors.
Access to the site was slowed or blocked by the flood of users responding to the post, which described Park as “irresponsible” and argued, “We don‘t need a President who doesn’t know how to take responsibility.”
The post was one of over one thousand that went up on the Blue House website to blast the response to the sinking by Park, who critics said has focused on blaming “bureaucrats” while ducking any responsibility herself. Netizens responded positively to the way the bulletin board has turned into a “public forum.”
[Sewol] [Park Geun-hye]
-
N. Korea conducts live-fire drill near western border
North Korea conducted a live-fire drill near the western maritime border on Tuesday, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, prompting South Korea to stay on high guard after a similar exercise a month ago sharply raised military tension.
The North began firing off artillery shells starting 2 p.m., hours after notifying the South that it will carry out the exercise in two border regions, north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in Yellow Sea.
Following the announcement, South Korea has stepped up military readiness by dispatching warships and early warning surveillance aircraft, as well as fighter jets, near the area to prepare for a potential clash, officials said.
-
WCC announces international consultation about reunification of Korean peninsula
WCC announces international consultation about reunification of Korean peninsula
11 April 2014
At a press conference in Seoul, Republic of Korea, on 9 April, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), announced that an international consultation on peace, reconciliation and reunification of the Korean peninsula will be held in Geneva in June 2014.
Representatives from the Korean Christian Federation in North Korea, South Korean churches and other ecumenical partners committed to work for peace and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula will be invited to the consultation, Tveit said. This is a new initiative to follow up a call from a WCC statement on peace and reunification of the Korean Peninsula, adopted by the WCC Assembly in Busan last year, he said.
The WCC will collaborate with a broad array of partners within its networks, bringing their experience to this effort in support of peace and unity among the people of Korea, said Peter Prove, newly appointed director of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.
[Religion] [Unification]
-
Statement on Peace and Reunification of the Korean Peninsula
08 November 2013
Adopted by the WCC 10th Assembly as part of the Report of the Public Issues Committee.
“For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us.” (Eph. 2:14)
We, the delegates of the 10th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC) meeting in Busan from 30 October to 8 November 2013, bear witness to the suffering of the men, women and children of the one Korean people through decades of violence caused by war and hostility that have left them divided into two nations.
[Unification] [Religion]
-
On the Situation in the Korean Peninsula. The Peace Offensive of the DPRK (I)
Alexander Vorontsov | 26.04.2014 | 00:35
For almost a year the world has been observing the development of the peace offensive of Pyongyang; this offensive began after the end of the acute military and political crisis in March-April 2013, when Pyongyang showed an uncompromising resolve to protect its sovereignty by all possible means and made many threatening statements. Now Pyongyang is demonstrating a desire to improve relations with all its opponents, but alas, this desire is not reciprocated...
The contrast in the approaches of Pyongyang and Seoul to the situation in the Korean Peninsula became particularly apparent in January 2014, when North Korea intensified its peace offensive. At that time a stream of conciliatory initiatives was coming from Pyongyang, while from Seoul there sounded calls to step up military preparations.
[Overture] [Rebuff] [Joint US military] [Response]
-
Rodong Sinmun Brands "Dresden Declaration" as Anti-reunification Declaration
Pyongyang, April 24 (KCNA) -- "Dresden Declaration" raised by south Korean chief executive Park Geun Hye is a confrontational declaration flouting the nation's desire for reunification, says Rodong Sinmun Thursday in an article.
The declaration is a traitorous one bereft of the patriotic spirit and stand and an anti-reunification declaration that deteriorates the north-south relations and escalates distrust and confrontation between the fellow countrymen, the article says, and goes on:
The declaration called for "settling humanitarian issues", "laying groundwork for improving the livelihood of the people for common prosperity" and "recovering homogeneity" as its main content.
National independence is an immutable principle that can never be compromised in settling the reunification issue.
The June 15 reunification era showed that it is possible to improve the north-south relations and open up a wide avenue for peace and reunification only when all the Koreans reject outsiders and pool their efforts.
To cry out for "humanitarian issues", "common prosperity" and "recovery of homogeneity", away from the principle of independence and the stand of By Our Nation Itself, is just a deception to win popularity under the spurious signboard of "unification".
Are the north-south relations not improving because there are no "reunions" or "nutritional aid"?
What the puppet forces seek is to undermine the ideology in the DPRK and bring down its social system under the signboard of "common prosperity" and "exchanges".
The south Korean authorities' foolish act of abusing man's noble kindred feelings for escalating confrontation and revealing their despicable wild ambition for "unification of systems" will only foment discord and distrust among fellow countrymen and escalate confrontation.
If they honestly want to offer new proposals, they should present ways for respecting and implementing north-south declarations in which the north and the south promised to settle the issue of the country's reunification by Our Nation Itself. Any acts contrary to this can never evade the curse and denunciation by the nation as an anti-reunification act.
[Dresden] [Summit]
-
Infidel Sewol captain and sailors devout Guwon faithfuls
A scene of mass-suicide from the 1987 Odaeyang accident, involving 32 handicraft factory workers, all of whom were believers of a heathen cult Guwon. The religion is shared by more than 90 percent of employees of Chonghaejin Marine, which owns the sunken ferry Sewol.
By Ko Dong-hwan
The sunken ferry Sewol’s captain and sailors arrested for dereliction of their duty of rescuing passengers were confirmed as believers of a heathen cult known as Guwon (Korean for “salvation”).
KBS’s “News 9” broadcasted Tuesday in an interview with a former employee of Chonghaejin Marine, a ferry transportation company which owns Sewol.
He said more than 90 percent of the company employees are Guwon believers, including the company owner Yoo Byung-eun. He added captain Lee Joon-seok had become a devout believer after he landed his job at the company.
Guwon cult’s doctrine inculcates that those who were once saved by God are completely detached from the sins they will ever commit in the future and guaranteed a path to heaven.
The General Assembly of Presbyterian Church in Korea defined Guwon as a pagan branch, forcing the cult to establish their own religious foothold, The Evangelical Baptist Church.
Guwon previously made headlines in August 1987, when 32 corpses were discovered on a ceiling of a handicraft factory in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, which was a property of a company called Odaeyang. Police investigation had revealed the company was crushed with 17 billion won worth of private loans.
The victims, including its president Park Sun-ja, committed group suicide. They were all identified as believers of Guwon.
[Religion] [Sewol]
-
Salvation sect suspected of funneling money to Yoo
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Yoo Byung-un, the de facto owner of the sunken ferry Sewol, is suspected of having used the Evangelical Baptist Church as a key source to fund the expansion of his business empire illegally, according to the prosecution.
To find evidence of illegalities that might have contributed to the ferry disaster, investigators raided Yoo’s home, and other companies and religious organizations allegedly linked to the church, Friday.
A special investigation team is looking into the seized materials and summoned a financier of the church for questioning the previous day to trace illegal deals between the sect and companies run by Yoo and his two sons.
Yoo and his father-in-law, Pastor Kwon Shin-chan, created the religious group in 1962, which was defined as a cult by the conservative Christian denomination, the General Assembly of Presbyterian Churches, in 1992.
[Religion] [Sewol]
-
Central figure in spy scandal exonerated
By Nam Hyun-woo
An appeals court upheld Friday the not guilty verdict on Yu Woo-sung, a former Seoul city official, who was cleared of espionage charges by a lower court.
In a major scandal, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) had allegedly fabricated documents to frame the ethnic Korean from China who posed as a North Korean defector. President Park Geun-hye expressed her regret over its action.
[NIS]
-
The contradictions of Dresden
Park’s position on joint military drills, denuclearization doom her proposal
April 25th, 2014
Tim Beal
South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s speech in Dresden on March 28 attracted a lot of comments, at least in the Koreas and among Korea observers. Not front page news elsewhere, but then the international press is seldom interested in Korea unless there is a whiff of gunpowder in the air. To many sub-editors the title – “An Initiative for Peaceful Unification on the Korean Peninsula” – must have ranked close to Claud Cockburn’s famous “Small earthquake in Chile, not many dead” as an attention grabber. A great pity, because Korean unification is an important subject, with global ramifications.
[Dresden]
-
N.Korea Sends Condolences for Victims of Ferry Disaster
North Korea has sent a message of condolence to the victims of the ferry Sewol which sank off the southwest coast last week.
The Unification Ministry said the message was sent by the North Korean Red Cross.
Pyongyang expressed deep sorrow for the passengers who lost their lives or are still missing. The last time the North sent such a message was back in 2003, when an arson attack on a subway train in Daegu killed nearly 200 people.
[Sewol]
-
The defector who wants to go back to North Korea
Son Jung-hun escaped 12 years ago in search of a better life. Now, disillusioned with the South, he is planning to return
Justin McCurry in Seoul
The Guardian, Tuesday 22 April 2014
Son Jung-hun first entertained thoughts of life outside North Korea in the 1980s, after chaperoning guests at an international youth event in Pyongyang.
As a trade official working under Jang Song-thaek, the recently executed uncle of the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, Son was part of the Pyongyang elite.
Those few days of interaction with foreign visitors gave him a vicarious peek at life beyond the confines of the world’s most oppressive dictatorship, and sparked his eventual defection.
But now, 12 years after he arrived in South Korea, Son has a new purpose in life: to return to the North to protest against the treatment of defectors south of the heavily armed border that has separated the two Koreas for more than six decades.
[Defectors]
-
N. Korea issues “open letter” of questions for Pres. Park
Posted on : Apr.24,2014 11:45 KST
Open letter asks for Park’s position on matters of unification and inter-Korean cooperation
By Yi Yong-in, staff reporter
The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), North Korea’s organization for relations with the South, sent an “open letter” containing questions to President Park Geun-hye.
The CPRK also claimed that the state of inter-Korean relations depended entirely on Park’s attitude.
The document, titled “An Open Questionnaire to Park Geun-hye,” called Park’s definition of reunification “antagonism against the regime, in which one side consumes the other using the strength of outside forces,” adding that “antagonism against the regime constitutes war,” the Korean Central News Agency reported on Apr. 23.
[Park Geun-Hye] [SK NK policy]
-
Prospect for North-South Relations Depends on Park Geun Hye: CPRK Open Questionnaire
Pyongyang, April 23 (KCNA) -- The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) sent an open questionnaire to Park Geun Hye Wednesday asking her to give responsible answers to the questions as to whether she stands for the improvement of the north-south relations or seeks to escalate confrontation and whether she wants reunification and peace against war.
Recalling that months-long Key Resolve and Foal Eagle war exercises for invading the north are over, but the south Korean authorities' confrontation with their compatriots and moves for a war against the north are going on and their anti-reunification hysteria under the signboard of "unification" is flouting the nation and disturbing the world, the questionnaire goes on:
[Park Geun-Hye] [SK NK policy]
-
Sympathy to S. Korean Red Cross
Pyongyang, April 23 (KCNA) -- The Central Committee of the Red Cross Society of the DPRK Wednesday sent a message of sympathy to the south Korean Red Cross.
The message expressed deep sympathy as regards the sinking of the ferry "Sewol" in the waters off Jin Island, South Jolla Province on April 16 claiming many casualties including young schoolchildren and leaving many persons missing.
[Sewol]
-
N. Korea offers condolences over S. Korean ferry victims
North Korea has expressed its condolences over the sinking of a South Korean ferry in a telephone message through its Red Cross Society, the unification ministry said Wednesday.
The message under the name of Kang Su-rin, the chief of the Red Cross Society of North Korea, was sent to Yoo Jung-keun, the president of the (South) Korean Red Cross, the ministry said.
Of 476 people on board, 174 people survived the sinking of the 6,325-ton ferry Sewol. One hundred and fifty have been confirmed dead, with 152 people still missing as of noon on Wednesday.
"In the message, the North expressed its deep sorrow over the many victims of the disaster," the ministry said.
The North's condolences are the first of their kind since 2003, when a subway fire and typhoon Maemi rocked the country. The South has yet to respond to the North's message, ministry officials said. The South conveyed its condolences over flooding in North Korea in 2006.
[Sewol]
-
[Editorial] It’s only too easy to Park to point her finger at “murderous acts”
Posted on : Apr.22,2014 11:45 KST
President Park Geun-hye made a statement yesterday describing the abandonment of the sinking Sewol ferry by its captain and a few of its crew members as a “murderous act.” She also pointed the finger at government officials, who she said would be “sternly held accountable.” Her wording was strong, and focused entirely on punishment and blame. Yet somehow they seemed to ring hollow. It was impossible to shake the sense that her focus was on the wrong place.
The sinking of the Sewol was not the only disaster last week. We also saw massive holes in the government’s disaster response system and crisis management capabilities. The initial response fell well short of what was needed, and the relevant agencies failed to cooperate; the disaster response manuals shut down at a pivotal moment. The government was frantic when it needed to be composed, inconsistent when it needed to be clear. The Blue House was no exception. Yet here the President is blasting the captain and blaming the civil servants as though it has nothing to do with her
[Sewol] [Park Geun-hye] [Agency]
-
North Hits Out at Sewol Ferry Sinking
Kang Mi Jin | 2014-04-20 18:36
North Korea has criticized the effectiveness of the official South Korean response to the sinking of the "Sewol," the passenger ferry that went down last week off the southwest coast of the Korean Peninsula en route from Incheon to Jeju Island with the loss of approximately 300 lives.
Chosun Central Television reported on the 19th that “rescue efforts are so slow that the hearts of the [ferry victims’] families are breaking.”
[Sewol]
-
CPRK Secretariat Denounces S. Korean Intelligence Service's Results of Investigation into Spy Case
Pyongyang, April 17 (KCNA) -- The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) made public information bulletin No. 1059 Wednesday in connection with the fact that the south Korean puppet prosecution made public the final results of investigation into the spy case of a public official in Seoul city.
The information bulletin said:
The spy case is another vivid proof of the despicable nature of the Intelligence Service and the crimes it has committed by unhesitatingly hatching any base plot to gratify its political greed and escalate confrontation with fellow countrymen.
Park Geun Hye sheltered and protected Nam Jae Jun, the chief architect of the case, to give a shot in his arm. This proves that Park is the same accomplice as Nam.
Nam, a remnant of "yusin", is an old military gangster who should have been eliminated long ago due to the public censure.
[NIS]
-
Are N.Korean Drones Knockoffs of Chinese Products?
The SKY-09P, a drone shown on the website of China TranComm Technologies, is 1.21 m long with a wingspan of 1.92 m and a maximum takeoff weight of 12 kg.
The North Korean UAVs are 1.22 m long with a wingspan of 1.92 m and a takeoff weight of 13 kg, according to the Agency for Defense Development here.
[UAV]
-
Consider N. Korea’s joint investigation offer in drones
Posted on : Apr.16,2014 17:50 KST
Modified on : Apr.16,2014 17:53 KST
After North Korea suggested holding a joint investigation into the small drones that crashed in South Korea on Apr. 14, the Blue House immediately rejected the offer. The Blue House is set on not being suckered by what it sees as propaganda against the South. But the government needs to think about the situation a little more seriously. If both North and South Korea take part in an investigation into the affair, it could bring them closer to the truth of the case, and the interaction between the investigators could provide a chance to break through the deadlock in inter-Korean relations, which have been going from bad to worse. North Korea’s proposal is not something that should be summarily dismissed.
There is a good chance that North Korea’s offer for a joint investigation is in fact psychological warfare, as the South Korean government believes. But when we consider the format and the content of the proposal, it does seem to have some weight. On Apr. 14, North Korean state institutions made two strong responses to the results of the South Korean government’s investigation into the drones. It is particularly noteworthy that the National Defense Commission, North Korea’s most powerful body, offered a direct rebuttal of the investigation report and proposed a joint investigation.
[UAV] [Evidence] [Rebuff]
-
The Leader Who May Rein in North Korea
November 09, 2013. By Eugene S. Robinson
Why you should care
Fresh off of a European tour during which she dazzled leaders from England to Belgium, President Park is holding a hard line with Japan and forging a new path with North Korea.
An engineer by profession, as well as an atheist (in a country that is approximately 27% Christian, the dominant religion), Park, 61, was literally drafted by her anticommunist dictator father, Park Chung-hee, in 1974 when he called her back from Grenoble, where she was studying to be a professor.
The occasion?
The mistaken assassination of her mother by North Koreans (they were aiming for him). When he was informed of his wife’s death in the middle of a speech he was giving, Park noted it, and continued on with his speech.
[Park Geun-hye]
-
More Evidence Linking Drones to N.Korea
Intelligence officials are analyzing a photo of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un linking him directly to three drones that recently crashed in South Korea.
The picture was taken during a tour of a military base and shows an object that resembles the wings of unmanned aerial vehicles that were discovered in Paju north of Seoul and Samcheok in Gangwon Province.
The photo illustrated an article in March last year by the North's official KCNA news agency.
[UAV] [Evidence]
-
NIS director not resigning after widespread use of false evidence
Posted on : Apr.16,2014 11:52 KST
Modified on : Apr.16,2014 11:52 KST
Nam Jae-joon has apologized, but fallout could be a political liability moving ahead
By Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent
President Park Geun-hye indicated that she does not plan to hold National Intelligence Service (NIS) director Nam Jae-joon accountable for the falsification of evidence in the Yoo Woo-sung espionage trial.
After pledging allegiance to the flag, President Park Geun-hye takes her seat to preside over a Blue House cabinet meeting, Apr. 16. (Blue House photo pool)
Her remarks at a Blue House cabinet meeting, the first part of which was open to reporters, on Apr. 15 - just 20 hours after prosecutors announced findings from their investigation of the case - mean that Nam received what amounts to an official presidential exoneration.
Speaking at the meeting, Park said, “The prosecutors’ investigation findings were announced yesterday, and I find it very dismaying that the public was made to worry by some flaws that were unfortunately identified in terms of the NIS’s mistaken practices and a lack of thoroughness in its management system.”
[NIS]
-
N.Korea Accuses Seoul of 'Fabricating' Drones
North Korea on Monday denied having anything to do with three drones that crashed in Paju, Baeknyeong Island and Gangwon Province and accused South Korea of fabricating evidence.
The North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland said Seoul "fabricated the incident of unmanned aerial vehicles in its frantic move to slander the North."
It was the first comment from Pyongyang since the rudimentary UAVs were discovered.
But Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said it is "clear to everyone" that the drones came from North Korea. He called on Pyongyang to "immediately halt such provocations and stop verbal attacks against the South."
Kim also slammed as "improper" remarks from New Politics Alliance for Democracy lawmaker Jung Chung-rae casting doubt on the evidence.
[UAV]
-
North Korea issues new criticisms of South’s leadership
Posted on : Apr.15,2014 16:15 KST
Modified on : Apr.15,2014 16:17 KST
Pyongyang apparently taking issue with S. Korea ‘slander and defamation’ as offenses to its dignity
By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter
After North Korean came out on Apr. 12 to bash proposals made by President Park Geun-hye in her Dresden Declaration, the North criticized South Korea again on Apr. 14 for “pushing inter-Korean relations toward a catastrophe,” citing South Korea’s slander and defamation. The move illustrates how the North’s verbal attacks on the South have gradually been increasing in intensity.
On the same day, North Korea’s National Defense Commission suggested a joint-investigation into the origins of small drones that were recently found crashed in South Korea. The proposal was rejected by the South.
The secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF), North Korea’s body for relations with the South, released an open letter, the state-run Korea Central News Agency reported on Apr. 14. “If the South Korean authorities continue to insist on slandering and defaming our regime and our dignity, they will not be able to avoid the most shameful fate,” the CPRF was quoted as saying in the statement.
[Slander] [UAV]
-
NIS agents indicted over spy case evidence falsification
Posted on : Apr.15,2014 16:11 KST
Modified on : Apr.15,2014 16:20 KST
A clock is reflected on the screen of a reporter’s laptop as Yun Gap-geun leader of the investigation team for the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, announces the indictment of two NIS agents without detention on charges of falsification, using harmful evidence and drafting and using falsified official documents, Apr. 14. In the photo, the reflected clock moves backward, a statement on the current situation of South Korea’s democracy. (by Kim Tae-hyeong, staff photographer)
So far, only lower level agents being held to account for falsified evidence, while higher-ups not thoroughly investigated
By Kim Won-chul, staff reporter
Prosecutors concluded their investigation of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) chain of command behind document falsification in the Yoo Woo-sung espionage case by delivering a Level 3 anti-communist investigation office chief to the court.
But their decision not to indict anybody higher up - including the Level 2 anti-communist investigation bureau director who signed off on a memo including instructions to falsify evidence - leaves them open to charges of incompetence and unwillingness to follow the investigation all the way up the line.
[NIS]
-
Park apologizes over fake evidence scandal
Updated : 2014-04-15 13:52
President Park Geun-hye apologized Tuesday for the spy agency's alleged forgery of evidence used in charging a North Korean defector with espionage, ordering the embattled agency to make thorough efforts to reform itself.
Park issued the apology during a Cabinet meeting, a day after prosecutors indicted three officials of the National Intelligence Service for their alleged roles in the scandal. NIS Director Nam Jae-joon also offered an apology earlier in the day.
"Regrettably, wrong practices of the NIS and holes in its management system have been revealed. I feel sorry for causing concern to the people," Park said. "The NIS must make excruciating efforts to overhaul itself to make sure this kind of incident won't repeat itself. Should there occur any case of it losing people's trust again, I will take strong measures to hold it accountable."
The scandal began following revelations that fake documents were used in the case of Yoo Woo-seong, a former official of the Seoul municipal government charged with handing over personal information of more than 200 North Korean defectors to Pyongyang.[NIS]
[NIS]
-
Seoul spurns Pyongyang's call for joint probe into drones
South Korea on Tuesday rejected North Korea's demand that the rival Koreas conduct a joint investigation into drones that Seoul claimed Pyongyang had sent to the South for spying purposes.
South Korea said last week that it believes North Korea was the origin of three unmanned aerial vehicles that crashed near the heavily guarded border area in the South, though conclusive evidence has yet to be found.
"In no case would a suspect be allowed to investigate evidence of his own crime," a presidential official told reporters. He asked not to be identified, citing policy.
He also said South Korea will continue its investigations into the drones in a scientific manner to confirm that the drones came from North Korea.
His comment came hours after the North's powerful National Defense Commission accused South Korea of fabricating the latest case to shift the responsibility for the acute inter-Korean relations to the North.
[UAV] [Evidence]
-
NPAD split over candidate choices
Members of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) and civic groups attend a news conference at Gwangju City Council, Monday. They called for the resignations of five NPAD lawmakers who declared support for Yoon Jang-hyun as a candidate for Gwangju mayor. As Yoon was from Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo’s camp, their support of Yoon led to conflict in the opposition coalition between Ahn’s supporters and members of the now-defunct Democratic Party. / Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
Internal conflict is brewing in the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) between those from the now-defunct Democratic Party (DP) and supporters of Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo over which candidates should stand in the June 4 local elections.
The seeds of discontent between the two factions were sown when the two camps came together to form the NPAD early last month, with Ahn and Rep. Kim Han-gil, the former chairman of the DP, co-chairing the coalition.
Controversy arose after five lawmakers whose constituencies are in Gwangju declared on Sunday that they will support Yoon Jang-hyun, an NPAD hopeful running in the Gwangju mayoral election.
[NPAD] [Election]
-
Jung hit for questioning NK drones
By Jun Ji-hye
Rep. Jung Cheong-rae
Members of the governing Saenuri Party denounced opposition lawmaker Jung Cheong-rae for saying that three drones the defense ministry concluded were from North Korea may not have come from there.
Ruling party lawmakers said Jung’s remarks were construed as agreeing with people who claim the drone scenario was fabricated by the Park Geun-hye government seeking to unite conservative voters ahead of the June 4 local elections.
Rep. Hwang Woo-yea, chairman of the Saenuri Party, said: “Jung made an irresponsible remark that only causes conflict among voters in the South.”
He added the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) should express its position on Jung’s remarks.
On Friday, during a meeting of the National Assembly Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee, Jung said the font used for lettering on the drones is one provided in Hancom Office’s word processing program widely used in the South.
[UAV] [Evidence]
-
North Korea lashes out at Park’s unification declaration
Posted on : Apr.14,2014 16:14 KST
Modified on : Apr.14,2014 16:53 KST
President Park Geun-hye makes her Dresden Declaration on unification in Germany, Mar. 28. (Yonhap News)
Pyongyang’s invective says that President’s Dresden Declaration was made with unification by absorption in mind
By Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporter
North Korea came out in strong criticism of the three proposals President Park Geun-hye made in her Dresden Declaration at the end of March, dismissing them as being “not worth any consideration.” While this puts the South Korean government - which has taken repeated steps to urge the North to respond positively - in an awkward position, the North might not mean to cut off relations with South Korea.
In a statement released by its spokesperson on Apr. 12, North Korea’s National Defense Commission derided Park’s Dresden Declaration as “the detritus of the age, rife with betrayal of the Korean people, hypocrisy, and opposition to unification.”
The North took issue with how Park argued for the dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program during the 2014 Nuclear Security Summit at The Hague, arguing that the three proposals to the North were merely peripheral issues that have little to do with improving inter-Korean relations. The statement also noted that the fact that the speech was made in Germany implies that Park was thinking of unification by absorption.
[Dresden] [Response]
-
Seoul unlikely to lift May 24 sanctions against NK soon
By Chung Min-uck
Despite South Korea’s offer to “conditionally” lift comprehensive economic sanctions imposed on North Korea four years ago, Pyongyang not only ignored the proposal but also launched a verbal attack on President Park Geun-hye’s latest initiatives for inter-Korean unification.
Moderating Seoul’s long-held position, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said in a National Assembly session, Friday, South Korea was “willing” to lift the sanctions, but that the North must take some actions for this to happen.
These would include Pyongyang admitting and apologizing for the sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan on March 26, 2010, and implementing appropriate measures to prevent such an incident happening again.
[Sanctions] [Cheonan] [Preconditions]
-
N. Korea warns S. Korea will pay dear price for slander
North Korea warned Monday that it will force South Korea to pay a dear price for its criticism of the North's dignity, the latest in a series of verbal threats against the South.
The rival Koreas agreed in February to halt cross-border slander during their first high-level talks in seven years.
Still, the North has since claimed South Korea hurled mud at the North's leadership and its social system with the communist country citing, among other things, anti-Pyongyang leaflets.
[Slander]
-
Samsung Memory Chips Found in N.Korean Drones
Three small unmanned aerial vehicles found in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on Baeknyeong Island, and in Samcheok, Gangwon Province definitely came from North Korea, the Defense Ministry here confirmed Friday.
Investigators determined that the drones are equipped with commercial components from six counties -- China, the Czech Republic, Japan, South Korea, Switzerland and the U.S. -- and include 4-mega DRAM memory chips from Samsung.
Analysis of images retrieved from the UAVs' cameras showed that they took photos while flying over areas clustered with military installations, the ministry added.
[UAV]
-
N.Korea Blasts Park's Reunification Plans
North Korea on Saturday delivered a scathing attack on President Park Geun-hye's vision for Korean reunification laid out in a speech in Dresden, Germany.
"The Dresden Declaration is a nonsensical statement made by an anti-reunification element who deceived the public with hypocrisy and falsehood as she offered no solution, ignorant of the present state of the North-South relations," a spokesman for the North's powerful National Defense Commission said.
The declaration contains a package of proposals for more exchanges with North Korea as well as humanitarian aid to gradually end the division of the peninsula that dates back to the 1950-53 Korean War.
The spokesman said present-day Germany was the result of West Germany incorporating East Germany and voiced strong suspicion to Park's peace overtures. Park's offers to step up exchanges and humanitarian aid are "irrelevant and indifferent to the improvement and development of inter-Korean relations," it added.
A government official here said, "We are focusing on the fact that North Korea officially voiced its position through the National Defense Commission."
[Dresden] [Response}
-
N. Korea blasts Park's unification initiatives
North Korea launched scathing verbal attacks against South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Saturday, calling her unification initiatives unveiled in March in Germany "irrelevant and nonsensical."
In her "Dresden Declaration" made last month in the former East German city of the same name, Park unveiled a package of proposals calling for bolstering exchanges with the North, including Seoul's humanitarian aid projects for the impoverished North, as she pushed to end the Korean Peninsula's six-decade divide.
[Dresden] [Response]
-
Crashed drones believed to be from North Korea
Posted on : Apr.12,2014 13:33 KST
Drone system development director Kim Jong-sung (far left) explains the features and capabilities of small drones crashed in South Korea, believed to be from the North, at an event to announce the interim results of the investigation, at the Agency for Defense Development in Daejeon, Apr. 11. (pool photo)
Interim findings of Defense Ministry investigation find drones had their identifying information erased
By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer
Short-range transmission chips in the small drones found crashed in Paju and other sites recently had their manufacturer names and model numbers erased, investigation findings show.
The Ministry of National Defense believes the information was deliberately removed by North Korea to conceal the frequency band receiving transmissions from the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).
The MND announced interim findings on Apr. 11 from its central joint investigation team’s investigation into three small drones found crashed in Paju and Samcheok and on Baengnyeong Island. According to the ministry, the investigation turned up “significant circumstantial evidence of North Korea’s responsibility.”
[UAV]
-
Seoul could push for dialogue with the North
Posted on : Apr.11,2014 13:17 KST
South Korean Special Representative for Korean Peninsula Peace and Security Affairs Hwang Joon-kook (right) poses with US Special Representative for North Korea Policy Glyn Davies (center) and Junichi Ihara, Director General of the Japanese Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, pose for a commemorative photo at the beginning of their trilateral meeting in Washington D.C. on Apr. 7. (Yonhap News)
South Korean official visiting Washington says work is ongoing to bring Pyongyang to be table
By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent
A senior government official indicated on Apr. 9 that Seoul plans to push for resuming dialogue with Pyongyang regardless of the progress with the “preliminary denuclearization measures” it has been demanding with Washington and Tokyo.
The official, who is currently visiting Washington in connection with talks between senior representatives for South Korea, the US, and Japan at the six-party talks, told the Hankyoreh that there was “no real need for us to say that such-and-such abstract conditions we present have to be met before we can start negotiations with North Korea.”
-
Foreign Minister warns North over possible fourth nuclear test
Posted on : Apr.11,2014 13:11 KST
Spokesperson also says complaint could be filed to the North over small drones that recently crashed in S. Korea
By Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporter
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se warned of an “unimaginable price to pay” in case of a possible fourth nuclear test mentioned by North Korea last weekend
[Test]
-
DPRK People Enraged at Park Geun Hye's Behaviors
Pyongyang, April 7 (KCNA) -- Ten days has passed since the south Korean military gangsters committed outrages against the DPRK fishermen in the territorial waters in the West Sea of Korea.
But, Park Geun Hye has not yet made punishment of the criminals.
Otherwise, she paid lip service to "unification era" and "settlement of humanitarian issues", which give glimpse of her impudence.
Kim Ryong Ha, an old man living in Pothonggang District, told KCNA:
Park Geun Hye is a shameless human dreg.
[Park Geun-hye] [Slander]
-
Military Worries About Biochemical Drone Attack
The Defense Ministry in a closed-door meeting on Tuesday discussed the threat from North Korea's biochemical weapons, which are believed to include smallpox and anthrax. The worry is that the North could launch a biochemical attack using unmanned aerial vehicles.
The meeting was reportedly called urgently after several North Korean drones crashed in South Korea.
"Besides Defense Ministry officials, officials from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, civilian experts, and U.S. military officers attended the meeting to review various matters, including a vaccine supply plan in preparation for a biochemical attack from the North," a military source said.
The military believes that the North could remodel small reconnaissance drones into "suicide" attack aircraft. Each of the current small UAVs could carry about three to four kg of explosives, experts speculate.
A Defense Ministry official said, "It seems likely that the North could load its UAVs with biochemical bombs rather than small conventional bombs whose attack effect might would not be very grave."
The North is believed to have the capacity to cultivate and produce some 2,500 to 5,000 tons of various chemical weapons and 13 biological weapons including anthrax, smallpox, plague, tularemia, and hemorrhagic fever.
If drones should drop biochemical weapons like smallpox, which spreads by airborne transmission, massive human casualties could occur.
The Defense Ministry has reportedly earmarked a budget for a stockpile of vaccines this year for the first time.
[cbw] [canard]
-
Would Avengers fight NK leader in heart of Seoul?
By Park Si-soo
What if the new Avengers movie portrayed Korea negatively?
How would Seoulites, for instance, feel about it after days of yielding their city for location filming?
If Marvel Studios says “tough luck,” so be it. But what about Mayor Park Won-soon and others who talked about value effects worth 2 trillion won from the “Age of Ultron”?
If Park loses his bid for reelection in June, he would be out of office in 2015 when the movie is out.
Besides, he didn’t exactly say whether it would be minus 2 trillion won or plus 2 trillion won. Right now, the secrecy in which the film is being made gives away little inkling about what the movie will be about except for the Ultron we know from the comics.
One thing for sure is this kind of movie goes with the good-prevailing-over-evil plot formula.
In the sequel, the Avengers are good guys, while Ultron is bad. Then, who would be the most likely candidate for the role of a bad guy from Korea?
It’s hard to blame us for being paranoid. Oftentimes, North Korea has been the villain country and its leaders — the deceased Kim Jong-il and his son Kim Jong-un— are bad guys.
Their villainy has a great deal resonance as they are among the most hated by Americans for firing missiles and conducting nuclear tests.
Besides, their psyche is hard to understand by western standards, which leaves the makers of the film with a great deal of room for interpretation and imagination. They wouldn’t be the first to use the North Korean leaders as bad buys.
[Media] [Propaganda]
-
Korea suffers serious brain drain
By Kim Tae-jong
An increasing number of highly skilled science and engineering graduates with master's and doctoral degrees are leaving the country in droves, a report showed Wednesday.
According to the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), Korea scored 4.63 on the Brain Drain Index (BDI) last year, ranking 37th out of 60 countries.
The index, on a scale of 0 to 10, indicates the intensity of the “brain drain” from each country, where the lower the reading the stronger the tendency for highly educated people to leave a country.
-
Defense Ministry Speculates About N.Korean Drones
Frantic speculation about North Korea's military drones has replaced years of silence from defense authorities since three unmanned surveillance aircraft crashed here recently.
On Tuesday, a Defense Ministry official claimed North Korea has about 300 reconnaissance drones and about 10 Russian-made Shmel unmanned aerial vehicles warfare-ready.
The Banghyon I and II drones are remodeled Chinese-made D-4 (ASN-104) UAVs. Their fuselage is believed to be 3.6 m long, with a wingspan of 4.8 m, the official said. They can fly at the maximum speed of 160 km/h and have an estimated a radius of operation of 40 to 60 km.
[UAV]
-
S.Korea Unveils Homegrown Drones
The Defense Ministry on Tuesday unveiled two unmanned aerial vehicles after criticism for failing to detect and counter North Korean reconnaissance drones.
This was the first time these drones have been shown in public.
A military officer said the aim was to demonstrate South Korea's drone capabilities and quell public fears over the latest North Korean security threat.
[UAV]
-
Concerns over N. Korea's drones overblown: analysts
By Kang Seung-woo
A number of defense analysts have expressed skepticism about the possibility of North Korea’s unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) posing any serious threat to national security.
Three drones that crashed here have dominated the headlines since the beginning of April, raising tension in South Korea over a possible new threat from Pyongyang.
But analysts said the drones are rudimentary and that it will take a long time for the North to develop any threatening surveillance or attack drones. They cautioned against any move by the Ministry of National Defense to invest a huge amount of money to buy radars capable of tracing UAVs.
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin took the leading role, saying on Friday that the North could use small drones (equipped with biological and chemical agents) to carry out a “kamikaze-style attack.”
“Concerns about the drones are overblown. How much conventional explosives can a small UAV carry?” said Lee Hee-woo, a retired Air Force general.
Greg Waldron, Asia managing editor of FlightGlobal, an aviation and aerospace industry website, also said: “In theory North Korea could put chemical weapons on drones, but their payload would be extremely limited.”
Even the defense ministry that recently ramped up security concerns also admitted that threats from the North’s drones are exaggerated.
“The crashed UAVs are of no military significance,” ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said in a briefing. “Should the drone be used as an attack device, it could manage to carry about 2 to 3 kilograms of TNT.”
Lee added that the defense ministry is overstressing the effectiveness of the drones, as if they have the precision capabilities of cruise missiles.
“If a drone can perform as well as a cruise missile, why do other countries still keep those expensive missiles in service rather than using cheaper UAVs,” he said.
[UAV] [Hysteria]
-
Gunfight at sea between North and South Korea
363632On March 31, 2014, there was a gunfight at sea between North and South Korea, during which, however, no one was hurt. This occurred for the following reasons:
Unlike previous years, in 2014, North Korea resorted to a symmetric response to regularly held military exercises by South Korea and the U.S. in the vicinity of North Korea’s sea border, which is an important point of dispute. The crux of the matter lies in that in 1953, the land border was established by both sides, while the sea border was actually imposed on the North unilaterally, leaving most of the Yellow Sea – including several islands of strategic importance – to South Korea. North Korea does not recognize this border and advocates for it being established further south. Thus, there exists a case of disputed waters between the two countries.
[NLL] [Clash] [Heading]
-
Family reunions belie future of the Korean peninsula
5 April 2014
Author: Andrew Kwon, Lowy Institute for International Policy/Center for Strategic and International Studies
The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) held their first family reunions in three years on 20 February 2014. But the event does not hail the beginning of a grand renewal in relations — the world has been here before and the important underlying factors that have undermined enhanced relations before, as highlighted by the recent exchange of fire along the western maritime border, remain unchanged.
The dream of Korean unity is a powerful one on both sides of the 38th Parallel. No act is symbolically more important than that of ‘completing’ families separated by the ‘unnatural’ division of both people and land. Yet the regular use of family reunions is also a matter of political expediency. For leaders on both sides of the Korean peninsula, family reunions are appealing because as acts of unconditional goodwill they are cheap, politically low-risk, and capable of serving as launch pads for more comprehensive bilateral discussions.
[Divided families]
-
Scrutiny of N.Korean Drones Continues
Figures presumed to be serial numbers have been found on the fuselage of all three drones that crashed in South Korea recently.
The Defense Ministry on Monday said the number 24 was painted on the body of the unmanned aerial vehicle that crashed in Paju, Gyeonggi Province on March 24 and the number 6 on the drone that crashed on Baeknyeong Island in the West Sea on March 31. The drone discovered in Samcheok, Gangwon Province on Oct. 4 last year bore the number 35.
All look as though they were written with marker pens.
[UAV]
-
Military Wakes Up Late to Another N.Korean Threat
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin met with top military commanders at the Joint Chiefs of Staff headquarters on Monday to discuss what to do about North Korean drones. The meeting came 15 days after a North Korean unmanned aerial vehicle was discovered by a hiker on a mountain in Paju north of Seoul. At that time, officers refused to believe that the UAV came from North Korea citing lack of evidence.
They were nonchalant even after aerial surveillance photos of Cheong Wa Dae, including President Park Geun-hye's office, were discovered in a camera mounted on the drone.
[UAV]
-
Seoul Shies Away from UN Human Rights Office for N.Korea
Seoul has apparently decided not to host a UN field office that will be set up in Asia to call North Korean officials involved in crimes against humanity to account.
A diplomatic source in Seoul on Monday said, "It's important to seek to improve the human rights situation in the North, but it seems that Seoul has given priority to a moratorium on mutual vilification and provocations."
Last month, the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution calling for an office under the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to monitor and record human rights abuses in the North.
Originally the UNHRC wanted to set up a small field office in South Korea with a staff of about five whose main job it will be to question North Korean defectors. But Seoul apparently decided against it for fear of agitating Pyongyang and hampering humanitarian projects like the reunions of families separated by the Korean War.
Instead, the office will probably be set up in Bangkok, which hosts the regional UN commission.
Critics say the government should not repeat the mistake of previous governments that abstained from voting on UN resolutions on the North Korean human rights for the sake of cross-border relations but failed to improve the human rights situation in the North.
[UNUS] [Human rights] [SK NK policy]
-
Top Brass Discuss Asymmetric Threat from N.Korea
The Defense Ministry on Monday belatedly discussed how to defend key installations against attacks from North Korean unmanned aerial vehicles. Experts say drones are another manifestation of North Korea's asymmetric warfare capability, in addition to missiles, long-range artillery, special forces units, chemical and biological weapons, and cyber terror.
The greatest threat is the North's special forces, which number around 200,000, the largest in the world. These guerrilla troops can be flown in deep behind the front lines aboard low-flying AN-2 transport planes to wreak havoc on key installations as well as military targets.
The military here hopes to counter them with its own special forces and reserve troops, but they are currently outnumbered 10:1.
[Military balance] [Special forces] [Asymmetry]
-
Seoul Ignored N.Korean Drone Threat
North Korea threatened several times since last year to target Cheong Wa Dae using unmanned aerial vehicles. Each time it mentioned the drones, the North clearly specified their use as "strike" platforms rather than reconnaissance purposes.
The recent discovery of three crashed drones here suggests that the military here ignored clear warning signs and was far too late in preparing any response.
On May 21 last year, the North Korean propaganda website Uriminzokkiri said using UAVs instead of surface-to-surface missiles to attack South Korea was intended to use "terrain features for cover." It added that long-range artillery or ballistic missiles could not hit Cheong Wa Dae, which is at the southern foot of Mt. Bukak, but "the situation changes when using UAVs."
Drones can travel through valleys and strike targets hidden in mountainsides.
Uriminzokkiri pointed out that the South Korean presidential office is just 40 km from the heavily armed border and that a UAV could reach it in less than three minutes traveling at 925 km/h. It also said that it would not be difficult to obtain the coordinates of President Park Geun-hye's office in the compound.
The website boasted that North Korean drones are also capable of attacking the Capital Defense Command on the southern side of Mt. Kwanak in southern Seoul.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally led training drills using UAVs. The North's official KCNA news agency on March 20 last year said Kim personally directed such an exercise and quoted him as saying that the North Korean army is able to launch "precision strikes against any enemy target."
Kim watched an interceptor hit a mock Tomahawk cruise missile and expressed satisfaction that the target was "accurately hit with a single shot," KCNA claimed.
He ordered troops to "destroy" all military and government targets in South Korea, as well as U.S. facilities should the "enemies even flinch."
[UAV] [Military balance]
-
Toy Planes Soon Subject to Registration
The government has decided to require owners to register unmanned aerial vehicles weighing 12 kg or less from the second half of this year. The decision follows the recent discoveries of North Korean drones.
At present, only aircraft weighing more than 12 kg are required to be registered.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Friday it plans to create a database cataloging all UAVs in the country. Unregistered unmanned planes caught flying over no-fly zones will be subject to higher fines.
[UAV]
-
Pres. Park’s ‘my way or the highway’ North Korea policy
Posted on : Apr.8,2014 14:51 KST
President Park Geun-hye discusses small drones, believed to be from North Korea, as she presides over a meeting of her senior secretariat at the Blue House in Seoul, Apr. 7. (Blue House photo pool)
Mention of ‘internal insecurities’ comes after Dresden speech on inter-Korean exchange and cooperation
By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter and Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent
President Park Geun-hye has been taking a confused approach to North Korea recently, following up her emphasis on inter-Korean exchange and cooperation in a late March speech in Dresden with mention of “internal insecurities” at an Apr. 7 meeting of Blue House senior secretaries.
Analysts are now saying that Park’s “my way or the highway” approach, which may work in the domestic politics where she has a solid support base, is now being extended to inter-Korean relations as well.
Speaking at a meeting at the Blue House on the morning of Apr. 7, Park prefaced her remarks by saying, “North Korea’s decision not long ago to break the agreement it had with Seoul not to engage in slander or provocations may be an attempt to shut down internal insecurities.” The claim is that Pyongyang has been attempting to quiet internal concerns by engaging in slander and provocations against the South, in defiance of an agreement the two sides reached on a moratorium in mid-February.
Park’s primary aim may have been to respond to recent remarks in the North Korean media that denounce her by name. But her decision to make such a blunt reference to “internal insecurities” in North Korea is also seen as somewhat unusual. Moreover, the perceived provocations in the remarks could get in the way of realizing some of the aims she laid out in the Dresden speech.
Indeed, signs already point to North Korea taking her remarks as slanderous. While laying out her “three-point proposal” to North Korea in the Dresden speech, she used a number of expressions that could upset Pyongyang, including references to “famine-stricken North Korean children” and a “nonstop string of defections that continues to this day.”
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior government official warned of the consequences of ill-chosen language.
“President Park really didn’t show any consideration for the other side when she said that,” the official said. “When you go overseas and start talking about how North Korea is ‘starving,’ they’re going to have a tough time accepting your proposal even if they wanted to.”
Questions are even being raised about her commitment to reunification, with analysts characterizing her approach as “shaking hands and slapping their face at the same time.” The charge is that her “North Korea policy” isn’t aimed at the North at all, but is purely for South Korean political effect.
[Nordpolitik] [North wind]
-
Government proposes regular review of military capacity
Posted on : Apr.8,2014 14:54 KST
Minister of National Defense Kim Kwan-jin (center) discusses strengthening monitoring and detection of drones from North Korea, at the Joint Chiefs of Staff Headquarters, Apr. 7. Three drones believed to be from North Korea were discovered recently. (provided by the Ministry of National Defense)
Review procedure could lead to another delay of wartime operational control transfer from the US
By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer
The South Korean government proposed setting up a regular procedure of reviewing the capacity and condition of ROK forces and the security situation on the Korean Peninsula two years before wartime operational control of the ROK military, or OPCON, is scheduled to be transferred to South Korea. This would mean, for example, that if the current negotiations between South Korea and the US end up delaying the OPCON transfer until 2018, the two countries would first conduct a review in 2016 to make sure there were no issues with the OPCON transfer.
[ROK military] [OPCON]
-
NK drones land Kim in hot water
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, second from right, speaks during a meeting of top military commanders at the Joints Chiefs of Staff in Seoul, Monday. He stressed tighter vigilance against threats from North Korea’s small unmanned aerial vehicles. Second from left is JCS Chairman Adm. Choi Yun-hee. / Yonhap
Defense minister faces criticism for slack military readiness
By Kang Seung-woo
Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin finds himself with few allies.
President Park Geun-hye rapped the military Monday over North Korea’s recent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone, intrusions.
Lawmakers also are moving to see somebody take responsibility.
A relic from the previous administration, Kim, known for his “spirit of a soldier,” is hanging on so precariously that one small push may topple him from office.
[UAV]
-
Volunteers help N. Korean defectors cross over to new world in the South
2011-11-16 20:22
This is the second in a two-part series about how PSCORE helps North Korean defectors. See the Sharing page for Nov. 10 for an overview of PSCORE’s services. ? Ed.
For many North Koreans the Tumen River, east of Mount Baekdu, is a natural border not only with China, but the rest of the world.
Unlike the swift, deep Yalu River to the west, the Tumen is relatively shallow and narrow, making it a preferred means for discontented North Koreans to escape despite the regular patrolling of border guards.
-
N.Korean Drone Crashed in Gangwon Last Year
A drone found in Samcheok, Gangwon Province bears the number 35 (dotted circle) on the body. /Courtesy of the Defense Ministry A drone found in Samcheok, Gangwon Province bears the number 35 (dotted circle) on the body. /Courtesy of the Defense Ministry
Locals in Gangwon Province found another North Korean unmanned aerial vehicle last October, months before the two drones that made headlines by crashing here recently.
But the Defense Ministry was only on Sunday alerted to the UAV that had crashed 940 m up a mountain in Samcheok, around 130 km south of the inter-Korean border.
Locals spotted it on Oct. 4 but only reported it to authorities after they saw news last week of the two other drones that crashed in Paju, Gyeonggi Province and on Baeknyeong Island.
The drone contained an outdated 486 processor and bore the number 35 painted on the body.
This suggests that the government and military were oblivious to infiltrations by North Korean drones for six months or more.
Authorities believe the drone found in Samcheok was on a surveillance mission over military installations along the east coast.
The military has now begun an intensive search for more crashed drones.
[UAV]
-
A third unidentified drone found crash landed
Posted on : Apr.7,2014 11:42 KST
Modified on : Apr.7,2014 12:44 KST
An image released on Apr. 6 by the Ministry of National Defense of a small drone reportedly found in Samcheok, Gangwon Province. The drone reportedly crashed from an altitude of 940m and is the same model as a drone recently found in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. It is 1.22m in length with a wingspan of 1.93m and weighs 15kg. (provided by the Ministry of National Defense)
S. Korean authorities suspect drone found in Gangwon Province likely from North Korea
By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer
The wreckage of a small drone similar to the one found recently in Paju was discovered in the mountains near Samcheok, Gangwon Province.
The military, which believes the latest drone (UAV, or unmanned aerial vehicle) may also be from North Korea, reacted by beefing
[UAV]
-
Park faces N.Korea dilemma
Pyongyang threatens nuclear, missile tests
By Kim Tae-gyu
President Park Geun-hye has a new dilemma over North Korea.
Park made a peace overture to Pyongyang during a recent visit to the German city of Dresden.
The North reacted to her “Dresden Doctrine” by firing missiles and threatening nuclear tests.
But Park remains calm. She has prevailed with aplomb during the North’s previous challenges, including last year’s “spring madness” that peaked in a crescendo of threats.
Her dealings with the North are a key factor in her high popularity ratings.
[Inversion] [Park Geun-hye] [North Wind]
-
[Column] The contradictions of Pres. Park’s Dresden Doctrine
Posted on : Apr.3,2014 17:32 KST
Modified on : Apr.3,2014 17:36 KST
Policy for unification does little to actually prepare, with lack of practical plans to increase inter-Korean exchange and cooperation
By Kim Ji-suk, editorial writer
President Park Geun-hye keeps trying to extend the positive image of German unification to her own concept of jackpot unification, but this is about as unlikely as trying to put on a stranger’s clothes. The plan for peaceful reunification of the Korean peninsula that Park presented at Dresden in former East Germany shows just how far those contradictions can go.
[Dresden] [Unification]
-
Crashed Drone Took Photos of Military Installations
A drone that crashed on Baeknyeong Island on March 31 took photos of South Korean military installations on Socheong and Daecheong Islands during its zigzag course.
According to the Defense Ministry on Thursday, the drone was made of foamcore with layers of fiberglass. Another drone that crashed in Paju, Gyeonggi Province on March 24 and took photos of Cheong Wa Dae and nearby areas was made of polycarbonate. Both materials can avoid radar detection.
The Baeknyeong drone had a 4-cylinder gasoline engine. "It seems that the drone crashed when the engine stopped due to lack of fuel, probably because the amount wasn't calculated accurately," a ministry official speculated. "The fuselage was damaged because the parachute didn't open when it fell to the ground."
[UAV]
-
Drones crashed in Paju and Baeknyeong Island likely North Korean, military says
Posted on : Apr.3,2014 17:25 KST
Modified on : Apr.3,2014 17:34 KST
Drones that landed in South Korean territory, one in Baeknyeong Island (left) and the other in Paju, Gyeonggi Province (right). They were found on Mar. 24 and 31, respectively. (Yonhap News)
Dispatching mediocre drones to the South indicates that Pyongyang is seeking military intelligence
By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer and Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter
Military authorities are tentatively concluding that a small drone that crashed in Paju, Gyeonggi Province last month was North Korean, after fingerprint analysis failed to produce any matching domestic records.
Printing on the drone was also reportedly found to match North Korean vocabulary.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a military officials told the Hankyoreh on Apr. 2 that the “Paju drone did have fingerprints on it, so we compared it to prints registered here in South Korea, but apparently there was no match.”
[UAV]
-
Cargo ship carrying N. Koreans sinks in S. Korean waters
A Mongolian-flagged cargo ship sank off the coast of South Korea's southern city of Yeosu on Friday, killing two of 16 North Korean crew members on board, the Coast Guard said.
The 4,300-ton ship carrying steel products ran aground at around 1:19 a.m. some 63 kilometers off the coast of Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, after sending a rescue signal, according to officers. It was en route to China from the North Korean city of Cheongjin, they said.
-
N. Korean drones rattle military
One of the photographs taken by an unmanned aerial vehicle that crashed in Paju on March 24 shows the Gyeongbok Palace area near Cheong Wa Dae. / Courtesy of Ministry of National Defense
By Kang Seung-woo
The military is under fire for its lax handling of North Korea’s unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) spying on key installations.
The small sky-blue drone that was discovered in Paju, Gyeonggi Province after it crashed on March 24, showed clear evidence that it came from the North, but the military sat on the find without reporting it to Cheong Wa Dae.
Officials also made mistakes that professional crime scene investigators should not have by handling it with their bare hands.
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said the UAV took a total of 193 photographs, including some of the presidential office and military installations.
“Given its design, color and takeoff and landing, I could determine immediately that the drone was not flown by civilians,” a civilian expert, who participated in examining the UAV, was quoted as saying. “A majority of experts assumed it belonged to North Korea just from its appearance.”
The MND said the delay in reporting about the drone was because it wanted to leave no room for mistakes.
“We conducted a visual inspection first and in order to detect any link to North Korea’s espionage operations, we carried out an in-depth investigation. That is why it took some time to report about the incident,” ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said in a briefing.
Despite the majority of assumptions from civilians and the military that the UAV came from the North, the MND did not announce the results of its investigation until another drone crashed on Baengnyeong Island, Monday, raising suspicions that the military may not have reported the detection of other UAVs from North Korea.
Along with the late report, the investigators amateurishly left their fingerprints on the drone, which created confusion in the process.
An analyst said that of 15 fingerprints found on the UAV, nine of them belonged to investigators, a sign of them being careless.
He said the remaining six fingerprints belonged to no South Korean citizen, hinting further at the North’s involvement.
[UAV] [Surveillance]
-
When Will the Military Awake from Its Snooze?
Two drones that crashed in Paju north of Seoul on March 24 and on Baeknyeong Island on March 31 are apparently North Korean. Although the two UAVs are different, they bear the same light-blue camouflage pattern seen on a similar reconnaissance drone that was spotted at a North Korean military parade in April 2012, while photos discovered in them, components used and North Korean-style writing make it highly likely that they were made in the North.
[UAV]
-
N.Korean Drones 'Used in Previous Attacks'
The recent crash of a North Korean unmanned aerial vehicle in Paju north of Seoul has increased worries that the North habitually uses surveillance drones over South Korea. It has also raised suspicions that the North deployed UAVs when it shelled Yeonpyeong Island and sank the Navy corvette Cheonan in 2010.
At the time of the shelling, 122 mm North Korean multiple rocket launchers struck South Korean K-9 self-propelled howitzer positions with relative accuracy. One military source said, "There was even talk at the time that a North Korean spy stole classified information, but now it seems more likely that the North already knew the positions from surveillance photos taken by UAVs."
Yoon Yeon, a former commander of naval operations, said before North Korea torpedoed the Cheonan, North Korea probably tracked the ship's route on the West Sea by radar, and it's possible that it flew drones over the Cheonan afterward check the result of its attack.
[UAV]
-
In fallout of embarrassing drone case, military announces new radar
Posted on : Apr.5,2014 14:20 KST
Drones that landed in South Korean territory, one in Baeknyeong Island (left) and the other in Paju, Gyeonggi Province (right). They were found on Mar. 24 and 31, respectively. (Yonhap News)
Two crashed drones are the latest breaches of national security under conservative governments
By Lee Se-young, staff reporter and Park Byong-su, senior staff writer
In reference to the drones that recently crashed on Baekryeong Island and Paju, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin said on Apr. 4 that the military is urgently preparing measures to counter the possibility that North Korea - which is believed to have launched the drones - could equip drones with explosives.
“At the moment, it appears that the drones are being used in a simple surveillance role. Later on, though, if the North improves its technology, we believe it’s entirely possibly that these could be turned into bombs,” said the Minister during a question-and-answer session in the National Assembly dealing with foreign affairs, unification, and security.
“The photography does not present a serious security threat at the moment since the resolution is similar to photography provided by Google, but we will move swiftly to take countermeasures,” Kim said. He explained that North Korea had started developing drones in the 1990s and acknowledged that the South Korean military had been remiss in its efforts to detect these small drones.
[UAV]
-
Expert: Park’s trust-building process neither effective nor sustainable
Posted on : Apr.4,2014 18:30 KST
As of now, North Korea has no compelling reason to shut down its missile or nuclear programs
By Park Hyun, Washington correspondent
Joel Wit, a leading American expert on Korean affairs, said that South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s trust-building process for the Korean Peninsula will hit a dead end if the US keeps refusing to join in talks with North Korea. Wit used to work in North Korean affairs for the US State Department.
In an interview with the Hankyoreh’s Washington correspondent on Apr. 1, Wit said, “Park’s trust policy is not going to be effective and sustainable because North Korea is not going to stop developing their nuclear and missile capabilities because of trust policy.”
“President Park can’t move forward with trust policy without the missing piece of puzzle, which is the U.S.” Wit said. “As long as the US remains on the sidelines and does not address the North Korean security issue, Park’s policies will lead to a dead end.”
[Nordpolitik] [Nuclear weapons]
-
N.Korean Drone Snapped Photos of Cheong Wa Dae
A drone that crashed in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, on March 24 hovered above Cheong Wa Dae and took close-range photos of the facility, it was revealed on Wednesday.
Based on several photos the Chosun Ilbo obtained on Wednesday, the drone started taking photos near Paju along a pre-set route. It flew right above Cheong Wa Dae and Gyeongbok Palace at an altitude of 1.3 km.
Analysis of digital information contained in these photos shows that the drone photographed the Cheong Wa Dae compound and its vicinity while flying from northwest over the area.
"The drone is believed to have flown at a speed of about 100 km/h and hovered over Cheong Wa Dae for some 20 seconds," photography experts speculated.
-
N.Korean Drones Violate Int'l Convention
Experts are urging the government to officially protest against North Korea after two drones that recently crashed in Paju, Gyeonggi Province and Baeknyeong Island are believed to have come from North Korea.
This represents a violation of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, also known as the Chicago Convention.
In a telephone interview with the Chosun Ilbo on Wednesday, Shin Sung-hwan, a professor emeritus of the Korea Air Force Academy, said, "As members of the International Civil Aviation Organization, the two Koreas should respect the sovereignty of each other's airspace in accordance with Article 3 of the Chicago Convention."
"Any aircraft, manned or unmanned, should follow appropriate procedures if they enter the airspace of another country," he added.
The Chicago Convention stipulates, "No state aircraft of a contracting State shall fly over the territory of another State or land thereon without authorization."
It is generally believed that unmanned aircraft are also subject to this stipulation.
"We should lodge strong protest against the North over the drones' intrusion of our airspace," Shin said. "Taking countermeasures, including the installation of more radar facilities, is a second priority."
[UAV] [Double standards]
-
Navy Missed Drone Despite Barrage of Guns
The South Korean Navy responded with Vulcan cannons when a small drone crossed into South Korean airspace on Monday, but failed to gun it down as it was flying too high, it was revealed on Wednesday.
The drone later crashed on Baeknyeong Island on Monday but it was not known if it was shot down.
A government official said, "Our navy shot some 300 rounds with a maximum range of 2 kilometers but the drone was flying at an altitude of 5 to 6 kilometers and we were unable to bring it down
-
Fire the Speech Writers: An East German’s Perspective on President Park’s Dresden Speech
By Ruediger Frank
03 April 2014
Following up on Aidan Foster-Carter’s analysis of ROK President Park Geun-hye’s Dresden speech, let me add a few subjective thoughts, since the event took place in my home region. All in all, this speech is a remarkably frank, but not necessarily a very sensitive document, particularly from an East German perspective. The subtle messages it sends to North Korea are not overly cooperative either. If I were President Park, I would start looking for better speech writers.
[Dresden] [Takeover]
-
Crashed Spy Drones Probably N.Korean
Two drones that crashed in South Korea recently are probably North Korean surveillance aircraft, the military here believes.
One drone crashed on Baeknyeong Island around 4 p.m. Monday, just as North Korea was lobbing artillery shells into waters near the de facto maritime border. The other crashed in Paju, Gyeonggi Province on March 24.
The crashes raised the alarm about loopholes in South Korea's air defenses.
A drone unveiled on North Korean regime founder Kim Il-sung's 100th birthday in April 2012 looks similar to two drones that crashed on Baeknyeong Island and in Paju, Gyeonggi Province. /[North] Korean Central TV
The Baeknyeong drone had a wingspan of 2.45 m and a fuselage length of 1.83 m, while the Paju drone measured 1.92 m by 1.43 m. But they were painted identical sky blue with a pattern of white clouds.
They looked similar to an unmanned "suicide" attack aircraft unveiled in a parade during celebrations marking North Korean regime founder Kim Il-sung's 100th birthday in April 2012.
Both drones carried near-identical propeller engines, cameras and parachutes.
The Baeknyeong drone had taken photographs of military installations on the five northwesternmost islands including the Sixth Marine Brigade. In all probability, the drone was used to monitor the movements of South Korean troops in real time while the North lobbed artillery shells at the Northern Limit Line, military authorities suspect.
The Paju drone contained long shots of Cheong Wa Dae, giving rise to fears that Seoul’s airspace is insufficiently protected.
When the Paju drone was found, South Korean military and intelligence authorities speculated that it could have been launched privately given the poor camera quality.
Back in August 2010 when it fired about 110 coastal artillery shells toward the NLL, the North reconnoitered areas near Baeknyeong and Yeonpyeong Islands with a drone that flew undetected by radar and mostly invisible to the naked eye.
Experts warn that there may be more drones buzzing around South Korean skies undetected.
[UAV]
-
North Korea calls Pres. Park’s Dresden Doctrine “bits of useless junk”
Posted on : Apr.2,2014 11:13 KST
State media runs strong denunciations of Park’s policy, and personal slurs, referring to her as an “odd spinster” and “old hen”
By Choi Hyun-june, staff reporter and Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent
The Dresden Doctrine, the painstakingly crafted three-part proposal to North Korea delivered in Germany by President Park Geun-hye, is now being put to the test. North Korea responded to it by calling it “junk” and firing harsh invective at Park. As the problems mount following the previous day’s live fire drills in the West (Yellow) Sea, some observers are already saying Park’s proposals may be done for, but many other analysts are saying the jury is still out.
Pieces in North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun newspaper and on Korean Central Television on Mar. 31 and Apr. 1 featured some very strongly worded denunciations of Seoul. The news outlets referred to the Dresden Doctrine as “bits of useless junk scraped together,” while launching a character assassination against Park, who they called an “odd spinster” and “old hen” who “lacks a political philosophy or convictions.” The comments came in the form of man-on-the-street interviews rather than official editorials or commentaries, but the intensity of the vitriol was nearly unprecedented.
[Park Geun-hye] [Dresden]
-
S. Korean military responds to NK shells with triple the force
Posted on : Apr.2,2014 11:19 KST
US marine MV-22 Osprey aircraft participate in an annual Combined Joint Logistics 0ver the Shore exercise as part of the Ssang Yong (Double Dragon) exercises in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Mar. 31. The exercises are meant to be practice for defending a possible attack from North Korea. They run from Mar. 27 to Apr. 7 with South Korean, US and Australian forces participating. (Yonhap News)
Military officials say response is in line with the “rapid, accurate, and adequate” approach adopted in 2010
By Park Byong-su, senior staff writer
The South Korean military’s decision to respond to the 100 North Korean shells that landed south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) on Mar. 31 by firing 300 rounds - triple the amount - was in accordance with the “rapid, accurate, and adequate” approach that was adopted after the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island in 2010, a government official said.
“We are operating on the principle of adequately punishing North Korea in the spirit of self-defense when it commits a provocation,” said Defense Ministry spokesperson Kim Min-seok during a press briefing on Apr. 1. “Since 100 North Korean shells crossed the Northern Limit Line, we judged that 300 shells would be an adequate response.”
[Clash] [Military balance] [Joint US military] [Buildup]
-
Drone seems to have come from North Korea: Cheong Wa Dae
By Shim Jae-yun
Wreckage from an unidentified unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that crashed on Baengnyeong Island, Monday. / Yonhap
Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday it believes the mysterious drone found on the border island of Baengnyeong seems to have come from North Korea, though a final determination has yet to be made.
The drone was detected Monday on the disputed island when North Korea fired around 100 artillery rounds into the West Sea. The finding caused stirs as it looked similar the one found in Paju, Gyeonggi Province near the border line in February.
[UAV]
-
NK resorts to typical brinkmanship
By Chung Min-uck
North Korea’s latest provocations reflect its old tactic of seeking to secure for itself an upper hand in any negotiation with South Korea and the United States, analysts said Tuesday.
“When the joint Seoul-Washington military drills end later this month, dialogue will likely begin to take place,” said Ko Yoo-hwan, professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul. “The North is currently trying to increase its leverage via the latest provocations.”
A government official said, “Only after the ROK-US exercise ends on April 18 and U.S. President Barack Obama finishes his visit to Seoul in late April, we expect the North to make some kind of reconciliatory gesture.”
[Inversion]
-
[Editorial] North Korea must stop breeding conflict
Posted on : Apr.1,2014 12:14 KST
Modified on : Apr.1,2014 12:17 KST
A view of North Korea from Baengnyeong Island, on Mar. 31, the day that North and South exchanged artillery fire across the Northern Limit Line. (Yonhap News)
On Mar. 31, North Korean forces located around the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in the West Sea fired several hundred rounds of shells to the south, some of which fell in South Korean waters. The previous day, on Mar. 30, North Korea’s foreign ministry issued a statement hinting that it might carry out a new kind of nuclear test in order to strengthen its “nuclear deterrence.” We urge North Korea to stop engaging in behavior that increases tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
The North Korean shelling appears to be intended both as retaliation to the US-Korea joint military exercises and UN pressure, as well as an assertion of its claims to the waters around the NLL.
[Tension] [Joint US Military] [Inversion]
-
Unidentified unmanned aircraft crashed in Baengyeong Island Monday
An unmanned airplane of which nationality has not been confirmed crashed in Baengyeong Island, Monday. Military authorities collected debris from the crashed plane and began in-depth examination.
“The unmanned plane crashed at around 4 p.m. yesterday in Baengnyeong Island and the military officials are probing the debris,” said an official of the Ministry of National Defense.
He said the military and the intelligence authorities are collaborating with focus on the possible involvement of North Korea in the crash.
The plane was reported to be similar to the one which crashed in Bongil stream in Paju, Gyeonggi Province on March 24.
“As the plane was found to be similar to the previously crashed one, the military is now focusing on the possible involvement of North Korea in the case,” the official said.
[UAV]
-
Trust or Bust: What is Park Geun-hye’s Real Nordpolitik? (Part II)
By 38 North
01 April 2014
On March 28, 2014, ROK President Park Geun-hye made a much-trailedspeech in Dresden, Germany. To suggest that she “made history” is surely premature. Park was hardly the first ROK President—in fact, she was the fourth—to use reunified Germany as launching-pad for a volley of proposals targeted at North Korea: people-to-people contacts, enhanced co-operation, and so on.
[Park Geun-hye] [Nordpolitik]
-
DPRK, ROK exchange fire on the sea
China.org.cn, March 31, 2014
The Democratic People 's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and South Korea Monday exchanged fire into the sea across the western maritime border, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported.
Citing an unnamed government official, Yonhap news agency said the exercise began around 12:15pm (0315 GMT). The DPRK has fired several artillery shells in waters north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), or the disputed sea border. Some shells landed south of the NLL into South Korea's territorial waters and Seoul responded with its own artillery fire, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
South Korean military said the number of the shells it fired should be equal to that from the DPRK that landed into South Korea 's territorial waters, Yonhap quoted the JCS as saying, adding that Seoul's army, navy and air force has declared a state of emergency.
South Korea has evacuated border island residents amid the live-fire drill of DPRK. In November 2010, four people killed after DPRK shelled a South Korean island near the border.
The DPRK declared a no-navigation zone in waters near the western maritime border earlier in the day, banning ships from sailing near the Northern Limit Line, or the disputed sea border. The was seen as a hint that it will conduct firing exercises with rocket-propelled artillery guns near the tense maritime border.
[NLL]
-
South Korea fires back at North after artillery shells land in disputed waters
Residents on South-controlled island are evacuated to shelters after exchange of fire caps days of rising tension
Tania Branigan in Beijing
theguardian.com, Monday 31 March 2014 16.17 BST
North and South Korea exchange fire after military drill – video
South Korean islanders fled to shelters as their country's forces traded hundreds of artillery shells with the North near a disputed sea boundary on Monday, amid renewed tensions on the Korean
peninsula.
[NLL] [Joint US military] [Response] [Inversion]
-
[Analysis] Does Park’s ‘jackpot’ mean unification by absorption?
Posted on : Mar.31,2014 15:51 KST
President Park Geun-hye talks with Korean miners and nurses who were dispatched to Germany at the Steigenberger Hotel in Frankfurt, on the last day of her visit to Germany, Mar. 28. (Newsis)
President’s speech on unification in Germany offered a more detailed vision, but also some troubling aspects
By Choi Hyun-june and Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporters
President Park Geun-hye’s address in Dresden this week included a more specific description of ideas for achieving the so-called “unification jackpot”. In Park’s address, the emphasis on peaceful reunification and ongoing expansions in inter-Korean exchange and cooperation were welcome developments, but failed to dispel concerns that the “jackpot” conception presumes a unification scenario where the North is absorbed by the South. The lack of a road map for denuclearization as another issue.
[Dresden] [Absorption]
-
Seoul plans follow-up measures to Dresden speech on unification
Posted on : Mar.31,2014 15:52 KST
Modified on : Mar.31,2014 19:22 KST
Students and residents of Yeonpyeong Island were evacuated to a local shelter after South and North Korea exchanged artillery shells across the West (Yellow) Sea on the afternoon of Mar. 31. Kim Byung-moon, principal of Yeonpyeong elementary, middle and high school said, “After hearing the announcement that we had to evacuate, the students moved to the shelter calmly. Earlier in the day we had been notified of North Korea’s live-fire exercises, so the students weren’t taken by surprise. (Yonhap News)
North Korea still unlikely to respond to overtures, as ROK-US joint military exercises are still ongoing
By Seok Jin-hwan, Blue House correspondent and Yi Yong-in, staff reporter
In connection with South Korean President Park Geun-hye‘s Dresden speech, which represented a grand overture to North Korea, the South Korean government has begun reviewing follow-up measures, with meetings scheduled at all related ministries during the week.
But with Park still reluctant to take active measures such as moving first to propose dialogue with North Korea, it seems premature to expect the three proposals she made during the address to lead to a breakthrough in inter-Korean relations.
[Dresden] [Rhetoric] [Park Geun-hye]
-
NK conducts live-fire exercise
South Korean marine LVT-7 landing craft sail to the shore through a smoke screen during the South Korea-U.S. joint military drill called Ssangyong, part of the Foal Eagle military exercises, in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Monday. The planned drills come after an increase in threatening rhetoric from Pyongyang and a series of rocket and ballistic missile launches in an apparent protest against annual military exercises by Seoul and Washington. / AP-Yonhap
Some shells land south of NLL
By Kang Seung-woo
North Korea fired artillery shells across the western sea border, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Monday.
South Korea responded but no casualties were reported by either side.
“The North began its live-fire drills in seven regions of the border area, north of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), at 12:15 p.m. and about 100 of 500 shells fired landed south of the NLL,” the JCS said. The closest round dropped 3.6 kilometers south of the NLL.
“In response, the South immediately struck back with K-9 self-propelled howitzers.”
[Joint US Military] [Response] [NLL]
-
NK provocation puts Dresden initiative to test
By Kim Tae-gyu
The back-to-back provocations from North Korea do not necessarily mean that the reclusive regime has refused President Park Geun-hye’s recent package proposal called the “Dresden Doctrine,” observers said Monday.
Instead, they said Pyongyang’s recent moves are geared toward the ongoing joint military exercise between Seoul and Washington, which it claims is a prelude to invasion.
“The ROK-U.S. military exercise prompted North Korea to step up its rhetoric and test-fire missiles as was the case in the past. The threats seem to have little to do with the Dresden Doctrine,” said Paik Hak-soon, a researcher at the Sejong Institute.
“In other words, North Korea would have carried out similar maneuvers even if Park did not come up with the statement.”
[Joint US military] [Response] [Dresden]
-
NIS agent, collaborator indicted in spy scandal
By Kim Da-ye
Prosecutors indicted a National Intelligence Service (NIS) covert operations officer and his civilian collaborator, Monday, for fabricating evidence in an espionage case.
The agent known as “Mr. Kim” was indicted on six counts of “maliciously” forging several documents used in a prosecutorial appeal against a not guilty verdict for former Seoul city government official Yu Woo-sung.
His 61-year-old informant, also identified as Kim, was indicted on four charges of document fabrication.
[NIS]
Return to ROK and Inter-Korean relations page