ROK and Inter-Korean relations
July 2016
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12 North Korean Waitresses Held Incommunicado in South Korea
Jul 30, 2016
Press Release: NZ DPRK Society
Originally posted on scoop.co.nz
Plight of the 12 North Korean Waitresses Held Incommunicado in South Korea
Press release repost on Zoom in Korea
[Election Defection]
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Korea Suffers Brain Drain
Academics are turning their back on Korea even as the country requires more highly educated workers in the tech sector to keep abreast of the Chinese.
According to the Science and Technology Policy Institute, 8,931 science and engineering PhD holders have left Korea, up almost three times compared to a decade ago. And four out of 10 are planning to leave if given the chance. "Talented researchers are leaving, and we can't attract foreign researchers," Hong Sung-min at STEPI said.
The Chosun Ilbo and the Biological Research Information Center polled 1,005 science and engineering PhD holders and found that 47 percent would prefer to work abroad. Only 31 percent said they would definitely stay in Korea.
The U.S. National Science Foundation conducted its own study in 2013, which showed around 60 percent of Korean science and engineering PhD holders in the U.S. saying they had no intention of returning to Korea. In yet another study by the Korea Institute of S&T Evaluation and Planning of 97,000 science and engineering PhD holders, 36 percent said they would like to leave.
Why? Some 59 percent in the Chosun Ilbo poll complained of pressure to achieve short-term results and a lack of independence. And 41 percent complained about a shortage of job opportunities here, and 33 percent cited poor work conditions compared to advanced countries.
[Brain drain] [China competition]
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[Editorial] ASEAN forum shows that we need a bold move to solve N. Korea’s nukes
Posted on : Jul.28,2016 19:31 KST
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) greets his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho before their meeting at the International Convention Center in the Laotian capital of Vientiane on July 25. (Yonhap News)
The meeting of foreign ministers at the ASEAN Regional Forum came to an end on July 26 with each country’s conflicting views on urgent issues on full display.
Though the forum represented a rare chance for North Korea, South Korea and the other members of the Six-Party Talks to come together, no progress was made on discussion about addressing the North Korean nuclear issue.
During the three-day forum, the dispute about deploying the THAAD missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula was in the spotlight, along with the issue of the South China Sea, showing that South Korea is running out of diplomatic options.
Disappointingly, North Korea did no more than reiterate its previous demands.
During a separate press conference, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho called on the US to end its policy of hostility, to sign a peace treaty and to remove US troops from South Korea. “[The opportunity to] denuclearize the Korean Peninsula seems to have been lost because of the US,” Ri said.
[Peace treaty] [Hostility]
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Two US activists denied entry to S. Korea for THAAD protest
Posted on : Jul.27,2016 18:53 KST
Ministry’s decision is raising question of whether refusal was politically motivated
US peace activists Hyun Lee and Juyeon Rhee in the transfer area at Incheon International Airport, where they were stuck for 27 hours, on July 25.
The Ministry of Justice’s decision to deny two foreign nationals entry to South Korea to protest the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system is creating controversy. The Ministry said that Immigration Control Act states that “Persons deemed highly likely to commit any act detrimental to the interest of the Republic of Korea or public safety” can be prevented from entering, but the move is being criticized as an act of political suppression.
The Ministry of Justice’s Korea Immigration Service said on July 26 that US nationals Juyeon Rhee and Hyun Lee were denied entry at Incheon International Airport on July 25. Hyun Lee is director of a group called Solidarity Committee for Democracy and Peace in Korea and Juyeon Rhee is a peace activist. The two were scheduled to participate in the annual Jeju Peace March on Aug. 15, where they planned to make a presentation opposing the US and South Korea’s decision to deploy THAAD.
After being denied entry, they stay for some time in a transfer area at Incheon Airport for 27 hours before their scheduled forced departure.
[Repression] [THAAD]
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12 North Korean Waitresses Held Incommunicado in South Korea
Friday, 29 July 2016, 11:32 am
Press Release: NZ DPRK Society
Plight of the 12 North Korean Waitresses Held Incommunicado in South Korea
On the 5th April the male manager and 12 female staff left a North Korean restaurant in Ningbo, China and arrived two days later in Seoul. The speed of the journey via Southeast Asia and especially the timing aroused suspicion. This was just a few days before a general election in South Korea and it was alleged that the exercise had been organised by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to boost the ruling conservative Saenuri Party’s chances in the election. If that was the plan it failed. On 20 April seven waitresses from the restaurant who had returned to North Korea gave an interview in Pyongyang to CNN. They alleged that their co-workers had been tricked by the manager into leaving, believing that they were being transferred to a restaurant in Southeast Asia. North Korean SOEs operate some 130 restaurants in foreign countries including Cambodia and Vietnam.
Although the ‘defection’ is subject to differing, and often conflicting, interpretations what happened next is beyond doubt. The 12 waitresses have been held incommunicado by the NIS for the last three months. There are rumours that one has died on hunger strike but that cannot be verified because access is denied. They have not been allowed to have contact with their families back in North Korea or with independent lawyers in South Korea and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Amnesty International has called for the ‘lifting of the veil of secrecy’:
The South Korean authorities need to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the North Korean restaurant workers. There has been much speculation, claims and counter-claims as to the group’s plight, but what is missing from this story are the voices of the 13 workers.
For months they have been denied contact with their families or lawyers of their choosing, raising questions as to whether their basic rights are being respected.
The inescapable conclusion must be that the waitress have been kept in confinement, behind a veil of secrecy, precisely because they probably were tricked into going to South Korea and want to return home.
[Election defection] [Abduction]
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N. Korean foreign minister says denuclearization “seems to have been lost”
Posted on : Jul.27,2016 19:05 KST
North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho holds a press conference at the International Conference Center, July 26 in Vientiane, capital of Laos. (Yonhap News)
Uncertain expression apparently refers to Seoul turning down numerous offers from Pyongyang to hold talks
On July 26, North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho held a press conference at the International Convention Center in Vientiane. “[The opportunity to] denuclearize the Korean Peninsula seems to have been lost because of the US. Future nuclear tests depend entirely upon the US’s stance,” Ri said.
The North is adopting a strategy of ambiguity as it refuses to either confirm or deny whether it will carry out a fifth nuclear test. It is also significant that Ri referred to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula with the tentative expression “seems to have been lost” instead of the definite expression “has been lost.”
When asked why there were no talks between North and South Korea during the forum (which lasted from July 24 to 26), Ri said, “We made proposals to hold talks for working out inter-Korean relations through dialogue and negotiations, but they were all rejected. At the current time, I believe that South Korea is not prepared for talks.”
[Overture] [Rebuff]
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[Analysis] A return of South Korea’s diplomatic nightmare of 1994?
Posted on : Jul.27,2016 19:03 KST
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (left) greets his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong-ho before their meeting at the International Convention Center in the Laotian capital of Vientiane on July 25. (Yonhap News)
Regional forum and foreign minister talks in Laos show South Korea estranged from the North and on the outs with China
It was around 11 am on July 25, and reporters from South Korea, Japan, and other countries were hovering in front of the VIP lounge (Room 12) and conference room (Room 15) of the National Convention Center in Vientiane. They were there to cover bilateral talks between the North Korean and Chinese foreign ministers, which were set to start at 11 o’clock.
But it wasn’t just the reporters who were waiting around in front of the doors. Several young diplomats with the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs were also there. Room 15 was the meeting place for the North Korea-China talks, while Room 12 was a place to rest while North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho waited for his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, whose foreign minister talks with ASEAN were going longer than scheduled because of the South China Sea issue.
[China NK] [Agreed Framework] [UNCLOS]
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Foreign Ministry Warns of Abductions by N.Korea
The Foreign Ministry here is warning missionaries and other activists who assist North Korean defectors in the Chinese border area that North Korean agents could try to abduct them.
The North Korean regime has been rattled by recent group defections of elite workers in North Korean restaurants in China and could be minded to avenge itself, the ministry fears.
According to sources in China, North Korea recently dispatched agents or joined hands with local criminal gangs targeting South Koreans who are conspicuously active in the border area.
[Subversion]
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The antics of South Korea’s “0.1 percenters” are more brazen than fiction
Posted on : Jul.23,2016 15:04 KST
0.01 percenters behaving badly: from left to right, recently fired for saying 99% of South Koreans are like dogs and pigs Education Ministry Policy Planning Bureau chief Na Hyang-wook, Senior Secretary to the President for Civil Affairs Woo Byung-woo and Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee
Recent video of Samsung Electronics chairman purchasing sex is just the latest in a rash of excesses
The wildest imaginings are proving a reality. Each day brings news of the kind of shocking behavior from South Korea’s “0.1 percenters” that makes fictional movie scenes seem like documentaries. With chaebol chairmen and members of the power elite shedding anything resembling ethics, ordinary South Koreans are voicing not just anger but despair at the antics of the ones pledging to “take responsibility” for society and the future.
On July 22, hidden camera footage went public apparently showing Samsung Electronics chairman Lee Kun-hee purchasing sexual services from women in the past at his home and luxury villa in Seoul’s Gangnam neighborhood. The release left many seething about the reality for other 99.9%. Mobile platforms burned up with messages about the “real-life version” of the recent hit political thriller film “Inside Men.”
[Inequality]
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[Reportage part I] In THAAD deployment area, the love for Park Geun-hye is gone
Posted on : Jul.22,2016 10:58 KST
Residents in conservative stronghold supported Park for her family ties, but now feel betrayed
Illustrations depicting the change in atmosphere in North Gyeongsang Province, a traditional conservative stronghold changed by the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system and relocation of the K-2 airbase.
The city of Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province are in turmoil. President Park Geun-hye’s decision to deploy the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) antimissile system has shattered the once sleepy melon farms of Seongju County.
Two days before announcing the THAAD deployment, President Park brought Daegu residents the good news that the Daegu military airport would be relocated. But what is good news for Daegu is bound to be bad news for whatever other place will have to host the military airport instead. The small county of Gunwi in North Gyeongsang Province - which is already being discussed as a possible site for the airport - is in an uproar.
On July 17 and 18, Hankyoreh reporters visited the Daegu and North Gyeongsang area, traditionally conservative strongholds, to take the pulse of local feelings about Park’s shifting policies.
“We adore Park Geun-hye, but I want to cut off the finger I voted for her with.”
“We hear it all,” said Lee Chung-hwan, 54, leader of Chwigok No. 2 Village, in Seongju County, North Gyeongsang Province, on July 17, as he pointed to the Seongsan Antiaircraft Battery, where THAAD is to be deployed. “We hear them shouting ‘one, two, three’ during their morning gymnastics, and we hear them telling such-and-such a corporal to report to the office.”
Seongsan Hawk Missile Battery is on top of Seongsan Hill, at an elevation of 383 meters. The battery is about 100 meters up from the village. In the past, the people of the village would climb up to the battery three or more times a day to chop wood, Lee said.
The air defense base was built around 40 years ago, and the locals have grown up with the sound of the bugle early in the morning and the sound of the radar dish turning. If THAAD is deployed there will clearly be noise
[THAAD] [Health]
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Residents hold anti-THAAD rally in Seoul
County delivers protest letter to Cheong Wa Dae
By Kim Bo-eun, Park Jae-hyuk
Some 2,000 Seongju residents gathered in front of Seoul Station to protest the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in their county in North Gyeongsang Province.
Participants staged a peaceful rally, Thursday, as pledged following one that turned ugly, July 15, two days after the government announced its selection of the county as the THAAD site.
But they were firm in their stance against the government's decision to deploy the advanced missile defense unit. The residents took a four-hour ride in 50 buses to Seoul to make their voices heard.
[THAAD] [Health] [Protest]
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Lack of communication brews groundless rumors on THAAD
By Yi Whan-woo
Groundless rumors, wild speculation and misunderstanding on national security and public safety are sweeping the nation again after the government failed to convince people concerned about the decision to deploy a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery in South Korea.
The latest fear over possible trade retaliation from China and Russia and also radiation hazards associated with THAAD follows a series of myths on mad cow disease, construction of a naval base on Jeju Island, the Sewol ferry sinking and the outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS).
Remarking that the incidents all took place under the conservative governments of Park Geun-hye and Lee Myung-bak, analysts said Thursday that the Park government is to be blamed for failing to learn from past mistakes.
[THAAD] [Health]
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South Korea: End secrecy surrounding North Korean restaurant workers
By Arnold Fang, 11 July 2016, Index number: ASA 25/4413/2016
The South Korean authorities need to lift the veil of secrecy surrounding the North Korean restaurant workers. There has been much speculation, claims and counter-claims as to the group’s plight, but what is missing from this story are the voices of the 13 workers. For months they have been denied contact with their families or lawyers of their choosing, raising questions as to whether their basic rights are being respected. Amnesty International urged the governments of the two Koreas to work constructively and collaboratively to facilitate communication between family members, as this is nothing short of a basic right of the individuals and their family members.
[Election defection] [Amnesty International]
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[Interview] North Korean defector uses humor to spur “cultural reunification”
Posted on : Jul.18,2016 17:46 KST
Choi Seong-guk, a North Korean defector and webtoon artist
Author uses webtoon to tell the story of resettling in South Korea after fleeing North Korea
Choi Seong-guk is a young North Korean defector who escaped seven years ago. He lives with his mother, who defected two years before him. He sleeps an average of five hours a night. He works through the weekends. Sometimes, when he has a moment to spare, he finds a place by the banks of the Han River and watches the water flow past. It‘s his only leisure activity, his only way of releasing stress.
Choi draws, and this is the reason he is so busy. In May his webtoon series, “Rodong Simmun (sic): The Enthusiastic Resettlement Diaries of a Male North Korean Defector,” first published in Naver’s corner for user-created comics, received favorable reviews and earlier this month made it to the “best user-created comic” corner. With this comic, Choi became known as the first North Korean defector webtoon artist. Since February Choi has also been an employee at publishing house Koreaura, and his “Namdori’s Pyongyang Stories” is being serialized in Koreaura’s monthly journal “The Hero”. He also has weekly appearances on internet broadcast “Learning and Sharing TV,” where he hosts “Choi Seong-guk‘s North Korean Drawing Pad Corner.”
[Defector]
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Dog soup culture appears licked in Korea
Updated : 2016-07-17 17:28 loading
[US dominance] [Culture] [Softpower]
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[Editorial] National Assembly must vet administration’s claims on THAAD
Posted on : Jul.12,2016 16:58 KST
Defense Minister Han Min-koo closes his eyes as he makes an emergency report about the decision to deploy the THAAD missile defense system during a hearing of the National Defense Committee at the National Assembly, July 11. (by Lee Jeong-woo, staff photographer)
Even though the decision to deploy the THAAD missile defense system with US forces in South Korea is a critical policy matter related to national security, the administration of South Korean President Park Geun-hye did take enough time to solicit public opinion and build consensus. If the administration always makes peremptory decisions in this manner, there is no reason to even have a National Assembly, which is supposed to monitor government policy on behalf of the public.
It is not too late for the National Assembly to take action. It should carefully consider whether the Park administration’s decision to deploy THAAD is appropriate and reasonable and control it in line with the people’s will.
While the Park administration was deliberating with the US about the question of deploying THAAD, it provided hardly any information about the status of the negotiations to the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee or its Foreign Affairs and Unification Committee. And since it officially announced the decision to deploy THAAD, the government has reportedly said that the decision is not subject to the National Assembly’s ratification since it concerns US forces’ weapons deployment.
This could not be a more wrongheaded attitude. The fact that THAAD is a US weapon system does not change the fact that this is an issue that will have a tremendous impact on affairs in Northeast Asia, and it is only natural for the National Assembly to thoroughly discuss and investigate the question of whether THAAD should be deployed in South Korean territory.
[THAAD] [Democracy]
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Young S. Koreans wary of unification
By Yi Whan-woo
Younger generations in South Korea are less supportive than older people about unification with North Korea, according to a recent report from Seoul National University's Institute for Peace and Unification Studies.
A total of 48.4 percent of those aged 20-34 last year responded that inter-Korean unification was necessary in the annual report, titled "Unification Attitude Survey 2015."
During the same time period, 55.7 percent of the people aged 35-44 viewed unification as necessary, while 63 percent of those aged 45-54, and 72.5 percent of those aged 55-74 thought the same.
[Unification] [Public opinion] [Demographics]
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Senior educator describes citizens as dogs, pigs; voices need for adopting caste system
By Chung Hyun-chae
The Ministry of Education suspended a ranking official Saturday for making derogatory remarks describing the public as "dogs and pigs."
The suspension came immediately after local daily Kyunghyang Shinmun reported that Na Hyang-wook, 47, director general of the ministry's policy planning bureau, said that the public are nothing but "dogs and pigs."
Na was also quoted as saying during a dinner meeting with reporters on Thursday that the nation should "consolidate the class system because people are not all born equal."
Asked how he felt about a Guui Station accident in which a 19-year-old subcontract worker was killed by a train while repairing screen doors, he said that people acting as if their own children were dead were hypocritical.
The ministry explained that Na put his foot in his mouth by drinking too much
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Union leader gets stiffest sentence for rally organizer in S. Korea’s post-democratization history
Posted on : Jul.5,2016 16:50 KST
Choi Jong-jin, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions acting president, holds back tears after hearing of KCTU president Han Sang-gyun’s five-year jail sentence for organizing public rallies last year, outside Seoul Central District Court, July 4. (by Lee Jeong-woo, staff photographer)
Han Sang-gyun found guilty on all charges for organizing popular indignation rally late last year
A court handed down a heavy five-year sentence to Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) president Han Sang-gyun for leading a “popular indignation” rally last November. It is the stiffest sentence for a rally organizer since South Korea’s democratization in 1987.
Judge Shim Dam of the 30th criminal division of Seoul Central District Court ruled on July 4 to convict Han of special obstruction of public duty leading to injury, handing down on a sentence of five years in prison and a 500,000 won (US$434) fine. Han had been arrested and indicted on charges of inciting illegal actions at a total of 13 demonstrations, including the popular indignation rally.
“The violence during the popular indignation rally was severe, with some demonstrators tying up and pulling police buses with rope and attempting to set fire to the gas tank openings on vehicles carrying police officers. Mr. Han bears heavy responsibility for inciting illegal actions,” the court said.
The court also noted that the head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency “communicated the intent to cooperate with KCTU - albeit in a limited fashion - before the rally, but KCTU refused.”
“It was [therefore] lawful for the police to finally give notice that the demonstration was banned,” it concluded.
Han’s lawyer claimed that the demonstration could only be staged illegally because the police had banned outright the downtown event reported by KCTU, and that Han bore no responsibility for “unintended circumstances” during the demonstration because he was not present at the scene.
But the court rejected the argument, noting that “evidence suggests KCTU prepared for the demonstration in advance with ladders and rope.”
[Repression] [Prisoners]
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[Reporter’s notebook] N. Korea asks, “Is this how the South leaks things to the press?”
Posted on : Jul.4,2016 17:16 KST
Choe Son-hui, deputy director-general of the American affairs bureau in the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, speaks during a meeting with reporters before the North Korean embassy in Beijing on June 23. (by Kim Oi-hyun, Beijing correspondent)
At recent meeting in Beijing, N. Korean representative apparently driven by S. Korean media reports to deny rumors
It was after the meeting on the first afternoon, just when it was time to head to dinner, that she raised her hand and was allowed to speak.
“Is this how the South leaks things to the press?”
Choe Son-hui, deputy director of the American affairs bureau in the North Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was attending the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD) in Beijing on June 22. She called attention to the Chatham House Rule - named after the Royal Institute for International Affairs in the United Kingdom. The rule, which governed responses to the press for the meeting, essentially states that parties are allowed to share what is said at meetings, but that the identity of the person who made the remarks cannot be revealed. The aim is to strike a balance between sharing information and maintaining the basic level of confidentiality necessary for a free exchange. Choe’s complaint concerned a South Korean news article that had gone online that morning. In it, a “Beijing source” was cited as saying that she had not protested when Kim Geon, head of the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs North Korean Nuclear Affairs Bureau, denounced Pyongyang’s recent Musudan missile launch.
[Media]
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[Interview] “I’ll never give up my dream of reopening the Kaesong Complex”
Posted on : Jul.3,2016 12:01 KST
Chung Ki-sup (left) accepts the 18th Hankyoreh Unification Culture Prize on behalf of Emergency Action Committee for the Kaesong Industrial Complex, from the Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture chairman Lim Dong-won, at the Hankyoreh offices in Seoul, June 28. (by Kim Jeong-hyo, staff photographer)
Chairman of tenant companies association argues that companies need real compensation, and that operations should resume
The Emergency Action Committee for the Kaesong Industrial Complex was awarded the 18th Hankyoreh Unification Culture Prize. The awards ceremony, held at the Hankyoreh building on June 28, was attended by around 70 people, including executives and workers from companies that are on the emergency committee and interested citizens.
Since 1999, the Hankyoreh Unification Culture Prize has been awarded by the Hankyoreh Foundation for Reunification and Culture to an individual or group selected for their contribution to peace and to unification.
“Receiving the Hankyoreh Unification Culture Prize will be very encouraging for the Kaesong Industrial Complex tenant companies. We feel a heavy sense of responsibility and regard the prize as an incentive to reflect on why there is still no chance of Kaesong being reopened and to keep working for change,” said Chung Ki-sup, 63, the joint chairman of the emergency committee. Chung had been asked to share his feelings about the award, which he received on the committee’s behalf.
[Kaesong]
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Give North Korea what it wants
By Oh Young-jin
It's high time for a change in tactics on North Korea. Instead of trying to prevent the North ? more specifically its leader ? from getting what it wants, why not give it exactly this as a horse with a Trojan streak or a chalice lined with poison.
For this strategy, above all, it is important to see what Pyongyang wants.
First, it wants to be recognized by the world as a nuclear weapon state. What does this mean?
The North wants this recognition so badly that it has been written into its constitution.
[SK NK policy] [Engagement]
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