ROK and Inter-Korean relations
May 2019
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[Editorial] LKP lawmaker should be apologizing for diplomatic leak, not denouncing political suppression
Posted on : May.29,2019 16:45 KST Modified on : May.29,2019 16:45 KST
Liberty Korea Party lawmaker Khang Hyo-shang
Khang Hyo-shang, a National Assembly member with the Liberty Korea Party (LKP), has denounced the disciplinary action pursued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) against a councilor at the South Korean Embassy in the US (identified by the initial “K”) for leaking him the content of a telephone conversation between the South Korean and US heads of state. Khang declared that he would “not sit idly by” while K was “unfairly scapegoated in the process of suppressing a ‘troublesome’ opposition party lawmaker.” The brazenness of this is truly astonishing. What Khang ought to be doing is reflecting and apologizing for exploiting the conversation – a Class 3 secret – for political ends, tarnishing the state’s credibility in the process.
Following an investigation into the conversation leak, MOFA decided on May 28 to lodge criminal complaints against Khang and K. The ministry also plans to demand severe disciplinary measures against two staffers who allowed K access to the content of the conversation between the leaders. It makes complete sense to hold diplomats sternly accountable for leaking the content to the outside rather than managing it appropriately.
[Leak] [Trump-Moon]
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N.Korea Turns up Nose at S.Korean Food Aid Offer
By Yoon Hyung-jun
May 28, 2019 13:23
A North Korean participant in cross-border talks last week dismissed an offer from Seoul of food aid for the renegade country, saying it is "not a fundamental solution to the stalemate in inter-Korean relations."
The remarks were made by a South Korean participant, Han Chun-mok, in a press briefing on Monday after representatives of the two sides met in the Chinese city of Shenyang last Thursday.
North Korean participants instead urged the South Koreans to implement joint-Korean declarations and dismissed humanitarian aid as a secondary issue. Seoul made the offer after North Korea last month begged the international community for food aid although there are no clear signs of a shortage.
According to Han, the North Koreans said humanitarian aid should not bypass "fundamental issues" that froze inter-Korean ties again earlier this year. That mainly seems to mean that North Korea wants the South to do more to ease international sanctions.
Most of the agreements between the two Koreas signed since the first cross-border summit in 2000 are now obsolete, but North Korea likes to dig them up whenever it feels it can pressure a South Korean government that has votes to win from friendly ties with Pyongyang.
The North Koreans also complained about a planned visit by South Korean manufacturers to the shuttered joint-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex to check on their equipment there.
Amid reports that the North has been stealing equipment to manufacture clothing on its own, the North Koreans said they do not want an inspection but reopening of the industrial park. They also claimed that the planned inspection "is incompatible" with inter-Korean agreements.
The talks were originally scheduled to last until Sunday, but the North Koreans canceled the remainder of the schedule after Thursday's contretemps.
Asked whether the two Koreas should jointly host events in Pyongyang on June 15 to mark the anniversary of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, the North Korean delegates said they would "consider" the suggestion to see if "circumstances are appropriate."
[Aid weapon] [Stalemate][Panmunjom Declaration]
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Hyundai Rotem’s K2 tank production resumes after 2-year delay
Posted on : May.27,2019 16:46 KST Modified on : May.27,2019 16:46 KST
After a two-year delay following transmission issues, Hyundai Rotem is set to resume its K2 tank project. On May 27, the company revealed two of its K2 tanks to representatives of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, Defense Agency for Technology and Quality, and Agency for Defense Development near its production facility in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. Hyundai Rotem is expected to provide the South Korean military over 100 tanks by 2021. (provided by Hyundai Rotem)
[ROK military] [Arms production] [Military balance]
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Who is responsible for carrying the candlelit government forward?
Posted on : May.26,2019 08:49 KST Modified on : May.26,2019 08:49 KST
2 years into term, Moon hobbled by same obstacles that hindered Roh Moo-hyun
The commemorative ceremony for the 10th anniversary of former President Roh Moo-hyun’s death on May 23 in Bongha Village, South Gyeongsang Province. (Blue House photo pool)
“While there’s a lot this administration hasn’t done very well, isn’t it right to focus on redistributing more with the lower class? For decades, now, the income of the companies and the wealthy has shot up, while the income of workers and the lower class has stagnated. Just because a few policies are problematic doesn’t mean we upset the applecart. That would ultimately mean going back to the era of Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye. It’s awful just to think about that. I want this administration to do well, so that I can keep living under a liberal government.”
This is something a friend of mine said over some drinks not long ago. The remarks were ordinary, but honest. They were not warmly welcomed by the other people at the gathering, however, who immediately shot back with heated objections. “What are you talking about?” “Are you calling for socialism?” “At this rate, Moon is going to be trounced in the parliamentary elections.” For quite a while now, I guess, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his administration have served as a popular punching bag during drinking sessions.
Generally speaking, my fellow drinkers were the kind of people who would have voted for Moon in the last presidential election or, at the very least, wouldn’t have voted for Hong Jun-pyo. I suddenly found myself thinking that this was how Roh Moo-hyun had been ostracized nearly two decades ago.
Moon is in basically the same situation. He had pledged to surpass Roh, but at the moment, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be able to.
[Moon Jae-in] [Roh Moo-hyun] [Candlelight revolution]
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Non-governmental inter-Korean meetings scheduled for Shenyang, China, canceled
Posted on : May.24,2019 11:58 KST Modified on : May.24,2019 11:58 KST
N. Korean delegation abruptly leaves for North upon orders from Pyongyang
South Korean Committee for Implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration Chairman Lee Chang-bok (fifth from left) ahead of his departure for meeting with a North Korean delegation on June 20, 2018.
A series of working-level non-government meetings between South and North Korea scheduled for May 23–26 was canceled following a sudden announcement from the North Korean side.
The North Korean delegation had traveled to the Chinese city of Shenyang for discussions with South Korean groups when it abruptly departed following an order on May 23 to return to Pyongyang. With the meetings having been originally proposed by the North Korean side, the next question revolves around the reason for the sudden shift from Pyongyang.
According to accounts from multiple figures from South Korean groups who planned to meet with the North, the cancelation was announced in a fax sent by the North that day to the Seoul office of the South Korean Committee for Implementation of the June 15 Joint Declaration (permanent Chairman Lee Chang-bok). The fax was sent shortly after permanent representative Cho Sung-woo and other officials from the committee had boarded a flight to Shenyang, the scheduled venue for discussions with the North on May 23–24 – providing evidence of how suddenly the reversal of Pyongyang’s meeting plans came about. While the North’s fax reportedly cited “reasons regarding the political situation” in the meetings’ cancellation, no precise reason was identified.
[Inter-Korean] [Stalemate]
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South Korea to stage military exercise without US next week
Posted : 2019-05-24 17:34
Updated : 2019-05-24 17:34
Military officials including Republic of Korea Coast Guard special force members and Navy officials conduct a simulative sea-counter terrorism exercise in Busan, in this Aug. 18, 2010 photo. Korea Times file
By Jung Da-min
South Korea next week will stage a new civilian-military exercise Ulchi Taeguek, without the U.S. military following an earlier decision to suspend the larger-scale South Korea-U.S. joint drill Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG).
The Ministry of National Defense said Friday that the exercise would focus on transitioning to the war stage and overall defensive readiness to respond to various situations.
Ulchi Taeguek consists of the South Korean military's independent Taeguek command post exercise (CPX), which used to be held in May, as well as the government-led civilian exercise to respond to terrorist attacks and disasters like earthquakes that used to be part of the now-suspended UFG, usually held in August.
The government-led civilian exercise will be held May 27-28, followed by the military's CPX exercise under simulated wartime environment from May 28-30.
The scaled-down Ulchi-Taeguek exercise follows North Korea's recent launch of short range missiles and "unidentified" missiles on May 4 and May 9.
President Moon Jae-in has said North Korea fired "short-range" missiles, but it has yet to be seen if they involved "ballistic" missiles, which would violate United Nations sanctions.
The government did not give further the details about the exercise, citing the confidentiality of military information, but dismissed concerns that the exercise might not be efficient as the South Korea-U.S. joint drill.
According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, about 480,000 civilians, government officials and armed service members from about 4,000 administrative and related agencies will participate in the four-day exercise.
[Military exercises]
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Inter-Korean academic conference held at UNIST to discuss food aid to North Korea
Posted on : May.23,2019 15:33 KST Modified on : May.23,2019 15:33 KST
On May 22, the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and Pyongyang University of Science and Technology co-hosted an academic symposium to discuss inter-Korean solutions for North Korea’s current food shortage at UNIST. The symposium was the first academic conference to be held after the two universities agreed to engage in academic exchange efforts in November 2018. Both universities also celebrated the 10th anniversary. (provided by UNIST)
[Joint Korea] [Food security]
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WCC, Korea Institute for National Unification reflect on improving human rights
2019 Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) forum speakers. Photo: Jin Yang Kim/WCC
21 May 2019
The World Council of Churches (WCC), with the Korea Institute for National Unification, reflected on international cooperation for improvement of human rights and ecumenical cooperation for diakonia ministry in North Korea.
The WCC and the institute co-hosted the 2019 Europe Forum on 10 May at the Ecumenical Centre, focusing on international cooperation for improvement of human rights and humanitarian aid in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. The institute aims to support the establishment of the government’s unification policies by providing in-depth and systematic research and analysis on unification issues.
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Man devotes his life to uncovering military’s secret burials of Gwangju Democratization Movement victims
Posted on : May.21,2019 16:59 KST Modified on : May.21,2019 16:59 KST
Jeong Su-man lost his brother and later discovered him at a firing range
Jeong Su-man, who lost his brother during the Gwangju Democratization Movement, has spent more than 30 years trying to uncover the truth behind the military’s secret burial of victims during the movement.
The bodies could be seen in the pile of dirt dug up by the excavator. There were 11 of them. His eyes went to one that had the number “1” painted on it in white. Seeing the pants and handkerchief, he confirmed that the body belonged to his younger brother.
The life of Jeong Su-man, now 70 and a former president of the May 18 Victims’ Family Members Association, was forever changed after June 2, 1980, the day his brother’s body was found buried at the 101 firing range within the ROK Army Training & Doctrine Command (Gwangju Sangmudae Military Complex). Then 31 years old, his brother Ji-yeong had gone out into the streets out of anger over the heavy-handed suppression tactics used by the airborne units; now his body lay cold and dead. Unable to comprehend his brother’s death, Jeong organized a memorial the following May at the former May 18 Cemetery in Gwangju’s Mangwol neighborhood, which led to his arrest and an eight-month prison sentence. They were harsh times.
[Kwangju]
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Reform bills fast-tracking dysfunction in South Korea
14 May 2019
Author: Hyung-A Kim, ANU
A political collision over fast-tracking reform bills in South Korea is stirring anger. Over 1.7 million citizens have signed a petition calling for the dissolution of the right-wing conservative Liberty Korea Party (LKP), which is opposed to fast-tracking what the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and three allied minor parties call ‘reform bills’.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in visits a temple, in Siem Reap province, Cambodia, 16 March 2019 (Photo: Reuters/Samrang Pring).
Around another 300,000 citizens have signed a separate petition to disband the DP, claiming that it has prompted the current political chaos. They blame the DP for disregarding the LKP when ramming the reform bills through potentially illegal and irregular means, undermining the principle of parliamentary consensus, for its own political interests.
Online petitions are popular in South Korean politics and society, often seen as expressing the public sentiment or ‘popular will’ of Koreans in state affairs. They have proved extremely powerful — even ousting the former president Park Guen-hye in March 2017. The current Moon Jae-in administration is a product of the famous candlelight protests that were largely driven by online activism.
[Democracy] [Petition]
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Over 80,000 commemorate Gwangju Democratization Movement
Posted on : May.20,2019 16:01 KST Modified on : May.20,2019 16:01 KST
Over 80,000 people visited Gwangju’s May 18 National Cemetery to commemorate the 39th anniversary of the Gwangju Democratization Movement. Public interest in the movement has increased of late due to slanderous comments made by Liberty Korea Party lawmakers, who have claimed the movement was orchestrated by North Korean spies and special forces. The trial of Chun Doo-hwan, whose regime was in power during the movement, for libel in relation to a testimony regarding a helicopter opening fire on civilians, has also inspired people to revisit the events of the movement.
[Kwangju]
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It is our duty to fully investigate the truth of the Gwangju Democratization Movement
Posted on : May.20,2019 16:11 KST Modified on : May.20,2019 16:11 KST
Martial law forces brutally suppress the May 18 Gwangju Democratization Movement of 1980.
On the 39th anniversary of the Gwangju Democratization Movement, which began on May 18, 1980, we soberly reflect on the courage and the sacrifice of the citizens of Gwangju, who fought back against the coup d'état launched by the military junta under Chun Doo-hwan. The events in Gwangju provided the impetus for the June Democracy Movement in 1987 and the peaceful transfer of power and the fertilizer for the flourishing of democracy in Korea. In 1997, the date was enshrined as a national day of remembrance. But even today, those citizens are disparaged and slandered. A lawmaker in South Korea’s largest opposition party denigrated the victims of the Gwangju Democratization Movement who are receiving government compensation as a “pack of monsters”; false propaganda is circulating that people posing as victims have collected 200 million won (US$167,650) in government compensation; and people openly ridicule what they portray as “yet another investigation.”
[Kwangju]
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Korean man nabbed in Philippines over fake US dollar bills
Posted : 2019-05-20 14:37
Updated : 2019-05-20 14:40
By Jung Min-ho
A Korean man has been nabbed in the Philippines on suspicion of possessing counterfeit U.S. dollar bills amounting to $288,700.
According to local media, the Korean, 53, surnamed Song, was apprehended with two other suspects ? a Chinese man and a dismissed local police officer ? at Resorts World Manila in Pasay City on May 15 after trying to buy casino chips with fake money.
After receiving a call from a staff member who found the bills suspicious, police detained the three.
Two days later, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) warned the public of bogus bills.
"We advise the residents to carefully examine their bills, so as not to be victimized by this illegal activity. We also call on the public to call the authorities for information that will lead to the arrest of those behind this counterfeit money. We already coordinated this with the U.S. Embassy for their assistance," NCRPO Director Guillermo Eleazar told the Philippine News Agency.
"We also remind the public to be wary of transactions involving foreign currency. When in doubt, show it to authorities to determine if the currency genuine or not."
The former police officer was dismissed last April after being demoted for violating a law. It is unclear what charges he faced.
Police suspect the counterfeit money came from another Korean man, surnamed Park, who is being investigated.
[Counterfeit]
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Most Believe Economy More Important Than Reunification
By Kim Myong-song
May 14, 2019 13:06
More than 70 percent of South Koreans feel solving the country's economic problems outweighs reunification with North Korea, an annual survey suggests.
The Korea Institute for National Unification polled 1,003 adults from April 5-25 and found that 70.5 percent felt their country's economic issues far outweigh reunification. Only 8.3 percent said reunification was more important.
Some 60 percent were against their country swallowing losses in order to help North Korea overcome its economic crisis.
"Reunification is no longer an absolute goal that most South Koreans feel must be achieved at all costs. We now need to convince each citizen why reunification is important," the institute said.
Asked if it is necessary to form a single country just because the people of the two Koreas are the same ethnicity, 41.4 percent agreed, but 26.7 percent did not.
The institute said traditional beliefs that ethnic unity necessitates reunification are no longer shared by all South Koreans, especially the younger generation.
Meanwhile, 72.4 percent of South Koreans feel North Korea will not scrap its nuclear weapons, unchanged compared to last year, before inter-Korean dialogue began.
Also, 65 percent think international sanctions against the North must continue. The institute said this is closely related to public skepticism of North Korea's willingness to scrap its nuclear weapons.
When it comes to U.S. troops, 40 percent supported their continued presence on the peninsula, while 22 percent opposed it. With regard to humanitarian aid to the North, 45.5 percent said that it should continue, compared to 40.9 percent last year. The proportion who oppose remained about the same at 26.3 percent.
Also, 51.4 percent feel it is necessary to continue negotiating with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. When it comes to the government's North Korea policies, only 42.3 percent approve, down from 69.5 percent last year.
[Unification] [Public opinion]
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Moon Denies N.Korean Missile Launches Violate Military Deal
By Jeong Woo-sang
May 10, 2019 10:21
President Moon Jae-in said Thursday that North Korea's latest missile provocations "bear the hallmarks of a form of protest against [South] Korea and the U.S."
"They appear to be a form of pressure tactic to steer future denuclearization talks in their direction," Moon told KBS in an interview marking his second year in office.
"But I don't think North Korea's latest series of projectile launches are violations of inter-Korean military agreements, because they occurred outside of the zone" where the two Koreas agreed not to conduct any military maneuvers.
President Moon Jae-in (right) talks to a reporter during an interview with KBS at Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Thursday. /Courtesy of Cheong Wa Dae
More controversially, Moon seemed to offer his own idiosyncratic interpretation of what constitutes a missile.
[Missile Test] [Moon Jae-in] [Conservatives]
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Moon emphasizes peace and “New Korean Peninsula” system in column for German paper
Posted on : May.10,2019 15:27 KST Modified on : May.10,2019 15:27 KST
S. Korean president says Koreans finally have the opportunity to be masters of their own destiny, a column submitted to the FAZ
“The New Korean Peninsula System is a peace economy based on a virtuous cycle in which peace leads to economic development, further reinforcing peace. The foundation for this achievement is the will of ordinary people,” South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on May 7.
“Inter-Korean issues must not be exploited for ideology and politics, and they must be expanded to deal with the lives and safety of ordinary people,” Moon said in a column submitted to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, a German newspaper, on May 6, which was the second anniversary of his inauguration as president.
[Moon Jae-in] [Rhetoric]
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Unification minister reaffirms commitment to inter-Korean deals
Posted : 2019-05-08 16:06
Updated : 2019-05-08 16:06
South Korean Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul leaves the Inter-Korean Transit Office in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday, after returning from the inter-Korean liaison office in Gaesong, North Korea, earlier that day. Yonhap
Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul traveled to North Korea on Wednesday in his first trip across the border since taking office, reaffirming Seoul's commitment to carrying out summit agreements between the two sides.
Kim, who took office as Seoul's point man on the North last month, visited the inter-Korean liaison office in the North's border city of Gaesong that the two sides established last year as part of the implementation of summit agreements between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
During the visit, Kim also met briefly with North Korean officials working there.
"I asked them to work toward the normalization of the operation of the liaison office," Kim told reporters on returning from the trip. "The North Korean side shared the view, saying that they have a strong will to implement South-North joint declarations (signed in summits last year)."
[Detente]
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Progressives and conservatives sharply divided on inter-Korean relations
Posted on : May.7,2019 16:08 KST Modified on : May.7,2019 16:08 KST
According to a survey conducted by Hankook Research, more South Koreans believe that inter-Korean relations and North Korea’s denuclearization will not work out as planned. The survey, conducted from May 2 to 3, revealed that 50.6% of participants had a pessimistic outlook on inter-Korean relations, compared to the 45.8% who had an optimistic outlook. Furthermore, 70.1% of people who had a positive outlook identified with progressive politics, while 72.9% of those with a negative outlook identified as conservative, revealing a deep rift in perspective based on political ideology. People in their 30s (60%) and 40s (65.1%) were optimistic about inter-Korean relations while all other age groups were pessimistic; those in their 20s (55.1%) actually turned out to be more pessimistic than those in their 50s (54.2%).
[SK-NK relations] [Detente] [Public opinion]
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“Human peace chain” reflects the wish of the people on Korean Peninsula
01 May 2019
On 27 April, some 500,000 people joined hands to form a “human peace chain” along the 500 km long Demilitarized Zone between South and North Korea. They expressed their strong desire for permanent peace in the Korean Peninsula, gathering to celebrate the first anniversary of Panmunjom Declaration and commemorate the centennial of the 1 March Independence Movement.
Rev. Sang Chang, World Council of Churches (WCC) Asia president, urged WCC member churches and all people of good will to continue to express their solidarity with Korean people. “The WCC will continue to work with the Korean people for the permanent peace on the Korean peninsula,” Chang said on the day the chain was formed.
[Peace effort]
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Progressive scholars denounce Moon’s recent meeting with Samsung electronics vice chairman
Posted on : May.3,2019 16:10 KST Modified on : May.3,2019 16:10 KST
Observers say meeting could impact Supreme Court ruling on Lee’s embezzlement case
South Korean President Moon Jae-in shakes hands with Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong at a production plant in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, on Apr. 30. (Blue House photo pool)
Progressive and reform-oriented scholars unanimously criticized as a “violation of the candlelight spirit” South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s recent meeting with Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong – who is currently awaiting a Supreme Court ruling on a case involving corruption and embezzlement – during a system semiconductor vision declaration ceremony at a Samsung Electronics factory.
The group People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) also voiced “profound concerns.”
Worrying that the meeting between Moon and Lee “could impact the Supreme Court ruling,” Kim Tae-dong, an emeritus professor at Sungkyungkwan University, said on May 2 that it “was a betrayal of the candlelight spirit with its calls for eradicating deep-rooted vices and establishing a ‘country worthy of the name,’ and showed 100% disregard for the statement by intellectuals’ calling for an end to the vices of the chaebol system and the creation of an economic ecosystem where the ‘big fish’ and ‘small fry’ thrive together.”
The remarks came during a roundtable on the topic “Whatever Happened to Income-Led Growth, Innovation-Based Growth, and the Fair Economy?” held that day by the Intellectuals’ Statement Network for Social and Economic Reform – an organization jointly headed by Kim alongside fellow professors Lee Byeong-cheon and Cho Don-moon – at the Franciscan School in Seoul to assess the past two years of the Moon administration. The network, which includes many progressive and reform-oriented intellectuals, previously issued a July 2018 statement with 323 participants to call for more active social and economic reform measures by the Moon administration.
[Moon Jae-in] [Samsung] [Chaebol]
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Visiting Panmunjom’s JSA after demilitarization
Posted on : May.2,2019 16:57 KST Modified on : May.2,2019 16:57 KST
Guards are no longer armed while tourists visits allowed
The military demarcation line (MDL) in the JSA in Panmunjom, where South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader held their first summit on Apr. 27, 2018. (all photos by Noh Ji-won, staff reporter)
The conference buildings of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission and the Military Armistice Commission that straddle the military demarcation line (MDL) separating South and North Korea look the same as they did six months ago, their white paint still cracked and peeling. But on my visit to the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom on May 1, the mood was different from before.
The JSA had been closed to the general public for six months, while it was being demilitarized according to an inter-Korean military agreement reached on Sept. 19, 2018, known as the Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA). When the JSA was reopened on Thursday, no weapons could be seen on the soldiers who were guiding visitors around the area. They weren’t wearing their bulletproof helmets, either.
“Before [the demilitarization measures were taken], there were many more than 35 soldiers doing guard duty here while carrying [loaded] handguns. But now there are just 35 of us, and we don’t carry firearms anymore,” said the servicemember who was leading the reporters’ tour.
[Detente] [Gesture]
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Foreign investors look to South Korea for guidance on North Korea
[VIDEO]
Posted : 2019-04-30 11:23
Updated : 2019-04-30 15:38
John Walker, chairman of Macquarie Korea, gesticulates during a recent interview with The Korea Times. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
By Oh Young-jin
The story about Macquarie's logo sounds like one about the egg of Columbus. The Italian explorer was the first westerner to discover the Americas, and how he made an egg stand is one of the best known stories about him.
Although not so well known, Macquarie's coin shares the same spirit of ingenuity ? when short of coins, Macquarie, an early Australian leader, imported 40,000 coins and punched holes in them, making two coins out of one ? the Holey and the Dump ? to produce 80,000.
John Walker may have used much of that Macquarie spirit, when he came to Korea 21 years ago to set up the Korean operation of the world's largest infrastructure asset manager. Under Walker, the operation has grown, covering extensive portfolios ranging infrastructure to securities.
Now Walker's Macquarie may be looking at another big opportunity in North Korea, a nation with a great deal of natural resources at the crossroads of China, South Korea, Japan and Russia as well as of interest to the United States. What this totalitarian country needs is a lot of infrastructure to replace the existing one which has been in disrepair under decades of isolation.
How does he see it ? an opportunity that is too good to pass or poisoned chalice?
[FDI] [Sanctions effect] [Isolation]
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