The South Korean War on the Edge: The Thaad Missiles in the Dilaton Village of Jhansson, South Korea
Five years ago the residents of this village grabbed national attention when they protested the arrival of the Thaad system. Many South Koreans were worried that it would place South Korea on the front lines of a potential conflict between the US and China.
The South China Sea, global supply chains, and Taiwan are some of the issues that Beijing and Washington are fighting over. Numerous anti-American banners line both sides of the road that winds through the village and up to the American military base. “Yankees, go home! Thaad, go home!” they demand.
Ms. Do and other protesters sat on plastic chairs on a road yelling: “We don’t need Thaad!” We need peace!” police officers removed them to clear the road so that trucks and tanks could go up the hill to the Thaad base.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/19/world/asia/korea-china-us-thaad-missiles.html
Interaction between the United States, South Korea, and Japan: The International Security Council (ISAM) condemns the North Korean missile launch in Munich
Since the Korean War, Washington has provided security for the city. China replaced the United States as the country’s biggest trading partner after South Korea established diplomatic ties with Beijing in 1992.
The US Treasury Department on Wednesday imposed sanctions on three companies and two individuals for “illicitly” generating income for the North Korean government.
We made it clear that we were prepared to engage with North Korea despite any preconditions. He said the response from North Korea was missile launch after missile launch. “We have been very clear that our commitment to the security of our close allies and partners – South Korea and Japan – is ironclad. We have been working closely together to take steps to strengthen even more our deterrence and defense capacity.
The Government of North Korea uses companies like Chilsong to earn foreign currency, collect intelligence, and provide cover status for intelligence operatives so that they can act without fear.
The US Secretary of State said Wednesday’s action further aligned the U.S. sanctions with our international partners.
“The European Union previously designated Chilsong, Paekho, Pak, and Hwang for engaging in sanctions evasion and being responsible for supporting the DPRK’s unlawful nuclear and ballistic missile programs,” he said.
In mid-February, North Korea said it conducted a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), its third known test of the long-range weapon in less than a year. The missile was landing in the exclusive economic zone of Japan, according to the Prime Minister.
In remarks at the Munich Security Conference the day of that missile test, Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin all condemned the launch.
Pyongyang’s Unofficial Cross Border Trade has Strangled Off Unofficial Food Supply, as the North Korean Prime Minister Revealed
Some experts say the country has hit its worst point since a 1990s famine known as the “Arduous March” caused mass starvation and killed hundreds of thousands of people, or an estimated 3-5% of what was then a 20 million-strong population.
Trade data, satellite images and assessments by the United Nations and South Korean authorities all suggest the food supply has now “dipped below the amount needed to satisfy minimum human needs,” according to Lucas Rengifo-Keller, a research analyst at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
South Korean officials agree with that assessment of the situation, with the government recently announcing that it believes there are starving people in some parts of the country. Though producing solid evidence to back up those claims is made difficult by the country’s isolation, few experts doubt its assessment.
In a sign that the situation has gotten desperate, the leader of North Korea held a four day Workers’ Party meeting this week, where he called for a fundamental transformation in farming and economic plans.
But various experts say Pyongyang has only itself to blame for the problems. During the pandemic, Pyongyang ramped up its isolationist tendencies, erecting a second layer of fencing along 300 kilometers of its border with China and squeezing what little cross border trade it had access to.
“There’s been shoot on sight orders (at the border) that were put in place in August 2020 … a blockade on travel and trade, which has included what very limited official trade (there was before),” said Lina Yoon, a senior researcher at Human Rights Watch.
During 2022, China officially exported nearly 56 million kilograms of wheat or maslin flour and 53,280 kg of cereals in grain/flakes form to North Korea, according to Chinese customs data.
But Pyongyang’s clampdown has strangled off unofficial trade, which as Yoon points out is “one of the main lifelines of the markets inside North Korea where ordinary North Koreans buy products.”
Cases in which people smuggle Chinese products into the country, with a bribe to a border guard to look the other way, have been next to non-existent since the borders closed.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/03/asia/north-korea-hunger-famine-food-shortages-intl-hnk/index.html
South Korea’s Mismanagement of Economic Policy: A Threat to South Korea and the Context of Democracy in the Era of Cosmic Warfare
Kim’s efforts to increase state control will only make things worse because the problem is years of economic mismanagement.
Park Jin, the South Korean Foreign Minister, said in an interview with CNN that North Korea needs to return to the dialogue table and accept South Korea’s offer of humanitarian aid in order to get out of this trouble.
Seoul’s Ministry of Unification was quick to point out Pyongyang continues to focus on its missile and nuclear program rather than feeding its own people.
Floods and bad weather in North Korea last year led the rural development agency to believe the country’s crop production was 4% less than the year before.
The regime’s misguided approach to economic policy could impact the already suffering population, according to Rengifo-Keller.
“This is a chronically malnourished population for decades, high rates of stunting and all signals point to a deteriorating situation, so it certainly wouldn’t take much to push the country into famine.”