10/5/2020 News & Commentary - Korea

News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Duncan Moore.

1. Pompeo asks for S. Korea's understanding over postponed trip to Seoul

2. Trump's virus infection - Pompeo cancels visit to South Korea

3. Defense minister, US ambassador vow to strengthen alliance

4. N.K. paper lauds leader Kim's care for people ahead of party founding anniv.

5. N. Korea ignores demands for joint investigation of official's death

6. Saying sorry goes a long way

7. North Korea's cyber warfare capabilities are just getting started

8. How fast can you build 1,000 houses in North Korea?

9. University students seen practicing for mass parade in Hyesan

10. South Korea minimized the damage from Covid-19. North Korea maximized it.

11. 36 service members at Army unit test positive for new coronavirus (South Korea)

12. N. Korean paper carries article on Iran's new weapons

13. How much North Korean aggression is South Korea willing to tolerate?

14. Moon vows S. Korea to play role in global fight against infectious diseases

15. Japan to restart business travel with Korea: Nikkei

16. Suga refuses to visit Korea until asset seizure order lifted

17. Reports about North Korea shooting a South Korean official may have exposed intelligence gathering techniques

18. Stop-and-frisk and bus walls remind us of dictatorship

 

1. Pompeo asks for S. Korea's understanding over postponed trip to Seoul

Yonhap News Agency · sshluck@yna.co.kr · October 5, 2020

Intellectually and professionally South Korea understands. Emotionally not so much. Some will interpret this as a snub especially because he is still going to Japan.

 

2. Trump's virus infection - Pompeo cancels visit to South Korea

Korea Times · Editorial · October 4, 2020

South Korea is concerned. Excellent recommendation here.

 

3. Defense minister, US ambassador vow to strengthen alliance

Korea Herald · Yonhap · October 5, 2020

Necessary now more than ever.

 

4. N.K. paper lauds leader Kim's care for people ahead of party founding anniv.

Yonhap News Agency · kokobj@yna.co.kr · October 5, 2020

The great benevolent one. Propaganda is spinning up in preparation for October 10th. But I just can't figure out the message the propagandists are trying to send with the photo below. Why the single file march? Are they marching through a former minefield and they have to stick to the cleared path?

 

5. N. Korea ignores demands for joint investigation of official's death

Chosun Ilbo · Kim Eun-Joong · October 5, 2020

It is right for South Korea to press for this sort of thing, but no one should be under any illusion the North would agree to a joint investigation. First, the regime is in the wrong and any investigation would show it. Second, it would reveal capabilities, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses of the military and regime.  Third, this investigation would expose the regime as the human rights abuser that it is. And finally, because they were in the wrong, it would be an unbearable embarrassment for the regime. So, the regime has many incentives to not participate in a joint investigation.

 

6. Saying sorry goes a long way

Business Day · Christian Science Monitor · October 4, 2020

I recall from a famous novel and film that "love means never having to say you are sorry." But, I am sorry, Christian Science Monitor: North Korea did not say it is sorry. It was a non-apology apology. Perhaps that means it really loves the South, but I think not.

 

7. North Korea's cyber warfare capabilities are just getting started

National Interest · Michael Raska · October 4, 2020

They have been getting started for longer than most people think: since the 1990s, as the author notes.  The "all-purpose sword" is more practical than its "treasured sword" and it provides many capabilities and benefits for the regime. We ignore it at our peril.

 

8. How fast can you build 1,000 houses in North Korea?

North Korea Economy Watch · Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein · October 4, 2020

Fast, good, cheap. You can only pick two. North Korea chose fast and cheap, as it always does. Of course, another option is this is just propaganda and they have not completed 88% of the houses.

 

9. University students seen practicing for mass parade in Hyesan

Daily NK · Jeong Tae Joo · October 5, 2020

This is the priority for the regime's best and brightest (though the real best and the brightest are the students at a couple of universities in Pyongyang).

 

10. South Korea minimized the damage from Covid-19. North Korea maximized it.

CSIS · Sue Mi Terry · October 5, 2020

 

11. 36 service members at Army unit test positive for new coronavirus (South Korea)

Yonhap News Agency · graceoh@yna.co.kr · October 5, 2020

 

12. N. Korean paper carries article on Iran's new weapons

Yonhap News Agency · kokobj@yna.co.kr · October 5, 2020

I will leave this to North Korea proliferation experts like Dr. Bruce Becthol to assess. Does this telegraph a new strategic weapon on October 10th? I am skeptical.

 

13. How much North Korean aggression is South Korea willing to tolerate?

Peninsula Report · Gabriela Bernal · September 29, 2020

A great question from the author. When is enough, enough? As I have mentioned many times, the Moon administration needs to re-examine its strategic assumptions, the most important being the assumption that Kim Jong-Un shares Moon's vision for peace, prosperity, and co-existence on the Korean peninsula.  Kim has not given up his objective to dominate the peninsula under the rule of the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State. The Moon administration needs to recognize this and adjust its policies and strategy accordingly.

 

14. Moon vows S. Korea to play role in global fight against infectious diseases

Korea Herald · Yonhap · October 5, 2020

 

15. Japan to restart business travel with Korea: Nikkei

Korea Times · October 5, 2020

Some good news.

 

16. Suga refuses to visit Korea until asset seizure order lifted

Chosun Ilbo · Lee Ha-Won · October 5, 2020

And some not so good news. But it should not be unexpected.

 

17. Reports about North Korea shooting a South Korean official may have exposed intelligence gathering techniques

CNN · Yoonjung Seo & James Griffiths · October 5, 2020

 

18. Stop-and-frisk and bus walls remind us of dictatorship

Dong-A Ilbo · Editions · October 5, 2020

The Moon administration has a civil liberties problem.

 

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