Historical site opened to public This bird’s-eye photo shows the site of Uijeongbu, the highest administrative body during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), which has been under excavation work for years, in downtown Seoul on June 18, 2023. (Yonhap)
Apparently this odd advertisement in the Korea Times is very popular on Twitter right now:
A bold but cryptic full-page advertisement about the power of women in the US edition of the Korea Times has set Twitter abuzz as concerns about alarmingly low birth rates have persisted in Korea.
The Korean-language daily — the largest in the US, headquartered in Los Angeles with bureaus in New York, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Hawaii, Toronto and Vancouver — featured the print ad on June 14. The ad simply shows two sentences that read, “The most powerful force of a woman is not giving birth” in both Korean and English.
The two sentences are attributed to “Sung Sam Bang.” The individual’s identity remains unknown, with no clear indication if it is a real name or pseudonym.
At the bottom of the page, a disclaimer from the Korea Times in small print confirms that the advertisement was paid for, but refrains from either supporting or dismissing its content.
A tweet featuring a photo of the ad shared three days later on June 17, saw more than 2.5 million views by June 19, along with nearly 25,000 retweets and over 10,000 likes. Twitter’s viewer metrics include any logged-in user who encounters the tweet, including the author.
Remember this criticism is occurring in the English language North Korean state media. I have seen no indications that the domestic media is sharing this sentiment in North Korea. I doubt the North Korean public even knows of the failed launch:
North Korea called its failed attempt to launch a purported military reconnaissance satellite the “most serious” shortcoming in the first half of this year and reaffirmed its pledge to put it into orbit soon, Pyongyang’s state media said Monday.
The North made the assessment following a plenary meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, attended by leader Kim Jong-un, that wrapped up the previous day, referring to its botched attempt to launch a rocket carrying a military spy satellite on May 31.
I wonder if Lee even realizes his hypocrisy considering he is leading the party that led prosecutions against various conservative Korean politicians when the left held power:
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung said Monday he will give up his immunity from arrest as a lawmaker, accusing the government of President Yoon Suk Yeol of unfair investigations of him and other political opponents.
Lee, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), made the pledge during an address at the National Assembly, claiming that the Yoon administration is bent on “raids, arrests and political strife” without taking care of the economy and diplomacy.
This really is one of the most amazing transformations to Korea since I first came. There are so many small towns now filled with Vietnamese and other foreign language signs. People from SE Asia setting up their own restaurants, etc. It's great to see.https://t.co/45MEYgpzA7
Beer party for foreign visitors Tourists from foreign countries enjoy beer and “dakgangjeong,” or sweet, crispy Korean fried chicken, in Incheon, west of Seoul, on June 15, 2023, as the Incheon municipal government and the Korea Tourism Organization threw a party as part of efforts to promote tourism to the western port city amid an endemic COVID-19 era. (Yonhap)
“A must-read for all policymakers. Lee sees through the North Korean regime's antics, maskirovka, and propaganda –much of it the work of Kim Yo Jong – as does no other.” @stavridisj, former @NATO Supreme Commander pic.twitter.com/D6f5iZNoD6
S. Korea-U.S. live-fire drills K-2 combat tanks fire during live-fire drills staged jointly by South Korean and U.S. forces at the Seungjin Fire Training Field in Pocheon, just 25 kilometers south of the inter-Korean border, on June 15, 2023. The Combined Joint Live-Fire Exercise, the first of its kind in six years, was held to mark the 70th anniversary of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and the 75th anniversary of the founding of South Korea’s armed forces. (Yonhap)
Via a reader tip comes this interesting article from the BBC where they secretly interview three North Koreans about life under the Kim Jong-un regime:
Under the tyrannical rule of Kim Jong Un, North Koreans are forbidden from making contact with the outside world. With the help of the organisation Daily NK, which operates a network of sources inside the country, the BBC has been able to communicate with three ordinary people. They are eager to tell the world about the catastrophic toll the border closure has taken on their lives. They understand if the government discovers they are talking to us, they would likely be killed. To protect them, we can only reveal some of what they have told us, yet their experiences offer an exclusive snapshot of the situation unfolding inside North Korea.
According to one of the North Koreans interviewed the food situation has gotten very bad due to the sealing of the border with China because of COVID:
“Our food situation has never been this bad,” Myong Suk tells us. (….)
Now when her husband and children wake, she prepares them a breakfast of corn. Gone are the days they could eat plain rice. Her hungry neighbours have started knocking at the door asking for food, but she has to turn them away.
“We are living on the front line of life,” she says.
Here is what another North Korean had to say about the food situation:
At first Chan Ho was afraid he might die from Covid, but as time went on, he began to worry about starving to death, especially as he watched those around him die.
The first family in his village to succumb to starvation was a mother and her children. She had become too sick to work. Her children kept her alive for as long as they could by begging for food, but in the end all three died. Next came a mother who was sentenced to hard labour for violating quarantine rules. She and her son starved to death.
More recently, one of his acquaintance’s sons was released from the military because he was malnourished. Chan Ho remembers his face suddenly bloating. Within a week he had died.
You can read much more at the link, but the interviewees say that COVID is being used as an excuse to crackdown on the people and stop cross border trade with China and defections to South Korea. It is apparently working because people are starving and many of those that attempt to escape now are publicly executed. Here is the final comments from the article:
Chan Ho blames the international community. “The US and UN seem half-witted,” he says, questioning why they still offer to negotiate with Kim Jong Un, when it is so clear he will not give up his weapons. Instead, the construction worker wishes the US would attack his country.
“Only with a war, and by getting rid of the entire leadership, can we survive,” he says. “Let’s end this one way or another.”
Myong Suk agrees. “If there was a war, people would turn their backs on our government,” she says. “That’s the reality.”
The problem is no one wants a war with North Korea to save starving people at the cost of destroying Seoul and possibly causing a greater regional war. Thus these poor North Koreans are stuck starving while their leader Kim Jong-un and his family get fatter and fatter.
