Investigators raid the home of the official of the Progressive Party’s office on Jeju Island, Dec. 19, 2022. Newsis
When South Korea’s largest labor umbrella group called for an end to the alliance with the U.S. and conscription during weekend rallies before Aug. 15 National Liberation Day last year, some observers questioned what those demands have to do with improving workers’ rights.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) and police now suspect that the messages chanted in the Seoul streets might have come directly from Pyongyang and that it was orchestrated by regime sympathizers engaged in espionage activities here at its behest.
According to civic groups and other sources on Tuesday, NIS officials and police have been investigating allegations that some liberal activists, including party officials, helped promote anti-government activities after taking orders from North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party.
Over the past several weeks, the investigators have raided the homes and offices of the key suspects in Jeju, Jinju, Jeonju and Changwon.
It all began in July 2017 when a former high-ranking official of the Progressive Party allegedly met a North Korean agent in Siem Reap of Cambodia, where the South Korean was told to create a secret organization on Jeju Island and was informed how to communicate with North Korean officials.
It is alleged that the official later conspired with two other activists to organize a group, through which they helped stage anti-U.S. protests and supported certain election candidates. They are suspected of communicating with North Korean officials for more than five years. Taking control of “the Jeju 4.3 unification committee” under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the anti-U.S. protest organizer, suspending military exercises between Seoul and Washington and protesting the procurement of high tech weapons are among the orders they allegedly received from the North.
You can read more at the link, but to me this news is not surprising and according to the article the NIS began this investigation five years ago when President Moon was in power. However, only recently were they allowed to move forward with an official investigation. It is pretty clear that the Moon administration did not want to go after their own liberal supporters and the Yoon administration is going after them as part of their efforts to retaliate against North Korean provocations.
It was far from subtle that Moon was also taking a distance from Lee. While Lee posted photos of him paying a visit to Moon on New Year's Day, Moon only posted a photo of him and his old guards. https://t.co/8yaXCNq5Ag
Senior U.S. official visits S. Korea Jose Fernandez, the U.S. under secretary of state for economic growth, energy and the environment, arrives at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Jan. 9, 2023, for meetings with Lee Do-hoon, Seoul’s second vice foreign minister, and businessmen over bilateral issues, including the controversial U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). (Yonhap)
Not a good look for the Chinese government, but obviously they have long ago quit caring what the ROK thinks of them. They just look at the ROK as a country they can bully which they are attempting to do so again:
This image, captured from the WeChat account of the Chinese Embassy in South Korea on Jan. 10, 2023, shows a post announcing the suspension of its short-term visa service to South Koreans.
China announced the suspension Tuesday of its short-term visa service for South Koreans in retaliation against Seoul’s regulations on entries from the neighbor with increasing COVID-19 infections.
The Chinese Embassy in Seoul made public the decision in a post on its WeChat account, citing an “instruction” from Beijing for its embassy and consulates to stop issuing visas, including visits for trade, tourism and medical care purposes.
China plans to “adjust” the measure in accordance with the situation in which South Korea cancels its “discriminatory entry restrictions against China,” the embassy said.
It is good to see that the authorities are going after and arresting these brokers who are trying to get athletes out of completing their mandatory service:
South Korean men seek new options to avoid their two-year mandatory military service, and the number of draft dodgers continues to grow.
According to data provided by Rep. Song Gab-seok of the Democratic Party received from the Military Manpower Administration, 578 people were turned over to prosecution for intentional draft dodging from 2012 until Nov. 30 last year.
Recently, volleyball player Jo Jae-sung was charged with contacting a local military broker to help him show false symptoms of epilepsy during a military reexamination. He was then deemed unfit to serve as a soldier due to this fake health issue, allowing him to serve as a social service agent as an alternative form of service.
The broker he had come in contact with was arrested last month for violating the Military Service Act.
Professional athletes in the fields of soccer, horse riding and bowling are also under investigation for attempting draft evasion with the broker. The names of the others have not been revealed.
At least these Russian men found a good airport to be stranded in:
Dzhashar Khubiev speaks during an interview with The Korea Times in the departures hall at Incheon International Airport, Jan. 3. Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
“I left home the night of Sept. 24, a few hours after I received the conscription notice. I decided to leave as soon as possible because they might come to get me in the morning,” he said during a recent interview with The Korea Times at the airport.
“I find it nothing to be ashamed of to defend my country. I would volunteer (to fight) if someone attacks us and put my loved ones in danger,” said Maraktaev, adding that he already completed the compulsory one-year of military service in 2019. “But it’s a totally different story when my own country is the aggressor. I will never take weapons to go and kill innocent people in Ukraine.”
That night, Maraktaev jumped into a car with others in the neighborhood who were also called up to join the army. They crossed the border to Mongolia and drove further to the capital city of Ulaanbaatar. From there, Maraktaev took a flight to Manila in the Philippines, where he was able to stay for several weeks.
He then bought a plane ticket to Incheon and landed on Korean soil on Nov. 12, expecting the country to be a haven from war.
Here is the reason he decided to flee to South Korea:
“Although I don’t have any connections with South Korea, I knew that it is a very developed country in terms of democracy and civil rights,” he said, when asked why he specifically chose to flee to Korea. “The news that a former (Korean) president was sentenced to prison for corruption crimes blew my mind. We could never imagine a leader facing trial in Russia.”
He is one of five Russian men currently stuck at the airport who currently going through asylum proceedings. According to the article it is not looking positive to have their asylum cases approved.
Snowy Hangyeryeong Pass This photo provided by a reader shows a snowy landscape at the Hangyeryeong Pass in Yangyang, 155 kilometers east of Seoul, on Jan. 7, 2023. (Yonhap)
The DPK doesn’t seem too interested in defending ROK sovereignty:
South Korea’s military conducts an anti-drone exercise in Paju, a city near the inter-Korean border, Jan. 5. Newsis
The military refuted the opposition party’s claim on Monday that South Korean drones sent to North Korea were a violation of the inter-Korean truce, claiming that the South exercised its right of self-defense.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) defended President Yoon Suk Yeol’s eye-for-an-eye response to five North Korean drones that crossed over the inter-Korean border, Dec. 26, in a clear violation of a 2018 military pact signed between the two sides.
“The border incursion by the North Korean drones was a provocative act that apparently violated the Korean Armistice Agreement, the (1991) Inter-Korean Basic Agreement and the (2018) Sept. 19 military agreement,” Lee Sung-jun, a spokesman for the JCS, told reporters. “It was a proportional response and an exercise of the right to self-defense … Article 51 (of Chapter VII) of the United Nations Charter guarantees the right to engage in self-defense, which will be investigated by the United Nations Command (UNC).”
The remarks came a day after the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) criticized Yoon for the retaliatory response it claimed was a violation of the military pact, under which the two sides agreed to cease hostile activities and take steps to build military trust.
The smart people keep saying Kim Jong-un is showing his daughter off to emphasize hereditary power transition:
This undated photo provided on Nov. 27, 2022, by the North Korean government shows North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and his daughter, right, walking to a photo session with those involved in the recent launch of what it says a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile, at an unidentified location in North Korea. Independent journalists were not given access to cover the event depicted in this image distributed by the North Korean government. The content of this image is as provided and cannot be independently verified. Korean language watermark on image as provided by source reads: “KCNA,” which is the abbreviation for Korean Central News Agency.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s disclosure of his daughter in recent public events was likely an attempt to show his people that one of his children would one day inherit his power in what would be the country’s third hereditary power transfer, South Korea’s spy service told lawmakers Thursday.
Kim publicly took his daughter to three events in the past few months: a missile launch site, a photo session with weapons scientists and a touring of a missile facility. State media called her Kim’s “most beloved child,” sparking outside debate over whether she’s being groomed as his heir apparent, though she’s believed to be around 9 or 10 years old.
In a closed-door Parliamentary committee meeting, the National Intelligence Service said it assessed that by taking his daughter to public places, Kim aims to show North Koreans his resolve to hold another round of hereditary power transition, Yoo Sang-bum, one of the lawmakers who attended the private NIS briefing, told reporters.
You can read more at the link, but I think he is showing off his daughter to make him look like a nice family man to rehab his image before any future potential talks.
The Israeli system would further improve the ROK’s detection capabilities against drone attacks, but does not solve their inability to shoot them down:
file photo dated June 21, 2017, a North Korean drone is displayed at the defense ministry in Seoul after it was discovered in Inje, Gangwon Province, northeastern South Korea. Suspected North Korean drones crossed the inter-Korean border on Dec. 26, 2022, without South Korea’s permission, prompting the deployment of fighter jets, choppers and other assets to shoot them down, an official at the Joint Chiefs of Staff said. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s military is considering the purchase of an Israeli “electric eye” as part of efforts to bolster its capabilities to detect small North Korean drones, a defense source in Seoul said Sunday.
The move comes as the South’s defense authorities have come under fierce criticism for the failure to counter the penetration of five North Korean drones into its airspace late last month. It was belatedly revealed that one of them even intruded into the no-fly zone, called P-73, near the presidential office in the central district of Yongsan.
In order to beef up its airspace defense system, the military is considering pushing for the speedy acquisition of the Sky Spotter system, according to the source.
Built by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, it is designed for the early detection and tracking of such aerial objects, including drones, as well as balloons and kites, that are used for terrorist attacks.
