Tag: South Korea

It takes many years of development and testing to field a missile defense system this is why THAAD as well as the Patriot batteries in South Korea remain so important to the defense of Korea:

South Korea’s Army said Thursday it is pushing to acquire an advanced interception system to defend against evolving missile and artillery threats from North Korea.

It unveiled the plan for the acquisition of the low altitude missile defense-II (LAMD-II) system that is intended to shoot down North Korea’s new ballistic missiles, such as the KN-23 and the KN-24, and its super-large artillery rockets in a report for an annual parliamentary audit.

LAMD-II will be an improved version of the LAMD system that Seoul seeks to develop by 2029.

The Army added that it is also planning for the early development of the Korean Tactical Surface-to-Surface Missile-II (KTSSM-II) as part of efforts to bolster the military’s Kill Chain preemptive strike platform against the nuclear-armed North. It aims to develop the KTSSM-II by 2030, earlier than its initial target year of 2034.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It was a nice fall day which in Korea means it is a perfect time to have a protest:

Tens of thousands of conservative and progressive activists staged large-scale rallies in downtown Seoul on Saturday, chanting opposing slogans about sensitive political issues. The demonstrations ended without clashes.

Right-wing activists, including members of the far-right Liberty Unification Party, held a rally in Gwanghwamun against what they call pro-North Korea sympathizers.

Police estimated about 32,000 activists participated in the event.

Progressive activists also held an anti-government protest on nearby streets, with police projecting about 16,000 people joined the rally.

The massive rallies caused severe traffic disruptions surrounding main roads spanning from Gwanghwamun to City Hall in central Seoul.

Both sides expressed contrasting voices about sensitive political issues throughout the rallies.

Conservative activists called for the formal arrest of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung over his alleged involvement in a corruption-laden urban development scandal.

Liberal activists, meanwhile, denounced the prosecution’s probe into Lee as “political revenge” and called on President Yoon Suk-yeol to step down.

Police initially stayed on alert to brace for possible clashes between the two sides near Samgakji, close to the presidential office in Yongsan, but there were no physical scuffles or violence.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The New York Times recently published an article on the THAAD protests in Seongju. Despite a long article it shares nothing new and really doesn’t provide deep insight into what is actually happening with this issue:

“Now, if there is war, our village will become the first target because of that machine up there,” she said impatiently.

The “machine” Ms. Do was referring to is the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, a powerful radar and missile-interceptor battery also known as Thaad. Five years ago, it was brought to this hamlet about 135 miles southeast of Seoul by the United States, infuriating China and prompting it to unleash economic retaliation. ​

Washington and Seoul said the weapons system was crucial in their defense against North Korean aggression. China argued that the United States was using North Korea as an excuse to expand its military presence in the region and make implicit threats toward its most formidable competitor. Villagers like Ms. Do and their supporters, including labor activists, have tended to agree.

Now, the Thaad system, located in an area once known for its melon patches, has become a symbol of the broader challenges facing South Korea as it ​tries to strike a balance between China, the country’s largest trading partner, and the United States, its main security ally.

New York Times

You can read more at the link, but what the article misses is that the THAAD was rapidly deployed into South Korea during the Park Guen-hye administration. The Korean left opposed THAAD simply because it was Park administration initiative. If the THAAD battery was deployed by a President on the Korean left, these protests would not have grown to what they have become. Of course much of the protests were fed by claims the radar would poison crops and give people cancer which all proved untrue. The claims are further ridiculous when one considers that Patriot and Green Pine batteries used for missile defense are deployed all around Korea and there are no protests about them.

Since this was an initiative of President Park the usual suspects in the Korean left came out and protested it. When President Moon took power he took a middle ground of allowing the THAAD to remain where it was because he knew it was providing a needed missile defense capability to the country and did not want to harm the U.S.-ROK alliance by trying to remove it. However, to appease his left wing base he allowed the protesters to continue to block the road forcing the U.S. and ROK military personnel to use helicopters to access the base.

Seeing how THAAD was a wedge issue between the Korean right and left, the Chinese decided to jump in and further inflame this issue by claiming the THAAD was harmful to their national security. They used the false claims the radar was intended to spy on them even though it is pointed towards North Korea, not China. Additionally the U.S. has other radars and assets in the area to monitor China which they say nothing about. The Chinese hoped to pressure Moon to remove THAAD in order to harm the U.S.-ROK alliance. To President Moon’s credit he did not take the bait from the Chinese and allowed the THAAD battery to remain. To appease the Chinese he made the “Three No’s” promise. Despite the promise the Chinese government continued to take economic retaliatory measures against South Korea which continues to this day.

Now with a President from the Korean right in power he has changed policy and has been removing the protesters to allow U.S. and ROK military personnel access to the base by road. This road access will allow much needed facility improvements to enhance the quality of life for U.S. and ROK troops stationed at the base. The few protesters that remain now are simply there for NIMBY reasons and the usual protesters from the Korean left have largely abandoned them as they search for another wedge issue to attack the Korean right with.

if this is the way the Chinese want to act maybe NATO countries should all start denying the use of their airspace to Chinese government officials:

Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak’s planned visit to Seoul was canceled as China rejected the Polish government jet’s flight plan through its airspace.

According to officials, Blaszczak was scheduled to have a meeting with South Korean Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup here on Tuesday, but they ended up having a videoconference on Wednesday instead. He also missed the release ceremonies for weapons purchased recently by Poland in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province. 

Blaszczak and his delegation were supposed to use the Polish government’s jet to fly to Seoul via a direct air route over China. But China refused to allow the Polish delegation’s jet to enter its airspace. The Polish side reportedly considered using other air routes, but didn’t, as they would have required refueling and consumed too much time. 

Though the South Korean government did not elaborate on the background for the decision, it is speculated that China did not permit Poland’s jet to fly through its airspace because of its relationship with Russia and Seoul’s closer relations with NATO countries. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

What the U.S. is doing is pushing industries to make a choice between the U.S. or Chinese markets. Korea is trying to find a middle ground which so far the Biden administration does not want to offer them:

Korea Inc. faces an uphill battle as a push in the United States for economic security is taking its toll on companies dependent on China for manufacturing or for the supply of materials and components.    
   
The U.S. is passing laws and enacting executive orders to bring the manufacturing of products important to national interest back to U.S. soil. Chips, batteries, electric vehicles(EV), solar cells and certain biotechnology products are on the list, and China is the main country of concern.    
   
A number of Korean companies have been affected already.  

Hyundai Motor’s EV sales in the U.S. have fallen since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as its EV models won’t be qualified for the subsidies under the act.    
   
Samsung Electronics and SK hynix are having to rethink their use of China as a major manufacturing base for semiconductors as a number of U.S. rules are making it difficult to transfer key technologies to China, which is the second largest source of memory chips for these companies after Korea.      
   
Korea feels betrayed by its ally and is fighting for workarounds that would allow its companies to continue sourcing heavily from China. It is now engaged in an intense lobbying effort to get the rules watered down or waivers for its companies.  
   
This anniversary special will explore the impact of the U.S.-China tech war on Korean business and map out ways to curtail the damage. It is based on interviews with academics and researchers.    
   
Some argue that the dependence on China needs to be reexamined, while others argue that the Yoon Suk-yeol administration should come up with sizable financial incentives and tax cuts to attract manufacturing facilities for chips and high-tech products to Korea. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

You would think this retaliation against Korean businesses for deploying a defense weapon system in response to a country backed by Beijing making nuclear threats would cause Korean businesses to want to completely abandon China. Well despite all this retaliation many Korean businesses still want to do business with China:

Korea is still suffering from the impact of China’s economic retaliation due to its decision to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system in 2016.   

Among local retailers, Lotte was most affected by China’s wrath, as the Thaad battery was temporarily deployed on a golf course owned by Lotte Corporation.  

Lotte Shopping had 110 Lotte Mart branches in China in 2016. Seventy-four were slapped with business suspensions for failing to meet local regulations, but forced to stay shut for a year as the Chinese government refused to make re-inspection visits. 

With growing anti-Korean sentiment, the company withdrew all Lotte Marts from China in 2018. According to Lotte Shopping, its estimated loss of the Lotte Mart business in 2017 due to Thaad amounted to 1.2 trillion won.  

Fallout from the Thaad row continued with Lotte Shopping shutting down its five Lotte Department Store branches in the country one-by-one. The last remaining branch closed in August.  

Emart had six branches in China, but shut them all down in 2017.  

The cosmetics industry was also devastated, with Amorepacific being hit the hardest. The company’s net profit in 2017 fell 39.7 percent on year to 489.5 billion won, with revenue dropping 10 percent on year to 6.03 trillion won.  

The Chinese government banned all group travel to Korea through early 2018. Chinese tourists to Korea in 2017 dropped 48.3 percent on year to 4.17 million. Net profit dropped 39.7 percent on year in 2017 to 489.5 billion won and revenue fell 10 percent on year to 6.03 trillion won.  

Retailers have mostly recovered, with many of them opening more branches in Southeast Asia rather than China in an attempt to avoid anymore political risks.   

However, many still heavily rely on China for exports, which could leave Korean companies caught up in the middle again as tensions between the United States and China escalate due to the Inflation Reduction Act.The act aims to give tax credits for electric vehicle (EV) batteries with components sourced from either the United States or countries it has free trade agreements with.    

The change is forcing Korea to make a choice between losing tax credits in a huge market, or cutting ties with Chinese suppliers. Most EV battery materials are imported from China, with some 84 percent of lithium hydroxide imports and 81 percent on cobalt imports coming from China between January and July.   

There is also the chance for a recurrence of a dispute over Thaad, as President Yoon Suk-yeol has denied China’s request to not make any additional Thaad deployments.    

“If the current administration decides to deploy additional units of Thaad, it can increase anti-Korea sentiment in China and there could be additional retaliatory measures like last time, even hindering post-pandemic recoveries of the current duty-free and cosmetics sectors,” said Park Jong-dae, an analyst at Hana Investment & Securities. “But things are a bit different now considering a lot of cosmetics sales shifted online, which could allow consumers to make purchases despite the political clashes.”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link on how Korean dramas and video games are also being hit hard by Chinese retaliation.

Why not abolish this pact when the ROK is the only one following it:

North Korea’s recent missile launches are widely viewed as a prelude to a seventh nuclear test and South Korea is exploring various response measures to deal with additional provocations. One of the measures being mentioned is scrapping the 2018 inter-Korean comprehensive military agreement which calls on the two Koreas to cease “hostile activities” against each other, including military exercises near the inter-Korean border.

Conservatives are urging Seoul to consider pulling out of the agreement, which they claim restrains South Korea’s defense capabilities by limiting military exercises and reconnaissance activities. 

“We should declare the scrapping of the military agreement if North Korea carries out a seventh nuclear weapon test,” Ruling People Power Party (PPP) interim leader Rep. Chung Jin-suk wrote on Facebook on Friday, a day after the North deployed 12 military aircraft for an air strike drill.

“If we destroy the pact, our military’s flight boundaries and firing exercise zones in the East and West seas will expand, bolstering our capabilities in surveilling North Korea and deterrence firepower,” Chung added. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This line of attack was so predictable from the Korean left:

Nothing is wrong with holding joint military exercises with Japan to cope with the common threat of North Korea, a presidential spokesperson said Tuesday, rejecting opposition criticism that such drills could lead to the stationing of Japanese troops in South Korea.

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, has been voicing such concerns while denouncing trilateral naval exercises, which South Korea held with the United States and Japan in the East Sea last week, as a move legitimizing Japan’s Self-Defense Forces as a regular military. 

His point was that such exercises would help advance Japan’s ambitions to become a normal country capable of waging war and South Korea could fall victim to Japan’s renewed militarism and face a fate similar to the 1910-45 colonial rule.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but in a war with North Korea, the ROK is going to need Japanese support so it is best to train for it now. The Korean left seems more concerned about Japan taking over Korea than the Kim regime or China. This argument would be like NATO countries saying they cannot train with Germany because then they would be taken over again by a rising Germany. This argument is stupid just like the Korean left’s argument about Japan.

Cynically they know their argument is flimsy and without merit, but they are just trying to tap into deep rooted anti-Japanese sentiment in South Korea to further erode President Yoon’s poll numbers.

That is a lot of meth, hopefully they keep this guy in jail to do his full sentence:

A regional court meted out a 30-year prison term to a man on Thursday on charges of smuggling in 902 kilograms of methamphetamine from Mexico, the biggest amount of drug smuggling ever in South Korea, officials said. 

The 38-year-old, whose name was withheld, was accused of bringing in the drugs in December 2019 and July 2020 from Mexico in collusion with an international crime ring. 

He and his accomplice allegedly imported the drugs hidden inside helical gears and smuggled 498 kilograms back to Australia, according to court records. 

Worth about 3 trillion won (US$2.1 billion) in retail price and enough for 30 million doses, the smuggled drugs mark the biggest ever amount brought into the country in its drug smuggling history.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.