News & commentary by Dave Maxwell. Edited and published by Daniel Riggs
1. Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un Sends Letter to All People on New Year
2. Defense chief vows full readiness posture for peninsula peace in New Year's message
3. North Korea Says It Wants Good U.S. Ties in Rare Meeting With Western Lawmaker
4. N.Korea holds New Year's Eve show despite COVID-19 restrictions
5. Why North Korea is not Biden's top priority
6. 22nd Political Bureau Pregames 8th Party Congress
7. Anti-Balloon Launching Laws Are No Threat to South Korean Democracy
8. North Korea's Kim Jong Un marks new year with letter, visit to rulers' tomb
9. UNC says 86 messages delivered to N. Korea through Panmunjom communication line
10. Ruling party chief to seek pardons for 2 imprisoned former presidents
11. N.K. leader sends handwritten New Year greetings to people
12. Moderna to begin delivering COVID-19 vaccine to S. Korea in May
13. Locals Suffer as North Korea Ramps up Security on Chinese Border Ahead of Party Congress
14. Two former U.S. service members, spouses test positive for virus
15. What Kim Jong-un Should Say at Korean Workers' Party Congress
16. Kim Jong Un Keeps Biden Guessing After Skipping New Year Speech
17. North Korean Forestlands Have Rebounded in Recent Years
18. Moon pledges to 'get normal lives back' in new year
1. Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un Sends Letter to All People on New Year
KCNA Watch · January 1, 2021
I guess this is all we are going to get until the 8th Party Congress. Not much of a New year's address.
This is the key line:
“I offer thanks to the people for having invariably trusted and supported our Party even in the difficult times.
An admission of "difficult times" but trust in and support the party.”
2. Defense chief vows full readiness posture for peninsula peace in New Year's message
en.yna.co.kr · by 오석민 · January 1, 2021
Good message from Minister Suh: "maintain a watertight defense in all directions."
But I question the "momentum" from the 2018 CMA - I do not think there is any momentum because north Korea never sincerely embraced it and executed any substantive confidence or trust building measures.
Regarding OPCON transition I recommend making a commitment to achieving the conditions required for the transition.
3. North Korea Says It Wants Good U.S. Ties in Rare Meeting With Western Lawmaker
WSJ · by Timothy W. Martin in Seoul and Laurence Norman· December 31, 2020
A potential diplomatic initiative via Zoom?
Excerpt: "In the roughly one-hour meeting, the North Korean ambassador repeated a goal of forging a strong relationship with the U.S., so long as Washington's hostile policy to the Kim regime is dropped, the people said. The stance was received positively, one of the people said, as it didn't represent a darkening in Pyongyang's position as President-elect Joe Biden takes office."
We should not forget what the regime demands when it says it wants the US to drop its "hostile policy." It does not want a promise, either verbal or written. It does not want a peace treaty. What the regime demands is action to end the "hostile policy." It demands an end to the ROK/US alliance, removal of US troops from the peninsula, and an end to extended deterrence and the nuclear umbrella over the ROK and Japan. Anything less than those actions the regime believes the "hostile policy" remains in effect. We should also think about why it wants the hostile policy dropped. It is not solely about the security and survival of the Kim family regime. It is so it can achieve its objectives to dominate the peninsula under the rule of the guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State because that is the only condition that will ensure the survival of Kim and his regime.
4. N.Korea holds New Year's Eve show despite COVID-19 restrictions
uk.reuters.com · by Josh Smith and Heejung Jung
"Celebrations are us" must be one of the mottos of the regime. Kim just cannot help himself.
5. Why North Korea is not Biden's top priority
dailynk.com · by Sabrine Donohoe · December 31, 2020
Although I focus on north Korea I do not think it should be President-elect Biden’s top priority. It must have sufficient priority and he needs to have a strong Korea team to manage the problem but it cannot be the top priority.
And we have a lot of work to do with our South Korean and other IndoPacific allies.
6. 22nd Political Bureau Pregames 8th Party Congress
A scorecard for observing the 8th Party Congress.
7. Anti-Balloon Launching Laws Are No Threat to South Korean Democracy
Foreign Policy · by S. Nathan Park · December 31, 2020
I strongly disagree with nearly every argument and point in this essay.. This action by South Korea smacks of Benjamin Franklin's famous quote: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."
This conclusion is an insult that I take personally. I have actually lived on the DMZ north of the Imjin river for 3 years and I know what are the threats to the Korean people in the area.
Conclusion: “When the South Korean public sees U.S. experts on the Korean Peninsula-who are supposed to be well versed on these issues-cavalierly dismiss the concerns of more than 1.1 million residents living near the DMZ, they feel viewed as disposable chess pieces in the game of foreign policy, not as human beings who carry on their lives in a community. The leaflet ban may deserve debate, but it should be a better, more rigorous one, with an eye on the health of the overall alliance.”
8. North Korea's Kim Jong Un marks new year with letter, visit to rulers' tomb
straitstimes.com · January 1, 2021
The reports about the letter are longer than the letter itself.
9. UNC says 86 messages delivered to N. Korea through Panmunjom communication line
m-en.yna.co.kr · by 고병준 · January 1, 2021
It might be good for Yonhap and the press to remind the Korean people that the Senior Member of the UNC Military Armistice Commission is s ROK 2 star general.
Excerpt:
“It appears that the UNC-controlled communication line at the true village remains operational.”
The press makes it seem like the UNC is somehow some organization disconnected from the ROK military but as I said the senior member of the MAC is a ROK 2 star.
10. Ruling party chief to seek pardons for 2 imprisoned former presidents
m-en.yna.co.kr · by 고병준 · January 1, 2021
Do it now. I did not expect to read this. For Moon's sake it would be nice to break the pattern of some former president's going to jail. There have been 8 presidents since 1980. Four have gone to jail. One other might have been charged but took his own life.
11. N.K. leader sends handwritten New Year greetings to people
m-en.yna.co.kr · by 고병준 · January 1, 2021
So here is a photo of the handwritten note letter from Kim Jong-un.
12. Moderna to begin delivering COVID-19 vaccine to S. Korea in May
m-en.yna.co.kr · by 장재순 · January 1, 2021
Better late than never I guess. This is not going to sit well with the Korean people in the South. Moon will be blamed for this.
13. Locals Suffer as North Korea Ramps up Security on Chinese Border Ahead of Party Congress
rfa.org· by Myunchul Lee
But this is what it is really like for the Korean people living in the north. I do not think Kim's handwritten New year's letter eases their suffering.
14. Two former U.S. service members, spouses test positive for virus
m-en.yna.co.kr · by 최수향 · January 1, 2021
Hopefully none of my retired friends who are living in Korea.
15. What Kim Jong-un Should Say at Korean Workers' Party Congress
The National Interest · by Doug Bandow · December 31, 2020
I will be glad to write a letter of recommendation for Doug Bandow to become a senior advisor to Kim Jong-un though I fear he would not long survive offering this kind of advice to the regime! (note attempt at humor).
Mr. Bandow at least acknowledges his recommendations have no historical basis: "Historically Pyongyang would be unlikely to take such steps, but Kim's ambitions require a dramatic break from the status quo. Kim already has abandoned his father and grandfather's isolationist approach. He emphasized the importance of economic development and participated in international diplomacy. His economic reforms, though seemingly moribund, nevertheless went further than anything before him."
Somehow I cannot see Kim Jong-un accepting these recommendations because they are so counter to the nature of the regime and the objectives and strategy for Kim Jong-un to dominate the peninsula. But perhaps in some alternate universe Kim would implement these recommendations.
16. Kim Jong Un Keeps Biden Guessing After Skipping New Year Speech
newsmax.com · by Jon Herskovitz and Jeong-Ho Lee · January 1, 2021
No guessing necessary. Just answer these questions:
Do we believe that Kim Jong-un has abandoned the seven decades old strategy of subversion, coercion-extortion (blackmail diplomacy), and use of force to achieve unification dominated by the Guerrilla Dynasty and Gulag State in order to ensure the survival of the mafia like crime family cult known as Kim family regime?
In support of that strategy do we believe that Kim Jong-un has abandoned the objective to split the ROK/US Alliance and get US forces off the peninsula? Has KJU given up his divide to conquer strategy - divide the alliance to conquer the ROK?
17. North Korean Forestlands Have Rebounded in Recent Years
38north.org · by Bruce Songhak Chung · December 31, 2020
I did not expect this. This is some slightly good news.
Please go to the link to view the imagery.
18. Moon pledges to 'get normal lives back' in new year
m-en.yna.co.kr · by 장재순 · January 1, 2021
I hope we can all do that soon. Unfortunately it will be the proverbial "new normal."
------------
"No matter how hard the past, you can always begin again."
- Buddha
"The bad news is time flies. The good news is you're the pilot."
- Michael Altshuler
"Kindness, kindness, kindness. I want to make a New year's prayer, not a resolution. I'm praying for courage."