Chronologies
North Korea - South Korea
Chronology
: KCNA reports the Party Plenum, at length. Among much else, Kim Jong Un announces a radical reorientation, and hardening, of North Korea’s stance and policy toward South Korea (see Appendix).
: Echoing the NIS a day earlier, Yun Jae-ok, floor leader of South Korea’s conservative ruling People Power Party (PPP) avers: “It seems certain that North Korea has planned to simultaneously carry out military provocations and covert operations against South Korea to interfere in our elections.”
: The NIS says “there is a high possibility that North Korea could unexpectedly conduct military provocations or stage a cyberattack in 2024, when fluid political situations are expected with the [April 10 parliamentary] elections.” The agency cites three factors: past precedent; the return to high office in Pyongyang of three figures linked to previous incidents; and military measures the North has taken since the CMA collapsed.
: As has become the norm at year-end, North Korea holds a party plenum to look forward and back. The 9th Enlarged Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the WPK is held on Dec. 26-30, with short daily reports on KCNA from Dec. 28 onward.
: Yoon Suk Yeol tells the third meeting of the presidential defense innovation committee, which he set up a year ago, to “dramatically strengthen our military’s surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities…against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.” MND says it will streamline procedures to halve average procurement time from 14 to seven years.
: UN Command (UNC) permits ROK troops in the JSA to carry guns. Its spokesman says “Given the KPA’s current armed security posture, [we have] authorized … members of the guard forces on the UNC side of the JSA to re-arm to protect both civilian and military personnel.” He adds, “UNC has also informed the ROK government and KPA of its position that a disarmed JSA is safer and more peaceful for the Korean Peninsula, and that this can be achieved by reimplementing the previous UNC-KPA agreements.”
: A day after North Korea test-fires its fifth ICBM this year, Yoon tells his Cabinet: “The North Korean regime will come to realize its provocations will only come back to them (sic) as greater pain.” He does not say how such a learning experience will be arranged. The third successful test of a Hwasong-18 probably means that this solid-fuel, road-mobile ICBM is now operational.
: ROK Defense Counterintelligence Command reveals that a young sailor doing his national service has been indicted for distributing pro-DPRK materials in his unit’s restroom. The unnamed petty officer second class is also accused of using his smartphone to disclose his vessel’s location to an unidentified Chinese during maritime operations.
: A report by South Korea’s Rural Development Administration (RDA) broadly endorses Pyongyang’s claims of a good harvest this year. RDA estimates total output of North Korea’s main crops—rice, corn, potatoes, wheat, barley and soybeans—at 4.82 million tons, up 6% from 2022. This is still below the pre-pandemic figure of 5.2 million tons, let alone the 8 million tons claimed in the 1980s and set as a target for 2020 in 2016’s five year plan.
: Defense Minister Shin tells senior ROK military commanders: “North Korea has only two choices: peace or destruction…If they make reckless actions that harm peace, only a hell of destruction awaits them…Our military must clearly imprint this on North Korea.” He also savages Moon Jae-in’s approach: “The ‘peace process,’ which relied on North Korea’s goodwill and surreal optimism, was completely fake. It would not be an exaggeration to describe it as a well-planned fraud.” He makes other similarly trenchant speeches.
: MOU Kim tells a press conference that his ministry will “introduce a new human rights roadmap” and establish a National Center for North Korean Human Rights, to raise awareness about abuses there. It will also publish a report titled “Economic and Social Reality of North Korea,” based on interviews with over 6,000 defectors. He insists he also supports humanitarian aid to Pyongyang.
: MOU says North Korea is illegally operating some 30 South Korean-owned factories—up from 10 in May—at the joint venture Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), which the ROK unilaterally shut down in 2016. Pyongyang is also removing debris from the former joint liaison office in the KIC, which it blew up in 2020. Seoul warns that both these actions infringe on its property rights, and tells the North to desist—or it may sue. Reports that Kim Jong Un’s riposte was “Go ahead, dude, make my day” remain unconfirmed.
: After a year-long investigation into how Seoul handled the case of Lee Dae-jun, the ROK fisheries official killed in mysterious circumstances off the DPRK coast in 2020, the Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) issues a damning final report. It accuses the then Moon Jae-in government of (1) not acting promptly to try to save Lee; (2) seeking to cover up the incident, after the North killed him and burnt his body; and (3) distorting the truth by claiming Lee was seeking to defect. Agencies failed to coordinate; data were deleted, facts withheld, and Parliament misled. BAI recommends that 13 officials involved be disciplined or cautioned, including ex-Defense Minister Suh Wook and a former Coast Guard commissioner. Last year BAI called for 20 officials to be prosecuted; several court cases are in progress.
: For the first time under Yoon Suk Yeol, the ROK government holds an inter-agency meeting—MOU, MOFA, and MND—on Southern POWs detained in North Korea. Seoul urges Pyongyang to acknowledge this issue, “and cooperate in uncovering their fate.” An estimated 80-90,000 were not returned as the 1953 Armistice stipulated. The DPRK has always denied this, but over the years around 80 have escaped; at least one wrote a gripping memoir. As of 2016 the South reckoned some 500 might still be alive.
: After a joint investigation with the FBI, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency says that a hacker group dubbed Andariel, a unit of the DPRK’s Reconnaissance General Bureau, stole 1.2 terabytes of data in 83 separate raids between Dec. 2022 and March 2023. “Dozens” of ROK entities were compromised: defense firms, universities, research centers, financial institutions, et al. A laxly monitored Southern server was used to hack the targets, who were unaware. The stolen data is thought to include key defense technologies, notably anti-aircraft lasers. Andariel also netted 470 million won ($360,236) from ransomware attacks on three South Korean firms; the transfer of some of the proceeds to Pyongyang was traced. (See also Nov. 21.)
: MOU raps Pyongyang for its “false and far-fetched claims” and using “rude language” (see Dec. 3). The ministry specifically denies the North’s claim that Seoul “blared anti-Pyongyang loudspeaker broadcasts along the border 3,200 times this year.” Propaganda loudspeakers at the border remain banned under ROK law, although Yoon’s ruling People Power Party and other conservatives have called for their resumption.
: Among much such bluster daily from DPRK media, KCNA carries a lengthy (2,850 word) article by “a military commentator.” Accusing Seoul of multiple provocations, this warns that a “physical clash and war on the Korean peninsula have become a matter of time, not possibility…Any hostile act of the puppet group against the DPRK will lead to the miserable destruction of the puppet army and the total collapse of the ‘ROK’ (sic).”
: Ten days after the North’s launch, South Korea too gets its own (much higher quality) first indigenous military reconnaissance satellite, launched atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
: “Informed sources” tell Yonhap that KPA troops at Panmunjom are now sporting pistols. Photos released by MND show Northern troops installing temporary guard posts, carrying what appeared to be recoilless guns and standing guard at night in the DMZ.
: ROK MND says North Korea has begun rebuilding guard posts and is bringing heavy firearms into the DMZ.
: Pyongyang responds to Seoul’s partial suspension of the CMA by repudiating it in toto. Accusing Seoul of breaking faith—while also claiming that the accord “has long been reduced to a mere scrap of paper”—the DPRK MND declares: “From now on, our army will never be bound by the September 19 North-South Military Agreement …We will immediately restore all military measures that have been halted.” If “an irretrievable clash” occurs, “the political and military gangsters of the “ROK”…will be held wholly accountable.”
: Defense Minister Shin calls Seoul’s partial suspension of the CMA “a proportional response” and “a minimal defensive measure” to Pyongyang’s spy satellite launch.
: DPRK National Aerospace Technology Administration (NATA, formerly NADA; the D was for Development) reports a successful satellite launch, late on the previous evening, overseen by Kim Jong Un. It plans to put up several more “in a short span of time.” Next morning, Kim visits NATA’s Pyongyang General Control Center and congratulates all concerned. He is shown “aerospace photos of Anderson Air Force Base, Apra Harbor and other major military bases of the US forces taken in the sky above Guam in the Pacific.”
: At short notice, the DPRK notifies Japan (but seemingly no one else) of a 10-day satellite launch window, starting midnight, through Dec. 1. In the event they jump their own gun by 78 minutes, launching at 2242 local time that same day.
: ROK and Japanese military officials say the DPRK has launched its satellite, slightly ahead of the window it had notified. President Yoon chairs a National Security Council meeting from London, where he is on a state visit: the North’s launch interrupted his lunch at Buckingham Palace. South Korea announces that it will resume reconnaissance activities close to the DMZ, ahead of formal suspension of the relevant section of the CMA.
: ROK National Police Agency (KNPA) says that a DPRK hacking group, dubbed “Kimsuky,” hijacked the email accounts of 1,468 South Koreans so far this year: a 30-fold jump from 49 cases in 2022. Victims include 57 current or former government officials. Nothing important was stolen, however, thanks to strict security protocols.
: Lt. Gen. Kang Ho-pil, ROK JCS chief director of operations, warns the DPRK to “immediately stop” its satellite launch preparations. Should it go ahead, “our military will come up with necessary measures to protect the lives and safety of our people.”
: Defense Minister Shin predicts that North Korea may launch its military satellite “within a week or so,” having “almost resolved” its engine problems “with Russia’s help.”
: DPRK media carry no reports of the recently designated missile industry day being marked. Kim Jong Un too has gone unreported for almost a month; he was last seen greeting Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Oct. 20.
: Kim Myung-soo, the next JCS Chairman nominee, tells his parliamentary confirmation hearing that the CMA “clearly limits [our] military’s capability.” Specifically, it restricts surveillance of North Korea in terms of “space and time,” including (as Yonhap puts it) “real-time monitoring of the North’s rear side,” and live-fire drills on ROK islands close to the DPRK in the West (Yellow) Sea. (See also Oct. 24.)
: MOU Kim presents his ministry’s “fourth basic plan,” a five year blueprint for inter-Korean relations (2023-27; President Yoon’s term ends in May 2027) to the National Assembly. This includes a pledge to raise the issue not only of separated families, but also of detainees, abductees and POWs held by North Korea. Pyongyang has never admitted the last two categories, estimated as originally having numbered almost 100,000 and over 90,000 respectively. After 70 years almost all must now be dead, so the point of pushing this as an agenda item is unclear. For that matter, with no North-South talks held since Dec. 2018 and none in prospect, any and all of what Seoul might propose now is arguably hypothetical.
: Government “sources” tell Yonhap that if Pyongyang tries again to launch a spy satellite, Seoul “is considering partially suspending [the] 2018 inter-Korean military agreement as a precautionary measure against North Korean provocations.”
: ROK’s task force on South Korean abductees held in North Korea meets for the first time since 2012. Four ministries are involved—MOU, MND, MOFA, and MOJ (justice)—plus the National Police Agency and NIS. Admitting past government action has been “insufficient,” MOU’s Kang Jong-suk says the North “continues to deny the presence of abductees, detainees and prisoners of war, and remains unresponsive to our requests to verify their status and repatriate them.”
: MOU responds, calling the leaflets “a voluntary activity carried out by civic groups in accordance with the freedom of expression guaranteed in our Constitution … We sternly warn North Korea against acting rashly.”
: Following reports that North Korea has revised its election law to permit some voters in local elections a choice between two candidates, instead of just endorsing one as hitherto, MOU comments: “This is far from [an] actual guarantee of people’s suffrage.” The ballot will still not be secret. The first elections under the new system are due in Nov.
: A KCNA article headlined “It Will Act as ‘Detonator’ of End of ‘Republic of Korea’” warns that, if propaganda balloon launches resume (see Sept. 26), “it is the stand of the enraged revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK to pour a shower of shells into the bulwark of the region of south Korean puppets.” (Bylined as commentary by a named author, this carries less weight than an official government or Party statement.) It also repeats the ludicrous canard that this is how Covid-19 got into North Korea, referring to “the inroad of the malignant infectious disease caused by shabby things of human scum.” (sic).
: MOU Kim Yung-ho tells an academic forum in Seoul that the ROK “will continue to support” the stalled joint project of compiling a unified Korean dictionary. In 2005-10 and 2014-15 lexicologists from North and South met 25 times, in Seoul, Pyongyang, Kaesong, Mount Kumgang, and three Chinese cities: Beijing, Shenyang, and Dalian. They agreed on the definition and pronunciation of 128,000 of a projected 307,000 words. Since 2015 the Southern team has continued alone, faxing their work to Pyongyang, but receiving no response. One comments: “It’s like a one-sided love.”
: MOU Kim says North Korea seems to have been getting technical help from Russia for another satellite launch. He also suggests that Pyongyang’s recent “designation of a ‘missile industry day is …apparently not irrelevant to [Kim] Ju Ae’s emergence.”
: North Korea designates Nov. 18 as “day of the missile industry,” marking the date in 2022 when it tested a Hwasong-17 ICBM. More significantly, this was the first public appearance of Kim Jong Un’s daughter Ju Ae. (In 2021 some DPRK calendars marked Nov. 29—the anniversary of an earlier launch of a different ICBM, the Hwasong-15, in 2017—as ‘rocket industry day’; but this was not celebrated, and has gone unmentioned since.)
: MOU says it will recognize relatives of South Koreans imprisoned in the North as victims of abduction. This renders them eligible for state compensation, at a modest 15-20 million won ($11,234—15,100) per family. Six such detainees are known—three missionaries and three defectors; four have family in South Korea. Pyongyang is silent about their fate. (See also Oct. 8.)
: MOU urges North Korea to reactivate the inter-Korean liaison line; Pyongyang has not picked up the phone since April. Seoul notes that cases like the recent drifting DPRK vessel—see Oct. 29—highlight the need for this; although in fact the ROK found other ways to get in touch, via the UN Command and international maritime communication channels.
: A “government source” tells Yonhap that the four Northerners who defected by boat last month include a pregnant woman in her 20s. They cited food shortage as their reason for leaving.
: After the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force (FATF) decides, for the 13th consecutive year, to keep the DPRK on its list of “high-risk jurisdictions subject to a call for action,” MOU spokesman Koo Byoung-sam declares: “The North Korean regime’s seizure of illicit funds to secure money for its rule and development of weapons of mass destruction is becoming bolder day by day, in means and scale … The shortcut to resolving all problems on the Korean Peninsula, such as the North’s denuclearization and promotion of human rights, lies in blocking the inflow of black money to the regime of Kim Jong Un.”
: ROK JCS says a spotter plane found a small (10m) DPRK vessel drifting near the Northern Limit Line (NLL, the de facto maritime border) in the East Sea. Seoul dispatched a patrol boat. Those aboard said they had been adrift for 10 days, and asked for food and water, which they were given. They did not wish to defect. Next day the JCS reports that a North Korean vessel came and towed them away.
: Defense Minister Shin says North Korea has violated the CMA “close to 3,600” times in the western maritime buffer zone. Most (3,400) of these involve failing to cover gun barrels; Shin acknowledges that Pyongyang “doesn’t seem to recognize leaving the porthole (of artillery pieces) open as a violation.” It has also fired artillery shells into the sea 110 times.
: With the end of the month nigh, MOU sees no signs of a fresh satellite launch attempt by North Korea. After two failures, Kim Jong-un had vowed to try again in October.
: South Korea’s Marine Corps Commandant tells a parliamentary audit that live-fire exercises need to resume on five front-line islands in the West Sea. Lt.-Gen. Kim Gye-hwan says the CMA has weakened military readiness, which requires firing major assets such as K-9 self-propelled howitzers into the sea. Since 2018 such drills have been held on land, but this is more expensive and the range is too short.
: The ROK coast guard and military report that four North Koreans—one man and three women—have defected in a small (7.5 meter) boat via the East Sea. They first approached a Southern fisherman, Lim Jae-kil, asked where they were, and said how nice his vessel was. As for their own craft, Lim said “he had never seen such a boat in his more than 40 years of life as a fisherman … it appeared to have the engine of a cultivator.”
: MOU data show the number of Northern defectors reaching South Korea this year so far has more than tripled: up from 42 in January-September 2022 to 139 in the same period of 2023. This is still far below the pre-pandemic annual norm of 1,000 or more. (Very few of these will be direct arrivals; most have spent years elsewhere, usually in China.)
: Visiting the frontline island of Yeonpyeong, shelled by North Korea in 2010 (four died), Defense Minister Shin again calls for the CMA’s suspension.
: Unification Minister Kim tells Yonhap: “If Russia offers military technology to North Korea … we cannot help but seek powerful sanctions against Russia and North Korea, with the US and other nations.” Taking a harder line on the CMA than a week ago, Kim now calls the pact “an own goal in the security field.” He ventures two predictions: doubting Pyongyang if could have “addressed technical challenges in a short span of time to enable it to make [a] third attempt” to launch a reconnaissance satellite—oops: see Nov. 21,—and (on safer ground) that the trickle of defectors reaching the South will more than double this year, as North Korea starts to reopen its borders.
: A propos reports that last week China repatriated some 600 North Korean defectors detained in its border provinces Jilin and Liaoning, South Korea’s Ambassador to the UN Hwang Joon-kook, says, “We strongly protest this grave human rights incident, which should never happen again…The international community cannot tolerate such actions…We all should understand that the horrendous living conditions and human rights situation in the DPRK have continually forced its people to flee across the border, mainly to China…It is both horrifying and heartbreaking to witness North Korean escapees, who had risked everything including their lives on their long arduous road to freedom, being forcibly repatriated.” Such trenchant criticism of Beijing by Seoul is rare, even under Yoon.
: ROK blocks two DPRK accounts on X/Twitter, YuMi_DPRK_daily (aka Olivia Natasha), and @Parama_Coreafan. Fronted by winsome young women, both —especially the former—post ‘soft’ propaganda, supposedly portraying normal everyday life in North Korea. (Although ‘normal’ is relative.)
: After Washington says the DPRK has delivered over 1,000 containers of arms and munitions to Russia recently, contra Pyongyang’s denials, MOU spokesperson Koo Byoung-sam comments, “The true nature of North Korea, which has attempted to deceive the whole world, has been exposed.”
: Gen. Kim Seung-kyum, soon to be replaced as chairman of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), echoes new Defense Minister Shin in criticizing the CMA. He tells a National Assembly audit, “Due to no-fly zones set under the military agreement, our surveillance range is restricted in terms of time and space.”
: After the shock of Hamas’s Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel, an anonymous MOU spokesperson suggests that Seoul could suspend the CMA even without any prior provocation by Pyongyang, “if it judges such a move is necessary for national security.”
: MOU Kim Yung-ho, not often the voice of moderation, tells a parliamentary audit of his ministry that the CMA suspension issue should be “prudently discussed.”
: At the same audit, MOU (the ministry) provides data on past humanitarian aid by South Korea to the North, mainly via UN agencies. From 1996-2022 the ROK sent $151.3 million via the World Food Program (WFP), $66.48 million to the World Health Organization (WHO), and $40.14 million to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Bilaterally, during 2018-22 Seoul gave nutritional supplies and medicines worth 36 billion won ($26.8 million), using a mix of state and NGO funding. (These figures seem incomplete: excluding, for instance, aid provided by ROK NGOs during the ‘sunshine’ era, 1998-2007). All this is loose change for South Korea, whose own GDP rose from $610 billion in 1996 to $1.7 trillion in 2023.
: Visiting Ground Operations Command in Yongin, 42 km south of Seoul, soon after Hamas’s attack on Israel, Defense Minister Shin orders the unit—tasked with neutralizing DPRK artillery: “If the enemy provokes, punish them immediately, strongly and until the end…I call on you to push for developing and deploying an operational system that can completely destroy the enemy’s long-range artillery capabilities within hours of an enemy provocation.” Shin again reiterates his call to suspend the CMA.
: A detailed study by Mandiant (Google’s intelligence arm), titled “Assessed Cyber Structure and Alignments of North Korea in 2023,” reports—among much else—that DPRK hackers have targeted Lee Min-bok, head of a defector group which claims to have sent 300 million leaflets and other items by balloon into the North between 2003 and 2018, when Moon Jae-in’s government made him stop. Lee, who came South in 1995, confirms that Pyongyang tries to hack his emails “about once a week.”
: Defense Minister Shin renews his attack on the CMA: “I will push for the suspension of the Sept. 19 inter-Korean military agreement as soon as possible … Scrapping (the accord) requires a legal process, but I understand a suspension only requires a Cabinet approval.”
: On the 10th anniversary of North Korea’s arrest of South Korean pastor Kim Jung-wook, later sentenced to hard labor for life for alleged espionage and religious activity, MOU urges the North to free Kim and five other ROK nationals similarly held since 2014 and 2016, calling their detention “illegal and inhumane.” The DPRK holds a further 516 South Koreans, mostly fishermen abducted at various times since 1953. Choi Sung-ryong, head of an association of their family members, claims that more than half have subsequently died.
: As he is empowered to do, President Yoon appoints Shin Won-sik as minister of National Defense, despite the opposition-controlled National Assembly’s refusal to confirm him.
: A propos the North’s “puppet” slur—see Oct. 1—an unnamed MOU official comments: “North Korea has generally used the term South Korea in sports games. But the regime has revealed its own lack of confidence by using such an extremely belittling expression and overreacting even in a sporting event.”
: South Korea beats North Korea 3-1 in women’s volleyball at the Asian Games in Hangzhou. Neither team is a medal contender by now, having lost earlier matches to China and Vietnam, respectively.
: MOU says it is “closely monitoring some 6,000 vulnerable North Korean defectors considered at a high risk of suicide attempts and lonely deaths due to financial difficulties and other hardships.” (That is more than one in six of all defectors, who total just under 34,000.) This monitoring began in Nov. 2022, after some high-profile tragedies. MOU now uses 39 “crisis indicators, such as whether the supply of electricity, water and gas was suspended for their households or there was any previous attempt to commit suicide.”
: Seoul is oddly vague about its stance on sending leaflets across the DMZ, now that this has been unbanned (see Sept. 26). MOU says: “We will consult with organizations while comprehensively factoring in circumstances such as the inter-Korean relationship … [and] think about what policy [we] will take by taking various points into account.”
: ROK National Intelligence Service (NIS) reveals that in August and September it detected “multiple” North Korean hacking attempts against South Korean shipbuilders and related firms. The agency attributes this to Kim Jong Un’s order to build mid- to large-sized warships. Methods include infiltrating the computers of shipbuilders’ IT maintenance firms, and sending malware-infected emails to employees to steal sensitive information.
: Responding to the DPRK enshrining its nuclear force in its Constitution (see Sept. 28), the ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) warns: “If North Korea attempts to use nukes (sic), it will face the end of its regime.”
: In a speech to the Korean Veterans Association, President Yoon says: “We will firmly protect the free Republic of Korea and defend our people’s safety by strengthening our capability to immediately and overwhelmingly respond to any provocation from the enemy.” He adds: “Our security is under threat from within and outside. Moreover, fake news and instigation through false manipulation are threatening this country’s democracy.”
: Speaking in Berlin, ROK MOU Kim Yung-ho says that Pyongyang’s vicious cycle of provoking Seoul into talks, receiving aid, and then breaking off agreements “will no longer work” in the Yoon era.
: South Korea’s foreign ministry responds to Choe: “The international community clearly bans North Korea’s nuclear and missile development and provocations … Regardless of North Korea’s actions and claims, its possession of nuclear weapons will never be recognized, and the sanctions of the international community will further deepen.”
: KCNA reports: “The women’s football team of the DPRK attending the 19th Asian Games advanced into the semi-finals. The quarter-final match was held between teams from the DPRK and the region of south Korean puppets (sic) on September 30. The DPRK team defeated its rival 4:1.” Similarly, the North’s Korean Central Television (KCTV), while broadcasting the match, tags it as being between Choson (the DPRK’s name for Korea; the ROK uses Hankuk for itself) and “Puppets” (Goeloe 괴뢰 in Korean). (See also Oct. 5, below.)
: North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui blasts the UN Security Council (UNSC) for its “extreme double standard” in taking issue with Pyongyang’s “exercise of its legitimate sovereign right” to strengthen its nuclear forces, while ignoring “the US and its vassal forces’ ceaseless nuclear threats…which has lingered for more than half a century.”
: KCNA reports that, among the SPA proceedings (which also include a small Cabinet reshuffle), the section of the DPRK Constitution (chapter 4, article 58) which covers nuclear policy has been beefed up. (An amendment a year earlier enshrined the right to strike first.) Kim Jong Un avers: “The DPRK’s nuclear force-building policy has been made permanent as the basic law of the state, which no one is allowed to flout with anything.”
: At his National Assembly confirmation hearing, MND nominee Shin vows to end or suspend Sept. 2018’s inter-Korean Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA). This created air and sea border buffer zones, banned live-fire drills with artillery and coastal guns, and partially withdrew guard posts from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Shin says the accord “primarily benefits North Korea and is largely unfavorable for us.” In particular, the no-fly zone (in Yonhap’s summary) “restricts surveillance and ROK capabilities for precision strikes against North Korea.” Seoul claims Pyongyang has violated the CMA at least 17 times. Shin adds: “If North Korea attempts a nuclear attack [against us], the DPRK regime will meet its end…If it provokes, we will retaliate powerfully so they miserably regret it.”
: By a 7-2 vote, the ROK Constitutional Court strikes down the Moon-era revision to the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act, which since March 2021 has prohibited—though not effectively prevented—the sending of propaganda leaflets by balloon into North Korea. Activist groups had challenged the constitutionality of this. The Court rules that the ban excessively restricted freedom of expression.
: North Korea holds the 9th session of the 14th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), its rubber-stamp Parliament. The date was announced in advance, but unusually the meeting goes unreported until afterwards; causing brief doubt in Seoul as to whether the assembly actually assembled.
: Following Kim Jong Un’s trip to Russia (Sept. 10-19) and summit with Putin, South Korea sanctions 10 individuals (mostly North Korean) and two entities—both Slovakian companies—said to be involved in DPRK weapons exports, including to Russia. These are the 12th unilateral sanctions of Yoon’s presidency. Those sanctioned now total 64 individuals and 53 institutions. (See also Sept. 1, above.)
: MOU offers to repatriate the remains of a North Korean—identified as such by his badge of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il—found on a beach on the South’s Seongmo island on Sept. 10. During the decade 2010-19 Seoul returned 23 Northern corpses, but latterly Pyongyang has turned unresponsive. The last two such cases, in November 2022 and June 2023, were cremated after the North failed to reply.
: A propos the previous day’s summit between Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, South Korea’s National Security Council (NSC) says in a press release: “North Korea and Russia will clearly pay the price if they are involved in any acts that pose a significant threat to our security by violating UN Security Council resolutions.” Earlier, the ROK foreign ministry (MOFA) similarly warns that any Russia-DPRK military cooperation deal would have a “very negative impact” on Seoul’s relations with Moscow. MOU Kim Yung-ho chimes in too, calling on “North Korea and Russia to stop illegal and reckless acts that only deepen their own isolation, and abide by international norms.”
: Yoon nominates Shin Won-sik, a hawkish retired three-star general turned lawmaker, as minister of National Defense. Among many incendiary remarks, Shin has said the ROK military should prepare for “unification through marching North” and train units ready “to decapitate Kim Jong Un when there is a possibility to remove him.” He also called Yoon’s liberal predecessor Moon Jae-in “a North Korean spy,” adding that it is a “matter of time until we cut his throat.” (On. Sept, 27 he apologizes for that last comment.)
: ROK prosecutors question opposition leader Lee Jae-myung (on hunger strike since Aug. 31) for 11 hours; a medical team is on standby. This is Lee’s fifth interrogation; already indicted on two other counts of corruption, he claims political persecution. This time, it is alleged that $8 million illegally remitted to North Korea in 2019-20 by Ssangbangwool Group, an underwear maker, included $3 million to facilitate a visit to Pyongyang by Lee, then governor of Gyeonggi province (greater Seoul). Lee says not a shred of evidence was produced. Admitting he had “tried to do business with the North for humanitarian support and exchanges,” he insists he “did not provide, or ask to provide, money and goods to the North in violation of South Korean laws and United Nations sanctions.” Lee is questioned again about this on Sept. 12, this time for five hours. He ends his hunger strike on Sept. 22.
: After receiving a complaint from a Seoul city councilor, Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) opens a probe into Youn Mee-hyang, an independent lawmaker who recently attended a commemoration in Tokyo of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake. The event was organized by the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongryon, Chosen Soren), which supports Pyongyang. Under the National Security Law (NSL), South Koreans must notify their government in advance of any contact with Chongryon.
: South Korean canoeists, who at the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia won gold (500 meters) and bronze (200m) in dragon boat racing as part of a rare joint Korean women’s team, say they look forward to beating their erstwhile Northern teammates at the upcoming Asiad in Hangzhou, China—but also hope to hang out with them. The DPRK has registered to participate in the Games. In May KBS, citing Kyodo, said Pyongyang will send 200 athletes for at least three events, including dragon boat racing. On Sept. 13 it is confirmed that the DPRK has registered 191 athletes for eight events, including dragon boat racing.
: Speaking in Jakarta where he is attending the ASEAN and related summits, ROK President Yoon says: “Attempts at military cooperation with North Korea, which damage peace in the international community, should be stopped immediately.”
: New MOU Kim Yung-ho appoints Ko Young-hwan—the first DPRK diplomat ever to defect to the ROK, and a former French interpreter for North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il Sung—as a special adviser “to help bolster the ministry’s capabilities.” (This must be for his experience rather than current knowledge: Ko came South in 1991.)
: South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has delivered 98 speeches since inheriting power in late 2011. 32 of these, or almost one-third, were carried by DPRK media in his own voice—unlike his microphone-shy father Kim Jong Il, who during his 17-year reign was only ever heard to utter a single sentence in public.
: MOU suggests that, as Yonhap headlines it, Kim Jong Un is “flaunting” his daughter Ju Ae at military events to “elicit” the Korean People’s Army (KPA)’s loyalty. 12 of Ju Ae’s 15 reported public appearances have been on military-related occasions. (As of Sept. 9 this becomes 13 of 16: father and daughter attend a paramilitary parade marking the 75th anniversary of the DPRK’s foundation in 1948.
: A propos US media claims (correct, it soon transpired) that Kim Jong Un may shortly visit Russia for a summit with Putin to discuss an arms deal, MOU opines that “cooperation between North Korea and a nearby country, in all forms, should be conducted in a direction that does not hurt international order and peace.” The ROK “is closely watching cooperative ties involving North Korea and has raised the reminder that all member countries of the United Nations have a duty to comply with the UN Security Council resolutions.”
: Confirming Seoul’s report, KCNA says that “two long-range strategic cruise missiles tipped with mock nuclear warheads were fired” by “a high-spirited … unit of the Korean People’s Army in the western region.” It calls this “a firing drill for simulated tactical nuclear attack…to warn the enemies of the actual nuclear war danger.” Pyongyang claims this “nuclear strike mission” was a success: the missiles flew 1,500 km for 7,672 and 7,681 seconds, respectively, detonating at a preset altitude of 150 meters above the target.
: ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) says that in the early hours the DPRK fired several cruise missiles toward the Yellow (West) Sea.
: Responding to North Korea’s failed satellite launch on Aug. 24, South Korea sanctions the Ryugyong Program Development Company (which reportedly “develops unmanned weapon systems and deploys its experts abroad”), plus the firm’s CEO and four other officials. This is the 11th set of bilateral ROK sanctions imposed in little over a year under Yoon Suk Yeol, targeting 51 institutions (mostly DPRK) and 54 named individuals. None of these have any dealings with Seoul, obviously, so this gesture is largely symbolic.
: An unnamed official tells Yonhap, South Korea’s semi-official news agency, that the ROK military has halted search and salvage activities after the DPRK’s second failed satellite launch, having found nothing significant.
: KCNA, which does not normally disclose the exact date of Kim Jong Un’s military-related activities, reports that on Aug. 29 he visited “the training command post of the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA),” to observe a command drill “aimed at occupying the whole territory of the southern half by repelling the enemy’s sudden armed invasion and switching over to an all-out counterattack.” This is in response to “the US and ‘ROK’ [sic, including quote marks] military gangsters [staging] extremely provocative and dangerous large-scale joint exercises simulating an all-out war against the DPRK.”
: Destroyers (one each) from the US, Japanese, and South Korean navies stage a trilateral ballistic missile defense exercise. A US military press release links this to North Korea’s recent rocket launches in “brazen violation of multiple unanimous UN Security Council resolutions that raises tension and risks,” and cites the recent Camp David summit as “inaugurat[ing] a new era of trilateral partnership.”
: Amid further signs that North Korea is starting to partially reopen its borders, MOU characterizes Pyongyang’s steps so far as a “limited border reopening,” prompted by economic problems and the inconveniences of closure for personnel.
: For the second time in three months, a North Korean satellite launch fails. Promptly admitting this, KCNA quotes the DPRK’s National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) as blaming “an error in the emergency blasting system during the third-stage flight.” Calling this “not a big problem,” NADA vows to try again in October.
: Amid several signs that Pyongyang is partially easing stringent border controls it had imposed in Jan. 2020 to keep out COVID-19 (unsuccessfully), MOU says it is monitoring when North Korea will reopen its border with China “in a full-fledged manner.” Reporting to the National Assembly, the ministry judges that so far the North “has opened its border in a limited manner while struggling to stabilize a food crisis.”
: In a response to UFS, headlined “DPRK Armed Forces Show No Mercy,” KCNA warns: “An unprecedented large-scale thermonuclear war is approaching the Korean Peninsula every moment as reality.” (Despite the apocalyptic tone, comments from a mere news agency—as opposed to, say, Kim Jong Un—are a relatively low-key reaction.)
: After Pyongyang reportedly notifies Japan’s Coast Guard that it plans to put a satellite in orbit during Aug. 24-31, South Korea’s foreign ministry urges the North “to
: ROK Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries issues a maritime safety warning for the three areas which Pyongyang notified Tokyo its satellite launch might affect—while noting that “South Korean ships do not frequently pass through these zones.”
: Back from his trilateral summit with the leaders of the US and Japan at Camp David, President Yoon tells his Cabinet: “The larger North Korea’s threats of provocations become, the more solid the structure of trilateral security cooperation among South Korea, the US and Japan will become. [This] will lower the risk of North Korea’s provocations and further strengthen our security.”
: KCNA reports that Kim Jong Un oversaw a naval drill involving cruise missiles.
: Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS), a large joint US-South Korea annual military exercise, begins. Continuing through Aug. 31, it includes some 30 field training events—more than in past years—“based on an all-out war scenario,” according to the ROK JCS.
: After the rightwing Seoul daily Dong-A Ilbo claims there was some sort of terrorist bombing in or near Pyongyang a month or two earlier (alleged details are extremely vague), South Korea’s NIS says it has detected no such event. In May, however, the spy agency told lawmakers that violent crime in the North has tripled from a year earlier, including “large-scale and organized” crimes like “throwing of homemade bombs in attempts to extort goods.”
: MOU offers some figures regarding Kim Jong Un’s titles and trips, as well as DPRK economic trends and nomenclature.
: MOU Kim Yung-ho urges Beijing not to send defectors back to the DPRK: “North Korean defectors in China should be…able to enter countries that they are hoping to go to, including South Korea.” They should be treated as refugees, not as illegal immigrants. According to the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, among 8,148 cases—no time period was given—of such forcible repatriation, 98% were from China.
: Pyongyang issues its first report on defector Travis King. KCNA says he “decided to come over to the DPRK” due to “inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination within the U.S. Army.” (King is Black.) “He also expressed his willingness to seek refuge in the DPRK or a third country, saying that he was disillusioned at the unequal American society. The investigation continues.”
: Chairing the second quarterly meeting of a new (mostly civilian) presidential defense innovation committee he set up, President Yoon says Seoul must prioritize boosting its deterrence capability against Pyongyang’s “imminent” nuclear and missile menace, along with the North’s other asymmetric threats (cyber and drones). By contrast, “we need to…boldly adjust projects aimed at operating weapons systems that are not immediately urgent.” (That sounds like bad news for those in MND who harbor blue water and aircraft carrier ambitions.)
: MOU spokesperson Koo Byong-sam tells a regular media briefing that Kim Jong Un’s recent visits to major weapons facilities “appear to have had multiple purposes—show off the country’s achievements in the defense sector, respond to [US-ROK] joint military drills, and seek arms exports”—despite the last being banned under UN sanctions.
: KCNA reports that on Aug. 3-5 Kim Jong Un “gave field guidance to major munitions factories.” These included facilities producing “the shells of super large-caliber multiple rocket launchers,” “new serial small arms,” engines for cruise missiles and UAVs, “erector launchers for major strategic weapons,” and “a new light electrical appliance factory which will play an important role in modernizing the KPA.”
: MOU Kim pledges that the Yoon government will “never” seek a formal declaration ending the 1950-53 Korean War. That had been a key, if chimerical, policy aim of Yoon’s liberal predecessor Moon Jae-in. Kim explains: “Conditions for the end-of-war declaration have not been met. If [it happens], the issue of abductees, prisoners of war and detainees in the North will be overshadowed.”
: UN Command (UNC) at Panmunjom, which controls the southern half of the JSA and the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), says North Korea has confirmed that it is holding the fugitive US soldier Travis King.
: New MOU Kim Yung-ho announces his first official schedule: a meeting the next day with civic groups focused on Southern abductees and detainees in North Korea, and their relatives. The ministry will create a task force on the abductee issue.
: South Korea’s Ministry of Unification confirms a Radio Free Asia report that on July 20, 24, and 27 North Korea opened floodgates on its Hwanggang Dam to release water, without first warning Seoul as it is supposed to do under inter-Korean accords. Noting that Pyongyang “frequently” released water thus during July, “despite our repeated request” [to be notified], MOU calls this “very regrettable.”
: New MOU Kim Yung-ho visits the National Cemetery in Seoul to pay tribute to South Korea’s patriotic martyrs and war dead.
: A propos Pyongyang’s military parade on July 28, which displayed a wide range of WMD and other armaments, MOU spokesman Koo Byoung-sam expresses “strong regret over how North Korea is adhering to nuclear development and an attitude of confrontation rather than seeking denuclearization and peace despite this year marking the 70th anniversary of the Armistice.” He calls on the North to choose the “right” path.
: President Yoon formally appoints Kim Yung-ho as minister of unification, as the law permits, despite his not having been confirmed by the opposition-controlled National Assembly. Kim is the 15th minister appointed by Yoon without parliamentary approval.
: At the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue (NEACD) meeting in San Diego CA, Chun Young-hee, who heads the ROK Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Korean Peninsula Peace Regime Bureau, deplores North Korea’s WMD provocations and inattention to its “dire” humanitarian crisis. NEACD is an annual Track 1.5 meeting of all the former Six Party Talks participants. The DPRK has not showed up since 2016.
: Reacting to DPRK Defense Minister Kang Sun Nam’s threat (July 20), the ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) warns that any North Korean attack “will face an immediate, overwhelming and decisive response from the [US-ROK] alliance and…will result in the end of the North Korean regime.”
: MOU nominee Kim Yung-ho tells National Assembly confirmation hearing that he will prioritize “substantive” results in any dealings with North Korea, rather than “dialogue or its own sake.”
: North Korea’s Minister of National Defense Kang Sun Nam issues a press statement, warning that the US SSBN deployment “may fall under the conditions of the use of nuclear weapons specified in the DPRK law on the nuclear force policy.” This “allows the execution of necessary action procedures…[if] it is judged that the use of nuclear weapons against it is imminent.”
: ROK’s Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), a division of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF), reports that last year North Korea’s trade dependence on China rose even further to 96.7%, a 10-year high. While doubling in volume year-on-year, trade has grown even more unbalanced. Pyongyang imported goods from Beijing worth $1,398 million, while exporting a mere $134 million.
: South Korea’s NIS claims North Korea stole cryptocurrency worth $700 million last year, but has not yet monetized it. The agency says this could fund 30 ICBMs, and that hacking accounts for 30% of Pyongyang’s foreign currency earnings. It adds that a DPRK hacker was caught trying to get a job with an ROK energy company abroad, having posted his resume on LinkedIn, using a forged passport and graduation certificate.
: USS Kentucky, an 18,750-ton Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN), docks in Busan. This is the first visit to South Korea by a US SSBN since 1981.
: A man later identified as Travis King (23), a private (second class) serving in US forces in Korea (USFK), breaks away from a tour group and dashes to the northern side of the Joint Security Area (JSA) at Panmunjom. It emerges that he was being sent home, unguarded, to face disciplinary charges. Instead of boarding his plane he exited Incheon airport, returned to Seoul, and booked a tour of Panmunjom.
: MOU reports that defector arrivals, while still a trickle by historical standards, almost doubled in the second quarter. 65 North Koreans—18 men and 47 women—reached South Korea during April-June, compared to 34 in January-March. The ministry attributes this to China easing its coronavirus restrictions. Almost all defectors come via China.
: Seoul retaliates to Pyongyang’s latest ICBM test by again slapping unilateral sanctions on three DPRK entities and four named individuals. Since none (obviously) have any dealings with the ROK, this move is largely symbolic.
: North Korea test-fires an ICBM off its east coast. According to Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno this flew for a record 74 minutes to an altitude of 6,000 km (3,728 miles) and a range of 1,000 km. Next day Pyongyang confirms that this launch was of its large Hwasong-18 solid-fuel ICBM, first tested in April, which has a range of 15,000 km. Analysts reckon this second successful test means it could soon be deployed.
: At the Hanawon resettlement center for defectors, three North Korean women, recent arrivals from China—where they had lived since 2004, 2014, and 2019, respectively—describe how Beijing’s anti-coronavirus restrictions worsened their lives. Lacking Chinese ID cards, they could not access most services. Even so, life was better than in North Korea.
: Kwon Young-se–still unification minister, though his successor has been named—tells a media briefing that North Korea faces a serious food crisis, despite grain imports from China and prices stabilizing somewhat. On Kim Jong Un’s health, Kwon says it “does not appear good, but it is not serious enough to pose some problems for him to work.”
: MOU publishes dossier of hitherto classified government documents on North -South contacts before and after the first inter-Korean accord: joint communiqué signed on July 4, 1972. Covering the period Nov. 1971-Feb. 1979, this has 1,678 pages—of which 230 remain redacted.
: ROK JCS say that South Korean and US experts, having analyzed debris from North Korea’s failed satellite launch in May, retrieved from the Yellow/West Sea, have concluded that the spy satellite would have had “absolutely no military utility.”
: After Pyongyang’s rejection, Hyun Jeong-eun withdraws her application to visit Mt. Kumgang.
: President Yoon signals a major policy shift on MOU, telling his staff: “Hitherto the unification ministry has operated as if it were a support department for North Korea. [T]hat shouldn’t be the case any more…It’s time for the unification ministry to change.”
: Pyongyang publicly and brusquely rejects Ms. Hyun’s visit; previously it had welcomed her as an honored guest. Kim Song Il, a director general at North Korea’s foreign ministry, tells KCNA: “We make it clear that we have neither been informed about any South Korean personage’s willingness for visit nor known about it and that we have no intention to examine it.” He adds that policy is not to allow South Korean nationals entry, and that the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee (APPC), which Ms. Hyun sought to contact (as in the past), has no authority in this regard.
: MOU nominee Kim says “there is a need to selectively [re]consider inter-Korean agreements.” Specifically, September 2018’s military accord may require review, if (in Yonhap’s paraphrase) “the North continues to violate it with high-intensity provocations.”
: MOU says it is considering an application by Hyun Jeong-eun, chairwoman of the Hyundai Group, to visit Mount Kumgang in North Korea—where Hyundai Asan ran tours during 1998-2008—to mark 20 years since the suicide of her husband, former group chairman Chung Mong-hun, on Aug. 4. She last held a memorial service for him there, with DPRK participation, on the 15th anniversary in 2018.
: As heavy rain pounds the peninsula, MOU urges Pyongyang to notify Seoul of any planned release of water from its Hwanggang Dam on the Imjin river, which flows into South Korea. In 2009 flood waters from an unannounced discharge killed six South Koreans who were camping. Despite Pyongyang promising advance notice in future, last year (as often) this was lacking. On July 14 MOU says the North has made no response.
: FFNK says it marked the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War on June 25 with another balloon launch. This one sent 20 balloons carrying 200,000 leaflets, 10,000 face masks, Tylenol pills, and anti-regime booklets into North Korea.
: Amid reports that some 2,000 North Koreans held in China face imminent repatriation now that the PRC-DPRK border has begun to reopen, the head of the ROK’s National Human Rights Commission of Korea, Song Doo-hwan, urges Beijing not to do this.
: At the NIS’s request, South Korea blocks three North Korean propaganda channels on YouTube. As of 1400 local time, attempts to access Sally Parks Song-A Channel, Olivia Natasha- YuMi Space DPRK daily, or New DPRK come up as “not available” in the ROK. On June 27 YouTube itself terminates all three channels.
: ROK Cabinet approves a plan to establish a drone operations command in September. “A source” tells Yonhap that South Korea “has adopted an aggressive counter-drone operational principle, under which a single North Korean drone infiltration would prompt it to send 10 or more unmanned aerial vehicles into (sic) Pyongyang.”
: NIS says DPRK hackers have created a fake version of Naver, ROK’s leading Web portal and search engine, which 25 million South Koreans—almost half the total population—use as their homepage. The agency warns netizens to be on their guard.
: In a further instance—albeit mainly symbolic—of the Yoon administration’s hardening stance, almost three years after North Korea blew up the inter-Korean liaison office at Kaesong, the ROK sues the DPRK government in Seoul Central District Court; claiming damages of 44.7 billion won ($35 million) for destruction of state property. (Although located on Northern territory, South Korea built and paid for this facility.)
: MOU says that it plans to return, via Panmunjom, the corpse of a young (20s-30s) presumed North Korean man, found in waters off Ganghwa island northwest in May. Pyongyang has yet to indicate acceptance. Since 2010 South Korea has sent 23 bodies back to the North, most recently in 2019. In the last such case, a female flood victim in 2022, the DPRK’s radio silence meant the ROK had to cremate her. This time the North again fails to respond, so on June 16 Seoul says he too will be cremated.
: South Korea’s National Police Agency says that the North’s Kimsuky hacked senior ROK officials among others for several months recently, by sending phishing emails to 150 diplomacy and security experts. Nine persons—three former minister and vice minister-level officials, one incumbent government official, four academics or experts, and one reporter—fell for it, and had their account information compromised. Nothing confidential was stolen.
: Yoon administration publishes its National Security Strategy. Besides (unsurprisingly) identifying North Korea’s WMD threat as the South’s most pressing security challenge, it also focuses on wider issues and the ROK’s ambition to become a “global pivotal state.”
: Responding to Pyongyang’s failed satellite bid, South Korea becomes the first country to unilaterally sanction the (not obviously connected) DPRK hacking group known as Kimsuky.
: ROK’s foreign and health ministries jointly voice “deep regrets and concerns” at the DPRK’s recent election to the World Health Organization (WHO)’s executive board. “It is questionable whether North Korea, which has continued to contravene UNSC resolutions and disregard the UN’s authority, meets the standards for a WHO executive board member, which should abide by international norms, pursued by the U.N., and contribute to enhancing global health.”
: “A source” tells Yonhap that earlier this month a DPRK boat (whether civilian or military is unclear) told a 30,000-ton ROK cargo ship sailing in the East Sea/Sea of Japan to “move out to the open sea.” The latter complied, even though it was in fact in international waters.
: Suwon District Court jails An Bu-soo, chairman of the Asia Pacific Exchange Association (a private body), for 42 months, having found him guilty of embezzlement and unauthorized foreign exchange transfers to North Korea. This is the first conviction related to the case of Ssangbangwool Group’s ex-chairman Kim Seong-tae, whose own trial is ongoing.
: In the seventh such action under Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea unilaterally sanctions three DPRK organizations (all under the North’s Ministry of National Defense) and seven individuals. All are said to be involved in Pyongyang’s illegal cyber activities.
: MOU Kwon urges North Korea to return to dialogue, saying the South has no hostile intentions.
: NIS reveals that a family group of 10 North Koreans, who crossed the Northern Limit Line —the de facto marine border in the West/Yellow Sea—by boat on May 6, told their ROK interrogators that “they had admired our society while watching South Korean television, and decided to defect as they grew exhausted of the North Korean regime amid tightened social control stemming from the pandemic.”
: Two Koreas are both drawn in Group B for the second round, to be held this fall, of the Asian women’s soccer tournament, a qualifier for the Olympic Games. China and Thailand complete the group. North Korea has won 15 of 19 previous inter-Korean encounters, against just one win for South Korea; three were draws.
: DPRK website Uriminzokkiri condemns the recent ROK-Japan summit: “The military collusion between South Korea and Japan, much wanted by the United States, has entered the stage …to be recklessly carried out.” It calls Yoon’s foreign policy “submissive.”
: DPRK website Uriminzokkiri condemns the recent ROK-Japan summit: “The military collusion between South Korea and Japan, much wanted by the United States, has entered the stage…to be recklessly carried out.” It calls Yoon’s foreign policy “submissive.”
: Suwon District Court indicts and detains four former officials of the ROK’s largest and most militant umbrella labor body, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, for allegedly spying for North Korea. The four unnamed accused deny all charges and are refusing to cooperate.
: MOU says North Korea seems to be illicitly operating some 10 ROK-owned factories at the former Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), which Seoul withdrew from in 2016.
: Perhaps celebrating their recent court victory (see April 27), FFNK say that on May 5 they sent 20 balloons carrying vitamin C tablets, Tylenol pills and booklets across the DMZ into North Korea from Ganghwa Island, northwest of Seoul.
: Perhaps celebrating their recent court victory (April 27), the activist group Freedom Fighters for North Korea (FFNK) say that on May 5 it sent 20 balloons carrying vitamin C tablets, Tylenol pills, and booklets into North Korea from Ganghwa Island, northwest of Seoul.
: Seoul Central District Court orders the DPRK and Kim Jong Un to pay 50 million won ($37,900) each to three former POWs who escaped from the North in the early 2000s, almost half a century after being taken prisoner during the 1950-53 Korean War. The defendants were not represented. With some understatement Yonhap notes: “It seems difficult for the plaintiffs to actually receive the compensation.”
: Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s leading daily, fills half a page with photos of recent anti-Yoon protests in South Korea. DPRK media have not done this for some years. In past instances, according to defectors, this backfired: readers observed that the other Korea looked more developed, and its people better dressed.
: ROK’s ruling People Power Party (PPP) criticises the National Election Commission (NEC) for ignoring warnings from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) that DPRK hackers attacked it eight times in 2021-22. The NEC denies receiving such warnings. The opposition Democrats (DPK) accuse the PPP and NIS of playing politics.
: MOU says it may sue the DPRK for “illicit” actions in the Mount Kumgang tourist zone, “including the unauthorized removal of ROK assets like a floating hotel owned by Hyundai Asan.” This is a tad tardy. As NK News notes, North Korea began demolishing the Haegumgang Hotel in March 2022; by Dec. it was gone. (See also April 23, above.)
: Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s leading daily, fills half a page with photos of recent anti-Yoon protests in South Korea. DPRK media have not done this for some years. In past instances, according to defectors, it backfired: readers noted that the other Korea looked more developed, and its people better dressed.
: ROK’s ruling conservative People Power Party (PPP) criticizes the National Election Commission (NEC) for ignoring warnings from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) that DPRK hackers attacked it eight times in 2021-22. The NEC denies receiving such warnings. The liberal opposition Democrats (DPK) accuse the PPP and NIS of playing politics. On May 23 the NEC agrees to a cybersecurity check-up by the NIS.
: MOU says it may sue the DPRK for “illicit” actions in the Mount Kumgang tourist zone, “including the unauthorized removal of ROK assets like a floating hotel owned by Hyundai Asan.” This is a tad tardy. As NK News notes, North Korea began demolishing the Haegumgang Hotel in March 2022; by December it was gone.
: ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) announces what may be the largest ever joint live-fire drills. The “Joint and Combined Firepower Annihilation Training” will run May 25-June 15 at Pocheon, 20 miles from the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), marking the US-ROK alliance’s 70th anniversary. This is the 11th such exercise, since 1977; the last was in 2017 (none took place under Moon Jae-in).
: MOU Kwon tells the Unification Future Planning Committee (UFPC; see Feb. 28, above): “We need to urge and induce North Korea to make the right decision so that all members of the Korean Peninsula can feel safe and lead prosperous lives.”
: Visiting a front-line area where North Korean drones infiltrated last year, JCS Chairman Kim Seung-kyun warns that Pyongyang will attack “in unknown and unexpected formats going forward.” South Korea must respond “overwhelmingly … We have to imprint in the enemy minds that the only price for provocation is gruesome punishment.”
: ROK Minister of Unification (MOU) Kwon Young-se, tells the Unification Future Planning Committee: “We need to urge and induce North Korea to make the right decision so that all members of the Korean Peninsula can feel safe and lead prosperous lives.”
: Visiting a front-line area where North Korean drones infiltrated last year, the chairman of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), army Gen. Kim Seung-kyum, warns that Pyongyang will attack “in unknown and unexpected formats going forward.” South Korea must respond “overwhelmingly…We have to imprint in the enemy minds that the only price for provocation is gruesome punishment.”
: After Yoon’s summit with Joe Biden, the official DPRK Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) begins a multi-part series under the title: “Puppet Traitor Yoon Suk Yeol’s Visit to U.S. Draws Censure, Ridicule and Concern.” This cites critical media comment from around the world, including South Korea. Six installments are published in the ensuing days.
: Days after ROK President Yoon Suk Yeol’s summit in late April with US President Joe Biden, the official DPRK Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) begins a multi-part series under the title: “Puppet Traitor Yoon Suk Yeol’s Visit to US Draws Censure, Ridicule and Concern.” This cites media comments criticizing Yoon’s trip from around the world, including South Korea. Six installments are published in the ensuing days.
: Meeting with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington, President Yoon warns that any use of nuclear weapons by North Korea would elicit an “overwhelming” nuclear response.
: Reversing rulings by two lower courts, the ROK Supreme Court finds that the previous Moon Jae-in administration unjustly revoked the legal status of the militant balloon-launching activist group Freedom Fighters for North Korea (FFNK). The case will now go for retrial. For some reason this verdict is not publicized until May 5.
: MOU data show that 34 North Koreans (five men and 29 women) reached Seoul in the first quarter of this year: up from 11 in Q1 2022 and 25 in Q4, and bringing the cumulative total of defectors in South Korea to 33,916. (See also Jan. 10 and Jan. 25 above.)
: MOU says it is considering suing the DPRK for its “clear invasion of [ROK] property rights” at the KIC (see April 5, 6 and 19 above). Potential plaintiffs could include the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM), which handles government funds for inter-Korean cooperation, and MOU’s own subsidiary the Kaesong Industrial District Foundation. Which jurisdiction any suit would be filed in is unclear, and the chances of redress non-existent. (See also May 5, below.)
: Another poll by an NGO, of South Koreans in their 20s and 30s, reports that 24% deem Korean unification “absolutely necessary”—but 61% disagree. 88% view North Korea unfavorably; even more (91%) are negative towards China. By contrast, 67% have positive views of the US, and almost as many (63%) are favorably disposed towards Japan.
: Another poll by an NGO, of South Koreans in their 20s and 30s, reports that 24% deem Korean unification “absolutely necessary”—but 61% disagree. 88% view North Korea unfavorably; even more (91%) are negative towards China. By contrast, 67% have positive views of the US, and almost as many (63%) are favorably disposed towards Japan.
: JoongAng Ilbo reports that North Korea is soliciting Chinese investment for the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC). Next day MOU in effect confirms this: “Intelligence related to participation of companies from a third-party country in the factory zone has been detected, [and] we are looking into it with relevant institutions.”
: MOU publishes its annual Unification White Paper: first during Yoon’s presidency. Its language is tougher than in the Moon Jae-in era; calling for instance for the denuclearization of North Korea, not of the Korean peninsula as formerly. MOU says: “The priority … has been shifted to efforts to denuclearize North Korea, normalize the inter-Korean ties, improve the North’s human rights records and prepare for unification.” 2022 saw zero inter-Korean trade or personnel visits. A trickle of humanitarian aid remains, worth 2.6 billion won ($2 million), down from 3.1 billion won in 2021. An English version is forthcoming.
: MOU says that, for a sixth day, the North is still not picking up the phone: on either the main inter-Korean liaison channel, or the two military hotlines. As of mid-May this stony silence continues.
: In a report to a National Assembly committee, MOU says North Korea has been raising threat levels by repeatedly holding drills to simulate tactical nuclear attacks
: MOU Kwon issues a statement on Pyongyang’s continued radio silence: “The [ROK] government expresses strong regret over the North’s unilateral and irresponsible attitude. We strongly warn that this will only lead the North to isolate itself and face more difficult situations.”
: With the North unresponsive to the South’s routine liaison telephone calls for a fourth day, MOU concludes that Pyongyang has unilaterally severed all communications. The DPRK has made no official announcement or comment about this. (Past, briefer failures to answer were sometimes caused by technical problems; but usually the reason is political.)
: North Korea does not respond to the South’s usual twice-daily calls at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on their telephone liaison channel, nor to the separate daily test calls at 4 p.m. on two military hotlines covering the West and East Seas. Seoul’s calls to the latter on April 8 and 9 also go unanswered (the civilian liaison line does not operate at weekends).
: North Korea does not respond to the South’s usual twice-daily calls at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. on their telephone liaison channel, nor to the separate daily test calls at 4 p.m. on two military hotlines covering the West and East Seas. Seoul’s calls to the latter on April 8 and 9 also go unanswered (the civilian liaison line does not operate at weekends).
: A photograph of a Pyongyang street in Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the DPRK’s ruling Workers’ Party (WPK), includes a South Korean-made bus: one of several abandoned in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) when then-ROK President Park Geun-hye unilaterally closed the joint venture in February 2016, in retaliation for North Korean nuclear and rocket tests.
: Seoul Central District Court grants bail on medical grounds (cardiovascular issues) to Suh Hoon. Now aged 70, Moon Jae-in’s former national security adviser had been detained since Dec. on charges related to his handling of the Sept. 2020 killing of an ROK fisheries official in mysterious circumstances by North Korea.
: For the first time, MOU publishes its annual report on North Korean human rights. It has compiled one each year since 2018, as mandated by a 2016 law; but under Moon Jae-in these were not made public. The 450 page report describes some 1,600 violations of human rights, based on the testimony of 508 defectors between 2017-22. (See also April 26.)
: Four unnamed current or former KCTU officials are arrested for alleged illegal contact with DPRK spies in third countries, including Vietnam (Hanoi), Cambodia (Phnom Penh) and China (Guangzhou). According to prosecutors, the chief suspect also briefed Pyongyang about ROK political developments on some 100 occasions, and was given orders—including to lead anti-government rallies. (See also Jan. 18, above.)
: Amid recent intensified WMD tests by North Korea, ROK President Yoon tells his Cabinet: “From now on, the unification ministry should stop giving away to North Korea (sic) and make it clear that as long as North Korea pursues nuclear development, we cannot give them a single won.”
: ROK JCS sounds a skeptical note on the DPRK’s new weapon (see March 24): “Our military is putting weight to the possibility that the claim might have been exaggerated or fabricated.” Any new system is at an early stage of development.
: MOU calls on North Korea to “faithfully” repay a loan that falls due today. In 2007, amid briefly burgeoning cooperation after the second North-South summit, Seoul loaned Pyongyang industrial raw materials, worth US$80 million, to make garments, shoes and soap. Repayment was meant to be in kind, with minerals such as zinc; but the North has made no payments since 2008.
: North Korea claims to have successfully tested an underwater nuclear attack drone during March 21-23, able to cause a “radioactive tsunami” and destroy enemy ports.
: Speaking at a memorial service on West Sea Defense Day (commemorating the 55 ROK service members killed off the west coast between 2002-2010), President Yoon says: “I will make sure North Korea pays the price for its reckless provocations.”
: For the first time since 2018 the ROK joins other democracies in co-sponsoring the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)’s resolution on DPRK human rights. UNHRC has passed such a resolution every year since 2003, but during 2019-22 Moon Jae-in’s administration was not among its sponsors. In Dec. South Korea sponsored a similar resolution in the UN General Assembly (UNGA), again after a four-year hiatus.
: South Korea bans the export via third countries of 77 items that could be used in North Korea’s satellite program. Pyongyang has said it will put a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit this spring.
: Lee Hwa-young (former vice governor of Gyeonggi Province and a close ally of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung), who already faces charges of bribery, is further indicted for collusion in Ssangbangwool Group’s alleged illegal transfer of funds to North Korea in 2019-20. (More details in Korean here.)
: MOU announces increased financial and other support for North Korean defectors, including the first rise in the basic resettlement subsidy for four years.
: Oh Se-hoon, mayor of Seoul and a likely future PPP presidential contender, tells Reuters that South Korea should build nuclear weapons to bolster its defences against North Korea, even at the risk of international repercussions.
: Case papers for the officials indicted on Feb, 28 (see above) reveal that the fishermen were deceived: not realizing they were being repatriated, until their blindfolds were removed at Panmunjom. When the penny dropped, they struggled and attempted self-harm.
: MOU Kwon tells Voice of America (VOA) that the Moon-era law which prohibits sending leaflets into North Korea is an “absolutely bad act” which needs revision: “The clause … which legally blocks the things that could help North Korean people’s right to know has a problem.” In Nov. Kwon opined similarly to the Constitutional Court.
: As often, ROK lawmakers leak tidbits from an NIS briefing to the press. The spy agency claims that the oldest of Kim Jong Un’s three children is a son; rumors that he has physical and mental issues are unconfirmed. His ever more prominent daughter Kim Ju Ae is home-schooled and enjoys riding, swimming and skiing. The third child’s sex is unknown.
: ROK JCS deny claims by their DPRK counterpart, the General Staff of the Korean People’s Army (KPA), of a “very grave military provocation”: namely firing over 30 artillery shells at a range in Paju near the DMZ. Seoul calls this “not true and a groundless claim.”
: Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office indicts four of Moon Jae-in’s former minister-level officials for alleged involvement in the forced repatriation of two North Korean fishermen in 2019. Chung Eui-yong (ex-national security adviser and foreign minister), Noh Young-min (former presidential chief of staff), Suh Hoon (ex-NIS chief) and Kim Yeon-chul (quondam MOU) are accused variously of abuse of power under the NIS law, obstructing the fishermen’s rights, and falsifying documents. They are not held; Suh is already detained on other charges (see April 3 below).
: MOU launches the Unification Future Planning Committee (UFPC). This new 34-strong advisory committee of experts from academia and NGOs is tasked with drawing up a new policy blueprint for unification “based on freedom and democratic values.” It will meet quarterly. Its five sub-panels include military matters, economic affairs and humn rights.
: Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office indicts four of Moon Jae-in’s former minister-level officials for alleged involvement in the forced repatriation of two North Korean fishermen in 2019. Chung Eui-yong (ex-national security adviser and foreign minister), Noh Young-min (former presidential chief of staff), Suh Hoon (ex-NIS chief) and Kim Yeon-chul (quondam MOU) are accused variously of abuse of power under the NIS law, obstructing the fishermen’s rights, and falsifying documents. They are not held; Suh is already detained on other charges (see April 3 below).
: As widely trailed, and interestingly timed—on Kim Jong Il’s birthday, a major public holiday in the DPRK—MND publishes a new Defense White Paper (though dated 2022). This calls North Korea an “enemy” for the first time since 2017; under Moon Jae-in that expression was excised. Kim Jong Un is now referenced merely by name; in the Moon era, more courteously, his title was also given (chairman of the State Affairs Commission).
: South Korea’s Foreign Ministry announces the ROK’s first bilateral sanctions against the DPRK’s illicit cyber-activities, including cryptocurrency theft. These target four named individuals and seven organizations under the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), North Korea’s military intelligence agency. Earlier in Yoon’s presidency Seoul sanctioned persons and institutions involved in the DPRK’s WMD programs, and in evading multilateral UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions. As the two Koreas have no intercourse, the South’s sanctions are largely symbolic.
: Under its work plan for 2023-25, MOU vows to “mobilize all available policy means to resolve the issue of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, prioritizing identifying whether their relatives in North Korea are alive.” This hardly seems a realistic hope. Last Sept. Minister Kwon proposed resuming family reunions, but Pyongyang did not deign to reply.
: NIS says it has formed a three-way inter-agency team with the NPA and the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office (SPO) to probe domestic espionage cases linked to North Korea—but only until Dec. 31. Under a contentious reorganization by Yoon’s predecessor Moon Jae-in, from 2024 the NIS will lose its investigative powers in such cases to the police.
: Amid US-PRC tensions over a Chinese weather balloon which overflew the US before being shot down, an anonymous official tells Yonhap that a suspected DPRK weather balloon, some 2 meters long, entered ROK airspace (where exactly is not specified) for a few hours on Feb. 5. Unlike their US counterparts, South Korea’s military took no action “as it deemed the balloon as having no intention for spying activities.”
: Meeting with Ven. Jinwoo—president of the Jogye Order, South Korea’s largest Buddhist denomination—MOU Kwon Young-se asks for help from “the Buddhist circle” in improving ties with North Korea. Kwon stresses that the government wants to revive humanitarian exchanges. Yonhap’s report does not say how Ven. Jinwoo responded.
: Relatives of Kim Jung-wook and Kim Kuk-gi—ROK missionaries arrested by North Korea in 2013 and 2014 respectively—meet Elizabeth Salmon, UN special rapporteur for DPRK human rights, who is visiting Seoul, to seek UN help in gaining their release. The two Kims are among nine South Koreas currently detained in North Korea for alleged anti-state crimes; three of them are priests.
: Prosecutors in the southwestern ROK city of Jeonju charge a local activist, Ha Yeon-ho, head of the Jeonbuk People Movement, with breaking the National Security Law by having unauthorized contacts with North Koreans. Ha allegedly met DPRK agents several times during 2013-19 in Beijing, Hanoi and elsewhere, and sent email reports to Pyongyang on South Korean politics. Denying the charges, Ha says the investigation is suppression.
: On the same day, Seoul Central District Court approves a prosecution request to detain four unnamed activists from Changwon in the southeastern ROK. Taking orders from DPRK agents in Cambodia and elsewhere, the accused allegedly founded an anti-government organization which organized pro-Pyongyang and anti-US activities.
: Citing “informed officials” (aka leaking prosecutors), Yonhap reports that under questioning Kim Seong-tae claims to have delivered $8 million to North Korea in 2019, to promote Gyeonggi Province’s smart farm project and a potential visit by Lee Jae-myung, then Gyeonggi governor. Kim now says he does know Lee; the latter still denies this.
: ROK Coast Guard—specifically its Western Regional HQ in the southern port city of Mokpo—arrests an unnamed oil dealer. He is accused of supplying 19,000 tons of diesel fuel, worth 18 billion won ($14.65 million), to North Korea in 35 ship-to-ship transfers during Oct. 2021-Jan. 2022, using a Chinese firm as intermediary for transport and payment. Two accomplices are booked without detention. This is the first arrest in such a case.
: South Korea’s liberal opposition DPK slams the ruling conservative People Power Party (PPP) for trying to stop the transfer of authority to conduct DPRK-related anti-espionage probes from the NIS to the police (NPA), scheduled for end-2023. With President Yoon calling for this to be reconsidered, the DPK says: “Yoon has revealed his snaky (sic) true intention … after using the NIS to noisily raid labor union offices” (see Jan. 18 above).
: In a report to President Yoon, MOU sets out seven key policy objectives for 2023. The ministry will try to “normalize” inter-Korean relations by seeking both direct and indirect contacts with Pyongyang, including via NGOs and international bodies. Yet Minister Kwon Young-se says that although ready to talk at any time. Seoul is not contemplating any new offer to do so: “It is important for North Korea to come back to dialogue with sincerity.”
: Briefing the National Assembly’s defense committee on the interim findings of its internal inquiry into the drone incident, the JCS explains that although the frontline Army First Corps detected at least one of the intruders, this was not initially classified as an emergency. With over 2,000 radar trails daily, many are hard to interpret: “there are great limitations in determing [sic] that they are the enemy’s small unmanned aerial vehicles.”
: Exactly one month after North Korea’s drone incursion, the US-led United Nations Command (UNC), which has oversees the DMZ, finds that both Koreas violated the 1953 Armistice by sending UAVs into each other’s airspace on Dec. 26. MND retorts that the ROK’s retaliatory drone was in self-defense, ergo not covered by the Armistice Agreement.
: Citing an unidentified “source,” Yonhap claims that nine of the 67 North Korea defectors who reached Seoul in 2022 were workers coming from Russia. All male and previously unknown to each other, they include two soldiers in their 20s and several long-time loggers in their 40s-50s. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine “caused a stir” which prompted their separate decisions to flee. MOU declines to confirm any of this, on security grounds.
: North Korea drone post-mortem continues. Citing “informed sources”—no doubt lawmakers briefed ahead of tomorrow’s committee session; see Jan. 26—the ROK JCS blames “insufficiencies” on four fronts—threat perception, internal information-sharing, equipment and training—for the botched military response to the five DPRK UAVs which violated ROK airspace a month ago. Whether heads will roll in Seoul for this is unclear: “As the inspection is not over yet, we are not at the stage to mention a disciplinary step if any.”
: MOU data show that 3,647 applicants to meet North Korean family members died last year. Out of around 134,000 who originally registered for this scheme, only 42, 624—fewer than one-third—are still alive. Since 2000 there have been 21 rounds of face-to-face reunions, but none since Aug. 2018 and no realistic prospect of resumption. (See also Feb. 7.)
: Suwon District Court grants a warrant and Kim Seong-tae is formally arrested. The charge-sheet includes embezzlement, bribery and illegal transfer of cash to North Korea.
: After an hours-long standoff, a team from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the National Police Agency (NPA) raids the Seoul headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU, the more left-wing of South Korea’s two umbrella union groupings), “on suspicion of anti-communist law violations by some of its members.” Amid reports of a scuffle, KCTU claims excessive force was used. Two simultaneous smaller raids take place elsewhere on KCTU members and affiliates. (See also March 28 below.)
: Handcuffed and flanked by prosecutors, Kim Seong-tae arrives at Incheon International Airport. Answering a reporter’s question, he denies knowing opposition leader Lee Jae-myung. Lee says the same, but a former Ssangbangwool executive claims otherwise. Prosecutors begin questioning Kim the same day.
: Belying expectations of a lengthy contested extradition process, “judicial and other officials” tell Yonhap, South Korea’s quasi-official news agency, that Kim Seong-tae has decided to come home and face the music. (One reason, reportedly, is that South Korean jails are more salubrious than Thai ones.)
: MOU says that in 2022 only 67 Northern defectors reached South Korea: second lowest annual figure ever, after the 63 who arrived in 2021. (See also Jan. 25.)
: Eight months after fleeing to Singapore, Kim Seong-tae, former chairman of Ssangbangwool (SBW) Group, an underwear maker, is arrested at a golf club in Thailand. Besides corruption charges, Kim is alleged to have illegally transferred funds to Norh Korea. (See Nov.16, 2022 in our previous Chronology, and Jan. 12, 17, 20, 31 and March 21 below.)
: South Korea’s presidential office says that last year it granted a meeting request by North Korea human rights activists, including FFNK, and is “keeping the channel open.” Under Yoon’s predecessor Moon the Blue House shunned such groups as hostile.
: NK News reports that the United Nations Command (UNC) has set up a Special Investigation Team to probe whether recent drone flights over the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) violated the Armistice. That could mean the ROK as well as the DPRK launches.
: ROK media report that three persons on Jeju island, linked to the small leftist Progressive Party and the Korean Peasants’ League, are under police investigation for running a pro-North underground group since 2017, directed by DPRK agents. The accused deny the charges and refuse the NIS summons. A separate probe into another pro-Pyongyang network has led to raids in Jeju, Seoul, South Gyeongsang and North Jeolla.
: ROK presidential office reveals that last year (no date was cited) it granted a meeting request by DPRK human rights activists—including the militant group Fighters for Free North Korea (FFNK), which has persisted with now illegal balloon launches of leaflets across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)—and is “keeping the channel open.” Under Yoon’s predecessor Moon Jae-in, the Blue House shunned such groups as hostile.
: subscription website NK News reports that the United Nations Command (UNC) has set up a Special Investigation Team to probe whether recent drone flights over the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) violated the Armistice. That could mean the ROK’s as well as the DPRK’s launches. (For UNC’s verdict, see Jan. 26 below.)
: ROK media report that three persons on Jeju Island, linked to the small leftist Progressive Party and the Korean Peasants’ League, are under police investigation for running a pro-North underground group since 2017, directed by DPRK agents. The accused deny the charges and are refusing the NIS’s summons. A separate probe into another pro-Pyongyang network has led to raids in Jeju, Seoul, South Gyeongsang and North Jeolla provinces. (See also Jan. 18 and Feb. 1 below.)
: “A high-ranking presidential official” tells the JoongAng Ilbo (Seoul’s leading daily; its politics are center-right): “If the North sends [UAVs] … again, we will not just respond passively by shooting them down.” Rather, the ROK will send its own drones “deep into North Korea in accordance with the principle of proportionality … We may send UAVs as far as Pyongyang and the launch station at Tongchang-ri [a major rocket launch site].”
: South Korea’s liberal opposition Democratic Party (DPK), which controls the National Assembly, calls the ROK’s tit-for-tat sending a drone across the DMZ on Dec. 26 a “reckless” breach of the 1953 Armistice which blurred Pyongyang’s culpability. Rejecting this charge, MND claims that its riposte was “a corresponding self-defense measure.” (See also Jan. 26 below.)
: Amplifying the above, ROK media cite unnamed officials as warning that Seoul may suspend not only the military pact but also 2018’s inter-Korean joint declaration, should Pyongyang again intrude on its territory. A “key presidential official” tells Yonhap: “It’s part of our sovereignty to invalidate inter-Korean agreements if circumstances change.” Hinting at a major policy shift, MOU says it is reviewing whether it could legally resume propaganda broadcasts or sending leaflets if these agreements were suspended.
: In a U-turn, a military official admits that on Dec. 26 one DPRK drone did penetrate a 3.7-kilometer-radius no-fly zone around the presidential office in Seoul’s Yongsan district. The ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) had previously dismissed such claims as “untrue and groundless.” Military authorities still insist there was no security risk, doubting whether the North’s UAV was even capable of taking usable photographs.
: ROK armed forces conduct further air defense drills, this time including live fire, against enemy drone infiltrations. Some 50 aircraft are deployed, including KA-1 light attack planes and 500MD helicopters, as well as troops armed with drone jammer guns.
: Yoon’s spokesperson says he has “instructed the National Security Office to consider suspending the Sept. 19 (2018) military agreement in the event North Korea carries out another provocation violating our territory.” Yoon also “instructed” DM Lee to beef up the ROK’s military drone capacity. His office says the North has “explicitly” violated the 2018 accord 17 times since October.
: A propos Dec. 26’s incursion by five DPRK drones across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ, the de facto inter-Korean border), discussed in our last issue, President Yoon’s spokesperson says he has “instructed the National Security Office to consider suspending the Sept. 19 (2018) military agreement in the event North Korea carries out another provocation violating our territory.” Yoon also “instructed” Defense Minister (MND) Lee Jong-sup to beef up the ROK’s military drone capacity. His office says the North has “explicitly” violated the 2018 accord 17 times since October.
: South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) reveals that in 2022 it approved twelve applications by NGOs to send humanitarian aid to North Korea, worth a total of 5.52 billion won ($4.32 million). Five of these were since Yoon Suk Yeol took office as President last May, including a shipment of (unspecified) goods worth 300 million won in December. It is not known how much, if any, of this aid has actually reached the DPRK, which nowadays normally spurns assistance from the ROK.
: South Korea holds large-scale anti-drone military drills, apparently for the first time since 2017.
: MND says that in 2023 the ROK will spend 560 billion won ($441 million) on improving its defenses against drones.
: Five DPRK unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs, aka drones) cross the DMZ and fly over South Korea for almost five hours. One reaches northern Seoul. The ROK military fails to shoot down any, and loses radar contact. Next day military authorities apologise. The South retaliates by sending drones of its own over North Korea; details are not given.
: As in recent years, North Korea closes the year with a big Party meeting: the 6th Enlarged Plenum of 8th WPK Central Committee. The main focus is military, with tough language even by DPRK standards. Calling South Korea “our undoubted enemy.” Kim Jong Un says this “highlights the importance and necessity of a mass-producing of tactical nuclear weapons and calls for an exponential increase of the country’s nuclear arsenal.”
: Kim Yo Jong loses it, issuing a furious, lengthy (1,900 words) rant against those in Seoul “who have tongue belittled [sic] our yesterday’s report on an important test for developing a reconnaissance satellite.” Though mainly invective, her point seems to be that a hi-res camera would have been a waste of money, as Dec. 18’s test prioritized other aspects.
: KCNA reports that on Dec. 18 the DPRK National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) “conducted an important final-stage test for the development of [a] reconnaissance satellite.” It publishes grainy black and white aerial views of Seoul and Incheon. Seoul queries whether such “crude” low-resolution images are really from a satellite, suggesting the North still has far to go technically. NADA says it will launch a military reconnaissance satellite by April.
: MOU says that since Sept. 2021 three (unnamed) NGOs have sent soybean oil worth 1.2 billion won ($922,000) to North Korea, under a government program “to offer nutritional aid to the North amid chronic food shortages and the COVID-19 pandemic.” Two of the shipments were since Yoon took office.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Kim Ki-woong says the Yoon government will map out a three-year blueprint to improve North Korean human rights.
: At a virtual meeting of the Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI), South Korea calls on the North to return to this UN-backed intergovernmental cooperation mechanism, set up in 1995. Current members are China, Russia, Mongolia. and the ROK. The DPRK pulled out in 2009 in protest at UNSC sanctions. From July Seoul will chair the GTI for three years.
: ROK DM Lee tells a “forum on the military’s spiritual and mental force enhancement” that South Korean troops “should clearly recognize as our enemy the North Korean regime and [its] military,” given the North’s provocations and threats.”
: At a ceremony promoting 18 brigadiers-general (one star) to lieutenant general (three stars), President Yoon says that despite North Korea’s nuclear arsenal, the South must “perfectly overwhelm” it in conventional military strength.
: “Sources” tell Yonhap that the next biennial ROK defense White Paper, due out in January, will again designate the DPRK regime and military as an “enemy,” fulfilling a pledge by Yoon Suk Yeol’s transition team before he took office. Troop education materials have already revived the E-word, banished under Moon Jae-in in his quest for peace.
: For the second time in as many months the ROK imposes its own sanctions, targeting eight persons and seven agencies seen as complicit in the DPRK’s WMD programs. Of the individuals, six work for three North Korean banks; the other two are from Singapore and Taiwan. The US and Japan also impose similar bilateral sanctions.
: A new booklet from Pyongyang Publishing House, “The Gallop To Ruin,” denounces Yoon Suk Yeol as a “political moron” who “cannot escape a violent death.”
: Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong issues second press statement in three days (the first condemned the UNSC for “double standards” in discussing the DPRK’s most recent ICBM launch). This one lays into “the south Korean stooges” for being “a running wild dog on a bone given by the US,” castigating “Yoon Suk Yeol and other idiots” as “impudent and stupid.” Menacingly, she adds: “Anyhow, Seoul had not been our target at least when Moon Jae In was in power.” (For full text, see the Appendix.)
: MOU responds with dignity and restraint: “We consider it very deplorable that Vice Director Kim Yo-jong criticized the leader of our country with vulgar language today without showing even the most basic level of courtesy.”
: MOU releases a booklet fleshing out President Yoon’s “audacious plan” in a bit more detail. This lays out three stages of gradually increasing South Korean assistance if North Korea undertakes denuclearization, but is vague on what exactly the North has to do to unlock each stage. There is no prospect anyway of this coming to pass.
: PPP leader Chung Jin-sook claims the Ssangbangwool case “is developing into a bribery scandal involving North Korea and the Moon Jae-in administration,” which “should be held accountable.” Saying SBW sent as much as $7 million to Pyongyang, Chung reckons the government and NIS must have known. But he cites no evidence.
: Interviewed by Yonhap, MOU Kwon insists that “the goal of denuclearizing North Korea is not unattainable.” “Extended deterrence, sanctions and pressure” can make the DPRK return to talks. He adds that while Seoul does not seek its own bomb, or to reintroduce US tactical nukes, those stances could alter if tensions worsen and public opinion shifts.
: For the first time since 2017, South Korea joins other democracies in in co-sponsoring the UN’s annual resolution highlighting DPRK human rights concerns. North Korea accuses the South of seeking to distract attention from the recent deadly crowd crush in Seoul. (This is Pyongyang’s first mention of the Itaewon tragedy: no condolences were sent.)
: Headlined “Fugitive underwear boss gave Kim Jong-un Hermès saddle, say prosecutors,” the JoongAng Daily publishes “exclusive” about Kim Seong-tae, ex-chairman of SBW (Ssangbangwool) Group. Besides that luxury saddle, in 2019 Kim allegedly sent $1.5 million to DPRK representatives in China, apparently hoping for business opportunities. (On Jan. 10 Kim was arrested in Thailand, so further revelations may follow.)
: South Korea’s Education Ministry (MOE) says that an advisory committee, formed since Yoon Suk Yeol took office, has recommended 90 changes to social studies text books approved for fifth and sixth grades “due to errors or possible ideological bias.” One publisher has already agreed to alter the phrase “DPRK government” to “DPRK regime.”
: MOU says it is trying to return the body of a presumed North Korean woman (she was wearing a badge of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il), retrieved from the Imjin river on July 23. Pyongyang is not responding, which is unusual in these cases. Since 2010 Seoul has repatriated 23 such corpses, carried down-river across the DMZ; the last was in Nov. 2019.
: Civic groups opposed to the law that prohibits sending leaflets into North Korea reveal a powerful ally. In an opinion submitted to the Constitutional Court, which is reviewing the matter after a petition by 27 NGOs, MOU Kwon Young-se says that the ban “goes against the Constitution because it infringes on freedom of expression.” Kwon also criticizes the law’s vague wording, which could be enforced “arbitrarily.”
: In response to Vigilant Storm, the DPRK launches a record 23 missiles. For the first time, one lands near ROK territorial waters, prompting an air raid alert on Ulleung island in the East Sea/Sea of Japan, where it had seemed headed. The JCS condemns this as “very rare and intolerable.” Calling an emergency meeting of the National Security Council, President Yoon says it was “effectively a violation of our territory.” He orders that “strict measures be taken swiftly to ensure North Korea pays a clear price for its provocation.”
: US and ROK hold their largest ever joint aerial exercise, Vigilant Storm. Over 240 aircraft, including some of the most advanced they possess, fly 1,600 sorties.
: ROK Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup declares: “it’s time to change our strategy” toward the DPRK nuclear threat. Rather than seeking to curb Pyongyang’s WMD development, Seoul should focus on deterrence, to convey “a clear sense that if North Korea attempts to use nuclear weapons, it will bring about an end to [their] regime and it will disappear completely.”
: Two Koreas exchange warning shots before dawn in the Yellow Sea, after a DPRK merchant ship briefly crosses the Northern Limit Line—NLL, the de facto inter-Korean marine border—near Baengnyeong Island. The North, which does not recognize the NLL and claims waters south of it, accuses a Southern warship of intruding. Pyongyang also says the South has resumed propaganda broadcasts at the DMZ, which Seoul denies.
: Meeting with relatives of two South Koreans detained in North Korea, MOU Kwon says: “The government will do its best to win [their] release by mobilizing all available means.” Pyongyang is known to have held six ROK citizens since 2013. Three are pastors, all serving hard labor for life for alleged espionage. The other trio are former defectors. Their prospects are bleak.
: In a UN Security Council (UNSC) meeting on women, peace and security, ROK Ambassador Hwang Joon-kook highlights the “appalling and heartbreaking” plight of female escapees from the DPRK. Risks they face include human trafficking, imprisonment, and harsh punishment if repatriated. Seoul has not raised this issue officially before. This is an implicit criticism of China, where all these abuses (including refoulement) occur.
: After further volleys from Korean People’s Army (KPA) artillery into what the 2018 North-South military accord designated as no-fire maritime buffer zones near the inter-Korean border, Seoul calls on Pyongyang to respect that agreement and desist.
: Amid reports that the DPRK has dismantled more ROK-built and –owned facilities at the former Mount Kumgang resort—specifically, a sushi restaurant—MOU calls this “a clear violation of inter-Korean agreements” and urges the North to stop.
: In response to Pyongyang’s missile tests and its emphasis on tactical nukes, Seoul sanctions 15 North Korean individuals and 16 DPRK institutions, the ROK’s first such sanctions since 2017, and the first by Yoon; there were none during Moon Jae-in’s presidency. The move is symbolic, given the lack of inter-Korean commerce.
: A propos recent DPRK artillery fire into (its own) coastal waters close to the DMZ, President Yoon says“it’s correct that it’s a violation of the Sept. 19 [2018] accord.”
: Chung Jin-suk, interim leader of the ROK’s conservative ruling People Power Party (PPP), says that if North Korea carries out a new nuclear test, the South should scrap 1991’s inter-Korean declaration on denuclearization—which he says Pyongyang has turned into “a piece of waste paper.”
: President Yoon says North Korea “has nothing to gain from nuclear weapons.”
: After an especially intense flurry of weapons testing from Sept. 25 through Oct. 9, KCNA explains what this was all about: “Respected Comrade Kim Jong Un Guides Military Drills of KPA Units for Operation of Tactical Nukes.” Kim says DPRK forces are “completely ready to hit and destroy targets at any time from any location.”
: Responding to Kim’s nuclear braggadocio, the ROK presidential office calls the security situation on the peninsula “grave.”
: Asked by reporters whether North Korea’s incessant missile testing might lead Seoul to scrap Sept. 2018’s inter-Korean military accord, as hinted at by Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup, President Yoon says: “It’s a bit difficult to tell you in advance.”
: After launching an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) earlier that day, North Korea does not respond to the South’s daily 9 am call on their liaison hotline. This prompts fears in Seoul that Pyongyang has cut off contact, as in the past. The North answers normally when contacted at 5 pm. As a separate military hotline remained in operation, technical rather than political problems are suspected (e.g. rain damage).
: After a parliamentary briefing by the National Intelligence Service (NIS), ROK lawmakers leak tidbits to local media. The NIS reckons the DPRK may test a nuclear device between Oct. 16 and Nov. 7 (it does not). Leader Kim Jong Un “appears to be showing no signs of health issues and returned to weighing between 130 and 140 kilograms.”
: Activist ROK NGOs urge the liberal opposition Democratic Party (DPK) to stop blocking an official North Korean Human Rights Foundation (NKHRF). The 2016 act establishing this, passed during Park Geun-hye’s presidency, requires the two main parties to each recommend five candidates to the board. The DP, which took power in 2017 and still controls parliament, has refused to nominate anyone—thus rendering the NKHRF stillborn.
: CNN airs interview with Yoon Suk Yeol, made when he was in New York for the UNGA. Yoon opinesthat “in case of military conflict around Taiwan, there would be increased possibility of North Korean provocation…in that case, the top priority for Korea and the US-Korea alliance on the Korean Peninsula would be based on our robust defense posture. We must deal with the North Korean threat first.”
: Ahead of North Korea Freedom Week (Sept. 25-Oct 1), MOU urges activist groups to refrain from sending leaflets and other materials across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) by balloon. It also warns of “strong and stern” action, should Pyongyang carry out its threat to retaliate against such activities.
: A poll of 1,200 adults by Seoul National University (SNU)’s Institute for Peace and Unification Studies (IPUS) finds record numbers skeptical that North Korea will ever denuclearize (92.5% deem this “impossible”). A majority—55.5%, the most since the poll started in 2007—support South Korea having its own nuclear weapons. 60.9% think the North may engage in armed provocations. 31.6% reckon Korean unification is impossible, but almost half (46%) consider it necessary.
: Relatedly, prosecutors question Kim Yeon-chul, unification minister at the time. He is accused of cutting short an inquiry into the case and ordering the deportation.
: Yoon Suk Yeol addresses UN General Assembly (UNGA). Unusually, and in contrast to his predecessor Moon Jae-in, he makes no mention of North Korea or peninsular issues; focusing instead on universal global themes (his speech is titled “Freedom and Solidarity: Answers to the Watershed Moment.’)
: Gen. Kim Seung-kyum, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), tells the ROK National Assembly: “I will make North Korea clearly realize that should it attempt to use nuclear arms, it would face the overwhelming response from the South Korea-US alliance and our military, and there would be no scenario for regime survival anymore.”
: MOU Kwon urges Pyongyang to stop “distorting and denigrating” President Yoon’s “audacious plan” to assist the North if it denuclearizes. Better to start a “virtuous circle” and return to dialogue based on “mutual respect and benefit.”
: Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office interrogates former Deputy National Security Adviser Kim You-geun over his role in the unprecedented repatriation in Nov. 2019 of two Northern fishermen (who had reportedly confessed to murdering 16 shipmates).
: In a defiant speech, Kim Jong Un dares the US to maintain economic sanctions for “a thousand years,” adding: “There will never be any declaration of ‘giving up our nukes’ or ‘denuclearization,’ nor any kind of negotiations or bargaining…As long as nuclear weapons exist on Earth and imperialism remains…our road towards strengthening nuclear power won’t stop.” The SPA passes a new law reaffirming the DPRK’s status as a nuclear weapons state; this replaces a shorter 2013 statute. Inter alia, it codifies the DPRK military’s ‘right’ to launch preemptive nuclear strikes “automatically and immediately” in case of an imminent attack against its leadership or “important strategic objects.”
: On the eve of the Chuseok (harvest festival) holiday, MOU Kwon publicly proposes talks on family reunions. With those affected now in their 80s and 90s, “(we) have to resolve the problem before the word ‘separated family’ itself disappears…(the two sides) should map out swift and fundamental measures, using all available methods.” He adds that one-off events for a few families are not enough; those have been held on 22 occasions, most recently in 2018. Seoul is ready to discuss this issue anytime, anywhere and in any format. It is trying to convey the offer formally to UFD head Ri Son Gwon via the inter-Korean liaison hotline (good luck with that).
: SPA passes a new law, replacing a shorter 2013 statute, reaffirming the DPRK’s status as a nuclear weapons state. (See main text for fuller details).
: SPA passes a new law, replacing a shorter 2013 statute, reaffirming the DPRK’s status as a nuclear weapons state. Inter alia, this codifies the DPRK military’s “right” to launch preemptive nuclear strikes “automatically and immediately” in case of an imminent attack against its leadership or “important strategic objects.” A defiant Kim Jong Un dares the US to maintain economic sanctions for “a thousand years…There will never be any declaration of “giving up our nukes” or “denuclearization,” nor any kind of negotiations or bargaining…As long as nuclear weapons exist on Earth and imperialism remains…our road towards strengthening nuclear power won’t stop.”
: On the eve of the Chuseok (harvest festival) holiday, Unification Minister Kwon Young-se proposes talks on family reunions. With those affected now in their 80s and 90s, “(we) have to resolve the problem before the word ‘separated family’ itself disappears …(the two sides) should map out swift and fundamental measures, using all available methods.” He adds that one-off events for a few families are not enough; those have been held on 22 occasions, most recently in 2018. Seoul is ready to discuss this issue anytime, anywhere and in any format; it is trying to convey that offer formally to Ri Son Gwon, who as head of the United Front Department (UFD) of North Korea’s ruling Workers” Party (WPK) is Kwon’s Northern counterpart—via the inter-Korean liaison hotline.
: MOU says it has approved an NGO’s application to send “nutritional” aid to North Korea. No further details are revealed. This is its eighth such approval this year, and the first under Yoon. With DPRK borders still largely closed, and amid icy North-South ties, it is unclear whether any of this has actually been delivered.
: 14th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), North Korea’s rubber-stamp Parliament, opens its 7th session: second this year.
: MOU says it has approved an NGO’s application to send “nutritional” aid to North Korea. No further details are revealed. This is its eighth such approval this year, and the first under Yoon. With DPRK borders still largely closed, and amid icy North-South ties, it is unclear how much of this has been delivered.
: 14th Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), North Korea’s rubber-stamp Parliament, opens its 7th session: the second this year.
: ROK military authorities say Pyongyang appears to have again opened the floodgates at its Hwanggang dam without notifying Seoul, as inter-Korean accords stipulate. It did the same in late June and early August. MOU says that during today’s regular call on the inter-Korean hotline, it tried to deliver a formal reminder of the need for advance notice. However, “the DPRK [sic] ended the call without clarifying its position.”
: Park Sang-hak says FFNK conducted another balloon launch, their fourth since July 6: “We sent 20 balloons to the North from Ganghwado…on Sept. 4 loaded with 50,000 tablets of Tylenol [painkillers], 30,000 tablets of vitamin C supplements and 20,000 masks to help North Korean compatriots who are suffering from COVID-19.” One balloon carries large pictures of Kim Jong Un and Kim Yo Jong: caption calls for their extermination.
: ROK military authorities say Pyongyang appears to have again opened the floodgates at its Hwanggang dam without notifying Seoul, as inter-Korean accords stipulate it must. The North did the same in late June and early August. MOU says that during today’s regular call on the inter-Korean hotline, it tried to deliver a formal reminder of the need for advance notice. However, “the DPRK [sic] ended the call without clarifying its position.”
: Park Sang-hak, head of the militant activist group Freedom Fighters for North Korea (FFNK), says his group conducted another balloon launch, their fourth since July 6. “We sent 20 balloons to the North from Ganghwado…on Sept. 4 loaded with 50,000 tablets of Tylenol [painkillers], 30,000 tablets of vitamin C supplements and 20,000 masks to help North Korean compatriots who are suffering from COVID-19.” One balloon carries large pictures of Kim Jong Un and Kim Yo Jong: the caption calls for their extermination.
: In its first commentary on Ulchi Freedom Shield (not carried in domestic media such as Rodong Sinmun), KCNA prints in full (3,400 words) a “research report” by the “Society for International Politics Study.” Surveying 70 years of US-ROK war games—in their words. “Aggressive War Drills Lasting on Earth in Longest Period” (sic)—this warns that “the possibility of a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula is now becoming a present-tense matter.”
: In its first commentary on Ulchi Freedom Shield (albeit not carried in domestic media such as Rodong Sinmun), the DPRK’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) publishes the full 3,400-word text of a “research report” by the “Society for International Politics Study.” Surveying 70 years of US-ROK joint military maneuvers—or in their words, “Aggressive War Drills Lasting on Earth in Longest Period” (sic)—this warns that “the possibility of a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula is now becoming a present-tense matter.”
: Korea Global Forum for Peace (KGFP), a big international conference hosted by South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) on Aug. 30-Sept. 1, admits that it suffered a data breach on Aug. 29 where attendees” personal data was leaked. No fingers are pointed, but North Korean hackers are increasingly targeting DPRK-watchers, among others.
: Urimizokkiri, a DPRK website for external consumption, lambastes the just-ended Ulchi Freedom Shieldwar games as “an extremely hostile and anti-national hysteria and an unprecedented military provocation. The Yoonites who spit out hostile remarks and run wild to ignite an aggressive war are the villains against peace and security in the Korean Peninsula.”
: Uriminzokkiri, a DPRK website for external consumption, lambastes the just-ended Ulchi Freedom ShieldUS-ROK military exercises as “an extremely hostile and anti-national hysteria and an unprecedented military provocation. The Yoonites [sic: the ROK President is Yoon Suk Yeol] who spit out hostile remarks and run wild to ignite an aggressive war are the villains against peace and security in the Korean Peninsula.”
: South Korea reveals its budget for 2023, the first under Yoon. Amid the first fall in overall spending for 13 years, MOU’s budget suffers its first cut since 2018: down from 1.5 to 1.45 trillion won. Within this, the humanitarian aid component is set to rise 15.1% to 751 billion won ($558 million), to finance Yoon’s “audacious initiative.” (As under Moon Jae-in, the prospect of such funds being disbursed is remote.) Defense spending is slated to rise 4.6% to 57.1 trillion won ($42.3 billion): a sum larger than North Korea’s entire GDP.
: ROK DM Lee tells the National Assembly that, as Yonhap’s headline summarizes it: “N. Korea set for nuke test, but no sign of action yet.”
: South Korea’s official Truth and Reconciliation Commission confirms that in Yeongam county in South Jeolla province, “local leftists and North Korean partisans” killed 133 civilians between August and November 1950, during the Korean War. According to Yonhap, the targets “were mostly police, civil servants, members of a right-wing youth group and other people classified as right-wingers and their families…Some people known to be wealthy and Christians were also sacrificed.” 41% of victims were female; 36% were children aged under 15.
: Seoul Central District Court finds in favor of seven veterans and one widow, who in 2020 sued Kim Jong Un and the DPRK government over injuries and losses suffered during an inter-Korean naval skirmish off Yeonpyeong island in 2002. The defendants are ordered to pay 20 million won ($14,886) to each complainant, plus 5% annual interest for the past 20 years. Like similar cases in the US, this is largely symbolic. (By an earlier Supreme Court ruling, North Korea, constitutionally defined as an anti-government organization, is regarded as a “juridical person” under the ROK Civil Procedure Act.)
: South Korea and the US launch Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS): their first large field-training military exercises in four years. Normally annual, such maneuvers were scaled back or suspended for four years (2018-21) under Donald Trump and Moon Jae-in, partly for diplomatic reasons and also due to COVID-19. The exercise concludes on Sept. 1.
: Responding to Kim Yo Jong’s broadside, South Korea’s presidential office says: “We consider it very regrettable that North Korea continues to use rude language while mentioning the president by name, and continued to express its nuclear development intentions while distorting our ‘audacious plan.’”
: MOU Kwon says his government will, as Yonhap puts it, “strive to create a condition for North Korea to embrace” President Yoon’s “audacious initiative.” Seoul plans to “to send more specific messages to the North, going forward.”
: Kim Yo Jong issues a further statement, titled “Don’t have an absurd dream.” KCNA publishes this on Aug. 19. Contemptuously rejecting Yoon’s “bold plan” as a rehash of equally unacceptable past offers by “traitor Lee Myung-bak,” she adds: “We don’t like Yoon Suk Yeol…Though he may knock at the door with [whatever] large plan in the future as his ‘bold plan’ does not work, we make it clear that we will not sit face to face with him.”
: At a press conference marking his first 100 days in office, Yoon clarifies that his ‘audacious offer’ does not require North Korea’s complete denuclearization right away: “As long as they demonstrate firm commitment, we will do what we can do to help them.” He denies hostile intent: “[N]either I nor the Republic of Korea government wants the status quo changed unreasonably or by force in North Korea.”
: MOU says it “urges and hopes” North Korea will respond to “our…sincere proposal for peace on the Korean Peninsula and the common prosperity of the South and the North.” But it has no plans to request working-level contact specifically about this.
: In his speech for Liberation Day—from Japan in 1945; a public holiday in both Koreas—Yoon fleshes out his “audacious plan” to aid North Korea, slightly. (Appendix I contains his remarks in full.)
: Seoul rebuffs Pyongyang. MOU “expresses strong regret over North Korea’s insolent and threatening remarks based on repeated groundless claims regarding the inflow of the coronavirus.”
: At a specially convened “national meeting of reviewing the emergency anti-epidemic work,” North Korea proclaims (as KCNA headlines it) a “Brilliant Victory Gained by Great People of DPRK.” Kim Jong Un declares the coronavirus “eradicated.” In her first known public speech (as opposed to written commentary), his sister Kim Yo Jong praises her brother’s dedication, implying he too was infected. But she savages South Korea, in absurd and obscene terms, accusing the “puppet conservative gangsters” of infecting the North by “a farce ofscattering leaflets, bank notes, dirty booklets and other shit over our territory.”
: An MOU official notes: “As rain has fallen heavily in North Korea, the North is repeatedly opening and closing the floodgates of Hwanggang Dam,” upstream on the Imjin river which flows into South Korea. As before Pyongyang did not notify Seoul. With northern South Korea pounded by the heaviest rain in 80 years, officials in ROK’s Gyeonggi province warn that the Imjin has risen dangerously.
: Amid renewed controversy regarding the Moon administration’s deportation of two DPRK fishermen, MOU Kwon says the ROK should be clear on the principle that it accepts “all” defectors. Kwon calls the 2019 incident a “forced repatriation.
: South Korea’s arms procurement agency, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), tellsthe National Assembly it is working on almost 200—197, to be exact—separate projects to beef up defenses against North Korea’s evolving WMD threats.
: ROK NSO responds, with notable restraint: “We express deep regret that Chairman Kim Jong Un made threatening remarks at our government while mentioning the president by name.”
: Bank of Korea (BoK), South Korea’s central bank, publishes annual estimates of North Korea’s economy. It reckons Northern GDP fell by 0.1% last year: an improvement on 2020’s minus 4.5%. The inter-Korean trade gap – actual, not estimated – is now unimaginably wide. In 2021 South Korea exported almost as much every hour as North Korea managed in the entire year.
: In a speech on what the DPRK clebrates as “the 69th anniversary of the great victory in the [Korean] War,” otherwise known as the 1953 Armistice, Kim Jong Un for the first time mentions his ROK counterpart by name: “We can no longer sit around seeing Yoon Suk Yeol and his military gangsters’ misdemeanors.” Should the “military ruffians” venture a pre-emptive strike, the “Yoon [Suk Yeol] regime and its army will be annihilated.”
: MND Lee tells Parliament that since the 2018 North-South accords, when Kim Jong Un committed to denuclearization, North Korea is reckoned to have grown its stockpile of fissile materials (plutonium and highly enriched uranium) by 10%.
: MOU issues a fresh 2022 Work Plan, reflecting the new government’s stance. While claiming to address North Korea’s security concerns, the official summary—to “pursue peaceful unification based on the basic free and democratic order to realize a denuclearized, peaceful and prosperous Korean Peninsula”—can hardly appeal to Pyongyang. Nor will plans for a new foundation on DPRK human rights. More interesting is a tentative proposal to unban DPRK media in the ROK, supposedly in hopes that the North might follow suit.
: South Korea reopens Panmunjom to journalists and tourists, after a six-month hiatus due to COVID-19. UN Command (UNC) guides note that for two years since the pandemic began, DPRK troops have hardly emerged from their buildings. The Northern side, formerly well maintained and neat, is overgrown with weeds and unkempt.
: Ministry of Foreign Affairs names Lee Shin-hwa, professor at Korea University, as the ROK’s first ambassador for North Korean human rights since 2017. Moon Jae-in’s government left the position vacant, as part of its drive to engage Pyongyang.
: Both MOU and the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) say there was no legal basis for Moon Jae-in’s government to repatriate the two fishermen to North Korea.
: Yoon’s presidential office condemns its predecessor’s repatriation of the fishermen as a potential “crime against humanity,” and vows a full investigation.
: FFNK says it has again sent balloons carrying supplies to fight the pandemic across the DMZ. Besides 70,000 painkillers, 30,000 vitamin C tablets, and 20,000 masks, it also includes posters saying “We denounce Kim Jong Un, a hypocrite who let the vicious infectious disease from China spread and put the blame on anti-North leaflets.” MOU again urges FFNK to cease such activities.
: In similar tough-talking vein, at his first meeting with top military commanders (Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps, plus the MND and JCS chairman), President Yoon orders them “to swiftly and firmly punish North Korea [if] it carries out a provocation.”
: ROK’s new JCS Chairman, army Gen. Kim Seung-kyum, warns: “If North Korea provokes, our military will definitely have it pay a hefty price…through unsparing retaliation….(We) will inscribe even onto its bones (the message) that there’s nothing to gain from provocations.”
: ROK JCS says it is “paying keen attention” and watching out for any sign of Korean Peoples’ Army (KPA) summer drills, usually held in July. So far it has only seen small-scale “related maneuvers,” perhaps due to recent torrential rain.
: In a speech marking the 50th anniversary of the first South-North Joint Statement, MOU Kwon says his government will seek a “new structure” of inter-Korean dialogue, including nuclear talks: “We cannot just sit on our hands and leave nuclear negotiations to the international community.”
: Marking the same anniversary, DPRK Today says: “Until this day, a vicious cycle of confrontation and tension has repeated itself on the Korean Peninsula.” It blames “the South Korean authorities who have neglected the three principles for national unification of autonomy, peace, and solidarity of the Korean nation, and failed to faithfully implement the inter-Korean agreement.”
: MOU confirms “it is presumed that North Korea has recently opened the floodgates of Hwanggang Dam.” However, water levels on the Imjin River remain stable.
: MOU says that although the inter-Korean liaison hotline is operational, the North is still unresponsive to efforts to fax a formal request to be notified before dam waters are released.
: Seoul says it has not succeeded in sending an official message asking to be notified before Pyongyang discharges water from its dams, as seems to have happened after recent heavy rains. This morning the inter-Korean hotline was not working, possibly due to flood damage. It was restored by the afternoon, but the North did not agree to accept the message – which was instead conveyed informally and verbally, via a separate military hotline. After six South Koreans drowned in flash floods in 2009 caused by such a discharge, the two Koreas agreed to notify each other in future before doing this.
: ROK Premier Han Duck-soo tells the Korean Peninsula Peace Symposium that (in Yonhap’s summary) “Seoul intends to normalize inter-Korean relations through a bold plan for substantial denuclearization and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula, while upholding the principles of its relations with Pyongyang.”
: ROK Coast Guard’s head again apologizes for “causing misunderstanding” regarding the 2020 death of fisheries official Lee Dae-jun. Lee’s family lodges criminal complaints against three of ex-President Moon’s secretaries, including former National Security Advisor Suh Hoon, accusing them of dereliction of duty and obstruction.
: Reviving a second inter-Korean incident considered closed, Yoon strongly hints that his administration may investigate his predecessor Moon Jae-in’s repatriation in 2019 of two North Korean fishermen, who had allegedly killed 16 of their crewmates: “Haven’t the people had many questions about it?” (See also July 12 below, and thereafter.)
: In his first press conference, MOU Kwon Young-se says: “I will try harder to shift the currently chilled inter-Korean ties into a phase of dialogue…I am willing to meet with the head of [North Korea’s] UFD, Ri Son Gwon, any time in any format.”
: PPP says it will launch a task force into Lee Dae-jun’s death, and calls for Moon Jae-in to be investigated. Refusing to cooperate, opposition leader Woo Sang-ho says Moon “strongly protested” to the North and got “a rare apology” from Kim Jong Un: “It is a case where we brought North Korea to its knees, not where we pussyfooted around it.”
: Unexpectedly resurrecting the case of Lee Dae-jun (see here for details), the ROK Coast Guard now says“no evidence was found to confirm his intention to defect.” It apologizes for imputing that motive at the time. MND reassesses the case similarly. The (NSO) withdraws an appeal, filed under Moon Jae-in, against a court order to disclose classified information about Lee’s death to his family.
: On the 22nd anniversary of the Joint Declaration, adopted at the first North-South summit in Pyongyang in June 2000 by then-leaders Kim Jong Il and Kim Dae-jung, MOU Kwon Young-se pledges a consistent stance: “[Our] policy on North Korea will open a new path that embraces the flexibility shown by the previous liberal administrations, as well as a stable stance kept by conservative administrations in the past.” He calls on Pyongyang to respect inter-Korean agreements and desist from military provocations.
: North Korea’s Committee to Uphold the June 15 Joint Declaration sends a message to its Southern counterpart: “The conservative force that newly took power in the South has taken itself as an assault force for the realization of the US’ hostile policy.”
: Commenting (on background) on the new DPRK foreign minister, an MOU official cautions: “It is difficult to construe the replacement of a particular official as being necessarily related to any change in North Korea’s external policy.” The Sejong Institute’s Cheong Seong-chang notes Ri Son Gwon’s past hawkishness, and even rudeness, toward Seoul. His reassignment may presage a renewed anti-South offensive.
: Lee Young-hoon, senior pastor of Yoido Full Gospel Church (YFGC), the largest Pentecostal denomination in Korea, says the DPRK has asked the church to build ‘people’s hospitals’ in all its 260 counties. He offers no details. YFGC began constructing a cardiac hospital in Pyongyang in 2007, but work stopped after 2010’s Cheonan incident. In November YFGC obtained a UN sanctions waiver to send some 1,500 medical and related items to North Korea; this has yet to take place.
: ROK presidential office adds that the NSO met yesterday, while the suspected MRL test was ongoing, and discussed it. President Yoon did not attend.
: Following media reports that North Korea test-fired multiple rocket launchers (MRLs) earlier today, the JCS belatedly says it observed “trails” consistent with that.
: North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party (WPK) holds Fifth Enlarged Plenary Meeting of its Eighth Central Committee (their capitals). A wide-ranging agenda includes personnel reshuffles. Choe Son Hui, a seasoned negotiator with the US, becomes the DPRK’s first female minister of foreign affairs, replacing Ri Son Gwon, who takes charge of inter-Korean relations as head of the United Front Department (UFD).
: In a further reaction, the US and South Korea stage a combined demonstration of air power involving 20 planes over the Yellow Sea. Four USAF F-16 fighters join 16 ROKAF combat aircraft, including F-35A stealth fighters, F-15Ks and KF-16s.
: Activist group Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK) claims that on June 5 it sent 20 balloons carrying COVID-19 related supplies—20,000 masks, 30,000 vitamin C pills and 15,000 pain-killers—across the DMZ. In a change of tone but not message from the Moon era, MOU says that while “we fully understand the group’s efforts to help North Koreans,” such actions are unhelpful – and illegal under the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act. A police investigation is launched.
: US and South Korea riposte by firing eight missiles—ground-to-ground Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) —in a 10-minute pre-dawn burst from a single location in Gangwon-do on the east coast.
: A day after the US-ROK navy drill ends, North Korea fires eight short-range missiles (SRBMs) from four different locations into the East Sea/Sea of Japan. Distances flown range between 110 and 670 km, with altitude varying from 25 to 90 km. This is the DPRK’s 18th missile launch this year, its third since Yoon took office, and the largest batch of missiles Pyongyang has launched on one day.
: JCS announces that on June 2-4 the ROK and US held their first joint exercises including a US aircraft carrier for over four years, in international waters off Okinawa. The drills involved air defense, anti-ship, anti-submarine, and maritime interdiction operations.
: On his first visit to the defense ministry and the JCS, President Yoon says he appreciates their dedication and calls for “a firm military readiness posture [to] be maintained.”
: Unnamed officials tell Yonhap that on May 9 (before Yoon took office) MND began distributing new troop instruction materials referring to the North Korean military and regime as “our enemy,” after incoming minister Lee Jong-sup called for “clear education” on this point. Under Moon Jae-in the E-word was eschewed, in favor of “real military threats.” MND is canvassing opinion on whether its next defense White Paper should also revert to naming the North as an enemy.
: In his first media interview since taking office, Yoon tells CNN that, as they headline it, the “age of appeasing North Korea is over.” He adds: “I think the ball is in Chairman Kim [Jong Un]’s court—it is his choice to start a dialogue with us.”
: Hours after President Biden leaves the region, North Korea launches three missiles – including a suspected ICBM—off its east coast. Shortly afterward, the US and South Korea fire two missiles: their first such joint response since 2017
: On the 12th anniversary of the “May 24 measures,” whereby Seoul banned almost all inter-Korean trade (except at the then Kaesong Industrial Complex) in retaliation for the sinking of the ROKN frigate Cheonan, MOU says these sanctions “can be reviewed in accordance with a principles-based and practical approach”—but will remain in effect for now. Meanwhile, at a press conference outside the ministry, entrepreneurs who pioneered North-South commerce protest at the loss of their livelihood: “Over 1,000 businessmen are living miserably, with several having gone bankrupt or turned into delinquent borrowers.”
: According to a poll by Gallup Korea, 72% of South Koreans support helping North Korea tackle COVID-19, while 22% are opposed. Those in their 20s are evenly split.
: ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU) says it is trying to confirm media reports that five DPRK border crossers have been arrested in Dandong, China. MOU restates South Korea’s position: “North Korean defectors living abroad can go to any place they desire of their own free will.”
: According to South Korean lawmakers after a confidential briefing—promptly leaked to the media, as usual in Seoul—the NIS reckons North Korea has completed preparations for a nuclear test, “and they’re gauging the timing.” NIS also assesses that Kim Jong Un is unlikely to have been vaccinated against COVID-19.
: Yonhap reports that MND will reinstate the original “hawkish names” for two elements of South Korea’s “three-axis” defense system against Northern WMD: Kill Chain, and Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR. The third is Korea Air and Missile Defense). Under Moon Jae-in these were renamed as “strategic target strike” and “overwhelming response,” respectively. A spokesman says reviving the old names adds “clarity.”
: Three Southern NGOs offer medical aid worth 12 billion won ($10 million) to help North Korea fight COVID-19. Urging Pyongyang to accept, they say they will reach out via “all [possible] routes.” Meanwhile, MOU notes that for a fourth day the North has stayed silent regarding the South’s bid to send a formal offer of assistance.
: Kim Tae-hyo, first deputy chief of the ROK’s presidential National Security Office (NSO), says a North Korean ICBM test looks “imminent.”
: Yoon repeats offer of aid to fight COVID-19: “We must not hold back…we will not spare any necessary support.” While that offer is unconditional, he notes that the security situation is worsening and calls for “a sustainable peace under which the process of North Korea’s denuclearization and inter-Korean trust building form a virtuous cycle.”
: MOU says Pyongyang has been “unresponsive” to its offer to cooperate against COVID-19. At the regular daily 9 a.m. test call on the liaison office communication line, Seoul conveys its wish to fax a letter signed by Minister Kwon Young-se at 11 a.m. The second daily call at 5 p.m. passes without the North clarifying whether it would accept this message. The ROK Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) says the South has ample stocks of vaccine to share; adding that the North’s outbreak is “probably much more serious than what has been announced.”
: A day after the DPRK admits an outbreak of COVID-19, President Yoon offers to send COVID-19 vaccines. His spokesperson says: “We will hold discussions with the North Korean side about details.” The North today reports six deaths, and that a total of 350,000 people “got fever in a short span of time,” with 18,000 new cases on May 12 alone; 187,8000 “are being isolated and treated.” However one of Yoon’s officials tells reporters, on background: “We know more than what was announced. It’s more serious than thought.” It cannot be assumed that Pyongyang will accept this and other offers of vaccine aid.
: A day after the DPRK admits an outbreak of COVID-19, Yoon offers to send COVID-19 vaccines. His spokesperson says: “We will hold discussions with the North Korean side about details.” The North today reports six deaths, and that a total of 350,000 people “got fever in a short span of time,” with 18,000 new cases on May 12 alone; 187,8000 “are being isolated and treated.” One of Yoon’s officials tells reporters on background: “We know more than what was announced. It’s more serious than thought.”
: Sources tell Yonhap that, by order of new Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup to the JCS, the ROK military will revert to calling DPRK missile tests “provocations”: a term eschewed under Moon. Seoul will also refer to “unidentified ballistic missiles” rather than “unidentified projectiles.” In a similar hardening of tone, the presidential National Security Office (NSO) “strongly condemns” Pyongyang’s latest missile launch today, and “deplore[s] North Korea’s two-faced actions” of continuing ballistic missile provocations while neglecting its people’s lives and safety amid a coronavirus outbreak.
: Sources tell the quasi-official news agency Yonhap that, by order of Defense Minister Lee, the ROK military will revert to calling DPRK missile tests “provocations,” a term avoided under Moon. Seoul will also refer to “unidentified ballistic missiles” rather than “unidentified projectiles.” In a similar hardening of tone, the presidential National Security Office (NSO) “strongly condemns” Pyongyang’s latest missile launch today, and “deplore[s] North Korea’s two-faced actions” of continuing ballistic missile provocations while neglecting its people’s lives and safety amid a coronavirus outbreak.
: Yoon picks Kim Kyou-hyun, a career diplomat and onetime deputy national security adviser, as head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), succeeding Park Jie-won. Kwon Chun-taek, a former NIS official and diplomat, will be first deputy director: a job largely focused on North Korea. (Some had tipped Kwon for the top job.) Like ministers, Kyou must undergo a parliamentary confirmation hearing, but approval is not mandatory.
: Yoon picks Kim Kyou-hyun, a career diplomat and onetime deputy national security adviser, as head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), succeeding Park Jie-won. Kwon Chun-taek, a former NIS official and diplomat, will be first deputy director, a job largely focused on North Korea. Kim must undergo a parliamentary confirmation hearing; he is duly approved on May 26.
: Yoon Suk-yeol is duly inaugurated as president of the Republic of Korea.
: Yoon Suk Yeol of the People Power Party (PPP) is inaugurated president of South Korea for a single five-year terrm, succeeding Moon Jae-in (2017-2022). Moon’s Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) still controls the National Assembly.
: Incoming MND Lee Jong-sup tells his National Assembly confirmation hearing that North Korea is an “evident” enemy, given its nuclear and missile threats.
: In North Korea’s 15th missile launch this year, the ROK JCS report an apparent submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test in waters near the east coast city of Sinpo. The projectile flew 600 km, reaching 60 km in altitude. The DPRK’s last SLBM test was in October. The JCS adds that it is “maintaining a full readiness posture.” Incoming National Security Adviser (NSA) Kim Sung-han says the Yoon administration will reassess the DPRK’s WMD threat, to “come up with fundamental measures against North Korea’s provocations and actual deterrence capabilities against its nuclear missile threats.”
: In North Korea’s 15th missile launch this year, the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) report an apparent submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) test in waters near the east coast city of Sinpo. This flew 600 km, reaching 60km in altitude. (The DPRK’s last SLBM test was in October.) The JCS says it is “maintaining a full readiness posture.” Incoming National Security Adviser (NSA) Kim Sung-han says the Yoon administration will reassess the DPRK’s WMD threat, to “come up with fundamental measures against North Korea’s provocations and actual deterrence capabilities against its nuclear missile threats.”
: Both the outgoing and soon-to-be ROK governments condemn the DPRK’s missile launch today, its 14th this year. The NSC calls on Pyongyang “to stop its actions that pose serious threats.” Yoon’s transition team promises “more fundamental deterrence measures.”
: Lee Jong-sup, former three-star general who is Yoon’s nominee to be the next Minister of National Defense, tells his parliamentary confirmation hearing that South Korea could be a nuclear target for North Korea.
: Both the outgoing and soon-to-be ROK governments condemn the DPRK’s latest missile launch today, its 14th this year. The presidential National Security Council (NSC) calls on Pyongyang “to stop its actions that pose serious threats.” President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol’s transition team promises “more fundamental deterrence measures.”
: Lee Jong-sup, the former three-star general who is Yoon’s nominee to be minister of National Defense (MND), tells his parliamentary confirmation hearing that South Korea could be a nuclear target for North Korea. (See also May 8.)
: Family of Lee Dae-jun, the South Korean fisheries official shot and incinerated in Northern waters in September 2020, file suit in Seoul Central District Court against the DPRK government. They seek 200 million won ($159,000) in compensation for mental suffering caused to the deceased’s young son and daughter. MND and the Blue House are appealing a separate court order to disclose all information they possess to the family.
: Defector activist group FFNK claims that on April 25-26 it sent 20 large balloons, carrying around 1 million leaflets, across the DMZ into North Korea. Information therein included about Yoon Suk-yeol’s election. Such actions are now illegal; FFNK’s leader Park Sang-hak is on trial for two earlier launches (see Jan. 25 above). MOU says it is investigating, including whether this claimed flight actually happened.
: MOU responds to Kim Jong Un’s parade speech: “North Korea should stop all acts that heighten tensions, including the advancement of its nuclear capabilities, and…return to the negotiating table.”
: Moon urges his successor to work with the US to bring Kim Jong Un’s regime back to talks. Admitting that the North’s ICBM launch in March “crossed a red line” and “may be a sign that [Pyongyang] would end dialogue,” he adds: “I hope North Korea will make a rational choice.”
: Responding to North Korea’s parade, President-elect Yoon’s transition team says his administration will bolster deterrence and strengthen the US-ROK alliance “while simultaneously developing far-superior military technologies and weapons systems.”
: North Korea stages a nocturnal military parade in Pyongyang. Kim Jong Un’s speech emphasizes the need “for further developing the nuclear forces of our state at the fastest possible speed,” including for a possible “unexpected second mission…at a time when a situation we are not desirous of at all is created on this land.” He does not elaborate.
: MOU says it has asked North Korea, via the inter-Korean liaison line, for further information on the previous day’s fire at the KIC.
: KCNA reveals that Moon Jae-in wrote Kim Jong Un a personal letter on April 20. Kim sent a reply on April 21, “appreciat[ing] the pains and effort taken by Moon Jae In for the great cause of the nation until the last days of his term of office.” After further pleasantries, KCNA concludes: “The exchange of the personal letters between the top leaders of the north and the south is an expression of their deep trust.” The Blue House confirms the exchange of letters and their warm tenor. Neither side published the letters in full.
: New MOU nominee Kwon Young-se says resuming Kumgangsan tours is not “a desirable idea in the current situation,” and “won’t be easy as it is subject to sanctions.” He adds that Seoul must “clearly” challenge Pyongyang’s dismantlement of some facilities there. But he also supports humanitarian aid, and opposes any blanket rejection of Moon’s policies.
: MOU reports a fire at a factory in the former Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), shut since 2016. Spotted around 1400 local time, the blaze is extinguished by 1450.
: Lee Sang-min, a researcher at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), says North Korea might use tactical nuclear arms in a contingency to offset its conventional inferiority. However, US and ROK forces are overwhelmingly stronger.
: In written answers to lawmakers’ questions ahead of his parliamentary confirmation hearing, Yoon’s MND nominee Lee Jong-sup clarifies: “I am not of the position that the Sept. 19 South-North military agreement should be scrapped.” Rather, he plans to verify if the 2018 accord is being faithfully implemented. As to whether ROK defense white papers should characterize North Korea as a ‘main enemy’: “I will decide carefully.”
: MOU says North Korea remains unresponsive to the South’s enquiries about demolition at Mount Kumgang. Citing satellite imagery, Voice of America (VOA) reported that the seven-story floating Haegumgang Hotel has lost half its height, while a golf resort has eight buildings now minus their roofs and outer walls.
: Park Jin, four-term PPP lawmaker nominated to be Yoon’s foreign minister, declares that the new Yoon Suk-yeol administration “will pursue a balanced policy, based on common sense, toward North Korea.” He adds: “ [We] can’t prevent North Korea’s continued provocations only with conciliatory policy…[A] substantial policy change is needed.”
: On Kim Il Sung’s 110th birthday, the ROK government publishes a dossier on the two Koreas’ behind-the-scenes diplomacy prior to their becoming full UN members in 1991. 405,000 pages of diplomatic documents now 30 years old have been declassified.
: Asserting a linkage largely eschewed by Moon Jae-in, MOU nominee Kwon says inter-Korean normalization will be “difficult” as long as Pyongyang continues to build up its nuclear arsenal. He adds: “For sure, (we) will make a request for dialogue.” However, Seoul cannot incessantly dangle “carrots” while continually rebuffed.
: Lee Do-hoon, who served Moon Jae-in as special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs but switched allegiance to Yoon Suk-yeol, warns the incoming government to be cautious about pursuing sanctions relief: a key goal for Moon, though unachieved. He argues: “Once cash flows into the North, denuclearization will be off the table.” On May 9 Yoon appoints Lee as vice foreign minister.
: Yoon Suk-yeol nominates Kwon Young-se, a four-term lawmaker and former Ambassador to China, as his first unification minister. Having been confirmed by the National Assembly, Kwon is sworn in and begins work exactly a month later on May 13.
: In an unprecedented move for a president-elect, Yoon Suk-yeol flies by helicopter to Camp Humphreys, the huge USFK headquarters near Pyeongtaek south of Seoul. Sharing a canteen meal with US and ROK troops, he vows to strengthen deterrence against North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.
: Unification Minister Lee In-young warns that “April is a time laden with many factors that could lead to the escalation of inter-Korean military tensions.” In strong terms by his standards, he adds: “It is very unfortunate not only for the North but for the future of our nation if (sic) it has chosen nuke (sic) and missiles, disregarding dialogue.”
: In his last regular press conference as unification minister, Lee In-young urges the incoming administration to adopt a “forward-looking” approach to North Korea. A propos the DPRK’s breaking of its ICBM moratorium, and amid signs of preparations for a fresh nuclear test, Lee says: “We must put an end to this right here.”
: Kim Yo Jong repeats her earlier message, only at greater length and naming “So Uk” (Suh Wook), whom she accuses of “abrupt bluffing” and “an irretrievable very big mistake.” She warns: “In case south Korea opts for military confrontation with us, our nuclear combat force will have to inevitably carry out its duty.” Yet she also avers: “We will not fire even a single bullet or shell toward south Korea. It is because we do not regard it as match for our armed forces.” Also, “the north and the south of Korea are of the same nation who should not fight against each other.” She concludes: “I pray that such morbid symptom as feeling threat for no ground would be cured as early as possible.”
: After Kim Yo Jong’s verbal volleys, MOU “clearly points out that North Korea should not cause additional tension on the Korean Peninsula in any case.” It adds that routine daily inter-Korean phone calls are still taking place as normal.
: In her first public comment since Sept., published a day later, Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong castigates South Korea’s defense minister—a “confrontation maniac” and “senseless and scum-like guy”—for “reckless and intemperate rhetoric” about a “preemptive strike” on the DPRK. She concludes: “I will give a serious warning upon authorization. We will reconsider a lot of things concerning south Korea. South Korea should discipline itself if it wants to stave off disaster. I hope I don’t hear him blustering again.” (It is not clear that Suh actually used the word preemptive, though he certainly said strike; see April 1.)
: ROK Defense Minister Suh Wook stresses that South Korean missiles can “accurately and swiftly strike any targets in North Korea.” Earlier the same day, he vows to develop an “advanced, multilayered missile defense system that the North does not possess.”
: Briefing the ROK National Assembly, MND claims publicly that March 24’s ICBM test was indeed a Hwasong -15, not -17. (See March 27, above.)
: “Informed sources” claim that both the ROK and US military reckon the DPRK’s recent ICBM launch was not in fact a Hwasong-17, as officially touted, but rather the slightly smaller Hwasong-15, previously tested in 2017. They speculate that March 16’s failed test really was a Hwasong-17, and Pyongyang could not risk a second failure. On close inspection, KCTV’s video spliced footage from two launches, with different locations, time of day and weather. (That said, two earlier tests on Feb. 27 and March 5, announced as being satellite-related, are thought to have involved elements of the Hwasong-17 system.)
: Ending (as presaged on Jan. 20) its four-year moratorium on ICBM tests, North Korea stages what it celebrates as a successful first launch of the Hwasongpho-17: its largest missile, paraded but not yet known to have flown. Korean Central Television (KCTV) issues a highly untypical movie-style video of the launch.
: In tougher terms than usual, Moon “strongly condemns” the North’s ICBM test as “a serious threat to the Korean Peninsula and beyond,” and “a scrapping on its own (sic) of a moratorium on ICBM tests that…Kim Jong Un promised to the international community.” This is also “a clear violation of UN Security Council resolutions.” Moon calls on Pyongyang to immediately stop actions that raise tensions and return to the dialogue table.
: South Korea responds to North’s ICBM launch with a live-fire missile exercise in the East Sea (Sea of Japan). The JCS warns that “(we) have the ability and posture to precisely strike the origin of the missile launch and command and support facilities at any time.”
: President-elect Yoon’s transition committee TC spokesperson says: “There will be no abolition of the unification ministry.” Rather, MOU will be restored to its “proper function” instead of just taking orders from the Blue House. The TC also denies that Yoon’s Nordpolitik will be hard-line.
: “Informed source” tells Yonhap that MOU has formed a 10-member panel to review secret documents on the first two decades of inter-Korean talks (1971-91), with a view to publishing them. (See also April 15, below.)
: Two days after the KPA fires four rounds from multiple rocket launchers (MRLs) into the West Sea, Yoon Suk-yeol calls this “a clear violation” of Sept. 2018’s inter-Korean military agreement. However ROK MND Suh Wook denies any breach, saying this took place “far north” of the border area covered by the accord. Yoon’s team shoot back that it violated the spirit of the agreement; they accuse Suh of “protecting” the North.
: Belatedly reporting a poll last August by the Korea National Defense University (KNDU), PPP Rep. Kang Dae-sik says that 70.6% of South Koreans believe North Korea will never denuclearize completely. 61.3% regard the DPRK as hostile, while 22.1% consider it a partner for cooperation. Over 80% reckon China would take the North’s side in any crisis on the peninsula. A slightly earlier survey, by the state-run Korean Institute for National Unification (KINU), found 90.7% skeptical about Pyongyang’s will to denuclearize.
: Amid signs that North Korea has begun dismantling South Korean-built and owned facilities at long-shuttered Mount Kumgang resort, as Kim Jong Un first threatened to do in 2019, MOU says it has received no new word from Pyongyang. Its spokesperson adds: “There shouldn’t be unilateral measures by the North that infringe upon our companies’ property rights, and all…issues should be resolved through consultations between the South and the North.”
: In an item headlined “20th ‘presidential’ election held in south Korea,” the DPRK’s Voice of Korea says (this is the full report): “Yun Sok Yol, candidate of the ‘People’s Strength’ (sic), a conservative opposition party, was elected ‘President’ by a small majority at the 20th ‘presidential’ election held in south Korea on March 9.” (Scare quotes and capitalization in original). VOK is for external consumption, so North Koreans are not privy to this news.
: Yoon Suk-yeol narrowly wins South Korea’s presidential election for the PPP, defeating the DP’s Lee Jae-myung by just 0.73% (they poll 16,394,815 and 16,147,738 votes, respectively). Despite the tight margin, Lee swiftly concedes.
: MND says it has sent back a DPRK vessel and its crew of seven, seized yesterday after breaching the NLL. The intruders explained that they accidentally crossed the line due to fog while transporting materials between two islands, and refused to eat until they were repatriated. Alert for provocations around election time, Seoul accepts that this was just a “navigational error and mechanical glitch.”
: DPRK patrol boat breaches the Northern Limit Line (NLL, the de facto maritime border in the Yellow/West Sea), seemingly chasing a stray Northern vessel which has also crossed the line. It retreats aftyer an Southern warship fires three warning shots. The ROK Navy apprehends the other DPRK vessel (story continues on March 9).
: President Moon tells the Korea Army Academy that (in Yonhap’s summary): “Based on strong defense capabilities, South Korea has pushed for peace efforts on the Korean Peninsula and turned North Korea’s nuclear crisis into a mode of dialogue.” He adds that the ROK has the “biggest security burden” in the world: “For now, the top priority is to deter war between the South and North, but from a broader and long-term point of view, the geopolitical situation of the Korean Peninsula itself represents a grave security environment.”
: “Informed sources” tell Yonhapthat the Agency for Defense Development (ADD) today oversaw a successful test at Taean, 100 miles southwest of Seoul, of a long-range surface-to-air missile (L-SAM), being developed to counter DPRK missile threats.
: South Korea’s official Truth and Reconciliation Commission says that the (North) Korean People’s Army (KPA) killed “1,026 Christians and 119 Catholics” in a bid to “eliminate reactionary forces” during its retreat from the South after the allied Incheon landing in Sept. 1950 during the Korean War. (“Christians” here means Protestants; this usage is common in the ROK, which is the most Protestant country in Asia.)
: Song Young-gil, head of South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party (DP) tells visiting UN special rapporteur on DPRK human rights, Tomas Ojea Quintana, that the KIC could reopen if there were conditional sanctions relief and wages were paid in kind. Quintana reportedly says he supports reopening. There is in fact no such prospect, and Pyongyang may have other plans. (Song is running as DP candidate for mayor of Seoul in elections on June 1.)
: Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) says it will increase its support for defectors, including free health checkups, online tutoring and more. 3.4 billion won ($2.85 million) has been budgeted, more than double last year’s 1.5 billion won. The avowed aim is to help defectors “gain complete independence and social integration, not only resettlement.”
: An online survey of 75,524 elementary, middle and high school students, jointly conducted in November-December by MOU and the Ministry of Education (MOE), finds that 25%—up from 19.4% in 2019 and 24.2% in 2020—consider that Korean unification is unnecessary. Reasons cited include the economic burden (29.8%), potential social problems after unification (25%) and political differences (17%).
: MND announces new plans for its Air Defense Missile Command (ADMC). Given North Korea’s escalating missile threat, from April ADMC will get more mid-range surface-to-air missiles (M-SAMs) and BM early-warning radars, and be renamed in English (name to be decided). April will also see the Army Missile Command relaunched (so to say) and expanded as the Army Missile Strategic Command.
: Incheon District Court hands double defector Yoo Tae-joon an 18-month jail sentence for trying to return to North Korea. Having first defected to South Korea in 1998, in 2000 Yoo returned to the North. He then redefected to the South (date not given), but in 2019 attempted to go North again, approaching the DPRK embassy in Hanoi. Rebuffed as a spy, he entered China where he was arrested—and presumably extradited to the ROK.
: FFNK’s Park Sang-hak seeks leave to file suit with the Constitutional Court to determine whether the anti-leafleting law under which he is charged is unconstitutional. Park claims it infringes the ROK’s identity, independence and national dignity. (See also Jan. 25.)
: In a “joint written interview” with Yonhap and seven other international news agencies, President Moon says he is ready for to meet Kim Jong Un again, in any format and without preconditions: “Whether…face-to-face or virtual (sic) does not matter. Whatever method North Korea wants will be acceptable.” But he admits that the imminent Presidential election may make a fresh summit “inappropriate.” Warning that if Pyongyang ends its ICBM testing moratorium the peninsula could return to a “touch-and-go-crisis” as in 2017, Moon mourns the failure of the 2019 Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi: a “small deal” would have been better than no deal. He says a Kim-Biden summit is “just a matter of time,” and reiterates his support for a “peace declaration” despite Pyongyang’s unresponsiveness.
: MOU says the ROK government will provide financial support totaling 57.4 billion won ($48 million) to companies hit by the suspension of North-South exchanges. A mixture of subsidies and loans, this applies to firms which invested in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) and the Mount Kumgang tourist zone. Their actual losses are much larger.
: Ahead of a meeting in Honolulu with his US and Japanese counterparts, Noh Kyu-duk, ROK special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, says he hopes this “will be another opportunity for us to work toward engagement (with Pyongyang).”
: A survey of 2,465 North Korean defectors (rather a small sample) by MOU’s Korea Hana Foundation finds that in 2021 their average monthly wage was 2.27 million won ($1,920). This was 457,000 won below the national average, but the gap is narrowing: it was 599,000 won in 2019 and 520,000 won in 2020.
: ROK government launches a nine-member inter-agency team to help North Korean defectors “suffering from economic and psychological difficulties.” (See also Jan. 6.)
: After Pyongyang’s Jan. 20 warning that its ICBM test moratorium may end, and its launch on Jan. 31 of a Hwasong-12 intermediate range missile (IRBM), an unnamed military official tells Yonhap, South Korea’s quasi-official news agency, that “at this point there isn’t any notable change or activity” in the North suggesting an imminent ICBM test.
: Yonhap reports that on Jan. 26 the UN Security Council (UNSC)’s committee on DPRK sanctions gave the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Research Center, a South Korean NGO, a year-long waiver to send 20 thermal imaging cameras to North Korea. These will be used to help stave off COVID-29. This is the first such exemption granted this year.
: MOU says it has delivered Lunar New Year gifts of “daily necessities and other items” to young (aged 24 or under) North Korean defectors who are without families.
: Dismissing a suit brought by former operators of factories in the now defunct Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), the ROK Constitutional Court rules that then-President Park Geun-hye’s suspension (in effect closure) of the KIC in February 2016, as a riposte to North Korean nuclear and missile tests, was constitutional. This did not violate the claimants’ property rights, even though “fair compensation has not been paid.”
: Seoul Central District Court sentences a businessman, named only as Kim, to four years in jail for violating the National Security Act (NSA). Formerly a member of a pro-North student group, Kim was indicted in 2018 for buying a DPRK-made facial recognition software program in 2007, which he sold in the ROK as his own company’s work. In return he sent Pyongyang $860,000, plus unspecified military secrets. Kim denied the charges, claiming he had Seoul’s permission for his contacts with the North.
: Briefing “dozens of foreign diplomats,” including from the US, China, Japan and Russia, Unification Minister Lee In-young emphasizes that, notwithstanding Pyongyang’s missile launches, “dialogue and cooperation are the only solution for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” and Moon will pursue peace “to the last.” Lee adds that time is on no one’s side.
: ROK prosecutors indict defector-activist Park Sang-hak, head of Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK), for two launches of balloons carrying leaflets into North Korea last April. The charge is attempted violation of the revised Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act, as it is unconfirmed whether the balloons reached the DPRK. He also faces a separate indictment on charges of receiving illicit donations during 2015-19. (See also Feb. 15.)
: Yoon Suk-yeol promises, if elected, to normalize joint military exercises with the US. He adds: “North Korea has been upgrading its nuclear capabilities and is making blatant provocations…The [Moon] administration’s Korean Peninsula peace process has completely failed.”
: Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reports that on Jan. 19 a Politburo meeting of the DPRK’s ruling WPK, after decrying US “hostility,” decided “to promptly examine the issue of restarting all temporarily-suspended activities.” This refers to the North’s moratorium since Nov. 2017 on nuclear and ICBM tests.
: Reacting to Pyongyang’s statement, South Korea’s NSC says it will “prepare for the possibility of further deterioration of the situation, while continuing efforts to stabilize the situation on the Korean Peninsula and resume dialogue with North Korea.”
: MOU reports a further sharp drop last year in defector arrivals. Just 63 North Koreans—40 men and 23 women—reached the South in 2021, down from 229 in 2020 and 1,047 in 2019. The ministry attributes this to tightened DPRK-China border controls due to the coronavirus.
: After a further brace of DPRK missile tests, Yoon Suk-yeol doubles down on preemptive strike talk. Posting on Facebook, he writes: “I will secure a preemptive strike capability known as Kill-Chain and build the surveillance and reconnaissance capability needed to monitor all parts of North Korea…Only strong deterrence against the North can guarantee the Republic of Korea’s peace.”
: Shortly after the US sanctions six North Koreans and others involved in the DPRK’s WMD programs, MOU vows to continue to try to provide humanitarian aid to the North “regardless of the political or military situation.” (In the real world, since 2019 Pyongyang has spurned all such efforts by Seoul.)
: After North Korea’s second missile launch in under a week, Yoon Suk-yeol, presidential candidate for the conservative opposition People Power Party (PPP), causes a stir by endorsing a preemptive strike if the North fires a nuclear-armed missile toward Seoul. He accuses Moon of enabling the North to further advance its missile program, by accepting its peace overtures and calling for sanctions to be lifted. Moon’s NSC expresses “strong regret” at the DPRK’s Jan. 11 launch—and several which follow.
: MOU says it is monitoring any potential changes in how North Korea handles COVID-19, such as easing its current strict border controls, after Rodong Sinmun—the main DPRK daily, organ of the ruling Workers’ Party (WPK)—avers that “we need to move to a better advanced, people-oriented epidemic work from one that focused on control measures.”
: Refuting recently publicized research claiming that as many as 771 of the 33,800 North Korean defectors in the South have moved on to third countries as of 2019, MOU insists the true figure for the five years 2016-20 is only 20 (which seems implausibly low.) It confirms, however, that 31 have redefected to the North.
: MOU says it is monitoring potential changes in how North Korea handles COVID-19, such as easing current strict border controls, after Rodong Sinmun—the main DPRK daily, organ of the ruling Workers’ Party (WPK)—avers that “we need to move to a better advanced, people-oriented epidemic work from one that focused on control measures.”
: Refuting recently publicized research claiming that as many as 771 of the 33,800 North Korean defectors in the South have moved on to third countries as of 2019, MOU insists the true figure for the five years 2016-20 is only 20 (which seems implausibly low.) It confirms, however, that as many as 31 have redefected to the North.
: ROK government says that next month it will launch a new inter-agency team, including MOU and the police, to support vulnerable defectors from the North. Last year MOU’s biannual survey found that 1,582 defectors needed help additional to the basic support package that all ex-DPRK arrivals receive. Almost half (47%) spoke of having psychological problems.
: Korea Times profiles Tim Peters, a Seoul-based US activist whose NGO, Helping Hands Korea, has since 1996 helped over 1,000 North Koreans in China to safety in third countries. Despite the pandemic, in 2020 HHK enabled more such evacuations than ever before as hitherto hidden sub-groups, such as the elderly or disabled, came to light.
: ROK government says that next month it will launch a new inter-agency team, including MOU and the police, to support vulnerable defectors from the North. Last year MOU’s biannual survey found that 1,582 defectors needed help additional to the basic support package that all ex-DPRK arrivals receive. Almost half (47%) spoke of having psychological problems. The new team is duly inaugurated on Feb. 7; see below.
: Korea Times profiles Tim Peters, a Seoul-based US activist whose NGO, Helping Hands Korea, has since 1996 helped over 1,000 North Koreans in China to safety in third countries. Despite the pandemic, in 2020 HHK enabled more such evacuations than ever before as hitherto hidden sub-groups, such as the elderly or disabled, came to light.
: After investigating Jan. 1’s redefector border crossing, the ROK JCS report that the man crossed into North Korea despite being caught five times on military surveillance cameras. General Won In-choul, the JCS chairman, admits: “We failed to carry out given duties properly … I apologize for causing concerns to the people.”
: President Moon urges the ROK military to “have a special sense of alert and responsibility.” Calling the “failure of security operations … a grave problem that should not have happened,” he demands a special inspection of front-line units to ensure no repetition.
: ROK JCS reports that North Korea fired an apparent ballistic missile over the East Sea (Sea of Japan). South Korea ’s presidential National Security Council convenes, is briefed, and expresses concern. This is Pyongyang ’s first such launch in 2022; its last was an SLBM in October. Two more missile tests (so far) follow, on Jan. 12 and 14.
: Reacting to Pyongyang’s missile launch, President Moon voices “concerns that tensions could rise and a stalemate of inter-Korean relations could further deepen.” Yet South Korea should not give up on dialogue, and “North Korea also should make efforts in a more earnest manner.”
: After investigating Jan. 1’s redefector border crossing, the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) report that the man crossed into North Korea despite being caught five times on military surveillance cameras. Gen. Won In-choul, JCS chairman, admits: “We failed to carry out given duties properly…I apologize for causing concerns to the people.”
: President Moon urges the ROK military to “have a special sense of alert and responsibility.” Calling the “failure of security operations …a grave problem that should not have happened,” he demands a special inspection of front-line units to ensure no repetition.
: ROK JCS reports that North Korea fired an apparent ballistic missile over the East Sea (Sea of Japan). South Korea’s presidential National Security Council convenes, is briefed, and expresses concern. This is Pyongyang’s first such launch in 2022; its last was an SLBM in October. (Further missile tests follow, making January the most intensive month ever for DPRK missile launches.)
: Reacting to Pyongyang’s missile launch, President Moon voices “concerns that tensions could rise and a stalemate of inter-Korean relations could further deepen.” Yet South Korea should not give up on dialogue, and “North Korea also should make efforts in a more earnest manner.”
: Amid reports that last week’s presumed returnee defector was suffering financial problems in South Korea, MOU insists the man—who worked as a cleaner—had received due resettlement support from the ROK government.
: Amid reports that last week’s presumed returnee defector was suffering financial problems in South Korea, the Ministry of Unification (MOU) insists that the man—who worked as a cleaner—had received due resettlement support from the ROK government.
: In his final New Year’s speech as ROK President, Moon Jae-in says he will pursue an “irreversible path to peace” on the peninsula until his term ends in May: “I will not stop efforts to institutionalize sustainable peace … If we [the two Koreas] resume dialogue and cooperation, the international community will respond … I hope efforts for dialogue will continue in the next administration too.”
: South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) says it has had no response from North Korea to a message it sent on Jan. 2 via the western military communication line, urging the North to protect the border-crosser. Another report clarifies that while Pyongyang did acknowledge receipt of the message, sent twice, it made no comment on the protection request. MND also confirms the man’s identity as being the same person who had arrived by a similar route across the DMZ in November 2020.
: In his final New Year’s speech as South Korea’s president, Moon Jae-in says he will pursue an “irreversible path to peace” on the peninsula until his term ends in May: “I will not stop efforts to institutionalize sustainable peace…If we [the two Koreas] resume dialogue and cooperation, the international community will respond…I hope efforts for dialogue will continue in the next administration too.”
: South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) says it has had no response from North Korea to a message it sent on Jan. 2 via the western military communication line, urging the North to protect the border-crosser. Another report clarifies that while Pyongyang did acknowledge receipt of the message, sent twice, it made no comment on the protection request. MND also confirms that this is the same person who arrived by a similar route across the DMZ in November 2020.
: First reports come in that a man has entered North Korea from the South by crossing the DMZ.
: First reports come in that a man has entered North Korea from the South—yes, that way round—by crossing the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
: Family of Lee Dae-jun, the ROK fisheries official killed by DPRK forces in Northern waters in September 2020 (see our earlier report here), apply for an injunction to stop whatever information the Blue House holds on this incident being designated as presidential records, meaning access would be restricted. They fear this is why the Blue House National Security Office (NSO) and the Coast Guard are appealing a court ruling last month, ordering them to share all data they have with the family.
: MOU says: “We hope North Korea will start the new year by opening the door for dialogue … and take a step forward for engagement and cooperation.”
: North Korea holds the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee at WPK headquarters in Pyongyang . This turns out to be heavily domestic-focused, especially on agriculture. At least as reported, nothing whatever is said about South Korea—nor the US, nor the DPRK’s nuclear and missile programs.
: MOU Lee In-young warns that the peninsula’s geopolitics in 2022 will reach an “extremely critical juncture,” with uncertainties including the ROK presidential election. For the umpteenth time, Lee urges Pyongyang to talk: “We have finished preparations to start inter-Korean dialogue at any time, anywhere, regardless of agenda and form.”
: Two ROK experts claim the DPRK economy does not face imminent crisis, as imports of crude oil and fertilizer have continued despite sanctions and COVID-19 curbs.
: Heartbreaking data from MOU reveal that of 24,007 video letters produced by separated family members since 2005, only 20 have actually been sent to North Korea (in 2008).
: MOU claims that North Korea’s private sector has steadily grown during Kim Jong Un’s decade in power. Based on surveying successive cohorts of defectors, with a cut-off point in 2020, this contradicts or misses what most analysts regard as a significant and ongoing rollback of reform during the past two years.
: NIS warns that, ahead of next March’s presidential election, hackers may (in Yonhap’s summary) “beef up attempts to steal information on Seoul ‘s North Korea policy and other security issues.” It points no finger at who in particular might seek to do this.
: In Canberra, President Moon says that both Koreas, China, and the US have agreed “in principle” to declare a formal end to the Korean War. This makes headlines, even though Moon admits no talks are yet possible because Pyongyang objects to US “hostility.”
: Joongang Ilbo, Seoul ’s leading center-right daily, says it has been told by “a high-ranking Blue House official” that “we have continued to communicate with North Korea ” about an end-of-war declaration. This is the first confirmation that a top-level channel to Pyongyang exists. Its precise nature is not disclosed.
: MOU survey of 5,354 members of separated families—among a total of 47,004 persons registered as such—finds that the great majority (82%) have no data on the fate of their Northern kin. Of the lucky 18%, half said they obtained the information through private sources or NGOs: twice as many as the few who got this via the government. On background, MOU notes that this elderly cohort are dying at a rate of about ten per day, so time is running out for any more family reunions; the last was in 2018.
: MOU elaborates on the need “for a more systematic monitoring due to the frequent spread of false, fabricated information on North Korea on new media platforms which led to various negative consequences, including the distortion of policy environment.” Its website already has a section to scotch false media reports. Whether purveyors of untruth will be penalized is unclear.
: Despite frozen North-South ties, the National Assembly approves a 2% rise over 2021 in MOU’s budget next year, to 1.5 trillion won ($1.3 billion). The 1.27 trillion won for inter-Korean cooperation includes a new 31.1 billion heading for local governments’ cooperation with the North, and 200 million won to counter fake news. Support for defectors is cut by 2.7% to 95.2 billion won, as the numbers arriving have fallen sharply.
: Seoul Central District Court orders the ROK state to pay 26 million won ($22,000) to a defector couple—later divorced, and one now deceased—who on arrival in 2013 were detained at an NIS facility for almost twice the maximum legal limit of 90 days. They had sued for 210 million won, but the court rejected their allegations of harsh treatment.
: MOU says it has approved three applications by NGOs to send healthcare aid to North Korea. No further details are provided.
: A poll of 1,000 South Koreans by the Peaceful Unification Advisory Council finds that over half (53.9%) reckon an inter-Korean summit at the Beijing Winter Olympics is impossible. Surprisingly, 40.1% think this is possible.
: MND says the ROK military has competed excavations at White Horse Ridge, a Korean War battle site inside the DMZ. 37 bone fragments from 22 soldiers were recovered, plus 8,262 items including combat gear. Though meant to be a joint inter-Korean project, the South proceeded alone as the North pulled out before work started.
: Do Hee-youn, head of the Citizens’ Coalition for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees, says he has submitted a formal application to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on behalf of the family of Lee Han-young, asking that his death be investigated. Lee, a nephew of Kim Jong Il’s former wife Song Hye-rim, defected in 1982. In 1997 he was shot dead in Seoul by suspected North Korean agents.
: MOU announces plans to construct a new database center on unification at Goyang, on Seoul’s northwestern outskirts. This will replace the Information Center on North Korea, founded in 1989 and currently housed in the National Library of Korea in southern Seoul (which is short of space). Costing an estimated 44.5 billion won ($37.6 million), the new building is due to be completed by end-2025.
: MOU Lee tells a forum in Seoul: “23 years ago today, the historic Mount Kumgang tourism project … got under way. As soon as the circumstances are met, we will have serious consultations with the North on creating a joint special tourism zone on the east coast.” In reality, Kim Jong Un has explicitly repudiated any such cooperation.
: MOU anticipates, wrongly, that in December North Korea will hold events to celebrate Kim Jong Un’s first decade in power, saying this is needed “to strengthen internal unity.” Instead, the DPRK solemnly marks the 10th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s death.
: MOU Lee says the ROK will “comprehensively review” whether or not to co-sponsor the annual UN resolution on North Korean human rights, drafted by the European Union. Predictably, the Moon administration once again declines to do this.
: MOU Lee opines that inter-Korean medical co-operation is “inevitable.” North Korea appears to take a different view.
: Citing “legal sources,” Yonhap reports that prosecutors in Suwon indicted a defector, a woman in her 40s, as an DPRK agent tasked with persuading other defectors to return home. On Nov. 23, now identified as Song Chun-son, aka “Agent Chrysanthemum,” she is jailed for three years, despite insisting she acted under duress. (This New York Timesreport well portrays the dilemmas involved.)
: One day after KCNA reports an “artillery fire competition” involving “artillery sub-units under mechanized troops at all levels,” with top KPA generals present, MOU notes that the DPRK conducts various military drills. Seoul will monitor such moves “rather than prejudging North Korea’s intentions.”
: MOU reports that Unification Minister Lee In-young, who accompanied Moon to Europe, had meetings in Geneva to discuss DPRK humanitarian issues with the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and with representatives of the Red Cross. The impact of these endeavors is unclear, as North Korea continues to refuse aid—especially from South Korea.
: MOU urges the DPRK to respond to the Pope’s willingness to visit Pyongyang.
: In Glasgow, Scotland for the annual UN climate conference, Moon Jae-in says South Korea will seek to cut greenhouse gas emissions on the peninsula by jointly planting trees with the North. The Korea Herald questions the feasibility of this, since inter-Korean talks on forestry have been stalled (like everything else) since 2018.
: Yonhap notes that Pyongyang has yet to comment on the death on Oct. 26 of former ROK President Roh Tae-woo (in office 1988-93), a pioneer in improving North-South relations. Their silence is not broken subsequently. DPRK media references to Roh have been consistently hostile, focusing on his earlier role as a coup-maker in 1979-80.
: Not for the first time, nor the last, South Korea claims to detect signs that the North is preparing to reopen its border with China. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) tells lawmakers that the main Sinuiju-Dandong railway crossing could be running again by November. As of mid-January this has yet to happen.
: NIS chief Park Jie-won says it is “possible” North Korea may agree to talks on a peace declaration without preconditions. That seems unlikely, since his agency also reports that Pyongyang’s demands before even discussing this include lifting sanctions and an end to joint US-ROK war games.
: In further comments, the NIS says Kim Jong Un has lost 20 kilos (44 pounds) in weight, but has no health issues. The DPRK is using the term “Kimjongunism” internally, while portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il no longer hang over official meetings.
: Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong tells the ROK National Assembly: “We should take some actions to prevent North Korea from further developing its nuclear and missile capabilities … Sanctions relief can be considered as part of efforts (sic), on condition that the North accepts the dialogue proposal.”
: North Korea fires a suspected SLBM. South Korea’s NSC expresses “deep regret.” The timing may be no accident:
: South Korea holds its largest ever arms fair, the biennial International Aerospace and Defence Exhibition (ADEX). Unlike the North’s internally oriented DDE, this is internationally focused with attendees from 45 countries, including Russia but not China. President Moon arrives in style, in an air force jet fighter jet.
: Following a regular NSC meeting, the Blue House says, as Yonhap headlines it, that “S. Korea aims to swiftly reopen talks with N. Korea.” Three months later, that aim remains unachieved.
: Responding to Kim’s critique, Seoul calls for resumed dialogue to narrow differences. MOU comments that inter-Korean relations cannot be resolved just by one side issuing unilateral demands.
: Opening an unprecedented Defence Development Exhibition (DDE), Kim Jong Un waxes Freudian about the missiles on display: “The more we stroke them … the greater dignity and pride we feel … they are ours.” Accusing Seoul of a “hypocritical and brigandish double-dealing attitude” for its own military build-up, Kim insists: “I want to reiterate that south Korea is not the target of our armed forces … Our arch-enemy is the war itself, not south Korea, the United States or any other specific state or forces.”
: Aboard an ROK navy ship to mark Armed Forces Day, Moon Jae-in declares: “I have pride in our solid security posture.” Hours earlier, the DPRK carried out its third missile launch in two weeks.
: Despite Kim Jong Un telling the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) on Sept. 29 that inter-Korean hotlines will be restored in early October, MOU reports that North Korea is still not answering the South’s twice-daily calls.
: Following another DPRK missile launch, after being briefed at an emergency session of the National Security Council (NSC) President Moon orders a “comprehensive and close analysis” of North Korea’s recent words and deeds to ascertain Pyongyang’s intentions.
: MOU calls Kim Yo Jong’s recent remarks “meaningful,” but insists that so as to resume dialogue, “inter-Korean communication lines should first be swiftly restored.”
: In her second “press statement” in as many days, and her third this month, Kim Yo Jong reiterates that in order to end the “deadlock” in inter-Korean relations, as both sides desire, the South “had better stop spouting an imprudent remark of ‘provocation’ against us.” She concludes: “I won’t predict here what there will come – a balmy breeze or a storm.”
: In more honeyed tones than on Sept. 15, Kim Yo Jong calls “President Moon Jae In’s” (she uses his official title) proposal of a “declaration of the termination of the war on the Korean Peninsula at the 76th UN General Assembly” “an interesting and an admirable idea.” However, the timing is not right as long as “double-dealing standards, prejudice and hostile policies toward the DPRK and speeches and acts antagonizing us persist.”
: MOU says it will provide 10 billion won ($8.5 million) to help civilian NGOs offer nutrition and health aid to North Korea, with up to 500 million won for each project. It admits this is hypothetical as long as Pyongyang remains unresponsive.
: Belatedly, ROK police reveal they are also holding another regretful DPRK defector, a woman in her 60s. At 0340 on Sept. 13 she approached a soldier at the heavily guarded Tongil Bridge in Paju, gateway to Dorasan Station (the border crossing to Kaesong), and said she wanted to go home.
: Pyongyang media publish a longish (1,200 words) semi-technical article by Jang Chang Ha, president of the DPRK Academy of National Defense. As per the headline “Clumsy SLBM Launch of South Korea,” this pooh-pooh’s Seoul’s Sept. 15 missile test as “just in the stage of elementary step” (sic) and “clearly not SLBM.”
: South Korean police say that on Sept. 17 they caught an unnamed defector, a man in his 30s who arrived in 2018, trying to return to the DPRK near Chorwon in the central sector of the DMZ. He had four mobile phones and “a cutting machine” (presumably wire-cutters).
: ROK successfully tests its own submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), becoming the seventh nation to have this capacity. President Moon, who watched, says the timing is unconnected to Pyongyang’s firing two BMs hours earlier. “However, our enhanced missile power can be a sure-fire deterrent to North Korea’s provocation.”
: In a rapid response, Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, calls Moon Jae-in’s use of the term “provocation from the north” earlier that day “an improper remark … slip of tongue … too stupid to be fit for the ‘president of a state’” and a “thoughtless utterance … which might be fitting for hack journalists.” The Blue House says it will not react.
: MOU says that henceforth all 243 ROK municipalities will be allowed to operate aid projects with the DPRK independently of central government. Hitherto only a dozen had permission, and before 2019 they had to have an NGO as a partner. All this is notional, as North Korea currently refuses any cooperation with the South.
: ESTsecurity, a South Korean cybersecurity firm, claims that hackers thought to be linked to Pyongyang have sent fake phishing emails to try to steal data from members of an expert panel advising the ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND).
: A day after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspends the DPRK from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics as punishment for its refusal to participate in this year’s Tokyo games, the Blue House insists it will continue to pursue inter-Korean sports diplomacy. There had been speculation that Moon Jae-in would try to use the Beijing games to reach out to Pyongyang.
: A day after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspends the DPRK from the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics as punishment for its refusal to participate in this year’s Tokyo games, the Blue House insists the ROK will continue to pursue inter-Korean sports diplomacy. There had been speculation that Moon Jae-in would try to use the Beijing games to reach out to Pyongyang.
: Lee In-young tells the National Assembly’s foreign affairs and unification committee that in January-July North Korea’s trade with China, its sole significant partner, fell 82% from the same period last year. It was 15 times higher before COVID-19.
: MOU Lee In-young tells the National Assembly foreign affairs and unification committee that in January-July North Korea’s trade with China, its sole significant partner, fell 82% from the same period last year. It had been 15 times higher before COVID-19.
: ROK government sources say that almost 10,000 troops have been observed gathering at Pyongyang’s Mirim Parade Training Ground, suggesting rehearsals for a major parade. This is held, initially unannounced, in the small hours of Sept. 9: the 73rd anniversary of the DPRK’s founding. No new weapons are displayed.
: Despite an almost three-year freeze in North-South relations, MOU requests 1.27 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund in 2022, up 1.9% from this year’s figure. 51%is earmarked for humanitarian aid, 46% for economic projects, and 3% for social and cultural exchanges. Despite the lack of activity currently, the ministry says it needs this budget “to brace for a possible change on the Korean peninsula.”
: Moon Jae-in invites local governments to adopt the seven puppies born in June to Gomi, one of two Pungsan hunting dogs given to him in 2018 by Kim Jong Un, and sired by another Pungsan belonging to Moon.
: Speaking by videolink, South Korea’s Minister of Unification (MOU), Lee In-young puzzles a high-level Russian business conference in Vladivostok with lofty vistas of a special tourist zone on the east coast of both Koreas which could be expanded to Russia. None of this is in any official ROK plan, much less the DPRK’s.
: ROK government sources say that almost 10,000 troops have been observed gathering at Pyongyang’s Mirim Parade Training Ground, suggesting rehearsals for a major parade. This is held, initially unannounced, in the small hours of Sept. 9: 73rd anniversary of the DPRK’s founding. No new weapons are displayed.
: Despite an almost three-year freeze in North-South relations, the ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU) requests 1.27 trillion won ($1.1 billion) for the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund in 2022, up 1.9% from this year’s figure. 51% is earmarked for humanitarian aid, 46% for economic projects, and 3% for social and cultural exchanges. Notwithstanding the lack of activity currently, the ministry says it needs this budget “to brace for a possible change on the Korean Peninsula.”
: ROK President Moon Jae-in invites local governments to adopt the seven puppies born in June to Gomi, one of two Pungsan breed hunting dogs given to him in 2018 by Kim Jong Un, and sired by another Pungsan belonging to Moon.
: As US-ROK drills conclude, Urimizokiri calls them “a dangerous playing with fire.” Since Kim Yo Jong’s salvos, Pyongyang’s criticism has been relatively muted.
: MOU says seven new video conference facilities for virtual separated family reunions, additional to and more widely located than the 13 that already exist, will be ready by the end of this month.
: “Military sources” tell Yonhap that North Korea declared a no-sail zone off its east coast for Aug. 15-16. This usually precedes a missile launch (though Pyongyang often gives no such warning). South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) say that no such launch or other weapons test occurred.
: More downbeat than usual, MOU Lee urges North Korea to return to talks soon, since “it is highly likely that the momentum for the peace process on the Korean Peninsula will weaken” due to the impact of various external factors.
: In a Liberation Day speech, Moon Jae-in suggests that both Koreas would benefit from “institutionalizing peace” on the peninsula, to create a German-style trust-building system.
: Kim Yong Chol, head of the WPK’s United Front Department (UFD) which handles South Korea, lambasts Seoul for ignoring Kim Yo Jong’s warning and going ahead with “frantic military exercises” (which are desk-based). He warns: “We will make them realize by the minute what a dangerous choice they made and what a serious security crisis they will face because of their wrong choice.”
: After Yoon Seok-youl—ex-prosecutor-general, now a leading presidential contender for the conservative opposition PPP—asks publicly whether any secret deal lay behind reopening hotlines with North Korea, the Blue House says that is “untrue.”
: Kim Yo Jong issues another statement, blasting the “perfidious” South and the US for going ahead with “dangerous war exercises … designed to stifle our state by force, and an unwelcoming act of self-destruction for which a dear price should be paid.”
: After heavy flooding in South Hamgyong province on the DPRK’s east coast, MOU says Seoul will explore every avenue for offering assistance. Pyongyang has steadfastly refused such help. The floods have not been discussed on the restored hotlines.
: Citing “sources,” Yonhap reports that South Korea has “tentatively” decided to go ahead with scaled-back US-ROK drills, without any field component. The computer-based Combined Command Post Training (CCPT) will run Aug. 16-26, after four days of crisis management staff training starting Aug. 10. Despite Pyongyang’s objections, the source says: “We are working to stage the exercise as planned, which is a regular one and necessary for a combined readiness posture.”
: Yonhap reports that calls to postpone this summer’s US-ROK military drills are gaining traction within the ruling Democratic Party (DP).
: At a rare Blue House meeting with ROK military top brass, Moon tells MND Suh Wook to hold “prudent consultations” with Washington on joint exercises.
: North Korea finally answers the South’s calls made by radio link on the international merchant marine network hotline. Seoul had been phoning for a week, but—unlike their fixed hotlines—Pyongyang had not yet responded on this channel.
: South Korean lawmakers, briefed by the NIS, say the spy agency told them it was Kim Jong Un who requested that inter-Korean communications lines be restored.
: MOU spokesperson Lee says the South will take a “wise and flexible” stance on US-ROK drills. Earlier, an anonymous ministry official called suspending the drills “desirable.” Lee adds that Pyongyang has not yet replied to Seoul’s offer of virtual talks. MND, however, says the allies are discussing when and how to hold the military exercises.
: “Government sources” tell Yonhap North Korea is using the reopened hotlines to fax details every morning “about foreign fishing boats operating illegally in the Yellow Sea, such as their number and exact locations.” South Korea sends the North its own assessments, which tend to tally. All this prevents accidental clashes. Some 20-30 Chinese vessels are typically found in Korean waters, near the inter-Korean maritime border.
: MOU says that starting today it will resume approving requests by NGOs to send aid to North Korea, suspended for 10 months since the killing of Lee Dae-jun.
: Blue House says Seoul will push for virtual family reunions as an inter-Korean priority. There have been no reunions since the last in-person ones in August 2018.
: On the second day of restored inter-Korean communications, the Blue House denies a claim by Reuters that the two sides are planning a fourth Moon-Kim summit: “There have been no discussions on either face-to-face contact or virtual talks.” Earlier, Cheong Wa Dae also nixes reports that the ROK will send a special envoy to Pyongyang, citing COVID-19 constraints.
: MOU pledges to use newly restored communications with North Korea to raise the case of Lee Dae-jun, the ROK fisheries official killed last September at sea by the KPA in contested circumstances. Having met with MOU Lee, the victim’s brother urges Seoul to push for talks with Pyongyang and deliver his letter to Kim Jong Un.
: Blue House announces that by agreement of President Moon and Kim Jong Un, as of 10am the two Koreas have reopened hotlines that the North cut in June 2020. KCNA confirms the resumption, cites “the recent several exchanges of personal letters” and adds: “Now, the whole Korean nation desires to see the North-South relations recovered from setback and stagnation as early as possible.”
: MND confirms restoration of inter-Korean military hotlines: “Phone calls and faxing to exchange documents now operate normally.” The western line is fine, but the eastern one has technical problems.
: KINU reports that recent defector testimony suggests there are fewer public executions in the DPRK, and less mobilization of citizens than formerly. However, the regime has cracked down harder on mobile phones and other digital devices in border regions, in a bid to stop South Korean popular culture flowing in.
: Rebutting Lee, MOU says “the South Korean government does not support unification by absorption … It pursues peaceful unification through brisk exchanges and cooperation, and eventually inter-Korean agreement based on mutual respect of the other’s system.”
: In a TV debate Lee Jun-seok repeats his call to abolish MOU, adding that he favors “unification by peaceful absorption” of North Korea.
: Not very promptly and rather mildly, one DPRK media outlet comments on Lee Jun-seok’s quest to abolish the unification ministry. Tongil Voice radio, quoting ROK media, says critics have called this “foolish, irresponsible and absurd.”
: Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), the ROK’s main state think tank on the DPRK, publishes an opinion survey. Although over 90% of South Koreans polled think Pyongyang will not give up nuclear weapons, indifference toward the North (especially among the young) is growing—as is hostility to sending aid for COVID-19.
: DPRK media for external consumption attack Lee Jun-seok, the new young head of the ROK conservative opposition PPP, for advocating abolition of the gender equality ministry. Meari calls this a “reactionary view,” while Uriminzokkiri accuses Lee of “showing outright discrimination against women.” Unmentioned is the other ministry Lee also urged to be scrapped as purposeless or outmoded: MOU.
: Uriminzokkiri, a DPRK website for external audiences, warns South Korea not to go ahead with joint maneuvers with the US: “War games and schemes to strengthen armed forces will never stand hand in hand with peace.”
: ROK sends a written response to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, rebutting concerns voiced in April by the UN Special Rapporteur on North Korean human rights that South Korea’s anti-leafleting law violates freedom of speech.
: Briefing the ROK National Assembly’s intelligence committee, NIS confirms that KAERI was hacked, presumptively by North Korea (see June 18). It also reports that Kim Jong Un has lost 10-20 kg in weight but is healthy, and on other matters.
: Amid wild rumors in Seoul that Kim Jong Un is unconscious after a cerebral hemorrhage and his uncle Kim Pyong Il has staged a coup, the NIS seeks to steady the ship: “We determine that the speculation about Kim’s health is groundless … [he] presided over a politburo meeting all day long on June 29 and has carried out state affairs normally as head of state.”
: MOU spokesperson Lee Jong-joo says North Korea is facing greater volatility in prices and foreign exchange rates. The ROK government is “keeping an eye” on this.
: An official at Hanawon, South Korea’s resettlement center for North Korean defectors, says they admitted just 57 in the first half of 2021: down 85% from the 380 who entered during the same period last year. Fresh arrivals in the ROK—who are questioned by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) before their three-month stay in Hanawon—fell from 31 in the first quarter to a record low of two in the second quarter.
: Meeting with Sung Kim, the new US Special Representative for North Korea, MOU Lee calls for “active and agile” US-ROK cooperation to bring Pyongyang back to talks.
: ROK opposition lawmaker Ha Tae-keung of the conservative People Power Party (PPP) says the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) was hacked on May 14. Some of the 13 external IP address intruders came from servers linked to North Korea’s “Kimsuky” network. Ha claims that KAERI denied the breach before admitting it, and accuses the government of reluctance to acknowledge DPRK cyber-attacks.
: Citing “government sources,” Yonhap says that on June 16 a South Korean man in his 40s stole a boat on Baengnyeong, an ROK island near the DPRK coast, and tried to defect to the North—but failed, as it ran out of fuel and drifted.
: On the 21st anniversary of the first North-South summit, both MOU Lee and his ministry urge North Korea to resume dialogue and restore communication channels. Lee opines that “quite good conditions” for dialogue now exist. He also postpones a plan to visit the US, citing uncertainties in inter-Korean relations.
: In Vienna (while on a state visit to Austria), Moon Jae-in says he will seek to cooperate with North Korea in providing COVID-19 vaccines, given South Korea’s bid to become a “global vaccine production hub.”
: International Olympic Committee (IOC) names Brisbane as the sole candidate city to host the 2032 summer Olympic Games. This means the always far-fetched joint bid by Seoul and Pyongyang to co-host in 2032 is officially dead.
: MOU declines to join in frenzied media speculation about Kim Jong Un’s apparent recent weight loss. While analyzing photographs of his public appearances, “we have nothing to say about his health issues, and it is not our place to openly comment on it.”
: MOU says it continues to call North Korea at 0900 every day, but no one picks up. The line at Panmunjom is not “cut,” as there is still a dial tone.
: MOU spokesperson Lee Jong-ju praises project by Gyeonggi province and the Korean Peasants League to create a “farmland for peace.” This would grow rice for North Korea near Gunnam dam, 62 km north of Seoul, built in 2010 on the Imjin river to cope with sudden water discharges by the DPRK upstream, after one such surge in 2009 killed six South Koreans. Despite a 2009 inter-Korean agreement to give notice in future, last year Pyongyang several times released water from its Hwanggang dam without notifying Seoul.
: Speaking on TV, MOU Lee calls for “maximum flexibility” in regard to joint military maneuvers with the US, due in August. These “should never work in a way that causes or further escalates tensions on the Korean Peninsula.”
: MOU says it will spend 1.18 billion won ($1.06 million) to build seven video conference facilities for virtual family reunions. Sites include Uijeongbu, Gangneung, Wonju, Cheongju, and Hongseong. Thirteen such centers already exist, mostly in or near Seoul.
: Meeting with Hyundai Group chairperson Hyun Jeong-eun, MOU Lee states his “unwavering … commitment to push ahead with projects like allowing individual tours to Mount Kumgang as soon as the coronavirus situation improves.”
: In the first mention of the Moon-Biden summit in DPRK media, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) carries an article by Kim Myong Chol, a pro-North Korean resident in Japan, headlined: “What Is Aim of Termination of “Missile Guidelines.’” This attacks Moon’s enthusiasm for missile sovereignty as “disgusting” and “indecent.”
: Pressed by opposition lawmakers after initially declining to comment, ROK Defense Minister Suh Wook tells the parliamentary National Defense Committee that Kim Myong Chol’s remarks about President Moon are “rude” and “highly inappropriate.”
: MOU reports to the National Assembly that it will seek to resume inter-Korean dialogue and restore communication links, since the recent Moon-Biden summit has created “sufficient conditions” for this. It will also pursue humanitarian cooperation, such as sending rice and fertilizer.
: An MOU official anonymously briefs reporters that Kim Jong Un’s public activities are on a “downward trend.” The DPRK leader was last seen on May 7. (He will reappear on June 4, after a 29-day absence.)
: Moon Chung-in, former adviser to Moon Jae-in, tells a US-ROK virtual forum that he expects Pyongyang to contact Seoul to get the lowdown on US policy: “It is very likely that North Korea will come. If … not to the United States directly, maybe it will come to South Korea.”
: MOU Lee In-young calls for nonpartisan support for the National Assembly to ratify the Panmunjom Declaration, signed by Kim Jong Un and President Moon at their first summit in April 2018. This would help replace “wasteful political disputes [with] more mature and constructive debate.”
: MOU releases new master plan for 2021-23 on supporting North Korean defectors. Its 24 tasks include strengthening psychological support programs, not least for those at risk of sexual violence or suicide. It notes that defectors’ employment rate fell 3.8% last year amid the pandemic to 54.4%. For ROK-born citizens the fall was only 1%, to 60.4%.
: ROK MOU calls the DPRK’s decision to pull out of World Cup soccer qualifiers due to take place in South Korea next month “disappointing.” Pyongyang cited coronavirus concerns.
: Seoul Western District Court nixes a bid by several conservative organizations to ban publication of Kim Il Sung’s memoirs. The court rules that the plaintiffs “cannot seek an injunction on behalf of other citizens.” An appeal is planned.
: South Korea’s Minister of Unification (MOU) urges North Korea to return to nuclear talks. Lee In-young says that the upcoming summit in Washington between ROK President Moon and US counterpart Joe Biden will be a “big turning point.” Lee makes several further comments in this vein, both before and after the summit; e.g. on May 21, 24.
: Contra a CNN report claiming that Pyongyang has rejected cooperation with the global COVID-19 vaccine distribution program, MOU says: “As far as we know, relevant negotiations are currently under way between the North and the COVAX side.”
: In an article on the brouhaha over publishing Kim Il Sung’s memoirs in South Korea, The Korea Times’ Nam Hyun-woo notes that, although a rightwing NGO is seeking an injunction to ban the work, the conservative main opposition party is more relaxed. PPP Deputy Spokesperson Park Ki-nyeong comments, “We should have faith in South Korea’s public awareness and superior system and leave this to the public judgment … No one in this country will sympathize with those who hail Kim Il-sung.”
: The Seoul Metropolitan Police raid Park San-Hak and FFNK’s offices.
: In an article on the brouhaha over publishing Kim Il Sung’s memoirs in South Korea, TheKorea Times’ Nam Hyun-woo notes that, although a rightwing NGO is seeking an injunction to ban the work, the conservative main opposition party is more relaxed. The PPP’s deputy spokesperson Park Ki-nyeong comments: “We should have faith in South Korea’s public awareness and superior system and leave this to the public judgment … No one in this country will sympathize with those who hail Kim Il Sung.” (See also April 21, 22 and 25 above and May 16 below.)
: Seoul Metropolitan Police raid Park San-hak and FFNK’s offices.
: Chosun Ilbo, a leading conservative Seoul daily, claims that most of the half a million propaganda flyers launched toward North Korea by Park Sang-hak of Fighters for a Free Korea (FFNK) on April 30 landed in the South, due to wind conditions at the time.
: Chosun Ilbo, a leading conservative Seoul daily, claims that most of the half a million propaganda flyers launched toward North Korea by Park Sang-hak on April 30 actually landed in South Korea, due to wind conditions.
: ROK Police Commissioner-General Kim Chang-yong orders a “swift and thorough investigation” to “strictly handle the sending of anti-North Korea leaflets.”
: DPRK website Uriminzokkiri criticizes brouhaha in Seoul over publication of Kim Il Sung’s memoirs: “”It is dumbfounded [sic] to see such impure forces’ reckless act to make a fuss as if a huge disaster happened and try to block their publication and distribution in a wicked way.”
: ROK Korea Football Association (KFA) says its DPRK counterpart has informed the Asian Football Confederation that North Korea will not take part in the much-delayed second round of soccer World Cup qualifiers (Group H) which South Korea will host in June. The North reportedly cited fears of COVID-19. In the first round, held in Pyongyang in October 2019, the two Koreas’ ill-tempered match ended in a 0-0 draw.
: ROK Police Commissioner-General Kim Chang-yong orders a “swift and thorough investigation” to “strictly handle the sending of anti-North Korea leaflets.”
: DPRK website Uriminzokkiri criticizes the controversy in Seoul over publication there of Kim Il Sung’s memoirs: “It is dumbfounded [sic] to see such impure forces’ reckless act to make a fuss as if a huge disaster happened and try to block their publication and distribution in a wicked way.” (See April 21, 22, and 25 in our previous issue, and May 6 and 16 below.)
: ROK’s Korea Football Association (KFA) says its DPRK counterpart has informed the Asian Football Confederation that North Korea will not take part in the much-delayed second round of soccer World Cup qualifiers (Group H) which South Korea will host in June. The North reportedly cited fears of COVID-19. In the first round, held in Pyongyang in October 2019, the two Koreas” ill-tempered match ended in a 0-0 draw.
: Kim Yo Jong issues a brief but terse statement condemning the latest leaflet launch. Accusing Seoul of “winking” at the leafleteers, she warns, “responsibility for the consequences thereof will entirely rest with the south Korean authorities who stopped short of holding proper control of the dirty human scum.”
: DPRK leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, issues a brief but terse statement condemning the latest leaflet launch across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) by defector activists in the ROK. Accusing Seoul of “winking” at the leafleteers, she warns: “[R]esponsibility for the consequences thereof will entirely rest with the south Korean authorities who stopped short of holding proper control of the dirty human scum.”
: Park Sang-hak, leader of Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK), claims that during April 25-29 his group flew 10 balloons carrying some 500,000 leaflets, 500 booklets and 5,000 $1 bills into the North from border areas in Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces, despite such acts being illegal in the ROK since March 30.
: MOU Lee opines that the first half of 2021—only two months left—“will be a golden opportunity and the most optimal time for the South, the North and the US to move together toward the Korean Peninsula peace progress.” He adds that he has had his first COVID-19 vaccination, so as to be in a position to visit Washington. (The ROK has been relatively slow in rolling out vaccinations.)
: A day after DM Suh says the DPRK’s missiles test-fired on March 25 flew 600 kilometers, South Korea’s JCS explain why they initially underestimated this at 450 km. The missile performed a pull-up maneuver, and was launched eastward where the Earth’s curvature creates blindspots for ROK radar. But not to worry: “If (missiles) fly in our direction, we can detect them all.”
: MOU issues its annual Unification White Paper. This includes data on inter-Korean exchanges. Though dismayed that Pyongyang will not talk, it notes that tensions have been contained. In his preface MOU Lee writes, with rare sharpness, that “North Korea’s destruction of the inter-Korean liaison office in June and the lethal shooting of a South Korean citizen at the west sea in September were intolerable incidents that shocked South Koreans hoping for peace.” In 2020 Seoul spent a mere 3.6% of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund’s billion-dollar budget, down from 6.7% in 2019.
: MOU tallies last year’s inter-Korean exchanges, such as they were. In 2020 613 South Koreans visited the North, mostly ROK staffers at the inter-Korean liaison office; down from 9,835 in 2019 and 6.689 in 2018. No North Koreans (defectors aside) came South, compared to 809 in 2018. Cross-border trade transactions, which numbered 699 in 2018 and 434 in 2019, fell to just 45: mostly supplies for the liaison office, and coronavirus-related aid – though the DPRK claims to have no cases of COVID-19—from ROK NGOs.
: Asked why MOU’s center for North Korean human rights records, set up in 2016 under a law passed that year, has yet to publish a report despite interviewing over 3,000 DPRK defectors to date, an unnamed official says they need more time, more data, and a way to check the “consistency (of testimonies) and verify their credibility.”
: On the third anniversary of the Panmunjom Summit, MOU Lee says: “We emphasize again that we are willing to talk with the North anytime, anywhere and on any issues regardless of the format … We hope North Korea will come out for talks at an early date in respect for the spirit of the Panmunjom Declaration.” In Pyongyang, by contrast, the anniversary goes wholly unmentioned, as in 2020.
: Assistant Minister Kim Chang-hyun shows reporters a new videoconference room at MOU, specifically for talks with North Korea. It took two months to build and cost 400 million won ($360,000). Kim says the North has the necessary equipment too: “there is no problem at all in connecting the two Koreas.” (No technical problem, anyway.)
: Ahead of the third anniversary of the first summit between President Moon and Kim Jong Un at Panmunjom, MOU spokesperson Lee Jong-joo reiterates South Korea’s “firm determination” to implement inter-Korean accords: “It is necessary to restore all levels of dialogue between the South and the North at an early date, including summit talks.” The anniversary is celebrated unilaterally, with various low-key NGO-led events.
: At a tree-planting ceremony, MOU Lee calls for the two Koreas to cooperate on forestry issues, to reduce carbon omissions and mitigate the risk of landslides. In 2018 the two sides agreed to work together on such issues, but nothing concrete has ensued.
: Kyobo, South Korea’s largest bookstore chain, pulls Kim Il Sung’s memoirs from sale. It says this is “to protect customers” from potentially being charged under the National Security Act (NSA). Other ROK sellers online continue to offer the books.
: MOU says the local publisher of Kim Il Sung’s memoirs did not consult or seek permission in advance. It will look into this, taking action if necessary. Another firm that tried to bring out these memoirs in the ROK in the 1990s was investigated under the National Security Act (NSA).
: In a tougher tone than usual from the current ROK government, Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong demands compensation for last June’s blowing up of the inter-Korean joint liaison office. North Korea “must not only apologize … but also promise to make sure something like this would never happen again.”
: MOU says it is considering a system to pre-approve projects which local governments seek to pursue with North Korea. Currently they must first sign an agreement with Pyongyang. It is also mulling a budget for this within the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund. (This all seems hypothetical in current circumstances.)
: With the Century, the 8-volume memoirs of North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il Sung issued in the early 1990s, goes on sale in South Korea for the first time. These “memoirs” mostly cover, and greatly embroider, Kim’s exploits as an anti-Japanese partisan.
: MOU says it seeks to revise the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act to require advance approval for South Koreans exchanging digital files of films or books with North Koreans. Currently, contacts with the North can be reported after they happen. It denies media reports that the aim is to restrict internet radio broadcasting into the DPRK.
: MOU reports that the number of Northern defectors reaching South Korea in the first quarter, having already fallen markedly in 2020 to 135, dropped further this year by 77% to just 31. The DPRK’s anti-coronavirus border closure is the main factor.
: MOU says that via “various channels” it continues to seek North Korea’s participation in a regional forum on public health, proposed by President Moon, launched in December. Other participants include China, Japan, Mongolia, and the US.
: Former Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, executive vice-chair of the presidential National Unification Advisory Council and a prominent advocate of engagement with Pyongyang, criticizes an upcoming hearing by a bipartisan US Congressional caucus on the ROK’s anti-leafleting law as “interference in internal affairs” with “impure intentions.”
: South Korea vows to keep trying with North Korea, despite the latter’s decision to pull out of the Tokyo Olympics, the first summer games it will miss since Seoul in 1988. The ROK had hoped, somehow, to use the Games to kickstart the peace process.
: In a rare case of DPRK plaintiffs suing under ROK jurisdiction, Seoul Central District Court rejects a claim for damages brought by two North Korean entities—and a South Korean acting for them—against four Southern companies, regarding zinc worth 5.3 billion won ($4.7 million) allegedly not paid for in 2010.
: MOU announces its third quinquennial survey of separated families. It will poll the 48,000 reunion applicants on its books to see if they are still alive and keen. It also plans to build 6-7 further video reunion facilities (13 exist), even though North Korea shows no responsiveness. The last reunions were held in 2018, after a three-year hiatus.
: MOU says that, amid signs that easing of DPRK-China border restrictions is growing likelier, it is considering letting South Korean NGOs resume aid to the North. This follows several supportive statements from Minister Lee.
: Controversial amendment to the ROK’s Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act banning sending leaflets into the DPRK, passed in December, comes into effect. Violators face potential fines of 30 million won ($27,400) or up to three years in jail.
: MOU Lee, evidently unfazed by rockets, calls on Pyongyang to be “flexible” and accept Seoul’s offers of humanitarian cooperation. He says this at a seminar discussing the idea, far-fetched given current relations, of running joint trains to send cheering squads from both Koreas to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.
: DPRK media confirm yesterday’s successful test of two “new-type tactical guided missiles,” with “irregular orbit features of low-altitude gliding leap type flight mode.” Using solid fuel and able to carry a 2.5-ton warhead, they flew 600 kilometers (Seoul had estimated 450; see also April 29 below). The test was supervised by Ri Pyong Chol, one of Kim Jong Un’s closest aides.
: MOU Lee reiterates that South Korea stands ready to provide a “sizable” amount of food and fertilizer aid to the North. The same day, his ministry says it is reviewing how best to send such aid—which Pyongyang continues to reject.
: An anonymous spokesperson says the ROK says it will not join the US, Japan, and EU member states in co-sponsoring this year’s resolution—the 19th in successive years—on DPRK human rights abuses at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, but will join the document’s adoption by consensus, the third year the Moon administration has taken that stance. The ROK used to be a co-sponsor.
: Joint CCPT US-ROK maneuvers conclude, having gone “without a hitch” according to an unnamed military source. The two allies’ defense ministers are quoted as concurring (US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is in Seoul for ‘2+2’ talks).
: In a poetically titled but otherwise unlyrical statement, “It Will Be Hard to See Again Spring Days Three Years Ago,” Kim Yo Jong blasts US-ROK military exercises. Unimpressed by their scaling down (“we are not taken in by their nonsense coating mad dog with sheepskin”), she threatens that the North may dissolve its organizations dealing with the South—or even abrogate the inter-Korean military accord. For good measure, she also warns the Biden administration to “refrain from causing a stink at its first step.”
: A propos Kim Yo Jong’s threats, ROK MND reiterates that “the Korea-US combined exercise is a command post exercise …conducted on a regular basis and … defensive in nature.” MND urges Pyongyang to be flexible, and to fully implement—rather than scrap—inter-Korean military accords.
: Four lawmakers of the conservative opposition PPP, including former DPRK diplomat Thae Yong-ho, meet MOU Lee at his ministry to protest delays in implementing the North Korean Human Rights Act passed in 2016. Thae says “the government must stop walking on eggshells not to upset the North Korean regime.”
: Unusually, MOU Lee accompanies DM Suh to the B-1 bunker, somewhere under Seoul, which would be a command center in case of war with North Korea. Their visit is “to encourage soldiers” during ongoing CCPT maneuvers.
: A propos the imminent leafleting ban, MOU vows the “utmost effort” to coordinate with the international community on DPRK human rights issues. As reported by Yonhap, the ministry denies that critical comments by the UN Special Rapporteur relate specifically to the new ban. But they do: his text is explicit and clear on this point (section 32; see also March 1).
: MOU announces finalized guidelines, ahead of a ban on sending leaflets into North Korea. The ministry clarifies that this only covers items sent from the South; it does not apply to anything dispatched to the DPRK from third countries, as activist groups had feared.
: The ROK and US begin regular spring military exercise. Scaled back due to COVID-19, which saw last year’s maneuvers cancelled, the Combined Command Post Training (CCPT) involves computer simulations—but no outdoor drills, as with all major joint exercises since 2019. MOU urges North Korea to “show a wise and flexible approach” about this. Pyongyang makes no immediate response (but see March 16 below).
: Maj. Gen. Pyo Chang-soo of the ROKA’s 22nd Infantry Division, which guards the eastern land and sea border, is dismissed over last month’s defector incident. Four other senior officers will also face disciplinary hearings. (See Feb. 16, 17 and 23 above.)
: Following publication of an interview with MOU Lee in the Financial Times on Feb. 26, his spokesperson clarifies that Lee did not mean to imply that global sanctions are the sole cause of North Korea’s humanitarian crisis; only that after five years it is time to review whether this is achieving the declared goal of denuclearization.
: In his latest wide-ranging report, issued ahead of the UN Human Rights Council meeting (see March 23), UN Special Rapporteur on DPRK human rights Tomas Ojea Quintana voices concern that the ROK’s upcoming ban on sending leaflets into the DPRK “limits many activities of escapees and civil society organizations, and such limits may not comply with international human rights law.” He recommends a review of the new legislation. (See also March 9, 11 and 30 below.)
: MOU Lee says the ROK will push for individual tourism to the DPRK once the pandemic ends, as this is “the best way to break boundaries” and help restore “national homogeneity.”
: Speaking at a seminar on inter-Korean cooperation in public health—not, alas, an inter-Korean seminar on cooperation in public health—MOU Lee renews his call to build a joint response system with North Korea against infectious diseases. The two Koreas agreed to do this in 2018, but like much else it was never implemented.
: Embarrassed JCS now admits that last week’s defector was caught 10 times on military CCTV. The first eight went unnoticed, despite alarm bells ringing (literally).
: MOUA hastily clarifies: “The Unification Ministry and its minister believe that the testimonies of defectors are valuable records that let our government and the international community know about the human rights situations in North Korea.”
: MOU Lee calls for work to resume soon on an inter-Korean dictionary. The “Gyeoreomal-keunsajeon” (겨러 말큰 사전) project began in 2005, was suspended in 2010, and resumed in 2014—only to halt again in 2016. At 307,000 words and after 25 meetings, the work is said to be 81% complete. (A later report suggests that ROK scholars may soon try to send a draft to their DPRK colleagues.)
: Yonhap reports that the NGO Human Rights Watch has sent a formal opinion to MOU, criticizing the legal amendment to ban sending leaflets into North Korea as violating freedom of expression.
: MOU Lee claims that North Korea faces a food shortage of over 1.2 million tons this year: a chronic million ton shortfall, and the rest from 2020’s typhoon damage. Other estimates are more optimistic, or cautious.
: Ex-Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun suggests that foreign firms be included when seeking to reopen the Kaesong Industrial Complex. This would reassure North Korea, and make both sides hesitate before pulling out. He adds: “We have to come up with ideas that are appealing to North Korea. We need to explore ways to avoid UN sanctions.”
: The National Intelligence Service (NIS) tells ROK lawmakers that DPRK hackers tried to steal data on coronavirus vaccines and treatment technologies from Pfizer as well as South Korean pharmaceutical firms. No date or further details are given.
: ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) say a North Korean defector in his 20s came South early today “via the eastern border.” Detected on CCTV at 4.20 am, he was caught three hours later near Goseong. (See also Feb.17 and 23, and March 4, below.)
: At his parliamentary confirmation hearing, FM nominee Chung says US-ROK drills should be held “at a proper level”—but planning them must also consider inter-Korean ties and COVID-19. He takes up his post on Feb. 9.
: After media reports that the conservative main opposition PPP will push for the Inter-Korean Co-operation Fund to be tapped to help those affected by COVID-19, MOU says this is inappropriate “from a perspective of the principle of national finance.” The fund has a budget of 1.25 trillion won this year, but is little used given the freeze between the two Koreas.
: ROK MND publishes its biennial defense White Paper (so far only in Korean). Among much else, the Korean People’s Army (KPA) Strategic Force Command now has 13 missile brigades, up from nine in 2018. The KPA has also upgraded its special forces. And yet, as in 2018, the DPRK is no longer termed an enemy as it always used to be. But this year, for the first time, Japan is no longer called a partner.
: MOU Lee weighs in: “I will say this clearly that we, as the unification ministry, have never discussed the issue of building nuclear plants in North Korea under any circumstances.” But the same day the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) publishes documents which show that this idea was indeed mooted, if only hypothetically.
: In his first interview since being outed, former DPRK diplomat Ryu tells CNN (among much else) that Kim Jong Un will not give up nuclear weapons, and calls for pressure over human rights issues. He says his main motive was a better future for his teenage daughter. The family defected via the ROK embassy in Kuwait.
: The People Power Party (PPP), South Korea’s conservative main opposition party, demands a probe into allegations that Moon Jae-in’s government had plans to offer to build a nuclear power plant in and for North Korea. The government vigorously denies this.
: The ROK Committee for the June 15 Joint Declaration, formed to support the first inter-Korean peace agreement (signed on that date in 2000), reports receiving “warm greetings of solidarity” from its DPRK counterpart. This is the first such message from the North in over a year. How the message was transmitted was not revealed.
: Park Sang-hak, a prominent DPRK defector who runs the activist group Fighters for a Free North Korea, flies to Washington to attend a proposed Congressional hearing on the ROK’s newly enacted ban on sending propaganda leaflets into the North.
: Sources in Seoul reveal that Ryu Hyun-woo (a variant Romanization is Ryu Hyon U), formerly the acting DPRK ambassador to Kuwait, defected in September 2019 and has since been living in South Korea. (See also Feb. 1 below.)
: MOU Lee expresses optimism for a “wise and flexible” solution to the issue of joint drills with the US.
: MOU publishes its Work Plan for 2021. Its professed goals are “to make progress toward denuclearization and establishing a peace regime by pursuing the peace process […]; form a community of life and safety on the Korean Peninsula for coexistence and peace; promote inter-Korean exchange and cooperation; transform the DMZ into an international peace zone and realize greater peace in border regions; and institutionalize inter-Korean relations and lay the foundation for implementing sustainable policy.”
: President Moon nominates Chung Eui-yong as foreign minister, replacing Kang Kyung-wha, who has held the post—the first woman to do so—throughout Moon’s term. No reason is given. In December, Kang incurred Kim Yo Jong’s wrath for doubting North Korea’s claim to be free of COVID-19. As director of the National Security Office in the Blue House during 2017-20, Chung played a key role as an emissary and go-between to Pyongyang and Washington.
: MOU reveals a sharp fall in the number of DPRK defectors reaching the ROK. 2020’s total was just 229, down from 1,047 in 2019 and 1,137 in 2018. Most (135) arrived in the first quarter, reflecting the impact of the DPRK’s border closure against the coronavirus. The cumulative total of former North Koreans in the South is a relatively modest 33,752.
: ROK Cabinet approves various revisions to the South-North Exchange and Cooperation Act. These include compensation for those affected if an inter-Korean project is suspended: seen as a belated response to the South’s abrupt closure of the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) in 2016. Also, if MOU rejects an application to visit North Korea, it must henceforth state its reasons. The revision bill will go to the National Assembly.
: South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) reiterates its readiness to discuss any issues with the North. Spokesperson Boo Seung-chan denies that 2018’s accord has been all but nullified: “Since the pact was signed, the two Koreas have not taken hostile acts against each other at the agreed-upon buffer zones, and the military situation in border areas has been managed in a stable manner.”
: Insisting that ROK-US military exercises “are regular … and defensive in nature,” President Moon says that if Pyongyang has concerns, they can be discussed at the joint military committee. The two Koreas agreed to create this in 2018, but it has never met.
: With similar optimism, MOU’s analysis report also contrives to read the WPK Congress as signaling room for improvement in inter-Korean relations.
: DPRK media publish a statement by Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong, attacking speculation in Seoul about the North holding a military parade. She concludes: “The southerners are a truly weird group hard to understand. They are the idiot and top the world’s list in misbehavior as they are only keen on things provoking world laughter.”
: DPRK media publish a statement by Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong, attacking speculation in Seoul about the North holding a military parade. She concludes: “The southerners are a truly weird group hard to understand. They are the idiot and top the world’s list in misbehavior as they are only keen on things provoking world laughter.”
: Despite harsh words from both brother and sister Kims, Yonhap, the quasi-official ROK news agency, quotes an upbeat assessment of the prospects for inter-Korean relations by an unnamed “top official” of MOU: “There were some strong words but their remarks seemed toned-down … The North appears to be leaving many possibilities open.”
: In his New Year address, Moon repeats call for the two Koreas to work together: “Our determination to meet at any time and any place and talk even in a contact-free manner remains unchanged. The two Koreas should jointly fulfill all the agreements made together to date.”
: In his New Year address, ROK President Moon Jae-in renews his call for the two Koreas to work together: “Our determination to meet at any time and any place and talk even in a contact-free manner remains unchanged. The two Koreas should jointly fulfill all the agreements made together to date.”
: Rodong Sinmun, the WPK daily, publishes a 13,500 word summary (not the full text) of Kim’s nine-hour speech to the Eighth Congress. This is hardline on all fronts, including toward South Korea.
: Reacting (if hardly responding) to Kim Jong Un’s diatribe, MOU reiterates South Korea’s commitment to implementing inter-Korean agreements.
: Rodong Sinmun, the WPK daily, publishes a 13,500 word summary (not the full text) of Kim’s nine hour speech to the Eighth Congress. This is hardline on all fronts, including South Korea. (See the previous issue of Comparative Connections, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp 89-104, for the full text [Appendix 1] and analysis of Kim’s comments on the South.)
: Reacting—if hardly responding—to Kim Jong Un’s strictures, the Unification Ministry (MOU) reiterates the ROK’s commitment to implementing inter-Korean agreements.
: Reuters reports that ROK prosecutors have indicted Kim Ryen Hi for violating the National Security Law (NSL). Kim, a North Korean woman aged 51 who claims she was tricked into defecting, has kept trying to be sent back to the DPRK, including turning herself in as a spy. Her lawyer comments: “It would invite international ridicule if you charge someone who is only fighting to go back home with threatening national security for sharing her daughter’s letters on Facebook.”
: Reuters reports that ROK prosecutors have indicted Kim Ryen Hi for violating the National Security Act (NSA). Kim, a North Korean woman aged 51 who claims she was tricked into defecting, has kept trying to be sent back to the DPRK, including turning herself in as a spy. Her lawyer comments: “It would invite international ridicule if you charge someone who is only fighting to go back home with threatening national security for sharing her daughter’s letters on Facebook.”
: Congress continues. Kim Jong Un concludes his report.
: Congress continues. Kim Jong Un finally concludes his report.
: Congress continues, and so does Kim Jong Un’s report.
: Congress continues, and so does Kim Jong Un’s report.
: In his New Year address, MOU Lee says Seoul is expecting a “positive message of dialogue and cooperation” from Pyongyang in the near future.
: Osaka-based media NGO Asiapress publishes what it claims is a secret document from September in which Kim Jong Un launches a campaign to extirpate ROK linguistic usages as part of a “policy for inciting hatred among the domestic population towards South Korea.” Asiapress says it has more DPRK documents in this vein.
: In his New Year address, South Korea’s Minister of Unification (MOU) Lee In-young says Seoul is expecting a “positive message of dialogue and cooperation” from Pyongyang in the near future. (As of May he is still waiting.)
: Osaka-based media NGO Asiapress publishes what it claims is a secret document from September in which Kim Jong Un launches a campaign to extirpate ROK linguistic usages, as part of a “policy for inciting hatred among the domestic population towards South Korea.” Asiapress says it has more DPRK documents in this vein.
: Instead of Kim Jong Un’s customary substantial New Year address, DPRK media carry a very short handwritten letter. Kim offers greetings, thanks people for their trust in “difficult times,” and promises to “work hard to bring earlier the new era in which the ideals and desires of our people will come true.”
: Although North Korea cut all inter-Korean communication links in June, the United Nations Command (UNC) confirms that its direct telephone line at Panmunjom to the KPA remains operational. It delivered 86 messages in 2020, plus line checks twice daily.
: Instead of Kim Jong Un’s customary substantial New Year address, DPRK media carry a very short hand-written letter from the leader. Kim offers greetings, thanks people for their trust in “difficult times,” and promises to “work hard to bring earlier the new era in which the ideals and desires of our people will come true.”
: Although North Korea cut all inter-Korean communication links in June, the United Nations Command (UNC) confirms that its direct telephone line at Panmunjom to the KPA remains operational. It delivered 86 messages in 2020, plus line checks twice daily.
: A joint survey of 414 defectors by two organizations, the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB) and NK Social Research (NKSR), finds that 26.6% of them sent money to North Korea this year. Remittances averaged 1.51 million won ($1,390), with on average 1.8 transactions in 2020. A larger number, 38.6%, said they maintained contact with family in the North, nearly all (91.6%) by phone. Over one in seven (14.8%) said they had considered returning to North Korea.
: MOU says that from Jan. 4 it will increase support for NGOs aiding North Korea. Henceforth they can apply three times a year, rather than once, and need cover only 30% of financing themselves, down from 50%. Whether Pyongyang will accept such assistance is another matter.
: Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon calls on South Korea to “rectify” its ban on sending leaflets into North Korea: “I cannot help but feel miserable that our country is facing criticism from home and abroad due to the human rights issue.”
: A Politburo meeting—the 22nd session of the Political Bureau of the Seventh Central Committee of the WPK—reviews preparations for the upcoming Eighth Congress, set for “early in January” (still no exact date). Interestingly, this is chaired not by Kim Jong Un (though he attends) but former Premier Kim Jae Ryong, under KJU’s “guidance.”
: DPRK’s Voice of Korea reports: “Delegates to the Eighth Party Congress arrived in Pyongyang in late December.”
: The Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a private think-tank in Seoul, predicts that North Korea may greet President Biden with a missile test: “the North will consider playing the card of an ICBM launch in a desperate measure to break the deadlock.”
: Almost 30 South Korean human-rights organizations file a constitutional challenge to the new anti-leafleting law.
: Launching the Northeast Asia Conference on Health Security, an initiative of Moon’s, FM Kang expresses hope that North Korea might join. The inaugural virtual meeting comprises South Korea, the United States, China, Japan, Russia, and Mongolia.
: Statistics Korea, South Korea’s official statistical agency, publishes a raft of economic data and estimates on the North Korean economy in 2019. This includes a number of inter-Korean comparisons.
: The Sejong Institute, a private think-tank in Seoul, reports that Kim Jong Un made 51 public appearances this year: the fewest ever in his nine-year reign, down from 85 in 2019 and 212 in 2013. Fourteen were economy-related, 12 military, and 25 political. Eight were on-site inspections, mostly related to natural disasters or health issues. The Institute speculates that COVID-19 is the main reason for Kim’s relative invisibility of late.
: MOU says it is drafting guidelines on the new ban on sending leaflets into North Korea, to clarify its scope of application.
: MOU expresses regret that Tomas Ojea Quintana, UN special rapporteur on human rights in the DPRK, has called on Seoul to reconsider the leaflet ban.
: South Korea says it is developing ground vibration sensors to better detect movement near the DMZ, after a defector jumped over fences without raising alarms.
: One of the most high-profile (and controversial) balloon-launching activists, Park San-hang of Fighters for a Free North Korea, says he is contemplating a constitutional challenge to the ban on sending leaflets.
: By 187 votes to 0, ROK National Assembly approves a revision to the National Intelligence Service Korea Act. The spy agency can no longer investigate alleged pro-North activities by South Koreans: this power, abused in the past, now passes to the police. The conservative opposition PPP boycotts the vote after its filibuster the day before is overruled—as the ruling Democratic Party (DP) can do after 24 hours, having over 180 seats.
: By the same 187-0 margin, the National Assembly passes a revision to the Development of Inter-Korean Relations Act, to ban sending leaflets into North Korea. Maximum penalties are three years jail or a fine of 30 million won ($27,000). Again the PPP boycotts the vote after its filibuster is overruled.
: Ji Seong-ho, one of two DPRK defectors elected in April as a lawmaker for the ROK conservative opposition (named the People Power Party, or PPP), says that seeking nuclear talks with North Korea without addressing its human rights issue is “quite a hollow thing, such as a sand castle.”
: Ever optimistic, Unification Minister Lee detects a “U-turn” toward a thaw since June’s tensions. He says North Korea may respond to the South’s offers of cooperation on COVID-29 after its upcoming Party Congress.
: At the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue in Bahrain, ROK Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-hwa says it is hard to believe the DPRK’s claim to be free of COVID-19: “All signs are that [they are] very intensely focused on controlling the disease that they say they don’t have.” This is not part of her prepared remarks.
: In a saga going back to June 2019, MOU says it is in talks with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to get back $11.6 million it had sent to supply 50,000 tons of rice to North Korea. Pyongyang rejected Seoul’s offer. (See also Sept. 3.)
: MOU Lee says South Korea should send the North food and fertilizer next spring, when it faces a risk of “extreme famine.” And yet …
: Park Sang-hak, leader of Fighters for a Free North Korea, is charged with assaulting a broadcasting team who visited his home (uninvited) to interview him about his leafleting campaign. He allegedly beat and threw bricks at the journalists, and fired a tear gas gun at police. Park counter-claimed that the journalists were housebreaking.
: Korea Herald reports that on Nov. 4, a DPRK defector in his 20s arrived undetected across the DMZ near the east coast. A former gymnast, the man said he vaulted over fences 3 meters (10 feet) high. ROK authorities make him jump twice to prove it.
: On the 10th anniversary of North Korea’s shelling of Yeonpyeong island, which killed four, South Korean Defense Minister Suh Wook pays tribute to the fallen and vows a strong defense posture: “True peace needs to be supported by strong power.” The same day, MOU Lee tells officials of major chaebol (conglomerates) including Samsung, Hyundai Motor, SK and LG, whose heads accompanied President Moon to Pyongyang in 2018, to be prepared: an inter-Korean breakthrough “may come sooner than expected.”
: MOU Lee reiterates call for the two Koreas to cooperate on COVID-19: “When vaccines and treatment … are developed … in the near future, a new environment will be created in the Korean Peninsula in which people and goods can come and go.”
: With winter coming, MND says it will wrap up this year’s work excavating remains at Arrowhead Ridge, a Korean War battlefield. This was meant to be a joint effort, but North Korea remains unresponsive. The South will resume work in the spring.
: ROK provincial authorities in Gangwon—the only Korean province bisected by the DMZ—reveal that in August they sent a letter inviting DPRK counterparts to co-host the 2024 Winter Youth Olympics. They live in hope, though no reply has been received.
: Following the US presidential election, MOU Lee urges North Korea to “take a discreet, wise, and flexible approach” during the transition and refrain from provocations.
: In a 1,000 word KCNA commentary clearly meant to draw a line, Pyongyang again expresses “regret” at “the inglorious incident”—but blames Seoul for not controlling its citizen, and slams Southern conservatives for “working with bloodshot eyes to slander their fellow countrymen in the north.” The piece is headlined: “Sustained Confrontational Frenzy of S. Korean Conservative Forces May Invite Greater Misfortune.”
: At a forum in Cheorwon near the DMZ, MOU Lee calls the two Koreas “a single community of life and security.” He avers: “Once the South and the North join hands, the DMZ could be turned into [an] experimental space of coexistence where the possibility of peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula can be tested in advance.”
: Without naming him, KCNA attacks ROK national security adviser Suh Hoon for acting “so sordidly” on “his recent secret junket” to Washington. Suh’s saying that inter-Korean ties also require consultation with other countries, such as the US, shows “the south Korean authorities’ wanton denial, perfidy to and an open mockery of” all past North-South agreements, which put national independence above all. Calling Suh “an American poodle,” KCNA adds: “We can not but doubt his sanity.”
: MOU says it will conduct an ecological survey of the Han River estuary next month. In 2018 the two Koreas carried out a joint survey, but this time the ROK will stick to the South side of the river only.
: Shin Hee-young, newish head of the ROK Red Cross, suggests that instead of one-sided aid which hurts the DPRK’s pride, the two Koreas conduct joint medical research.
: MOU reports that just 48 North Korean defectors—23 men and 25 women—reached South Korea in the third quarter: well down from the 226 who arrived in Q3 of 2019. Travel restrictions due to COVID-19 are driving a sharp fall: there were 135 in Q1 and a mere 12 in Q2.
: Restating familiar themes, MOU Lee In-young tells a forum in Seoul: “We are faced with the task of moving the US-North Korea nuclear talks forward through inter-Korean trust, allowing individuals to travel to North Korea and reconnecting and modernizing railways and roads as agreed upon by the leaders of the two Koreas … That is the way to go no matter what and the responsibility that cannot be neglected.”
: ROK opposition lawmaker says MOU slashed its 2021 budget for the now demolished North-South liaison office to 310 million won ($270,000), from 6.41 billion won in 2020.
: In his latest report on DPRK human rights, UN special rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana denounces Lee Dae-jun’s killing as a “violation of international human rights law” and demands that Pyongyang punish those responsible.
: MND assures South Koreans that the ROK can “immediately respond to and incapacitate” DPRK short-range missiles and multiple rocket launchers (MLRs) displayed at the North’s Oct. 10 parade.
: After Kim’s “warm wish,” MOU voices hope for improved inter-Korean ties, but says conditions are not yet right to make specific proposals.
: Saying it is reviewing Kim’s speech, the Blue House reaffirms that inter-Korean accords should be honored “and war should be kept at any cost” (sic).
: North Korea marks 75th anniversary of the founding of ruling Workers’ Party (WPK) with a big military parade: its first in two years, held unusually at midnight. Hardware rolled out includes a huge new ICBM, the world’s largest of its kind, on an 11-axle transporter erector launcher (TEL). Kim Jong Un’s emotional speech includes a “warm wish …to our dear fellow countrymen in the south, and hope … the day would come when the north and south take each other’s hand again.”
: In a video address to the Korea Society in New York, President Moon suggests that the US and ROK work jointly toward a declaration formally ending the Korean War. He says trust will be built by “keeping our ears, mind and heart open toward” North Korea. Although “talks have now stalled, and we are catching our breath … we can neither allow any backtracking on hard-earned progress nor change our destination.”
: MOU data, requested by an opposition lawmaker, show that in quantitative terms North Korean media criticism of South Korea soared six-fold in 2019 (981 stories) compared to 2018 (152). Three outlets were surveyed: the party daily Rodong Sinmun, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), and Uriminzokkiri, a propaganda website for external consumption. The 2020 total exceeds 600 items so far, with 239 in June alone but fewer than 10 per month subsequently (see Appendix 2 in our last issue).
: “Parliamentary sources” in Seoul, evidently after intelligence briefings, say the ROK military wiretapped KPA internal communications with and about the MOF official in real time throughout his ordeal. The captain on the spot talked of rescuing him, but was overruled from above. The intel confirms that he was trying to defect.
: After its own investigation, ROK Coast Guard concludes that the man was seeking to defect.
: MOU admits it okayed an NGO plan to send medical aid to North Korea just after news of the fatal shooting. It has told all six aid organizations granted such approval in September to suspend deliveries for now.
: Blue House calls for a joint probe with North Korea, and for the inter-Korean military hotline to be reopened to discuss this. Pyongyang makes no response, but its official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)—rather than the navy or government—warns Seoul against intruding into Northern waters. KCNA adds that the North is “about” to organize its own search, and will “even consider … ways of handing over any tide-brought corpse to the south side conventionally in case we find it.”
: Mobilizing 39 vessels and six aircraft, ROK Navy and Coast Guard continue their search for the official’s body, despite the DPRK’s warning against intrusion. They clarify that they are staying strictly south of the NLL.
: In a most unusual message from the WPK’s United Front Department (UFD), Kim Jong Un apologizes for this “unsavory” case. The North’s explanation of why it shot the man strains credulity. Blue House also reveals that Moon and Kim exchanged fulsome letters early in May, and publishes their texts (unofficial translation here).
: ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) “strongly condemns” what it calls “an act of brutality … According to our military’s thorough analysis of diverse intelligence,” North Korean troops found the missing official in its waters, shot him, and burnt his body. In sharp tones, MND urges Pyongyang to explain and punish those responsible. It adds that the man had financial and other problems, and was probably seeking to defect.
: The Blue House (Cheongwadae, the ROK presidential office and residence) condemns this “inhumane” shooting of a South Korean “who had no weapon and no intention to resist,” as an “act against international norms and humanitarianism.” President Moon, calling the incident “shocking” and intolerable, orders South Korea’s military to further strengthen its security posture. MOU weighs in similarly, adding that it has no way to communicate with the North since the latter cut all inter-Korean communication lines in June.
: ROK Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) says that on Sept. 21 one of its officials went missing—leaving only his shoes—from an inspection boat patrolling waters off Yeonpyeong island, near the Northern Limit Line (NLL, the de facto inter-Korean maritime border). An intensive search fails to find him. MOF adds that “according to our military intelligence, he was found in North Korean waters late Tuesday [Sept. 22]).
: “Sources” in the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the ROK spy agency, say the as-yet unnamed 47-year old was shot and “cremated” by KPA soldiers while trying to defect. They are probing his motives, and say there is “no evidence that any senior official is involved in this case.”
: South Korean police reveal that on Sept. 17 they caught a defector trying to go back to North Korea across the DMZ. Arrested in a military area in Chorwon in central Korea, the unnamed man in his 30s, who had come South in 2018, was found with cutters and four mobile phones.
: Moon marks summit anniversary with a Facebook post: “Together with Chairman Kim Jong-un, I declared denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula.” Since then “internal and external restraints” have stopped the peace clock, but a “seed sown in history” is sure to bear fruit. The ROK holds no official commemoration of the anniversary, which passes wholly unmentioned in DPRK media.
: The day before the second anniversary of his third summit with Kim Jong Un, Moon tells Buddhist leaders: “If (we) don’t give up hope for meetings and dialogue, we will surely move on to the path of peace and unification.”
: MOU Lee tells DMZ Forum 2020 that the two Koreas should “set up a joint disaster control system in the DMZ” to tackle inter alia “flooding, damage from blight and harmful insects [and] forest fires.” This could “also bring in people to slow-developing border regions and get the peace engine up and running if roads and railways are connected.”
: JCS nominee Won In-choul (currently Air Force chief of staff), also replying to questions from lawmakers, opines that the North “could launch an SLBM by using catapulting devices.” It is unclear if this difference denotes a changed military assessment, or confusion. No launch occurs.
: On his first visit to the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) as Unification minister, Lee calls on North Korea to implement 2018’s inter-Korean accords, reopen cut communication lines, and resume “open-minded” dialogue. At Panmunjom Lee waves to DPRK soldiers. It is not shown, or stated, whether the Korean People’s Army (KPA) waved back.
: Responding to lawmakers’ questions ahead of his confirmation hearing, Gen. Suh Wook—nominated by President Moon as Minister of National Defense (MND); hitherto he was chairman of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS)—says that “no signs indicating imminent firings of an SLBM [submarine-launched ballistic missile] have been detected.” There is speculation that the DPRK might mark the 75th founding anniversary of its ruling Workers’ Party (WPK) on Oct. 10 with a launch of a new missile.
: MOU Lee tells a forum in Seoul that better inter-Korean ties—for instance, cooperation in public health—can move denuclearization forward and “open the era of complete, verifiable and irreversible peace, with the two Koreas taking the lead in cooperation with the international community … We hope that the North will respond to this new start.”
: ROK Red Cross says MOU has commissioned it to create virtual reality (VR) content featuring the Northern hometowns of divided families: “As the separated families are aging rapidly and there are not enough opportunities for reunions, we decided to push ahead with this project using cutting-edge technology to offer them consolation.”
: Pyongyang vows “severe punishment” for officials in Wonsan, accusing them of failing to prepare for Typhoon Maysak which struck the east coast of both Koreas on Sept. 2. An unspecified incident in the port city caused dozens of casualties.
: Pyongyang vows “severe punishment” for officials in Wonsan, accusing them of failing to prepare for Typhoon Maysak which struck the east coast of both Koreas on Sept. 2. An unspecified incident in the port city caused dozens of casualties.
: NK News reports that in late August a court in Incheon acquitted a lawyer who had brought back North Korean books and newspapers after attending a business forum in Pyongyang in November 2018. The judge ruled that since MOU had approved his trip, the defendant could legally possess such items – otherwise banned under the National Security Law (NSL)—for personal research use.
: NK News reports that in late August a court in Incheon acquitted a lawyer who had brought back North Korean books and newspapers after attending a business forum held in Pyongyang in November 2018. The judge ruled that since MOU had approved his trip, the defendant could legally possess such items—otherwise banned under the National Security Law (NSL) —for personal research use.
: Meeting Shin Hee-yong, the new head of the ROK Red Cross, MOU Lee says he hopes the two Koreas “can kick off video reunions over the Chuseok holiday” (the Korean harvest festival, this year falling on Oct. 1). This seems optimistic: North Korea has never accepted video equipment which Seoul paid for, and obtained a UN sanctions waiver as long ago as March 2019.
: MOU says it may redeem funds from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) if there is no progress by end-2020. In June 2019 Seoul announced plans to send 50,000 tons of rice aid, and gave WFP $11.6 million to cover costs—but Pyongyang rejected the offer.
: At the annual Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD), ex-USFK commander Gen. Vincent Brooks predicts that North Korea will hold off re-engaging with the South until 2021, when the election campaign for Moon Jae-in’s successor may give it more leverage.
: Meeting Shin Hee-yong, new head of the ROK Red Cross, MOU Lee says he hopes the two Koreas “can kick off video reunions over the Chuseok holiday” (the Korean harvest festival, this year falling on Oct. 1). This seems optimistic, as North Korea has never even accepted the video equipment which Seoul paid for—obtaining a UN sanctions waiver as long ago as March 2019. In the event, no reunions are held.
: A propos another stalled project, MOU says it may redeem funds from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) if there is no progress by end-2020. In June 2019 Seoul had announced plans to send 50,000 tons of rice aid, and gave WFP $11.6 million to cover costs—but Pyongyang rejected the offer. (See also Nov. 30.)
: At the annual Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD), ex-USFK commander Gen. Vincent Brooks predicts that North Korea will hold off re-engaging with the South until 2021, when the election campaign for Moon Jae-in’s successor may give it more leverage.
: National Security Adviser Suh Hoon ‘clarifies’ that the ROK-US working group forum on North Korea is “basically … useful,” and critics are misinformed. Seoul and Washington are consulting on how to improve it, by “adjusting the aspects of it being misunderstood and excessively functioning” (sic).
: ROK National Security Adviser Suh Hoon “clarifies” that the ROK-US working group forum on North Korea is “basically … useful,” and its critics are misinformed. Seoul and Washington are consulting on how to improve it, by “adjusting the aspects of it being misunderstood and excessively functioning” (sic). (See Aug. 21 in the previous issue.)
: Meeting with Japan’s Ambassador in Seoul, Koji Tomita, MOU Lee asks Tokyo to support efforts to improve inter-Korean ties, as this will be “very beneficial for Japan as well.”
: MOU says it has requested a 3.5% increase in its budget for inter-Korean co-operation next year, to 1.24 trillion won ($1.05 billion). Even though relations are stalled, the plan is to earmark more for hypothetical joint action against disease and natural disasters.
: Meeting Japan’s ambassador in Seoul, Koji Tomita, South Korea’s Unification Minister (MOU) Lee In-young asks Tokyo to support efforts to improve inter-Korean ties, claiming that this will be “very beneficial for Japan as well.”
: ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) says it has requested a greater than 3% increase in its budget for inter-Korean cooperation next year, to 1.24 trillion won ($1.05 billion). Even though relations are stalled, the plan is to earmark more for hypothetical joint action against disease and natural disasters.
: In a report to lawmakers, MOU says a “triple whammy” – sanctions, COVID-19, and floods – is slowing the DPRK economy, jeopardizing targets set for October’s 75th Party founding anniversary. The Ministry vowed to keep pushing for humanitarian inter-Korea cooperation, and to seek opportunities for “small-scale trading”.
: ROK Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo tells lawmakers that Kim Yo Jong, though formally a WPK CC first vice departmental director, appears to be overseeing North Korea’s strategy toward South Korea and the US.
: MOU Lee calls for inter-Korean cooperation against “disasters and catastrophes that have no boundaries,” also pledging “concrete plans … in three areas: health, prevention of infections and climate.” In a separate meeting, he tells firms invested in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) that he will “actively seek ways to resume” its operations.
: MOU reveals that Seoul has approved plans by two unnamed NGOs to send coronavirus-related items, such as masks and protective clothing, to North Korea. The consignments are worth 180 and 300 million won (respectively $151,000 and $253,000).
: National Intelligence Service (NIS) tells lawmakers that Kim Jong Un, though still absolute leader, has partially delegated authority to his sister Kim Yo Jong, whom it calls the “de facto No. 2,” and two pairs of senior economic and military figures. One aim, it suggests, is to “relieve stress … and avert culpability in the event of policy failure.”
: North Korea unexpectedly announces that the “Eighth Congress of the WPK will be convened in January, Juche 110(2021).” It was not due until May, a milder season.
: Joint US-ROK military drills, scaled down and largely computer-based this year, kick off two days late after a Korean participant tested positive for COVID-19. They end on Aug. 28.
: Meeting with US Ambassador Harry Harris, Unification Minister Lee calls for upgrading the allies’ joint forum on North Korea policy to “Working Group Version 2.0.” Critics suggest this is actually a downgrade, since the goal is more autonomy for Seoul to follow its own path with Pyongyang – regardless of Washington.
: Yonhap weighs pros and cons of proposed barter deal (Aug. 5, and Aug. 24). It could put North-South ties back on track – or fall foul of international sanctions and US disapproval.
: Yonhap reports that the UN has granted a sanctions waiver for the ROK’s Gyeonggi provincial government to provide a greenhouse system and related materials, worth $368,000, for a nutrition project in the DPRK’s Nampo city and South Pyongan province. It is not stated whether Pyongyang will accept this aid.
: MOU launches a rare inspection of 25 NGOs registered with it, with more to follow. 13 are run by North Korean defectors. The same day, Seoul Administrative Court accepts a plea by Keunsaem, one of two groups whose operating license the ministry revoked in July, to suspend that decision. Legal proceedings will continue.
: ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) say that amid heavy rainfall, floodgates of North Korea’s Hwanggang Dam on the Imjin river remain partly open. Four times recently the North has discharged water from the dam without warning, contravening a 2009 accord reached after a similar incident caused flash floods which drowned six South Korean campers. On Aug. 5 Seoul urged Pyongyang to give due notice, to no response.
: After heavy rains, MND says it is looking out for North Korean mines which might have been swept out of the DMZ into South Korea. Some just look like wooden boxes.
: MOU is reportedly reviewing a proposed inter-Korean barter deal. Unification Nonghyup, an ROK farmers’ group, signed a 150 million won ($126,710) deal in June with two DPRK companies to swap 167 tons of Southern sugar for Northern liquors, candies, teas et al. Unification Minister Lee had voiced support for such small-scale barter.
: MOU denies that its upcoming audit of civic groups affiliated to it targets defectors, insisting that its criteria are strictly performance-based.
: UN special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Tomas Ojea Quintana, tells MOU that its planned inspection of defector activist groups should not undermine efforts to improve the DPRK rights situation.
: Park Jie-won starts work as South Korea’s new spy chief, a day after his National Assembly confirmation hearing. He was grilled about his role in transferring $450 million to North Korea around the June 2000 summit, for which he was later jailed.
: South Korea acknowledges that a defector did swim back into North Korea around July 18 from Ganghwa island, as claimed by North Korea. It adds that there is no evidence he has COVID-19. Other reports name him as Kim, aged 24, and claim he was facing charges of raping a fellow defector.
: An emergency enlarged meeting of the WPK CC Politburo is called, after a “runaway” (defector) who illicitly returned home to Kaesong on July 18 is suspected of having “the vicious virus.” KJU orders a lockdown of Kaesong and other measures, to avert “a deadly and destructive disaster.” The lockdown is lifted three weeks later.
: MOU nominee Lee suggests that “humanitarian areas related to eating, suffering and things that people want to see before they die” (i.e. family reunions and visits) are fit matters for inter-Korean cooperation without any need to consult Washington.
: Both MOU and the nominee to head it, Lee In-young, aver that suing North Korea for blowing up the joint liaison office is not a viable way to proceed.
: An aide to Im Jong-seok (see July 3) says Im is keen to promote cooperation between cities in North and South Korea, via a nonprofit foundation he heads.
: MOU says it has approved 16 projects by NGOs to aid in the first half of this year. Two are coronavirus-related. It does not name the organizations involved.
: Jeong Se-hyun, former Unification Minister and current executive vice chair of the presidential National Unification Advisory Council (NUAC), calls on the next MOU to dissolve the joint US-ROK working group that coordinates policies on North Korea: “Why on earth did such a thing as the explosion of the joint liaison office take place? It’s because the working group held back inter-Korean relations every single step of the way.”
: Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), an ROK state think tank, says Kim Jong Un made only 19 public appearances in the first half of 2020. During 2017-19 he averaged 40-50 in the equivalent period. KINU attributes this to COVID-related caution.
: In another largely symbolic case, South Korean lawyer files suit against Kim Yo Jong and Gen. Pak Jong Chon, CGS of the KPA, over last month’s office demolition. Prosecutors duly open an enquiry on July 16. Plaintiff Lee Kyung-jae notes that under DPRK criminal law, intentional destruction of state property can be punished with life imprisonment.
: Two elderly former POWs whom the DPRK did not repatriate in 1953—they only escaped half a century later—win a landmark, if symbolic, legal case. Seoul Central District Court orders North Korea and Kim Jong Un to pay each man 21 million won ($17,550) for 33 months of forced labor during 1953-56. This is the first time an ROK court has acknowledged its formal jurisdiction over North Korea and issued a compensation order.
: Moon reshuffles several senior security and diplomatic positions. Lee In-young, parliamentary leader of the ruling Democrats (DP), becomes Unification Minister. Park Jie-won, another politician, will lead the National Intelligence Service. Suh Hoon moves from heading the NIS to be Moon’s National Security Advisor. The previous NSA, Chung Eui-yong, becomes a special adviser, as does Im Jong-seok, Moon’s former chief of staff. All four new appointees are well connected in Pyongyang.
: Because of COVID-19, the number of North Korean defectors reaching the South in the second quarter was a record low, according to MOU. Just 12 arrived, compared to 135 in the first quarter and 320 in Q2 last year. The annual flow has steadily declined in the Kim Jong Un era, from 2,400 in 2010 to 1,407 in 2019.
: In rare criticism, Moon Chung-in, one of President Moon’s most dovish and influential long-time advisers, calls on Pyongyang to explain its demolition of the liaison office. Built with 17 billion won ($14.2 million) of ROK taxpayers’ money, this was “a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation and peace,” so “it is hard for our people to accept that the North unilaterally blew it up like a show.”
: Speaking at Seoul Air Base on the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, President Moon urges North Korea to “boldly embark on an endeavor to end the most sorrowful war in world history”—while warning that “our military has strength to ward off any threat.” Saying that inter-Korean competition is over, Moon notes that South Korea’s GDP is over 50 times the North’s and its trade is 400 times larger.
: MOU calls Kim’s suspension of military plans “positive behavior.” It adds that DPRK media have “withdrawn articles critical of South Korea en masse” (this seems to mean they added no new ones; the old ones remain up). ROK military sources say the North has begun removing propaganda loudspeakers it installed just days before near the DMZ.
: At what KCNA calls “a preliminary meeting of the Fifth Session of the Seventh Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea,” chaired by Kim Jong Un, the CMC suspends the KPA General Staff’s “plans of military action toward the south”. North Korea’s campaign thus ends as suddenly as it began.
: Park Sang-hak, leader of Fighters for a Free North Korea, claims his group defied tight police surveillance to fly leaflets into the North. ROK authorities doubt that any got there, given wind conditions. MOU warns Park he will face “strict measures.” On June 26 police search his office; he refuses them entry to his house.
: North Korea keeps sending small groups of troops to border sentry posts for bush clearance and road maintenance, according to anonymous official source quoted by Yonhap. It adds, there is no sign of military preparations, which would require at least platoon-level movements.
: Pyongyang threatens to send “leaflets of punishment” south, launched by students: “The south Korean authorities will face really horrible time.” It reiterates this threat on June 21 and 22, claiming to have printed 12 million leaflets—images show Moon Jae-in’s face in an ash-tray, smeared with fag-ends and dirt—and that 3,000 balloons are ready. In the event nothing happens.
: MOU responds: “It is very regrettable that North Korea unveiled via a media outlet its plan to send massive anti-South Korea leaflets (sic), and we demand its immediate halt.”
: A propos defector activists, MOU vows: “In close cooperation with the police and local authorities, the government will beef up its crackdown, including the response on the ground.” One such group, Keunsaem, says it is temporarily suspending plans to send plastic bottles containing rice to North Korea from Gangwha island on June 21.
: KPA General Staff says troops will reoccupy Kaesong and Kumgang former joint venture zones. “Civil police posts” withdrawn from the DMZ will be “set up again,” front line artillery units will be reinforced, and “all kinds of regular military exercises in the areas close to the boundary” will resume.
: Pyongyang reveals and spurns a secret Southern offer on June 15 to send special envoys North. Kim Yo Jong “flatly reject[s] the tactless and sinister proposal.”
: In her longest (almost 2,000 words) and rudest—even she calls it “a bomb of words” —diatribe yet, headlined “Honeyed Words of Impudent Man Are Disgusting,” Kim Yo Jong flays Moon’s June 15 speeches as “a string of shameless and impudent words full of incoherence”, and calls it “sickening” to hear this “spate of flunkeyist jargon.”
: UFD’s Jang Kum Chol weighs in: “We have no idea to sit together with the authorities of the south side who evoke only disgust and nasty feelings. [There] will be neither exchange nor cooperation with the [South] in the future. And there will be no word to be exchanged. It is our stand that we had better regard everything that happened between the north and the south as an empty dream. … [The] enemy is the enemy, after all.”
: Blue House calls Kim Yo Jong’s attack “rude” and “senseless”: “We won’t tolerate any more of North Korea’s indiscreet rhetoric and act.” It also condemns the North’s disclosure of its special envoy proposal as a breach of “basic etiquette.”
: Under headline “Our Army Is Fully Ready to Go into Action: KPA General Staff,” KCNA reports that North Korea’s military is, inter alia, “studying an action plan for taking measures to make the army advance again into the zones that had been demilitarized under the north-south agreement.”
: North Korea destroys joint liaison office in Kaesong with “a terrific explosion,” citing “the mindset of the enraged people to surely force human scum and those, who have sheltered the scum, to pay dearly for their crimes.” An adjacent building, once the management office for the Kaesong Industrial Complex, also appears seriously damaged.
: In two speeches on the 20th anniversary of the first North-South summit, President Moon regrets that “inter-Korean relations have not progressed in a straight line” and urges Pyongyang “not to close the window on talks.” Still, “We will usher in an era, without fail, when South and North Korea band together and cooperate for peace and prosperity.”
: Kwon Jong Gun, director-general of the Department of US Affairs in the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), warns South Koreans not to “poke their noses into” US-North Korea relations or the nuclear issue. Among other colorful images, he calls the South “long forsaken like a good-for-nothing cucumber stalk thrown into swill”, and “preemies [sic] … burping after drinking a still water.” More analytically: “We are not what we were two years ago.”
: Kim Yo Jong issues statement. Extracts: “I feel it is high time to surely break with the south Korean authorities. We will soon take a next action … Before long, a tragic scene of the useless north-south joint liaison office completely collapsed would be seen … Rubbish must be thrown into dustbin.”
: Jang Kum Chol, director of the UFD of the WPK CC, warns that, in KCNA’s headline, “North-South Ties Have Reached Uncontrollable Phase.” Jang concludes: “From now, time will be, indeed, regretful and painful for the south Korean authorities.”
: Blue House warns that it will “thoroughly crack down” on cross-border leafleteering, saying this violates both domestic ROK law and inter-Korean agreements. The same day, MOU files criminal charges against two leaflet-sending groups.
: KCNA reports that, following a Party review decreeing that “work towards the south should thoroughly turn into the one against enemy,” as a first step all North-South communication lines will be severed at noon that day. It itemizes these as “ … the north-south joint liaison office, the East and West Seas communication lines between the militaries of the north and the south, the inter-Korean trial communication line and the hotline between the office building of the Central Committee of the WPK and the Chongwadae [Blue House]”.
: DPRK media – domestic and external– launch blitzkrieg of attacks echoing and amplifying Kim Yo Jong’s. Dozens of such articles appear over the next fortnight. Typical headlines include “Unpardonable Hostile Act” and “No mercy for the filthy scum.”
: Unnamed “spokesman of the United Front Department of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea” (UFD, CC, WPK) warns, among other threats and insults, that “we are about to start the work that can hurt the south side soon.”
: In a sharply worded statement, her second aimed at Seoul this year, Kim Yo Jong attacks “human scum” who send leaflets by balloon into North Korea, warning that “the south Korean authorities will be forced to pay a dear price if they let this situation go on.”
: Responding within hours, MOU does not criticize Kim Yo Jong’s diatribe but says it is working on plans to legislate a ban on cross-border leafleteering. Such activity, it adds, causes tensions, creates litter and endangers residents in border areas.
: An optimistic MOU says that in hopes the North will respond, it will prepare for inter-Korean relations in the post-coronavirus age, citing the east coast rail project.
: MOU says it wants to revise the South-North Exchange and Cooperation Act to make it easier for North Korean firms to do business in the South.
: Citing coronavirus concerns and chilly relations, MOU says South Korea will mark next month’s 20th anniversary of the first North-South summit on its own, without North Korea. This is not new; there has been no joint celebration since 2009.
: MOU says South Korea will give $4.9 million over five years to a project by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). The goal is “improving North Korean people’s understanding of international principles on statistics and usability of data as part of efforts to enhance the country’s sustainable development capacity.”
: MOU says it wants to revise the South-North Exchange and Cooperation Law, enacted in 1990, to make cooperation easier. Ideas include allowing municipalities to have their own dealings with the North, and loosening reporting and permission rules for a range of inter-Korean contacts.
: ROK Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) announces a year-long comprehensive survey, the first, of the DMZ; presumably on the Southern side only, below the Military Demarcation Line (MDL). A 55-person panel will look for archaeological relics, flora, and fauna at 40 sites. No North Korean involvement is mentioned.
: With KJU unseen for three weeks since his re-emergence on May Day, MOU says: “The relevant authorities are keeping a close watch”—while noting that such absences are not unusual.
: Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul says the May 24 measures will remain in force.
: Yonhap reports that MOU has launched a “Fake News Response” page on its website, the first ROK ministry to do so, a result of worries that rumor and speculation “could cause confusion and instability in society and financial markets.” Two early targets are YouTube videos, claiming that facemasks are abundant in North Korea though scarce in the South, and that a Southern factory is sending the North a million masks a day.
: Approaching the tenth anniversary of the “May 24 measures”—a ban on most North-South trade imposed by Seoul in 2010, in reprisal for the sinking of the Cheonan that March—MOU says these have “virtually lost … effect” and pose no obstacle to inter-Korean exchanges. It reiterates this next day, claiming past administrations had eroded the sanctions through exemptions; but declines comment on whether they might be lifted entirely.
: MOU says it expects North Korea to face an overall grain shortage of 860,000 tons this year.
: MND denies and deplores media claims that protests by Pyongyang prompted cancellation of a biannual inter-service maritime live fire drill, due to be held this week off Uljin on the east coast. The ministry insists that adverse weather was the real reason.
: ROK JCS says it now has “decisive” evidence (which it does not reveal) that May 3 cross-border firing by the DPRK was accidental.
: Yonhap reports that MOU’s latest annual who’s who in North Korea lists, among other changes, a new chief of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), the DPRK’s military intelligence agency. Rim Kwang Il, an army general, replaced Jang Kil Song last December. MOU notes high turnover rates during the past year: almost 80% for the WPK Politburo, and 82% for the State Affairs Commission (SAC).
: Blue House spokesman insists it is too early to rule out a fresh inter-Korean summit this year, even though “truly, it seems difficult at the moment.”
: In a “special address” on the third anniversary of his inauguration, President Moon suggests quarantine cooperation as a way to revive inter-Korean relations, as this would not breach international sanctions. He admits that “North Korea is not responding”—but blames this on “difficulties” due to COVID-19.
: Maj. Gen. Kim Do-gyun, MND’s point man on inter-Korean affairs, is promoted to three stars – and taken off the case. He becomes chief of the Capital Defense Command. The report does not state who will replace him on the North Korea beat at MND.
: US-led United Nations Command (UNC) says it is conducting “a full investigation” into May 3 border shooting incident. It was reportedly unable to enter the Northern side of the DMZ. Pyongyang has still offered no explanation, much less apology.
: South Korea’s Minister of Unification (MOU) visits the DMZ. Kim Yeon-chul’s trip to Panmunjom is to assess preparations for the planned resumption of tourism, suspended since last year’s outbreak of African swine fever.
: ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) says Pyongyang has not yet offered any explanation for yesterday’s gunfire incident at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
: Yonhap says that the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP), an ROK state think-tank, is proposing that South Korea sign a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) with North Korea, “to accelerate reform … and to help it integrate into the international market.” (KIEP’s homepage lists a report with this date, but in fact published last December—so it is unclear what exactly is new here.)
: South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) report that at about 0741 Northern gunfire struck a guardpost at Cheorwon in the central part of the peninsula, leaving four bullet holes. Following procedure, the ROKA reacted with broadcast warnings, followed by two bursts of return fire (10 rounds each). Though a clear breach of 2018’s inter-Korean military agreement, Seoul reckons the North did not intend a provocation. The JCS noted that “it was quite foggy and the North Korean soldiers usually rotate shifts around that time,”
: Yonhap, South Korea’s quasi-official news agency, cites an unnamed Blue House official as denying that Kim Jong Un has undergone any kind of medical procedure.
: MOU releases mid-term plan for developing inter-Korean relations. Ideas include a joint event in June to mark the 20th anniversary of the first inter-Korean summit. There is no sign that Pyongyang is interested.
: South Korea designates a planned 111-km railway, running north from the east coast port city Gangneung to Jejin near the DMZ, as an inter-Korean project. This means reconstruction can proceed without the normal feasibility study.
: MOU approves an unnamed NGO’s plan to send 20,000 items of protective clothing worth $162,000 to help North Korea combat COVID-19. No more details are given.
: Daily NK, a Seoul-based online journal run by activists and defectors with sources inside North Korea, alleges that Kim Jong Un is recovering after heart surgery. It later modifies that to “a cardiovascular procedure.” (Unlike other media, Daily NK does not claim that Kim is gravely ill, much less dead.) This report intensifies worldwide media speculation.
: Various South Korean government sources insist that all is normal in the North. Seoul firmly maintains that line, damping down speculation about Kim’s health.
: MOU reports that the number of North Koreans visiting the South fell from 809 in 2018 to zero in 2019 as relations chilled. 9,835 South Koreans visited the North. If commuting by ROK staff at the joint liaison office in Kaesong is excluded, the figure drops to 576: sharply down from 4,612 in 2018.
: Reiterating its determination to facilitate individual tourism to North Korea, MOU adds that this is subject to progress in tackling the coronavirus.
: Customary celebrations of “Sun’s Day”—Kim Il Sung’s birthday—in Pyongyang are scaled down, presumably due to COVID-19 concerns. Unprecedentedly, Kim Jong Un is not present.
: Four-yearly parliamentary elections in South Korea see a swing to Moon’s ruling Democratic Party (DP), giving it an overall majority in the National Assembly for the first time. Two North Korean defectors win seats for the conservative opposition, including former diplomat Thae Yong-ho (now Tae Ku-min), who is elected in Gangnam.
: DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), North Korea’s rubber-stamp Parliament, holds its annual spring session—two days late, without explanation. The agenda includes the usual economic and budget reports, as always with no hard numbers. Kim Jong Un, who is no longer an SPA deputy, does not attend this year.
: Kim Jong Un chairs Politburo meeting of the Central Committee (CC) of the ruling Workers’ Party (WP). Thereafter Kim is unseen until May 1, which sparks external speculation about his health and whereabouts.
: MOU predicts—correctly, it turns out, suggesting good intelligence sources in Pyongyang—that coronavirus concerns may prompt North Korea to streamline its upcoming parliamentary meeting (see April 12) by having deputies register on the day—rather than the usual 1-2 days in advance, followed by paying homage at the Kims’ mausoleum and the like.
: MOU says it will give aid worth $5.73 million to the DPRK via international agencies this year. This comprises $4 million to the World Health Organization (WHO) for women and children, announced in December, and $1.73 million through the Red Cross to help typhoon recovery efforts. Seoul’s contribution is much the largest within the global total of $9.43 million in aid to North Korea pledged this year. MOU also okays an unnamed NGO’s plan to supply hand sanitizers worth $81,000 to North Korea to help fend off COVID-19, the first such private aid this year.
: Despite Pyongyang’s threat a day earlier to stop negotiating with the US, MOU reiterates Seoul’s readiness to assist a resumption of long-stalled denuclearization talks.
: ROK’s Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council (IKECPC) approves spending 688 million won ($565,000) to create a digital archive of relics unearthed when, for a decade starting in 2007, the two Koreas jointly excavated Manwoldae palace near Kaesong, which was Korea’s capital during the Koryo dynasty (918-1392).
: North Korea fires what appear to be two short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea.
: At a memorial ceremony at the ROK Navy’s 2nd Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek on the 10th anniversary of the sinking of the frigate Cheonan, with 46 lives lost, Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo says, “We should protect the Northern Limit Line (NLL, the de facto inter-Korean maritime border) all the more tightly to make sure past sorrows such as the Cheonan attack never are repeated, and establish North Korea’s denuclearization and the Korean Peninsula’s lasting peace.” Pyongyang has always denied responsibility.
: Seoul says South Korean NGOs can get government financial support for coronavirus-related aid projects in North Korea if they have an agreement with Pyongyang. Two days later, though, MOU nixes a bid by the local administration in Gyeonggi province (which surrounds Seoul) to send masks and test kits worth 1.2 billion won ($980,000), saying that this “failed to meet the requirements.”
: A day after Kim Yo Jong reveals that Trump offered to assist Pyongyang in combating the coronavirus, Seoul repeats its call for the two Koreas to work together on this: “from the perspective of humanitarian and mutually beneficial cooperation … closely related to the right to health and survival of the people of both countries.”
: Seoul renews its call for the two Koreas to cooperate in fighting COVID-19.
: North Korea fires two projectiles presumed to be short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea.
: MOU licenses two border cities, Paju and Goyang, to operate independent humanitarian aid projects in North Korea. Four other local governments—Seoul and Incheon cities, and South Chungcheong and Gyeonggi provinces (but see March 24 below)—already have such permission. This is all somewhat notional, given Pyongyang’s non-cooperation.
: North Korea again test-fires projectiles (three, this time) into the East Sea. South Korea again remonstrates. Two further tests follow on March 20 and 28—making this the DPRK’s busiest ever month for missile launches, with a total of nine projectiles fired.
: The Inter-Korean Unification Party (IKUP), the first political party formed by North Korean defectors in the South, is officially launched in Seoul. Its program is to liberate the North from autocracy and promote defector rights in the South. It goes on to gain a paltry 10,833 votes in April 15’s elections. (See also February 18 above.)
: After an ROK TV channel aired footage of a DPRK medical worker wearing a dental mask with the logo of a Southern brand, Seoul denies that South Korea has provided any facemasks to North Korea.
: Blue House says Kim Jong Un has sent Moon a personal letter, delivered the previous day. Expressing “quiet support” for South Korea’s fight against the coronavirus, and solicitude for Moon’s health, Kim assures Moon of “his constant friendship and trust.” Kim also gives his “frank” thoughts about the situation on the peninsula; these are not revealed.
: DPRK website Uriminzokkiri attacks ROK movies and dramas for “anti-republic” fabrications. No names are mentioned. Ironically, the TV drama “Crash Landing on You,” all the rage, is widely seen in the South as giving a favorable portrayal of the North—and criticized on that count by some conservatives.
: In her first ever statement published in her name, Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong lambastes Seoul’s criticism of the North’s strike drills as (among much else) shocking, senseless, imbecile, and like a frightened dog: “Such incoherent assertion and actions made by Chongwadae only magnify our distrust, hatred and scorn for the south side as a whole.”
: MOU says South Korea will prepare to expand cooperation with the North in health and related fields. A day later the ministry notes that inter-Korean cooperation on healthcare is a key focus of its annual policy plan, recently delivered to the Blue House. Other goals—easier said than done—include a push for individual tourism to North Korea, and transform the DMZ into a peace zone.
: North Korea test-fires two short-range projectiles, for the first time this year. After holding an emergency videoconference of security chiefs, the Blue House expresses “strong concern” and, in notably mild terms, urges the North to halt acts that are “not helpful to efforts to ease military tensions on the Korean peninsula.”
: On the 101st anniversary of an historic uprising against Japanese occupation, and with coronavirus cases rising fast, Moon calls for international cooperation to fight the virus, including with North Korea and Japan: “The March 1 Independence Movement once again reminds us that we can prevail over anything as long as we stand together.”
: DPRK website Uriminzokkiri scorns Moon’s outreach to Japan, accusing him of “begging for more frequent meetings” with Prime Minister Abe Shinzo.
: Reacting to news that North Korea’s former diplomat Thae Yong-ho will stand for the conservative United Future Party (UFP) in South Korea’s parliamentary election on April 15, the DPRK website Meari renews allegations against Thae (first made in 2016) of embezzlement and rape. It adds: “Driving these scums (sic) to the forefront of confrontation between the two Koreas is an intolerable challenge to our nation’s desire for unification.”
: A poll of 3,000 Northern defectors (almost 10% of the total, 33,523) by Hana, a state foundation which aids their resettlement, finds that 17.2% experienced discrimination last year: slightly less than the 2018 figure of 20.2%.
: The magazine DPRK Today attacks ROK Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha for what it calls the “spineless act” of discussing North Korean denuclearization with US and Japanese counterparts at the recent Munich Security Conference: “There are still fools asking for subservience and humiliation … oblivious to the bitter lesson history has taught us.”
: With coronavirus cases spiking in South Korea, MOU says it will postpone the resumption of tourism to Panmunjom, scheduled to begin on February 26-28.
: In a rare if backhanded compliment, Choson Sinbo, the newspaper of pro-DPRK ethnic North Koreans in Japan, praises the Oscar-winning ROK film Parasite as a “masterpiece” for laying bare the problem of class warfare, and “clearly revealing the reality in which a small number of the wealthy dominates the absolute majority.” This is the movie’s first mention in any DPRK-related media.
: Seoul says the ROK will consider any requests from international agencies to help Pyongyang fight COVID-19, provided it is formally asked to assist.
: Meeting in Seoul, some 200 North Korean defectors launch a preparatory committee to establish their first-ever political party. (See also March 6, below.)
: MOU says Pyongyang has made no response to calls for the KIC to reopen.
: North Korea finally mentions South Korea’s push for individual tourism to the North—but not favorably. DPRK Today attacks Seoul for seeking US approval for this plan.
: The DPRK website Uriminzokkiri denounces the Liberty Korea Party (LKP), the main ROK conservative opposition party, for recruiting two prominent defectors from North Korea to run as its candidates in forthcoming parliamentary elections in April.
: MOU insists that individual tourism to North Korea by South Koreans is not a matter for consultation with Washington, as this is not banned under UN sanctions.
: Four years after South Korea’s then President Park Geun-hye abruptly closed the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), the last inter-Korean joint venture, business persons with investments there hold a rally in Seoul. Urging that the zone be reopened, they ask the government to deliver a letter asking North Korea to let them visit and prepare for reopening. Separately, MOU reiterates its own (more abstract) view that the KIC should reopen when conditions are right.
: At a forum in Pyeongchang, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul reaffirms the need to push for inter-Korean cooperation in railways, roads and tourism.
: MND clarifies that despite otherwise stalled relations, inter-Korean military hotlines are working normally. The two sides communicate twice daily, at 0900 and 1600, plus additionally as circumstances require. MND reiterates this message on April 27.
: MOU says that in weighing the possibility of individual tourism to North Korea, it is “taking the issue of the new coronavirus into consideration.”
: ROK defense ministry (MND) insists that, contra assertions in local media, the inter-Korean Comprehensive Military Agreement signed in September 2018 does not bar or restrict joint US-ROK military exercises, including near the DMZ.
: Via the new inter-Korean phone line (see Jan. 30), Pyongyang notifies Seoul that, because of coronavirus concerns, it is suspending plans to remove South Korean-built facilities at the Mount Kumgang resort on its east coast.
: In a rare meeting at the now largely idle joint liaison office at Kaesong, North and South Korea agree to temporarily close the facility, due to concerns about the new Wuhan coronavirus strain. All 58 South Koreans working there—17 officials and 41 support staff—return home across the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) the same day. MOU says the two Koreas will set up new telephone and fax lines to maintain contact during the suspension.
: MOU says that 1,048 North Korean defectors arrived in the South in 2019, the lowest figure in 18 years. As usual, females (845) outnumbered males (202). After peaking at 2,904 in 2009, since Kim Jong Un took power in 2011 numbers have fallen to below 1,500 annually.
: A day after US Ambassador to the ROK Harry Harris says Seoul should consult Washington on any plans to engage Pyongyang, MOU retorts that “Our policy with regard to North Korea comes under our sovereignty.”
: Citing unspecified ROK government sources, Yonhap says North Korea has again demanded that the South remove its facilities at Mount Kumgang. (But see January 31.)
: Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul affirms that Seoul will look at ways to improve relations with Pyongyang without waiting for progress in US-DPRK talks. The same day his ministry says it is looking at “various formats” to allow South Koreans to visit Mount Kumgang. A day later MOU adds: “We are making a list of what we can do on our own [in terms of joint projects with North Korea] with regard to inter-Korean relations”
: Moon at his New Year’s press conference insists that it is premature “to be pessimistic about South-North dialogue and North Korea-US dialogue.” Despite admitting that now is “not a stage to be optimistic” either, Moon says he will keep pushing to expand inter-Korean cooperation with an “optimistic prospect.” He adds that such cooperation could help build momentum for easing sanctions against Pyongyang.
: In a thinly veiled criticism of Moon’s push for individual tourism to Mount Kumgang, the US State Department insists that Washington and Seoul are committed to a unified approach toward Pyongyang.
: Reacting to the above, North Korea’s ex-nuclear negotiator Kim Kye Gwan, now an adviser to DPRK foreign ministry, chides “the excited south Korean authorities” for their “lingering hope for playing the role of ‘mediator’ in the DPRK-US relations,” which he calls “presumptuous … meddling.” He warns Seoul it “had better not dream a fabulous dream that we would return to the dialogue with thankful feelings for the birthday greetings.”
: NK News reports MOU as saying that Seoul is considering how to make it easier for South Koreans to visit the North—including, potentially, being issued DPRK visas. The spokesperson added: “It is our consistent stance that sanctions against North Korea [do] not apply to independent tours.” He added that North and South are “in discussions” on the resumption of tourism, while admitting “differences in stance” and continued concerns.
: Fresh back from Washington DC, where he briefly met President Trump, Chung Eui-yong, head of the Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae) national security office, says that the US president asked President Moon to wish Kim Jong Un a happy birthday on his behalf. (The DPRK leader turned 36—probably—on Jan. 8.) Chung adds that the birthday greeting was duly delivered, but does not reveal how it was transmitted.
: MOU tells NK News that, despite the impasse in inter-Korean ties, it approved 612 contacts with North Korea last year, down 15% from 707 in 2018. A larger fall might have been expected, but these data are only for applications by South Koreans to meet, phone, fax, or email the North. They do not necessarily imply that such contact actually took place.
: President Moon Jae-in delivers his New Year’s Address. Unlike Kim, Moon has much to say about inter-Korean relations. Regretting the current impasse, but not blaming the North, he reiterates his commitment to cooperation across the board, and also to realizing Kim’s long-promised visit to South Korea. He does not mention the nuclear issue.
: Seoul announces what it calls a major restructuring of MOU. This will create a new division within the ministry’s Office of Exchange and Cooperation to handle border cooperation issues, such as turning the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) into a “global peace zone.” The ROK Cabinet duly approves the reorganization on February 4.
: The Wall Street Journal reports that US diplomats intervened with Vietnamese authorities in December to prevent 13 North Korean refugees—two of whom had attempted suicide—from being repatriated to Pyongyang. The ROK government denies allegations that it had been reluctant to assist. The 13 are said now to be safe in an undisclosed location.
: Yonhap, the quasi-official ROK news agency, quotes the Unification Ministry (MOU) as saying that, given Kim’s silence about South Korea in his recent speech, Seoul is “closely watching” whether Pyongyang plans to issue a separate message about inter-Korean relations. This stance of watching and waiting is reiterated on January 7. The South waits in vain: no message is forthcoming from the North.
: Official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) and other DPRK media publish reports on the just-concluded WPK CC Plenary. From these lengthy summaries (circa 3,000 words), it seems that Kim Jong Un, unprecedentedly, made no mention of South Korea or inter-Korean relations. (This is usually the topic of a substantial section of his New Year address; see past issues of Comparative Connections.)
: South Korea urges the North not to carry out Kim Jong Un’s threat to test a “new strategic weapon,” as this “would not help denuclearization negotiations and efforts to build peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
: MOU says that with official North-South ties deadlocked, it will encourage members of separated families to pursue private contacts with their Northern kin. This includes offering government financial support for meetings in third countries.Aug. 27, 2019: MOU admits that while “it would be great to hold joint events”, South Korea will mark the first anniversary on Sept. 19 of the Pyongyang inter-Korean summit without North Korea’s participation. Nor has the North been notified of the South’s planned events.
: MOU says that with official North-South ties deadlocked, it will encourage members of separated families to pursue private contacts with their Northern kin. This includes offering government financial support for meetings in third countries.Aug. 27, 2019: MOU admits that while “it would be great to hold joint events”, South Korea will mark the first anniversary on Sept. 19 of the Pyongyang inter-Korean summit without North Korea’s participation. Nor has the North been notified of the South’s planned events.
: MOU says that with official North-South ties deadlocked, it will encourage members of separated families to pursue private contacts with their Northern kin. This includes offering government financial support for meetings in third countries.
: North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party (WPK) holds a major meeting: the 5th Plenary of the 7th Central Committee (CC). Kim Jong Un gives a wide-ranging and hard-line speech, lasting seven hours. (In view of this, Kim does not deliver his customary New Year address.) Personnel changes are announced, while others apparently go unannounced.
: North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party (WPK) holds a major meeting: the 5th Plenary of the 7th Central Committee (CC). Kim Jong Un gives a wide-ranging and hard-line speech, lasting seven hours. (In view of this, Kim does not deliver his customary New Year address.) Personnel changes are announced, while others apparently go unannounced.
: North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party (WPK) holds a major meeting: the 5th Plenary of the 7th Central Committee (CC). Kim Jong Un gives a wide-ranging and hard-line speech, lasting seven hours. (In view of this, Kim does not deliver his customary New Year address.) Personnel changes are announced, while others apparently go unannounced.
: North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party (WPK) holds a major meeting: the 5th Plenary of the 7th Central Committee (CC). Kim Jong Un gives a wideranging and hardline speech, lasting seven hours. (In view of this, Kim does not deliver his customary New Year address.) Personnel changes are announced, while others apparently go unannounced.
: ROK Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul calls on the US and DPRK to first pursue “an interim deal as a stepping stone to a final agreement,” in order to keep nuclear dialogue alive.
: ROK Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul calls on the US and DPRK to first pursue “an interim deal as a stepping stone to a final agreement,” in order to keep nuclear dialogue alive.
: ROK Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul calls on the US and DPRK to first pursue “an interim deal as a stepping stone to a final agreement,” in order to keep nuclear dialogue alive.
: In melancholy Christmas news, Yonhap tallies statistics on South Koreans who registered with MOU and the ROK Red Cross in the hope of meeting their relatives in North Korea. Of 133,365 who signed up since 1988, only 52,997 were still alive at end-November. With 63.4 percent of the survivors aged 80 or more, this attrition by mortality will continue.
: An online poll by Seoul Metropolitan Government finds that 74.2 percent of residents of the ROK capital (in a sample of 2,000) believe that the two Koreas should be reunified. That percentage is the same as last year. But 17 percent also reckon reunification is impossible; whereas 25.6 percent anticipate it in 20 years, while 20.2 percent say 30 years. On inter-Korean ties, a perhaps surprising 39.5 percent expect relations to improve in the next five years; 12.4 percent say they will worsen, while most (48.2 percent) expect no change.
: In melancholy Christmas news, Yonhap tallies statistics on South Koreans who registered with MOU and the ROK Red Cross in the hope of meeting their relatives in North Korea. Of 133,365 who signed up since 1988, only 52,997 were still alive at end-November. With 63.4 percent of the survivors aged 80 or more, this attrition by mortality will continue.
: An online poll by Seoul Metropolitan Government finds that 74.2 percent of residents of the ROK capital (in a sample of 2,000) believe that the two Koreas should be reunified. That percentage is the same as last year. But 17 percent also reckon reunification is impossible; whereas 25.6 percent anticipate it in 20 years, while 20.2 percent say 30 years. On inter-Korean ties, a perhaps surprising 39.5 percent expect relations to improve in the next five years; 12.4 percent say they will worsen, while most (48.2 percent) expect no change.
: In melancholy Christmas news, Yonhap tallies statistics on South Koreans who registered with MOU and the ROK Red Cross in the hope of meeting their relatives in North Korea. Of 133,365 who signed up since 1988, only 52,997 were still alive at end-November. With 63.4 percent of the survivors aged 80 or more, this attrition by mortality will continue.
: An online poll by Seoul Metropolitan Government finds that 74.2 percent of residents of the ROK capital (in a sample of 2,000) believe that the two Koreas should be reunified. That percentage is the same as last year. But 17 percent also reckon reunification is impossible; whereas 25.6 percent anticipate it in 20 years, while 20.2 percent say 30 years. On inter-Korean ties, a perhaps surprising 39.5 percent expect relations to improve in the next five years; 12.4 percent say they will worsen, while most (48.2 percent) expect no change.
: South Korea’s inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council (IKECPC) approves aid worth 2 billion won ($1.72 million), to be sent via the Red Cross to assist North Korean villages hit by typhoons earlier this year. Yonhap admits it is unclear whether or not Pyongyang will accept Seoul’s assistance.
: South Korea’s inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council (IKECPC) approves aid worth 2 billion won ($1.72 million), to be sent via the Red Cross to assist North Korean villages hit by typhoons earlier this year. Yonhap admits it is unclear whether or not Pyongyang will accept Seoul’s assistance.
: South Korea’s inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council (IKECPC) approves aid worth 2 billion won ($1.72 million), to be sent via the Red Cross to assist North Korean villages hit by typhoons earlier this year. Yonhap admits it is unclear whether or not Pyongyang will accept Seoul’s assistance.
: MOU rejects as “fake news” claims by a defector body in Seoul that the two Northern fishermen repatriated last month (see Nov. 7) were not murderers, as the ROK government claimed, but brokers who tried to help their 16 fellow crew members defect.
: MOU rejects as “fake news” claims by a defector body in Seoul that the two Northern fishermen repatriated last month (see Nov. 7) were not murderers, as the ROK government claimed, but brokers who tried to help their 16 fellow crew members defect.
: MOU rejects as “fake news” claims by a defector body in Seoul that the two Northern fishermen repatriated last month (see Nov. 7) were not murderers, as the ROK government claimed, but brokers who tried to help their 16 fellow crew members defect.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Suh Ho visits the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong, to be briefed on the past year’s work and plans for 2020. That will not have taken long, for the office is practically idle. Suh has not met with his DPRK counterpart and co-head since the US-DPRK summit in Hanoi collapsed in February.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Suh Ho visits the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong, to be briefed on the past year’s work and plans for 2020. That will not have taken long, for the office is practically idle. Suh has not met with his DPRK counterpart and co-head since the US-DPRK summit in Hanoi collapsed in February.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Suh Ho visits the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong, to be briefed on the past year’s work and plans for 2020. That will not have taken long, for the office is practically idle. Suh has not met with his DPRK counterpart and co-head since the US-DPRK summit in Hanoi collapsed in February.
: A propos moves to ease some sanctions on North Korea (see Dec. 16 above), MOU emphasises that “the inter-Korean railway connection project is … a non-commercial public infrastructure project.” However, Seoul does not formally endorse the proposal by Beijing and Seoul as such.
: A propos moves to ease some sanctions on North Korea (see Dec. 16 above), MOU emphasises that “the inter-Korean railway connection project is … a non-commercial public infrastructure project.” However, Seoul does not formally endorse the proposal by Beijing and Seoul as such.
: A propos moves to ease some sanctions on North Korea (see Dec. 16 above), MOU emphasises that “the inter-Korean railway connection project is … a non-commercial public infrastructure project.” However, Seoul does not formally endorse the proposal by Beijing and Seoul as such.
: MOU says the ROK will continue to try to give the DPRK 50,000 tons of rice via the UN World Food Program (WFP), despite Pyongyang’s repeated rejection of this plan (first mooted in June). The budget for this, almost $35 million, will be rolled over to 2020.
: MOU says the ROK will continue to try to give the DPRK 50,000 tons of rice via the UN World Food Program (WFP), despite Pyongyang’s repeated rejection of this plan (first mooted in June). The budget for this, almost $35 million, will be rolled over to 2020.
: MOU says the ROK will continue to try to give the DPRK 50,000 tons of rice via the UN World Food Program (WFP), despite Pyongyang’s repeated rejection of this plan (first mooted in June). The budget for this, almost $35 million, will be rolled over to 2020.
: Human Rights Watch (HRW) publishes a letter to President Moon Jae-in from 67 human rights-related NGOs, criticising the ROK for “increasing disengagement with (sic) ongoing human rights violations by the…DPRK.” This cites the Nov. 7 repatriation of two would-be defectors, as well as Seoul’s “baffl[ing]” decision a week later not to sponsor the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on North Korea’s human rights situation. The letter is also signed by ten individuals, including both the current UN Special Rapporteur on DPRK human rights, Tomás Ojea Quintana, and his predecessor Marzuki Darusman.
: Reuters reports that China and Russia have circulated a joint draft resolution to the UN Security Council (UNSC) proposing relaxation of a range of sanctions against the DPRK, including exemptions for inter-Korean rail and road co-operation projects.
: Human Rights Watch (HRW) publishes a letter to President Moon Jae-in from 67 human rights-related NGOs, criticising the ROK for “increasing disengagement with (sic) ongoing human rights violations by the…DPRK.” This cites the Nov. 7 repatriation of two would-be defectors, as well as Seoul’s “baffl[ing]” decision a week later not to sponsor the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on North Korea’s human rights situation. The letter is also signed by ten individuals, including both the current UN Special Rapporteur on DPRK human rights, Tomás Ojea Quintana, and his predecessor Marzuki Darusman.
: Reuters reports that China and Russia have circulated a joint draft resolution to the UN Security Council (UNSC) proposing relaxation of a range of sanctions against the DPRK, including exemptions for inter-Korean rail and road co-operation projects.
: Human Rights Watch (HRW) publishes a letter to President Moon Jae-in from 67 human rights-related NGOs, criticising the ROK for “increasing disengagement with (sic) ongoing human rights violations by the…DPRK.” This cites the Nov. 7 repatriation of two would-be defectors, as well as Seoul’s “baffl[ing]” decision a week later not to sponsor the annual UN General Assembly (UNGA) resolution on North Korea’s human rights situation. The letter is also signed by ten individuals, including both the current UN Special Rapporteur on DPRK human rights, Tomás Ojea Quintana, and his predecessor Marzuki Darusman.
: Reuters reports that China and Russia have circulated a joint draft resolution to the UN Security Council (UNSC) proposing relaxation of a range of sanctions against the DPRK, including exemptions for inter-Korean rail and road co-operation projects.
: Citing “government sources,” Yonhap reports that Seoul is preparing to assist the North in fighting swine fever—despite the North’s non-reply to its several offers of help. MOU’s preparations include calling a meeting with civilian experts and NGOs.
: Hours before the deadline, the KFA says it is withdrawing its bid to host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in soccer. Urged on by FIFA’s President, Gianni Infantino, the two Koreas had planned a joint bid, but the freeze in North-South ties has thwarted this.
: Citing “government sources,” Yonhap reports that Seoul is preparing to assist the North in fighting swine fever—despite the North’s non-reply to its several offers of help. MOU’s preparations include calling a meeting with civilian experts and NGOs.
: Hours before the deadline, the KFA says it is withdrawing its bid to host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in soccer. Urged on by FIFA’s President, Gianni Infantino, the two Koreas had planned a joint bid, but the freeze in North-South ties has thwarted this.
: Citing “government sources,” Yonhap reports that Seoul is preparing to assist the North in fighting swine fever—despite the North’s non-reply to its several offers of help. MOU’s preparations include calling a meeting with civilian experts and NGOs.
: Hours before the deadline, the KFA says it is withdrawing its bid to host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in soccer. Urged on by FIFA’s President, Gianni Infantino, the two Koreas had planned a joint bid, but the freeze in North-South ties has thwarted this.
: MOU announces that despite the current North-South stalemate, the budget of its Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund (IKCF) will increase by 9 percent next year to 1.2 billion won ($1 billion). That includes 489 billion won for economic projects and 127.5 billion won for co-operation in forestry. The ministry says this allocation reflects “our will to improve relations”: a quasi-admission that these funds may not actually get spent any time soon.
: MOU announces that despite the current North-South stalemate, the budget of its Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund (IKCF) will increase by 9 percent next year to 1.2 billion won ($1 billion). That includes 489 billion won for economic projects and 127.5 billion won for co-operation in forestry. The ministry says this allocation reflects “our will to improve relations”: a quasi-admission that these funds may not actually get spent any time soon.
: MOU announces that despite the current North-South stalemate, the budget of its Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund (IKCF) will increase by 9 percent next year to 1.2 billion won ($1 billion). That includes 489 billion won for economic projects and 127.5 billion won for co-operation in forestry. The ministry says this allocation reflects “our will to improve relations”: a quasi-admission that these funds may not actually get spent any time soon.
: MOU says it expects WHO to launch an ROK-aided program in the DPRK (see Dec. 6 above) as early as this year.
: MOU says it expects WHO to launch an ROK-aided program in the DPRK (see Dec. 6 above) as early as this year.
: MOU says it expects WHO to launch an ROK-aided program in the DPRK (see Dec. 6 above) as early as this year.
: MOU announces that South Korea will donate $5 million to the World Health Organization (WHO), to improve healthcare for mothers and babies in North Korea. Seoul had supported this project until 2014, when it was suspended as inter-Korean ties worsened.
: MOU announces that South Korea will donate $5 million to the World Health Organization (WHO), to improve healthcare for mothers and babies in North Korea. Seoul had supported this project until 2014, when it was suspended as inter-Korean ties worsened.
: MOU announces that South Korea will donate $5 million to the World Health Organization (WHO), to improve healthcare for mothers and babies in North Korea. Seoul had supported this project until 2014, when it was suspended as inter-Korean ties worsened.
: Park Won-soon, mayor of Seoul and a political ally of Moon Jae-in, tells the inaugural Seoul Peace Conference that “the most important task in establishing reconciliation and integration in Northeast Asia is to realize a ‘peace community,’ and the Seoul-Pyongyang co-hosting of the 2032 Olympics will provide a precious opportunity to accomplish the goal.” Meanwhile in the real world, North Korea is refusing to discuss fielding some joint teams—as it had earlier agreed to do—with the South at the Tokyo Olympics, now just months away.
: Park Won-soon, mayor of Seoul and a political ally of Moon Jae-in, tells the inaugural Seoul Peace Conference that “the most important task in establishing reconciliation and integration in Northeast Asia is to realize a ‘peace community,’ and the Seoul-Pyongyang co-hosting of the 2032 Olympics will provide a precious opportunity to accomplish the goal.” Meanwhile in the real world, North Korea is refusing to discuss fielding some joint teams—as it had earlier agreed to do—with the South at the Tokyo Olympics, now just months away.
: Park Won-soon, mayor of Seoul and a political ally of Moon Jae-in, tells the inaugural Seoul Peace Conference that “the most important task in establishing reconciliation and integration in Northeast Asia is to realize a ‘peace community,’ and the Seoul-Pyongyang co-hosting of the 2032 Olympics will provide a precious opportunity to accomplish the goal.” Meanwhile in the real world, North Korea is refusing to discuss fielding some joint teams—as it had earlier agreed to do—with the South at the Tokyo Olympics, now just months away.
: ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) says it will build a memorial for the fallen near Arrowhead Ridge in the DMZ—the site of a major Korea War battle—in Cheorwon, 90 km northeast of Seoul. South Korea recently completed an eight-month dig in the area, retrieving 2,030 pieces of bones from 260 soldiers on both sides. They also removed over 450 land mines, some 5,700 unexploded shells and 35 tons of scrap iron. This was meant to be a joint endeavor, but North Korea pulled out.
: ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) says it will build a memorial for the fallen near Arrowhead Ridge in the DMZ—the site of a major Korea War battle—in Cheorwon, 90 km northeast of Seoul. South Korea recently completed an eight-month dig in the area, retrieving 2,030 pieces of bones from 260 soldiers on both sides. They also removed over 450 land mines, some 5,700 unexploded shells and 35 tons of scrap iron. This was meant to be a joint endeavor, but North Korea pulled out.
: ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) says it will build a memorial for the fallen near Arrowhead Ridge in the DMZ—the site of a major Korea War battle—in Cheorwon, 90 km northeast of Seoul. South Korea recently completed an eight-month dig in the area, retrieving 2,030 pieces of bones from 260 soldiers on both sides. They also removed over 450 land mines, some 5,700 unexploded shells and 35 tons of scrap iron. This was meant to be a joint endeavor, but North Korea pulled out.
: A propos Kumgangsan, the DPRK propaganda website Uriminzokkiri says “It is our unwavering will to remove all the South’s unpleasant-looking facilities that have been spoiling the landscape of this famous mountain and turn it into a … modern international cultural, tourist zone.” Other DPRK media carry similar articles.
: MOU says South Korea is closely watching developments at Jangjon on the DPRK’s east coast. Previously a military port, from 1998 it became the main harbor used by ROK ships bringing tourists to Mt. Kumgang. A Seoul newspaper claims it is now reverting to a naval base. That would dash hopes of resuming Kumgangsan tourism as a joint venture.
: A propos Kumgangsan, the DPRK propaganda website Uriminzokkiri says “It is our unwavering will to remove all the South’s unpleasant-looking facilities that have been spoiling the landscape of this famous mountain and turn it into a … modern international cultural, tourist zone.” Other DPRK media carry similar articles.
: MOU says South Korea is closely watching developments at Jangjon on the DPRK’s east coast. Previously a military port, from 1998 it became the main harbor used by ROK ships bringing tourists to Mt. Kumgang. A Seoul newspaper claims it is now reverting to a naval base. That would dash hopes of resuming Kumgangsan tourism as a joint venture.
: A propos Kumgangsan, the DPRK propaganda website Uriminzokkiri says “It is our unwavering will to remove all the South’s unpleasant-looking facilities that have been spoiling the landscape of this famous mountain and turn it into a … modern international cultural, tourist zone.” Other DPRK media carry similar articles.
: MOU says South Korea is closely watching developments at Jangjon on the DPRK’s east coast. Previously a military port, from 1998 it became the main harbor used by ROK ships bringing tourists to Mt. Kumgang. A Seoul newspaper claims it is now reverting to a naval base. That would dash hopes of resuming Kumgangsan tourism as a joint venture.
: The ROK uses the inter-Korean military hotline to make a “strong complaint” about the KPA’s recent coastal artillery drill, whose date it now gives as Nov. 23, the ninth anniversary of the DPRK’s shelling of nearby Yeonpyeong, which killed four South Koreans.
: MOU says the two Koreas remain “far apart” on the Mt. Kumgang issue.
: The ROK uses the inter-Korean military hotline to make a “strong complaint” about the KPA’s recent coastal artillery drill, whose date it now gives as Nov. 23, the ninth anniversary of the DPRK’s shelling of nearby Yeonpyeong, which killed four South Koreans.
: MOU says the two Koreas remain “far apart” on the Mt. Kumgang issue.
: The ROK uses the inter-Korean military hotline to make a “strong complaint” about the KPA’s recent coastal artillery drill, whose date it now gives as Nov. 23, the ninth anniversary of the DPRK’s shelling of nearby Yeonpyeong, which killed four South Koreans.
: MOU says the two Koreas remain “far apart” on the Mt. Kumgang issue.
: MND says that North Korea conducted artillery firing drills on Changrin, an islet just north of the NLL, in violation of 2018s inter-Korean military agreement. The same day KCNA reports an inspection visit to Changrin by Kim, including an order to fire. Contra some press reports, neither side states exactly when this happened (but see next item).
: MND says that North Korea conducted artillery firing drills on Changrin, an islet just north of the NLL, in violation of 2018s inter-Korean military agreement. The same day KCNA reports an inspection visit to Changrin by Kim, including an order to fire. Contra some press reports, neither side states exactly when this happened (but see next item).
: MND says that North Korea conducted artillery firing drills on Changrin, an islet just north of the NLL, in violation of 2018s inter-Korean military agreement. The same day KCNA reports an inspection visit to Changrin by Kim, including an order to fire. Contra some press reports, neither side states exactly when this happened (but see next item).
: Pyongyang politely, if also sarcastically, declines Moon Jae-in’s invitation for Kim to attend the upcoming ROK-ASEAN summit in Busan. A KCNA commentary says that such a visit would be inappropriate, giving several cogent reasons.
: Pyongyang politely, if also sarcastically, declines Moon Jae-in’s invitation for Kim to attend the upcoming ROK-ASEAN summit in Busan. A KCNA commentary says that such a visit would be inappropriate, giving several cogent reasons.
: Pyongyang politely, if also sarcastically, declines Moon Jae-in’s invitation for Kim to attend the upcoming ROK-ASEAN summit in Busan. A KCNA commentary says that such a visit would be inappropriate, giving several cogent reasons.
: 21 years to the day after Hyundai Asan launched South Korean tourism to Mt. Kumgang, Seoul urges Pyongyang to come to the table and hold talks on the future of the resort, rather than issue ultimatums while insisting on communicating only via documents.
: 21 years to the day after Hyundai Asan launched South Korean tourism to Mt. Kumgang, Seoul urges Pyongyang to come to the table and hold talks on the future of the resort, rather than issue ultimatums while insisting on communicating only via documents.
: 21 years to the day after Hyundai Asan launched South Korean tourism to Mt. Kumgang, Seoul urges Pyongyang to come to the table and hold talks on the future of the resort, rather than issue ultimatums while insisting on communicating only via documents.
: KCNA and other DPRK media carry an article headlined: “Mt. Kumgang Is Not Common Property of North and South.” Uncompromising in content and sneering in tone, it reiterates the threat “to demolish without trace the south side’s facilities that sprawled out only to mar the beautiful scenery.” It concludes: “There is no room for south Korea to find its place there [at Kumgangsan].”
: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says it is in touch with the ROK government regarding the Nov. 7 repatriation of two DPRK would-be defectors. OHCHR clarifies that this is not a formal investigation. The same day, MOU insists there is no doubt that the two deportees were murderers. Each separately admitted their crimes, while DPRK authorities corroborated the broad picture.
: KCNA and other DPRK media carry an article headlined: “Mt. Kumgang Is Not Common Property of North and South.” Uncompromising in content and sneering in tone, it reiterates the threat “to demolish without trace the south side’s facilities that sprawled out only to mar the beautiful scenery.” It concludes: “There is no room for south Korea to find its place there [at Kumgangsan].”
: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says it is in touch with the ROK government regarding the Nov. 7 repatriation of two DPRK would-be defectors. OHCHR clarifies that this is not a formal investigation. The same day, MOU insists there is no doubt that the two deportees were murderers. Each separately admitted their crimes, while DPRK authorities corroborated the broad picture.
: KCNA and other DPRK media carry an article headlined: “Mt. Kumgang Is Not Common Property of North and South.” Uncompromising in content and sneering in tone, it reiterates the threat “to demolish without trace the south side’s facilities that sprawled out only to mar the beautiful scenery.” It concludes: “There is no room for south Korea to find its place there [at Kumgangsan].”
: Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) says it is in touch with the ROK government regarding the Nov. 7 repatriation of two DPRK would-be defectors. OHCHR clarifies that this is not a formal investigation. The same day, MOU insists there is no doubt that the two deportees were murderers. Each separately admitted their crimes, while DPRK authorities corroborated the broad picture.
: For the first time in a decade, the ROK is not among some 40 states that
: ROK Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul meets Hyun Jeong-un, chairperson of Hyundai Group. They discuss how to resolve the Mt. Kumgang issue.
: For the first time in a decade, the ROK is not among some 40 states that
: ROK Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul meets Hyun Jeong-un, chairperson of Hyundai Group. They discuss how to resolve the Mt. Kumgang issue.
: For the first time in a decade, the ROK is not among some 40 states that
: ROK Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul meets Hyun Jeong-un, chairperson of Hyundai Group. They discuss how to resolve the Mt. Kumgang issue.
: The New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch condemns the ROK’s Nov. 7 deportations as “illegal under international law.”
: Seoul Metropolitan Government becomes the first local authority permitted (by South Korea) to independently pursue aid projects in North Korea. Whether the DPRK will allow this is another question. On Nov. 21, MOU extends the same permission to Incheon city and Gyeonggi province, which abut and surround Seoul respectively.
: The New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch condemns the ROK’s Nov. 7 deportations as “illegal under international law.”
: Seoul Metropolitan Government becomes the first local authority permitted (by South Korea) to independently pursue aid projects in North Korea. Whether the DPRK will allow this is another question. On Nov. 21, MOU extends the same permission to Incheon city and Gyeonggi province, which abut and surround Seoul respectively.
: The New York-based NGO Human Rights Watch condemns the ROK’s Nov. 7 deportations as “illegal under international law.”
: Seoul Metropolitan Government becomes the first local authority permitted (by South Korea) to independently pursue aid projects in North Korea. Whether the DPRK will allow this is another question. On Nov. 21, MOU extends the same permission to Incheon city and Gyeonggi province, which abut and surround Seoul respectively.
: Twenty ROK human rights groups condemn the Nov. 7 deportations, calling it a “shameful decision” that violated due process and the suspects’ right to justice. MOU refutes such criticisms. It does not comment on media reports that the decision to deport came from the Blue House National Security Office, without consulting either the NIS or MOU.
: DPRK media lambast the US and ROK over their burden-sharing talks. Washington wants to quintuple the amount Seoul pays to host US forces in Korea (USFK). DPRK Today calls the US “a shameless robber group bent on extorting an astronomical amount of taxpayers’ money from south Korea … It is stupid that South Korean authorities are ready to give all it has, while lauding such a robber as a savior and blood ally.”
: Though not publicized until Nov. 15, Pyongyang sends Seoul an ultimatum (their word) threatening to “unilaterally
down” Southern facilities at Mt. Kumgang unless the South removes them on the North’s terms.
: Twenty ROK human rights groups condemn the Nov. 7 deportations, calling it a “shameful decision” that violated due process and the suspects’ right to justice. MOU refutes such criticisms. It does not comment on media reports that the decision to deport came from the Blue House National Security Office, without consulting either the NIS or MOU.
: DPRK media lambast the US and ROK over their burden-sharing talks. Washington wants to quintuple the amount Seoul pays to host US forces in Korea (USFK). DPRK Today calls the US “a shameless robber group bent on extorting an astronomical amount of taxpayers’ money from south Korea … It is stupid that South Korean authorities are ready to give all it has, while lauding such a robber as a savior and blood ally.”
: Though not publicized until Nov. 15, Pyongyang sends Seoul an ultimatum (their word) threatening to “unilaterally
down” Southern facilities at Mt. Kumgang unless the South removes them on the North’s terms.
: Twenty ROK human rights groups condemn the Nov. 7 deportations, calling it a “shameful decision” that violated due process and the suspects’ right to justice. MOU refutes such criticisms. It does not comment on media reports that the decision to deport came from the Blue House National Security Office, without consulting either the NIS or MOU.
: DPRK media lambast the US and ROK over their burden-sharing talks. Washington wants to quintuple the amount Seoul pays to host US forces in Korea (USFK). DPRK Today calls the US “a shameless robber group bent on extorting an astronomical amount of taxpayers’ money from south Korea … It is stupid that South Korean authorities are ready to give all it has, while lauding such a robber as a savior and blood ally.”
: Though not publicized until Nov. 15, Pyongyang sends Seoul an ultimatum (their word) threatening to “unilaterally
down” Southern facilities at Mt. Kumgang unless the South removes them on the North’s terms.
: After yesterday’s deportations, South Korea also returns their fishing boat to North Korea. The 15-meter, 20-ton vessel was handed over at the East Sea maritime border.
: After yesterday’s deportations, South Korea also returns their fishing boat to North Korea. The 15-meter, 20-ton vessel was handed over at the East Sea maritime border.
: After yesterday’s deportations, South Korea also returns their fishing boat to North Korea. The 15-meter, 20-ton vessel was handed over at the East Sea maritime border.
: MOU admits that for the first time, South Korea repatriated would-be Northern defectors against their will. Two squid fishermen in their 20s were handed over at Panmunjom, five days after the ROK Navy seized their boat in the East Sea following a two-day chase. On Seoul’s account, both men confessed in separate interrogations to killing their captain and 15 crew members. The ROK therefore treated them as “heinous criminals” fleeing justice. It had no plan to disclose any of this; only a journalist’s vigilance brought it to light.
: MOU admits that for the first time, South Korea repatriated would-be Northern defectors against their will. Two squid fishermen in their 20s were handed over at Panmunjom, five days after the ROK Navy seized their boat in the East Sea following a two-day chase. On Seoul’s account, both men confessed in separate interrogations to killing their captain and 15 crew members. The ROK therefore treated them as “heinous criminals” fleeing justice. It had no plan to disclose any of this; only a journalist’s vigilance brought it to light.
: MOU admits that for the first time, South Korea repatriated would-be Northern defectors against their will. Two squid fishermen in their 20s were handed over at Panmunjom, five days after the ROK Navy seized their boat in the East Sea following a two-day chase. On Seoul’s account, both men confessed in separate interrogations to killing their captain and 15 crew members. The ROK therefore treated them as “heinous criminals” fleeing justice. It had no plan to disclose any of this; only a journalist’s vigilance brought it to light.
: MOU discloses that 828 North Koreans defected to the South in 2019 so far (January-October), suggesting the full-year figure will be close to 2018’s 1,137. Numbers have fallen since Kim Jong Un took power. The cumulative total is not large, around 32,000.
: MOU discloses that 828 North Koreans defected to the South in 2019 so far (January-October), suggesting the full-year figure will be close to 2018’s 1,137. Numbers have fallen since Kim Jong Un took power. The cumulative total is not large, around 32,000.
: MOU discloses that 828 North Koreans defected to the South in 2019 so far (January-October), suggesting the full-year figure will be close to 2018’s 1,137. Numbers have fallen since Kim Jong Un took power. The cumulative total is not large, around 32,000.
: The Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae, the ROK presidential office cum residence) announces that Kim Jong Un sent condolences for the death on Oct. 29 of President Moon Jae-in’s 92 year old mother, Kang Han-ok, who fled North Korea during the Korean War. Kim’s message was delivered via Panmunjom.
: The Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae, the ROK presidential office cum residence) announces that Kim Jong Un sent condolences for the death on Oct. 29 of President Moon Jae-in’s 92 year old mother, Kang Han-ok, who fled North Korea during the Korean War. Kim’s message was delivered via Panmunjom.
: The Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae, the ROK presidential office cum residence) announces that Kim Jong Un sent condolences for the death on Oct. 29 of President Moon Jae-in’s 92 year old mother, Kang Han-ok, who fled North Korea during the Korean War. Kim’s message was delivered via Panmunjom.
: MOU reiterates that a face to face meeting is needed to discuss Kumgangsan.
: MOU reiterates that a face to face meeting is needed to discuss Kumgangsan.
: MOU reiterates that a face to face meeting is needed to discuss Kumgangsan.
: South Korea adds that it is prepared to discuss the safety of individual tourists to Mount Kumgang with the North. (This is an olive branch: individual, as opposed to group tourism would not breach sanctions). Rebuffing Seoul’s offer of talks, Pyongyang perversely insists that the issue be dealt with by exchanging documents rather than meeting face to face.
: South Korea adds that it is prepared to discuss the safety of individual tourists to Mount Kumgang with the North. (This is an olive branch: individual, as opposed to group tourism would not breach sanctions). Rebuffing Seoul’s offer of talks, Pyongyang perversely insists that the issue be dealt with by exchanging documents rather than meeting face to face.
: South Korea adds that it is prepared to discuss the safety of individual tourists to Mount Kumgang with the North. (This is an olive branch: individual, as opposed to group tourism would not breach sanctions). Rebuffing Seoul’s offer of talks, Pyongyang perversely insists that the issue be dealt with by exchanging documents rather than meeting face to face.
: Following North Korea’s demand that the South remove all its facilities from the Mount Kumgang resort, Seoul offers to hold talks about the future of tourism there.
: Following North Korea’s demand that the South remove all its facilities from the Mount Kumgang resort, Seoul offers to hold talks about the future of tourism there.
: Following North Korea’s demand that the South remove all its facilities from the Mount Kumgang resort, Seoul offers to hold talks about the future of tourism there.
: Jeju provincial government announces another inter-Korean soccer match. The two Koreas have been drawn in the same group, with Vietnam and Myanmar, for the third round of the Asian qualifiers for women’s soccer for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. All matches will take place on the ROK island during Feb. 3-9, 2020.
: Jeju provincial government announces another inter-Korean soccer match. The two Koreas have been drawn in the same group, with Vietnam and Myanmar, for the third round of the Asian qualifiers for women’s soccer for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. All matches will take place on the ROK island during Feb. 3-9, 2020.
: Jeju provincial government announces another inter-Korean soccer match. The two Koreas have been drawn in the same group, with Vietnam and Myanmar, for the third round of the Asian qualifiers for women’s soccer for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. All matches will take place on the ROK island during Feb. 3-9, 2020.
: After hearing nothing for two days, MOU says North Korea has notified it of Kim’s order on Mt. Kumgang, and proposes to discuss this by exchanging documents.
: After hearing nothing for two days, MOU says North Korea has notified it of Kim’s order on Mt. Kumgang, and proposes to discuss this by exchanging documents.
: After hearing nothing for two days, MOU says North Korea has notified it of Kim’s order on Mt. Kumgang, and proposes to discuss this by exchanging documents.
: KCNA reports that Kim Jong Un has inspected Mount Kumgang: presumably on Oct. 22. This is his first known visit. Criticising the mothballed resort’s South Korean-built facilities as shabby and unpleasant-looking, he orders their removal, by “agreement with the relevant unit of the south side.” In a major policy U-turn, he insists that Kumgangsan is “our [the DPRK’s] famous mountain” rather than “a common property of the north and the south.”
: KCNA reports that Kim Jong Un has inspected Mount Kumgang: presumably on Oct. 22. This is his first known visit. Criticising the mothballed resort’s South Korean-built facilities as shabby and unpleasant-looking, he orders their removal, by “agreement with the relevant unit of the south side.” In a major policy U-turn, he insists that Kumgangsan is “our [the DPRK’s] famous mountain” rather than “a common property of the north and the south.”
: KCNA reports that Kim Jong Un has inspected Mount Kumgang: presumably on Oct. 22. This is his first known visit. Criticising the mothballed resort’s South Korean-built facilities as shabby and unpleasant-looking, he orders their removal, by “agreement with the relevant unit of the south side.” In a major policy U-turn, he insists that Kumgangsan is “our [the DPRK’s] famous mountain” rather than “a common property of the north and the south.”
: MOU says it will permit South Korean municipal authorities to pursue their own aid projects with the North, rather than them having to partner with NGOs as currently.
: Two North Korean websites, Meari and Uriminzokkiri, attack various South Korean plans to conduct missile tests and develop new weapons: “Reckless military schemes will not go unnoticed. (We) will make them regret to the backbone” (sic).
: Yonhap reports that according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) data, South Korea is North Korea’s largest aid donor this year, giving $9 million to WFP. This is almost 30 percent of the total donations of $30.55 million.
: MOU says it will permit South Korean municipal authorities to pursue their own aid projects with the North, rather than them having to partner with NGOs as currently.
: Two North Korean websites, Meari and Uriminzokkiri, attack various South Korean plans to conduct missile tests and develop new weapons: “Reckless military schemes will not go unnoticed. (We) will make them regret to the backbone” (sic).
: Yonhap reports that according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) data, South Korea is North Korea’s largest aid donor this year, giving $9 million to WFP. This is almost 30 percent of the total donations of $30.55 million.
: MOU says it will permit South Korean municipal authorities to pursue their own aid projects with the North, rather than them having to partner with NGOs as currently.
: Two North Korean websites, Meari and Uriminzokkiri, attack various South Korean plans to conduct missile tests and develop new weapons: “Reckless military schemes will not go unnoticed. (We) will make them regret to the backbone” (sic).
: Yonhap reports that according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) data, South Korea is North Korea’s largest aid donor this year, giving $9 million to WFP. This is almost 30 percent of the total donations of $30.55 million.
: The militant defector group Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK) says it sent 500,000 leaflets across the DMZ by balloon on Oct. 20, criticising the DPRK for holding the inter-Korean soccer match behind closed doors. The cargo also included 2,000 one-dollar bills, 1,000 USB drives and 500 booklets. The Moon government disapproves of such antics.
: North Korea denies still holding South Koreans from an aircraft hijacking in 1969, calling this charge a “stereotyped anti-DPRK political plot pursued by hostile forces.” Pyongyang insists that the 11 (out of 50) who were not returned chose to stay in the North. It further claims that nobody in North Korea has been “forcibly detained against his or her will.”
: The militant defector group Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK) says it sent 500,000 leaflets across the DMZ by balloon on Oct. 20, criticising the DPRK for holding the inter-Korean soccer match behind closed doors. The cargo also included 2,000 one-dollar bills, 1,000 USB drives and 500 booklets. The Moon government disapproves of such antics.
: North Korea denies still holding South Koreans from an aircraft hijacking in 1969, calling this charge a “stereotyped anti-DPRK political plot pursued by hostile forces.” Pyongyang insists that the 11 (out of 50) who were not returned chose to stay in the North. It further claims that nobody in North Korea has been “forcibly detained against his or her will.”
: The militant defector group Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK) says it sent 500,000 leaflets across the DMZ by balloon on Oct. 20, criticising the DPRK for holding the inter-Korean soccer match behind closed doors. The cargo also included 2,000 one-dollar bills, 1,000 USB drives and 500 booklets. The Moon government disapproves of such antics.
: North Korea denies still holding South Koreans from an aircraft hijacking in 1969, calling this charge a “stereotyped anti-DPRK political plot pursued by hostile forces.” Pyongyang insists that the 11 (out of 50) who were not returned chose to stay in the North. It further claims that nobody in North Korea has been “forcibly detained against his or her will.”
: The ROK’s Korea Football Association (KFA) says it has asked the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to consider punishing North Korea for its uncooperativeness, in breach of AFC rules, regarding arrangements for Oct.16’s inter-Korean soccer match.
: The ROK’s Korea Football Association (KFA) says it has asked the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to consider punishing North Korea for its uncooperativeness, in breach of AFC rules, regarding arrangements for Oct.16’s inter-Korean soccer match.
: The ROK’s Korea Football Association (KFA) says it has asked the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to consider punishing North Korea for its uncooperativeness, in breach of AFC rules, regarding arrangements for Oct.16’s inter-Korean soccer match.
: The inter-Korean Group H World Cup qualifier takes place in a virtually empty Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang. North Korea, which refused to admit South Korean fans, gave no advance warning that there would be no spectators at all. Headlined as a “chippy” game by Yonhap—four yellow cards, two each—this ends in a scoreless draw. In the absence of live broadcasting, the Swedish Ambassador provides glimpses and commentary on Twitter.
: MOU says North Korea has promised to provide a DVD of the inter-Korean soccer match before the Southern team leaves tomorrow. It duly does so, but the video quality is so poor that KBS decides not to air it.
: MOU says the DPRK has officially invited the ROK to the 2019 Asian Youth & Junior Weightlifting Championships, an Olympic qualifying event upcoming in Pyongyang on Oct. 20-27. The 65-strong South Korean contingent will include two journalists.
: The inter-Korean Group H World Cup qualifier takes place in a virtually empty Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang. North Korea, which refused to admit South Korean fans, gave no advance warning that there would be no spectators at all. Headlined as a “chippy” game by Yonhap—four yellow cards, two each—this ends in a scoreless draw. In the absence of live broadcasting, the Swedish Ambassador provides glimpses and commentary on Twitter.
: MOU says North Korea has promised to provide a DVD of the inter-Korean soccer match before the Southern team leaves tomorrow. It duly does so, but the video quality is so poor that KBS decides not to air it.
: MOU says the DPRK has officially invited the ROK to the 2019 Asian Youth & Junior Weightlifting Championships, an Olympic qualifying event upcoming in Pyongyang on Oct. 20-27. The 65-strong South Korean contingent will include two journalists.
: The inter-Korean Group H World Cup qualifier takes place in a virtually empty Kim Il Sung Stadium in Pyongyang. North Korea, which refused to admit South Korean fans, gave no advance warning that there would be no spectators at all. Headlined as a “chippy” game by Yonhap—four yellow cards, two each—this ends in a scoreless draw. In the absence of live broadcasting, the Swedish Ambassador provides glimpses and commentary on Twitter.
: MOU says North Korea has promised to provide a DVD of the inter-Korean soccer match before the Southern team leaves tomorrow. It duly does so, but the video quality is so poor that KBS decides not to air it.
: MOU says the DPRK has officially invited the ROK to the 2019 Asian Youth & Junior Weightlifting Championships, an Olympic qualifying event upcoming in Pyongyang on Oct. 20-27. The 65-strong South Korean contingent will include two journalists.
: South Korea’s three major terrestrial TV networks—KBS, MBC and SBS—say that tomorrow’s inter-Korean soccer match will not be broadcast live, as arrangements “fell apart.” North Korea has still not replied to the South’s request to send a cheering squad, tantamount to refusal.
: South Korea’s three major terrestrial TV networks—KBS, MBC and SBS—say that tomorrow’s inter-Korean soccer match will not be broadcast live, as arrangements “fell apart.” North Korea has still not replied to the South’s request to send a cheering squad, tantamount to refusal.
: South Korea’s three major terrestrial TV networks—KBS, MBC and SBS—say that tomorrow’s inter-Korean soccer match will not be broadcast live, as arrangements “fell apart.” North Korea has still not replied to the South’s request to send a cheering squad, tantamount to refusal.
: MOU calls it “disappointing” that North Korea is still blanking the South’s urgent and repeated requests to discuss issues like sending fans and live broadcasting of the inter-Korean soccer match, now imminent. Some might have used stronger language.
: ROK military helicopters spray disinfectant over the DMZ, after a wild boar infected by ASF was found dead there. Seoul first duly consulted the UN Command and also notified Pyongyang, which still refuses to co-operate in combating this shared epidemic.
: MOU calls it “disappointing” that North Korea is still blanking the South’s urgent and repeated requests to discuss issues like sending fans and live broadcasting of the inter-Korean soccer match, now imminent. Some might have used stronger language.
: ROK military helicopters spray disinfectant over the DMZ, after a wild boar infected by ASF was found dead there. Seoul first duly consulted the UN Command and also notified Pyongyang, which still refuses to co-operate in combating this shared epidemic.
: MOU calls it “disappointing” that North Korea is still blanking the South’s urgent and repeated requests to discuss issues like sending fans and live broadcasting of the inter-Korean soccer match, now imminent. Some might have used stronger language.
: ROK military helicopters spray disinfectant over the DMZ, after a wild boar infected by ASF was found dead there. Seoul first duly consulted the UN Command and also notified Pyongyang, which still refuses to co-operate in combating this shared epidemic.
: The DPRK website Uriminzokkiri attacks “south Korea’s leader on a US tour” (it does not name Moon Jae-in) for “behav[ing] indecently in a servile attitude” by yielding to Washington’s “coercion” to buy more US-made arms.
: The DPRK website Uriminzokkiri attacks “south Korea’s leader on a US tour” (it does not name Moon Jae-in) for “behav[ing] indecently in a servile attitude” by yielding to Washington’s “coercion” to buy more US-made arms.
: The DPRK website Uriminzokkiri attacks “south Korea’s leader on a US tour” (it does not name Moon Jae-in) for “behav[ing] indecently in a servile attitude” by yielding to Washington’s “coercion” to buy more US-made arms.
: With the inter-Korean soccer derby in Pyongyang barely a week away, and North Korea still refusing to discuss whether Southern fans can attend, MOU admits that the prospects for this happening “appear to be not easy from a physical perspective.”
: With the inter-Korean soccer derby in Pyongyang barely a week away, and North Korea still refusing to discuss whether Southern fans can attend, MOU admits that the prospects for this happening “appear to be not easy from a physical perspective.”
: With the inter-Korean soccer derby in Pyongyang barely a week away, and North Korea still refusing to discuss whether Southern fans can attend, MOU admits that the prospects for this happening “appear to be not easy from a physical perspective.”
: Rodong Sinmun, the DPRK’s leading paper and organ of its ruling Workers’ Party (WPK), says: “The South Korean authorities have been passing the buck for the current stalemate in the North-South relations.” It accuses Seoul of “betrayal behaviors” and “very impure words and actions that reverse black and white.”
: Rodong Sinmun, the DPRK’s leading paper and organ of its ruling Workers’ Party (WPK), says: “The South Korean authorities have been passing the buck for the current stalemate in the North-South relations.” It accuses Seoul of “betrayal behaviors” and “very impure words and actions that reverse black and white.”
: Rodong Sinmun, the DPRK’s leading paper and organ of its ruling Workers’ Party (WPK), says: “The South Korean authorities have been passing the buck for the current stalemate in the North-South relations.” It accuses Seoul of “betrayal behaviors” and “very impure words and actions that reverse black and white.”
: MOU says it expects the ROK flag (Taegukgi) to fly in Pyongyang on Oct. 15 as international norms dictate, when the two Koreas play a FIFA World Cup soccer qualifying match. North Korea is still ignoring the South’s efforts to make concrete arrangements, including its request to send a cheering squad.
: MOU says it expects the ROK flag (Taegukgi) to fly in Pyongyang on Oct. 15 as international norms dictate, when the two Koreas play a FIFA World Cup soccer qualifying match. North Korea is still ignoring the South’s efforts to make concrete arrangements, including its request to send a cheering squad.
: MOU says it expects the ROK flag (Taegukgi) to fly in Pyongyang on Oct. 15 as international norms dictate, when the two Koreas play a FIFA World Cup soccer qualifying match. North Korea is still ignoring the South’s efforts to make concrete arrangements, including its request to send a cheering squad.
: MOU says it is “reviewing a comprehensive plan on the peaceful use of the DMZ.” This will include President Moon’s idea, put to the UN General Assembly yesterday, to transform it into a peace zone by opening international offices there, including the UN’s. However the ministry says it is too early to discuss such schemes with North Korea.
: Pyongyang’s propaganda website Meari slams Seoul for expressing the hope that a US-DPRK meeting would improve inter-Korean relations, calling this “an abominable behavior of subordination to an outside force.”
: MOU says it is “reviewing a comprehensive plan on the peaceful use of the DMZ.” This will include President Moon’s idea, put to the UN General Assembly yesterday, to transform it into a peace zone by opening international offices there, including the UN’s. However the ministry says it is too early to discuss such schemes with North Korea.
: Pyongyang’s propaganda website Meari slams Seoul for expressing the hope that a US-DPRK meeting would improve inter-Korean relations, calling this “an abominable behavior of subordination to an outside force.”
: MOU says it is “reviewing a comprehensive plan on the peaceful use of the DMZ.” This will include President Moon’s idea, put to the UN General Assembly yesterday, to transform it into a peace zone by opening international offices there, including the UN’s. However the ministry says it is too early to discuss such schemes with North Korea.
: Pyongyang’s propaganda website Meari slams Seoul for expressing the hope that a US-DPRK meeting would improve inter-Korean relations, calling this “an abominable behavior of subordination to an outside force.”
: MOU says South Korea has notified North Korea of two more confirmed cases of African swine fever (ASF) at farms near the DMZ, stressing the need for quarantine co-operation, Pyongyang, which reported its own first ASF case in May, has not replied.
: Contra media claims that North Korea has deployed MLRs or other weapons systems on Hambak—an islet in the West (Yellow) Sea only 20 km from South Korea’s much larger Ganghwa island—the ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) insists that “not a single attack weapon exists on the island.” Some ROK maps erroneously give Hambak as ROK territory; MND says this will be corrected.
: MOU says South Korea has notified North Korea of two more confirmed cases of African swine fever (ASF) at farms near the DMZ, stressing the need for quarantine co-operation, Pyongyang, which reported its own first ASF case in May, has not replied.
: Contra media claims that North Korea has deployed MLRs or other weapons systems on Hambak—an islet in the West (Yellow) Sea only 20 km from South Korea’s much larger Ganghwa island—the ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) insists that “not a single attack weapon exists on the island.” Some ROK maps erroneously give Hambak as ROK territory; MND says this will be corrected.
: MOU says South Korea has notified North Korea of two more confirmed cases of African swine fever (ASF) at farms near the DMZ, stressing the need for quarantine co-operation, Pyongyang, which reported its own first ASF case in May, has not replied.
: Contra media claims that North Korea has deployed MLRs or other weapons systems on Hambak—an islet in the West (Yellow) Sea only 20 km from South Korea’s much larger Ganghwa island—the ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) insists that “not a single attack weapon exists on the island.” Some ROK maps erroneously give Hambak as ROK territory; MND says this will be corrected.
: MOU says Seoul is trying to talk to Pyongyang about two upcoming sports fixtures upcoming there: a soccer World Cup qualifier on Oct. 15—the two Koreas have been drawn against each other—and an international junior weightlifting event (Oct. 20-27). North Korea has not yet invited the South to the latter, and has not replied regarding the former.
: Speaking at a seminar in Seoul for the first anniversary of the inter-Korean Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA), and days after North Korea’s latest missile test (see Sept. 11), Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo insists that the CMA in no way renders South Korea vulnerable. On the contrary, “the Sept. 19 agreement can be successfully implemented only based upon our military’s strong power and water-tight readiness posture.”
: MOU says Seoul is trying to talk to Pyongyang about two upcoming sports fixtures upcoming there: a soccer World Cup qualifier on Oct. 15—the two Koreas have been drawn against each other—and an international junior weightlifting event (Oct. 20-27). North Korea has not yet invited the South to the latter, and has not replied regarding the former.
: Speaking at a seminar in Seoul for the first anniversary of the inter-Korean Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA), and days after North Korea’s latest missile test (see Sept. 11), Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo insists that the CMA in no way renders South Korea vulnerable. On the contrary, “the Sept. 19 agreement can be successfully implemented only based upon our military’s strong power and water-tight readiness posture.”
: MOU says Seoul is trying to talk to Pyongyang about two upcoming sports fixtures upcoming there: a soccer World Cup qualifier on Oct. 15—the two Koreas have been drawn against each other—and an international junior weightlifting event (Oct. 20-27). North Korea has not yet invited the South to the latter, and has not replied regarding the former.
: Speaking at a seminar in Seoul for the first anniversary of the inter-Korean Comprehensive Military Agreement (CMA), and days after North Korea’s latest missile test (see Sept. 11), Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo insists that the CMA in no way renders South Korea vulnerable. On the contrary, “the Sept. 19 agreement can be successfully implemented only based upon our military’s strong power and water-tight readiness posture.”
: ROK President Moon Jae-in—himself born to Northern parents—says that he regrets “slow progress” in implementing last year’s agreement to hold regular inter-Korean family reunions. Yet he is oddly even-handed: “It’s wrong that governments in both the South and North have not given them even a chance for such a long time.” In fact only one of the two Korean governments—not the one he heads—is currently blocking such contacts.
: The same day, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul tells a group of families with relatives in the North that family reunions will be Seoul’s top priority if inter-Korean dialogue resumes. The group has met annually for Chuseok at Imjingak, a park close to the DMZ, since 1970. A year ago the two Koreas agreed to set up a permanent family reunion center, promote video reunions and allow the exchange of letters. None of this has happened.
: ROK President Moon Jae-in—himself born to Northern parents—says that he regrets “slow progress” in implementing last year’s agreement to hold regular inter-Korean family reunions. Yet he is oddly even-handed: “It’s wrong that governments in both the South and North have not given them even a chance for such a long time.” In fact only one of the two Korean governments—not the one he heads—is currently blocking such contacts.
: The same day, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul tells a group of families with relatives in the North that family reunions will be Seoul’s top priority if inter-Korean dialogue resumes. The group has met annually for Chuseok at Imjingak, a park close to the DMZ, since 1970. A year ago the two Koreas agreed to set up a permanent family reunion center, promote video reunions and allow the exchange of letters. None of this has happened.
: ROK President Moon Jae-in—himself born to Northern parents—says that he regrets “slow progress” in implementing last year’s agreement to hold regular inter-Korean family reunions. Yet he is oddly even-handed: “It’s wrong that governments in both the South and North have not given them even a chance for such a long time.” In fact only one of the two Korean governments—not the one he heads—is currently blocking such contacts.
: The same day, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul tells a group of families with relatives in the North that family reunions will be Seoul’s top priority if inter-Korean dialogue resumes. The group has met annually for Chuseok at Imjingak, a park close to the DMZ, since 1970. A year ago the two Koreas agreed to set up a permanent family reunion center, promote video reunions and allow the exchange of letters. None of this has happened.
: In a pep talk to ROK army frontline troops just before the Chuseok (harvest festival) holiday, Minister of National Defense (MND) Jeong Kyeong-doo calls for “vigilance and intense drills to keep peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
: In a pep talk to ROK army frontline troops just before the Chuseok (harvest festival) holiday, Minister of National Defense (MND) Jeong Kyeong-doo calls for “vigilance and intense drills to keep peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
: In a pep talk to ROK army frontline troops just before the Chuseok (harvest festival) holiday, Minister of National Defense (MND) Jeong Kyeong-doo calls for “vigilance and intense drills to keep peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
: KCNA describes the weapons system tested yesterday as being a “super-large multiple rocket launcher.” Kim Jong Un again oversees the launch, as he did the first time on Aug. 24, and says its capabilities have been “finally verified in terms of combat operation.”
: KCNA describes the weapons system tested yesterday as being a “super-large multiple rocket launcher.” Kim Jong Un again oversees the launch, as he did the first time on Aug. 24, and says its capabilities have been “finally verified in terms of combat operation.”
: KCNA describes the weapons system tested yesterday as being a “super-large multiple rocket launcher.” Kim Jong Un again oversees the launch, as he did the first time on Aug. 24, and says its capabilities have been “finally verified in terms of combat operation.”
: Hours after First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui expressed readiness to resume denuclearization talks with the US, North Korea test-fires what South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) call two “short-range projectiles.” Launched from Kaechon, 80 km north of Pyongyang, these fly east for 330 km across the peninsula at a maximum altitude of 50-60 km, presumably landing in the East Sea. This is the tenth such launch this year. In response, the ROK holds an emergency National Security Council (NSC) meeting.
: Reuters reports that the ROK National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) found no foul play in the 2016 defection of 12 DPRK waitresses, contrary to claims that they were abducted (see Sept. 4). The agency was shown relevant NHRC documents, but was told that the full report is unlikely to be published.
: Hours after First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui expressed readiness to resume denuclearization talks with the US, North Korea test-fires what South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) call two “short-range projectiles.” Launched from Kaechon, 80 km north of Pyongyang, these fly east for 330 km across the peninsula at a maximum altitude of 50-60 km, presumably landing in the East Sea. This is the tenth such launch this year. In response, the ROK holds an emergency National Security Council (NSC) meeting.
: Reuters reports that the ROK National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) found no foul play in the 2016 defection of 12 DPRK waitresses, contrary to claims that they were abducted (see
: Hours after First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui expressed readiness to resume denuclearization talks with the US, North Korea test-fires what South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) call two “short-range projectiles.” Launched from Kaechon, 80 km north of Pyongyang, these fly east for 330 km across the peninsula at a maximum altitude of 50-60 km, presumably landing in the East Sea. This is the tenth such launch this year. In response, the ROK holds an emergency National Security Council (NSC) meeting.
: Reuters reports that the ROK National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) found no foul play in the 2016 defection of 12 DPRK waitresses, contrary to claims that they were abducted (see Sept. 4). The agency was shown relevant NHRC documents, but was told that the full report is unlikely to be published.
: Under the headline “KCNA Commentary Urges S. [sic] Korean Military Warmongers to Behave Themselves,” the official DPRK news agency savages the ROK’s deployment of two further F-35A fighter jets as allegedly part of a military build-up for a pre-emptive attack. It adds: “They generate a handshake of peace in public but behind the scene, grind a sword for confrontation and war. This is an unpardonable act of perfidy.”
: MOU now says that the 50,000 tons of rice which South Korea offered in June as food aid to the North via the UN World Food Program (WFP) is unlikely to be delivered this month as planned, since it remains unclear whether Pyongyang will accept it. (See also Aug. 23 in the previous issue of Comparative Connections, and below.)
: Under the headline “KCNA Commentary Urges S. [sic] Korean Military Warmongers to Behave Themselves,” the official DPRK news agency savages the ROK’s deployment of two further F-35A fighter jets as allegedly part of a military build-up for a pre-emptive attack. It adds: “They generate a handshake of peace in public but behind the scene, grind a sword for confrontation and war. This is an unpardonable act of perfidy.”
: MOU now says that the 50,000 tons of rice which South Korea offered in June as food aid to the North via the UN World Food Program (WFP) is unlikely to be delivered this month as planned, since it remains unclear whether Pyongyang will accept it. (See also Aug. 23 in the previous issue of Comparative Connections, and below.)
: Under the headline “KCNA Commentary Urges S. [sic] Korean Military Warmongers to Behave Themselves,” the official DPRK news agency savages the ROK’s deployment of two further F-35A fighter jets as allegedly part of a military build-up for a pre-emptive attack. It adds: “They generate a handshake of peace in public but behind the scene, grind a sword for confrontation and war. This is an unpardonable act of perfidy.”
: MOU now says that the 50,000 tons of rice which South Korea offered in June as food aid to the North via the UN World Food Program (WFP) is unlikely to be delivered this month as planned, since it remains unclear whether Pyongyang will accept it. (See also Aug. 23 in the previous issue of Comparative Connections, and below.)
: In Vladivostok to attend the 5th Eastern Economic Forum, DPRK Vice-Premier Ri Yong Nam urges Seoul to “implement issues specified in the [Pyongyang] joint declaration and Panmunjom declaration.” Otherwise, “how can [inter-Korean talks] happen?”
: Ahead of the first anniversary of the opening of a permanent inter-Korean liaison office at Kaesong on Sept. 14, the ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU) confirms that once again the two sides’ co-heads will skip their supposedly weekly meeting. They have not met since the second US-DPRK summit in Hanoi in February.
: In Vladivostok to attend the 5th Eastern Economic Forum, DPRK Vice-Premier Ri Yong Nam urges Seoul to “implement issues specified in the [Pyongyang] joint declaration and Panmunjom declaration.” Otherwise, “how can [inter-Korean talks] happen?”
: In Vladivostok to attend the 5th Eastern Economic Forum, DPRK Vice-Premier Ri Yong Nam urges Seoul to “implement issues specified in the [Pyongyang] joint declaration and Panmunjom declaration.” Otherwise, “how can [inter-Korean talks] happen?”
: Ahead of the first anniversary of the opening of a permanent inter-Korean liaison office at Kaesong on Sept. 14, the ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU) confirms that once again the two sides’ co-heads will skip their supposedly weekly meeting. They have not met since the second US-DPRK summit in Hanoi in February.
: In Vladivostok to attend the 5th Eastern Economic Forum, DPRK Vice-Premier Ri Yong Nam urges Seoul to “implement issues specified in the [Pyongyang] joint declaration and Panmunjom declaration.” Otherwise, “how can [inter-Korean talks] happen?”
: Ahead of the first anniversary of the opening of a permanent inter-Korean liaison office at Kaesong on Sept. 14, the ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU) confirms that once again the two sides’ co-heads will skip their supposedly weekly meeting. They have not met since the second US-DPRK summit in Hanoi in February.
: In Vladivostok to attend the 5th Eastern Economic Forum, DPRK Vice-Premier Ri Yong Nam urges Seoul to “implement issues specified in the [Pyongyang] joint declaration and Panmunjom declaration.” Otherwise, “how can [inter-Korean talks] happen?”
: The left-leaning International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) claims that 12 North Korean waitresses who defected en masse to the South from China in 2016 were in effect abducted. Visiting both Koreas, the IADL’s investigative team received full assistance from the DPRK; but ROK authorities refused co-operation, so they did not actually meet the women. IADL’s full report is later published on Sept. 30.
: The left-leaning International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) claims that 12 North Korean waitresses who defected en masse to the South from China in 2016 were in effect abducted. Visiting both Koreas, the IADL’s investigative team received full assistance from the DPRK; but ROK authorities refused co-operation, so they did not actually meet the women. IADL’s full report is later published on Sept. 30.
: The left-leaning International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) claims that 12 North Korean waitresses who defected en masse to the South from China in 2016 were in effect abducted. Visiting both Koreas, the IADL’s investigative team received full assistance from the DPRK; but ROK authorities refused co-operation, so they did not actually meet the women. IADL’s full report is later published on Sept. 30.
: DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) holds a rare second session. Belying expectations in Seoul of fresh policy announcements (see Aug. 26), this is mainly devoted to constitutional changes further cementing Kim Jong Un’s position as chief of the executive branch, as well as head of everything else.
: DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) holds a rare second session. Belying expectations in Seoul of fresh policy announcements (see Aug. 26), this is mainly devoted to constitutional changes further cementing Kim Jong Un’s position as chief of the executive branch, as well as head of everything else.
: MOU admits that while “it would be great to hold joint events”, South Korea will mark the first anniversary on Sept. 19 of the Pyongyang inter-Korean summit without North Korea’s participation. Nor has the North been notified of the South’s planned events.
: MOU says Pyongyang has not replied to its offer to return the body of a presumed North Korean, found in the Imjin river at Paju near the DMZ in Aug. 14.
: Ahead of the DPRK parliament’s rare second session this year, MOU calls that “a good opportunity for it to announce inside and out its policy direction or an evaluation on the businesses it has carried out.” This turns out to be quite mistaken (see Aug. 29).
: North Korea test-fires what the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) presume to be two more SRBMs, this time from Sondok, south of Hamhung on the east coast. They travel some 235 miles, in the seventh such test in less than a month. A day later, DPRK media report this as being a “newly developed super-large multiple rocket launcher” system (MRLS), once again under Kim Jong Un’s personal guidance.
: MOU says it still hopes to send 50,000 tons of rice to North Korea via the UN World Food Programme (WFP) by end-September, despite Pyongyang’s reported refusal to accept aid from the South.
: KCNA weighs in on the US-ROK negotiations over cost-sharing for USFK. It attacks Washington as “greedy” and “gangster-like,” and also Seoul for being “servile.”
: Rodong Sinmun lambastes the joint US-ROK exercises as “an open hostility to and unpardonable military provocation against the DPRK” and “a saber-rattling for making a preemptive attack on the DPRK from A to Z.”
: DPRK media insult Park Jie-won, a veteran ROK politician heavily involved in the late Kim Dae-jung’s ‘Sunshine’ policy, as “a tramp and dirty man” who “wagged his ill-smelling tongue.” Park had criticized the North’s Aug. 16 missile launch as (inter alia) irreverent to the memory of the late Chung Ju-yung, founder of the Hyundai conglomerate and a major funder of ‘Sunshine,’ who was born near Tongchon.
: North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country (CPRC) reacts to Moon’s Aug. 15 speech with derision and insults. Calling “the south Korean chief executive” “an impudent guy rare to be found,” the CPRC says: “[W]e have nothing to talk any more with the south Korean authorities nor have any idea to sit with them again.”
: Calling Pyongyang’s insults against President Moon (see above) “a rude act” that “crossed the line”, MOU says, rather mildly: “We express deep regret over North Korea’s slander made one day after Liberation Day, the nation’s biggest celebratory day.”
: In a speech on Liberation Day (from Japan in 1945: a public holiday in both Koreas), President Moon renews his call to North Korea to build shared prosperity on the peninsula. But he also refers to “worrying actions,” and adds: “If there is dissatisfaction, it too should be raised and discussed at the negotiating table.
: Yonhap cites an unnamed “government source” as confirming that the two Koreas’ spy chiefs met secretly in April. National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Suh Hoon met Jang Kum Chol, who Seoul says replaced Kim Yong Chol as head of the WPK United Front Department (UFD) after the failure of the second US-DPRK summit.
: Citing a leaked text of the latest report of the UN Panel of Experts set up to monitor implementation of sanctions on the DPRK, AP reports that the ROK was the main victim (ten cases) of 35 DPRK cyberattacks, thought to have netted Pyongyang up to $2 billion in total. (The report is officially published on Sept. 5; see section 57, page 26.)
: Refuting Pyongyang’s criticisms of the US-ROK exercise, MOU says this is “not a field training aimed at the North, but a joint command post drill intended to prepare for the transfer of wartime operational control (from Washington to Seoul) … It is not a violation of North-South military agreements.” The North’s comments do “not help advance inter-Korean relations at all.”
: A director general at the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs mocks and insults “the south Korean authorities” for changing the name of US-ROK joint exercises, using startlingly undiplomatic language: “Shit, though hard and dry, still stinks even if it is wrapped in a flowered cloth.”
: Radio Free Asia (RFA) again claims North Korea is selling products pilfered from South Korean companies that invested in Kaesong, citing a large batch of rice cookers sent to China. (See also May 24.)
: US-ROK joint military exercises commence. Scaled down and renamed from the former Ulchi Freedom Guardian summer maneuvers (cancelled in 2018), these comprise four days of “crisis management staff training” (Aug. 5-8), followed by a 10-day “Combined Command Post Training” (Aug. 11-20).” Both are largely computer simulations, rather than mobilization of actual troops and equipment.
: As ROK relations with Japan deteriorate after Tokyo imposes trade sanctions, President Moon tells his Cabinet that “the Korean economy can catch up with Japan’s quickly if a peace economy is achieved on the peninsula through inter-Korean economic cooperation.”
: MOU says that on July 24 South Korea proposed working-level talks with the North about forming unified teams for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics in four sports, as agreed in February. Its spokesman adds that “discussions are under way”, but inter-Korean sports exchanges “have shown little progress due to the North’s passive attitude.” Separately, the ministry says that the North has rejected a proposal by a South Korean civic group to hold a joint Liberation Day event on Aug. 15, to mark the end of Japanese occupation in 1945.
: (South) Korea Football Association (KFA) says its Northern counterpart has told the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) it will host an inter-Korean soccer match in Pyongyang on Oct. 15.
: Korean People’s Army (KPA) soldier crosses the DMZ by swimming in the Imjin river near Paju to defect to South Korea.
: Seoul announces that the third and last new hiking trail along the southern side of the DMZ, starting from Paju and including a demolished guardpost, will open on Aug. 10.)
: MOU reveals that North Korea is refusing to accept the South’s offer (made via the UN WFP) of 50,000 tons of rice, citing upcoming joint US-ROK military exercises.
: FFNK does it again (see June 25). The defector activist group reveals that on July 20 it launched 20 balloons carrying 500,000 leaflets, 2,000 dollar bills, 1,000 USB drives and 500 booklets across the DMZ from Yeoncheon, north of Seoul.
: Opening what Yonhap calls “an exposition on the seas around North Korea,” Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul calls for progress in stalled inter-Korean maritime cooperation, such as a joint fishing area: “If we can seize this opportunity and connect the seas of the South and North, the destiny of the Korean Peninsula will dramatically change.”
: Apologizing again for the Samcheok boat incident, ROK Defense Minister Jeong says he has asked President Moon to decide whether to fire him. He keeps his job.
: MOU rebuffs as “absolutely not true” a claim by the Chosun Ilbo that government support for civic groups’ projects to help Northern defectors’ settlement has been halved. On the contrary, it “has been rather steadily on the rise”: from 383 million won ($324,300) in 2015 to 430 million won in 2017, 500 million won in 2018 and 522 million won in 2019.
: MOU says North Korea has not responded to an invitation to participate in the world’s largest swimming event: the biennial International Swimming Federation (FINA, in French), this year hosted by Gwangju and Yeosu cities in southwestern South Korea, which runs July 12-28.
: More than a month after Seoul agreed to let its investors visit the KIC (see May 17, above), MOU says that “North Korea is a little passive on this in the current situation.” Pressed further, the ministry clarifies that Pyongyang has not replied at all.
: President Moon’s approval rating reaches 52.4%, a seven-month high.
: Ministry of National Defense (MND) says it has sacked the commander of the ROK Army’s 8th Corps, referred two other senior military commanders to a disciplinary committee, and issued a warning to the JCS Chairman over the Samcheok boat incident.
: President Moon tells his Cabinet that the Kim-Trump meeting at Panmunjom on June 30 was a “de facto declaration of an end to hostile relations and the beginning of a full-fledged peace era,” even though no new accord was signed.
: Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un meet for the first time since September 2018, at Panmunjom. They shake hands and speak briefly as Moon escorts Donald Trump to his slightly longer (50 minutes) third meeting with Kim, in which Moon does not participate.
: In the same group interview, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul suggests that the KIC and the Mount Kumgang resort could be reopened even before sanctions relief, so as to advance denuclearization.
: In a joint written interview with Yonhap and six foreign news agencies, Moon Jae-in anticipates the two Koreas exchanging military information and observing each other’s exercises – if existing confidence-building accords are fully implemented.
: Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK), a group of defectors and their supporters, says it marked the 69th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1950-53 Korean War by launching 20 propaganda balloons across the DMZ from Incheon, west of Seoul.
: ROK Coast Guard and Navy see off a small DPRK fishing boat that had entered Southern waters northeast of Dokdo. The North Korean Navy had requested its rescue via a military hotline, but the crew insisted their engine was working.
: ROK Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo apologizes, after the embarrassing truth emerges of military failure and cover-up. The small DPRK boat (see above) had neither drifted South nor been apprehended at sea. Actually it crossed the maritime border, spent three days in Southern waters, then entered and tied up in the South’s Samcheok port, where its crew hailed a passing civilian – all of this entirely undetected and unchallenged.
: In a wide-ranging interview, Vice Unification Minister Suh Ho says: “I think we need to find an exquisite procedure (sic) with regard to resumption of the Kaesong complex and Mount Kumgang tours in the process of denuclearization.”
: MOU says two of the four DPRK boat people, who wanted to go home, were returned via Panmunjom today. The other two expressed a wish to defect. In further details, it is now revealed that the tiny (1.8 ton) wooden boat was first spotted by a civilian, “quite close to a seawall” near the ROK port of Samcheok. But it is still claimed to have been adrift.
: Yonhap says, the Blue House “publicly tone[s] down its expectations for an early inter-Korean summit.” With China’s Xi Jinping now headed for Pyongyang, this is an admission that President Moon’s professed hopes last week (see June 12) are unrealistic.
: Seoul’s military vows to tighten vigilance, amid criticism that a DPRK fishing boat had entered ROK waters undetected (see June 15). Still claiming the vessel was “found adrift”, the JCS says that while overall coastal and maritime defense operations had proceeded “normally”, its radar operation system has “elements that need to be complemented.”
: DPRK media use the 19th anniversary of the first inter-Korean summit (which is not being celebrated jointly) to praise that event. They also laud 2018’s Kim-Moon summits as “milestones for peace, prosperity and unification.”
: DPRK website Uriminzokkiri denounces Ulchi Taegeuk – the ROK’s new scaled-down civilian-military drill, held from May 27-30 – as “a provocative military exercise explicitly targeting us as the main enemy.”
: Suh Ho, who in May replaced Chun Hae-sung as vice unification minister, pays his first visit to the inter-Korean liaison office at Kaesong (he is its co-head ex officio). He meets ROK staff there, but not his DPRK counterpart Jon Jong Su, since Pyongyang once again cancels the supposedly weekly meeting of co-heads; none has been held since February.
: At Panmunjom, Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong delivers a wreath and letter of condolence from the DPRK leader over the death of Kim Dae-jung’s widow, Lee Hee-ho, who died on June 10 aged 96. There is no message for Moon Jae-in. DPRK media publicize all this, which some in Seoul see as encouraging.
: Speaking in Oslo, President Moon says: “I think it’s desirable (for me) to meet Chairman Kim Jong Un, if possible” before US President Donald Trump visits Seoul at the end of June. He adds: “I am calling for an early meeting between Chairman Kim and President Trump.”
: Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) report that the ROK Navy towed a DPRK fishing boat, found drifting with engine trouble in Southern waters in the East Sea, back into Northern waters, having ascertained that all six crew wished to go home. Pyongyang used the inter-Korean military hotline to request their rescue and repatriation.
: Choson Sinbo, a newspaper published by pro-DPRK Koreans in Japan, urges Seoul to “make a courageous decision to take practical action, not just words, in tackling the current stalemate in lockstep with North Korean compatriots.” If it does this, “there will be an answer from the North.”
: Minju Joson, daily paper of the DPRK Cabinet, calls the recent meeting in Seoul between ROK Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo and acting US Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan a “clear manifestation of the ambition [to] militarily crush” North Korea.
: ROK sends the $8 million it pledged for aid to the DPRK (see May 17) to two UN agencies. WFP receives $4.5 million and UNICEF $3.5 million.
: Speaking in Helsinki at the start of a visit to three Nordic nations, President Moon sounds upbeat: “I believe that we will be able to resume ….dialogue between the two Koreas and between the US and North Korea in the near future.”
: A propos an outbreak of highly contagious African swine fever in the northern DPRK, MOU says: “We will soon launch discussions with North Korea through the joint liaison office.”
: Yonhap quotes DPRK Vice Sports Minister Won Kil U as reaffirming, in a Chinese TV interview (date and channel unspecified), the North’s readiness to form a joint team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics: “We have a willingness to do (it), holding hands with South Korea.” That would need planning; but Pyongyang is not replying to Seoul’s messages.
: The DPRK website Uriminzokkiri denounces South Korea’s plan to buy SM-2 Block IIIB ship-to-air missiles and related equipment from the US, adding: “There is actually no end if we are to list all the sneaky acts done by the south Korean military that destroy the peace mood on the peninsula and heighten tensions.”
: Citing “multiple” ROK government sources, the conservative Seoul daily Dong-A Ilbo claims that in January Seoul offered rice and other aid for Pyongyang to reopen the KIC and Mount Kumgang tourist resort. The North refused, demanding cash instead – which would breach UN sanctions. The South then offered twice as much rice (amount unspecified), but was again rebuffed. MOU denies this story, calling it “not true at all.”
: In apparent reaction to the ROK’s latest offer of aid (see May 17), though without citing that specifically, two second-tier DPRK websites, Tongil Sinbo and DPRK Today, reiterate Pyongyang’s position (see May 12) that humanitarian issues are “non-core and secondary.” They accuse Seoul of wanting to “show off … and manipulate public opinion rather than improving inter-Korean relations.”
: Rebutting a report by Radio Free Asia (RFA) that North Korea has sold off equipment belonging to South Korean companies at the KIC, Yonhap quotes an unnamed official of one such investor as saying that ROK officials who visited Kaesong last year to set up the inter-Korean liaison office there found factory buildings locked and sealed. (But see also Aug. 9, below.)
: South Korea submits on the deadline its roster alone for the International Hockey Federation (FIH) Women’s Hockey Series Finals in Ireland: a qualifying event for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. In February the two Koreas agreed to field joint teams in qualifiers for women’s field hockey, women’s basketball, judo and rowing. Despite this, North Korea has ignored all the South’s requests to arrange joint training and other practicalities.
: Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul says “discussions are under way” with North Korea for Southern investors in the KIC to visit Kaesong (see May 17). He gives no details. As of mid-September no such visit has yet taken place. (See also July 4.)
: North Korean website Uriminzokkiri criticizes South Korea for its recent bilateral working group talks with the US. Falsely calling that meeting “secret,” it says this proves that Seoul has “yet to break away from a policy of dependence on foreign forces.”
: MOU announces two decisions. South Korea is to donate $8 million via UN agencies for projects supporting nutrition and health of children and pregnant women in North Korea. It will also, at the ninth time of asking, allow Southern companies invested at Kaesong to visit the shuttered KIC, to check on the condition of their equipment and property there….
: MOU rebuffs any suggestion that falling market prices for rice in North Korea mean that its food situation is not so serious after all, saying “We recognize the assessment compiled by the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as official and objective indicators.” The two UN bodies’ latest report, published on May 3, claims that (in WFP’s own headline) “After worst harvest in ten years, 10 million people in DPRK face imminent food shortages.”
: Radio Pyongyang says South Korea has no right to criticize what it calls a “normal … strike drill” (see May 4). This launch “was not a violation of a promise as it was neither … an intermediate range missile nor an intercontinental ballistic missile.” It calls Seoul’s (actually rather mild) remonstrations “a shameless complaint from the ones who lost the right to talk … by recklessly infringing upon the North-South military agreement, sticking to secret hostile acts with the US.”
: MND spokesperson says that Seoul “will continue to beef up [its missile defense] capabilities aimed at effectively fending off threats from all directions.” She also reveals that military communication channels with the North are operating normally. Another anonymous ROKG source confirms to Yonhap that the inter-Korean military hotlines are in use twice a day: “But exchanges of opinions via those hotlines on how to implement the inter-Korean military pact have come to a halt, which I believe will be temporary.”
: Poll commissioned by the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), a state think-tank in Seoul, finds that for the first time since polling began in 2016 more than half of South Koreans (51.4 percent) say their government should pursue dialogue with North Korea. Yet although those regarding the North as a trustworthy partner rose from 8.8 percent in 2017 to 33.5 percent now, a larger proportion (39.2 percent) still distrust the Kim regime.
: Yonhap quotes an unnamed military official as saying the ROK is still not in a position to confirm whether what the DPRK fired on May 9 were ballistic missiles, as almost all other expert sources – including the Pentagon – are claiming.
: Korean-language DPRK propaganda website Meari (Echo) criticizes the South’s emphasis on aiding the North: “It would be a deception of the public sentiment … to make a fuss as if a few humanitarian projects, which are far from the demands of the nation, would lead to big progress in inter-Korean relations … while putting fundamental issues … on the back burner.” It urges Seoul to focus on implementing summit agreements instead.
: DPRK Today, a China-based North Korean website, urges South Korea to reopen the joint venture Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), abruptly shut by then-President Park Geun-hye in 2016. It claims that this “is not an issue that needs Washington’s approval. The South is giving an excuse for foreign forces to intervene in cooperative projects.”
: Won Hyung-joon, a South Korean violinist and orchestra director, and Kim Song Mi, a China-based North Korean soprano, give a joint concert in Shanghai. Won is a long-time advocate of inter-Korean musical cooperation; this was his individual initiative. The duo had been due to perform together in Jeju last December, but that event was cancelled.
: MOU deputy spokesperson Lee Eugene insists: “There is no change in [the Moon administration’s] position that it is necessary to provide humanitarian assistance to the North from a humanitarian and compatriots’ perspective.”
: Regarding potential ROK food aid to the DPRK in the light of the latter’s recent missile tests, MOU deputy spokesperson insists: “There is no change in [the Moon administration’s] position that it is necessary to provide humanitarian assistance to the North from a humanitarian and compatriots’ perspective.” However, “the government plans to sufficiently collect opinions from the public in the process.” (See also May 12.)
: Interviewed by KBS hours after Pyongyang’s latest missile launch, President Moon says: “I’d like to warn North Korea that if such behavior … is repeated, it could make the current dialogue and negotiation phase difficult.”
: Interviewed by the Korean Broadcasting Service (KBS) just after Pyongyang’s latest missile launch, President Moon says: “I’d like to warn North Korea that if such behavior … is repeated, it could make the current dialogue and negotiation phase difficult.”
: Data from South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) show that inter-Korean contacts – measured by permissions the ministry grants to South Koreans to go North – are falling. From 6,689 in 2018 (full year), the number declined to 617 in 2019 so far.
: Yonhap, the ROK’s quasi-official news agency, reports that the UN Command (UNC) has approved partial opening of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ, the de facto inter-Korean border) for two hiking trails, in Cheorwon and Paju. A third “peace trail,” in Goseong on the east coast, was opened on April 27 to mark the anniversary of 2018’s Panmunjom Summit. (All this is on the South’s side of the border; there is no North Korean involvement.)
: Exactly one month after his confirmation as the new ROK Unification Minister (MOU), Kim Yeon-chul makes his first visit to North Korea – if only as far as the joint liaison office at Kaesong. Briefly meeting DPRK officials stationed there, he exchanges pleasantries but does not discuss any substantive issues, such as missiles or food aid.
: Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae, South Korea’s presidential office) releases an English text of “The Greatness of the Ordinary”: a long op-ed by President Moon Jae-in for the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeiner Zeitung, which publishes it on May 9. With unfortunate timing, this includes a claim that “the sounds of gunfire have disappeared in the air, on the sea and on the ground around the Korean Peninsula.”
: Ending a 17-month moratorium on such testing, North Korea fires a volley of projectiles into the East Sea from Hodo-ri, near Wonsan. Kim Jong Un presides. After some initial confusion in Seoul, observers conclude that these involved two types of large-caliber multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) and a new short-range ballistic missile (SRBM).
: Ending a 17-month moratorium on such testing, North Korea fires a volley of projectiles into the East Sea from Hodo-ri, near Wonsan. Kim Jong Un presides. After some initial confusion in Seoul, observers conclude that these involved two types of large-caliber multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) and a new short-range ballistic missile (SRBM).
: MOU says it will spend two weeks testing newly renovated nationwide facilities for family reunions via videolink.
: South Korea stages a concert at Panmunjom on the anniversary of Moon and Kim’s first summit there.
: Japanese daily Mainichi Shimbun reveals leaked details of North Korea’s never-published 2016 Five-Year Plan, acquired somehow by a South Korean researcher. Inter alia, so as to reduce economic dependence on China this advocates boosting trade with Russia – but does not mention either South Korea or Japan, both formerly major trade partners.
: MOU confirms that supposedly weekly meetings between the inter-Korean liaison office’s joint directors have not been held for two months: since Feb. 22, when the North sent a stand-in. The two co-heads of the office – ROK Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung, and the DPRK’s Jon Jong Su – last met on Jan. 25.
: Under the headline “North severs contacts in South,” the center-right Seoul daily JoongAng Ilbo cites several unnamed Southern NGOs who say that their Northern counterparts are cold-shouldering them: no longer replying to fax and phone messages. Some claim that Kim Jong Un has personally forbidden such contacts.
: Moon Jae-in says: “I hope the two Koreas will have another summit without being restrained by the venue and format,” given the need for “concrete and substantive discussions” that will yield “fruits.” Critics insist it is Kim Jong Un’s turn to come to Seoul.
: Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports that North Korea is trying to buy South Korean high-yielding rice seeds via traders in China. The latter are reluctant, as PRC Customs inspections for farm products are stringent. They wonder why Pyongyang doesn’t simply ask Seoul, which in the ‘Sunshine’ era allowed civic groups to supply such seeds.
: Running to a rare second day, the SPA hears a long and tough policy speech by Kim Jong Un. Inter alia Kim upbraids South Korea for continuing war games with the US and not implementing last year’s accords, while “pos[ing] as a meddlesome ‘mediator.’”
: First session of the 14th SPA, “elected” in March, is held in Pyongyang. As usual there is a budget speech with no hard numbers. Personnel changes include a titular head of state, Choe Ryong Hae, replacing Kim Yong Nam who at 90 has retired; and a new premier, Kim Jae Ryong, replacing Pak Pong Ju who has been moved to another post.
: Two rival global organizations in Taekwondo – the DPRK-backed International Taekwondo Federation (ITF), and the more widely recognized ROK-backed World Taekwondo (WT) – stage joint demonstration events in Lausanne and Geneva, to mark the 25th anniversary of Taekwondo’s acceptance as an Olympic sport.
: Kim Jong Un chairs the fourth plenary session of the seventh term Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee (WPK CC). This key meeting of North Korea’s ruling party immediately precedes the annual spring session of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), the DPRK’s rubber-stamp parliament; see April 11-12.
: Uriminzokkiri attacks MOU for publishing the results of last year’s joint inspections of Northern railways, which found them in poor condition and in need of repair (see March 29, above). Calling this “disrespectful”, the DPRK website also criticizes the ministry more generally for poor performance, and the ROK government for kow-towing to Washington: “If South Korea is truly interested in North-South cooperation, it should tell the US what it should be told, instead of disclosing some clumsy report.”
: Kim Yeon-chul is sworn in as South Korea’s new minister of unification, despite the National Assembly’s failure to confirm him – which is not mandatory. The conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) calls him unacceptably “pro-North.”
: MOU says South Korea has shared information on a serious forest fire in its northeastern border region with North Korea via the Kaesong liaison office.
: DPRK website Meari accuses the ROK of excessive caution toward the North: “Talks of prudence by the South Korean authorities are an evasion of responsibility over implementing North-South declarations promised in front of the whole nation, and an overt surrender to the pressure from the US and the conservatives.”
: The ROK military begins de-mining and search operations for MIA remains at Arrowhead Ridge, a Korean War battle site in the central DMZ. This was meant to be a joint operation, but this year the North has not responded to Southern attempts to set a schedule.
: MOU releases findings from last year’s joint inspections of DPRK roads and railways. Both the west and east coast main rail lines, totaling 800 miles in length, “are in serious condition,” with erosion and damage to rails. Tunnels and bridges are a particular concern: some bridges 70-100 years old (i.e., built by Japan) have never been renovated. Highways, though newer, are no better. On the 100 mile-long main road from the border (Kaesong) north to Pyongyang, completed in 1992, there was high risk of rock slides in 33 places and 90 bridges were cracked, as were tunnels. (See also April 9 below.)
: The IOC announces that it has approved the two Koreas’ proposal to form some unified teams and march together at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics.
: Washington Post headline reads: “After Hanoi breakdown, Moon’s credibility as U.S.-Korean intermediary is on the line”.
: South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) says it will continue to pursue cooperation and exchanges with North Korea. Plans include joint teams in four sports at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics; a joint bid to co-host the 2032 summer Olympics; and inviting the North to various sports meets in the South. MCST will also “push for joint projects to compile a unified Korean-language dictionary, unearth historic relics at the Manwoldae site in the North’s border town of Kaesong, and conduct a joint survey of ancient tomb murals in Pyongyang.”
: Asked on background whether Washington is considering allowing sanctions exemptions so that key inter-Korean economic projects can resume, a senior State Department official (presumably Special Representative Stephen Biegun) bluntly replies: “No.”
: DPRK’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) attacks the new Dong Maeng exercise (replacing the former Foal Eagle), which runs March 4-12, as a “violent violation” of last year’s agreements between Pyongyang, Washington and Seoul.
: Blue House announces that Choi Jong-kun, a professor of international relations, has been appointed as the new presidential secretary for peace at the National Security Office (NSO). Choi was previously secretary for arms control within the NSO.
: Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon (soon to be sacked) says Seoul will discuss with Washington ways to prepare for future resumption of the Kaesong and Kumgang joint North-South projects, including sanctions waivers. (But see March 7, below.)
: New York Times headline reports that “South Korea Awaits 2nd Kim-Trump Summit With Both Hope and Fear.”
: Citing unnamed “officials” and a raft of concrete cases, Yonhap reports that ROK local governments are gearing up for expanded cooperation with the DPRK, expecting fresh momentum for peace from the upcoming Trump-Kim summit in Hanoi. Sports, culture, education and economy are seen as promising areas for such activity.
: The sports ministers of North and South Korea meet Thoma Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, at IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. Bach says they plan to march together at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics and to enter joint teams in four sports. He adds: “We warmly welcome the historic initiative of the two Koreas to put forward a joint Korean candidature for the Olympic Games 2032.”
: MOU says Pyongyang has not responded to its proposal to jointly mark the centenary of the March 1, 1919 protests against the Japanese occupation of Korea, as agreed at last September’s Pyongyang summit. On Feb. 21, the North finally replies in the negative, saying circumstances do not allow this – but offering no further explanation.
: In the first (and last?) North-South civilian event of 2019, some 250 South Koreans from a range of NGOs – including religious groups, labor unions, and organizations of women, youth and farmers – join Northern counterparts at the Mount Kumgang resort on the DPRK’s east coast for a delayed New Year get-together.
: ROK Olympic Committee chooses Seoul over Busan as the venue city for its bid to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics with the DPRK. North Korea is not known to have conducted any equivalent exercise, but only Pyongyang has the necessary facilities.
: A 22-strong delegation from Hyundai Asan, which developed and ran tours to North Korea’s Mount Kumgang east coast resort from 1998 to 2008 (when Seoul suspended the program after a Southern tourist was shot dead), visits Kumgang-san for a ceremony to mark the firm’s 20th anniversary. MOU hastens to point out that this does not mean tourism is about to resume, despite rumors.
: MOU data highlight the urgency of family reunions, currently stalled. Out of 133,208 South Koreans who have applied since 1988, the majority (77,221) are now dead. Of the 55,987 still alive, most (62%) are now aged 80 or over.
: Official of the Blue House (Cheong Wa Dae, the ROK presidential office and residence), as usual anonymous, tells Yonhap: “An inter-Korean summit will naturally be the next step following the second North Korea-U.S. summit.” Yonhap’s article is headlined: “S. Korea to push for fourth Moon-Kim summit to set stage for denuclearization.” Such optimism is widespread in Seoul at this juncture.
: In the first such sectoral talks of 2019 – and the last, as of mid-May – the two Koreas meet in Kaesong to discuss connecting cross-border roads and modernizing those in the North, following surveys last year. They exchange documents, discuss a DPRK delegation visiting the ROK, and agree to plan future meetings and exchanges. None of that happens.
: North Korea’s leading daily Rodong Sinmun, organ of the ruling Workers’ Party (WPK), calls on South Korea to stop “war exercises,” which it calls “a dangerous military action that runs counter to the current trend … toward our people’s reconciliation, peace and stability.” Meanwhile the North’s million-strong Korean People’s Army (KPA) continues its own winter training exercises as usual.
: South Koream Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha says that the future of two suspended inter-Korean joint ventures, the Kaesong complex and tourism to Mt. Kumgang, depends on how diplomacy goes between North Korea and the US:
: In its latest biennial White Paper, the ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) drops its characterization of the DPRK government and military as an “enemy.” It also deletes other terms now deemed provocative, including Korea Massive Punishment and Retaliation (KMPR) – a plan to take out the North’s leadership in case of war – and the Kill Chain strike platform.
: The DPRK website Uriminzokkiri, aimed at external audiences, says: “Active efforts should be made to expand and advance North-South cooperation and exchanges in all aspects.” It commends results achieved so far despite “brutal obstruction” from the outside. Meari, another North Korean site, even claims that “Had inter-Korean economic cooperation been pushed actively, the South’s economy would not be in a devastating state as it is today.”
: In his New Year press conference, Moon Jae-in calls on Pyongyang to take bolder steps toward denuclearization – and for the US to reward these.
: Saying more preparation is needed, MOU postpones delivering 200,000 doses of Tamiflu antiviral drugs and 50,000 early detection kits to the North, planned for Jan. 11. Seoul trade media earlier reported dismay among ROK pharmaceutical firms that the costly Roche original is being provided, rather than cheaper ROK-made generics; and also suspicion that Pyongyang may sell these on rather than use them itself.
: In his New Year press conference, ROK President Moon Jae-in calls on Pyongyang to take bolder steps toward denuclearization – and for the US to reward these.
: South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) says it will “consider various elements” before allowing companies who invested in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) to visit the site and check the state of facilities there. It has refused six previous applications from them for such visits since then-President Park Geun-hye closed the KIC in early 2016.
: Thae Yong Ho, a senior North Korean diplomat who defected in 2016, in an open letter urges the former DPRK chargé d’affaires in Rome, Jo Song-gil, who is reportedly seeking asylum in the US, to choose South Korea instead. Thae calls this “an obligation, not a choice” which will accelerate reunification.
: Thae Yong Ho, a senior North Korean diplomat who defected in 2016, in an open letter urges the former DPRK chargé d’affaires in Rome, Jo Song Gil, who is reportedly seeking asylum in the US, to choose South Korea instead. Thae calls this “an obligation, not a choice” which will accelerate reunification.
: Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung, the ROK joint head of the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong, meets very briefly (just 20 minutes) with Kim Kwang Song, the DPRK’s vice-chief at the office, to discuss “pending issues.”
: Kim Jong Un delivers his annual New Year address. Regarding North-South relations, he praises 2018’s achievements but warns that “joint military exercises with foreign forces …should no longer be permitted.”
: North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un delivers his annual New Year address. Regarding North-South relations, he praises 2018’s achievements but warns that “joint military exercises with foreign forces …should no longer be permitted.”
: Blue House discloses that Kim Jong Un has sent Moon Jae-in a letter, regretting he did not make it to Seoul this year but hoping to meet “frequently” in 2019.
: Approximately 100-strong ROK delegation, including the unification and transport ministers, crosses the DMZ to attend the symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for rail and road reconnection and modernization, held at the DPRK’s Panmun Station in Kaesong.
: ROK Foreign Ministry, confirms that yesterday (just in time) the UN Security Council granted a sanctions waiver for tomorrow’s symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for relinking Northern and Southern roads and railways.
: Ten-strong Southern team enters the North to inspect a short 4 km stretch of the main western Gyeongui highway.
: Uriminzokkiri, a North Korean external propaganda website, calls South Korea “two-faced” for supporting a UN resolution passed by the General Assembly (for the 14th successive year) on Dec. 17 condemning DPRK human rights abuses.
: MOU says it repatriated three DPRK sailors, and the body of a fourth, after the ROK Coast Guard rescued them and their boat found drifting in the East Sea on Dec. 20. No further details are given.
: Ten-strong ROK team enters the DPRK by the east coast route, to conduct a three-day joint inspection of a 100-km section of highway from Goseong up to Wonsan.
: ROK train, which covered 2,600 km over 18 days surveying the DPRK’s western and eastern main lines, is returned via Dorasan, north of Seoul.
: Seoul city government estimates that co-hosting the 2032 Olympic games with Pyongyang would require a budget of around 3.9 trillion won ($3.44 billion).
: ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) confirm that the DPRK has demolished 10 guardposts in the DMZ. ROK has done the same. The two sides had planned to destroy 11 each, but decide to keep one apiece (albeit now disarmed) “in light of their historical value.”
: South Korean officials and experts return home after completing a 10-day inspection of North Korea’s eastern railway line. The 28-strong team crosses the MDL in the eastern sector, by bus.
: After sports talks led by vice-ministers in Kaesong, the two Koreas announce that they will meet the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne, Switzerland on Feb. 15 2019, to discuss their joint bid to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympic Games.
: Senior officials from the two Koreas’ health ministries meet in Kaesong to discuss potential co-operation, including to control influenza.
: The ROK Cabinet approves an MOU proposal to revise the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act, so that any future curtailment of co-operation with the North must be reviewed by the Cabinet.
: MOU says the budget allocated to its inter-Korean cooperation fund in 2019 will be 1.1 trillion won ($983.4 million): up 15 percent from 2018, and the first time since 2016 that this has exceeded a trillion won.
: In a joint statement, the ROK Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries (MOF) and the Ministry of National Defense declare that the two Koreas have completed their 35-day joint inspection of estuarine and coastal waterways along their western border. A day later, the (South) Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency (KHOA) reports that much dredging work is needed, especially in the estuary near Kaesong.
: After a brief home break, South Korea’s rail inspection team heads back to the North: this time by bus, using the eastern land route.
: Media reports claim the South has suggested Dec. 12-14 as dates for Kim Jong Un to visit Seoul, but has gotten no reply yet. Such speculation persists throughout the month.
: MOU says that a meeting today between the joint heads of the North-South liaison office at Kaesong – ROK Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung and Jon Chong Su, vice chairman of the DPRK Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country (CPRC) did not discuss Kim Jong Un visiting Seoul. (These meetings, set originally to be held weekly, are in fact taking place approximately monthly.)
: ROK railway inspection team returns home, having completed a six-day joint survey of the DPRK’s western main line.
: ROK military says that a Korean People’s Army (KPA) soldier defected earlier that day across the eastern sector of the DMZ.
: A six-car South Korean train, with a 28-strong ROK inspection team aboard, crosses the DMZ to begin an 18-day joint inspection of DPRK railway lines.
: ROK MND reports that (having secured an exemption from UNSC sanctions) it delivered optical and copper cable transmission equipment and communication conduits to the DPRK for use in the west coast inter-Korean military communication line.
: ROK MND announces the completion of joint work to demolish 10 front-line guardposts on each side and de-mine a ridge in the DMZ, begun in October.
: South Korea sends 50 tons of pesticide to the North, to treat disease affecting pine trees. The truck convoy crosses via the western land route, unloading in Kaesong.
: Two Koreas agree that joint inspection of the North’s main west and east coast railway lines will begin on Nov. 30.
: The first ever joint submission by the two Koreas to UNESCO succeeds. Meeting in Mauritius, the UN body’s World Heritage Committee agrees to inscribe ssirum (Korean traditional wrestling) as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
: MND announces that yesterday and today ROK military planes flew 200 tons of tangerines from Jeju island to Pyongyang, as a return gift for the pine mushrooms sent by the DPRK.
: The Blue House declares the North’s pine mushrooms safe to eat.
: Two Koreas hold vice-ministerial talks in Kaesong on health cooperation.
: Two Koreas launch a month-long joint survey of the Han and Imjin River estuaries on their west coast border. Ten military and hydrographic experts from each side, in six ROK sonar-equipped vessels, will measure water depths to plot safe channels for navigation along a 70 km stretch of estuary and coast in both the ROK and DPRK.
: Meeting in Kaesong, the two Koreas’ vice-ministers for sport agree to officially inform the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of their intent to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics. They will also send a combined team to the world handball championships in January.
: Major provisions of September’s North-South military agreement take effect, including no-fly zones and restrictions on maneuvers within specified distances of the DMZ.
: Kim Min-ki, a lawmaker of South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party (DP), tells reporters that the ROK National Intelligence Service (NIS) has observed North Koreans “conducting preparation and intelligence activities that seem to be in preparation for foreign inspectors’ visit” at Punggye-ri nuclear test site and the Sohae satellite launching ground.
: Two Koreas hold what are officially the 10th Inter-Korean General-level Military Talks at Panmunjom to discuss implementation of the military agreement signed in September. They issue a six-point statement, reconfirming that accord’s various provisions and updating on concrete progress and future plans.
: ROK Cabinet ratifies the Pyongyang Joint Declaration and military agreement. Opposition parties protest that this sidelines the National Assembly, where a bill to ratify the earlier Panmunjom Declaration remains bogged down in partisan wrangling.
: Two Koreas meet in Kaesong to discuss cooperation in forestry. They issue a four-point agreement, whose provisions include Southern aid to combat pine disease and for Northern tree nurseries, as well as ecosystem restoration.
: High-level talks on implementing the Pyongyang Joint Declaration are held at Panmunjom. A seven-point agreement recommits to further talks and/or specific activities in seven areas: military, transport, forestry, health, sport, Red Cross, and art performances.
: A 160-strong ROK delegation, mainly of NGOs and activists but including Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, flies to Pyongyang to participate in ceremonies marking the 11th anniversary of the second inter-Korean summit in 2007; the first time this has ever been thus commemorated. They fly back on Oct. 6.
: Moon and Kim and their entourages head north for a photo-opportunity on Mt. Paekdu, a sacred peak (Korea’s highest) on the Chinese border. The ROK party flies directly back to Seoul from Samjiyon airport in the northeastern DPRK.
: The Blue House announces that, as in 2000 and 2007, North Korea has sent a gift of two tons of pine mushrooms, a Northern delicacy, to commemorate the recent summit. These will be distributed to members of separated families who could not meet North Korean family members in the latest reunions, in August. Only 100 out of 57,000 applicants, selected by lot, made the cut. Some in South Korea claim there is a risk that the mushrooms, harvested in the DPRK’s northeast, could be radioactive.
: Moon and Kim sign a fresh agreement, the Pyongyang Joint Declaration. Their defense ministers also sign a major new accord, the “Agreement on the Implementation of the Historic Panmunjom Declaration in the Military Domain.”
: President Moon Jae-in, with a large entourage including business leaders, flies into Pyongyang’s Sunan airport where they are greeted by Kim Jong Un.
: Working-level talks at Panmunjom finalize details of the impending summit. Moon will fly to Pyongyang on Sept. 18 with an almost 200-strong entourage, including business leaders. An ROK advance party will head North overland on Sept. 16.
: North and South Korea open their new permanent liaison office at Kaesong.
: Working-level talks at Panmunjom finalize details of the impending summit.
: North and South Korea open their new permanent liaison office at Kaesong.
: Seoul press reports hint at disquiet in the Blue House that North Korea has not yet responded to the South’s urgent request for a working-level meeting to fine-tune the practical details of President Moon’s summit visit to Pyongyang, now imminent. Logistics and security alike remain to be sorted out. (See next day ….)
: A 22-strong DPRK shooting squad flies home from Gimhae airport, via Beijing, after bagging two silver and two bronze medals in the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) World Championship held at Changwon in the ROK’s southeast.
: ROK government rejects opposition charges that it is playing down the expense of implementing the Panmunjom Declaration. Critics are contrasting MOU’s figure of 298.6 billion won ($264.8 million) with the ministry’s estimate a decade ago that similar projects envisaged in the 2007 inter-Korean summit would cost 14.3 trillion won.
: In Vladivostok for the Eastern Economic Forum, ROK Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon envisages “a new avenue opening for three-way cooperation among South and North Korea and Russia.”
: ROK Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) announces that joint North-South excavations at Manwoldae, the royal palace of the Koryo dynasty (918-1392 CE) in Korea’s then-capital Kaesong, will resume on Sept. 27 for three months. Seven rounds of joint archaeological work were conducted at the site between 2007 and 2015. In 2016 then-ROK President Park Geun-hye suspended the program amid rising inter-Korean tensions.
: In Vladivostok for the Eastern Economic Forum ROK Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon envisages “a new avenue opening for three-way cooperation among South and North Korea and Russia.”
: Citing “multiple sources,” the center-right JoongAng Ilbo, Seoul’s leading daily, claims that the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) have completed a report comparing the two Koreas’ military strengths, which Moon Jae-in ordered ahead of the Pyongyang summit.
: Center-right JoongAng Ilbo, Seoul’s leading daily, claims that the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) have completed a report comparing the two Koreas’ military strengths, which Moon Jae-in ordered ahead of the Pyongyang summit.
: Blue House Chief of Staff Im Jong-seok invites nine parliamentarians to accompany President Moon to Pyongyang. At least three decline. National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang pleads being too busy, while the leaders of two conservative opposition parties, the right-wing Liberty Korea Party (LKP) and the more centrist Bareunmirae, criticize the forthcoming summit as a “show-off without substance.”
: In Pyongyang, parades and mass displays mark the 70th anniversary of the DPRK’s foundation. No ICBMs appear in the military parade, while the mass games stress economic development and conclude with a giant video of April’s Kim-Moon summit.
: In Pyongyang, parades and mass displays mark the 70th anniversary of the DPRK’s foundation. No ICBMs appear in the military parade, while the mass games stress economic development and conclude with a giant video of April’s Kim-Moon summit.
: Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation (KCRC), a quasi-official umbrella body representing some 200 South Korean NGOs, says it will meet its Northern counterpart in late October at Mount Kumgang to call for sincere implementation of the Panmunjom Declaration. Further details will be worked out by fax and email.
: Ahead of a state visit by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Moon Jae-in tells the Indonesian newspaper Kompas that his goal is to make “irreversible progress” by the end of the year toward denuclearization and a permanent peace on the peninsula. He adds that the “special envoy’s visit [to Pyongyang] went well, and the results exceeded expectations.”
: South Korea’s foreign ministry (MOFA) reports that on Sept. 6 the two Korean states wrote jointly to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to request that the Panmunjom Declaration, signed at April 27’s summit, be circulated as an official UN document.
: Blue House says that on Sept. 11 Moon’s government will submit a bill to the National Assembly to formally ratify April’s Panmunjom Declaration. (Previous efforts to that end have failed; see May 28, above. See also Sept. 10, below.)
: South Korea’s Foreign Ministry (MOFA) reports that on Sept. 6 the two Korean states wrote jointly to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres to request that the Panmunjom Declaration be circulated as an official UN document.
: Latest Gallup Korea poll finds President Moon’s approval ratings, on the slide since mid-June, below 50 percent for the first time. Negative appraisals rise to 42 percent. While this is attributed mainly to economic dissatisfaction, media comment notes that North Korea is no longer a booster factor for Moon.
: Blue House (Cheongwadae, the ROK Presidential office and residence) says that on Sept. 11 Moon’s government will submit a bill to the National Assembly to formally ratify April’s Panmunjom Declaration.
: Chung Eui-yong announces that Moon Jae-in will visit Pyongyang on Sept. 18-20 for his third summit with Kim Jong Un. (Earlier speculation had predicted Sept. 12-13.)
: Chung Eui-yong announces that Moon Jae-in will visit Pyongyang on Sept. 18-20 for his third summit with Kim Jong Un. (Earlier speculation had predicted Sept. 12-13.)
: In Kaesong, the two Koreas’ cultural authorities discuss potential cooperation in several fields. They agree to resume a joint archaeological project; see Sept. 11, below.
: President Moon’s special envoy, his national security adviser Chung Eu-yong, flies to Pyongyang heading a five-strong delegation (the same quintet as on March 5-6). They meet Kim Jong Un, who inter alia reaffirms his commitment to denuclearization amid warm words for Moon and for Donald Trump. The delegation flies home to Seoul the same evening and immediately reports back to Moon, at 21:44 local time.
: President Moon Jae-in’s special envoy, National Security Adviser Chung Eu-yong, flies to Pyongyang heading a five-person delegation (the same quintet as on March 5-6). They meet Kim Jong Un, who inter alia reaffirms his commitment to denuclearization amid warm words for Moon and for Donald Trump. The delegation flies home to Seoul the same evening and immediately reports back to Moon, at 9.44pm local time.
: MND says it is requesting a budget of 46.7 trillion won ($42 billion) for 2019. If approved this will be an 8.2 per cent increase, the highest hike in a decade. The ROK defense budget is already larger than the DPRK’s entire national income.
: Reigniting a debate that has flared on and off since 1995, Yonhap claims that South Korea is again considering no longer calling North Korea its ‘main enemy’ in the next ROK defense white paper, due later this year.
: While mainly competing separately, North and South Korea field combined teams in six events (mostly aquatic) at the Asian Games hosted by Jakarta and Pelambang, Indonesia. ‘Korea’ wins four medals, including gold in the women’s dragon boat.
: Fourth round of high-level talks is held at Panmunjom, in the Northern half. The two Koreas reaffirm the Panmunjom Declaration, and confirm that a third summit this year will be held in Pyongyang in September.
: A 64-strong team of DPRK trade unionists visits Seoul to play friendly soccer games against their ROK counterparts. This is the fourth such event; the first was in Pyongyang in 1999, then Changwon (ROK) in 2007, then Pyongyang again in 2015.
: In a series of articles on inter-Korean issues, the Korea Herald highlights the project to compile a comprehensive joint dictionary. Launched in 2005, this met 25 times in the ensuing decade but has been suspended since 2016. With this year’s thaw, the South side has faxed the North to try to arrange a meeting, but has yet to hear back.
: Two Koreas again hold high-level military talks at Panmunjom. No joint statement follows, but some media claim that “broad agreement” has been reached on areas such as disarming the Joint Security Area (JSA), and fewer guardposts in the DMZ.
: In its annual estimate of DPRK macroeconomic data (Pyongyang publishes no regular figures), the Bank of Korea, the ROK central bank, reports that North Korean GDP fell 3.5 percent in 2007, its worst result for 20 years. BoK attributes this to tighter sanctions.
: Media report that the two Koreas have fully restored their military hotline in the western sector.
: Kyodo reports that the UN Security Council permitted a sanctions exemption for South Korea to send 51 banned items – including fuel, optical cables, buses and trucks – to North Korea for use in restoring military hotlines.
: United Nations special rapporteur on North Korea, Tomás Ojea Quintana, whose usual beat is DPRK human rights abuses, calls for an investigation into how the ‘Ningbo 12’ came to South Korea, saying at least some were unwitting or unwilling.
: MOU announces that a 22-strong team of officials and workers will enter the North on July 9 to start repairing facilities at Mount Kumgang.
: Two Koreas meet at Panmunjom to discuss forestry cooperation. A four-point joint press release envisages working together in areas including modernization of tree nurseries, agroforestry, fighting forest fires, controlling erosion, and scientific exchanges. A site visit is planned for mid-July, and a working group will be set up to implement all of this.
: 100 South Korean basketball players, officials and press, led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, fly to Pyongyang in two ROK military planes. On July 4-5 they play four friendlies (Kim Jong Un does not show up) and have talks on sporting cooperation. Cho also holds talks with Kim Yong Chol. The visitors fly home on July 6.
: ROK Red Cross says the two Koreas have exchanged lists of candidates for August’s family reunions. The South sent 250 names, the North 200. The final 100 from each side will be chosen on July 25, based on their health and whether relatives have been located.
: South Korea’s MND says communications between the two Koreas’ navies have been restored for the first time since May 2008. At 9:00 an ROKN boat off Yeonpyeong Island (shelled by KPA artillery in 2010, among other clashes) contacted a nearby DPRK patrol vessel, which responded immediately.
: //www.unikorea.go.kr/eng_unikorea/news/releases/;jsessionid=RJUJeE+Ys1lSwQsPV3soEzTG.unikorea11?boardId=bbs_0000000000000034&mode=view&cntId=54189&category=&pageIdx=">page erroneously gives the date as June 26]The two Koreas hold talks at Panmunjom on road cooperation. A detailed joint statement agrees to modernize both eastern (Donghae) and western (Gyeongui) corridors, from Goseong as far as Wonsan and from Kaesong to Pyongyang respectively. Joint research teams will be formed, and joint surveys will begin in early August.
: Two Koreas hold talks at Panmunjom on railway cooperation. The three-strong delegations are led by ROK Vice Transport Minister Kim Jeong-ryeol and DPRK Vice Railways Minister Kim Yun Hyok. They agree to conduct a joint study on modernizing cross-border railways; starting on July 24 with the northern section of the Seou-Sinuiju west coast line, and thereafter proceeding to the east coast Kumgangsan-Sinuiju line.
: ROK Premier Lee Nak-yon says that asking the DPRK to move its heavy artillery back from the DMZ is under discussion in Seoul, but is not yet a formal proposal.
: At their first working-level (between colonels) military talks since 2011, held in Paju, the two Koreas discuss restoration of military hotlines. In 2010 a forest fire in the North destroyed the line in the eastern sector; the western one is in better shape.
: Meeting at Mount Kumgang in the southeastern DPRK, the two Koreas’ Red Cross organizations agree to hold separated family reunions – the first such since Oct. 2015 – there on August 20-26. They will also hold further meetings to discuss humanitarian issues.
: Citing unnamed ROKG sources, Yonhap claims that at the recent military talks the South proposed that the Korean People’s Army (KPA) move its long-range artillery – thought to number over 14,000 pieces, including 5,500 multiple rocket launchers – back 30-40 km from the DMZ. It does not record the North’s reaction. MND later denies that Seoul made any such proposal (but see June 25).
: North and South Korea hold their first high-level military talks – originally set for May, but Pyongyang cancelled – in over a decade (since Dec. 2007) in the Northern sector of Panmunjom. KPA Lt. Gen. An Ik San quips that ROK Maj. Gen. Kim Do-gyun is the first South Korean in uniform ever to cross the Military Demarcation Line (MDL). They agree to fully restore all inter-Korean military hotlines, and discuss much else.
: Local elections in South Korea are a landslide for President Moon’s ruling liberal Democratic Party. On a 60 percent turnout, the highest ever, the DP wins the mayoral race in seven of eight major cities and the governorship in seven of nine provinces. The opposition LKP’s tally of these major posts is slashed from eight to just two.
: Chairman Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump meet in Singapore.
: A motion supporting the Panmunjom Declaration fails to pass in the ROK National Assembly. According to local media, the ruling Democratic Party (DP) agreed to postpone seeking formal parliamentary ratification, but the opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) reneged on an earlier agreement that it would support a more limited resolution.
: Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un hold a surprise second summit a month after the first; again at Panmunjom but this time on the Northern side, and two days after President Trump ‘cancels’ his own upcoming summit with Kim. Its swift reinstatement suggests that Kim asked Moon to mediate, and that he did so successfully.
: After a lengthy trek by train and bus from Wonsan to the DPRK’s remote northeast, selected foreign journalists – but no experts – witness big explosions which their hosts claim constitute the destruction of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site. (See also May 12.)
: Pyongyang abruptly cancels inter-Korean high-level talks due that very day, lambasting US-ROK Max Thunder military exercises as “provocative.” The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) cites “the prevailing seriously awful situation that a mad-cap north-targeted war and confrontation racket are being kicked up in south Korea.” Further cancellations and diatribes follow during the ensuing week or so, but then cease.
: A press release from the DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) invites journalists from China, Russia, the US, the UK, and “south Korea” (sic), in that order, to witness the dismantling of the Punggye-ri nuclear test site later this month. MFA explains that space precludes letting more countries attend. Japan is a notable omission. (See also May 24.)
: Defying the ROK government’s urging, a week after police and local residents blocked their previous attempt, the activist NGO Fighters for a Free North Korea launches helium balloons towards the DPRK, carrying anti-Kim tracts and with banners reading “Do not be fooled by Kim Jong Un’s fake dialogue offer.”
: Yonhap, South Korea’s quasi-official news agency, claims that North Korea halved the size of the Korean People’s Army (KPA)’s annual tank firing contest that was held last week. Kim Jong Un had attended in 2016 and 2017, but not this year.
: MOU says it is trying to verify media reports that 12 North Korean waitresses – hereafter the ‘Ningbo 12’ – who arrived from China in 2016 may not all have defected voluntarily. Confirming what Pyongyang has long alleged, their manager claims he made a deal with the ROK’s spy agency, the National Intelligence Service (NIS). (See also July 10.)
: A propos what it calls “Kim’s alarming trip” to meet Xi Jinping again, the center-right Seoul daily JoongAng Ilbo editorializes: “The denuclearization game on the Korean Peninsula is like treading on thin ice. Once you stumble, everything falls.” In the same issue, by contrast, the JoongAng’s influential owner, Hong Seok-hyun, a former ROK ambassador in Washington, has a column entitled: “My hopes for North Korea,” which inter alia commends Kim Jong Un for his confidence, dignity and courtesy to Moon Jae-in.
: South Korea’s Foreign Ministry (MOFA) says the North is proposing a new international air route, connecting – albeit not directly – the flight information regions (FIR) of their major airports – Sunan near Pyongyang, and Incheon for Seoul.
: Hyundai Group – rump of the former chaebol, no longer connected to the now much larger Hyundai Motor – announces a new task force, headed by its chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, to prepare for economic projects with North Korea – especially tourism to Mount Kumgang and Kaesong, suspended since 2008. Affiliate Hyundai Asan ran those businesses, but has struggled financially since their suspension.
: Seoul reveals that at the summit Moon handed Kim a USB stick containing a detailed blueprint for how the South could help rebuild the Northern economy, including new power plants and much more.
: The Blue House, South Korea’s presidential office, says Moon and Kim will at last use their new hotline once the date of Kim’s summit with Donald Trump is fixed. (So far as is publicly known, this does not happen; indeed, as of Sept. 9 the much-touted hotline has apparently yet to be used at all by the two leaders.)
: Seoul reveals that at their summit on April 27 Moon handed Kim a USB stick containing a detailed blueprint for how the South could help rebuild the Northern economy, including new power plants and much more.
: At the world table tennis championships in Halmstad, Sweden, the two Koreas, due to face off in the women’s quarter finals, instead gain permission to form a joint team. Korea advances to the semi-finals, but is defeated by Japan to take the bronze.
: ROK Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon reports Kim Jong Un as saying that Moon’s proposal to open liaison offices in Seoul and Pyongyang could be discussed. Cho adds that Kim’s grip on power is firm, and he has a “strong will” for economic development.
: As scheduled, South Korea begins dismantling its propaganda loudspeakers at the DMZ. MND says the North began doing the same earlier that day.
: In a half-hour phone call to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, President Moon asks the UN to endorse the Pyongyang Declaration and play a role in verifying North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization and peace.
: ROK Unification Minister (MOU) Cho Myoung-gyon reports Kim Jong Un as saying that President Moon Jae-in’s proposal to exchange liaison offices in Seoul and Pyongyang could be discussed. Cho adds that Kim’s grip on power is firm, and he has a “strong will” for economic development.
: As agreed at April 27’s North-South summit, South Korea begins dismantling its propaganda loudspeakers along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The South’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) says the North began doing the same earlier that day.
: In a half-hour phone call to UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, President Moon asks the UN to endorse the Pyongyang Declaration issued after the April 27 summit, and to play a role in verifying North Korea’s commitment to denuclearization and peace.
: The ROK defense ministry (MND) says removal of loudspeakers at the DMZ will begin tomorrow (May 1). MND calls this a “rudimentary” and easy step, noting that (by contrast) creating a peace zone in the West/Yellow Sea will require further consultations.
: President Moon calls for swift parliamentary ratification of the Panmunjom Declaration. This is not guaranteed, for Moon’s Democratic Party (DP) holds only 121 of the National Assembly’s 299 seats. The conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), which has vowed to block ratification, has 116. How minor parties vote will thus be crucial.
: MOU says the South is considering early high-level inter-Korean talks on the new agreement to open a North-South liaison office in Kaesong. If all goes well, the office could open by June.
: Confirming a surprise decision by Kim Jong Un at the Panmunjom summit, the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), the DPRK parliament, decrees that Northern time will move forward by 30 minutes on May 5 to become the same as in South Korea. That was the case until 2015, when Pyongyang quixotically set its clocks back half an hour – to protest at Japan having brought Korea into its own time zone during the colonial era, a century ago.
: First in a tweet and then at a press conference, President Trump describes as “intriguing” the idea of the DMZ as one possible venue for his forthcoming summit meeting with Kim Jong Un: “There’s something that I like about it because you’re there.”
: Yonhap quotes major credit rating agencies hailing the inter-Korean summit as “credit positive” for the ROK, while not yet eliminating geopolitical risk on the peninsula.
: The third North-South summit is held on the Southern side of Panmunjom. A long, busy and various day mostly goes off smoothly, ending with a banquet and a substantial Panmunjom Declaration. (The full schedule, fulfilled almost to the letter, can be read here.)
: DPRK advance team comes South and stays until Friday’s summit.
: Blue House announces that the two Koreas have reached agreement on protocol, security and media coverage for the third inter-Korean summit later this week.
: Pouring cold water on pleas – including a joint letter from over 200 NGOs – that DPRK human rights should be discussed at the upcoming summit, MOU states: “The main agenda will be denuclearization, establishment of peace on the Korean Peninsula and improving North-South relations. Nothing more, nothing less.”
: The two sides discuss protocol and security for the summit at Panmunjom. Several similar meetings follow.
: ROK musicians give their second Pyongyang concert, in a much larger venue: the 12,000-seat Ryugyong Chung Ju Yung Gymnasium, paid for by and named for Hyundai’s northern-born eponymous founder.
: In a rare DPRK apology, Kim Yong Chol visits ROK reporters in the Koryo hotel. He blames Kim Jong Un’s security guards for their exclusion from the K-pop concert.
: ROK musicians give their first concert in the East Pyongyang Grand Theater, with Kim Jong Un present. He claps along, and has a photograph taken afterwards with the assembled performers. Several South Korean journalists are refused entry, however.
: 120 Southern musicians et al – officials, reporters and a taekwondo demonstration team – fly into Pyongyang.
: The two Koreas set April 27 as the date for their third summit. The same day, 70 ROK music technicians fly to Pyongyang to prepare for the upcoming concerts.
: Seoul’s summit preparation committee suggests talks with Pyongyang on March 29 to finalize details of the meeting.
: In talks at Panmunjom, the two Koreas agree that 160 ROK musicians will visit Pyongyang from March 31 – April 3, giving two concerts there. Performers include girl group Red Velvet, Seohyun of Girls’ Generation (who joined the Samjiyon Orchestra on stage in Seoul), and crooner Cho Yong-pil, who gave a solo concert in Pyongyang in 2005.
: While the US and ROK discuss cost-sharing for USFK, the WPK daily Rodong Sinmun weighs in: “What South Koreans want is an unconditional withdrawal of US troops from the South, an unwelcome guest that poses a threat to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula.”
: Chung Eui-yong reveals that the two Korean leaders will hold a summit in late April, at Panmunjom on the southern side. A hotline between them will be installed before then. Chung adds that Kim restated his commitment to denuclearization.
: A five-strong ROK delegation headed by Blue House security adviser Chung Eui-yong flies into Pyongyang. Hours later they begin four hours of talks with Kim Jong Un, including a banquet: the first time Kim has met Southern officials. They fly home next day.
: Asked by independent lawmaker Rep. Lee Jung-hyun whether a North Korean reconnaissance submarine sank the Cheonan, ROK Defense Minister Song Young-moo says: “I believe that to be the case.” This contradicts the official ROK government line, invoked during Kim Yong Chol’s recent visit, that it is unclear who precisely was behind the attack.
: 299 North Koreans – cheerleaders, athletes, journalists and officials – return home overland via Dorasan. (The link details the cheering squad’s activities: generally well-received – with some exceptions – and including several unscheduled local shows.)
: Kim Yong Chol and his party cross into the South by an unexpected route, to avoid protestors seeking to block them. Going first to Seoul, Kim meets Moon Jae-in at the Blue House (this was not pre-announced) before heading to PyeongChang for the Olympics closing ceremony, where as predicted he has no interaction with Ivanka Trump nearby.
: DPRK names an eight-member delegation to attend the PyeongChang Olympics closing ceremony. Controversially it is led by KPA General Kim Yong Chol. Now vice-chairman of the WPK CC in charge of inter-Korean affairs, Kim is seen in South Korea as responsible for sinking the corvette Cheonan and shelling Yeonpyeong Island in 2010 when he headed the DPRK’s Reconnaissance Bureau, which runs clandestine operations. Also in the delegation is Kim’s close aide CPRC chairman Ri Son Gwon.
: KCNA reports on two further joint taekwondo performances, in Seoul on Feb. 12 and 14. The DPRK team “knocked out their opponents with swift actions and strong strikes … winning the admiration of the spectators.”
Feb. 21, 2018: Yonhap tallies North Korea’s performance at the Winter Olympics. It won no medals (South Korea ranked seventh). The North’s star performers were figure skating pair Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, who placed 13th with a personal best of 184.98 points.
Feb. 21, 2018: Yonhap tallies North Korea’s performance at the Winter Olympics. It won no medals (South Korea ranked seventh). The North’s star performers were figure skating pair Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik, who placed 13th with a personal best of 184.98 points.
: Welcoming back the North’s delegation to the Olympics opening ceremony, Kim Jong Un calls their treatment in the South “very impressive.” He vows to “continue making good results by further livening up the warm climate of reconciliation and dialogue.”
: The Samjiyon Orchestra performs in Seoul. In the audience Moon Jae-in sits next to Kim Yo Jong (their fourth meeting in three days), who flies back to Pyongyang with her delegation later that evening. The orchestra returns home overland next morning.
: At a luncheon in Seoul, Kim Yo Jong extends her brother’s invitation to Moon Jae-in to visit Pyongyang. He thanks her but does not immediately accept.
: Reuters reports “kicking, screaming and flying planks” at PyeongChang. Nothing untoward, just the two Koreas’ taekwondo demonstration teams performing their second show. The first was at the Olympic opening ceremony the previous day.
: A 22-strong delegation, formally led by the DPRK’s nonagenarian titular head of state Kim Yong Nam and featuring Kim Jong Un’s sister Kim Yo Jong as her brother’s special envoy, flies into Incheon on the Northern leader’s personal aircraft. After official welcomes, they proceed directly to PyeongChang for the Olympic opening ceremony.
: MOU says the North has withdrawn a request for fuel for the Mangyongbong-92. It would have been hard to ensure this contained no US elements, which would breach sanctions. The vessel sails home on Feb. 10, evidently able to do so without refueling.
: With Kim Jong Un in attendance, a military parade in Pyongyang marks the 70th anniversary of the Korean People’s Army (KPA). Many in South Korea deplore the timing of this, on the very eve of the Olympics. One new missile is spotted.
: Samjiyon Orchestra gives its first Southern concert at Gangneung. The 45 numbers include 11 from South Korea, mostly decades-old ‘trot.’ After some argument the North complies with ROK demands to exclude two songs: one saying ‘socialism is nice’, the other referencing North-led reunification. A source at Gangneung Arts Center reveals that Hyon Song Wol borrowed an iron, and said she will miss their coffee.
: Shortly after midnight, 280 North Koreans – 229 cheerleaders, 26 taekwondo arthletes, 21 journalists and four sports officials including Sports Minister Kim Il Guk – enter South Korea at the Dorasan crossing. They proceed by bus to PyeongChang, with the ROK media in hot pursuit.
: DPRK vessel Mangyongbong-92 docks at the ROK’s Mukho port on the east coast. It conveys the North’s Samjiyon Orchestra, and is their ‘floatel’ till they perform at nearby Gangneung on Feb. 8. They stay on board till Feb. 7, shunning a welcome dinner in their honor; possibly due to noisy anti-communist protests near their boat.
: The return flight from Kalma to Yangyang conveys not only the 31 South Koreans (12 each of alpine and cross-country skiers, support staff and reporters), but also 32 North Koreans including 10 athletes (3 alpine skiers, 3 cross-country skiers, 2 figure skaters and 2 short track skaters.) This completes Team DPRK; as their 12 female ice hockey players are already in the South for joint training.
: In a commentary headlined “South Korean conservatives, nation’s enemy,” the Pyongyang Times repeats in surprising detail right-wing ROK criticisms of the new inter-Korean thaw.
: ROK skiers (not in fact Olympians) fly North for two days’ joint training with DPRK counterparts at Masikryong. Their chartered Asiana flight from Yangyang airport near Gangneung is the first ROK aircraft to fly to the DPRK using an east coast route, and also the first such to land at Wonsan’s pristine Kalma airport: a military facility adapted in 2015 to take tourists too. Its modernization costing $200 million, but it has hardly been used.
: Blaming “insulting” Southern media coverage, North Korea abruptly cancels a joint concert at its long-shuttered Mt Kumgang set for Feb.4. An ROK advance party mooted bringing their own generators as the local power supply was so poor, prompting critics to claim this would violate sanctions. Pyongyang was also cross with Southern criticisms of its planned military parade (see Feb.8).
: 12 female DPRK hockey players, their coach, and two support staff cross the DMZ. They are greeted by their ROK counterparts, with whom they will form a joint team.
: After consultations with both Koreas, International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach announces that North Korea will send 22 athletes, plus 24 coaches and officials, to the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games. Besides forming a joint women’s ice hockey team with South Korea, the North will compete in figure skating, short track speed skating, cross-country skiing and alpine skiing. DPRK participation required “exceptional decisions” by the IOC, as none of its athletes had actually qualified.
: Seven-strong DPRK team enters the ROK by road at Dorasan to inspect venues for the Samjiyon Orchestra’s Olympic concerts. Its leader is Hyon Song Wol attracts huge media interest, but says little in public. Her party returns home late on Jan. 21 by the same overland route.
: Meeting at Panmunjom, the two Koreas confirm they will march together in the Olympics opening ceremony, field a joint women’s ice hockey team, and do joint skiing training at the North’s Masikryong resort: a project closely associated with Kim Jong Un.
: Meeting at Panmunjom, the two Koreas agree that the North will send a 140-strong orchestra South to perform in PyeongChang and Seoul during the Winter Olympics.
: A KCNA commentary flays Moon Jae-in for giving Donald Trump credit for the new inter-Korean peace process, calling this “brownnosing” and “coarse invectives.”
: A commentary published by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) commentary flays Moon Jae-in for giving Donald Trump credit for the new inter-Korean peace process, calling this “brownnosing” and “coarse invectives”.
: Pyongyang proposes talks on Jan. 15 at Panmunjom about sending an art troupe to Pyeongchang, instead of a working meeting on sports issues as Seoul wanted. MOU notes that the art troupe seems to be the North’s priority, rather than the Olympics as such. The South accepts, while urging the North to also set a date to discuss sports.
: Pyongyang proposes talks on Jan. 15 at Panmunjom about sending an art troupe to Pyeongchang, rather than a working meeting on sports issues. South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) notes that the art troupe seems to be the North’s main priority. The South accepts, while urging the North to also set a date to discuss sports.
: An unnamed activist tells Yonhap that two female North Korean defectors drowned recently when their boat capsized on the Mekong River. Ten more swam back to Laos, but later made it safely to Thailand. The group began their journey in Shandong, China; most had previously been trafficked into China.
: South Korea uses the newly reopened inter-Korean hotline to inform the North it plans to return four corpses found by ROK fishermen in a DPRK boat adrift in the East Sea.
: ROK Vice Sports Minister Roh Tae-kang says Seoul has proposed a joint inter-Korean women’s ice hockey team, and that North and South should march together at the Olympic opening ceremony.
: ROK Vice Sports Minister Roh Tae-kang says Seoul proposes a joint inter-Korean women’s ice hockey team, and also that North and South should march together at the Olympic opening ceremony.
: Yonhap notes that several aspects of the effort to bring North Koreans to Pyeongchang might violate UNSC sanctions against the DPRK, or indeed the ROK’s own. It claims that the Moon government’s stance on this is as yet unclear.
: Choi Myeong-hee, mayor of Ganggneung – capital of Gangwon province and host to the PyeongChang Olympics’ ice sports matches – says his city wants to “contribute to the ‘Peace Olympics’” by housing DPRK athletes, cheerleaders and performing artistes in Gangneung Ojuk Hanok Village, a new tourist resort that can accommodate 300 people.
: Yonhap notes that several aspects of the effort to bring North Koreans to PyeongChang might violate UN Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against the DPRK, or indeed the ROK’s own. It claims that the Moon government’s stance on this is as yet unclear.
: NK News analyzes Kim Jong Un’s public appearances in 2017. Almost half (46) were military in focus, followed by economic and political (24 each), cultural (4) and other (4). Over half (58) were in Pyongyang. Kim’s most frequent companion (38 times) was Hwang Pyong So, despite his vanishing in
: High-level North-South talks are held on the southern side of Panmunjom, for 11 hours. A joint statement agrees that North Korea will send athletes, an arts troupe, a cheering squad and more to the Pyeongchang Olympics, and that further talks including military will be held to firm up the details.
: Korea Times cites Cho Dong-uk, an audio forensic specialist at Chungnam State University, as claiming that sound samples from Kim Jong Un’s New Year speech suggest that the Northern leader has kidney problems. The test reportedly involved jitters, shimmer, noise-to-harmonics ratio and voice ‘energy.’ But his lungs and heart are just fine.
Jan. 9, 2018: High-level North-South talks are held for 11 hours on the southern side of Panmunjom, the so-called ‘truce village’ in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). A joint statement agrees that North Korea will send athletes, an arts troupe, a cheering squad and more to the PyeongChang Olympics, and that further talks – including military, which in fact seems not to have happened – will be held to firm up the details.
Jan. 9, 2018: High-level North-South talks are held for 11 hours on the southern side of Panmunjom, the so-called ‘truce village’ in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). A joint statement agrees that North Korea will send athletes, an arts troupe, a cheering squad and more to the PyeongChang Olympics, and that further talks – including military, which in fact seems not to have happened – will be held to firm up the details.
: Launching a MOFA task force for foreign leaders’ visits to the PyeongChang Olympics (over 40 are expected), ROK Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha says South Korea hopes momentum from North Korea’s now expected participation in the Games will lead to progress in inter-Korean relations and the North’s denuclearization.
: ROK Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon says that while tomorrow’s talks will “basically … focus on the Olympics,” Seoul will “also seek to raise the issue of war-torn [separated] families and ways to ease military tensions.”
: Yonhap, South Korea’s quasi-official news agency, claims that a serious decline in the squid catch experienced by ROK fishermen in the East Sea is due to over-fishing by Chinese boats in DPRK waters, which sweep the seabed before the cephalopods have a chance to swim South. Since North Korea first licensed PRC vessels to fish in its east coast waters in 2004, their number has surged from 140 in that year to 1,238 ships as of 2016.
: Launching a MOFA task force for foreign leaders’ visits to the PyeongChang Olympics (over 40 are expected), ROK Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha says South Korea hopes the momentum from North Korea’s now expected participation in the Games will lead to wider progress in inter-Korean relations and the North’s denuclearization.
: South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) says that, starting today, it will give regular monthly briefings on North Korea to the foreign, defense and unification ministries. Observers are puzzled at the implication that this had not been done previously.
: ROK Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon says that while tomorrow’s talks will “basically … focus on the Olympics,” Seoul will “also seek to raise the issue of war-torn [separated] families and ways to ease military tensions.”
: North Korea informs the South of its five-person delegation for Jan. 9’s talks. Leader is Ri Son Gwon, an experienced inter-Korean negotiator who chairs the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country. Other delegates include CPRC vice chairman Jon Jong Su and Won Kil U, a top sports ministry official.
: North Korea informs the South of its five-person delegation for Jan. 9’s talks. Its leader is Ri Son Gwon, an experienced inter-Korean negotiator who chairs the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country (CPRC, formerly CPRK: a state agency since 2016). Other delegates include CPRC vice chairman Jon Jong Su, and Won Kil U, a top sports ministry official.
: The Blue House calls inter-Korean talks “the starting point for the settlement of peace on the Korean Peninsula and North Korean nuclear and missile problems.”
: Long-idled inter-Korean hotline is busy all weekend, as the two Koreas embark on detailed discussions by phone and fax to arrange their upcoming talks, due Jan. 9.
: President Trump says apropos the upcoming inter-Korean talks: “I would love to see them take it beyond the Olympics … And at the appropriate time, we’ll get involved.”
: The Blue House (Cheongwadae, South Korea’s Presidential office) calls inter-Korean talks “the starting point for the settlement of peace on the Korean peninsula and North Korean nuclear and missile problems.”
: The long-idled inter-Korean hotline is busy all weekend, as the two Koreas embark on detailed discussions by phone and fax to arrange their upcoming talks, due Jan. 9.
: President Trump says apropos the upcoming inter-Korean talks: “I would love to see them take it beyond the Olympics … And at the appropriate time, we’ll get involved.”
: Northern media report that Kim Jong Un, welcoming South Korea’s positive response to his New Year address, has ordered the Panmunjom liaison channel (hot line) to reopen from 3pm that day so that inter-Korean talks about DPRK participation in the “Phyongchang Olympiad” (as North Korea spells it) and other matters can be arranged.
: Northern media report that Kim Jong Un, welcoming South Korea’s positive response to his New Year address, has ordered the Panmunjom liaison channel (hot line) to reopen from 3pm that day, so that inter-Korean talks toward DPRK participation in the “Phyongchang Olympiad” (as North Korea spells it) and other matters can be arranged. The hot line duly reopens on schedule.
: ROK Foreign Ministry (MFA) pledges that Seoul will continue “watertight” co-operation with Washington, even as it takes steps to resume dialogue with Pyongyang
: South Korea’s Foreign Ministry (MOFA) pledges that Seoul will continue “watertight” cooperation with Washington, even as it takes steps to resume dialogue with Pyongyang.
: Kim Jong Un’s New Year address, broadcast live on state TV, repeats nuclear threats against the US but, in a major shift, is conciliatory toward South Korea. Kim praises the upcoming Pyeongchang Winter Olympics and offers to send a delegation.
: Kim Jong Un’s New Year address, broadcast live on state TV, repeats nuclear threats against the US but, in a major shift, is conciliatory towards South Korea. In particular, Kim praises the upcoming PyeongChang Winter Olympics and offers to send a delegation.
: In the second such incident recently, South Korean authorities say they have seized in an ROK port a ship, the Panama-flagged KOTI, on suspicion of transferring oil to a DPRK vessel at sea in violation of UNSC sanctions.
: Representatives of SMEs invested in the KIC demand the zone’s reopening, chanting: “We would like to go to Kaesong.”
: Yonhap cites unnamed ROK officials as saying that the Hong Kong-flagged vessel Lighthouse Winmore, which docked in Yeosu on Nov. 24, has been seized on suspicion of transferring 600 tons of refined petroleum to a DPRK vessel on the high seas on Oct. 19.
: MOU-appointed panel into Park Geun-hye’s abrupt closure in February 2016 of the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) says this was done improperly by fiat, without due intra-governmental consultation.
: Yonhap publishes a news focus article headlined: “Uncertainties shroud prospect of dialogue with N. Korea in 2018.” A week later, the shroud lifts somewhat…
: Another KPA soldier defects at the DMZ, somewhere in the western sector (the exact location is not disclosed). Unlike Nov. 13’s drama, the private simply walked to a Southern guard post under cover of fog. ROK forces fire about 20 warning shots when the KPA discover his absence and start searching close to the MDL.
: Youbit, a Seoul-based bitcoin exchange, closes and files for bankruptcy after a cyber-attack steals 17 percent of its assets. Media reports claim ROK investigators suspect the DPRK, as also for an earlier $72 million theft from Youbit in April and other cyberheists in Bangladesh (2016) and Taiwan (2017).
: Wounded defector Oh Chong-song is transferred from the Ajou trauma center which was treating him, to a military hospital where he will be questioned when well enough.
: ROK daily JoongAng Ilbo quotes unnamed source claiming that Hwang Pyong So, who as political director of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) was one of Kim Jong Un’s two top aides, has been expelled from the ruling Workers’ Party (WPK) for taking bribes. This remains unconfirmed, but Hwang was last seen in public on Oct. 14.
: CNN publishes a further account, including graphic medical footage, of the defector now named as Oh Chong-song (who it says gave his permission for publication).
: Photograph taken at Panmunjom by acting US ambassador in Seoul, Marc Knapper, shows North Korean soldiers and workers digging a trench and planting trees so as to foil any future attempts to flee to the South.
: John Cook-Jong Lee, the surgeon treating the Panmunjom defector (whose surname is Oh), provides further details of his serious injuries and says he is a “nice guy.”
: Three ROK and three US soldiers who rescued the wounded North Korean defector at Panmunjom are awarded medals of commendation. The North, meanwhile, has reportedly replaced all its border guards there.
: United Nations Command finally releases video of the Nov. 13 defection at Panmunjom. On the same day, the defector regains consciousness.
: Doctors treating the badly wounded but now stable Northern defector (said to be a KPA staff sergeant in his mid-20s) reveal that his digestive tract contained dozens of parasitic worms, some large; indicating that even elite North Koreans suffer from poor diet.
: In a rare and dramatic incident (video here), a North Korean soldier flees to the South at Panmunjom.
: ROK SMEs formerly invested in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) petition their government to investigate reports that the North has illegally reopened the zone.
: Moon government approves $8 million humanitarian aid package for North Korea, via the UN.
: North Korean website Uriminzokkiri warns “the south Korean puppet forces” that “dependence on outside forces will lead to miserable destruction … It is illogical to talk about ‘dialog’ and ‘restoration of south-north relations’ while desperately working to stifle the DPRK together with outside forces … This reminds one of traitors Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye.”
: President Moon firmly rules out any nuclear option for South Korea, whether the return of US tactical weapons or autonomously. But he accepts that the ROK must “develop our military capabilities in the face of North Korea’s nuclear advancement.”
: President Moon firmly rules out any nuclear option for South Korea, be it the return of US tactical weapons or autonomously. But he accepts that the ROK must “develop our military capabilities in the face of North Korea’s nuclear advancement.”
: MOU says the ROK is considering giving aid worth $8 million to the DPRK via the UN, on the principle that humanitarianism should be separate from politics. A decision will be made Sept. 21. $4.5 million is for projects run by the World Food Program (WFP), with the rest to UNICEF for nutrition, medications, and vaccines. Seoul may also provide $6 million for the UN-supported DPRK census, planned for next year.
: New York Times reports that the ROK military is accelerating formation of a “decapitation unit”, originally planned under Park Geun-hye as a medium-term project, to target Kim Jong Un in the event of war.
: The New York Times reports that the ROK military is accelerating formation of a “decapitation unit,” originally planned under Park Geun-hye as a medium-term project, to target Kim Jong Un in the event of war.
: Responding to North Korea’s Sept. 3 nuclear test, the UN Security Council passes – unanimously, as ever – its eighth major resolution since 2006 censuring North Korea. UNSCR 2375 (full text here) further tightens economic sanctions gainst the DPRK, which as ever denounces these measures – even more vitriolically than usual.
: Responding to North Korea’s Sept. 3 nuclear test, the UN Security Council passes – unanimously – its eighth major resolution since 2006 censuring North Korea. UNSCR 2375 (full text here) tightens economic sanctions against the DPRK, which denounces these measures – with even more vitriol than usual.
: Unification Ministry (MOU) says that although there is no official word, the Seoul-based World Taekwondo (WT, formerly WTF) has been told by the DPRK-based International Taekwondo Federation that “given the current security situation” it can no longer send a demonstration team to the ITF championships in Pyongyang on Sept. 15-21.
: Reacting to an NBC report that the US does not rule out moving tactical nuclear weapons to the ROK if Seoul so requests, the Blue House denies any such plans: “There is no change in the government’s policy principle of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and we have never reviewed a re-adoption of the tactical nukes.”
: Reacting to an NBC report that the US does not rule out moving tactical nuclear weapons to the ROK if Seoul requests, the Blue House denies any such plans saying, “There is no change in the government’s policy principle of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and we have never reviewed a re-adoption of the tactical nukes.”
: DPRK conducts its sixth, and much the most powerful, nuclear test since 2006. Most observers accept Pyongyang’s claim that this was a hydrogen bomb. In response, the ROK on Sept. 4 holds a live-fire ballistic missile drill.
: DPRK conducts sixth, and most powerful, nuclear test since 2006. Most observers accept Pyongyang’s claim that this was a hydrogen bomb. In response, the ROK on Sept. 4 holds a live-fire ballistic missile drill.
: Under the headline “Anti-DPRK Campaign of S. (sic) Korean Puppet Reptile Writers Will Be Foiled,” North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quotes the Central Committee of the Journalists Union of [North] Korea as excoriating Southern media, five of them by name. The CCJUK vows to “… sharpen the just writing brushes to defend our leader, our party and our social system” and to “track down the puppet conservative reptile writers fostering discord … and throw overboard all of them … Our grime (sic) and merciless pen will sight the bases which commit hideous crimes against the DPRK by spreading misinformation about it, and beat them to pieces.”
: Health authorities in Gyeonggi Province, which surrounds Seoul and abuts the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), say that nine out of 10 malaria infections in South Korea occur in areas bordering the North. Malaria cases in the South have risen since joint efforts, funded by the ROK, to tackle the disease on the Northern side lapsed in 2012 as tensions worsened.
: As the Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise ends, US and ROK conduct an aerial show of force in response to North Korea’s latest missile test on Aug. 29.
: KCNA carries a proclamation by North Korea’s Central Court sentencing four named Southern journalists to death for reviewing a book deemed insulting to the DPRK. No such sentence is passed on the book’s Britsh authors. MOU at once condemns and dismisses this as “absurd.”
: Yonhap says the Moon administration is seeking to ensure that North Korea participate in the upcoming Pyeongchang Winter Olympics next February, hoping this will help ease inter-Korean tensions.
: Annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian US-ROK war games, which are mainly computer- rather than field-based, begin. This year’s exercise is slightly smaller than in 2016, but US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis denies that this is a gesture to Pyongyang. Unimpressed DPRK media as usual shrilly excoriate these maneuvers as a rehearsal for invasion.
: On Liberation Day (from Japan in 1945: a holiday in both Koreas), Moon Jae-in vows to prevent a new Korean war “at all costs.” He insists: “Military action on the Korean Peninsula can only be decided by the ROK and no one may decide to take military action without the consent of the ROK.” The main opposition LKP accuses Moon of “running about in confusion,” voicing fears that South Korea “will be relegated into an observer country.”
: After Pyongyang threatens to fire missiles at Guam, ROK Vice Unification Minister Chun Hae-sung says Seoul is “considering all necessary steps to reduce tensions on the peninsula” and “will leave the door open for dialogue with the North.”
: Rodong Sinmun condemns South Korea’s “commemorations with July 27 as an occasion” (the word armistice is not mentioned) as a “disgusting burlesque” by “traitors” and “lackeys.” It warns that if provoked again, “[our] army and people will wipe out the enemies to the last one so that there would be no one left to sign a document of surrender.”
: Leif-Eric Easley of Ewha University in Seoul neatly sums up the current inter-Korean situation: “Moon assembles dream team, but North Korea unwilling to play.”
: DPRK test-fires another claimed ICBM, its second this month.
: Unseen for the past 15 days, Kim Jong Un re-emerges on what the DPRK celebrates as Victory Day to pay tribute to the fallen in Pyongyang’s Fatherland Liberation War Martyrs Cemetery.
: Dismissing Seoul’s call for better inter-Korean ties as “nonsense,” Rodong Sinmun tells South Korea to end its “submission” to the US: “Ditching confrontation and hostility is a precondition for opening the door for the two Koreas’ reconciliation and unity.”
: South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) proposes inter-Korean military talks to reduce border tensions on July 21 at Tongilgak, North Korea’s main building at the Panmunjom. Separately, the ROK Red Cross suggests talks on Aug. 1 about resuming family reunions. Both dates pass with no reply from Pyongyang.
: MOU says it called the DPRK liaison office at Panmunjom, but no one answered. Inter-Korean communication channels were cut by North Korea in February 2016 after the South closed the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
: DPRK website Uriminzokkiri features a video interview with Jon Hye Song, a young woman who defected to the ROK in 2014. Known there as Im Ji-hyun, she was a well-known figure on TV shows featuring DPRK defectors. Like previous such returnees, she now tearfully repents and begs the motherland’s forgiveness. Some in Seoul claim she must have been abducted. (Note: The Uriminzokkiri video is very slow-loading. Until recently this could also be watched on YouTube, but in an act of gratuitous censorship YouTube has recently shut down this and other DPRK accounts.)
: Yonhap, the ROK’s quasi-official news agency, quotes an unnamed senior official as saying there is no evidence that monies the DPRK received from the joint venture Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) went to fund its nuclear program. Such a link was alleged by the Park Geun-hye administration as one reason for closing the KIC in February 2016.
: MOU says South Korea will seek fresh inter-Korean talks once it gauges North Korea’s reaction to President Moon’s Berlin speech.
: In a major speech given at the Körber Foundation in Berlin, President Moon calls on North Korea to choose peace and cooperation. He insists that, “We do not wish for the collapse of North Korea, and we will not pursue any form of unification by absorbing the other … [or] unification by force.”
: Cho Myoung-gyon formally starts work as the 39th minister of unification. He succeeds Park Geun-hye’s appointee Hong Yong-pyo, who had served since February 2015.
: Report published by the Korea Development Institute (KDI), an ROK state think-tank, notes that the only sphere of North-South socio-cultural exchanges still ongoing is sports. It suggests using this as an icebreaker for wider inter-Korean relations, given Kim Jong Un’s personal interest in this field.
: ROK National Assembly approves Cho Myoung-gyon as unification minister. The conservative main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), keen to block Moon’s Cabinet nominees – the new foreign minister, Kang Kyung-wha, failed to get parliamentary approval, which is not mandatory – concedes that Cho has no “major ethical lapses.”
: With President Moon watching, the ROK successfully test-fires a Hyunmoo-2 missile, whose 500 mile range – the maximum currently allowed under an accord with the US – means it can strike anywhere in the DPRK.
: ROK’s official National Unification Advisory Council (NUAC) publishes a survey it conducted on June 9-11. 77 percent of South Koreans polled support a resumption of North-South dialogue; 22 percent disagree. NUAC finds a similar divide (74 vs 23) on whether Seoul should allow private business inter-Korean contacts. 48 percent expect North-South relations to improve.
: On the 17th anniversary of the first North-South summit, MOU calls for peace and reconciliation. For its part, North Korea blames the South for the absence of any joint celebrations this year, and accuses Seoul of “reading the face of the US.”
: President Moon nominates Cho Myoung-gyon as Minister of Unification. A career official with 28 years’ service in the MOU, Cho had key roles at KEDO and the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) in 2004-06, before serving the late President Roh Moo-hyun as secretary for unification, diplomacy and security in the Blue House during 2006-08.
: South Korean preparatory group says there will be no joint celebrations of the anniversary of the first inter-Korean summit meeting on June 15, 2000. North Korea has yet to invite them to Pyongyang, but the group also said, “it is regrettable that the [Southern] government has not presented a clear stance over its approval.”
: MOU approves four more applications by Southern NGOs to contact North Korea, bringing the total of such approvals to 15 in less than a month since Moon Jae-in took office. Park Geun-hye, by contrast, had ended up banning all civilian contacts. The same day two of these organizations say the North refuse to let them visit, in protest of Seoul’s support for the latest UN sanctions against the DPRK.
: Reacting to a string of DPRK ballistic missile tests this year, the UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously passes another resolution criticizing North Korea, its seventh since 2006. UNSCR 2356 censures such activity and further tightens economic sanctions.
: South Korea returns six Northern fishermen whose boats drifted into ROK waters on May 27. The North refuses two different phone calls at Panmunjom – one direct, the other via the UN Military Armistice Commission – so the South has to communicate its plan via loudspeaker across the DMZ. A DPRK guide vessel duly receives the six men and one boat (the other was damaged beyond repair) at the east coast marine border, whose demarcation unlike that on the west coast is agreed and not disputed.
: Yonhap quotes an unnamed official source as saying the Moon government plans additional financial support for not only Southern firms impacted by closure of the KIC, but also those harmed by suspension of tourism to Mount Kumgang since 2008 and by Lee Myung-bak’s 2010 ban on non-KIC trade with and investment in North Korea.
: South Korea’s Unification Ministry (MOU) calls for restoration of the inter-Korean hotline at Panmunjom. Set up in 1971 and periodically suspended since, this has been inactive – meaning the North refuses to answer the South’s daily calls – since February 2016.
: DPRK Central Public Prosecutors Office says it will demand the extradition of those behind the alleged “bid to commit state-sponsored terrorism against its supreme leadership.” It names three ROK NIS operatives, including its outgoing director.
: DPRK Central Public Prosecutors Office says it will demand the extradition of those behind the alleged “bid to commit state-sponsored terrorism against its supreme leadership.” It names three ROK NIS operatives, including the agency’s outgoing director.
: Without delay, Moon Jae-in is sworn in as the ROK’s 19th president. In his inaugural speech he expresses willingness to go anywhere for peace, including Pyongyang.
: Two of Moon’s first appointments highlight North Korea. New National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Suh Hoon lived there for two years and helped organize inter-Korean summits. Im Jong-seok, Moon’s Blue House chief of staff – one of two, it later transpires – was jailed in his youth for organising an illegal visit to Pyongyang by a fellow-student.
: Moon Jae-in is sworn in as the ROK’s 19th president. In his inaugural speech he expresses willingness to go anywhere for peace, including Pyongyang.
: Two of Moon’s first appointments highlight North Korea. New NIS director Suh Hoon lived there for two years, working for the former KEDO (Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization) consortium; he later helped arrange the two inter-Korean summits. Im Jong-seok, Moon’s Blue House chief of staff – one of two, it later transpires – was jailed in his youth for organizing an illegal visit to Pyongyang by a fellow-student.
: On the eve of the ROK election, Rodong Sinmun advises South Koreans to “judge the puppet group of conservatives, accomplices with Park … as they punished Park.”
: South Korea holds its 19th presidential election, seven months ahead of the normal schedule owing to Park Geun-hye’s impeachment. The main opposition candidate, Moon Jae-in of the Minjoo Party (Democrats), wins overwhelmingly.
: South Korea holds its 19th presidential election, seven months ahead of the normal schedule because of Park Geun-hye’s impeachment. The main opposition candidate, Moon Jae-in of the Minjoo Party (Democrats), wins overwhelmingly.
: Pyongyang media report Kim Jong Un’s conducting a field inspection of the KPA’s Southwestern Front Command on Changjae and Mu Islets, close to South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island which Northern artillery shelled in November 2010, killing four. Calling that “the most delightful battle after the [sc 1953] ceasefire,” Kim examines “the plan for fire strike” and commands his troops “to break the backbone of the enemy once ordered.”
: In a long statement, shrill even for Pyongyang and carried in full by the BBC, the DPRK Ministry of State Security accuses the US CIA and South Korea’s ‘Intelligence Service’ of a dastardly plot to kill its supreme leadership using a “biochemical substance”.
: North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country (CPRC) condemns the South’s “puppet Ministry of Unification” for planning a “‘south-north human rights dialogue.’” Choice insults include: “The ‘idiots of the ministry’ who are reduced into living corpses and being treated like a mange-affected dog” – and much more.
: Pyongyang media report Kim Jong Un’s conducting a field inspection of the Korean People’s Army (KPA)’s Southwestern Front Command on Changjae and Mu Islets, close to South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island which Northern artillery shelled in November 2010, killing four. Calling that “the most delightful battle after the [sc 1953] ceasefire”, Kim examines “the plan for fire strike” and commands his troops “to break the backbone of the enemy once ordered.”
: In a long statement, shrill even for Pyongyang and carried in full by the BBC, DPRK Ministry of State Security accuses US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and South Korea’s ‘Intelligence Service’ – presumably the National Intelligence Service (NIS) – of a plot to kill its supreme leadership using a “biochemical substance.”
: — North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country (CPRC) condemns the South’s “puppet Ministry of Unification” for planning a “south-north human rights dialogue.” Choice insults include: “The ‘idiots of the ministry’, who are reduced into living corpses and being treated like a mange-affected dog” – and much more.
May 9, 2017: On the eve of the ROK election, Rodong Sinmun, daily newspaper of the DPRK’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), urges South Korean voters to “judge the puppet group of conservatives, accomplices with Park … as they punished Park.”
May 9, 2017: On the eve of the ROK election, Rodong Sinmun, daily newspaper of the DPRK’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), urges South Korean voters to “judge the puppet group of conservatives, accomplices with Park … as they punished Park.”
: US and South Korea conclude their Foal Eagle military exercises.
: Contra outside expectations, no fresh nuclear or ballistic missile test marks North Korea’s second big holiday this month: the (fictitious) 85th anniversary of the KPA’s founding in 1932 (in reality under Soviet auspices on Feb. 8, 1948, the date celebrated until 1971). Kim Jong Un inspects a live-fire drill off Wonsan on the east coast.
: North Korea fires an unidentified ballistic missile, which explodes (or is deliberately aborted) almost immediately after launch.
: DPRK marks the 105th birthday of its founding leader and ‘eternal president’ Kim Il Sung with a large military parade in Pyongyang, featuring several types of new missile not previously seen.
: South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) reports that from Jan. 2016 through Feb. 2017 a total of 2,039,898 North Korean wind-borne propaganda leaflets were found in the South, almost all in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province.
: The two Koreas’ women’s teams play the first inter-Korean soccer match in Pyongyang since 1990. The final score is a 1-1 draw.
: MND announces that alongside Foal Eagle the allies will stage Integrated Firepower Exercise 2017, “a set of massive joint artillery drills” (open to the public), at Pocheon near the DMZ on April 13, 21, and 26. This had been held nine times since 1977.
: ROK women’s ice hockey team beats the DPRK’s 3-0 in Gangneung.
: Hundreds of South Koreans cheer on the North Korean team participating in the women’s ice hockey world championships in Gangneung, ROK.
: ROK women’s soccer team flies to Pyongyang via Beijing for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup Group B qualifying tournament.
: MOU says it has approved a visit by North Korea’s women’s ice hockey team, to compete in the world championships at Gangneung April 1-9.
: ROK government announces May 9 as the date of a snap election to pick Park Geun-hye’s successor as president. Under the Constitution this election must take place within 60 days of impeachment being confirmed. The victor will take office at once on May 10, forgoing the two-month transition period prescribed in normal circumstances.
: As part of Foal Eagle, the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Wayne E. Meyer arrive in Busan, ROK.
: Yonhap reports that US special operations forces will participate in Foal Eagle, including for the first time US Navy SEAL Team Six, which killed Osama bin Laden, “to practice incapacitating (sic) North Korean leadership in the case of conflict.”
: In a unanimous 8-0 vote, the ROK Constitutional Court upholds Park Geun-hye’s impeachment, thus terminating her presidency almost a year early. Two Park supporters die in ensuing protests. (Park nonetheless remains in the Blue House until March 12.) The Prime Minister, Hwang Kyo-Ahn, continues as acting President, which he has been since Dec. 9, when the National Assembly voted to impeach Park.
: With rare rapidity when covering domestic ROK politics, and fewer insults than often, DPRK media report Park’s defenestration within three hours of the event.
: DPRK test-fires four ballistic missiles simultaneously. Three land in Japanese waters, one only 350 km northwest of Akihita Prefecture.
: South Korea and the US begin their annual large-scale Foal Eagle military maneuvers, lasting two months. Key Resolve, the accompanying smaller computer-based command and control exercise, begins a week later on March 8 and ends on March 23. As usual North Korea fiercely and repeatedly attacks both, even after they are over.
: Yonhap reports that in recent days 34 South Korean loudspeakers along the DMZ informed North Koreans that Kim Jong Un had his half-brother murdered.
: South Korea’s Unification Ministry says, a propos Kim Jong Nam’s death: “We believe the North Korean regime is behind this incident.”
: Kim Jong Nam, older half-brother of Kim Jong Un, is killed at Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia by two young women who smear his face with a cloth laced with the nerve agent VX.
: In its first such act since Donald Trump took office, North Korea fires a mid-range Pukguksong-2 ballistic missile while Trump is entertaining Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo in Florida. Both leaders condemn the launch, which falls short of Japanese waters, landing 500 km east of the peninsula after reaching an impressive height of 550 km.
: KCNA publishes a commentary headlined: “Park Geun Hye Group Is Bound to Perish”; noting (presciently) that “the time to oust Park from Chongwadae is close at hand.” (DPRK media regularly carry much else in similar vein throughout the period under review.)
: Thae Yong-ho tells a conference in Seoul that “a significant number of [North Korean] diplomats came to South Korea” and more are waiting to do so, even though his is the only such recent case to have been publicized.
: ROK Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo tells the Wall Street Journal that North Koreans increasingly defect for political reasons, “not just because they are starving, but for a better life, and for freedom and for their children’s education.”
: Thae Yong-ho, former minister at the DPRK Embassy in London who defected to the ROK last year, tells Yonhap that, “North Korea has set the goal of developing miniaturized nuclear weapons that can fit atop a missile capable of reaching the US by the end of 2017 or early 2018 as it takes into account political transitions in South Korea and the US.”
: Ahead of Kim Jong Un’s 33rd birthday on Jan. 8, MOU says there are no signs of imminent provocations by North Korea.
: Citing an unnamed defense ministry (MND) source, CNN claims the ROK is speeding up the creation of a “decapitation unit” which in the event of hostilities would take out the top DPRK military leadership, including Kim Jong Un. Originally slated for 2019, it will now be ready this year.
: Rodong Sinmun carries a signed article, moderate in tone and general in scope, headlined “Improvement of North-south Relations Is Starting Point of Peace and Reunification.”
: Citing an unnamed defense ministry (MND) source, CNN claims the ROK is speeding up the creation of a “decapitation unit,” which, in the event of hostilities would be tasked with taking out the top DPRK military leadership, including Kim Jong Un. Originally slated for 2019, it will now be ready this year.
: Rodong Sinmun, the daily paper of North Korea’s Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), carries a signed article, moderate in tone and general in scope, headlined “Improvement of North-south Relations Is Starting Point of Peace and Reunification.” (Pieces of this tenor, however, remain outnumbered by diatribes and insults.)
: Quoting an anonymous ROK government source, Yonhap reports that from next week the Center for North Korean Human Rights Records, launched in September, will interview newly arrived defectors to collect evidence of human rights violations. This will be used to craft government policy as well as potentially to “hold violators responsible for their crimes.” Violators will be listed and their “mug shots” compiled (one wonders how), but the list and photographs will not be published.
: Kim Jong Un delivers his usual New Year Address. Inter-Korean issues occupy about one-fifth of this, all DPRK standard rhetoric with no new proposals. South Korea swiftly criticizes the speech, urging Pyongyang to stop provocations and insults and to embrace denuclearization.
: Emerging briefly from seclusion, Park Geun-hye takes tea with the press in the Blue House. She denies any wrongdoing, calling the accusations against her “fabrication and falsehood.”
: DPRK leader Kim Jong Un delivers his usual New Year Address. Inter-Korean issues occupy about one-fifth of this, all standard rhetoric with no new proposals. (See full text in the previous issue of Comparative Connections.) South Korea swiftly criticizes the speech, urging Pyongyang to stop provocations and insults and to embrace denuclearization.
: Emerging briefly from her seclusion, South Korea’s impeached President Park Geun-hye takes tea with the press in the Blue House. She denies any wrongdoing, calling the accusations against her “fabrication and falsehood.”
: A joint opinion poll by Yonhap (South Korea’s quasi-official news agency) and KBS (the ROK’s state-owned main broadcaster) on the leading presidential contenders gives Moon Jae-in a 21.6 percent approval rating, with Ban Ki-moon on 17.2 percent and Lee Jae-myung 12.4 percent. No one else even makes double figures. As to party popularity, Moon’s Minjoo (Democrats) on 36.3 percent far outpaces Park Geun-hye’s Saenuri Party, now down to 12.4 percent.
: Citing MOU’s and its own data, Yonhap says that Kim Jong Un’s field guidance visits, which peaked in 2013, fell from 153 in 2015 to 132 in 2016. His most frequent companion last year was Jo Yong Won, a vice director of the WPKs Central Committee. Jo accompanied Kim 47 times, more often than the better-known Hwang Pyong So (40 occasions).
: Reverting to its usual hyperbole, under the headline “Dictator’s doom unavoidable” the Pyongyang Times castigates “Park Geun Hye’s vicious dictatorship, which can be found nowhere else in the international political arena [and] generated the gargantuan … scandal shaking the world.”
: Rodong Sinmun condemns “traitor Hwang Kyo An, puppet prime minister of south Korea” for urging “decisive retaliation against any provocation of the north” while recently visiting a front-line unit: “Such reckless muscle flexing is unpardonable. The fellow countrymen will surely mete out a stern punishment to those quislings.”
: Chief Justice of the ROK Constitutional Court Park Han-chul pledges a “speedy and fair” impeachment trial. Justice Park’s own term on the bench ends on Jan. 31.
: Radio Pyongyang again broadcasts mystery number sequences in the small hours, starting at 0115 Seoul time. Introduced by the announcer as “review works in math lessons of the remote education university for No. 27 expedition agents,” these might be coded instructions to spies, as was the case in the past. This is the 20th such broadcast since June 24; they had previously lapsed after June 2000’s North-South summit. Alternatively, Yonhap suggests that this “may be some sort of psychological strategy aimed at sparking internal confusion within South Korea.”
: In a signed article headlined “Stupid tricks” but quite analytical overall, the Pyongyang Times (misspelling Hwang Kyo-ahn as Hwan) declares that “the ever-growing massive candlelit protest actions in south Korea demand the overall resignation of the incumbent cabinet.”
: Yonhap blows its own trumpet. Under the headline “Yonhap News key source of outside info for N. Korean diplomats: N.K. diplomat”, the ROK news agency quotes diplomat-defector Thae Yong Ho: “The first website North Korea[n] diplomats open on their computers is Yonhap News.
: Rodong Sinmun reports that on Dec. 23 the DPRK Measure Council (sic) for Human Rights in South Korea published a report listing “the worst ten of many crimes committed by the south Korean Park Geun Hye regime of traitors in 2016”. These include “the thrice-cursed group abduction” (aka the Ningbo 13) and other unconvincing or scattergun examples. (Readers in the ROK, where it remains illegal to access DPRK media sources directly, should be able to read it here.) Two days later the Pyongyang Times covers this in better English; the publishing body is now named as the DPRK Association for Protection of Human Rights in South Korea.
: Kim Jong Un, and all North Korea, marks the fifth anniversary of his father Kim Jong Il’s death.
: Constitutional Court warns that Park’s impeachment trial will take time (up to 180 days are allowed).
: DPRK media report and picture Kim Jong Un, “with a broad smile,” guiding a special operations drill whose target appears to be a mock-up of the Blue House in Seoul.
: South Korea follows UNSCR 2321 by tightening bilateral sanctions on North Korea. Seoul’s measures, mainly blacklisting entities which do no business with the ROK anyway, are described by Kim Kwang-jin, a prominent defector economist, as “largely symbolic.”
: MOU says it will conduct a pilot survey on 10 recent Northern defectors to gather data on DPRK human rights abuses.
: North Korea holds an army-people solidarity rally marking the sixth anniversary of the shelling of the South’s Yeonpyeong Island. The venue is the locality from whence the KPA’s 4th Army Corps fired: Kangryong County in South Hwanghae province.
: KCNA reports that Kim Jong Un inspected KPA units on Kali – said to be a new base created at Kim’s direction – and the larger Jangjae, two islets in the West (Yellow) Sea close to the ROK-held Yeonpyeong island. As usual no date is given, but this presumably was the previous day, Nov. 12. Kim’s instructions included that these front-line soldiers “should be provided with lots of ideological pabulum.” More ominously, he also “approved the newly worked out combat document of the plan for firepower strike at Yonphyong [the DPRK spelling] Island.”
: In a second televised apology, a tearful Park Geun-hye says she let her guard drop as regards Choi: “These latest developments are all my fault and were caused by my carelessness.”
: Rodong Sinmun offers the North’s first official commentary on the Choi Sun-sil scandal, Calling Choi a “mindless shaman,” the paper’s editorial board concludes: “The tide of history is now in the hands of South Koreans and how they will fulfill their duties and responsibilities.”
: In the first of what will become weekly rallies every Saturday, thousands of protesters in Seoul and elsewhere demonstrate, peacefully, calling for President Park Geun-hye to step down.
: The Hankyoreh, South Korea’s main left-leaning daily, repeats the charge that Choi Sun-sil meddled in North Korea policy, including the KIC closure and also the Jan. 7 decision to resume propaganda broadcasts by loudspeaker across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
: With unusual speed (the norm is 2-3 days’ delay in reporting ROK domestic events), Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the DPRK’s ruling Workers’ Party, reports that “Park Geun-hye and her party face the worst political crisis ever … The current ‘government’ faces de-facto collapse”
: Responding to – if not exactly denying – media claims that Choi Sun-sil was involved in drafting President Park’s March 2014 Dresden Declarations and in last February’s decision to shut the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), MOU insists that the former’s contents came from relevant ministries, while the KIC closure was made for security reasons.
: President Park admits and apologizes for having Choi review some of her speeches, but says she did this “with pure intent.” Most reactions criticize this explanation as unsatisfactory.
: JTBC, a South Korean cable TV network, claims it has computer evidence showing that Choi Sun-sil – a long-time confidante of President Park Geun-hye, with no official post or security clearance – had advance drafts of Park’s major speeches and edited some of them.
: Visiting Seoul, the US Special Envoy for DPRK Human Rights Issues Robert King says Washington hopes to sanction more North Koreans for rights abuses.
: South Korea’s NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea (KNCCK) says the 54 bodies it represents have together collected $187,000 for flood aid to the North. They send this to the International Committee of the Red Cross (IRC), as their own government now bans direct contact.
: Citing MOU data, Yonhap reports that 1,036 North Koreans entered the South in January-September this year, taking the cumulative total since 1953 to 29,830.
: Nam Kyung-pil, governor of Gyeonggi Province (which surrounds Seoul), who is – or was – seen as a potential conservative candidate for the ROK presidency, tells Yonhap that in the face of North Korea’s growing nuclear threats, the South too should prepare to acquire nuclear weapons.
: Suh Doo-hyun, head of the new CNKHRR, says the center is considering probing the DPRK’s rights violations in third countries, including its labor export practices.
: Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo attends the opening ceremony of the Center for North Korean Human Rights Records (CNKHRR).
: In seeming response to recent reports from Seoul of contingency plans to “decapitate” the DPRK leadership (see Sept. 11, above), a statement by the Korean People’s Army (KPA) General Staff warns that “the nuclear warheads fired by the KPA as punishment will completely reduce to ashes Seoul, the center of confrontation with compatriots where Chongwadae [the Blue House, the ROK presidential office and residence] is located and reactionary ruling machines are concentrated.” Furthermore “the KPA will sweep Guam, the base of provocations, from the surface of the earth.”
: MOU says that in the light of North Korea’s recent nuclear test, the chances of South Korea offering Pyongyang flood aid, even if asked, are low.
: At a fractious two-hour meeting with heads of the three main political parties – “Leaders snarl at each other at the Blue House” is the JoongAng Daily’s headline – Park rejects a proposal by the new Minjoo Party chairwoman, Choo Mi-ae, that she send a special envoy to Pyongyang. Park Jie-won, acting head of the People’s Party, says that unlike Park’s government and her ruling Saenuri Party, the two liberal opposition parties believe that “sanctions and dialogue must be implemented simultaneously.” They also oppose the planned deployment on ROK soil of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile defense system.
: A dozen South Korean security and nuclear experts launch a new think-tank to discuss how the ROK could be armed with nuclear weapons.
: Yonhap quotes “a military source” as claiming, in lurid tones more usually associated with the North, that South Korea “has already developed a plan to annihilate … Pyongyang through intensive bombing in case the North shows any signs of a nuclear attack …. the North’s capital city will be reduced to ashes and removed from the map.”
: DPRK conducts its fifth nuclear test since 2006 and its second this year. Pyongyang media exult; Seoul, and the rest of the world, sharply condemn this.
: Attending the Seoul Defence Dialogue (SDD), Ahmet Uzumcu, Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), says North Korea should join the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) without delay; adding that he has for years written many letters to Pyongyang on this, but never even received a reply.
: Yonhap reports that 894 DPRK defectors reached the ROK during January-August, up 15 per cent from 777 in the first eight months of 2015. The agency forecasts that the cumulative total since 1953 will surpass 30,000 this year. Arrivals peaked in 2009, but have slowed since 2011 under Kim Jong Un as border controls were tightened.
: Central Committee of North Korea’s Kimilsungist-Kimjongilist Youth League proposes a meeting of young Koreans from both North and South to discuss unification. Seoul rejects this the next day, calling it “sheer propaganda.”
: Ryoo Kihl-jae, architect of Trustpolitik and Park Geun-hye’s first Unification Minister (2013-15), tells Chatham House that unification “should happen peacefully and gradually … through the accrual of mutually beneficial and reciprocal cooperation between South and North Korea.” Ryoo was let go in Feb. 2015, as Park embraced a more unilateral view of unification.
: At a joint press conference with President Barack Obama after their bilateral meeting in Vientiane, Laos, ROK President Park says that “unification will offer the opportunity to the North Korean people of equal treatment.”
: A poll commissioned by the ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) finds that, for the first time since Aug. 15, critics of President Park’s approach to North Korea (46.9 percent of those polled) outnumber her supporters, albeit narrowly (45.9 percent).
: ROK’s North Korean Human Rights Act (NKHRA), passed March 3, 2016 by the National Assembly, takes effect. Inter alia this makes provision to “collect, record and preserve details of crimes against humanity committed by Kim [Jong Un] and his aides.” To that end, later in September a new Center for North Korean Human Rights Records (CNKHRR) is established.
: In his first interview, conducted by telephone, the ex-restaurant manager of the ‘Ningbo 13’ – North Korean restaurant workers in China, who came to Seoul en masse in April – named as a Mr Heo aged 36, tells the Hankyoreh that he never expected Seoul to publicize their defection, and says repeatedly that “time will bring everything to light.”
: Yonhap reports “a source” – just that; no further identification – as claiming that a diplomat engaged in trade activities at the DPRK consulate general in Vladivostok defected to Seoul in August, bringing his family and “huge holdings of foreign currency.”
: Yonhap, the quasi-offical ROK news agency, reports “a source” (unidentified) as claiming that a diplomat engaged in trade activities at the DPRK Consulate General in Vladivostok defected to Seoul in August, bringing his family and “huge holdings of foreign currency.” No such defection is subsequently confirmed, as of Jan. 2017. Several other similar claims emanating from Seoul of recent diplomatic defections remain unsubstantiated.
: Citing “a Seoul official”, Yonhap claims that Kim Yong Jin, North Korea’s vice premier for education, was executed by firing squad in July for slouching at June’s SPA meeting; and that Kim Yong Chol, Pyongyang’s point man on South Korea, received a month of revolutionary re-education on a farm for his overbearing attitude and abuse of power. Some experts cast doubt on the genesis, motives and reliability of such announcements by the ROK.
: Visiting Kazakhstan, ROK Unification minister Hong Yong-pyo claims that sanctions are squeezing Kim Jong Un’s ability to raise the funds he need to secure his rule.
: In an editorial headlined “Sanctions haven’t worked,” the JoongAng Ilbo – widely regarded as South Korea’s leading newspaper – criticizes claims that the Northern regime is shaky as “naïve wishful thinking.” It calls for a two-track policy: not only sanctions, but also diplomatic efforts to “draw North Korea to the negotiating table.”
: South Korean vessel rescues a North Korean clutching a styrofoam float near Yeonpyeong island. Three more Northerners defected in a fishing boat earlier in August.
: The NIS claims North Korea recently ordered the adult children of diplomats posted abroad to return home, but says this was not a factor in Thae Yong Ho’s defection.
: North Korean media denounce Thae Yong Ho – not named, but referred to as a “human scum” and “the above-said bete noire,” alleging that he was under investigation in Pyongyang for embezzlement, selling secrets and “rape of a minor.”
: The Hankyoreh reports that the Ningbo 13 have been “released into South Korean society” from the NIS Defector Protection Center. Amid claims from Pyongyang that they were being held under duress, the left-leaning Seoul daily had repeatedly raised concerns about the NIS’s refusal to let them meet the press or be interviewed by independent lawyers.
: ROK media quote Brazil’s former ambassador in Pyongyang as contradicting official DPRK claims that Choe Ryong Hae, one of Kim Jong Un’s closest aides, who visited Brazil for the Rio Olympics during Aug. 4-10, met and talked with Brazil’s acting President Michel Temer on Aug. 5. Brazilian sources deny that any such meeting ever took place.
: The world swoons at a smiling “selfie” of two young female Korean gymnasts competing at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro: the South’s Lee Eun-ju and the North’s Hong Un Jong. (No prizes for guessing whose phone it was.)
: The ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) reveal that on July 22 guard troops near Gimpo collected “scores of tightly air-filled vinyl bags carrying North Korean leaflets” from the Han River. The “shoddily printed” leaflets celebrated the North’s “victory” in the Korean War, and threatened to attack the South with Musudan missiles. This is the first time the DPRK has sent water-borne propaganda, rather than by air.
: Bank of Korea (BOK) publishes its annual estimates on North Korea’s economy. It reckons Northern GDP fell 1.1 percent in 2015 from 2014, with shrinkage in all sectors except construction. Total DPRK output was a mere 2.2 percent of the ROK’s; per capita gap was 22:1. The South’s total trade (the numbers here are known, but exclude inter-Korean commerce) was 154 times greater than the North’s.
: ROK government source says that, for the first time in 16 years, on July 15 Radio Pyongyang broadcast mysterious numerical codes. In the past these were thought to be instructions to agents, but this time some experts reckon the North is just sowing confusion. Similar signals have also emanated from Seoul, as recently as 2011; the NIS has no comment.
: JoongAng Daily reports that malaria rates in South Korea, near the border with the North, rose 80 percent from 2013 to 2015. A joint inter-Korean anti-malaria project had seen cases in Gyeonggi province fall from 1,007 in 2007 to 490 in 2008 and 382 in 2011, when Seoul ended support from this program. Since then the rate has gone up again. (NB: A graphic in this report in fact shows a less clear linear relationship than the article implies.)
: Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), the DPRK rubber-stamp parliament, holds its annual one-day session. The National Defense Commission (NDC) is replaced as the top executive body by a new State Affairs Commission (SAC). The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) is replaced by the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country (CPRC). It is unclear what this change in nomenclature portends.
: A closed-door hearing at Seoul Central District Court, in a habeas corpus case brought by the left-leaning Lawyers for a Democratic Society (Minbyun), is suspended when the Ningbo 13 all fail to appear, despite a subpoena to do so. Counsel for the NIS say they refused to attend because of fear for their families’ safety in North Korea; adding that the former waitresses had applied for ROK citizenship, and were granted this on June 3.
: Meeting fishermen on the ROK’s northwestern border island of Yeonpyeong, Yoo Jeong-bok, mayor of Incheon, pledges to head off illicit Chinese fishing by pushing for a “system under which our fishermen receive fish from North Koreans in (waters between the two Koreas) and sell them (in the South or elsewhere).”
: South Korea’s National Police Agency (NPA) claims that from July 2014 through Feb. 2016 North Korea hacked two major chaebol, SK and Hanjin. 42,608 documents were stolen and later deleted, including the wing design of the US F-15 jet fighter (made by Hanjin’s affiliate Korean Air). Altogether 140,000 computers at 160 Southern firms were hacked, with malicious code planted in a long-term plan to launch a massive cyberattack. Nonetheless the NPA concludes that overall ROK security was not compromised.
: MOU confirms that three more ex-staffers at DPRK restaurants in China have recently defected and reached Seoul. Unlike for the Ningbo 13, no further details are given, but the two are thought to have been working in Xian.
: Kim Jong Un’s maternal aunt Ko Yong Suk, who looked after him during his Swiss schooldays, gives her first interview since she defected to the US with her husband in 1998. Inter alia she reveals that her nephew is 32 (born in 1984), not 33 as hitherto thought.
: Institute for Unification Education (IUE), an affiliate of MOU, says it has indefinitely postponed or diverted some 30 of its regular tours to parts of China which border North Korea, following an ROK government advisory warning of terrorism and kidnap risks.
: South Korea’s defense (MND) and technology (ICT) ministries say they are discussing the creation of a cybersecurity reserve force in case of a national network emergency.
: South Korea’s Defense Ministry (MND) rejects the North’s proposal of inter-Korean military talks as “a bogus peace offensive for bogus peace that lacks sincerity”, since it does not mention the nuclear issue. MOU chimes in: “Now is not the time for dialogue.”
: Seoul High Court upholds a three year jail sentence on a South Korean man named only as Park, convicted of planning to kill the senior North Korean defector Hwang Jang Yop. Hwang died of heart failure in 2010 before the plot could be carried out.
: MOU’s annual white paper on its work in 2015 reveals, inter alia, that 1,276 DPRK defectors reached the ROK last year, the smallest figure since 2001. Southern aid to the North “soared” to 25.4 billion won ($21.8 million), a six-year high. Cumulative output at the Kaesong zone in its eleven years of existence totaled $3.23 billion.
: Symantec reports that Microsoft has patched a vulnerability issue in Internet Explorer recently used in cyberattacks targeted on South Korea, where almost everyone uses that browser rather than others. (Note: The link is strictly for the technically minded.)
: South Korean companies that had invested in the KIC, and some 50 of their business affiliates and partners, file suit with the ROK Constitutional Court, claiming that the zone’s closure by Seoul was illegal. Yonhap quotes them as saying: “Our own government violated our property rights by shutting down the Kaesong complex with no legal basis.”
: South Korean companies who had invested in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), together with some 50 of their business affiliates and partners, file suit with the ROK Constitutional Court, claiming that the zone’s closure by Seoul was illegal. Yonhap quotes them as saying: “Our own government violated our property rights by shutting down the Kaesong complex [in February] with no legal basis.”
: Rodong Sinmun quotes Kim Jong Un as saying: “Both the North and the South should respect each other and open a new page … as partners in unification. [They] should alleviate the current military tensions and resolve all matters through communication and negotiation.” In the first instance, the two sides’ militaries should hold talks.
: MOU dismisses Kim Jong Un’s call for North-South talks as “merely [a] propaganda drive with no sincerity” (the English is by Yonhap).
: Headline in Rodong Sinmun, the WPK daily, reads: “Park Geun Hye Group Had Better Stop Recklessly Grumbling about DPRK’s Nuclear Deterrence Any Longer: CPRK Spokesman.” CPRK is the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea.
: Seventh Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) is held in Pyongyang: the first such of its kind since the Sixth Congress in 1980. Kim Jong Un gets a new title as WPK chairman.
: Seventh Congress of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) is held in Pyongyang: the first such of its kind since the Sixth Congress in 1980. Kim Jong Un gets a new title as WPK Chairman: he gives a three hour work report, as well as opening and closing speeches. A grand parade follows the Congress.
: With a detailed graphic comparing the two Koreas on 22 separate indicators, The Economist considers unification prospects. It costs this (conservatively) at $1 trillion.
: The ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU) says South Korea is “on alert for the possibility that the North may try to abduct our citizens or conduct terrorist acts abroad”, in reprisal for the defection – which Pyongyang claims is an abduction – of its 13 restaurant workers from Ningbo (hereafter the Ningbo 13) in China in April.
: MOU says South Korea is “on alert for the possibility that the North may try to abduct our citizens or conduct terrorist acts abroad,” in reprisal for the defection (which Pyongyang claims is an abduction) of its 13 restaurant workers from China.
: A month after the latest bout of jamming of Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, blamed on North Korea, South Korea says it will revive a plan to develop a backup system less vulnerable to interference.
: A month after the latest bout of GPS jamming blamed on North Korea, South Korea says it will revive a plan to develop a backup system less vulnerable to interference.
: Foal Eagle ends. Pyongyang’s rhetoric starts to wind down, slightly.
: North Korea’s Ministry of Land and Environmental Protection denounces a Southern defector group for sending balloons across the DMZ carrying anti-DPRK leaflets.
: South Korea holds parliamentary elections for the 20th National Assembly, whose four-year term commences on May 30. President Park’s ruling conservative Saenuri Party unexpectedly loses its majority, while both parties in the split liberal opposition do well.
: China’s Foreign Ministry says the Ningbo 13 all carried valid passports and left the PRC legally. Most defectors enter China illegally, and if caught are repatriated. The legalities aside, Beijing is seen as sending a signal to Pyongyang.
: North Korea claims the Ningbo group are victims of a “hideous” abduction plot by the ROK. It continues to repeat this claim and demand their return.
: In the largest group defection in years, MOU reveals the arrival in Seoul a day earlier of 13 North Koreans: apparently most of the staff (12 waitresses and a male manager) from an overseas DPRK restaurant, soon revealed to be the Ryugyong in Ningbo, China.
: South Korea reports that Global Positional System (GPS) signals north and west of Seoul are being jammed from five locations in North Korea. Pyongyang denies any responsibility. This continues for a week, affecting the signal reception of over 1,000 aircraft and 700 ships. No accidents are reported, but many fishing vessels have to return to port.
: NKNews reports that a former Kaesong investor attempted suicide with an overdose of sleeping pills. He was found by his daughter, hospitalized and later discharged.
: In just one of many such threats, DPRK media report a statement by the long-range artillery forces of the frontline large combined units of the Korean People’s Army (KPA). Criticizing a South Korean precision strike drill, this threatens that “If Park does not make an official apology, North Korea will take military actions to blow up Cheongwadae.”
: MOU rejects any special law compensation for KIC investors, saying this might cause “unnecessary disputes.” One KIC company owner, Choi Jae-ho, angrily retorts: “Do we really have to burn ourselves to death with gasoline to make changes?”
: Some 1,100 former KIC investors and sub-contractors rally at the Imjingak Mangbaedan Altar in Paju near the DMZ, demanding a special law to compensate them.
: Relatives of the Ningbo 13 demand their return on CNN. One woman says: “Even now my sister is suffering in the accursed South Korea, starving and unconscious…. Those South Korean puppet criminals, I want to tear them to pieces!” Seoul has rebuffed Pyongyang’s charges that some of the group are on hunger strike or in solitary confinement.
: AP reports that ongoing US-ROK military exercises include rehearsing scenarios for “decapitation strikes” to take out the top DPRK leadership in the event of war. Pyongyang’s response to such menacing lèse-majesté is predictably apoplectic.
: The ROK and US begin formal talks on THAAD deployment.
: South Korea’s NIS claims Pyongyang recently hacked into the smartphones of some 50 senior defense-related ROK officials, using text messages to try to lure them into following links to malicious software.
: The ROK-US Combined Forces Command (CFC) announces the start of the usual pair of annual joint military exercises next day. Key Resolve finishes on March 18, while the much larger Foal Eagle continues through April 30.
: ROK Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se exults at the new UNSC sanctions on the DPRK; calling them “full-scale,” “super-strong,” and set to “bring about ‘bone-numbing’ outcomes that the North Korean government couldn’t ever imagine in the past.”
: Pyongyang papers publish, then widely comment on, an article about Park Geun-hye headlined “Ugly Female Bat-Disgrace of Worst Traitor” (sic). This also calls the ROK President “a tailless bitch.” Much similar venom fills DPRK media for several weeks.
: UN Security Council (UNSC) passes a unanimous resolution condemning the DPRK’s January nuclear test and its February missile test. Resolution 2270 includes sanctions much stronger than any previously levied on the DPRK.
: The ROK National Assembly passes two bills, both originally tabled years before, after an 8-day filibuster (a world record) by the liberal Minjoo opposition party, which however fails to stop the ruling conservative Saenuri Party passing an anti-terrorism bill. But the opposition accepts a law on human rights in North Korea, which passes by 212-0.
: Voice of America highlights the plight of companies that had invested in the KIC, under the headline “Sanctions on North Korea Hurting Businesses in South Korea.”
: President Park warns a meeting of mayors and provincial governors at the Blue House of the threat from North Korea: “New types of threats such as terror (attacks), cyberattacks or biological weapons could occur anywhere.”
: South Koreans continue to debate the Kaesong closure, with critics querying the ROK government’s case and numbers; for example in the left-leaning Hankyoreh daily.
: MOU announces the suspension of almost all ROK financial aid to the DPRK.
: Voice of America headlines that the upcoming joint US-ROK military drills Key Resolve and Foal Eagle will be the largest ever held.
: Briefed by the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Lee Chul-woo, a lawmaker of the ruling Saenuri Party, claims Kim Jong Un is preparing terror attacks on the South: “The North can inflict damage on …activists, defectors and government officials … It could target public facilities and key infrastructure, including subways, shopping malls and power stations.”
: Four F-22 Raptors, the world’s most advanced fighter, arrive at Osan Air Base from Kadena in Japan. One headline reads: “US F-22 Raptors deployed to rattle Pyongyang”.
: Finally addressing the National Assembly (on Kim Jong Il’s birthday), President Park attacks “the runaway Kim Jong Un regime” for its “countless provocations …We can no longer afford to be pushed around by North Korea’s deceit and intimidation.”
: Press reports claim that pressure from abroad (specifically, the US and China) prompted Seoul to shut down the Kaesong zone. MOU reportedly pleaded for less drastic measures than total closure, but was overruled by the Blue House.
: In an editorial headlined “A mute President,” the Korea JoongAng Daily, a leading center-right Seoul daily, calls on Park Geun-hye to explain the closure of the KIC: “The commander-in-chief must speak up in times of crisis.”
: In retaliation for the DPRK’s nuclear test and satellite launch/missile test, the ROK government orders the “complete shutdown” of the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC).
: In the wake of the DPRK rocket launch, Seoul and Washington say they will start talks on deploying the US Terminal High Altitude Aerial Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system in South Korea. The ROK had long hesitated, due to strong Chinese opposition.
: Seoul press reports quote ROK police and military sources as claiming that the cargo of some recent North Korean propaganda balloons found in the South includes “lots of filth difficult to describe in words,” such as cigarette butts, daily waste and used toilet paper.
: MOU says it suspects North Korea is behind recent cyber-attacks on Southern targets. No details are given.
: Commenting on recent South Korean diplomacy, notably the accord with Japan on comfort women and popular opposition thereto, DPRK media opine that “the current crisis in South Korea is an inevitable product of sycophantic and treacherous politics.”
: A bundle of North Korean leaflets, which fail to separate, crashes onto a car parked in Ilsan near the DMZ, seriously denting its roof.
: North Korea sends leaflets by balloon across the DMZ. As reproduced by the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) – arguably in breach of the National Security Law – these call on South Koreans to “knock out the Park Geun-hye gang” and end psy-war broadcasts.
: ROK JCS says a small DPRK drone briefly crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), retreating when the ROK military fired some 20 warning shots.
: MOU says that from Jan. 12 it will restrict South Koreans’ staying in the KIC to those directly running businesses there. Contractors must go in and out the same day.
: MOU says that from Jan. 12 it will restrict South Koreans’ staying in the KIC to those directly running businesses there. Contractors must go in and out the same day.
: Yonhap reports ROK Defense Minister Han Min-koo as telling Army Missile Command commanders during a field inspection the previous day that “If the enemy provokes, retaliate speedily and accurately without hesitation.”
: KCNA reports Kim Jong Un as visiting the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces (MPAF). Offering New Year congratulations on the “H-bomb” test, Kim also “informed them of the complicated situation which the Korean revolution is now facing.”
: Yonhap reports ROK Defense Minister Han Min-koo as telling Army Missile Command commanders during a field inspection the previous day that “If the enemy provokes, retaliate speedily and accurately without hesitation.”
: KCNA reports Kim Jong Un as visiting the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces (MPAF). Offering New Year congratulations on the “H-bomb” test, Kim also “informed them of the complicated situation which the Korean revolution is now facing.”
: South Korea marks Kim Jong Un’s 33rd birthday by switching on its propaganda loudspeakers along the DMZ. The ROK’s liberal main opposition Minjoo party warns that this may raise tensions and stoke uncertainty. North Korea denounces the move as a provocation and activates its own south-facing speakers, which are less powerful.
: The North’s Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) TV airs images of Kim Jong Un giving field guidance during an ejection test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) supposedly conducted on Dec. 21 in the East Sea.
: South Korea marks Kim Jong Un’s 33rd birthday by switching on its propaganda loudspeakers along the DMZ. The ROK’s liberal main opposition Minjoo party warns that this may raise tensions and stoke uncertainty. North Korea denounces the move as a provocation and activates its own south-facing speakers, which are less powerful.
: The North’s Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) TV airs images of Kim Jong Un giving field guidance during an ejection test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) supposedly conducted on Dec. 21 in the East Sea.
: MOU says it will restrict ROK entry into the KIC to business persons directly invested there. It is unclear how far this is actually implemented, at first.
: Calling the North’s nuclear test a “grave violation” of the Aug. 25 inter-Korean agreement, Cho Tae-yong, deputy chief of national security in the ROK presidential office, says the South will resume propaganda broadcasts across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
: Won Yoo-chul, floor leader of the ROK’s ruling conservative Saenuri Party, says South Korea should consider creating its own nuclear potential for self-defense.
: MOU says it will restrict ROK entry into the KIC to business persons directly invested there. It is unclear how far this is actually implemented, at first.
: Calling the North’s nuclear test a “grave violation” of the Aug. 25 inter-Korean agreement, Cho Tae-yong, deputy chief of national security in the ROK presidential office, says the South will resume propaganda broadcasts across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
: Won Yoo-chul, floor leader of the ROK’s ruling conservative Saenuri Party, says South Korea should consider creating its own nuclear potential for self-defense.
: Denouncing the North’s nuclear test, South Korea vows close cooperation with allies and the global community to punish this.
: Denouncing the North’s nuclear test, South Korea vows close cooperation with allies and the global community to punish this.
: JoongAng Ilbo reports a Red Cross survey on the 412 Southern separated family members who participated in October’s reunions. 167 (40 percent) said the event left them unhappy, while 100 reported emotional distress such as depression and insomnia.
: Kim Jong Un’s New Year speech lays less emphasis on inter-Korean issues than last year’s, and is more “finger-wagging” in tone. Mostly it focuses on domestic policy.
: Kim Jong Un’s New Year speech lays less emphasis on inter-Korean issues than last year’s, and is more “finger-wagging” in tone. Mostly it focuses on domestic policy.
: MOU reports more South Koreans as visiting the North this year, especially since the Aug. 25 accord.
: MOU’s briefing on what it calls the First Vice Minister Level Talks confirms that they broke down due to the two sides’ irreconcilable differences on priorities and agenda.
: Data from the ROK’s Statistics Korea show that the inter-Korean chasm in economic performance, already huge, widened further in 2014. With twice as many people as the North, South Korea produces 13 times more energy and 59 times more steel. The South’s total trade of $1.1 trillion was 144 times bigger than the North’s $7.6 billion.
: After a second full day, the North-South talks break down with no joint statement or even a date to meet again. The North demanded a resumption of tourism to Mt. Kumgang, linking this to further family reunions. The South refused on both counts.
: Inter-Korean talks are held at Kaesong. Vice Unification Minister Kim Boo-gi leads the ROK delegation; his DPRK counterpart is CPRK vice director Jon Jong Su.
: In a telephone interview Lee Kang, husband of Ko Yong Suk, tells Yonhap they fled to the US in fear they might be victimized when Kim Jong Il died: “I had felt the cruelty of power.” Lee says he now runs a laundry business. Ko also wanted to seek medical help for her sister Ko Yong Hui, Kim Jong Un’s mother, who died of breast cancer in Paris in 2004.
: The ROK Catholic Bishops’ Conference (CBCK) says it hopes to send priests regularly to the DPRK to jointly celebrate major holy days. On possibly training Northern priests, Archbishop Kim Hui-jung says: “That’s not something we can discuss at present.”
: Ten containers of bottled water produced by Nongshim, the ROK’s top noodle maker, at a plant in Erdaobaihe, China close to Mount Paekdu reach Busan, having been first trucked to the DPRK’s Rajin port and then shipped to Busan.
: MOU says it will start collecting on soft loans extended in 2010 to firms hit by that year’s sanctions on trade with and investment in North Korea. A total of 32.5 billion won ($28.1 million) will be sought from 150 out of 168 borrowers.
: A lawyer in Seoul acting for Ko Yong Suk, Kim Jong Un’s maternal aunt and former guardian in Switzerland who fled to the US in 1998 with her husband, files suit against three prominent defectors for allegedly defaming her. She is not expected to appear in court.
: MOU says 23 ROK lexicographers will meet with DPRK colleagues in Dalian, China on Dec. 7-13 to continue work on the dictionary project.
: A 17-strong delegation of South Korean Roman Catholics, led by Archbishop Kim Hui-hung and including five bishops, visits North Korea at the invitation of the latter’s Catholic Association. They celebrate Mass at Pyongyang’s Changchung Cathedral, the DPRK’s sole functioning Catholic church.
: Working discussions at Panmunjom agree to hold vice-ministerial talks on Dec. 11 at the Kaesong complex. ROK media reaction includes disappointment that the level is not higher, and fears of a repeat of 2013’s protocol row in case the North sends someone whom the South deems too junior.
: The two Koreas exchange delegate lists for the Nov. 26 working meeting on high-level talks at Panmunjom. The South’s three-strong team will be led by Kim Ki-woong, head of MOU’s special office for inter-Korean dialogue; the North’s by Hwang Chol, a senior CPRK official who has taken part in previous North-South talks.
: MOU reports a partial setback for its Rajin logistics project. The Russian coal shipments are on track, but heavy snow on DPRK roads is delaying another trial consignment comprising ten container-loads of bottled water from China.
: North Korea’s CPRK sends a message to the South’s MOU via Panmunjom proposing a working-level meeting there on Nov. 26 about arranging high-level talks. The South accepts with alacrity.
: MOU announces the third test operation over the past year of a project to import Russian coal by rail and ship using the DPRK’s Rajin port. 120,000 tons will be shipped to three ROK ports by Nov. 30. A 20-strong Southern team, including the three ROK firms involved and government officials, will stay in Rajin until Nov. 20 to check how its facilities function. This pet project of President Park is exempt from the May 24 sanctions.
: North Korea repatriates via Panmunjom a South Korean aged 48, named only as Lee, who entered the DPRK from China in September for reasons unknown.
: Rodong Sinmun calls for opening an “epochal” new phase in inter-Korean ties: “Whether North-South relations improve or not depends on what attitude the North and the South have and how they approach the problem”
: Citing a range of examples, Yonhap’s “Topic of the Week” headline predicts: “Inter-Korean relations likely turn for better after reunions of separated families.”
: 162 ROK trade unionists – the largest Southern group to go North for five years – fly to Pyongyang for a friendly soccer competition with their DPRK counterparts.
: Second round of family reunions takes place. Some 250 South Koreans from 90 families meet their Northern close kin. DPRK Red Cross Chairman Ri Chung Bok tells ROK counterpart Kim Sung-joo he is ready to discuss regular reunions and consider letter exchanges.
: Family reunions are held at Mount Kumgang, as agreed. 389 members of 96 Southern families drive across the DMZ in 16 buses to meet 141 Northern relatives. They get six private meetings, totaling just 12 hours of private contact, during the three-day event.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Hwang Boo-gi says North-South civilian exchanges are expanding rapidly, and may soon reach levels not seen for seven years. He attributes this to a positive shift in policy in Pyongyang.
: Local ROK court rules that authorities may stop leaflet launches across the DMZ if it would endanger citizens in border areas. MOU says this confirms official policy, but stresses that the government is not empowered to restrict freedom of speech by an outright ban.
: ROK officials reveal that on Oct. 7 the DPRK without notice released water from its Hwanggang dam on the Imjin River.
: Yonhap cites unnamed ROK government sources as saying that in late August the (North) Korean People’s Army (KPA) replaced the front-line commander involved in that month’s landmine blasts at the DMZ. Commander of the Second Corps Kim Sang Ryong was reassigned to command the 9th corps, well away from the border.
: Uriminzokkiri website denies that the DPRK was behind hacking attacks on two servers of the subway operator Seoul Metro in 2014 saying that, “Whenever cyber attacks occur, South Korea blindly criticizes us without presenting any proof.”
: The Koreas exchange final lists of participants in upcoming family reunions.
: MOU says that some 100 artifacts unearthed in a joint archaeological dig at the Koryo dynasty Manwoldae palace in Kaesong will go on display soon, there and in Seoul. In fact no pieces cross the border, but holograms of them are displayed.
: MOU rebuts an opposition lawmaker’s claims that drought in North Korea is threatening the Kaesong IC’s operations
: The DPRK deports Joo Won-moo, a 21 year old NYU student resident in the US but an ROK national, via Panmunjom. It arrested him in April for trying to illegally enter the North from China. Seoul calls for the release of three other South Koreans detained in the North.
: Following up on a July visit, South Korean forestry experts visit Mt. Kumgang to help Northern colleagues treat pest-infested pine trees. The South is providing insecticide and sprayers worth 130 million won ($109,000).
: MOU says that the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), the last remaining inter-Korean joint venture, produced goods worth a cumulative $3 billion since it opened in 2004.
: The North’s CPRK fiercely attacks Park’s comments at the UNGA, warning that they put the planned family reunions at risk.
: Addressing the UNGA, Park Geun-hye calls on North Korea not to launch a long-range rocket. She tells the North to help its people out of difficulties through reform and openness instead of carrying out additional provocations, while urging Pyongyang also to give up nuclear arms and heed international concern on its human rights record.
: Rodong Sinmun says that no one may “slander or infringe on” the DPRK’s exercise of independent rights, such as launching satellites or bolstering its nuclear deterrence.
: Talking to thinktanks in New York, President Park vows to boost cooperation with the US, China and other regional powers to achieve Korean unification, which she calls the “fundamental solution” to the North’s nuclear and human rights concerns. She airs similar themes with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, himself a former ROK foreign minister.
: The North’s National Reconciliation Council (NRC) urges South Korea not to pass a bill on human rights in the North, calling this “an evil law inciting confrontation.”
: North Korea demands the repatriation of Kim Ryon-hui, a defector who now claims she was forcibly taken to South Korea by a broker who helps refugees.
: Yonhap says Pyongyang is lukewarm on implementing the Aug. 25 agreement, for two reasons: preoccupation with preparing for its upcoming Party 70th anniversary celebrations on Oct. 10, and divergent agendas. Rebuffing sports and cultural exchanges, the North wants the South to lift economic sanctions first.
: The Secretariat of the (North’s) Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) attacks what it calls South Korea’s plan to set up a special warfare command to strike the North’s nuclear facilities as a “foolish self-destructive act.”
: North Korean website Uriminzokkiri warns that anti-DPRK leafleteers may jeopardize the prospects for family reunions: “How can the separated families between the two Koreas … afford to meet together under the sky of flying leaflets against North Korea?”
: Both Korean foreign ministers and President Park Geun-hye visit New York to attend the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA). As last year, neither side avails of this opportunity to arrange bilateral meetings of any kind.
: An ROK civic group says the DPRK is rebuffing its efforts to arrange a joint celebration of National Foundation Day on Oct 3. A Southern delegation went North for this last year, and it was marked jointly in 2002, 2003 and 2005.
: MOU reveals that North Korea refused its invitation to participate in an Aug. 5 ceremony marking the start of work to restore the Gyeongwon railway line.
: Chung Mong-gyu, president of the ROK’s Korea Football Association (KFA), returns from the 46th East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) Executive Committee meeting in Pyongyang. Chung briefly met his DPRK counterpart Ri Yong Nam to suggest exhibition matches and joint training sessions. But Ri said this needed further discussion.
: Park Sang-hak, head of Fighters for a Free North Korea, says his group sent leaflets by balloon across the DMZ to protest Pyongyang’s recent missile and nuclear threats.
: Southern officials and technicians spend two days at Mt. Kumgang, checking the resort’s largely disused facilities ahead of upcoming family reunions. MOU says on Sept. 18 it will send in a technical team to carry out necessary repairs.
: KCNA reports the head of the Atomic Energy Institute as saying that all facilities at Yongbyon nuclear complex have “started normal operations.”
: Taking a train to Cheorwon on the Gyeongwon line, Unification Minister Hong calls this “a path of unification and hope extending to the world.” South Korea is rebuilding 9.3km of track from Cheorwon up to the DMZ.
: The director of the DPRK’s National Aerospace Development Administration tells KCNA that “the world will clearly see a series of satellites … soaring into the sky at the times and locations determined by the WPK Central Committee.”
: ROK Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo says that “many types of civilian inter-Korean exchanges” are possible without breaching Seoul’s sanctions on Pyongyang – which he says will continue unless the North sincerely apologizes for sinking the Cheonan.
: Gen. Choi Yoon-hee, chairman of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), says any fresh DPRK nuclear or long-range missile test would create an “abnormal situation” in terms of the Aug. 25 accord, causing Seoul to resume loudspeaker broadcasts at the DMZ.
: A Seoul court sentences Kim Ki-jong, an avowedly pro-DPRK activist who knifed US Ambassador Mark Lippert at a seminar in March as a protest against US-ROK military drills, to 12 years in jail for attempted murder and other charges.
: ROK Defense Ministry (MND) suggests the DPRK may mark 70th anniversary of the founding of the WPK on Oct. 10 by testing a long-range missile. MND also says the South will “conduct aggressive military operations at the DMZ” to counter Northern provocations.
: South Korea’s Unification Ministry (MOU) proposes a budget for 2016 of 1.49 trillion won ($1.26 billion), up 1.6 per cent from this year, “to reflect the government’s will to improve ties with North Korea.”
: An opinion poll in the Seoul daily JoongAng Ilbo shows growing hostility to and declining interest in North Korea among South Koreans, especially those in their 20s.
: ROK Red Cross says its computers have picked a preliminary batch of 500 candidates for upcoming family reunions. This will be halved to 250 on criteria of health and willingness. The final 100 will be based on whosever relatives the DPRK comes up with.
: Marzuki Darusman, the UN special rapporteur on DPRK human rights, says during a five-day visit to Seoul that pursuit of inter-Korean unification and ensuring North Korea’s responsibility for its human rights violations are mutually reinforcing goals.
: Meeting Jin Liqun, president-designate of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), President Park proposes a complementary Northeast Asia Development Bank to develop North Korea’s infrastructure – provided it denuclearizes.
: ROK opposition leader Moon Jae-in says inter-party differences over a bill on North Korean human rights, which has been under discussion in the National Assembly for 11 years, could be bridged within a day.
: The Koreas agree on a date for family reunions: Oct. 20-26. Venue and format will be as usual: two sessions of three days each, with 100 elderly persons from each Korea meeting any kin the other side can trace at the North’s Southern-built Mt. Kumgang resort.
: Daejeon District Court acquits a 23-year-old student charged with violating the National Security Law by praising socialism and making pro-North statements on Facebook. Judge Song Kyung-ho says: “Just writing on Facebook doesn’t lead to instigating rebellion.”
: Pursuant to their Aug. 25 six-point agreement, the Koreas begin preliminary Red Cross talks at the border village of Panmunjom about arranging fresh reunions of family members separated for over 60 years since the 1950-53 Korean War.
: Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) headline reads: “Rodong Sinmun Urges S. Korea Not to Do Foul Behavior.” It cites the daily paper of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) as warning right-wing ROK media not to spoil the mood for dialogue.
: KCNA headline reads “Rodong Sinmun Urges S. Korea Not to Do Foul Behavior.” The WPK daily warns ROK rightwing media not to spoil the mood for dialogue.
: ROK President Park Geun-hye is one of only two heads of states allied to the US to visit Beijing for events, including a military parade, marking the 70th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in 1945.
: DPRK media report Kim Jong Un sent a condolence message on the third anniversary of the death of Unification Church founder Moon Sun-myung to his family.
: Gallup poll taken on Aug. 25-27 finds that President Park’s approval rating shot up by 15 percentage points since last week to 49 percent, its highest this year.
: President Park for the first time attends the joint ROK-US Integrated Firepower Exercise live-fire drill in Pocheon near the DMZ, the eighth of its kind. Its scenario is that the KPA fires on a South Korean guard post, prompting massive retaliation by ROK and US forces.
: Kim Jong Un again convenes a (much) enlarged WPK CMC. In somewhat ambivalent remarks he praises the KPA’s “military muscle” but endorses Aug. 25’s accord. Membership changes to the CMC are reported, but no names named.
: After marathon talks, haggard negotiators announce around 2:00am that a six-point accord has been reached. Family reunions will resume, as will other talks and NGO contacts. The South will switch off its loudspeakers, and the North lift its state of semi-war.
: Unnamed ROK military official tells Yonhap that two-thirds of the DPRK submarine fleet (50 out of 70) has put to sea, current location unknown. The same source says the KPA has doubled its artillery troops on the border, with the command to be combat ready.
: Before its 48 hour deadline expires, the DPRK suggests talks instead. High-level negotiators from both sides meet at Panmunjom. The meeting breaks up at 4:15am.
: Despite tensions, 83 South Koreans are in Pyongyang for a youth soccer tournament also involving China and Brazil. Seoul says it does not regard them as at risk.
: KPA fires four artillery rounds across the DMZ. An hour later the ROKA ripostes with 29 rounds. KPA General Staff Department warns that it will launch military action unless the South stops psywar broadcasts and removes all facilities within 48 hours of 5:00pm today. 2,000 residents of Southern border areas in Yeoncheon, Paju, Gimpo, and Kanghwado are told to evacuate. The ROK military raises its security posture to the highest level of readiness.
: Kim Jong Un convenes an enlarged meeting of the Central Military Commission (CMC) of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). This declares a “semi-war state.”
: KCNA headline, supposedly quoting the (not previously known) DPRK Joint National Organization of Working People, avers: “Park Geun Hye Should Be Buried in Cemetery as Soon as Possible.” The article concludes: “No matter how glittering make-up she may put [sic], it is too late to prevent the foul smell from reeking off from her body interwoven with sycophancy, treachery, confrontation and hostility. What she should do for the nation is to leave Chongwadae, the doghouse of the US, shut her unshapely mouth and get her crime-ridden body buried in the ceremony [sic] at an early date.”
: Annual joint US-ROK military exercise Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) begins as scheduled.
: After almost six months of dispute the two Koreas finally agree on wages at the joint venture Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC). The North accepts the existing 5 percent ceiling on annual pay hikes, but the South agrees to recalculate this to include bonuses.
: Headline in the Seoul daily Korea Herald declares that “All inter-Korean liberation events scrapped.” (In fact, as the article shows, despite several proposals nothing concrete had yet been organized.)
: UN Command (UNC) accuses North Korea of recently laying the mines that exploded on Aug. 4. Vowing “pitiless” but proportionate retaliation, the same day South Korea reactivates propaganda loudspeakers along the DMZ, silent since 2004.
: Lee Hee-ho and her party return from Pyongyang, having not been able to meet either her nominal host Kim Jong Un or any other senior figures.
: Ex-ROK First Lady Lee Hee-ho, widow of Kim Dae-jung and an 18-strong delegation fly to Pyongyang, on an aircraft provided by an ROK low-cost carrier.
: A landmine blast maims two ROK sergeants on a routine patrol in the DMZ.
: MND says that on July 31 the KPA athletic guidance committee informed the International Military Sports Council (CISM) that the DPRK will not after all participate in the Military World Games to be held in Mungyeong, ROK on Oct. 2-11. No reason is given.
: North Korea cancels the talks due in Kaesong next day on joint Liberation Day celebrations, asking rhetorically: “Will a joint event on Aug. 15 be possible amid a confrontation among kindred…?” This ends any prospect of organizing such events.
: At North Korea’s invitation, Southern NGOs go to Kaesong to discuss joint Aug. 15 events. Failing to agree anything concrete, they decide to meet again on July 31.
: North Korea rejects the South’s two recent contact suggestions, saying the atmosphere is not ripe given Southern hostility. Its Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) is scathing about the SDD saying, “It is loathsome on its own that South Korea is hosting talks on security.”
: Bank of Korea (BOK), the ROK central bank, issues its annual report and estimates on the DPRK economy, which it reckons grew by 1.0 percent last year.
: The ROK Ministry of National Defense (MND) says that, in a telephone call that day via the west coast hotline, it has for the first time invited the DPRK to join the 33 countries due to attend the multilateral Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD) in September. MND suggests that the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces (MPAF) send a vice-minister.
: ROK Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo says the DPRK’s denuclearization is not an “absolute prerequisite” for better inter-Korean ties and more exchanges, provided Pyongyang makes the right choice to walk on the path in that direction.
: After further talks in Kaesong, the Kim Dae-Jung Peace Center announces that former ROK First Lady Lee Hee-Ho will visit Pyongyang on Aug. 5-8, traveling by air.
: The aforementioned new UN human rights field office in Seoul is officially inaugurated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.
: Organizers of the upcoming Gwangju Universiade (world student games) say North Korea sent an email on June 19 withdrawing its participation for political reasons; namely the imminent opening in Seoul of a UN office to monitor human rights in the DPRK.
: Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), affiliated to the ROK Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE), reports that North Korea’s trade fell by 18 percent in 2015, ending five straight years of growth. The main cause is falling prices for coal and other key exports to China, by far the DPRK’s largest market. However these figures exclude inter-Korean trade, which despite comprising solely the KIC bucked the trend: rising 15.8 percent to $2.71 billion in its final full year before Seoul shut down the zone this Feb.
: KCNA claims that North Korea is suffering its worst drought in 100 years. Some observers doubt if things are quite that bad.
: South Korean NGO committee that held talks with North Korea on anniversary events for the 2000 Summit blames the ROK government for their collapse.
: Vice Transportation Minister Yeo Hyung-koo says a DPRK veto has blocked ROK’s application to join the Moscow-based Organization for Cooperation between Railways (OSJD), even though Seoul recently hosted an OSJD event. The organization may revise its rules so that unanimity is not required. Pyongyang did the same last time Seoul tried, in 2003.
: Yonhap reports that the two Koreas have failed to agree on joint events for the 15th anniversary of the first inter-Korean summit on June 15.
: DPRK’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), in a tone which (as often) is at odds with its name, attacks a planned new UN office in Seoul to monitor human rights in the North as an “unpardonable provocation” and “open declaration of war.” It vows that “As soon as that anti-North base is set up in the South, it will be our very first target with merciless retribution.”
: “Women Cross DMZ” enter South Korea by land from the North, using a bus through the western crossing from Kaesong rather than walking via Panmunjom as they had initially hoped. Allegations of naiveté toward the DPRK give them a mixed reception in Seoul, and later Washington, although they also had some defenders.
: At one day’s notice and without explanation, North Korea cancels a planned visit to the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) by UN Secretary General (and former ROK Foreign Minister) Ban Ki-Moon, who is visiting Seoul.
: South Korea’s NIS claims that the North’s Minister of People’s Armed Forces (MPAF), Hyon Yong Chol, was executed by anti-aircraft machines gun fire circa April 30 at a military school in Pyongyang for insubordination to Kim Jong Un.
: Rodong Sinmun announces the death of Korean People’s Army (KPA) Gen. Kim Kyok Sik. As commander of the KPA’s Fourth Corps based in Hwanghae Province in 2010, Kim is regarded in Seoul as having masterminded that year’s two fatal attacks: the torpedoing of the corvette Cheonan in March, and the shelling of Yeongpyeong Island in November.
: Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, President Park Geun-hye’s special envoy to Russia’s VE day commemorations, exchanges pleasantries with Kim Yong Nam, North Korea’s titular head of state, at the parade in Moscow. Kim Jong Un had been expected to attend, but did not.
: Meeting in Shenyang, the two Koreas agree to push for joint events to mark the 15th anniversary of the first inter-Korean summit in June and the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule in August. No details are given. Seoul is represented by NGOs; the ROK government will review and must approve any concrete proposals.
: DPRK issues an “emergency special warning,” threatening to attack ROK speedboats that it claims have been violating its territorial waters in the West (Yellow) Sea several times daily for the past week.
: Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency says it arrested a 28 year old man for posting dozens of pro-DPRK articles online between December 2011 and April 2013. 20 fellow-members of Corean Alliance, a civic group dubbed “anti-state” by the ROK government, demonstrate in front of Suwon police station, claiming the arrest stifles free speech.
: South Korea rejects as “inappropriate” a call by the North to lift economic sanctions as a precondition for inter-Korean dialogue.
: Hwang Joon-kook, ROK special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, tells reporters in Washington that the other five participant states in the Six-Party Talks are “pushing for unconditional exploratory talks” with North Korea.
: ROK government approves a meeting by Southern civic groups with their Northern counterparts to discuss joint events marking the 15th anniversary of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 and the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan in 1945.
: In a 6-3 decision, the ROK Constitutional Court upholds the National Security Law (NSL)’s comprehensive ban on anti-state activities. It rejects a suit brought by a certain Song, charged under the NSL because Kim Il Sung’s memoirs were found on his computer hard drive. The dissenting judges argued that purpose matters rather than possession per se.
: The ROK government approves a meeting by Southern civic groups with their Northern counterparts, to discuss joint events marking the 70th anniversary of liberation from Japan in 1945. A five-strong delegation flies to Shenyang, China and holds talks there on May 5-6. The outcome is not known at this writing.
: In a 6-3 decision, the ROK Constitutional Court upholds the National Security Law (NSL)’s comprehensive ban on anti-state activities. It rejects a suit brought by a certain Song, charged under the NSL because Kim Il Sung’s memoirs were found on his computer hard drive. The dissenting judges argued that purpose matters rather than possession per se.
: Two South Koreans arrested in March are interviewed (separately) by CNN. Missionary Kim Kuk-gi (61) and businessman Choe Chun-gil (56) confess to being spies (ROK’s National Intelligence Service [NIS] denies this), praise Kim Jong Un for treating them well, and say their own government has disowned them.
: Three ROK provinces and Busan city announce plans to resume suspended aid to or cooperation with the DPRK, now that Seoul has given local authorities a green light.
: Two middle-aged South Koreans arrested in March are interviewed (separately) by CNN, who were invited to Pyongyang without being told why. Missionary Kim Kuk-gi (61) and businessman Choe Chun-gil (56) confess to being spies (the ROK NIS denies this), praise Kim Jong Un for treating them well, and say their own government has disowned them.
: Three ROK provinces and Busan city announce plans to resume suspended aid to or cooperation with the DPRK, now that Seoul has give local authorities a green light.
: Official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) proclaims DPRK support for a planned peace march from Pyongyang to Seoul, organized by US-based ad hoc group Women Cross DMZ. The 30 international participants include the feminist Gloria Steinem and two Nobel Peace Prize laureates.
: KCNA reports that Joo Won-Moon, a 21 year old South Korean living (with permanent US residence) in Tenafly, NJ and studying at New York University, entered the DPRK illegally by crossing the Yalu River from China on April 22 and is under arrest. On May 4 Joo tells CNN he wanted to be arrested, hoping this will assist inter-Korean peace.
: KCNA announces the DPRK’s official support for a May 24 peace march from Pyongyang to Seoul, organized by the US-based Women Cross DMZ. Two Nobel Peace Prize laureates are among the participants. The ROK government had already said it will let the group enter the South via the DMZ, if the DPRK allows passage. The march has some critics.
: KCNA reports that Joo Won-moon, a 21 year old South Korean living (with permanent US residence) in Tenafly, NJ and studying at New York University, entered the DPRK illegally by crossing the Yalu River from China on April 22 and is under arrest. On May 4 Joo tells CNN he wanted to be arrested, hoping this will assist inter-Korean peace.
: South Korea says it will promote civilian exchange with and increase aid to the North. Seoul hopes for joint projects in areas such as culture, history, and sports.
: South Korea says it will promote civilian exchange with and increase aid to the North. Seoul hopes for joint projects in areas such as culture, history, and sports.
: MOU’s 2015 white paper on unification reports that inter-Korean trade more than doubled year-on-year in 2014 to reach a record $2.343 billion. (2013 saw a slump due to the lengthy closure of the Kaesong IC, which accounts for almost 100 percent of trade.)
: A convoy of Ace Gyeongam trucks drives North to deliver aid materials. The ROK government says it is not planning to resume large-scale food or fertilizer assistance.
: MOU approves the first fertilizer aid to North Korea since 2010, a modest 15 tons, as part of a greenhouse project in Sariwon by Ace Gyeongam (see also April 28).
: This year’s Foal Eagle joint US-ROK military maneuvers are concluded.
: After meeting with Northern officials in the KIC, a representative of South Korean businesses invested there says the North has extended its deadline for payment of March’s wages from today until April 24. None of the firms has yet paid.
: MND says it will raise defense spending during the 2016-20 quinquennium by 8.7 trillion won ($8.03 billion) more than it had planned. The extra will go on enhancing pre-emptive strike and air defense capabilities, based on an assessment that North Korea has made significant progress in its ability to miniaturize nuclear warheads to fit atop missiles.
: MOU says that on April 16-17 a second consignment of Russian bituminous coal, 140,000 tons in all, will travel by rail across the border from Khasan in Russia to North Korea’s Rajin port city, and be shipped thence to three west coast ports in South Korea. The buyers are steelmaker Posco and power generator Kepco. Full delivery is expected by May 9. The first such consignment of 40,500 tons arrived in Ulsan last November.
: Kim Yoon-suk, secretary general of the Gwangju Universiade Organizing Committee (GUOC), says there will be no unified Korean team at the games.
: Referring to the April 20 deadline set by North Korea, MOU says it will not be restrained by any specific timetable in seeking to resolve the Kaesong wages row.
: A four-strong delegation headed by Jang Jong-nam, vice president of the DPRK National University Sports Federation, flies into Seoul via Beijing to take part in the Heads of Delegation (HoD) meeting and draw for the 2015 Summer Universiade (world student games) to be held in Gwangju, ROK in July (3-14). The Northern delegates fly home on April 14.
: Uriminzokkiri, a DPRK website based in China, threatens to “bombard (South Korea) with blows of fire” if leaflet launches continue: “Our patience is wearing thin.”
: ROK police prevent activist Park Hang-sak from launching balloons across the DMZ carrying copies of the film The Interview.
: The South’s Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo vows to “work harder to open a channel of dialogue” with the North. He also calls for more joint projects.
: Officials from both Koreas hold their first direct meeting about the Kaesong pay dispute at the eponymous industrial complex (KIC). Despite talk of “positive signs,” no concrete progress is made.
: Blue House says Brig. Gen. Shin In-seop, former deputy commander of the ROK military cybercommand, will take up the new post of Presidential secretary for cybersecurity, created principally to combat North Korean cyber-attacks.
: MOU says it will formally instruct ROK firms invested in the Kaesong IC not to pay the wage increase imposed by the DPRK.
: A year after President Park’s Dresden Declaration, South Korea says it still hopes the North will respond in some form to the proposals therein.
: On the fifth anniversary of the sinking of the Cheonan, President Park says she “hopes North Korea abandons its reckless provocations and belief that nuclear weapons can protect the country,” but does not directly accuse Pyongyang of responsibility. Ignoring that nuance, on March 29 the North accuses Park of inciting North-South confrontation.
: Puncturing the party line in both Seoul and Washington, Kim Moo-sung – chairman of the South’s ruling Saenuri Party and a likely presidential contender in 2017 – tells students in Busan that after three tests North Korea should be viewed as a nuclear power.
: In Hanoi, ROK parliamentary speaker Chung Ui-hwa urges President Truong Tan Sang to invite Kim Jong Un to Vietnam “at the earliest date possible” so he can learn from Vietnam’s Doi Moi reforms. Sang replies that DPRK titular head of state Kim Yong Nam visited in 2012, and “listened attentively” when briefed on the reform program.
: Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries says the (South) Korea Maritime Institute will soon sign an agreement with the FAO for a joint study on pisciculture in North Korea. FAO plans to raise $26.5 million to build new fish farms there.
: US-ROK Key Resolve computer-based exercise concludes.
: ROK National Assembly confirms Hong Yong-pyo as the new Minister of Unification. He was previously Blue House senior secretary with the same portfolio.
: Seoul press reports quote Chung Chong-wook, vice chairman of the ROK’s Presidential Committee for Unification Preparation (PCUP), as telling a forum that PCUP has “a team dedicated to non-consensual unification” of Korea, implying a regime change agenda. Two days later Chung denies that any such team exists and says he was misunderstood.
: A pro-North activist, Kim Ki-jong, slashes US Ambassador Mark Lippert at a forum in Seoul, wounding him bloodily in the face and arm. Serious injury is narrowly avoided. DPRK media applaud the attack as a “knife shower of justice.”
: ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) report that North Korea launched two presumed short-range ballistic missiles from Nampo on its west coast into the East Sea (Sea of Japan); meaning they overflew the DPRK from coast to coast.
: Combined Forces Command (CFC) announces the schedule for this spring’s two regular US-ROK joint military maneuvers. Both will begin on March 2. The computer-based Key Resolve ends on March 13, while the far larger and longer field training exercise Foal Eagle, which mobilizes 200,000 South Korean and 3,700 US forces, will continue until April 24.
: At an enlarged meeting of the WPK Central Military Commission (CMC), Kim Jong Un inter alia “clarifie[s] the methods of fighting a war with the US imperialists.”
: DPRK media report Kim Jong Un as guiding artillery units of the KPA in a “drill for striking and seizing island” (sic). This appears based of the shelling of the ROK’s Yeonpyeong in November 2010, which killed four. There is a specific warning against firing towards the North Korean littoral, no doubt with an eye to upcoming US-ROK war games.
: Kim Jong Un presides over an enlarged meeting of the Politburo of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). Several speeches warn against “shortcomings,” including “abuse of power, bureaucratism, irregularities and corruption.” Official mention of the last is thought to be unprecedented, though the reality is widespread in today’s North Korea
: A survey reports South Koreans as divided by age over the KIC’s shutdown. Younger citizens mostly oppose this, whereas their elders tend to approve.
: Rodong Sinmun savages Lee Myung-bak over his recent memoir: “No wonder … the lying bastard is so forgetful, his brain capacity is known to be less than 2 megabytes”. (This reprises an old pun: Lee MB also means 2 megabytes, i.e., not much processing power.)
: South Korea’s Red Cross (KNRC) says the North refused its offer to provide 25 tons of powdered milk for infants. A 20 ton aid package was sent in 2009.
: Lee Myung-bak publishes President’s Time, an 800 page memoir about his presidency (2008-13). Much trailed ahead of publication, it reveals several secret dealings with North Korea. Critics fear this will harm future diplomacy and inter-Korean relations.
: MOU says the ROK will give $3.1 million to the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) to finance its next census of the DPRK, in 2018 – a decade after the 2008 census, which South Korea also funded to the tune of $2.3 million. It will also spend $2.9 million to support a jointly produced North-South “Big Dictionary of the Korean People’s Language.”
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the ruling Workers Party (WPK), repeats a demand by the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) that South Korea must scrap its “May 24 measures” (sanctions) as a precondition for dialogue.
: MOU announces a 90 million won ($83,000) grant from the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund to resume support for training DPRK doctors in Germany. The ROK had funded this program in 2007 and 2008, but withdrew support under Lee Myung-bak.
: Famed North Korean defector Shin Dong-hyuk, subject of the book Escape From Camp 14, apologizes for several inaccuracies in his account of his tribulations.
: Lee Min-bok (see Jan. 6 above) says that in response to a government request “we’re not going to excessively spread anti-North Korea leaflets for the time being.”
: Following the Uijeongbu court ruling (see Jan. 6), both South Korea’s two main parties call on the government to review its stand on cross-border leaflet launches. The liberal opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD)’s Heo Young-il says these should be “actively restrained”; the conservative ruling Saenuri party’s Kim Young-woo says: “The state has a duty to protect the lives and property of its people … The government should make a careful and suitable judgment.”
: North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) castigates the latest leaflet balloon launch as a “reckless act” and a “blatant challenge,” out of step with the North’s “goodwill and generosity.” It again demands that Seoul prevent such activities.
: ROK Defense Ministry (MND)’s biennial defense White Paper claims inter alia that the KPA has grown by 10,000, and its cyber-forces (mainly targeting the South) have doubled to 6,000. It retains the designation of North Korea as main enemy, reintroduced in 2012, and also formally acknowledges the North’s nuclear weapons for the first time.
: MOU says it will release funds from the official Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund (IKCF) for private aid to North Korea. 13 NGOs will share some 3 billion won ($2.7 million) for 17 health, farming, and livestock projects in the North. This is the first such aid Seoul has allowed since imposing sanctions in May 2010 after the sinking of the Cheonan.
: South Korean daily JoongAng Daily reports a claim that the key DPRK leader Hwang Pyong So is of South Korean origin. His father Hwang Pil-gu was a communist who went North, returned as a spy, was arrested in 1959, killed himself in jail in 1985, and is buried in his home area Gochang in North Jeolla. Interviews with South Korean relatives appear to confirm the family tree, although other sources are skeptical of any connection.
: Campaign for Helping North Korea in Direct Way (sic), a group led by defector Lee Min-bok, launches 20 balloons across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). They carry 600,000 leaflets that denounce the DPRK regime for causing extreme poverty. MOU says it has no power to prevent this. However, the same day a district court at Uijeongbu, north of Seoul, rules that the government may legally restrain leaflet launches if these put the lives of ROK citizens at risk. It thus dismisses Lee’s suit claiming that official attempts to restrain him had caused him psychological damage.
: South Korea’s Unification Ministry (MOU) says it allowed a private aid group to send 20 tons of sweet potatoes for children in Sinuiju, DPRK, the first unprocessed crop sent since Park Geun-hye took office. The ROK government fears that raw crops might be diverted to the Korean People’s Army (KPA).
: President Park tells a meeting of top officials that “unification is not idealism or a dream”; she says her government “will try its utmost on practical preparations needed for tangible and real [unification] to be realized.” ROK officials cautiously assess the DPRK’s offer as positive.
: President Park tells a meeting of top officials that “unification is not idealism or a dream,” and says her government “will try its utmost on practical preparations needed for tangible and real [unification] to be realized.” ROK officials cautiously assess the DPRK’s offer as positive.
: Kim Jong Un says in his New Year address: “… it is possible to resume the suspended high-level contacts and hold sectoral talks if the south Korean authorities are sincere in their stand towards improving inter-Korean relations …And there is no reason why we should not hold a summit meeting if the atmosphere and environment for it are created.”
: Kim Jong Un says in his New Year address: “… it is possible to resume the suspended high-level contacts and hold sectoral talks if the south Korean authorities are sincere in their stand towards improving inter-Korean relations …And there is no reason why we should not hold a summit meeting if the atmosphere and environment for it are created.”
: MOU says that in 2015 it will provide North Korea with $620,000 in aid via the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), as part of a $4.17 million technical assistance and training program ongoing since 2006.
: Uriminzokkiri, a website run by the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK), blasts a recent trilateral intelligence-sharing pact between South Korea, Japan, and the US as a “military provocation” aimed at “invading our country.”
: Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae announces that South Korea has sent a faxed message to the North proposing minister-level talks in January, without preconditions.
: Two ROK delegations, from Hyundai Group and the Kim Dae Jung Peace Center (KDJPC) visit Kaesong, invited by Kim Yang Gon to thank them for a wreath in memory of Kim Jong Il delivered a week earlier (Kim’s deputy Won Dong Yon had thanked them at the time).
: MOFA says it expects the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)’s new field office, dedicated to monitoring human rights abuses in North Korea, to open in Seoul in the first quarter of 2015.
: The ROK MOFA welcomes the plenary UNGA’s adoption Dec. 18 of a strongly worded resolution on DPRK human rights, including encouraging the Security Council to consider referring the situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
: In an unprecedented ruling, the ROK Constitutional Court orders (by 8-1) the dissolution of the small far-left Unified Progressive Party (UPP).
: MOU says North Korea has refused to accept a faxed letter protesting its scrapping a 5 percent annual wage rise cap and other unilateral revisions of working conditions for around 53,000 employees at the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC).
: (North) Korean Council of Religionists (KCR) says a plan by the Christian Council of Korea (CCK) to erect a Christmas-tree shaped tower on top of Aegibong, a front-line hill in Gimpo, west of Seoul, aims to use religion to fuel confrontation. A previous tower which stood for 43 years was taken down as unsafe by the ROK military, but on Dec. 2 Seoul gave permission for another. In the event the CCK decides not to go ahead.
: MOU says the South returned 10 Northern fishermen and their boat found drifting with engine trouble near Dokdo on Nov. 23.
: Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-Jae urges the ROK National Assembly to pass a bill on North Korea’s human rights abuses to create a legal basis for “systemic” efforts to address the problem, and give a ray of hope to North Korean people.
: Hyun Jeong-eun, chairwoman of Hyundai Group, returns from Mt. Kumgang after visiting to mark the 16th anniversary of Hyundai’s tours there, suspended since 2008.
: CPRF attacks the South’s Hoguk war games – the largest ever with 330,000 troops, running Nov. 10-22 – as a prelude to war and proof that Seoul does not want dialogue.
: The New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), South Korea’s liberal main opposition party, moves a bill that would require cross-border leafleteers to obtain prior government permission.
: MOU says North Korea has asked for Ebola detection devices at the joint venture Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC). Other foreign visitors to the DPRK must serve a 21-day quarantine, even diplomats. South agrees to lend three thermal image scanners for the purpose.
: North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) says that Park Geun-hye’s plan to unveil a new charter for reunification in 2015 “demonstrates the South’s pursuit of unification by absorption.”
: Ignoring warnings from North Korea and objections by local residents in the Paju area, who initially block their passage with tractors, anti-DPRK activists again send balloons carrying critical leaflets across the DMZ into North Korea
: South Korea’s Foreign Ministry (MOFA) says it has invited North Korea to an upcoming (Oct. 28-30) forum in Seoul to discuss and advance President Park’s Northeast Asia Peace and Cooperation Initiative (NAPCI). Pyongyang does not respond, much less attend.
: Two ROK business organizations involved in inter-Korean commerce call on the South to lift its sanctions. One says that 2,000 Southern firms used to do business with the North, “but now it is even impossible to exactly determine who is still afloat.”
: Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-Jae tells the [South] Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation: “If the South and the North hold talks, almost all issues can be resolved.” Pyongyang has not responded to Seoul’s proposal to meet on Oct. 30.
: MND says Pyongyang sent a telephone message claiming its DMZ patrols are routine and legitimate, and threatening reaction if Seoul fires at them again.
: On consecutive days, near Cheolwon and then Paju in the central and western zones respectively, groups of KPA soldiers approach the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) which bisects the DMZ. They retreat when the South fires warning shots; on Oct. 19 the North returns fire.
: KCNA releases an “open report” on “the whole story of how the north-south emergency contact in Panmunjom on Wednesday ended without any fruit.”
: MOU says it will pay 550 million won ($520,000) or some 70 percent of North Korea’s costs for participating in the Incheon Asiad. The North already paid $191,682.
: KCNA reports visits by Kim Jong Un to the newly built Wisong Scientists Residential District and the Natural Energy Institute of the State Academy of Sciences. This is the DPRK leader’s first public appearance for six weeks, since Sept. 3.
: The South proposes Oct. 30 as the date for high-level inter-Korean talks.
: The two Koreas exchange machine-gun fire after the North apparently tries to shoot down propaganda balloons. Spent rounds are found near Yeoncheon in the South, which fires back after issuing warnings. No casualties are reported, or intended.
: Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the ruling conservative Saenuri Party says the total area of the five main concentration camps in North Korea’s gulag is 1,248 sq km, more than twice the size of Seoul (605 sq km). The notorious Yodok alone covers 552 sq km.
: ROK foreign minister queries claims by the US-based Institute for Science and International Security that North Korea has temporarily shut down its plutonium-producing nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.
: MOU says that the North’s delegation paid part of the charges for its stay in the Incheon athletes’ village before returning home, and that the South will cover the rest from its official Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund (IKCF).
: ROK Defense Ministry tells a parliamentary audit that “after declaring 2015 the year of completing unification, North Korea has been prepared for full-scale wars” (sic).
: ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) report that patrol boats of the two Koreas’ navies exchanged fire for 10 minutes at 0950 near Yeonpyeong Island. The South fired back, and the Northern boat retreated. Neither side sustained casualties or damage.
: MOU says that despite North Korea’s sudden conciliatory gesture in sending a high-level delegation, it has no plan to lift economic sanctions imposed in May 2010 after the Cheonan sinking: “Our government’s basic position is that the May 24th Measures can be lifted only after North Korea takes a responsible step that the South Korean people accept.”
: The Asian Games conclude in Incheon. The closing ceremony is unexpectedly attended by three of North Korea’s most senior leaders: Vice-Marshal Han Pyong So, Choe Ryong Hae, and Kim Yang Gon. Meeting South Korean ministers (but not President Park), it is agreed to hold high-level talks within a month. The visitors fly home the same day.
: KCNA reports that the DPRK athletics team at Incheon held an “evening longing for respected Marshal Kim Jong Un,” with songs and speeches pining for the Leader.
: The Policy Department of the DPRK National Defence Commission (NDC) strongly attacks President Park for various comments during her recent US trip.
: President Park Geun-hye makes a keynote speech at the UN Climate Summit in New York. She criticizes North Korea for its record on nuclear weapons and human rights.
: ROK Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se is among the speakers at the first-ever ministerial forum held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly (UNGA), organized by the US. The topic of the brief half-hour meeting is North Korean human rights abuses, which Yun, US Secretary of State John Kerry, and others criticize.
: The 17th Asian Games (XVII Asiad) open in Incheon. A full team of athletes from the DPRK is among the 45 states participating.
: North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reports (full text): “The delegation of the DPRK Olympic Committee led by Chairman Kim Yong Hun, minister of Physical Culture and Sports, and the DPRK players group led by Kim Pyong Sik, vice-minister of Physical Culture and Sports, left here Tuesday to take part in the 17th Asian Games.” It does not mention that their destination is Incheon in South Korea.
: The leading Seoul daily JoongAng Ilbo calls on the North to allow more reunions of separated families, adding also that “Our government needs to be more flexible.”
: The first batch of DPRK participants in the Asian Games flies directly from Pyongyang on their national airline Air Koryo to Incheon International Airport (IIA). This 94-strong group includes Vice Sports Minister Jang Su Myong. The rest of the North’s 273-strong contingent arrives over the next few days, including Sports Minister Kim Yong Hun on Sept. 16.
: MOU confirms a decision by the Asiad organizers to remove flags of all 45 competing nations from public streets, after right-wing groups threaten violence against the DPRK flag – whose display is illegal under the ROK’s National Security Law. A day later it adds that Southern spectators will not be allowed to fly the Northern flag in stadiums, either.
: MOU confirms that North Korea sent back via Panmunjom a South Korean man aged 52 who had illegally entered the DPRK via a third country, despite his plea to stay in the North and have his family join him.
: The first group of North Korean participants in the Asian Games flies directly from Pyongyang aboard the DPRK national airline Air Koryo, landing at Incheon International Airport (IIA). This 94-strong group includes Vice Sports Minister Jang Su Myong and 38 soccer players (20 male, 18 female); the soccer tournament begins ahead of the Asiad’s official opening on Sept. 19. The rest of the North’s 273-strong contingent will come in four further batches, including Sports Minister Kim Yong Hun: scheduled to arrive Sept. 14, he will be the most senior Northern official to visit the South since 2009.
: MOU confirms a decision by the Asiad organizers to remove flags of all 45 competing nations from public streets, after rightwing groups threaten violence against the DPRK flag – whose display is illegal under the ROK’s National Security Law. A day later it adds that Southern spectators will not be allowed to fly the Northern flag in stadiums, either.
: In a speech on the 66th anniversary of the DPRK’s founding, Premier Pak Pong Ju declares: “We will do our best to improve North-South relations.” He does not elaborate.
: MOU and two other ROK ministries, Justice (MOJ) and Security and Public Administration (MOSPA), jointly launch an integrated database on legal issues likely to arise during and after Korea’s reunification. It can be found at www.unilaw.go.kr. (Korean only)
: North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un, as often, attends a concert by the Moranbong Band, a modish all-female combo he created. Thereafter Kim is not seen in public for over a month, prompting feverish speculation abroad as to his whereabouts and fate.
: MOU and two other ROK Ministries, Justice (MOJ) and Security and Public Administration (MOSPA), jointly launch an integrated database on legal issues likely to arise during and after Korea’s reunification. It can be found at www.unilaw.go.kr. (Korean only)
: An MOU spokesman says the South will share the cost of the North’s taking part in the 17th Asian Games (Asiad) soon to be held in Incheon, ROK, and that the gap between the two sides on who should pay for what is “not wide.” No figures are given. He reiterates that the North is welcome to bring cheerleaders.
: An MOU spokesman says the South will share the cost of the North’s taking part in the Asian Games, and that the gap between the two sides on who pays what is “not wide.” No figures are given. He reiterates that the North is welcome to bring cheerleaders.
: Lim Byeong-cheol, spokesman of South Korea’s Unification Ministry (MOU), reiterates that “there is no change in the government’s basic position with regard to the May 24th Measures”; meaning sanctions will remain unless North Korea formally apologizes for sinking the corvette Cheonan in 2010. He hopes nonetheless that the North will agree to a fresh round of family reunions “before it gets too cold” this winter.
: MOU spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol reiterates that “there is no change in the government’s basic position with regard to the May 24th Measures”, meaning sanctions will remain unless North Korea formally apologizes for sinking the Cheonan in 2010. He hopes nonetheless that the North will agree to family reunions “before it gets too cold.”
: North Korea’s Olympic Committee repeats its claim that the South is being disingenuous on the cheerleader issue.
: Daum, a leading South Korean web portal, publishes high-resolution views and maps of almost all North Korea except areas near the DMZ. For security reasons the very latest data available to the ROK government is not used. Daum’s product is described as far more comprehensive in its coverage than Google Maps, though the latter is more up to date.
: MOU spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol says, “It’s very regrettable that North Korea unilaterally announced plans not to send cheerleaders [to the Incheon Asian Games], making a distorted claim that we do not want their participation.”
: JoongAng Ilbo reports a survey of 116,000 school pupils. 1 in 4 view North Korea as a foe, and 1 in 5 see unification as unnecessary (53.5 percent disagree).
: ROK Supreme Court upholds an appeal court ruling acquitting Park Jong-geun, 26, of violating the NSL by retweeting North Korean materials; accepting his defense that his purpose had been to ridicule the DPRK. His original trial in Suwon in 2012 had found him guilty and imposed a 10-month jail term, suspended for two years.
: Son Kwang Ho, vice-chairman of the DPRK National Olympic Committee, tells the North’s Korean Central Television (KCTV) that no cheerleading squad will be sent to the Incheon Asiad after all. Blaming the South for calling the cheerleaders subversives and taking issue with the group’s size and cost, he says Seoul was informed of this decision last week. MOU belatedly confirms that the North did indeed convey that message.
: Yoo Ki-june, an influential lawmaker of the South’s ruling Saenuri Party who chairs the ROK National Assembly’s foreign affairs committee, urges the lifting of sanctions against North Korea and the resumption of tourism to the North’s Mount Kumgang resort “for reduction of tension and dialogue between the two Koreas.”
: The South sends a letter to the North regarding its Asiad participation. This is not published, but reportedly its contents include permission for the DPRK team to arrive by direct flight from Pyongyang, and offers of administrative and other support.
: The Korean Broadcasters Association (KBA), whose council comprises the ROK’s three major broadcasters (KBS, MBC and SBS), says it will offer North Korea rights to broadcast the Asian Games for free “in accordance with humanitarianism and sports spirit.”
: JoongAng Ilbo cites MOU as saying that currently less than 3 percent of KIC output is exported beyond the peninsula. In 2010 the proportion was 11.3 percent.
: MOU says it will start building a genetic database of families separated by the Korean War. It will also start filming 10-minute family messages to be sent to relatives in the North. Pyongyang is not known to have agreed to such messages.
: David Cohen, who as US Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence oversees sanctions against North Korea, visits Seoul for consultations.
: Rodong Sinmun thunders: “We have already declared solemnly that all the aggressor forces to be involved in the UFG, military bases in south Korea and overseas, White House, Pentagon, Chongwadae and other bases of aggression and provocation would become the targets of the strategic and tactical rockets and other high-performance ultra-modern ultra-precision fire strike means of the revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK.”
: Ryang Song Ho, dean of Pyongyang College of Physical Education, flies into Incheon International Airport heading an eight-strong DPRK delegation, which takes part in the Asiad group draw next day. Speaking at a conference in Incheon, Ryang praises Kim Jong Un for building “thousands of multifunctional sports facilities and sports parks” and other “facilities which embody the civilisation of the new era” like the new Masikryong ski resort.
: Presenting MOU’s 2014 policy plan to the National Assembly’s diplomatic affairs committee, ROK Unification Minister Ryoo reiterates that “it is difficult to imagine the government unilaterally lifting” sanctions against North Korea. “If (Pyongyang) needs the May 24 sanctions to be removed, it should come to the negotiating table and discuss it there.” He also calls on the North to accept the South’s offer of high-level talks.
: Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG), the annual US-ROK military exercise, begins. 50,000 ROK and 30,000 US forces participate, plus troops from 10 other nations. North Korea as usual denounces this as an invasion plan and threatens pre-emptive strikes.
: Kim Jong Un sends a wreath and telegram on the fourth anniversary of the death of Kim Dae-jung. This is delivered to Kim’s son in Kaesong by Kim Yang Gon, who as head of the United Front Department of the WPK is Pyongyang’s top point man on the South.
: In a rare privilege, both Koreas allow 32 ethnic Koreans from countries of the former Soviet Union to drive their convoy of five SUVs across the DMZ from North to South. The 10,000 mile journey to mark 150 years of Korean emigration to Russia began in Moscow on July 7; they entered the DPRK via Rajin on Aug. 8. Their odyssey ends with participation in a Mass for peace and reconciliation in Seoul, celebrated by Pope Francis. Vasily Cho, the group’s leader, says they hope that this venture will help improve inter-Korean relations.
: In her Liberation Day speech, ROK President Park offers the North a range of cooperative projects. Some reprise offers made in her Dresden Declaration in March.
: In an unscripted comment, Pope Francis during a week-long visit to South Korea tells a questioner in Seoul: “Think of your brothers in the North. They speak the same language as you, and when in a family the same language is spoken, there is a human hope.”
: In a statement ahead of Liberation Day (from Japan in 1945: a holiday in both Koreas), the North’s CPRK urges the South to end hostile acts, terminate US “interference,” and “take practical steps to implement the already agreed north-south agreements.”
: Incheon Asiad organisers say the DPRK has duly submitted the names of 150 athletes in 14 sports plus 202 coaches, referees, and staff, confirming its participation despite July’s row and no subsequent meetings with the South. There is no mention of cheerleaders.
: A North Korean father and son swim to the South’s Gyodong Island in the West/Yellow Sea, just south of the NLL and 1.5 miles from the DPRK coast. Though rare, this is the third successive year that defectors have succeeded in escaping by swimming.
: South Korea proposes high-level talks at Panmunjom on Aug. 19. Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae says: “We want to discuss family reunions and other pending inter-Korean issues in a comprehensive manner.” He adds that the North may raise any agenda it wishes, including the South’s “May 24” sanctions imposed in 2010. No reply is received by Aug. 19, or indeed thereafter.
: Noting that “Marshal Kim Jong Un personally guided a match for examining the men’s football of the National Sports Team to take part in the 17th Asian Games,” CPRK urges South Korea not to miss this opportunity to improve North-South relations.”
: A 38-strong team from the three companies – KoRail, Posco and Hyundai Merchant Marine – plus ROK government officials returns from a week-long site visit, their second, to the DPRK’s Rajin port. They report that Pyongyang is “pleased” that this consortium may invest in Rajin by buying half of Russian Railways’ 70 percent stake in a joint venture with North Korea to modernize rail and port facilities.
: North and South hold talks at Panmunjom on details of DPRK participation in the Asiad. Next day KCNA accuses Seoul of “provocations” on various issues, including cheerleaders, and threatens to “fundamentally reexamine its participation in the games.”
: South Korea formally launches its new Presidential Committee for Unification Preparation (PCUP). Its 50 members comprise 30 private sector experts, two lawmakers, 11 government officials and six heads of state research institutes. President Park will chair it.
: North Korea says that it will send cheerleaders as well as athletes to the Incheon Asiad, to “melt the frozen North-South relations with the heat of national reconciliation.”
: KCNA quotes the General Association of Koreans in China as marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950 by denouncing “the Park Geun Hye group of traitors [as] the sycophant and quisling without an equal in the world”.
: North Korea’s CPRK denounces UN-OHCHR’s plan to open an office in Seoul monitoring North Korean human rights as “a hideous politically-motivated provocation” and “a serious hostile act.” CPRK warns: “We will strongly react against it. Needless to say, the ‘office’ and its staff are not excepted from being targets of this action.” Earlier, on June 4, Rodong Sinmun accused the South of allowing this office in order to “worsen confrontation between the brother countries and achieve its ambition of forcible reunification.”
: MOU suggests that Hwang Pyong So (see May 1) may now be a vice-chairman of the WPK’s powerful Central Military Commission (CMC). It does not cite its evidence.
: USFK Commander Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti tells a Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA, MND’s think-tank) forum that the US is considering deploying a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense (MD) battery in South Korea so as to counter the North’s growing missile threats, and that he has personally recommended this.
: South Korea returns a Northern fisherman via Panmunjom, but not his two colleagues who asked to remain in the South. Pyongyang had demanded all three back. Their boat was found adrift with engine trouble near Ulleung-do in the East Sea three days earlier.
: President Park appoints Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin as her national security adviser, replacing Kim Jang-soo who resigned May 22. Kim KJ’s successor at MND is ex-JCS Chairman Han Min-koo. Pyongyang media denounce Kim as a “special-class criminal … hooligan … diehard pro-US lackey … worst traitor … special-class stooge of the US … wicked confrontation maniac” and more.
: Yonhap quotes “military sources” as saying that North Korea has been issuing fishing rights to Chinese vessels in the West Sea which include waters that are actually South Korea’s. China has been notified, and warned not to cross the Northern Limit Line (NLL).
: In Seoul, President Park meets and thanks Justice Michael Kirby, the retired Australian judge who chaired the UN inquiry on DPRK human rights abuses.
: South Korea’s Foreign Ministry (MOFA) says it has agreed to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) opening a field office in South Korea to monitor human rights abuses in North Korea.
: A day after allocating 632 million won (US$619,000) for research on the idea of a peace park in the DMZ, MOU says it will ask researchers to produce reports on how to accomplish this project – even though North Korea has rejected it.
: Rodong Sinmun avers that “Nothing will be resolved in inter-Korean relations as long as Park [Geun-hye] remains [in power],” and demands an end to her rule.
: KCNA names Kim Yong Hun as minister of physical culture and sports in place of Ri Jong Mu, who has served since 2012. Kim is close to leader Kim Jong Un.
: KCNA quotes a KPA call for the US to stop “hostile acts seriously rattling the nerves of the other side.” This refers to a steel tower erected at Panmunjom for surveillance purposes. USFK retorts that it had notified the North, which already has its own similar tower.
: Yonhap headlines a meeting in Seoul of the ROK and PRC foreign ministers as “S. Korea, China agree to deter N. Korea’s nuke ambitions.” The actual report has China’s Wang Yi calling for resumption of the Six-Party Talks.
: KCNA quotes the ‘Federation of Korean Economic Workers in China’ on Park Geun-hye: “Such prostitute, special-class traitor has to be eliminated at an early date … it is not possible to expect anything as long as the venomous serpent remains in Chongwadae.”
: Yonhap quotes ‘ROK officials’ as saying that representatives of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea and Archdiocese of Seoul met members of the DPRK Catholic Church in Shenyang, China, on May 18-19, inviting them to attend a mass to be celebrated by Pope Francis in Seoul in August. In the event no Northern Catholics come South for this.
: KCNA reports that the DPRK Olympic Committee has officially informed the Olympic Council of Asia that North Korea will participate in the 17th Asian Games (Asiad) in Incheon, ROK between Sept. 19 and Oct. 4. South Korea welcomes the news.
: Talking to reporters in Seoul after her first visit to North Korea on May 19-21, Ertharin Cousin, executive director of the UN World Food Program, says WFP’s nutrition program for DPRK children and pregnant women stands at a “very crucial juncture.” WFP aid to North Korea fell from $86.94 million in 2012 to $26.56 million in 2013.
: Citing currently negative inter-Korean relations, Seoul rejects Pyongyang’s proposal that they jointly mark the anniversary of the first North-South summit in June.
: At a conference in Shanghai, ROK Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae warns the DPRK not to conduct a fresh unclear test, but promises support should it opt to disarm.
: ROK’s Cardinal Andres Yeom Soo-jung visits the joint venture Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC): the first ever visit to North Korea by a Roman Catholic cardinal.
: KCNA report, headlined “KPA Will Wipe out Park Geun Hye-led Military Hooligans to Last One: Command of Southwestern Front of KPA,” accuses the ROK Navy of “firing at random at the warships of the Korean People’s Army which were on regular guard duty in the southwestern waters of the DPRK side and peaceable Chinese fishing boats.”
: DPRK’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) denounces ROK President Park Geun-hye’s apology for April’s Sewol ferry disaster. CPRK calls the accident “an unprecedented deliberate murder and a massacre perpetrated by … the Park group.”
: South Korea’s Unification Ministry (MOU) reveals that in March it fined a businessman 1 million won ($977) for an unauthorized meeting with North Koreans in China last December. They discussed possible Southern participation in a project to build a high-speed railway and parallel highway the length of the DPRK, from Sinuiju to Kaesong.
: MND spokesman Kim Min-seok tells a press briefing on Seoul: “The North is an abnormal state and should vanish as soon as possible.” The National Defence Commission (NDC), the DPRK’s topmost executive organ, ripostes next day: “All [our] service personnel and people … are strongly calling for wiping the Park group out of this land.”
: South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin says the North has made all its preparations for a fourth nuclear test, to be carried out “whenever it makes a decision.” In the event no such test takes place during the ensuing four months.
: WPK daily paper Rodong Sinmun condemns Park Geun-hye’s “Doctrine of Gaining Great Opportunity of Unification” (presumably this is bonanza, daebak) as a “strange watchword … fully reflect[ing] the base and ugly nature of philistinism [and] mammonism.”
: ROK Defense Ministry (MND) says that after restoring the geographical positioning system (GPS) coordinates stored in the three unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) found near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in March and April, it now has the “smoking gun” that proves that they were all launched from the DPRK.
: Poll taken late last year, but only published now, finds almost half (44.3 percent) of South Koreans unwilling to pay a cent toward unification – 31.9 percent would fork out $50 a year, and 11.7 percent up to $100. Only 1.2 percent would contribute over $1,000.
: Chairing a UN Security Council debate on weapons of mass destruction, ROK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Paik Ji-ah cuts off the microphone of DPRK Deputy Ambassador Ri Tong Il after he ignores two warnings and extends his allotted four minutes to 10.
: KCNA commentary on April 16 Sewol ferry disaster, in which 304 died, is headlined, “Park Geun Hye Is Wholly to Blame for Sinking of Ferry.” It calls her “a depraved old lady who has neither human ethics nor conscience and the worst traitor and sycophant.”
: KCNA issues a commentary headlined: “Park Geun Hye Is Wholly to Blame for Sinking of Ferry.” Inter alia this calls her “a depraved old lady who has neither human ethics nor conscience and the worst traitor and sycophant.”
: Rodong Sinmun thunders: “The [South Korean] puppet authorities’ moves to exchange military information with Japan are an unpardonable treacherous crime stunning the world in their danger, point of time and method.” Similarly, on May 7 a KCNA commentary, as its own headline puts it, “Assails [the] Criminal Nexus Among S. Korea, U.S., Japan.”
: KCNA again insults ROK President Park Geun-hye: “All Koreans are spitting on her as she is resorting to whorish and disgusting political prostitution only after leaving her soul or chastity violated at such old age of over 60.” It also refers to “her American master reminiscent of a wicked black monkey”. (Even more blatant and disgusting racism against President Obama appears at length in another KCNA article, published in Korean only.)
: KCNA again insults President Park: “All Koreans are spitting on her as she is resorting to whorish and disgusting political prostitution only after leaving her soul or chastity violated at such old age of over 60.” It also refers to “her American master reminiscent of a wicked black monkey”. (Even more blatant and disgusting racism against President Obama appears at length in another KCNA article, published in Korean only.)
: Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) confirms what Seoul had already surmised. Choe Ryong Hae has been replaced in the key post of political director of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) political director by Vice Marshal Hwang Pyong So. Both men in fact had civilian backgrounds and careers in the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK); Hwang only donned the uniform in 2011.
: Rodong Sinmun warns the South that to seek unification without concessions in its political system would lead to war, which would “reduce South Korea to ashes and return it to the “stone age.”
: The KPA stages a live-fire drill in the West Sea. Again it pre-notifies South Korea, which does not fire back as none of the North’s 50-odd shells fall south of the NLL.
: KoRail’s head Choi Yeon-hye returns from the OSJD meeting in Pyongyang. No details or outcomes of her week-long sojourn in North Korea have yet been disclosed.
: DPRK media use unprecedentedly abusive language against President Park, calling her a “prostitute” and “comfort woman.” On April 28 MOU condemns the North’s “vulgar expletives” as immoral.
: Hours before President Obama arrives in Seoul, two North Korean patrol boats intrude a mile south of the NLL. They retreat after verbal warnings and warning shots. The ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) says the intruders may have been monitoring numerous DPRK and Chinese fishing boats in these waters, as it is the peak crab season.
: Seoul allows the charity Medical Aid for Children to ship cold remedies and other medications worth 75 million won ($227,000) to a children’s hospital in Pyongyang. This brings total aid by ROK NGOs so far this year to 2 billion won.
: A week after the Sewol ferry tragedy, North Korea finally offers condolences in a telephone message from its Red Cross chief Kang Su Rin to his Southern counterpart Yoo Jung-keun. This is outweighed by other Northern media reports which, like most in the South too, view this disaster as showing up a range of flaws in South Korean procedures or society.
: Choi Yeon-hye, CEO of state-owned Korea Railroad Corp (KoRail), leaves for a meeting in Pyongyang of the Organization for Cooperation between Railways (OSJD). OSJD mostly covers ex-communist countries, but the ROK gained associate membership in March. Choi tells reporters in Beijing en route that she will seek full membership. The same day she and her party board a Pyongyang-bound train in Beijing. This is thought to be the first time that senior ROK officials have entered the DPRK by rail.
: The US-ROK Foal Eagle combat field training joint exercise concludes.
: State-run Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank), which operates the South’s inter-Korean cooperation fund, announces a new research center to study, and hopefully revive, North-South economic cooperation.
: MOU says a task force has inspected three sites near the border in preparing for President Park’s vaunted “peace park” inside the DMZ. 40.2 billion won ($38.4 million) is budgeted for this year.
: A propos detained missionary Kim Jong-uk, MOU says: “It is regrettable for the North not to meet our demand [to] grant him access to an attorney and his family, and release and repatriate him.” (See also Feb. 27.)
: DPRK NDC denies that drones found in ROK are from the North, calling this “a replica of the Cheonan warship sinking case.” NDC offers to send a joint investigation team.
: North’s NDC calls Park Geun-hye’s Dresden Declaration “a nonsensical statement made by an anti-reunification element who deceived the public with hypocrisy and deception as she offered no solution” and “irrelevant and indifferent to the improvement and development of inter-Korean relations.” Despite this, MOU says on April 14 that the South will push ahead with this plan, including “internal preparations.”
: ROK Unification Minister Ryoo tells the National Assembly that the South “is willing to lift” sanctions on the North if the latter takes some action. He does not say what.
: KCNA reports an outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza (AI, bird flu) in Pyongyang since March 21. Though tens of thousands of poultry “have either fallen dead or been culled … the disease shows … continues to spread.” South Korea has also had its first AI since 2011, with 10 million chickens culled.
: North’s SPA meets as scheduled, for a single day as usual. There are no developments directly bearing on or affecting ties with South Korea.
: MOU reports that 360 Northern defectors reached South Korea in the first quarter of 2014, a similar figure to the same period in 2012 and 2013. A total of 1,516 came in 2013, slightly up from 1,502 in 2012. The cumulative total of defectors is now 26,124.
: MOFA says Seoul will “positively consider” hosting a UN office on North Korea’s human rights violations, if formally asked. MOFA denies local media reports that it has rejected any such idea as inimical to inter-Korean relations.
: Hwang Joon-kook, named on April 3 as new ROK envoy to the Six-Party Talks, meets his US and Japanese counterparts in Washington to discuss how to handle the DPRK.
: Despite President Park’s call in her Dresden speech for inter-Korean economic cooperation, Seoul reaffirms its ban on investment and trade with Pyongyang.
: MND reports a third mystery drone, up a mountain on the east coast. A local resident found it last October but only reported it now. Discarding the Canon camera, which was wet, he removed the memory chip, erased it and reused it. A new order that all unmanned aircraft of whatever size must be registered provokes protests from model plane hobbyists.
: At Panmunjom South Korea hands over two bodies and three Northern sailors, rescued when a DPRK-crewed Mongolian-flagged cargo ship sank off Yeosu on the ROK’s southern coast on April 4. The ship was carrying 6,500 tons of steel from Chongjin to China. A further body is handed over on April 14 after the North confirms the man’s identity.
: MOU says that on April 5, Arbor Day, 70 ROK officials will plant some 7,000 retusa fringe trees around the Kaesong IC.
: Seoul media report that a second unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) crash-landed on Baengnyong Island in the West/Yellow Sea on March 31. The first, found near Paju north of Seoul near the DMZ on March 24, had flown over and photographed the Blue House (the presidential residence and office). Both drones are suspected to have come from North Korea. ROK media criticize the authorities for lack of vigilance in face of this new security threat.
: Four hours after sending a rare fax notifying the ROK’s Second Navy Fleet Command (on the west coast) of an upcoming exercise affecting border waters, KPA artillery fire some 500 shells in seven areas near the), of which 100 fall south of the line. The South responds with a 300-shell howitzer barrage, all of which land in Northern waters. MND calls the North’s shelling a premeditated provocation.
: A ninth round of family reunions is held at Mt. Kumgang.
: In a major speech at Dresden Germany, President Park offers a range of proposals to North Korea including aid, people exchanges and joint economic projects. The North angrily rejects this outright, questioning Park’s motives and abusing her personally.
: Yonhap reports that some 30 members of women’s groups in both Koreas met in Shenyang, China to discuss the ‘comfort women’ issue. The last such joint meeting was held in Seoul in 2007.
: ROK Navy arrests three DPRK fishermen whose boat had crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL) near Baenghyeong Island despite warning shots. It releases them six hours later. Next day the trio holds a televised press conference, claiming that they were “assaulted with iron bats and pressured to defect to the South.”
: On fourth anniversary of the sinking of the ROKN corvette Cheonan, North Korea test-fires two medium-range Rodong ballistic missiles. They fly some 650 km over the East Sea. Seoul condemns this as a provocative violation of UNSC resolutions.
: North’s inaptly named Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) threatens “merciless sledgehammer blows” on the South over anti-regime leaflets sent into the North by balloon. The South’s Defense Ministry (MND) clarifies that this as ever was a private action by activists, and insists that the government has not floated leaflets since the two Koreas agreed in 2004 to end cross-border propaganda activities.
: South Korea intensifies quarantine efforts in border provinces after the North belatedly reports a second FMD outbreak at a pig farm, two months after the event.
: MOU says the South’s state-owned Export-Import Bank has asked North Korea to pay $8.6 million: the first repayment on an $80 million loan made in 2007 for raw materials to produce clothing, footwear, and soap. This fell due on March 24. Pyongyang has also never repaid loans for past food aid, nor replied to Seoul’s messages on the subject.
: At Paju near the DMZ, Northern defectors and conservative activists launch 20 balloons carrying 600,000 leaflets into North Korea.
: MOU White Paper says that Seoul “plans to make consistent efforts to ensure that the tours to Mount Kumgang will be resumed by dispelling public concerns.”
: MOU says Seoul will not lift the May 24 [2010] measures, which ban trade with and investment in North Korea except the KIC in reprisal for the sinking of the Cheonan, unless Pyongyang “takes responsible measures” such as admitting responsibility.
: Military source tells Yonhap that North Korea is enhancing its infiltration capabilities by developing a new high-speed, wave piercing Very Slender Vessel (VSV) that can move special forces at over 100 kmph. This is seen as a threat to front-line islands.
: ROK Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae confirms Seoul’s official view that “the timing isn’t ripe to send fertilizer to the North.” He adds that economic cooperation with Pyongyang will be limited unless the North’s nuclear issue is first addressed.
: MOU spokesman Kim Eui-do says anyone thinking of sending fertilizer to North Korea should consult the authorities. He confirms that government has no such plans. During the “Sunshine era” (1999-2007) Seoul sent 2.55 million tons of fertilizer to Pyongyang.
: ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff report that the KPA fired 25 short-range rockets in a day into the East Sea: its largest volley yet of several recently (see Feb. 21).
: Yonhap cites an unspecified official as saying North Korea is demanding a 10 percent hike in basic pay for its 53,000 workers at Kaesong. The usual annual raise is 5 percent. He adds that this is unacceptable, since the KIC was shut for five months in 2013. On March 21 MOU says that KIC firms will hold wage talks in July, the normal time for this.
: The South’s Hyundai Research Institute (HRI) claims that North Korean per capita income rose 4.8 per cent last year, thanks to better harvests and increased facilities investment. At an estimated $834, the North’s figure is still dwarfed by the South’s $23,838.
: Blue House Senior Secretary Ju Chul-ki says President Park will personally chair her proposed unification preparatory committee, which will meet quarterly. Its 50-odd members will be drawn from government, civilian experts, and the private sector.
: DPRK Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) demands an apology for remarks on March 11 by the head of a think-tank affiliated to the ROK’s National Intelligence Service (NIS). Yoo Seong-ok reportedly told lawmakers that Kim Jong Un is instituting a reign of terror, described the Northern leader as “[stepping] harder on the gas pedal of a car with no brakes,” and suggested that a coup, uprising and collapse were all possible.
: A joint panel on dispute arbitration at the Kaesong complex holds its first meeting. MOU calls this a positive step, though it is unclear what exactly it accomplished.
: The (South) Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation (KCRC), a coalition of NGOs, abruptly cancels the grand launch ceremony for its planned campaign to send a million 20-kg bags of fertilizer to North Korea. Official pressure is suspected.
: North Korea warns that persistent Southern “slander” – by ministers, media, and defectors (“human scum”) who send leaflets by balloon – will jeopardize future relations. Seoul says the government is not being slanderous, and it cannot control others’ free speech.
: Hyundai Research Institute (HRI), think-tank of the eponymous business group, claims that if the two Koreas reunite within the next year, by 2050 Korea will have the eighth largest economy in the world with per capita income larger than Japan’s, thanks to new growth engines and an enlarged domestic market.
: North Korea holds its parliamentary election. On March 11, the Central Election Committee claims, as usual, that 99.97 percent of registered electors have voted (i.e. everyone except those unable to because they are overseas or out at sea); and that fully 100 percent have cast their ballot for the single approved candidate in each of 687 constituencies.
: MOU reports that by end-2013 production at the Kaesong complex had almost recovered to pre-shutdown levels. Output in Dec. 2013 was worth $35.29 million, compared to $36.42 million a year earlier. [Yonhap actually says 352.9 and 364.2 million, but this is an obvious decimal point error.] Inter-Korean trade this January reached $168.87 million, 94 percent of Jan. 2013’s figure. DPRK employees at end-2013 numbered 52,000, compared to 53,000 in March. All 123 ROK firms except one are working normally.
: MOU spokesman Kim Eui-do says: “We are not considering aid [to North Korea], either through the government or international organizations.”
: US-ROK Key Resolve command post exercise concludes.
: At a passing-out parade for new military graduates at the Gyeryongdae tri-services headquarters south of Seoul, President Park reiterates that “the decisive obstacle to economic cooperation between the South and the North is North Korea’s nuclear program.”
: South Korea’s Red Cross proposes talks on March 12 about holding regular family reunions. Next day the North rejects this, saying the atmosphere is not right.
: ROK Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae says the DPRK’s Rason zone may be open to South Korean goods by next year “if things go smoothly.” He calls this “a small but meaningful outcome.” Ryoo adds that if North-South relations improve, humanitarian aid is also possible: “However, we are not in that stage yet.”
: President Park tells her government to start talks with North Korea on letting separated families exchange letters and hold video reunions. She also calls for reunions for at least 6,000 such persons annually, since “many families do not have time to wait any longer.”
: MND calls North Korea’s firing of four Scud missiles (its first Scud test since 2009) into the East Sea the previous day “a kind of provocation.” For their part, Pyongyang media proclaim daily that joint US-ROK war games are a provocation.
: Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se says South Korea will step up efforts to gain the international community’s cooperation in its push to reunify Korea, and predicts that “the coming four years will mark a watershed in building peace on the Korean Peninsula.”
: Kim Jong-uk, a South Korean missionary arrested in the North on Oct. 8, tells a press conference in Pyongyang he was sent by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) to create a dissident underground church network that would eventually topple the Kim regime, and asks for mercy. The NIS denies any knowledge of him. The same day Seoul calls for his release, but the North refuses. (See also April 15, below.)
: Radio Free Asia reports that on Feb. 24 North Korea asked the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for help in containing its FMD outbreak. Pyongyang remains silent, however, on Seoul’s swift offer of assistance in that area.
: MND says that last night a KPA patrol boat crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL, the de facto west coast sea border) west of Baengnyong Island. It stayed for three hours in Southern waters, only returning North after ten warnings from ROK military broadcasts.
: On the first anniversary of her inauguration, President Park says she will set up a “preparatory committee for unification” as part of a wider economic revitalization plan.
: At a rare lunch with ROK journalists covering the family reunions, DPRK officials and reporters say the North will compete in all events at this year’s Asian Games, to be held in the South’s Incheon city in September.
: MOU says Seoul has offered to help Pyongyang contain its FMD outbreak, also proposing wider talks on humanitarian aid. North Korea makes no reply, now or later.
: The annual US-ROK Key Resolve and Foal Eagle drills kick off as scheduled.
: Seoul’s Korea International Trade Association (KITA) says that last year North-South trade fell by 42 per cent from $1.98 to $1.15 billion, its lowest level for 8 years, due to the 5 month closure of the KI, which is now the only inter-Korean trade that Seoul permits. China-DPRK trade by contrast rose 10.4 percent to a record $6.54 billion.
: KCNA belatedly confirms an FMD outbreak, the DPRK’s first since 2011, on a pig farm near Pyongyang. Since this began on Jan. 8 some 3,260 pigs have been “butchered, causing lots of economic damage.” However, “the disease continues spreading due to the shortages of FMD vaccines, diagnostic means and disinfection medicines.”
: Meeting China’s Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin, who unusually has just come directly to Seoul after four days in Pyongyang, ROK Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se calls on Beijing to persuade the DPRK to take concrete steps toward denuclearization.
: North Korea fires four ballistic missiles with an approximate range of 150 km. Another four Scuds are fired on Feb. 27, this time with a 220 km range. Two 50-km rockets follow on March 3, and seven more of unknown range on March 4.
: Blue House announces that its preferred English translation for daebak is now “bonanza” rather than “jackpot.” Secretary of State Kerry is credited with suggesting this.
: Back from Rajin (see Feb. 9), three ROK companies strike a cautious note. A spokesman stresses that their Feb. 11-13 site visit was merely “a visual inspection” and that “the consortium can conduct a detailed business feasibility study only after more inspections.”
: Reunions of separated families, the first such since 2010, are held without a hitch at Mount Kumgang after much clearing of heavy snow.
: Eighty-two elderly South Koreans and 56 relatives gather at Sokcho for medical checks and briefings ahead of one-off reunions with their long-lost Northern kin.
: MOU clarifies that Seoul’s backing for the COI does not breach the Koreas’ agreement not to slander each other, since human rights are about universal values.
: MOFA launches the Korean Peninsula Club, a consultative body comprising the 21 foreign diplomatic missions in Seoul which are also accredited to the DPRK. It is also contemplating a second body for the 24 states that have embassies in both Korean capitals.
: The UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) publishes its report on DPRK human rights violations. The ROK Foreign Ministry (MOFA) hails the COI’s “proactive efforts” as raising the global community’s awareness of this grave situation. The DPRK for its part “categorically and totally rejects” the report, labelling the COI a “marionette” of the US.
: Lee Seok-ki, a lawmaker of the South’s far-left Unified Progressive Party (UPP), is jailed for 12 years for plotting a campaign of pro-North sabotage in the event of a crisis on the peninsula. Several associates are also sentenced. The UPP, itself facing a possible ban as an anti-state body, calls this “a medieval witch-hunt.”
: Resumed high-level talks reach a 3-point accord: to end slander, promote trust and meet again. Family reunions are confirmed, though Seoul gives no ground on war games.
: First high-level North-South talks for seven years are held at Panmunjom. Despite starting at 10:00 and continuing through midnight, no progress is made.
: Pyongyang calls for the start of military exercises to be postponed until after family reunions. Seoul again rejects any such linkage.
: The two Koreas exchange delegation lists for Feb. 12 high-level talks. The South’s team is led not by Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae but Kim Kyou-hyun, the newly appointed secretary general of the ROK’s revamped National Security Council (NSC). The North’s chief delegate is Won Tong Yon, vice director of the WPK United Front Department and a veteran negotiator with the South since the 1990s. No agenda is tabled in advance.
: ROK Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae tells the National Assembly that the Rajin rail project is allowed as a “special case.” Seoul’s ban on investment and trade with the North, except at the Kaesong IC, will continue until Pyongyang takes meaningful steps and shows remorse for sinking the Cheonan in 2010 (for which the DPRK denies responsibility).
: MOU announces that an 18-strong team from three firms – steelmaker Posco, shipper Hyundai Merchant Marine and state-owned KoRail – will inspect the DPRK’s Rajin port on Feb. 11-13. No ROK officials will accompany them. Russian Railways has invited this consortium to invest in its cross-border rail and port development JV with North Korea.
: North Korea unexpectedly and confidentially proposes open-ended high-level talks. The South swiftly agrees to meet on Feb. 12. All this is only announced on Feb. 11.
: The two Koreas agree that the KIC will at last get internet access, by June. This will start with a connected business center. Later, all 100-odd factories will have the service.
: A 64-strong ROK team of Red Cross and Hyundai Asan workers drives across the eastern border to Mount Kumgang, where they will check the condition of facilities for family reunions. The Hyundai-built resort has been largely mothballed since 2008.
: President Park urges North Korea not to “leave a large wound in the hearts of the separated families again” by cancelling family reunions, which she hopes will help “move toward a new Korean Peninsula of peace and joint development.”
: A day after agreeing to family reunions, Pyongyang threatens to cancel them. In a long screed which also lambastes ROK media over Kim Jong Un’s shoes, the NDC says “war exercises and racket for confrontation are incompatible with dialogue and reconciliation.” Seoul rejects this, and reconfirms that the annual joint US-ROK military drills will go ahead.
: In its annual policy report MOU says it will cooperate with North Korea on the Rajin-Khasan railway, and to try to build a peace park in the DMZ by 2016. President Park adds that “this year’s policy deals more with setting the groundwork framework for internal stability and setting straight various abnormal practices in the North-South relationship.” Also “we need a thorough defense posture to deal with any provocation by North Korea.”
: ROK media scold Kim Jong Un and his entourage for not taking off their shoes on a visit to a Pyongyang nursery, as pictured in Feb. 4 Rodong Sinmun. Traditionally in Korea it is a serious breach of etiquette and gross bad manners to wear outdoor shoes indoors.
: Red Cross talks at Panmunjom agree to hold family reunions, last held in Oct. 2010, at the North’s Mount Kumgang resort on February 20-25. DPRK chief delegate Pak Yong Il calls this “a very important starting point for improving the North-South relations.” The South says that if the reunions go well, other issues can be discussed with the North.
: Kim Ki-mun, chairman of the (South) Korea Federation of Small and Medium-sized Businesses, says that KFSMB will seek to build a second complex like the KIC in the North. Rejecting Rason (Rajin-Sonbong) special zone in the DPRK’s northeast as logistically unsuitable and short of electricity, Kim hopes for the southwestern port cities of Nampo or Haeju; each less than two hours from the border “if a road is built.” He says ROK SMEs are “very satisfied” with the KIC, and some 2,000 are on a waiting list for any new such zone.
: After a week’s silence during which Seoul’s suggested date for Red Cross talks on reunions has passed, Pyongyang responds and offers Feb. 5 or 6. They settle on the former.
: Trials of the RFID entry system begin at the KIC. (See Jan. 13.)
: Yonhap reports that for the past fortnight North Korea has stopped sending its usual balloon-borne propaganda leaflets into the South.
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) says on Jan. 28 that “north-south relations can never be improved by the efforts of [only] one side … Now all Koreans wait for a good news that an epochal phase of improved north-south relations will be open.” Article on Jan. 27 regrets that “the nation is killing time through mud-slinging and reckless military showdown which bring nothing good. The Korean nation really suffers big from division and wastes away precious time by escalating confrontation.”
: NDC repeats its offer, insisting it is sincere: “We’ve already been walking down the path on our own to completely cease provocations or slander of the other side.”
: In a telephone message to the head of the South’s Red Cross, North Korea suggests holding family reunions after the Lunar New Year holiday. Replying on Jan. 27, Seoul proposes reunions on Feb. 17-22 at Mount Kumgang, and talks on Jan. 29 to arrange these.
: National Defense Commission (NDC: the topmost DPRK executive body, above the Cabinet) makes three “principled crucial proposals”, including no provocation or slander and no hostile military acts. The latter includes cancelling US-ROK war games.
: MOU says that it used barely a quarter (27 percent) of the Won 1.09 trillion ($1.029 billion) earmarked in 2013 for its inter-Korean cooperation fund. Low as it is, this is the highest proportion disbursed for six years, i.e. since the end of the former “Sunshine Policy.” Most of it (Won 177.7 billion out of Won 296.4 billion) went not to North Korea, but as compensation to Southern SMEs invested in Kaesong for the zone’s five-month closure.
: ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU) says the new radio frequency identification (RFID) electronic tagging system will be ready this week and up and running later this month. This will allow Southern staff at the joint venture Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) to cross the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ, the de facto North-South border) at any time on permitted days, rather than being limited to strict time windows booked in advance as hitherto.
: MOU says that 1,516 North Koreans settled in the South last year; slightly up on 2012’s figure of 1,502, but still down from 2006-11 when annual flows were in the 2,000-3,000 range. 76 percent were female. The cumulative total of arrivals now stands at 26,124.
: Court officials in Seoul say that a 65-year old man, one of six South Koreans returned by the North in October, had murdered his wife (whose body was also returned) as he thought she was having an affair with a DPRK security official after they entered the North from China in 2011. The husband claimed she died in a botched suicide pact.
: Following Pyongyang’s rejection of its proposal, South Korea urges the North to “show a sincere attitude toward our offer” of renewed family reunions.
: The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) rejects the South’s proposal for reunions of separated families as untimely on various grounds, but holds open the possibility that at some point “both sides can sit together in a good season.”
: The USFK-ROK Combined Forces Command (CFC) confirms that the annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint exercises will be held as usual, starting in late February. North Korea had cited these as one of the impediments to holding family reunions.
: KCNA reports that the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA, the North’s rubber-stamp parliament) “decided to hold an election of deputies to the 13th SPA on March 9, Juche 103 (2014), according to Article 90 of the Socialist Constitution of the DPRK.” This is on schedule: the 12th SPA was chosen in 2009. Kim Jong Un is not yet an SPA member, having not been unveiled to his people or the world until September 2010.
: Yonhap, the ROK’s quasi-official news agency, says that since Kim Jong Un’s call for an end to mutual slander DPRK media have softened their tone. So far this year they have not directly criticized President Park, who in December alone had suffered over 70 separate personal attacks from the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
: In her first ever press conference since taking office last Feb. 25, South Korean President Park Geun-hye calls on North Korea to agree to hold the family reunions which it postponed in September at end-January, around the lunar new year holiday (Seollal) which this year falls on Jan. 31. In questions she causes a stir by calling Korean reunification “a jackpot.” (daebak in Korean). Although some fear the cost, she believes this “would be a chance for the economy to make a huge leap.”
: In her first press conference since taking office last Feb. 25 President Park calls on North Korea to hold the family reunions it postponed in September at end-January. In questions she calls Korean reunification “a jackpot.” Though some fear its costs, she believes this “would be a chance for the economy to make a huge leap.”
: South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se urges “extra caution” in dealing with the North, in view of “growing uncertainty and vicissitudes in North Korean politics.”
: The Chinese news agency Xinhua says that a high speed rail link to the North Korean border, under construction since 2010, will open in August 2015. This will cut the time of the 207 km journey from Shenyang to Dandong, across the Yalu River from Sinuiju in the DPRK, from 3.5 hours to just an hour. (For the inter-Korean connection, see Dec. 11.)
: South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se urges “extra caution” in dealing with the North, in view of “growing uncertainty and vicissitudes in North Korean politics.”
: DPRK supreme leader Kim Jong Un’s second New Year speech attacks the South for internationalizing inter-Korean issues, yet also calls for an end to mud-slinging and offers to “join hands with anyone who opts to give priority to the nation and [wants] reunification regardless of his or her past.”
: Kim Jong Un’s New Year speech attacks the South for internationalizing inter-Korean issues, yet also calls for an end to mud-slinging and offers to “join hands with anyone who opts to give priority to the nation and [wants] reunification regardless of his or her past.”
: MOU says North Korea sent a notice last week to Southern firms invested in the KIC, demanding that they pay tax for the period Jan.1-April 8 this year (i.e., before the North pulled its workers out).
: MOU retorts that CPRK’s questionnaire “lacks even the basics of mutual respect for its counterpart and is not worthy of our government response…. [We] suspect the reason North Korea is asking such disrespectful questions is to cover up its internal state of confusion.” MOU further accuses the North of “inhumane and unreasonable behavior.”
: The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) publishes what it calls an “open questionnaire,” one year after “Park Geun-hye became ‘president’ through fraud-marred election.” As that suggests, CPRK has its own answers: “Park’s policy surpasses that of the Lee [Myung-bak] regime in its crafty and vicious nature.”
: The ROK’s Statistics Korea publishes comparative data for the two Koreas in 2012. The South’s Gross National Income (GNI) of $1.21 trillion was 38.2 times the North’s, or 18.7 times on a per capita basis as Southern population of 50 million is twice the North’s. ROK trade volume of $1.07 trillion was 157 times the DPRK’s $6.8 billion; its exports of $548 billion are 189 times bigger (these figures exclude North-South trade). The South’s power generating capacity of 81.8 million kilowatts a year is 11.3 times larger than the North’s, but the latter produced 10 times more coal (25.8 million tons.)
: At the fourth meeting of the KIC joint committee, the South suggests holding an “investment expo,” postponed from October, at end-January. A 30-strong delegation of attendees at a G20 meeting in Seoul, plus reporters, visits the zone the same day.
: Another long KCNA diatribe against Jang reports his trial by a military court and swift dispatch, under the terse headline “Traitor Jang Song Thaek Executed.”
: Reporting an “enlarged meeting” of the WPK Central Committee Politburo, in a lengthy indictment alleging a multitude of both major and petty sins, KCNA confirms that Jang Song Thaek has been purged for “anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts”
: Kaesong sub-panel on communications fails to agree on connecting the KIC to the Internet. MOU admits this is the first time the issue, which the South first tabled in Sept., has even been discussed; earlier meetings were confined to administrative issues.
: South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) tells an emergency briefing of an NA committee that Jang Song Thaek – the uncle-in-law of Kim Jong Un, who played a key role in his nephew’s rise and succession – has been purged.
: Fourth KIC sub-panel finally meets for first time in over two months. MOU says agenda includes use of mobile phones and the Internet, plus radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.
: MOU urges Pyongyang to stop insulting President Park Geun-hye: “If vulgar expressions used by the North [were] applied to the North’s leader in the same manner, how [would] they respond to it? The North should think about this.” Interestingly, the Chinese newsagency Xinhua carries this report and quotation.
: Accords signed on a one-day visit to Seoul by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin include a Memorandum of Understanding allowing three ROK firms to buy almost half of Russia’s 70 percent stake in RasonKonTrans.
: Three sub-panels at the KIC meet for the first time since September. No date is yet set for the fourth sub-panel, covering travel and communications issues.
: KCNA lambastes South Korea’s mild reaction to the issue of potential eavesdropping by the US National Security Agency (NSA) under the headline “Servile Attitude of Political Waiting Maid.”
: In an interview with the French daily Figaro, President Park Geun-hye, on a state visit to France, says she can meet Kim Jong Un “at any time, if necessary, for the development of inter-Korean relations or peace.” MOU says that this is not a policy change.
: Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae tells ROK lawmakers that the government is “weighing various considerations” about lifting the ‘May 24 measures,’ the usual name for the ban on all non-KIC commerce with the North imposed on that date in 2010. However on Nov. 4 MOU says the administration is not reviewing the lifting of these sanctions right now.
: A cross-party group of 21 ROK lawmakers plus 26 support staff spends the day at the KIC. Working-level DPRK officials escort them, but nobody senior is on hand.
: Yonhap quotes unidentified “public safety authorities” as saying the six South Koreans returned on Oct. 25 had all entered the North illegally via China between 2009 and 2012 in hopes of a welcome and a better life. Instead they were kept in detention for up to four years before being handed back.
: Pyongyang tells Seoul that Cho Myung-chul, a defector from the North who is now a lawmaker of the South’s Saenuri Party, may not join the group visit to the KIC.
: Six male South Koreans aged between 27 and 67, plus the body of the wife of one, are returned by the North at Panmunjom and are at once whisked off for questioning.
: North Korea agrees to let a group of South Korean lawmakers inspect the KIC. Separately, it says it will return six unnamed South Koreans via Panmunjom next day.
: Chung Hee-soo, a lawmaker of the Saenuri Party, says that the military reckon DPRK cyber-attacks since 2009 have caused damage worth $805 million.
: Yonhap notes that since late September DPRK media have begun a new campaign of verbal attacks on President Park Geun-hye.
: South Korea’s Defense Ministry (MND) says the remains of Sohn Dong-shik, an ROK army sergeant captured in the Korean War but who (like thousands of others) was never repatriated, have arrived in South Korea.
: KIC’s new 13-strong secretariat – 8 from the South, 5 from the North – begins work, providing support to the joint committee and four sub-panels under the zone’s revised management structure.
: Without giving any reason, the North postpones a meeting of the key KIC sub-panel on communications and travel scheduled for the next day.
: MOU publishes a five-year plan to foster inter-Korean trust-building and “a small form of unification.” The latter apparently means only various bilateral programs. Nuclear disarmament, human rights and other thorny issues are absent.
: MOU says the South still has no plan to discuss resuming tourism to Mount Kumgang. Anger at this is thought to be one reason why the North canceled family reunions.
: Pyongyang abruptly postpones what would have been the first reunions of separated families, due to start four days later. The CPRK accuses Seoul of abusing bilateral dialogue as a “tool for confrontation.” South Korea denounces the cancellation as inhumane.
: Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea’s first vice foreign minister and former nuclear negotiator, tells a multilateral forum in Beijing on the tenth anniversary of the start of nuclear Six Party Talks (6PT) that the DPRK is ready to resume the talks “without preconditions.”
: Kaesong complex partially reopens. MOU says 90 of the 123 ROK firms invested there began trial operations. 739 Southern managers and technicians workers enter the zone; 459 stay on overnight.
: The third meeting of the new KIC joint management committee agrees to hold an investor relations (IR) event for foreign companies on Oct. 31. This is later cancelled.
: After all four junior South Korean weightlifters at an Asian competition held in Pyongyang win medals, the ROK flag is raised and its national anthem played for the first time ever in the DPRK. State TV identifies and shows the flag, briefly. (See Sept. 6).
: South Korea, or strictly the United Nations Command (UNC), returns to the North via Panmunjom in the DMZ the body of a Korean Peoples’ Army (KPA) soldier recovered in the Bukhan River on July 31, having been swept downstream by floods. This is the 10th such return of a corpse since 2007.
: After talks that run on overnight, the second meeting of the new Kaesong joint management committee agrees that the KIC will reopen the following week: initially on a “trial basis” on Sept. 16. Further meetings will be held to thrash out concrete details.
: After talks that run on overnight, the second meeting of the new Kaesong joint management committee agrees that the KIC will reopen the following week: initially on a “trial basis” on Sept. 16. Further meetings will be held to thrash out details.
: A test call at 1015 local time confirms that the west coast military hotline is now working again, as agreed the previous day.
: A test call at 10:15 local time confirms that the west coast military hotline is working again, as agreed the previous day.
: In its first comment on the Lee Seok-ki case, the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) denounces any attempt to link it to the arraigned far-left Southern lawmaker as an “unpardonable provocation.”
: MOU says it will allow a 41-strong delegation of 22 weightlifters plus coaches and officials to head North on Sept. 10 for the 2013 Asian Cup and Interclub Weightlifting Championship on Sept. 11-17.
: The other two new KIC sub-committees – on passage, communications and customs, and guaranteeing personal safety – meet at the zone, with both chairmen of the full joint committee (Kim Ki-woong (ROK) and Park Chol Su (DPRK)) attending. They agree to restore the military hotline used to liaise on traffic across the DMZ, which the North cut in March.
: The other two new KIC sub-committees – on passage, communications and customs, and guaranteeing personal safety – meet at the zone. They agree to restore the military hotline used to liaise on traffic across the DMZ, which the North cut in March, at 0900 next day.
: MOU reports that the two Koreas are at odds over lodgings for the upcoming family reunions. The South suspects the North is cross at its refusal to discuss resumption of actual tourism until October, after the reunions.
: Two sub-committees of the new KIC management structure, on investment protection and global competitiveness, are held at the complex. Details are not formally published, but MOU reveals that the former agreed to establish a panel to arbitrate disputes and damages (first called for in 2003), while the latter will discuss how to have KIC-made products included in FTAs (presumably the ROK’s, and arguably a sticky wicket.)
: Organizers of the 2018 Winter Olympics say it would be “impossible,” legally and logistically, to divide skiing events between the host city, Pyeongchang in South Korea, and the planned Masik Pass ski resort in North Korea as suggested by the DPRK’s Chung Ang. Inter alia the two sites are some 300 km apart, across (obviously) mountainous terrain.
: By 258 votes to 14, the ROK NA approves the arrest of Rep. Lee Seok-ki, who faces charges of conspiring to mount an insurrection.
: Two sub-committees of the new KIC management structure, on investment protection and global competitiveness, convene at the complex. Details are not published, but MOU says the former agreed to set up a panel to arbitrate disputes and damages, while the latter will discuss how to have KIC-made products included in free trade agreements.
: 29 South Koreans, mostly Hyundai Asan staff, cross the DMZ into the Mount Kumgang resort. They are the first Southerners to overnight there since the North expelled the last Hyundai maintenance staff in August 2011, having confiscated Southern assets worth 480 billion won. On Sept. 4, 19 others join them. Most of the 48 are expected to remain until family reunions are held at the end of the month.
: South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) reports to the National Assembly (NA) that the North’s nuclear program “was at a developmental and experimental stage till 2010, but it has developed into a real threat in 2013 that can actually be weaponized and used at any time.”
: 29 South Koreans, mostly Hyundai Asan staff, cross the DMZ into the Mount Kumgang resort. On Sept. 4, 19 others join them.
: Voice of America (VoA) quotes a DPRK member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Chang Ung, as suggesting that the Masik Pass ski resort, a flagship new project under construction near Wonsan, “could possibly hold Olympic events.”
: 615 businessmen and technicians from ROK firms invested in the KIC make a day trip across the DMZ to check on their facilities and work with their DPRK employees to prepare for the complex’s reopening. Next day a further group of 560 does the same.
: MOU says South Korea will give humanitarian aid worth $6.3 million to the North via the World Health Organization (WHO). This will go to train healthcare workers, help repair medical facilities and provide essential drugs. Seoul also permits 12 civic groups to send aid worth 2.35 billion won ($2.13 million) for 13 different projects in the North.
: The new joint committee to manage the KIC holds its first meeting, lasting 12 hours. No date to reopen the complex is set, but sub-committees will meet later this week and the full committee is to reconvene on Sept. 10. Its agenda then will include compensation for Southern investors, who claim losses totalling 1.05 trillion won ($954 million).
: 615 businessmen and technicians from South Korean companies invested in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) make a day trip across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to check on their facilities and work with their Northern employees to prepare for the complex’s reopening. Next day another of 560 does the same.
: Unification Ministry (MOU) says South Korea will give aid worth $6.3 million to the North via the World Health Organization (WHO), to train healthcare workers, help repair medical facilities, and provide essential drugs. Seoul also permits 12 civic groups to send aid worth 2.35 billion won ($2.13 million) for 13 different projects in the North.
: The new joint committee to manage the KIC holds first meeting, lasting 12 hours. No date to reopen the complex is set, but sub-committees will meet later this week and the full committee will reconvene Sept. 10. Its agenda will include compensation for Southern investors, who claim losses totaling 1.05 trillion won ($954 million).
: The two Koreas sign an accord on a new structure to jointly run the KIC. The new committee, with a chairman and five members from each side will meet at least quarterly. Four sub-committees – on guaranteeing personal safety; protecting assets; discussing passage, communications and customs; and strengthening global competitiveness – each with a head and three members from each side, are to meet monthly. A secretariat will support all of these.
: North Korea nixes the South’s suggested date of Oct. 2 for talks on resuming tours to Mount Kumgang, demanding these be held at once. Seoul urges Pyongyang to repeal its confiscation of ROK assets at the resort. A 55-person ROK team from MOU, KEPCO (the ROK power utility), and Hyundai Asan enter the resort for what Yonhap calls “a two-day spiffing up” ahead of family reunions. MOU’s people are the first ROK government officials allowed to cross into Kumgang in three years.
: The ROK National Intelligence Service (NIS), police and prosecutors raid 11 offices (including some in the National Assembly) and 7 homes of 10 officials of the far-left Unified Progressive Party (UPP), arresting three. UPP lawmaker Lee Seok-ki briefly goes on the run. The accused face a rare charge under the National Security Law (NSL) of conspiring to mount a pro-North Korean insurrection. Eighty pages of transcripts seem to support this claim.
: MOU says the two Koreas have “virtually agree[d] on how to set up the joint committee [to run the KIC]”.
: From a pool of applicants now down to 72,000 – it was originally 120,000, but nearly half have died since the program began in 2000 – the ROK Red Cross randomly selects 500 potential candidates for upcoming family reunions. On Aug. 29 the list is halved to 250, partly based on medical check-ups, with selection of the final 100 due by Sept. 16.
: A 46-year old North Korean defects to the South’s Gyodong Island, close to the DPRK and the Northern Limit Line (NLL), apparently by swimming from the mainland.
: After 11 hours of talks at Panmunjom, Red Cross officials from both Koreas agree to hold the first separated family reunions since 2010 at Mount Kumgang on Sept. 25-30. 40 families from each side who are too weak to travel will “meet” by video conferencing.
: Three North Koreans and a minder attend a UN-sponsored Youth Leadership Program (YLP), bringing 34 young people from 19 Asian countries to Gwangju in southwestern South Korea. Gwangju will host this event annually through 2015.
: Four months after the North de facto closed the KIC, the two Koreas reach a five-point agreement to reopen it.
: Seoul approves 280.9 billion won in insurance payments to 109 companies that have factories and assets in Kaesong. On the same day Pyongyang finally responds, calling for fresh talks to resolve the KIC impasse. Seoul accepts these.
: MOU issues a statement emphasizing that Seoul is losing patience with the North’s failure to respond to its call for decisive talks on the future of the Kaesong zone.
: ROK Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-Jae urges the North to clarify its stance on safeguards. Calling for “final talks” to resolve their differences, he warns that Seoul may take “grave measures” unless Pyongyang responds.
: MOU announces $7.3 million of aid to North Korea. The government and five NGOs will spend 1.47 billion won, while the ROK will also give $6.04 million for DPRK children via a UNICEF program.
: North Korea marks what it calls “the 60th anniversary of victory in the great Fatherland Liberation War,” more accurately known as the 1953 Armistice, with a military parade and mass demonstration in Pyongyang. President Park again calls on the North to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
: KIC talks break down at their sixth round, with no agreement on safeguards. A scuffle breaks out when the North’s chief negotiator Pak Chol Su and some 20 DPRK officials enter a room full of ROK journalists to explain their stance. Southern officials try to stop them.
: Fifth round talks sees some progress on “internationalization” of the KIC, but fails to make headway on the core issues.
: 21 players and 15 staff of North Korea’s women’s soccer team enter Seoul by air to compete in the East Asian Cup: the first DPRK team to play in the ROK since 2009.
: Fourth round of talks on and in the KIC fails to make progress. North Korea criticizes the South’s “very dishonest and insincere attitude” in “insisting only on the blame for the crisis in the zone and unilateral assurances against reoccurrence.”
: Third working contact is held on (and this time in) the KIC. Draft texts of an agreement on normalizing it are exchanged.
: Through a liaison channel at Panmunjom, North Korea notifies the South that due to heavy recent rainfall it will discharge water from its Imnam dam on the upper Bukhan river, and does so the same evening.
: CPRK accuses South Korea of rejecting its proposal to resume tourism to Mount Kumgang “under an unreasonable pretext.” However, given the South’s desire to prioritize reopening the KIC, “we shelve our recent proposal for talks.” CPRK adds “We are well aware of the real intention of the south side but restrain ourselves with a high degree of patience.”
: At a second round of talks to normalize the KIC, North Korea proposes separate talks on resuming tourism to Mount Kumgang, and reunions of separated families. The South agrees to the latter, but not the former.
: The two Koreas hold working talks at Panmunjom. The North agrees to let Southern businessmen visit the KIC on July 10 “to check and readjust equipment to reduce the damage” from the current rainy season, and also to “take finished products and raw and subsidiary materials out of the zone and carry equipment out of it.” The two sides agree in principle to reopen the KIC, and to work toward its “constructive development.”
: Seoul proposes working-level talks to normalize the KIC. The North agrees.
: North Korea says it will allow Southern businessmen invested in the KIC to visit the zone.
: MOU publishes a survey showing that Southern firms invested in Kaesong had reported losses totaling 1.6 trillion won ($1.4 billion) as of June 7.
: On the eve of planned Cabinet-level talks in Seoul, these fall through after the two sides disagree on the appropriate rank of their chief negotiators. Each blames the other.
: Working-level delegates from the two Koreas meet to arrange ministerial-level talks on a range of issues in inter-Korean relations. After 17 hours of negotiations, agreement is reached to hold such talks in Seoul on June 12-13.
: South Korean President Park Geun-hye calls on the North to accept her trust-building process. North Korea calls for comprehensive government-level discussions to resolve the issues of the Kaesong IC and the Mount Kumgang tourist resort.
: The North’s CPRK says it is ready to let Southern companies invested in Kaesong visit the zone. ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU) tells Pyongyang to talk to the ROK government, not to individuals.
: North Korea proposes talks with the South about jointly marking the 13th anniversary of the June 15, 2000 inter-Korean summit declaration. Seoul is cool, and on May 27 formally bans its own citizens from going to Pyongyang to take part in celebrations there.
: North Korea launches a total of six short-range missiles into the East Sea (as all Koreans call it, taking offense at the globally more common Sea of Japan).
: KCNA report identifies Jang Jong Nam as Minister of People’s Armed Forces. This makes Jang, a little-known general, the fourth to hold that post since April 2012; suggesting serious churn in the KPA.
: A report from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), the official DPRK mouthpiece, identifies Jang Jong Nam as minister of People’s Armed Forces (i.e., defense minister). This makes Jang the fourth to hold that post since April 2012.
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party (WPK), avers that “the DPRK remains steadfast in its attitude to meet any challenge of the hostile forces for aggression through an all-out action based on nuclear deterrent of justice, bring earlier the day of the final victory in the great war for national reunification and guarantee the prosperity of a reunified country and the independent dignity of the nation for all ages.”
: North’s Korean People’s Army (KPA) threatens to turn the South’s Seohae Islands, which lies close to the DPRK, into a “sea of flames.”
: The Seoul press reports that the South is still supplying electricity to the KIC, albeit on a much smaller scale than before given the fall in demand. This suffices to keep a water purification plant running, which may serve part of nearby Kaesong city as well.
: Seoul press reports that the South is still supplying electricity to the KIC, albeit on a much smaller scale than before given the fall in demand. This suffices to keep a water purification plant running, which may serve part of nearby Kaesong city as well.
: Under the headline “Kaesong Workers Sent Far and Wide,” the DailyNK claims that the KIC’s 53,000 workers have been widely dispersed to other worksites; suggesting there is little chance that the zone will reopen any time soon.
: Under the headline “Kaesong Workers Sent Far and Wide,” the DailyNK – an online paper published in Seoul – claims the KIC’s workers have been widely dispersed to other worksites, suggesting there is little chance that the zone will reopen any time soon.
: The last seven South Koreans leave the KIC. One last truck crosses the border into the zone, and returns after delivering $13 million to the North to pay wages and taxes.
: The last seven South Koreans leave the KIC. One last truck crosses the border into the zone, and returns after delivering $13 million to the North to pay wages and taxes.
: South Korea pulls the last seven workers from Kaesong Industrial Complex.
: The ROK government offers 300 billion won ($272 million) compensation, in the form of loans, to Southern SMEs invested in the KIC. It is unclear whether this suffices to cover their losses in full.
: ROK government offers 300 billion won ($272 million) compensation, in the form of loans, to Southern SMEs invested in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), which has not operated normally since the DPRK withdrew all 53,000 workers on April 9. There is doubt as to whether this sum suffices to cover their losses thus far in full.
: 43 Southern managers return from the KIC in the early hours. Seven remain, to sort out unpaid wages and taxes. Seoul denies that this is in any way a hostage situation.
: Unification Minister Ryoo says: “Our offer for dialogue still stands … but North Korea must abandon its trite behavior. If they act like this, who will invest in the North?”
: Citing sources in Pyongyang, the Seoul-based DailyNK claims that before his death Kim Jong Il worried that the KIC would stir pro-South feelings and told his son and heir Kim Jong Un: “You must move decisively to close it as soon as you see a chance.”
: After the DPRK rejects a final deadline to commence negotiations, the ROK government tells its citizens still in the KIC to return home.
: The DPRK marks Army Day with a parade, not in downtown Pyongyang but at the Kumsusan Palace mausoleum east of the capital. Air Force Commander Ri Pyong Chol thunders that “Stalwart pilots, once given a sortie order, will load nuclear bombs, instead of fuel for return, and storm enemy strongholds to blow them up.” Strategic Rocket Force Commander Kim Rak Gyom adds that “the DPRK’s inter-continental ballistic missiles have already set the dens of the brigandish U.S. imperialists as their first target and officers and men of the Strategic Rocket Force are one click away from pushing the launch button.”
: None of the KIC’s 53,000 North Korean employees turn up for work.
: The North’s Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee (KAPPC) warns that “the situation on the Korean Peninsula is inching close to a thermonuclear war.” Since “it does not want to see foreigners in south Korea fall victim,” it “informs all foreign institutions and enterprises and foreigners including tourists in Seoul and all other parts of south Korea that they are requested to take measures for shelter and evacuation in advance for their safety.”
: Asked in the National Assembly about a potential fresh nuclear test by North Korea, Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae says there “is such a sign” of activity at the Punggye-ri site, but that he will not comment further on matters related to intelligence.
: After visiting the KIC, WPK CC Secretary Kim Yang Gon announces that “The DPRK will withdraw all its employees” and “temporarily suspend the operations in the zone and examine the issue of whether it will allow its existence or close it as the south Korean authorities and military warmongers seek to turn it into a hotbed of confrontation.”
: Several foreign embassies in Pyongyang, including those of Russia and the UK, report that DPRK authorities have contacted them to offer assistance in case they wish to leave. None do so. The British embassy rebukes North Korea for stirring up tensions.
: Dismissing Southern protests as “a provocative racket,” the CPRK warns that “The shutdown of the [Kaesong] Zone has become imminent. If the south Korean puppet[s] … keep vociferating … we will take a resolute measure of withdrawing all our personnel.”
: Without warning, North Korea starts refusing to allow Southern vehicles or personnel across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to enter the KIC. Those in the zone are free to leave, but most choose not to do so for fear of not being allowed back in again.
: DPRK says it is restarting its nuclear reactor at Yongbyon.
: The Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), the North’s rubber-stamp parliament, holds its regular one-day spring session. As usual this passes a budget with no numbers. Pak Pong Ju is reappointed premier. A law is passed declaring the DPRK a nuclear weapons state.
: The Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK CC) convenes in Pyongyang. It proclaims a new line of developing the economy and nuclear weapons in parallel (byungjin). Former Premier Pak Pong Ju is promoted to the Politburo.
: KCNA carries a “special statement” of “the government, political parties and organizations of the DPRK” under the headline: “North-South Relations Have Been Put at State of War.” This warns that “the time when words could work has passed,” and hence “the Supreme Command of the KPA was just when it made the judgment and decision to decisively settle accounts with the US imperialists and south Korean puppets by dint of the arms of Songun [military-first policy] … Time has come to stage a do-or-die final battle.”
: The North’s General Bureau for Central Guidance to the Development of the Special Zone (GBCGDSZ) releases a statement which KCNA headlines: “DPRK Warns Future of Kaesong Industrial Zone Depends on S. Korea’s Attitude.” Saying “it is an extremely unusual thing that the Kaesong Industrial Zone is still in existence under the grave situation,” this warns: “The south Korean puppet forces are left with no face to make complaint even though we ban the south side’s personnel’s entry into the zone and close it.”
: North Korea severs its military hotline with South Korea, normally used to handle border crossings between the South and the KIC. However such crossings continue, with North and South working out the details within the zone itself.
: Kim Byung-kwan, President Park’s nominee as defense minister, withdraws amid continuing criticism on various ethical grounds. To avoid any hiatus at a time of high tension, Park announces that she will instead retain the incumbent Kim Kwan-jin.
: Yonhap quotes prosecutors as saying that a North Korean woman recently arrested after entering the South as a defector last August claimed she had been an “ordinary housewife” in the North, whose regime had coerced her into spying (initially on South Koreans in China) by threats to harm her family.
: Yonhap quotes an unnamed defense ministry (MND) source as dismissing recent DPRK threats: “Barking dogs don’t bite.” The same source also claims that the North’s Korean People’s Army (KPA) is experiencing growing rates of desertion.
: Joint US-ROK military exercise Key Resolve is held.
: ROK Red Cross confirms the North has cut the mutual hotline at Panmunjom.
: The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) declares that “the DPRK abrogates all agreements on nonaggression reached between the north and the south.” Furthermore, it “totally nullifies the [1992] joint declaration on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”. Third, “the DPRK will close the Panmunjom [Red Cross] liaison channel between the north and the south.” The statement ends: “We will never miss the golden chance to wage a great war for national reunification.”
: The UNSC unanimously passes Resolution 2094, condemning the DPRK’s Feb. 12 nuclear test and further tightening sanctions to include more monitoring of cargoes, diplomats and banks – especially bulk cash transfers. Banned luxury items are itemized for the first time. North Korea once again angrily dismisses this censure.
: The annual joint US-ROK Foal Eagle exercises, “one of the largest and longest war games in the world,” get under way. They end on April 30.
: Park Geun-hye is inaugurated as president of the ROK, the first ever woman to hold that post. Her inauguration speech expresses the hope that “North Korea will abide by international norms and make the right choice so that the trust-building process … can move forward” towards “an era of harmonious unification.”
: At the UN Conference on Disarmament in Geneva, DPRK diplomat Jon Yong Ryong warns: “As the saying goes, a new-born puppy knows no fear of a tiger. South Korea’s erratic behavior would only herald its final destruction.” Jon is roundly criticized by other delegates for “completely inappropriate language” and threatened with expulsion.
: A further and final batch of Cabinet nominations by President-elect Park includes Ryoo Kihl-jae as unification minister. An academic specialist on North Korea, Ryoo is the architect of Park Heun-hye’s “trustpolitik” philosophy.
: President-elect Park names her foreign policy adviser Yun Byung-se as foreign minister, and retired Army Gen. Kim Byung-kwan as defence minister. The latter is immediately criticized for a variety of alleged ethical and judgmental lapses.
: North Korea conducts its third nuclear test, at the usual site of Punggye-ri near the east coast. Its claim that this involved a miniaturized device cannot be confirmed; nor is it known whether this used plutonium or enriched uranium.
: (South) Korea Customs Service (KCS) data show that despite tensions inter-Korean trade in 2012 reached a record high of $1.97 billion. Southern exports rose 13.4 per cent year on year to $896.26 million, topped by Northern exports up 19.3 percent at $1.07 billion. 99 percent of this involved the joint venture KIC.
: ROK president-elect Park Geun-hye names former Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo, to head a new national security office within the Blue House (presidential office).
: The DPRK’s National Economic Cooperation Committee (NECC) warns the South that if it imposes “reckless” sanctions on the KIC, it will “have to pay dearly.”
: MOU reports to the ROK National Assembly (NA) that in view of sanctions under UNSCR 2087 there will be enhanced inspection of goods entering the KIC.
: Apropos UNSCR 2087, the NDC – the DPRK’s top executive body – criticizes “big countries, which [should] take the lead in building a fair world order” for “abandoning without hesitation even elementary principle.”
: At a press conference in Pyongyang, former defectors Kwang Ho and his wife Ko Kyong Hui denounce the South for deceiving them and tearfully thank Kim Jong Un for forgiving them. Theirs is the third such re-defection in recent months.
: UN Security Council (UNSC) unanimously passes Resolution 2087, condemning and sanctioning North Korea’s Dec. 12 rocket launch. As usual, Pyongyang at once rejects this as a US conspiracy and “a fraudulent document devoid of any legality.”
: MOU refuses requests by Incheon city and Gangwon province to contact the North about possible inter-Korean games at a youth soccer tournament in Hainan, China on Jan. 24-27. Both Koreas are already sending teams.
: ROK intelligence confirms Seoul press reports that a Northern defector aged 33 named Yu was arrested on Jan. 11. Working for Seoul Metropolitan Government, Yu is suspected of passing on to Pyongyang details of over 10,000 defectors in South Korea.
: ROK National Police Agency (NPA) says North Korea was behind last June’s cyber-attack which temporarily crippled the center-right Seoul daily JoongAng Ilbo’s website and server. This is the fifth separate such attack on ROK entities since 2009.
: The JoongAng Ilbo reports that the National Intelligence Service (NIS) has reorganized its tracking of North Korea, with separate departments for analysis and “early warning management” and increased use of “humint.” Under Lee Myung-bak the agency arrested 23 Northern infiltrators and caught 132 spies disguised as defectors, while 169 South Koreans were charged with praising or propagandizing the North. This compares to 43 arrests in total under Lee’s liberal predecessor Roh Moo-hyun, president during 2003-08.
: Survey by the ROK National Veterans Association reports that 78.7 percent of South Koreans surveyed reckon that a second Korean war is possible. Almost half (45.7 percent) believe that the nation’s division will last for at least 20 more years.
: MOU data show that in 2012 no North Koreans visited the South: the first zero score since 1998. Peaking at 1,313 in 2005, numbers fell from 332 in 2008 to 14 in 2011. Last year 110,116 South Koreans went north, almost all (99.8 percent) of them to the (KIC).
: MOU data show that in 2012 no North Koreans visited the South; the first zero score since 1998. Peaking at 1,313 in 2005, under Lee Myung-bak numbers fell from 332 in 2008 to 14 in 2011. Last year, 110,116 South Koreans went to the North, almost all (99.8 percent) of them to the KIC.
: MOU sources tell Yonhap that the ROK’s 2013 budget, finally passed by the National Assembly on Jan. 1, allocates 1.09 trillion won ($1.02 billion) to the fund for inter-Korean cooperation. This is 9.1 percent more than in 2012, anticipating some easing of tensions. This breaks down as 735.7 billion won for humanitarian assistance (up 13 percent, and including allocations to send 400,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer); 265 billion won for economic cooperation; and 90.2 billion won for the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC).
: MOU sources tell Yonhap that South Korea’s 2013 budget, finally passed by the National Assembly in the small hours of Jan. 1, allocates 1.09 trillion won ($1.02 billion) to the ROK’s fund for inter-Korean cooperation: 9.1 percent more than in 2012, anticipating some easing of tensions. This breaks down as 735.7 billion won for humanitarian assistance (up 13 percent, and including allocations to send 400,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer); 265 billion won for economic cooperation; and 90.2 billion won for the Kaesong Industrial Complex. MOU’s own budget gets a 4.4 percent hike, to 222.2 billion won. Under other budget heads Seoul will also spend 134.2 billion won helping Northern defectors settle in the South Korea, and give 27 billion won to international agencies which assist the DPRK.
: The North’s National Defense Commission (NDC) says that the next South Korean government “must choose between confrontation and peace.”
: ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU) reports that Northern defector arrivals fell to 1,508 in 2012, down from 2,706 in 2011 and the first annual total under 2,000 since 2006. The decline is attributed to tighter border control after Kim Jong Il’s death. The cumulative total of Northern escapees residing in South Korea at end-2012 was 24,613.
: The North’s National Defense Commission (NDC) says that the next South Korean government “must choose between confrontation and peace.”
: MOU reports that Northern defector arrivals fell to 1,508 in 2012, down from 2,706 in 2011 and the first annual total under 2,000 since 2006. The decline is attributed to tighter border control after Kim Jong Il’s death; by December the flow was rising again. The cumulative total of Northern escapees residing in South Korea at end-2012 was 24,613.
: Kim Jong Un’s first New Year speech, replacing the joint editorials of his father’s era, includes pro forma calls for an end to North-South confrontation – but also a threat to reunify Korea by force “if the aggressors dare launch a preemptive attack.”
: Kim Jong Un’s first New Year speech, replacing the joint editorials of his father’s era, includes pro forma calls for an end to North-South confrontation – but also a threat to reunify Korea by force “if the aggressors dare launch a preemptive attack.”
: KCNA swiftly if tersely reports that “The Saenuri Party candidate was elected after a close race in the South’s presidential election on Dec. 19.” It does not mention Park Geun-hye by name. (Normally Pyongyang waits 2-3 days; in 2007 it did not report Lee Myung-bak’s victory at all, according to Yonhap.)
: In South Korea’s presidential election, Park Geun-hye, daughter of the late dictator Park Chung-hee (1961-79) and candidate of the conservative ruling Saenuri Party, narrowly defeats Moon Jae-in of the liberal opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) to become modern Korea’s first woman leader. Her five-year term of office is due to begin on Feb. 25. Park and Moon polled 51.6 and 48 per cent of the votes cast, respectively.
: Sooner than expected, North Korea successfully launches its Unha-3 rocket and for the first time puts a satellite into orbit (which it claimed to have done twice before; those were undetectable, and this one soon ceases to function). South Korea and its allies condemn this as a de facto missile test in violation of UNSC resolutions.
: Seoul Central District Court sentences a former North Korean spy to five years in jail. The woman aged 46, who arrived as a refugee via Thailand a year ago, was found to have been a DPRK agent in China in 2001-06. She claimed the case was fabricated.
: South Korea opens a second resettlement facility for Northern defectors, called Hanawon (“house of unity”) like the original. Located at Hwacheon, 73 miles northeast of Seoul, the new facility cost $32 million and can house 500 defectors. Besides three months of compulsory basic adjustment training, it also offers professional development courses.
: Seoul Central District Court sentences a North Korean spy to four years in jail. The unnamed agent confessed to being sent to spy on defectors from the North. He claimed also to have been tasked with staging a traffic accident in China to injure Kim Jong Nam, the disinherited elder brother of DPRK leader Kim Jong Un, and to have paid a taxi driver to do this in July 2010; the attempt failed because Kim Jong Nam did not enter China when expected.
: In an editorial titled “UPP a friend or foe?” the Joongang Ilbo, by no means the most right-wing of Seoul’s dailies, accuses the hard-left Unified Progressive Party (UPP) of being “a second battalion” of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). The party had claimed that the DPRK’s much-criticized imminent satellite launch is no different from the ROK’s space program, which has no military connections.
: Secretariat of the DPRK Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea [CPRK] publishes a 7-point “open questionnaire” for Park Geun-hye, the ROK’s conservative candidate, calling on her to clarify her stance towards North Korea.
: DPRK’s Korean Committee for Space Technology announces “plans to launch another working satellite, second version of Kwangmyongsong-3, manufactured by its own efforts and with its own technology, true to the behests of leader Kim Jong Il.” The launch will take place from the Sohae Space Center between Dec. 10-22. South Korea and its allies immediately condemn this and urge Pyongyang to reconsider.
: Yonhap reports an anonymous ROK official as saying the DPRK has newly and unilaterally created a rule allowing it to confiscate the assets of Southern firms operating in the KIC that fail to comply with its equally unilateral new tax regulations.
: Seoul press reports that Pyonghwa Motors, an auto assembler in Nampo begun in 1999 as a 70:30 joint venture between the Unification Church (UC) and the DPRK government, is to close. Costing $55 million but with tiny volumes of 2,000 units a year built from imported kits, this was loss-making until 2009 when a $500,000 remittance became the first profit ever sent from North to South Korea.
: Two leading presidential candidates, Park Geun-hye of the ruling conservative Saenuri (New Frontier) Party and independent liberal Ahn Cheol-soo, each pledge to engage North Korea if elected. The third, Moon Jae-in of the opposition Democratic United Party (DUP), has gone further, proposing an economic union with the North.
: Yonhap reports that far from budging on its one-sided new tax demands in the KIC, North Korea is pressing the ROK government to make investors in the zone comply.
: Activists launch propaganda balloons from Imjingak, amid scuffles with local residents and shopkeepers who accuse them of raising tensions with North Korea as well as harming business by deterring tourists from visiting the DMZ.
: Seoul daily Hankyoreh highlights the cases of three students hauled in for police questioning after “retweeting” the DPRK website Urimizokkiri, even though they were clearly making fun of it. Under the National Security Law (NSL) it remains illegal for South Koreans to access or reproduce North Korean websites and other media sources.
: ROK police block routes to Imjingak Pavilion at the DMZ, after an unusually direct and specific threat by the KPA to shell it if activists went ahead with launching helium balloon carrying propaganda into the North from there, as they often do. The activists elude the authorities and eventually manage to send their balloons from Kanghwa Island instead.
: MOU confirms that in August North Korea unilaterally imposed new taxes at the KIC, demanding a total of $160,000 from nine of the 123 Southern firms invested there. The new rules demand to see daily financial data, which firms regard as confidential, and reserve the right to judge proper pricing of inputs and outputs. Pyongyang suspects these are being respectively inflated and deflated so that companies can minimize their tax liabilities.
: ROK Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin issues a public apology for the lax border security at the DMZ exposed by recent Northern military defections. Five generals and nine other officers in charge of the front will be disciplined.
: News emerges in Seoul of a cross-DMZ military defection on Oct. 2. This KPA soldier scaled three flood-lit barbed-wire fences unnoticed, and had to knock twice on ROK barracks doors to announce his presence and turn himself in before anyone realized he was there.
: ROK lawmaker Jun Byung-hun of the liberal opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) claims that Seoul’s suspension since mid-2008 of tours to Mount Kumgang has caused losses totaling 2.3 trillion won ($2.18 billion) to tour operator Hyundai Asan, other Southern firms, and local governments in the adjoining border areas.
: DUP rebuts as electioneering claims by ruling party lawmakers that former President Roh Moo-hyun, during his 2007 summit with Kim Jong Il, was ready to yield on the Northern Limit Line (NLL) as the de facto marine border in the West/Yellow Sea.
: An 18 year old Korean People’s Army (KPA) soldier from a border unit runs across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to defect, after reportedly shooting dead two of his officers. He is later said to be 160 cm tall but to weigh only 50 kg (110 pounds).
: Korean Council for Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery, an ROK civic group supporting former “comfort women,” says it will formally protest a 500,000 won ($447) fine levied on it last month by MOU for issuing an unauthorized joint statement with a similar group in the DPRK, denouncing Japan. The ROK group says it had notified MOU of its plans, but the ministry refused to accept the notice.
: Choson Sinbo, daily paper of pro-North Koreans in Japan, says that South Korea’s upcoming presidential election in December “can become an opportunity to end the catastrophic North-South relations.”
: 65.7 percent of South Koreans, 6 percent more than a year ago, are unhappy with Lee Myung-bak’s hardline policies on North Korea, according to a poll by the Institute for Peace and Unification at Seoul National University. 57 percent support reunification, while 54 percent favor increased cooperation and exchanges. 69 percent fear that the North could attack again.
: The North’s SPA holds an unusual second session. The main business is to announce an extension of compulsory schooling from 11 years to 12.
: An official (presumably ROK) at the KIC says that the previous day a letter signed by most of the 123 Southern firms invested there was submitted to the DPRK authorities, protesting tax changes unilaterally imposed in August. These include a fine for accounting fraud of up to 200 times the sum involved.
: Sources in Seoul tell Yonhap News Agency that the ROK government is considering taking over the assets of small investors in the shuttered Mount Kumgang resort, worth a total of 133 billion won ($118 million).
: Unification Ministry (MOU) says ROK government will pay out 7.5 billion won ($6.7 million) to compensate Southern firms hit by Seoul’s ban since May 2010 on trade with the North (the KIC is exempt). Hitherto only loans had been offered, on a more generous scale; 253 companies have been lent a total of 56.9 billion won.
: ROK businesses in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) tell the Korea Times that Choco Pies, a popular South Korean snack, are being used in the KIC as an incentive to boost productivity. Workers reportedly resell them at a premium in Northern markets.
: Left-leaning Seoul daily Hankyoreh reports that some ROK firms in northeast China are closing down because Seoul forbids them to hire DPRK workers, who are increasingly available in the area and much cheaper than their Chinese counterparts.
: Two ROK firms, steelmaker Posco and Hyundai Group, break ground for a 1.5 sq km $177 million distribution center in Hunchun city in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, China. This is just upstream of the DPRK’s Rason Special Economic Zone, which it is clearly intended to serve.
: Two ROK firms, steelmaker Posco and Hyundai Group, break ground for a 1.5 sq km $177 million distribution center in Hunchun city in Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, China.
: Seoul High Court upholds a 4-year jail term for a defector named only as Ahn, who came to the South 17 years ago, for plotting to kill Park Sang-hak, a fellow defector and prominent anti-DPRK activist, with a poisoned needle.
: Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office files for an arrest warrant for a 50 year old North Korean spy named only as Kim. Arriving in June as a refugee, he confessed to being an agent of the DPRK Ministry of State Security so that he could “form a normal family” with a woman who came from China with him and who is also being investigated.
: ROK Minister of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) Bahk Jae-wan tells a special committee on long-term fiscal policy that “the unification of South and North Korea is a future that is not very far off, which makes the assumption that the countries will not be unified within the next 30 to 40 years seem absurd.” No reasons for his views are reported.
: The Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, announces that an unusual second SPA session this year will be held on on Sept. 25. There is speculation that economic reforms will be announced.
: Kim Jong Un sends condolences to the family of Unification Church founder Moon Sun-myung, who died on Sept. 3 aged 92. Though anti-communist, the Northern-born Moon met Kim Il Sung and his companies invested in a hotel and auto plant in North Korea.
: The Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament, announces that an unusual second SPA session this year will be held on on Sept. 25, prompting speculation that economic reforms will be announced.
: Kim Jong Un sends condolences to the family of Unification Church founder Moon Sun-myung, who died on Sept. 3. Though seen as staunchly anti-communist, and originally expelled from North Korea where he was born, later in life Moon met with Kim Il Sung, and church companies invested in a hotel and auto plant in North Korea.
: ROK Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan tells a forum in Seoul that Kim Jong Un appears firmly in control of North Korea.
: The South’s Defense Ministry (MND) conveys a new medium-to-long-term defense plan to President Lee. Its provisions include doubling the Cyber Command’s staff to 1,000, upgrading both offensive and defensive capacity as well as a big increase in deployment of surface-to-surface missiles targeting North Korea’s nuclear facilities and missile bases.
: Two Southern aid NGOs say the North unilaterally cancelled (via fax) talks due next day in Kaesong about potential help for flood victims. Two theories were offered: Northern anger at ongoing US-ROK military exercises, or damage there from Typhoon Bolaven,
: Ground Self-Defense Force conducts exercise focused on attack and on evacuation of residents of Japan’s remote islands.
: Vice Foreign Minister Yamaguchi Tsuyoshi arrives in Beijing with a letter from Prime Minister Noda to President Hu in an effort to reduce tensions.
: MOU sends a letter to Pyongyang urging it to give notice before discharging water from its Hwanggang Dam on the Imjin River, which flows into the South. Since Aug. 17 this has happened several times without warning. In October 2009 the North agreed to give prior notice, after a flash flood caused by such a discharge drowned six Southern campers.
: Japan’s central government rejects a Tokyo Metropolitan Government request for permission to land on one of the Senkaku Islands.
: The car of Ambassador Niwa is attacked in Beijing and the Japanese flag is torn from it. The Chinese Foreign Ministry expresses deep regret for the incident.
: Japanese Coast Guard releases video of encounter with Hong Kong activists.
: Japan Self-Defense Force conducts live-fire exercise focused on island defense.
: Lower House of Diet adopts resolution asserting Japanese sovereignty over Senkaku Islands.
: Prime Minister Noda pledges government efforts to protect Japanese sovereignty over Senkaku Islands.
: Park Geun-hye, the presidential candidate of South Korea’s ruling Saenuri party, says she will not tolerate security threats but that “various talks” with the North are needed to break the current deadlock.
: Government formally accepts Tokyo Metropolitan Government detailed petition for Senkaku landing.
: Ulchi Freedom Guardian, a regular annual computer-based joint ROK-US military exercise, is held as usual. Some 56,000 ROK and some 30,000 US forces participate. DPRK media, as always, claim that this is prelude to an invasion.
Aug. 21, 2012: MOU reports that output at Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) rose 23 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2012, to $236 million.
Aug. 21, 2012: MOU reports that output at Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) rose 23 percent year-on-year in the first half of 2012, to $236 million.
: Japanese activists land on Uotsuri Island; China protests violation of Chinese sovereignty; Japan rejects protest; anti-Japanese riots break out across China.
: Kim Jong Un visits the artillery unit on Mudo Island which in November 2010 shelled the South’s Yeonpyeong Island, killing four. He orders it “to turn the west sea into a graveyard of the invaders” if a single enemy shell lands in DPRK waters.This is one of several visits to the front by Kim ahead of regular annual US-ROK joint military exercises.
: ROK Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin accuses the North of trying to interfere in the South’s upcoming presidential election. He does not specify how.
: Moon Jae-in, front-runner to be the liberal opposition Democratic United Party (DUP)’s presidential candidate in December, says that if elected he would seek a third inter-Korean summit and an economic union with North Korea.
: Hong Kong activists deported.
: Tokyo Metropolitan Governments files petition with central government asking permission to land on Senkaku Islands for pre-purchase survey; government refuses formal acceptance citing lack of details in the Tokyo proposal.
: MOU allows the Korean branch of the Christian relief group World Vision to go to North Korea to discuss possible aid. A 3-person delegation holds talks in Kaesong next day. The ministry notes that so far this year 13 Southern NGOs have given assistance worth a total of 4.1 billion won ($3.6 million) to the North on 22 occasions.
: Supra-party group of 55 parliamentarians pays homage at Yasukuni Shrine; Land and Transport Minister Hata and Chairman of the National Safety Commission Matsubara visit separately in private capacity; Tokyo Gov. Ishihara also visits Yasukuni.
: Hong Kong activists land on Uotsuri Island in Senkakus; 14 are subsequently arrested by Okinawa Prefectural Police.
: Taiwan authorities prevent Taiwanese activists from joining Hong Kong activists’ Senkaku protest.
: Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujimura Osamu urges Cabinet members to exercise self-restraint with regard to Aug. 15 visits to Yasukuni Shrine.
: Hong Kong activists leave Hong Kong on ship bound for Senkaku Islands.
: Japan and China agree to add four daily flights from Haneda to Shanghai and Guangzhou each by March 2013, thereby doubling the current total to 16 daily flights.
: China and Japan conclude 47 agreements on environment and energy conservation involving public and private cooperation.
: A Hyundai Asan executive confirms that North Korea has taken over Hyundai’s facilities at the now little-used resort, and says they are “fairly well maintained.”
: South Korea’s MOU announces that the 51,310 North Korean workers at the joint venture Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) would receive their usual 5 percent annual pay hike. This takes the basic monthly wage to $67.05. [Yes, that is per MONTH].
: Japan-China Comprehensive Energy Conservation and Environment Forum meets in Tokyo; Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Edano Yukio urges resumption of negotiations on joint development of natural gas fields in East China Sea.
: Taiwan ship spotted conducting research, without notification, in Japan’s EEZ.
: Taiwan’s President Ma ying-jeou proposes Taiwan, Japan, and China participate in joint development of resources in East China Sea.
: ROK government source claims that the KPA is realigning some front-line military units, including moving some 50 Mi-2 and Mi-4 attack helicopters to its Taetan and Nuchon air bases near the Yellow/West Sea border. This renders them vulnerable, so it is speculated that it was Kim Jong-un’s order rather than that of military specialists.
: A delegation from Hyundai Asan is allowed to visit Mount Kumgang to mark the ninth anniversary of the suicide of former Hyundai group chairman Chung Mong-hun.
: Under KCNA’s headline “DPRK Will Take Corresponding Measures against Terrorism,” the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) directly threatens “wicked traitor Kim Yong Hwan,” whom it also calls a “despicable renegade,” and three other named individuals in South Korea as “targets to be punished.”
: Park Sun-young, an ex-lawmaker and human rights activist, claims that some 100 defectors living on Jeju Island alone have gone back to the North this year. MOU denies this, saying the real number of double-defectors is minuscule. It does seem to be increasing however.
: In Qidong, 5,000 Chinese protest Japanese Oji Paper Co. plan to build a pipeline to channel polluted water into East China Sea.
: Tokyo Municipal Government runs ad in Wall Street Journal calling for US support of Senkaku purchase plan.
: At the Summer Olympics in the UK, the DPRK women’s soccer team angrily leaves the field in Glasgow when a pre-match video screen mistakenly displays the ROK flag. They return after 40 minutes.
: At a press conference in Seoul, Kim Young-hwan, a prominent activist for North Korean human rights, claims he was tortured during three months’ detention in China.
: The North’s Korean Central Television ramps up its anti-Lee venom, apropos the nonexistent plot to blow up statues. A military dog is shown lunging toward a human-size rag doll with a name tag of the South Korean president, while KPA soldiers fire at paper targets with Lee’s name, parodied images and accusations against Lee written on them.
: At a press conference in Pyongyang Jon Yong-chol, said to be a defector, confesses to “trying to perpetrate hideous crime of destroying statues and monuments in the DPRK at the instructions of the US and south Korean intelligence agencies.” North Korean media launch a vitriolic campaign about this. There is no evidence of any such plot. Seoul confirms that Jon had been a defector; a friend of his claims he was actually a drug dealer.
: Ambassador Niwa is recalled for consultations; returns to Beijing on July 16.
: Japanese Coast Guard identifies a total of four Chinese Maritime Fisheries Enforcement Agency ships operating in Japan’s contiguous zone in the Senkakus.
: Apple pulls “Defend the Diaoyu Islands” game from its App store in Beijing; the game depicts a Japanese invasion of the islands
: Fortune Global 500 reports 73 Chinese firms in its top ranking, which surpasses the 68 Japanese firms in the group.
: Government officials inform Gov. Ishihara of central government’s intent to purchase Senkaku Islands.
: Roh So-hui, 68, a pro-North activist who illicitly entered the DPRK via China on March 24, to be much featured in Pyongyang media thereafter, is seized and bound with ropes as he returns home by crossing the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) at Panmunjom. On Aug. 9 he is charged with pro-enemy activities under the National Security Law (NSL). Nearby, ROK police keep apart rival demonstrations by groups welcoming him home and denouncing him. The latter display a coffin and burn effigies of both Ro and Kim Jong Un.
: Japanese Coast Guard identifies Taiwanese ship, carrying Taiwanese activists, entering Japanese territorial waters in the Senkaku Islands.
: MOU says the number of Northern defectors reaching South Korea fell 43 percent in the first five months of this year to 610 from 1,062 in the same period last year, due to increased security along the North Korea-China border.
: Japan puts into effect multiple entry visas for Chinese tourists for Fukushima, Iwate, and Miyagi prefectures; visa is conditioned on staying at least one night in the region on their first visit.
: On the 10th anniversary of a naval clash that killed six ROK sailors, Lee Myung-bak is the first president ever to attend the annual memorial. The Seoul press claims a cover-up at the time saying that then-president Kim Dae-jung accepted the North’s claim that this was an accident and suppressed contrary evidence so as not to jeopardize his “Sunshine Policy.”
: At a press conference in Pyongyang which KCNA serializes over a week in seven parts, Pak Jong Suk (66), a returned defector, confesses her sins and fulsomely thanks Kim Jong Un for forgiving her and letting her come back to live with her son in Pyongyang.
: Anticipating Tokyo birth of panda cub from giant panda on loan from China, Tokyo Gov. Ishihara suggests the cub be named “Sen-Sen” or “Kaku-Kaku.” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson blasts the suggestion as “a clumsy performance that will only tarnish the image of Japan and Tokyo.’
: Kang Mi-hwa, who works for shoemaker Samduk Tongsang in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), is garlanded as the millionth person to pass through the ROK’s Dorasan immigration office since it opened in 2003. Some 400 South Koreans commute daily to the KIC across the once impassable DMZ; Ms Kang has been doing so since 2005.
: Japan’s Ministry of Defense reports three Chinese warships had transited between Okinawa and Miyakojima on return from exercises in western Pacific (the same warships that had transited the Osumi Strait on June 14)
: Academic symposium marking 40th anniversary of normalization opens in Shanghai. Former Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo attends along with Tang Jiaxuan, Chinese head of the China-Japan Friendship Association.
: China’s Ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua criticizes Japan for supporting Uighur anti-China activities and equates Uighur activities with Aum Shinrikyo.
: ROK Foreign Ministry (MOFAT) admits some of its staff in Thailand have treated Northern defectors high-handedly. Two female employees are relieved of their duties. They had admitted shouting but denied swearing, as one elderly refugee alleged.
: “Virgin bomber” Kim Hyon-hui, convicted of but pardoned for the 1987 KAL 858 bombing (115 died), does her first TV talk show. As in her book, she claims Kim Jong Il personally ordered the bombing to disrupt the Seoul Olympics, and chose a plane full of Koreans working in the Middle East to avoid any repercussions if foreigners were killed.
: Chinese media report that quarantine authorities find cadmium in fish imported from Japan.
: Japanese Coast Guard aircraft find Chinese maritime research ship, Dong ang Hong 2, conducting research in an area outside the area for which it had asked permission; a Coast Guard patrol ship orders the Chinese ship to cease research and the captain complies.
: Nagashima Akihisa, special advisor to prime minister, in TV interview supports government possession of Senkaku Islands.
: Three Chinese warships transit Osumi Strait for exercises in the western Pacific.
: MOU says it will amend the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act. In the future South Koreans and Northern defectors will no longer have to seek permission to send a certain amount (yet to be specified) of money to relatives in the North for living and medical expenses. MOU also plans a register of businesses involved in inter-Korean trade – currently banned except for the KIC – so that they can receive support (presumably compensation).
: Criticizing persecution of pro-Pyongyang elements in the South, the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) threatens to disclose favorable comments made by conservative ROK presidential hopefuls such as Park Geun-hye, Chung Mong-joon, and Kim Moon-soo during their past visits to the DPRK, adding that this “will just stun all south Koreans.” As of September this threat had not been carried out.
: Gov. Ishihara appears before Lower House Budget Committee.
: A foundation linked to the leftist Seoul daily Hankyoreh co-hosts a forum in Dandong with that city and the ROK port of Incheon – which on June 6 signs an MOU on cooperation with another city in northeast China, Shenyang. North Korea sends two WPK Central Committee members and Ri Chang Dok, vice chair of its National Reconciliation Council (NRC). Though not formal participants in the forum, they meet Incheon mayor Song Young-gil; it is said to be the first inter-Korean meeting of officials of the Kim Jong Un era.
: Tokyo Municipal Government announces dispatch of two-man survey team to the Senkaku Islands.
: Japan’s Ambassador to China Niwa Uichiro expresses concern over Senkaku purchase plan in a Financial Times interview. He apologizes for confusion caused by his statement the following day.
: A military source in Seoul says that since mid-May sorties by KPA fighter jets have risen sharply to up to 50 per day. The previous day, one SU-25 fighter came near enough to the DMZ to cause four ROK interceptor planes to scramble in response.
: Japanese Coast Guard identifies a Chinese Fisheries Law Enforcement ship operating in Japan’s contiguous zone in the Senkakus; the spotting is the fifth in 2012 and the second following Ishihara’s announcing of the Senkaku purchase plan.
: Tokyo Municipal Government takes up Ishihara’s Senkaku purchase plan.
: In an “open ultimatum to the south Korean group of traitors,” the KPA General Staff warns that it has “already targeted” Southern media for criticizing an ongoing children’s festival in Pyongyang.
: Former ROK Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, now running for chairmanship of the DUP, says on the radio that North Korean human rights issues are its domestic affair and the South should not interfere. Two days later he dismisses a bill on DPRK human rights by the ruling conservative Saenuri party as a trick for “ultraconservative groups” to send more anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the DMZ. He also dismisses any criticism of such sentiments as a “new McCarthyism” in South Korea.
: “Flower of unification,” Lim Soo-kyung, famous for an unauthorized visit to North Korea in 1989 in her student days and is now a lawmaker for the DUP, gets into an altercation with a young defector, Baek Yosep. Calling Baek a “traitor,” she yells “How can a son of a bitch like you, a Northern defector of humble birth, come and challenge a lawmaker of the South Korean parliament?” Lim later apologizes several times, saying she was drunk.
June 4, 2012: ROK police say that a Seoul man aged 39 named Cho has been arrested for collusion with the Korean People’s Army (KPA)’s Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) in China to distribute computer game programs infected with malignant codes in the ROK.
June 4, 2012: ROK police say that a Seoul man aged 39 named Cho has been arrested for collusion with the Korean People’s Army (KPA)’s Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB) in China to distribute computer game programs infected with malignant codes in the ROK.
: China and Japan launch direct foreign exchange system.
: Citing intelligence sources, the Seoul daily JoongAng Ilbo reports the arrest of Lee Gyeong-ae, a DPRK spy who came to the South via Thailand last year posing as a defector. Her past missions included luring a defector back from the US to China, where she also laundered counterfeit dollars. She is the third such “honeytrap” agent caught since 2008.
: Japanese police turn over alleged Chinese spy case to public prosecutors.
: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) election plank calls on government to purchase the Senkaku Islands.
: The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office says two men are under arrest on suspicion of leaking GPS jamming technology to North Korea. One, a 74-year-old named only as Lee, is a communist sentenced to life imprisonment in 1972 for spying for the North. Released on parole in 1990, he began a trading business with the DPRK in 1994.
: Foreign Minister Gemba Koichiro calls for an increase in Japan’s defense budget, citing in particular need to protect Japan’s southwest islands.
: “Cool Japan” exhibition opens in Beijing.
: Jun Won-tchack, a conservative lawyer, stirs controversy by suggesting on live TV (KBS) in Seoul a sharp question to be put to a few newly elected ROK lawmakers who are reputedly pro-Pyongyang: “If one can answer yes to the question, ‘Are Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il sons of bitches?’ then he or she is not a blind follower of the North.”
May 28, 2012: President Lee Myung-bak says in his biweekly radio address that “The North has repeatedly made wild assertions, but what matters more are some pro-North Korea groups within our society.” This is his first comment on an ongoing controversy over a pro-North faction within the far-left Unified Progressive Party (UPP).
May 28, 2012: President Lee Myung-bak says in his biweekly radio address that “The North has repeatedly made wild assertions, but what matters more are some pro-North Korea groups within our society.” This is his first comment on an ongoing controversy over a pro-North faction within the far-left Unified Progressive Party (UPP).
: Former Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio visits China.
: Wall Street Journal quotes Unification Minister Yu saying “The reason why North Koreans criticize South Korea ever more strongly, we believe, is an expression of anxiety … I expect this kind of fidelity race (sic) will fade away as [Kim Jong Un’s] authority gets stabilized and anxiety is removed.”
: A study by Hyundai Research Institute senior fellow Hong Soon-jick claims that economic losses to South Korea during 2008-11 from the Lee administration’s reduction and later suspension of inter-Korean commerce totaled 10 trillion won ($8.3 billion), over five times more than the losses to North Korea (1.8 trillion won). This estimate is inflated by including opportunity costs, such as supposed losses of $4.1 billion from failure to go ahead with the second-phase expansion of the joint venture Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC).
: Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) Senior Advisor Eda Satsuki meets Wang Jiarui, head of the CCP’s International department, in Beijing.
: Beijing informs Tokyo that the visit of the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission, Gen. Guo Boxiong, scheduled for May 24-28, is postponed “for work-related circumstances. This is the second time the visit has been delayed.
: Chinese and Japanese officials meet in Hangzhou to discuss establishing high-level consultative mechanism on maritime issues.
: Seoul sources say GPS signals jamming by North Korea ceased on May 14. Some credit President Lee Myung-bak’s meeting with Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao on that day. Jamming had affected 609 flights by 10 ROK airlines and 48 by 22 foreign airlines as of May 9, when release of such data was stopped on security grounds.
: Guided by master potter Kim Jung-ok at Munkyong, 150 km south of Seoul, ROK Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik makes a terracotta jar on which he writes ‘Peaceful Unification’; as a symbol of the nation’s need to start preparing – in particular financially – for the two Koreas becoming one.
: Asahikawa Medical University and four Chinese medical institutions announce the launch of joint on-line telemedicine system.
: Three People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy frigates transit in international waters between Okinawa and Miyakojima into the western Pacific.
: Premier Wen Jiabao, Prime Minister Noda Yashihiko, and President Lee Myung-bak meet in Beijing for a trilateral summit.
: Russian authorities announce Korean and Chinese participation in infrastructure development on Etorofu and Kunashiri Islands.
: China-Japan-ROK trade ministers agree to launch free trade agreement talks by the end of 2012.
: The DPRK Foreign Ministry rejects the UNSC permanent members’ joint statement (see May 3) as “a grave illegal action of violating the sovereignty of the DPRK and its right to use space and nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.” It vows to continue both nuclear and rocket programs.
: The ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) says that 366 North Korean defectors arrived in South Korea in the first three months of this year, down sharply from 566 in the same period last year. It attributes the drop to a crackdown on the Sino-DPRK border.
: The ROK’s state-owned Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) reminds the DPRK’s Choson Trade Bank that the first repayment installment of $5.83 million for food loans, agreed in September 2000, falls due on June 7. No reply is received, nor any payment.
: In a joint statement at an IAEA meeting in Vienna, all the permanent members of the UN Security Council – including China and Russia – urge North Korea “to refrain from further actions which may cause grave security concerns in the region, including any nuclear tests.” They also reconfirm their “serious concern” at last month’s rocket launch.
: Japanese, Chinese, and ROK finance ministers agree to strengthen financial cooperation through bond purchases.
: Japanese Coast Guard reports two Chinese Maritime Fisheries Law Enforcement ships entered Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands.
: Chinese, Japanese, and ROK environmental ministers meet in Beijing.
: Officials in Seoul say that since April 28 252 flights in and out of South Korea have experienced GPS (Global Positioning System) signal jamming. On May 4 the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) directly accuses Pyongyang of responsibility.
: Officials in Seoul say that since April 28, 252 flights in and out of South Korea have experienced GPS (Global Positioning System) signal jamming.
: Panasonic announces opening of lithium battery production in Suzhou, following the closing of a plant in Osaka Prefecture.
: KCNA claims that North Korea’s coal output has increased “in the spirit of making revenge upon the rat-like Lee Myung Bak group of traitors in south Korea.”
: President Lee warns that Seoul will respond strongly to any DPRK provocation.
: A KCNA headline reads: “DPRK Workers Vow to Wipe out Rat-like Lee Myung Bak Group.”
: Ignoring Pyongyang’s stepped-up threats, some 40 defector activists from Fighters for a Free North Korea send 10 large balloons carrying 200,000 anti-regime leaflets across the DMZ into North Korea from the usual spot, Imjingak pavilion near Paju.
: KCNA reports that Kim Jong Un “guided” a combined forces drill to mark the KPA’s supposed 80th anniversary; noting that combined unit 655 is “ready and able to immediately strike at the heart of the enemy who had attacked the integrity of the DPRK.”
: Rodong Sinmun declares: “It is necessary to make a clean sweep of the rat-like Lee Myung Bak group of bastards”. KCNA has four further articles using this phrase.
: KCNA headline reads “More Rallies Take Place to Vow to Wipe Out Rat-like Lee Group.”
: ROK Deputy Defense Minister Lim Kwan-bin says South Korea and the US agree that the chances of a new North Korean nuclear test are “very high,” and that this is “possible at any time.”
: ROK Navy promotes Senior Chief Petty Officer Heo Gwang-joon, a radar operative on the Aegis-equipped destroyer Sejong the Great, to master chief petty officer for being the first to detect North Korea’s rocket launch, 45 seconds after-blast-off.
: KCNA reports the chairman of the DPRK General Federation of Trade Unions as declaring that North Korea’s workers are fully ready to form a steel-strong corps and workers division for special action so that they may join the special action group of the Supreme Command of the KPA.
: KCNA headlines today include: “More Rallies Take Place to Vow to Wipe Out Rat-like Lee Group” and “Cartoons Satirizing Rat-like Myung Bak Enjoy Popularity in DPRK.”
: KCNA headline claims that “Servicepersons Wait for Order of Action.”
: The “special operation action group” of the KPA Supreme Command warns of “special actions” against “rat-like Lee Myung-bak”, ROK media et al.
: Lee Myung-bak tells the Education Center for Unification in Seoul that “rice will be abundant in two to three years” if North Korea gives up collective agriculture and privatizes its farmland. Conversely, “continued dependence on aid will only produce beggars.” He also urges Kim Jong Un to pay more heed to human rights.
: In an article headed “DPRK People Vow to Wipe out S. Korean Regime,” KCNA for the first time calls Lee Myung-bak “rat-like.”
: President Lee says South Korea needs strong military power, both hardware and psychologically because “North Korea makes provocations when we are weak.”
: Kim Il Sung’s centenary is marked by a big military parade in Pyongyang. Emulating his grandfather but not his father, Kim Jong Un makes his first public speech.
: The DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) – Congress, but not as we know it – holds its annual single-day session.
: North Korea launches its long-awaited three-stage rocket over the West (Yellow) Sea. It fails about 90 seconds after blast-off. Unusually, Pyongyang admits this.
: Large new statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, side by side, are unveiled on Mansudae Hill in Pyongyang.
: South Korea holds parliamentary elections.
: Fourth Conference of the WPK is held in Pyongyang. The late Kim Jong Il is proclaimed as the Party’s “eternal secretary general.” Kim Jong Un assumes the newly created post of WPK first secretary.
: Rodong Sinmun claims that “People of various social strata in south Korea censure Park Geun Hye as [an] arch criminal … They also brand her as a fascist dictator as bad as Lee Myung Bak.”
: The ROK hosts the second Nuclear Security Summit (NSS), bringing many of the world’s most powerful leaders to Seoul.
: North Korea announces that in mid-April it will launch a rocket carrying a satellite. It affects surprise when the US, South Korea, Japan and many others object that this would be a direct breach of the newly minted LDA.
: KCNA reports that in just 24 hours no fewer than 1,747,493 young people have ‘volunteered’ to join the KPA, following a call from its Supreme Command.
: According to a KCNA headline, “Rodong Sinmun Urges Park Geun Hye to Behave Herself.”
: Supreme Command of the KPA issues a statement, headlined by KCNA as “Strongest Warning Served to Those Who Hurt Dignity of Supreme Leadership.”
: North Korea and the US each announce what becomes known as the Leap Day Accord (LDA).
: Responding to the start of annual joint US-ROK military exercises, the North’s National Defense Commission (NDC) threatens a “sacred war” that will “make a clean sweep of the Lee group.” It adds, mysteriously, “We have war means more powerful than the US nukes.”
: Kim Jong Un is reported as visiting the southwestern front line, including an artillery unit which fatally shelled the South’s Yeonpyeong Island in November 2010.
: South Korea’s National Assembly Committee on Foreign Affairs and Unification calls on Beijing to stop repatriating Northern defectors.
: Kim Jong Un promotes 23 KPA generals including Kim Yong Chol, who is promoted to general. As head of the General Reconnaissance Bureau, Kim is seen by ROK intelligence as behind the March 2010’s sinking of the corvette Cheonan and other attacks, such as July 2009’s DDoS (computer virus) assaults on major ROK and US government agencies.
: President Lee urges China to follow international norms when handling DPRK refugees.
: North Korea says that a rare delegate conference of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) will be held in mid-April. The exact date is not specified.
: Kim Jong Il’s birthday – now called the Day of the Shining Star – is marked and celebrated very much as it was in his lifetime – with displays of synchronized swimming, exhibitions of Kimjopngilia flowers and so forth.
: The late Kim Jong Il is awarded the title generalissimo, hitherto held only by his father, for (inter alia) his “immortal contribution to global peace and stability.”
: Seoul daily Dong-A Ilbo claims that Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME), the world’s second largest shipbuilder, plans to invest in a ship repair dockyard and a steel plant in the new Hwanggeumpyong joint PRC-DPRK.
: ROK ruling Grand National Party (GNP) announces a new policy platform, which includes helping the North join the international community, rather than demanding reform and opening. On Feb. 2, the party changes its name to Saenuri (New Frontier).
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), declares that: “It is the demand of the times and the nation to sweep away the group of outrageous traitors hell-bent on confrontation with fellow countrymen.”
: Rodong Sinmun avers that “It is necessary to give vent to the pent-up grudge of the Korean people against enemies and make a clean sweep of them from this land.” Lest there be any doubt, this means “the Lee group…heinous confrontation maniacs and thrice-cursed traitors”, at whom “it is imperative to deal sledge-hammer blows.”
: On Kim Jong Un’s birthday – although this is not mentioned – Korean Central Television (KCTV) airs a program praising him as a “genius among geniuses,” especially in military science. The great successor is shown driving a tank and galloping on horseback.
: ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) reports that in 2011 it spent only 42.6 billion won (US$36.6 million) or 4.2 percent of its 1.1 trillion won South-North Cooperation Fund – the least since 2000. Projects supported include a Korean dictionary, a family reunion center, the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), and aid to North Korean children via UNICEF.
: CPRK blasts “traitor Lee Myung-bak” for “vociferating about ‘a window of opportunity,’” calling this “balderdash,” “sheer sophism,” “a shameless jargon,” and “another hideous provocation … If a change is to be expected in the peninsula, it is only a total ruin of the Lee group which is as good as the living dead.”
: Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), a Seoul think-tank, reports that North Korea’s military might is stronger than ever. In 2011 the KPA had a 1.02 million-strong army and record numbers of tanks, warships and air defense artillery. It has fewer combat planes than in 1986, but since the 1990s MiG-29 fighter jets have boosted quality.
: Committee for Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) issues a report “indicting the Lee Myung-bak group of traitors for its unprecedented brutal acts during the mourning over the great loss to the nation.”
: South Korea lifts the temporary ban on its citizens visiting the North, which it had imposed on Dec. 19.
: A mass rally in Pyongyang is held pledge loyalty to Kim Jong Un. Similar events in provincial centers follow the next day, and a youth rally is held in the capital.
: In his New Year policy address, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak says that “the window of opportunity always remains open … if North Korea comes forward with a sincere attitude.” However, “if any aggression occurs, we will strongly respond.”
: ROK Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik expresses the hope that the DPRK’s new leadership “will make a positive step toward openness and development instead of a negative step toward isolation and backwardness.”
: The customary joint New Year’s editorial of the three main DPRK daily papers – Rodong Sinmun (Party), Joson Inmingun (Army) and Chongnyon Jonwi (youth) – calls on all North Koreans to pledge allegiance to Kim Jong Un and become “human rifles and bombs” to defend him. It criticizes South Korea’s “confrontational policy” toward the North.
: In his first such activity without his father, Kim Jong Un visits the 105th Tank Division, also known as Seoul Ryu Kyong Su after the commander who led it when it was the first KPA unit to enter the Southern capital in June 1950 at the start of the Korean War.
: Yonhap quotes an unnamed official in Seoul as opining that the North’s fierce denunciations of the South are a bid to buy time while Kim Jong Un consolidates his power.
: The North’s CPRK criticizes Lee Myung-bak for preventing ordinary South Koreans from making condolence trips to the North to mourn the death of Kim Jong Il.
: A meeting of the Politburo of the Central Committee of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) declares that “the dear respected Kim Jong Un assumed the supreme commandership of the Korean People’s Army according to the behest of leader Kim Jong Il on October 8.” This is Kim Jong Un’s first new official post.
: North Korea issues postage stamps featuring Kim Jong Un with his father.
: The WPK Central Committee and Central Military Commission (CMC) issue lengthy and hardline “joint calls,” including a threat to turn “Chongwadae [the ROK presidential office] and the stronghold of aggression into a sea of fire and accomplish the historic cause of national reunification without fail if the enemies dare mount an attack.”
: South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism (MCST) says joint excavations of Manwoldae palace will resume next March. Seoul also hopes to work with Pyongyang to have the folk song Arirang listed as a UNESCO intangible cultural asset.
: A memorial service with speeches for Kim Jong Il is held in Pyongyang.
: The National Defense Commission (NDC), the DPRK’s highest executive body, says it “will have no dealings with the Lee Myung-bak group of traitors forever… We will surely force the group of traitors to pay for its hideous crimes committed at the time of the great national misfortune.” An ROK spokesman call this “disappointing.”
: Kim Jong Il’s funeral is held in Pyongyang, amid scenes of mass grieving. Unusually this is carried live on television, with broadcast hours much longer than normal.
: South Korea sets up an inter-agency task force – comprising the foreign and unification ministries, the police, the National Intelligence Service, et al. – on kidnap victims held in the North.
: Rodong Sinmun refers to Kim Jong Un as leading the WPK Central Military Commission (CMC). He was hitherto one of two CMC vice-chairmen.
: The Unification Church reveals that its founder’s son – a US citizen, hence not subject to Seoul’s permission – has gone to Pyongyang to mourn Kim Jong Il. So has at least one unauthorised Southern leftist: Hwang Hye-ro, an activist based in France.
: The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) attacks the Southern government for trying to “quench the hot wind for consolatory visits…. Their obstructions will entail unpredictable catastrophic consequences.”
: North Korea says the future course of inter-Korean relations will depend on Seoul’s attitude toward condolences for Kim Jong Il.
: Minju Joson, daily paper of the DPRK Cabinet, editorializes: “Kim Jong Un is another great general who carried the bloodline of Mangyongdae, and a great sun.”
: ROK President Lee says that South Korea is trying to show North Korea it bears no hostility. He stresses that stabilization in the North is in the South’s interests.
: South Korean, Japanese, and US representatives walk out of UN General Assembly when a moment’s silence is called in memory of Kim Jong Il. ROK diplomats the next day concede that such a tribute is routine when a head of state dies in office. The UN Security Council, by contrast, refuses to make a similar gesture of respect.
: Flanked by top military and party officials, Kim Jong Un visits his father’s bier at Kumsusan Memorial Palace (where his grandfather Kim Il Sung also rests in state).
: As a precaution, South Korea brings its 13 archaeologists home three days early from the Manwoldae excavation in Kaesong. Unification Minister Yu says they will return once the North is back to normal, since Pyongyang remains committed to the project.
: Seoul media and lawmakers criticize Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and NIS Director Won Sei-hoon, for admitting the first they heard of Kim Jong Il’s death was from TV.
: The ROK holds a security ministers’ meeting to discuss how to react to Kim Jong Il’s death. It issues a statement offering sympathy to the Northern people rather than to the DPRK government. MND says that two Christian groups have accepted an official request not to illuminate three huge Christmas tree-shaped towers along the DMZ this year, for fear of exacerbating tensions at a delicate time.
: A special KCBS broadcast at noon tremulously announces Kim’s death. North Korea begins 11 days of official mourning. Kim Jong Un’s name is listed first on the funeral committee, and DPRK media at once start referring to him as “Great Successor.”
: Kim Jong Il dies of a heart attack. This is not made public for two days, nor apparently are South Korean or other intelligence services aware of the news.
: The Korea NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea, an association of 50 Southern civic groups, says it will send a 10-strong delegation to Kangnam county, south of Pyongyang, to monitor the fate of aid which it sent in September.
: MOU publishes data on separated families. Some 128,600 South Koreans had applied for family reunions since 2000, but 49,300 have now died. Of those remaining, 43.8 percent are over 80 and 37.3 percent over 70.
: North Korean television warns South Korea not to illuminate three towers shaped like Christmas trees along the DMZ, warning of “grave consequences.”
: Six members of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, an ROK NGO, cross the DMZ to deliver 254 tons of food to Kaesong. It is destined for child care facilities in Anju, a mining area north of Pyongyang.
: A special ROK committee under the Prime Minister’s office rules that 217 named South Koreans were abducted by the North during the 1950-53 Korean War.
: The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) denounces “traitor Lee Myung-bak” for “[sending] a ‘letter of encouragement’ to the human scum, who wrought a nonsensical novel viciously slandering the dignity of the DPRK supreme leadership.” (A defector from the North wrote a book about Kim Jong Il.) This is the first time in six months that the DPRK has insulted the ROK president by name. On Dec. 13 the DPRK website Uriminzokkiri calls Lee a “corrupt traitor,” citing the same offense.
: MOU says that after two years the effects of North Korea’s botched currency reform still linger. Neither rice prices nor the currency have stabilized, and shortages persist.
: ROK sources say the KPA has pulled back patrol boats in the West Sea from the NLL towards coastal waters of South Hwanghae province, to deter defections by boat.
: ROK forces mark the first anniversary of the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island by staging exercises on nearby Baengnyeong Island. The KPA threatens next day to turn the Blue House into “a sea of fire” if a single shot enters its waters.
: Seoul reports that this month and last the KPA has flown IL-28 bombers to test anti-ship missiles in the Yellow/West Sea. This potential threat to ROK vessels close to the Northern Limit Line (NLL) can be countered by the South’s indigenous Chunma ground-to-air missile, now deployed on Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong islands near the NLL.
: Seoul notes that this year’s resolution on DPRK human rights abuses for the UN General Assembly’s Third Committee for the first time mentions prison camps. South Korea is one of 49 co-sponsors. The resolution is passed by 112 in favor to 16 against, with 55 abstentions, on Nov. 21. North Korea’s delegate rejects this as a dastardly political plot.
: MOU says it has sent hepatitis B vaccines for over a million North Korean children, worth 1.06 billion won ($942,300), via international relief agencies. These are the first vaccines Seoul has provided to Pyongyang in almost a year.
: MOU says it has approved a 10-day visit (Nov. 14-23) by ROK historians and archaeologists to the Manwoldae palace site in Kaesong to conduct a flood damage survey.
: Good Friends, a South Korean NGO, claims the price of rice in Pyongyang almost doubled from 2,500 Northern won (KRW) in September to KRW 3,800 in November.
: South Korea says it will resume medical aid to North Korea via the World Health Organization (WHO). Having donated $13.12 million in 2009, last year Seoul withheld $6.94 million after accusing Pyongyang of sinking the corvette Cheonan. It has now re-authorized that sum for distribution.
: Seoul reports that a 5-ton boat with 21 North Koreans on board was found drifting in the Yellow/West Sea on Oct. 30. Those aboard expressed a wish to defect. The same day, a single defector crossed the marine border on a raft.
: Yonhap reports that Kim Jong Un’s activities have expanded and diversified, from 35 appearances in the first half of the year to 36 in the four months July-October alone.
: On a week-long visit to the US, ROK Unification Minister Yu Woo-ik says that Seoul’s aim is to establish a “stable dialogue channel” with Pyongyang.
: A senior foreign ministry (MOFAT) official says Seoul is seeking a third round of bilateral nuclear talks, but that Pyongyang should be more serious and sincere.
: Yonhap reports that the DPRK government is squeezing its people harder than ever for funds to make a big splash for Kim Il Sung’s centenary next April.
: Archaeologists from both Koreas hold a working-level meeting in Kaesong. An official from the ROK National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage, who inspected the Manwoldae palace site, says safety measures are urgently needed due to flood damage.
: KCNA reports the GNP’s loss of the by-election for Seoul mayor to a leftish independent as “the people’s grave judgment call on conservative forces in South Korea.”
: An MOU official belatedly reveals that a month earlier, meeting a Hyundai Asan delegation in Kaesong, the North’s Ri Jong Hyok hinted that if the South proposed holding talks about the Mt. Kumgang dispute the North would respond.
: Park Joo-sun, a lawmaker of the ROK’s main opposition Democratic Party (DP), who met Ri Jong Hyok in Atlanta, says Ri claimed that the two Koreas had agreed to a summit during a meeting between ROK Presidential Chief of Staff Yim Tae-hee and Kim Yang-gon, the North’s point man on the South, but that Seoul later broke the deal.
: The Korea NGO Council for Cooperation, which represents over 50 Southern civic groups, says the North has invited it to come for discussions. Seoul nixes the trip, citing a lack of monitoring of food aid already sent. But it permits another NGO coalition, the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation, to send a team to Sariwon, south of Pyongyang, to monitor flour aid donated to childcare centers.
: North Korea’s Union of Agricultural Working People (UAWP) condemns the recent US-South Korea free trade agreement (FTA) as a betrayal of the nation, and pledges support to South Koreans who oppose it.
: Unification Minister Yu says the lesson of Libya is that leaders should feed their people well, protect them and allow them freedom. North Korea has yet to report the overthrow of Gadhafi, and is said to have banned its citizens there from returning home.
: Yonhap notes that since late August DPRK media have carried 48 separate reports on the upcoming by-election for mayor of Seoul. Most are critical of the GNP while praising the left-leaning independent opposition candidate Park Won-soon (the eventual winner).
: Ten businessmen, representing 120 Southern SMEs operating in the KIC, ask Unification Minister Yu to approve new investments and address issues of communications, the passage of people and customs clearance for the zone. Yu stresses Seoul’s commitment to developing the complex.
: Chosun Ilbo reports that KIC orders for Choco Pies are down sharply. The ROK snack has spread by barter all over North Korea. The North reportedly told Southern businesses to provide cash or instant noodles instead. A Seoul official says that Pyongyang seems to have “singled out Choco Pies as an agent that may be spreading anti-Socialist values from the South.”
: Visiting the US for a seminar at the University of Georgia, Ri Jong-hyok, a senior DPRK official involved in North-South ties, calls on the ROK to implement the two summit agreements and lift the sanctions it imposed in May 2010.
: GNP lawmaker Hwang Jin-ha says the National Intelligence Service (NIS) told a closed NA session that KPA ground forces are using virtual reality technology to stage simulated invasions of South Korea, while beefing up cyber threats.
: Citing military intelligence, South Korean lawmakers claim that the North is accelerating Kim Jong Un’s grooming as successor. Jong-un reportedly practiced controlling the military during his father’s most recent overseas trip, to Russia in August.
: The DPRK Committee for Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland (CPUF) calls on the ROK to cease its online broadcasting on inter-Korean affairs, which began a fortnight earlier. CPUF calls this a grave provocation to tarnish the image of the North.
: Presidents Obama and Lee reaffirm the “unbreakable” US-ROK alliance, and urge North Korea to denuclearize. On the proposed Siberia-Korea gas pipeline, Lee says: “It will take some time … it’s not something that will see immediate progress.”
: Russia and North Korea hold a test run of their renovated 54 km cross-border railway linking Khasan to Rajin. They reaffirm Rajin’s intended role as a freight hub for Europe-bound shipments from the wider region. For Moscow this means South Korea.
: South Korea says it has stepped up vigilance against possible provocations after detecting unusual Northern military movements near the West Sea border, including the deployment of KPA fighter jets and ground-to-air missiles to forward positions.
: In an interview published as Lee Myung-bak arrives in the US for a state visit, South Korea’s President tells the Washington Post that his firm stand on North Korea is making progress: “There are some real changes we are detecting.” He does not elaborate.
: North Korea marks the 66th anniversary of its ruling WPK on a smaller scale than usual, with no military parade or national meeting.
: KCNA threatens “physical retaliation” against South Korea’s “ceaseless provocative war moves”. These include alleged maritime intrusions, and “anti-communist right-wing conservative organizations [scattering] a lot of leaflets and undesirable USBs and pamphlets into … the north.” A separate warning about the latter the same day says that the KPA is “ready to take direct fire to destroy the citadels of the psychological warfare,” and may be “compelled to go into real action any moment.”
: An official in Seoul says North Korea is seeking $5.7 billion compensation for the failure of KEDO’s LWR project, adding: “The North’s demand is nonsense.”
: Apropos the food situation in North Korea, the South’s unification minister Yu Woo-ik tells the ROK National Assembly (NA): “I don’t think [it] is very serious.”
: North Korea calls on the South to repatriate two men whose small boat crossed the eastern sea border the day before. It is unclear as yet whether they are seeking asylum.
: KCNA claims that since August the South has beamed propaganda broadcasts to the western DPRK on the same frequency as the North’s own TV channel, and threatens “merciless punishment” unless this ceases. MOU says it has no immediate comment.
: Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), founded by a US-Korean Christian and partly funded from South Korea – where its website, pust.kr, is hosted – holds an international symposium with scientists from at least seven nations.
: MOU says it has dropped plans to send flood aid to North Korea. The North did not respond when the South offered baby food, biscuits and instant noodles, rather than the food, cement and heavy construction equipment which Pyongyang had asked for.
: On the fourth anniversary of the second inter-Korean summit, Rodong Sinmun calls on South Korea to change its policy and implement the accords signed there.
: After visiting the KIC – the first GNP chairman ever to do so – Hong Joon-pyo calls for flexibility in South Korea’s policy to the North. Separately, ROK civic groups deliver 250 tons of flour and medical supplies for North Korean children to Kaesong city.
: The UN World Food Program (WFP) says that one-third of DPRK children under five are malnourished. It warns that this number may grow. WFP’s annual assessment survey, jointly with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), begins on Sept. 26.
: DPRK media report that Kim Jong Il sent condolences on the death of Park Yong-gil, who died aged 93 on Sept. 25. Park and her late husband Rev. Moon Ik-hwan, who was jailed for visiting the North in 1989, were prominent unification and democracy activists. MOU nixes a bid by Park’s family to visit Kaesong and meet Northern officials
: MOU begins internet broadcasts on unification issues, including an hour-long daily radio program and a weekly television show. These can be accessed at http://unitv.unikorea.go.kr (television) and http://uniradio.inlive.co.kr (radio).
: MOU notes that in the year since his unveiling, Kim Jong Un accompanied his father Kim Jong Il on 100 of the latter’s 152 on-the-spot guidance visits.
: MOU says that South Korea’s share of North Korea’s trade fell from 38.0 percent in 2007 to 33.0 percent in 2009 and 31.4 percent in 2010. Meanwhile China’s share grew from 41.6 percent in 2007 to 57.1 percent in 2010. Nonetheless inter-Korean trade rose from $1.8 billion in 2007 to $1.91 billion in 2010.
: Citing customs data, GNP lawmaker Kwon Young-se says that since South Korea suspended most trade with the North in May last year, it has confiscated Northern imports worth 46.5 billion won ($39.4 million) disguised as Chinese. Almost all of this (45 billion won) was anthracite coal, with potato starch (900 million won) a distant second.
: The two Koreas’ respective nuclear envoys, Wi Sung-lac (ROK) and Ri Yong Ho (DPRK), meet for three hours at a private club in Beijing.
: Speaking at the UN General Assembly, Lee Myung-bak reiterates his plea to North Korea to forsake nuclear ambitions; in which case the South stands ready to give aid.
: Seven ROK religious leaders, representing Catholics, Protestants, Buddhists, and Chondogyo (an indigenous Korean faith), lead a 24-strong delegation to the DPRK.
: Yoon Seok-yong, a lawmaker of South Korea’s ruling Grand National Party (GNP), claims that North Korean attempts to hack websites of the ROK Ministry of Health and Welfare have soared from 3,349 in 2009 to 17,091 in 2010, with 14,669 so far this year alone.
: MOU reports that interest on ROK government bonds issued to finance the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) – a consortium of the US, South Korea, and Japan, which was to build two light-water reactors (LWRs) in North Korea – has risen to over 900 billion won ($798 million) since 1999.
: MOU says it is resuscitating plans, on hold since last year, to spend $2.1 million to build a fire station and emergency medical center in the KIC.
: Having been nominated to the post on Aug. 30, Yu Woo-ik, a close crony of President Lee, formally takes office as ROK unification minister.
: The DPRK website Uriminzokkiri says the North remains ready to improve inter-Korean ties via exchanges and contacts, including reunions of separated families. It claims that the South’s unification ministry (MOU) has made no attempt to contact the North.
: Refuting ROK media reports that Kim Jong Il’s half-brother Kim Pyong Il is under house arrest in Pyongyang, the US-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports him as back at his post in Warsaw, where he has served as DPRK ambassador to Poland since 1998.
: The South’s National Police Agency (NPA) claims that pro-North activity in cyberspace has surged in the past three years. 2010 saw 82 prosecutions for illegally posting pro-DPRK materials online – an offense under the ROK National Security Law (NSL) – up from five in 2007 and 32 in 2009. (Rather than any actual surge, a likelier explanation is that official prosecution of such postings has been stepped up since Lee Myung-bak took office.)
: Maestro Chung Myung-whun says in Seoul that he signed a letter of intent with the North’s Korean Association for Art Exchange (KAAE) to form an inter-Korean symphony orchestra that will give regular performances, e.g. of Beethoven’s 9th symphony.
: Choson Sinbo, daily paper of pro-North Koreans in Japan, quotes a DPRK tourism official as saying the North is ready to discuss Mt. Kumgang any time – “if South Korea adopts a positive attitude.”
: Russian energy giant Gazprom says it has agreed to set up a bilateral joint working group on the pipeline project with North Korea.
: Yonhap cites “a source” as claiming that the DPRK is forcing citizens to donate to the official campaign to build a “strong and prosperous nation” (Kangsong taeguk).
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Um Jong-sik calls on the North to expedite reunions of separated families. Seoul had hoped to hold a reunion around Chuseok time.
: Kyodo reports that nine North Korean boat people found adrift off Nanatsu Island on Japan’s west coast say they want to defect to South Korea. They arrive in Seoul on Oct. 4 amid unusual secrecy, prompting speculation that some are from elite families.
: The ROK says it will ask other countries not to invest in Mt. Kumgang
: The South’s Korea Customs Service (KCS) reports inter-Korean trade as worth $958 million in the first seven months of 2011, down 16 percent from 2010. ROK exports fell 14 percent to $447 million, while imports dropped 18 percent to $511 million. Almost all of this involves the joint venture Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC).
: Paris-based Chung Myung-whun, Korea’s best-known conductor who also directs the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, visits Pyongyang to discuss musical cooperation.
: The 63rd anniversary of the founding of the DPRK is marked by a military parade in Pyongyang. Unusually this features civil defense militias, not the regular KPA.
: ROK President Lee says on television that he thinks plans for a gas pipeline involving Russia and both Koreas “will proceed faster than expected … It will be great if the project materializes.” He adds that he is ready for an inter-Korean summit “at any time if it helps open peace and prosperity between the two Koreas.”
: The 17th World Taekwondo Championships are held in Pyongyang for the first time in 19 years. These are organised by the International Taekwondo Federation (ITF).
: Pak Chol-su, the Korean-Chinese head of Taepung, the company tasked with attracting new business to Mt. Kumgang, says he respects Hyundai’s property rights and will not give third parties access to Hyundai assets at the resort without consulting Hyundai.
: The ROK defense ministry (MND) tells a National Assembly committee that the DPRK is developing new devices for jamming Global Positioning System (GPS) signals, with an extended range of up to 100 km.
: Buddhists from both Koreas hold a joint ceremony at Bohyun Temple on Mt. Myohyang, north of Pyongyang to mark the 1,000th anniversary of the Tripitaka Koreana or Palman Daejanggyeong.
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the DPRK’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), calls on Seoul to fully implement agreements reached at the inter-Korean summits in 2000 and 2007. ROK President Lee Myung-bak withheld joint venture projects agreed at the latter by his predecessor Roh Moo-hyun, calling on Pyongyang to denuclearize first.
: The ROK says it will send a first batch of emergency aid, worth 5 billion won ($4.6 million) in total, to DPRK flood victims next week. It will be delivered across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) by both truck and train.
: Some 30 Southern firms invested at Mt. Kumgang vow not to join the North’s new plans for the resort, and call on the two governments to resolve the dispute.
: The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) says “it’s fortunate that the [South’s] unification minister was replaced, though belatedly,” and urges Seoul to improve inter-Korean ties.
: North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reports that a Chinese-led tourism delegation is visiting the Mt. Kumgang resort and has been briefed on investing there. Mt. Kumgang is the subject of an inter-Korean dispute, the North having seized Hyundai’s and other Southern assets there worth some $375 million.
: Hong Joon-pyo, chairman of the ROK’s ruling conservative Grand National Party (GNP), hints at a breakthrough in North-South relations before the Chuseok (harvest festival) holiday on Sept. 12. Nothing happens.
: In a letter to MOU, some 40 of the 120-odd ROK firms operating in the KIC request that debt repayments be deferred because bad inter-Korean relations have adversely impacted their businesses.
: AFP reports that an unnamed North Korean woman recently defected to South Korea to claim an inheritance from her late grandfather, who had gone South during the Korean War. She claims they had maintained contact since meeting in a family reunion, and that her grandfather regularly sent her money before he died in 2010.
: New KINU president Kim Tae-woo calls on South Korea to “show more flexibility” toward the North, albeit “without undermining its principles.”
: Lee Myung-bak reshuffles his Cabinet. The four ministers replaced include Unification Minister Hyun In-taek. He is replaced by Yu Woo-ik, Lee’s former chief of staff and later ambassador in Beijing. Hyun is made a special advisor on unification.
: The ROK Cabinet approves a bill that would protect North Korean residents’ rights to inherit assets from their families living in South Korea, while also strictly limiting the transfer of such assets out of the South.
: GNP Chairman Hong Joon-pyo says three-way gas pipeline talks will be held in November, and will “open a new chapter for inter-Korean relations.” He adds: “The GNP has been accused of being an anti-unification, warmonger group. But time has come for the party to change direction.”
: Chosun Ilbo quotes an unnamed official of the National Intelligence Service (NIS)’s National Cyber Security Center as saying that North Korea attempts as many as 250 million indiscriminate cyber-attacks on government agencies and private corporations in South Korea every day.
: Several Seoul papers report that at a meeting with President Lee the previous day, GNP chairman Hong Joon-pyo, pushed “strongly” for a change of unification minister.
: The JoongAng Ilbo reports that at mid-August MOU had yet to hold official discussions about unification funding with the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF). MOU said the ROK’s economic difficulties made such discussions problematic. Last year MOU said an outline unification plan would be ready by this June.
: Park Chol-su, the Chinese-Korean head of Taepung International Investment Group (TIIG), explains Pyongyang’s plans to turn Mt. Kumgang into an international tourist and business zone, with golf courses and casinos. A group of foreign business persons and journalists will visit the resort by sea from Rason next week; Yonhap is invited, but Seoul forbids it to go. On Aug. 30 an unnamed official says the ROK will call on all countries to boycott any new tours to Mt. Kumgang.
: The ROK’s liberal opposition Democratic Party (DP) calls for Minister of Unification Hyun In-taek to be sacked, calling him an obstacle to Korean reunification.
: Southern prosecutors release details of an ongoing spy ring probe, to counter charges that this is politically driven. They claim the alleged ringleader Kim Duk-yong met the late Kim Il Sung personally in Pyongyang in 1993, and founded a pro-North secret group called Wangjaesan. In 2005 four of the group are said to have received DPRK medals.
: MOU refuses a request by a special committee on inter-Korean affairs of the ROK National Assembly, which on Aug. 17 applied to visit the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) at the request of Southern companies operating there. Since May 24, 2010 Seoul has let no South Koreans visit the North, except a few for business or humanitarian aid.
: The ROK convenes an inter-ministerial task force under MOU to mull legal and diplomatic measures against the DPRK over Mt. Kumgang. Unification Minister Hyun In-taek asks: “What country, what company, what person would trust and invest in North Korea after it abandoned what little trust it received?” (words as reported).
: Dmitry Medvedev and Kim Jong Il meet in Ulan Ude, Siberia. They call for early resumption of the Six-Party Talks, and agree to set up working groups to look into (in KCNA’s words) “various fields including the issue of energy including gas and the issue of linking railways.” Moscow’s version explicitly mentions a South Korean role.
: All 14 ROK workers (plus two from China) leave Mt. Kumgang ahead of the North’s deadline, leaving no South Koreans at the resort for the first time in over a decade.
: Park Geun-hye, the leading contender for the GNP presidential nomination in 2012, calls for “a new kind of Korea” and a fresh approach to the North based on building “trustpolitik” in an article in the September/October issue of the US journal Foreign Affairs.
: Pyongyang says it will “from now on make a real legal disposal of all the properties including real estates, equipment and vehicles of the south side in the Special Zone for International Tour of Mt. Kumgang.” It gives South Koreans 72 hours to leave.
: Kim Jong Il visits a large dam and power station at Bureya in Amur region. In the past Russia has mooted selling electricity generated here to both Koreas.
: Lee Myung-bak undertakes state visits to Mongolia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. He signs energy and related accords worth $11 billion in total.
: KCNA reports – immediately, for once – that leader Kim Jong Il’s train has crossed the northeast border at Khasan. This is Kim’s first visit to Russia since 2002.
: On the day set by the North as a deadline to resolve the Mt. Kumgang row, four Hyundai Asan officials visit the resort. No progress is made.
: Revising an earlier plan, the ROK Justice Ministry says it will not recognize DPRK law regarding North-South inheritance cases lest this lead to “unreasonable rulings.”
: In a very rare usage of South Korea’s official name, KCNA prints in full Dmitry Medvedev’s Liberation Day message to “Esteemed Your Excellency Kim Jong Il.” The Russian president advocates “a three-party plan encompassing Russia, the DPRK and the Republic of Korea (sic) in the fields of gasification, energy and railway construction.”
: The (South) Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) hosts a symposium on preparing for unification. Cost estimates range from 55 to 249 trillion won ($50 to 230 billion) in the first year of a unified government alone.
: Kim Tae-woo, ex-vice president of the Korea Institute of Defense Analyses (KIDA), is named president of the Korean Institute for National Unification (KINU).
: 400 Japanese high school students from Iwate, Miyage, and Fukushima Prefectures arrive in China at invitation of the Chinese government; the visit is part of student exchange program marking 40 anniversary of normalization.
: Court officials in Seoul say further lawsuits are impending by North Koreans claiming part of the assets of fathers who have died in the South. They suspect the DPRK government may be involved, since large estates are being targeted and the plaintiffs have surprisingly detailed knowledge of these, which ordinary North Koreans could hardly gain.
: Apropos Mt. Kumgang, North Korea gives notice that “the properties of the south side would be legally dealt with according to the DPRK law and in case the enterprises of the south side do not witness the adjustment within three weeks, the former would consider that the latter totally forfeited the right to properties and strictly dispose of them.”
: A Blue House spokesman warns against hopes of an early breakthrough on resuming the Six-Party Talks, adding, “Just because a swallow has come does not mean spring is around the corner.”
: Also at the ARF in Bali, the two Koreas’ foreign ministers, Pak Ui Chun and Kim Sung-hwan, meet briefly but cordially.
: The North and South Korean chief Six-Party Talks negotiators unexpectedly hold a two-hour bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Bali. Wi Sung-lac and Ri Yong Ho agree to make joint efforts to resume the talks as soon as possible.
: The two Koreas hold talks at Mt. Kumgang on the resort’s future. No progress is made as neither side budges from their earlier entrenched positions.
: In a landmark decision, Seoul Central District Court rules in favor of four DPRK siblings named Yoon who filed suit in the ROK in February 2009, claiming part of the 10 billion won estate of their late father who went South in 1950 and died in 1987. The four children of his subsequent remarriage in South Korea had opposed their claim.
: South Korea’s ruling conservative Grand National Party (GNP) elects Hong Joon-pyo, a maverick back-bencher, as its new chairman. Hong soon distances himself from some of President Lee’s policies, hinting at a change of course on North Korea.
: To mark the 61st anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, activists – mainly defectors – launch five balloons carrying 100,000 propaganda leaflets, 500 dollar bills, booklets, radios and DVDs northward across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ).
: MOU reports that as of March the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) has produced a cumulative total of goods worth $1.22 billion since it first opened in December 2004. Over 90 percent of these were sold in South Korea, with just 9 percent (worth $110 million) exported to overseas markets such as the EU, Russia, and Australia.
: Yonhap reports that a group of nine North Koreans defected by boat in the West (Yellow) Sea a week earlier. Next day, Unification Minister Hyun In-taek says he was not told of this and first heard of it in the media, raising doubts about coordination in Seoul.
: North Korea amplifies its account of May’s secret talks, including allegations that the South tried to use a bribe. It threatens to publish transcripts of the proceedings.
: North Korea’s National Defense Commission (NDC) says that on May 9 the two Koreas held secret talks in Beijing. South Korea does not repudiate the story, but claims it was the North that took the initiative.
: A six-person team from the Council for Cooperation with North Korea, a Southern NGO, visits Kaesong for talks on aid. This is the fourth such humanitarian trip approved by MOU since it banned most Southern travel to the North in May last year.
: MOU says that South Koreans wishing to send money to their families in the North must get official approval in advance. The move draws criticism from defectors and others. It is unclear when this will take effect. Also, Southern firms doing business with the North must register; MOU says it has confirmed 580 so far, but believes there are 700-800.
: Apropos the ROK president’s recent visit to Berlin – see above, May 9 – the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) lambastes “traitor Lee Myung-bak” for his “daydream of ‘emerging a victor’ in the confrontation of systems.”
: MOU announces that the cumulative total of North Korean defectors to the South topped 21,000 in April, and now stands at 21,165. It passed 20,000 last November.
: Still in Berlin, Lee Myung-bak meets retired and current officials who were involved in Germany’s reunification, to seek advice on how to prepare for this in Korea. He tells a German newspaper: “Such a movement as the Jasmine Revolution cannot be defied…. However, as North Korean society is so closed and lacks information, the Middle Eastern revolution will not have any direct impact, at least for the time being.”
: An editorial writer at the JoongAng Ilbo (Seoul’s leading center-right daily), Kim Jin, claims that on May 3 he and some fellow-conservatives, dining with Blue House advisers, persuaded them that Hyun In-taek should be retained as unification minister for fear that Pyongyang would read any change as a sign that Lee Myung-bak is going soft.
: North Korea tells the South it has nothing to say about the latter’s proposal for further dialogue on seismic cooperation. Seoul had proposed that they meet on May 11-13. This contact, initiated by Pyongyang in March after Japan’s earthquake, thus goes no further.
: Yonhap reports that the Unification Ministry (MOU) has approved more non-governmental humanitarian aid to Pyongyang. Five ROK civic groups have been allowed to deliver 830 million won ($769,000) worth of bread, soy milk, basic medical supplies and anti-malaria aid. This brings the total amount of private Southern aid to the North this year to 2.28 billion won ($2.11 million); very meager compared to what used to be sent officially.
: In Berlin, ROK President Lee invites Kim Jong Il to next March’s second Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) in Seoul, if the DPRK first commits to denuclearization. Lee and Chancellor Angela Merkel endorse a plan for Germany to share a large database on exchanges between the former two Germanys, negotiations for reunification, reconstruction of East Germany, social integration, mutual growth after reunification and estimation of unification costs. South Korea and Germany will hold an annual conference on reunification.
: According to subsequent revelations by Pyongyang (see June 1), the two Koreas hold secret talks in Beijing towards a potential summit meeting.
: ROK President Lee Myung-bak partially reshuffles his Cabinet. Against many expectations Hyun In-taek, unification minister since January 2009, retains his post.
: A 10-person delegation of the Jogye Order, South Korea’s largest Buddhist sect, goes to the otherwise mothballed Mt. Kumgang east coast tourist resort to deliver 100,000 vermifuge tablets (a medicine for intestinal worms). The ROK government, while permitting this visit, forbids the monks to hold a joint service with Northern Buddhists.
: South Korean prosecutors blame North Korea for a cyber-attack on April 12 which paralyzed Nonghyup, a major bank with irretrievable loss of some transaction data.
: A “source tells Yonhap, South Korea’s semi-official news agency, that Kim Jong Un – third son and putative successor to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il – is behind recent attempts by Pyongyang to crack down on defections and strengthen social discipline.
: North Korea’s SPA Presidium formally annuls Hyundai Asan’s rights at Mt. Kumgang, declaring the area a new special zone for international tourism. (See also April 8)
: An anonymous senior ROK official says the North’s purported summit offer is “nothing … new” and “too ambiguous. What we want is concrete action.”
: Ignoring DPRK threats to shoot at them, some 50 ROK activists launch 10 balloons across the DMZ. They carry 200,000 leaflets, 1,000 dollar bills, radios and DVDs.
: MOU nixes a visit to Kaesong by two ROK labor groups, FKTU and KCTU on two grounds: they applied late and such trips are banned. KCTU holds a protest rally, and asserts that “we will achieve a South-North workers’ general meeting at all costs even if we can’t be together in one place.” The last such joint meeting of unionists was in 2007.
: In Seoul, Jimmy Carter says he bears a personal message from Kim Jong Il: “He specifically told us that he is prepared for a summit meeting directly with President Lee Myung-bak at any time to discuss any subject directly between the two heads of state.” Lee does not meet Carter either.
: Seoul suggests Red Cross talks on May 4, to discuss not just the North’s four boat defectors but also hundreds of South Koreans held in North Korea.
: The DPRK Academy of Social Sciences sends a fax via China to the ROK’s Northeast Asia History Foundation (NEAHF), suggesting cooperation on ensuring that the sea between Korea and Japan is known internationally as the East Sea rather than the Sea of Japan. NEAHF replies positively, suggesting they meet at Kaesong in mid-May.
: Apropos the visit to Pyongyang by former US President Jimmy Carter and three retired European leaders, known as The Elders, Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan tells Pyongyang that it should speak to Seoul directly rather than using intermediaries.
: US and ROK NGOs kick off North Korean Human Rights Week in Seoul. Held annually in Washington since 2004, this is the second year it has been staged in Korea.
: The Seoul daily Chosun Ilbo reports that North Korean clams, scallops and other seafood are openly on sale in ROK markets.
: North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) accuses the South of “denying dialogue and driving the inter-Korean relations to catastrophe.” Specifically, it accuses Seoul of failing to send government officials to the volcano talks, but only “personages of a nongovernmental organization bereft of any real mandate and responsibility” who had “a very insincere attitude.”
: The KPA threatens “unpredictable and merciless” fire against any future launches of propaganda leaflets into the North, calling this “a form of psychological warfare and just a clear-cut war provocation to a warring side” and a violation of the 1953 Armistice.
: Seoul rejects a renewed call by Pyongyang for Red Cross talks on the four boat people who defected.
: MND belatedly confirms DPRK charges that machine-gun rounds were fired towards the North at Yeoncheon at the DMZ on April 15. It says this was an accident.
: At a press conference in Pyongyang, 10 of the 27 returned boat people claim they were kidnapped and held in South Korea, which tried to force them to defect.
: MOU allows two further NGOs to send small amounts (worth $90,000) of medical supplies and food for orphans to North Korea. 20 applications are still pending.
: MOU says that North Korea owes the South about $1 billion for food, railway, and other loans. Repayment falls due from 2012. Seoul is not holding its breath.
: Young activists march to the National Assembly in Seoul to ask why a North Korea human rights bill has been delayed for a year. The reason is hostility by the opposition Democratic Party (DP), which fears that this will worsen inter-Korean relations.
: North Korea marks Sun’s Day, the 99th birthday of its founder Kim Il Sung, with an arts festival and other celebrations. South Korean activists launch 200,000 leaflets into the North, bearing information about uprisings against dictators in the Middle East.
: The ROK parastatal Korea Resources Corporation (KoRes) holds a forum in Seoul to voice its concern at losses in its DPRK mining ventures since Lee Myung-bak took office. Kim Shin-jong, KoRes’ president, says he now cannot even ascertain the status of ten Northern projects, much less visit. China is gaining ground in the North’s mining sector.
: MOU issues new guidelines for schools denouncing North Korea’s human rights abuses and its hereditary succession. Southern conservatives regard many ROK school texts on modern Korean history as over-critical of the South while whitewashing the North.
: At a second round of volcano talks, held in Kaesong and lasting for eight hours, the two Koreas agree to convene an expert forum in May – possibly in Pyongyang – on potential volcanic activity at Mt. Paekdu, followed by an on-site survey in mid-June.
: The DPRK Asia-Pacific Peace Committee (APPC) warns that it will revoke Hyundai Asan’s tourism monopoly at the Mt. Kumgang resort.
: The DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) holds its annual session, for a single day. It approves a budget with no numbers. Ri Myong-su is appointed Minister of People’s Security, and Pak To-chun to the National Defense Commission (NDC).
: Yoon Sang-hyun, a lawmaker of South Korea’s conservative ruling Grand National Party (GNP), claims that North Korea has at least a million tons of rice stockpiled in case of war: 300,000 tons for regular forces and 700,000 tons for reserves. It has also stored 1.5 million tons of oil and 1.7 million tons of ammunition, he says.
: The Cyber Terror Response Center of the ROK National Police Agency (NPA) accuses the DPRK of responsibility for a wave of cyber-attacks on March 3-5.
: ROK geologists propose more volcano talks on April 12 in Kaesong.
: MOU says it will not allow 14 NGOs to meet North Koreans in Shenyang, China during April 7-10 to discuss aid, “considering the current situation.”
: ROK Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin tells lawmakers that both eastern and western sea borders are under close watch, as the KPA has staged seaborne infiltration drills. Next day a Seoul source says Pyongyang has tested a new larger Sango-class submarine.
: University of Georgia professor Park Han-shik, just back from Pyongyang – he has made over 50 visits – tells Yonhap that North Korea still denies sinking the Cheonan and “will never offer an apology, even after a century or millennium passes.”
: MOU permits two South Korean NGOs to send powdered milk and porridge worth $161,800 to orphanages in North Korea’s bleak northeast. A day later Vice Foreign Minister Park Seok-hwan said Seoul is “thoroughly reviewing” a recent assessment by three UN agencies, which called for 434,000 tons of food aid to feed 6 million North Koreans.
: ROK official confirms the execution of former DPRK Railways Minister Kim Yong Sam, not seen since 2008. He links this to the huge rail explosion at Ryongchon in 2004, seen by some as a bid to kill Kim Jong Il whose train passed by hours earlier.
: ROK MOFAT says the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has complained to the DPRK about its jamming of South Korean GPS signals, and agreed to take “necessary measures” if there is any repetition.
: Seoul eases its ban on humanitarian aid to the North by NGOs, allowing the Eugene Bell Foundation to send tuberculosis medication worth $306,000.
: DPRK liaison officials at Panmunjom refuse to accept a letter from Hwang In-cheol, a South Korean publisher now aged 44, demanding the return of his father who was aboard an ROK airplane hijacked to Pyongyang in 1969.
: Meeting in Munsan, civilian seismic experts from both Koreas agree on the need for joint volcanic research. No date is agreed to reconvene.
: The 27 DPRK boat people, in their repaired craft, are finally handed over in the West (Yellow) Sea at the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the contested sea boundary.
: A day after the anniversary of the sinking of the Cheonan a year ago, the DPRK website Uriminzokkiri posts six articles casting doubt on Seoul’s investigation which held Pyongyang responsible.
: Yonhap quotes an unnamed official as saying Seoul will soon let NGOs resume limited humanitarian aid to the North, but excluding food items like rice and corn.
: KCNA quotes an unnamed KPA commander threatening to fire at activists who send balloons carrying propaganda into the North: “If the South’s puppet warmongers do not want to see the lesson of the Yeonpyeong artillery battle repeat, it must act discreetly and stop all its moves for psychological warfare, including the dissemination of leaflets.”
: The (South) Korea International Trade Association (KITA) compares North Korea’s trade with the South and China. Both rose in 2010, but the latter more than twice as fast. Inter-Korean trade last year was only 55 percent of the Sino-DPRK total.
: Kim Tae-hyo, ROK deputy national security adviser, tells a security forum in Seoul that “a heartfelt apology for the two provocations last year could become a starting point to opening new South-North relations.”
: Seoul agrees to volcano talks, on a civilian rather than an official basis. It suggests March 29 in Munsan: an ROK city near the DMZ used for dialogue in the past.
: KCNA wittily calls ROK MOU the “ministry of confrontation and separation.”
: KCNA says Kim Jong Il sent a personal message for the 10th anniversary of the death of Hyundai group founder Chung Ju-yung, saying he paved the way for national reconciliation and cooperation. On March 20, Hyundai officials in the Kaesong zone receive a wreath from the North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee (APPC) in memory of Chung.
: After Japan’s disaster, the director of the DPRK Bureau of Earthquake writes to the ROK’s meteorological office, proposing joint research on volcanic activity at Mt. Paektu. The peninsula’s highest peak, on the Sino-DPRK border, last erupted in 1903.
: KCNA reports that Minister of People’s Security Ju Sang-song has been “dismissed from his post due to illness” by the NDC. Some in Seoul doubt this explanation.
: In a lecture, ROK Unification Minister Hyun In-taek says North Korea is not at risk of collapse. Its political situation is “relatively more stable than in the past.”
: North Korea at last agrees to accept just the 27 boat people who want to go home, but insists they do so by sea. This causes further delay, as their craft is unseaworthy.
: North Korea’s liaison officer at Panmunjom refuses to accept an official South Korean letter of complaint about alleged jamming of its GPS signals by the North.
: Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell says in Seoul that the US will “consult closely” with the ROK before any decision about food aid for the DPRK.
: KCNA dismisses a recent comment by South Korea’s “chief executive” that the South is ready for dialogue with the North, saying this “cannot but arouse derision.”
: Kwon Tae-jin, a North Korea expert at the Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) in Seoul, says he expects the North’s grain harvest to fall by 100,000 tons this year to 4 million tons. It needs 5.5 million tons to feed everyone. The same day, a joint mission of UN agencies concludes its month-long on-the-spot assessment of the DPRK food situation.
: ROK Unification Minister Hyun says that “current inter-Korean relations are quite difficult … There is a variety of currents but they yet look unstable and uncertain …In principle I believe (a summit) is needed, but for now conditions are not ripe.”
: South Korea’s Foreign Ministry (MOFAT) says it will seek international punishment of North Korea for jamming GPS signals on March 4 during US-ROK exercises.
: North Korea proposes Red Cross talks about the boat people on March 9, and demands that the South bring the four whom it seeks to keep. Seoul says it is ready to talk, but will not bring the four to the meeting.
: Kim Jung-tae, head of Pyongyang Andong Hemp Textiles, says that “South Korean companies which invested about 200 billion won [$179 million] in Pyongyang and Nampo are on the brink of bankruptcy because of the suspension of inter-Korean trade.”
: The South brings the 27 boat people to Panmunjom to repatriate them. But the North refuses to accept them, demanding that the other four be returned as well.
: Marking the 42nd anniversary of MOU’s establishment (originally as the National Unification Board), Minister Hyun In-taek says that “over the past 20 years North Korea has gone against the global trend and our good intentions to develop nuclear weapons, further isolate itself from the outside world and strengthen its military-first policy.”
: On the 92nd anniversary of the March First movement against Japanese rule, DPRK media stress the need for self-reliant unification by Koreans alone. Marking the same day, President Lee reiterates that “we are ready to engage in dialogue with the North anytime with an open mind.”
: Visiting the ROK First Army Corps, whose remit includes Imjin pavilion, Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin tells his men to retaliate at once if they come under attack: “Don’t ask whether to shoot or not. Report after taking action first.”
: A KCNA editorial denounces the joint US-ROK Key Resolve military drill, which began the same day. Next day’s Rodong Sinmun calls this a “blatant challenge” to the North and an “unpardonable crime” aimed at driving the peninsula to the brink of war.
: KCNA carries a joint “peace declaration” by the North’s General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) and the South’s two union umbrella bodies, FKTU and KCTU. As reported, this “expressed concern about the touch-and-go situation prevailing on the Korean Peninsula [and] urged the US and the south Korean authorities to immediately halt the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises.”
: ROK agriculture minister Yoo Jeong-bok says FMD has hit seven provinces and cities in the North, affecting 11,000 head of cattle and pigs. This is vastly less than in the South, which since Nov. 29 has slaughtered 3.4 million animals for a loss of $2.6 billion.
: A KPA spokesman uses KCNA to warn that “our army will stage direct fire at the Imjin Pavilion and other sources of the anti-DPRK psychological warfare” if activists continue to float propaganda balloons into the North across the DMZ. The same day, North Korea’s mission at Panmunjom issues its usual critique of the imminent annual US-ROK Key Resolve and Foal Eagle military drills, and warns of “turning Seoul into a sea of fire.”
: Seoul says the DPRK boat people (see Feb. 5) will be returned in a few days.
: An unnamed top ROK official insists that for the Six-Party Talks to resume, the DPRK’s uranium enrichment program must first be taken in hand: “We have to get the UN Security Council to define the nature of this matter and take corresponding steps.”
: KCNA, previously in English and Spanish, now also has a Korean language website – presumably aimed at South Korea, although blocked there: http://www.kcna.kp .
: Yonhap reports that in a letter sent to US Defense Secretary Robert Gates in January, DPRK MPAF Kim Yong Chun warned that a “nuclear catastrophe will break out on the Korean Peninsula” and demanded talks with Washington to avert this. The US refused flat.
: A senior MOU official says that while “small-scale protests over livelihood have been reported since [North Korea’s Dec. 2009] botched currency reform, we have not observed any circumstances to be viewed as a collective demonstration there.”
: KCNA renews its claim that Seoul provoked November’s Yeonpyeong shelling: “Our military sent a telephone message to the puppet government … in order to keep peace and stability on the peninsula by preventing military confrontation but the group of traitors turned to its artillery on Yeonpyeong Island and fired toward our territorial waters.”
: Unification Minister Hyun In-taek predicts that protests in the Middle East will not affect the DPRK: “I believe the North Korean people have yet to learn of the facts because the North’s television does not report on them and the people can’t use the Internet.”
: An ROK source says that their and US intelligence have spotted the North digging new tunnels at its nuclear test site in Punggye-ri, North Hamgyong province: “It’s obvious [they are] preparing for a third nuclear test.”
: Kim Jong Il’s birthday is celebrated with the usual pomp and circumstance, including displays of ice-skating, synchronized swimming, and Kimjongilia flowers.
: Video footage shown on KCBS TV reveals that the as yet unannounced Kim Jong Un joined his father in visits to military bases from as early as January 2010. He is also now listed directly after his father, ahead of Vice Marshal Ri Yong Ho – who outranks him.
: The ROK broadcaster KBS and others show footage of Kim Jong Il’s second son, Kim Jong Chol, at an Eric Clapton concert in Singapore the previous day with a female companion, probably his sister Yo Jong.
: In its annual assessment of the DPRK power structure, MOU says that Office 38, a bureau that raises funds for Kim Jong Il, has been revived after being merged in 2009 with Office 39 – whose remit is wider. UN sanctions are thought to be impeding both.
: MOU reports that Pyongyang has shrunk. Half of the DPRK capital’s area (formerly 2,630 square kilometres), with a sixth of its people (500,000) – presumably rural – have been shifted to adjacent North Hwanghae Province. The aim may be to save money.
: Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, an ROK NGO, reports that half of all DPRK defectors in the South have sent money to their families still in the North.
: In yet another overture, the North’s APPC writes to each of the South’s four main political parties: “We are hoping to talk frankly with anyone, whether a ruling or opposition party or a liberal or a conservative party, to improve North-South relations.”
: In a four-page diatribe blasting Seoul as insincere, the KPA says it “does not feel any need to deal with the group of traitors any longer.” Various DPRK media carry this in full over the next 24 hours, in a marked change from their milder tone hitherto this year.
: KCNA belatedly confirms that the North too is suffering an FMD outbreak.
: ROK Unification Minister Hyun In-taek says that Seoul is “keeping its door open” to Pyongyang despite the breakdown of military talks: “We will wait and see.”
: ROK’s official National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says it will set up a North Korean Human Rights Violations Reporting Center, and also a Hall of North Korean Human Rights Violation Records.
: Seoul says it agrees “in principle” to Red Cross talks about fresh reunions of separated families. However, the failure of military talks later the same day puts paid to this.
: The DPRK Red Cross calls on Seoul to return the 31 boat people.
: MOU forbids the NGO Council for Cooperation with the North, an umbrella group of 50 aid bodies, to go as invited by the North’s National Reconciliation Council to monitor distribution of food aid sent last year. MOU explains that since Pyongyang has yet to show regret over the Cheonan or Yeonpyeong, “our punitive measures will stay in effect.”
: Colonel-level military talks are held at Panmunjom. The talks break up abruptly when the KPA team walks out. They later accuses the South of being the ones who walked out.
: Nam Sung-wook, director of the Institute for National Security (INS) says that Kim Jong Un is likely to visit China this year.
: A five-ton DPRK fishing boat arrives off Yeonpyeong in thick fog. All 31 North Koreans aboard are taken to Incheon for questioning. They say they do not want to defect.
: The DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) sends a letter to the ROK National Assembly, proposing contact and negotiations to improve North-South relations.
: The two Koreas agree to hold working-level military talks on Feb. 8. President Lee urges the North to seize a “good opportunity” at the military talks. Speaking on TV, he adds that he “can hold a summit if necessary.”
: The head of the DPRK Red Cross sends a message to his ROK counterpart, demanding to hold a proposed inter-Korean Red Cross meeting at the earliest possible date.
: The North’s APPC again urges prompt talks on humanitarian issues, as well as other topics of mutual interest including reunions of separated families.
: Kim Jong Il’s exiled eldest son Kim Jong Nam tells the Japanese daily Tokyo Shimbun that his father opposed a third-generation hereditary succession, but had no option in order to preserve stability. He made similar comments to the Japanese press in October.
: The DPRK Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland (DFRF) proposes inter-Korean parliamentary talks to discuss how to defuse tension on the peninsula. The DFRF also urges talks on resuming suspended inter-Korean tourism. MOU dismisses all this as a “a routine offensive” and “not a behavior that shows sincerity.”
: Lee Choon-geun of the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI), a private Seoul think-tank, says North Korea has made an annual average of 3.8 military provocations since 1958, rising to 4 during and despite the ‘sunshine’ policy era (1998-2007). He and others at a KERI seminar aver that for Seoul “strong actions are the best option” in response.
: Rodong Sinmun urges the South Korean government and conservative media to desist from “mudslinging and provocative acts” which incite confrontation with the North.
: MOU calls on Pyongyang to hold inter-Korean talks on the nuclear issue.
: The North’s Foreign Ministry (MFA) reiterates the DPRK’s commitment to denuclearization of the peninsula, but warns Seoul against setting “unilateral preconditions” or trying to manipulate the order of pending cross-border talks.
: ROK FM Kim Sung-hwan says the North must offer an “acceptable” apology at upcoming military talks for sinking the Cheonan and shelling Yeonpyeong.
: MOU reports a dip in output at the KIC in November, when the North shelled Yeonpyeong. Production fell from $29.4 million worth of goods in October to $25.1 million, or by 15 percent. However the number of Northern workers in the zone grew to 45,000.
: A Seoul court sentences Rev. Han Sang-ryol to five years jail for his illegal two-month visit to North Korea last summer. Pyongyang condemns this as “persecution.”
: In a telegram signed by Minister People’s Armed Forces (MPAF) Kim Yong Chun and sent to the South’s Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin, North Korea proposes high-level military talks. On Jan. 26 Seoul accepts this, and suggests a date of Feb. 11.
: MOU says 10 ROK companies are being investigated for illegally importing DPRK goods. Seoul has banned inter-Korean trade (except the KIC) since May 2010.
: MOU announces that despite the ban on inter-Korean trade in 2010 reached a record $1.91 billion, up 14 percent on 2009. The KIC alone accounted for $1.44 billion, up by more than half (53 percent) from 2009.
: Radio Free Asia (RFA) claims that on Jan. 10 the WPK sent a written order to work units telling them to supply food for the KPA. This has only occurred twice before.
: Seoul sources say North Korea too is suffering from an FMD outbreak.
: The South’s state-run Korea Institute of Defense Analyses (KIDA) claims that the North’s actual military spending in 2009 was $8.77 billion: 15 times more than the official figure of $570 million, and equivalent to a third of total gross national income.
: Rodong Sinmun reiterates the North’s call for dialogue: “No issue can be solved by way of confrontation. This is proved by the last three years of confrontation.”
: KCNA says the DPRK Cabinet has adopted a 10-year development plan, to be run by a new agency – the State General Bureau for Economic Development (SGBED). No further details of either are given, and as of May the SGBED has not been heard of since.
: Meeting his ROK counterpart Kim Sung-hwan in Seoul, Japan’s Foreign Minister Maehara Seiji clarifies that inter-Korean dialogue should precede any resumption of talks between Pyongyang and Tokyo.
: The ROK Communications Standards Commission (CSC) blocks access to all websites using the DPRK’s domain name .kp, saying these contain “illegal information” under Seoul’s anti-communism and security laws. Pyongyang has only recently begun using its national .kp suffix, years after it was first allocated. (South Korea’s equivalent is .kr.)
: Two more DPRK bodies – the General Guidance Bureau for Development of Scenic Spots (GGBDSS), which oversees the Mt. Kumgang resort; and the General Bureau for Central Guidance to the Development of the Special Zone of the DPRK (GBCGDSZ), which looks after the KIC – each send notices to their ROK counterparts proposing talks.
: The North reopens its Red Cross Office at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). MOU notes that the North had unilaterally closed it in the first place.
: Minju Joson, daily paper of the DPRK Cabinet, attacks Seoul for not agreeing to Pyongyang’s proposal for unconditional talks. It repeats that the North is “ready to meet anyone anytime and anywhere from the standpoint of great national unity.”
: Seoul proposes talks on the North’s Nov. 23 shelling of Yeonpyeong Island.
: The North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee (APPC), and the heads of its Red Cross and of the Consultative Office for North-South Economic Cooperation (CONSEC) in the KIC, each send letters to their Southern counterparts urging fresh talks on cooperation.
: MOU reports that North Korea has banned ROK pork, beef, and poultry from the KIC, due to rampant foot and mouth disease (FMD) and avian influenza in South Korea.
: The North’s Korea Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) airs an hour-long TV documentary on Kim Jong Un, a day after his birthday – which was not otherwise celebrated.
: Seoul reaffirms that any new inter-Korean talks must include the nuclear issue.
: The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) proposes “unconditional talks” between the two Korean governments
: On Kim Jong Un’s birthday the DPRK website Uriminzokkiri is knocked out, while its Twitter and YouTube accounts are hijacked and show material derogatory of Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un. South Korean (private) hackers gleefully claim responsibility.
: South Korea returns three North Korean fishermen via Panmunjom.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Um Jong-sik dismisses the DPRK’s Jan. 5 overture, telling KBS Radio: “In both format and content, I believe it is difficult to see (the statement) as a formal proposal for talks.”
: An ROK government source says the North’s Korean People’s Army (KPA) recently lowered its alert level in the West (Yellow) Sea, which it raised on Nov. 21 two days before shelling Yeonpyeong
: The JoongAng Ilbo, Seoul’s leading daily, says that Seoul will likely push for bilateral North-South dialogue before any attempt to reopen the Six-Party Talks.
: The Min Forum, a senior liberal group in Seoul, calls for inter-Korean talks. Moon Chung-in of Yonsei University describes the recent situation on the peninsula as “the worst since the Korean War.”
: A joint meeting of the DPRK government, political parties and organizations in Pyongyang calls for “wide-ranging dialogue and negotiations … [and] an unconditional and early opening of talks between the authorities having real power and responsibility, in particular.
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), attacks Seoul’s bid to highlight DPRK human rights abuses: “They are the arch criminals who turned … south Korea into the worst tundra of democracy and human rights in the world … There is no such human rights issue in the DPRK.”
: According to the South’s Statistics Korea, ROK gross national income (GNI) in 2009 at 837 billion was 37 times the DPRK’s $22 billion.
: A joint meeting of the DPRK government, political parties and organizations in Pyongyang calls for “wide-ranging dialogue and negotiations … [and] an unconditional and early opening of talks between the authorities having real power and responsibility, in particular …We are ready to meet anyone anytime and anywhere … We propose discontinuing to heap slanders and calumnies on each other and refraining from any act of provoking each other.” Seoul’s initial reaction is wary.
: ROK Ministry of Unification (MOU) reports that 2010 was Kim Jong Il’s most active year ever since he took power in 1994, with 161 reported guidance visits (up from 159 in 2009). 63 of these were to economic sites and 38 to military ones.
: Choson Ilbo reports a WikiLeak of an Aug. 2009 breakfast meeting between US Ambassador Kathleen Stephens and Hyundai’s chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun, soon after the latter had met Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang.
: In his New Year’s address, broadcast live, ROK President Lee Myung-bak says: “I remind the North that the path toward peace is yet open. The door for dialogue is still open.” He adds that “nuclear weapons and military adventurism must be discarded,” and compares the Yeonpyeong shelling to the 9/11 attacks on the US.
: In his New Year’s address, broadcast live, ROK President Lee Myung-bak says: “I remind the North that the path toward peace is yet open. The door for dialogue is still open.” He adds that “nuclear weapons and military adventurism must be discarded,” and compares the Yeonpyeong shelling to the 9/11 attacks on the US: “From now on, we need … peace and reunification policies based on solid national security … [and to] make endeavors to engage our North Korean brethren in the long journey toward freedom and prosperity.”
: Citing UN data, the ROK’s Statistics Korea predicts that the urbanization gap between the two Korea will widen. The North was the more urbanized until the 1980s, but as of 2010 South Korea is 83 percent urban and rising, while the North is static at 60 percent.
: North Korea’s customary New Year’s editorial of three leading daily papers – those of the party (Rodong Sinmun), military (Joson Inmingun) and youth organization (Chongnyon Jonwi) – calls, among much else, for “relieving the state of confrontation” and the threat of war between North and South Korea.
: At the newer of its two websites, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) now offers videos and a Japanese language section: http://175.45.179.68/eng/
: North Korea’s customary New Year’s editorial of three leading daily papers – those of the party (Rodong Sinmun), military (Joson Inmingun) and youth organization (Chongnyon Jonwi) – calls, among much else, for “relieving the state of confrontation” and the threat of war between North and South Korea.
: In a rare literary reference, Minju Joson lays into the South’s Unification Minister: “Insane Hyun In-taek will definitely receive dreadful punishment one day. Just watch … To be frank, Hyun has committed numerous unforgivable sins against the (Korean) nation for his Don Quixote-like behavior that defies norms.”
: Kim Jong Il watches the elite Seoul Ryukyongsu 105 Guards Tank Division in training, so named because it was the first KPA unit to enter Seoul after North Korea invaded the South in June 1950.
: ROK 2010 Defense White Paper labels the DPRK an “enemy.” While harsher than the phrase “direct military threat” in the last White Paper, this is not as strong as “main enemy” which was used from 1995-2004, which some now wished to restore. Uriminzokkiri calls the new moniker a “declaration of war.”
: ROK Unification Minister Hyun In-taek says that in 2011 Seoul will “press North Korea to move toward denuclearization and peace … open up rather than be isolated, and prioritize the living of its people over the songun (military-first) line.” He adds: “I am not saying North Korea should open up by all means possible. I believe it would be right if the North could develop by opening up through at least a Chinese-style model.” Further, the South “will continue to try to heighten the quality of life for North Koreans and allow them to enjoy basic rights.”
: Referring to recent US-ROK war games, Rodong Sinmun says the fact that “armed clashes have not occurred in the West Sea of Korea despite the dangerous collusion between the US and South Korean war-like forces [is] entirely thanks to the pluck, the self-restraint and steadfast will of the DPRK to preserve peace. But there is a limit to its patience, too.” It jeers that “the puppet regime of South Korea is so despicable and coward [sic] that it cannot maintain its power even a moment without the protection of its American master.”
: In his last biweekly radio address of 2010, ROK President Lee Myung-bak calls for unity at home and says that though he is eager to keep the peace, South Koreans should not fear war with North Korea: “If (we) are afraid of war, we can never prevent war.”
: Rodong Sinmun attacks recent comments by Lee Myung-bak as “the worst provocation” against the North. Next day the paper calls the South’s military exercise near Yeonpyeong Island a “grave infringement” on DPRK sovereignty, aimed at defending the “illegal” northern limit line.
: The National Defense Commission (NDC) and the WPK Central Military Commission (CMC) hold a banquet for the 19th anniversary of Kim Jong Il’s inauguration as supreme commander of the KPA. Unlike in past years, Kim and his son Kim Jong Un attend.
: Pyongyang’s National Reconciliation Council (NRC) denounces Seoul’s plan to investigate abductions of its citizens by the North, while it occupied the South during the 1950-53 Korean War, as “another vicious political provocation and unpardonable racket for confrontation.” It warns that “such poor farce” may hamper future family reunions, adding: “There is nothing for the puppet gangsters to gain from the cowardly scheme.”
: The ROK Korea Customs Service (KCS) reports that despite tensions, North-South trade through the KIZ this year (Jan. – Nov.) rose 62 percent to $1.3 billion. Southern firms invested in the zone increased by 30 percent from 93 to 121. By contrast Seoul’s post-Cheonan ban meant that non-KIZ inter-Korean trade fell 30 percent to $464 million.
: Marking the 19th anniversary of Kim Jong Il becoming supreme commander of the KPA, Minister of People’s Armed Forces Kim Yong Chun threatens a “sacred war of justice of Korean style based on the nuclear deterrent at any time necessary to cope with the enemies’ actions deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war.”
: An unnamed Seoul official calls Pyongyang’s offer to accept International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors “an old trick.” He insists that the DPRK must first return to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), which it quit in 2003.
: Rodong Sinmun calls on all North Koreans to unite “to oppose war and uphold peace”; saying this is “crucial to keeping alive the fate of the Korean nation and rooting out the deepening danger of war.”
: An emergency session of the UN Security Council (UNSC) fails to agree on a statement on defusing tensions on the Korean Peninsula. China reportedly threatens to veto any phrase condemning the DPRK for its Nov. 23 artillery attack on Yeonpyeong.
: South Korea conducts a 90-minute live-fire drill on Yeonpyeong, firing about 1,500 rounds. North does not respond. Later that day, the KPA Supreme Command explains they “did not feel any need to retaliate against every despicable military provocation like one taking revenge after facing a blow,” nor fall into the trap of “a cunning scenario to deliberately lead the military counteraction of the DPRK to driving the situation on the Korean Peninsula to the brink of a war and thus save the US Asia policy and strategy toward the DPRK from bankruptcy.”
: Fighters for Free North Korea (FFNK), a defector group, launches balloons carrying 200,000 leaflets, 500 CDs, and a thousand $1 bills from Yeonpyeong. Messages include: “Let’s bring down the third-generation hereditary succession” and “Rise up, North Korean compatriots!”
: DPRK MFA calls US military observers and foreign journalists who will cover an upcoming ROK military drill on Yeonpyeong a “human shield,” adding: “There is a need to clarify beforehand who is responsible for the imminent second Yeonpyeong crisis.”
: KCNA warns that the KPA will strike back with “deadlier” firepower than on Nov. 23 if Seoul goes ahead with a planned live firing drill near Yeonpyeong on Dec. 18-21. The same day, Uriminzokkiri threatens that “if war breaks out, it will lead to nuclear warfare and will not be limited to the Korean Peninsula.”
: The DPRK Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) declares: “We support all proposals for dialogue … but we will never beg for dialogue.”
: KCNA reports Kim Jong Il’s first public visit to a military unit since before the Yeonpyeong shelling. His last was on Nov. 12. Kim Jong Un is also in attendance.
: ROK Army Chief of Staff Hwang Eui-don resigns over alleged real estate speculation. He is swiftly replaced by Gen. Kim Sang-ki, head of the Third Army Command.
: ROK Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan calls Siegfried Hecker’s assumption (Nov. 20) that the North has several UE facilities “a fair point.” He adds that Seoul has ideas on conditions for Six-Party Talks to resume, including UE disclosure; he does not elaborate.
: Beijing says Pyongyang has agreed to an emergency meeting of chief envoys to the Six-Party Talks. Seoul and its allies are less than keen, to put it mildly.
: MOU launches an official committee to probe the abduction of up to 100,000 South Koreans in 1950 during the Korean War. Unification Minister Hyun says that this “is no past issue. It is part of the reality of the inter-Korean relations.”
: The DPRK’s National Peace Committee (NPC) calls the recent meeting between the US and ROK joint chiefs of staffs “a declaration of war.”
: Yonhap notes that KCNA now offers news in Korean, seemingly aimed at South Koreans. Like all DPRK websites this is banned and blocked in the ROK, but can easily be accessed via an overseas proxy server.
: President Lee Myung-bak tells South Koreans living in Malaysia: “I feel that reunification is drawing near … We should prepare for reunification on the basis of bigger economic power.” He adds that Seoul has a responsibility to achieve reunification as early as possible, so that 23 million North Korean people may live with the right to happiness.
: The North’s CPRK again blames the US and ROK for provoking it into the Nov. 23 shelling, calling Washington the “wire-puller and chieftain” and Seoul its “puppet.”
: At a seminar in Seoul on unification, Unification Minister Hyun In-taek calls the Yeonpyeong shelling an “indelible atrocity” and the “worst choice” Pyongyang has ever made. He adds: “This year, our society has started looking squarely at the issue of North Korea beyond inter-Korean relations and seriously thinking about the future of the Korean Peninsula. This year will be a grand turning point in the Korean Peninsula issue.”
: North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity (NKIS), a defector body in the South, claims that the DPRK has jailed over 1,200 people for illicitly watching ROK films and TV.
: Meeting in Washington, the US, ROK, and Japanese foreign ministers renew a pledge to not engage in dialogue with North Korea unless Pyongyang changes its behavior by ending provocations and showing a sincere commitment to denuclearization.
: The International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague says that after receiving “communications alleging that North Korean forces committed war crimes in the territory of the Republic of Korea,” it has begun a preliminary examination as to whether its jurisdiction applies. This may take quite a while. The ROK has laid no official complaint with the ICC about the Cheonan or Yeonpyeong incidents, but South Korean citizens apparently did so.
: The ROK’s official National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) votes 6-2 to recommend that the government resume anti-North Korea propaganda. The troubled body, split between right and left, had failed to agree on a similar motion in June.
: Citing an unspecified “commissioned report,” KCNA warns against further planned US-ROK drills saying that ”The political situation on the Korean Peninsula is reaching an uncontrollable level due to provocative, frantic moves by the puppet group.”
: New ROK Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin calls the KPA’s asymmetrical forces – WMD, submarines, Special Forces, etc. – a “serious threat.” Nuclear weapons apart, the North has 200,000 Special Forces to the South’s 20,000.
: MND confirms it is considering reinstating a definition of North Korea as the South’s “main enemy” in its forthcoming 2010 Defense White Paper. The same day, new Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin says at his confirmation hearing: “It is clear that the North Korean military and its leader are our main enemies.”
: Supporting a WikiLeak claim that recent defectors include relatively high-ranking figures, a Seoul official confirms that a senior youth official came South last year. Chosun Ilbo names him as Sol Jong Sik, aged 40, who was head of the Kim Il Sung Socialist Youth League for Ryanggang Province when he fled in June 2009.
: Rodong Sinmun reports that “the construction of a light-water reactor is actively underway … To guarantee fuel for it, a uranium enrichment factory is operating, equipped with thousands of centrifuges.” The paper says all this is for peaceful purposes, to generate electricity.
: In a televised address, ROK President Lee calls the shelling an “inhumane crime” and pledges strong retaliation to any future provocations. He says Seoul has given up hope that dialogue will make Pyongyang abandon brinkmanship and nuclear weapons. Lee also apologizes for “not having been able to protect the lives and property of the people” on Yeonpyeong.
: An ROK howitzer is fired by mistake, sending a shell 14km north toward – but fortunately not across – the DMZ. The South swiftly tells the North this was an accident.
: The US and ROK hold large-scale joint naval drills off the west coast of the peninsula, including the 97,000-ton aircraft carrier USS George Washington, in what Yonhap calls “an overt show of strength against North Korea.”
: KCNA declares that “the US was the arch criminal who deliberately planned the [shelling] incident and wire-pulled it behind the scene.”
: MOU says all applications by NGOs to send humanitarian aid to the North – currently suspended since Nov. 23’s shelling – will be strictly scrutinized henceforth.
: DPRK media keep up a barrage of verbal artillery; saying the KPA “will deal without hesitation the second and third strong physical retaliatory blow” if provoked. On Nov. 26 CPRK, belying its name, threatens “a shower of dreadful fire”; the Korean version of the CPRK statement adds that the North is “ready to annihilate the enemies’ stronghold”, and boasts that on Nov. 23 its forces “precisely targeted and struck” ROK military units. On Nov. 28 the National Peace Committee says that US-ROK war games are creating an “ultra-emergency.” On Nov. 30 Minju Joson warns of “all-out war” if Northern land or waters are violated. Despite such rhetoric, this and subsequent ROK maneuvers pass without incident.
: The US-led UN Command (UNC) in Korea reports that Pyongyang has rejected its proposal, made a day earlier, to hold general-level military talks on the shelling.
: Lee Myung-bak in effect sacks Defense Minister Kim Tae-young, abruptly accepting the resignation Kim had offered in May over the Cheonan. In a media shambles, his successor is at first reported to be presidential security advisor Lee Hee-won, but turns out in fact to be Kim Kwan-Jin, current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
: In retaliation for the shelling, Seoul raises its non-wartime security alert to its highest level, bans its nationals from going North, postpones indefinitely Red Cross talks set for Nov. 25, and suspends flood aid to the North (cement and medicines) as yet undelivered.
: DPRK Red Cross attacks Seoul for “ruining humanitarian programs, including family reunions” by cancelling the meeting planned for Nov. 25.
: The DPRK Foreign Ministry (MFA) again blames the South for the shelling: “The enemies, despite our repeated warnings, eventually committed extremely reckless military provocations of firing artillery shells into our maritime territory near Yeonpyeong Island beginning 1 p.m. Tuesday …The army of the DPRK took such a self-defensive measure as making a prompt powerful strike at the artillery positions from which the enemy fired the shells as it does not make an empty talk.”
: The KPA fires some 170 artillery shells at the ROK’s Yeonpyeong Island, close to the DPRK west coast. ROK forces fire about 80 rounds back. The KPA claims Seoul started this, by firing shells into its territorial waters despite being warned not to. President Lee calls the North’s act “an invasion of South Korean territory.”
: Hours after the Yeonpyeong shelling, KCNA reports Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un as touring a soy sauce factory and a medical school in Pyongyang. Similar reports of such guidance visits continue almost daily, despite rising tensions.
: Amb. Stephen Bosworth, US special representative for North Korea policy, hastily dispatched to Asia in the wake of Hecker’s UE revelations, says in Seoul that this news is disappointing and provocative, but “not a crisis. We’re not surprised by this.”
: The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) accuses the South of “desperately preventing” its NGOs from making cross-border contacts.
: The ROK begins its annual large-scale Hoguk military exercise.
: Kim Jong Il, Kim Jong Un, and senior KPA figures visit the DPRK’s southwest coast, ostensibly to inspect fish farms.
: The New York Times reports that earlier this month Siegried Hecker, the former head of Los Alamos National Laboratory, was shown a hitherto unsuspected ultra-modern uranium enrichment (UE) facility containing some 2,000 centrifuges at Yongbyon. On Nov. 22 Hecker publishes a full report of his visit. He adds on Nov. 23 that Pyongyang may well also have other such facilities elsewhere.
: South Korea again co-sponsors the annual UN General Assembly resolution criticizing North Korea’s human rights record. As usual Pyongyang fiercely rejects this.
: In what seems a hopeful sign, MOU says that the North has “proposed that government officials join the Nov. 25 Red Cross talks to discuss resuming Mt. Kumgang tours and that the matter of real estate and seizure also be discussed and resolved.”
: The North’s office of the Pan-national Alliance for Korea’s Reunification (Pomminryon), a DPRK front, holds an event to mark to 20th anniversary of its formation.
: Seoul announces that the cumulative total of Northern defectors reaching the South passed 20,000 on Nov. 11, when a Mrs Kim (aged 41) arrived with her two sons.
: Citing two recent US visitors, Siegfried Hecker and Jack Pritchard, press reports suggest that North Korea is constructing a new experimental light-water nuclear reactor (LWR) at its main Yongbyon nuclear complex, north of Pyongyang.
: The North’s General Guidance Bureau for the Development of Scenic Spots telephones MOU to urge Seoul to agree to talks on resuming tourism to Mt. Kumgang.
: Yonhap notes that the CIA’s latest World Factbook 2010 puts North Korean average life expectancy at 61.5 for men and 66.9 for women – seven years less than in its 2008 edition. The decline, or revision, goes unexplained. The respective figures for South Korea are 75.6 for men and 82.3 for women.
: In reponse to Pyongyang’s proposal to hold talks on Nov. 19 about resuming Southern tourism to Mt. Kumgang, Seoul demands that the North first rescind its freeze and seizure in April of ROK-owned assets at the resort.
: Rodong Sinmun attacks Seoul’s joining the Operational Experts Group (OEG) of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) on Nov. 1 as pushing regional tensions into “the extreme phase of confrontation.”
: Vice-Marshal Jo Myong Rok, who in 2000 took tea in the White House with President Clinton, dies aged 82 – of “an inveterate heart disease” according to KCNA. On Jo’s funeral committee Kim Jong Un is listed second, after his father Kim Jong-il.
: Rodong Sinmun calls for a “revitalization” of North-South dialogue. It repeats this plea on Nov. 8, and again on Dec. 1 despite tensions over the Yeonpyeong shelling.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Um Jong-sik renews Seoul’s call for regular reunions of separated families, saying this would be “conducive to creating public sentiment for aid provision to the North.”
: The National Defense Commission (NDC), the highest DPRK executive body, issues a lengthy, detailed, and vitriolic rebuttal of the charge that it sank the Cheonan.
: Defense Minister Kim Tae-young tells ROK lawmakers: “We believe North Korea owns 40kg of plutonium and continues attempts to miniaturize atomic weapons.” He adds: “I think it’s quite possible for North Korea [also] to build nuclear weapons through its uranium enrichment program.”
: After four elderly ex-soldiers, listed in Seoul as killed in action in the 1950-53 Korean War, appeared for family reunions with their Southern relatives, the ROK Defense Ministry (MND) says it will make a new study of such POWs still held by Pyongyang.
: Reunions of separated families are held at Mt. Kumgang.
: MND says it sent a message rejecting North Korea’s proposal to resume military talks – last held on Sept. 30 – unless Pyongyang admits and apologizes for sinking the Cheonan. KCNA calls this refusal “an act of treachery.”
: The ROK Foreign Ministry (MOFAT) welcomes Canada’s new sanctions on the DPRK over the Cheonan. Trade, financial transactions, fresh investment, and technology transfer are all now to be banned, as are most bilateral exchanges.
: In Seoul en route to Pyongyang, the head of the UN World Food Program (WFP), Josette Sheeran, appeals for support for the agency’s work in North Korea.
: The Director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), Won Sei-hoon, says the KPA has almost 1,000 computer hackers, adding: “North Korea’s cyber ability is remarkable.”
: The two Koreas fail to agree on further family reunions beyond the one due on Oct. 30. The North demands resumption of the former supply of half a million tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer aid yearly.
: A ship carrying 5,000 tons leaves the ROK port of Gunsan on Oct. 26, bound for Dandong in China and then to the adjacent DPRK city of Sinuiju, hit by severe flooding in August. Another ship sails from Incheon to Dandong with 3 million packets of instant noodles. Southern Red Cross officials fly to Dandong to supervise delivery across the Yalu river to Sinuiju. The rice is in 5kg packs, each marked “Donation from the Republic of Korea.”
: North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) says that Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un recently visited KPA Unit 10215, the DPRK’s top anti-espionage agency.
: ROK Unification Minister Hyun tells a parliamentary audit that the DPRK has an estimated 150,000-200,000 political prisoners.
: Unification Minister Hyun tells a forum in Seoul that “rather than lashing out at us, North Korea should show a way for the future of the peninsula … The first step is to show a willingness to account for the attack on the Cheonan. Another is to make a political determination toward denuclearization. That will be the starting point for the normalization of inter-Korean relations.”
: North’s Committee for the Implementation of the June 15 Declaration – the accord reached at the first inter-Korean summit in June 2000 – faxes its Southern counterpart suggesting they “make contact at an appropriate time” to consider how to honor the agreement.
: Rodong Sinmun criticizes Seoul for saying it needs more time to think about holding talks on resuming tourism to Mt. Kumgang, calling this an “absurd pretext” and “a sleight of hand revealing their shallow trick.” Pyongyang had demanded talks on Oct. 15.
: MOU reports that the two Koreas have reopened their aviation hotline, which was cut off in May in reprisal for the South’s sanctions against it over the sinking in March of the corvette Cheonan.
: Meeting briefly at a checkpoint in the DPRK border city of Kaesong, the two Koreas’ Red Crosses exchange lists of family members to be reunited at the end of October.
: A report by the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) claims that the DPRK has violated the Northern Limit Line (NLL) 211 times since 2006. Such trespass has increased, with 88 violations so far this year compared to 50 in all of 2009.
: Gen. Han Min-koo, chairman of the ROK JCS, tells an annual international Chiefs of Defense Conference held in Seoul that the DPRK’s “nuclear program, as well as its weapons of mass destruction, is the biggest threat” to the security of the Asia-Pacific region.
: Rodong Sinmun attacks Seoul for taking part in Eastern Endeavor 10, a four-nation drill (including Japan and Australia) held on Oct. 13-14 in the ROK’s southern seas under the US-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).
: The head of the KPA’s delegation to inter-Korean military-level talks warns that “if the South does not stop anti-Pyongyang psychological broadcasts and dissemination of leaflets, it will be met with our military’s strikes on those sites.” The South has not in fact engaged in such activities for some years, but keeps threatening to do so.
: Minju Joson attacks ROK Unification Minister Hyun In-taek for expressing the hope that Korea may achieve a reunification similar to that of Germany 20 years earlier.
: South Korea hosts a Proliferation Security exercise near Busan named Eastern Endeavor 10.
: South Korea’s Unification Ministry (MOU) reports that the military has plans to set up camps for refugees in case of instability in the North.
: In his second major public appearance, and the first sighting of him by about 80 invited foreign journalists, Kim Jong Un joins his father (and a senior Chinese delegation) on the saluting stand for a large-scale military parade marking the WPK’s 65th anniversary.
: ROK Defense Ministry (MND) report says the North’s Korean People’s Army (KPA) is now thought to have 200,000 special warfare troops; 11 percent more than in 2008, and up from 120,000 in 2006. Other KPA assets include some 1,000 ballistic missiles, about 2,500-5,000 tons of chemical weapons agents, and around 600-700 computer hacking specialists.
: Hwang Jang-yop, the most senior DPRK defector of modern times – a former WPK secretary, he fled in 1997 and in exile became a fierce critic of Kim Jong Il – is found dead at home in Seoul of a suspected heart attack at age 87.
: Yang Hyong Sop, vice president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA, the DPRK’s rubbber-stamp parliament), confirms Kim Jong Un’s status as successor in an interview with Associated Press Television News.
: Kim Sung-hwan – a career diplomat, previously senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs and national security – takes as office as ROK foreign minister.
: After the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) with US Secretary of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, ROK Defense Minister Kim Tae-young says that both allies are fully ready for “all situations that could occur … If Kim Jong Il’s health worsens further or economic difficulties deteriorate, we can’t rule out … instability in North Korea.”
: The two Koreas exchange lists of names of 200 separated families each, who will be briefly reunited at the upcoming family reunions.
: Unification Minister Hyun tells lawmakers that about 100,000 North Koreans are hiding in China. Most estimates are lower than this. DPRK defector numbers reaching the ROK are on the increase: 2,018 in 2006, 2,544 in 2007, 2,809 in 2008 and 2,927 in 2009. The cumulative total will surpass 20,000 this year.
: Kim Tae-hyo, ROK presidential secretary for national strategy, tells a forum in Seoul that the North’s “nuclear program is evolving even now at a very fast pace.”
: ROK Defense Minister Kim Tae-young tells a National Assembly audit that the North’s ability to jam GPS signals is a new threat, and that Pyongyang has imported mobile equipment from Russia to do this.
: In his first reported outing since Sept. 28’s WPK conference, the North’s heir-apparent Kim Jong Un watches a live-fire drill with his father, DPRK leader Kim Jong Il.
: Unification Minister Hyun In-taek says North Korea must change its stance on the Cheonan if it wants the South to consider resuming cross-border tourism.
: In Germany for the 20th anniversary of reunifcation, ROK Unification Minister Hyun In-taek says North Korea must change its stance on the Cheonan if it wants the South to consider resuming cross-border tourism.
: A parliamentary report by the ROK Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE) shows the Kaesong Industrial Zone almost unaffected by the Cheonan incident. Output at the zone in July was worth $26.4 million, only slightly down from $26.5 million in June and $28.1 million in April.
: A survey by MOU shows that North Korean defectors in the South earn on average barely half as much as South Korean workers.
: Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) says that: “Significant uncertainties remain from a possible succession in the near future in North Korea … We continue to view [such] instability as an important constraint on the creditworthiness of South Korea.”
: An editorial in Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), urges implementation of the agreements reached at the second inter-Korean summit held in Pyongyang three years to the day earlier, on Oct. 4, 2007.
: An unnamed ROK official tells the daily JoongAng Ilbo that in 2007 a senior DPRK diplomat, Ri Gun, inadvertently admitted North Korea’s responsibility for the 1987 bombing of KAL 858, with 115 deaths.
: North Korea proposes working-level talks on Oct. 15 to discuss ways to restart regular tourism to Mt. Kumgang.
: North Korea proposes working-level talks on Oct. 15 to discuss ways to restart regular tourism to Mt. Kumgang.
: At a third meeting the two Koreas agree to hold family reunions at Mt. Kumgang during Oct. 30-Nov. 5. They will also meet Oct. 26-27 to discuss a regular program of reunions.
: The Koreas hold their first direct military talks (colonel level) in two years. These founder on the wreck of the Cheonan. The South insists on an apology, while the North still demands to send its own inspectors to examine the wreckage.
: At a meeting of their Red Crosses, the two Koreas agree to hold family reunions at the North’s Mt. Kumgang resort Oct. 30-Nov. 5.
: ROK National Assembly confirms Kim Hwang-sik as premier two months after an earlier nominee withdrew.
: The Koreas hold their first direct military talks (at colonel level) in two years, at Panmunjom. They founder on the wreck of the Cheonan. The South insists on an apology, while the North still demands to send its own inspectors to examine the wreckage. [Ed. Note: Our apologies for incorrectly reporting them as occurring on Oct. 1 in our last issue.]
: DPRK media show Kim Jong-un’s image for the first time, briefly and as part of group shots. He would appear to have given up basketball, the passion of his youth.
: Korea International Trade Association (KITA), a private sector body based in Seoul, reports soaring first half inter-Korean trade. In January-June South Korean exports to the North were up 63 percent year-on-year to $430 million, while imports rose 43 percent to $550 million. In the same period the DPRK’s $1.28 billion worth of trade with China as usual exceeded the inter-Korean trade total of $980 million.
: At the long-awaited WPK conference Kim Jong-un is named as a member of the WPK Central Committee and (crucially) as joint vice chairman of its Central Military Commission (CMC).
: On the eve of a long-awaited Party meeting, Kim Jong-il’s hitherto unseen and unmentioned third son and heir Kim Jong-un is named a 4-star general at age 27 (approx). His aunt Kim Kyong-hui, a light industry specialist, is similarly promoted.
: MOU says that the South’s rice aid will go by ship from Gunsan to Sinuiju on Oct. 25. Cement, instant noodles (3 million packs), medical aid and more will follow.
: Three key DPRK diplomats are promoted. First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju becomes one of several vice-premiers. He is replaced by Kim Kye-gwan, North Korea’s chief delegate to the Six Party Talks. Ri Yong-ho, Kim’s deputy – not to be confused with the Chief of the KPA General Staff of the same name – becomes a vice foreign minister.
: KCNA declares that the overdue Party conference will be held on Sept. 28.
: Rodong Sinmun attacks upcoming planned joint US-ROK submarine drills. These had been due on Sept. 5-9, but were postponed because of a typhoon.
: A military source tells Yonhap that North Korea has deployed an extra 200 240mm multi-rocket launchers along the DMZ over the past year. These now total 5,300.
: At talks in Kaesong, the two Koreas’ Red Crosses agree to hold reunions of separated families at Mount Kumgang during Oct. 21-27.
: KPA and UNC colonels hold a fifth round of talks at Panmunjom.
: Three Southern NGOs announce plans to send a total of 530 tons of flour as emergency aid overland to North Korea on Sept. 16, and duly do so.
: An ROK official says Seoul will soon ease the cap on the number of South Koreans allowed to stay overnight at the KIZ, from 600 to 900, as requested by Southern companies invested in the joint venture zone.
: MOU says that North Korea has agreed to the South’s suggestion of talks towards family reunions, to be held in Kaesong on Sept. 17. It has also accepted the ROK Red Cross’s revised aid package, to include 5,000 tons of rice and 10,000 tons of cement.
: The ROK Defense Ministry (MND) releases the full investigative report into the Cheonan’s sinking.
: On a visit to Moscow, President Lee says that he is open to the idea of a second joint zone like the KIZ, depending on Pyongyang’s attitude. He also says that better inter-Korean ties “may or may not come quickly,” and that Kim Jong-un “is not my counterpart.”
: In a speech marking the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the DPRK, Kim Yong-nam, its titular head of state, calls for better ties between the two Koreas based on the spirit of the two previous inter-Korean summits.
: North Korea releases the Southern squid boat Daeseung 55 and its crew of seven on humanitarian grounds. They sail back to Sokcho port.
: MOU says that 155 out of 713 ROK companies trading with the DPRK in the past year have applied for low-interest zones to compensate for Seoul’s ban on trade. So far 66 firms have been lent a total of $14.8 million.
: Rodong Sinmun attacks President Lee’s proposed unification tax as an “intolerable politically motivated provocation” against the North.
: North and South Hamgyong and Kangwon provinces, plus Rason special city, hold Party meetings to choose delegates to the upcoming WPK Conference. Similar local-level meetings follow in other cities and provinces.
: South Korea’s Red Cross offers aid worth 10 billion won ($8.4 million) – medical kits, food and emergency supplies – to help North Korea after its recent floods.
: North Korea condemns the South for blocking access to its websites: “The traitor’s group is trying in vain to shut the eyes and ears of the South Korean people with the fascist National Security Law, running counter to the era of information.”
: Rodong Sinmun criticises upcoming US-ROK anti-submarine drills in the West (Yellow) Sea: “Our military and people are prepared with combat readiness to crush even thousands of foes in a single blow.”
: A nine-strong pan-religious ROK delegation, representing five major faiths, crosses the border in 12 trucks to deliver 300 tons of flour worth $209,000 to the North.
: Kim Jong-il makes a sudden trip to China, his second in four months. He visits several cities in the northeast, meeting President Hu Jintao in Changchun.
: Yonhap reports that North Korea’s Facebook page has been deleted, under company rules which forbid platform access to operators in countries under US embargo.
: ROK data show that inter-Korean trade in July rose 32 percent over June, totaling $162 million.
: Rev. Han Sang-ryeol returns to South Korea via Panmunjom, after over two months in the North. He is at once arrested for visiting North Korea without authorization.
: Eleven days after seizing the Daeseung 55, North Korea confirms that it is holding the South’s fishing vessel, which it says intruded into DPRK waters.
: In the first such trip permitted by Seoul in the three months since it brought in sanctions over the Cheonan, five South Koreans, including a doctor, cross the border to deliver anti-malaria kits worth $340,000 to Kaesong city.
: On the eve of the regular annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) joint US-ROK war games, KCNA quotes the KPA General Staff as warning “Our military’s reaction will be the worst punishment anyone has ever experienced … our military and people will wield the iron hammer of a merciless response.”
: In his Liberation Day speech, President Lee proposes a three-stage plan – first a peace community, then an economic community, and finally a national community – for reunification, plus a new tax to pay for it.
: North Korea launches a Twitter account. The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) blocks access to it, while MOU warns that South Korean netizens seeking to reply or ‘retweet’ risk punishment.
: Yonhap reports that the DPRK website Uriminzokkiri has put up 10 video clips on YouTube since registering on July 14. It remains illegal in South Korea to view this or any other DPRK media or website. By Aug. 18 total DPRK clips posted exceed 100.
: A fourth round of UNC-KPA talks at Panmunjom ends without progress.
: DPRK fires some 130 rounds of artillery into the Yellow Sea near its border with the South.
: North Korea seizes a 41-ton South Korean squid boat, the Daeseung 55, with four ROK and three Chinese crew members, apparently for fishing within its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) off the east coast.
: President Lee Myung-bak reshuffles his Cabinet. Against some expectations, the incumbent defense, unification, and foreign ministers all retain their posts.
: ROK Customs data show inter-Korean trade in June totaling $123 million, down 21 percent from May and 32 percent from April. Compared to April, Southern exports of $56.88 million in June were down 27 percent, while imports decreased 36.5 percent to $66.18 million.
: Following joint US-ROK exercises in the East Sea, South Korea holds its own five-day naval maneuvers in the West (Yellow) sea. On Aug. 9 North Korea fires over 100 artillery rounds near the marine border, where the ROK war games were held.
: KCNA reports that recent flash floods affected 5,560 houses and 350 public buildings while inundating 14,850 hectares of farmland.
: MOU reports prices of food and consumer goods in North Korea surged several-fold during February to July as a continuing effect of December’s botched currency reform.
: MOU refuses to let the Korea NGO Council for Cooperation with North Korea, an umbrella body of over 50 Southern aid donors, visit the North, saying such a trip is inappropriate at this time.
: Sources in Seoul claim Pyongyang has suffered little from the South’s ban on processing-on-commission (POC) trade, having found new Chinese partners instead.
: ROK firms operating in the KIZ say they have accepted DPRK demands for a 5 percent pay rise for their Northern workforce, effective Aug. 1. This will raise basic pay from $57.88 to $60.78 monthly.
: UNC and KPA colonels hold their third meeting in Panmujom.
: MOU says Seoul will provide $50 million in low-interest loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) hit by its post-Cheonan ban on inter-Korean trade outside the KIZ.
: Both MFA and the NDC castigate the upcoming ROK-US military exercises. NDC warns of “a retaliatory sacred war.” The exercises proceed without incident.
: The ARF meeting in Hanoi expresses “deep concern” over the Cheonan incident but does not identify North Korea as culpable. ROK Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan professes satisfaction. His DPRK counterpart Pak Eui-chun accuses Seoul of “making life difficult for us” economically, at a time when “more than ever, we need stability”.
: In Hanoi Ri Tong-il, spokesman of the DPRK delegation to the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), warns of “a physical response” to the imminent Invincible Spirit joint US-ROK naval maneuvers. The same day Rodong Sinmun warns that “if the US provokes another war, it will only be corpses and graves that it will be presented with.”
: UNC and KPA colonels meet again at Panmunjom. The former proposes a joint assessment group over the Cheonan, while the latter reiterates its demand that South Korea must allow in a 30-man team from its National Defense Committee (NDC) to visit to probe the case.
: Pyongyang again warns Seoul of a discharge from one of its dams.
: In a rare “2 + 2” meeting of both their foreign and defense ministers in Seoul, South Korea and the US warn Pyongyang of “serious consequences” in the event of any new provocations and call on it to show “genuine will for denuclearisation.”
: MOU reports that at 6,953 tons, the volume of goods entering the South from the KIZ in June is hardly changed from May’s figure of 7,004 tons, despite Seoul’s sanctions over the Cheonan. Total volume for the first half of 2010 almost doubled from last year.
: The UNC formally notifies North Korea of joint US-ROK naval exercises to be held on July 25. Minju Joson, daily paper of the DPRK government, at once denounces these as “very dangerous sabre-rattling.”
: North Korea notifies the South that it may discharge water from a dam on the Imjin River, for flood control reasons. It duly does so the next day.
: MOU’s weekly newsletter notes that Pyongyang appears to be gearing up to launch a diplomatic offensive to ease tensions on the peninsula.
: Yonhap reports that Hyundai Asan has cut 70 percent of its employees and lost sales worth $252 million in the two years since Seoul suspended its tours to Mt. Kumgang resort.
: Meeting at Panmunjom, Colonels Pak Ki-yong of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) and Kurt Taylor of the UNC agree in principle to hold general-level talks about the Cheonan. These would be the first KPA-UNC talks at this level since March 2009.
: Standard & Poor’s (S&P) tells Yonhap that in assessing South Korea’s sovereign credit ratings it weights the North Korea risk factor more heavily now than it did a decade ago.
: CPRF chides ROK Unification Minister Hyun In-taek for “reckless remarks” after he told a business forum in Incheon on July 8 that Pyongyang has made “three major mistakes”: cold-shouldering the South’s offer to help rebuild its economy, taking a hardline approach to the new US government, and failing to understand its own economic condition.
: Rev. Han Sang-ryeol, a radical South Korean priest on an unauthorized visit to the North since June 12, meets members of the North Headquarters of the Pan-National Alliance of Youth and Students for Korea’s Reunification (Pomminyon) in Pyongyang.
: Despite earlier threats, Pyongyang reacts mildly to the UNSC statement. MFA reiterates its willingness to resume the nuclear Six-Party Talks (6PT).
: The UNSC adopts a Presidential Statement on the Cheonan, which avoids directly condemning North Korea.
: MOU permits two NGOs to send baby food (powdered milk) to the North, worth $490,000. A dozen such aid shipments have been formally approved since the Cheonan, but Southern relief groups complain that MOU’s attitude is obstructive.
: North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) threatens a “death-defying war,” should the UN Security Council (UNSC) adopt any statement blaming Pyongyang for sinking the Cheonan.
: North Korea’s Foreign Ministry (MFA) again refuses a proposal by the US-led UN Command (UNC) to discuss the Cheonan at the Military Armistice Commission, saying this is a bid to deflect the North’s demand to send its own inspection team.
: Korea Development Institute (KDI) forecasts that the DPRK economy will shrink further this year as heightened tensions with Seoul hurt inter-Korean trade. Meanwhile in January-May DPRK-China trade was up 18 percent over last year.
: ROK firms operating in the KIZ say they will meet Rep. Won Hee-ryong, who chairs the NA’s foreign policy committee, to press for easing of restrictions imposed in May (as retaliation for the Cheonan) on the number of South Koreans they are allowed to hire.
: The CPRK threatens “stern retaliatory measures” after South Korea’s National Assembly (NA) on June 29 passes a resolution demanding strong measures to punish the North for sinking the ROK corvette Cheonan on March 26.
: Two buses carrying Northern workers to and from the joint venture Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) collide in heavy rain. ROK sources only report this on July 7. They estimate that at least 10 were killed and 36 injured. No South Koreans were involved.
: An MOU official says ROK port officials are inspecting cargoes from third countries to ensure that no DPRK goods enter the country.
: Seoul Central District Court sentences two Northern spies, who entered the South in the guise of refugees, to 10 years in jail each for plotting to assassinate the senior DPRK defector Hwang Jang-yop. Both pleaded guilty and cooperated with the investigation.
: A Unification Ministry (MOU) official says ROK port officials are inspecting cargoes from third countries to ensure that no DPRK goods enter the country. The week-long inspection covers Incheon, Busan, Pyeongtaek and Gunsan.
: Seoul Central District Court sentences two Northern spies, who entered the South in the guise of refugees, to 10 years in jail each for plotting to assassinate the senior DPRK defector Hwang Jang-yop. Both pleaded guilty and cooperated with the investigation.
: The DPRK’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) attacks the US-ROK agreement to delay the transfer of wartime operational control (OpCon) from Washington to Seoul for over three years from April 2012 to Dec. 2015 as “a provocative act of driving the two Koreas to an all-out war.”
: Choson Sinbo, reports that the DPRK soccer team returned home stony-faced on June 29, but “regained their smiles after being welcomed by their families” and supporters crowding Pyongyang’s Sunan airport.
: Minju Choson, warning that upcoming US-ROK naval drills could lead to “armed conflict and a full-scale war,” threatens to “uproot the stronghold of invaders.”
: The US State Department says that while the Cheonan sinking violates the 1953 Korean Armistice, it does not merit North Korea’s relisting as a state sponsor of terrorism.
: The KPA’s Panmunjom mission accuses USFK of bringing unspecified “heavy weapons” into the truce village, and warns of “strong military countermeasures” if they are not quickly withdrawn.
: Pyongyang says that in face of US hostile threats it will “bolster its nuclear deterrent in a newly developed way.”
: Pyongyang rejects as “preposterous” a proposal by the UN Command (UNC) in Korea that the Military Armistice Commission (MAC) discuss the Cheonan. It repeats a demand to send its own inspectors.
: G8 leaders meeting in Canada condemn the Cheonan’s sinking, note that the JIG found North Korea guilty, and call on Pyongyang to refrain from provocations.
: KCNA reports the WPK Political Bureau as calling a very rare meeting for early September, “for electing its highest leading body reflecting the new requirements of the WPK”.
: Both Koreas mark the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War. In Pyongyang 120,000 people attend an anti-US rally. In Seoul President Lee thanks the ROK’s UN allies for their sacrifice and demands the DPRK admit and apologise for sinking the Cheonan.
: The South’s central Bank of Korea (BOK) publishes its annual estimates of North Korean national income.
: Won Sei-hoon, director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), tells the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee that Kim Jong-il’s ill health is driving him to hasten the process of installing his third son Kim Jong-eun as his successor.
: MOU says it will allow an NGO to send anti-malaria aid worth 400 million won (US$337,000) to North Korea.
: MOU reports to the NA that, despite the Cheonan tensions, the number of North Korean workers at the Kaesong IZ in June reached an all-time high of 44,000.
: The ROK says it has a sales brochure picturing a heavy torpedo of the same type as that which sank the Cheonan, and bearing the message: “Guaranteed by the DPRK.”
: At a press conference in Pyongyang, Rev. Han Sang-ryeol denounces the Lee Myung-bak administration for turning its back on the June 2000 joint declaration.
: Seoul’s Foreign Ministry confirms press reports that the gas xenon has been detected near the DMZ, but denies that this means Pyongyang has conducted a nuclear test.
: KCNA reports an unusually full schedule for Kim Jong-il. In a single day he visited a mine, an electronics factory, a co-operative farm, a machine complex and a military training facility, all in the northwest.
: MOU says it is assessing claims by some 800 ROK firms that Seoul’s ban on inter-Korean trade has hurt them. It warns that this does not imply a commitment to offer any or all of them emergency funding. (See also June 8 and June 11.)
: The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appoints Marzuki Darusman, a former attorney general of Indonesia, as special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea.
: DPRK political parties and organizations issue a joint statement on the 10th anniversary of the June 15 joint declaration. This claims that the [Southern] “puppet group’s frantic moves for confrontation and war are aimed at effacing the June 15 joint declaration from the minds of the south Korean people and leaving it forgotten for good.”
: MOU says it has approved four more shipments of humanitarian assistance to four different regions of North Korea.
: South Korean diplomats and technical experts from the JIG brief the UNSC on the Cheonan for two hours. No dissent is voiced, though China and Russia are silent. The Council then hears North Korean diplomats for one hour, who deny any involvement.
: At a meeting in Pyongyang to mark the 10th anniversary of the North-South summit, the senior DPRK figure Yang Hyong-sop says that the only way to avoid war is to implement the June 15 joint declaration signed in 2000 by Kim Jong-il and Kim Dae-jung.
: KCNA reports that the DPRK has issued a new postage stamp to mark the 10th anniversary of the historic June 15 joint declaration between the two Koreas.
: A survey of teenage Northern defectors in South Korea finds that over half (79 out of 140) watched Southern films or dramas on DVD or videotape while still in North Korea.
: Choson Sinbo says that North Koreans watching the soccer World Cup on TV “without exception” cheered for South Korea, who beat Greece 2-1 on June 12.
: The KPA General Staff issues a “crucial declaration.” This repeats a warning that it will “blow up” the South’s propaganda loudspeakers, adding the threat of a “merciless strike [to] turn Seoul, the stronghold of the group of traitors, into a sea of flame.”
: Rev. Han Sang-ryeol, a radical South Korean priest, flies into Pyongyang to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the 2000 North-South summit.
: KDI estimates that the South’s suspension of most mutual trade will cost North Korea about $280 million a year.
: A GNP lawmaker quotes ROK Defense Minister Kim Tae-young as telling the NA that “we expelled 11 North Korean ships from our waters 20 times” with “no major trouble” since Seoul decided to bar passage to DPRK vessels on May 24.
: KCNA briefly reports on the ROK’s failed rocket launch.
: At a diplomatic reception in Johannesburg for the start of the soccer World Cup, DPRK ambassador to South Africa An Hui-jong follows his ROK counterpart Kim Han-soo to the bathroom, grabs his arm from behind, and threatens that Pyongyang “will not just let go” if Seoul continues to campaign globally over the Cheonan.
: A South Korea rocket carrying a climate observation satellite explodes seconds into its flight, the country’s second major space setback in less than a year.
: MOU says it has approved two civilian shipments of baby food for DPRK infants, the first humanitarian aid since the Cheonan findings.
: The ROK military says it has completed installing loudspeakers in eleven frontline locations, but has not yet decided when to resume propaganda broadcasts.
: Sin Son-ho, DPRK permanent representative at the UN, sends a message to UNSC President Claude Heller, urging a new probe into the sinking of the Cheonan and again warning of “serious” consequences if punishment against Pyongyang is discussed.
: Some 40 ROK companies doing processing on commission (POC) trade with the DPRK call on Seoul to suspend its trade ban so they can honor contracts already made.
: A rare second meeting of the DPRK SPA sees Kim Jong-il’s brother-in-law Jang Song-taek promoted to vice-chairman of the NDC.
: A report by the Korea Development Institute (KDI), an ROK state think-tank, says the DPRK’s currency reform last December has led to escalating inflation, economic chaos and social unrest as the Northern won plunged in value despite its redenomination.
: The ROK formally refers the Cheonan sinking to the UN Security Council (UNSC). North Korea urges the UNSC to demand a new probe into this, and threatens “the toughest retaliation” should the world body discuss punishing the DPRK.
: KCNA calls ROK local election results an “iron hammer” against Lee Myung-bak.
: KCNA reports Kim Jong-il as attending a function for the first time since May 21.
: President Lee’s ruling Grand National Party (GNP) suffers an unexpected rebuff in local elections.
: KCNA reports mass rallies in four northerly provinces – North Pyongan, Jagang, South Hamgyong, and Ryanggang – to denounce “the US imperialists and the Lee Myung-bak group of traitors for their smear campaign against the DPRK.” June 3 sees similar rallies in southern areas: Kangwon, North and South Hwanghae, and Nampo city. South Pyongan and North Hamgyong follow suit on June 4-5, completing the line-up.
: A Seoul official says that despite Pyongyang’s threats to shut the Kaesong industrial zone (KIZ), North Koreans on-site want to keep it going.
: South Korea’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says it will draw up Seoul’s first “road map” for improving North Korean human rights.
: MND rebuts the NDC’s denials from May 28 in detail.
: A 100,000-strong mass rally in Pyongyang denounces the South for accusing the North of sinking the Cheonan.
: The final declaration of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) review conference urges Pyongyang “to fulfill [its] commitments under the six-party talks, including the complete and verifiable abandonment of all nuclear weapons and existing nuclear programs in accordance with the September 2005 Joint Statement.”
: North Korea’s NDC holds a press conference to refute the South’s charges that the North sank the Cheonan. Maj. Gen. Pak Rim-su, director of the NDC’s policy department, says: “It does not make any sense militarily that a 130-ton submersible carrying a heavy 1.7-ton torpedo traveled through the open sea into the South, sank the ship and returned home.” He also criticizes Seoul for not letting the North in to conduct its own investigation.
: The KPA General Staff issues a seven-point “crucial notice.” Inter alia, this retracts military guarantees for North-South cooperation and exchange; threatens “merciless counteractions” if the South resumes propaganda broadcasts at the DMZ; bans “entry of the group of traitors including the puppet authorities into the DPRK;” closes North Korea’s seas, airspace and territory to “warships, airplanes and other means of transportation of the group of traitors;” and declares void agreements to prevent accidental conflict in the West Sea.
: South Korea launches an anti-submarine drill off its west coast.
: The DPRK expels eight ROK government officials from the KIZ. It repeats a threat to shoot Southern loudspeakers if propaganda broadcasts resume. Yet the KIZ remains in operation, as do cross-border traffic and the telecoms required to approve passage.
: The South’s Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI) publishes an analysis of North Korea’s December 2008 census. The DPRK population is tallied at 23.34 million.
: In a vehement riposte, the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) issues a terse 8-point statement declaring inter alia that “all relations with the puppet authorities will be severed,” with no further contact while Lee Myung-bak is in office. “All communication links between the north and the south will be cut off” and inter-Korean relations “will be handled under a wartime law.” Markets worldwide register falls.
: The South’s state-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra) says that North Korea’s trade volume in 2009 fell 10.5 percent from 2008 to $3.41 billion, with UN sanctions a major cause.
: The ROK’s response to the Cheonan comes in a speech by President Lee and a joint press conference of the defense, foreign affairs, and unification ministries. Seoul will complain to the UN Security Council (UNSC). Inter-Korean trade is suspended, except the KIZ. DPRK ships are barred from ROK waters. Cross-border propaganda broadcasts will be resumed, and Seoul will react militarily to any future provocation. This rattles the markets.
: DPRK Defense Minister Kim Yong-chun repeats the demand that the South “unconditionally” allow a Northern delegation to inspect the Cheonan evidence.
: Seoul rejects Pyongyang’s demand to send inspectors, telling it to raise this at the Military Armistice Commission. In fact the MAC has been in limbo since the North unilaterally withdrew from it in the 1990s.
: South Korea’s Joint Investigation Group (JIG) of local and foreign experts publishes its findings that the Cheonan was sunk by a DPRK torpedo. The US, Japan, and other Western allies offer support and condemn North Korea. Seoul says it will announce its retaliation after the weekend.
: North Korea’s NDC denies culpability for the Cheonan and says it will send an inspection team to the south: “The group of traitors should produce before the dignified inspection group of the DPRK material evidence proving that the sinking of the warship is linked with us.” The NDC further threatens a “sacred war”, “unpredictable sledge-hammer blows” and much more against traitors, riff-raffs, lackeys and human scum.
: Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan says North Korea’s role in sinking the Cheonan is “obvious.” The same day the DPRK Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) accuses the “puppet group” of using the sinking as a “golden opportunity to push North-South relations to a catastrophe.”
: Two groups of South Koreans working in the North are recalled; MOU claims they returned voluntarily. 11 archaeologists quit a joint palace excavation in Kaesong three weeks early, while 64 sand collectors working off both coasts sail home.
: South Korea’s Defense Ministry says that investigators have found evidence pointing to a North Korean attack on the Cheonan.
: MOU says a Southern manager at the KIZ was questioned and expelled on May 14 after being found with a booklet of training materials for DPRK workers in the zone.
: MOU says that on May 14 it formally asked 12 Cabinet ministries or agencies to suspend their budgets for exchanges with North Korea. It says humanitarian aid is exempt, but NGOs complain they are forbidden to send even milk powder and medicines for infants.
: Veteran DPRK political figure Yang Hyong-sop, currently vice-chair of the SPA Presidium, in the first comment on the Cheonan by a named senior Northern official, denounces the “puppet military fascist clique” for escalating confrontation by falsely accusing the North.
: The 13th Pyongyang Spring International Trade Fair opens, with exhibitors from 12 countries. These include “Taipei of China,” but not South Korea.
: The North’s NDC relieves Kim Il-chol, an admiral and ex-defense minister demoted to vice minister last year, of all his posts, citing “his advanced age of 80.”
: MOU tells some 200 ROK firms doing business with the North not to visit, sign new deals or supply any further materials, lest they “suffer unexpected losses under the uncertain and murky circumstances” on the peninsula. The Kaesong zone is exempted.
: Rodong Sinmun claims that the DPRK has accomplished “successful nuclear fusion.” No details are given, but outsiders are skeptical. If true this could enable Pyongyang to make a hydrogen bomb.
: Hyundai Asan said it incurred operating losses of 32.3 billion won ($28.4 million) last year, plus additional losses of about 2 billion won per month this year, from the South’s suspension of Mt. Kumgang tourism.
: MOU reveals that on May 1 North Korea took a 20-strong Chinese business group around the KIZ, adding: “We’re not clear about what the North is trying to achieve.”
: An unnamed ROK Foreign Ministry (MOFAT) source in Seoul refutes the idea that Kim Jong-il’s visit to China means that North Korea will return to the Six-Party Talks.
: Accusing Seoul of arousing tension, Minju Joson warns that “if the [South] conservative faction provokes a war, it will severely taste the power of the war deterrent that our military and people have been strengthening.”
: The DPRK website Uriminzokkiri dismisses claims that the North tried to kill Hwang Jang-yop as “a groundless act of manipulation” by Seoul. (But see April 4, above.)
: Minju Joson, daily paper of the DPRK Cabinet, warns of further “punitive measures” if South Korea retaliates against the seizure of Southern assets at Mt. Kumgang.
: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, a former ROK foreign minister, calls on North Korea to return to the Six-Party Talks.
: Sources in Seoul and elsewhere report that Kim Jong-il has begun a long-awaited and nominally secret visit to China: his first since 2006 and his fifth since 2000. He returns home on May 7, apparently a day earlier than planned and possibly in high dudgeon.
: Choson Sinbo, daily paper of pro-North ethnic Koreans in Japan, warns that “befitting counteraction will be taken” if Seoul blames Pyongyang for sinking the Cheonan and takes action against the North in consequence.
: Fighters for Free North Korea (FFNK), a Seoul-based NGO, sends 500 small balloons across the DMZ for NKFW (see April 25). Their contents include 100,000 leaflets, 3,000 US$1 notes, 200 small radios, 200 DVDs, anti-regime materials and the full text of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. FFNK carried out a similar exercise on April 15.
: ROK President Lee and the DPRK’s titular head of state, Kim Yong-nam, each attend the opening ceremony of the Shanghai World Expo. They do not actually meet, being seated at separate dinner tables.
: The GGBDSS carries out its threat of April 23, uniliaterally freezing facilities at Mt Kumgang including shops, a hotel, a restaurant and golf course.
: Kim Jong-il’s visits include KPA Unit 586, thought to be the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces (MPAF) reconnaissance bureau which handles anti-ROK operations.
: The US-based North Korea Freedom Coalition holds its annual North Korea Freedom Week (NKFW) in Seoul for the first time, instead of Washington. It closes with a balloon launch across the DMZ sending radios, money and messages. Je Sung-ho, the ROK government’s envoy for North Korean human rights, is among the speakers.
: Chief of the KPA General Staff Ri Yong-ho attacks “the conservative ruling forces of south Korea” as “wicked sycophants, traitors and enemies of national reunification … hell-bent on perpetuating national division and provoking a new war.”
: The DPRK General Guidance Bureau for the Development of Scenic Spots (GGBDSS) announces that it will “freeze all the remaining real estates of the south side in the Mt. Kumgang Tourist Zone and expel all their management personnel.”
: Zhang Xinsen, the newly arrived Chinese ambassador in Seoul, describes the Cheonan sinking as “unfortunate” but calls for “… more dialogue between South and North Korea as brothers to maintain peace on the Korean peninsula.”
: A memorandum of the DPRK Foreign Ministry (MFA) reiterates its demand to be recognized as a nuclear arms state before joining global denuclearization efforts. In return, Pyongyang “will neither participate in a nuclear arms race nor produce more [nuclear weapons] than it feels necessary.”
: The Seoul Central District Prosecution says that two North Korean secret agents, who entered the South via China and Thailand disguised as defectors, have been arrested for plotting to kill the senior defector Hwang Jang-yop (see April 4).
: Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan says there is no evidence that a third DPRK nuclear test is imminent. US State Department concurs. He adds that if Pyongyang is guilty of the Cheonan’s sinking, Six-Party Talks will not resume and “all options” will be reviewed.
: In Pyongyang’s first official comment on the Cheonan, KCNA denies any DPRK role in this “regretful accident.” It accuses “puppet military warmongers, right-wing conservative politicians and… other traitors in south Korea” of “foolishly seeking to link the accident with the north at any cost,” so as to divert attention from “the worst ruling crisis.”
: Rodong Sinmun dismisses Lee Myung-bak’s “grand bargain” for denuclearizing the DPRK as “a childish and clumsy plot that does not even deserve a mention…. [It] makes us wonder how they will resolve all the issues … such as the pullout of US troops, end of joint military exercises and a peace treaty between the DPRK and the US, all at the same time.”
: South Korean investigators cite an external explosion as the likeliest cause of the sinking of the ROK corvette Cheonan.
: The Cheonan’s stern section is retrieved, containing many bodies. The whole process is shown live on ROK TV, with broadcasters suspending their normal programming.
: On the eve of “Sun’s Day” – DPRK founder Kim Il-sung’s birthday, Kim Jong-il promotes 100 general-grade military officers.
: MOU says in a report to the NA that prices and exchange rates in the North seem now to be stabilizing after a volatile period following 2009’s currency redenomination.
: At the inaugural Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) held in Washington, President Lee calls on North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. If it does so, Lee offers to invite the DPRK to the next NSS in Seoul in 2012.
: A 395-strong Chinese tourism delegation arrives in Pyongyang. The concern in Seoul is that the North’s Mt Kumgang resort may be given to Chinese firms to use or run.
: The North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) cites military officials as threatening “decisive measures” unless Seoul stops NGOs sending critical leaflets across the DMZ by balloon. KCNA calls this a “despicable psychological smear campaign.”
: Eight officials led by Pak Rim-su, policy director of the National Defence Commission make a surprise inspection of the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ). The ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) reports that the inspectors’ questions ranged from the productivity of the KIZ’s 42,000 Northern workers to the capacity of its sewage system.
: The Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) holds its annual one-day meeting. It passes a budget without solid numbers. The Constitution is revised, but no details are published.
: The DPRK freezes ROK state-owned facilities at the idled Mt Kumgang tourist resort. Locks are sealed, and four workers expelled. However the expulsion does not extend to two employees of Hyundai Asan.
: Won Se-hoon, head of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), tells the National Assembly (NA)’s Intelligence Committee that Kim Jong-il may visit China later in the month. He also says it is difficult to conclude without further evidence that North Korea was implicated in the sinking of the Cheonan.
: The Science and Technology Policy Institute (STEPI) in Seoul, an ROK state think-tank, after a technical analysis says that the DPRK’s Linux-based “Red Star” computer operating system is mainly designed to monitor and control its users’ access to the Internet.
: As senior defector Hwang Jang-yop arrives in Japan after visiting the US, the Mainichi Shimbun reports that in secret speeches after the former secretary of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) defected in 1997, Kim Jong-il cursed him as “worse than a dog.” A day later Uriminzokkiri, an official DPRK website, calls Hwang “an ugly traitor” and warns he “will never be safe.” At 87 Hwang remains an active and fierce critic.
: North Korea accuses the South of an “armed provocation” – specifically, of firing at them – in the eastern sector of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Seoul denies this.
: Under the headline “Suspicion of N. Korean Hand in Sinking Mounts,” the Seoul daily Chosun Ilbo quotes military sources as citing a “60-70 percent chance” that the Cheonan was hit by a torpedo from a DPRK semi-submersible, rather than an old mine.
: Under the headline “Suspicion of N. Korean Hand in Sinking Mounts,” Chosun Ilbo quotes military sources as citing a “60-70 per cent chance” that the Cheonan was hit by a torpedo from a DPRK semi-submersible, rather than an old mine.
: MOU says Southern businessmen have told it that the North plans to “freeze” the ROK-built but so far little-used family reunion center at Mt. Kumgang.
: Bad weather forces the ROK Navy to suspend searches at the Cheonan wreck. Press reports quote DPRK officials in China as denying any knowledge or involvement. The Seoul press claims that a KPA submarine had been in the vicinity, but the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff decline to comment on military operational matters.
: Press agencies report that the ROK has ordered all government officials to stay on emergency alert and not take leave until the Cheonan crisis is resolved.
: The DPRK concludes its week-long inspections of ROK investment projects at Mt. Kumgang. The same day MOU calls on the North to resolve any problems through dialogue, and warns that, “if the property rights of our companies are not protected, not a single inter-Korean cooperation project can proceed normally.”
: In his first public speech in office, new Vice Unification Minister Um Jong-sik urges the North to act “rationally” in “resolving current issues that are compounding problems in inter-Korean relations.”
: The KPA’s Panmunjom Mission says “south Korean military warmongers have been busy staging an anti-DPRK psychological warfare in the Demilitarized Zone.” It warns that this must stop.
: The ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff say the KPA has put its coastal military units on heightened alert and increased surveillance near the NLL, while Southern warships and helicopters search waters near Baengnyeong-do for dozens of missing sailors.
March 29, 2010: ROK Navy divers who hammered on the Cheonan’s hull report no signs of life. President Lee Myung-bak visits the site. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young rules out an ROK mine as the cause, saying all were removed from the area by 2008.
March 29, 2010: ROK Navy divers who hammered on the Cheonan’s hull report no signs of life. President Lee Myung-bak visits the site. Defense Minister Kim Tae-young rules out an ROK mine as the cause, saying all were removed from the area by 2008.
: Strong currents hamper divers looking for the Cheonan’s two broken halves. Theories as to what happened proliferate as relatives of those missing demand answers.
: In talks with Wang Jiarui, head of the international liaison department of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chung Mong-joon, chairman of the ROK’s ruling Grand National Party (GNP), calls on China to play a greater role in promoting dialogue between the divided Koreas, including acting as a mediator if the North misunderstands the South.
: Inspections continue at Mt Kumgang. 20 DPRK officials, including KPA officers, visit a hot spring facility, a duty free shop, and a cultural center.
: Reacting to reports of allied contingency planning for various scenarios on the peninsula, the KPA General Staff threatens “unprecedented nuclear strikes of [our] invincible army” against “the US imperialists and the South Korean puppet warmongers” if they seek to bring down the North’s regime.
: The 1,200 ton ROK Navy corvette Cheonan sinks off Baengnyeong – South Korea’s northwesternmost island, close to the Northern coast and near the NLL, which the DPRK disputes, soon after an unexplained explosion tore through its hull.
: ROK Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan says that an expected visit to China by Kim Jong-il could lead to a resumption of the Six-Party Talks.
: Seoul issues travel permits for companies to visit Mt. Kumgang for the North’s inspections. While the ROK government is not directly represented, three officials of the state-run Korean Tourism Organization (KTO) make their own survey ahead of the North’s.
: Korea Electric Power Corp. (Kepco) says it has failed to sell two nuclear light-water reactors originally meant for North Korea under the 1994 Agreed Framework.
: The North’s General Scenic Spots Development Guidance Bureau condemns South Korea for suspending tours, blaming the deceased tourist for her “carelessness,” it says that Southern authorities “failed to properly take care [of] and control the tourists.”
: North Korea’s APPC notifies MOU and tour operator Hyundai Asan that it will “conduct a survey of South Korean property in the Mt. Kumgang area from March 25 … All assets of those who fail to cooperate with the measure will be confiscated and they will be unable to visit Mount Kumgang again.”
: ROK Defense Minister Kim Tae-young says the DPRK is believed to have about 1,000 short and longer-range missiles – up from an estimated 800 as of 2008 – and is continuing to bulk up its military power without giving up its nuclear ambitions
: Southern sources say North Korea has put a top trade specialist, Ri Kwang-gun, in charge of inter-Korean economic cooperation.
: Rodong Sinmun says the servicepersons and people of the DPRK will clearly teach what “miserable end the US and south Korean bellicose forces will meet” if they dare provoke a second Korean War.
: DPRK website Uriminzokkiri quotes the weekly Tongil Sinbo as saying Pyongyang’s March 4 warning on tourism “… is tantamount to an ultimatum.
: Officials in Seoul report that on Jan. 27 Pyongyang revised regulations at its Rason (Rajin-Sonbong) economic and trade zone, in the far northeast, to allow “compatriots living outside the DPRK” to invest there. This includes South Koreans among others.
: MOU says it has allowed no new inter-Korean economic ventures since last April’s DPRK long-range missile test. The last approval was on March 12, 2009.
: North Korea’s APPC again threatens “extreme measures” if Seoul does not allow tours to Mt. Kumgang to resume.
: North Korea’s Foreign Ministry says “The DPRK is fully ready for dialogue and war. It will continue bolstering up its nuclear deterrent as long as the US military threats and provocations go on.”
: ROK officials say they are watching closely DPRK moves to grant leases at Rajin to both Russia and China. They see this as a move toward opening, while remaining wary of any possible breach of UN sanctions.
: Korea Rural Economic Institute (KREI), a state think-tank in Seoul, says that absent foreign aid North Korea will be 1.2 million tons short of its food needs this year.
: The launch of regular annual US-ROK military exercise Key Resolve and Foal Eagle brings the usual volley of threats from Pyongyang.
: Pyongyang warns that “if the South Korean government continues to block the travel routes [i.e. tourism to Mt. Kumgang] while making false accusations, we will be left with no choice but to take extreme measures.”
: Rodong Sinmun criticizes pressure from Seoul to discuss the North’s nuclear issue as “a ploy to whip up a wanton campaign against the DPRK … As we have made clear repeatedly, the nuclear issue has nothing to do with inter-Korean relations.”
: Rodong Sinmun criticizes South Korea for raising the “nonexistent” human rights issue in the DPRK.
: North-South military working-level talks are held at Kaesong, but make no progress. The South wants extended border crossing hours and permission to use mobile phones, the Internet, and electronic tags on goods. The North reiterates its demand for higher wages and equipment to help it ease border restrictions.
: KCNA reports that “a relevant institution of the DPRK recently detained four south Koreans who illegally entered it. They are now under investigation by the institution.”
: Citing “some conciliatory moves since the latter half of last year,” ROK Vice Unification Minister Hong Yang-ho says in a radio interview that Seoul’s tough approach toward the North has proven effective in pressing Pyongyang to open up for dialogue.
: The (South) Korea Customs Service (KCS) reports that inter-Korean trade fell 9 percent last year, from $1.82 billion in 2008 to $1.66 billion. The South’s trade deficit nearly quadrupled to $201 million, with DPRK exports of $933 million against ROK sales of
: The KPA General Staff attacks “the US imperialists and warmongers of the south Korean puppet army” for their (in fact routine) annual Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint exercises, due on March 8-18.
: South Korea sends 20 trucks carrying 200,000 liters of hand sanitizer worth $863,000 to Kaesong. The North thanks it for this, and for Tamiflu sent earlier on Dec. 12.
: Seoul says it will accept the North’s offer of military talks about cross-border transit issues on March 2, but insist that they be held at Panmunjom rather than in Kaesong.
: The ROK’s National Oceanographic Research Institute warns on its website that the DPRK has again unilaterally designated six “naval firing zones” for three days from Feb. 20. Four are on the west coast and two in the east. On two previous occasions in February similar warnings were given but no actual exercises were conducted.
: Yonhap cites an unspecified ROK defense report as saying the KPA has deployed dozens of multiple rocket launchers – seen as a special threat to Seoul – along the west coast border. The South is “prepared for 33 possible North Korean attack scenarios.”
: KCNA avers that “only fools will entertain the delusion that we will trade our nuclear deterrent for petty economic aid … We have tightened our belts, braved various difficulties and spent countless money to obtain a nuclear deterrent as a self-defense measure against U.S. nuclear threats … We never meant to seek ‘economic benefits’ from someone or threaten others.”
: Kim Jong-il’s birthday – officially his 68th, but maybe really his 69th – is celebrated as usual throughout the DPRK. Rodong Sinmun says: “We must follow and trust our General to the end of this world with the belief that we will triumph no matter what happens.”
: The ROK’s National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) says that while its overall budget has been cut by 5 percent to $4 million for fiscal 2010, the tiny portion it devotes to North Korea is unchanged from 2009 at $294,000 – even though it had asked for less than half that. NHRCK concludes that the government is keen on this area.
: In a meeting to mark Kim Jong-il’s birthday, titular head of state Kim Yong-nam says: “Steadfast is the stand of the DPRK to improve inter-Korean relations and pave the way for national reunification on the basis of the June 15 and October 4 declarations.”
: Park In-kook, ROK ambassador to the UN, says the Security Council is not ready to discuss a possible removal of sanctions on North Korea, and would only consider this after significant progress toward denuclearization.
: The ROK National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee approves a bill by the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) that would create a government body dedicated to North Korean human rights support for NGOs working in this area. The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) boycotts the vote, claiming this is an “anti-North Korean” bill that will backfire by “prolonging the chilled ties between the two Koreas while strengthening clampdowns in the North to consolidate the regime’s security.”
: MOU says the DPRK produced 4.1 million tons of grain in 2009, which is 200,000 tons less than in 2008. It predicts a worsening food crisis this year.
: Inter-Korean talks in Kaesong fail to agree on restarting cross-border tourism. The North continues to refuse Southern demands for a joint probe into the fatal shooting of a female tourist at Mt. Kumgang in July 2008, which prompted Seoul to suspend tourism.
: In an unprecedented joint statement, the DPRK Ministry of People’s Security and Ministry of State Security claim North Korea has “a world-level ultra-modern striking force and means for protecting security which have neither yet been mentioned nor opened to the public in total.” They threaten “all-out strong measures to foil the treacherous, anti-reunification and anti-peace moves of the riff-raff to bring down the dignified socialist system.”
: North Korea-watchers in Seoul say last December’s currency reform seems to have failed, and the official who led it may have been fired. Pak Nam-gi, head of the WPK planning and finance department, was last seen on Jan. 9. Later reports allege that Pak was publicly executed as a traitor and saboteur.
: In a meeting on and in the Kaesong IZ, both sides agree that cross-border access issues raised by Seoul should be discussed in future military-to-military talks. The North continues to prioritize wage hikes, without specifying how much.
: The DPRK declares five further no-sail zones, this time including east coast waters, effective Feb. 5-9. Seoul fears the North may test missiles as well as artillery.
: At the World Economic Forum at Davos, President Lee Myung-bak tells the BBC that he is willing to meet Kim Jong-il at any time without preconditions.
: The KPA fires about 30 artillery rounds near, but on its side of, the NLL. The ROK Navy ripostes with about 100 warning shots. The US condemns the DPRK for raising tensions. Pyongyang says this is an annual drill, which will continue. It does, firing a total of about 350 rounds through Jan. 29.
: ROK Unification Minister Hyun In-taek sends a message to Kim Yang-gon, in his capacity as director of the Unification Front Department of the WPK, proposing talks on resuming tourism in Kaesong on Feb. 8.
: North Korea declares seas near the South’s northwesternmost islands of Baeknyeong and Daecheong in the West/Yellow Sea as no-sail zones until Jan. 29. The zones overlap the disputed Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto sea border.
: Share Together Society, an ROK NGO, says it will ship enough milk for 40,000 children north each month. The first shipment from Incheon reaches Nampo that day.
: The Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU), Seoul’s leading official think-tank on North Korea, issues a report predicting that as Kim Jong-il may well leave the stage after 2012 due to death or incapacity, “the North will likely undergo upheavals, which may include regime change, a military coup, riot, massacre or mass defections.”
: In its first ever survey of North Korea, the South’s National Human Rights Commission says the DPRK has six prison camps nationwide with some 200,000 inmates, where severe violations such as public executions, sexual assault, and torture are routine.
: ROK Defense Minister Kim Tae-young tells a forum in Seoul that the South “would have to strike right away” if the North showed clear signs it was about to use nuclear weapons. On Jan. 24 the KPA General Staff says it considers this an “open declaration of war” and warns that it may take “stern military actions.”
: ROK Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan says “North Korea has taken a stance that is hard to understand” on inter-Korean relations, making “unreasonable demands.”
: A meeting in the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) to discuss its future fails to reach accord. North Korea persists in demanding large wage increases, while the South is more concerned about easing cross-border access. They agree to meet again on Feb. 1.
: An ROK intelligence source says the KPA joint exercise observed by Kim Jong-il involved some 10 jet fighters, warships, and 240 mm multiple-launch missile systems. It was held in a western coastal area near Pyongyang.
: Reaffirming that it will not return to the Six-Party Talks unless UN sanctions are lifted, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry avers: “If the six-party talks are to take place again, it is necessary to seek whatever way of removing the factor of torpedoing them (sic).”
: Kim Jong-il inspects a joint training exercise “to defend our socialist state from invaders.” As KCNA put it, “flying corps, warships and ground artillery pieces of various kinds showered merciless barrage at the ‘enemy group’ in close coordination, thus shattering the ‘enemy camp’ to pieces and turning it into a sea of flame.” This is the first report of Kim observing combined KPA maneuvers since becoming supreme commander in 1992.
: Yonhap quotes an unnamed source as saying China’s border city of Tumen will lend Pyongyang $10 million to help upgrade the 170 km rail link to the DPRK port of Chongjin.
: The National Defense Commission (NDC), the DPRK’s top executive body, threatens “a sacred nationwide retaliatory battle to blow up the stronghold of the south Korean authorities including Chongwadae” (the presidential office). MOU regrets that Pyongyang should react thus “based on some unconfirmed media reports.”
: North Korea belatedly faxes its acceptance of 10,000 tons of corn aid offered by the South in October.
: Report by the ROK National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee says China has invested over $200 million in 20 North Korean mines, as against only three such investments by South Korea.
: KCNA warns that “our military will not tolerate even a bit” balloons carrying leaflets critical of the North’s leadership launched by activists across the DMZ, and calls on Seoul to punish those responsible. It says “hundreds of thousands” of leaflets were launched on Jan. 1. This is the first such warning by Pyongyang for 14 months.
: Rodong Sinmun says ROK “warmongers” have staged large-scale war maneuvers against the North since the outset of the year, raising cries of “infiltration” and “provocation.”
: North Korea’s Foreign Ministry (FM) proposes discussions on a peace treaty, either within the Six-Party Talks framework or at an independent meeting of signatories of the 1953 Armistice (i.e. China, the US and DPRK – but not the ROK). Washington and Seoul call for Pyongyang to first return to the 6PT and make progress there.
: Rodong Sinmun says, “We harbor worries that the South Korean authorities will race to the path of confrontation this year because they don’t want better inter-Korean relations.” On the same day Minju Joson, daily paper of the DPRK Cabinet, says it is North Korea’s firm stance that inter-Korean relations should be improved on the basis of the two joint declarations of June 15 (2000) and October 4 (2007).
: A source in the ROK Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) tells Yonhap that in October-November a research institute of state-run Seoul National University (SNU) ran a training program in Dalian, China, for 40 DPRK officials. The syllabus included stock markets, supply of consumer goods, international trade, and intellectual property rights.
: The Seoul press reports that the Kaesong IZ will get its first hotel when the 101-room, 5-story Hannuri Hotel opens in March. The hotel was completed last June but its opening has been delayed by poor inter-Korean relations.
: Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reports that Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) will finally open in April, seven years late, with some 200 undergraduate and 100 graduate students. Most classes will be taught in English by 13 professors from the ROK, US, and Europe.
: The (South) Korea Times reports that DPRK television showed 59 stills of a drill by the Korean People’s Army (KPA)’s 105th Armored Division, watched by Kim Jong-il. Four of the photos showed signs bearing names of ROK cities and highways, suggesting the exercise was based on an attack on South Korea.
: ROK Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan says the DPRK began its covert second nuclear program, via uranium enrichment (UEP), “very early on”: no later than 1996.
: Seoul says it will repatriate two Northern fishermen rescued after their boat drifted into Southern waters in the East Sea on Jan. 3, since that is their wish. They are duly returned overland via Panmunjom on Jan. 6. This is the third such case in as many months.
: The ROK’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) says it will control arms sales more strictly and admits that a few years ago some ROK-made military truck tires found their way to the DPRK.
: Blue House spokesperson Kim Eun-hye reiterates that “the basic principle on [an inter-Korean] summit is that we won’t hold a meeting just for meeting’s sake … the principle of denuclearization remains firm.”
: Chinese news agency Xinhua reports that MOUs budget this year is $154 million, up 27 percent on 2009. This includes extra funds for resettling DPRK defectors.
: In his New Year address, President Lee proposes that the North and South open liaison offices in each other’s capitals for “standing dialogue.”
: President Lee proposes a joint project with the DPRK to repatriate the remains of tens of thousands of soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War.
: South Korea’s Unification Ministry (MOU) reacts positively to the DPRK’s New Year editorial, noting its emphases on denuclearization through dialogue and on improving its people’s livelihood.
: The Korea Institute for Defense Analyses (KIDA), a think-tank under the Defense Ministry (MND), says the ROK should seek “various contacts” with the DPRK, including a third inter-Korean summit, to move President Lee Myung-bak’s “grand bargain” plans forward.
: Sounding a more pacific note than usual, the customary joint New Year editorial of the three main DPRK dailies calls for “national reconciliation and cooperation” with the ROK, including “travel and contacts between the people from all walks of life.”
: President Lee says Seoul should take the lead in resolving global issues as well as those involving the DPRK. Regarding the North, he adds: “We’ve lacked our own voice in simply following proposals from Washington and Beijing.”
: KCNA rejects Lee Myung-bak’s “grand bargain” idea unless the ROK first discards confrontational policies.
: Fourteen ROK opposition lawmakers urge the government to resume sending rice aid to the DPRK as a way to help reduce a rice surplus and stabilize prices for farmers.
: Reunions of separated families are held at Mount Kumgang, bringing together 98 North Koreans with 428 of their Southern relatives.
: The text of the DPRK Constitution as revised in April reaches the outside. Kim Jong-il’s Songun (military-first) policy now gets equal billing with juche (self-reliance). The National Defence Commission (NDC) is strengthened, and communism is abolished.
: The first reunions of separated families in two years are held at Mount Kumgang, briefly reuniting 97 South Koreans with 233 of their Northern relatives.
: South Korea says it will go ahead with building a nursery at the KIC.
: Visiting the U.S., President Lee proposes a “grand bargain” to resolve the DPRK nuclear issue, including economic-political incentives and a security guarantee.
: The Pyongyang Autumn International Trade Fair is held. Firms from 16 countries participate, including “Taipei of China” (Taiwan). South Korea is not represented.
: The two Koreas agree on a 5 percent wage hike for DPRK workers at the Kaesong complex, after the North without explanation withdraws the demand for a 400 percent rise. The new raise will increase the minimum wage to about $58 from the current $55.
: MOU says the North is conducting a survey of all 114 Southern firms at Kaesong. Its aim is to examine their output and “listen to their complaints and difficulties regarding tax and accounting.”
: A ceremony is held to mark completion of phase one of the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) after seven years of construction. A 20-strong ROK delegation attends, including an aide to President Lee.
: President Lee attributes recent DPRK gestures to the impact of UNSC sanctions, but says it “is still not showing any sincerity or signs that it will give up its nuclear ambitions.”
: MOFAT spokesman says Seoul does not oppose the idea of bilateral U.S.-DPRK talks, provided these expedite the six-party process rather than replacing it.
: MOU says North Korea has withdrawn its earlier demand for a four-fold wage increase for its workers at Kaesong Industrial Complex.
: MOFAT says that North Korea’s dam discharge broke international law.
: Unification Minister Hyun In-taek tells the ROK National Assembly that the DPRK may have deliberately discharged 40 million tons of water from its dam.
: The DPRK mark its 61st anniversary with low-key celebrations. There is no direct criticism of South Korea, and relatively little of the U.S.
: Seoul demands an apology and full explanation of the North’s dam discharge.
: The Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Consultation Office (IKECCO) at the KIC resumes operation, nine months after the North shut it down.
: A sudden discharge from North Korea’s Hwanggang dam on the Imjin River drowns six South Koreans camping further downstream. Seoul demands an explanation.
: Pyongyang says its uranium enrichment program (UEP) has entered its final phase, and that it is making more nuclear weapons from extracted plutonium. Seoul criticizes this as provocative.
: Choson Sinbo says that North Korea wants to simultaneously improve ties with the U.S. and South Korea. It criticizes ROK Unification Minister Hyun In-taek for still linking inter-Korean relations to North Korea’s nuclear disarmament.
: The western sector inter-Korean military hotline reopens after more than a year. A similar east coast hotline was suspended last December and restored in August.
: Rodong Sinmun calls on North and South to strive for peace and unity rather than mistrust and confrontation. Other DPRK media also switch to a similar gentler tune.
: After being held for almost a month, the ROK squid boat 800 Yeonanho and its crew are released by North Korea and returned to Southern waters.
: The two Koreas’ Red Cross bodies agree to hold family reunions at Mount Kumgang from Sept. 26 to Oct 1, just before Chusok.
: DPRK Red Cross delegates tell their ROK counterparts that North Korea did not suffer major flood damage from this summer’s monsoons, unlike in 2006 and 2007.
: Choson Sinbo, the daily paper of pro-North Koreans in Japan, says that Kim Jong-il has decided to break the North-South impasse and that upcoming family reunions “will be a new watershed in improving inter-Korean relations.”
: MOU says South Korea has no plan to resume rice and fertilizer aid to the North, despite recent fence-mending. This would require separate government consultations.
: For the first time in 21 months, Red Cross officials from both Koreas meet at Mount Kumgang to discuss a new round of reunions of separated families.
: MOU issues a report on Yu Seong-jin, which confirms that the Hyundai worker dated a Northern cleaner at his hostel in the Kaesong IC, writing her letters critical of Kim Jong-il and urging her to defect.
: South Korea launches the first space rocket launch from its soil after repeatedly postponing it due to technical reasons. While the launch is successful, the satellite fails to deploy to its intended orbit and falls back into the earth’s atmosphere.
: Amid the ongoing Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercise, Ri Yong-ho, chief of the KPA general staff, warns that “the army and the people will deal a merciless and immediate annihilating strike on the aggressors using all means of attack and defense, including a nuclear deterrent, should the enemies violate even an inch into the sky, land and sea of our fatherland.”
: Having extended their stay in Seoul, the visiting DPRK delegates meet President Lee at the Blue House and deliver a verbal message from Kim Jong-il.
: WPK director Kim Yang-gon and ROK Unification Minister Hyun In-taek hold the first high-level inter-Korean talks in nearly two years, in Seoul. Hyun also hosts a dinner for the entire six-person Northern delegation that evening.
: New York Times quotes Rev. Lee Chan-woo, an ROK activist, as accusing the freed U.S. journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee of damaging his Durihana mission’s work with DPRK refugees on the Chinese border.
: North Korea says it will restore road and rail cross-border traffic at the level before it imposed restrictions on Dec. 1, and reopen the joint office on economic cooperation at the Kaesong industrial complex. ROK firms in Kaesong welcome the news.
: KCNA says that a Northern delegation led by WPK secretary Kim Ki-nam will visit Seoul to mourn former President Kim Dae-jung.
: Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung dies.
: MOU cautiously welcomes Hyundai’s accord with the North, but notes that its implementation will require “a concrete agreement through dialogue” between the two governments. It promises to try to expedite family reunions via the Red Cross.
: The U.S. and South Korea conduct Ulchi Freedom Guardian, an annual joint military exercise involving about 56,000 ROK troops and 10,000 U.S. troops.
: The Panmunjom Mission of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) condemns the Ulji Freedom Guardian joint ROK-U.S. military exercises.
: Hyundai’s Hyun Jung-eun finally has lunch with Kim Jong-il. An accord announced next day between Hyundai and the North’s Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee (KAPCC) agrees to resume joint tourism projects, facilitate operation of the KIC, and hold reunions of separated families at Mount Kumgang around the Chusok festival.
: On the 64th anniversary of liberation from Japan in 1945, a holiday in both Koreas, ROK President Lee declares a “peace initiative.”
: Hyundai chair Hyun Jeong-eun meets Kim Yang-gon, a WPK department director and close aide to Kim Jong-il.
: North Korea releases the detained Hyundai Asan worker, Yu Seong-jin, who returns to the South across the DMZ the same day. He had been held since March 31.
: North Korea’s Foreign Ministry warns that Pyongyang will “closely watch” how other countries react to South Korea’s imminent launch of a space rocket, claiming that the DPRK has been unfairly punished for its own rocket launch in April.
: Hyun Jung-eun, chairwoman of Hyundai, enters North Korea for a planned three-day visit to secure freedom for the Hyundai Asan worker, Yu Seong-jin.
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), says that “the improvement and development of North-South relations is a prerequisite to settling the problems of the Korean nation.” But it blames current tensions on Seoul’s “confrontational policy.”
: MOU reports an easing of hostile rhetoric by North Korean media in July. Criticisms of the ROK government fell to four from 23 in May and 13 in June. Personal attacks on President Lee were down to 275 from 454 in June and 333 in May.
: Ex-U.S. President Bill Clinton visits Pyongyang. After three hours of talks and dinner with Kim Jong-il, he departs with two U.S. journalists, who were arrested and sentenced for illicitly entering North Korea from China.
: The management committee of the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KICMC) announces that South Koreans driving across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to the KIC need no longer carry photos and detailed travel plans for every passenger.
: A team from World Vision’s South Korea branch begins an eight-day trip to North Korea, to resume aid to potato farmers there. They are the first Southern NGO approved by MOU to visit the North since May’s nuclear test.
: KCNA condemns alleged aerial espionage by the U.S. and South Korea, citing some 180 surveillance missions in July alone. It accuses both nations of remaining unchanged in their attempts to forcibly stifle the DPRK.
: A 29-ton South Korean squid-fishing boat, the 800 Yeonanho, with a crew of four, is towed into Jangjon port in southeastern North Korea, having earlier reported that its GPS navigation system was malfunctioning.
: Chung Eui-hwa, a lawmaker of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP) and co-chair of the Korea Sharing Movement (KSM), a Southern NGO, cancels a planned four-day visit to Pyongyang as the North’s Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation (KCRC) did not send the expected invitation.
: The ROK Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) announces it will implement new UN sanctions targeting five North Korean individuals and five DPRK organizations.
: South Korea’s Foreign Ministry (MOFAT) says Seoul would not oppose any bilateral dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington, citing the strong U.S.-ROK alliance.
: On the eve of the Armistice which ended the 1950-53 Korean War, DPRK Armed Forces Minister Kim Yong-chun warns that “we will deal unimaginably deadly blows at the U.S. imperialists and the South Korean puppets if they ignite a war.”
: DPRK media criticize annual joint U.S.-ROK Ulchi Freedom Guardian military exercises as “a military plan aimed at invading the North.”
: Seoul says its will resume humanitarian aid to North Korea via NGOs, frozen since Pyongyang’s long-range rocket launch in early April. MOU spent just $21.5 million or 1.8 percent of its annual aid budget for the North during January-April.
: The DPRK Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) attacks the ROK’s latest annual White Paper on Reunification, published on July 17, as an “anti-reunification document that fraudulently used the title of unification.”
: MOU forbids the Committee for the June 15 Joint Declaration, a leftist NGO, from accepting an invitation from its Northern counterpart to meet in Shenyang, China.
: ROK Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan thanks his ASEAN counterparts for “sending a resolute message” in a resolution the day before criticizing North Korea for its nuclear test and missile launches.
: MOU says it is unaware of any Northern move to resume family reunions in response to a report by Minjok 21, a progressive Southern magazine, that quoted a recent visitor to Pyongyang as saying the North plans to propose “special family reunions” around Chusok, the Korean harvest festival.
: The South’s Korea Customs Service (KCS) reports that inter-Korean trade in the first half of this year totaled $649.85 million, down 26.6 percent from the same period last year. North-South trade has fallen year-on-year in each of the past 10 months.
: President Lee Myung-bak urges Hyun Byung-chul, new head of the ROK’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), to “pay special attention to human rights conditions in North Korea.” Past ROK governments had tended to downplay this topic.
: The DPRK weekly Tongil Sinbo criticizes Seoul’s plan, announced in June, to create a 3,000-strong military unit to assist UN and other global peacekeeping operations as a scheme to “provoke a second Korean War.”
: Tongil Sinbo says the future of the Kaesong Industrial Complex is on the brink of breakdown because of South Korea’s “insincere and confrontational” attitude.
: Korea Development Institute (KDI), a leading ROK state think tank, says in a report that North Korea currently faces its worst economic and diplomatic crisis since 1994.
: An intelligence source tells Yonhap that North Korea has stolen the personal information of at least 1.65 million South Koreans since 2004.
: The real KCNA says that North Korea’s population census, conducted on Oct. 1-15 last year, “is making progress in its final stage.” A preliminary count released in February put the DPRK’s total population at 24,050,000.
: On the eve of the anniversary of the fatal shooting of a Southern tourist at the Mount Kumgang resort a year ago, Seoul reiterates its demand for talks to resolve the impasse.
: MOU says South Korea will tighten control of Southern goods entering the North in line with UNSC Resolution 1874, “mostly banning luxury items such as wine and fur.”
: Citing the need to counter the North’s nuclear threats, MND asks for a 7.9 percent increase in funding next year, for a total budget of 30.8 trillion won ($24.1 billion).
: What purports to be a presence on Twitter by the DPRK’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), which began on April 23 and has 4,3000 followers, is revealed as a hoax by activists of Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF). The aim is to make KCNA’s content available in South Korea, where North Korean media are still banned.
: The North’s Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) television shows a brief clip of a gaunt-looking Kim Jong-il, with receding hair and limping slightly, at a memorial service in Pyongyang marking the 15th anniversary of the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.
: Several major public and private ROK websites, including the Blue House, Defense Ministry and National Assembly, are swamped by cyber-attacks; as are a number of official sites in the U.S. The NIS blames North Korea; others are not so sure.
: Several major public and private ROK websites, including the Blue House, Defense Ministry and National Assembly, are swamped by cyber-attacks, as are a number of official sites in the U.S.
: Lee Chan-ho, chief analyst of cross-border ties at MOU, says that as of June 22 DPRK media have denigrated President Lee 1,705 times so far this year: an average of 9.9 times each day, up from 7.6 last year. Other ROK ministers are being similarly insulted.
: On the eve of the 100th day of detention of Yu Song-jin, a Hyundai engineer arrested at the KIC on March 31, MOU again calls on the North to “immediately release [him] and guarantee our basic rights, including the right to access, under our agreement on the Kaesong industrial complex.”
: Lee Chan-ho, chief analyst of cross-border ties at MOU, says that as of June 22 DPRK media have denigrated President Lee 1,705 times so far this year: an average of 9.9 times each day, up from 7.6 last year. Other ROK ministers are being similarly insulted.
: South Korea’s Defense Ministry (MND) warns that the ballistic missiles test-fired by North Korea are capable of striking key government and military facilities in the South.
: North Korea fires seven ballistic missiles into the East Sea from its Kitdaeryong base near Wonsan. Putting its military on high alert, the ROK calls this a “provocative act” that violates UN Security Council resolutions banning all DPRK ballistic missile activity. The ROK joint chiefs of staff declare that “Our military is fully prepared to deal with any threats and provocations by the North, based on a strong joint defence alliance with the US.”
: North Korea fires seven ballistic missiles – two mid-range Nodongs and five shorter-range Scuds – into the East Sea from its Kitdaeryong base near Wonsan. This is its largest one-day barrage since a long-range Taepodong-2 and six smaller missiles fired in July 2006. The ROK calls this a “provocative act” that violates UN Security Council resolutions banning all DPRK ballistic missile activity. The ROK joint chiefs of staff declare that “Our military is fully prepared to deal with any threats and provocations by the North, based on a strong joint defense alliance with the US.”
: The DPRK test-fires four short-range KN-01 surface-to-ship missiles, with a range of 120-160 km, from a base at Sinsang-ri north of the port of Wonsan.
: South Korea’s Unification Ministry (MOU) notes that, despite reports that he was ill during the first half of this year, Kim Jong-il made a record number of public appearances: 77, up from 49 last year. More than usual – 31 or 40 percent – were to economic sites like factories and farms. Military inspections, usually preponderant at 60-70 percent, were down to 29 percent: about the same as attendance at artistic events and cultural exhibitions.
: A South Korean government report reckons that the North will be short 840,000 tons of food this year, with an expected supply of 4.29 million tons (including a million tons from abroad) against needs of 5.13 million tons.
: The DPRK test-fires four short-range KN-01 surface-to-ship missiles, with a range of 120-160 kilometers, from a base at Sinsang-ri north of the port of Wonsan.
: North and South meet at the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) to discuss its future, but resolve none of the outstanding issues. No date is set to meet again.
: Rodong Sinmun blasts South Korea’s readiness to carry out UN sanctions as – in KCNA’s words – “the worst grave anti-North provocation that has never (sic) existed in the history of inter-Korean relations.” It adds: “We’re ready for both sanctions and a war.”
: Meeting in Tokyo, President Lee and Japan’s Prime Minister Aso Taro call for strict implementation of UN sanctions against the DPRK, saying it must realize that its possession of nuclear weapons will never be tolerated.
: Tongil Sinbo claims that Lee Myung-bak’s saying that his government will pursue reunification on the basis of a market economy is aimed at “breaking down the North’s ideology and system to achieve ‘reunification through absorption,’ and it is appalling.”
: Kim Hak-kwon, chief of plastics maker Jaeyoung Solutec and chairman of the Kaesong Industrial Council of ROK firms operating in the Kaesong zone, receives a letter from the Northern authorities which, unusually, mentions the detained engineer Yu Song-jin. It says his crimes are “grave” – but as ever gives no detail.
: Amnesty International (AI) urges its members worldwide to send appeals to Kim Jong-il to release the South Korean worker detained incommunicado in Kaesong.
: A poll by Hyundai Economic Research Institute (HERI) finds that 22.2 percent of South Koreans think North Korea is trustworthy: the lowest figure in a decade. The peak figure was 52.3 percent in 2000, after the first inter-Korean summit: it has fallen ever since. However, three-quarters (75.3 percent) say the KIC should continue.
: Rodong Sinmun calls June 16’s U.S.-ROK summit “a disgusting kiss between the master and his servant.” Claiming that U.S. nuclear protection for South Korea justifies the North’s nuclear program, it warns that any aggression “will only incur a ruthless situation in which the fiery showers of our nuclear protection will fall upon South Korea.”
: Both Koreas mark the anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. The North holds rallies and exhibitions to condemn U.S. aggression and vow revenge, while accusing Seoul of instigating anti-Pyongyang sentiment. The South thanks those who came to assist, as President Lee puts it, “a small, poor nation that they did not even know.”
: MOU reports that Southern aid (state and private) to the North during Jan.-May totaled $15.18 million, down 60 per cent from $26.33 million in Jan.-May 2008.
: Rodong Sinmun accuses Seoul of trying to incite a third inter-Korean naval clash in the Yellow Sea. It criticizes the ROK’s naming a new guided missile patrol boat after an officer killed in battle in 2002, Yun Yeong-ha, as anti-Pyongyang propaganda.
: ROK President Lee tells a congress of ethnic Koreans from 65 countries that South Korea is interested in helping North Korea: “We keep telling North Korea to become a (responsible) member of the international community … Living by threatening when it is not getting any assistance is not truly living …North Korea can catch up with China [very fast] if we put in the necessary infrastructure, build factories there and train their workers … I believe North Korea will change once it learns South Korea’s sincere intentions.”
: In reaction to the Lee-Obama summit, the weekly Tongil Sinbo accuses President Lee of trying “to stifle the people of the DPRK through an alliance” with the U.S. and launch a nuclear war. KCNA reports that anti-government organizations in South Korea have issued statements denouncing Lee for his “servile” tour of the U.S.
: The (South) Korea Customs Service says that May’s inter-Korean trade total was $106.5 million, down 38 percent from $171.9 million in the same month last year.
: Working-level meeting is held in Kaesong to discuss revised contracts at the KIC but again make no progress. The North unexpectedly offers to lift cross-border restrictions.
: In Washington, President Lee vows to break with the old pattern of compensating the North following provocations by it. Barack Obama concurs.
: North Korea marks the ninth anniversary of the first inter-Korean summit by calling on South Koreans to rise against their current regime. South Korea holds no official ceremony, and the government does not participate in events organized by liberal NGOs.
: Rodong Sinmun denounces the ROK for “begging” the U.S. for nuclear protection, calling this “an unforgivable criminal act to make South Korea a nuclear powder keg that can explode at any moment.”
: 120 of the 611 ROK firms doing business with the DPRK outside Kaesong meet in Seoul to demand that the current crisis be resolved. Since the nuclear test the South has forbidden them to visit the North.
: ROK Unification Minister Hyun tells a parliamentary hearing that he believes North Korea has been pursuing uranium enrichment, which it had long denied until very recently, “for at least seven to eight years.”
: ROK firms in the KIC say they “cannot accept North Korea’s unilateral demands” to quadruple its workers’ wages. Complaining of “unbearable losses for a long time” due to heightened inter-Korean tensions, they call on Seoul to compensate them.
: The UNSC unanimously passes Resolution 1874, condemning the DPRK’s nuclear test and imposing a range of sanctions, including a ban on all arms exports.
: A spokesman for North Korea’s CPRF tells KCNA that South Korean news reports, claiming that fake U.S. dollars circulating in the South were proved to be from the North, are an anti-DPRK trick.
: At talks in Kaesong on the future of the KIC, the North demands a fourfold wage hike for its workers and a 30-fold increase in rent. They agree to meet again on June 19. MOU denies that the North is in effect telling the South to get out.
: KCNA says that at the latest inter-Korean meeting on the KIC, the North demanded early construction of a dormitory and childcare facilities as well as a new road for North Koreans working at the joint industrial complex.
: Hyundai Economic Research Institute predicts that North Korea will lose $1.5-3.7 billion if the U.N. enforces the sanctions.
: The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) calls Roh’s death “a politically motivated, premeditated and deliberate terror and murder orchestrated by the United States and the pro-American conservative forces of south Korea.”
: Minju Joson describes the DPRK’s nuclear deterrent, hitherto claimed to be defensive, as “a vehicle for merciless attacks on those who even slightly infringe upon our sovereignty.” Similarly blurring offense and defense, Rodong Sinmun declares that “our self-protective measure is to relentlessly crush invaders by striking them preemptively.”
: Skinnet, a leather apparel maker, becomes the first ROK firm to quit the KIC.
: The ROK Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MSF) names three DPRK firms as subject to UNSC-mandated sanctions. It bans South Korean companies from dealings with Korea Mining Development Trading Corp., Tanchon Commercial Bank or Ryongbong General Corp., all suspected of involvement in Pyongyang’s missile or nuclear programs.
: The (South) Korea Customs Service (KCS) reports that inter-Korean trade in the first four months fell by 24.8 percent (year-on-year), from $566.92 million $426.35 million.
: The (South) Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety (KINS) admits it has yet to find radioactive traces of xenon or krypton gases in air particles blowing from the North, which would confirm scientifically that North Korea did indeed conduct a nuclear test.
: In one of its clearest hints yet from Pyongyang that a successor to Kim Jong-il has been chosen, Rodong Sinmun says that “One of the important issues concerning the fate of the nation’s revolution was shiningly resolved, which makes this year more meaningful than ever … A true war of will is one that succeeds generation after generation.”
: Rodong Sinmun says that “a written pledge by the U.S. to include South Korea under its nuclear umbrella [means] … the danger of nuclear war will increase.”
: Kang Hui-nam, an activist priest and honorary chairman of the ROK branch of the pro-North Pan-Korean Alliance for Reunification (Pomminryon), takes his life at age 89. His suicide note denounces Seoul’s current policies towards Pyongyang. On June 10 the DPRK offers its condolences, but blames “Lee Myung-bak … who drove him to death.”
: North Korea unexpectedly proposes talks on the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC). The South accepts, and they agree to meet on June 11 in the KIC.
: Rodong Sinmun says “the South Korean public unanimously contends that the unexpected and tragic death of the former ‘president’ [Roh Moo-hyun] is murder by Lee Myung-bak’s political retaliation.”
: ROK Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan says the U.S. has agreed to guarantee in writing its nuclear umbrella for South Korea against any Northern attack, when President Lee meets U.S. President Barack Obama in Washington on June 16.
: ROK Unification Minister Hyun cites Kim Jong-il’s “worsening health condition” as the reason why Kim “may have felt the necessity of accelerating the process of father-to-son succession of power.” Hyun reiterates MOU’s view that there is no solid evidence to confirm that Kim Jong-un is the chosen heir.
: An ROK official says the detained Hyundai Asan worker Yu Song-jin appears to have been moved from Kaesong to Pyongyang.
: At the first ASEAN-ROK summit, President Lee and the heads of all 10 ASEAN member states condemn North Korea’s recent nuclear test and missile launches. They also call for resumption of the Six-Party Talks.
: Sources in Seoul claim that on May 25, just after North Korea’s nuclear test, key DPRK institutions – WPK, KPA, the Presidium of the SPA and the Cabinet – were formally notified that Kim Jong-il has designated his third son, Kim Jong-un, as his successor.
: Intelligence sources in Seoul say the DPRK has banned shipping from more northerly parts of its West (Yellow) Sea waters for two months, until the end of July.
: DPRK website Uriminzokkiri brushes off criticism that its nuclear test was ill-timed in the wake of Roh Moo-hyun’s suicide. It accuses those who say this of “picking a fight with wicked intentions” instead of expressing gratitude for the North’s condolences.
: North Korea’s Minju Joson claims that “any minor accidental clash [on the Peninsula] may spread into a nuclear war.” Rodong Sinmun declares: “It is the fixed will of the army and the people of the DPRK to wipe out the warmongers with a barrage of fire of the Songun (military-first) army.”
: Reacting to Seoul’s decision to fully join the PSI, the Panmunjom office of the KPA declares the 1953 Armistice “nullified” by this “declaration of war against us.” It threatens a military strike if South Korea tries to interdict any of its ships, and warns it can no longer guarantee the safety of U.S. and ROK military or private vessels in waters west of the Peninsula.
: MOU says traffic across the DMZ is normal despite the North’s nuclear test. Some 400 South Koreans cross into the Kaesong IC in the morning; a similar number return in the evening. Five DPRK merchant ships pass through ROK waters, while “dozens” of South Korean vessels are in Northern waters despite Pyongyang’s threat.
: Choson Sinbo, the daily paper of pro-North Koreans in Japan, insists that the DPRK remains committed to the KIC project despite growing political tensions.
: ROK formally communicates its decision to become a full member of the PSI.
: Kim Jong-il expresses his condolences to the late Roh Moo-hyun’s family. MOU comments that at least this will not impact negatively on North-South relations.
: North Korea conducts an underground nuclear test near Kilju in the northeast. ROK President Lee calls this “truly disappointing.” South Korea bans its citizens from visiting the North, other than to the Kaesong and Mount Kumgang zones.
: Former ROK President Roh Moo-hyun jumps to his death from a cliff near his rural home. He had been questioned by prosecutors on allegations of corruption.
: Yoo Chang-geun, a representative of ROK firms operating in the KIC, warns that they risk bankruptcy as orders plunge while tension rises.
: ROK Unification Minister Hyun says that despite the “crisis” over the KIC, Seoul is not contemplating closing it.
: CPRF denounces the ROK MOFAT as “frantic about its anti-DPRK confrontational scheme” and “one of the most anti-national groups among the south Korean government ministries and agencies.”
: Sources in Seoul claim that Choe Sung-chol, who as vice chairman of the North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee (APPC) had pushed for reconciliation with the South, was executed last year.
: Minju Joson, daily paper of the DPRK Cabinet, says North Korea will never again attend the Six-Party Talks unless the U.S. and South Korea give up their “hostile policy.”
: North Korea unilaterally “declare[s] null and void the rules and contracts on land rent, wages and all sorts of taxes” at the KIC.
: Yonhap says North Korea is stepping up military training at its western sea border. It quotes an ROK Marines source as saying the KPA has held 19 live-fire exercises, twice as many as last year. Aircraft sorties are up six-fold from the same period in 2008.
: ROK military sources say two major DPRK covert agencies have recently been transferred from party to military control. Room 35 collects intelligence, while the Operations Unit trains and dispatches secret agents as well as exporting arms and engaging in drug trafficking and counterfeiting.
: Intelligence sources in Seoul say the KPA has a 100-strong cyber-warfare unit that seeks to disrupt ROK and U.S. military networks.
: Rodong Sinmun says that “traitor Lee Myung-bak’s talk about full participation in the PSI brought to light once again his true colors as a war maniac bereft of reason as he does not rule out even a war against the DPRK, standing in confrontation with it to the last.”
: The ROK reports that the destroyer Munmu the Great, operating in the Gulf of Aden, escorted a DPRK vessel to safety after is that was attacked by Somali pirates. The vessel thanked its rescuers while Pyongyang was silent.
: MOU announces a restructuring that will close its Humanitarian Cooperation Bureau, established in 1996. Its three functions – sending aid, arranging family reunions, and resettling defectors – will be absorbed into other departments, while a new bureau will be created to analyze politics in Pyongyang. The Cabinet approves the changes on May 12.
: KCNA reports that on Buddha’s birthday temples across the DPRK hold services to pray for unification. Speakers warn that inter-Korean relations are at “the brink of a war owing to the persistent sycophancy toward the U.S. and the moves for confrontation … [by] the present conservative ruling forces of south Korea.” They call on all Buddhists “to unite in Dharma-minded concord and foil the Lee Myung-bak group’s moves for a war.”
: North Korea’s Central Special Zone Development Guidance General Bureau says it is deepening its probe of the Kaesong worker, Yu Song-jin.
: Pyongyang’s Foreign Ministry says that unless the UNSC apologizes for its criticisms of the DPRK, it will conduct further nuclear and missile tests, start building a light-water reactor, and produce nuclear fuel. South Korea comments that this “directly challenges a unified and concerted decision by the international community.”
: At a consolation event for separated families held at Paju north of Seoul near the border, Unification Minister Hyun urges the North to resume family reunions.”
: Pyongyang says it has resumed extracting plutonium from spent fuel rods at its reopened Yongbyon nuclear site.
: KCNA accuses the ROK military of arbitrarily moving a marker (number 0768) in the eastern sector of the MDL, calling this a “serious military provocation” in violation of the 1953 Armistice. The South denies having moved the marker.
: The two Koreas hold their first official civilian meeting in over a year at the KIC. This lasts just 22 minutes, after procedural disputes delay the start for over 12 hours.
: MOFAT says the ROK embassy in Vienna is seeking clarification whether comments the previous day by IAEA Director General Mohamed ElBaradei, that the DPRK is a nuclear weapon state as “a matter of fact,” represent the UN agency’s official position.
: ROK Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee warns of possible DPRK provocations, adding that “our military is ready to immediately retaliate under the combined readiness with the United States.”
: Seoul says it “regrets” the latest Northern threats, and insists that PSI is not specifically targeting Pyongyang.
: On the 49th anniversary of the student uprising that toppled the ROK’s first president, Syngman Rhee, in 1960, Rodong Sinmun claims the South “is going back to the dark era of fascist dictatorship” and calls on South Koreans to “wage unflinching struggle.”
: ROK says it will postpone announcing a decision on joining the PSI until after inter-Korean talks. KCNA carries a statement by the KPA General Staff, warning the DPRK would regard South Korea’s full participation in the PSI as a declaration of war.
: The secretariat of the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Fatherland (CPRF) says that a nuclear war on the peninsula is only a matter of time, “due to the war chariot of the ‘South Korea-U.S. military alliance’.”
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), accuses Seoul of banning Southern civilian aid groups from visiting Pyongyang on alleged safety grounds since the April 5 rocket launch.
: Thirty Southern NGOs demand the release of the ROK worker held in Kaesong, saying this “clearly violates … inter-Korean accords” and is “tantamount to kidnapping.”
: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says the DPRK has asked its inspectors to leave the country “at the earliest possible time.”
: In reaction to what it calls the “brigandish” UNSC statement, the Foreign Ministry says the DPRK will “never” again attend the Six-Party Talks, and will restore its nuclear facilities to strengthen its deterrent. South Korea expresses “deep regret” at this.
: An ROK Foreign Ministry (MOFAT) official says South Korea, the U.S. and Japan have agreed a draft list of some 10 DPRK companies which could face UN sanctions.
: An ROK source says nine DPRK merchant vessels could be searched in international waters under the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI).
: ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) describes the detention of Yu Song-jin at the KIC as a “serious situation,” “very unjust,” and “inhumane.”
: UNSC issues a President’s Statement unanimously condemning North Korea’s rocket launch of April 5.
: North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) meets for a single day. Kim Jong-il is present, but looks ill. Decisions made include the removal from the DPRK Cabinet of an inter-Korean cooperation committee created in 2004. Kim’s brother-in-law, Jang Song-taek, is appointed to an expanded National Defense Commission (NDC).
: An ROK military source says a DPRK MiG-23 jet fighter crashed into the sea near Musudan-ri on April 4, a day before the rocket launch.
: Unification Minister Hyun In-taek says that an additional resettlement center for DPRK defectors is planned. The existing Hanawon facility, whose capacity was doubled from 300 to 700 last year, is “not insufficient … at present, but we have to prepare for the future.”
: President Lee calls for a South Korean held in the KIC since March 30 to be released. Unnamed at this stage, the detainee is later identified as Yu Song-jin.
: An opinion poll for the ROK government finds that 51.8 percent of South Koreans want Seoul to address the DPRK rocket issue through international cooperation, while 33.6 percent favor direct inter-Korean talks. Asked with whom the ROK should cooperate for its national security, 60 percent say the U.S., 15.7 percent North Korea, and 10.4 percent China.
: South Korea rebuffs Northern charges that its soccer players lost their recent match in Seoul through deliberate poisoning after being given out-of-date food.
: The DPRK finally launches its long-expected three-stage rocket. It claims a successful satellite launch, but the U.S. and South Korea dispute this. The ROK, with many other states, criticizes Pyongyang’s act as provocative and calls for punishment.
: The DPRK launches its long-expected three-stage rocket from the Musudan-ri site in the northeast. The ROK, with many other states, criticizes the launch.
: An ROK Air Force officer says the Korean People’s Army (KPA) has deployed a fleet of MiG-23 fighters to protect its impending rocket launch.
: ROK President Lee Myung-bak says at the G20 summit in London that he is considering the possibility of sending a special envoy to the North to help ease strained ties.
: South Korea defeats the North 1-0 in Seoul in a final-round Asian qualifier for soccer’s World Cup. The North does not allow any supporters to travel South.
: The Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), an arm of the ROK National Intelligence Service (NIS), says the DPRK’s impending rocket launch may cost $500 million.
: Seoul demands access to its citizen detained in Kaesong.
: Meeting in the Hague, foreign ministers of South Korea, the U.S., and Japan reaffirm their consensus that if North Korea goes ahead with a rocket launch, it should be taken up at the U.N. Security Council.
: North Korea detains a Southern employee of Hyundai Asan at the KIC. The unnamed engineer is accused of criticizing the socialist regime and urging a DPRK female worker to defect.
: The CPRF warns that if the ROK joins the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) “over our plan to launch a rocket,” this would be tantamount to a declaration of war. Seoul has said it is contemplating this. It has been an observer in the PSI since 2005.
: Pyongyang slams UNHCR resolution on North Korean human rights (see March 26) as “peppered with lies and fabrications.”
: UNHRC passes a resolution criticizing North Korea’s human rights abuses. The vote is 26-6 with 15 abstentions.
: North Korea reopens the inter-Korean military communication line around 8 a.m., and later faxes a letter of approval for border traffic. Normal service gradually resumes.
: The North again imposes border restrictions, despite saying it will reinstate the military hotline now that the US-ROK military exercises are over.
: The CPRF says North Korea will not talk to South Korea or the U.S. until they stop accusing it of being a human rights violator. The same day, the ROK says it will co-sponsor the latest annual UN resolution criticizing the DPRK’s human rights record.
: The North partly reopens DMZ crossings, and fully on March 17. Despite this, doubts are aired in Seoul as to the KIC’s viability if subject to such arbitrary threats.
: South Korea’s foreign minister says Seoul would not object if the U.S. were to resume direct talks with North Korea on its missile programs, as in the Clinton era.
: The CPRF says: “The Lee Myung-bak government, if it really is interested in inter-Korean dialogue, must apologize before the entire Korean nation for ruining relations with its anti-DPRK confrontational scheme and driving us to the brink of war.”
: The North shuts the border again, this time stranding 730 South Koreans, three Chinese and an Australian; almost all in the Kaesong IC.
: Military sources in Seoul claim that Gen. Kim Kyok-sik, replaced by Ri Yong-ho in February as chief of the KPA General Staff, was transferred to head the KPA’s 4th Army Corps, whose mission includes guarding the marine border in the West/Yellow Sea.
: Rodong Sinmun claims the DPRK has “capability and modern military and technical means strong enough to neutralize” the vaunted “superiority” of US and ROK forces.
: North Korea reopens border crossings after a day’s closure.
: To protest the US-ROK war games starting the same day (see March 2), North Korea suspends its last military telephone link with the South.
: North Korea holds its general election as scheduled, claiming the usual 100 percent yes vote for the 687 candidates (all unopposed). 316 SPA members are new, but contrary to prior rumors they include no son of Kim Jong-il.
: On International Women’s Day, Rodong Sinmun claims that North Korean women live a happy life in the warm care and love of Kim Jong-il. By contrast, “traitor Lee Myung-bak’s misrule” has plunged their Southern sisters into “misery and pain.”
: Minju Joson attacks the new ROK defense white paper (see Feb. 23): “It is the United States and the South Korean puppet government who are creating the immediate and grave threat to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula.”
: KPA and UNC generals meet again at Panmunjom (see March 2). The DPRK repeats its threat to South Korean passenger airplanes if KR/FE goes ahead.
: The DPRK warns that it cannot guarantee the safety of ROK civilian aircraft in or near its airspace if the KR/FE war games go ahead.
: Lighthouse Foundation, a Seoul-based NGO, says it will break ground on a rehabilitation center for the disabled in Pyongyang in May. Costing $3.2 million, the five story building will be ready by 2011.
: Rodong Sinmun warns that: “Should the enemies invade even 0.001 mm into our territory, we will mobilize all our potential and deal retaliatory strikes that will be a hundred times and a thousand times more powerful.”
: ROK Unification Minister Hyun In-taek says the North’s missile launch is not imminent. He tells the North to stop insulting President Lee, and says there will be no early resumption of government-level rice and fertilizer aid suspended last year after a decade.
: President Lee says, “It appears from Chairman Kim’s recent activities that there are no serious obstacles for him to continue ruling North Korea, and I think it is better to have a stabilized North Korean regime at this point in time for inter-Korean dialogue and cooperation.”
: Minju Joson says the peninsula is a “powder keg of Northeast Asia.” It calls KR/FE “a serious military threat to our republic and also an extremely dangerous fire play aimed at provoking a new war.”
: At the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, South Korea urges the North to improve its human rights record. The North blasts these “impertinent remarks,” saying they “instigate confrontation and hatred.”
: At the first UNC general-level meeting in almost seven years at Panmunjom, North Korea demands that the US and ROK cancel their joint annual drills Key Resolve and Foal Eagle (KR/FE), scheduled for March 9-20. The meeting lasts barely half an hour.
: North Korea marks Independence Movement Day (see Feb. 27) by renewing threats against South Korea, the U.S. and Japan, threatening “merciless punishment.”
: President Lee calls on North Korea to abandon its planned satellite launch. If it does, “The doors to unconditional dialogue remain wide open even now. The South and the North must talk at the earliest date possible.”
: The KPA’s self-described chief of “the military working group of the DPRK side in the area under the control of the North and South in the Eastern and Western regions” sends a notice to the ROK, warning of countermeasures against alleged provocations by U.S. troops along the Military Demarcation Line (MDL).
: Ahead of the 90th anniversary of the March First rising against Japanese rule in 1919, conservative and progressive ROK churches issue a rare joint “3.1 Declaration of Korean Churches for Peace and Unification”, in hope of breaking the inter-Korean impasse. They call for 1 percent of the South’s budget to go as aid to the North. That would almost triple the present budget of some $700 million, much of which this year may remain unspent.
: NIS chief Won Sei-hoon (see Feb. 12) says that another father-to-son power transfer in North Korea appears possible. He adds that Kim Jong-il is fully in charge, but has not wholly recovered from his suspected stroke last year.
: The DPRK’s Committee of Space Technology announces that it is preparing to launch an “experimental communications satellite.” ROK Foreign Minister Yu says this would contravene UNSC resolution 1718.
: South Korea accuses the North of false allegations and time-wasting at the UN Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations. The DPRK delegate says that the UN Command (UNC) in the ROK is just a cover for the US, and calls for its dissolution.
: MND’s delayed 2008 defense white paper terms the KPA an “immediate and grave threat.”
: MOU reports that inter-Korean trade in January fell year on year for a fifth consecutive month. It totaled $113 million, down from $140 million in Jan. 2008.
: The North’s CPRF accuses Lee Myung-bak of “maliciously defaming the dignity of socialism,” apparently by telling supporters that the DPRK “would be better off without socialism if it means they have to worry about three meals a day for their people.”
: ROK Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee says Seoul would “clearly respond to any preemptive artillery or missile attack by North Korea,” including striking the bases from which any such attack was launched.
: Hours before Hillary Clinton arrives in Seoul on her first visit as secretary of state, KCNA warns that “The political and military confrontation between the north and the south has reached such an extreme phase that there is neither way nor hope to put it under control.” The same day, KCNA blasts upcoming routine U.S.-ROK military exercises as a “war preparation maneuver,” warning both countries that they will “pay a high price.”
: ROK Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Kim Thae-young warns that the DPRK may attempt a border provocation, but said his and U.S. forces are fully prepared.
: MOU forecasts that North Korea’s food supply will fall 1.17 million tons short of demand this year, despite an improved grain harvest of 4.31 million tons in 2008. It reports that since late last year the North has tightened social control.
: Both Koreas, along with the other four partners in the Six-Party Talks, meet in Moscow for a session of the 6PT working group on peace and security in northeast Asia.
: A spokesman for the KPA General Staff tells KCNA that the Army is fully ready for an all-out confrontation with “the Lee Myung-bak group of traitors.”
: ROK Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan says the DPRK’s anticipated missile test is the more worrying given its nuclear capability. This combination “will have a very serious impact on the world’s peace and security.”
: At a meeting to celebrate Kim Jong-il’s 67th birthday next day, Kim Yong-nam, president of the SPA Presidium, warns that the DPRK will “punish the group of traitors with decisive actions” It is rare for the North’s titular head of state to utter such menaces.
: The DPRK Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) attacks the ROK government’s veto of a recent inter-Korean journalists’ agreement (see Feb. 4).
: Rodong Sinmun says western inter-Korean sea border “can no longer work” It calls the Northern Limit Line (NLL) “thoroughly unfair and sheer robbery” and a “ghost border.”
: Won Sei-hoon, appointed head of the ROK National Intelligence Service (NIS) in January, says Seoul needs to “beef up an early warning system to cope with any moves by North Korea” as well as “fully prepare for any terror and international crimes.”
: The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) issues a rare report of a military reshuffle. KPA Vice Marshal Kim Yong-chun becomes defense minister, while a little-known general, Ri Yong-ho, is appointed chief of the KPA General Staff. The previous defense minister, Kim Il-chol, has apparently been demoted to vice minister.
: President Lee tells South Koreans that “you do not need to worry too much” about the North’s recent threats.
: Some 20 Southern NGOs report a recent meeting in Shenyang, China with the North’s National Reconciliation Council (NRC). They agree to continue aid, even as official ROK assistance remains suspended. Projects include hospital modernization, a soybean milk plant, and greenhouses to grow strawberries in winter.
: Defense sources in Seoul confirm that a Taepodong-2 long-range missile, seen leaving a factory south of Pyongyang by train in late January, is now at the North’s main testing ground at Musudan-ri in the northeast.
: The ROK government rejects a journalist association’s agreement, signed in Pyongyang last October, to share news content online with Northern counterparts.
: Hyundai Asan says it is “desperate” to resume tours to Mt. Kumgang.
: DPRK media say that Kim Jong-il sent a New Year card to the UN secretary general, mentioning him last in a long list and not naming him.
: The KPA General Staff warns “the Lee Myung-bak group of traitors” that the DPRK will never give up its nuclear weapons unless the U.S does likewise in South Korea.
: Rodong Sinmun warns that “escalated tension …may lead to an uncontrollable and unavoidable military conflict and war.” The ROK Defense Ministry (MND) reports that the KPA is on its regular winter exercises, but with no “noticeably unusual” features.
: The DPRK’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) declares that all past inter-Korean agreements are now “nullified.”
: Hours after the CPRF statement, ROK President Lee says he is “waiting for North Korea to understand that the South will work with an open heart and compassion to help the North. I believe the South-North relationship will improve before too long.”
: Minju Choson criticizes ongoing ROK military exercise as war preparation.
: Minju Choson, the DPRK government daily paper, criticizes the choice of Hyun In-taek, as the new ROK unification minister as an “outright challenge” and “open provocation” that will “push inter-Korean relations deeper into the abyss of confrontation and ruin.”
: President Lee says his top priority is securing peace and reconciliation with the North, while the military is to “maintain a perfect defense posture” and counter any aggression.
: The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in Geneva closely questions DPRK officials about claims of child labor and other abuses, made by Northern defectors in Seoul and NGOs supporting them who had briefed the UN committee ahead of the meeting.
: The Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) says the DPRK regime is unlikely to collapse despite uncertainties over Kim Jong-il’s health and growing social distress.
: Hwang Joon-kook, South Korea’s deputy nuclear envoy, returns from a five-day trip to the North under the 6PT. His brief was to examine 14,800 unused nuclear fuel rods at Yongbyon with a view to buying them.
: Hyun In-taek replaces Kim Ha-joong as ROK unification minister.
: Rodong Sinmun warns what it calls “the Lee Myung-bak group” that “our guns and bayonets … are aimed at their throats.”
: Rodong Sinmun dismisses as “rhetoric” an MOU report saying the ministry will focus on resuming inter-Korean dialogue this year. The WPK daily notes the absence of an explicit pledge to implement the 2000 and 2007 summit accords, as Pyongyang demands.
: A spokesman of the Korean Peoples Army (KPA) General Staff appears on DPRK TV in full uniform and declares that “a war … can neither be averted nor avoided.”
: The ROK island province of Jeju starts shipping to the North a much reduced shipment of 300 tons of tangerines and 1,000 tons of carrots, worth some $400,000.
: Yonhap says Kim Jong-il has chosen his third son Kim Jong-un as his successor. A day earlier, a Japanese daily claimed number one son Kim Jong-nam has been chosen.
: ROK Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong says Kim Jong-il appears to be in full command in the North, and that recent photos released by Pyongyang seem genuine.
: In the DPRK’s first direct comment this year on President Lee, the weekly Tongil Shinbo blamed him for deteriorating inter-Korean relations. It insisted that “a change must come from South Korea by sweeping out the entire group of traitors.”
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the North’s ruling Workers Party of Korea (WPK), denounces the Japanese Prime Minister Aso Taro’s visit to Seoul as collusion by anti-communist forces in both countries.
: Seoul sources claim that Choe Song-chul, who escorted then ROK President Roh Moo-hyun at his summit with DPRK leader Kim Jong-il in Oct. 2007, is undergoing severe “revolutionary training” at a chicken farm in Hwanghae Province.
: Former ROK Foreign Minister Song Min-soon, now a lawmaker of the main opposition Democratic Party, cites South Korea’s single-term presidency as a major obstacle to consistent dialogue with the North. He proposes establishing a pan-national consultative body to handle inter-Korean issues, to build bipartisan policy continuity.
: Park Sang-hak, who leads Fighters for a Free North Korea (FFNK), says his group will henceforth send DPRK rather than U.S. currency with its balloon-borne leaflets into the North, since the regime arrests those found in possession of dollars. It is not clear how FFNK can obtain North Korean won without breaking both Korean states’ laws.
: MOU says the North has begun enforcing a ban on mobile phones and in-car GPS receivers for South Koreans in the Kaesong complex. Hitherto border authorities had let Southern drivers enter if these were switched off, but now they are being turned away.
: The Seoul press reports the ROK government as unofficially confirming that the DPRK’s point man on the South, Choe Song-chul, deputy director of the KWP’s United Front department, was sacked last March. Some name his replacement as Yu Yong-sun (68), hitherto leader of North Korea’s Buddhist federation.
: ROK government unofficially confirms that the DPRK’s point man on the South, Choe Song-chul, was sacked in March 2008. Some name his replacement as Yu Yong-sun (68), who is the former leader of North Korea’s Buddhist federation.
: South Korea’s Unification Ministry (MOU) reports that 2,809 North Korean defectors entered the South in 2008, up 10 percent from 2007. The flow slowed with tighter Chinese border controls for the Olympics; thus 1,700 arrived in the first half-year and 1,100 in the second. Of the total of 15,057 Northern defectors since 1953, who for decades were a tiny trickle, over half have come in the last four years alone.
: MOU says that on Dec. 31 it signed a contract to build a day-care center at the Kaesong IC. The $685,000 facility will take 200 children and is due for completion in 2009.
: A boat chartered by the the Korea Peasants League leaves Jeju island for several ROK west coast ports to collect 174 tons of rice aid for the DPRK, including 60 tons donated by the radical Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU).
: In a telephone call to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, himself a former ROK foreign minister, Lee Myung-bak asks the UN to help improve inter-Korean relations.
: In a telephone call to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, himself a former ROK foreign minister, President Lee asks the UN to help improve inter-Korean relations.
: Choson Sinbo, the daily paper of pro-North Koreans in Japan, says that the North will continue a hard line toward the South unless Seoul changes its stance, “no matter how (the Lee government) rehearses kind but hollow words.”
: The diirector of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) vows in his New Year message to monitor the North closely. Kim Sung-ho avers that national security is a precondition for the ROK’s economic revival; he does not explain why.
: President Lee says in his New Year address that he “will work calmly and flexibly to resolve the current stalemate in inter-Korean relations.” He calls on the North to abandon its “outdated practice” of trying to fan tension between conservatives and liberals in the South.
: Choson Sinbo, the daily paper of pro-North Koreans in Japan, says that the North will continue a hard line toward the South unless Seoul changes its stance, “no matter how [the Lee government] rehearses kind but hollow words.”
: The DPRK’s customary New Year joint editorial, carried in the Party, army and youth daily papers, accuses Lee Myung-bak of being “steeped in pro-U.S. sycophancy and hostility towards fellow countrymen.” Washington, by contrast, is spared such invective.
: The DPRK’s New Year joint editorial accuses ROK President Lee Myung-bak of being “steeped in pro-U.S. sycophancy and hostility towards fellow countrymen.”
: MOU spokesman confirms that the ROK is mulling paying the North to return Southern detainees, saying that “The return of the abductees and war prisoners is our priority”
: An ROK navy patrol boat picks up a family of four North Koreans, who defected from Haeju that day in a small wooden boat. Such direct defections remain rare.
: Jungto Society (JTS), also known as Good Friends, a South Korean Buddhist NGO active in the North, says it has sent baby formula and maternal foods worth $300,000 to Hoeryong in the DPRK’s impoverished northeastern province of North Hamgyong. It also delivered life support machines, oxygen generators and other medical equipment worth over $100,000 to a hospital in the same province earlier in December.
: The ROK-based Northeast Asia Foundation for Education and Culture (NAFEC) says that the much-delayed Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST), which it is building and funding, will not open until April 2009. It is ready to start now, but both Korean governments have warned that the timing is unpropitious.
: ROK Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong says “everything is normal” in the North, and its “leadership is stable.” Citing Kim Jong-il’s 13 reported public appearances in December alone, Kim admits that this “year-end concentration seems a bit unique.”
: The DPRK website Uriminjokkiri warns that “If the Lee Myung-bak government continues to push for its confrontational policy next year, North-South relations will further deteriorate.”
: An official in Jeju says MOU has both withdrawn funding (around $1.5 million) and forbidden it to send 10,000 tons of locally grown tangerines to North Korea. Jeju has sent such aid every winter since 1998.
: DPRK Defense Minister Kim Il-chol warns “the South Korean warmongers” not to unleash a war. If they do, the North’s “preemptive strike, built upon stronger means than nuclear weapons, will not only make the South a sea of fire but turn all things that are against the Korean people and unification into a pile of ashes.”
: MOU announces that resettlement training for North Korean defectors will increase from 8 to 12 weeks, effective March. Hanawon, the main training center some 45 miles south of Seoul, recently doubled its capacity to 600 persons as arrival numbers grow.
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of North Korea’s ruling Workers Party of Korea (WPK), attacks Seoul’s recent overtures: “Hypocritical is the “dialogue” much publicized by those who seek confrontation with daggers hidden behind their belts.”
: Despite official denials, sources in Seoul signal that Pyongyang has indicated willingness to return some Southern POWs and abductees in exchange for aid.
: Ignoring the ROK government’s appeal to stop, the North Korea Christian Association in South Korea sends 1.5 million propaganda leaflets on 26 large balloons into the North from an island off the west coast.
: Radio Free Asia reports that 19 DPRK defectors, including an elderly man and a child, will stand trial in Burma for illegal entry. They were arrested after crossing the border from China, hoping to get to South Korea.
: MOU reports that inter-Korean trade fell year-on-year for the second month running. November’s total of $142.72 million was down 27.7 percent from 2007. The weak Southern won was blamed; most payments to the North are made in dollars or euros. But for the year overall to end-November, the total of 1.69 billion dollars is up 3.7 percent on 2007.
: Choi Sung-yong, president of the Family Assembly Abducted to North Korea, a Seoul-based NGO, says the spy arrested by the North was one of his agents, and that MSS’s charges are “mostly true.” But he denies any plot to kill Kim Jong-il.
: The ROK co-sponsors the UN General Assembly’s annual resolution condemning DPRK human rights abuses, which is adopted by 94 votes to 22 with 63 abstentions.
: The South’s Rural Development Administration says that North Korea’s total grain harvest rose by 300,000 tons or 7 percent in 2008, thanks to better weather. Though an early drought cut the corn crop by 3 percent to 1.5 million tons, rice rose by 330,000 tons to 1.9 million tons. Other crops included potatoes (500,000 tons), soy beans (160,000 tons) and barley and other grains (240,000 tons).
: North Korea’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) announces the arrest of a spy, named only as Ri, who was on a “terrorist mission ordered by a South Korean puppet intelligence-gathering organization to do harm to the safety of the top leader of the DPRK,” and warns of severe consequences. The ROK denies any such involvement.
: Lt. Gen. Kim Yong-chol, head of the of the DPRK National Defense Commission (NDC)’s policy planning office, warns on a rare two-day inspection trip to the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) that the current freeze in North-South ties is “serious,” and that the North’s sanctions are “not temporary, emotional or symbolic.”
: Kim Hak-song, a GNP lawmaker who chairs the ROK National Assembly’s Defense Committee on Defense, says that the DPRK may have over 20 nuclear weapons if it has chosen to make small warheads each using 2-3 kg of plutonium.
: Kumsung, producer of the most-read and most left-leaning South Korean high school textbook on modern Korean history, is the last of six publishers to accept up to 206 changes ordered by the Education Ministry. The general thrust is a more critical view of North Korea and a more positive account of the origins of the ROK after 1945.
: ROK lawmakers earmark Won 1.59 trillion ($1.18 billion) for North-South cooperation in 2009, up 8.6 percent from 2008. The new budget includes Won 643.7 billion to provide 400,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer aid, despite current poor ties and the fact that such aid, which used to be regular, has been suspended since 2006.
: Seoul reiterates that it has no immediate plan to send food aid to Pyongyang, despite a new UN estimate that the North will have an 800,000 ton grain shortfall in 2009.
: Pyongyang rejects as “provocative” Seoul’s (in truth rather mild) reaction to the border restrictions imposed by the North from Dec. 1.
: An anonymous MND offical tells reporters that Seoul is mulling offering “incentives” to Pyongyang to free Southern POWs and abductees. 76 POWs have escaped from the North, including six this year.
: MOU reports that the last group of about 50 evicted personnel, including 23 Chinese, leave the Kaesong and Kumgang zones pursuant to Pyongyang’s new restrictions.
: The ROK Defense Ministry (MND) tells the National Assembly Committee on inter-Korean Relations that “North Korea has breached or failed to honor most of the agreements reached between the South and the North in military affairs,” and that military relations are now all but defunct.
: Left- and right-wing South Korean activists scuffle at Imjingak near the DMZ, as the former try to stop the latter launching balloon-borne leaflets into North Korea.
: South Korean prosecutors indict five leading members of a left-wing civic group, Solidarity for Implementing the South-North Joint Declaration, for spreading North Korean propaganda. Four other members are already on trial on similar charges. These are the first such prosecutions for a decade under the controversial National Security Law.
: The North implements its border restrictions on cue, denying entry to 56 South Koreans. Seoul protests that this “very regrettable” step breaches inter-Korean accords, and urges Pyongyang to retract the new measures.
: Pyongyang confirms to Seoul that from Dec. 1 cross-border rail services and day tourist trips by road to Kaesong city will both cease.
: Seoul says Pyongyang has banned any ROK publications from being brought across the DMZ, even by Southern managers in the Kaesong zone who hitherto could do so.
: Seoul press reports claim that Kim Hyun-hee, the DPRK terrorist who bombed Korean Air flight 858 off Burma in 1987 but later converted, has complained that under the previous government both the ROK National Intelligence Service (NIS) and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission pressured her to recant her claim that Kim Jong-il ordered the bombing. When she refused, the NIS leaked her secret address, forcing her to move.
: Most South Koreans required to leave the Kaesong and Kumgang zones do so, ahead of the North’s new restrictions due to be imposed from Dec. 1.
: Gen. Kim Yong-chol (see Nov. 9), policy chief of the DPRK National Defense Commission (NDC), announces border restrictions effective Dec. 1.
: Fighters for a Free North Korea, the chief leafleteers, declare a three month moratorium – only to cancel this next day in riposte to the North’s new border restrictions.
: MOU reports that North-South trade in October fell 23 percent year-on-year, down to $160 million from $210 million in the same month last year as ties have soured.
: Seoul repatriates six North Koreans whose boat drifted into Southern waters off the east coast owing to engine failure a day earlier.
: Yonhap, the semi-official ROK news agency, notes that over 1.9 million South Koreans have visited Mt. Kumgang as of June this year; 22 have died in various accidents at the resort over the past decade, as has one KPA soldier.
: MOU says it will “make aggressive efforts” to dissuade leafleteering NGOs. The latter respond by announcing further imminent balloon launches into the North.
: Rodong Sinmun and Minju Joson both attack Seoul for co-sponsoring a UN resolution critical of Pyongyang’s human rights abuses, calling this “an intolerable mockery of the DPRK’s dignified system.” (See also Dec. 19, below.)
: Seoul lets four ROK civilians visit Mt. Kumgang; not as tourists, but to deliver 50,000 coal briquettes as aid to a nearby DPRK village.
: Pyongyang rejects Seoul’s recent calls for dialogue as hypocritical: “It is the steadfast stand of the whole nation that nothing can be expected from this traitorous regime.”
: Rodong Sinmun criticizes routine U.S.-ROK annual war games as “criminal.”
: A 20-strong delegation from the ROK’s hard-left Democratic Labor Party (DLP) visits Pyongyang. It carries a message from vice unification minister Hong Yang-ho, assuring the DPRK that Seoul has not “completely turned away” from agreements forged by previous liberal governments. On its return the DLP says that the North “remains very tough toward the Lee Myung-bak administration.”
: MOU says the South will deal calmly with the North’s threats, and urges the latter to resume dialogue. It adds that inter-Korean hot lines for maritime affairs and aviation liaison at Panmunjom are in fact still working.
: The ROK defense ministry (MND) faxes the North, proposing talks on providing materials and equipment to improve military communications (see Oct. 27).
: The ROK’s main opposition Democratic Party urges President Lee to change tack and “start setting up a new North Korea policy from ground zero.”
: One thing all Koreans can agree on: A joint seminar denouncing Japan’s moves to distort history and seize the Dokdo (Takeshima) islets is held in Pyongyang.
: The KPA warns that, effective Dec. 1, it will “strictly restrict and cut off” traffic crossing the DMZ. Separately, the DPRK Red Cross says it will close a liaison office in the truce village of Panmunjom and withdraw its representatives there, while also severing all cross-border telephone channels with its ROK counterparts.
: In a newspaper interview, ROK President Lee says he would not oppose Barack Obama meeting Kim Jong-il “as long as it helps to lead North Korea to abandon its nuclear program.” He reiterates this on Nov. 14 while in Washington for the G20 meeting.
: The ROK’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) says it has set up a special committee to monitor human rights in North Korea. Since its inception in 2001 the NHRC under previous liberal governments had largely ignored abuses in the DPRK, for fear of jeopardizing the former “Sunshine” policy of engagement.
: Choson Sinbo, the daily paper of pro-North Koreans in Japan, suggests that if the Obama administration actively pursues dialogue with the DPRK, the latter will sideline South Korea even more unless the Lee administration changes its hardline stance.
: Gen. Kim Yong-chol, chief DPRK delegate to inter-Korean military talks and policy chief of the National Defense Commission (NDC), leads an unprecedented and unannounced KPA inspection of the Kaesong industrial complex.
: Paul Kim Kwon-soon, a Franciscan father, reveals in Seoul that he will run a workers’ welfare center within PHT from later this month, as the first Roman Catholic priest to live in North Korea for over half a century.
: The AHT party flies back to Seoul. During their trip they also attended an investment briefing, toured factories, and went hiking at Mt. Paektu on the Chinese border.
: Official sources in Seoul say that shipment of 3,000 tons of steel pipe, due to be sent North as energy-related aid under the Six-Party Talks (6PT) by end-October, is likely to be postponed until a verification protocol is agreed at the upcoming 6PT plenary meeting.
: Pyongyang Hemp Textiles (PHT), a 50-50 JV of the South’s Andong Hemp Textiles (AHT) and the North’s Saebyol General Trading Co., starts operations in the DPRK capital, three years after the project was agreed. Each side has invested $15 million.
: At a meeting in Seoul on national competitiveness, President Lee quotes a foreign report citing Kim Jong-il as one of three major factors undermining South Korea’s national brand. The other two are industrial conflict and illegal demonstrations.
: A 254-strong Southern delegation, the largest to go North since Lee Myung-bak took office, flies by chartered plane to Pyongyang for the opening of the first ROK joint venture (JV) sited in the DPRK capital. (See also next entry.)
: KCNA quotes a military source as warning that Pyongyang will counter any ROK attack: “The advanced pre-emptive strike of our own style is based on a pre-emptive strike beyond imagination relying on striking means more powerful than a nuclear weapon.”
: A GNP lawmaker quotes Kim Sung-ho, director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), as telling a closed session of the ROK National Assembly that Kim Jong-il, “although not completely fit … appears well enough to perform his daily duties.”
: A KPA soldier defects across the DMZ to an ROK guard post. Such direct border crossings remain rare.
: Inter-Korean military talks are held by the roadside at Panmunjom. The North again protests at the sending of leaflets across the DMZ, warning that if this does not stop it may suspend the Kaesong industrial complex (KIC).
: MOU says that since Oct. 20 the North has been excising articles from ROK newspapers delivered to the Kaesong complex, apparently in case Northern workers read about Kim Jong-il’s ill-health. 30 copies of 9 different papers cross the DMZ each day.
: The DPRK’s Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) television attacks a recent comment by the ROK Air Force Commander Lee Kae-hoon, emphasizing high-tech military coordination to maintain effective strike capability, as “a declaration of war.”
: For a second time, ROK firms in the KIC plead with the leafleteers to desist, saying they are worsening inter-Korean ties and scaring away investors. Undeterred, Choi Song-ryong, who leads an association of families of abductees, said his group will press on with a scheduled leaflet launch next day of leaflets naming persons abducted to the North.
: The Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF), a body under the WPK handling the South, condemns “the U.S. and South Korean puppets’ open war confab” in reference to the annual U.S.-ROK military consultation meeting, held in Washington on Oct. 17, which discussed how to respond in case of regime change or instability in the North.
: Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong says Seoul will “stay calm and firm while continuing to push for dialogue and cooperation,” despite Pyongyang’s shrill threats.
: Minju Joson, daily paper of the DPRK government, accuses the Lee Myung-bak administration of “conspiring with and patronizing” Southern NGOs that send hostile leaflets into the North. It warns that this “psychological campaign” so annoys the Northern army and people that any accident along the DMZ might trigger an armed conflict.
: ROK Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan says the South is ready to provide “comprehensive assistance” to the North, but two factors prevent this: slow progress in denuclearization and Pyongyang’s boycott of dialogue with Seoul.
: Further escalating criticism of President Lee Myung-bak as a “traitor, U.S. puppet and sycophant”, Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the DPRK’s ruling Workers Party of Korea (WPK), threatens a “total freezing of North-South relations” unless Lee changes his stance.
: A court in Suwon sentences ‘Mata Hari’ Won Jeong-hwa (see Oct. 1, above) to five years in jail for spying for Pyongyang. This lenient sentence – the maximum penalty could have been death – takes into account her guilty plea and confession.
: In a series of concerts in Pyongyang, musicians from both Koreas for the first time jointly perform works by Yun Isang (1917-95), Korea’s leading modern composer.
: Seoul officially welcomes the U.S. delisting of the DPRK as a state regarded as sponsoring terrorism, saying it hopes this will improve inter-Korean ties.
: Uriminzokkiri, North Korea’s official website, reports a new DPRK site, ryugyongclip.com, devoted to Pyongyang city. In Korean language only, this is presumably aimed at the South and overseas Koreans. Pictures and videos are offered for sale (in euros).
: Celebrations of the 63rd anniversary of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), normally a major occasion, are low-key. There is no sign of Kim Jong-il.
: The Seoul-based Fighters for Free North Korea (FFNK) and two other North Korean defectors’ groups mark the WPK anniversary by launching large balloons carrying tens of thousands of propaganda leaflets across the DMZ.
: North Korea’s Naval Command warns that repeated violations of its waters by ROK warships risk a clash in the Yellow Sea, as in 1999 and 2002. For its part, Seoul says DPRK vessels have crossed south of the NLL 21 times so far this year.
: MOU says that it has earmarked Won 643 billion ($460) million for rice and fertilizer aid to the North in 2009, despite such assistance being currently suspended. The budget for inter-Korean economic projects, however, will be halved to Won 300 billion.
: Following North Korea’s Oct. 2 complaint, MOU asks Southern civic groups to refrain from sending leaflets across the DMZ by balloon. Two such groups immediately say they will ignore this and go ahead with planned launches.
: Following North Korea’s Oct. 2 complaint, MOU asks Southern civic groups to refrain from sending leaflets across the DMZ by balloon. Two such groups immediately say they will ignore this and go ahead with planned launches.
: A multi-faith group of South Korean Christians and Buddhists, led by Ven. Bomnyun of the Buddhist relief group Good Friends, hands unification minister Kim Ha-joong a petition with over a million signatures calling for urgent food aid to the North.
: Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong tells the ROK National Assembly that he hopes tourism to Mt. Kumgang can resume “as soon as possible” and at all events in time for the tenth anniversary of such tours on Nov. 8. (In the event it does not.)
: The DPRK test-fires two short-range missiles in the Yellow Sea.
: A multi-faith group of South Korean Christians and Buddhists, led by Ven. Bomnyun of the Buddhist relief group Good Friends, hands Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong a petition with over a million signatures calling for urgent food aid to the North.
: Unification Minister Kim Ha-joong tells the ROK National Assembly that he hopes tourism to Mt. Kumgang can resume “as soon as possible” and at all events in time for the 10th anniversary of such tours on Nov. 8.
: Lee Jeong-hyun, a lawmaker of South Korea’s ruling Grand National Party, says the Unification Ministry has admitted – having at first denied – that 62 counterfeit US banknotes (all but one $100 bills) were found circulating at Mt. Kumgang during 2005-07. MOU and Hyundai Asan both profess to believe that Southern tourists brought them in.
: Another GNP lawmaker, Hong Jung-wook, claims there are critical loopholes in ROK contingency planning. Specifically, President Lee was not told about the Kumgang shooting incident for several hours, leaving him no time to amend his Jul. 11 address.
: The first inter-Korean military talks in eight months – also the first official bilateral North-South dialogue of Lee Myung-bak’s presidency – are held at Panmunjom, but are brief and make little headway. The start is delayed almost an hour when the North demands that media be present throughout; the South protests that this is not the norm.
: Some 40 lawmakers of South Korea’s center-left main opposition Democratic Party (DP) visit the Kaesong industrial complex (KIC).
: The first inter-Korean military talks in eight months – also the first official bilateral North-South dialogue of Lee Myung-bak’s presidency – are held at Panmunjom, but are brief and make little headway. The DPRK called the meeting to protest at ROK NGOs spreading propaganda leaflets across the DMZ. The start is delayed almost an hour when the North demands that media be present throughout; the South protests that this is not usual.
: Some 40 lawmakers of South Korea’s center-left main opposition Democratic Party (DP) visit the Kaesong industrial zone. DP chairman Chung Sye-kyun is photographed being given a flu injection by a North Korean nurse at the complex. Chung calls for talks between the two sides’ parliamentarians as a way to thaw the current inter-Korean ice.
: Prosecutors demand a 5-year jail term for Won Jeong-hwa, 35, who came to Seoul as a defector but has pleaded guilty to being a DPRK spy, obtaining secrets via sexual liaisons with several ROK military personnel.
: The DPRK website Uriminzokkiri calls Suh Jae-jean, new head of the Korean Insitute for National Unification (KINU) – the official ROK think tank on the North, under the Unification Ministry (MOU) – an “extremely vicious … anti-DPRK hysteric”. Suh told a university forum recently that dialogue with an “abnormal and wrong regime” like North Korea is worthless, adding that reports of Kim Jong-il’s illness brought reunification closer.
: In his first public appearance since leaving office in February, ex-President Roh Moo-hyun tells an unofficial meeting in Seoul, ahead of the first anniversary of his summit with Kim Jong-il, that the agreement he signed has been “abandoned … I hoped it would be thick with leaves and bear fruit one year later, but now the tree is shriveling.”
: The North Korean website Uriminzokkiri calls Suh Jae-jean, new head of the Korean Insitute for National Unification (KINU: South Korea’s official think tank on the North, under the MOU), an “extremely vicious … anti-DPRK hysteric.” Suh recently told a university forum that dialogue with an “abnormal and wrong regime” like the DPRK is worthless, and that reports that Kim Jong-il is ailing had brought reunification closer.
: In his first public appearance since leaving office in February, ex-President Roh Moo-hyun tells an unofficial meeting in Seoul, ahead of the first anniversary of his summit with Kim Jong-il, that the agreement he signed has been “abandoned … I hoped it would be thick with leaves and bear fruit one year later, but now the tree is shriveling.”
: U.S. Assistant Secretary of State and Chief Delegate to the Six-Party Talks Christopher Hill arrives in Seoul to consult with his ROK counterpart Kim Sook. He goes on to Pyongyang by car next day, via the DMZ.
: JoongAng Ilbo says the ROK is negotiating with Mongolia and Thailand to accommodate DPRK refugees – but is failing to persuade China to change its stance of regarding all border-crossers as economic migrants and repatriating them.
: Former WPK secretary Hwang Jang-yop, 85, still the highest level DPRK defector ever, tells Seoul lawmakers that Kim Jong-il’s illness is unimportant: “Anyone … can govern” North Korea, and even “Kim’s death will never lead to its collapse.” Hwang also calls the disabling of Yongbyon “a fake gesture,” since the DPRK has nuclear weapons.
: In Moscow, President Lee and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agree to link the inter-Korean and trans-Siberian railways, and to build a gas pipeline from Russia to South Korea via North Korea. It is unclear if Pyongyang was consulted about any of this.
: Jin Yeong, a lawmaker of the ROK ruling Grand National Party (GNP), says the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun governments gave or loaned the DPRK Won2.7 and 5.7 trillion respectively (about $8 billion in total). The ‘loan’ component, such as rice aid where repayment is nominally due to start from 2010, may well be irrecoverable.
: Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee tells a forum in Seoul that the DPRK is a grave threat to regional security, as it “maintains a vast military and forward deploys more than 70 percent of its ground forces. It stands ready to mount a surprise attack any time.”
: Chosun Ilbo reports that the ROK National Police Agency (NPA) is watching 76 pro-DPRK websites overseas: 31 in the US, 19 in Japan, 13 in China, 4 in Germany, and 9 elsewhere. Some cunningly disguise themselves with names like book center, university, bank, baduk, Korean music, and so forth.
: Police and intelligence agents raid the Seoul HQ of an NGO, Solidarity for Practice of the South-North Joint Declaration, accused of being pro-North in violation of the National Security Law (NSL). Materials are confiscated, and seven members arrested.
: Foreign Minister Yu reiterates that the South will only “actively pursue economic cooperation with North Korea when the second phase [of nuclear disarmament] is completed in a irreversible way.”
: North Korea unexpectedly proposes working-level inter-Korean military talks four days hence, on Sept. 30. The South suggests Oct. 2 instead; the North accepts.
: The North’s Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland (DFRF) attacks the ROK’s decision to create a special panel on DPRK human rights as “a vicious profanity of our dignity and system and another unpardonable provocation.”
: Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan says Seoul will take no immediate retaliation in regard to the DPRK’s nuclear recidivism. He warns next day, however, that “the North’s denuclearization has returned to the starting point, back to square one.”
: 96 members of the (ROK) Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice fly to Pyongyang to hold a special mass. A day later, 15 Southern pro-unification activists go to the North to discuss ways to enhance exchanges with their Northern counterparts.
: Radio Pyongyang reports that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon sent congratulations to Kim Jong-il for the DPRK’s 60th anniversary. This is the first time that North Korean media have directly named Ban, a former ROK foreign minister.
: Rodong Sinmun attacks “traitor” Lee Myung-bak for opposing plans for a Northern workers’ dormitory at the Kaesong industrial complex, and accuses him of “trying to ruin all business projects in Kaesong.” Lee claims this could lead to industrial unrest.
: Seoul allows the first civic visits to the North since July’s shooting incident. 136 members of the Korean Sharing Movement, plus a dozen journalists, fly to Pyongyang by chartered plane to monitor aid projects, while the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the more militant of the country’s two umbrella labor groups, sends a 13-member delegation on a five-day visit.
: Nuclear delegations from each Korea hold their first meeting in two months at Panmunjom, at the North’s instigation, to discuss energy aid under the 6PT. No progress is made. Hyon Hak-bon of the DPRK Foreign Ministry criticizes U.S. verification demands, and dismisses reports that Kim Jong-il is unwell as “the mere sophistry of bad people who do not want our country to fare well.”
: South Korea repatriates via Panmunjom the body of a drowned KPA soldier, found in the Imjin River (which flows from North to South) on Sept. 2.
: A government source says South Korea will deliver energy assistance due under the Six-Party Talks (6PT), despite the North’s recent nuclear backtracking.
: Kim Jong-il misses a military parade (itself scaled down) in Pyongyang for the DPRK’s 60th founding anniversary. He is rumored to be ill, and to have suffered a stroke in August. North Koreans deny that anything is amiss; but Kim fails to reappear throughout September and through early October, so speculation continues.
: WFP director Jean-Pierre de Margerie tells Yonhap that Pyongyang would not reject food aid from Seoul despite the current political chill, at this “very dire period in terms of food security.”
: A report by Hyundai Research Institute claims that inter-Korean cooperation has generated $27.6 billion in economic gains for South Korea since the 2000 summit. This includes $7.7 billion saved in interest payments as eased tensions raised sovereign credit ratings, and $18.1 billion from reduced defense spending. Less nebulously, the Kaesong and Kumgang projects have created $1.62 billion in employment and investment in the ROK.
: A German lawmaker visiting Pyongyang says that North Korea is waiting for “strong signals” from Seoul before resuming dialogue. Hartmut Koschyk, chairman of the Germany-DPRK parliamentary group, quotes the North’s titular head of state, Kim Yong-nam, as telling him that “inter-Korean relations depend on how South Korea acts.”
: Yonhap reports a police survey finding that 1,687 Northern defectors, or 20 percent of the total arrivals of 8,885 (1998 – Jan. 2007), have criminal records in the South. Over half of these, or 10 percent of all defectors, committed murder, robbery, or assault. Other surveys find that nearly a quarter have been swindled financially in the ROK, while over 60 percent feel discriminated against at work and distrustful toward South Koreans.
: The ROK Foreign Ministry, MOFAT, formally protests (in mild terms) the DPRK’s efforts to restore its Yongbyon nuclear site.
: The DPRK’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) says that Won Jeong-hwa is a convicted criminal who fled to South Korea after being caught in scams and stealing. It accuses the ROK of fabricating the spy case.
: The ninth Seoul Peace Prize, worth $200,000, is awarded to Suzanne Scholte, president of the Defense Forum Foundation (DFF), a conservative Washington NGO, for her work raising awareness of North Korean refugees and human rights issues.
: The South returns two North Koreans whose small boat had drifted into ROK waters, handing them over to DPRK authorities at sea at the Northern Limit Line (NLL): the de facto western marine border, which Pyongyang does not officially recognize. In a similar incident two days later, two young North Korean women whose boat also drifted into Southern waters are returned, this time via Panmunjom (and presumably sans boat).
: The DPRK Red Cross ridicules the ROK’s recent holding of luncheons to console elderly members of separated families as “a clumsy trick and a burlesque.” Family reunions have been suspended since last November, owing to the current political freeze. In 16 such reunions since the June 2000 summit, 16,212 family members have briefly met their relatives. A further 3,748, mostly too weak to travel, have been reunited for a few hours via real-time video links since August 2005. Over 90,000 South Koreans are on a waiting list.
: To some surprise, the ROK defense ministry (MND) says it will not formally label the DPRK as an enemy in its next biennial White Paper. The two previous liberal administrations had drawn conservative flak for dropping this tag. MND adds that it will, however, emphasize the “very substantial and present threats” posed by North Korea.
: South Korean prosecutors say they have arrested a female North Korean spy, Won Jeong-hwa, who posed as a defector and allegedly used sexual favors to gain sensitive information from South Korean military officers.
: The DPRK announces that as of Aug. 14 it has stopped disabling its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon.
: MOU announces that the official English name for the new administration’s approach to North Korea is “the policy of mutual benefits and common prosperity.”
: MOU reports 1,744 North Korean defectors reached the South in the first half of this year, up 41.7 percent from 1,230 during the same period last year, and more than double the 2006 first-half figure of 869. At this rate, the total for 2008 will top 3,000 for the first time.
: Seoul warns that DPRK defectors who seek refugee status again in a third country, having already obtained ROK citizenship, may face criminal punishment. Last year some 130 North Koreans in this position were granted political asylum in the UK alone.
: President Lee urges Chinese president Hu Jintao, on a visit to Seoul, to stop repatriating North Korean defectors from China. Hu’s response is not recorded.
: The UN World Food Program (WFP) says that while North Korea’s food shortage is not at the famine level of a decade ago, aid from South Korea is essential. Earlier WFP asked Seoul to contribute food worth $60 million.
: The DPRK’s front Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the ROK’s hard-left Democratic Labor Party (DLP) jointly denounce Tokyo’s claim to the Dokdo islets as well as its persecution of Chongryon, the organization of pro-North Koreans in Japan.
: Lim Tae-hee, chief policymaker of South Korea’s ruling Grand National Party (GNP), says that North Korea might have sent a representative to President Lee’s inauguration if it had received a special invitation, rather than the same ordinary invitation as sent to other countries. This hint was ignored, and the North duly stayed away.
: MOU reveals that North Korea has demanded further personnel cuts at Mt. Kumgang, down to 200 by Aug. 20. This will reduce the non-DPRK workforce from 536 (of whom 114 are South Korean) to 199: 74 from the ROK and 125 “necessary” other nationals.
: Both the KPA’s Panmunjom mission and the DPRK Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) denounce the annual Ulji Freedom Guardian joint U.S.-ROK wargames, on the day these begin. Minju Joson, the DPRK cabinet’s daily paper, comments next day: “This shows what Lee [Myung-bak] means by ‘dialogue’ and ‘peace.’”
: As part of Ulji Freedom Guardian, the ROK holds a Cabinet meeting in an underground bunker. President Lee says South Korea must remain prepared in case of conflict. On Aug. 24 DPRK media denounce this as “unpardonable wild words of war.”
: President Lee marks Liberation Day – from Japan in 1945; a holiday in both Koreas, jointly celebrated from 2001 until 2006 – by renewing his call to North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons and resume full-fledged dialogue and economic cooperation with the South. There is no immediate response from Pyongyang.
: The North, South, and Overseas Side Committees for Implementing the June 15 [2000 inter-Korean summit] Joint Declaration issue a joint statement on “the Japanese imperialists’ vicious colonial rule over the Korean nation,” saying that “Japan has not yet admitted the thrice-cursed crimes it committed against the Korean people, but is getting more frantic in distortion of its history of aggression, moves to grab Dokdo islets and political suppression of Koreans in Japan.”
: North Korea criticizes the captain of a South Korean barge, sailing for home after excavating sand (with permission) off the DPRK east coast, for a collision the previous night which sank a Northern fishing boat, killing two crew. The local KPA nonetheless lets the ROK vessel or crew go without any punishment, since this was an accident and at night.
: A spokesman for the 72 ROK companies in the Kaesong industrial zone says the minimum monthly wage for their 30,000 DPRK employees has been raised by 5 per cent, from $52.50 to $55.13. This is the second pay rise since the complex opened in 2004. The money is paid to DPRK authorities, so how much reaches the workers’ pockets is not clear.
: The KPA’s Mt. Kumgang unit notifies Seoul that it will implement its threat of a week earlier, and start expelling ROK officials the next day (Aug. 10). Some 20 South Koreans depart by Aug. 12, leaving over 140 still there to manage the resort.
: President Lee briefly meets the DPRK titular head of state, Kim Yong-nam, at a banquet marking the opening of the Olympic Games. They shake hands, and are seated diagonally opposite one another at a large table. It appears that they do not converse.
: MOU reports delivery of 600 tons of steel bars as part of South Korean energy assistance to the North under the 6PT. This brings cumulative ROK aid to 124,000 tons of heavy fuel oil (HFO) or its equivalent.
: The South returns the body of a KPA second lieutenant, found in the Imjin River last month, to the North’s military mission at Panmunjom.
: MOU reveals that Pyongyang has refused to let Jay Lefkowitz, President Bush’s special envoy on DPRK human rights, visit the Kaesong industrial zone from Seoul on Aug. 13. Lefkowitz has previously criticized working conditions at the complex.
: In Seoul, President Lee and the visiting U.S. President George W Bush jointly urge North Korea to improve human rights and immediately complete denuclearization as a prerequisite for normalizing relations. This is the first such joint pressure on human rights.
: South Korea says it has given up trying for a joint march of both Koreas’ athletes into the Beijing Olympic stadium, as in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004. More ambitious plans, for a single team and joint cheering squad, had already foundered over the North’s refusal to discuss details since the change of government in Seoul.
: Chung Mong-joon, head of the (South) Korean Football Association – also a ruling party MP, presidential hopeful, Hyundai scion (shipbuilding) and Korea’s richest man – says North Korea will again try to shift an upcoming soccer World Cup qualifying match with the South on Sept. 10 to a third country venue, as happened in March, rather than let the ROK fly its flag and play its national anthem in Pyongyang as FIFA regulations require.
: The (North) Korean People’s Army (KPA) unit at Mt. Kumgang issues a “special statement in connection with the unsavory incident … on July 11.” Besides giving the North’s version of events, this lambastes the “south Korean puppets” for their “reckless racket” and threatens to expel “unnecessary” South Koreans from the mountain resort.
: An ROK firearms expert says forensic evidence suggests that Park Wang-ja may not have been fleeing when fatally shot. Denied access to the North, an 8-member team conducts a 2-day simulation of the incident on South Korea’s east coast.
: In its first official comment, the ROK Defense Ministry (MND) denounces the KPA’s shooting of Ms. Park, an unarmed civilian, as violating both humanitarian principle and international law.
: South Korea’s Unification Ministry (MOU) announces that President Lee’s policy towards the North will officially be known as “coexistence and coprosperity.” Critics complain of a lack of hard detail, while Pyongyang dismisses this as nothing new.
: Diplomatic dueling continues at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) ministerial meeting in Tehran. The DPRK is a member, the ROK only an observer. Seoul is satisfied that the final declaration reflects much of its own position, specifically on honoring all inter-Korean agreements (and not only the two summits of the past decade).
: After ROK Defense Minister Lee Sang-hee calls the DPRK a “present enemy” on July 21, the North’s Korean Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) threatens the South with an unspecified “tougher counter-measure” for this “unpardonable provocation”.
: At informal six-party meetings ahead of the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) in Singapore, ROK Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan reiterates Seoul’s demand for a full joint investigation into the tourist incident to his DPRK equivalent, Pak Ui-chun. Yu also raises the issue a day earlier at the ‘ASEAN + 3’ (China, Japan, ROK) foreign ministers’ meeting. For the North, Pak calls on the South to endorse the two inter-Korean summit declarations. Harried by both sides, the eventual chairman’s statement deletes all references to Korea.
: Tongil Sinbo, the North’s weekly covering the South, says that Lee Myung-bak’s July 11 address contained nothing new, but clearly revealed his confrontational stance towards the North. It demands that he clarify his position on the two inter-Korean summits.
: The North Korean website Uriminzokkiri denounces Tokyo’s renewed claim to the disputed Dokdo/ Takeshima islets, but blames Lee Myung-bak for ingratiating himself with the “mortal enemy”, claiming that “Lee has paid a tribute to the Jap King (sic), calling him ‘Tenno (The Lord of Heaven).’”
: The DPRK’s Korean National Peace Committee calls the just-announced Ulji Freedom Guardian joint US-ROK exercises, to be held August 18-22, “an open declaration of confrontation” by the U.S. “warmongers” and South Korean “puppet forces”.
: A propos the ROK navy’s participation in the ongoing RIMPAC multilateral maritime exercises off Hawaii, Rodong Sinmun accuses South Korea of seeking a “triangular military alliance” with the U.S. and Japan and warns of “catastrophic consequences.”
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the DPRK’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), dismisses President Lee’s call to resume inter-Korean dialogue as “nothing new.” It accuses Lee of evasiveness in “mingling all the past agreements together,” rather than specifically endorsing and prioritizing the two summit accords of 2000 and 2007.
: The Guidance Bureau for Comprehensive Development of Scenic Spots, which oversees the North’s tourism business, says that the DPRK regrets the death of Park Wang-ja, but responsibility rests entirely with the South.
: The Six-Party Talks in Beijing conclude with a six-point agreement. North Korea undertakes to fully disable its Yongbyon reactor by October, while other parties will complete delivery of energy aid by the same date. Details are to be finalized in working-level discussions.
: A KPA soldier shoots dead a middle-aged female Southern tourist at Mt. Kumgang, Park Wang-ja, who apparently strayed into a restricted area on a pre-dawn walk. Seoul at once suspends tourism to the resort pending an investigation. The DPRK expresses regret, but refuses to apologize or allow entry to an official ROK enquiry team.
: President Lee goes ahead with a planned speech to the new ROK National Assembly; saying that “full dialogue between the two Koreas must resume,” including on how to implement the summit accords of both 2000 and 2007 as well as the never-realized 1991 inter-Korean basic agreement. He also offers humanitarian aid.
: Six-Party Talks on the North Korean nuclear issue resume in Beijing, after a hiatus of nine months.
: In a meeting at Panmunjom, North Korea protests upcoming US-ROK war games. Each side also accuses the other of violations within the truce village: Northern soldiers allegedly overturned tables while Southern tourists were visiting, while the KPA accused Southern troops of provoking them with angry stares.
: The Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee reports that as of July 4 the number of DPRK workers in the zone topped 30,000, hired by 72 ROK firms. Cumulative output in the zone since 2004 was worth $374 million as of end-May.
: Good Friends, a leading ROK Buddhist NGO, claims half a million North Koreans will starve to death by September absent immediate food aid from the South.
: President Lee Myung-bak reiterates his willingness to meet DPRK leader Kim Jong-il any time, if this will help end North Korea’s nuclear programs.
: In Seoul, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon – a former ROK foreign minister – offers to play “a facilitator role” in improving inter-Korean relations.
: The Associated Press (AP) reports that 100,000 or more South Koreans were killed in hurried mass executions in mid-1950 early in the Korean War by ROK authorities, who feared southern leftists might help the invading DPRK troops. The ROK’s official Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is investigating this, including a possible U.S. role. The TRC estimates that 7,000 were summarily killed by military and civil police in Daejeon city alone, where an ex-prison guard has testified that all prisoners sentenced to 10 years or more were trucked off to the killing fields.
: The DPRK’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) denounces the ROK for officially commemorating the sixth anniversary of what it now dubs the “Second Yeonpyeong Naval Battle” on June 29, calling this a provocation. six ROK sailors died in a border clash when fired on by DPRK vessels.
: Sources in Seoul say the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has asked both Koreas that their athletes march together during the opening and closing ceremonies at the Summer Olympics in Beijing.
: The Korea Herald quotes as unnamed ROK official as saying that on April 8 two KPA fighter jets flew within 10 km of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL). This is the closest DPRK aircraft have flown to the inter-Korean border in recent years.
: North Korea expels a Southern procurement supervisor from a construction site at Mt. Kumgang, where the South is building a $60 million family reunion center. Later that day the North also blocks another ROK procurement official from entering the zone.
: The GNP narrowly wins control of the National Assembly, taking 153 out of 299 seats in South Korea’s parliamentary election. The GNP victory is less overwhelming that in December’s presidential election. Two other conservative groups also do well.
: The South’s Defense Ministry (MND) officially renames a June 2002 marine firefight as the “Second Yeonpyeong Sea Battle”; saying its previous name, “Exchange of Fire in the West Sea,” did not reflect its significance. The government rather than their military units will henceforth host the memorial service for the six ROK sailors killed.
: Minju Joson, daily paper of the DPRK Cabinet, attacks Seoul media claims that recent Northern criticism of Lee Myung-bak was intended to influence ROK national assembly elections as “a sophism for distorting truth.”
: Rodong Sinmun criticizes the ROK for “following the U.S. imperialists”. It warns that those who “dance to the whistle of outside forces will only suffer a collapse.”
: ROK unification minister Kim Ha-joong says Seoul will not riposte but wait until Pyongyang’s misunderstanding eases, adding: “Our position toward mutual respect and co-prosperity between the two Koreas remains firm.”
: Senior Southern sports officials say plans to field joint inter-Korean athletic and cheering squads at the Beijing Olympics in August are stalled. They have been rebuffed twice by Northern counterparts when they tried to raise the matter recently.
: The leftish Seoul daily Hankyoreh reports that North Korea has asked China for massive rice aid, having decided not to request this or fertilizer from South Korea unless Seoul moves to improve ties. Beijing has yet to respond.
: In a telephone conversation with outgoing Russian president Vladimir Putin, President Lee reportedly seeks continued efforts to link the trans-Korean and trans-Siberian railways as well as other tripartite cooperation projects involving North Korea.
: Rodong Sinmun attacks “pro-U.S. conservative ruling forces in south Korea hell-bent on dependence on foreign forces and confrontation with fellow countrymen.”
: Kim Yong-dae, presidium vice chairman of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA, the North’s rubber-stamp parliament), urges South Korea’s new administration to adhere to past inter-Korean agreements and their spirit, and not to raise tensions.
: KCNA reports undated visits by Kim Jong-il to different KPA bases on three successive days, and again on April 9. On April 7, it quotes Kim as saying the KPA could “beat back the enemy’s invasion at a single stroke.”
: In a lengthy article, Uriminzokkiri calls Lee a traitor. It urges all Koreans to “step up their struggle against [his] anti-tribal and anti-unification scheme”.
: The head of the DPRK delegation to inter-Korean general-level military talks warns ROK military authorities that the North will take “prompt corresponding military countermeasures.” He dismisses the South’s reply as “nothing but an excuse” in relation to earlier “outbursts let loose” by the chairman of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff.
: The KPA Navy Command assails ROK “warmongers” for “perpetrating a serious military provocation” in the West (Yellow) Sea. The ROK navy retorts that its three patrol boats were south of the Northern Limit Line (NLL) and were there to stop Chinese fishing boats in Northern waters from crossing.
: The North’s DFRF accuses “South Korea’s conservative regime” of “driving north-south relations to confrontation and catastrophe, blatantly swimming against the trend of the era of independence, reunification, peace and prosperity.”
: A 6-strong Southern civic delegation visits Mt. Kumgang to discuss events to mark the June 2000 joint declaration. The North warns that this event’s success depends on both sides’ attitude.
: Finally breaking North Korea’s silence on the South’s new leader, a lengthy commentary in Rodong Sinmun attacks Lee Myung-bak as “a vicious political charlatan and imposter” and a pro-U.S. sycophant for subordinating inter-Korean ties to wider diplomacy and linking this to denuclearization and human rights. It names Lee 49 times, in the first direct insult of an ROK leader since 2000.
: North Korea cancels two planned Southern visits to Kaesong. Acheon Corp., a church and an NGO were due to send 500 people to plant trees on Arbor Day, April 5. On April 10, 200 Gyeonggi province officials were set to visit, but the North said Gyeonggi governor Kim Moon-su – a GNP member – was not welcome, in effect aborting the trip.
: Chosun Ilbo reports that KPA MiG-21 and other fighter jets have made 10 sorties near the DMZ since President Lee’s inauguration on Feb. 25. These and other KPA winter drills are up 50 percent this year.
: The KPA further threatens to preempt any Southern preemption, and thus “not merely plunge everything into flames but reduce it to ashes.” It warns that all inter-Korean dialogue will be suspended unless the South retracts and apologizes.
: According to the DPRK’s Uriminzokkiri website, the Pyongyang weekly Tongil Sinbo criticizes Lee Myung-bak’s controversial plan to build a 450 km.- long grand canal as “no doubt an act of madness” serving no practical purpose.
: The DPRK Foreign Ministry attacks the EU and Japan for sponsoring the annual resolution at the UN Human Rights Council condemning North Korea’s human rights violations, but does not mention that South Korea voted for the resolution, having in the past mostly abstained.
: The KPA claims that the new chairman of the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff had threatened a preemptive strike against DPRK nuclear sites. Calling this “little short of a war declaration,” the KPA says it would ban all South Korean officials from crossing the DMZ.
: The Korean People’s Army (KPA) navy command accuses ROK warships of violating DPRK waters in the West (Yellow) Sea, vowing to “mercilessly wipe out the provocateurs.” The KPA tests several short-range sea-to-sea missiles off the port of Nampo.
: The two Koreas meet at Panmunjom to discuss energy aid to the DPRK in the context of the Six-Party Talks.
: 11 ROK government officials leave the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) in the small hours (around 1 a.m.) at the North’s insistence, three days after being given notice to quit. No force is used, and business at the KIZ otherwise continues as normal. The South says this is regrettable, and that it will not offer anything to appease the North.
: President Lee renews his call to the North to scrap its nuclear weapons, citing a 1991 inter-Korean denuclearization accord. He also urges Pyongyang to be more serious about resolving POW and abductee issues, but says humanitarian aid will continue, as will the Mt. Kumgang and Kaesong projects.
: The new nominee to head the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Kim Tae-young, tells a parliamentary hearing that the DPRK has enough plutonium to build six to seven nuclear weapons, but says there is no confirmation that it has done so.
: Breaking with the previous administration’s policy, South Korea says it will vote for a UN resolution criticizing North Korean human rights abuses.
: The soccer world cup qualifying match between the two Koreas, moved to Shanghai, ends in a goalless draw. They will meet again in Seoul in June.
: A 159-strong Southern business delegation flies to Pyongyang by special plane direct from Seoul, for a 4-day trip to inspect industrial plant and explore investment opportunities. Acheon Global, which arranged the tour, is run by Kim Yoon-kyu, whose ouster in 2005 as vice chairman of Hyundai Asan caused a major rift with Pyongyang.
: Rodong Sinmun warns that inter-Korean ties may become strained if the South keeps trying to reinforce its alliance with “foreign forces.” It calls this “grave criminal moves” and “treacherous acts.”
: For the first time, Southern tourists visiting Mt. Kumgang may take their own cars. A convoy of 15 drives across the DMZ; 20 per day are allowed, with a 30 mph speed limit. Once arrived, visitors must use Hyundai’s tour buses within the zone.
: North Korea’s Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland (DFRF) accuses Southern conservatives of stepping up “propaganda broadcasting” aimed at fueling cross-border tensions and undermining the DPRK. It cites North Korea Reform Radio, Open Radio for North Korea and several Christian evangelical programs.
: KCNA says the DPRK will hold its first census in 15 years on Oct.1. MOU adds that the ROK will shoulder most of the cost ($4 million out of $5.6 million), with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which will assist, furnishing the rest.
: President Lee proposes “shuttle summit diplomacy” with North Korea, as with South Korea’s other neighbors. Yonhap glosses this as “a delicate departure” from Lee’s earlier stance, that he would only meet Kim Jong-il in Seoul and to discuss nuclear disarmament. Lee also tones down his earlier comments on DPRK human rights.
: Rodong Sinmun claims that a projected triangular military alliance of South Korea, the U.S., and Japan is a leftover of the Cold War, aimed at stifling the DPRK.
: South Korea’s Football Association says that soccer’s governing body has ruled that the World Cup qualifier between the two Koreas will be held in Shanghai instead of Pyongyang on March 26. The South had complained after the North insisted that the ROK not fly its national flag or play its anthem, proposing joint symbols instead.
: The Blue House – South Korea’s presidential office – announces two new committees as part of a reorganization. The aim is to better coordinate unification (meaning relations with North Korea) and foreign affairs, and subordinate the former to the latter.
: The Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) attacks Seoul’s comments on its human rights as “reckless remarks…treacherous outbursts [and] an intolerable, grave provocation.” It calls the new ROK government “descendants of the past dictatorial regime.”
: Choson Sinbo, a Tokyo-based pro-Pyongyang weekly, says “the arrows of condemnation in DPRK rhetoric on joint military drills were targeted at the U.S. troops and South Korean warmongers, not the South Korean government.” It adds, “The whole Korean people want the South Korean government neither to regress in the North-South relations nor to join in behavior to do so, and choose the path of independent reunification.”
: At the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva, South Korea urges the North to address international concerns about its human rights record.
: North Korea’s “guidance bureau of scenic site development” tells Hyundai Asan that visits by Southern civic groups to Mt. Kumgang and Kaesong city are suspended indefinitely. They may still send aid and ordinary tourism is unaffected. No reason is given. This prevents one NGO from bringing in 70,000 coal briquettes on March 4.
: Former Unification Minister Lee Jong-suk, now a fellow at the Sejong Institute, says the ROK Bank of Korea (BoK)’s estimate of DPRK gross national income (GNI) per head in 2005 as $1,108 – almost twice Vietnam’s – is too high. Accusing BoK of incorrect methodology, Lee says an unpublished study he commissioned at MOU recalculated the North’s overall GNI at $8.4-8.9 billion – 1 per cent of the South’s – or $368-389 per capita.
: The U.S. and ROK conduct their annual Key Resolve/Foal Eagle military exercises. As usual, various Pyongyang media lambaste this as a bid to ignite a new war.
: Meeting in Kaesong, the Koreas fail to agree on flags and anthems for their forthcoming football match due on March 26.
: Lee Myung-bak is formally inaugurated as the ROK’s 17th-term president for a five-year term. DPRK media ignore this, but stress the need for great unity of the whole nation on the principle of independence.
: Pyongyang denies rumours that 22 North Koreans whom Seoul returned on Feb. 8 after their boat drifted into Southern waters have been executed. It claims that they “flatly rejected an enticement that they would be guaranteed a wealthy livelihood if they defected to the South, and now live normal lives in their homes after returning.”
: Pyongyang denies that it ever diverted Southern food aid to its military.
: At a tripartite meeting under the SPT, North Korea thanks China and South Korea for energy aid, but complains that it is being delivered too slowly.
: DPRK Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan has a farewell meeting with his ROK counterpart Chun Young-woo in Beijing. The new government in Seoul is expected to replace Chun as its chief delegate to the SPT.
: 15 officials from the ROK Health Ministry join DPRK colleagues in 5-day site surveys of a hospital in Sariwon, south of Pyongyang, and for a planned surgical cotton factory. This was one of the projects agreed at last October’s summit.
: Seoul media belatedly find that Tongil Sinbo, a nominally unofficial DPRK weekly on the South, on Jan. 26 criticized Lee Myung-bak’s new year remarks on the North as reactionary, anti-reunification and “obscene talk of impropriety.”
: Presidential TC sources confirm that MOU will remain, but is likely to be downsized into fewer and smaller divisions.
: In the first confirmation of repeated allegations by critics of the sunshine policy, sources in Seoul admit that the ROK military has known of, and seen across the border, KPA frontline units diverting Southern food aid around ten times since 2003. The outgoing government neither publicized this nor apparently ever protested to Pyongyang.
: Pyongyang media, which rarely cover events in South Korea, report (with pictures) the fire that destroyed Seoul’s historic Namdaemun gate two days earlier.
: Working talks in Kaesong on joint highway repairs in the North adopt a joint report on two site surveys carried out in December, but fail to agree on how to further inspect and renovate the Kaesong-Pyongyang road.
: The Seoul press reports, as is later confirmed, that after inter-party talks the incoming administration will after all retain the MOU, but with less power.
: Unusually, 22 North Koreans whose boat drifted into Southern waters are returned, by land, the same day. The ROK government insists this was at their own request, and that the group – comprising related families – had not sought to defect.
: Meeting in Kaesong, the two Koreas agree to send two 300-strong joint cheering squads to the Beijing Olympics in August. They will go by rail across the DMZ, on the first train to travel from Seoul to Beijing in over half a century.
: Wang Jiarui, a senior Beijing figure as director of the International Liaison Department of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee, visits the KIZ as a side trip from Pyongyang. This is a rarity: almost all visitors to the KIZ cross the border from Seoul. Wang is the KIZ’s first high-profile Chinese visitor. Two PRC firms operate in the zone.
: At the postponed working-level railway talks in Kaesong, it is agreed to retain daily service but to remove empty freight cars. Southern officials acknowledge that their 50-plus SMEs in the KIZ prefer the flexibility of trucks and road transport, since the train is slow and does not directly serve the zone.
: Working-level military talks at Panmunjom on security aspects of joint economic projects make little progress. The North again suggests reducing the daily cross-border rail service, which often runs empty. The South resists this for the sake of regularity.
: Pyongyang postpones at short notice 2008’s first scheduled inter-Korean meeting, due on Jan. 22-23 in Kaesong to discuss railway cooperation, on the ground that “it is the start of the year and there are a few things to prepare.” This is taken as signalling that the North is unsure of the intentions of the South’s incoming government.
: Not for the first time, DPRK media demand the abolition of the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto inter-Korean border in the West/Yellow Sea.
: In his New Year news conference, Lee Myung-bak says he will cooperate fully with North Korea – if it adheres to denuclearization as agreed in the Six-Party Talks (SPT). To that end he is ready to meet Kim Jong-il any time – but only in Seoul. Calling accords reached by President Roh Moo-hyun at last October’s summit “lacking in details”, Lee says his government will study their implementation “from the perspective of feasibility, fiscal burdens on the people and the national consensus.” Pyongyang has yet to comment on Lee or his election.
: Choi Won-ho, president of a South Korean fast food franchise, says he will open Pyongyang’s first chicken and beer takeaway and delivery service (by motorbike) in February, in a restaurant joint venture with the North’s Rakwon General Trading Co.
: A Seoul daily reveals that ROK intelligence chief Kim Man-bok secretly visited Pyongyang on Dec. 18. He told his DPRK counterpart Kim Yang-gon not to worry if Lee Myung-bak is the South’s next president, as he will continue to engage the North.
: The conservative Grand National Party (GNP) asks President-elect Lee Myung-bak’s transition committee (TC) to be cautious in some contentious areas, such as abolishing the Unification Ministry (MOU), which it fears may harm the party in National Assembly elections due on April 9.
: The TC asks MOU to slow some inter-Korean projects, like the Haeju peace zone and Anbyon shipyard, pending their review. Such plans – but not humanitarian aid – may in the future be linked to nuclear progress in the SPT. MOU pleads not to be abolished, and for already agreed North-South meetings and surveys to go ahead as scheduled.
: MOU puts to the TC the idea of making aid to North Korea conditional on repatriation of Southern POWs and abductees, thought to number 548 and 485 respectively (with perhaps a further 80,000 taken North during the Korean war, who are on no one’s agenda). It cites Germany as a precedent, where West Germany paid the former East to release political prisoners.
: MOU reports that inter-Korean trade in 2007 rose 33 percent, from $1.35 to $1.79 billion. Main factors were a 52 percent rise in trade in minerals and marine products, and a 48 percent rise in shipments to and from the Kaesong industrial zone (KIZ). Non-commercial exchanges, meaning aid, fell 13 percent. No trade balance was given.
: A second load of DPRK zinc reaches Incheon, completing the North’s initial repayments under the raw materials for minerals barter deal (see Dec. 14).
: North Korea’s usual joint New Year editorial of three daily papers calls last October’s North-South summit “a turning point in achieving national reunification”, at which “the road to many-sided cooperation was opened.”
: The year ends without Pyongyang making the full declaration of its nuclear activities promised at the SPT. On Jan. 4 the DPRK foreign ministry says it has given the U.S. all requisite information, and that it is other parties who are behind in fulfilling their side of the deal, such as energy aid and diplomatic concessions.
: Meeting in Kaesong, the Koreas agree to conduct a one-day survey on Jan. 31 toward establishing a joint economic area around the DPRK port city of Haeju.
: The two Koreas and China meet in Pyongyang to discuss supplying non-oil energy aid. This is the first formal SPT-related meeting to be held inside North Korea.
: The North-South subcommittee on shipbuilding and marine cooperation holds its first meeting in Busan, South Korea’s second city and main port.
: In the first reported Northern comment on the South’s new president-elect, Senior Cabinet Councilor Kwon Ho-ung, the North’s chief delegate to inter-Korean talks, says he hopes this will not change “the general trend of inter-Korean cooperation.”
: Lee Myung-bak of the conservative opposition Grand National Party (GNP) wins South Korea’s presidential election, on a platform that includes a harder line towards North Korea. Lee polls 49 percent of all votes. Ex-unification minister, Chung Dong-young, standing for the pro-Sunshine United New Democratic Party (UNDP), takes only 26 percent. The hard-right Lee Hoi-chang receives 15 percent.
: The ROK Commerce, Industry, and Energy Ministry (MOCIE) leads a 37-strong official and business group – including representatives from Samsung and Daewoo, respectively the world’s second and third largest shipbuilders – on site visits to check the feasibility of plans to cooperate in shipbuilding at Nampo and Anbyon, DPRK.
: 500 tons of DPRK zinc, worth $1.2 million, arrive at Incheon as the first payment for the South’s sending materials worth $80 million for Northern consumer industries. Although Seoul’s annual supply of rice and fertilizer is nominally also a loan, MOU says this is the first time Pyongyang has ever repaid any debt to South Korea.
: Meeting in Kaesong, both Koreas agree on proposed joint fishing zones east of the peninsula (where there is no NLL issue). The South will provide fishing gear as payment for fish caught in Northern waters. A 20-strong ROK survey team will go North on Dec. 21-25 to start work on a joint fisheries research and storage center.
: Talks between generals at Panmunjom fail to break the deadlock over the NLL, ending with no joint statement or press release. They do agree on security guarantees for the Kaesong and Mt. Kumgang zones: entry and customs procedures will be streamlined, and South Koreans may use the internet and mobile phones.
: Daily rail freight service begins across the DMZ, travelling 10 km between Munsan in the South and Panmun in the North. The train reportedly often runs empty.
: Hyundai Asan inaugurates regular day trip tours from Seoul to Kaesong.
: The Joint Committee for Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation (JCIKEC), newly promoted to deputy minister level, meets in Seoul and agrees further details on implementing joint projects.
: Kim Yang-gon, the DPRK’s intelligence chief, makes a previously unannounced visit to South Korea. His itinerary includes Daewoo’s shipyard.
: A joint working-level meeting in Kaesong discusses repaving the Kaesong-Pyongyang expressway.
: Ninth round of Red Cross talks, held at Mt. Kumgang, agrees to expand separated family reunions, inaugurate video letters, look into those missing during and after the Korean War, and meet again when a permanent reunion center opens.
: Three separate Southern survey teams visit the North, respectively to look into tourism to Mt. Paekdu, joint shipbuilding at Anbyon, and hog farming.
: Meeting for only the second time ever, in Pyongyang, the two Koreas’ defense ministers fail to agree on a West Sea fishing zone due to the usual stalemate over the NLL issue. But they do agree on military guarantees for other inter-Korean projects.
: 200 tons of graphite, the first output from a $10 million joint venture processing plant near Haeju, arrives by ship at Incheon.
: KCCI publishes a report on North Korea’s minerals. It reckons these are worth $2.4 trillion, 30 times more than the South’s (which consumes $12 billion-worth annually, but is only 10 percent self-sufficient). In 2006 South Korea imported minerals worth $60 million from the North, less than a quarter of the $275 million taken by China.
: For the fifth year running a UN committee passes a resolution condemning North Korea for serious human rights abuses. South Korea abstains, as usual – except in 2006, when it voted aye.
: Kim Yong-il and ROK counterpart Han Duck-soo sign an eight-point accord of unprecedented substance, with 45 clauses and over 20 dates for meetings.
: As agreed at October’s summit, the DPRK premier Kim Yong-il visits Seoul for the first talks between the prime ministers of North and South in 15 years.
: The (South) Korea Tourism Association (KTA), representing 20,000 small-to medium-size ROK travel agencies, protests over Hyundai Asan’s monopoly of Southern tourism to North Korea, claiming this is unfairly subsidized by state funding.
: At a working meeting in Shenyang, both Koreas plus China agree on details of energy and alternative aid to Pyongyang under the SPT.
: Lee Hoi-chang, who narrowly lost South Korea’s last two presidential races for the conservative Grand National Party (GNP), says he will run in the election on Dec. 19 as an independent. He accuses Lee Myung-bak, as being soft on North Korea.
: The (South) Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) launches a private consultation group of business leaders to promote North-South cooperation.
: Hyun Jeong-eun, chairperson of Hyundai Asan, signs new tourism accord in Pyongyang. This allows Hyundai to run day trips to Kaesong, and (from May) direct flights from Seoul to Mt. Paekdu. The day before, Hyun was Kim Jong-il’s dinner guest.
: The SPT working group on energy and economic assistance, chaired by the ROK, meets at the truce village of Panmunjom in the DMZ.
: An ROK National Assembly research team headed by Shinn Chang-min, a professor at Chung-ang University in Seoul, estimates the cost of Korean reunification between $800 billion and $1.3 trillion. It says the South could cope with this, financially.
: 300 South Koreans mark the opening at the KIC of a multipurpose building containing both factory and living accommodation. With beds for 71 Southern staff, it will house 32 SMEs, mainly making clothing, and employ 2,700 Northern workers. If successful, seven more such facilities may be built in the Kaesong zone.
: Six-Party Talks (SPT) nuclear delegates from both Koreas meet at Mt. Kumgang to discuss details of supplying energy and equivalent aid to North Korea.
: Over 300 South Korean officials and business persons, including Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, meet 100 from the North at the Kaesong industrial complex (KIC) to celebrate completion of its first phase. 57 ROK firms are there so far, employing 13,000 DPRK workers who earn $60 per month. 220 more Southern SMEs have signed up. The second phase, adding 8.26 million sq. meters to the existing 3.3 million, will start construction in 2008.
: Some 20 ROK tourists are injured, six critically, in a bridge collapse at Mt. Kumgang: the resort’s first serious accident in almost a decade of operation. Lack of air transport means a two-hour journey to the nearest hospital.
: Heads of the two Koreas’ news agencies hold their first meeting, in Pyongyang. Kim Ki-seo, president of the ROK’s Yonhap, proposes “active exchanges;” KCNA’s Kim Ki-ryong says “we are seriously studying” this – which Yonhap interprets as lukewarm. Both are co-hosting an exhibition of photographs of murals of Korea’s Koguryo kingdom with Japan’s Kyodo News Service, which opened on Oct. 11.
: Roh Moo-hyun causes controversy in Seoul by saying the NLL is not a territorial line but an operational military one.
: Roh Moo-hyun repeats his call to create an inter-Korean ecological park in the DMZ, even though Kim Jong-il had rejected this as premature.
: Seoul protests China’s arrest of four DPRK defectors at a South Korean international school in Beijing the previous day, and its use of force against ROK diplomats trying to protect them. It demands that the four North Koreans be handed over.
: The Financial Times quotes a senior official in Busan – the ROK’s second city and the world’s fifth largest port – as saying: “we are positively reviewing investing in North Korea [and] have great interest in shipping containers through Rajin.”
: Roh Moo-hyun tells Russian President Vladimir Putin by telephone that the new inter-Korean concord will provide momentum to connect trans-Korean and trans-Siberian railways.
: The Seoul press reports that the defense ministry (MND) is considering establishing a bureau within the Blue House to discuss inter-Korean arms control, ahead of November’s meeting of the two sides’ defense ministers in Pyongyang.
: On the first anniversary of North Korea’s nuclear test, Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the ruling Korean Worker’s Party (KWP), praises “the benevolent leader with his great sword, [who] made Korea into a strong independent state and handed our 70 million people skies of peace, skies of prosperity, skies of hopes to last forever.” The implication, bizarrely, is that South Koreans too are protected by, and proud of, the North’s deterrent.
: ROK Agriculture Minister Im Sang-gyu says that the DPRK wants joint ventures in fertilizers, adding that it would be of mutual benefit if Southern farmers and firms can raise silkworms and hogs and manufacture farm equipment in the North.
: In a speech to the ROK National Assembly, read by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, Roh Moo-hyun opines that the North Korean nuclear issue “is heading toward a quick resolution.” Conservatives criticize him for failing to address this at the summit.
: ROK Chief Presidential Security Adviser Baek Jong-cheon insists that any peace agreement on the peninsula depends on progress in disabling the DPRK’s nuclear program under the SPT. Baek adds that the South will again demand the return of abductees and POWs at upcoming defense ministers’ talks in Pyongyang. Roh Moo-hyun raised this at the summit, but Kim Jong-il did not respond.
: ROK opinion poll reports 74 percent support for the summit, with 21 percent negative. Roh Moo-hyun’s approval rating rose 10 points to 43 percent. But over half still plan to vote for conservative opposition presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak.
: ROK Minister of Finance and Economy Kwon O-kyu says that Kim Jong-il “expressed keen interest in the South’s oil field and gas exploration projects.”
: Hyundai Research Institute (HRI) reckons that inter-Korean cooperation agreed at the summit will cost $11.2 billion, but could generate long-run gains worth $150 billion: mostly for the North. By contrast, the Korea Development Bank (KDB) estimates that the second phase of the Kaesong industrial zone alone will require $14.9 billion. One opposition lawmaker claims the total cost will be some $33 billion.
: State-owned Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (DSME), the world’s third largest shipbuilder, says it will invest $150 million to build prefabricated ship hulls at Anbyon on North Korea’s east coast, a project agreed at the summit.
: Roh Moo-hyun orders his Cabinet to to map out a concrete action plan to ensure the costs of peace agreement with the DPRK are estimated properly and implemented smoothly, so that it cannot be watered down or scrapped by his successor.
: ROK Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo insists that creation of a West Sea peace zone in the West Sea will not affect the integrity of the NLL, which he says the summit “successfully defended.”
: Roh and Kim sign eight-point “Declaration for Development of North-South Relations and Peace and Prosperity.” Roh returns to Seoul via Nampo, where he visits the West Sea Barrage and Pyeonghwa Motors factory and the Kaesong industrial zone (KCNA omits to mention the latter.)
: Roh and Kim sign eight-point “Declaration for Development of North-South Relations and Peace and Prosperity.” Roh returns to Seoul via Nampo, where he visits the West Sea Barrage and Pyeonghwa Motors factory and the Gaesong industrial zone.
: Roh holds summit talks with a now more cordial Kim Jong-il, who asks him to stay an extra day; Roh declines. The Dear Leader does not attend a banquet hosted by Roh, nor accompany him to the Arirang mass games. ROK parliamentarians, industrialists, cultural figures, scientists, journalists, and others hold talks with their DPRK counterparts.
: A new Six-Party Talks (SPT) agreement is announced in Beijing. The DPRK agrees both to disable Yongbyon and declare all its nuclear facilities by the end of the year.
: KCNA reports that 10 Southern NGOs denounced the ROK Information and Communications Ministry for “anti-reunification acts” in demanding the deletion of some internet articles as violating the National Security Law.
: Roh holds summit talks with a now more cordial Kim Jong-il, who asks him to stay an extra day; Roh declines. The Dear Leader does not attend a banquet hosted by Roh, nor accompany him to the Arirang mass games. ROK parliamentarians, industrialists, cultural figures, scientists, journalists, and others hold talks with their DPRK opposite numbers.
: SPT agreement is announced in Beijing. North Korea agrees both to disable Yongbyon and to declare all its nuclear facilities by the end of the year.
: Roh and his 300-strong delegation drive to Pyongyang. He is greeted in Pyongyang by Kim Yong-nam, the DPRK titular head of state, and later by an unsmiling Kim Jong-il. Roh holds talks with Kim Yong-nam.
: Roh and his 300-strong delegation drive to Pyongyang. He is greeted in Pyongyang by Kim Yong-nam, the DPRK titular head of state, and later by an unsmiling Kim Jong-il. Roh holds talks with Kim Yong-nam.
: SPT recess so that a draft accord can be referred back to all six capitals for approval.
: North Korea’s Rodong Sinmun says that “improved inter-Korean relations are urgent for achieving national unity and the country’s reunification.” It calls critics of the summit “traitors,” and says Koreans should “put up a more resolute struggle against the foreign forces’ domination and interference, and the traitors.”
: Second Southern advance party visits Pyongyang to check arrangements.
: The delayed Six-Party Talks open in Beijing.
: Kim Jae-hyun, president of Korean Land Corporation, which runs the Gaesong Industrial Park, is added to the ROK summit party.
: The Six-Party Talks fail to resume as expected in Beijing.
: A 35-strong ROK summit advance party crosses the border for a four-day visit. Roh’s chauffeur is allowed to drive an official ROK limousine to Pyongyang to familiarize himself with road conditions.
: The North’s Korean Central Broadcasting Station thanks 11 foreign leaders for their countries’ flood aid. Roh Moo-hyun is not among them.
: Sixty trucks bring the first batch of the South’s second-phase flood aid overland to the North.
: MOU announces Roh’s nongovernmental entourage for the summit. The 43 names include the heads of Hyundai Motor, Samsung Electronics, Posco, the LG and SK business groups, and 21 “social and cultural representatives.” The government team will include ministers of defense, finance and economy, unification, agriculture, health, and science and technology.
: North Korea says it has repaired flood damage to the motorway from Gaesong to Pyongyang.
: North Korea thanks half a dozen countries by name for sending flood aid. South Korea’s assistance, larger than any of these, goes unmentioned.
: Kim Yang-gon, who as director of the ruling Workers Party of Korea is the North’s point man on South Korea, makes a rare public appearance with Kim Jong-il at a military arts performance. He was last seen in March, when he accompanied the dear leader on a visit to the Chinese embassy in Pyongyang.
: The DPRK’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland denounces ROK opposition leader Lee Myung-bak’s criticisms of the upcoming summit and the North’s nuclear program as an “unpardonable … criminal act.”
: Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung announces an extra $40 million worth of flood aid for the DPRK, comprising 100,000 tons of cement, 5,000 tons. of iron bars, 80 trucks, 500 tons of gasoline, 20 road restoration vehicles, and 20,000 tons of pitch. Delivery will start in mid-September.
: ROK delivers 40 truckloads of instant noodles, blankets, emergency kits, and mineral water to Gaesong. The rest of the flood aid will follow by the month’s end.
: South Korea’s GNP demands that the summit be postponed until after the inauguration of the next president – widely predicted to be the GNP’s Lee Myung-bak – in February 2008.
: Citing ongoing U.S.-ROK wargames, the DPRK Foreign Ministry warns it will end dialogue and take “strong countermeasures” if such “hostile” actions persist.
: President Roh sends a personal message of condolence to the DPRK leader Kim Jong-il over the recent floods. KCNA carries this as its lead item the next day.
: The North asks to postpone the inter-Korean summit, in view of severe flood damage. The South accepts and it is rescheduled for Oct. 2-4.
: MOU says it will send the North emergency flood aid worth $7.5 million this week.
: Second meeting of the SPT Working Group on Nuclear Disarmament is held in Shenyang, China, but fails to reach agreement on disabling DPRK nuclear facilities.
: In his Liberation Day speech, Roh says he will discuss the formation of an inter-Korean economic community with Kim.
: KCNA reports that torrential rain and floods in the past week have caused “huge human and material losses.”
: A preparatory for the summit agrees that Roh will travel to Pyongyang by road across the DMZ. No agenda for the summit is published.
: A sixth round of videolink reunions of separated families is held.
: Both Koreas announce that Roh Moo-hyun will meet Kim Jong-il Aug. 28-30 in Pyongyang.
: The two Koreas briefly exchange gunfire across the DMZ. No one is hurt.
: North Korea pulls out of planned celebrations of Liberation Day (from Japan in 1945) on Aug. 15 in Busan, in protest at routine U.S.-ROK military exercises.
: North Korea proposes a 22nd round of ministerial talks in mid-September in Pyongyang.
: Good Friends (GF), a South Korean Buddhist NGO, which aids the North, calls for 100,000 tons of emergency corn. GF claims that hundreds have died from hunger recently, especially in remote mountainous provinces.
: Hyundai Asan, which runs the Mt. Kumgang resort, says that (subject to Pyongyang’s permission) it will invest $3 billion by 2025 to develop the DPRK’s southeastern coast as far up as the port city of Wonsan.
: Pyeonghwa Motors, a Southern firm (linked to the Unification Church), which assembles cars in Nampo, says it is in talks with Brilliance, a Chinese automaker, to assemble trucks in North Korea. This could change a largely symbolic exercise – annual output is just 700 units – into a serious commercial venture.
: South Korea completes the shipment of 50,000 tons of HFO to the North.
: A Southern team begins a fortnight’s inspection tour of three Northern mines: Komdok, East Asia’s largest zinc mine, and Taehung and Ryongyang, which have the world’s third largest deposits of magnesite.
: ROK Korea International Trade Association (KITA), a private sector group, says that inter-Korean trade in the first half of 2007 rose 28.6 percent year on year to $720 million. In a sign that commercial trade is replacing aid, Northern exports, up 63 percent at $390 million, exceeded those from the South, which fell 9 percent to $330 million.
: Civic leaders from North and South meet at Mt. Kumgang resort to discuss holding joint events celebrating Liberation Day – from Japan, in 1945: a holiday in both Koreas – on Aug. 15.
: South Korea ships a first batch of 500 tons of polyester fiber to the North.
: A sixth round of general-level military talks at Panmunjom ends in rancor when the North walks out over the South’s refusal to countenance redrawing the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto western sea border between the Koreas.
: AP reports that the FBI has charged a U.S.-Korean businessman, Steve Park, with regularly reporting to the ROK government on his frequent business trips to North Korea without registering in the U.S. as an agent of a foreign power.
: South Korea’s Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung makes a three-day visit (his first) to Mt. Kumgang. Besides tourist facilities, his itinerary includes a Southern-aided hospital and village – but no formal talks with Northern counterparts.
: MOU says it has contracted with SK Energy, the ROK’s largest refiner, to supply 50,000 tons of HFO costing $22 million. The first shipment will be sent to North Korea on July 12.
: MOU says it has contracted with SK Energy, the ROK’s largest refiner, to supply 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil costing $22 million. The first shipment will be sent to North Korea on July 12.
: Yonhap quotes MOU as saying that 50,000 tons of its 400,000 tons of rice aid will be sent by rail over five weeks, beginning July 20: 30,000 tons on the western Kyongui line, and 20,000 tons on the east coast Donghae line. Next day Yonhap amends this, substituting road for rail (there are parallel road and rail tracks in each corridor).
: Yonhap quotes MOU as saying that 50,000 tons of its 400,000 tons of rice aid will be sent by rail over five weeks, beginning July 20: 30,000 tons on the western Kyongui line, and 20,000 tons on the east coast Donghae line. Next day Yonhap amends this, substituting road for rail (there are parallel road and rail tracks in each corridor).
: Yonhap reports that the two Koreas will hold working-level military talks at the truce village of Panmunjom on July 10, to pave the way for a resumption of higher-level dialogue between each side’s generals.
: After an all-night final session, talks at Gaesong agree on payments for the South to supply light industrial raw materials in exchange for mining rights. Prices of 62 items are agreed, with 32 more still to be settled. North Korea will pay for transport, cargo working, and demurrage costs, while the South will cover shipping and insurance.
: Yonhap reports that the two Koreas will hold working-level military talks at the truce village of Panmunjom on July 10, to pave the way for a resumption of higher level dialogue between each side’s generals.
: A GNP task force unveils a radical new policy on North Korea, shifting the party away from containment toward engagement with Pyongyang.
: MOU says South Korea will begin shipping 6,200 tons of heavy fuel oil to the North next week, and that it expects Pyongyang to start shutting down the Yongbyon nuclear reactor once the shipment arrives.
: A GNP task force unveils a radical new policy on North Korea, shifting the party’s stance away from containment towards engagement with Pyongyang.
: MOU says South Korea will begin shipping 6,200 tons of heavy fuel oil to the North next week, and that it expects Pyongyang to start shutting down the Yongbyon nuclear reactor once the shipment arrives.
: A North Korean meeting to mark the 35th anniversary of the first inter-Korean joint statement on July 4, 1972, issued by the late Presidents Kim Il-sung (DPRK) and Park Chung-hee (ROK), praises this for establishing the “three principles of national reunification: independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity.”
: Meeting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Pyongyang, Kim Jong-il reportedly says that tensions are easing on the peninsula.
: A North Korean meeting to mark the 35th anniversary of the first inter-Korean joint statement on July 4, 1972, issued by the late presidents Kim Il-sung (DPRK) and Park Chung-hee (ROK), praises this for establishing the “three principles of national reunification: independence, peaceful reunification and great national unity.”
: Following severe flooding, South Korea says it will provide emergency food aid worth $20 million to North Korea through the UN World Food Program (WFP), separate from its own bilateral rice aid. This includes 2,000 tons of corn, 12,000 tons of beans, 5,000 tons of wheat, 2,000 tons of flour and 1,000 tons of powdered milk. This is the ROK’s first aid to the DPRK via WFP since 2004.
: South Korea says it will provide emergency food aid worth $20 million to North Korea through the WFP, separate from its own bilateral aid. This includes 2,000 tons of corn, 12,000 tons of bean, 5,000 tons of wheat, 2,000 tons of flour, and 1,000 tons of powdered milk. This is the ROK’s first aid to the DPRK via WFP since 2004.
: South Korea sends 3,000 tons of rice to the North, as a first installment of this year’s 400,000 tons of aid: promised earlier, but withheld until Pyongyang began to implement the Feb. 13 six-party agreement.
: KCNA accuses U.S. and ROK warplanes of 170 cases of “madcap aerial espionage” in June, and 1,100 so far this year. Such charges have long been routine.
: On the fifth anniversary of a West Sea clash where five ROK sailors died, the ROK Navy launches a patrol boat named after one of them.
: Jang Jae-on, president of the DPRK Red Cross, faxes Han Wan-sang, his ROK counterpart, in thanks for this year’s 300,000 tons of fertilizer aid and promising to account for its distribution. Shipment began on March 27 and was completed on June 21.
: At a meeting in Kaesong, South Korea agrees to send 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil (HFO) to the North within a month, implementing the Feb. 13 six-party accord.
: Korea Software Financial Cooperative – a private group of major ROK software developers, including Samsung, LG, SK, and PosData – says it is working out details with a DPRK counterpart, Samcholli General Corporation, to open software centers in Kaesong and Pyongyang.
: ROK unification minister Lee Jae-joung announces that South Korea will grant rice aid (technically a loan) as requested by the North, beginning June 30.
: Some 100 former DPRK musicians and others form the General Association of North Korean Defector Artists in Seoul, to make Northern art forms better known and help change ROK fine arts from “indescribable corruption” to “healthy commercialism.”
: Hyundai Asan says it will double its tours to Mt. Kumgang starting July 1 from thrice weekly to daily, due to increased demand since North Korea allowed access to Inner Kumgang, a mountain hiking trail some distance from the main resort.
: North Korea criticizes the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto inter-Korean west sea border since the 1953 Armistice, as an “illegal ghost line”.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Shin Eon-sang reports the completion of fertilizer aid to the North, and of last year’s emergency rice for flood aid. He adds that a family reunion center at Mt. Kumgang is one-third built, and due for completion this year.
: The ROK begins feeding 100,000 kilowatts (kW) of electricity to a newly built transformer substation in Kaesong, DPRK. About 15,000 kW has been being transmitted to the Kaesong industrial complex from South Korea since March 2005, but now a new $37.7 million substation can supply ample electricity for the entire zone.
: For the fifth time since mid-May, the KPA Navy threatens fierce reprisals against alleged marine incursions by ROK warships. The South denies any intrusions.
: UK-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide releases North Korea: A Case to Answer – A Call to Act, which looks at the humanitarian crisis in the DPRK.
: South Korea said it has sent a 10-person team to Pyongyang led by Kim Chang-seob, chief veterinary officer at the Agriculture Ministry, to assist the North with an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. Seoul already sent related aid worth $3 million.
: KCNA announces that Ri In-mo, a captured KPA correspondent who spent 34 years including torture in ROK jails but did not recant and was repatriated in 1993, died the previous day. Kim Jong-il sends a wreath to his funeral on June 18, where SPA Presidium President Kim Yong-nam delivers the eulogy.
: The North bars a GNP lawmaker from one of the Pyongyang meetings. Southern delegates protest, and most planned events are cancelled for two days. A token communiqué of national unity is issued on June 17. The North also objects to a call for a new summit by former ROK Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun at the welcoming dinner.
: Korea International Trade Association (KITA) reports inter-Korean trade is up threefold since 2000, with an average annual rise of 24.3 percent. Trade from January to May this year totaled $563 million; KITA forecasts that this year’s total will rise 27 percent to $1.7 billion.
: A 284-strong Southern civil delegation flies to Pyongyang for the seventh anniversary of the June 2000 North-South summit. The ROK government is not invited.
: The ROK says it will send 50,000 tons of corn and 10,500 tons of rice to the DPRK via the UN World Food Program (WFP). As emergency flood aid promised in 2006, this is separate from the bilateral 400,000 tons of rice aid still being withheld pending full fulfilment of the February 13 6-party nuclear accord.
: A meeting at the Central Workers’ Hall in Pyongyang commemorates the 20th anniversary of the democratic movement in June 1987 in South Korea.
: South Korea’s unification ministry (MOU) says that 24 percent of goods made in the Kaesong industrial zone during January-April, worth $11.3 million, were exported: mainly to the EU, China, Russia, and Australia.
: Several hundred Southern pilgrims visit Yontong temple near Kaesong, restored with aid from Cheontae, the ROK’s second largest Buddhist order. Cheontae plans to organize regular pilgrimages, despite criticisms that the DPRK’s charge of $100 per visitor – three times the rate at Mt. Kumgang – is exorbitant.
: Working-level military talks at the truce village of Panmunjom agree on nothing, not even when next to meet, because of disputes over the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto inter-Korean west sea border since the 1953 Armistice, which the DPRK wants to redraw. The ROK does not take issue with the North’s missile test.
: As it did on May 25, and will again on June 27, North Korea test-fires a short-range missile at sea, possibly of a new solid-fuel design.
: Talks at Kaesong on a deal for Seoul to send light industry raw materials in exchange for Northern mining rights, first mooted in 2005, fail to agree on pricing. Earlier talks on May 22-23 failed similarly.
: The DPRK’s National Reunification Institute (NRI) brands the ROK main opposition party, the GNP, as the “treacherous” successor to past “fascist cliques”, which it “far surpasses … in corruption and irregularities and frauds”; adding that the party’s “impudent” bid to seek power is “a mockery of history.”
: The inter-Korean ministerial talks in Seoul close with a perfunctory joint statement and no date fixed to meet again. The North was miffed at the South’s delaying rice aid until its Yongbyon reactor is closed as per the Feb. 13 Six-Party Talks accord.
: The 21st North-South cabinet-level talks since the 2000 summit open in Seoul. The DPRK delegation flies in, led as usual by Cabinet Chief Councilor Kwon Ho-ung, despite fears that they might stage a boycott.
: Local ginseng growers in Geumsan in the ROK’s South Chungcheong province say they have agreed a joint venture with Kwangmyongsong, a DPRK firm, to operate a 500 hectare ginseng farm near the Pyongyang-Kaesong highway and produce ginseng in Pyongyang. The ROK partner will provide seeds, materials, and processing.
: The ROK approves budgets of $170 million for rice aid and $80 million to supply raw materials for the DPRK to make soap, footwear, and clothing.
: The U.S.-based Freedom House in Seoul releases its report Concentrations of Inhumanity, which accuses DPRK authorities of crimes against humanity..
: A DPRK merchant ship docks in Busan, the ROK’s main port and second city, for the first time since the Korean War. The 1,853 ton Kangsong will make three round trips monthly to Rajin in the DPRK’s northeast, chartered by a South Korean firm.
: For the first time, a five-strong DPRK delegation comes to Seoul to take part in an international conference of Japanese war time sex slavery (“comfort women”). On May 21 participants call on Tokyo to apologize and take legal responsibility.
: Two trains, one each from the North and the South, cross the DMZ on relinked tracks near the west and east coasts for the first time in half a century for short test runs. Both carry preselected passengers from both Koreas, and return the same day.
: Kim Yong-nam meets a Southern delegation headed by Sohn Hak-kyu: former governor of Gyeonggi Province (greater Seoul) for the conservative main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), which he quit in March, but now the likeliest center-left candidate in December’s ROK presidential election.
: The 15th reunion of separated family members, the first such meeting for 11 months, is held at the Mt. Kumgang resort in southeastern North Korea.
: The 5th inter-Korean general-level military talks are held at the North’s Tongil Pavilion at the truce village of Panmunjom. After extending the meeting by a day, they issue their first joint statement since 2000, agreeing on the need for marine security and a joint fishing zone in the West Sea. They also agree on security guarantees for test runs on the two reconnected cross-border railways on May 17.
: ROK army sources observe their DPRK counterparts inspecting railway tracks within the DMZ, raising hopes of a security guarantee for cross-border test runs.
: A delegation from the Peace Council of Religionists of South Korea, led by its Chairman Choi Gun-duk visits Pyongyang; overlapping with a group from the ROK’s “Movement for a Reunified Korean Nation” which visits on May 4-7.
: At a meeting in Kaesong, South Korea agrees to send 500 tons of polyester fabric to the North on June 27, followed by 10 light industry experts in July.
: Presidium President of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) Kim Yong-nam, who as the North Korea’s titular head of state, meets a delegation from the South’s ruling Uri Party led by Kim Hyuk-kyu, a presidential aide (and himself a presidential hopeful). The delegation leaves Pyongyang on May 5.
: North Korea agrees to the first general-level military talks in almost a year, to be held at Panmunjom on May 8-10. South Korea had proposed meeting on May 3.
: Some 60 North Korean trade unionists and workers fly direct to Gimhae airport, near Busan in the south of the ROK, for three days of May Day celebrations with their Southern counterparts in the industrial city of Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.
: Working-level talks at Kaesong agree on most details of proposed test cross-border train runs on May 17. A military guarantee is still required.
: The 13th meeting of the Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee (ECPC) is held in Pyongyang, after a gap of nearly a year. Despite Northern histrionics, this reaches a 10-point agreement covering a range of issues including rice aid, business projects, and cross-border train test runs.
: ROK MOU confirms that Pyongyang has demanded pay increases of 30 and 10 percent respectively for the Kaesong workforce who are four-year and two-year college graduates.
: The 8th round of Red Cross talks since the June 2000 summit agrees to hold extra family reunions this year. The North continues to deny having any Southern prisoners of war or abductees, though the South tallies over 1,000 such.
: A 49-strong Northern delegation arrives in Seoul for talks on merging two rival international taekwondo federations backed respectively by each Korea. It includes Jang Ung, the sole North Korean on the IOC, who heads the DPRK-backed International Taekwondo Federation (ITF). The ITF was founded in Seoul in 1966 by a northern-born ROK General Choi Hong-hi, who later moved to Canada and died in Pyongyang in 2002. The visitors include a demonstration team which puts on displays in South Korea.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Shin Eon-sang says the South will “give rice to the North as scheduled” after bilateral economic talks set for April 18-21 in Pyongyang, even if the DPRK fails to shut its Yongbyon reactor as scheduled; on the grounds that “the momentum for inter-Korean development should not be lost.”
: Dissent emerges on whether the U.S.-ROK free trade agreement (FTA) concluded on April 1 covers goods made in the DPRK’s Kaesong economic zone. While ROK Trade Minister Kim Hyun-chong says the FTA “opens a road” for Kaesong-made exports, Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Karan Bhatia retorts: “That’s just a discussion we will undertake. Under this [free-trade agreement], goods from Kaesong will not be entering the United States.”
: A South Korean youth Red Cross delegation arrives at North Korea’s Mt. Kumgang resort, to plant trees jointly with their Northern counterparts.
: Yonhap reports that in the past week Thai police arrested 50 North Koreans who illegally entered from China. Thailand does not recognize these as refugees, but normally lets them proceed to Seoul; 400 did so last year, and 150 are currently waiting.
: Meeting at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), the two Koreas’ Red Cross bodies exchange lists of separated family members. They agree to finalize by April 27 the list of 100 persons from each side to participate in the 15th round of family reunions, set for May 9-14 at North Korea’s Mt. Kumgang resort.
: South Korea’s under 17 soccer squad beats its Northern counterpart 2-1 in a friendly match at the Suwon world cup stadium near Seoul. The DPRK team came to Jeju on March 20 for a month’s training. South Korea will host the world championships from Aug. 18 to Sept. 9.
: ROK Unification Minister Lee says he does not see Ahn Hee-jeong as having broken the law by his secret meeting.
: It is announced in Seoul that for the first time two ROK athletes will run in a marathon in Pyongyang on April 15: a major DPRK holiday marking the late Kim Il-sung’s birthday.
: Aide to Lee Hae-chan claims that while in Pyongyang recently the ex-ROK premier suggested that the warship USS Pueblo, seized in 1968, should be returned to improve relations with the US. DPRK officials were reportedly not averse to the idea.
: After months of denials, the Blue House admits that Ahn Hee-jeong, a close aide of President Roh who currently holds no formal post, secretly met a senior North Korean envoy in Beijing on Oct. 20, 2006, just days after the North’s nuclear test.
: South Korean aid to the North resumes. A ship leaves the ROK port of Yeosu bearing 6,500 tons of fertilizer, 60,000 blankets, and other items.
: Former Unfication Minister Chung Dong-young visits the Kaesong zone, and suggests this is the best venue for a second inter-Korean summit: as a symbol of North-South cooperation, and for its convenience.
: Seoul daily JoongAng Ilbo says Lee Hae-chan will return to Pyongyang soon, rekindling speculation that he is acting as a special envoy to arrange a summit.
: A fifth round of video reunions is held, briefly reuniting around 120 separated families in 13 locations in South Korea and 10 in the North. After more than half a century apart, each family gets around two hours of contact.
: At a brief chance meeting at a reception in Kuwait with DPRK ambassador to Kuwait Ho Jong, Roh Moo-hyun asks him to tell Kim Jong-il “that I am acting from my heart.”
: Meeting in Kaesong, labor unions from both Koreas agree to celebrate May Day together in the ROK industrial port city of Ulsan, Hyundai’s heartland. This is the first time that this event, ongoing since 2002, will be held in South Korea. Some 60 North Koreans will attend.
: The ROK’s Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Committee holds its 182nd meeting. Seven agenda items are approved, including video reunions and the provision of aid for this as well as fertilizer and medical aid (measles, malaria, and foot and mouth).
: The DPRK Foreign Ministry criticizes the annual U.S.-ROK RSOI and Foal Eagle war games, due to start on March 25, as “very dangerous provocations” which jeopardize the Feb. 13 six-party agreement. Northern media repeat such routine attacks almost daily thereafter, into April.
: Lee Hae-chan proposes a four-way summit between the two Koreas, the U.S., and China. He again denies having been an envoy to broker a North-South summit.
: Good Friends, a Seoul-based NGO, claims that 70 percent of North Koreans are short of food, and that DPRK local officials fear famine may return.
: The DPRK’s 32-strong under-17 soccer squad arrives in the ROK’s Jeju island province for a month of training: the first time a Northern team has trained in the South. They will also tour four cities and play friendly matches. DPRK ice hockey and taekwondo teams are due to vist the ROK in April.
: After chairing the first meeting in Beijing of the six-party working group on energy cooperation, chief ROK nuclear negotiator Chun Yung-woo says Seoul will pay for the first batch of 50,000 tons of heavy fuel oil which the DPRK is due to receive once the Yongbyon site is closed.
: Talks in Kaesong fail again to agree on a much-delayed test train run on two reconnected, but so far unused, cross-border railways. A separate meeting agrees to resume family reunions in May.
: Anonymous ROK government sources predict that former President Kim Dae-jung will revisit Pyongyang around June, followed by a North-South summit in August or September.
: Former ROK Premier Lee returns from Pyongyang. He again denies being a special envoy, and says the North has shown movement on the “missing persons” (abductees) issue.
: After two days of working-level Red Cross talks at Mt Kumgang, both Koreas agree to resume construction, halted last year, of a family reunion center at the DPRK resort. The South will also give the North $400,000 to buy equipment for more frequent video reunions.
: ROK Foreign Minister Song Min-soon says the DPRK still wants to be supplied with a light-water reactor (LWR), and that this can be discussed at a later stage of the Six-Party Talks.
: Lee Hae-chan meets the DPRK’s titular head of state, Kim Yong-nam.
: MOU says the North has sent a fax asking for 300,000 tons of fertilizer.
: A delegation of the Committee for Peace in Northeast Asia of the ROK’s ruling Uri Party, led by former Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, arrives in Pyongyang at the invitation of the DPRK’s National Reconciliation Council. Lee rebuts speculation that he is President Roh’s special envoy seeking to broker a second summit.
: North-South ministerial talks in Pyongyang close with a six-point joint statement, settting a detailed timetable to resume a range of inter-Korean contacts.
: Kim Yong-nam, the DPRK’s titular head of state as president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), meets ROK Unification Minister Lee and other Southern delegates to the ministerial talks in Pyongyang.
: A Southern delegation, led by Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung, flies into Pyongyang for the 20th inter-Korean ministerial talks.
: For the first time in an official ROK text, MOU says it will seek arms control talks with the DPRK this year. Ideas include a direct phone line between the two sides’ defense chiefs, and confidence-building steps like exchanges of military personnel.
: KCNA reports that the co-chairmen of the National Alliance for the Country’s Reunification – Pomminryon, a pro-North front organization – held an extraordinary meeting on Feb. 23 by exchanging faxes between the North, South, and overseas, to discuss plans for 2007.
: The ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) says it will resume expansion of the Kaesong industrial park, suspended last September due to rising tensions. It plans to lease a further 1.6 sq km of land in the zone to Southern firms by mid-April.
: MOU issues its policy goals for the year. They include establishment of peace systems on the peninsula, economic cooperation for co-development, humanitarian aid and socio-cultural exchanges. In the medium- and long-term, MOU plans to develop strategies to modernize infrastructure in the North, such as ports and railroads.
: Meeting in Kaesong, the two Koreas agree to hold the 20th ministerial talks – the first since last July – in Pyongyang, starting on Feb. 27.
: The head of the North’s delegation to inter-Korean ministerial talks accepts an offer from his Southern counterpart for working-level talks toward a resumption of this channel.
: The Six-Party Talks in Beijing agree on a detailed joint statement, setting up five working groups and laying down a detailed timetable for first steps by all concerned; including the closure of the DPRK’s nuclear site at Yongbyon within 60 days.
: A seven-hour meeting in Kaesong, the fourth since 2004, on fielding a joint team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics again ends in disagreement. South Korea wants athletes to be selected on merit, while the North insists on equal numbers from each side.
: The South’s Yonhap News Agency quotes an unnamed senior ROK official as saying that Southern aid to the North may resume once inter-Korean dialogue is restored and if the six-party nuclear talks make progress.
: The ROK’s island province of Jeju sends 2,150 tons of carrots and tangerines to the North. A similar amount again was due to be sent later in the month. Since 1998, Jeju has sent the DPRK 36,228 tons of tangerines and 13,000 tons of carrots.
: The North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) accuses the South of at least 70 cases of aerial espionage during the past month, and U.S. forces of a further 110 incidents.
: Teams from North and South Korea march jointly behind a neutral flag at the opening ceremony of the sixth Winter Asian Games in the northeast Chinese city of Changchun. As usual they go on to compete separately. DPRK television does not mention the joint march.
: In what is seen as a sign of détente, ROK Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung visits the Kaesong industrial complex. The 100-strong delegation is also allowed to tour Kaesong city, the first Southern group to do so since the North banned this last July.
: A spokesman for the DPRK’s Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee says KAPPC has no formal agreement with the ROK’s Hyundai Asan to organize city tours to Kaesong. The North has been trying to offer the contract to a rival ROK operator, Lotte.
: Northern political parties, government, and organizations issue a joint statement on unification, calling on South Koreans to eschew conservatism and cooperation with the U.S.
: The ROK vessel Heonseong-ho returns to its homeport of Gunsan, North Jeolla, with a cargo of sand from Haeju in the DPRK, two days after colliding with a DPRK fishing boat in Northern waters. Four DPRK fishermen are missing, and Pyongyang asked for Seoul’s cooperation in search and notification.
: The DPRK’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland issues a statement attacking the U.S. for sending a wing of F-117 Stealth fighter bombers and at least 300 support personnel to South Korea.
: North Korea returns a Southern squid boat and its crew of one engineer, who had sailed into Northern waters on the east coast on Dec. 25 for reasons unknown.
: Good Neighbors International, a Southern NGO, says it has sent penicillin and antibiotics worth $5 million to the North to help fight a scarlet fever epidemic.
: The ROK Olympic Committee says that on Jan. 5, the DPRK proposed, via an official in the border village on Panmunjom, that both Koreas march jointly in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Asian Games to be held in Changchun, China, from Jan. 28.
: Jong Geun, secretary general of Green Doctors, an ROK NGO, says that from Jan. 11 doctors from both Koreas will work side by side for the first time, in GD’s 396 sq m hospital in the Kaesong industrial complex.
: ROK Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung calls for more aid to the DPRK once it abandons its nuclear ambitions, saying that “unless we fundamentally solve the problem of poverty in North Korea, security on the Korean Peninsula will always be in danger.” The opposition Grand National Party (GNP) criticizes Lee the same day, saying the problem is nuclear weapons rather than poverty and accusing the Roh administration of “begging for the inter-Korean summit.”
: Former ROK President Kim Dae-jung says the “possibility of an inter-Korean summit is higher than ever, as President Roh Moo-hyun has vowed to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il anytime, anywhere.”
: Unification Minister Lee Jae-jeong calls for more aid to the DPRK once it abandons its nuclear ambitions, saying that “unless we fundamentally solve the problem of poverty in North Korea, security on the Korean Peninsula will always be in danger.” The opposition Grand National Party (GNP) criticizes Lee, saying the problem is nuclear weapons rather than poverty and accusing the Roh administration of “begging for the inter-Korean summit.”
: Former ROK President Kim Dae-jung says the “possibility of an inter-Korean summit is higher than ever, as President Roh has vowed to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il anytime, anywhere.”
: Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung, Korea’s largest conglomerate, in his new year address cites the North Korean nuclear issue as one of three reasons (the others being high oil prices and the appreciating won) why “this year, the future for us isn’t that bright.”
: Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung, Korea’s largest conglomerate, in his new year address cites the DPRK nuclear issue as one of three reasons (the others being high oil prices and the appreciating won) why “this year, the future for us isn’t that bright.”
: Seoul press reports suggest that Hyundai Asan will fall back into the red this year, as tourist numbers to Mt. Kumgang have fallen since the nuclear test.
: The ROK Defense Ministry (MND)’s biennial White Paper describes the DPRK as a “grave threat,” more severe than last time’s “direct military threat.” Until 2004 MND characterized the North as the South’s “main enemy,” but this was deleted (over conservative protests) as unconducive to Sunshine.
: Unification Minister Lee Jae-jeong says he hopes inter-Korean talks will resume as soon as possible, and that to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue requires “deeply analyzing the North’s sense of extreme urgency.”
: Two Korean People’s Army (KPA) soldiers are returned to the North via the truce village of Panmunjom, almost three weeks after being rescued from a small boat adrift off Sokcho on South Korea’s east coast on Dec. 9.
: The Six-Party Talks break up with no apparent progress, nor any date agreed for a resumption, although there are hopes that this will be early in 2007.
: South Korea holds a ceremony in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to connect new power cables, costing $55 million, which will increase supplies of electricity to the North’s Kaesong industrial park from 15,000 to 100,000 kilowatts.
: President Roh wonders aloud why the U.S. State and Treasury Departments seemed not to be working in sync on North Korea policy in fall 2005.
: ROK officials say their DPRK counterparts have recently resumed work at the joint Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee (ECPC) office in the Kaesong industrial zone. They had withdrawn in July when the South suspended aid after the North’s missile tests.
: Chosun Sinbo carries an evaluation of inter-Korean relations in 2006.
: The fifth round of six-party nuclear talks resumes after a 13-month gap.
: In the first direct inter-Korean flight since the North’s nuclear test, a 97-strong delegation from the Korean Sharing Movement, an ROK NGO, flies from Seoul to Pyongyang for a ceremony opening a new neurosurgery and respiratory ward at the DPRK’s Red Cross Hospital, which KSM has been aiding for three years.
: DPRK’s Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) denounces expansion of joint U.S.-ROK RSOI (Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration) military exercises as a provocation and maneuver to invade the North.
: Former ROK FM Ban Ki-moon is sworn in as UN secretary general.
: Lee Jae-jeong (or Jae-joung), new unification minister, formally takes office, six weeks after Roh nominated him to replace Lee Jong-seok. The Grand National Party (GNP) had blocked his confirmation, claiming he is soft on Pyongyang.
: The Ilsimhoe 5 (see Oct. 25) are indicted on charges of violating the ROK National Security Law (NSL) by allegedly spying for North Korea.
: At the Asiad North Korea’s women’s football team, ranked first in Asia and seventh in the world, defeats South Korea 4-1; they go on to win the event. South Korea’s men defeat the North 3-0 on Dec. 9, but go down to Iraq 1-0 in the semifinal. The DPRK also fields a 1,000-strong cheering squad of its builders working locally.
: As has become the norm in recent years, athletes from the two Koreas march together at the opening ceremonies of the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, but go on to compete as separate teams. The ROK’s is 750-strong, the DPRK’s 160.
: In the first such meeting for 61 years, 115 journalists from the South and 50 from the North meet at the DPRK’s Mt. Kumgang resort and pledge to promote inter-Korean exchanges and reconciliation.
: JoongAng Ilbo reports after visiting Pyongyang with a Southern NGO delivering aid that North Korean state propaganda is preparing its citizens for another “arduous march” like that in the 1990s.
: Former president and Nobel peace prize laureate Kim Dae-jung warns that pressure is not the way to change the North.
: After meeting George W. Bush at the APEC summit in Hanoi, Roh Moo-hyun confirms that South Korea is “not taking part in the full scope” of the U.S.-led Proliferation Security Initiative, but affirms that Seoul will “fully cooperate in preventing WMD (weapons of mass destruction) materiel transfer” in the region.
: After abstaining on such votes for the past four years, South Korea for the first time backs a UN resolution condemning North Korea’s human rights record.
: Seoul says it will cut 2007’s budget for inter-Korean cooperation by 26 percent to 1.95 billion won. However, most of this reflects the winding down of KEDO’s LWR project. Stripping this out, the general budget cut will be 3.5 percent.
: South Korea says joint economic and humanitarian projects with the North will remain suspended until progress is made in talks on dismantling the DPRK’s nuclear weapons program.
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the DPRK’s ruling Workers Party of Korea (WPK), criticizes the ROK government for not allowing a radical pro-unification youth group to visit the North.
: The DLP delegation returns from the North to much flak, not least for not revealing that they had visited Mangyongdae, the birthplace of, and now a shrine to, North Korea’s founding leader Kim Il-sung.
: In Pyongyang the visiting DLP delegation meets Kim Yong-nam, who as president of the Supreme People’s Assembly Presidium is North Korea’s titular head of state. Kim reportedly offers to resume reunions of separated families.
: President Roh nominates a new security team. Presidential security adviser Song Min-soon is to be foreign minister. The new unification minister is Lee Jae-jeong. The new defense minister is Army Chief of Staff Kim Jang-soo, and Deputy NIS Director Kim Man-bok replaces Kim Seung-kyu as the ROK’s intelligence supremo.
: Kim Geun-tae, chair of the ruling Uri Party, criticizes Kim Seung-kyu for a newspaper interview in which he did not deny reports that he had been sacked and implicitly criticized successor Kim Man-bok as being too close to the ruling camp.
: DLP delegation leaves for Pyongyang on the first such visit since North Korea’s nuclear test.
: It is reported that North Korea is prepared to return to the six-party nuclear talks, in abeyance since November 2005.
: At a three-day meeting held at Mt. Kumgang, some 50 Southern and 30 Northern writers inaugurate the first joint writers’ association since the 1945 partition.
: Kim Seung-kyu, director of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), resigns abruptly. The Blue House vigorously denies that he was sacked for pursuing the aforementioned spy case.
: ROK Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, a cornerstone of the Sunshine Policy, offers his resignation after just 10 months in office.
: After raids on homes and offices in Seoul, prosecutors request arrest warrants for three men (later rising to five) on charges of spying for North Korea. Two have links with the hard-left Democratic Labor Party (DLP), which has 10 of the ROK National Assembly’s 299 seats. The DLP denounces this as a smear.
: ROK Defense Minister Yoon Gwang-ung, a key promoter of President Roh Moo-hyun’s military reform plans, tenders his resignation after two years in post.
: MOU says it will stop subsidizing some tourists to Mt. Kumgang – war veterans, students, and the disabled – but that tours will continue. Subsidies had fallen markedly in any case, from $22.5 million in 2002 to $3 million in 2004.
: Criticism by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill of South Korea’s Mt. Kumgang tourism project as sustaining North Korea is rebutted by senior Blue House security adviser Song Min-soon (soon to become ROK foreign minister).
: A 21-strong Southern group, including former foreign and unification ministers, flies to Pyongyang for a festival celebrating Yun I-sang on Oct. 18-19. (The late Yun [1917-95], Korea’s leading modern composer in the Western classical idiom, hailed from the South but embraced the North after he was persecuted and tortured.) The ROK group was to have been larger, but some 40 musicians and scholars, including conductor Chung Myung-whun, pulled out after the DPRK’s nuclear test.
: For the second time in three months the UN Security Council (UNSC) passes a unanimous resolution condemning North Korea, this time for its nuclear test. Resolution 1718 contains tougher sanctions than 1695, which followed the DPRK’s missile tests in July.
: Hyundai Asan reports that 31 percent of reservations for its tours to Mt. Kumgang were cancelled Oct. 10, the day after the North’s nuclear test. On Oct. 11 this rose to 48 percent. October is usually the most popular season for these trips.
: Love Call, a Southern NGO, sends 50,000 coal briquettes as scheduled by truck to Kosong on North Korea’s east coast. The group has sent 1.3 million briquettes to Kosong this year, and 60,000 to Kaesong.
: The ROK Ministry of Construction and Transportation (MCT) puts off indefinitely a sale of factory sites in the Kaesong industrial complex planned for later that month, citing uncertainty caused by North Korea’s nuclear test.
: A ship leaves ROK port of Incheon for the DPRK’s Nampo carrying 14 containers of aid from Korea YMCA and other NGOs.
: ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) reports that 2,195 South Koreans visiting the North at the time of its nuclear test – 1,448 tourists at Mt Kumgang, and 625 workers at the Kaesong industrial zone – are “safe and keeping their composure.” 13 Southern ships and 805 vehicles in the North were likewise not at risk.
: A group of ROK firms planning to set up in Kaesong says that “private investment should not be influenced by political, national and international affairs” – but calls on the government to protect them so that investors are not scared off.
: Pyongyang announces it has successfully carried out a nuclear test; the world denounces it. Seismic evidence confirms a test, but its exact size and degree of success are unclear.
: South Korea Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon is confirmed as the next United Nations secretary general, to succeed Kofi Annan on Jan. 1, 2007.
: North Korea announces that it has successfully completed an underground nuclear test. Seoul suspends emergency aid to North Korea due to the nuclear test.
: South Korea’s FM Ban is confirmed as next UN secretary general. He will succeed Kofi Annan Jan. 1, 2007.
: U.N. Security Council issues unanimous statement that a nuclear test would “jeopardize peace, stability and security in the region and beyond.”
: On the eve of election as UN secretary general, South Korea’s FM, Ban pledges to make North Korea a priority and to seek an early visit to Pyongyang, which Annan has not done in a decade.
: North Korea warns that it will carry out a nuclear test. South Korea and many others, including the U.S. and China, urge it not to.
: North Korea announces that it would conduct a nuclear test at an unspecified future date.
: At the North’s request, the first inter-Korean military talks since July’s missile tests are held at Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Pyongyang demands a halt to anti-communist activities by conservative ROK civic and religious groups, including sending messages across the border by balloon.
: Nine ROK lawmakers from several parties visit the DPRK’s Kaesong industrial zone, just across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), where 15 Southern firms employ 8,700 Northern workers to make export goods worth $6 million monthly.
: The first products are shipped from the main Kaesong complex: 40,000 pieces of underwear, worth 200 million won, made by Kaeseong Cotton Club whose factory was completed on Aug. 20. Quality is said to be better than Chinese products.
: U.S. Ambassador to Korea Alexander Vershbow tells Yonhap News that Assistant Secretary Hill could visit Pyongyang if the DPRK returns to the table.
: Unification Minister Lee announces that Seoul is suspending applications from local SMEs to set up in the Kaesong Industrial Zone.
: Robert Carlin, former chief U.S. diplomat, writes article emulating DPRK First Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok Ju to a meeting of North Korean diplomats.
: Presidents Bush and Roh hold a summit meeting in Washington.
: KCNA reports that Kim Jong-il provided field guidance at Mt. Kumgang, en route to inspecting front-line military positions.
: ROK Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok says that if Kim Jong-il were to visit China that it would be a “highly positive” move.
: Unification Minister Lee says that despite a “lull” in inter-Korean talks, the Kaesong Industrial Complex, Mt. Kumgang tour, economic cooperation, social-cultural exchanges, and inter-military communications are operating normally.
: Seoul dailies print claim by Kang Seok-ju, North Korea’s senior vice foreign minister and long-time chief nuclear negotiator, that Pyongyang has at least five nuclear weapons.
: President Roh announces that new approach was put to North Korea prior to the Bush-Roh summit.
: China’s top delegate to the Six-Party Talks, Wu Dawei, says in Seoul that Beijing supports President Roh’s new approach.
: Ban Ki-moon tells reporters that Seoul is reviewing an action plan in the case of a possible North Korean nuclear test.
: Media reports that Jang Keum-Song, Kim Jong-Il’s niece, committed suicide in Paris in August.
: The Kaesong Industrial Complex Management Committee (KICMC) agrees simplified entry and exit procedures with the North’s immigration office.
: Japan’s Kyodo News reports that Kim Jong-il has called China and Russia “unreliable” and that North Korea should overcome the international standoff over its nuclear and missile programs on its own.
: Eighteen North Korean refugees arrested in Thailand are flown to Seoul.
: North Korea threatens to quit armistice that ended the Korean War over the Ulchi Focus Lens exercise and considers the exercise an “act of war.”
: Police raid in Bangkok nets 175 North Korean refugees.
: ROK Foreign Ministry says it “has serious concerns about North Korea’s illicit activities, including counterfeiting,” and urging Pyongyang to “take steps to quell such worries in order to become a member of the international society.”
: U.S. and South Korea hold Ulchi Focus Lens exercises across the Korean Peninsula.
: Seoul announces larger-scale official support, to be channeled via the Red Cross: some 100,000 tons of rice and the same weight of cement, along with iron rods, excavators, and trucks, plus blankets and medical kits.
: Rim Tong-ok, North Korea’s point man on the South, dies at 70.
: After the North accepts a Southern proposal on Aug. 14 to meet, the two Koreas hold working-level Red Cross talks on flood aid at Mt. Kumgang. The North had originally rebuffed Southern and other offers of help.
: ROK FM Ban Ki-moon says it is deplorable that the DPRK is more than ever opting for isolation, and that “it is hard to say the prospects are bright.”
: ROK allocates $10.5 million for local NGOs assisting in the North.
: South Korea’s ruling Uri party proposes all-party meeting on flood aid to the North. Despite July’s missile tests, pressure for aid grows, with even the conservative opposition Grand National Party (GNP) calling on Seoul to assist Pyongyang.
: Choson Sinbo, a pro-DPRK daily published in Tokyo, reports official tally of July’s flood toll: 549 dead, 295 missing and 3,043 injured. An ROK Buddhist NGO, Good Friends, claims casualties and damage were far worse: 54,700 dead (many due to landslides); 2.5 million – over 10 percent of the population – rendered homeless; and wide destruction of crops in major rice-growing areas.
: North and South Korean soldiers exchange limited rifle fire at the DMZ.
: The North cancels joint Liberation Day celebrations in Pyongyang planned for Aug. 15, citing flood damage as the reason. Seoul says it believes this.
: South Korea, China, Japan, Russia, the U.S., Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, and New Zealand hold 5+5 Talks in Kuala Lumpur to discuss North Korea as well as other broader regional security concerns.
: At a regular meeting of the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee in Kaesong, the North’s chief delegate, Ju Dong-chan, calls for projects like the KIZ to continue “regardless of international conditions.”
: President Roh objects to U.S. hardline policy of “strangling” North Korea.
: North Korea notifies the South that it is withdrawing personnel from the Office of Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation (OIKEC) in Kaesong, meaning it can no longer operate as a venue for working-level consultations. Staff from the North’s National Economic Cooperation Federation will remain to facilitate joint ventures.
: ROK President Roh Moo-hyun calls Pyongyang’s missile tests “wrong behavior” that increased regional tensions, but warns against over-reacting to them.
: North Korea notifies South Korea that it would stop inter-Korean family reunions in response to the ROK halt of humanitarian aid.
: ROK government reaffirms plan, first decided in January, to enact a law to assist post-1953 abductees to North Korea; not only from a humanitarian viewpoint, but also in terms of the state’s duty to protect its citizens. It will not cover the much larger numbers taken North during the 1950-53 Korean War, nor earlier victims.
: DPRK Foreign Ministry calls UNSCR 1695 “brigandish.”
: ROK military source says an Army missile defense command will be formed later this year to counter threats from missiles and long-range artillery.
: UN Security Council adopts resolution 1695. The PRC signs on to a compromise resolution that condemns North Korea’s missile tests, but does not include Chapter 7 language originally endorsed by Tokyo.
: Typhoon Ewiniar batters North Korea, causing severe damage.
: Opinion poll shows the number of South Koreans who say the ROK should support U.S. policy toward North Korea has risen from 20 percent in 2002 to 37 percent, while support for increased Southern aid to the North has narrowed from 59 percent to 54 percent.
: South Korea lodges a strong complaint against North Korea for firing Scud missiles that could reach any area of South Korea and urges it to return to the Six-Party Talks.
: The 19th Inter-Korean Ministerial talks held in Busan, South Korea.
: ROK President Roh reportedly calls North Korea’s missile tests “a political act demanding American concessions,” and likens U.S. financial sanctions against Pyongyang to the premodern practice of beheading a criminal before sending his case to the king. He also says that Japan “ended up helping North Korea” fire its missiles, blaming Tokyo for “making noise” on the issue instead of “stay[ing] composed.”
: Seoul’s comments on the Japanese draft of UNSC resolution condemning North Korea’s missile tests criticize Tokyo for “making a fuss” rather than condemn Pyongyang for its provocation.
: The South cancels a planned inter-Korean military liaison contact in protest at the North’s missile tests. Pyongyang had proposed the meeting on July 3.
: After the missiles tests, South Korean Unification Minister Lee says humanitarian aid to the North will be suspended indefinitely.
: Facing criticism that Seoul had been too sanguine about the prospect of a North Korean missile test, a Blue House spokesman admitted “some differences regarding the degree of caution in making a judgement” compared to Washington and Tokyo.
: North Korea launches seven missiles into the Sea of Japan, provoking a firestorm of international condemnation.
: North Korea bans South Koreans from visiting the historic city of Kaesong. Hitherto there had been trial tours, plus side-trips for those visiting the nearby Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC). Pyongyang still wants to replace Hyundai Asan, which has the contract for Kaesong tours, with a new partner, Lotte.
: ROK Army says it has recently removed 2,350 land mines from around military bases and border areas, including access routes to the GIZ.
: Meeting in Gaeseong, the two Koreas fail to agree on fielding united teams at international athletic events, including the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Further talks are expected in mid-July.
: Seoul announces that President Roh’s chief security advisor Song Min-soon will visit the U.S. next week to discuss how to resolve the crisis over the DPRK’s missile launch preparations and kick-start the six-way talks.
: ROK Vice Finance Minister Bahk Byong-won tells a forum in Seoul that the South will intensify technical assistance and training, especially in market economics and management, so as to expedite sustainable economic growth in the North.
: Kim Young-nam tells a disbelieving ROK press that he was not kidnapped but accidentally drifted to the North, where he stayed to get a free education.
: ROKs Korea International Trade Association (KITA) says inter-Korean trade rose by 34 percent in the first five months of 2006 to $428.63 million. Southern exports grew 35.4 percent to $264.97 million, while Northern exports rose 32.9 percent to $163.66 million.
: Kim Young-nam, believed to have been abducted by the North as a teenager off a Southern island beach, meets his mother for the first time since 1978 at Mt. Geumgang.
: South’s Red Cross says it will give its Northern counterpart $400,000, plus 10 buses and six cars, to expand the scale of family reunions by videolink.
: Jeong Se-hyun, former ROK unification minister who has led negotiations for Kim Dae-jung to revisit Pyongyang, says the trip will be postponed since the timing is not appropriate (a reference to reports that the North may test-fire a Taepodong missile).
: A 14th round of family reunions is held at Mt. Geumgang. Twice the usual scale, this allows two groups of 100 elderly persons each from both North and South to spend three days meeting long-lost relatives.
: An exhibition of 90 old Korean cultural treasures lent by the North opens at the National Museum of Korea in Seoul.
: Seoul press reports say the South is sharing TV coverage of the soccer World Cup in Germany with the North.
: Events to mark the sixth anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration are held in Gwangju, ROK as arranged, with a 147-strong Northern delegation attending. The South reportedly presses concern that the DPRK may test a long-range missile.
: U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow is among 76 Seoul-based envoys who visit the Gaeseong Industrial Zone, with ROK Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon.
: Sohn Hak-kyu, retiring governor of the South’s Gyeonggi Province (greater Seoul) and a moderate presidential contender for the opposition Grand National Party (GNP), leads a 100-strong team to inspect Northern farms aided by his province.
: The 12th Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee is held in Cheju. A nine-point agreement, effective “when necessary conditions improve” (meaning rail tests), includes Southern agreement to send the North raw materials worth $80 million for its light industries.
: The Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO)’s board formally terminates its project to build two light-water reactors at Geumho on the DPRK’s northeast coast. This in effect renders the KEDO consortium itself moribund.
: Further talks on Kim Dae-jung’s Northern visit fix the dates as June 27-30, but fail to agree on his mode of transport and the size of his entourage (the South wants 90).
: The North sends a telegram cancelling crossborder train test runs the day before they are due, pleading the lack of a military guarantee and “unstable conditions” in the South. An angry ROK dismisses this excuse as “preposterous.”
: Meeting in Gaeseong, the two Koreas agree on most details at their June 15 concelebrations. Two chartered DPRK aircraft will fly 150 Northerners to Gwangju June 14, with various sports and cultural events before they return home June 17.
: Economic talks in Gaeseong reportedly narrow differences on proposed inter-Korean cooperation in developing the North’s light industry and natural resources. They also finalize crossborder test train runs, set for May 25.
: Meeting at Gaeseong, the two Koreas agree that ROK former President Kim Dae-jung will visit Pyongyang for four days in late June. Precise dates and mode of transport are still to be agreed, with the North resisting Kim’s wish to travel by rail.
: Ground is broken in the Gaeseong Industrial Zone for a factory apartment complex, costing $22 million, to house 40 small ROK firms and be ready in June 2007. The 200 guests include the South’s commerce, industry and energy minister, Chung Se-kyun. His ministry, MOCIE, brokers 16 deals for Gaeseong-based SOEs to supply major chaebol like Samsung Electronics and auto parts maker Hyundai Mobis.
: A fourth round of meetings between generals, held at Panmunjeon in the DMZ, makes no progress on crossborder security issues. The North wants to redraw the maritime border in the West (Yellow) Sea, which the South will not entertain.
: Han Wan-sang, head of the ROK Red Cross, leads 40-strong delegation from hospitals and pharmaceutical firms to Pyongyang to discuss medical aid and cooperation. He delivers medical supplies and equipment worth $3.9 million.
: After two days of talks in Gaeseong, North and South agree to hold long-delayed test runs on two reconnected crossborder railways on May 25.
: ROK Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok visits the Gaeseong Industrial Zone for the first time, with a 160-strong delegation from business and government.
: Working talks on economic cooperation, held in Gaeseong, fail to reach agreement.
: Meeting in Gaeseong, North and South agree to jointly celebrate the June 15 Joint Declaration’s sixth anniversary in the ROK’s southwestern city of Gwangju, with 150 delegates from each side. The 61st anniversary of liberation from Japanese rule in 1945 will be concelebrated in the DPRK around Aug. 15.
: ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) tells National Assembly it will send 200,000 tons of fertilizer to the DPRK between mid-May and mid-July, at a cost of ROK 77 billion won ($81 million); and will consider giving a further 100,000 tons.
: Both Koreas’ Red Cross bodies agree to mark the sixth anniversary of the June 15 Joint Declaration with a 14th round of family reunions, twice as large as usual, involving 200 families from each side. Two more video reunions will be held in August.
: The delayed 18th inter-Korean ministerial talks are held in Pyongyang. After overrunning by several hours, they produce an eight-point joint statement containing little either concrete or new.
: An ROK NGO, Korean Foundation for World Aid, says it will send about 10 Southern farmers with rice seeds up to twice a month for joint rice farming on some 800 hectares in the DPRK village of Sukchon (population 6,000) in South Pyeongan province.
: A telegram from the DPRK Red Cross reiterates a request for 300,000 tons of fertilizer. The North had asked for 450,000 tons; the South agreed to send 150,000 tons, and finished shipping this April 10. Last year it sent 350,000 tons (having been asked for 500,000 tons), as well as 500,000 tons of rice.
: The ROK says postponed 18th round of North-South ministerial talks will be held in Pyongyang from April 21-24.
: Farmers’ organizations from both Koreas discuss how to implement the June 15 joint declaration in the DPRK city of Gaeseong.
: Inter-Korean talks on fielding unified teams for upcoming sporting events, such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, fail to agree. These are held on the sidelines of the 15th general assembly of the Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) in Seoul, which a four-member DPRK delegation is attending.
: ROK’s Cultural Heritage Administration says 20 Southern specialists will survey tombs of the Goguryeo Kingdom (37BCE-668CE) in the DPRK, registered last year as world heritage sites with UNESCO, with Northern colleagues April19-May 2.
: ROK President Roh Moo-hyun urges a meeting of Southern business bodies to invest more in the North. They ask for more certainty on the Gaeseong project.
: Chung Il-yong, president of the Journalists’ Association of [South] Korea, says that some South Koreans went North voluntarily, and that it can be impossible to determine the truth about abductions. There are calls for him to apologize or resign.
: The North’s Korean Anti-Nuke (sic) Peace Committee criticizes the South for its alleged clandestine plans to develop a nuclear-powered submarine.
: ROK President Roh Moo-hyun urges a meeting of Southern business bodies to invest more in the North. They ask for more certainty on the Kaesong project.
: Chung Il-yong, president of the Journalists’ Association of [South] Korea, says that some South Koreans went to the North voluntarily, and that it can be impossible to determine the truth about abductions. There are calls for him to apologize or resign.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Shin Un-sang says ROK proposed April 20 as a date for postponed ministerial talks, but the North has yet to respond.
: ROK DM Yoon Kwang-ung warns that North Korea must give up nuclear weapons before a permanent peace treaty on the Peninsula can be discussed.
: ROK Korean Resources Corp (KoRes) says it will import its first DPRK iron ore in May, from a mine developed with a Chinese firm. It also announces an investor meeting April 28 in Pyongyang to raise Southern interest in Northern minerals.
: ROK Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok deplores tacking other issues on to North Korea’s nuclear problem. This is thought to refer to U.S. financial concerns.
: JoongAng Ilbo says South Korea is wary of China’s rising influence in the North, even if it serves to reduce the threat from Pyongyang.
: ROK’s national museum announces an agreement with its DPRK counterpart to exhibit 90 of the latter’s “significant cultural treasures” in Seoul in June.
: ROK Trade Minister Kim Hyun-jong attends groundbreaking for a $20 million water treatment facility in the Kaesong zone. Jointly built, it will supply 60,000 tons of water from a DPRK reservoir 17 km away to both the zone and Kaesong city.
: ROK Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok signs an agreement with Lee Jong-wook, director general of the World Health Organization (WHO), to give WHO $20 million over two years for maternal and infant health programs in North Korea.
: A DPRK elite family, possibly diplomats or other state officials, arrive in Seoul after defecting via the ROK embassy in Budapest, Hungary on March 22.
: Rodong Sinmun warns “South Korean warhawks” that the RSOI-Foal Eagle exercises, “collusion with foreign forces,” could jeopardize Mt. Kumgang tourism.
: KNTO, the ROK state tourism body, is running tour packages that include both Koreas from Beijing and Vladivostok. There is no travel across the DMZ.
: Korea Times reports that ever more Northern defectors are turning to crime, due to financial hardship and inability to adapt to life in South Korea.
: After seeing the musical Yoduk Story, ex-ROK President Kim Young-sam (1993-98) denounces the DPRK as the world’s most despotic country, and says there will be no true peace on the Peninsula as long as Kim Jong-il lives.
: ROK Unification Ministry admits expressing “regret” for the press row, so as not to jeopardize the family reunions, but insists it did not admit fault or apologize.
: The semi-official Yonhap News Agency reports that the ROK will publish its biennial defense white paper in September. As in 2004, this will no longer label the DPRK as the “main enemy.”
: The ROK’s human resources agency says it will open a $16.4 million skill center in the Kaesong zone in June, to train 4,000 DPRK workers in 13 job areas.
: ROK Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon says the DPRK seems to be signalling a wish to return to Six-Party Talks and break the deadlock with the U.S.
: Northern officials physically prevent a ROK journalist at Mt. Kumgang from filing a dispatch referring to an “abductee,” and demand that he leave. The row delays the return home of 99 elderly Southern family members. In protest, the entire ROK press corps leaves the next day. The second phase of reunions is held during March 23-25 without further incident
: A Northern physician, who defected last year, tells a human rights forum in Seoul that the DPRK routinely kills babies with physical disabilities to “purify the masses.” The New Right Union calls on the ROK government to actively protest such abuses.
: A U.S.-funded meeting on DPRK human rights, held at the European Parliament in Brussels, hears testimony from defectors. It is picketed by 90 ROK leftists, protesting that human-rights agitation is a U.S. ploy to block peace on the Peninsula.
: The 13th round of reunions of separated families since 2000’s inter-Korean summit is held at the North’s Mt. Kumgang resort.
: UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres visits China, the first UNHCR head to do so in nine years. He calls for DPRK asylum seekers in China to be protected. China reiterates that they are illegal immigrants, not refugees.
: South Korea formally opens two new immigration and customs offices on its side of the DMZ, serving the Kyongui (west) and Donghae (east) road-rail corridors.
: Yoduk Story, an unlikely musical written by a defector and set in the DPRK gulag, opens in Seoul. It becomes a surprise hit, and the run sells out.
: First inter-Korean trade union meeting in three years, held in Kaesong, reaches no concrete agreement but agrees that workers must promote reunification.
: North unilaterally postpones 18th round of ministerial talks set for March 28-31, protest routine U.S.-ROK military exercises due at the same time.
: DPRK merchant ship Kanpaeksan starts loading 5,000 tons of fertilizer in the ROK port of Kunsan. It is the first Northern vessel to enter a Southern port since October.
: South Korean farmers say they plan to set up a rice bank in May, to assist North Korea and Southern paupers. They hope to deliver via the new cross-border railway.
: The first general-level military talks since 2004, held at Panmunjom in the DMZ, fail to agree on either maritime or land border security issues.
: 37 DPRK ice hockey players and officials visit the ROK side of Kangwon province (bisected by the DMZ) for friendly matches, the first event of its kind.
: In Kaesong, the ROK hands over war memorial Bukgwandaecheopbi, erected in 1707, but seized by Japanese troops in 1905. Japan returned it to Seoul last October.
: 124 Seoul-based foreign journalists visit the Kaesong industrial zone.
: 575 Koreans from 40 separated families on each side are temporarily reunited by videolink. Each family gets two hours.
: The 11th working-level contact on road and railway reconnection is held in Kaesong. Despite Southern hopes of test train runs in March, no progress is made.
: After a meeting in Kaesong, officials from Kwangju say the ROK city will host a unification festival in June, with 1,100 participants from both Koreas.
: South Korea agrees to send the North 150,000 tons of fertilizer. Shipments begin Feb. 28.
: At the seventh Red Cross talks at Mt. Kumgang, the DPRK for the first time agrees to work toward confirming the fate of persons missing during and since the Korean War. Both sides agree to a special (perhaps larger) family reunion in June, plus two more video reunions in June and August, with 60 families instead of the usual 40.
: North Korea sends a thank you on the completion of delivery of last year’s provision of 500,000 tons of rice by South Korea.
: 99 ROK ambassadors visit the Kaesong industrial zone.
: The year’s first meeting of the ROK National Security Council (NSC), adopts six key tasks for 2006, the foremost being to construct the basis for a peace mechanism on the peninsula.
: For the sixth time in sporting events since 2000, both Koreas’ athletes march together at the opening ceremony of the Turin Winter Olympics.
: Lee Jong-seok takes office as ROK minister of unification.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo reports that inter-Korean trade in January rose 27 percent year-on-year to $63 million.
: Four lawmakers of the ROK’s ruling Uri party visit Pyongyang and meet senior officials. Their ostensible main purpose is to discuss academic exchanges between think-tanks. The group’s leader, Rep. Lim Chae-jung, denies being an envoy for ex-President Kim Dae-jung, who has said he hopes to revisit the DPRK capital this year.
: The two Koreas agree to resume high-level military talks soon, after a 21-month hiatus.
: As usual at this season, North Korea asks the South to send fertilizer: 150,000 tons now, and 300,000 tons later on.
: MOU reports that South Korean visitors to the North more than tripled from 26,213 in 2004 to 87,028 in 2005. This excludes 298,247 ROK tourists to the North’s Mt. Kumgang resort, up 11 percent.
: Yang Hyong-sop, presidium vice chairman of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), proposes a unification festival to mark the sixth anniversary of the June 2000 inter-Korean Summit.
: Working-level talks held in Kaesong, the fourth since October, reach no agreement but narrow differences over mining and light industry projects.
: The Korean War Abductees’ Family Union files two suits against the ROK government: for negligence in failing to find South Koreans taken to the North during the 1950-53 Korean War, and for refusing to enact a bill to restore the honor of those so abducted who were civil servants.
: The last 57 South Korean workers at the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO)’s light-water reactor project site are evacuated from Sinpo, DPRK to Sokcho, ROK. They have to leave behind equipment worth $45 million.
: Lee Sung-woo, an ROK missionary, says that construction of a new church for foreigners in Pyongyang, approved in 2004, is being delayed because DPRK authorities now want his group to renovate the capital’s existing Chilgol church instead.
: MOU reports that inter-Korean trade in 2005 reached a record $1.05 billion.
: The North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) says that a petition from ex-DPRK spies who served long prison terms in the South, seeking billions of dollars compensation for suffering at the hands of ROK military regimes, was handed to Southern authorities that day at Panmunjom. Three days later, four ROK fishermen who escaped after years of abduction say they will counter-sue for $1 billion each.
: A survey of ROK conscripts finds that 60 percent see little or no risk of war on the Peninsula. 37.5 percent take little pride in being a soldier, while 63.2 percent say North Korea should be viewed more as a partner than an enemy – although vigilance should be maintained.
: A ton of rice from a model farm in Ryongsong, Pyongyang, aided by the ROK’s Kyonggi province, arrives at Incheon. This is the first Northern rice sent South since flood aid in 1984. During 2005 South Korea gave the North 500,000 tons of rice.
: The ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) says that since early December it has supplied some 60,000 tons of coal to residents of Kaesong, DPRK. Last winter South Korea provided 20,000 tons of coal briquettes and 10,000 stoves.
: ROK President Roh Moo-hyun nominates Lee Jong-seok, long influential as deputy chief of the National Security Council (NSC), as new unification minister.
: President Roh appoints Lee Jong-seok, long influential as deputy chief of the National Security Council, as the new unification minister.
: Former ROK President Kim Dae-jung restates his hope to revisit Pyongyang in 2006, adding that he hopes to make the trip by train.
: Minister Chung tenders resignation to President Roh Moo-hyun.
: ROK Information and Communications Minister Chin Dae-je is one of 340 guests attending KT’s opening ceremony to launch telecom services in KIZ.
: ROK driver hits three Korean People’s Army (KPA) soldiers at Mt. Kumgang, killing one. The DPRK hands him over to ROK authorities for prosecution.
: ROK buys land and signs a contract to build a $19 million training center in the Kaesong industrial zone (KIZ). When completed a year hence, this will train up to 30,000 DPRK workers annually in 30 lecture rooms and 57 “exercise rooms.”
: Some 50 officials from each side attend the opening of the Kaesong office of the DPRK’s General Guidance Bureau for central special economic zone development (GGB). The office’s 30-odd staff will deal with labor provision, tax and other issues.
: A survey on Dec. 6-7 shows 47 percent of South Koreans approve the current level of aid to the North. 18 percent want this increased, 26 percent want it cut, and 7 percent want it to stop.
: The ROK Construction Ministry says it will increase imports of Northern sand from 3.5 million cu. m in 2005 to 6 million cu. m in 2006, and extend the source of supplies from rivers near Kaesong to include the east coast.
: In the first ever such case, the ROK allows a 2,000-ton DPRK oil tanker to shelter from heavy seas at an islet port north of Jeju.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Lee Jong-bo attends ceremony in Jeju to mark the province’s shipping 10,000 tons of tangerines and carrots to the DPRK.
: MOU and Hyundai Asan announce a $4.8 million subsidy, which will allow up to 16,000 schoolteachers and pupils to visit Mt. Kumgang over the holidays.
: The 17th North-South ministerial talks are held in the ROK’s island province of Jeju. An eight-point joint press statement breaks little new ground.
: Minister Chung visits the Kaesong industrial zone, with four of his predecessors and a 57-strong business delegation.
: Freedom House, a U.S. NGO given U.S. government funds for that purpose, sponsors a major conference in Seoul on North Korean human rights. Attendees include U.S. special envoy Jay Lefkowitz. The ROK government keeps its distance, but is accused by delegates of perpetuating DPRK abuses by its silence.
: A third video reunion briefly links 151 South Koreans from 40 families with 104 Northern relatives, while 133 Northerners see 173 of their Southern kin.
: Talks at Kaesong on forming a unified Korean team for the 2006 Doha Asian Games and the 2008 Beijing Olympics fail. They will meet again in February.
: New U.S. Ambassador Alexander Vershbow characterizes North Korea as “a criminal regime.” ROK Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon urges linguistic sensitivity.
: MOU says that some 1,130 North Koreans reached the South this year so far, bringing the total of defectors to 7,430. Supporting them costs $50 million annually.
: Ten ROK inspectors go North to monitor distribution of the South’s rice aid. Five leave for Heungnam on Nov. 26, and another five for Nampo on Nov. 28.
: A second round of video-link reunions is held, briefly connecting 40 families from each side.
: ROK National Assembly passes MOU’s amendments to the 1990 Act on Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation, easing regulations for visiting the DPRK.
: ROK is one of 62 member states to abstain when the UN General Assembly passes by 84-22 an EU-sponsored resolution critical of DPRK human rights.
: ROK Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Committee approves supply of 60,000 tons of coal to Kaesong city from now until February.
: The U.S. Department of Commerce grants KT (Korea Telecom) an export license for materials it needs to launch a telecom service in the Kaesong industrial zone.
: The 12th separated family reunions since 2000 are held at Mt. Kumgang. A total of 589 South Koreans and 323 Northerners participate.
: A GNP lawmaker reveals an MOU blueprint to invest 5.25 trillion won in restoring the North’s economy through 2010, if the nuclear issue is resolved.
: In Macau for the fourth East Asian Games, North and South Korean sports delegations agree to field a unified team for the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar and the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Details will be thrashed out at a meeting in Kaesong Dec. 7.
: The 11th meeting of the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee (ECPC) is held at the new Office of Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation in the Kaesong industrial complex. Despite prior working-level consultations Oct. 17, 20-21 and 25-26, no concrete progress is made and no date is set to meet again.
: ROK inspectors monitor distribution of the South’s rice aid at two sites in Wonsan on Oct. 23, and two places in Nampo on Oct. 31.
: The Forum for Inter-Korean Relations, a coalition of ROK NGOs, says that most of the 1,000-odd Southern firms to have done business with the North have given up or gone bankrupt. FIKR calls on Seoul to take the initiative in future over business dealings with Pyongyang, and to insist that Hyundai’s rights be restored.
: The North’s Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee calls for Kim Yoon-kyu’s reinstatement, accuses Hyundai of “improper behavior,” blames the GNP for interfering, says it will seek other partners for tourism to Kaesong, and threatens to review and “readjust” all undertakings with Hyundai.
: ROK forms a nine-member civilian team – four accountants, three from NGOs, and two academics – to monitor transparency in spending inter-Korean funds.
: After 18 years, South Korea completes its $380 million Peace Dam on the upper Han River. This is now seen as guarding against the collapse of the North’s Imnam dam upstream, rather than any deliberate bid to flood Seoul as originally conceived.
: ROK Prosecutor General Kim Jong-bin resigns in protest after Chun Jung-bae, the justice minister, in an unprecedented intervention, forbids the prosecution to detain sociologist Kang Jeong-koo while investigating him for alleged pro-North views.
: The GNP proposes an inter-Korean special economic zone, to include Haeju and Kaesong in the North and with Paju in the South as its hub. It criticizes the ROK government for not raising human rights and other sensitive topics with the DPRK.
: MOU reveals that Seoul has formally proposed building more inter-Korean industrial zones like Kaesong, but that Pyongyang has yet to offer any response.
: Vice Minister Rhee says the North has for the first time agreed to discuss an agenda in advance for the next inter-Korean economic meeting. Working-level talks will be held in Kaesong next week. Rhee also says the ROK has formed a task force to draw up a roadmap for comprehensive economic cooperation with the DPRK.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo says a contract signed in 2000 by Hyundai, granting it exclusive rights to seven business fields in the North, remains valid.
: Hwang Seon, a Southern unification activist visiting for the Arirang show, gives birth to a baby girl in Pyongyang: the first South Korean to be born in the North.
: Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), says the two Koreas hope to field a unified team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
: Park Geun-hye, leader of the ROK’s opposition GNP, says she opposes repatriating some 28 former DPRK spies unless the North also releases about 540 Southern POWs and 480 civilian abductees whom it is believed to be holding.
: MOU denies media reports that state funds for inter-Korean cooperation, totaling $500,000, were among monies allegedly embezzled by Kim Yoon-kyu. But it confirms a claim by Lee Hahn-koo, a lawmaker of the GNP, that Hyundai received a total of 140 billion won ($130 million, then) since 2003.
: Kim Yoon-kyu, dismissed in August as chief executive officer of Hyundai Asan, is sacked as vice chairman of Hyundai.
: A meeting in Kaesong agrees procedures for family reunions via video-link.
: ROK Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon clarifies that any future provision of a light water reactor (LWR) to the DPRK would not be an extension of the project by KEDO (Korea Peninsula Energy Development Organization).
: ROK FM Ban Ki-moon clarifies that any future provision of a light-water reactor (LWR) to the DPRK would not be an extension of the project by Korea Peninsula Energy Development Orgnization (KEDO) to build two LWRs in the North.
: Along with foreign tourists, 7,203 South Koreans fly to Pyongyang on nearly 100 direct flights from Seoul during October for one-night tours to see the Arirang mass games.
: The ROK repatriates via Panmunjom the body of Chung Song-taek, a North Korean spy who served 31 years in Southern jails until 1989. He died of cancer Sept. 29, age 84. This is the first such inter-Korean repatriation of remains.
: The first jointly managed inter-Korean venture is inaugurated in Pyongyang, with $5 million each from the ROK’s Andong Hemp and the DPRK’s Saebyol. Pyongyang Hemp Textile Co plans to grow hemp in 8 Northern provinces and hire 172,000 workers on farms and in textile and paper plants. 170 businesspeople fly in from Seoul for the opening, followed by the first Northern investor relations seminar for Southern companies.
: The first jointly-run inter-Korean company is inaugurated in Pyongyang, by ROK’s Andong Hemp and the DPRK’s Saebyol. Pyongyang Hemp Textile Co.
: A study by Hyundai Research Institute claims resolution of the nuclear issue would reap gains of some $55 billion for the DPRK and $115 billion for the ROK.
: Hyundai for the first time details its charges against ex-CEO Kim Yoon-kyu, accusing him of abusing corporate funds worth over $1 million.
: MOU says four Northern merchant ships will dock in two Southern ports next day, to collect some of the 500,000 tons of rice aid pledged earlier.
: ROK activists announce a conference on DPRK human rights, jointly with and funded by Freedom House of the US, to be held in Seoul on Dec. 8-11.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo says that a new joint office to handle crossborder business projects will open in the KIZ on Oct. 25.
: Vice Minister Rhee says Seoul will continue to send food aid to the North, but this cannot replace foreign food aid, which Pyongyang says it no longer needs.
: ROK invites the family of Chung Soon-taek – one of 29 unconverted DPRK spies who served long prison terms in the South, dying of cancer – to visit him. [Editor’s note: The South returned Chung’s body via Panmunjom Oct. 2.]
: The first inter-Korean consultative meeting on maritime transportation cooperation is held in Kaesong.
: ROK presidential panel, chaired by Pres. Roh, says Seoul should take the lead in resolving the North’s nuclear issue and developing the Six-Party Talks into a regional northeast Asian community and a “multilateral security-economy entity.”
: ROK Cabinet agrees to raise next year’s defense spending 9.8 percent to 22.8 trillion won ($22 billion). The semi-official news agency Yonhap cites the MND as saying this is “to beef up its war capability against North Korea.”
: Daily charter flights from Seoul to Pyongyang begin, organized by civic groups, for sightseeing and to view the North’s Arirang mass games spectacular. About 3,000 Southerners are expected to make the trip by mid-October, when Arirang finishes.
: Northern defector radio station in Seoul releases pictures of a female refugee being beaten at the China-DPRK border. Critics claim the shots were faked.
: Korea Resources Corp (Kores), an ROK parastatal, says it aims to open an office in Pyongyang this year to pursue joint venture projects in minerals.
: The South’s Research Council on Unification Affairs delivers a first batch of 900 bicycles for workers at the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
: Rodong Sinmun attacks the ROK’s main opposition Grand National Party (GNP) as “a wicked group of sycophantic traitors… blinded with flunkeyism,” and warns that if the GNP “is allowed to come to power” this will lead to nuclear war.
: The Unification Ministry says 50,000 South Koreans (excluding tourists) visited the North in the first 8 months of 2005, as against 20,600 in the whole of 2004.
: The ROK Foreign Ministry (MOFAT) says that China has arrested 64 South Koreans since 2001 for abetting DPRK refugees. 15 remain in custody.
: The 5,000-strong Seoul Bar Association criticizes human rights abuses in North Korea at its first ever symposium on the topic. The ROK’s National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), hitherto silent on this subject, discusses it on Sept. 26.
: Unification Minister Chung tells ROK National Assembly that energy aid to the North, to compensate if it dismantles nuclear programs, may cost $15 billion over 13 years, including $9.4 billion for direct electricity provision by Seoul.
: ROK civic groups announce plans for over 4,700 Southern tourists to visit Pyongyang to see the Arirang mass games (previously off limits) during Sept. 26 – Oct. 5. The first group flies into the Northern capital on Sept. 26.
: The six-party nuclear talks in Beijing ends with, at last and for the first time, a 6-point agreed statement of principles, including a pledge to meet again for a fifth round in early November.
: MOU reports that inter-Korean trade in the first eight months of 2005 rose 60 percent from the same period last year, up from $432 million to $691 million.
: Two five-member teams of ROK officials inspect two sites where Southern rice aid is being distributed.
: ROK’s Lotte Tours says it has been approached by the DPRK to take over the proposed new tours of Kaesong city from Hyundai Asan.
: The recessed fourth round of Six-Party Talks resumes in Beijing.
: The 16th round of inter-Korean Cabinet-level talks held in Pyongyang. A six-point press release contains little new. Much time is spent trying to mediate the DPRK’s row with Hyundai Asan over personnel changes in its tourism business.
: MOU publishes revisions to the ROK’s law on inter-Korean exchange and cooperation, effective Dec. 1. Their general gist is to facilitate contacts with the North.
: The heads of both Koreas’ Olympic committees, in Guangzhou for an OCA (Olympic Council of Asia) meeting, agree in principle to field a unified team for the 2006 Asian Games to be held in Doha, Qatar.
: The 100-strong New Seoul Opera Company performs a historical opera about King Kwanggaetoe of the Koguryo kingdom at Pyongyang’ Ponghwa Arts Theater.
: A second inter-Korean broadcasting discussion meeting at Mt. Kumgang sees 74 participants from the South and 30 from the North, with parallel sessions on programming and technical issues. They agree to continue exchanges and cooperation.
: MOU reports that since 1971 the two Koreas have held a cumulative total of 498 rounds of talks. Of the 139 since the June 2000 summit, 26 were political, 33 military (mainly in fact about trans-DMZ railways), 56 economic, and 24 humanitarian or athletic.
: A sudden surge of water down the Imjin river damages Southern fishing nets and other facilities. When Seoul protests, Pyongyang claims this was caused by overflows rather than discharging from its dams, of which it has agreed to give notice to the South.
: MOU rebuts charges from various critics that ROK food aid to the DPRK is not transparent, and so undermines UN World Food Program (WFP) monitoring.
: 20 DPRK athletes, with 124 teenage cheerleaders, visit for 16th Asian athletics championships held at Incheon. The cheerleaders give three performances.
: Over five years after it was first mooted, a ground-breaking ceremony for a separated family reunion center is held in Jopo town, Onjong-ri, Mt. Kumgang. It will have 13 stories and accommodate up 1,000 guests. Construction will take 20 months.
: The North suggests changing the venue of the 16th ministerial talks from Mt. Paekdu to Pyongyang, citing bad weather, which has delayed “pavement works” on the runway at Samjiyon Airport. The South accepts on Sept. 1.
: The 11th reunion of separated families is held at Mt. Kumgang. A total of 908 members of 198 families meet briefly over a three-day period, in two batches.
: Two Southern sand-carrying ships enter the Northern port of Haeju. These are the first ROK-flagged vessels to dock in the DPRK for commercial purposes.
: A first working-level consultative meeting on light industries and natural resources cooperation, held in Pyongyang, ends without agreement. The South says it will pursue holding a second round in September, but this has yet to take place.
: Southern pop singer Cho Yong-pil performs at Pyongyang’s Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium. The 2-hour concert is broadcast live on TV in both Koreas.
: The 6th inter-Korean Red Cross talks are held at Mt. Kumgang. For the first time the North agrees to discuss those “missing” (i.e., abducted, or POW retained) in the 1950-53 Korean War. No progress is made.
: 20 members of ROKs leftist Democratic Labor Party (DLP), led by leader Kim Hye-kyoung, visit Pyongyang. Their schedule includes joint discussions with the DPRK’s Social Democratic Party (SDP), a nominally independent front party.
: Hyundai Asan fires CEO Kim Yoon-kyu for alleged corruption. North Korea reacts by halving the firm’s daily quota of tourists to Mt. Kumgang from 1,200 to 600 from Aug. 29, and searching its chairperson, Ms Hyun Jeong-eun, on a visit.
: Hyundai Asan reaches an agreement to take three 500-strong pilot Southern tour groups to the DPRK’s Kaesong city on Aug. 26, Sept. 2, and Sept. 7.
: First ever inter-Korean agricultural cooperation meeting held in Kaesong. A detailed 7-point agreement envisages a wide range of aid and joint projects in the North’s farming and forestry, starting in 2006. No date is fixed for a second meeting.
: MOU reports that inspections of the two new trans-DMZ railways took place as scheduled this week. The western Kyonggi line is almost ready, but the eastern Donghae line needs more work. Signals are behind schedule.
: DPRK delegates lunch at the Blue House with ROK Pres. Roh Moo-hyun, before flying back to Pyongyang.
: Northern delegates tour the ROK National Assembly and visit former ROK Pres. Kim Dae-jung in the hospital, inviting him to revisit the DPRK as he did in 2000. The North wins the inter-Korean women’s soccer match, 2-0.
: Further joint events held on Liberation Day, including a visit to a prison where patriots were jailed and tortured during Japanese occupation before 1945.
: First-ever pilot video reunion of separated kin briefly links 40 families in Pyongyang with relatives in Seoul, Pusan, Taegu, Inchon, Suwon, Taejon, and Kwangju.
: 182 North Koreans, led by Korean Workers’ Party (KWP) Secretary Kim Ki-nam, fly into Seoul. The 17-strong DPRK government delegation pays respects at the ROK national cemetery. Other events include a peace march and a men’s soccer match, which the South wins 3-0.
: The South announces schedule for joint Aug. 15 Grand National Festival, to be held in Seoul Aug. 14-17 with 182 DPRK participants. Events are to include soccer matches, a concert, a “grand unification march” and other festivities.
: ROK watchmaker Romanson holds a completion ceremony for its factory in the KIZ. “Unification watches” are exchanged.
: ROK Defense Ministry (MND) says both Koreas have set up and tested their first ever inter-military hotline (both telephone and fax), as agreed earlier.
: Fifth round of working-level contact for maritime cooperation, held at Munsan, establishes procedures (including a hotline) for DPRK merchant ships to use the Cheju Strait between the ROK province of Cheju and the mainland. On Aug. 12 the hotline opens and the first Northern ships transit the strait, three days ahead of schedule.
: After almost a fortnight failing to agree even a statement of principles, the Six-Party Talks recess for consultations. They plan to reconvene at the end of August.
: ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) reports that as of July 26 4,000 North and 400 South Koreans are working at the Kaesong industrial complex. Four firms have completed their factories, with a further eight expected to do so in August.
: Nine economic agreements (road, rail and marine transport, customs, quarantine, entry, and dispute arbitrations) are formally put into effect by an exchange of documents at Panmunjom.
: ROK’s Korea Electric Power Corp (Kepco) holds an opening ceremony for its branch in the Kaesong industrial zone, to which Kepco is supplying electricity.
: The 5th working-level consultative meeting on road and railway reconnection reaches 6-point agreement in Kaesong. After inspections in August and security checks, opening ceremonies for two relinked railways will be held “around late October.”
: A fourth round of Six-Party Talks – both Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia – on the North Korean nuclear issue, the first in over a year, opens in Beijing.
: Delivery of the South’s rice aid begins. 100,000 tons is to be sent overland, on 100 28-ton trucks crossing the border four times a week until November. The remaining 400,000 tons will go by ship to five Northern ports, commencing July 30.
: 67 DPRK soccer players arrive in the ROK for the second East Asian soccer tournament (the two Koreas, China, and Japan).
: Meeting in Kaesong, the two Koreas’ soccer associations reach an 11-point agreement to hold inter-Korean soccer matches in Seoul on Aug. 14 and 16.
: A working-level consultative meeting for fisheries cooperation agrees to propose a joint fishing zone in the West (Yellow) Sea, security authorities permitting.
: Third working-level meeting for inter-Korean general-level military talks, held at Panmunjom, agrees to resume removal of propaganda at the DMZ, begun last year, and “complete the destruction job by Aug. 13.” A military hotline will open Aug. 10.
: Inter-Korean exchange and cooperation promotion committee, chaired by Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, confirms that the South will send the North 500,000 tons of rice costing $155 million, among other items.
: Hyun Jeong-eun, chairperson of the Hyundai group, meets Kim Jong-il and gains permission to open new Southern tourist routes to Kaesong city and Mt. Paekdu.
: ROK Red Cross sends 3,000 emergency aid kits (blankets, clothing, soap etc.) for flood victims to its Northern counterpart, delivered by train to Kaesong.
: Working-level talks held in Kaesong on a pilot plan to let separated families see each other by video link. To this end, a crossborder fiber optic cable linking Kaesong to Munsan in the South is laid on July 18.
: The 10th meeting of the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee (ECPC) is held in Seoul. The South agrees to supply 500,000 tons of rice, nominally on a loan basis.
: The South delivers 2,000 tons of fertilizer aid by rail to Kaesong daily. The remaining 130,000 tons, recently agreed to be sent, is being conveyed by sea.
: There is surprise in Seoul at the inclusion of Ryonbong, a DPRK enterprise that is Pyonghwa Motors’ joint venture partner, among eight companies named on an order signed by President Bush on June 29 freezing the U.S. assets of alleged WMD proliferators. Two other North Korean firms, Tanchon bank and Changgwang, are also listed.
: Unification Minister Chung leaves for a hastily arranged trip to Washington, to brief U.S. officials on his talks with Kim Jong-il and the North-South ministerial meeting. He hopes to persuade skeptics of the merits of engaging the DPRK.
: ROK Unification Ministry says it has offered a 7-point aid package to the DPRK, which could begin even before the nuclear issue is resolved. Some of this has been under discussion with the North since January.
: Antonio Guterres, new UN High Commissioner for Refugees, says he wants “constructive dialogue” with Beijing on North Korean fugitives in China. He adds that “the first principle is that refoulement [forced return] cannot be accepted.”
: DPRK boxers win all bouts, against ROK, Japanese, and U.S. opponents, at a World Boxing Council Female (WBCF) match in Pyongyang. The WBCF is newly created by Park Sang-kwon, an ROK businessman linked to the Unification Church who also runs Pyonghwa Motors, which assembles Fiat cars at Nampo. Critics say the WBCF is divisive.
: ROK Maritime Ministry says it will remove 3 km of a 68 km barbed wire coastal fence in Kangwon province on the east coast south of the DMZ, to make beaches more user-friendly. It adds that closed-circuit TV suffices to guard the coast.
: GNP leader Park Geun-hye calls on North Korea to address humanitarian issues, including the return of ROK POWs and abductees, in return for aid from the South.
: South Korea says it will send an additional 150,000 tons of fertilizer to the North, starting today.
: SJ Tech, an ROK firm that makes gaskets at Kaesong, describes reports that one of its managers wants to marry a Northern colleague as “exaggerated.”
: In a speech on the 55th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, President Roh warns that North Korea’s nuclear ambitions are the peninsula’s biggest threat.
: Paju city, north of Seoul, announces a peace festival to run Aug.1-Sept. 11. Highlights include a French illusionist who will make the DMZ disappear.
: DPRK ministerial delegation flies back to Pyongyang. Han Wan-sang, president of the ROK’s Red Cross, returns to Seoul after his talks in Pyongyang.
: South Korean officials say the North has asked for 500,000 tons of rice aid. This will be discussed at a joint economic committee due to meet in Seoul on July 9-12. On June 27, the UN World Food Program (WFP) warns that North Korea will soon cut its daily food ration from an already inadequate 250 grams to 200 grams.
: The DPRK delegation to the ministerial talks, led by Kwon Ho-ung, a senior Cabinet Councillor, meets President Roh at the Blue House in Seoul.
: Ministerial talks closed with a 12-point joint statement, pledging not only to resume most previous channels of North-South cooperation but to set up new ones.
: 33 North Korean delegates arrive in Seoul for 15th ministerial talks since the June 2000 summit. The last meeting was held in May 2004. Their Air Koryo plane returns to Pyongyang carrying Han Wan-sang, president of the ROK’s Red Cross, for talks.
: South Korea’s Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon says U.S. officials agree on the need for a “positive tone” toward North Korea and to avoid “trivial remarks.”
: An opening ceremony is held for Pyongyang Lions Ophthalmic Hospital, attended by the DPRK’s health minister and ROK and international Lions Club officials. The $8 million, 76-bed facility was funded by Lions Clubs in South Korea and worldwide. The largest eye hospital in North Korea, with 100 staff, it will open its doors in July.
: Minister Chung has unscheduled meeting with Kim Jong-il. The dear leader pledges to resume family reunions and military and maritime talks, and hints at returning to the Six-Party Talks.
: Yoon Hong-joon, head of ROK cultural heritage administration, issues a statement apologizing for having sung the theme song of “Nameless Heroes,” a DPRK film series lauding its spies during the Korean War, at a banquet in Pyongyang on June 14.
: The head of the visiting ROK delegation, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, meets Kim Yong-nam, president of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) and titular head of state.
: Two Southern delegations, one of 295 civic leaders and the other of 40 current and former officials, fly from Seoul to Pyongyang in separate planes. An opening ceremony for the summit’s fifth anniversary is held in Kim Il-sung Stadium.
: Former President Kim Dae-jung tells a conference in Seoul that the 2000 summit was “very successful” until 2002 when “U.S.-DPRK relations fell into stalemate.”
: Kang Chol-hwan, a DPRK gulag survivor and author, now a journalist in Seoul, is invited to the Oval Office to meet President George W Bush, who read his book.
: Hyundai Asan says it is building a golf course at Mt. Kumgang on a former military base, to include the world’s longest par seven fairway at 1,014-yards. It will also develop 109 km of coast up to Wonsan as a “huge resort belt.” ROK tourists will be able to drive their own cars across the DMZ and camp at Mt. Kumgang as early as this summer.
: President Roh flies to Washington for a single 3-hour meeting (including lunch) with President George W Bush. North Korea is on the menu.
: Ri Jong-hyok, vice chairman of the DPRK’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, attends a concert at Mt. Kumgang to mark the millionth ROK tourist brought by Hyundai since its project to develop the Northern east coast resort began in 1998.
: Citing U.S. hostility, North Korea asks South Korea to slash its delegation for the fifth summit anniversary to 30 officials and 190 civilians. They compromise.
: The mayor of Inchon, Ahn Sang-soo, flies to Pyongyang with a 42-person delegation on a plane provided by the DPRK, to pursue city-level exchanges. Ahn proposes that a road be built linking Inchon to Kaesong, to facilitate exports from its industrial zone.
: Both Koreas agree that the South will send 70 officials and 615 civilians to Pyongyang to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the North-South joint declaration.
: Head of the ROK presidential committee on balanced national development says that South Korea plans to help two Northern cities, Pyongyang and Wonsan, plus four zones: Kaesong, Sinuiju, Rajin-Sonbong, and Mt. Kumgang.
: Shinwon, an ROK apparel maker, stages the DPRK’s first Western-style fashion display at its Kaesong plant to showcase its spring collection, partly made there.
: North Korea agrees that foreign buyers may access Southern factories in the Kaesong industrial zone from Seoul, by crossing the DMZ. A German buyer visits Living Art, a kitchenware maker, by this route shortly afterward. Pyongyang also approves a joint concert at Hyundai’s Mt. Kumgang resort on June 8, to mark its millionth Southern tourist.
: A DPRK merchant ship, the first of three, docks in Ulsan to load fertilizer. These are the first Northern vessels to visit Southern ports since 1984, when North Korea delivered aid after floods in South Korea.
: An inter-Korean student meeting is held at Mt. Kumgang. The 70 ROK delegates, who join over 400 from the DPRK, include the current chair of Hanchongryun, a student federation still banned in the South as pro-North. Southern conservatives protest.
: Cheil Communications reveals that Cho Myong-ae (23), a leading North Korean traditional dancer who has performed in Seoul, is shooting a four-part commercial for Samsung’s Anycall mobile phones in Shanghai. Her fee was not disclosed.
: Vice ministerial talks take place in Kaesong: the first high-level official inter-Korean dialogue in 10 months. They agree to hold a 15th round of Cabinet-level talks in Seoul in June. The South will send the North 200,000 tons of fertilizer, starting May 21.
: South Korea asks the North to discuss the return of a monument taken to Japan in 1905. Tokyo has agreed to return it if the two Koreas can agree on terms.
: ROK Unification Ministry publishes statistics on inter-Korean transactions.
: ROK joint chiefs of staff intelligence head tells lawmakers that Kilju on the northeast coast, and 6-7 other areas in the DPRK, are being monitored for signs of nuclear test preparations.
: ROK National Intelligence Service says 26,213 South Koreans (not including tourists) visited the North last year, up 72 percent from 15,280 in 2003.
: ROK deputy foreign minister says Seoul sees no sign that North Korea is preparing for a nuclear test.
: KT (Korea Telecom), the leading ROK fixed-line telecoms operator, says it has signed a €164,000 contract with the DPRK’s Samcholli Corp. to develop two sorts of software. It claims that North Korea’s voice-recognition technology is the world’s best.
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of the DPRK’s ruling Korean Workers Party (KWP), accuses the ROK of preparing for war by taking arms from the U.S., and calls this a “double-dealing trick reminding one of a peddler crying wine and selling vinegar.”
: Three ROK agriculture ministry officials, with eight support staff, cross the DMZ for talks in Kaesong on containing the DPRK outbreak of bird flu. This is the first official government-level inter-Korean meeting since July 2004.
: Kim Yong-nam, the DPRK’s titular head of state, twice meets ROK Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan at the Asia-Africa Summit in Jakarta. They agree to resume inter-Korean dialogue, suspended for almost a year.
: In what is claimed as the first ever joint statement by Northern and Southern political parties since the Korean War, ROK Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and DPRK Social Democratic Party (SDP) accuse Japan of reviving militarism. A week later, after a three-day meeting at the North’s Mt. Kumgang resort, the two parties say that their leaders will meet in Pyongyang in July, another first.
: ROK Unification Ministry says it has officially agreed to North Korea’s request to protect the copyright of DPRK literary and artistic works in South Korea. An earlier agreement to this effect, signed in 1991, had never been implemented.
: ROK National Assembly Committee watches a video of a public execution in North Korea, despite objections by lawmakers of the ruling Uri party who question its authenticity.
: South Korea agrees to give equipment and materials worth 26 billion won ($25 million) to build six stations in North Korea on reconnected rail lines.
: ROK Unification Ministry says it plans legal revisions to permit bigger borrowings abroad to fund eventual larger-scale economic cooperation with DPRK.
: In Germany, President Roh says that “the possibility of North Korea’s collapse is very low” and South Korea “has no intention to encourage it.”
: South Korea says it will discuss aiding the North with its bird flu outbreak in talks at Kaesong on April 22, and will ship related equipment to Nampo immediately.
: For the third consecutive year, the ROK abstains when the UN Commission for Human Rights in Geneva (UNCHR) passes a resolution condemning DPRK human rights abuses, sponsored by Japan and EU member states, by 30 votes to 9.
: In Germany, ROK President Roh Moo-hyun says that “serious aid” to the North Korean economy will only be possible when the nuclear problem is resolved.
: North Korea requests equipment and veterinary supplies after South Korea offers to help contain an outbreak of bird flu.
: ROK Ministry of National Defense says it is considering armed robots to patrol the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). If feasible, they could be in place by 2011, allowing troops to be redeployed away from the border. This could cost $1.9 billion.
: With DPRK permission, for the first time since the 1950-53 Korean War, two ROK helicopters fly over the DMZ, near the east coast, trying to put out a forest fire.
: President Roh stresses ROK role as a “balancer” to establish peace and prosperity in Northeast Asia.
: Joongang Ilbo reports that GNP has drawn up proposal for a “peace accord” between DPRK and ROK, recognizing DPRK as a legitimate entity.
: ROK invites DPRK to discuss containing the spread of bird flu while UN says DPRK is being “open and transparent” and is willing to cooperate with them.
: ROK bars secret video of DPRK’s public execution of prisoners.
: ROK delegation visits Kaesong in bid to restart talks between the DPRK and ROK. Since August 2004, relations other than those dealing with the two countries’ joint economic projects have been suspended.
: Donga Ilbo reports that U.S. handed secret information to ROK on DPRK’s export of uranium hexafluoride (UF6) to Libya in early March but Seoul denies DPRK-Libya nuclear deal.
: GNP urges relaxation of bars to contact with the DPRK, and that this should be delinked from the nuclear issue.
: Conservative daily Chosun Ilbo reports a study by the U.S. Congressional Research Service claims that payments by Hyundai to the DPRK – $600 million for Mt. Kumgang tourism, plus a secret $500 million, during 1999-2003 – probably helped fund North Korea’s highly enriched uranium program.
: MOU says ROK will ease regulations on inter-Korean trade.
: ROK Minister Chung says DPRK should have no expectation of receiving fertilizer aid from Seoul unless Pyongyang resumes bilateral talks.
: North Korea again claims to have boosted its nuclear arsenal. It protests U.S.-ROK military exercises.
: The first inter-Korean copyright agreement is signed at Mt. Kumgang.
: ROK supplies electricity to Kaesong, the ROK’s first power transmission across the border.
: Reports in Seoul claim thousands of hens were slaughtered after a suspected outbreak of bird flu at a chicken plant in Pyongyang. Porky Trading, an ROK firm, puts on hold plans to import 2,000 tons of DPRK chicken.
: In Washington, Park Geun-hye, leader of the ROK’s conservative main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), calls on the U.S. to “initiate more concrete and realistic proposals” to persuade North Korea back to the six-party process.
: DPRK says U.S.-ROK military exercises are “acts of aggression.” The U.S. is planning RSOI and Foal Eagle joint military exercises in the ROK March 19-25.
: Unification Minister Chung says that while the U.S. is South Korea’s ally, North Korea is its brother. The comment was a response to criticism by Rep. Henry Hyde about the ROK Defense Ministry decision to stop designating the DPRK as a “main enemy.”
: Shinwon, an ROK apparel maker, ships some 1,000 shirts made at its plant in Kaesong, becoming the second Southern firm to send goods across the DMZ.
: Yo Won-gu, chairperson of the DPRK’s National Unification Democratic Front rejects an ROK presidential medal and stipend recently bestowed on her late father Yo Un-hyong.
: Korea Customs Service says products manufactured at Kaesong in DPRK will be labeled “Made in Korea.”
: ROK President Roh Moo-hyun will not send special envoy to DPRK while Pyongyang refuses to participate in Six-Party Talks.
: South Korean watchmaker Romanson holds a groundbreaking ceremony for it $15 million factory in Kaesong that will employ 570 North Korean workers.
: South Korea’s Koguryo Research Foundation says it has agreed with the North’s Academy of Social Science to jointly investigate a tomb near Pyongyang, as well as to cooperate on “actively correcting Korean history.”
: UN WFP releases fourth nutrition survey of North Korean children, again showing high rates of wasting and stunting; ROK study reports that one in 10 school students in Seoul is overweight.
: Seoul newspapers report that Pyongyang brand and other North Korean cigarettes are catching on: they typically sell for 50 percent less than Southern brands.
: Rodong Sinmun attacks as “an intolerable insult” proposals in Seoul to update its Chungmu plan on how to respond to any sudden change in North Korea.
: ROK will increase its donation to the Inter-Korean Economic Fund by 300 percent $496 million to support, facilitate, and complete businesses with DPRK.
: FM Ban says DPRK will be granted direct talks with U.S. if it returns to the Six-Party Talks on its nuclear program.
: President Roh stresses no change in ROK position on DPRK nuclear issue, saying “we will solve the problem through dialogue and will not tolerate DPRK’s possession of nuclear weapons.”
: Minister Chung says Seoul will do its best to finish connecting the east coast cross-border railroad by the end of this year.
: Kim Jong-il tells senior Chinese visitor that the DPRK will return to the Six-Party Talks “if there are mature conditions.”
: Some 40 scholars, poets and politicians from both Koreas, meeting at Mt. Kumgang, agree to compile the first unified Korean dictionary in half a century.
: ROK FM Ban says ROK will not start any more “large-scale” economic projects with DPRK until the nuclear crisis is resolved.”
: DM Yoon claims 542 ROK prisoners of war are still alive in DPRK.
: DPRK calls for U.S. troop withdrawal from the Korean Peninsula as a precursor to restarting Six-Party Talks; Minister Chung claims it is too early to classify North Korea as a nuclear state without an actual nuclear detonation.
: DPRK Foreign Ministry announces that its participation in the Six-Party Talks is suspended indefinitely in response to Secretary Rice’s reference to the DPRK as the “outpost of tyranny.” Also says it has “manufactured nukes for self-defense.”
: ROK Unification Minister Chung says Seoul will actively consider supplying fertilizer – if North Korea returns to joint economic talks.
: South Korea sends 180 tons of coal briquettes and 400 heaters to Kaesong, making a total of 20,000 tons of briquettes and 10,000 heaters.
: ROK defense White Paper drops designation of DPRK as “main enemy” for the first time in a decade. Pyongyang takes umbrage at being labelled a “substantial military threat.”
: DPRK’s 1,095-page legal codebook goes on sale in the ROK.
: ROK and DPRK navies accuse each other of crossing the NLL.
: ROK expresses “regret” at China’s repatriation to the DPRK of Han Man-tack, 72, a Southern POW illegally held in the North for half a century.
: Construction begins on electricity lines at Kaesong Industrial Park.
: ROK seizes two North Korean crewmen as their barge drifted into South Korean waters.
: Seoul receives permission from Pyongyang for search and rescue mission of a South Korean cargo ship, Pioneernaya, which sank off the DPRK coast.
: Executives of the Korean Broadcasting Service (KBS) visit Kaesong to negotiate co-production of “Sayukshin,” a historical drama, with North Korea. A day later, KBS’s rival MBC sends a team to Beijing to discuss similar cooperation.
: North Korea’s Red Cross requests 500,000 tons of fertilizer from the South.
: The North refuses to let Southern doctors and officials enter Kaesong for the opening ceremony of an ROK-built hospital. A day later, Pyongyang puts off delivery of 5.4 million Southern coal briquettes for Kaesong, which it had earlier requested.
: MOU tallied South Korean humanitarian assistance to the North in 2004 at $256 million, up 63 percent from 2003. Most ($141 million) was nongovernmental: much of it for April’s explosion in Ryongchon.
: Four ROK legislators travel to China on a four-day fact finding mission to investigate the kidnapping of ROK pastor, Kim Dong-shik five years ago.
: A Seoul court orders the state to pay 1 million won ($1,000) damages to a German-Korean professor, Song Du-yul, convicted last year of being a North Korean agent, for unreasonably handcuffing and binding him during his detention.
: A Southern NGO claims, but the government denies, that Kim Dong-shik, a South Korean pastor believed abducted from China to North Korea in 2000, is dead.
: South’s Unification Ministry (MOU) admits that progress on the 486 South Koreans abducted by North Korea since 1953 has been “insufficient,” but denies conniving with the North to cover up this issue.
: Rodong Sinmun comments the DPRK will never give up its nuclear activities unless U.S. gives up policy of war against the DPRK.
: ROK Unification Minister Chung Dong-young reveals the South will tighten procedures in accepting “DPRK defectors” to weed out ethnic Koreans in China, spies, and criminals. A survey shows that 11 percent of defectors have criminal records.
: Rodong Sinmun, daily paper of North Korea’s ruling Korean Workers’ Party (KWP), demands the abolition of the ROK’s National Security Law (NSL) and condemns the Southern opposition Grand National Party (GNP) for opposing this step.
: ROK’s Korea Container Terminal Authority says it has plans to develop North Korean Nampo port in a joint venture with Kookyang Shipping Co. and Dongnam Shipping Co.
: Chosun Ilbo reports Chairman Kim Jong-il’s favorite bottled water, Mount Myohyang Mineral Water, will be available for consumption in the ROK. The first shipments have arrived at Incheon Port and are being inspected.
: Yonhap News reports ROK will help subsidize private company investments in North Korean infrastructure. The Ministry of Unification expects to revise rules for Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund and implement them later this month.
: A DPRK patrol boat threatens five times to fire warning shots at an ROK vessel. Each was 10 kilometres behind the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the marine border that North Korea has never officially recognized.
: ROK Unification Ministry tallies the year’s total of North Korean defectors at 1,890, up 48 percent from 2003. Two-thirds (1,167) are female.
: An opinion poll finds that only 32 percent of South Koreans support NGOs who try to help North Koreans defect, while 62 percent oppose this; 50 percent back official policy toward the North.
: Korea Telecom says that, after eight months of talks, it has agreed on providing telephone service to the KIZ. Call rates will not exceed 50 cents per minute.
: DPRK KCNA calls U.S. a “disturber of inter-Korean economic cooperation” for restricting ROK technology transfers to the Kaesong Industrial Zone.
: ROK Foreign Ministry names Song Min-soo to replace Lee Soo-hyuck as chief negotiator at the six-party nuclear talks. If and when these reconvene, four of the six delegations – all except North Korea and Russia – will have new heads.
: The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) blames the Southern government for the rupture in North-South ties, accusing it of systematically harming relations by various actions over the past two years.
: DPRK website dismisses GNP’s new Northern policy as “a group of pro-American traitors and fascists opposed to democracy” who are stirring “anti-north confrontation.”
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Rhee announces tighter procedures for future defectors, including intensified screening and reduced resettlement grants.
: South Korea says that it will, as usual, send 100,000 tons of corn to the North via the World Food Program. This will be purchased in China, costing $24 million.
: Four North Koreans seek asylum at the French mission in Hanoi, having allegedly been turned away by the South Koream embassy there.
: Seven North Koreans, including a female polio victim and a child, seek sanctuary in a Japanese school in Beijing. 29 took the same route in September.
: Seoul court awards damages of W104 million to the widow of Lee Han-young, nephew of Kim Jong-il’s ex-consort Song Hye-rim, who defected in 1982 and was murdered in 1997 – by presumed DPRK agents. The court blamed the government for not protecting him.
: Livingart’s first 1,000 saucepan sets, the first products to be made in the KIZ, sell out in Seoul in two days. The next batch of 2,800 hits the shops on Dec. 29.
: Four North Koreans take refuge in a South Korean school in Beijing.
: In his first visit to North Korea, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young leads a 380-strong Southern delegation to the KIZ for a ceremony to mark the first production of goods by an ROK firm, Livingart, in the KIZ. He is cold-shouldered by the DPRK’s far more junior delegation head, and Northern media do not report his presence.
: Seoul’s Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) reveals that Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) inflated its 2000 earnings by Won 1.2 trillion. It is suspected that this relates to further secret payments to Pyongyang before the June 2000 summit, beyond the W223.5 billion which HMM has already admitted sending.
: ROK FM Ban criticizes the Chinese embassy in Seoul for threatening an opposition lawmaker who chairs an NGO group aiding DPRK refugees in China.
: Hudson Institute’s Michael Horowitz causes shock waves at a conference in Seoul when he likens ROK policy on North Korea to “making love to a corpse.”
: It is agreed that Kepco, South Korea’s state electricity provider, will supply 15,000 kilowatts of power per hour across the DMZ to the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) from January.
: ROK government reveals that a former DPRK army sergeant who defected last year is being probed on suspicion of spying after making an illicit trip to North Korea.
: A meeting of both Koreas’ Red Cross officials at Mt. Kumgang agrees to hold a site survey for a planned but delayed family reunion center on Dec. 10-21. There is no schedule to hold further reunions, of which there have been none since July.
: After interviewing three DPRK defectors in Seoul, Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre says he is convinced that North Korea tests lethal gases for weapons on prisoners. ROK government claims there is no firm evidence.
: ROK Vice Unification Minister Rhee Bong-jo and others take part in an event at the Mt. Kumgang resort to mark the sixth anniversary of Southern tourism there. They deny having any contact with senior DPRK officials during their three-day visit.
: Opposition lawmakers criticize ROK Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung for saying that he plans not to name North Korea as “main enemy” in next year’s defense white paper. Owing to controversy over this term, first used in 1995, no white paper has appeared since 2000.
: Hwang Dae-soo, a DPRK interpreter in Vladivostok, seeks asylum at the ROK consulate after a year in hiding, only to be met with curses. When officials learn this exchange has been taped (via a hidden cellphone), he is allowed to come to Seoul, arriving on Dec. 18.
: South Korea announces plans to ban access to some 31 DPRK websites, at police request, under the National Security Law (whose own repeal is being hotly debated.) The ban is implemented – somewhat erratically – later in the month, amid widespread protests.
: Officials in the ROK island province of Cheju say they will ship 10,000 tons of tangerines to North Korea. Since 1998 Cheju has donated 25,000 tons of the fruit to the DPRK, plus 6,000 tons of carrots. In return, two planeloads of Cheju tourists have visited Pyongyang.
: Rodong Sinmun, the daily paper of North Korea’s ruling Korean Workers’ Party (KWP), brands Southern contingency plans in case of a DPRK collapse (see Oct. 4) as “perfidy.”
: A defector organization in Seoul publishes “Names Lost To NK Gulags,” a list of 617 persons believed to be detained currently or since the 1970s in North Korean prison camps. They include a former ROK officer who defected across the DMZ to the North in the 1970s.
: Chinese police arrest 63 DPRK migrants and two ROK activists in pre-dawn raids on two apartments in Beijing. The North Koreans are believed to have been deported soon after.
: Fourteen North Koreans try to enter the ROK consulate in Beijing. Eleven make it, but three are caught by Chinese guards.
: Twenty-Nine North Koreans seek sanctuary in a South Korean school in Beijing.
: A 230-strong Southern delegation crosses the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) to the North’s Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) for the opening ceremony of the Kaesong Complex Management Committee, legally a DPRK corporate body, but staffed by 30 ROK officials.
: President George W. Bush signs the North Korean Human Rights Act into law. The DPRK has attacked this as a plot to bring down its regime. The ROK government is also uneasy, regarding the Act as unhelpful and potentially destabilizing.
: ROK Unification Ministry says inter-Korean trade in the first nine months fell by 3.3 percent from 2003, to $492 million. ROK imports fell by 8.6 percent to $176 million, while exports were steady at $316 million. Most of the latter ($248 million) was aid, up 15 percent.
: A report by the ROK Unification Ministry says 70 percent of DPRK defectors in the South are living in poverty. It attributes this to their unfamiliarity with capitalist culture.
: The South returns five Northern fishermen who had drifted into its waters, two via Panmunjom, and three at sea. All had asked to go home, and the DPRK Navy had radioed asking for ROK help in rescuing and repatriating them.
: Twenty North Koreans seek refuge in the South Korean consulate in Beijing, which later closes due to the pressure of hosting some 130 defectors awaiting clearance to go to Seoul.
: South Korea’s Red Cross warns that, due to the chill in inter-Korean ties, it cannot guarantee the usual 100,000 tons of fertilizer this fall (in addition to 200,000 tons already sent in spring). It relents two weeks later, and delivery is completed Dec. 21.
: Military officers from both Koreas meet for the first time in three months to discuss cross-border road and rail links. At the border, USAF Maj. Gen. Thomas P. Kane predicts that within a year cross-border road traffic could see 1,000 movements daily in either direction.
: Chung Moon-hun, a lawmaker of the ROK opposition Grand National Party (GNP), reveals secret Southern contingency plans in case of DPRK regime collapse and mass defections.
: South Korea’s Defense Ministry (MND) says 2005 defense budget is likely to be 20.8 trillion won ($17.3 billion), 9.9 percent increase. It had sought a 12.6 percent rise, to strengthen capabilities against North Korea. (The proposed budget equates to the North’s entire GNP.)
: Amid signs that North Korea may be preparing a missile test, ROK Foreign Minister Ban, meeting Secretary of State Powell in New York, warns the DPRK that any such launch would impact negatively on inter-Korean ties, including Kaesong.
: ROK’s commerce, industry and energy ministry (MOCIE) confirms that 107 tons of sodium cyanide (which can make nerve gas), exported to China without permission, ended up in North Korea. The Southern exporter was sentenced to 18 months in jail.
: MOU announces that the ROK state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea (Exim) will insure Southern investors in the North for between 90 percent (Kaesong) and 70 percent (elsewhere) of any losses in case of agreements broken, remittances blocked, wealth confiscated, war, etc.
: South Korea’s ruling Uri party and two small opposition parties, the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) and Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), agree to submit a joint bill to abolish the National Security Law (NSL), the cornerstone of anticommunism since the ROK was founded in 1948. Inter alia, the NSL defines North Korea as “an anti-state body.”
: A ceremony to mark the completion of an ROK office in the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) is called off after the North bars 11 lawmakers of the main opposition GNP. It later relents, and the event is rescheduled for Oct. 21.
: First Hyundai Asan shuttle bus takes workers from Seoul to Kaesong. After two months of daily test runs, a full shuttle service across the DMZ will begin later this year.
: South Korea says the North’s mushroom cloud may just have been a weather formation. Seoul media deplore the shortcomings of their country’s intelligence.
: South Korea approves four more firms – making apparel, kitchenware, plastics, and machinery – for the KIZ first phase, bringing the total to 11. Four more await the results of U.S.-ROK negotiations on possible exemptions for Kaesong of strategic goods whose export to regimes deemed threatening is normally restricted under the Wassenaar Arrangement.
: South Korea says it is consulting with KEDO on how to compensate ROK firms’ losses due to the halted construction of two light-water reactors in North Korea. KEPCO, the lead contractor, has already disbursed $8 million to subcontractors to this end. The North has banned the removal of equipment from the Kumho site.
: An MOU source says that removal of propaganda installations along the DMZ has stalled and is unlikely to resume while the North continues to boycott inter-Korean dialogue.
: Sources in Seoul claim that a large mushroom cloud was seen over northern North Korea three days earlier. The ROK unification minister rules out a nuclear test.
: North Korea’s Foreign Ministry says it “cannot help but link” recent revelations of nuclear transgressions by South Korea with six-party talks on its own nuclear activities. Adding that, “we can’t give up our nuclear plan at all under such circumstances,” the North calls for a “thorough and transparent” investigation.
: MOST admits earlier unauthorized nuclear experiment in 1982; this time extracting plutonium, and again said to be by scientists acting on their own.
: Representatives of ROK Democratic Labor Party (DLP) travel to Mt. Kumgang to meet with delegates from the DPRK’s Social Democratic Party (SDP), in what is billed as the first inter-Korean meeting of political parties.
: Lawmakers from South Korea’s ruling Uri Party express concern over the North Korean Human Rights Act currently before the U.S. Congress, which they fear may adversely affect inter-Korean reconciliation.
: South Korea’s science and technology ministry (MOST) admits that ROK scientists enriched some uranium in 2000. It claims this was done without the government’s knowledge or authorization, so was not reported at the time to the IAEA.
: South Korean and U.S. officials agree on what kinds of possible dual-use equipment are allowed to be brought into the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) by Southern companies.
: North Korea boycotts the 10th session of the inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee (ECPC), due to be held in Seoul.
: U.S. and ROK forces hold annual joint exercise “Ulchi Focus Lens,” whose aim is to strengthen deterrence against North Korea. The latter protests, as usual.
: Athletes from both Koreas march together in the opening ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games, as in Sydney in 2000.
: ROK police prevent DPRK defector Kim Deok-hong from holding a press conference at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents Club. In an internet conference, he repeats his claim that since last May, several anti-government underground organizations are active in the North.
: North Korea denies reports that Kim Kwang-bin, said to be its top nuclear scientist, has defected, as allegedly claimed by South Korea’s Unification Ministry.
: North Korea boycotts 15th inter-Korean ministerial talks, due to be held in Seoul Aug. 3-6. South Korea expresses regret and urges the North to return to the talks.
: ROK Unification Ministry reports that inter-Korean exchange visits were up 74 percent in the first half of 2004 over the same period last year. 9,545 South Koreans went North, not including the 82,444 tourists to Mt. Kumgang; while 321 DPRK citizens visited the South.
: ROK Red Cross informs DPRK counterpart of plans to send more aid to help rebuild Ryongchon, the scene of a huge explosion in April.
: The North denounces the Vietnam refugee airlift as “systematic and planned allurement and abduction and a crime of terror committed in broad daylight.”
: A second airlift from Vietnam brings the total of defector arrivals to 468.
: Amid tight media restrictions, over 200 North Korean refugees fly into a Seoul military airport from an unnamed Southeast Asian country (in fact Vietnam).
: Northern and Southern NGO delegations fail to agree on holding the usual joint Liberation Day celebrations Aug. 15.
: A scheduled third working-level head delegates’ meeting for the military talks is cancelled as the North fails to respond.
: A cross-party group of 86 ROK lawmakers submits a bill to the National Assembly to revise the Law on Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation. This would let South Koreans just inform the government of contacts with North Koreans rather than having to seek permission.
: The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) reports that in the first half of this year inter-Korean trade grew 21 percent to $325 million. South Korea imported goods worth $116 million from the North, mostly agro-fisheries and textile products; while shipping $209 million worth, mostly chemicals and textiles.
: The two Koreas agree that 100,000 tons of this year’s rice “loan” from South to North will be sent overland via the Kaesong and Donghae corridors. Transportation begins July 20. The remaining 300,000 tons, which South Korea is to buy abroad, will arrive by sea.
: DPRK patrol boat crosses the Northern Limit Line (NLL) in pursuit of Chinese poachers, but retreats minutes later after an ROK vessel fires warning shots.
: A 10th round of family reunions is held at Mt. Kumgang. A select 100 from one side meets a larger number of kin from the other side in successive 3-day sessions.
: North Korea notifies the South by telephone that it will not attend the fifth inter-Korean maritime cooperation working-level contact, set for July 13-15 in the ROK.
: South Korea introduces new procedures for approving joint projects and visits to the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ).
: North Korea’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland (CPRF) denounces South Korea for banning a Southern condolence delegation from visiting the North to mark the 10th anniversary of the death of the DPRK’s founding “great leader,” Kim Il-sung.
: Working-level military talks in Kaesong agree to keep open their new wireless communications to prevent accidental clashes in the West Sea, and to start the second phase of removing propaganda at the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). South Korea says the hotline has worked normally since July 1, and that the North promised to respond to messages in future.
: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visits Seoul and meets President Roh Moo-hyun. He continues to Pyongyang, where he meets Kim Jong-il.
: Some 29 of the GNP’s 121 National Assembly members visit Mt. Kumgang. North Korea refuses to talk to them, but they join a 1,000-strong party for the reopening of a hotel refurbished by Hyundai Asan, at which the DPRK for the first time now allows North Koreans to work.
: A row erupts in Seoul over the decision of a presidential commission to classify three North Korean agents, who died in Southern jails in the 1970s after refusing to renounce communism, as fighters for democracy against military rule.
: The 10th working contact for relinking roads and railways ends at Mt. Kumgang. A 5-point agreement is signed, covering: designs for constructing stations on the newly connected sectors of the Seoul-Sinuiju and Donghae railroads, future schedules, supply of road safety materials necessary for road opening in October, and technical assistance for railroad and road works in signals, communications, and electricity systems.
: ROK and DPRK foreign ministers meet at ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Jakarta, and issue a joint statement. Seoul reportedly seeks to exchange liaison offices.
: Chung Dong-young takes office as South Korea’s new unification minister.
: A ground-breaking ceremony is held at the Kaesong Industrial Zone for the first pilot phase of the project. 350 dignitaries from both sides attend.
: In a mini-reshuffle in Seoul, Chung Dong-young, ex-head of ruling Uri Party, is appointed unification minister, replacing Jeong Se-hyun who has held the post for two years.
: The floor leader of South Korea’s ruling Uri Party suggests a bipartisan visit to Pyongyang by leaders of Uri and Grand National Party (GNP), the conservative main opposition, which could lead to a North-South parliamentary meeting.
: Working talks on road and rail links are held at Mt. Kumgang.
: Working talks on road and rail links are held at Mt. Kumgang.
: Both Koreas’ central bank chiefs, Park Seung (ROK) and Kim Wan-soo (DPRK), meet for the first time in Basel at the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) annual assembly. Park had urged the BIS to invite North Korea to this meeting.
: A second-round working-level consultative meeting on construction of the Kaesong Industrial Zone is held in Kaesong in the DPRK. At the same time, a meeting of the two sides’ foreign trade banks initials an agreement on clearing payments.
: A third round of full six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue is held in Beijing, preceded by working talks on June 21-22.
: Propaganda loudspeakers on both sides of DMZ are switched off, as agreed.
: A 7-member DPRK delegation visits Seoul for the fourth anniversary of the June 2000 Pyongyang summit. Its head, Ri Jong-hyok, brings a message to President Roh from Kim Jong-il, prompting rumors that he may visit Seoul. A large-scale “Meeting of our Nation” is held in the ROK port of Inchon, uniting civic groups from both Koreas.
: For the first time, the ROK and DPRK navies share information about Chinese vessels fishing illegally in Korean waters in the West Sea (Yellow Sea).
: The ROK and DPRK navies communicate by wireless for the first time since the 1953 Armistice, in five areas near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), using standard international radio frequencies (156.80 and 156.60 MHz).
: Working-level military talks on the recent agreement are held at Kaesong.
: The two Koreas’ Red Cross bodies agree to hold 10th round of family reunions July 11-16.
: Koland selects the first 15 firms to set up in Kaesong Industrial Zone. They include a watchmaker, an apparel firm, and a kitchen and bath fixture manufacturer. Criteria for selection included financial soundness, labor-intensivity, and small scale.
: A second round of senior military talks held at the ROK’s Mt. Sorak; parties agree on steps to avoid sea clashes, including a hotline. They also agree that cross-border propaganda at the DMZ will cease, with all loudspeakers and signboards to be dismantled by Aug. 15. Separately, on June 3 both Korean navies trade accusations of intruding in each others’ waters.
: South Korean construction company imports 1,000 tons of sand from the North by truck across the DMZ, the first time any imports have been allowed overland.
: Ninth inter-Korean economic talks are held in Pyongyang. Agreements include to press on with cross-border roads and make test runs on two trans-DMZ railways in October; to set up a joint agency to run the Kaesong Industrial Park, headed by a South Korean; and for Seoul to “lend” 400,000 tons of rice. A maritime agreement is also signed, but has still to be ratified.
: Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, the ROK’s trade and investment promotion agency, reports that a Seoul businessman has set up an e-commerce site, NKMall, to sell DPRK farm produce in South Korea.
: North Korea announces six extra sets of regulations for the Mt. Kumgang tourist zone, bringing the total to eight. The latest rules cover foreign currency, labor, and advertising. An earlier set dealt with entry, residence and exit procedures, customs, and zone management.
: The first ever inter-Korean general-level military talks are held at Mt. Kumgang. The ROK proposes naval liaison, to avoid clashes; the DPRK calls for an end to propaganda.
: On Buddha’s birthday, South Korea amnesties six of those convicted last year of sending secret payments to Pyongyang before the June 2000 summit.
: Hyundai Asan hosts DPRK economic officials on a trip to special economic zones in Shanghai and Shenzhen, to learn lessons for the soon to open Kaesong Industrial Zone.
: The ROK Unification Ministry says the Mt. Kumgang tours made a slight profit in March and April, for the first time ever, as tourist numbers increased to around 16,000 per month.
: South Korea’s Constitutional Court dismisses the National Assembly’s motion to impeach President Roh, so reinstating him with immediate effect.
: An internet radio station in Seoul critical of the DPRK, run by Northern refugees, reportedly risks eviction after verbal and physical threats accusing its staff of being “unpatriotic.”
: Six-party working group meetings held in Beijing.
: North Korea finally allows a South Korean aid convoy to cross the DMZ by land. Its cargo of school supplies is handed over to the North in Kaesong.
: 14th inter-Korean ministerial meeting held in Pyongyang. The sole item agreed is to hold direct military talks, a key ROK demand, and to meet again in August.
: ROK cargo plane flies to Pyongyang with 70 tons of emergency aid for Ryongchon. This is the first ever inter-Korean direct flight for humanitarian purposes.
: The ROK Red Cross says the DPRK rejected its offer to send rapid relief goods for Ryongchon overland via the DMZ, insisting instead that they be shipped. The first such ship reaches Nampo on April 29.
: Huge explosion at Ryongchon, a railway junction near the DPRK-China border. 154 are killed and some 1,300 injured. South Korea offers aid.
: ROK Bank of Korea (BOK) values the DPRK’s industrial plant in 2000 at 19 trillion Southern won ($16.45 billion): less than 1 percent of South Korea’s. The technology gap varies from 10 years in non-ferrous metals to 30 years in autos and textiles.
: South Korea says it will deliver electricity for the Kaesong Industrial Zone across the DMZ. At a later stage it plans to build a sub-station at Kaesong, with safeguards to prevent the North from diverting power elsewhere.
: Hyundai Asan president Kim Yoon-kyu says Kim Jong-il wants to build a DPRK Silicon Valley at Mt. Kumgang, hitherto a tourist resort.
: Working-level economic talks, which were suspended by the DPRK, resume in the ROK city of Paju. The agenda includes accounts settlement procedures.
: UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva passes EU-sponsored resolution on DPRK human rights 28 to 8. South Korea and 15 other countries abstain.
: Parliamentary elections in South Korea give a narrow majority to new center-left Uri Party, which backs impeached President Roh. Pyongyang hails result.
: Seoul says some 1,600 ROK firms have applied for the first phase of the Kaesong Industrial Zone. There will be room only for 250.
: The two Koreas agree in Kaesong on trans-DMZ train operations. The 16-clause agreement includes details on operation schedule, wireless communications, and more.
: Hyundai Asan and the parastatal Korea Land Corp. (Koland), co-developers of the Kaesong Industrial Zone, say that the DPRK and ROK have agreed a lease price of $16 million for the zone’s 3.3 sq. kilometers. This includes the cost of demolishing existing facilities.
: ROK Unification Ministry proposes to resume inter-Korean talks in Kaesong. The North had postponed these to protest joint U.S.-ROK military exercises.
: North Korea denounces Seoul court’s conviction of South Korean officials involved in the illegal transfer of money to Pyongyang before the June 2000 summit.
: North suspends the ninth family reunions at Mt. Kumgang after a Southern official makes a joke about Kim Jong-il. They resume briefly April 3 after Seoul apologizes.
: Song Du-yul, a dissident scholar long exiled in Germany, receives a seven-year jail sentence in Seoul for close contacts with and frequent visits to North Korea.
: Song Du-yul, a dissident scholar long exiled in Germany, receives a seven-year jail sentence in Seoul for close contacts with and frequent visits to North Korea.
: A ninth round of family reunions is held at Mt. Kumgan
: The DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) meets for a single day to hear the budget speech and an economic report by the prime minister. There is no mention of inter-Korean relations or projects.
: MOU says inter-Korean trade in the first two months of 2004 fell 26.4 percent on the year to $65 million, due to a steep fall in noncommercial trade (such as materials for KEDO and other aid projects). Commercial transactions were up 5.9 percent.
: The DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) meets for a single day to hear the budget speech and an economic report by the prime minister. There is no mention of inter-Korean relations or projects.
: MOU says inter-Korean trade in the first two months of 2004 fell 26.4 percent on the year to $65 million, due to a steep fall in noncommercial trade (such as materials for KEDO and other aid projects). Commercial transactions were up 5.9 percent.
: Annual joint U.S.-ROK military exercises, Foal Eagle and RSOI, held. North Korea pulls out of inter-Korean meetings on flood control and relinking railways while these wargames take place.
: Annual joint U.S.-ROK military exercises, Foal Eagle and RSOI, held. North Korea pulls out of inter-Korean meetings on flood control and relinking railways while these wargames take place.
: DPRK attacks the new ROK security doctrine, which defines the North as a “direct threat” (but no longer the “main enemy”), as “an unpardonable anti-national, anti-reunification crime and an intolerable insult to the army and people of the DPRK desirous of national cooperation.”
: DPRK attacks the new ROK security doctrine, which defines the North as a “direct threat” (but no longer the “main enemy”), as “an unpardonable anti-national, anti-reunification crime and an intolerable insult to the army and people of the DPRK desirous of national cooperation.”
: South Korean officials say the North wants a much higher rent for land in the Kaesong Industrial Zone, making it less attractive to South Korean firms.
: South Korean officials say the North wants a much higher rent for land in the Kaesong Industrial Zone, making it less attractive to South Korean firms.
: Northern officials fail to show up for working-level inter-Korean economic talks in Paju, South Korea following the DPRK chief delegate Choe Yong-gon’s demands on Radio Pyongyang that the venue be changed to the Northern city of Kaesong, citing the “anarchy” in the ROK caused by the impeachment of President Roh.
: Northern officials fail to show up for working-level inter-Korean economic talks in Paju, South Korea following the DPRK chief delegate Choe Yong-gon’s demands on Radio Pyongyang that the venue be changed to the Northern city of Kaesong, citing the “anarchy” in the ROK caused by the impeachment of President Roh.
: Pyongyang calls impeachment of ROK President Roh “a coup in the Parliament unprecedented in the history of world politics, which betrays the backwardness of South Korean politics.” It blames the U.S. for inciting this.
: Pyongyang calls impeachment of ROK President Roh “a coup in the Parliament unprecedented in the history of world politics, which betrays the backwardness of South Korean politics.” It blames the U.S. for inciting this.
: ROK FM Ban Ki-moon, after visiting Washington and Tokyo, calls on the DPRK to “get rid of all its nuclear programs and all its nuclear materials.”
: ROK FM Ban Ki-moon, after visiting Washington and Tokyo, calls on the DPRK to “get rid of all its nuclear programs and all its nuclear materials.”
: Echoing a South Korean diplomatic campaign, KCNA says that the sea east of the peninsula should be called East Sea or Korea Sea, instead of Sea of Japan.
: Echoing a South Korean diplomatic campaign, KCNA says that the sea east of the peninsula should be called East Sea or Korea Sea, instead of Sea of Japan.
: ROk says the North has agreed to authenticate origins of goods exported to the South, which are duty-free, to prevent abuse by mislabelled Chinese products.
: A KEDO delegation arrives in Pyongyang to discuss the removal of materials – mainly belonging to ROK contractors – from the LWR site at Kumho.
: ROk says the North has agreed to authenticate origins of goods exported to the South, which are duty-free, to prevent abuse by mislabelled Chinese products.
: A KEDO delegation arrives in Pyongyang to discuss the removal of materials – mainly belonging to ROK contractors – from the LWR site at Kumho.
: KCNA reports that the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), North Korea’s Parliament, adopted a decision on regulations on the management of foreign currency and advertisements in the Kaesong Industrial Zone on Feb. 25.
: South Korea’s Vice Finance Minister Kim Kwang-rim says over 1,500 South Korean companies want to move into the Kaesong Industrial Park.
: KCNA reports that the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), North Korea’s Parliament, adopted a decision on regulations on the management of foreign currency and advertisements in the Kaesong Industrial Zone on Feb. 25.
: South Korea’s Vice Finance Minister Kim Kwang-rim says over 1,500 South Korean companies want to move into the Kaesong Industrial Park.
: President Roh admits differences with U.S. on how best to tackle the North.
: President Roh admits differences with U.S. on how best to tackle the North.
: Eighth inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee meeting in Seoul. It ends with a seven-point agreement to expedite cooperative projects.
: Eighth inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee meeting in Seoul. It ends with a seven-point agreement to expedite cooperative projects.
: Northern and Southern delegations announce in Athens that they will begin discussions on fielding a unified team for the 2004 Olympics in Greece in August.
: At railway talks in Kaesong, the Koreas agree on maintenance for cross-border railways, building an asphalt factory, and provision of necessary materials.
: Both Koreas participate, with the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, in a second round of six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue, held in Beijing.
: Northern and Southern delegations announce in Athens that they will begin discussions on fielding a unified team for the 2004 Olympics in Greece in August.
: At railway talks in Kaesong, the Koreas agree on maintenance for cross-border railways, building an asphalt factory, and provision of necessary materials.
: Both Koreas participate, with the U.S., China, Japan and Russia, in a second round of six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue, held in Beijing.
: 100 professors from the South-North Academic Exchange Association fly direct to Pyongyang for a conference on recovery of common cultural assets stolen by Japan during its 1910-45 colonization of Korea.
: 100 professors from the South-North Academic Exchange Association fly direct to Pyongyang for a conference on recovery of common cultural assets stolen by Japan during its 1910-45 colonization of Korea.
: South Korea accepts the North’s revised proposal to hold a ninth round of family reunions at Mt. Kumgang from March 29 to April 3.
: South Korea accepts the North’s revised proposal to hold a ninth round of family reunions at Mt. Kumgang from March 29 to April 3.
: ROK Ambassador to the U.S. Han Sung-joo says the DPRK must discuss its uranium enrichment nuclear program at the six-party talks, now that revelations from Pakistan have confirmed its existence.
: ROK Ambassador to the U.S. Han Sung-joo says the DPRK must discuss its uranium enrichment nuclear program at the six-party talks, now that revelations from Pakistan have confirmed its existence.
: ROK Foreign Ministry says it has created a special task force for the nuclear crisis.
: Inter-Korean ministerial talks end with agreement to hold bilateral military talks, to cooperate on finding a peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis, and to continue construction of the Kaesong Industrial Park. They fail to agree on flood prevention measures for the Imjin River and a joint entrance at the 2004 Olympics.
: ROK Foreign Ministry says it has created a special task force for the nuclear crisis.
: Inter-Korean ministerial talks end with agreement to hold bilateral military talks, to cooperate on finding a peaceful solution to the nuclear crisis, and to continue construction of the Kaesong Industrial Park. They fail to agree on flood prevention measures for the Imjin River and a joint entrance at the 2004 Olympics.
: KCNA announces second round of six-party talks will start Feb. 25 in Beijing.
: 13th North-South ministerial talks are held in Seoul. They mainly focus on economic projects, but also argue over the nuclear issue.
: KCNA announces second round of six-party talks will start Feb. 25 in Beijing.
: 13th North-South ministerial talks are held in Seoul. They mainly focus on economic projects, but also argue over the nuclear issue.
: MOU says that Hwang Jang-yop has set up an NGO dedicated to democratizing the DPRK, the North Korea Democratization Union, and is its chairman.
: MOU says that Hwang Jang-yop has set up an NGO dedicated to democratizing the DPRK, the North Korea Democratization Union, and is its chairman.
: ROK President Roh Moo-hyun replaces National Security Adviser, Ra Jong-yil. As in the sacking of FM Yoon a fortnight earlier, this reflects tension in Seoul between Roh’s desire for a more “independent” foreign policy and the U.S.-ROK alliance – including differences over how to handle North Korea.
: DPRK defectors in the ROK say they will set up an Internet broadcasting radio station, Free North Korea Broadcasting, starting in April. Its aims are “to improve human rights in the DPRK and help democratize the country.”
: Seoul-based Inter-Korea Economic Association says it is completing an IT complex in Pyongyang, and several ROK IT companies will move there in March.
: ROK National Police Agency reports that there exist 31 websites that propagandize for the DPRK. Eight are directly operated by Pyongyang.
: Working-level inter-Korean economic talks held in Kaesong to discuss settlement and clearance systems and other practicalities. Immigration procedures for Southern business people visiting the Kaesong and Mt. Kumgang special zones are agreed: ROK will have jurisdiction over its nationals who offend while on business there.
: Seoul-based Inter-Korea Economic Association says it is completing an IT complex in Pyongyang, and several ROK IT companies will move there in March.
: ROK National Police Agency reports that there exist 31 websites that propagandize for the DPRK. Eight are directly operated by Pyongyang.
: Working-level inter-Korean economic talks held in Kaesong to discuss settlement and clearance systems and other practicalities. Immigration procedures for Southern business people visiting the Kaesong and Mt. Kumgang special zones are agreed: ROK will have jurisdiction over its nationals who offend while on business there.
: ROK court for the first time recognizes DPRK notarial deed, ruling for a South Korean publisher who, having brought out a Northern book on medicine under contract with the original DPRK publisher, sued the Seoul publisher of a pirate edition.
: North Korea attacks recent U.S.-ROK agreement to relocate U.S. forces to a line south of Seoul as “a product of the master-servant relationship between the U.S. and South Korea,” and claims this is a preparation for a war against the DPRK.
: North Korea attacks recent U.S.-ROK agreement to relocate U.S. forces to a line south of Seoul as “a product of the master-servant relationship between the U.S. and South Korea,” and claims this is a preparation for a war against the DPRK.
: MOU reports that the international community gave 38 percent less aid to North Korea in 2003 than in 2002. South Korea increased its contributions by 17 percent to a total of $160 million.
: MOU reports that the international community gave 38 percent less aid to North Korea in 2003 than in 2002. South Korea increased its contributions by 17 percent to a total of $160 million.
: ROK Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries says that inter-Korean sea transport fell slightly by 8,000 tons in 2003 compared to 2002. South Korea carried cargoes totalling 841,000 tons to the North, which sent 207,000 tons to the South.
: ROK Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries says that inter-Korean sea transport fell slightly by 8,000 tons in 2003 compared to 2002. South Korea carried cargoes totalling 841,000 tons to the North, which sent 207,000 tons to the South.
: Unification Ministry rescinds permission for Hoonnet, a South Korean firm, to engage in inter-Korean business. Hoonnet refuses to end unauthorized activities, notably its Pyongyang-based joint venture online gaming sites (www.jupae.com).
: Unification Ministry rescinds permission for Hoonnet, a South Korean firm, to engage in inter-Korean business. Hoonnet refuses to end unauthorized activities, notably its Pyongyang-based joint venture online gaming sites (www.jupae.com).
: South Korean media reports the appearance of Pyongyang’s first commercial billboards: six large advertisements (10m x 4m) for two Fiat car models assembled in Nampo by a joint venture of Pyonghwa Motors.
: South Korea says it will help the North preserve relics of the Koguryo kingdom (37BC-668AD), which occupied northern Korea and part of northeast China. A UN body is considering Koguryo sites in the DPRK and China for world heritage site status, amid a drive by China to claim it as part of Chinese rather than Korean history.
: South Korean media reports the appearance of Pyongyang’s first commercial billboards: six large advertisements (10m x 4m) for two Fiat car models assembled in Nampo by a joint venture of Pyonghwa Motors.
: South Korea says it will help the North preserve relics of the Koguryo kingdom (37BC-668AD), which occupied northern Korea and part of northeast China. A UN body is considering Koguryo sites in the DPRK and China for world heritage site status, amid a drive by China to claim it as part of Chinese rather than Korean history.
: MOU reports that inter-Korean trade grew 12.9 percent in 2003, to reach $724 million. North Korea exported goods worth $289 million, mostly agro-fishery and textile products. ROK “exports,” totalling $434 million, were mainly noncommercial aid.
: DPRK and ROK Red Cross organizations meet at Mt. Kumgang to discuss further the construction of a family reunion center, but fail to agree.
: MOU reports that inter-Korean trade grew 12.9 percent in 2003, to reach $724 million. North Korea exported goods worth $289 million, mostly agro-fishery and textile products. ROK “exports,” totalling $434 million, were mainly noncommercial aid.
: DPRK and ROK Red Cross organizations meet at Mt. Kumgang to discuss further the construction of a family reunion center, but fail to agree.
: MOU reports that North Korean defectors to the South totalled 1,281 in 2003, an increase of 12 percent from 2002.
: MOU reports that North Korean defectors to the South totalled 1,281 in 2003, an increase of 12 percent from 2002.
: Officials from the ROK defense and foreign ministries, the national intelligence service, and other agencies hold their eighth meeting on prisoner-of-war issues, focusing on how to help those still trickling out of North Korea half a century after the Korean War.
: Officials from the ROK defense and foreign ministries, the national intelligence service, and other agencies hold their eighth meeting on prisoner-of-war issues, focusing on how to help those still trickling out of North Korea half a century after the Korean War.
: Unification Minister Jeong says his ministry is considering using government funds from the South-North Exchange and Cooperation Fund to help small- and medium-size firms (SMEs) involved in inter-Korean trade or setting up in the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
: Unification Minister Jeong says his ministry is considering using government funds from the South-North Exchange and Cooperation Fund to help small- and medium-size firms (SMEs) involved in inter-Korean trade or setting up in the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
: ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) announces a new three-year draft strategy to enhance its capacity to educate the Southern public on reunification issues.
: ROK Unification Ministry (MOU) announces a new three-year draft strategy to enhance its capacity to educate the Southern public on reunification issues.
: North Korea and KEDO announce a meeting Jan. 14-16, to discuss materials and equipment at the light-water reactor (LWR) site at Kumho. Since KEDO suspended this, the DPRK has frozen these, causing losses to ROK construction firms.
: North Korea and KEDO announce a meeting Jan. 14-16, to discuss materials and equipment at the light-water reactor (LWR) site at Kumho. Since KEDO suspended this, the DPRK has frozen these, causing losses to ROK construction firms.
: South Korea Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun sets priorities for the new year. These include: constructing the Kaesong Industrial Complex, improving transparency in aid distribution, and opening a channel of military dialogue North Korea
: South Korea Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun sets priorities for the new year. These include: constructing the Kaesong Industrial Complex, improving transparency in aid distribution, and opening a channel of military dialogue North Korea
: The two Koreas agree to set up four guard posts within the DMZ, 250 meters from the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) on either side within each of the two new cross-border road and rail corridors, to be responsible for the safe passage of construction traffic.
: MOU says it expects inter-Korean trade to top $700 million this year for the first time, with South Korea likely to replace China as the North’s main export market.
: DPRK publishes detailed entry and customs regulations for the Kaesong Industrial Park, as adopted by the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) Dec. 11.
: Inter-Korean working-level economic talks in Pyongyang fail to agree on procedures for jurisdiction over South Koreans who visit or work in projects in the North, such as Mt. Kumgang and Kaesong.
: Shipment of 4,800 tons of rice completes this year’s Southern rice aid to the North, totaling 400,000 tons. ROK officials have made 12 site visits to monitor distribution.
: A Seoul court sentences Park Jie-won, presidential chief of staff under Kim Dae-jung, to 12 years in jail and a Won 14.7 billion fine for organizing illegal money transfers to Pyongyang before the June 2000 summit, and taking a 15 billion won bribe from Hyundai.
: MOU says Southern aid to the North during Jan.-Nov. 2003 totaled $125 million, including food aid, fertilizer, medical equipment, and more.
: ROK Commerce, Industry, and Energy ministry (MOCIE) says it will ban high-tech manufacturing facilities from being transferred to the Kaesong Industrial Zone, to prevent potential dual use.
: MOU reports that South Korea is expected to overtake China and Japan as the largest importer of North Korean goods. In the first 10 months of 2003, ROK imports from the DPRK were worth $233 million, up 30 percent from 2002.
: South Korean NGO claims that China is forcibly repatriating around 100 DPRK refugees every week.
: The two Koreas open a second military hotline, along the eastern railway line.
: Korea Development Institute reports less than 40 percent of Southern businesses trading with the North turn a profit. Nonetheless, businessmen and experts overwhelmingly predict trade will grow in 2004.
: Song Du-yul pleads not guilty in Seoul to most of the charges against him, including membership (under an alias) of the DPRK’s ruling KWP Politburo.
: Working-level talks on relinking railways are held in Sokcho, near the DMZ in eastern South Korea. Signals, communications, and electric power systems are discussed. It is agreed to begin the final phase of construction in April 2004. Two DPRK delegates return home overland.
: Tenth military working-level talks at Panmunjom fail to agree on details of guard posts in the DMZ for cross-border railway and road corridors.
: “Pororo the Little Penguin,” a cartoon series jointly produced by South Korea’s Hanaro Telecom and the North’s Samcholli General Corp., debuts on ROK TV.
: Hyundai says that from next year it will employ DPRK citizens at a hotel in Mt. Kumgang. The agreed monthly minimum wage will be $57.50, the same as planned at Kaesong. Hitherto Hyundai has hired Korean-Chinese.
: ROK charges a Northern defector, Nam Soo, who returned to the North and later re-entered South Korea, with violating the National Security Law. Nam is accused of providing DPRK intelligence with tips on South Korean spy agencies.
: South Korea announces delivery of 350 tons of TNT to the North, for blasting bedrock as part of the work to build the two cross-border roads and railways.
: ROK Navy vessel fires warning shots at a DPRK patrol boat which crossed the NLL, Pyongyang calls this a serious armed provocation.
: KEDO formally announces its decision to suspend LWR construction for one year from Dec. 1, saying conditions to continue the project are not being met by the DPRK.
: Former South Korean POW, who escaped from the DPRK with his wife, is arrested in China for using false passports. ROK embassy belatedly takes up case.
: The two Koreas hold ninth working-level military talks at Panmunjom, to discuss establishing guard posts in the DMZ at the sites of the two cross-border railways.
: DPRK accuses the ROK of breaching the June 2000 inter-Korean declaration by deploying new U.S.-made missiles.
: MOU says inter-Korean trade in the first 10 months of 2003 reached $587 million, 33 percent more than in the same period of 2002. ROK imports totaled $233 million, mostly agro-fisheries and textiles. “Exports” of $353 million were mostly aid.
: Chang Sun-Sup, ROK representative to KEDO, says that the LWR project can be resumed if the nuclear crisis is resolved. A day later Ambassador Thomas Hubbard insists the U.S. has no plan to revive the project under any circumstances.
: ROK is to deploy U.S.-made missiles with a range of 300 km, putting most of the DPRK within reach. ROK missiles were previously restricted to a range of 180 km.
: Seventh meeting of the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee is held in Pyongyang. A 7-point agreement is reached, covering railways, the Kaesong Industrial Zone, payment systems, shipping, and flood control. An office will be opened early next year to handle practical problems arising at Kaesong and elsewhere.
: Red Cross officials from both Koreas, meeting at Mt. Kumgang, finally agree to build a family reunion center there. Construction will start in April for completion in 2005. South Korea is footing the bill.
: ROK Unification Minister Jeong admits lying to National Assembly when he denied knowledge of any payment to the North to participate in the Cheju festival.
: ROK embassy in Beijing again suspends consular services because of an influx of North Korean refugees.
: ROK navy fires warning shots at a DPRK patrol boat that briefly crosses the Northern Limit Line (NLL), which the North does not recognize, off the west coast.
: ROK Defense Ministry reveals that since 1993, 10 military facilities near the DMZ have been designated as temporary shelters for a possible mass influx of refugees.
: MOU says 25 Southern firms have invested a total of $1.15 billion in the DPRK since 1996, 83 percent of this relates to KEDO’s LWR project.
: In the first private sector trans-DMZ trucking trip, the ROK’s largest logistics operator, Korea Express (KorEx), conveys 100,000 roof tiles to Kaesong.
: ROK’s Pyonghwa Air Travel Agency says the DPRK has suspended its tours of the North, which started Sept. 15, due to “tourist safety problems during the winter and the fatigue of local tour guides.” The tours are due to resume next April.
: ROK Defense Ministry says 496 former South Korean soldiers are still held in the DPRK, over half a century after being captured during the Korean War.
: Seoul reports 1,281 inter-Korean shipping operations during Jan.-Sept. 2003, 18 percent more than last year; carrying 699,560 tons of freight, a rise of 45 percent over 2002.
: Hwang Jang-yop, former KWP secretary who defected in 1997, is at last allowed to accept an invitation to speak in the U.S., Hwang leaves for Washington Oct. 27.
: A 190-strong Northern team – half the agreed size, minus cheerleaders and brass band – arrives, late, by two direct flights from Pyongyang for the Korea Peace Festival on Cheju island.
: Song Doo-yul is arrested and charged with violating ROK National Security Law.
: Officials in Seoul say they believe North Korea has reprocessed about 2,500 of the 8,000 spent fuel rods from its Yongbyon nuclear site.
: At the APEC summit, ROK President Roh Moo-hyun tells Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao that South Korea will help the North maintain its regime and proceed with reforms and opening – if Pyongyang abandons its nuclear weapon programs.
: Two ROK bodies, the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business and the Korea Technology Credit Guarantee Fund, agree on arrangements to help small South Korean firms do business in the DPRK.
: KCCI says it will be difficult to develop the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) as an export base for ROK firms, since products made in the DPRK are subject to heavy tariffs in many markets.
: The 12th inter-Korean ministerial talks are held in Pyongyang. The South’s delegation, led by Unification Minister Jeong, flies directly from Seoul. The nuclear issue proves divisive, and the final joint statement agrees only on the date of the next meeting.
: A day before inter-Korean talks start, the South announces a gift of 100,000 tons of fertilizer to the North, worth $26.6 million.
: A third round of working-level economic and maritime cooperation talks is held in the ROK border city of Munsan; DPRK delegates cross the DMZ by bus. They agree to establish a joint commercial arbitration committee to handle business disputes; its decisions cannot be challenged by courts in either state.
: ROK decides to loan the DPRK materials and equipment worth up to $60 million to expedite reconnecting two cross-border railways and road corridors.
: In its first comment, Pyongyang denies any links with Prof. Song Doo-yul.
: ROK lawmaker says DPRK defectors plan to set up a government in exile.
: A Southern opposition lawmaker claims the North is being paid $1 million to take part in a sports festival on the island province of Cheju.
: In the largest movement across the DMZ since the Korean War, 1,100 South Koreans in 28 buses drive from Seoul to Pyongyang for the opening of a $56 million dollar gymnasium, built by Hyundai.
: The ROK embassy in Beijing suspends consular activities, as it is full of North Korean refugees. China says it will expedite processing to allow them to leave for Seoul. A total of 249 North Koreans have reached the South by gaining sanctuary in ROK overseas missions, plus a further 88 via other countries’ embassies, almost all in China.
: Unification Ministry (MOU) says that as of end-August, 538,132 South Koreans have visited the Mt. Kumgang resort since tours began in November 1998.
: North Korea accuses the South of a confrontational stance with its recent large Armed Forces Day ceremony and military parade in Seoul (its first in five years), where high-tech weapons including missiles were displayed. Recent parades in Pyongyang, despite predictions to the contrary, have been low-key events devoid of similar hardware.
: A 300-strong Southern civic delegation participates in joint national Foundation Day celebrations in Pyongyang. A “scientific seminar” is held on Tangun, the legendary founder of Korea, whom the DPRK regards as a historical figure.
: Prosecutors in Seoul question Song Doo-yul, a ROK-born German philosophy professor and long-time activist in exile, who denies he is an alternate DPRK Politburo member.
: Seven North Korean feature films are to be shown at the Pusan International Film Festival. A South Korean film, Arirang, is shown in Pyongyang.
: ROK Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun says that the North has undertaken meaningful reforms toward a market economy, and that its army-first policy is intended to protect social stability in the DPRK.
: The DPRK publishes tax and labor rules for the Kaesong Industrial Zone. Corporate income tax will be 14 percent of annual profits (vs. 27 percent in the ROK), payable in U.S. dollars. The minimum monthly wage will be $57.50 for a 48-hour working week.
: South Korea cancels a parliamentary visit to Pyongyang after North Korea restricts the size of the delegation to 10.
: 300 members of ROK civic organizations fly directly to Pyongyang for a five-day celebration of National Foundation Day, commemorating the mythical founding of Korea in 2033 BCE by Tangun – whose grave North Korea claims to have found, and has rebuilt.
: Seoul announces, and starts implementing, procedures for verifying the origin of goods imported from North Korea, as agreed at an earlier meeting.
: Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun leaves for the U.S., to speak on the South’s North Korea policy to business, academic, and ethnic Korean audiences. Though his itinerary includes Washington, he is not scheduled to meet any member of the Bush administration.
: A Seoul court convicts six former senior officials – including ex-unification minister Lim Dong-won, architect of the Sunshine Policy – of illicit payments to North Korea before the 2000 North-South summit, but suspends jail sentences as this was “an act of state.”
: ROK unification minister announces that 1,000-member Southern delegation will travel overland by bus to Pyongyang on Oct. 6, using the Kyongui corridor across the DMZ, for the opening of the Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium built by Hyundai.
: An eighth round of family reunions is held at Mt. Kumgang. 556 elderly South Koreans are briefly reunited, after half a century, with 346 of their Northern kin.
: South Korea reports that inter-Korean trade during January-August rose 45 percent over the same period last year, to $406 million. Southern exports (mainly aid goods) totaled $245 million, while Northern exports (mostly commercial) reached $161 million.
: South’s unification minister says three 5-person teams of ROK inspectors will visit three Northern ports – Nampo, Heungnam, and Chongjin – later in September, as agreed at an earlier meeting, to check on the distribution of 400,000 tons of rice aid.
: Eighth North-South military working talks, held at Panmunjom, agree to start using the almost finished new roads in the Kyongui and Donghae trans-DMZ corridors, rather than the temporary tracks used hitherto; and to set up a hotline at Donghae (on the east coast).
: 114 Southern tourists fly directly from Seoul to Pyongyang on a DPRK Air Koryo plane for a five-day visit, in the first ever regular tourist trip between the two capitals. The organizers, another Pyonghwa group company, plan several further tours this year.
: Pyonghwa Motors, an affiliate of the Unification Church, which assembles Fiat cars in Nampo, is reported to have got permission to erect Pyongyang’s first commercial billboards to advertise their wares – provided they do not appear to be selling anything.
: The DPRK Red Cross requests 100,000 tons of fertilizer from its counterpart in the South. The ROK government says it will consult the National Assembly before deciding.
: A scheduled meeting at Mt. Kumgang to discuss the construction of a planned permanent center for family reunions is canceled.
: The South says it expects to open two immigration offices near the DMZ for the new east and west corridors, to handle cross-border personnel and economic exchanges.
: Ex-KWP secretary Hwang Jang-yop, the highest-ranking DPRK official ever to defect to South Korea, is finally allowed to travel to the U.S., where he has longstanding invitations from conservative groups. The previous Kim Dae-jung government would not let him go, for fear of damaging North-South ties. As of Oct. 2 he had yet to make the trip.
: Hyundai Asan resumes overland tours to Mt. Kumgang, suspended soon after they began in February. 15 buses bring 328 Southern tourists to the Northern resort, while 106 go by boat.
: The Taegu Universiade closes. Northern and Southern athletes jointly wave the Peninsula’s peace flag in the closing ceremony.
: ROK government asks the National Assembly for a $17 million subsidy to support Hyundai’s Mt. Kumgang tours.
: The DPRK cheering squad reappears at the Taegu Universiade, after three days of absence following the clash between human rights activists and DPRK reporters.
: The Korea People’s Army fires a shot at a South Korean border post in the DMZ. 80 minutes after the incident the South receives a phone message saying it was an accident.
: Six-party talks between the two Koreas, China, Japan, Russia, and the U.S. on the North Korean nuclear issue are held in Beijing. They end without a joint statement, or even an agreement to meet again.
: Upon his return from Pyongyang, a South Korean lawmaker says the DPRK has been constructing a massive tourism complex at Mount Paekdu on its border with China.
: The sixth meeting of the South-North Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee is held in Seoul. A 9-point agreement addresses, inter alia: the institutional framework for cooperation, relinking cross-border railways and roads, building the Kaesong industrial zone, and exchanging economic study group visits.
: A 256-member Southern delegation from Cheju, led by its governor, arrives in Pyongyang. The island province has donated tangerines and carrots to the DPRK in recent years. The group is allowed a rare trip to Mt. Paekdu, a sacred mountain on the DPRK-China border. Separately, a delegation from Pusan, South Korea’s second city, also visits the North.
: DPRK “reporters” assault peaceful anti-North protesters outside the Taegu Universiade media center. The German activist Dr. Norbert Vollertsen is injured. Pyongyang threatens to pull out of the games if Seoul does not take action to stop such demonstrations.
: The third meeting of a task force on constructing a permanent reunion center for separated families at Mt. Kumgang is held at the Northern resort.
: A sixth inter-Korean working-level contact on connection of trans-border railways and roads is held at Kaesong. Southern delegates commute daily across the DMZ. A 6-point agreement covers signals, telecoms and power systems. The South will design these systems, and is to send plans, materials and engineers to the North in the coming months.
: Four DPRK airplanes fly into the ROK’s Kimhae airport carrying 221 athletes and officials led by Chang Ung, a member of the International Olympic Committee; plus 302 supporters, mainly consisting of young female cheerleaders and an all-women brass band.
: The four countersigned economic agreements, originally drawn up in 2000, are finally exchanged at Panmunjom. They cover protection of investment, elimination of double taxation, settlement of commercial disputes, and clearance of payments.
: North and South Korea reportedly agree in principle to field a unified team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. If true, this will be the first time ever. Despite marching together at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, they competed separately; and likewise in Taegu.
: Scholars from both Koreas meet in Pyongyang to discuss a weighty matter: why the English spelling was changed from ‘Corea’ to ‘Korea’, allegedly during the Japanese colonial era (1910-1945). A dastardly plot is suspected to give Japan alphabetical precedence.
: ROK president Roh Moo-hyun expresses regret over a recent protest in Seoul, where the DPRK flag and a portrait of leader Kim Jong-il were burned. The opposition Grand National Party (GNP) criticizes this apology, but after the North agrees to reverse its boycott of the Taegu Universiade.
: After initially saying their flight (due Aug. 17) was delayed for technical reasons, DPRK TV reports that its 500-member party will not attend the Taegu Universiade, claiming that South Korea has become dangerous because of anti-North demonstrations.
: The ROK Navy fires warning shots at a DPRK ship that briefly crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the long-established West Sea boundary disputed by the North.
: The planned exchange of four ratified inter-Korean economic agreements at Panmunjom is canceled, as the Northern delegation fails to appear.
: A South Korean chartered plane flies 330 ROK civic leaders directly to Pyongyang for joint celebrations to mark Liberation Day (from Japanese rule in 1945).
: South Korea announces that the DPRK flag, technically illegal in the ROK, will be allowed to be flown during the Taegu Universiade.
: Hyundai’s cruise tours to Mt. Kumgang resume, after a lengthy suspension due to North Korea’s draconian anti-SARS quarantine.
: Family members, Hyundai executives, and DPRK officials attend a memorial service for Chung Mong-hun at Mt. Kumgang. The ROK delegation crosses the DMZ by bus. Kim Jong-il sends a message of condolence.
: A popular long-running amateur song contest program of the ROK’s KBS TV is held in Pyongyang for the first time, as a co-production with the North’s Korean Central TV, with 30 DPRK entrants. It is broadcast simultaneously in North and South on Aug. 15.
: Hyundai Asan president Kim Yoon-kyu says that Samsung, South Korea’s largest chaebol (conglomerate), plans to establish an electronics complex in the Kaesong industrial zone. Samsung immediately denies any plans to invest in the DPRK.
: South Korea accepts a Northern proposal to postpone ratification of the four economic agreements due to be exchanged today, in the light of Chung Mong-hun’s death.
: North Korea suspends plans to resume Hyundai’s Mt. Kumgang tours, as a gesture of mourning following the death of Chung Mong-hun.
: Chung Mong-hun’s elder brother Chung Mong-koo, head of Hyundai Motor, disavows any plans to pursue economic projects in the DPRK as not commercially viable. He calls on the ROK government, rather than private firms, to spearhead business in the North.
: The ROK Presidential Committee on the Northeast Asian Business Hub says it will inspect DPRK railways next year, to ensure they are suitable for inter-Korean traffic.
: Chung Mong-hun, chairman of the Hyundai group, commits suicide. He faced charges regarding illicit payments to North Korea, where Hyundai’s projects have lost money.
: A South Korean ship heads North with 3,000 tons of rice: a first consignment of 400,000 tons pledged by Seoul, and the first official aid under Roh Moo-hyun’s presidency.
July 4, 2003: Kim Jin-ho, president of the ROK parastatal Koland, puts the price of leasing land in the Kaesong industrial zone at between 100,000 won ($84.6) and 200,000 won per pyeong (3.3 square meters), plus development costs of around 390,000 won per pyeong.
July 4, 2003: South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) reverts to defining the DPRK as the ROK’s “main enemy.” This designation was banned under the Kim Dae-jung administration (1998-2003), leading to suspension of the MND’s annual defense white paper.
July 9-12, 2003: The 11th inter-Korean ministerial meeting held in Seoul, led by Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun (ROK) and senior Cabinet councillor Kim Ryong-song (DPRK). It ends with a 6-point agreement, mostly reiterating earlier pledges and plans.
July 15, 2003: South Korea’s National Assembly passes bill for a special prosecutor to further probe clandestine remittances to North Korean before the 2000 summit.
July 17, 2003: Korean People’s Army (KPA) soldiers fire on an ROK guard post at the DMZ, which returns the fire. The incident does not escalate. No explanation or apology is offered.
July 28, 2003: Some 103 officials and supporters of Good Neighbors, a South Korean charity, fly directly from Seoul to Pyongyang to visit sites and projects aided by their organization.
July 29, 2003: About 120 members of a radical ROK teachers’ union fly to Pyongyang for five days of meetings with DPRK educationalists, the first ever such event. On the same plane are civic activists, going to plan joint celebrations for Liberation Day (from Japan in 1945) on Aug 15.
July 29, 2003: Four days of working-level inter-Korean economic talks begin in Kaesong. The southern team commutes daily across the DMZ from Seoul, via the Kyongui corridor.
July 30, 2003: The DPRK says that the “Voice of National Salvation” radio, hitherto claimed to be an underground station within South Korea, will cease broadcasting on Aug. 1. It urges the ROK to discontinue Southern broadcasts targeted at the North.
July 30, 2003: A bipartisan group of 22 ROK lawmakers submits a resolution urging the signing of a Korean peace treaty, and opposing any new war on the Peninsula.
July 31, 2003: The two Koreas agree to implement four bilateral economic agreements (first drawn up in Dec. 2000) by exchanging ratified documents on Aug. 6. These cover investment protection, double taxation, dispute settlement, and payment clearance. Other agreements are made to confirm the origin of products, and to designate settlement banks for bilateral trade.
: North Korea agrees to take part in the Universiade (world student games) to be held in August in Daegu, ROK is the second time the DPRK has participated in an international sports meeting in South Korea, the first being last year’s Asian Games in Pusan.
: Third round of working meetings on linking crossborder railways and roads is held at Munsan, ROK. DPRK participants commute daily across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). A 5-point agreement and 6-point supplement set detailed tasks, including Southern inspections of progress North of the DMZ on July 15-17 (west coast) and July 22-24 (east).
: South Korea’s National Assembly adopts a resolution urging North Korea to improve its human rights situation. This is reportedly the first such motion ever passed.
: Ground-breaking ceremony held for the Kaesong Industrial Zone, adjacent to the DMZ and 78 km northwest of Seoul.
: South Korea announces that Northern delegates will commute daily via the DMZ for a third round of road and rail talks, to be held in Paju near the DMZ July 2-4.
: A seventh round of family reunions begins at Mt. Kumgang, with 110 South Koreans meeting 217 of their Northern kin. Another group of some 400 South Koreans will visit Mt. Kumgang June 30-July 2, to be reunited with 100 relatives from North Korea.
: Hyundai’s cruise tours to Mt. Kumgang resume after a two-month suspension.
: 13 North Korean defectors arrive in Seoul from Thailand, where they had been under ROK embassy protection.
: South Korea’s main opposition Grand National Party (GNP), which controls Parliament, chooses staunch conservative Choe Byung-yul as its leader.
: Pyongyang warns GNP that further investigations of Hyundai’s payments to North Korea risk driving North-South relations “to a catastrophic phase.”
: Independent counsel Song finds that the ROK government illicitly sent $100 million to North Korea before the June 2000 summit. Eight persons will face trial for this, including the chairman of Hyundai and two key aides of ex-President Kim Dae-jung.
: ROK President Roh rejects request by independent counsel Song Doo-hwan to extend by a month his probe into the “cash for summit” allegations.
: Up to 100,000 ROK veterans and others demonstrate in Seoul against North Korea’s nuclear threat. They burn a DPRK flag and a large portrait of Kim Jong-il.
: The South’s Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council approves spending 167.6 billion won ($141 million) from the inter-Korean cooperation fund to finance 400,000 tons of rice for North Korea, at an agreed unit price of $265 per ton.
: South Korea hints that it may allow ex-party secretary Hwang Jang-yop, the highest level DPRK defector and an outspoken critic of Kim Jong-il, to accept an invitation to speak in the U.S. The previous ROK government had refused this.
: Park Jie-won, former ROK culture minister and once the closest aide of ex-President Kim Dae-jung, is jailed pending trial on charges of bribery and abuse of office in connection with the “cash for summit” allegations.
: A “grand festival for national reunification” in Pyongyang marks the third anniversary of the Inter-Korean Joint Declaration, warning South Korea against “cooperating with outsiders in their anti-DPRK racket.” No commemoration is held in Seoul.
: The ROK and DPRK Red Cross organizations agree to hold a seventh round of separated family reunions at Mt. Kumgang June 27-July 2.
: North Korea accuses South Korean Navy of repeatedly intruding into its territorial waters and warns them not to misjudge the DPRK’s self-restraint.
: ROK NGOs try to hand over lists of kidnapped South Koreans to the DPRK mission at the UN, but are rebuffed. They claim that over 80,000 South Koreans were taken to the North during the 1950-53 Korean War, and a further 486 since 1953.
: Working-level road and rail talks are held in Kaesong. For the first time, the Southern delegation commutes daily by road across the DMZ through the Kyongui corridor.
: South Korea warns that it may seize Northern fishing boats if they go on crossing the NLL and ignore warning shots. Soon after, violations cease.
: ROK Navy fires nine warning shots at three DPRK fishing boats for violating the NLL. Four boats again cross the line the next day.
: South Korea warns the North to avoid “unnecessary tensions,” after DPRK crab fishing boats cross the Northern Limit Line (NLL) for a third successive day. North Korea does not accept the NLL. Last year a firefight in this area killed six ROK navymen.
: Seoul warns that rice aid will be in jeopardy if Northern threats continue.
: The fifth meeting of the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee closes in Pyongyang. A seven-point joint statement calls for projects to be expedited, and agrees that the South will send the North 400,000 tons of rice as a “loan.”
: North Korea says the South “will sustain an unspeakable disaster if it turns to confrontation.” The ROK delegation boycotts the Pyongyang talks until it gets an apology.
: The fifth meeting of the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee opens in Pyongyang.
: The ROK independent counsel into Hyundai’s payments to North Korea reports that $200 million was sent one day before the June 2000 inter-Korean summit.
: Senior ROK military officer claims that North Korea is training computer hackers to reinforce its “cyber terror capabilities.”
: Jang Ung, a DPRK member of the International Olympic Committee, says the two Koreas could field a unified team at next year’s summer Olympics in Athens, if the ROK bid to host the 2010 winter Olympics at Pyongchang succeeds.
: North Korea announces that it regards the 1992 inter-Korean agreement on denuclearization of the Peninsula as nullified, putting the blame on hostile U.S. policies.
: Kotra, the ROK trade-investment promotion agency, reports that in 2002 South Korea overtook Japan to become North Korea’s no. 2 trade partner, after China. Japan-DPRK trade fell 22 percent to $366 million, while inter-Korean trade rose 59 percent to $642 million.
: South Korea decides to send 200,000 tons of fertilizer aid to the North, valued at $55 million. This is finally approved on May 16, for delivery within 40 days.
: Korea Research Institute for Strategy estimates ROK military capability at about two-thirds of the DPRK’s. The South leads in quality, the North in quantity.
: The ROK’s Buddhist Order Association and the DPRK’s Buddhist Federation adopt a joint ceremonial statement to be read at all Buddhist temples across the Peninsula on Buddha’s Birthday (May 8).
: Ministerial talks in Pyongyang end, a day later than scheduled. A six-point joint statement agrees on various joint projects. Though not formally listed, North Korea reportedly agrees to participate in the Daegu Universiade games in August.
: The 10th inter-Korean ministerial-level talks open in Pyongyang. Initial sessions are largely taken up with wrangling over the nuclear issue.
: North Korea suspends Hyundai’s cruise tours to Mt. Kumgang, ostensibly as part of its quarantine measures against SARS.
: The ROK Unification Ministry says that South Korea will soon send 100,000 tons of maize (corn) to North Korea, via the UN World Food Program.
: ROK Unification Ministry reports that inter-Korean shipping rose 23.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, with 430 trips: 179 northbound and 251 southbound. Total volume was a modest 94,298 tons, up 29 percent from last year.
: North Korea proposes that the 10th round of inter-Korean ministerial talks be held in Pyongyang April 27-29. South Korea accepts.
: South Korea’s Red Cross says its Northern counterpart has asked for rice and fertilizer aid.
: The ROK Unification Ministry says that inter-Korean trade in the first quarter rose 45.6 percent year-on-year to $128 million. Southern imports of $57.43 million were mainly textiles and agro-fisheries, while exports of $70.75 million were mostly steel and machinery.
: The ROK absents itself from the UN Commission on Human Rights to avoid voting on an EU-sponsored, U.S.-backed resolution condemning North Korea for “widespread and grave” human rights abuses. The resolution passes by 28 votes to 10, with 14 abstentions.
: South Korean Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun says the North has asked for 100 million trees to prevent flooding of the Imjin river, which flows from north to south.
: The date for the start of the 10th inter-Korean ministerial-level talks in Pyongyang passes. North Korea had not replied to the South’s messages about this.
: Secretariat of the North’s Committee for the Peaceful Unification of the Fatherland (CPRF) condemns South Korean National Assembly recommendation that Seoul should consider economic sanctions over the nuclear issue, calling it a “plain provocation.”
: Three members of a Northern family defect by boat to the South, the first such case via the East Sea (Sea of Japan).
: Yang Hyong-sop, vice chairman of the Presidium of North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA), calls for more North-South exchanges at a meeting to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s 10-point program for great national unity. He also calls on South Korea to “separate from foreign forces” and end joint military exercises with the U.S.
: Song Doo-hwan, a lawyer, is appointed as special counsel to investigate the “cash for peace” scandal.
: Lee Sang-soo, secretary general of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party (MDP), says Kim Dae-jung may be questioned regarding secret funds sent to North Korea.
: North Korea cancels upcoming economic and maritime talks, accusing the South of “pointing a sword” at it by raising Watchcon and holding wargames with the U.S.
: MOU says Seoul will accelerate humanitarian aid to North Korea, including 100,000 tons of corn worth $18 million dollars via the UN World Food Program.
: Blue House Spokeswoman Song Kyoung-hee is quoted as saying the ROK has raised its defense readiness level from Watchcon 3 to 2. This is denied by other officials.
: MOU reports that inter-Korean trade in Jan.-Feb. rose 58 percent year on year, to $88.74 million. Seoul sent goods worth $52 million, while importing Northern goods worth $37 million.
: Despite pressure from his own party, Roh decides not to veto the opposition bill appointing a special counsel to investigate the “cash for peace” scandal.
: The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson arrives in Pusan for “Foal Eagle” exercise and replaces the USS Kitty Hawk which has been sent to the Persian Gulf for the Iraq war.
: ROK Agriculture Minister Kim Young-jin says Seoul will send 1.3 million tons of rice from its stockpile to North Korea over three years. This is not cleared with the Unification Ministry, which a week later announces more modest plans.
: The North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee claims that the South’s opposition anticommunist Grand National Party sent a secret envoy to Pyongyang last year, offering aid if the party won the presidential election. The GNP dismisses this as “groundless lies.”
: North Korea attends the 10th CSCAP North Pacific working group meeting in Berkeley, CA.
: After three days of talks in Kaesong, North and South agree to start relinking two trans-DMZ railways from late March. An ROK technical team will go north to inspect the Kyongui (western) line on March 20-22, and the eastern (Donghae) line on March 24-26.
: North Korea again test-fires a short-range missile to the east of the Peninsula.
: The DPRK Asia-Pacific Peace Committee issues a lengthy statement detailing and defending its ties with Hyundai Asan, and attacking ROK plans to investigate this.
: ROK MND condemns North Korea military for a series of provocations, in the first such criticism since Roh became president.
: The two Koreas begin a new round of talks on building a permanent family reunion center at Mt. Kumgang. A Northern religious delegation returns home from Seoul.
: Four North Korean fighter jets (two MiG-29s and two MiG-23s) buzz a U.S. RC-135S reconnaissance plane in international air space off the east coast of the Peninsula.
: A 105-strong delegation of Northern civic and religious leaders visits Seoul for a joint meeting commemorating the March 1, 1919 anti-Japanese popular uprising.
: ROK Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun, the only minister from the Kim Dae-jung administration to keep his portfolio, pledges to enhance engagement with the North.
: South Korea’s opposition-controlled Parliament delays approval of new Cabinet until a bill is passed appointing a special counsel to probe the “cash for peace” issue.
: Roh Moo-hyun sworn in as ROK president, succeeding Kim Dae-jung. His inaugural address pledges aid if the North abandons its nuclear program.
: North Korea test-fires a short-range antiship missile over the East Sea (Sea of Japan) with prior warning, but overshadowing Roh’s inauguration.
: A 204-strong tourist group becomes the first ordinary South Koreans to visit Mt. Kumgang by the new overland route. On March 6 North Korea closes the route, citing the need for road realignments.
: Roh Moo-hyun’s senior secretary says Roh is willing to visit Pyongyang if invited, but hopes Kim Jong-il will visit South Korea.
: A 37-strong team from Hyundai Asan and Korea Land Corporation (Koland), partners in the Kaesong Industrial Zone project, uses the west coast temporary trans-DMZ road to enter North Korea for an advance survey of the site, returning home the same day.
: North Korea and Hyundai Asan agree to dedicate a large gymnasium which Hyundai has built in Pyongyang on March 25-30 with cultural events and a basketball contest.
: North Korean MiG-19 fighter flies 13 km into Southern airspace over the Yellow Sea, but retreats after two minutes when ROK fighters are scrambled to intercept it.
: Ra Jong-yil, soon to be named Roh Moo-hyun’s national security adviser, has a secret meeting with DPRK officials in Beijing. The news leaks on March 4.
: The sixth round of separated family reunions is held at Mt. Kumgang. 561 elderly South Koreans travel overland, for the first time, to meet 290 of Northern kin.
: Ministry of National Defense (MND) and ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command announce that the annual RSOI (Reception, Staging, Onward Movement, and Integration) and “Foal Eagle” joint military exercises will be held March 19-26 and March 4-Apr. 2 respectively.
: Chung Mong-hun, chairman of the Hyundai group, admits that Hyundai sent $500 million covertly to North Korea in 2000, but insists it was for seven business projects.
: Kim Dae-jung apologizes regarding Hyundai’s transfer of funds ($500 mllion, his security adviser Lim Dong-won confirms) to North Korea just before the June 2000 summit.
: Talks are held at Mt. Kumgang on building a permanent center for family reunions. The North says the overland route may be used for the sixth round, due shortly.
: After a ceremonial opening of the east coast cross-border temporary road, a second 498-strong pilot tour group, mainly dignitaries, travels overland to Mt. Kumgang.
: MOU reports that during Kim Dae-jung’s five years as president, South Korea has sent humanitarian aid worth $462 million to the North. Of this, $272 million was governmental, with the remainder from nongovernmental organizations and the private sector.
: Moody’s Investors Services downgrades South Korea’s credit rating outlook by two notches, from positive to negative, specifically citing the North Korean nuclear crisis.
: The fourth meeting of the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Promotion Committee is held in Seoul. No agreements are reached, except to meet again. The South warns that deepening economic cooperation depends on resolving the nuclear issue.
: PM Kim Seok-soo states that the ROK will deal with the DPRK nuclear issue and inter-Korean economic cooperation in tandem. The Ministry of Unification (MOU) announces an improved loan system for the South-North Korean Cooperation Fund.
: Eighty-seven ROK government, tourist, and Hyundai officials test the new east coast overland route, going to Mt. Kumgang via a temporary road.
: Citing national interest, ROK prosecutors drop their investigation of alleged illicit payments by Hyundai to North Korea, provoking criticism of political pressure.
: North and South Korean athletes march together in the opening and closing processions of the fifth Winter Asian Games, held in Aomori, Japan. Letters are exchanged for future sports cooperation, including for 24 DPRK skaters to visit the ROK in April.
: South Korea’s Board of Audit and Inspection reports that over half of a $359 million loan from a state bank to a Hyundai affiliate was sent to North Korea, three days before the June 2000 North-South summit, for purposes that are not clear.
: At a military working-level meeting at Panmunjom, South and North Korea adopt an interim agreement on military guarantees for the use of temporary roads across the demilitarized zone (DMZ).
: Lim Dong-won, Kim Dae-jung’s senior advisor on unification, visits Pyongyang as a special presidential envoy to try to break the nuclear deadlock. His failure to meet with Kim Jong-il, as on previous visits, is seen in Seoul as a snub.
: The third inter-Korean Red Cross working-level talks, held at Mt. Kumgang, end in agreement to hold the sixth round of separated family reunions there during Feb. 20-25.
: A second round of working-level talks, held in Pyongyang, agrees on various practicalities in relinking roads and railways in two cross-border corridors.
: The ninth inter-Korean ministerial talks are held in Seoul, with no result.
: North Korea expresses gratitude for South Korea’s provision of 400,000 tons of grain, nominally on loan terms, whose delivery was recently completed.
: South Korean Foreign Ministry calls on North Korea to cancel its decision, announced earlier that day, to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
: South Korea’s President-elect Roh Moo-hyun calls for the North Korean nuclear crisis to be solved by diplomacy.
: Southern President-elect Roh Moo-hyun warns that continued Northern nuclear defiance would negatively affect inter-Korean exchanges.
: A report by South Korea’s Defense Ministry avoids designating North Korea as main enemy, but warns that the Korean People’s Army is expanding and the risk of provocation remains.
: Seoul announces that groundbreaking for the Kaesong Industrial zone, set for Dec. 30, will be postponed.
: Kim Dae-jung says South Korea should take the lead in peacefully resolving the Northern nuclear issue. His security adviser, Yim Sung-joon, says that projects such as Mt. Kumgang tourism and restoring road-rail links will continue as “channels of communication.”
: A second round of North-South maritime talks opens in Pyongyang.
: In the ROK’s 16th presidential election, ruling party candidate Roh Moo-hyun, pledged to continue the Sunshine Policy, narrowly defeats the opposition’s Lee Hoi-chang, who sought a harder line toward the North, by 48.9 percent of the vote to 46.6 percent.
: Twenty Northern defectors fly to Seoul from Beijing via Manila, taking this year’s total arrivals to over 1,000 – almost double last year’s figure.
: The third working-level meeting of the panel for the reconnection of roads and railways between South and North Korea is held at Mt. Kumgang.
Dec. 15-17, 2002: Red Cross talks at Mt. Kumgang provisionally agree on a sixth round of family reunions on or near the Lunar New Year (Feb. 1), but make no headway on other issues.
Dec. 15-17, 2002: Red Cross talks at Mt. Kumgang provisionally agree on a sixth round of family reunions on or near the Lunar New Year (Feb. 1), but make no headway on other issues.
: South Korea strongly urges the North to retract its decision to reactivate its nuclear program.
: Economic talks in Seoul on implementing laws on business cooperation narrow differences, but fail to reach full agreement.
: Seoul says its budget to resettle Northern defectors will rise 64 percent next year.
: Talks at Mt. Kumgang on the proposed Kaesong Industrial Complex agree that construction will begin between Dec. 26 and Dec. 30.
: The first overland tour to Mt. Kumgang, due on Dec. 11, is postponed by a week. (As of the end of the year, this has yet to take place.)
: Mine-clearing in the DMZ for an eastern road-rail link is completed.
: The United Nations Command (UNC) agrees to let Southern tourists cross the DMZ without prior approval, ending a dispute that was delaying cross-border links.
: KCBS reports that the SPA Presidium on Nov. 13 adopted a decree setting up the Kaesong industrial zone and passed a law for it on Nov. 20.
: A DPRK Education Ministry spokesman incites South Koreans to a “sacred war” against the United States over an accident last June in which an armored vehicle driven by U.S. soldiers crushed two schoolgirls.
: Joint land surveys are held to fix optimum connection points for the east coast (Donghae) road and rail links.
: North Korea’s Central Broadcasting Station (KCBS) reports that on Oct. 23 the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) adopted a decree setting up the Mt. Kumgang Tourist Zone, and on Nov. 13 passed a law for the special zone.
Nov. 25-30, 2002: A large group from South Korea’s Cheju island province visits the North.
Nov. 25-30, 2002: A large group from South Korea’s Cheju island province visits the North.
: The North’s Democratic Front for the Reunification of the Fatherland (DFRF) calls on South Koreans to join the North and “shatter the nuclear fuss made by the U.S.”
: A Korean People’s Army (KPA) patrol boat that violated the Northern Limit Line retreats after the ROK navy fires two warning shots. Each side accuses the other of intruding in its waters.
: Another North-South working meeting at Mt. Kumgang discusses relinking roads and railways, and passage of merchant ships through each other’s territorial waters.
: The third session of the inter-Korean Committee for the Promotion of Economic Cooperation is held in Pyongyang. It agrees on several working groups, but fails to finalize basic laws on business cooperation initially agreed two years previously.
: The fifth round of inter-Korean Red Cross talks, held at Mt. Kumgang, fails to agree on a next round of family reunions and other related matters.
: A Southern working-level team visits Pyongyang to discuss building an industrial complex in Kaesong city, and also joint flood control on the Imjin river. There is more progress on the former than the latter.
: A Northern economic study group, led by Pak Nam-gi, chairman of the State Planning Commission, and including Kim Jong-il’s brother-in-law Jang Song-taek, spends nine days touring firms and economic facilities in South Korea. They go on to visit Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia for similar purposes, returning home Nov. 16.
: A Northern taekwondo team visits South Korea for demonstration events.
: The eighth round of inter-Korean ministerial talks is held in Pyongyang and concludes with an eight-point joint statement, mainly to progress various economic projects.
: The U.S. claims that, at talks in Pyongyang earlier in the month, North Korea, when confronted with evidence that it has a new covert nuclear program, admitted as much.
: A North-South women’s meeting takes place at Mt. Kumgang.
: North Korea’s team returns home from the Pusan Asian Games.
: North Korea’s Han Pong-sil wins the women’s marathon at the 14th Asian Games held in Pusan, South Korea.
: A North-South students’ meeting is held at Mt. Kumgang.
: A second round of working-level talks on reconnecting inter-Korean roads and railways is held at Mt. Kumgang.
: Arirang, a South Korean silent film, is screened in Pyongyang.
: A Southern civic delegation for the first time joins in commemoration of the National Foundation Day of ancient Korea, in Pyongyang.
: A Southern Roman Catholic delegation visits Pyongyang.
: The 14th Asian Games open in Pusan, with North and South Korean athletes marching together behind a unity flag (although the two will compete separately). The DPRK wins its first match, beating Hong Kong 2-1 at soccer. The games continue until Oct. 14.
: A second group of 152 DPRK athletes flies into Pusan. A 355-strong support group of musicians and dancers arrives by boat the next day.
: South Korean popular singers and artistes hold a concert in Pyongyang. Some meet DPRK President Kim Yong-nam, who is in the audience.
: A Southern opposition Parliament member claims that North Korea was secretly paid $400 million for the June 2000 North-South summit. This escalates into a major political row in Seoul.
: A North-South military hotline is opened for the cross-border road and rail projects.
: Lee Hoi-chang, ROK opposition leader and current favorite to be elected as the next president on December, says North Korea must apologize for past terrorism against the South and promise to release any abductees it is still holding, as it has done with Japan.
: The first group of 159 North Korean athletes arrive in Pusan for the 14th Asian Games by a direct Air Koryo flight, the first time an east coast route has been used.
: Northern and Southern orchestras give a joint concert in Pyongyang.
: Four ceremonies are held to mark the start of reconnecting two rail and road links across the DMZ. Mine-clearing in the DMZ begins the next day.
: The two Koreas exchange signed copies of a defense accord to prevent accidental clashes during work to reconnect cross-border rail and road links. This is the first ever official agreement directly between the two sides’ military authorities.
: Talks on suspected safety problems at the Kumgangsan Dam fail; North Korea demands a Southern apology for casting aspersions. But they agree to meet again in October.
: Six ROK lawmakers spend a week in North Korea, traveling with the KBS symphony orchestra. They meet with Kim Yong-nam, the DPRK’s titular head of state.
: The ROK’s state-owned Export and Import Bank announces an agreement with the DPRK’s Foreign Trade Bank to lend $110 million to pay for 400,000 tons of rice. After a 10-year grace period, repayment will be over 10 years at 1 percent annual interest.
: Railway logistics talks at Mt. Kumgang are delayed by disagreement over whether equipment provided by the South should be loaned or leased (and so returned).
: A South Korean taekwondo demonstration team visits North Korea. A return visit by a Northern team is expected in October.
: A South Korean MP claims that an electricity relay station has been secretly built close to the DMZ to supply power to North Korea.
: South Korea sends a first shipment of 10,000 tons of fertilizer to the North. The remaining 90,000 tons are due to be shipped by mid-October.
: Working talks on road and rail links are held at Mt. Kumgang.
: A fifth round of family reunions is held at Mt. Kumgang. One hundred elderly South Koreans meet long-lost kin for three days, followed by 100 North Koreans.
: Talks on reviving tourism to Mt. Kumgang end without agreement.
: The KPA and UNC sign an agreement at Panmunjom to allow work on a second road and rail corridor across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), near the east coast.
: Thirty-six DPRK defectors, who had sought refuge in foreign missions in Beijing, arrive in Seoul. This record for a single day brings the year’s total to 771.
: DPRK and ROK soccer teams play a friendly in Seoul. There is no score.
: Meeting at Mt. Kumgang, the heads of the ROK and DPRK Red Cross agree to create a permanent meeting place for family reunions at the resort.
: The economic talks end with a range of agreements, including a timetable to begin work almost at once on relinking two road and rail routes across the DMZ.
: A 30-strong DPRK team arrives in Seoul for economic talks, via Beijing.
: The second North-South economic talks, the first since December 2000, are held in Seoul. Several formal sessions are delayed, including the final plenary.
: Two ROK professors give a press conference in Seoul after returning from two months teaching computer science in Pyongyang. They rate their students as awesome.
: A nine-strong ROK team visits Pyongyang to discuss broadcasting exchanges.
: Twenty-one defectors arrive in Inchon by boat, the largest ever group of North Korean “boat people.” The ship’s engineer, whom they tied up, is later returned via Panmunjom.
: Talks at Mt. Kumgang agree that North Korea will send 315 athletes, to compete in 16 sports, and 350 supporters to the Asian Games in Pusan, starting Sept. 29.
: Joint Liberation Day festivities open in Seoul, after a delay due to arguments over wording and content. Thereafter they proceed smoothly, concluding on Aug. 16.
: A 116-strong Northern delegation of officials and performing artists arrives in Seoul, again by direct Air Koryo flight, for joint Liberation Day celebrations.
: Ministerial talks end with a 10-point joint press statement, presaging further meetings and cooperation. But to Seoul’s disappointment, no date is set for military talks.
: North Korea’s 29-member delegation arrives in Seoul by a direct Air Koryo flight from Pyongyang for the seventh round of ministerial talks, the first in nine months.
: South Korea says it will allow limited flying at the Asian Games of North Korea’s national flag, whose display is illegal under the ROK’s National Security Law.
: The DPRK officially announces its participation in the Pusan Asiad.
: Seoul says it will give Pyongyang financial aid to take part in the Pusan Asiad.
: Talks at Mt. Kumgang agree on a range of inter-Korean events, including ministerial talks, Red Cross meetings on further family reunions, a unification festival, a soccer game, and the North’s participation in the Asian Games in Pusan later this year.
: South Korea says the North has agreed to back its international diplomatic campaign to have the name “Sea of Japan” officially changed to “East Sea/Sea of Japan.”
: North Korea sends a message of “regret” for the “accidental” naval clash, and proposes working talks to discuss a resumption of intergovernmental North-South dialogue. After a delay of some days, Seoul accepts.
: At talks in Pyongyang, it is agreed that North Korea will send a (nominally) nongovernmental delegation by a direct flight to celebrate Liberation Day in Seoul.
: South Korea says that satellite photos show that the North’s Kumgangsan Dam, which was feared to be leaking, is being not only repaired but expanded.
: North Korea faxes acceptance of a proposal by Southern civic groups for working talks in Pyongyang on July 20-24 to discuss holding joint events for Aug. 15.
: Because of the June 29 clash, South Korea postpones the start of a direct east coast air route for KEDO use from Yangyang in the South to Sondok in the North. A DPRK Air Koryo plane eventually inaugurates the route with a test flight on July 20.
: North Korea invites Southern civic organizations to discuss joint celebration of Liberation Day (from Japan in 1945) on Aug. 15.
: Despite the inter-Korean naval clash three days earlier, 25 Northern engineers arrive in Seoul as scheduled under Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) auspices for a month’s nuclear safety training.
: South Korea suspends rice aid to the North. Kim Dae-jung again demands an apology from Pyongyang for the June 29 naval clash.
: North Korea congratulates Chung Mong-joon, chairman of the ROK’s football association, on South Korea’s hosting of and performance in the just concluded World Cup.
: An inter-Korean firefight in the Yellow Sea sinks an ROK patrol boat, killing five. Northern casualties are estimated at 30. Each accuses the other of shooting first.
: Inter-Korean firefight in the Yellow Sea sinks an ROK patrol boat, killing five. Northern casualties are estimated at 30. Each accuses the other of shooting first.
: ROK deputy foreign minister says Seoul supports NGO proposals to set up a camp for North Korean refugees in Mongolia, if Ulanbaatar agrees.
: North Korea and KEDO agree that from July 10 the North’s Air Koryo will fly between Yangyang in the South and Sonduk near the Kumho LWR site, carrying project staff.
: North Korea without notice stops discharging water at its Kumgangsan dam.
: Twenty-six North Korean refugees who had entered ROK and Canadian missions in Beijing arrive in Seoul via third countries, after China and South Korea reach an agreement.
: North Korean TV, which had been illicitly airing highlights of the soccer World Cup, for the first time shows a match involving the South Korean team.
: The North’s tourist body reiterates an invitation for Southerners to attend its Arirang festival, extended to July 15. Seoul insists on government-level talks first.
: The 2002 Pusan Asiad Organizing Committee sends a letter via Panmunjom, officially inviting North Korea to participate in the 14th Asian Games (Sept. 29 – Oct. 14).
: North Korea indefinitely postpones the Pyongyang International High-Tech Forum and Expo, set for June 28-29. Some 60 South Korean IT firms had planned to attend.
: The South returns three Northern fishing boats that entered its waters.
: The ROK Unification Ministry reports inter-Korean trade from January-May of $186.22 million, up 7.9 percent. Southern imports were $80.56 million (up 60 percent), to the North’s $105.66 million.
: A Unification Ministry poll finds that two-thirds of South Koreans support aid to the North; 21 percent favor raising it; 49 percent have a positive image of North Korea, 48 percent negative.
: Over 200 Southern civic activists return from Mt. Kumgang, having agreed to hold joint youth and women’s inter-Korean unification events in July and September respectively.
: The ROK Unification Ministry says it will double its resettlement facility for defectors from 150 to 300. Already 514 have arrived this year, up from 583 in all of 2001. The minister describes defectors as “a beginning of the reunification process.”
: It is revealed that some 500 Northern engineers will come South in November for two-three months training in power generation, as part of KEDO’s light-water reactor project.
: Southern Christian aid NGO flies 320 members direct to Pyongyang for a week’s visit. They return early June 18, after a promised joint service failed to materialize.
: A 20-member Southern trade union delegation goes to Mt. Kumgang for joint celebrations of the second anniversary of the June 2000 inter-Korean declaration.
: A KPA patrol boat crosses four miles into Southern waters and remains for four hours, in the eighth such incident this year. Nonetheless, the ROK Joint Chiefs of Staff say on June 19 that violations are down this year and that the North is avoiding confrontation.
: ROK Unification Minister Jeong Se-hyun says that North Korea’s economic dependence on South Korea is now comparable to its former ties with the USSR and China. He adds that 652 Southern companies are now doing business with the North.
: A ground-breaking ceremony is held in Pyongyang for the first inter-Korean college. Pyongyang University of Science and Technology is due to open in September 2003.
: South Korea completes shipment of 200,000 tons of free fertilizer to the North.
: First Southern professors to lecture in the North begin teaching an 18-month course on reactor operations to 1,400 Northern engineers at KEDO’s LWR site at Kumho. Two other ROK professors will lecture on IT management systems in the North in July and August.
: Hyundai Asan doubles its Kumgang cruises from 10 to 20 per month. Tours are fully booked through summer, thanks to official subsidies for students and separated families.
: The first ever North-South telecommunication talks are held in Pyongyang. Southern companies provisionally agree to jointly launch a mobile service later this year.
: A delegation from southern Kangwon province, which is split by the DMZ, visits its Northern counterpart to spray insecticide on pine trees and discuss other cooperation.
: North Korea notifies the South that it will discharge water from its Inman dam from June 3. It does so. South Korea had claimed that the dam was cracking.
: A diplomatic source cites DPRK Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun in Moscow as saying that the North’s military is opposed to an east coast North-South rail link.
: South Korea indefinitely postpones issuing this year’s defense white paper to sidestep controversy over whether to continue to designate North Korea as “main enemy.”
: A 10-strong Northern team visits the South to inspect a nuclear power plant and Yangyang airport, which will be used for transport to Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization’s (KEDO) light-water reactor (LWR) site at Kumho.
: Park Geun-hye says Kim Jong-il promised to send the DPRK’s soccer squad South for a friendly game in September. There was no mention of the World Cup.
: The ROK unification minister says Seoul is considering giving materials worth $25 million to the North to expedite completion of North-South railway links.
: Park Geun-hye, daughter of ex-President Park Chung-hee and herself seen as a presidential contender, visits North Korea, dines with Kim Jong-il, and returns via Panmunjom.
: A chartered Korean Air plane flies 255 Cheju residents directly to Pyongyang for a week’s visit.
: The North pulls out of economic talks due the next day, alleging hostile comments by the South’s foreign minister. A separate economic visit due later in May is cancelled also.
: A fourth round of separated family reunions is held, this time at Mt. Kumgang rather than in Pyongyang and Seoul, briefly reuniting 848 elderly kin.
: Roh Moo-hyun, a strong supporter of inter-Korean reconciliation and former advocate of U.S. troop withdrawal, is nominated as the ruling Millennium Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.
: South Korea says it will spend $54 million to give 200,000 tons of fertilizer to North Korea for delivery over the next month in time for this year’s harvest.
: A final consignment of 100,000 tons of Southern maize aid is sent to the North.
: Ex-ROK Unification Minister Lim Dong-won visits Pyongyang as ROK President Kim Dae-jung’s special envoy. After talks with DPRK Leader Kim Jong-il and others, he returns with a commitment to resume inter-Korean cooperation, including a new offer of a second cross-DMZ rail link.
: North Korean media condemn joint air combat exercises of U.S. and South Korean troops as a “frenzied exercise in preparation for air battle.”
: Both Koreas announce simultaneously that ROK senior presidential secretary Lim will visit Pyongyang in early April as Kim Dae-jung’s special envoy.
: Senior presidential secretary Lim Dong-won warns that 2003 could see a new security crisis as in 1994. He also reveals that 150 Southern firms are operating in North Korea, and some 800 South Koreans are living in Pyongyang, Kumgang, and the Sinpo nuclear site.
: An ROK Red Cross youth delegation, returning after handing over gifts worth $470,000 at Nampo port, says North Korea has asked for Southern fertilizer aid.
: The Twenty-five North Korean refugees – six families and two orphan girls – arrive in Seoul.
: Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s ruling party newspaper, questions the possibility of inter-Korean dialogue while U.S.-DPRK relations remain aggravated.
: China allows the 25 North Korean refugees to be flown to Manila, Philippines.
: Twenty-five North Korean refugees seek asylum in the Spanish Embassy in Beijing.
: North Korean tourism officials visiting Japan reportedly want up to 10 flights daily between Seoul, Pyongyang, and Beijing during the World Cup and Arirang festival.
: Hyundai Asan says it has paid $1.3 million in tourist fees to North Korea.
: The unification minister says Seoul may restrict travel by Northern defectors after one returned to the North for his wife, was caught, and reportedly shot, but escaped again.
: South Korea said it will send anti-malarial drugs and equipment worth $700,000 to North Korea next month via WHO.
: god (gee-oh-dee), a South Korean boy band, are to visit North Korea later this month and plant trees as goodwill envoys of the New Millennium Life Movement, an NGO.
: A DPRK statement blames the breakdown of the planned joint lunar new year event on the U.S. and anti-reunification forces in South Korea.
Mar. 4, 2002: The South’s Unification Ministry says that if the North agrees to resume family reunions, it will consider Mt. Kumgang as a venue.
Mar. 4, 2002: The South’s Unification Ministry says that if the North agrees to resume family reunions, it will consider Mt. Kumgang as a venue.
: After arriving in Kumgangsan, the Southern delegates learn that Pyongyang has cancelled the joint event.
: Over 200 South Korean activists leave Seoul for lunar new year celebrations at Mt. Kumgang.
: A Korean People’s Army sergeant defects across the front line near the South’s new Dorasan rail station, just a day before Presidents Bush and Kim Dae-jung visit the same spot.
: Ten North Korean defectors arrive in South Korea via “a third country” (usually China), bringing this year’s total to 54.
: The unification minister says South Korea will seek to open a direct air route to the KEDO’s reactor site at Kumho in North Korea for workers and emergency medical teams.
: Pyongyang radio urges South Koreans to protest U.S. President George Bush’s visit to Seoul.
: DPRK media confirms that North and South have agreed, at a working meeting in Pyongyang, to hold a joint lunar new year festival at Kumgangsan toward the end of February.
: South Korea’s new foreign minister, Choi Sung-hong, calls on North Korea to resume talks with both South Korea and the U.S.
: South Korea gives $19 million to provide 100,000 tons of corn to the North via the WFP.
: Jeong Se-hyun, a former vice minister and NIS special advisor, replaces Hong Soon-young as unification minister.
: The ROK Unification Ministry reports that last year 1,686 one-way North-South sea voyages (down 18.7 percent) carried 837,000 tons of cargo (up 19.1 percent).
: South Korean opposition leader Lee Hoi-chang says he opposes official aid for the Mt. Kumgang tourism project absent concessions by North Korea.
: A joint meeting of the government, political parties, and social organizations in Pyongyang expresses its intention to re-establish inter-Korean dialogue at all levels.
: Kim Dae-jung says he has had a report that the North may be resuming work on cross-border rail links.
: South Korea’s Red Cross returns three Northern fishermen, rescued at sea by a Russian merchant ship and dropped off at the Southern port of Chinhae, via Panmunjom.
: North Korea invites the South’s Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation to Pyongyang to discuss a joint lunar new year event.
: Seoul denies a local press report that it plans to offset Hyundai Asan’s losses on the Mt. Kumgang tourism project from the Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation Fund.
: The ROK’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) reports that 583 North Koreans defected to South Korea last year, almost twice as many as in 2000.
: Pyongyang is reported as opposing plans of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO) for a satellite communication link between South Korea and the consortium’s nuclear reactor site at Kumho, North Korea.
: South Korea’s unification minister says his ministry’s prime goal this year is to realize Kim Jong-il’s visit to Seoul, but that this can be neither guaranteed nor predicted.
: In an end of year report, South Korea’s Defense Ministry says that North Korea remains a threat, but stops short of defining it as the main enemy.
: Kim Dae-jung pledges to continue the Sunshine Policy in his last year of office.
: North Korea’s nuclear delegation leaves Seoul after its inspection tour.
: A Southern NGO delegation arrives in Mt. Geumgang to discuss joint lunar New Year celebrations with Northern counterparts, to be held around Feb. 12, 2002.
: South Korea reveals that 570 North Koreans defected to the ROK in 2001: the highest ever annual total, and almost double 2000’s 312. (The eventual year-end total was 583.)
: Hyundai announces a further cut in its Geumgangsan cruise tours from January, from 10 down to four monthly sailings. Speculation grows that the tours will cease altogether.
: South Korea’s Defense Ministry reveals that its post-Sept. 11 heightened security alert status was phased out in late December.
: Seoul’s National Statistical Office publishes figures on the widening economic gap between North and South. Southern per capita income was 12.7 times higher than that of the North in 2000.
: South Korea says it will provide the North with 100,000 tons of maize via the UN World Food Program.
: The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland reiterates a commitment to dialogue, but renews criticism of the South’s unification minister.
: A 20-strong North Korean nuclear delegation arrives unannounced in Seoul under KEDO auspices for a two-week tour of Southern nuclear and related facilities.
: Kim Dae-jung predicts that Korea will be reunified peacefully within 20 years.
: South Korea says it will simplify regulations on inter-Korean exchanges.
: The KPA fires three machine gun rounds at an ROK guardpost in the DMZ, which returns fire. No one is hurt. No explanation is given, but the incident does not escalate.
: The Seoul daily Chosun Ilbo reports that most chaebol are shelving projects they had planned in North Korea, as they are more trouble than they are worth.
: Seoul’s Unification Ministry approves a Won 6.2 billion ($4.77 million) investment by the ROK’s Kookyang Shipping to improve cargo handling at Nampo, the port for Pyongyang.
: Seoul says it will not subsidize Hyundai’s Mt. Geumgang tourism business.
: For the second day running, a DPRK patrol boat crosses the Northern Limit Line (NLL). The ROK rescues and returns a Northern fishing boat that had drifted south.
: Ministerial talks at Mt. Geumgang end with no agreements or joint statement. North Korea blames the ROK unification minister for being obstructive.
: Talks at Mt. Geumgang are extended an extra two days. Reports suggest – as it turns out, prematurely – that the next round of family reunions has been agreed.
: Sixth North-South ministerial talks open at Mt. Geumgang.
: South Korea threatens to link rice aid to progress on family reunions.
: South Korea accepts Mt. Geumgang as venue for the sixth ministerial talks.
: North Korea insists on Mt. Geumgang.
: Seoul says it would also accept Mt. Myohyang, north of Pyongyang, as a venue.
: South Korea regrets the North’s failure to implement agreements reached at the fifth ministerial talks, and insists that Pyongyang remain the venue for the next round as agreed.
: The organizing committee for the Asian Games, to be held in Busan in the fall of 2002, sends an official invitation to the DPRK.
: The North suggests a week’s postponement for tourism and economic talks, but insists on Mt. Geumgang as the venue for both these and the next ministerial meetings.
: The South proposes that the tourist talks be held at its own Mt. Sorak and that economic talks due on Oct. 23-26 take place in Seoul as previously agreed.
: The North proposes that the next tourism talks be held at Mt. Geumgang.
: North Korea unilaterally cancels family reunions, claiming that South Korea’s heightened security alert status makes it unsafe for civilians. Seoul protests vigorously.
: South Korea says it will offer 400,000 tons of grain to the North.
: The two Koreas exchange lists of names for the fourth family reunions, set for Oct. 16-18.
: Joint statement announces agreement on reviving tourism, including to discuss opening a land route to Mt. Geumgang.
: Inter-Korean talks on how to revitalize tourism open at Mt. Geumgang.
: Meeting in Beijing, ROK, and DPRK Olympic committees agree that both sides’ athletes will march together, with a neutral flag and anthem, at the opening ceremony for the Athens Olympics in August; but they will compete separately. All this is as per Sydney in 2000.