South Korean Residents getting Spooked by North's Threats

The South Korean military apparently reported two small scares on June 17, demonstrating that the South Korean residents and miitary are getting a bit jumpy at the recent threats of war made by North Korea.

The South Korean military reportedly received information from a resident living in Ansan (a city located Southwest of Seoul), South Chungcheong Province, that 40 to 50 unidentified objects resembling parachutes descended on a mountain during the night of June 16. The resident apparently tol the military authorities that he also sensed human movements in the area where the objects fell. The South Korean military and police mobilized a special task force in the early morning of June 17 in response to this report.

The military did not find anything suspicious, but a report was apparently sent up the chain of command, all the way to the Defense Minister, just in case North Korea was really trying to infiltrate into the South, who ordered a military task force be formed to investigate the reporting.

The investigation revealed the "flying objects" were balloons from a nearby kindergarten.

Click here for more from the JoongAng Ilbo on this topic.

North Korea's rhetoric and threats are ordinarily intended to bring about anxiety and restlessness to the South Korean residents and authorities. Although it does not seem to be a trend, yet, it certainly seems the Norks are having some success in meeting its IO (information operations) goals against the South.

Same tune and not so different verse

The Korean People’s Army (KPA) General Staff issued North Korea’s first response to the annual ROK-US combined exercise, Key Resolve, on February 25 via North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (in English) and Korean Central Broadcasting Station (in Korean). The overall tone of this year’s initial denouncement of the ROK-US combined exercise is consistent with those of the past years. Additionally, mentioning of the need for “nuclear deterrent” was also found to be consistent with past years’ statements.

KPA General Staff Denounces Key Resolve 2010:

• Ignoring our repeated warnings, the enemies finally announced that they would stage the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joing military exercises, which are northward aggression war exercises, from 8 March. (KPA General Staff carried on Korean Central Broadcasting Station [KCBS], 25 February 2010)

• The enemies describe [the joint military exercises] as annual exercises and defense, but [the exercises] are pilot operations and nuclear war exercises aimed at a surprise, preemptive attack on our Republic to all intents and purposes. (KPA General Staff carried on KCBS, 25 February 2010)

• If the US imperialists and South Korean puppet warmongers carry out the aggressive joint military exercises despite our repeated warnings, we will respond to them with our powerful military counteraction, and if necessary, we will mercilessly beat to a muddy place the stronghold of aggression by mobilizing all the offensive and defensive means, including nuclear deterrent. (KPA General Staff carried on KCBS, 25 February 2010)

ROK-US Combined Military Exercises are “an act of provocation and northward aggression”:

• Currently, the US imperialists have drafted an adventurous plan of preemptive nuclear attack of northward aggression and war scenarios according to various circumstances, such as "Operations Plan 5027-04" and "Operations 5030. … These exercises are no different, even a bit, from the existing joint military exercises aiming at northward aggression in terms of scale and aggressive character, although the titles have been changed… (Rodong Sinmun , 13 March 2008)

• The staging of the "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle" joint military exercises, as an extremely adventurous and extremely dangerous provocation by those who are dreaming of provoking a nuclear war, is a serious military threat to, and a de facto declaration of war on, our Republic. We can never tolerate the war provocation maneuvers that the belligerent group of Lee Myung-bak is committing for northward aggression in conspiracy with the outside forces. (Rodong Sinmun, 11 March 2009)

• The enemies describe [the joint military exercises] as annual exercises and defense, but [the exercises] are pilot operations and nuclear war exercises aimed at a surprise, preemptive attack on our Republic to all intents and purposes. (KPA General Staff carried on KCBS, 25 February 2010)

Nuclear deterrent needed to defend against “the US and the ROK Aggression”:

• The United States plans to hold reception, staging, onward movement and integration (rsoi) exercises and foal eagle maneuvers with south Korea from March 22. … They are still rendering the situation around the Korean peninsula extremely strained, while intensifying the moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK. The Korean people, who consider independence to be their life and soul, are keeping a close eye on the U.S. moves, while further strengthening the self-defense nuclear deterrent to cope with them. (Korean Central News Agency [KCNA], 14 March 2004)

• At a time when the situation on the Korean peninsula is rushing toward a phase of explosion because of the US hostile policy against the DPRK, on 14 [March], aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk crawled into Pusan Port and a number of naval vessels, including cruisers and destroyers, crawled into South Korean ports. These [naval vessels] are reported to participate in the upcoming RSOI and Foal Eagle joint military exercise that will be staged starting from 19 [March]. … The persistent and adventurous US policy to crush the DPRK compel us to head toward strengthening the nuclear deterrent forces. (Rodong Sinmun, 17 March 2005)

• Intentionally straining the situation on the Korean peninsula with the excuse of the nuclear issue, the United States has carried out one war exercise after another, such as the "Foal Eagle" and the "Ulchi Focus Lens." … While ceaselessly upgrading war exercises, the United States is frantically preparing a war of aggression. Our army and people have achieved single-hearted unity, which is stronger than a nuclear weapon, under the great military-first leadership of the respected and beloved General Kim Jong-il and consolidated the self-defensive nuclear deterrent that can overwhelm the United States' "policy of strength." (Uriminjokkkiri, 25 June 2006)

• In the midst of this confrontation madness, the Lee Myung-bak gang began the first "task" of the regime by playing up to the US warmongers and launching the aggressive "Key Resolve" and "Foal Eagle" joint military exercises, which target their fellow countrymen. … The resolution and will of our army and people, who seek to rescue the fate of the nation and protect the foundation of [our] lives through the nuclear deterrent of justice, are fully charged. Besides South Korean society, those inside the gang are also quite troubled with unease and fear over the risk of the new war that the Lee Myung-bak gang is bringing along now. (Rodong Sinmun, 09 April 2008)

• Our Republic has enough ability and modern military and technological means capable of weakening their "military and technological edge." We trust our own military strength and are proud and confident about them as a matter of fact. An international lesson of the 21st century and our Republic's historic experience say that when [we] have powerful self-defensive national defense capability at our disposal, [we] do not fear any international cordon sanitaire by the united imperialist force or any kind of war. The US warmongers' frantic commotion of nuclear war exercises is pushing us toward reinforcing [our] war deterrent even further. (Rodong Sinmun, 10 March 2009)

• If the US imperialists and South Korean puppet warmongers carry out the aggressive joint military exercises despite our repeated warnings, we will respond to them with our powerful military counteraction, and if necessary, we will mercilessly beat to a muddy place the stronghold of aggression by mobilizing all the offensive and defensive means, including nuclear deterrent. (KPA General Staff carried on KCBS, 25 February 2010)

Continued “US and ROK Aggression” will be met with “Merciless Counterattack”:

• Dialogue and confrontation, and peace and war can never go together. If the enemies dare to ignite a war without discretion, the DPRK will give decisive punishment to the aggressors with merciless counterattack. (KCNA, 05 March 2008)

• There is no limit to the retaliatory measure of the KPA and no one can predict or evade it. If the warmongers dare launch a war of aggression defying our repeated warnings, our revolutionary armed forces will counter it with resolute and merciless just war for reunification. (KCNA, 08 March 2009)

• If the US imperialists and South Korean puppet warmongers carry out the aggressive joint military exercises despite our repeated warnings, we will respond to them with our powerful military counteraction, and if necessary, we will mercilessly beat to a muddy place the stronghold of aggression by mobilizing all the offensive and defensive means, including nuclear deterrent. (KPA General Staff carried on KCBS, 25 February 2010)

The North Korean media has reported on, and denounced, all major ROK-US combined military exercises since the mid-70’s and this year has not been an exception. On February 25, the KPA General Staff issued its denouncement of the planned Key Resolve ROK-US combined military exercise (additional denouncements have followed since). The overall tone of this year’s denouncement has been consistent with those of the past years - “an act of provocation and northward aggression.”

This year’s KPA General Staff statement also said, “…we will mercilessly beat to a muddy place the stronghold of aggression by mobilizing all the offensive and defensive means, including nuclear deterrent.” Use of the term “nuclear deterrent” and the context the term was used in this year’s statement were also found to be consistent with past North Korean denouncements of the ROK-US combined military exercises.

North Korea, as usual, threatens South Korea and the US over combined exercise

North Korean People's Army General Staff spokesman issued a statement today threatening to attack South Korea and US forces for a scheduled combined military exercise in March.

The enemies describe [the joint military exercises] as annual exercises and defense, but [the exercises] are pilot operations and nuclear war exercises aimed at a surprise, preemptive attack on our Republic to all intents and purposes.

If the US imperialists and South Korean warmongers launch the joint military exercises for aggression, ignoring our repeated warnings, we will react to them with our powerful military counteraction, and if necessary, mercilessly destroy the bulwark of aggression by mobilizing all the offensive and defensive means including nuclear deterrent.

North Korea routinely claims the annual South Korea-US exercise that mobilizes tens of thousands of US and South Korean troops and equipment amounts to a precursor to an invasion of its soil.

Here are the two versions of the February 25 North Korean statement issued in response to the exercise (one is a KCNA version that was released in English and the other is a translation of the KCBS broadcast that was originally broadcast in Korean):

KPA General Staff Spokesman Blasts Projected U.S.-S. Korea Joint Military Exercises (KCNA, 25 Feb 2010)

The U.S. imperialists and the warmongers of the South Korean puppet army finally announced that they would stage the DPRK-targeted Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises from March 8.

In this regard a spokesman for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army released the following statement Thursday: Massively involved in the exercises will be more than 18 000-strong forces including over 10 000 U.S. imperialist aggression troops present in south Korea and ultra-modern military hardware as well as army corps-level, fleet command-level and flying corps-level units of the South Korean puppet army and even civilian forces. The enemies describe the exercises as "annual ones" and "defensive" but they are pilot operations and nuclear war exercises aimed to preempt a surprise attack on the DPRK, to all intents and purposes.

From the outset of the year the warmongers of the South Korean puppet army in collusion with the U.S. imperialists have frantically staged mid-winter tactical exercise, large-scale coordinated ground exercise and other exercises of various codenames, while talking about a "preemptive attack" over self-defensive nuclear deterrent of the DPRK. This is by no means accidental.

This brought to light their true colors as war fanatics keen to bring dark clouds of a nuclear war to hang over the inviolable land, while seeking escalated tensions and confrontation only.

We will not remain a passive onlooker to this grave situation created by the provokers.

If the U.S. imperialists and South Korean warmongers launch the joint military exercises for aggression, ignoring our repeated warnings, we will react to them with our powerful military counteraction, and if necessary, mercilessly destroy the bulwark of aggression by mobilizing all the offensive and defensive means including nuclear deterrent.

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Press statement by a spokesperson for the General Staff of the Korean People's Army [KPA] (Korean Central Broadcasting Station in Korean, 25 Feb 2010)

Currently, a touch-and-go dangerous situation, in which a war may break out any moment, is being created on the Korean peninsula due to brigandish US imperialists and South Korean puppet warmongers' reckless war maneuver.

Ignoring our repeated warnings, the enemies finally announced that they would stage the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle joint military exercises, which are northward aggression war exercises, from 8 March.

Massive forces of some 18,000-strong forces, including over 10,000 troops of the US aggression forces forcibly occupying South Korea, and state-of-the-art arms and equipment are to be intensively committed to the joint military exercises. [Also,] army corps-level, fleet command-level, and flying corps-level units of the South Korean puppets and even civilian forces are to be mobilized.

The enemies describe [the joint military exercises] as annual exercises and defense, but [the exercises] are pilot operations and nuclear war exercises aimed at a surprise, preemptive attack on our Republic to all intents and purposes.

It is by no means coincidental that South Korean puppet warmongers, who colluded with the US imperialists, have been frantically staging training under all kinds of pretexts, including mid-winter tactical training, and large-scale joint ground training, from the beginning of the year, while recklessly saying that they will launch a preemptive attack by picking on our self-defensive nuclear deterrent.

This by itself revealed that the US imperialists and South Korean puppet warmongers are the ones who are war fanatics trying to bring in dark clouds of a nuclear war to our sacred land, while only pursuing aggravation of tension and confrontation.

We will not just keep looking at today's grave situation created by the provokers.

Each heart of our military and people, who hold a deep grudge that has built up for more than half a century due to the aggressors, is strongly seething with soaring hatred and rage against the enemies that are igniting fire to a fuse of war, while giving off the smell of gunpowder, on this land today.

If the US imperialists and South Korean puppet warmongers carry out the aggressive joint military exercises despite our repeated warnings, we will respond to them with our powerful military counteraction [kangnyo'khan kunsajo'k taeu'ng]; and if necessary, we will mercilessly beat to a muddy place the stronghold of aggression [ch'imnyagu'i aso'ngu'l mujabihage chukt'angch'yo'bo'rilgo'sida] by mobilizing all the offensive and defensive means, including nuclear deterrent.

[Dated] 25 February 2010, Chuch'e 99, Pyongyang.

Joint Statement by the North Korean Ministry of People's Security and Ministry of State Security

The North Korean Ministry of People's Security and Ministry of State Security issued a joint statement yesterday (February 08, 2010) entitled: "Will Mercilessly Squash Anti-Republic Fanatics Who Attempt to Harm Our Highly Dignified System and the Country's Security" while the inter-Korean talks were being held in Kaesong, North Korea, to discuss the resumption of the Mount Kumgang and City of Kaesong tours - a foreign currency cash cow for Kim Jong-il.

The statement claimed North Korea has a secret strike force to counter what it called "South Korean plots" to topple its regime.

The statement also criticized efforts by the South's military to defend the disputed Yellow Sea (West Sea) border - the Northern Limit Line - and "reckless" operations to destabilize the North.

It said, without elaborating, "We have world-level ultra-modern striking force and means for protecting security which have neither yet been mentioned nor opened to the public in total."

The North Korean state media released the statement both in Korean and in English. The Korean version was released on air via Korean Central Broadcasting Station, and the English version was released via Korean Central News Agency.

The timing and the contents of the statement suggests externally it was a tactical negotiation package that was designed to provide North Korea maneuver room in inter-Korean and international negotiations. Internally, as with numerous other statements of this kind, it was designed to assure the people the regime has everything under control and justify the regime's military and nuclear policies by pointing out the necessity of these policies due to threats posed to the North from those pesky South Korean sycophants and the American imperialists.

hmm....new statement....same old theme....

As we mentioned above, there were two versions of the statement - one in Korean released on the Korean Central Broadcasting Station, and one in English released on the Korean Central News Agency. We have uploaded both versions (to include the original Korean text) and we also compared the two versions to identify any differences.

Click here for the Korean text of statement (KCBS).
Click here for the English translation of the statement (KCBS).
Click here for the KCNA version of the statement released in English.
Click here for the comparison of two versions.

A short note on Strategic vs Tactical North Korean Rhetoric

With recent increase in North Korean rhetoric and today's North Korean live fire exercise that rattled the nerves of the South Korean military and increased tensions between the two countries, we thought it might be worth a while to discuss very quickly the differences of the North Korean rhetoric that is designed for strategic and for tactical purposes.

North Korea uses varying levels of rhetoric depending on its objectives. Overall, rhetoric issued by higher levels of governmental body tend to be strategic whereas lower level government body pronouncements tend to be tactical.

• Strategic Rhetoric: Tends to address larger issues, often framed as the regime's initiative in order to achieve diplomatic and political progress. It is typically designed to hint and provide justification for the regime's foreign policy priorities. Contrast to the tactical rhetoric, strategic rhetoric is almost always carried by domestically oriented media outlets.

• Tactical Rhetoric: Tends to be more inflammatory, often framed as responses to events external to the country. They have been used in the past to strengthen the regime's negotiating position ahead of bilateral or multilateral negotiations. Tactical rhetoric is also typically carried by the externally oriented media outlets, and they are designed to give the regime with maneuver room to either turn-up or -down the rhetoric as situations dictate.

Seoul rebuffs Pyongyang's claim of West Sea provocation

December 17, 2009

The South Korean military Thursday dismissed North Korea's claim that it engaged in provocative military exercises in the West Sea.

Pyongyang claimed in a report of its official Korean Central News Agency that the South Korean army committed an "unpardonable military act" in waters of the West Sea on Dec. 17.

A spokesman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said the training was conducted in "our waters" and not the area near the northern limited line as claimed by North Korea, adding the incident referred to was routine training by an artillery unit stationed in South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island.

North Korea's claim stated that "at about 14:20 that day, they staged an underwater explosion exercise three times close to the waters of the north side southeast of Kuwol Hill, Kangryong County, South Hwanghae Province." And added that "the exercise conducted under the very nose of the north is a threat to it and an unpardonable criminal act against it."

-- Yonhap News Agency

North Korea threatens South Korea over naval drills

December 17, 2009

North Korea threatened retaliation against South Korea over what it claimed were naval drills around their disputed sea border, accusing Seoul on Thursday of attempting to escalate tension.

The North's Korean Central News Agency cited an unidentified source as saying that the South Korean military staged underwater explosive exercises around the border — the scene of a naval clash last month that left one North Korean sailor dead and three others wounded.

The drills represent "a threat and an unpardonable act of crime against us," KCNA said.

"We cannot but view this as a premeditated provocation aimed at raising tension in the militarily sensitive waters," it said. "We will deal a merciless retaliatory blow if the South Korean warlike forces keep staging military provocations" near the border.

A South Korean Defense Ministry official could not immediately confirm whether the military conducted such drills but said he was checking.

North Korea has often made such accusations and the South has rejected them. Pyongyang, known for its use of fiery rhetoric, also regularly threatens South Korea with destruction.

The communist North does not recognize the sea boundary, drawn by the United Nations at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, and has long claimed that it should be redrawn farther south. The dispute led to deadly skirmishes in 1999, 2002 and last month.

Relations between the two Koreas soured badly after conservative South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office early last year and halted unconditional aid to the North in line with his pledge to get tough on the communist neighbor over its nuclear weapons development.

The two sides are still technically at war as the Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Korean Peninsula Today, 28 July 2009

Today’s highlights:

1) The North Korean foreign ministry spokesman stating that there is a “specific and reserved form of dialogue” to handle the current deadlock over its nuclear program in an apparent call on the US to initiate bilateral contact
2) North Korea increased its anti-US rhetoric on the 56th Korean War Armistice anniversary
3) A South Korean report which states China’s northeast region has emerged as North Korean cyber hub
4) The United Nations Command statement that North Korea has violated the armistice more than 425,000 times
and 5) South Korea’s National Unification Advisory Council, which released a book recently, criticizing the North Korean policies of past two administrations.

North Korea Calls for New Dialogue on its Nuclear Program (Yonhap)

SEOUL – North Korea on Monday [27 July] demanded a new form of dialogue to resolve the stalemate over its nuclear program and reiterated it won't return to the six-party talks, in an apparent call on the United States to open bilateral contact.

Washington has been unresponsive to Pyongyang's reported desire for one-on-one talks. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in a media interview on Sunday, "We still want North Korea to come back to the negotiating table" that also involves South Korea, China, Japan and Russia.

South Korea said it is "not opposed" to bilateral dialogue between North Korea and the U.S., asserting Seoul and Washington have a close alliance.

In a statement from its foreign ministry spokesman, North Korea said the six-party talks are now dead and should be replaced with a new form of dialogue.

"There is a specific and reserved form of dialogue that can address the current situation," the unidentified spokesman said.

The spokesman did not specify what the new form is, but North Korea is known to have long favored bilateral contact with the U.S., which can pull off deals in a shorter time than when dealing with all the other regional countries. After an ASEAN security forum urged Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks last week, the North Korean ambassador to the United Nations, Sin Son-ho, suggested Pyongyang wants direct talks with Washington.

"The six-party talks are gone forever," he told reporters in New York on Saturday. "(But) We are not against dialogue. We are not against any negotiation for the issues of common concern."

Clinton did not take to the proposal.

"We still want North Korea to come back to the negotiating table, to be part of an international effort that will lead to denuclearization," she said on an NBC television program, returning from the ASEAN forum.

Clinton also described North Korea as "very isolated now." Recounting one of the ASEAN sessions in Thailand, she said, "They don't have any friends left" and "Everyone else just didn't even listen" as a North Korean representative presented criticisms of Washington.

South Korea joined the U.S. call for six-party talks but noted it does not oppose a bilateral approach.

"We hope that North Korea will return to the six-way talks at an early date," Seoul's foreign ministry spokesman Moon Tae-young said at a press briefing. "We are not opposed to dialogue between North Korea and the U.S."

With the latest statement, North Korea also said the U.S. and its allies are misleading the international community about why the six-party forum came to an end.

"The six-party talks were consequently reduced to a platform for blocking even the DPRK's (North Korea) development of science and technology for peaceful purposes and curbing the normal progress of its economy," the spokesman said.

North Korea withdrew from the talks in April after the U.N. Security Council condemned its long-range rocket launch with a resolution imposing sanctions. North Korea described the U.N. action as unfair, claiming the launch was to orbit a satellite and that other nations had not been punished for the same deed. South Korea, the U.S. and Japan viewed the launch as a disguised missile test.

"This is the essence and the background of the current state of affairs, which the countries that are not parties to the six-party talks should understand," he said.

The six-party talks began in 2003 to seek ways of terminating the North's nuclear weapons program. The last round in December ended with no progress amid disputes on how to verify the North's past nuclear activities.

In a separate article, the North's party newspaper Rodong Sinmun rejected U.S. logic that North Korea's nuclear program should never be allowed as it would trigger a chain reaction in the region. The paper said the U.S. nuclear protection of South Korea and Japan is more likely to prompt a war.

"Danger of war will increase only when one of the two h ostile parties is armed with nuclear weapons or protected by a 'nuclear umbrella' while the other remains defenseless, having none of them. The DPRK's access to nukes helped keep a nuclear balance in Northeast Asia even in the least, thus making it possible to deter a war," the paper claimed.

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Here is a sample of what the North Korean media said about the separate method of dialogue” (site admin):

DPRK FM Spokesman Suggests 'Separate Method of Dialogue' To Resolve Nuclear Issue ([North] Korean Central Broadcasting Station, original in Korean)

At the Ministerial Meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum held in Thailand on 23 July, some countries expressed their views that the Six-Party Talks should be resumed.

Among the countries, a country deliberately raised its voice to apply pressure on us, whereas some other countries appealed for dialogue due to concern about the aggravation of the situation on the Korean peninsula.

Siding with the call for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks without knowing the essence of the matter can actually create an artificial obstacle to coping with the situation, rather than help to reduce tensions.

To help the understanding of those countries that truly desire peace and stability on the Korean peninsula, we would like to once again clearly explain why the Six-Party Talks have eternally come to an end. The Six-Party Talks, because of the complicated nature of the configuration of the talks, were talks that could not be held without respecting the principle of respecting sovereignty and equality.

Only our country participated in the talks as the sole nonaligned nation, whereas all other participating countries were either permanent members of the UN Security Council [UNSC] or military allies of the United States.

Because of the extreme imbalance in the configuration of the countries participating in the talks, what was vitally required more than at any other talks was precisely the principle of respecting sovereignty and equality among the participating countries.

This was precisely the reason that the spirit of mutual respect and equality was stipulated at the beginning of the joint statement that the Six-Party Talks agreed upon and adopted on 19 September 2005.

However, with our launching of a satellite for peaceful purposes on 5 April in this year, a situation developed in which this principle -- which had been the lifeblood of the Six-Party Talks -- collapsed.

As was made known, our launch of the satellite was carried out in a legitimate manner by following all the international legal procedures exactly as other countries do.

Nonetheless, none other than the countries participating in the Six-Party Talks committed a hostile act by taking the lead in dragging our launch of the satellite alone to the UNSC in a discriminatory manner and denouncing it there and putting sanctions against the Republic into action.

As we already clarified through the press statements, the Six-Party Talks have thus been reduced to a site to block even our scientific and technological development for peaceful purposes and to thereby inhibit our normal economic development itself.

After all, it became clear that the hidden intention the other participating countries were trying to realize through the Six-Party Talks was to disarm us and prevent us from doing anything, and to thereby make us in the end, barely maintain our lives with the crumbs they throw [us].

In this way, the Six-Party Talks have irrevocably degenerated and faded in color from the original goal and nature of the talks due to the consistent maneuvers that the hostile forces perpetrated to crush the Republic.

Had the United States and other countries participating in the Six-Party Talks not committed such a reckless act of abusing the UNSC and trying to rob in broad daylight, even our right to launch satellites, the situation may possibly not have reached today's state.

At present, the participating countries, which are calling for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks, obstinately remain silent about their such acts that initially broke off the talks and triggered a standoff.

If some countries, which are outside the stage of the Six-Party Talks, unconditionally side with the call for the resumption of the Six-Party Talks without knowing such a background and essence of the matter and by believing that there is no other alternative, this is wholly harmful to coping with the situation.

The fact that others try to consider us -- who regard our sovereignty and dignity as lifeblood -- to be a country that attends or does not attend the Six-Party Talks according to others' demand itself is foolish and outrageous.

We, who are directly involved in the issue, are supposed to know the way and method of resolving our issue far better than any others.

There is a separate method of dialogue that can resolve the current situation.

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N. Korea bolsters anti-U.S. propaganda on armistice anniversary (Yonhap)

SEOUL – North Korea vowed to bolster leader Kim Jong Il's military-first policy on Monday, the anniversary of the cease-fire that ended the Korean War, saying the United States continues to try to stifle the country with its hostile policy.

Marking the 56th armistice anniversary, North Korean state media bolstered anti-U.S. propaganda and urged citizens to ratchet up "combatant" efforts to build a strong nation.

"'Let us protect to our death the revolutionary leadership headed by great comrade Kim Jong Il!' This is the permanent representation of our life and struggle," the Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the Workers' Party, said in an editorial carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

North Korea routinely publishes anti-U.S. statements on the anniversary. On this date in 1953, North Korea and China signed a cease-fire accord with the U.S.-led United Nations Command that fought for South Korea, ending the three-year battle that left millions of soldiers and civilians dead on both sides of the border. The cease-fire has not been replaced by a truce, leaving the two Koreas technically at war.

Throngs of North Koreans visited the grand statue in Pyongyang of Kim Il Sung [Kim Il-so'ng], the North's founder who led the country's Korean People's Army during the war, to lay floral baskets before it, the KCNA said. Kim Jong Il [Kim Cho'ng-il], who succeeded his father as head of the country, also sent one, it said.

North Korea refers to the war as the "Fatherland Liberation War," describing it as a struggle by the Korean People's Army to "liberate" South Korea from U.S. aggression.

"The victory of the Fatherland Liberation War, as days go by, engraves more deeply into us the value of the gun and the just causes of our party's military-first ideology and its course. No matter how the situation changes and no matter from where the wind blows, the commitment of our party, our military and our people to songun [military-first] (military-first policy) will never waver," the party editorial said.

The editorial also linked such combatant propaganda to the country's current foremost campaign of rebuilding its frail economy to create a "strong, prosperous and powerful nation" by 2012, the birth centennial of Kim Il-sung.

"All the party members, the Korean People's Army soldiers and all the people should achieve a new revolutionary turnaround in all fronts of the construction of a strong, prosperous and powerful nation, wielding their homeland's dignity all over the world with the combatant spirit of the 1950s," it said.

Farmers should "uphold the party and the homeland with rice" like their fathers did during wartime, it said.

In a separate radio dispatch, the Korean Central Broadcasting Station said the country has the capability to strike its enemies over long distances, accusing the U.S. of an attempt to wage a second Korean War.

As well as its nuclear force, North Korea is "equipped with the long-distance strike capabilities that can track down any enemy and entirely wipe them out," a general named Ri Kyu-man was quoted by the radio as saying during an anniversary gathering.

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Here is a sample of the North Korean anti-US rhetoric (site admin):

Victory Is Always on Part of DPRK in Anti-U.S. Confrontation (KCNA)

Pyongyang – The U.S. imperialist aggressors who had boasted of being the "strongest" in the world knelt down before the Korean people on July 27, juche 42 (1953) after sustaining bitter fiasco in the Korean war.

In the three-year-long Fatherland Liberation War, the young Korean People's Army which was founded as a regular army only three years ago under the leadership of President Kim Il Sung [Kim Il-so'ng] shattered the myth of U.S. imperialists' "mightiness" which had been formed for 100-odd years and brought about the beginning of their downhill turn.

The notorious generals of the U.S. who had rendered "distinguished military services" and "ever-victorious" divisions suffered a disastrous defeat in the war.

In the post-war period, too, the Korean army and people defended the dignity of the nation and the sovereignty of the country, thoroughly frustrating the vicious and persistent war maneuvers of the U.S. imperialists at each step.

In January 1968 when the U.S. imperialists brought huge amounts of armed forces in the areas near the DPRK, threatening to make a "reprisal" with the armed spy ship "Pueblo" incident as a pretext, and openly tried to start an armed invasion, the DPRK solemnly declared that it would return retaliation for the "retaliation" of the U.S. and all-out war for all-out war.

The U.S. imperialists who had resorted to every conceivable means for nearly a year bent their knees before the Korean people again.

After then, they had persistently perpetrated such provocations as the large spy plane "EC-121" incident and "Panmunjom [P'anmunjo'm] incident" only to sustain miserable defeats.

Recently the United States fabricated a "presidential statement" and "resolution on sanctions" of UNSC, taking issue with the launch of a peaceful artificial satellite and the second nuclear test of the DPRK. This time, too, the revolutionary armed force of the DPRK warned that it would mount an unpredictable and unavoidable annihilating blow to the provokers.

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China's Northeast Region in the Spotlight as North [Korea]'s 'Cyber Hub (Yonhap, original in Korean)

As the National Intelligence Service points the finger of blame to North Korea for the recent DDos (distributed denial-of-service) attacks on major state organizations in the ROK and the United States, China's northeast region is receiving renewed spotlight as home to many highly-trained North Korean IT [information technology] operatives.

North Korean IT personnel began swarming into China's northeast region along the border with North Korea, including Dandong, Shenyang, and Dalian, around 2004, and the region emerged as North Korea's cyber operational hub where they received technology training and set up joint ventures and other outfits to earn foreign exchange.

Even now, North Korean IT operatives running joint ventures and working at Chinese companies are estimated to number 400.

One place that stands out the most is Ch'ilbosan Hotel in Shenyang. This hotel, run by a North Korean insurance company after a 22-million-yuan purchase in the mid-1990s, has North Korea's consul general in Shenyang as a sitting president, and North Korea experts believe that it is serving as a base for North Korea's Internet server operations.

North Korea is using a leased line of China Telecom of China routed through Dandong instead of using the country domain (.KP) assigned by Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and administered by a German national. That is why no record of North Korean Internet Protocol (IP) addresses is left after North Korea's possible cyber hacking attempts.

Ch'lbosan Hotel is considered the best place for a cyber operational hub in China because the entire property is owned by North Korea and it is easy to maintain security with no risk of being exposed to the outside world.

Xinghai Hotel in Dandong is another major North Korean cyber base suspected by North Korea experts.

Located along the Amnok River and little known to even Dandong residents, it is a small four-story hotel looking more like a motel and mainly patronized by North Koreans. Some 10-memer IT staff sent by North Korea sometime around 2004 is believed to be using the place as a cyber base with optical cables installed.

"Dongfang Tsegong," established in Dandong five or six years ago as a joint venture between North Korea's Academy of Social Sciences and a Chinese company, was also in the spotlight when high-quality North Korean IT personnel sent there for six-month-to-one-year stints developed software programs and earned foreign exchange, but they are now believed to have pulled out.

North Korea set up dozens of other small IT outfits in Shenyang, Dandong, and Dalian as joint ventures with Chinese and ROK companies, but many of them shut down operations in the wake of last year's global financial crisis after struggling to adapt to the "capitalist market mindset."

The remaining ones are operating as subcontractors of Chinese and ROK companies instead of developing their own software programs, and former employees at North Korean businesses moved to other companies in China to work on software development and animation production.

They are highly talented brains educated in leading North Korean universities such as Kim Ch'aek University of Technology and having master's and doctoral degrees under their belt. They are paid monthly wages between 4,000 (750,000 won) and 5,000 (940,000 won) yuan, roughly half of what their Chinese counterparts with similar qualifications get, according to Chinese IT industry sources.

The Chinese IT industry has differing views on them.

The head of one Chinese IT company developing software programs with six North Korean employees said: "Their strengths are solid basic knowledge, the ability to concentrate, and diligent work ethics. They are weak in applications, but, with two-to-three years of experience, they are on a par with ROK and other developed country standards in terms of program development skills."

However, a Korean-Chinese animation producer said, "When it comes to animatio n, which requires creativity and rich imagination, it is almost impossible to work with them. The biggest problem is that they are so rigid in their thinking without global perspectives and the ability to see the broad picture."

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N.K. has violated Armistice 425,000 times (Korea Herald)

North Korea has ceaselessly made attempts to violate the Korean War ceasefire agreement signed 56 years ago. The North violated the Armistice Agreement in more than 425,000 cases between July 27, 1953, and April 1994, according to the United Nations Command.

Most of the violations, 99.9 percent out of 425,271 cases, took place on land. The number of violations by naval and air forces amounted to 104 and 111 cases, respectively.

North Korea claimed that the South has committed 835,563 violations in the same period, a record widely regarded as fabricated for propaganda purposes.

The Korean War Armistice was signed 56 years ago between the commander-in-chief of the U.N. Command and the supreme commander of the Korean People's Army and the commander of the Chinese People's volunteers.

The ceasefire agreement stipulates that "the commanders of the opposing sides enforce a complete cessation of all hostilities in Korea by armed forces, including all units and personnel of the ground, naval and air forces."

Until 1991, the U.N. Command and North Korea had traded their statistics on violation of the Armistice at Panmunjeom each month after the ceasefire.

North Korea unilaterally stopped the exchange of statistics in 1991 after a South Korean general was appointed as the chief representative of the U.N. Command Military Armistice Commission. The North claimed the appointment of a South Korean made the commission nominal.

Thus, the U.N. Command stopped drawing its own official figures on armistice violations.

On land, North Korea mostly fired gunshots in the Demilitarized Zone, crossed the Military Demarcation Line or brought in firearms into the DMZ.

Major cases of violations include the arrival of 26 armed guerillas on the eastern coastal town of Gangneug in September 1996. Twenty-four of the North Korean guerillas, who came using a submarine, were shot to death by the South Korean navy or killed themselves. One was captured alive and the other escaped.

In August 1976, a U.S. soldier pruning around the Joint Security Area in Panmunjeom was killed by dozens of North Korean soldiers.

In August 1975, two North Korean soldiers kidnapped a South Korean farmer, threatening him with guns.

Four underground tunnels dug by North Koreans to intrude the South were found between 1974 and 1990.

North Korea fired gunshots towards the South and crossed the MDL dozens of times.

In the waters, North Korea mostly crossed the Northern Limit Line, fired gunshots at vessels, and seized fishing boats and fishermen.

The deadly naval clashes in 1999 and 2002 are examples.

In the air, North Korea hijacked or bombed aircraft, and intruded the South's territorial sky.

North Korea's bombing of a Korean Air passenger flight in November 1987 killed all 115 civilians on board.

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Presidential council blasts past administrations' N.K. policies (Yonhap)

SEOUL – A presidential council on North Korean policies recently released a book sharply criticizing the past two liberal administrations' North Korean policies, Yonhap News learned Monday [27 July].

The National Unification Advisory Council (NUAC) released and distributed the booklet to its members early this month, describing the joint declaration from the inaugural inter-Korean summit in 2000 as a product of "some 500 million dollar's worth of off-the-books deals," and labeling it as lacking in any "procedural justification."

The first summit in 2000 between then President Kim Tae-chung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il paved the way for a flurry of diplomatic, economic and cultural exchanges between the two countries that technically remain at war. South Korea bolstered its economic assistance pledges in the second summit in 2007 between then President No Mu-hyo'n and North Korea's Kim, promising to build roads and factories and modernize North Korea's dilapidated industrial infrastructure.

It was, however, later discovered that Kim Tae-chung's government helped Hyundai pay North Korea US$500 million just before the historic summit nine years ago. Hyundai claimed that the money was the payment for its exclusive business rights in the North, but it included $100 million that came out of government coffers.

The NUAC also described the joint communique from the second inter-Korean summit held in 2007 as an "irresponsible agreement" by the then administration which handed over a heavy fiscal burden to the next government.

"It was an irresponsible agreement which laid a heavy burden on the people for joint economic projects that cost at least 14 trillion won," the council said.

The council also argued that most of the food provided to North Korea from humanitarian aid ended up as military rations and that much of the cash provided to Pyongyang was channeled into its missile and nuclear weapons program.

Chun Hae-sung, spokesman of Seoul's Unification Ministry, said that the publication of the booklet was not discussed with officials beforehand and that the government upholds and supports the spirit of the previous inter-Korean agreements.

Taking a tougher stance on the communist neighbor, President Lee Myung-bak has said he supports the summit accords but emphasized that the two sides should first review whether they are economically viable.