North Korea's developing military tech with AI capabilities creates a dangerous threat North Korea has been developing artificial intelligence across various sectors, including in military technology and programs that safeguard nuclear reactors, which could create international threats, according to a new report. The authoritarian regime has used AI to develop wargame simulations and has collaborated with Chinese tech researchers, according to a report by 38 North, a publication for policy and technical analysis of North Korean affairs. The AI advancements (https://www.foxnews.com/tech/fox-news-ai-newsletter-americas-role-ukraines-unbelievable-ai-military-development)and foreign collaboration could lead to sanction violations and leaked information, the report stated.  North Korea has been rapidly developing artificial intelligence for a myriad of civilian and military uses, according to a new report. (Getty Images) "North Korea’s recent endeavors in AI/[machine learning] development signify a strategic investment to bolster its digital economy," Hyuk Kim of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in California wrote in the Jan. 23 report, which cited open-source information from state media and scientific journals. "This commitment is underscored by constitutional amendments fostering the digitization and informatization of its socialist economy, coupled with institutional reforms to address competing self-interest across government offices."    More recently, North Korea applied artificial intelligence and machine learning to create a model for evaluating proper mask use during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the report.  PENTAGON ALARMED BY CHINESE RUSH FOR ‘INTELLIGENTIZED’ WARFARE, BUT EXPERTS WARN ABOUT OVER-RELIANCE ON AI(https://www.foxnews.com/world/pentagon-alarmed-chinese-rush-intelligentized-warfare-experts-warn-reliance-ai) But Kim said the nation's most recent AI developments are concerning.   "North Korea’s pursuit of a wargaming simulation program using [machine learning] reveals intentions to comprehend operational environments against potential adversaries better," Kim wrote. "Furthermore, North Korea’s ongoing collaborations with foreign scholars pose concerns for the sanctions regime." North Korean researchers have also published studies about using AI to maintain nuclear reactors' safety, according to Kim. The studies were aimed at mitigating the risk of nuclear accidents and making reactors more effective. (2024.01.31)

Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to visit Kim Jong Un soon, North Korean (https://www.cnn.com/world/asia/north-korea?cid=external-feeds_iluminar_msn)state media reported Sunday, the latest sign of increasing cooperation between the two authoritarian leaders as war rages in Ukraine and military tensions increase in East Asia. Putin thanked Kim for an invitation to visit Pyongyang and pledged to go there “at an early date,” the report from the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said. Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shake hands during their meeting in Vladivostok, Russia, on April 25, 2019. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the dates for Putin’s visit to North Korea were still being discussed through diplomatic channels and would be announced later, Russian state-run news agency TASS reported. Last Tuesday, North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui met Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow to discuss issues regarding the Korean Peninsula, Northeast Asia, and international peace and security, according to TASS. At that meeting the two sides expressed a “strong will to strengthen further strategic and tactical cooperation in defending the core interests of the two countries,” KCNA said. A Putin visit to Pyongyang would reciprocate one Kim made last September, when the North Korean leader traveled in his armored train to Russia’s far eastern region, visiting a factory that produces fighter jets and a rocket-launch facility among other stops. During that visit, Kim praised Russia for standing up to “hegemonic forces” with its war in Ukraine, while Putin signaled a willingness to assist North Korea in developing its space and satellite programs. Signs of increasing Russian-North Korean cooperation have been seen in Ukraine. According to the US Defense Department, Russia has twice in the past month fired North Korean-made missiles at targets in Ukraine. And South Korean intelligence has reported that Pyongyang has supplied Moscow with more than 1 million artillery shells that could be used in the invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Western analysts say Russia could be a source of technology and expertise for Kim as he refines a nuclear-capable missile program that could threaten not only his neighbors in East Asia, but possibly the mainland United States with intercontinental ballistic missiles. Kim has been drawing an increasingly harder line against South Korea in recent weeks, saying the North will no longer seek reconciliation and reunification with the South and instructing the country’s army, munitions industry, nuclear weapons and civil defense sectors to accelerate war preparations in response to “confrontation moves” by the US. Last week, in a speech to a Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) meeting in Pyongyang, Kim called the South the North’s “primary foe and invariable principal enemy” and said a reunification monument in the North Korean capital was an “eyesore” that should be demolished. (2024.01.24)

The Arch of Reunification – built in 2000 after a landmark inter-Korean summit – has disappeared from satellite imagery North Korea (https://www.theguardian.com/world/north-korea)has demolished a monument that symbolized hope for reconciliation with the South, days after the regime’s leader, Kim Jong-un,(https://www.theguardian.com/world/kim-jong-un) said the peaceful reunification of the two Koreas was no longer possible.(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/16/unification-with-south-korea-no-longer-possible-says-kim-jong-un) In the latest sign of rising tensions on the peninsula, the Arch of Reunification – built in 2000 after a landmark inter-Korean summit (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jun/13/northkorea1)– has disappeared from satellite imagery, according to the NK News website. It was not immediately clear when or how it had been taken down, NK News said. Kim, whose tone has become markedly belligerent in recent weeks, described the concrete arch – which shows two women, one each from the North and South, holding an emblem of the outline of the Korean peninsula – as an “eyesore” at a speech this month to the Supreme People’s Assembly, the North’s rubber-stamp parliament. He added that the North’s constitution should be amended to reflect South Korea’s new status as his country’s “principal enemy” – effectively ending decades of official policy that stressed the eventual reunification (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/15/korean-peninsula-will-be-united-by-2045-says-seoul-amid-japan-row)of the autocratic North with the democratic South. The 30-meter arch, formally known as the Monument to the Three Charters for National Reunification, symbolized self-reliance, peace, and national cooperation, according to South Korean government records. Located on the Reunification Highway, which connects Pyongyang to the heavily armed border with the South, it was reportedly erected to commemorate plans for reunification put forward by Kim’s grandfather and North Korean founder Kim Il-sung. While purely symbolic, its reported removal will add to fears that North Korea has taken a more provocative course in its relations with the South and its allies, months before the US presidential elections. The regime claimed it had launched its first spy satellite (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/22/north-korea-spy-satellite-malligyong-1-pyongyang-kim-jong-un)in November, and last week said it had test-fired (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/15/north-korea-hypersonic-missile-claims-solid-fuel-pyongyang)a new ballistic missile tipped with a hypersonic maneuverable warhead. On Wednesday, South Korea’s military said the North had launched several cruise missiles into the sea, a fortnight after it fired artillery rounds near the countries’ disputed maritime border. The North has used missile launches to protest joint military exercises by South Korean and US forces, which the regime considers a rehearsal for an invasion. Asked if the provocative tone of recent North Korean announcements – including one in which it said it was “preparing for nuclear war” – was cause for concern, White House spokesperson John Kirby said: “We’re watching this very, very closely.” He added: “I would just tell you that we remain confident that the defensive posture that we’re maintaining on the peninsula is appropriate to the risk.” There is little prospect of a return to the era of cross-border rapprochement symbolized by the monument. Under its conservative president, Yoon Suk Yeol, South Korea has taken a harder line against Pyongyang, vowing immediate and tough responses to North Korean provocations. In response, the North has vowed to “wipe out” its neighbor if attacked by South Korean and US forces. Late last year, Pyongyang said a 2018 agreement with the South designed to de-escalate military tensions was no longer valid. The Supreme People’s Assembly last week abolished government agencies that had overseen engagement with the South. (2024.01.23)

North Korea has officially dropped (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-67990948)peaceful reunification with the South as a key policy goal, according to state reports on January 16, 2024. In a speech to the Supreme People’s Assembly, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he no longer saw the South as a “partner of reconciliation and reunification,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported. The policy shift will see the closure of three government agencies tasked with unification and inter-Korean tourism, namely the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification, the National Economic Cooperation Bureau, and the Mount Kumgang International Tourism Administration.  Kim has also reportedly ordered revisions to the North’s constitution, aiming to remove all references to “peaceful reunification” and “great national unity” from broadcasts, websites, and monuments. “We can specify in our constitution the issue of completely occupying, subjugating, and reclaiming the ROK and annexing it as a part of the territory of our ​republic in case a war breaks out on the Korean Peninsula,” Kim said. Although North Korea’s approach to the South has fluctuated widely over decades, at times calling Seoul its main enemy and threatening to “annihilate it” with nuclear weapons, reunification has remained the state's official goal. But the growing economic gap between the North and South, as well as rising North-South tensions, has further diminished the prospect. On Tuesday, South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol described the decision as “anti-national and ahistorical.” The North and South have been engaged in a truce—but not a peace treaty—since the end of the Korean War, which took place from 1950 to 1953. As a result, the two nations have technically remained in a state of war since.  “We don’t want war, but we have no intention of avoiding it,” Kim said. Pyongyang has stepped up its missile tests in recent months amid escalating tensions with Seoul. On Monday, North Korea said it successfully tested (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/15/north-korea-hypersonic-missile-claims-solid-fuel-pyongyang)its first solid-fuel hypersonic missile, another breakthrough in advanced weaponry. According to a report released last week (https://www.38north.org/2024/01/is-kim-jong-un-preparing-for-war/)by 38 North, published by the Washington, D.C.-based Stimson Center think-tank, former State Department official Robert Carlin and nuclear scientist, Siegfried Hecke described current North-South relations as “more dangerous than it has been at any time since early June 1950.”

North Korea's advanced drones were inspected by Kim as a launch of a solid fuel IRBM (2024.01.15) North Korean state media has described the Saetbyol-4 (Morning Star-4) as “a strategic reconnaissance drone,” according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). The Saetbyol-9 (Morning Star-9) has been labeled a “multi-purpose attack drone.” North Korean state media first unveiled the two drones in July 2023 and provided brief videos showing both of them in flight. Both were formally revealed during the Weapons and Equipment Exhibition 2023 July 26, 2023, attended by Kim and Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu. Shoigu was visiting Pyongyang to further military cooperation between the two countries and to secure more North Korean-made armaments for use in Moscow’s war in Ukraine. The precise capabilities of these North Korean drones were very much unclear, and few details have emerged since. Image from the test of the solid fuel IRBM and hypersonic vehicle. (2024.01.14) The test-fire was aimed at verifying the gliding and maneuvering characteristics of intermediate-range hypersonic maneuverable controlled warhead and the reliability of newly developed multi-stage high-thrust solid-fuel engines,” was successful. “The test-fire never affected the security of any neighboring country and had nothing to do with the regional situation,” according to KCNA. However, an IRBM, which has a range of between 3,000 and 5,500 kilometers [1,864 to 3,418 miles], would place the U.S. territory of Guam within range if fired from Pyongyang, the South Korean Yonhap news agency noted in its story about the test. Kim has threatened to fire an IRBM near Guam in the past and North Korean IRBMs have been a top reason why a THAAD anti-ballistic missile battery has been deployed to Guam for years. Sunday’s test comes after KCNA reported on engine trials for a new solid-fuel intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) conducted at separate facilities on both coasts last November, according to NKNews.org.(http://NKNews.org) South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) detected the latest launch at around 2:55 p.m. KST on Sunday, “saying it appeared to be an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) that flew around 621 miles (1,000 km) into the Sea of Japan (East Sea),” according to NKNews, North Korea tests missiles at extreme altitudes in order to stay closer to the peninsula. The performance during these tests can be extrapolated into a shallower, down-range optimized, operational trajectory. While North Korea has recently developed other solid fuel missile designs, including recently demonstrating a solid-fuel ICBM for the first time, having an IRBM with this capability is especially noteworthy. They would be among the most threatening missiles to U.S. interests during a conflict. Solid fuel capability means they can be erected and launched far quicker than their liquid-fuel progenitors. This makes them much harder to strike preemptively and gives less time for realizing an attack may be imminent. As such, solid fuel ballistic missiles increase the North Korean ballistic missile arsenal's survivability, effectiveness, and flexibility, among other advantages. North Korea has been on a quest to develop solid fuel designs for years and has made remarkable progress in this area of rocketry since it began a campaign of rapid iterative missile testing in 2016. The hypersonic boost glide vehicle (BGV) supposedly mounted atop the missile is a whole other issue. North Korea claimed it tested a BGV in 2021. It has since claimed to have tested similar vehicles multiple times atop various missiles, but putting one on a solid-fuel IRBM would drastically increase the value of such a weapon. Yet much is still unknown about the viability of North Korea's BGV designs and if they would even withstand the voyage to their target area. The technologies behind hypersonic flight, and especially those needed for dynamically maneuvering at velocities in excess of Mach 5, are very hard to master. If North Korea can make it work, especially aboard a solid fuel IRBM, that would be a major development that would significantly complicate defending against incoming North Korean attacks. A graphic showing, in a very rudimentary way, the difference in trajectories between a traditional ballistic missile and a hypersonic boost-glide vehicle. There is also some debate over if at least some of these conical, finned, hypersonic vehicles are really just maneuvering reentry vehicles that are less capable of higher degrees of maneuverability. Hypersonic terminal velocities are not abnormal for ballistic missiles, especially IRBMs, so the vehicle would be hypersonic, regardless, but not having the same capabilities of a HBGV. Still, this would be a troubling development, but nothing as big of accomplishment as making an operationally relevant hypersonic BGV. Regardless, Kim's inspection of the advanced drones and the solid fuel missile test come at a perilous time on the Korean Peninsula. On Monday, he called for a constitutional amendment to change the status of South Korea as a separate state and warned that while his country doesn't seek war, it didn't intend to avoid it, KCNA reported, according to Reuters.

Trump-Biden: Tag Team(https://www.lewrockwell.com/2023/12/james-anthony/trump-biden-tag-team/)   Trump increased spending temporarily by 13% of GDP and permanently by at least 1%. Data: usgovernmentspending.com:(http://usgovernmentspending.com) national-only,(https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/download_multi_year_1792_2024USp_25s2li001mcny_F0fF0x) total national, state, and local(https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/download_multi_year_1820_2024USp_25s2li001mcny_F0t) Seven tag teams successively raised the floor for total spending Governments in the USA have in large part been grown by tag teams. In the 1800s, Thomas Jefferson’s embargo,(https://archive.org/details/jeffersonsenglis0000spiv) which broadened into James Madison’s War of 1812,(https://www.jstor.org/stable/29781853) ratcheted (https://www.everand.com/book/161117000/Crisis-and-Leviathan-Critical-Episodes-in-the-Growth-of-American-Government)total government spending up from the American colonies’ 1–2% of GDP (https://jamesanthony.us/party-preview/)to a new floor of 3.1%. James Buchanan’s promotion of union,(https://cooperative-individualism.org/weatherman-donald_james-buchanan-on-slavery-and-secession-1985-fall.pdf) which broadened into Abraham Lincoln’s Civil War,(https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=econ_pub#page=2) ratcheted spending up to 5.3%.   In the 1900s, William Taft’s Progressive centralization,(https://archive.org/details/williamhowardtaf0000luri/page/n15/mode/2up) which broadened into Woodrow Wilson’s Great War,(https://fee.org/articles/world-war-i-the-progressive-war/) ratcheted spending up to 11%. Herbert Hoover’s initiation and Franklin Roosevelt’s followthrough (https://www.cato.org/briefing-paper/herbert-hoover-father-new-deal)of Progressive interference with recovery,(https://www.independent.org/pdf/tir/tir_01_4_05_higgs.pdf) and the resulting failure to prevent World War II,(https://mises.org/wire/big-governments-one-two-punch-scope-creep-then-wartime-deprivation) ratcheted spending up to 18%. A series of Progressive presidents and major wars, capped off by Richard Nixon’s, Gerald Ford’s, and Jimmy Carter’s Great Inflation I (https://mises.org/power-market/gold-solution-financial-crises-not-their-cause)and wage and price controls,(https://cdn.mises.org/Forty%20Centuries%20of%20Wage%20and%20Price%20Controls%20How%20Not%20to%20Fight%20Inflation_2.pdf#page=146) ratcheted spending up to 32%.   In the 2000s, George Bush’s initiation of financial-crisis spending and Barack Obama’s followthrough (https://cdn.mises.org/qjae13_3_6.pdf)ratcheted spending up to 35%. Donald Trump’s initiation of Great Inflation II spending  (https://mises.org/wire/covid-stimulus-isnt-other-stimulus-its-much-bigger)and Joe Biden’s followthrough (https://www.cato.org/regulation/fall-2023/bidenomics-just-bidenology-or-trumpology#readings)ratcheted spending up to 36%. And we’re still early in Great Inflation II (https://mises.org/power-market/money-inflation-baked-savers-need-preserve-assets)and in the increasingly-likely Great Depression II.(https://mises.org/wire/mounting-deficits-mark-uss-road-ruin)   Out of all income earned on labor,(https://rconstitution.us/the-true-tax/) the national government takes a freedom-suffocating 36%, and state and local governments take another whole 36%. We serfs are far more productive now, so we suffer less deprivation,(https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Peltzman-Lecture.pdf?x91208) but even so, we’re already nearly 3/4 of the way down the road (https://mises.org/library/road-serfdom-0)to full socialism.(https://cdn.mises.org/mises-the-last-knight-of-liberalism.pdf#page=545) Tag teams double down Whenever we’ve gotten tag-teamed, we’ve gotten stuck with the same bigger-government actions no matter which candidate has won.(https://rconstitution.us/voters-dilemma/) This includes when we’ve gotten tag-teamed by Trump-Biden.   Under Trump, spending skyrocketed to an all-time high of 48% of GDP. Under Biden, spending then briefly settled back, but only down to 36%. That means that overall, Trump-Biden has already ratcheted up spending by at least another 1%. Trump expresses no regrets (https://brownstone.org/articles/megyn-kelly-asks-trump-a-few-hard-questions/)over covid lockdowns (https://brownstone.org/articles/the-questions-crying-out-for-answers/)and spending, and expresses great pride (https://www.newsweek.com/trump-says-he-saved-100-million-lives-covid-vaccines-1774178)over novel (https://www.mdpi.com/2571-8800/6/2/17)genetic therapies (https://rconstitution.us/solving-the-perfect-vaccine-killing/)that from the start have been deadly (https://www.scivisionpub.com/pdfs/us-covid19-vaccines-proven-to-cause-more-harm-than-good-based-on-pivotal-clinical-trial-data-analyzed-using-the-proper-scientific--1811.pdf)and debilitating.(https://www.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2023/02/20230215-updated-health-alert.pr.html) Well before those defining actions, Trump already had saved Obamacare.(https://web.archive.org/web/20170310195404/https:/www.dailywire.com/news/14224/so-whose-bill-atrocious-obamacare-replacement-aaron-bandler) He had continued massive legal and illegal immigration (https://cis.org/Report/October-2023-ForeignBorn-Share-Was-Highest-History)that favors people who vote for bigger governments.(https://whatworks.site/immigration-criteria/) He had ratcheted up racially-calculating (https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/01/trump-republicans-first-step-act-00029104)jailbreak of violent criminals (https://www.theblaze.com/column/opinion/horowitz-us-sentencing-commission-expands-jailbreak-of-violent-criminals-under-trump-era-first-step-act)that he favored because of a political calculation that was racially motivated.(https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/01/trump-republicans-first-step-act-00029104) Capping it all off, for years, Trump has endorsed both incumbents and contenders for open seats who are Republican Progressives, ratcheting into place “the swamp.(https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/desantis-on-draining-the-marxist-swamp-and-the/id1065050908?i=1000638697744)”   Never in history has a former officeholder who expanded governments then turned around and shrunk governments. What about the Economy, the Political System, and the Peace on the Korean Peninsula?

The idea, which has been considered in other forms during years of U.S.-led negotiations with North Korea, would be a shift in Washington’s overall approach to Pyongyang. Donald Trump is considering a plan to let North Korea keep its nuclear weapons and offer its regime financial incentives to stop making new bombs, according to three people briefed on his thinking. The move would mark a sharp departure from his past stance on the issue and a shift toward accommodating the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Un, with whom Trump developed an unusually friendly relationship during his time in office. While American presidents of both parties have largely despaired of persuading North Korea to relinquish its atomic arsenal, U.S. policy has continued to call for denuclearization of the Communist fortress state. Trump, however, may be prepared to give up on even attempting to convince Kim to dismantle his country’s nuclear weapons if he wins another term in 2024. At least part of his motivation, the people said, would be to avoid wasting time on what he sees as futile arms talks — and focus instead on the larger task of competing with China. Trump, one of the people said, is highly motivated to get an agreement with North Korea. “He knows he wants a deal,” this person said of Trump. “What type of deal? I don’t think he has thought that through.” One of the ideas Trump is weighing, according to the people briefed on it, would involve enticing North Korea to freeze its nuclear program and stop developing new weapons, in exchange for relief from economic sanctions and some other form of aid. It would also require the creation of a verification to ensure North Korea keeps its word, the people said. All three individuals, like others in this story, were granted anonymity to speak freely about the president’s thinking. In a Truth Social post (https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/111574582081222083)hours after this story was published, Trump said, “This is a made-up story, DISINFORMATION, put out by Democrat Operatives in order to mislead and confuse. The only thing accurate in the story is that I do get along well with Kim Jong Un!” Trump did not specifically deny he was mulling the freeze-for-relief idea. It is possible that Trump could still pursue denuclearization as a long-term goal, but it would be a departure from standard U.S. policy to strike even a near-term deal with North Korea that doesn’t state that explicitly. Prior administrations from both American political parties have sought to pause Pyongyang’s weapons development with the goal of eventually convincing North Korea to shed its pariah status by abandoning nuclear arms. They have offered incentives to North Korea aimed at achieving such a pause, from food aid to sanctions relief to fuel oil. But in all previous cases, American administrations have emphasized that stopping the creation of new weapons was merely an interim step in the direction of full denuclearization. Trump’s first-term policy on North Korea was “complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization.” And his initial approach was very hardline — he once considered dropping a nuclear weapon on North Korea and blaming its use on another country.(https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-discussed-using-nuclear-weapon-north-korea-2017-blaming-someone-rcna65120) After multiple personal engagements, Trump said he and Kim “fell in love,” sending letters to one another and remaining on good terms. But that goodwill did not translate into an agreement — save for a temporary missile-testing pause — and North Korea’s program has only advanced since. If Trump softens his approach, it could rattle allies like South Korea and Japan and unnerve members of his own party who prefer a tougher approach toward Pyongyang. It would also open the former president to criticisms of hypocrisy, as he consistently bashed the Obama administration for relieving Iran’s economic woes in exchange for reversing its advance toward a first nuclear weapon. Trump, as president, withdrew the U.S. from the Barack Obama-era Iran nuclear deal. Trump’s conversations on a North Korea strategy also signal that the former president is confident in his frontrunner status for the Republican nomination and has set his sights on issues that excited him as president. North Korea has not been a hot-button campaign issue — China, Israel-Hamas and Ukraine suck up all the oxygen — but Trump’s coziness with Kim has served as the occasional punchline for his 2024 rivals. “Neither Joe Biden’s weakness nor Donald Trump’s friendliness to Kim have changed North Korea’s direction for the better. These dictators only understand strength,” Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, said in September.(https://nypost.com/2023/09/05/nikki-haley-knocks-trump-over-north-korea-amid-kim-putin-meeting/) Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, responding in September to reports of Russia potentially giving North Korea high-tech nuclear technologies in exchange for conventional weapons, said the U.S. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwiviEMOj_Q)had “to keep Kim Jong Un in a box … and to keep the pressure on.” Trump often calls or summons people in his orbit to muse on his legal woes, the state of the economy, foreign policy, or whatever he’s thinking about, said two other people who know how the president operates. Sometimes, he’s prompted by coverage of an issue on cable news either to know more about it or simply offer his thoughts on the subject, they added. Trump became obsessed with North Korea after Pyongyang launched its first-ever intercontinental ballistic missile in 2017. He threatened to go to nuclear war to stop Kim from developing his program, and Kim threatened his own attacks unless the U.S. backed off. Those tensions — highlighted by Trump calling Kim “Little Rocket Man” — turned into a historic personal diplomacy endeavor over the prospect of North Korea dismantling its arsenal, with Kim during a summit in Hanoi offering only a small concession while Trump wanted a bigger deal. The former president remained interested in the North Korea problem for the rest of his presidency and is still talking and thinking about it at Mar-a-Lago. The reduction in tensions between the U.S. and North Korea during the Trump years changed how Americans perceived the so-called “Hermit Kingdom.” In 2018, 51 percent said North Korea was the greatest U.S. enemy. The following year, that number plummeted to 14 percent, according to Gallup.(https://news.gallup.com/poll/247151/far-fewer-americans-north-korea-greatest-enemy.aspx) Trump’s latest thinking on Pyongyang is far from novel in the history of U.S.-North Korea relations. “This sounds remarkably similar to other things we’ve tried since the early 1990s,” said retired Marine Lt. Gen. Chip Gregson, formerly the Pentagon’s top Asia official from 2009 to 2011. “It sounds good, it’s a great talking point. Been there, done that, and it hasn’t worked.” North Korea has shown remarkable skill at keeping its nuclear development away from prying eyes. In 2010, for example, scientists in the country showed American analysts they had a uranium enrichment program, including two halls filled with 2,000 centrifuges.(https://courses.physics.illinois.edu/phys280/sp2016/archive/2011-03%20Hecker%20-%20What%20I%20found%20in%20Yongbyon%20and%20Why%20It%20Matters.pdf) “I was stunned by the sight,” Siegfried Hecker, a prominent American scientist on the 2010 visit to North Korea, said after his return.(https://courses.physics.illinois.edu/phys280/sp2016/archive/2011-03%20Hecker%20-%20What%20I%20found%20in%20Yongbyon%20and%20Why%20It%20Matters.pdf) Trump’s leaning that Pyongyang might not part with its nuclear weapons tracks with the long-held intelligence community assessment (https://www.dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/ATA-2023-Unclassified-Report.pdf)that no North Korean leader would abandon such weapons that they feel help keep the regime in place. Trump may decide down the line to push for North Korea’s denuclearization, but at the start, that won’t be his explicit goal, and he will instead seek more modest aims. The next administration doesn’t start for more than a year and a lot can change in U.S.-North Korea relations — and the world — before then. Trump’s thinking could also evolve, based on discussions he has with confidants and advisers. Kim, like his father and grandfather before him, sees his nuclear weapons as the guarantor of his rule, deterring countries like South Korea or the United States from launching an invasion to dethrone him. After a year of threatening nuclear war against one another, Trump and Kim engaged in historic leader-to-leader diplomacy that ultimately didn’t result in North Korea’s denuclearization. Ever since, Kim has embarked on an advancement of his weapons program, earlier this year displaying the largest-ever number of nuclear missiles during a nighttime parade.(https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-shows-off-possible-solid-fuel-icbm-nighttime-parade-analysts-2023-02-09/) North Korea would “ exponentially increase”(https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jan/01/kim-jong-un-north-korea-exponentially-increase-nuclear-warhead-production) its arsenal, he said in January. Biden administration officials have repeatedly offered to negotiate with North Korea without preconditions, but Pyongyang has offered nothing but silence. President Joe Biden, then, has moved closer to allies Japan and South Korea, ensuring they’re more coordinated and aligned on the North Korea issue as well as China and broader Indo-Pacific concerns. Some analysts suggest that Trump’s current thinking might be a way to break the stalemate. “A proposal that freezes North Korea’s program while not denuclearizing completely in the near or medium term might be a more realistic approach given the current situation,” said Frank Aum, a Northeast Asia expert at the U.S. Institute of Peace. “That might be the only way forward.” But Aum and others noted there were clear risks to Trump’s current inclination, the biggest one being that South Korea seeks nuclear weapons of its own. The country’s conservative president, Yoon Suk Yeol, earlier this year suggested that Seoul might pursue the bomb (https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/world/asia/south-korea-nuclear-weapons.html)if the North Korea threat grew further. That would raise the prospect of a nuclear arms race in Asia just as the U.S. is hoping to limit China’s own development. Pressure against the Trump policy would almost certainly mount in Washington, Seoul, and Tokyo. Lawmakers, including Republicans friendly to Trump, would likely advise him to reverse course, in part because North Korea is aiding Russia in its war against Ukraine. There would also be overarching questions about America’s commitment to non-proliferation if the U.S., at least for a time, effectively approved of North Korea’s nuclear attainment. There are also many unknowns, namely how Kim would react to such a proposal, the specific details of how to ensure North Korea’s program remains untouched or how Beijing, Pyongyang’s closest partner, would react to all of this. But one thing many are sure of is that the prospect of North Korea dismantling its arsenal shrinks with each passing day. “North Korea has made it clear it’s not accepting any limitation on its program,” said Sydney Seiler, a former national intelligence officer for North Korea. “They say they’ll denuclearize only when the world denuclearizes.”

South Korean Marines patrolling Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea. South Korean officials ordered civilians living on the remote border islands of Yeonpyeong and Baengnyeong to evacuate and seek cover in bomb shelters, according (https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/skorea-orders-evacuation-island-near-north-korea-border-2024-01-05/)to (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/5/north-korea-fires-artillery-towards-souths-islands-prompting-evacuations)news (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-67889551)reports.(https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/05/world/north-korea-yeonpyeong-island-artillery-intl-hnk/index.html) The two islands are located near South Korea’s disputed maritime border with North Korea and the waters have been the site of a number of deadly encounters (https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/skorea-orders-evacuation-island-near-north-korea-border-2024-01-05/)between the two nations. Seoul’s military said North Korea fired more than 200 artillery rounds off its western coast towards the islands on Friday morning. The live rounds did not harm any civilians or military and all landed on the northern side of the border, South Korea said. South Korea denounced (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-67889551)the move as “provocative,” and Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said (https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/skorea-orders-evacuation-island-near-north-korea-border-2024-01-05/)it “escalates tension and threatens peace on the Korean peninsula.” The country held (https://edition.cnn.com/2024/01/05/world/north-korea-yeonpyeong-island-artillery-intl-hnk/index.html)its own maritime firing drills later on Friday in response to the North’s artillery fire. Key Background Tensions on the Korean peninsula is rapidly rising and are at some of their worst points in decades. Friday’s move follows Kim saying Korean reunification (https://edition.cnn.com/2023/12/31/asia/north-korea-reconciliation-south-korea-intl-hnk/index.html)is impossible and urging (https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20231231-north-korea-s-kim-jong-un-orders-military-to-prepare-for-possible-war)the military and industrial sectors to prepare for war, a major policy shift towards its southern neighbor. In recent years, Pyongyang has escalated inflammatory rhetoric over threats to build and use nuclear weapons, continued its tests to develop and grow its nuclear arsenal and amended (https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/27/asia/north-korea-nuclear-law-constitution-intl-hnk/index.html)its constitution to cement (https://www.france24.com/en/asia-pacific/20230928-north-korea-changes-constitution-and-declares-itself-a-nuclear-state)its status as a nuclear power, as well as launching a military spy satellite and cultivating (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-67888793)ties with Russia. Washington has deployed a nuclear-powered submarine and undertaken military drills with allied forces in the region like Tokyo and Seoul to deter Pyongyang and both countries have vowed overwhelming military responses should the other attack. After years of speculation, South Korea’s spy agency NIS believes it finally knows who is likely to succeed Kim a(https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2024/01/04/who-is-kim-ju-ae-kim-jong-uns-daughter-will-likely-succeed-him-as-north-koreas-leader/?sh=2ac5e9ad1210)s the leader of North Korea. The agency said Kim Ju Ae, Kim Jong Un’s daughter, is in line for the position after a series of public appearances with her father in 2023. Little is known about Ju Ae, who was not seen publicly until late 2022 at a missile test, but her increasing presence at public events and the respect shown to her suggest she is Kim’s “most likely successor,” NIS said. Kim Ju Ae, the daughter of Kim Jong Un, will likely succeed her father as North Korea’s leader, according to South Korea’s spy agency NIS—though little is known about her since making several public appearances over the last year, increasing speculation about her potential leadership.

North Korea made a bold assertion that its spy satellite successfully captured images of the White House, the Pentagon, Naval Station Norfolk, and Newport News Dockyard. The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) stated that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un personally reviewed these satellite photographs. However, no evidence has been released by North Korea to substantiate these claims, and experts remain skeptical about the capabilities of their new satellite for high-resolution imaging and military surveillance. Last week, North Korea declared the successful launch of the Malligyong-1 satellite, an event celebrated by Kim Jong Un himself. The state-run Pyongyang Times reported that Kim described the launch as a significant achievement, propelling the country into a new era of space power. In response, the White House expressed strong condemnation of the potential satellite launch, citing violations of United Nations Security Council resolutions that prohibit North Korea from using ballistic missile technology. The Biden administration, along with its allies and partners, is closely assessing the situation and urging other countries to denounce the launch while calling for serious negotiations with North Korea. This recent launch comes after two previous failed attempts in May and August, both of which were closely observed by Kim Jong Un. Following the launch, South Korea suspended a no-fly zone agreement near the demilitarized border, intensifying tensions between the two neighboring countries. US Bombers Fly with Allies Amid Rising Tensions with North Korea In a clear warning to North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong Un, the U.S. Air Force deployed supersonic bombers alongside allied fighter jets near the Korean Peninsula. US, South Korea, Japan Hold Joint Exercises Amid Rising Tensions with North Korea US, South Korea, Japan Hold Joint Exercises Amid Rising Tensions with North Korea(https://www.thestockdork.com/us-south-korea-japan-hold-joint-exercises-amid-rising-tensions-with-north-korea/) Response To N. Korea’s Recent Missile Test This move comes in response to North Korea’s recent missile test, which demonstrated the capability to deliver a nuclear strike on the mainland United States. Images captured the presence of two U.S. B-1B Lancers flying in formation with U.S. F-16s, South Korean F-15Ks, and Japanese F-2 fighter aircraft. Aerial Display of Strength These long-range strategic bombers, known for their capacity to carry substantial conventional payloads, participated in their second trilateral aerial exercise of the year, as confirmed by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. Counteracting North Korea’s Provocations The Joint Chiefs of Staff in Seoul reported that this training exercise was specifically designed to counter North Korea’s nuclear provocations. It took place off South Korea’s southern Jeju Island in the East China Sea, marking the 13th instance of a U.S. bomber deployment near or over the Korean Peninsula this year. North Korea’s Recent Missile Test Pyongyang declared a successful test of its latest and largest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in its arsenal, named the Hwasong-18. This missile is propelled by a solid-fuel rocket, enabling quicker arming and launch. North Korean state media released images the following day, showcasing Kim Jong Un’s personal attendance at the launch, marking their first ICBM test in five months. Hwasong-18’s Capabilities The Hwasong-18, fired into the East Sea (Sea of Japan), is believed to have an operational range exceeding 9,000 miles. This range is sufficient to deliver nuclear warheads directly to major American cities, escalating concerns. North Korea’s Justification North Korea has justified its missile development as a response to perceived hostility from South Korea and the United States. In response to these actions, the two allies have intensified their own military training. International Disapproval The United States has consistently criticized North Korea for employing launch technology prohibited by United Nations Security Council resolutions that aim to curb its nuclear weapons program. China and Russia Enabling N. Korea Diplomatic tensions escalated at the United Nations on Tuesday. American officials have accused China and Russia of enabling North Korea’s missile launches through their vetoing of additional sanctions. Trilateral Mechanism Activated In response to the missile threat, the United States, South Korea, and Japan have activated a trilateral mechanism for real-time tracking and sharing of information related to North Korea’s missile activities. North Korea’s Strengthening Ties with Russia In recent months, Kim Jong Un has been forging stronger relations with Russia. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, and North Korea has reportedly sent military equipment to Russia. The Growing Threat of War with North Korea Harry Kazianis, a senior director at the Center for the National Interest, expressed concerns to USA TODAY about the increasing likelihood of war with North Korea. He highlighted Pyongyang’s development of tactical nuclear weapons and the potential crisis that could arise from their testing.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has issued a stark warning to the United States and South Korea, stating that his military would “thoroughly annihilate” both countries if they engage in provocations against the North. This latest declaration comes as part of a surge in aggressive rhetoric and a vow to bolster national defense capabilities in the face of what Pyongyang perceives as intensified US-led confrontational strategies. In recent months, North Korea has escalated its warlike language, a response to the expansion of military drills by the US and South Korea. The North Korean leader’s comments were part of a directive to army officers, underlining the need to fortify what he calls “the treasured sword” of the nation’s security—a likely reference to North Korea’s nuclear arsenal. He has outlined plans to launch additional military spy satellites, manufacture more nuclear materials, and develop attack drones within the year. These steps are viewed by observers as attempts to increase North Korea’s leverage in potential future negotiations with the United States. The heightened tensions and bellicose exchanges come after an increase in joint US-South Korean military exercises, which Pyongyang views as a direct threat. Over the last year, North Korea has conducted over 100 missile tests, which has further motivated the US and South Korea to strengthen their military cooperation. The North Korean leader’s comments did not go unanswered. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, in his New Year’s address, emphasized the importance of enhancing South Korea’s preemptive strike capabilities, missile defenses, and retaliatory potential in response to the North’s nuclear threats. President Yoon advocates for “genuine, lasting peace through strength,” emphasizing South Korea’s determination to defend itself without relying on the goodwill of its northern adversary. “The Republic of Korea is building genuine, lasting peace through strength, not a submissive peace that is dependent on the goodwill of the adversary,” Yoon said, using South Korea’s official name. In a retaliatory tone, the South Korean Defense Ministry has warned that any attempt by North Korea to use nuclear weapons would be met with overwhelming force by South Korean and US militaries, a response that could spell the end of the Kim regime. Amid these threats and counter-threats, inter-Korean relations remain in a state of deadlock, with Pyongyang indicating a restructuring or disbandment of its organizations dealing with relations with South Korea. The objective appears to be a fundamental shift in the North’s strategy against the South. However, the specifics of this change remain unclear. At the party meeting, Kim called South Korea “a hemiplegic malformation and colonial subordinate state” whose society is “tainted by Yankee culture.” He said his military must use all available means including nuclear weapons to “suppress the whole territory of South Korea” in the event of a conflict. KCNA said Kim and Chinese President Xi Jinping exchanged New Year’s Day messages Monday on bolstering bilateral ties. North Korea faces suspicions that it supplied conventional arms for Russia’s war in Ukraine in return for sophisticated Russian technologies to enhance the North’s military programs. Estimates of the size of North Korea’s nuclear arsenal vary, ranging from about 20-30 bombs to more than 100. Many foreign experts say North Korea still has some technological hurdles to overcome to produce functioning nuclear-armed ICBMs, though its shorter-range nuclear-capable missiles can reach South Korea and Japan. In a retaliatory tone, the South Korean Defense Ministry has warned that any attempt by North Korea to use nuclear weapons would be met with overwhelming force by South Korean and US militaries, a response that could spell the end of the Kim regime. Amid these threats and counter-threats, inter-Korean relations remain in a state of deadlock, with Pyongyang indicating a restructuring or disbandment of its organizations dealing with relations with South Korea. The objective appears to be a fundamental shift in the North’s strategy against the South. However, the specifics of this change remain unclear. Russia fires North Korean missiles at Ukraine for first time - Kyiv official

When the Cold War officially ended suddenly in 1991 Washington had one more chance to pivot back to the pre-1914 status quo ante. That is, to a national security policy of Fortress America because there was literally no significant military threat left on the planet. Post-Soviet Russia was an economic basket case that couldn’t even meet its military payroll and was melting down and selling the Red Army’s tanks and artillery for scrap. China was just emerging from the Great Helmsman’s economic, political and cultural depredations and had embraced Deng Xiaoping proclamation that “to get rich is glorious”. The implications of the Red Army’s fiscal demise and China’s electing the path of export mercantilism and Red Capitalism were profound. Russia couldn’t invade the American homeland in a million years and China chose the route of flooding America with shoes, sheets, shirts, toys and electronics. So doing, it made the rule of the communist elites in Beijing dependent upon keeping the custom of 4,000 Walmarts in America, not bombing them out of existence. In a word, god’s original gift to America—the great moats of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans—could have again become the cornerstone of its national security. After 1991, therefore, there was no nation on the planet that had the remotest capability to mount a conventional military assault on the U.S. homeland; or that would not have bankrupted itself attempting to create the requisite air and sea-based power projection capabilities—a resource drain that would be vastly larger than even the $900 billion the US currently spends on its own global armada. Indeed, in the post-cold war world the only thing the US needed was a modest conventional capacity to defend the shorelines and North American airspace against any possible rogue assault and a reliable nuclear deterrent against any state foolish enough to attempt nuclear blackmail. Needless to say, those capacities had already been bought and paid for during the cold war. The triad of minutemen ICBMs, Trident SLBMs (submarines launched nuclear missiles) and long-range stealth bombers currently cost $52 billion annually for operations and maintenance, replacements and upgrades and were more than adequate for the task of nuclear deterrence. Likewise, conventional defense of the U.S. shoreline and airspace against rogues would not require a fraction of today’s 1.3 million active uniformed force—to say nothing of the 800,000 additional reserves and national guard forces and the 765,000 DOD civilians on top of that. Rather than funding 2.9 million personnel, the whole job of national security under a homeland-based Fortress America concept could be done with less than 500,000 military and civilian payrollers. At most. In fact, much of the 475,000 US army could be eliminated and most of the Navy’s carrier strike groups and power projection capabilities could be mothballed. So, too, the Air Force’s homeland defense missions could be accomplished for well less than $100 billion per annum compared to its current $200 billion budget. Overall, the constant dollar national defense budget was $660 billion (2022 $) when the cold war ended and the Soviet Union subsequently disappeared from the face of the earth in 1991. Had Washington pivoted to a Fortress America national security policy at the time, defense spending could have been downsized to perhaps $500 billion per year (2022 $) or potentially far less. Instead, Imperial Washington went in the opposite direction and ended up embracing a de facto policy of Empire First. The latter will cost $900 billion during the current year and is heading for $1.2 trillion billion annually a few years down the road. Empire First - The Reason For An Extra Half Trillion For Defense In a word, Empire First easily consumes one-half trillion dollars more in annual budgetary resources than would a Fortress America policy. And that giant barrel of weapons contracts, consulting and support jobs, lobbying booty and Congressional pork explains everything you need to know about why the Swamp is so deep and intractable. Obviously, it’s also why Imperial Washington has appointed itself global policeman. Functioning as the gendarme of the planet is the only possible justification for the extra $500 billion per year cost of Empire First. For example, why does the US still deploy 100,000 US forces and their dependents in Japan and Okinawa and 29,000 in South Korea? These two counties have a combined GDP of nearly $7 trillion—or 235X more than North Korea and they are light-years ahead of the latter in technology and military capability. Also, they don’t go around the world engaging in regime change, thereby spooking fear on the north side of the DMZ. Accordingly, Japan and South Korea could more than provide for their own national security in a manner they see fit without any help whatsoever from Imperial Washington. That’s especially the case because absent the massive US military threat in the region, North Korea would surely seek a rapprochement and economic help from its neighbors including China. Indeed, sixty-five years after the unnecessary war in Korea ended, there is only one reason why the Kim family is still in power in Pyongyang and why periodically they have noisily brandished their incipient nuclear weapons and missiles. To wit, it’s because the Empire still occupies the Korean peninsula and surrounds its waters with more lethal firepower than was brought to bear against the industrial might of Nazi Germany during the whole of WWII. Of course, these massive and costly forces are also justified on the grounds of supporting Washington’s committements to the defense of Taiwan. But that commitment has always been obsolete and unnecessary to America’s homeland security. The fact is, Chiang Kia-Shek lost the Chinese civil war fair and square in 1949, and there was no reason to perpetuate his rag-tag regime when it retreated to the last square miles of Chinese territory—the island province of Taiwan. The latter had been under control of the Chinese Qing Dynasty for 200 years thru 1895, when it was occupied by the Imperial Japan for 50 years, only to be liberated by Chinese patriots at the end of WWII. That is to say, once Imperial Japan was expelled from the island the Chinese did not “invade” or occupy or takeover their own country. For crying out loud, Taiwan had been Han for centuries and for better or worse, the communists were now the rulers of China. Accordingly, Taiwan is separated from the mainland today only because Washington arbitrarily made it a protectorate and ally when the loser of the civil war set up shop in a small remnant of modern China, thereby establishing an artificial nation that, again, had no bearing whatsoever on America’s homeland security. In any event, the nascent US War Party of the late 1940s decreed otherwise, generating 70 years of tension with the Beijing regime that accomplished nothing except to bolster the case for a big Navy and for maintaining vast policing operations in the Pacific region for no good reason of homeland defense. That is to say, without Washington’s support for the nationalist regime in Taipei, the island would have been absorbed back into the Chinese polity where it had been for centuries. It would probably now resemble the booming prosperity of Shanghai—-something Wall Street and mainstream US politicians celebrated for years. Moreover, it’s still not too late. Absent Washington’s arms and threats, the Taiwanese would surely prefer peaceful prosperity as the 24th province of China rather than a catastrophic war against Beijing that they would have no hope of surviving. By the same token, the alternative—US military intervention to aid Taiwan—would mean WWIII. So what’s the point of Washington’s dangerous policy of “strategic ambiguity” when the long-term outcome is utterly inevitable? In short, the only sensible policy is for Washington to recant 70-years of folly brought on by the China Lobby and arms manufacturers and green-light a Taiwanese reconciliation with the mainland. Even a few years thereafter Wall Street bankers peddling M&A deals in Taipei wouldn’t know the difference from Shanghai. And speaking of foolishly frozen history, it is now 78 years since Hitler perished in his bunker. So why does Washington still have 50,000 troops and their dependents stationed in Germany? Certainly by it own actions Germany does not claim to be militarily imperiled. It’s modest $55 billion defense budget amounts to only 1.3% of GDP, hardly an indication that it fears Russian forces will soon be at the Brandenburg Gate. Indeed, until Washington conned the Scholz government into joining its idiotic sanctions war against Russia, Germany saw Russia as a vital market for its exports and as a source of supply for natural gas, other natural resources and food stuffs. Besides, with a GDP of $4.2 trillion or more than double Russia’s $2.1 trillion GDP, Germany could more than handle its own defenses if Moscow should ever become foolish enough to threaten it. From there you get to the even more preposterous case for the Empire’s NATO outposts in eastern Europe. But the history books are absolutely clear that in 1989 George H. W. Bush and his Secretary of State, James Baker, promised Gorbachev that NATO would not be expanded to the east by a “single inch” in return for his acquiescence to German unification. The Obsolete Folly Of NATO’s Article 5 Mutual Defense Obligations At the time, NATO had 16 member nations bound by the Article 5 obligation of mutual defense, but when the Soviet Union and the Red Army vanished, there was nothing left to defend against. NATO should have declared victory and dissolved itself. The ex-paratrooper then in the White House, in fact, could have landed at the Ramstein Air Base and announced “mission accomplished!” Instead, NATO has become a political jackhammer and weapons sales agent for Empire First policies by expanding to 30 nations—many of them on Russia’s doorstep. Yet if your perception is not distorted by Washington’s self-justifying imperial beer-goggles, the question is obvious. Exactly what is gained for the safety and security of the citizens of Lincoln NE or Springfield MA by obtaining the defense services of the pint-sized militaries of Latvia (6,000), Croatia (14,500), Estonia (6,400), Slovenia (7,300) or Montenegro (1,950)? Indeed, the whole post-1991 NATO expansion is so preposterous as a matter of national security that its true function as a fig-leaf for Empire First fairly screams out-loud. Not one of these pint-sized nations would matter for US security if they decided to have a cozier relationship with Russia—voluntarily or not so voluntarily. But the point is, there is no threat to America in eastern Europe unless such as Montenegro, Slovenia, or Latvia were to become Putin’s invasion route to effect the Russian occupation of Germany, France, the Benelux and England. And that’s just plain silly-ass crazy! Yet aside from that utterly far-fetched and economically and militarily impossible scenario, there is no reason whatsoever for the US to be in a mutual defense pact with any of the new, and, for that matter, old NATO members. And that gets us to the patently bogus proxy war on Russia in which the nation of Ukraine is being turned into a demolition derby and its population of both young and older men is being frog-marched into the Russian meat-grinder. But as we have documented elsewhere this is a civil war in an artificial nation confected by history’s greatest tyrants—Lenin, Stalin and Khrushchev, too. It was never built to last, and most definitely didn’t after the Washington sponsored, funded and instantly recognized Maidan coup of February 2014 deposed its legitimately elected pro-Russian president. Thereafter, Russia’s actions in recovering its former province of Crimea in March 2014 and coming to the aid of the break-away Russian-speaking republics of the Donbas (eastern Ukraine) in February 2022 did not threaten the security of the American homeland or the peace of the world. Not one bit. The post-February 2014 conflict in Ukraine is a “territorial”, ethnic and religious dispute over deep differences between Russian-speakers in the east and south of the country and Ukrainian nationalists from the center and west that are rooted in centuries of history. The resulting carnage, as tragic as it has been, does not prove in the slightest that Russia is an aggressive expansionist that must be thwarted by the Indispensable Nation. To the contrary, Washington’s imperial beer goggles are utterly blind to history and geopolitical logic. In the first place, the history books make abundantly clear that Sevastopol in Crimea had been the home-port of the Russian Naval Fleet under czars and commissars alike. Crimea had been purchased from the Ottoman’s for good money by Catherine the Great in 1783 and was the site of one of Russia greatest patriotic events—-the defeat of the English invaders in 1854 made famous by Tennyson’s Charge of the Light Brigade. After 171 years as an integral part of the Russian Motherland and having become more than 80% Russian-speaking, Crimea only technically became part of Ukraine during a Khrushchev inspired shuffle in 1954. And even then, the only reason for this late communist era territorial transfer was to reward Khrushchev’s allies in Kiev for supporting him in the bloody struggle for power after Stalin’s death. The fact is, only 10% of the Crimean population is Ukrainian speaking. It was the coup on the streets of Kiev in February 2014 by extremist anti-Russian Ukrainian nationalists and proto-fascists that caused the Russian speakers in Crimea to panic and Moscow to become alarmed about the status of its historic naval base, for which it still had a lease running to the 2040s. In the Moscow sponsored referendum that occurred shortly thereafter, 83% of eligible Crimeans turned out to vote and 97% of those approved cancelling the aforementioned 1954 edict of the Soviet Presidium and rejoining mother Russia. There is absolutely no evidence that the 80% of Crimeans who thus voted to sever their historically short-lived affiliation with Ukraine were threatened or coerced by Moscow. Indeed, what they actually feared—both in Crimea and in the Donbas where the breakaway Republics were also soon declared—was the anti-Russian edicts coming out of Kiev in the aftermath of the Washington orchestrated overthrow of the legally elected government. After all, the good folks of what the historical maps designated as Novorussiya (New Russia) populated what had been the industrial breadbasket of the former Soviet Union. The Donbas and the southern rim on the Black Sea had always been an integral part of Russia’s iron, steel, chemical, coal and munitions industries, having been settled, developed and invested by Russians under Czars from Catherine the Great forwards. And in Soviet times many of their grandparents had been put there by Stalin from elsewhere in Russia to reinforce his bloody rule. By the same token, these Russian settlers and transplants in Novorussiya forever hated the Ukrainian nationalist collaborators from the west, who rampaged though their towns, farms, factories and homes side-by-side with Hitler’s Wehrmacht on the way to Stalingrad. So the appalling truth of the matter was this: By Washington’s edict the grandsons and granddaughters of Stalin’s industrial army in the Donbas were to be ruled by the grandsons and granddaughters of Hitler’s WWII collaborators in Kiev, whether they liked it or not. Alas, that repudiation of history could not stand. So we repeat and for good reason: You simply can’t make up $500 billion worth of phony reasons for an Empire First national security policy without going off the deep-end. You have to invent missions, mandates and threats that are just plain stupid (like the proxy war against Russia in the Ukraine) or flat out lies (like Saddam’s alleged WMDs). Indeed, you must invent, nourish and enforce an entire universal narrative based on completely implausible and invalid propositions, such as the “Indispensable Nation” meme and the claim that global peace and stability depend overwhelmingly on Washington’s leadership. Yet, is there not a more cruel joke than that? Was the Washington inflicted carnage and genocide in Vietnam—which resulted in the death of upwards of one million—- a case of “American leadership” and making the world more peaceful or stable? And after losing this costly, bloody, insensible war to the communists in 1975, how is it that what is still communist Vietnam has become the go-to place to source low-cost manufactured goods needed by tens of thousands of Amazon’s delivery trucks and mass market retail emporiums operating from coast-to-coast in America today? Likewise, did the two wars against Iraq accomplish anything except destroy the tenuous peace between the Sunni, Shiite and Kurds, thereby opening up the gates of hell and the bloody rampages of ISIS? Did the billions Washington illegally channeled into the rebel and jihadist forces in Syria do anything except destroy the country, create millions of refugees and encourage the Assad regime to engage in tit-for-tat brutalities, as well as call-in aid from its Iranian, Russian and Hezbollah allies? Did not the destruction of Qaddafi’s government by American bombers turn Libya into a hell-hole of war-lord based civil war and human abuse and even enslavement? In a word, Imperial Washington’s over-arching narratives and the instances of its specific interventions alike rest on a threadbare and implausible foundation; and more often than not, they consist of arrogant fabrications and claims that are an insult to the intelligence of anyone paying even loose attention to the facts. In this context, there is only one way to meaningfully move the needle on both Washington’s hegemonic foreign policy and its giant flow of red budgetary ink. To wit, the American military empire needs be dismantled lock, stock and barrel. Fortunately, a return to the idea of Fortress America and what we have called the Eisenhower Defense Minimum can accomplish exactly that. When president Eisenhower gave his prescient warning about the military-industrial complex in his 1961 farewell address, the US defense budget stood at $52 billion and it totaled $64 billion when you add in the collateral elements of national security that round out the full fiscal cost of empire. These include the State Department, AID, security assistance, NED, international broadcasting propaganda operations and related items, as well as the deferred cost of military operations reflected in Veterans Administration costs for compensation, health care and other services. By the end of the cold war in 1991 this comprehensive national security budget had risen to $340 billion, but was not to be denied by the mere fact that the Soviet Union disappeared into the dustbin of history that year. The neocons soon infiltrated both parties and owing to their Forever Wars and hegemony-seeking policies the total had soared to $822 billion by the end of the Obama “peace” candidate’s presidency in 2016. Yet the uniparty was just getting warmed-up. After being goosed big time by both Trump and Biden, the current estimate for FY 2024 stands at a staggering $1.304 trillion. That is to say, the comprehensive cost of empire now stands at a level 20X higher than what the great peace-oriented general, Dwight D. Eisenhower, believed was adequate to contain the threat posed by the old Soviet Union at the peak of its industrial and military power in 1960. Yes, 64 years on from Ike’s farewell address there has been a whole lot of inflation, which is embedded in the slightly different NIPA basis for the defense numbers in the chart below. But even when adjusted to the current price level, the defense budget proper stood at just $440 billion in 1960 compared to $900 billion today; and the comprehensive national security budget totaled just $590 billion or only 45% of today’s $1.304 trillion. As we indicated earlier, the Eisenhower Defense Minimum, rounded to $500 billion in today’s purchasing power, is far more than adequate in a world where America’s homeland security is not threatened by a technological and industrial superpower having even remote parity with the United States and its NATO allies. The combined $45 trillion GDP of the latter is 20X larger than that of Russia and nearly 3X that of China, which is itself a debt-entombed house of cards that would not last a year without its $3.5 trillion of exports to the west. Stated differently, the old Soviet Union was autarkic but internally brittle and grotesquely inefficient and unsustainable. Red China, by contrast, is far more efficient industrially, but also has $50 trillion of internal and external debts and a thoroughly mercantilist economic model that makes it is utterly dependent on western markets. So its strategic vulnerability is no less conclusive. At the end of the day, neither Russia nor China have the economic capacity—say $50 trillion of GDP—-or motivation to attack the American homeland with conventional military means. The vast invasionary armada of land and air forces, air and sealift capacity and massive logistics supply pipelines that would be needed to bridge the two ocean moats is virtually beyond rational imagination. So what ultimately keeps America safe is its nuclear deterrent. As long as that is in tact and effective, there is no conceivable form of nuclear blackmail that could be used to jeopardize the security and liberty of the homeland. Yet according to CBO’s latest study the current annual cost of the strategic deterrent, as we indicated above, is just $52 billion. This includes $13 billion for the ballistic missile submarine force, $7 billion for the land-based ICBMs and $6 billion for the strategic bomber force. On top of that there is also $13 billion to maintain the nuclear weapons stockpiles, infrastructure and supporting services and $11 billion for strategic nuclear command and control, communications and early warnings systems. In all, and after allowing for normal inflation and weapons development costs, CBOs 10-year estimate for the strategic nuclear deterrent is just $756 billion. That happens to be only 7.0% of the $10 trillion baseline for the 10-year cost of today’s “Empire First” defense budget and only 5.0% of the $15 trillion national security baseline when you include international operations and veterans. A return to the Eisenhower Minimum of $500 billion per year for defense proper over the next decade would thus save in excess of $4 trillion over the period. And these cuts would surely be readily extractable from the $9 trillion CBO baseline for defense spending excluding the strategic forces. As we indicated above, for instance, there would be no need for 11 carrier battle groups including their air-wings, escort and support ships and supporting infrastructure under a Fortress America policy. Those forces are sitting ducks in this day and age anyway, but are only necessary for force projection abroad and wars of invasion and occupation. The American coastline and interior, by contrast, can be protected by land-based air. Yet according to another CBO study the 10-year baseline cost for the Navy’s 11 carrier battle groups will approach $1 trillion alone. Likewise, the land forces of the US Army will cost $2 trillion and that’s again mainly for the purpose of force projection abroad. As Senator Taft and his original Fortress America supporters long ago recognized, overwhelming air superiority over the North American continent is what is actually necessary for homeland security. But even that would require only a small part of the current $1.5 trillion 10-year cost of US Air Force operations, which are heavily driven by global force projection capacities. At the end of the day a $4 trillion reduction in national security spending over the next decade is more than feasible and long overdue. It only requires tossing the Indispensable Nation myth into the dustbin of history where it has belonged all along. Editor’s Note: The amount of money the US government spends on foreign aid, wars, the so-called intelligence community, and other aspects of foreign policy is enormous and ever-growing. It’s an established trend in motion that is accelerating, and now approaching a breaking point. It could cause the most significant disaster since the 1930s. Most people won’t be prepared for what’s coming. That’s precisely why bestselling author Doug Casey and his team just released an urgent video with all the details.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says two countries would expand military drills Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. would expand military drills with South Korea and increase nuclear-deterrence efforts, as he sought to reassure the Asian ally of Washington’s commitment amid growing threats from North Korea. Mr. Austin said that more U.S. jet fighters would be deployed to South Korea this year and the two countries would hold larger-scale and longer joint military exercises than their previous ones. Mr. Austin, who is on a three-day visit to Seoul, made the commitments during talks with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jong-sup, on Tuesday. (2023.2.1)

North Korea's capital is under a five-day lockdown to fight the spread of an unspecified respiratory disease. Authorities have made no mention of COVID. The Russian Embassy in Pyongyang posted on its Facebook page a notice from authorities. It says the lockdown will last from Wednesday until Sunday. Residents are advised to stay at home, and take and report their temperatures four times a day. North Korea admitted its first COVID outbreak last May. It claimed victory over the disease by August, but experts remain skeptical of that claim. (2023.1.28)

North Korea has unveiled the little-known daughter of its leader Kim Jong Un at a missile launch site, attracting keen attention on a fourth-generation member of the dynastic family that has ruled North Korea for more than seven decades. The North's state media said Saturday that Kim had observed the launch of its new type of intercontinental ballistic missile with his wife Ri Sol Ju, their "beloved daughter" and other officials the previous day. Kim said the launch of the Hwasong-17 missile — the North's longest-range, nuclear-capable missile — proved he has a reliable weapon to contain U.S.-led military threats. The main Rodong Sinmun newspaper also released a slew of photos of Kim watching a soaring missile from a distance with his daughter. Other photos showed her with her hair pulled back, wearing a white coat and a pair of red shoes as she walked in hand-in-hand with her father by a huge missile atop a launch truck. It's the first time for North Korea's state media to mention the daughter or publicize her photos. KCNA didn't provide further details about her like her name and age. Much of Kim's private life is still unknown. But South Korean media reported Kim married Ri, a former singer, in 2009, and that the couple have three children who were born in 2010, 2013 and 2017. It wasn't known which child Kim took to the launch site. But in 2013, after a trip to Pyongyang, retired NBA star Dennis Rodman told the British newspaper the Guardian that he and Kim had a "relaxing time by the sea" with the leader's family and that he held Kim's baby daughter, named Ju Ae. The identities of Kim's children are a source of strong outside interest as the 38-year-old ruler hasn't publicly anointed an heir apparent. When he disappeared from public eye for an extended period in 2020 amid unconfirmed rumors about health conditions, global media frenzy flared over who was next in line to run an impoverished yet nuclear-armed country. Many observers said at the time that Kim's younger sister, Kim Yo Jong, would step in and run the country if her brother was incapacitated. The Kim family has governed North Korea with a strong personality following built around key family members since Kim's grandfather, Kim Il Sung, founded the country in 1948. The family's so-called Paektu bloodline, named after the North's most sacred mountain, allows only direct family members to rule the country. "It's much too soon to infer anything about succession within the Kim regime," said Leif-Eric Easley, a professor at Ewha University in Seoul. "However, publicly including his wife and daughter in what Kim claims as a historically successful missile test associates the family business of ruling North Korea with the nation's missile programs." "This may be an attempt to compensate for how few economic accomplishments Kim has to support his domestic legitimacy," Easley said. Analyst Cheong Seong-Chang at the private Sejong Institute in South Korea said if Kim continues to take this daughter to key public events, that could signal that she would become Kim's successor. "Under North Korea's system, the children of Kim Jong Un would have the status of a prince or princess, like in a dynasty. As the Rodong Sinmnum newspaper publicized the photo of the daughter, who took after Kim Jong Un and Ri Sol Ju so much ... she has no choice but to live special lives," Cheong said. Other observers say Kim taking his family to a missile test site indicated he was confident in the weapon's successful launch, or that he might have tried to burnish an image as a normal leader including his family in his affairs. The disclosure of the Kim family child has taken many North Korea watchers by surprise. It was only in 2010 when Kim, then 26, was first publicly mentioned in state media as he took a spate of top posts before he inherited power upon his father Kim Jong Il's death the next year. Kim Jong Il was also 31 when he won a key post in the ruling Workers' Party in 1973 — an appointment seen as a key step in the path to succeeding his father Kim Il Sung. Kim Jong Il's position as successor was made public at the party congress in 1980. But Cheong said Kim Jong Il privately told associates in 1992 that Kim Jong Un, his third and youngest son, would succeed him. Cheong said Kim's aunt and her husband, who had defected to the United States, told him that a song praising Kim Jong Un was played and that Kim Jong Il said Kim Jong Un was his successor on his son's 8th birthday. "Kim Jong Un may have his daughter, who resembles him the most in his mind, as his successor," Cheong said. (AP)

North Korea added to its recent barrage of weapons demonstrations by launching four ballistic missiles into the sea on Saturday, as the United States sent two supersonic bombers streaking over South Korea in a dueling display of military might that underscored rising tensions in the region. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said that the four short-range missiles fired from a western coastal area around noon flew about 130 kilometers (80 miles) toward the country's western sea. The North has test-fired more than 30 missiles this week, including an intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday that triggered evacuation alerts in northern Japan, and flew large numbers of warplanes inside its territory in an angry reaction to a massive combined aerial exercise between the United States and South Korea. The South Korean military said two B-1B bombers trained with four U.S. F-16 fighter jets and four South Korean F-35s jets during the last day of the "Vigilant Storm" joint air force drills that wraps up Saturday. It marked the first time since December 2017 that the bombers were deployed to the Korean Peninsula. The exercise involved around 240 warplanes, including advanced F-35 fighter jets from both countries. North Korea's Foreign Ministry late Friday described the country's military actions this week as an appropriate response to the exercise, which it called a display of U.S. "military confrontation hysteria." It said North Korea will respond with the "toughest counteraction" to any attempts by "hostile forces" to infringe on its sovereignty or security interests. South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the participation of the B-1Bs in the joint drills demonstrated the allies' readiness to "sternly respond" to North Korean provocations and the U.S. commitment to defend its ally with the full range of its military capabilities, including nuclear. B-1B flyovers had been a familiar show of force during past periods of tensions with North Korea. The planes last appeared in the region in 2017, during another provocative run in North Korean weapons demonstrations. But the flyovers had been halted in recent years as the United States and South Korea stopped their large-scale exercises to support the former Trump administration's diplomatic efforts with North Korea and because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The allies resumed their large-scale training this year after North Korea dialed up its weapons testing to a record pace, exploiting a divide in the U.N. Security Council over Russia's war on Ukraine as a window to accelerate arms development. North Korea hates such displays of American military might at close range. The North has continued to describe the B-1B as a "nuclear strategic bomber" although the plane was switched to conventional weaponry in the mid-1990s. Vigilant Storm had been initially scheduled to end Friday, but the allies decided to extend the training to Saturday in response to a series of North Korean ballistic launches on Thursday, including an ICBM that triggered evacuation alerts and halted trains in northern Japan. Thursday's launches came after the North fired more than 20 missiles on Wednesday, the most in a single day. Those launches came after North Korean senior military official Pak Jong Chon issued a veiled threat of a nuclear conflict with the United States and South Korea over their joint drills, which the North says are rehearsals for a potential invasion. South Korea also on Friday scrambled about 80 military aircraft after tracking about 180 flights by North Korean warplanes inside North Korean territory. The South's Joint Chiefs of Staff said the North Korean warplanes were detected in various areas inland and along the country's eastern and western coasts, but did not come particularly close to the Koreas' border. The South Korean military spotted about 180 flight trails from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., but it wasn't immediately clear how many North Korean planes were involved and whether some may have flown more than once. In Friday's statement attributed to an unidentified spokesperson, North Korea's Foreign Ministry said the United States and South Korea had created a seriously "unstable atmosphere" in the region with their military exercises. It accused the United States of mobilizing its allies in a campaign using sanctions and military threats to pressure North Korea to unilaterally disarm. "The sustained provocation is bound to be followed by sustained counteraction," the statement said. North Korea has launched dozens of ballistic missiles this year, including multiple ICBMs and an intermediate-range missile flown over Japan. South Korean officials say there are indications North Korea in coming weeks could detonate its first nuclear test device since 2017. Experts say North Korea is attempting to force the United States to accept it as a nuclear power and seeks to negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength. (November 7, 2022)

The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which is filled with the pain of the division of the Korean people, it’s the only site of division in the world and a treasure trove of natural ecosystems. It is the most acute confrontation area on the Korean Peninsula and a heavily armed area, where the risk of military conflict has existed. All previous governments have been trying to make the Demilitarized Zone a peaceful zone. In particular, in 2018, the conditions for the DMZ peace zone were prepared through agreements and annexed agreements between the leaders of the two Koreas, and the leaders of the two Koreas agreed in the Panmunjom Declaration (2018.4.27). The South Korean government promotes the DMZ Peace Road to firmly establish peace in the DMZ and promote the prosperity and development of the border area. DMZ PEACE TRAIL is divided into main/theme lines. The main line is currently under construction. The theme line is Durunubi (https://www.durunubi).kr) on the site You can apply for a visit. (11 out of 12 courses open) 1. Ganghwa Course From the refuge of the national crisis to the beginning of peace tourism on the Korean Peninsula. Ganghwa is a place that has served as a shelter for every moment of national crisis and has protected peace in the Republic of Korea. On the northern coast of Ganghwa facing North Korea, the old military facility, Dondae, still plays a role in defense and peace. Walk along the coastal railroad starting from Dondae, and enjoy a retro-sentimental time trip at Daeryong Market, the home of displaced people's lives. 2. Gimpo Course North Korean Village and Jogang from the Observatory of Aegibong Peace Ecological Park. The mouth of the Han River was originally called "Grandpa River" and "Jogang River," which contained all the waterways in the central part of the Korean Peninsula. At the Aegibong Peace Ecological Park Observatory, you can also see the scenery of the Jo River, where the Imjin River and Yeseong River merge, and the life of the North Korean village. Listen to the story told by the Grandpa River, which has been silent for thousands of years. 3. Goyang Course An outing that follows the story of Janghang Wetland and Haengjusanseong Fortress. The largest in the metropolitan area, Goyang has served as the last bastion to protect the capital city in times of national crisis. After a long time, the wetlands designated as civilian-controlled areas have become homes for rare animals and plants, military iron fences have become a family park, and military barracks are preparing to welcome tourists. 4. Paju Course From the symbol of division to the attraction of peace, the DMZ's path of peace toward unification. Paju, a divided land containing the pain of war, such as the former Jangdan-myeon office and Jangdan Station death bridge, is also the closest point of inter-Korean military confrontation but serves as a path for peace and inter-Korean exchanges such as Panmunjom. 5. Yeoncheon Course A journey to share the beautiful scenery, the pain of division, and the hope of peace. Yeoncheon is the northernmost part of Gyeonggi-do, bordering Jangdan-gun, Hwanghae-do, Geumcheon-gun, and Cheorwon-gun, Gangwon-do, which led to fierce battles during the Korean War and continued confrontation between the two Koreas. However, Yeoncheon is an area where the Hantangang River and the Imjin River meet at the same time and boast excellent scenery, and it is also an area with fertile land as an extension of the Cheorwon Plain. With its well-preserved natural environment, numerous migratory birds spend the winter here, with cranes visiting every winter. Yeoncheon is now looking forward to the era of unification, as National Route 1 and Route 3 pass through the Korean Peninsula and as a central area that can easily move in any direction on the Korean Peninsula. 6. Cheorwon Course A place where you can meet our painful history and beautiful nature. Cheorwon is a beautiful place where the lava plateau Cheorwon Plain, formed by volcanic rocks, and the Hantan River, which dug deep in between, flow, but it is still a military operation area where the heavily armed North and South are still confronting each other. Experience both our painful history and beautiful nature in Cheorwon's Soviet-style architecture, including the history of the Workers' Party, the monument to the Baekma Hill, and the remains of the excavation area. 7. Hwacheon Course A journey of peace along a stream of water. Hwacheon is a place where many lakes and streams, including the Bukhangang River, meet with peaks to create beautiful scenery. Hwacheon is located at the front line of the Middle East front, and it is a place where sharp tensions between the two Koreas have continued, and at the same time, a desire for peace has continued. The fact that the Peace Dam, built as a national fundraising campaign, was named "Peace" in the North's threat of hand-to-hand (Seoul Water Sea), and the establishment of a "World Peace Bell" near the dam all contain a desperate desire for peace. 8. Yanggu Course The first step toward Geumgangsan Mountain along Dutayeon from the center of the country. Yanggu was an essential course for tourists to Geumgangsan Mountain, including Taejo Lee Seong-gye and Gyeomjae Jeong-seon. After the outbreak of the Korean War, there was a desperate battle to protect Yanggu. Numerous battles continued, including the Blood Ridge Hill, and tens of thousands of bombs damaged mountains and trees. As time went by, nature restored its original form. And Dutayeon's primeval forest, which has passed away, is now ready to welcome tourists warmly. 9. Inje Course We hope that the region of sharp conflict will become a place of harmony again. Seohwa-ri, where the visitor center where the DMZ Peace Road begins, is located, consists of "Hwa" that will match Sangseo Seoul's "Seo." As it means, the name of the village contains a desire for good luck and good luck to happen between the two Koreas. Inje is a military operation area where heavily armed forces are still confronting the north and south, but the beautiful DMZ view from the 1,052 highland and the DMZ's natural life system, which can be enjoyed through walking tours, are enough to impress visitors with peaceful beauty. We hope that the DMZ Peace Road Tour will be the starting point for spreading and settling peace on the Korean Peninsula. 10. Goseong A Course Geumgangsan Mountain and Haegeumgang River from the observatory. Goseong-gun, which connects Geumgangsan Mountain and Seoraksan Mountain, is the site of the history of Geumgangsan Mountain overland tourism. The view of Haegeumgang River and Geumgangsan Mountain from Geumgangsan Observatory through Geumgangtongmun Gate will give an indescribable impression to those on a walking trip. 11. Goseong B Course The closest place to see Geumgangsan Mountain and Haegeumgang River. Goseong-gun, which connects Geumgangsan Mountain and Seoraksan Mountain, is the site of the history of Geumgangsan Mountain overland tourism. The Haegeumgang River and Geumgangsan Mountain scenery from the Geumgangsan Observatory give visitors an indescribable impression. Let's walk along the DMZ Peace Road and pray for the reunification of the two Koreas.

A written congratulatory speech at the Korean Peninsula Peace Forum First 'present issue' remarks since leaving office Former President Moon Jae In (photo) told the Yoon Seok-yeol administration, "There is no peace without dialogue," adding, "Trust will begin by keeping the promises agreed between the two Koreas." It indirectly criticized the Yoon Seok-yeol government, which is passive in improving inter-Korean relations, and urged both Koreas to implement past agreements. In a written congratulatory speech released on the 18th, a day before the National Assembly's Fourth Anniversary of the September 19 Military Agreement, former President Moon said, "The current reality is that the wall of distrust is high and the diplomatic and security situation is not easy, but we can go on the path of peace only when we overcome the situation without pessimism." It is the first time that former President Moon has expressed his position on pending issues since his retirement. Former President Moon said, "The July 4th Joint Statement, the North-South Basic Agreement, the June 15th Declaration, the October 4th Declaration, the Panmunjom Declaration, and the Pyongyang Joint Declaration are all historical agreements that the government should respect and implement even if it changes." In particular, former President Moon said, "I look forward to reviving and inheriting the meaning of the Pyongyang Joint Declaration with one mind." The Pyongyang Joint Declaration is an agreement in which former President Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met in Pyongyang in September 2018 and declared an end to military hostility on the Korean Peninsula. Former President Moon said to the Yoon Seok-yeol government, "Peace does not come on its own and does not make anyone else's behalf," adding, "We can only take a step forward if we continue to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula without wavering." Former President Moon went on to say, "North Korea should not abandon repeated agreements," adding, "When the two Koreas work together to comply with the agreement, trust can be built and a way to dialogue can be sought." (2022.09.19) Regarding the Pyongyang Joint Declaration, former President Moon said, "We informed all sides of the beginning of the Korean Peninsula without war, and agreed on practical measures to drastically reduce military risks anywhere in the sky, land, and sea," adding, "It is very important to declare externally that the Korean Peninsula will be a 'base of peace without nuclear weapons and nuclear threat'." He then said, "Peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula are a long-cherished desire that cannot be given up for a moment."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stressed his country will never abandon the nuclear weapons it needs to counter the United States, which he accused of pushing to weaken the North's defenses and eventually collapse his government, state media said Friday. Kim made the comments during a speech Thursday at North Korea's rubber-stamp parliament, where members passed legislation governing the use of nuclear weapons, which Kim described as a step to cement the country's nuclear status and make clear such weapons will not be bargained. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's office said he was "deeply concerned" about the new law, and noted that the North's pursuit of a nuclear weapons program "continues to disregard the resolutions of the Security Council to cease such activities." "The Secretary-General reiterates his call to the DPRK to resume dialogue with the key parties concerned with a view to achieving sustainable peace and the complete and verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula," Guterres's office said in a statement, using an acronym for the North's formal name. The new law spells out conditions where North would be inclined to use its nuclear weapons, including when it determines that its leadership is facing an imminent "nuclear or non-nuclear attack by hostile forces." The law requires North Korea's military to "automatically" execute nuclear strikes against enemy forces, including their "starting point of provocation and the command," if Pyongyang's leadership comes under attack. The law also says North Korea could use nukes to prevent an unspecified "catastrophic crisis" to its government and people, a loose definition that experts say reflect an escalatory nuclear doctrine that could create greater concerns for neighbors. Kim also criticized South Korea over its plans to expand its conventional strike capabilities and revive large-scale military exercises with the United States to counter the North's growing threats, describing them as a "dangerous" military action that raises tensions. Kim has made increasingly provocative threats of nuclear conflict toward the United States and its allies in Asia, also warning that the North would proactively use its nuclear weapons when threatened. His latest comments underscored the growing animosity in the region as he accelerates the expansion of his nuclear weapons and missiles program. "The purpose of the United States is not only to remove our nuclear might itself, but eventually forcing us to surrender or weaken our rights to self-defense through giving up our nukes, so that they could collapse our government at any time," Kim said in the speech published by the North's official Korean Central News Agency. "Let them sanction us for 100 days, 1,000 days, 10 years or 100 years," Kim said. "We will never give up our rights to self-defense that preserves our country's existence and the safety of our people just to temporarily ease the difficulties we are experiencing now." Kim also addressed domestic issues, saying North Korea would begin its long-delayed rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in November. He didn't specify how many doses it would have, where they would come from, or how they would be administered across his population of 26 million people. GAVI, the nonprofit that runs the U.N.-backed COVAX distribution program, said in June it understood North Korea had accepted an offer of vaccines from China. GAVI said at the time the specifics of the offer were unclear. North Korea rejected previous offers by COVAX, likely because of international monitoring requirements, and has also ignored U.S. and South Korean offers of vaccines and other COVID-19 aid. Kim last month declared victory over COVID-19 and ordered preventive measures eased just three months after his government for the first time acknowledged an outbreak. Experts believe the North's disclosures on its outbreak are manipulated to help Kim maintain absolute control. The North Korean report about Kim's speech came a day after South Korea extended its latest olive branch, proposing a meeting with North Korea to resume temporary reunions of aging relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, which were last held in 2018. Experts say it's highly unlikely North Korea would accept the South's offer considering the stark deterioration in inter-Korean ties amid the stalemate in larger nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang. The U.S.-North Korean diplomacy derailed in 2019 over disagreements in exchanging the release of crippling sanctions against the North and the North's denuclearization steps. Kim was combative toward South Korea in Thursday's speech and urged his country to expand the operational roles of its tactical nuclear weapons and accelerate their deployment to strengthen the country's war deterrent. Those comments appeared to align with a ruling party decision in June to approve unspecified new operational duties for front-line troops, which analysts say likely include plans to deploy battlefield nuclear weapons targeting rival South Korea along their tense border. Cheong Seong Chang, a senior analyst at South Korea's Sejong Institute, said Kim's comments and the new North Korean law amount to a warning that it would launch immediate nuclear strikes on the United States and South Korea if they ever attempt to decapacitate Pyongyang's leadership. The North is also communicating a threat that it could use its nuclear weapons during conflicts with South Korea's conventional forces, which would raise the risk of accidental clashes escalating into a nuclear crisis, Cheong said. North Korea has been speeding its development of nuclear-capable, short-range missiles that can target South Korea since 2019. Experts say its rhetoric around those missiles communicates a threat to proactively use them in warfare to blunt the stronger conventional forces of South Korea and the United States. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in the South to deter aggression from the North. The U.S.-led diplomatic push to defuse the nuclear standoff has been further complicated by an intensifying U.S.-China rivalry and Russia's war on Ukraine, which deepened the divide in the U.N. Security Council, where Beijing and Moscow have blocked U.S. efforts to tighten sanctions on Pyongyang over its revived long-range missile tests this year. Kim has dialed up weapons tests to a record pace in 2020, launching more than 30 ballistic weapons, including the first demonstrations of his intercontinental ballistic missiles since 2017. U.S. and South Korean officials say Kim may up the ante soon by ordering the North's first nuclear test in five years as he pushes a brinkmanship aimed at forcing Washington to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power and negotiating concessions from a position of strength. Experts say Kim is also trying to strengthen his leverage by strengthening his cooperation with China and Russia in an emerging partnership aimed at undercutting U.S. influence. North Korea has repeatedly blamed the United States for the crisis in Ukraine, saying the West's "hegemonic policy" justified Russian military actions in Ukraine to protect itself. U.S. officials said this week the Russians are in the process of purchasing North Korean ammunition, including artillery shells and rockets, to ease their supply shortages in the war against Ukraine. North Korea also has joined Russia and Syria as the only nations to recognize the independence of two pro-Russia breakaway territories in eastern Ukraine and has discussed send its construction workers to those regions to work on rebuilding. (AP, 2022.09.10)

The United States and South Korea began their biggest combined military training in years Monday as they heighten their defense posture against the growing North Korean nuclear threat. The drills could draw an angry response from North Korea, which has dialed up its weapons testing activity to a record pace this year while repeatedly threatening conflicts with Seoul and Washington amid a prolonged stalemate in diplomacy. The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises will continue through Sept. 1 in South Korea and include field exercises involving aircraft, warships, tanks and potentially tens of thousands of troops. While Washington and Seoul describe their exercises as defensive, North Korea portrays them as invasion rehearsals and has used them to justify its nuclear weapons and missiles development. Ulchi Freedom Shield, which started along with a four-day South Korean civil defense training program led by government employees, will reportedly include exercises simulating joint attacks, front-line reinforcements of arms and fuel, and removals of weapons of mass destruction. The allies will also train for drone attacks and other new developments in warfare shown during Russia's war on Ukraine and practice joint military-civilian responses to attacks on seaports, airports and major industrial facilities such as semiconductor factories. The United States and South Korea in past years had canceled some of their regular drills and downsized others to computer simulations to create space for the Trump administration's diplomacy with North Korea and because of COVID-19 concerns. Tensions have grown since the collapse of the second meeting between former President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in early 2019. The Americans then rejected North Korean demands for a major release of crippling U.S.-led sanctions in exchange for dismantling an aging nuclear complex, which would have amounted to a partial surrender of the North's nuclear capabilities. Kim has since vowed to bolster his nuclear deterrent in face of "gangster-like" U.S. pressure. South Korea's military has not revealed the number of South Korean and U.S. troops participating in Ulchi Freedom Shield, but has portrayed the training as a message of strength. Seoul's Defense Ministry said last week that Ulchi Freedom Shield "normalizes" large-scale training and field exercises between the allies to help bolster their alliance and strengthen their defense posture against the evolving North Korean threat. Before being shelved or downsized, the United States and South Korea held major joint exercises every spring and summer in South Korea. The spring drills had included live-fire drills involving a broad range of land, air and sea assets and usually involved around 10,000 Americans and 200,000 Korean troops. Tens of thousands of allied troops participated in the summertime drills, which mainly consisted of computer simulations to hone joint decision-making and planning, although South Korea's military has emphasized the revival of field training this year. The drills follow North Korea's dismissal last week of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's "audacious" proposal of economic benefits in exchange for denuclearization steps, accusing Seoul of recycling proposals Pyongyang has long rejected. Kim Yo Jong, the increasingly powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, described Yoon's proposal as foolish and stressed that the North has no intentions to give away an arsenal her brother clearly sees as his strongest guarantee of survival. She harshly criticized Yoon for continuing military exercises with the United States and also for letting South Korean civilian activists fly anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets and other "dirty waste" across the border by balloon. She also ridiculed U.S.-South Korean military capabilities for monitoring the North's missile activity, insisting that the South misread the launch site of the North's latest missile tests on Wednesday last week, hours before Yoon used a news conference to urge Pyongyang to return to diplomacy. Kim Yo Jong's statement came a week after she warned of "deadly" retaliation against South Korea over a recent North Korean COVID-19 outbreak, which Pyongyang dubiously claims was caused by leaflets and other objects floated by southern activists. There are concerns that the threat portends a provocation which might include a nuclear or missile test or even border skirmishes, and that the North might try to raise tensions sometime around the allied drills. In an interview with Associated Press Television last month, Choe Jin, deputy director of a think tank run by North Korea's Foreign Ministry, said the United States and South Korea would face "unprecedented" security challenges if they don't drop their hostile military pressure campaign against North Korea, including joint military drills. Last week's launches of two suspected cruise missiles extended a record pace in North Korean missile testing in 2022, which has involved more than 30 ballistic launches, including the country's first demonstrations of intercontinental ballistic missiles in nearly five years. North Korea's heighted testing activity underscores its dual intent to advance its arsenal and force the United States to accept the idea of the North as a nuclear power so it can negotiate economic and security concessions from a position of strength, experts say. Kim Jong Un could up the ante soon as there are indications that the North is preparing to conduct its first nuclear test since September 2017, when it claimed to have developed a thermonuclear weapon to fit on its ICBMs. (2022.8.22, AP)

North Korea on Sunday slammed the United States, South Korea and Japan for pushing to boost their trilateral military cooperation targeting the North, warning that the move is prompting urgent calls for the country to reinforce its military capability. North Korea has long cited what it calls hostility by the United States and its allies as a reason to pursue a nuclear program. Sunday's statement comes as North Korea's neighbors say the country is ready for its first nuclear test in five years as part of its provocative run of weapons tests this year. "The prevailing situation more urgently calls for building up the country's defense to actively cope with the rapid aggravation of the security environment of the Korean Peninsula and the rest of the world," the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in a statement, without elaborating how it would boost its military capacity. The statement took issue with a trilateral meeting among the U.S., South Korean and Japanese leaders on the sidelines of a NATO summit last week, during which they underscored the need to strengthen their cooperation to deal with North Korean nuclear threats. "The chief executives of the U.S., Japan and South Korea put their heads together for confrontation with (North Korea) and discussed the dangerous joint military countermeasures against it including the launch of tripartite joint military exercises," the statement said. North Korea views U.S.-led military exercises in the region, particularly ones with rival South Korea, as an invasion rehearsal, though Washington and Seoul have repeatedly said they have no intentions of attacking the North. During the recent trilateral meeting, U.S. President Joe Biden said he was "deeply concerned" about North Korea's continued ballistic missile tests and apparent plans to conduct a nuclear test. South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said the importance of trilateral cooperation has grown in the face of North Korea's advanced nuclear program, while Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said joint anti-missile drills would be important to deter North Korean threats. Earlier in June, the defense chiefs of the U.S., South Korea and Japan agreed to resume their combined missile warning and tracking exercises as part of their efforts to deal with North Korea's escalating weapons tests. The North Korean statement accused the United States of exaggerating rumors about North Korean threats "to provide an excuse for attaining military supremacy over the Asia-Pacific region including the Korean Peninsula." U.S. officials have said Washington has no hostile intent toward Pyongyang and urged it to return to disarmament talks without any preconditions. North Korea has rejected the U.S. overture, saying it would focus on buttressing its nuclear deterrent unless the United States drops its hostile policies toward the North, an apparent reference to U.S.-led economic sanctions and its regular military training with South Korea. North Korea claimed the recent NATO summit proves an alleged U.S. plan to contain Russia and China by achieving the "militarization of Europe" and forming a NATO-like alliance in Asia. It said "the reckless military moves of the U.S. and its vassal forces" could lead to dangerous consequences like a nuclear war simultaneously taking place in both Europe and Asia-Pacific. Pyongyang has often released similar warlike rhetoric and warned of the danger of nuclear war in times of heightened animosities with Washington and Seoul. (AP)