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Miami Herald
4 days ago
- Politics
- Miami Herald
South Korea must rethink its one-sided courtship of North Korea
July 25 (UPI) -- Earlier this month, South Korea's National Intelligence Service quietly and abruptly suspended its decades-long radio and television broadcasts targeting North Korea. The decision -- made just 10 days after the inauguration of NIS Director Lee Jong-seok --marks a significant and sudden break from a 50-year tradition of information outreach to the North. When questioned by the press, the agency simply responded, "We cannot confirm." Though the suspension is being presented as a gesture of goodwill aimed at reviving inter-Korean dialogue, the Lee Jae Myung administration's increasingly unilateral and unquestioning approach to North Korea deserves serious scrutiny. NIS broadcasting to the North dates to 1973, when it formally took over operations from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The radio programs -- such as Voice of the People and Echo of Hope -- have long served as a vital source of uncensored information for North Korean listeners. In the 1980s, the South also began television transmissions, adapted to North Korea's PAL system. Many defectors have testified that these broadcasts were their first exposure to the realities of life in the South. It is no surprise, then, that 38 North, a Washington-based North Korea monitoring outlet, described the suspension as a "major victory" for Pyongyang in its battle against outside information. These broadcasts continued for decades across all administrations -- liberal and conservative alike -- regardless of the state of inter-Korean relations. Even the progressive governments of Kim Dae-jung, Roh Moo-hyun, and Moon Jae-in never halted them. Like the West German broadcasts that relentlessly reached across the Berlin Wall during the Cold War, South Korea's airwaves played a quiet, but strategic, role in informing and inspiring hope in the North. That this effort was shut down without a single explanation or public discussion is as shocking as it is unprecedented. "Unconditional," even "blind," affection for North Korea is not an unfair characterization. President Lee Jae Myung did pledge to pursue inter-Korean reconciliation during his campaign. Since taking office, he has acted swiftly to make good on that promise. One of his earliest moves was to halt loudspeaker broadcasts at the DMZ. In response, Pyongyang immediately turned off its own propaganda speakers the following day. Though the move was unilateral, North Korea's mirrored response sparked cautious optimism. On July 8, South Korean civic groups -- most notably the Korean War Abductees' Family Union -- also announced a voluntary suspension of leaflet launches across the border, which North Korea has long condemned. This, too, was not a spontaneous civilian decision. It was facilitated through active persuasion by the Unification Minister nominee, vice ministers and several lawmakers. The initiative was undertaken without prior consultation with the North, yet it succeeded in calming a volatile issue. North Korea had previously retaliated by sending balloons filled with garbage and equipped with GPS trackers into the South. Many residents of border towns welcomed the decision as a measure to ease their suffering. But recent steps have raised the stakes. On July 9 -- just one day after the leaflet suspension -- South Korean authorities repatriated six North Korean fishermen rescued from coastal waters in the East and West Seas. After repairing one of the wooden boats in which they had arrived, the navy and coast guard escorted the men to the Northern Limit Line, where a North Korean patrol vessel and a presumed tugboat were waiting. Earlier, South Korean military and maritime authorities rescued four North Korean individuals aboard a drifting vessel in the East Sea on May 27, and two more from a separate boat in the West Sea on March 7. The wooden boat used in the July 9 repatriation was the same vessel rescued from the East Sea. The boat from the West Sea, however, was deemed beyond repair and ultimately abandoned. Demonstrating an unusual level of dedication, the Lee Jae Myung government undertook repairs of the damaged North Korean vessel to ensure the safe return of its passengers. The July 9 repatriation marked 43 days since the East Sea group was rescued and 124 days since the West Sea group's rescue. The government stated that all six expressed a clear desire to return home, and that Pyongyang's persistent silence had delayed the process. Eventually, Seoul issued a final notification via the United Nations Command, complete with coordinates for the handover point. Still, this was a highly sensitive move. North Korean defector repatriations carry heavy political and ethical risks, especially when the individual's intent is unclear. The 2019 case of two North Korean sailors -- who were forcibly returned via Panmunjom despite reportedly expressing a desire to defect -- ignited international outcry and legal consequences. It took until February 2025 for a South Korean court to issue suspended sentences against officials involved in the incident, which became a national controversy over human rights. In this latest case, the government has emphasized that the fishermen's return was voluntary. But the lack of North Korean cooperation and the unilateral nature of the move mean that the possibility of another human rights controversy cannot be ruled out. Despite that risk, the administration went forward -- using even the United Nations Command as a channel -- without receiving any reciprocal response or goodwill gesture from Pyongyang. All of this raises a difficult, but essential, question: Is South Korea pursuing reconciliation or merely indulging in an unrequited romance? With the simultaneous suspension of long-standing radio and TV broadcasts, public skepticism about the administration's true intentions is growing. This does not mean the public opposes peace. On the contrary, most South Koreans understand the need for engagement. But many are now asking whether the government is moving too fast, offering too much and asking too little in return. A policy of "watching and waiting" for Pyongyang's response before taking the next step may be wiser than a flurry of unilateral gestures. Peace on the Korean Peninsula must be built on mutual trust and reciprocity -- not on blind, one-sided affection. It's time to reexamine this approach before goodwill turns into strategic naïveté. Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Forbes
21-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
How Sexy K-Comedy ‘Forbidden Fairytale' Avoided Censorship
Park Ji-hyun and Choi Si-won fall in love while discussing the details of adult content. Yoon Dan-bi is an aspiring children's book writer in the Korean film Forbidden Fairytale. To pay the bills she gets a civil service job and plans to write at night. However, the job is not quite what she imagined. As a member of the Youth Protection Team at Korea's Communications Standards Commission, her job involves monitoring X-rated media. Which scenes should be censored? Which body parts should be blurred? This entertainingly risqué rom com takes a lighthearted look at the serious topic of censorship and in so doing risked being censored. That was something director Lee Jong-seok considered from the start. Lee waited for a decade to make this film because he liked "the way it covered the topics of censorship and creative freedom.' He also wanted to make a comedy. His last film was The Negotiation, which stars Son Ye-jin as an ace crisis negotiator and Hyun Bin as a kidnapper. While that film featured some comic moments, it often brought him to a dark place. 'I was always thinking about how to kill someone," said Lee. "That was just so top of mind that I was mentally exhausted ' Making viewers laugh was a welcome change of pace. 'I just love comedy and could see myself trying to make something funny,' said Lee. "So, even though it is really a serious story and features serious situations, that kind of comedy gives people some kind of release.' Three friends discuss their romantic encounters in 'Forbidden Fairytale.' Casting was not going to be easy. He sent the script to a few actresses and found that it wasn't an easy sell. The script was funny, but the topic risked controversy. 'Most of the actresses turned it down because this story is a sexy comedy," said Lee. 'They all said oh, it's going to be really fun to watch, but I'm sorry. So, okay, Ji-hyun also read it and actually called me and asked to have a meeting." A rising star in Korea, Park appeared in the dramas Reborn Rich, Yumi's Cells and Flex-X Cop. 'I was surprised to find out how openminded she was,' said Lee. Once Park signed on to the project, he sent the script to Choi Si-won (She Was Pretty, My Fellow Citizens, Love Is For Suckers). They had a meeting and Choi was on board. Ultimately they had a great time collaborating. 'The three of us really got close to each other,' said Lee. 'We had a script meeting and then we talked about the script and the scenes and locations. Some of the things they brought up did not make it to the final film, but we shot many of the ideas they brought up.' The 10-year-old script required more significant updates than finding new locations. The last decade has seen some cultural shifts in perspective. Ten years ago it's not likely that a Korean film would have featured women talking about sexual encounters, but that's what Dan-bi needs to listen to so she can find her calling. While still hoping to realize her dreams of writing children's books, Dan-bi accidentally runs her bike into the expensive car owned by a publisher. He wants damages, an exorbitant amount not covered by her salary, so she agrees to write erotica for him, using the stories her friends share about their intimate encounters. As an expert in erotica, Choi Si-won's character helps Park Ji-hyun's character spice up her ... More stories. A decade ago men might have discussed sexual encounters in a film, said Lee, perhaps, but not girls, at least not in Korean films. According to Lee, having the women discuss their fantasies and adventures makes the film more relatable to a modern audience. 'In the original version of the script they don't talk much to each other, so I just wanted to bump up the relationship to each other,' said Lee. "The original script didn't focus as much on the women and their point of view. That original script is more attached to the story of the father and daughter. So I wanted to make it more like the woman is the main character. It's more about finding herself, knowing what she wants to do.' At first Dan-bi struggles with writing erotica but then discovers she's really good at crafting this very different kind of fairy tale. She enlists the help of her co-worker Jeong-seok, played by Choi to read her stories and tell her how effective they are. While dispassionately discussing new ways to excite her readers they slowly fall in love. Their relationship seems quite G-rated compared to her X-rated stories. It makes for an endearing and ironic twist yet it wasn't necessarily planned that way. About 30 minutes of footage wound up being deleted. 'There were quite a few deleted scenes that we had to take out from the original footage," said Lee. "More scenes depicting the progression of the relationship between the two characters. For example, there's a scene where they spend their first night together, but that had to be unfortunately deleted from the final edit. So there's another scene that I really liked, which is when they're walking in the park and they kiss. They start kissing, and that part is in the film, but there's more of what happens after that. So they start kissing passionately and one thing leads to another. There's a moment when they actually charge into a public bathroom and they spend just the entire night there. That is also deleted. So it can seem like the progression is slow.' Choi Si-won's character is really tired of his day job monitoring porn. Lee did have to worry that his film about censorship might be censored. "So really the whole process was really a process of balancing out what was too much, what was too little, how would we be able to maintain what we wanted while also balancing out the different tones and colors." The Youth Protection Team at Korea's Communications Standards Commission really exists and it's only a short walk from the director's house. 'I actually met the people who work there, saw how they work, but obviously there's just too much content out there to look out for individually,' he said. 'So what they usually do is people will submit complaints—parents or Internet users—they'll say, 'I think this is violating such and such.' And so they will be checking those reports. But the actual workload, I will say is pretty heavy because those things come in constantly and so they need to keep checking the list.' Forbidden Fairytale passed Korea's censors with flying colors and opened at the New York Asian Film Festival on July 13. 'Because we thought there could be issues in terms of those standards, we actually submitted for review,' said Lee. 'We were thinking maybe middle schoolers would be able to watch this. So we submitted it for a 15 and up viewing criteria, but we ended up getting 18.' It takes a while for Dan-bi to accept where her talents lie and feel proud of her creations. While writing adult content may be looked down, Lee notes that looking at it is popular everywhere and writing such content can be lucrative. 'It's interesting because even the protagonist looks down on it herself and goes through a journey of changing her viewpoint," said Lee. " I think ultimately the story that we're trying to tell is that being diverse is not good or bad. We're not trying to make value judgements on it if we're just saying that everyone has different likes and dislikes and that should be respected. I think especially in the day and age we live in, I feel like we should have that sense of tolerance and even acceptance for different preferences and different viewpoints.' Lee describes making the comedy as a joyful experience. His favorite scenes involved Dan-bi and her two best friends. 'I do really love the scene of the three friends, three women friends talking about their sexual experiences," he said. "These talks are usually depicted among men and how men are talking about the women they've slept with and they're in sort of an objectifying manner. I wanted to flip that and say, no, this is a conversation that also women can have and women should have. So that is one of my favorite scenes." His next film will also feature the female perspective. It centers on the story of a female boxing promoter who worked in the industry during the 80s and promoted other boxers. 'Back in the eighties, Korean patriarchy was alive and well, even more so than now it was a very, very male dominated society. Within that context, you have this woman who is probably the only woman in this very male dominated boxing society, and she is very justice oriented, social justice oriented and very fair-minded. She literally cooks for these kids who are trying to become boxers. She's literally bringing them up from the beginning of their careers into their professional careers. The title for now is The Promoter. I'm working on the script.' Forbidden Fairytale airs on on July 24.
Korea Herald
25-06-2025
- Politics
- Korea Herald
New NIS chief urges political neutrality, vows efforts for security, peace
The new chief of South Korea's spy agency said Wednesday that the organization must reflect on its past and take full responsibility, if necessary, with regards to concerns over its political neutrality. National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Lee Jong-seok made the remarks during his inauguration ceremony, where he also pledged to build a more efficient agency dedicated to safeguarding national security and peace. "The NIS should be solely committed to national security and advancing the national interest, but many people have raised concerns that some officials have, at times, acted in ways that cast doubt on their political neutrality, straying from the agency's core mission," Lee said. "We must examine our past honestly and take full responsibility when necessary," he added, stressing the importance of "strict political neutrality and democratic transparency." Lee also pledged to dedicate all efforts to building an "efficient and results-driven NIS," outlining two key missions of ensuring a "safe and peaceful" nation and supporting "pragmatic, national-interest-based diplomacy." Speaking of inter-Korean relations, Lee assessed that tensions have escalated to a point where a military clash could occur at any time, and stressed the need for his agency to mobilize all of its intelligence capabilities on North Korea to bolster national security, reduce cross-border military tensions and help open channels for dialogue. The new chief also called for accelerating the advancement of the NIS' scientific and technological intelligence capabilities, including a full transition of operations to artificial intelligence. "We must actively engage in early-warning intelligence efforts and collect and analyze the cutting-edge information needed to shape the nation's future strategy, while providing timely support to relevant government agencies," Lee said. (Yonhap)
The Star
19-06-2025
- Politics
- The Star
US will strike N. Korea if South attacked with nukes: South Korea spy chief nominee
North Korea is believed to have stockpiled fissile materials to build atomic weapons, although it has not tested a missile mounted with such a weapon. - Reuters SEOUL: South Korea's nominee for spy agency director said on Thursday (June 19) he believed the United States would strike North Korea with nuclear weapons if Pyongyang launched a nuclear attack against South Korea. Lee Jong-seok made the comment during a nomination hearing in answer to a question if he believed Washington would strike the North and put Americans at risk from a country even if Pyongyang has deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles. "Yes, that is my belief," Lee said, after saying the hypothetical scenario of South Korea coming under the North's nuclear attack is directly related to the security alliance between the two countries. North Korea has for years pursued a nuclear programme and is believed to have stockpiled fissile materials to build atomic weapons although it has not tested a missile mounted with such a weapon. Lee is nominated to lead South Korea's National Intelligence Service under new liberal President Lee Jae Myung who took office on June 4. - Reuters
TimesLIVE
19-06-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
US will strike North Korea if South attacked with nukes, South's spy chief nominee says
South Korea's nominee for spy agency director said on Thursday he believed the US would strike North Korea with nuclear weapons if Pyongyang launched a nuclear attack against South Korea. Lee Jong-seok made the comment during a nomination hearing in answer to a question if he believed Washington would strike the North and put Americans at risk from a country even if Pyongyang has deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles. 'Yes, that is my belief,' Lee said, after saying the hypothetical scenario of South Korea coming under the North's nuclear attack is directly related to the security alliance between the two countries. North Korea has for years pursued a nuclear programme and is believed to have stockpiled fissile materials to build atomic weapons though it has not tested a missile mounted with such a weapon. Lee is nominated to lead South Korea's National Intelligence Service under new liberal President Lee Jae Myung who took office on June 4.
