North Korea News Podcast by NK News - North Korea’s new suicide drones, and Russian students in Pyongyang

Episode Date: August 27, 2024

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspected new “suicide drones” and urged production of small drones that ordinary troops can use against “any enemy target,” according to state media on Monday. NK News Data Correspondent Anton Sokolin joins the podcast to discuss the new drones, as well as Kim’s demand to incorporate artificial intelligence in […]

Let's get started. Score more for less with our NK News Shop discount campaign. Ready to upgrade your wardrobe with some unique flair? At the NK News Shop, podcast listeners buying any two items from our t-shirt or hoodie collections will snag their third for half off. Whether you're eyeing our North Korea-themed gear for yourself or as gifts, now is the perfect time to act. the world. Hello listeners and welcome to the NK News Podcast. I'm your host, Jaco Zwetsloot and this episode was recorded on Tuesday the 27th of August 2024 joining me here in the studio today is Anton Sokolin. Anton, welcome back on the show. Hey, Jacko, how are you doing?

I'm absolutely fantastic. Thank you. Let's see. Where should we start our journey through the latest news on North Korea today? Well, probably the biggest highlight would be Kim Jong-un personally overseeing the testing of new suicide drones in North Korea. OK, yeah, there's some some photographs that have been released. Tell us about these drones. What's new about them? So, yeah, the photographs have have been released. That's true. The only problem with trying to identify them is that images were blurred. But still images of the actual drone of the actual drums, a bit blurred. So it's a bit hard to make out the details, but we still can.

You mean they're deliberately being blurred by the North Koreans? I suppose they don't want to disclose their secrets, right? So trying to, you know, trying to keep it close to the chest. So, but apart from that, yes, still we can try to make out some details. And it's a bit speculative. And I'm strongly suggesting our listeners to stay tuned in and watch out for new articles by my colleagues who will be actually tackling this issue in detail. But for now, we know that these drones, some of them at least resemble certain models that used by the Israeli military, for example, because of the certain position of their wings and how they fall during in flight.

So there could be, so maybe we could speculate that the production of those drones at least, or at least it was inspired by certain foreign examples. Another interesting thing I would like to mention about these drones is that while testing they were hitting specific targets, right, and they showed quite a good degree, high degree of precision. So these drones are, well, they're designed to carry an explosive, to hit some kind of a target, perhaps a building, and then blow it up. Yeah, it's an unmanned aerial vehicle, right? So it functions pretty much the same way as any other drone. It delivers a certain payload, drops, the target is bombed, right?

And in this particular testing, we could see how those drones actually strike a South Korean K2 Black Panther tank. A mock-up, of course, of it. And it's quite interesting. But in this case, it's actually the drone is not dropping a bomb on the tank. The drone itself is smashing into the tank. Is that right? Well, those details, Jekko, you are always very precise about those things.

I can't answer this definitively. Okay. But when we call it a suicide drone, I mean, I'm thinking of a plane or rather the drone hitting into and no longer existing. That would make sense, that would make more sense. Okay. Have we seen the footage of them flying, or just photographs of them?

I have seen only photographs, but probably my colleague Collins Bercow, who was extensively covering this event, maybe he could tell you a few more things about it. Another thing about these drones, not really precisely about these drones, but about Kim Jong-un is his proposition to use more AI and artificial intelligence

and incorporating it into the development of these drones. And not only those, but also underwater element vehicles, which kind of marks an interesting trend because we know that many other foreign, for example, armies in the world have used AI have have integrated it. The latest we know that, for example, the Ukrainian army at the battlefield in the battlefield in Donbas does use AI to coordinate their attacks and the work of their drones. So

that's not quite new. But it means that North Korea is staying up to date with the recent technologies. Yeah, yeah. Okay. And in these photographs, we see Kim Jong-un himself wearing a white suit. That's right. Some people commented on his fashion choices there. Also a white hat.

Some people said that he looked like he was perhaps a chef in a hotel kitchen. But it should be pointed out that his father, Kim Jong-il, I don't think he wore wide suits, but his grandfather Kim Il-sung certainly wore wide suits from time to time. So this is once again perhaps a harking back to the image of his grandfather. That's absolutely right. We could, I think many observers have already pointed out that Kim Jong-un tries to sort of follow the example of his late grandfather, especially in his choice of fashion and how he, for example, holds his cigarettes, the manner of talking, sitting, his posture, and of course, clothes as well. And those suits, we can see them pretty much all the time. It does reflect his certain maybe, his certain understanding of fashion dictated by his probably like grandfather. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. Let's move on to our second story then, which I think we're going to

talk about the Russian students. Right. So before we do that, I would just like to remind our listeners that Russia and North Korea have been very active, right? And they have been trying to ramp up their relations. They have been very close and These relations they don't only focus on military aspects, right? But also include humanitarian cooperation meaning Different, you know agricultural delegations go in visiting each other, some scientists, technicians, and of course students as well.

And the first tourists were welcomed from Russia after the corona pandemic. Very good point, yes. And tourists as well. So, and now we are seeing that this cooperation also extended into this education sphere where a group of Russian students from an elite diplomatic school in Moscow arrived in Pyongyang. How many? There is just a few of them. There is only five of them. And now at this moment, they are actually studying in North Korea right now.

They are supposed to be staying there until I think early September, something around those days. Are they at, do we know which school they're at? Yes, it's the Moscow International Relations Institute. Do we know which school in Pyongyang they're studying at? Of course, the Kim Il-sung University. Of course, the best one. Okay, so this, correct me if I'm wrong, but our friends, friends of the podcast, Andrei

Lankov and Georgi Tolerai. Haven't they both studied their past? At Communisonde? I think so. I know definitely that our common friend, Georgi Toleraya, has studied at Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations, International Relations. And Professor Lankov is from a different city. He studied at Leningrad University. And I'm sure if they had an opportunity to study in North Korea, and I think they did, they would have eventually ended up studying at Kim Il-sung University.

So it's a long tradition of going back to the Soviet times of a handful of Russians going to Pyongyang and studying for at least a semester at Kim Il-sung University. Absolutely and it's continued until recently, right? So all the way up until like 2019-20, many Russian students from this particular school would go to Kim Il-sung Day in practice. Their Korean, mostly it's just a language exchange program, they just focus on improving their, well, the North Korean variety of Korean language. And, but what's interesting is that this particular

university pays an interest, pays a lot of attention to actually improving the language skills of its students, not only in the North Korean variety of Korean language, but also in the South Korean variety of, Because they also do dispatch their students to South Korea, to South Korean universities. And this particular batch of kids is very interesting because all of them, pretty much all of them, I can say all, but the majority of them, they have studied in South Korea for at least one semester.

I think they went for an exchange program last year and as far as if I'm not wrong my understanding is that some of them studied at the University of Foreign Studies. Wow, okay, so these are students who have previously been in South Korea right and now they're in North Korea right so they're really getting both worlds. That's right. And one of our commentators who commented on the article that I was writing said that, well, that gives them a really unique opportunity to be well-versed in both Koreas. But clearly we are seeing that the shift has happened. So the Russian diplomacy pays a lot more attention to North Korea these days.

And it means that it is really possible that the Russian professionals, Russian diplomats, are going to be dominating this field for quite a long time because they have direct access to the country, right? Right, right. So we can imagine that these young students will at some stage in the future be sent as Russian diplomats to North and or South Korea? That's right. This batch of students, they had a meeting with Russian diplomats in Pyongyang. Ah, of course the embassy never closed during the pandemic, so they've been there all the time. Absolutely, and they invited them for tea. And over during this little tea party they also kind of of course they would say this a bit of a courtesy but I think I found it quite entertaining that they said oh we wish to see you here when you graduate.

The Hubei diplomats. Did you meet any of them when they were here in South Korea last year? No not not absolutely no you don't know any of these people. I think it's a bit of a different age group. last year? No, not absolutely. You don't know any of these people? I think it's a bit of a different age group. Well, sure, but still, I mean, I thought it would be interesting anyway. Gosh, what an experience that must be for them. They are very active online. Ah, so they're blogging in Russian? And if you take a look at our article, you can find their social media and extra check out some of them are at least tried to become aspiring youtubers, and some of them are very active on Instagram, our Russian messenger Telegram, so keep an eye on them if you want to know what it's like to study in North Korea. I wonder if any of them will accidentally say the wrong thing on a video or a blog and end up being first arrested, then questioned and then thrown out of the country like the student Alex Sigley was back in when was that 2019?

Well, we're comparing apples and oranges here, Russians and Australians. It is true that Russians do have special dispensation. Gosh. Okay. All right. And what should we talk about next? And the next one, so I'm sure our readers and our listeners, they are very well aware of the humanitarian situation in North Korea, especially in the recent flooding. In the far north, the country, right near the border with China. Far north, even if we want to precisely pin it down that it would be a northwest of the country.

And there have been multiple reports by the North Korean state media saying that of course the damage has been done. Certain people got stranded, they were displaced. State media also touted of course the government's efforts to relocate them to safe zones and like put them in these shelters and evacuation centers. It's thousands of people. And when we talk about this, for us, for example, at least for me, someone who watches the humanitarian situation and actually food security situation in the country, this issue becomes absolutely important.

Is that area, sorry to interrupt, is that area important for agriculture? I will get to this. To answer your question, it is important and also it has certain, let's say limited importance, because obviously the composition of crops and farmland is uneven, right? So of course more to the north you will see more mountains, there is nothing, practically nothing growing there. And more to the north you will see more mountains there is nothing practically nothing growing there and more to the south you will see more farmland your valleys where crops are abundant and what has been interesting is that the food and agriculture organization it's at the UN it's a UN body recently said that certain crops in those affected regions

that were affected by flooding actually have been damaged and they're kid crops and that could absolutely shake up the whole food security situation in the country. But then we are seeing somewhat conflicting reports from the US Department of Agriculture which did this geospatial analysis and compared different vegetation levels, also moisture levels and analyzed whether those particular areas were that much affected. And well, their conclusion is that North Korea suffered minimal damage. And even though those particular areas did suffer it won't have a huge impact on a nationwide so they are expecting that rice and corn

production is going to stay pretty much at the same level as last year's and that North Korea is probably going to edge this situation and I mean dodge the dodge the blow and will probably fare pretty well through the season. But of course it remains to be seen and we need to still keep an eye on this because there could be some more unfavorable weather conditions could actually undermine the harvest and agricultural efforts. But at this point, it seems like at least the Americans were quite a bit about the situation. And they analyzed that only certain isolated,

localized areas of this Northwestern region suffered serious damage, whereas other regions that are also considered breadbasket areas, they have managed to dodge the blow. Wow, okay. What do we know about whether there's any humanitarian aid coming in from Russia or China to those areas? That's a very interesting question actually,

because there are clearly rumors that Russia may have supplied something, and we know that Russia once in a while supplies either grain or cattle, that happens. We don't know on what conditions, whether it's just aid or whether it's trade, we don't know whether North Korea pays for that. I am not aware of any aid coming in from China.

I know there's, the trade is on, North Korea keeps buying stuff and keeps exporting stuff. At the same time, we know that multiple international organizations, and actually Russia, have offered their help. And Kim Jong-un said no, not only to South Korean organizations internationally like Red Cross, but also to Russia. He said, we will manage, we will ask you if we need it. Which indicates that maybe the situation is not dire,

that they are not ready to go to those lengths when they actually need to let these foreigners in and cooperate with them and let them snoop around. So that also kinda adds this element of whether, well, it sort of shows a bit of a doubt whether this calamity was as serious as it was claimed and whether it wasn't just used by Kim Jong-un as a publicity stunt to basically project

his cult of personality onto people, saying that, showing him on the boat, right? Going to save people, going to talk to people, trying to console them. Well. Going to save people going to talk to people trying to console them well Okay. Okay. Well, we've got a little bit of time left for one very short last story. What would you like to talk about? Oh, yes, and this one is particularly interesting for the first time ever Canada actually received North Korean defectors and

Canada actually received North Korean defectors and helped them resettle in the country. It's a private, absolutely private initiative, it's not a government project, but a few people who are believed to be mostly women, managed to go to Canada and now they have been connected with surrogate families, if we can call them surrogate families, foster families, families who help them adapt to the country and build their life from bottom up. And yeah, it shows that Canada is joining this movement because it's already the third country in the world that's done it. The US has a similar scheme. And of course, South Korea accepts the factors and draws. So do you know how they got to Canada? I mean, obviously, you can't just get on a plane from North Korea and get there. So how do they get to Canada?

Right. Usually, there is like several ways North Korean refugees get out of North Korea and end up in different countries, right? So the one traditional way is China, and they usually go via China, go to the South Korean embassy, state their case, and they're usually sent to South Korea from where they can go wherever they want. Another way is we are Southeast Asia, and particularly Thailand is very welcome and accommodating. So they also go through the South Korean embassy in Thailand and they usually end up in South Korea and then they can choose and probably that was the case. In this particular story we are not very sure how it exactly happened because probably of security reasons but the media reports mentioned that a South East Asian country has been involved in this case so we probably can say it was Thailand. Okay probably but maybe. Maybe I don't know. And do we know the name of the group that helped these people over?

Yes it is a group called Hanvois. Hanvois. Yes and very well known and yeah we are wishing all the best success to for theseettlers. Yes, good luck to those refugees. And I'd like to speak to Hanvoois on the podcast. Please come in, come join. Yes, okay, thanks very much for coming on the show today. Anton Sokolin. Thank you very much, Jakub. ["In the Intricate World of Korean Affairs"]

In the intricate world of Korean affairs, tailored intelligence makes all the difference. Korea Risk Group's consulting services offer specialized, actionable intelligence designed to guide your career-related decisions. We provide bespoke consulting services that cater to your unique challenges and goals. From policy analysis to market entry strategies, we brings us to the end of our podcast episode for today. Our thanks go to Brian Betts and Alana Hill for facilitating this episode and to our post-recording producer genius, Gabby Magnuson, who cuts out all the extraneous noises, awkward silences, bodily functions and fixes the audio levels.

Thank you.