Gingrich: South Korea’s Must-Dos

Eliminating Cybercrime and Developing an Effective Missile Defense System

Ensuring Peace on the Korean Peninsula

According to Newt Gingrich, eliminating cybercrime and developing an effective missile defense system are two vital projects that will go a long way toward ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula and containing the North Korean threat.

Recently, Newt and Callista visited South Korea to participate in Peace Summit 2023, an event hosted by the Universal Peace Federation. The summit was an amazing experience, and they had the opportunity to join a Washington Times Foundation delegation in a special briefing by key South Korean intelligence experts.

The Cyber Theft Hole in the Sanctions Regime

South Korea pays extremely careful attention to Kim Jong Un and the North Korean dictatorship. Based on their briefings, it became obvious that there is an enormous cyber theft hole in the sanctions regime levied against North Korea. This is providing an astonishing amount of money to the Kim dictatorship to finance its missile and nuclear weapons programs.

North Korea is earning an estimated $1.2 billion a year through cybercrime. This is an enormous funding source for Kim Jong Un’s military research and development program. There should be an all-out effort by the combined U.S., Korean, and Japanese intelligence services to lock down North Korea’s ability to steal on the internet. Closing this loophole is vital to slowing down the North Korean military program.

The North Korean Missile Program

The scale of the North Korean missile program is growing and involves conventional as well as nuclear weapons. North Korea completed a record 68 missile tests in 2022, “and there are no signs that the country plans to let up.”

North Korea could do enormous damage to Seoul with conventional missiles. The North Korean missile build-up requires an extraordinary program of developing missile defenses. The country which has the best record of defeating missile attacks is Israel. It will require a joint American-South Korean-Japanese development program to create an anti-missile umbrella over South Korea and Japan (North Korea threatens both). This should be a high priority for the Pentagon.

Conclusion

Eliminating cybercrime and developing an effective missile defense system will go a long way toward ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula and containing the North Korean threat. A city as beautiful as Seoul – and an ally as steadfast as South Korea – deserve the best possible defense.

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