Twelve Minutes in Bballi-Bballiland

Between 8:34 and 8:46 on February 9, 2012, the Gori-1 reactor of KEPCO's Kori Nuclear Plant lost power, a first for the national nuclear industry (operational since 1978). More embarrassing: it took 12 minutes to realize that the back-up system didn't work either, the kind of details that could lead to a meltdown. And the reactor was under a safety inspection, which theoretically means under close scrutiny...

Twelve minutes, that's about the time it took for South Korean guns to retaliate following the shelling of Yeonpyeong-do by North Korea, in late 2010, because they were pointing in the wrong direction during ROK navy drills*.

I've already mentioned the unpreparedness of South Korea regarding blitz attacks from the North**, but the Kori incident confirms serious risk management issues in strategic fields. In the land of 'bballi bballi', some long term vision might also help.

Kori, or Gori, or more accurately Go-ri, Jangan-eup, Gijang-gun, lies within Busan Gwangyeoksi limits, a.k.a. Busan Metropolitan City, 3 million souls. You lucky you, here's the map***:


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Seoul Village 2012
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* see "We need to talk about KIM". Note that the Obama administration dissuaded SK from carrying a larger counter-attack. Considering the precision of the shots, that was probably a sound call.
** see "Korean blitz : all bases loaded"
*** on the Eastern shores, as usual (see my post-fukushimesque "Shaken and stirred")

Korean blitz : all bases loaded

The major blackout Korea just experienced may be the consequence of a hacking of KEPCO earlier this year. It also could be due to a simple bug.

I can't help but believe in the first scenario, which would cast yet another unsettling cloud over the country and its security.

Over the past few months, Korea has proven embarrassing vulnerabilities in strategic areas :
- conventional warfare : military / organizational fiascos following North Korean attacks (ie Yeonpyeong)
- hackings / suspicious blackouts at the core of vital networks : financial (ie banks), media / internet, air traffic, and now electricity...

So regardless of who is responsible here (incompetence) or there (most fingers pointing at North Korea or China), a malicious organization could completely incapacitate Korea within minutes without using any conventional weapon. Even if the aim is not an invasion per se (nor even a diversion preceding an invasion of say North Korea), this would definitely damage the reputation of Korea as an economic powerhouse.

With its drive, infrastructures and talents, Korea should be ahead of Israel in national security. KISA (Korea Information Security Agency) significantly improved its visibility, but the national culture remains focused on hardware.

Samsung has eventually understood it needed to evolve and change business models, but it took series of obvious wake up calls (ie Google wolfing down Motorola). The government will probably follow suit. And if spurs are needed, the potential candidacy of Ahn Cheol-soo at the 2012 presidential elections might help : the founder of antivirus specialist AhnLab has some credentials in the area.

Seoul Village 2011
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Drill, baby, drill !

Sirens in the air, fighter jets in the sky, and drills underground, following seris or articles in the press about what to do "when" (and not "if") North Korea attacks... authorities obviously needed to display some activity following recent embarrassments on the national security front :

- when Kim Jong-un attacked Yeonpyeong-do the other day (see "We need to talk about KIM"), it took twelve minutes for the South to move their guns in the right direction and shoot. 12 mn !!! Holy Gimchi, with all this time, Kim's nukes can even watch Nanta on their way from Pyeongyang to Seoul.
- why in the first place none of the said guns was pointing in the direction of the enemy as ROK performed highly risky drills still puzzles me, but to add insult to injury (and death, for that matter), most shells missed their targets*
- defense ministers and army leaders keep resigning at a steady pace - when incompetence is not the issue, corruption scandals do the trick

The smartest answer local eggheads found to restore national pride was to cancel the planned reduction of military service in Korea (it went down from 24 to 21 months, and was to go all the way down to 17).

Maybe the right thing to do would be to go with the plan and reduce the average duration of the military service, but at the same time invest in a more compact, professional and motivated army.

Seoul Village 2010

* hopefully, NK intel was not that efficient either: among their targets, some army facilities had been for years converted into civil buildings

We need to talk about KIM

Hours after the shelling of Yeonpyeong island by North Korea (probably part of Kim Jong-un's training as the next mad leader - KIM the Third obviously wanted to be part of the South's naval exercises), the promotional campaign for "Korea, a good neighbor", was still playing on CNN.

Seoul's official reaction to this new provocation is likely to be one notch down the nice cop scale used after the Cheonan Tragedy (earlier this very strange year, also ridden with skirmishes). Some wrists shall even be slapped. And of course, hectoliters of tears shall flow.

"A good neighbor" ? This side of the DMZ, most certainly.

But to paraphrase Lionel Shriver's book*, "We need to talk about KIM" sooner or later.

Seoul Village 2010

* "We need to talk about Kevin"

ADDENDUM 20101127

As expected, NK propaganda presents KIM Jong-un as the genius general who successfully prepared the army against this kind of "aggression from the South".

As expected, China doesn't blame NK, and criticizes US-ROK drills.