North Korea Pledges to Boost Arsenal --- Kim says country will develop ICBM system and vastly increase nuclear weapons

"SEOUL -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to develop a new intercontinental ballistic-missile system and exponentially increase his nuclear arsenal, according to year-end comments published by state media.

At a meeting of the ruling Workers' Party, Mr. Kim called on the country to beef up its military strength and boost its nuclear arsenal to counter threats from the U.S. and South Korea. Mr. Kim said the U.S. and other hostile forces were "isolating and stifling" North Korea, calling it "unprecedented in human history," according to the Sunday state media report.

He ordered the development of a new ICBM system capable of carrying out a quick nuclear counterstrike. North Korea has tested a solid-fuel rocket engine that is central to quicker deployment of its long-range missiles. North Korea's space agency would also launch its first military reconnaissance satellite as soon as possible, Mr. Kim said.

In his speech, Mr. Kim emphasized his nuclear weapons could be used for offensive purposes. In September, North Korea passed a new law allowing pre-emptive nuclear strikes. At the time, Mr. Kim declared he would never abandon his nuclear weapons.

The Sunday state media report followed an overnight missile launch from North Korea. Pyongyang launched one short-range ballistic missile around 2:50 a.m. on Sunday from the capital area, Seoul's military said. The missile traveled about 249 miles before falling into waters between Korea and Japan.

Pyongyang conducted a record number of missile launches in 2022, including an ICBM, a submarine-launched missile and dozens of short-range ballistic missiles. Of the more than 270 missile launches by North Korea since 1984, more than a quarter came in 2022, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

On Saturday, North Korea had launched three ballistic missiles from North Hwanghae Province, south of the capital Pyongyang, at around 8 a.m., according to Seoul's military. The missiles flew at an altitude of around 62 miles and covered a range of about 217 miles, Japan's Defense Ministry said.

North Korean state media reported that the missile tests on Saturday and Sunday were from super-large multiple rocket launchers, fired to demonstrate their combat performance. In a speech, Mr. Kim said the multiple rocket launchers can strike anywhere in South Korea and carry tactical nuclear weapons. The weapon would serve the mission to "overwhelmingly subdue" North Korea's enemies, Mr. Kim said, the country's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, reported.

In December, Pyongyang conducted a launch to evaluate the performance of components of a military reconnaissance satellite, set to be completed by April 2023, according to state media. It also flew five drones over South Korean territory on Monday, prompting South Korea's military to scramble jet fighters and conduct aerial defense drills.

During the party meeting, Mr. Kim said South Korea had become "our undoubted enemy," signaling a further escalation in inter-Korean relations.

In 2022, the U.S. and South Korea resumed large-scale joint military drills and strengthened trilateral cooperation with Japan to counter North Korea's threat. Mr. Kim called these "worrying military moves" and accused Washington and Seoul of increasing military pressure on Pyongyang to the maximum." [1]

1. World News: North Korea Pledges to Boost Arsenal --- Kim says country will develop ICBM system and vastly increase nuclear weapons
Yoon, Dasl.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 03 Jan 2023: A.8.

Atvyksta pritaikyta kompensacija

„Kai praėjusią vasarą George'as Melvinas gavo pagrindinio programinės įrangos inžinieriaus darbą Unlearn.ai, bendrovė jam pateikė du pasiūlymus.

 

     Pirmajame bazinis atlyginimas sudarė 70% visos kompensacijos, o likusi dalis buvo skirta nuosavam kapitalui. Kitas buvo 58% atlyginimas, 42% nuosavas kapitalas. Suglumęs jis paklausė San Francisko startuolio žmogiškųjų išteklių skyriaus, ar dvyniai pasiūlymai buvo derybų taktika.

 

     Tai nebuvo. „Unlearn“, kuri naudoja dirbtinį intelektą, kad paspartintų klinikinius tyrimus, neseniai pradėjo siūlyti naujiems samdomiems darbuotojams įvairias apmokėjimo galimybes. Tai yra viena iš vis daugelio įmonių, kurios leidžia naujiems darbuotojams pritaikyti savo kompensaciją įvairiais atlyginimo, nuosavybės ir, kai kuriais atvejais, išmokų deriniais.

 

     Ponas Melvinas, taupantis birželio mėnesio vestuvėms, išsiderėjo trečiąjį variantą – 64% grynųjų pinigų ir 36% nuosavybės.

 

     „Netflix Inc.“ jau seniai leidžia darbuotojams pasirinkti, kokią atlyginimo dalį jie nori gauti iš atlyginimo, palyginti su akcijų pasirinkimo sandoriais. Daugelis darbdavių, dabar taikančių asmeniniams poreikiams pritaikytus paslaugų paketus, yra mažesnės įmonės, konkuruojančios dėl talentų su didesnėmis įmonėmis, ypač po 32% kritimo šiais metais technologijų reikalaujančiam Nasdaq indeksui ir sumažinus išlaidas technologijoms bei investicijas į startuolius.

 

     Pritaikytas požiūris atspindi didesnį įmonių siekį suteikti darbuotojams galimybę pasisakyti savo darbo situacijose, pradedant eksperimentais su trumpesnėmis darbo savaitėmis ir baigiant atostogų laiko pakeitimu pinigais. Kaip ir „Unlearn“, daugelis tų, kurie leidžia samdomiems darbuotojams pasirinkti atlyginimą, taip pat suteikia darbuotojams galimybę dirbti nuotoliniu būdu.

 

     Šį rudenį SAC Health System, bendruomenės sveikatos priežiūros grupė, turinti 11 vietų Pietų Kalifornijoje, pradėjo leisti savo beveik 570 darbuotojų išsigryninti nepanaudotą apmokėtą laisvą laiką, kad galėtų pasinaudoti įvairiomis galimybėmis, įskaitant studentų paskolų grąžinimą, santaupas pensijai, sveikatos taupymo sąskaitas ir net keliauti. Paslaugų teikėjas, vadinamas PTO Exchange, sprendžia administracinius ir mokesčių laikymosi klausimus, susijusius su nepanaudotų atostogų išmokėjimu darbdaviui.

 

     Gruodžio mėnesį „Carta“, valdymo platforma, skirta pradedantiesiems, jų darbuotojams ir investuotojams stebėti ir valdyti akcijas, pradėjo siūlyti verslo klientams šabloną, iš kurio būsimi darbuotojai gali pasirinkti tris kompensavimo parinktis. Jame yra interaktyvi slankioji skalė, leidžianti įdarbintiems apskaičiuoti, kokia būtų bendra kompensacija, jei jie pasirinktų, tarkime, didesnį kapitalą, o ne atlyginimą.

 

     „Carta“ teigia, kad idėja kilo iš kliento „Civic Eagle“, daugiausia nuotolinio darbo įmonės, kuri nuo 2019 m. suteikia naujiems darbuotojams galimybę rinktis iš įvairių grynųjų ir akcijų derinių. Darbuotojai kartais nerimauja, kad pasirinkimo sandorių suteikimas gali būti gudrybė jiems mokėti mažiau, sako Damola Ogundipe, „Civic Eagle“, kuri naudoja dirbtinį intelektą viešajai tvarkai atrasti, stebėti ir analizuoti, vykdomoji vadovė.

 

     „Žmonės nesuprato, kad suteikiame jiems pasirinkimą“, – sakė D. Ogundipe.

 

     Jis sako, kad šiais metais sumažėjusios technologijų akcijos paskatino samdomus asmenis persvarstyti savo pageidavimus dėl darbo užmokesčio. „Prieš metus matėte atvykusius darbuotojus, ypač iš pakrančių, norinčius daugiau nuosavybės“, – sako jis. „Dabar jie nori didesnio finansinio saugumo ir renkasi grynuosius pinigus.

 

     Kyle'as Holmas, vadovaujantis kompensacijų praktikai Sequoia, darbdavių žmogiškųjų išteklių platformoje, sako, kad yra įspėjimų. Darbuotojai, kurie pasirenka skirtingus akcijų variantus, gali uždirbti skirtingas pinigų sumas už maždaug tą patį darbą. Jis sako, kad dėl skirtingų atlyginimų derinio darbuotojų atlyginimų stebėjimas ir lyginamoji analizė tampa dar svarbiau." [1]

1. Customized Compensation Arrives
Weiss, Tara.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 03 Jan 2023: A.12.

Customized Compensation Arrives

"When George Melvin clinched a job as lead software engineer at Unlearn.ai this past summer, the company made him two offers.

In the first, the base salary made up 70% of total compensation, with the rest in equity. The other was 58% salary, 42% equity. Confused, he asked the San Francisco startup's human-resources department if the twin offers were a negotiating tactic.

They weren't. Unlearn, which uses artificial intelligence to speed clinical trials, recently began offering new hires multiple pay options. It is among a growing number of companies that let new hires customize their compensation with different combinations of salary, equity and, in some cases, benefits.

Mr. Melvin, who is saving for a June wedding, negotiated a third option -- 64% cash and 36% equity.

Netflix Inc. has long let employees choose how much of their pay they want in salary versus stock options. Many employers now adopting personalized comp packages are smaller firms competing for talent against bigger companies, particularly after a 32% drop in the technology-heavy Nasdaq index this year and a retrenchment in tech spending and startup investment.

The customized approach reflects a wider push among businesses to give staff a say in their work situations, from experimenting with shorter workweeks to trading vacation time for money. Like Unlearn, many of those letting recruits pick their pay also give employees the option to work remotely.

This fall, SAC Health System, a community healthcare group with 11 sites in Southern California, began letting its nearly 570 employees cash out unused paid time off to put toward a number of options, including student-loan repayments, retirement savings, health savings accounts and even travel. A service provider called PTO Exchange handles the administrative and tax-compliance issues of paying out unused vacation time for the employer.

In December, Carta, a management platform forstartups, their employees and investors to track and manage equities, began offering corporate clients a template from which prospective hires can select three compensation options. It includes an interactive sliding scale that lets recruits calculate how total compensation could fare if they opt for, say, more equity versus salary.

Carta says it got the idea from client Civic Eagle, a primarily remote-work company that has been giving new hires a choice of varying stock-equity combinations since 2019. Recruits sometimes worried that being given options might be a trick to shortchange them, says Damola Ogundipe, chief executive of Civic Eagle, which uses AI to discover, track and analyze public policy.

"People didn't understand we were giving them a choice," said Mr. Ogundipe.

This year's drop in tech-stocks has prompted hires to rethink their preferences for pay, he says. "A year ago you'd see employees coming in, especially those from the coasts, wanting more equity," he says. "Now they want more financial security and are choosing cash."

Kyle Holm, who leads the compensation practice at Sequoia, a human-resources platform for employers, says there are caveats. Workers who choose different equity options may end up earning different amounts of money for roughly the same job. The varying compensation mixes make monitoring and benchmarking employee pay all the more important, he says." [1]

1. Customized Compensation Arrives
Weiss, Tara.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 03 Jan 2023: A.12.