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North Korea Fires Multiple Short Range Ballistic Missiles into the East Sea

Another day and another North Korean provocation:

North Korea fired several rounds of short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Monday, the South Korean military said, three days after it launched cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected what appeared to be several short-range ballistic missiles launched from the Pyongyang region at 3:01 p.m. 

“The North Korean missiles flew about 300 kilometers and splashed into the sea,” the JCS said in a text message to reporters. It did not provide further details, citing an ongoing analysis.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Analyst Believes Korean Left Will Criticize President Yoon for “Subservient Dipolmacy”

With President Yoon continuing his foriegn policy outreach to Japan, it is a certainy that the Korean left will demonize and attack him. North Korea will very likely play along with this strategy by continuing their provocations in order to damage Yoon in hopes of getting another Korean leftist elected as President three years from now:

And despite being generally welcoming of ties with the West, the two opposition parties are more cautious than the Yoon government when it comes to engaging in geopolitical rivalry. Specifically, Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung warned during the recent election campaign that South Korea should not become involved in the Russia-Ukraine war or China-Taiwan tensions.

The opposition might not directly stop Yoon from pursuing his foreign policy, but they are likely to pressure the president to pay attention to domestic political issues.

Moreover, opposition parties will be pushing the Yoon government to demonstrate what diplomatic “wins” the country has secured through its partnership with Japan and the United States. Notably, if the point of strategic partnership with the United States and Japan is to ensure security in East Asia, some voters may legitimately ask why it has failed to deter North Korea’s continued military provocations.

If the Yoon government cannot demonstrate diplomatic successes, opposition parties are likely to frame his foreign policy as one-sided “subservient diplomacy.”

Asia Times

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Trial Begins for U.S. Sailor Who Claimed to Be Satan and Assaulted 5 Japanese Civilians at a Beach

How would you like to be the commander who got the phone call to come pick up Satan from jail after this crazy incident:

A U.S. Navy sailor accused of slamming into a group of Japanese people in a beach town near Yokosuka Naval Base identified himself afterward as Satan, a Japanese police officer testified Thursday. Petty Officer 2nd Class Daniel Krieger, a logistics specialist assigned to the guided-missile destroyer USS Milius, is charged with four counts of bodily injury.

He pleaded not guilty during his March 8 arraignment at Yokohama District Court’s Yokosuka Branch. Krieger’s attorneys don’t dispute the facts of the July 9, 2022, incident in Zushi, a beach town on Sagami Bay, said Masahiko Goto, who represents the injured parties in a separate civil suit against the sailor. Krieger’s criminal defense lawyers argue the sailor cannot bear responsibility because he was drunk at the time and suffers from a preexisting brain injury, said Goto, whose clients are demanding damages of about $136,000.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

President Yoon to Meet this Week with Opposition Leader Lee Jae-myung

These two may despise each other, but it appears each knows they now need each other if any legislation will ever pass in the Korean parliament:

President Yoon Suk Yeol called main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung on Friday and proposed that they meet at the presidential office next week, his office said.

Yoon proposed the meeting after congratulating Lee of the Democratic Party and other party members on their win in last week’s parliamentary elections, according to senior presidential secretary for public relations Lee Do-woon.

“The president proposed to Chairman Lee in the phone call that they meet in Yongsan next week if it suits him,” the senior secretary said during a press briefing, referring to the district where the presidential office is located.

“The president said they should first meet and start communication, and in the future meet frequently, drink tea, have meals together and talk by phone and discuss state affairs,” he added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

North Korea Conducts “Super-Large Warhead” Cruise Missile Test

You can tell the Kim regime is trying to amp up the scary factor when they start calling things “super-large”:

North Korea conducted a “super-large warhead” power test for a strategic cruise missile and test-fired a new anti-aircraft missile this week, state media reported Saturday, further ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

The Missile Administration carried out the test of the warhead designed for the “Hwasal-1 Ra-3” strategic cruise missile, and test-launched its new anti-aircraft missile, the “Pyoljji-1-2,” in the Yellow Sea on Friday, KCNA said, noting that a “certain goal” was achieved through the test launch.

It is the first time that Pyongyang has named a missile “Pyoljji,” which means “meteor” in Korean.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Picture of the Day: HD Hyundai Wins Peruvian Warship Contract

HD Hyundai wins 640 bln-won warship contract in Peru
HD Hyundai wins 640 bln-won warship contract in Peru
This photo, provided by HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, shows a rendering of warships for the Peruvian Navy, which the South Korean shipbuilder will build jointly with Peru’s state-run Shipyard Marine Industrial Services under a 640.6 billion-won (US$463 million) contract, signed in Lima on April 16, 2024. (Yonhap)