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AAFES Gas Station on Old Yongsan Garrison to Soon Close for Good

I did not even realize the gas station on old Yongsan Garrison was still open:

The gas station at Yongsan, one of the last vestiges of a once-busy headquarters compound, is preparing to turn off its pumps after 32 years of service. The station, on a hill overlooking Seoul, will close May 1 as part of a plan to return sections of the base to the South Korean government, according to an Army and Air Force Exchange Service news release Tuesday. The gas station reported average monthly revenue of $70,000 between 2021 and 2022, AAFES spokesman Chris Ward said in an email Thursday.

The monthly average fell to $50,000 the following year “and has experienced even further significant declines” in 2024, he said. Six of eight pumps still in service sat idle for more than two hours Wednesday afternoon. The only cars in the lot were parked there by drivers who exited the base through a nearby pedestrian gate.

Jerry Chandler, an anti-terrorism program manager at Yongsan and a four-year South Korea resident, said he is disappointed by the station’s looming closure. Chandler — one of the roughly 500 service members, Defense Department civilians and U.S. embassy staff who still live or work at Yongsan — said he and his wife fill up their two cars with premium gas “all the time” at the station.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I also did not know that about 500 servicemembers and DOD personnel are still working on Yongsan Garrison.

10% of Marriages in South Korea in 2023 Involved International Couples

According to the article as Koreans travel more and more people travel to Korea it is causing more opportunities for international couples to meet:

More than 10 percent of marriages in Korea last year were between Koreans and foreign nationals, rising to the highest level in 13 years, according to Statistics Korea, Tuesday.

In its annual report on marriage and divorce, the statistics agency said the number of international marriages totaled 19,700 in 2023, up 18.3 percent from a year earlier.

International marriages accounted for 10.2 percent of 193,700 marriages reported nationwide in 2023 — the highest ratio since 2010 when the figure stood at 10.5 percent.

“The 2023 ratio of international couples among all newlyweds is noteworthy,” a Statistics Korea official said, noting that the ratio had been above 10 percent mostly in the 2000s but remained in the single digit level from 2011 to 2022.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

North Korea Claims It Conducted Engine Test for a New Hypersonic Missile

I wonder if the Russians are helping the North Koreans to develop hypersonic weapons or if this is all just for show to raise tensions?:

North Korea conducts a ground jet test of a solid-fuel engine for a new type of intermediate-range hypersonic missile at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on March 19, 2024, in this photo carried by the Korean Central News Agency the next day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

North Korea conducts a ground jet test of a solid-fuel engine for a new type of intermediate-range hypersonic missile at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on March 19, 2024, in this photo carried by the Korean Central News Agency the next day. (Yonhap)

North Korea said Wednesday it has successfully conducted a ground jet test of a solid-fuel engine for a new type of intermediate hypersonic missile amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Hypersonic missiles are on the list of sophisticated weapons North Korean leader Kim Jong-un vowed to develop during a key party congress in 2021, along with nuclear-powered submarines, spy satellites and solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Hypersonic missiles travel at a speed of at least Mach 5 — five times the speed of sound — and are designed to be maneuverable on unpredictable flight paths and fly at low altitudes. At Mach 5 or higher, such a missile would be able to traverse the 195 kilometers between Pyongyang and Seoul in just one to two minutes.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Picture of the Day: KF-21 Conducts First Ever Aerial Refueling

KF-21 fighter succeeds in 1st aerial refueling test
KF-21 fighter succeeds in 1st aerial refueling test
This photo, provided by the Defense Acquisition Program Administration on March 19, 2024, shows the fifth prototype (bottom) of the homegrown KF-21 fighter jet under development successfully undergoing air-to-air refueling for the first time over waters off the southern coast after the fighter took off from an air base in Sacheon, 296 kilometers southeast of Seoul, earlier in the day. (Yonhap)

8 People Dead and Two Missing After South Korean Chemical Tanker Capsizes Near Japan

A tragedy has just happened off the coast of Japan involving a South Korean tanker ship. Interestingly the article does say what chemicals were being transported in this ship. Hopefully this doesn’t lead to an ecological disaster as well:

 A South Korean chemical tanker capsized off Japan’s west coast Wednesday, claiming eight lives with two still missing, Japan’s coast guard officials said.

The Keoyoung Sun vessel, carrying 11 crew members, made a distress call to the Japanese Coast Guard at around 7 a.m., reporting that it was tilting in waters near an island of the Shimonoseki city in the Yamaguchi Prefecture.

Of the 11 crew members on board — two South Koreans, eight Indonesians and one Chinese — nine have been rescued and two others were unaccounted for.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Korean Olympic Gold Medalist Calls Japanese Restaurant Owner a Traitor to Korea

I fail to see how opening a Japanese restaurant in South Korea makes someone a traitor:

Korean archer An San, who won three gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics in Japan in 2021, caused a stir with an online post that described a Japanese-themed restaurant as a “traitor to the nation.” The restaurant owner accused the Olympian’s remark of wrongly branding his business as being a pro-Japanese collaborator.

The 23-year-old shared a photo of a signboard saying “international departures” bound to Japan on Instagram Saturday, with a comment that read “How come there are so many traitors to the nation in Korea.”

The photo is no longer available, as it was an Instagram Story that disappeared 24 hours after upload.

The sign in An’s post was part of the entrance to a Japan-themed restaurant at a shopping mall’s food complex in the southwestern city of Gwangju, where a Japanese hot pot pub brand created and operated by Koreans is in business.

An’s post triggered online users to harass the business owner, who ended up uploading a letter of plea to end the controversy.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but if someone opens a Chinese restaurant are they traitors too? Or how about a Korean operating a McDonald’s? Are they also traitors?