Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section below. Have a safe Friday the 13th!

With North Korea currently assisting Russia with an active war against Ukraine, it doesn’t make sense for Kim Jong-un to try and pursue diplomacy with the U.S. at this time:

 U.S. President Donald Trump is “receptive” to correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and wants to see the progress that was made during their first summit in 2018, a White House spokesperson said Wednesday.

Karoline Leavitt, the spokesperson, made the remarks after NK News reported, citing an “informed high-level source,” that North Korean diplomats in New York had refused to accept a letter from Trump, which was aimed at reestablishing communication channels between Washington and Pyongyang.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I have been over the Unification Bridge more times than I can remember and this guy never had a chance of succeeding to defect this way. This likely more a call for mental help which is likely why he wasn’t jailed:

A South Korean court on Monday handed a suspended sentence to a North Korean defector who attempted to cross the border back into the North last year using a stolen bus, according to local media. The defector, who was not publicly identified, received a two-year prison sentence suspended for three years from the Goyang Branch of Uijeongbu District Court, the Yonhap News Agency reported Monday.

The ruling means he will avoid jail time if he does not commit further offenses during that period. The incident occurred on Oct. 1, when the man stole a shuttle bus from a garage in Paju, about five miles south of the heavily fortified border, and drove it approximately three miles toward the Unification Bridge, which spans the Imjin River and connects the two Koreas.

He was apprehended by South Korean soldiers after crashing into a checkpoint barricade, Gyeonggi Provincial Police said at the time. The court stated in its ruling that the defector did not appear motivated by support for or loyalty to North Korea, according to Yonhap.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I guess Korean consumers are just not into Canadian coffee:

Canadian coffee brand Tim Hortons, operated in Korea by BKR, closed its Cheongna location in Incheon on Sunday, according to industry sources on Friday.

This marks the first closure of a directly operated store since the brand entered Korea, coming just over a year after the location opened in April 2024.

Industry experts attribute the decision to multiple factors, including declining profitability and the fierce competition within the saturated Korean coffee market.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This is just another step that the DPK is taking to ensure yet another Korean conservative President is sent to jail. This time it looks like his wife will be going with him as well:

 President Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday promulgated bills mandating special counsel probes into a botched martial law bid by former President Yoon Suk Yeol and corruption allegations against his wife, former first lady Kim Keon Hee.

Lee signed off on three bills in his first legislation since taking office last week, which also calls for a special counsel probe into the drowning death of a Marine during a rescue operation for flood victims in 2023.

The bills were approved at a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Nothing new here, Secretary Hegseth is just repeating what he and the President have said multiple times before:

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday reiterated President Donald Trump’s call for allies in the Indo-Pacific to increase their defense burden-sharing, noting that America “can’t want their security more than they do.”

Hegseth made the remarks during a House Appropriations Committee hearing amid lingering speculation that the Trump administration could demand South Korea raise its share of the cost for stationing the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.