Month: May 2019

The big upgrade for the Aegis destroyers is the ability to shoot down incoming ballistic missiles. The Moon administration must have some doubts then that North Korea has peaceful intentions:

 South Korea on Tuesday approved plans to build next-generation Aegis-equipped destroyers and upgraded submarines to enhance the military’s operational capabilities, the arms procurement agency said. 
The Defense Project Promotion Committee passed the plans to construct the second batch of three destroyers, called Gwanggaeto the Great Ⅲ, by 2028 with a budget of around 3.9 trillion won (US$3.3 billion), according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).
The new Aegis destroyers will be outfitted with an upgraded missile launch system which will allow them to intercept ballistic missiles. They will also represent a marked upgrade in detection and tracking abilities, the agency noted.
The committee also approved a plan to build the next-generation indigenous submarine, the Jangbogo Ⅲ.
The project calls for building three 3,450-ton submarines that will be equipped with ballistic missile launchers with its own technology, using a budget of 3.4 billion won by 2028, according to the DAPA.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Every time I watch any Western documentary about Korea – in this case, Netflix's "Street Food" – regardless of the subject matter, people always end up talking about "the tragedy of the Korean War," and it annoys me to no end. Just how many Koreans actually think about the war?!

— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) April 28, 2019

It looks like the Moon administration is a step closer to further consolidating control of the government and getting additional powers to go after their political enemies. In a rare statement, South Korea’s Prosecutor General came out against the bill:

Highly contentious bills on electoral reform and the establishment of an independent investigation agency were fast-tracked at the National Assembly late Monday by two special parliamentary committees. 

After a week of bitter partisan fighting that, at times, turned physical, the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and three allied parties pushed the bills through two special parliamentary committees on political and judicial reform at around 11 p.m. in spite of vocal opposition by the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP).

In the process, the heads of both committees had to exercise their rights to send bodyguards into the meetings to restore order after LKP lawmakers tried again to physically obstruct votes from taking place. 

The bills included one on electoral reform, which would change the number of single-member districts and proportional representation seats in the legislature, and three on judicial reform, including a proposal to create a new agency to investigate corruption by high-ranking civil servants and another to adjust powers between the police and prosecutors. 

Prosecutor General Moon Moo-il on Wednesday openly voiced his opposition to the judicial reform bills in a rare show of disagreement with policy issues.

“Law enforcement procedures must function in accordance to democratic principles,” Moon said, according to a release by the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. “But the bills that were fast-tracked at the National Assembly currently go against the democratic principle of checks and balances.”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but this bill moves indictment powers from prosecutors and moves them to a special unit. If this special unit is staffed with political allies this would allow the Blue House to control who gets indicted and thus why this bill is so controversial.

North Korea continues to vocalize that they want a “pretend denuclearization” deal by the end of the year:

A senior North Korean official on Tuesday warned of “unwanted consequences” if Washington does not shift its policy on North Korea’s denuclearization within this year, deepening the nuclear standoff with the U.S.
North Korean First Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui did not elaborate on what she meant by “unwanted consequences” that she said the U.S. does not want to see. 
Choe also said “North Korea remains committed to achieving denuclearization and will denuclearize in due time. But it will be possible only when the U.S. changes its current way of calculation and reestablishes its stance,” according to the North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency. 
Choe’s remarks come after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s interview with CBS last Wednesday. Pompeo said the U.S. would “change paths” if the denuclearization talks with the North do not succeed.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but as I said before the Kim regime is likely betting that the Trump administration will give them a “pretend denuclearization” deal in order to claim credit for a foreign policy victory before the 2020 presidential election. Additionally a “pretend denuclearization” deal would keep North Korea quiet during the 2020 campaign season.

It will be interesting to see if their strategy is going to work or not.

The UNC has a new Deputy Commander from Down Under:

Australian Rear Adm. Stuart Mayer has been named the new deputy commander of the U.S.-led United Nations Command in South Korea, according to a press release on Tuesday.
The U.N. Command, which is headquartered at Camp Humphreys, oversees implementation of the armistice agreement that ended the 1950-53 Korean War instead of a peace treaty.

The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Joseph Dunford, has confirmed Mayer’s appointment, making him the first Australian to serve in the post, the Australian Defence Force said. Mayer will be promoted to the rank of vice admiral before taking up the appointment, it added.
He will replace Canadian Lt. Gen. Wayne Eyre, marking the second time in the command’s 69-year history that the post was offered to a non-American officer, it added. No date for the change of command was given.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

#SouthKorean economy contracted. Growth rate in the 1st quarter of 2019: -0.3%. 4th Q 2018:-0.2%. https://t.co/SjrC0sm3Ma

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) April 26, 2019

For anyone looking to take a tour of the JSA, the popular tours will restart this week:

Tours to the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom will resume this week and visitors will be allowed to explore an expanded area, the South Korean defense ministry said Monday.
The popular tours to the Joint Security Area, which straddles the heavily fortified border, were suspended in October to facilitate efforts to demilitarize the buffer zone.
North and South Korea agreed during their historic April 27, 2018, summit in Panmunjom to allow visitors freedom of movement within the JSA from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
That plan has been delayed because the U.S.-led United Nations Command, which oversees the area, and the two Koreas have not agreed on a joint code of conduct deemed necessary for security purposes.
South Korea decided “to resume field trips on the southern side” beginning Wednesday to mark the summit’s first anniversary, according to the defense ministry.
Past tours, which local officials have said drew some 100,000 visitors per year, were tightly controlled.
Visitors will now get to see more sites than had been previously allowed, including the blue footbridge where South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had a private chat and the pine tree that was planted to commemorate the meeting.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.