Author: GIKorea

Kim Jong-un is on his way to Vietnam:

 

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s special train raced through central China on Monday, traveling for the third day en route to Vietnam for a summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump. 
The train passed through the central Chinese city of Hengyang of Hunan Province around 3:30 p.m. after briefly stopping at the city of Changsha earlier in the afternoon and heading south. 
The route, which does not pass through the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou, is regarded as the shortest way of moving from Pyongyang to Vietnam.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Donald Trump's 'greed' for Nobel prize fuels fears in South Korea of risky concessions https://t.co/CESuw4Xd29

— David Maxwell (@DavidMaxwell161) February 21, 2019

Does anyone believe that Kim Jong-un really wants to denuclearize for this reason?:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un told U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo last year that he intends to abandon his nuclear weapons program for the sake of his children, a former U.S. intelligence official said Friday.
Kim made the remark when Pompeo traveled to Pyongyang in April 2018 to confirm the regime’s stated willingness to denuclearize, according to Andrew Kim, who retired at the end of last year as head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s Korea Mission Center.
“We asked, specifically, the director, Pompeo, asked Chairman Kim: Do you really intend to denuclearize? And the way he replied was that, the chairman said: You know, I’m a father and I’m a husband and I have children and I don’t want my children to carry the nuclear weapon in their bag to live through their entire life. That was his answer,” Kim said during a talk at Stanford University. Pompeo was director of the CIA prior to becoming secretary of state.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Secretary of State Pompeo is using the term “peace mechanisms” now which is a term the Moon administration often uses:

With the United States and North Korea striving for a give-and-take compromise in their summit next week, a declaration of a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War, or a peace statement, is surfacing as a possible concession from Washington.
The North has long eyed such a political declaration, which is not legally binding, to end decades of enmity with the U.S., ensure its regime security and ultimately sign a peace treaty that some say could undercut the rationale for American troop presence on the peninsula.
At his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, slated for Feb. 27-28 in Hanoi, President Donald Trump is expected to discuss the possibility of ending the war that was ceased only with an armistice agreement, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last Thursday.
“Remember we not only discussed denuclearization, but we talked about creating security mechanisms, peace mechanisms on the Korean Peninsula,” Pompeo told Fox News. “I hope the two leaders have a chance to talk about that as well. I fully expect that they will.”

Yonhap

You can read much more at the link, but the Moon administration has been pushing for a peace mechanism in order to advance their goal of creating a confederation with North Korea. A peace treaty ending the Korean War is one of the first steps to making this happen.

There's a lot more than the current narrative on 5.18 Gwangju, but there has been consistent, strong & even hostile opposition to discussing it. They even expeled a lawmaker from a party because he said he wants to restore honor to the troops by talking about other perspectives. https://t.co/SbR7Qh3pJ1

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) February 20, 2019

Considering the strained relations currently in the ROK-Japanese relationship this decision is not surprising:

Japan will not send its warship to waters off the Korean Peninsula for a multinational maritime exercise this spring, a government source here said Friday, amid tensions over a military spat and historical issues.
South Korea, the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other partner countries plan to stage the maneuvers from April 29 to May 2 in waters off South Korea’s southeastern port city of Busan and then from May 9 to May 13 in waters off Singapore.
Japan will skip the drills near Busan, but take part in those around Singapore, the source said on condition of anonymity. The exercise will focus on enhancing multilateral cooperation in countering maritime crimes and protecting gas fields or other ocean-based facilities. 
The decision came at a meeting of the maritime security expert working group of the ASEAN Defense Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus), held in Busan from Thursday through Friday. South Korea and Singapore co-chair the working group this year.
Seoul’s defense ministry confirmed that Japan will not deploy any vessels to the planned drills around Busan, but it plans to send two warships to the exercise in waters off Singapore.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the Yongsan Garrison cat crisis:

U.S. military officials plan to launch a program aimed at slowing the growth of the stray cat population on this Army installation in the heart of Seoul.
The program — known as trap, neuter, release, or TNR — was deemed necessary after the number of cats spiked as the military prepares to close Yongsan. Last year, U.S. Forces Korea moved its main headquarters from Yongsan south to Camp Humphreys.
“TNR is the humane and potentially effective approach for stray and feral cats by which community cats are humanely trapped … brought to a veterinarian to be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, ear tipped, and then returned to the outdoor location where they were found,” according to the new policy issued this month.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

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