The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier was blocked entry to the Jeju Navy base by a group of kayak protesters on Thursday.
Some 200 civic activists in kayaks paddled out to the sea off the base to protest the 2018 International Fleet Review, interrupting the entry of the U.S. aircraft carrier.
The USS Ronald Reagan, one of the Navy’s largest warships participating in the naval event, has been rescheduled to enter Friday, according to a South Korean Navy official, Munhwa Ilbo reported.
The U.S. warship attended a nautical parade, as scheduled, which is a highlight of the fleet review that featured 40 ships and 24 aircraft demonstrating their naval prowess. The fleet review runs until Sunday. [UPI]
You can read more at the link, but the Korean left has long been unhappy about the Jeju naval base largely because it was pushed through by a prior conservative administration. One of the main reasons for the base was because of the territorial claims that China was making towards Ieodo a submerged rock that is home to a Korean research station off the coast of Jeju.
If the US signs a peace treaty to end the Korean War these leftist protesters will be emboldened to do things like claiming that the US military presence is no longer needed because there is “peace”. The Moon administration will do little to nothing to stop the protesters from disrupting US military operations much like what we are currently seeing with the THAAD site in Korea that is still blockaded by protesters.
Per 11 UN resolutions, NK required to abandon nuke, missile, and BCW programs in “complete, verifiable, irreversible manner.” KJU doles our morsels at his pace and demands reciprocal actions. Like a criminal asking the cop, “what will you give me for not robbing a bank today?” https://t.co/QAzKBa0c53
A demonstration of timber rafting is under way on the Soyang River in Inje, 165 kilometers northeast of Seoul, on Oct. 9, 2018, in this photo provided by the Inje county office the next day. (Yonhap)
It is about time that something was being done about China’s economic espionage activities:
US agents have arrested a top Beijing intelligence official for allegedly attempting to steal trade secrets from GE Aviation and other US aerospace companies after luring the suspect to Belgium in what the US Justice Department called “an unprecedented extradition”.
Xu Yanjun, who also uses the names Qu Hui and Zhang Hui, was extradited to the US on Tuesday with assistance from Belgian authorities for seeking “to steal trade secrets and other sensitive information from an American company that leads the way in aerospace”, Assistant Attorney General for National Security John C. Demers said in a Justice Department announcement on Wednesday.
Xu, a senior officer with China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), appeared in federal court in Cincinnati on Wednesday, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported. He could be given a prison sentence of up to 25 years in addition to fines if charged and convicted, the Justice Department said.
“Beginning in at least December 2013 and continuing until his arrest, Xu targeted certain companies inside and outside the United States that are recognised as leaders in the aviation field,” the Justice Department said in its announcement of the arrest.
“He identified experts who worked for these companies and recruited them to travel to China, often initially under the guise of asking them to deliver a university presentation.” [South China Morning Post]
You can read more at the link, but you would think that personnel working for defense contractors would understand that anyone approaching them from China and especially if they are inviting to them to China is likely an intelligence agent. These companies need to do a better job protecting their intellectual property because this arrest is going to do nothing to slow down China’s economic espionage.
This was a pretty blunt reaction by President Trump to South Korea’s proposal to drop sanctions on North Korea:
South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon speaks at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Oct. 11, 2018.
South Korea on Thursday walked back on a proposal to lift some of its unilateral sanctions against North Korea following U.S. President Donald Trump’s blunt retort that Seoul could “do nothing” without Washington’s approval.
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha had said on Wednesday that Seoul was considering lifting measures applied after a deadly attack in 2010 that killed 46 South Korean sailors. She cited the intent to create more diplomatic momentum for talks over North Korea’s nuclear program.
South Korean conservatives reacted with anger as well, and Kang’s ministry downplayed her comments later, saying in a statement that the government has yet to start a “full-fledged” review of sanctions, meaning no decision was imminent.
Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon told a parliamentary audit on Thursday there has been no serious consideration given to lifting the sanctions and that doing so would be hard unless North Korea acknowledges responsibility for the 2010 attack. North Korea has fiercely denied it sank the Cheonan warship. (………..)
“They won’t do that without our approval,” Trump said of the comments. “They do nothing without our approval.” [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but it appears there may be some friction coming out of the White House over President Moon’s willingness to push for dropping sanctions for little to nothing in return from North Korea.
Of course the Moon administration is going to continue to say USFK will stay after the signing of any North Korean peace treaty:
As the ongoing peace gestures from North Korea cast doubt on the future of the United States Forces Korea (USFK), a group of U.S.-allied countries ― such as South Korea and Japan ― are on track to underline the need to maintain U.S. troops here.
The controversy surrounding the USFK started making headlines here in June when U.S. President Donald Trump expressed his strong desire to withdraw or at least reduce the U.S. military presence here, saying South Korea does not properly pay for its maintenance cost.
For South Korea and Japan, however, the possible withdrawal of the USFK is a worst-case scenario to weaken their security readiness and generate a potential crack in their long-term defense posture.
The USFK here has for decades served as a war deterrent, preventing North Korea from staging large-scale military provocations against the South since 1953 when the Korean War ended in an armistice.
But starting this year, North Korea has urged the South and the U.S. to declare an end to the war as soon as possible, in what critics view is the regime’s apparent move to pull out the potentially threatening U.S. troops.
For this reason, there is a lingering concern that the ongoing peace mood and the possible declaration of the technical state of war here may result in the withdrawal of the USFK in the end.
South Korea is in a position that the USFK withdrawal will never turn into reality at least for the time being.
Park Han-ki, the nominee for the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), said last week the potential declaration of the end to the war has nothing to do with the existence of the United Nations Command (UNC) and the USFK.
“Even if the two Koreas declare an end to the war, the Korean Armistice Agreement (signed in 1953 between the North, China and the UNC) will remain in effect,” Park said in a National Assembly confirmation hearing, dispelling concerns over the possible withdrawal of the USFK.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in also recently called the USFK a peacekeeper here, saying the U.S. troops will continue to play a role for the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asia. [Korea Times]
What the ROK government is saying now about USFK is intended to convince the Trump administration and US politicians to go along with signing the peace treaty. At a time to be determined in the future the South Korean leftist activists will then be unleashed on USFK to protest every car accident, oil spill, etc. in effort to make life difficult for the US military presence in South Korea. It will essentially be the 2002-2004 timeframe all over again.
In addition to the protests the ROK could also play hardball on funding the US-ROK alliance and make environmental compensation demands over the closing of Yongsan Garrison. The Moon administration’s goal will be to convince the Trump administration to withdraw US troops on its own accord and not at the request of the ROK government.
The Moon administration says providing electricity, tap water not violating sanctions. The SK-NK mil agmt states inter-Korean road must be built by the year end & ensure "customs" in the E & W corridors. It imported NK coal many times. Do they not read the UNSCRs? #sanctionshttps://t.co/jLbqskBRd6
Huh Sung-moo (L), mayor of the southeastern city of Changwon, poses with a Hyundai Motor official during a ceremony to hand over the carmaker’s Nexo hydro-electric car at the city hall on Oct. 10, 2018, in this photo provided by the city. The city decided to use Hyundai’s hydro-electric cars as its official cars. (Yonhap)
I really don’t have a firm opinion yet on the new Army Combat Fitness Test, but I doubt being able to do deadlifts would have done anything to help Task Force Smith during the Korean War:
General Mark Milley
While the Army’s new gender- and age-neutral combat fitness test is hard, soldiers should have time to train for it before it becomes mandatory on Oct. 1, 2020, Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Milley said Monday.
“If you can’t get in shape in 24 months, then maybe you should hit the road,” Milley said at the Association of the United States Army’s annual conference in Washington, D.C. “Maybe you should consider an alternative to this.”
During the 50-minute test, soldiers must complete a strength deadlift; throw a medicine ball over their head; do a set of pushups, during which they lift their hands off the ground after each pushup; complete a 250-meter “sprint, drag, carry” event; and finally run 2 miles. The Army is refining the standards for each event, which are based on whether a soldier’s military occupational specialty involves a “moderate,” “significant,” or “heavy” amount of physical exertion.
Task & Purpose asked Milley on Monday if the Army could end up losing older soldiers, who are unable to perform as well as younger ones on the combat fitness test.
“We don’t want to lose thousands of soldiers,” Milley said. “This fitness test is hard and no one should be under any illusions about it. But where we really don’t want to lose soldiers is on the battlefield. We don’t want young men and women killed in action because they weren’t fit.”
Many of the first soldiers sent to the Korean peninsula in 1950 were not physically prepared to fight a war in the hilly terrain, leading “countless numbers” of them to be killed as a result, Milley said. [Task and Purpose]
You can read more at the link, but there was many factors that led to what happened in the early months of the Korean War and not being able to do leg tucks was not one of them. For example being a able to throw a medicine ball at T-34 tanks would not have done much good when their bazookas and 105mm artillery could not even stop them.
Anyway here is my favorite part from the interview with General Milley:
“And there’s nothing like it. Ground combat is unbelievable. Go look at those kids, who are walking up and down the hills of Afghanistan. My dad at the beaches of Iwo Jima went 19 consecutive days without eating in some of the most brutal combat in military history. Combat is not for the faint of heart. It’s not for the weak-kneed.”
While the combat fitness test represents “a bit of a culture shock” for the Army that is sure to draw plenty of complaints, Milley said he expects the vast majority of soldiers to rise to the challenge.
“We’ve got to get this Army hard,” Milley said. “We’ve got to get it hard fast.”
Is that going to be the new Army recruiting slogan, ” Get Army Hard”? 😉
