Here is another example of free agency coming to international sports:
Ricardo Ratliffe (L) of South Korea goes up against Hamed Haddadi of Iran during the men’s basketball semifinal match between South Korea and Iran at the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta on Aug. 30, 2018. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s U.S. born basketball player, Ricardo Ratliffe, on Thursday rued a lack of team effort in his side’s disappointing loss against Iran at the 18th Asian Games.
South Korea lost its title defense bid after losing to Iran 80-68 in the men’s basketball semifinal match at the 18th Asian Games at Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Istora arena in Jakarta.
Ratliffe, whose Korean name is Ra Gun-ah, was the only South Korean player who stood up against Iranians. He had a game-high 37 points and 12 rebounds, but his superb performance wasn’t enough to see South Korea through to the final.
“We just played terrible,” Ratliffe said of his team’s performance. “We didn’t play well together. That’s all.” [Yonhap]
President Trump is now saying he still supports a suspension of joint military drills and blames China for the recent gridlock on denuclearization:
The White House said Wednesday the U.S. decision to suspend major combined military exercises with South Korea holds true despite a stalemate in efforts to denuclearize North Korea.
President Donald Trump believes “there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games,” his office said in a statement posted on his Twitter account.
It cited Trump’s “good and warm” relationship with the North’s leader Kim Jong-un stemming from their historic Singapore summit on June 12.
Trump thinks China is to blame, at least partially, for the recent gridlock highlighted by the cancellation of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s trip to Pyongyang this week.
He “feels strongly that North Korea is under tremendous pressure from China because of our major trade disputes with the Chinese Government,” the statement read.
Furthermore, it added, China is providing North Korea with “considerable aid, including money, fuel, fertilizer and various other commodities. This is not helpful!” [Yonhap]
You can read much more at the link, but I am sure the Chinese are not being helpful on the nuclear issue, however I have never believed the Kim regime has wanted to denuclearize anyway. Their strategy has long been getting concessions for pretend denuclearization.
Participants in a national rally of monks at Jogye Temple, the headquarters of Korea’s largest Buddhist sect, the Jogye Order, march on the streets calling for sweeping reform of the order following the ouster of its disgraced executive chief Rev. Seoljeong over a series of corruption allegations. (Yonhap)
It looks like the US will be making sure that all inter-Korean cooperation is being done by existing regulations:
The United Nations Command (UNC) for the first time disapproved plans for an inter-Korean railway inspection, amid a deadlock in denuclearization talks between North Korea and the U.S.
The plan was for a South Korean train to travel up to the North’s northwestern city of Sinuiju so officials of the Koreas could inspect the condition of the tracks in the North from Aug. 22 to 27.
The UNC holds authority to approve personnel and supplies crossing the Military Demarcation Line (MDL).
The government has stated the inspections do not go against sanctions imposed on the North by the U.N. and the U.S.
The UNC initially cited the reason for disapproval as South Korea not notifying it of its plan 48 hours in advance.
A unification ministry official said this was likely not the issue.
“There were many instances in which plans that were announced less than 48 hours in advance were approved,” he told reporters, Thursday.
The UNC, in an official statement, said it “required South Korea to submit details of the planned visit.” Calling for additional details is seen as unprecedented. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but considering the duplicity shown by the Moon administration allowing the North Koreans to violate sanctions this is probably a wise move.
The Chinese continue to put military pressure on the ROK:
South Korea scrambled Air Force jets Wednesday to counter a Chinese military plane flying in the country’s air defense domain without notice, defense authorities in Seoul said.
It entered the Korea air defense identification zone (KADIZ) at around 7:37 a.m. and moved over southern and eastern waters for about four hours, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
“(We) took normal tactical measures,” such as sending a warning message and dispatching Air Force jets to track and monitor it, the JCS added.
More than 10 aircraft, including F-15K fighter jets, were mobilized, a source said later.
It marked the second flight of a Chinese aircraft, believed to be for military reconnaissance, in the KADIZ in a month.
There were similar incidents in January, February and April as well.
South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense summoned the defense attache at the Chinese Embassy in Seoul to deliver a protest message.
Choi Hyong-chan, director general of the ministry’s international affairs, emphasized that the government takes the repeated entry of Chinese warplanes into the KADIZ “very seriously,” the ministry said. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but if the ROK government took the KADIZ violations seriously why don’t they respond by flying through the Chinese ADIZ?
A gold medal at the Asian Games will be extra memorable if the South Korean soccer team wins because they can avoid mandatory military service:
South Korea’s Lee Seung-woo, left, celebrates with Son Heung-min after scoring in the semifinal football match against Vietnam at the 18th Asian Games in Bogor, West Java, Indonesia, Wednesday. Korea won 3-1. Yonhap
South Korea’s soccer team is just 90 minutes away from gold at the 2018 Asian Games and that all-important military exemption thanks to a 3-1 win over Vietnam in the semifinal Wednesday.
On Saturday, Son Heung-min and his colleagues will meet either Japan or the United Arab Emirates in the final in Cibinong, south of Jakarta. If the young Taegeuk Warriors win that then the 20-man roster will not have to perform 21 months of military service. [Korea Times]
I personally always thought the joint exercises would be restarted in time to execute Key Resolve 2019 because I never believed the Kim regime was were serious about real denuclearization:
The U.S. military will move ahead with all future military exercises on the Korean Peninsula, Defense Secretary James N. Mattis said Tuesday, suggesting that America’s brief suspension of the drills as a show of “good faith” toward North Korea has not paid dividends in the struggling denuclearization talks with Pyongyang.
“We have no plans at this time to suspend any more exercises,” Mr. Mattis told reporters at the Pentagon, less than three months after President Trump labeled the U.S.-South Korean drills “provocative” and ordered them temporarily halted following his unprecedented face-to-face meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Mr. Mattis made the announcement at a rare press conference with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Joseph F. Dunford, during which the two also weighed in on a range of other topics, including efforts to stamp out the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria and the U.S. role in battling Iran-backed rebels in Yemen. [Washington Times via a reader tip]
You can read more at the link, but supposedly the President received a hostile letter from the Butcher of the Cheonan, Kim Yong-chol that caused this announcement:
After the announcement it appears the ROK government may want to play delay games with restarting the joint exercises:
Resumption or suspension of joint military drills between South Korea and the United States is subject to discussions between the allies, an official from Seoul’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Wednesday.
“As of now, the issue has not been discussed between South Korea and the United States,” Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom told a daily press briefing. (……)
“It is an issue that should be discussed and decided by South Korea and the U.S. while reviewing the progress in the denuclearization of North Korea,” the Cheong Wa Dae official said. [Yonhap]
I expect that the Moon administration will come out of his upcoming summit with Kim Jong-il offering some minor concession to entice the Trump administration to believe the Kim regime is serious about denuclearization. Regardless I would be surprised if Key Resolve 2019 does not happen. I guess we will see what happens.
A Belize-flagged ship, the Jin Long, is docked at a port in Pohang, on South Korea’s east coast, on Aug. 7, 2018. (Yonhap
South Korea’s spy chief told a parliamentary panel Tuesday his agency reported the import of North Korean coal to the presidential national security office last October, lawmakers said.
A monthslong probe by the customs office showed that three South Korean firms imported North Korean coal from Russia in apparent violation of U.N. sanctions resolutions. There is a controversy over whether the government turned a blind eye to the North Korean coal shipment amid a peace mood with Pyongyang.
Suh Hoon, the chief of the National Intelligence Service (NIS), told lawmakers at a closed-door meeting that the NIS reported the coal shipment to the Office of National Security under Cheong Wa Dae last October.
Suh was quoted as saying that he communicated the fact to the office though there was no direct report to President Moon Jae-in.
The customs office’s recent announcement has spurred controversy over whether South Korea is fully implementing U.N. sanctions on North Korea. [Yonhap]
The apartment where the woman and her three daughters were killed. Yonhap.
A man, 42, has been arrested for allegedly killing his wife and three young daughters in Okcheon, North Chungcheong, police said Monday.
The bodies were found on Saturday. The man had tried, but failed, to kill himself, police said.
The wife’s sister found the bodies when she came to visit. She told police she had heard her sister and brother-in-law complain about their dire financial situation.
The daughters were aged 7, 9 and 10. Police said sleeping pills were scattered around the bodies.
The man’s kendo or Japanese sword-practicing center had been in financial difficulty recently after he reportedly borrowed 250 million won ($224,000) from private lenders.
He allegedly borrowed some of the money under the name of a student and had clashed with the student’s parents. [Korea Times]
