Author: GIKorea

How cute, President Trump has a new pen pal  😉

U.S. President Donald Trump received a letter from North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the two continue to discuss Pyongyang’s commitment at a recent Singapore summit to rid itself of nuclear weapons, but no second meeting is currently planned, the White House said on Thursday.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said Trump had received a letter from Kim on Wednesday and had responded with a note that should be delivered shortly. Trump also posted a note on Twitter on Thursday thanking Kim for returning the remains of U.S. soldiers and saying he looked forward to seeing Kim again.

“He did receive a letter,” Sanders told a White House briefing. “There is not a second meeting that is currently locked in or finalized. (We’re) certainly open to that discussion, but there isn’t a meeting planned.”  [Reuters]

You can read more at the link.

Unlike the last hostage crisis the ROK was involved in, the Moon administration cannot blame this one on the United States:

President Moon Jae-in ordered the use of Korea’s “utmost abilities” and resources to rescue a Korean citizen who has been held by unidentified armed militants in Libya for nearly a month, according to the Blue House Thursday. Three Philippine nationals are also being held.

An anti-piracy unit operating in the Gulf of Aden, which is on a 4,400-ton Korean Navy destroyer, has been deployed to North African waters to lend support.

On July 6, an unidentified armed group entered lodgings for foreign workers at a local water management plant in Jabal Hasouna, western Libya, and abducted the Korean and three Filipinos. They took off with goods as well. A video clip of the hostages was circulated on Facebook on Wednesday, and the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially confirmed later that day that a Korean national was among the four men held in Libya.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but really long time ROK Heads may remember when the Korean missionaries were taken hostage by the Taliban in Afghanistan back in 2007, South Korea’s leftists blamed the US for the incident.  The Chief of Staff of the left wing Roh Moo-hyun administration in power during this time was current ROK President Moon Jae-in.

Lee Seok-gi urged his followers to help #NorthKorea in case of war by blowing up bridges, oil facilities, bases, etc. in #SouthKorea & overthrow #SK government. Caught on video in 2012. He was jailed for that. He's no Mandela. https://t.co/XIcGL9kylW

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) July 29, 2018

Models display Blue Moon draft beer at an event in Seoul on Aug. 1, 2018, in this photo courtesy of Lotte Liquor. (Yonhap)

Some wacky American woman caused a ruckus recently on a Korean Air flight before take off from Incheon International Airport:

An American woman was forcibly removed from a business-class seat on a Korean Air flight bound for San Francisco International Airport this week, according to various sources. A video of the incident has been posted on the Korea JoongAng Daily YouTube page.

Korean website AllKPop.com reports: “The woman, who originally booked an economy seat, sat down in the business class seating instead. The woman refused to move and caused a disturbance when the flight attendant told her, ‘You have to sit in your designated seat.'”

In the video, you can see the woman seated in the last row of business class in an aisle seat in which she reportedly upgraded herself to, then refused to move. A cadre of female security officers began the removal process as the video begins. She’s chanting something about U.S. marshals, then dragged down the aisle, David Dao style, screaming that Korean Air has stolen her passport.  [SF Gate]

You can read more at the link, but the woman appears to have mental problems.

On a positive note at least this ruckus did not involve anyone in the Cho family.

Here is the latest update in the Druking online opinion rigging scandal:

Special prosecutors raided the residence and office of South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo on Thursday as part of an ongoing investigation into a massive manipulation of online political comments by an arrested power blogger.

Investigators were sent to search the premises in Changwon, 398 kilometers south of the capital, they said.

The blogger, better known as Druking, has been accused of manipulating clicks on Internet news comments to sway public opinion in favor of the ruling Democratic Party.

Kim, who was elected as the governor in the June local elections, allegedly communicated with Druking frequently through untraceable messenger apps. He has denied any involvement in the alleged crime.

Kim is currently on summer vacation and is scheduled to return to office soon, according to his office.

It is the second time the special prosecution sought to search Kim’s workplace and home. They requested the first search warrant to a Seoul court Tuesday and were denied.

Prosecutors are said to have obtained enough evidence to bring Kim in for formal questioning as a suspect by summoning him, possibly over the weekend.

An assistant prosecutor told a press briefing that Kim was cited as an alleged accomplice to Druking in the search warrant.

Kim said on his Facebook page that he could not understand why prosecutors raided his provincial office that opened just about one month ago, but he will cooperate with prosecutors’ investigation.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but how much evidence do the prosecutors think they would find in an office that is a month old?  I would not be surprised that this is all to create the appearance that there is nothing linking Kim Kyoung-soo to Druking.

For those that don’t know Kim Kyoung-soo is a trusted friend and confidant of ROK President Moon Jae-in.  The power blogger called Druking alleges that Kim directed his team’s online opinion rigging operation to turn public opinion against liberal rival Ahn Cheol-soo and then conservative rivals during the last presidential election. When Druking’s team did not receive the political payback they had been promised they turned on Kim Kyoung-soo and began targeting President Moon with their opinion rigging software.  Once they turned on Moon that is when authorities arrested them, not when they were targeting conservatives.

I have always maintained that Kim Kyoung-soo and others from the Moon administration involved in this scandal would never be held accountable.  I would not be surprised if this “raid” is not just part of the cover up, I guess we will see.

Here is the latest on the so called attempted coup that South Korea’s political left is claiming the Defense Security Command was planning to execute:

Rival parties on Wednesday exchanged barbs over a controversy surrounding the military intelligence unit’s documents written last year to prepare for the imposition of martial law to curb anti-government protests.

The war of words further intensified after the floor leader of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) claimed Tuesday that the Defense Security Command (DSC) had also devised a similar plan in 2004, when former liberal President Roh Moo-hyun was impeached.

In March 2004, Roh was impeached by parliament on charges that included illegal electioneering, but he was reinstated by the top court about two months later.

The controversy was sparked as a civic group disclosed DSC documents last month that showed the unit had set up detailed plans for declaring martial law last year to curb civilians’ candlelight protests against then corruption-ridden President Park Geun-hye, who was impeached by parliament.

The group also claimed Monday that the DSC allegedly wiretapped phone conversations between Roh and his defense minister more than a decade ago and carried out illegal surveillance on millions of civilians.

President Moon Jae-in earlier ordered an independent probe into the DSC.

The LKP raised doubts about how the Center for Military Human Rights Korea could secure such classified documents.

Kim Sung-tae, the floor leader of the LKP, even said Tuesday that it is absurd that military reforms are being moved by a civic group, whose chief is struggling with his sexual identity.

The ruling Democratic Party (DP) condemned Kim’s remarks.

“The floor leader of the largest opposition party is misleading public sentiment. It is questionable that the LKP is trying to defend the DSC,” said Baek Hye-ryun, a spokeswoman at the party.

The ruling party regarded DSC documents as evidence for a de facto coup. But the LKP, which was the ruling party under Park’s government, claimed that they might have been just drawn up to prepare for emergency situations, not for rebellion.

“The DSC documents were kind of the risk management manual, not documents over an attempted rebellion or coup,” said Kim Byong-joon, the LKP’s interim leader.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but considering the DSC’s charter planning for the defense of the ruling government is part of their job description.  If thousands of protesters showed up and stormed the Blue House to remove President Park if the Constitutional Court did not approve of her impeachment, should the DSC be expected to sit back and let it happen?

If so, that means South Korea’s left believes in mob rule and not a constitutional government.

SKorean national energy strategy at 2 to 5 min in this video.

1. Send rice to NK
2. Import coal from NK
3. Turn off nucl. per. plant in SK
4. Use coal from NK for electricity

Rice price in SK has been rising this year due to this strategy.https://t.co/EHQg2K7SfT

— bmk218 (@bmk218) July 27, 2018

Major Gen. Kim Do-gyun (R), South Korea’s chief delegate, and his North Korean counterpart Lt, Gen. An Ik-san shake hands at the start of inter-Korean military talks at the truce village of Panmunjom on July 31, 2018. It is the second such talks since the April 27 inter-Korean summit, aimed at implementing agreements from the summit. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)

It appears that the North Koreans did not pull any stunts like they have in the past such as including animal bones as part remains that have been handed over.  Instead this time it appears these are legitimately the remains of Korean War era servicemembers:

Fifty-five cases presumed to be holding the remains of U.S. troops killed in the Korean War began their journey home Wednesday after a formal send-off at this air base south of Seoul.

North Korea handed over the remains last week, the first repatriation in more than a decade and a move that partially fulfilled an agreement reached during the June 12 summit between leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump.

Hundreds of U.S. and South Korean servicemembers attended the ceremony along with dignitaries from the 15 other countries that fought in the 1950-53 war.

The cases lined up in a hangar at Osan were covered with blue United Nations flags pending final identification.

But a two-day forensic review showed that the remains appear to be human and “are likely to be American,” John Byrd, an anthropologist with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, told reporters before the ceremony.

“Our preliminary findings were that the remains are what the [North Korean] officials said they were,” Byrd said, adding that it was one of the largest unilateral turnovers ever received from the North.

“There’s no reason at this point to doubt that they do relate to Korean War losses,” he said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.