Shown is a poster released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 16, 2018, to encourage North Korea’s economic development. (Yonhap)
Via a reader tip comes this AFN report from last year about a KATUSA soldier that was reportedly the first to marry an American woman while still completing his mandatory service obligation:
I have been saying this for years that any North Korea deal should include the return of the USS Pueblo. I am glad to see someone in Congress thinks so as well:
North Korea has displayed the captured U.S. spy ship Pueblo in Pyongyang and has retained the ship for more than five decades. File Photo by KCNA/EPA
As the White House prepares President Donald Trump for his meeting with North Korea‘s Kim Jong Un, a movement is building in Congress to return a U.S. Navy spy ship.
Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, of Colorado’s Third District, sent a letter to Trump last week, ahead of submitting a resolution in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, seeking the return of the USS Pueblo to the Navy, Voice of America reported.
In the resolution, Tipton said the ship did not violate the territorial waters of North Korea at the time of its capture on Jan. 23, 1968.
One crewmember, Duane Hodges, was killed during the attack and 82 others were held in North Korean captivity for 11 months.
In his letter to Trump, Tipton said he requests the president raise the issue of the Pueblo during his summit with the North Korean leader.
“The House of Representatives would welcome the return of the USS Pueblo as a sign of good faith from the North Korean people to the American people,” the resolution read. [UPI]
You can read more at the link, but since its capture the USS Pueblo has been used as part of the standard propaganda tour around Pyongyang for both domestic and international visitors. You can read more about the USS Pueblo Incident at this link.
Considering that JTBC was the lead network used to take out former President Park Geun-hye by finding the highly suspicious tablet computer, I would not be surprised at all if they are now trying to create a narrative that these defectors were kidnapped:
North Korean staff who fled a North Korean restaurant in China pose for a photo in this screen grab from CNN on May 12, 2016
The shift in the ministry’s attitude has made other defectors nervous. One woman who came to South Korea in 2008 and is raising a son here said, “I haven’t slept more than an hour a night since the inter-Korean summit. People like me who have been living quietly could be dragged off to North Korea any moment.”
Some 31,500 North Korean defectors live in South Korea, and many are feeling unsure of their status amid the thaw. They have been seen as having the potential to build bridges between the two sides if the two Koreas reunify but could now find themselves treated as obstacles to the smooth running of the political machine.
They are complaining about the South Korean government’s indifference and ostracism by other South Koreans. To them, it would be a devastating signal if some of the restaurant staff are sent back to the North. (……………)
Meanwhile, the women who appeared in the JTBC report are living in fear, scared that their identities and whereabouts may be exposed. They have claimed that their comments were taken out of context in the JTBC report.
Civic groups supporting North Korean defectors also said their comments were not portrayed accurately. They simply said they miss their homes and wish to see their parents, but the report made it sound as if they were forced to come to South Korea against their will.
Kim Byung-Jo at the Korea National Defense University said, “North Korean defectors really know the good and bad points of both Koreas. It is important for the government to ensure that they do not feel nervous.” [Chosun Ilbo]
Women collect wild tea at a field in Hwagae Village in the southeastern town of Hadong on May 15, 2018. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has designated the region, which was certified in 2008 as the first to grow tea on the Korean Peninsula, as one of its world agricultural heritage systems in recognition of the site’s traditional tea-growing methods that maintain biodiversity. (Yonhap)
Here is who is reportedly replacing General Brooks as the next USFK commander:
Robert B. Abrams
The Donald Trump administration is expected to name Robert B. Abrams, a four-star Army general, as the new U.S. Forces Korea commander, according to a diplomatic source Wednesday.
Abrams will replace Gen. Vincent Brooks, who will leave his post as commander of United States Forces Korea (USFK) possibly as early as this summer. An official announcement naming Abrams, currently commander of the U.S. Army Forces Command, as the new head of the USFK is expected to come at a later date, and the replacement is expected to take place in July or August.
The White House is also expected to soon officially name four-star Adm. Harry Harris, the outgoing chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, as ambassador to Seoul, a long-vacant position. A diplomatic source well informed on the matter told the JoongAng Ilbo, “The duo of Harris, a four-star Navy admiral, and Abrams, a four-star Army general, stand at the front line in the case of any problems arising amid the rapidly changing situation on the Korean Peninsula.”
Their appointments would complete the Trump administration’s reshuffling of the diplomatic and security lineup over the Korean Peninsula. Abrams, 57, is the son of a 1950-53 Korean War veteran, Gen. Creighton W. Abrams Jr., a former Army chief of staff and commander in Vietnam who is known for legendary exploits in World War II. His two brothers are also in the military.
Abrams was born in 1960 in Germany and has spent more than 30 years in active service. A graduate of the United States Military Academy, Abrams received a master of science degree from Central Michigan University and a master of strategic studies degree from the United States Army War College. He has led units in countries including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Abrams also previously served as a senior military assistant to the secretary of defense and a strategic war planner for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He became the 22nd chief of United States Army Forces Command in 2015, commanding some 229,000 active duty soldiers. The Army Forces Command includes some 776,000 soldiers and 96,000 civilians. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
South Korea urged Japan on Tuesday to retract its repeated territorial claim over Dokdo, a pair of rocky outcroppings in the East Sea, saying it will only impede efforts to move forward bilateral ties.
It was a reminder of longstanding diplomatic rifts between the neighboring countries despite a call for firm unity among regional powers to handle Pyongyang’s recent peace overtures.
In a statement, South Korea’s foreign ministry denounced the description of sovereignty over Dokdo in Japan’s yearly foreign policy document, known as the Diplomatic Bluebook, reported to the Cabinet earlier in the day. [Yonhap]
Maybe the ROK government should summon the Japanese ambassador and have Flag Eater Man, Finger Chopping Lady, Knife in the Gut Man, Weed Killer Man, the Dokdo Riders, and Bee Man all to waiting for him so they can demonstrate their Dokdo patriotism. Despite the hyperbole over this issue, I believe Korea clearly wins on the Dokdo debate, but why muddle this issue with the stupid East Sea issue?:
The ministry summoned Koichi Mizushima, minister at the Japanese Embassy in Seoul, to lodge a formal protest. He refused to answer questions from reporters, entering the ministry building.
Kim Yong-kil, director general for the ministry’s Northeast Asian affairs, told the minister that Seoul can’t accept Tokyo’s unilateral naming of the body of waters between the two nations, officials said.
In the diplomatic paper, Japan said the waters shouldn’t be called the East Sea.
“In particular, (Kim) made clear that (the government) can’t accept Japan’s unjust claim regarding the East Sea name,” the ministry’s spokesman Noh Kyu-duk said at a press briefing. “(He) stressed that the East Sea is the correct name that has been used for more than 2,000 years in our country.”
f Koreans want to call the body of water East Sea I have no problem with that, but internationally the term Sea of Japan makes more sense. That is because East Sea is not East of Japan and thus makes no sense for an international observer not invested in the Dokdo/East Sea issue when they see it on a map. Korea would make a better case for renaming the body of water if they had a more generic description such as “Asian Sea”.
They could always go with my suggestion and just call it the “Nameless Sea”.
Here is what one man said he saw happening at a closed USFK base in the Western Corridor:
A closed U.S. military base in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, is open to public access on May 12. A truck reportedly stopped at this bend in the road last Dec. 2 to dump unidentified chemicals.
A dump truck pulled into view ahead, coming up from the back gate down to the front gate, both of which had been left wide open. Maybe it was just taking a shortcut?
As I followed it down, a few minutes later I heard another truck behind me. I jumped into the brush again. But this truck stopped at a corner, engine idling. I heard what sounded like someone dumping out fluids from containers onto the ground.
Finally, after at least 10 minutes, a door slammed and the truck pulled out. I hugged the brush as the truck trundled past me on its way downhill.
Once it was out of sight, I hiked up to where it had parked, but couldn’t find any trace of whatever was dumped out. So I escaped before a third truck could come.
Heading downhill, the front gate was still wide open and several dump trucks were parked in front.
Months earlier, the Seoul City Government tested the soil and groundwater around six USFK sites in the city, searching for signs of contamination by U.S. forces. One site was the Eighth U.S. Army Religious Retreat compound, which would’ve been used for weddings, not storing Agent Orange or formaldehyde.
The contamination tests in Seoul didn’t reveal anything too scandalous, but even if they had, I’d remember that U.S. base that once stood proudly between Seoul and North Korea, turned into a toxic waste dump. [Korea Times via a reader tip]
You can read more at the link, but local nationals illegally dumping is something I have seen plenty of times before in Korea from mechanics dumping oil into storm drains and septic trucks pumping their waste directly into a stream.
