Author: GIKorea

It looks like Japan’s new incoming Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has a strong advocate for her leadership in the White House:

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday hailed the choice of conservative Sanae Takaichi to be Japan’s first female prime minister, calling her a person of “wisdom and strength.”

“Japan has just elected its first female Prime Minister, a highly respected person of great wisdom and strength,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.

“This is tremendous news for the incredible people of Japan. Congratulations to all!”

Media reports have said that Trump is expected to visit its key Asian ally in late October.

Takaichi hailed a “new era” Saturday after becoming head of Japan’s ruling party, putting her on course to become the country’s first female prime minister.

The 64-year-old, whose hero is Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, said that a “mountain of work” lay ahead to restore the fortunes of her ailing Liberal Democratic Party.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link.

A very different Chuseok experience for former President Yoon and his wife this year:

Then-President Yoon Suk Yeol and then-first lady Kim Keon Hee celebrate the Chuseok holiday in this video message released in 2023. Courtesy of the Presidential Office

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, spent their first Chuseok in jail without any special meal, according to the Ministry of Justice, Monday.

Until last year, the ministry’s Korea Correctional Service provided inmates with special meals during the mid-autumn harvest festival that falls on the 15th day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar, as well as during the Lunar New Year, in accordance with the Enforcement Decree of the Act on Execution of Sentences and Treatment of Inmates.

Due to budget cuts for special meals in prisons this year, however, the agency stopped offering special food during Chuseok and the Lunar New Year.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Considering how capitalist Vietnam is sometimes people forget they are still ruled by a Communist regime:

Vietnam’s top leader, To Lam, will visit North Korea to mark the 80th founding anniversary of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, state media reported Monday.

The Vietnamese leader will pay a state visit to the North at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the occasion of the party anniversary set for Friday, the Korean Central News Agency reported in a short dispatch.

Vietnam’s foreign ministry also announced that Lam will visit North Korea for three days starting Thursday.

It would mark the first trip to North Korea by a Vietnamese leader in 18 years.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The article doesn’t say, but I wonder how many countries Pyongyang got to show up to their defense expo?:

This image published by the Korean Central News Agency on Oct. 5, 2025, shows North Korea’s Defence Development-2025, which kicked off in Pyongyang on Oct. 4. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

North Korea has launched its annual defense exhibition for the third consecutive year, with leader Kim Jong-un describing it as “the results” of the country’s projects to modernize and advance its military capabilities, state media reported Sunday.

The Defence Development-2025 kicked off in Pyongyang the previous day, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

n a speech at the event, Kim touted it as the “recent results of the important projects … to put the structure of the DPRK’s military capabilities, with its nuclear deterrent as the backbone, on an increasingly modern, advanced footing.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The annual national traffic jam began again this weekend:

Cars are stuck on the Gyeongbu Expressway in Seoul on Oct. 3, 2025, the first day of the extended Chuseok holiday. (Yonhap)

Heavy traffic began to build on major roads and highways across South Korea on Sunday as people headed to their hometowns for family reunions a day ahead of Chuseok.

Chuseok, the Korean fall harvest festival, falls on Monday but South Koreans are enjoying an extended holiday from Friday to Thursday, as it falls between National Foundation Day and Hangeul Day, which marks the creation of the Korean alphabet.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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