Author: GIKorea

South Korea can pretend there is a peaceful two state framework, but North Korea can’t. The need to free South Korea from American imperialism is part of the Kim regime’s ideology to justify their rule. Giving that up without taking over South Korea could question the legitimacy of the Kim family’s rule:

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Thursday that South Korea will seek to transform North Korea’s “hostile two-state” framework into a “peaceful two-state” arrangement, describing it as a transitional stage on the path toward eventual unification.

Speaking at the Global Korea Forum hosted by the ministry in Seoul, Chung said South Korea will continue pursuing rapprochement with Pyongyang despite the North’s frosty response, calling dialogue the most effective means of reducing hostilities.

“Even if North Korea continues to uphold the two-state theory, there is no justification for maintaining hostility,” he said in an opening speech. “The main focus should first be on ending this hostility. The alternative is to transform the hostile two-state framework into a de facto peaceful two-state framework. This is the core of our policy toward North Korea.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is another front of the purge the Lee administration is trying to do across the South Korean government:

Chief Justice Jo Hee-de denied Wednesday that he had colluded with ex-Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to render President Lee Jae Myung ineligible to run for president, with a guilty verdict that nearly stripped him of his candidacy to run for president in the June election.

The statement, delivered through the Supreme Court, was the first released by the judicial branch since the liberal ruling bloc ramped up pressure for Jo’s resignation.

“The political circles have raised speculations that Jo had met with former Prime Minister Han and discussed ways to handle (Lee’s) case concerning his (violation) of the Public Official Election Act,” read the statement. “But the chief justice has never discussed anything with anyone outside (the court) regarding the criminal case.”

This came amid political pressure urging that Jo resign from the post, labeling the Supreme Court’s 10-2 ruling in May to find Lee, who was then the presidential front-runner, guilty of making false claims with the intention to win the 2022 presidential election. The case was sent back to the high court, but court proceedings were halted after Lee won the June presidential election and was inaugurated.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Considering all the missiles that China has pointed at Japan, Taiwan, Korea, the Philippines, and Guam it only makes sense that the US and it allies flood the Pacific with missiles to point right back at them:

The Marine Corps is rehearsing island defense with its two newest missile systems alongside Japanese soldiers on Ishigaki Island, sending “a clear message to any attempt to undermine regional security,” the Marines’ top general on Okinawa said Wednesday. (……)

The systems arrived Monday for the first time on the island about 150 miles east of Taiwan, a spokeswoman with Okinawa’s Military Base Affairs Division said by phone the following day. Some Japanese government officials speak to the press only on condition of anonymity. The generals stood in front of two MADIS systems, a NMESIS system and Japan’s Type 12 Surface-to-Ship Missile and Type 03 Surface-to-Air Missile systems.

NMESIS mounts Naval Strike Missiles on joint light tactical vehicles to target ships at sea. The system plays a key role in the Marines’ Force Design strategy, which calls for littoral regiments to operate within range of enemy fire to seize and hold islands and block hostile vessels from nearby waters. Marines can operate the system remotely from “line of sight” or up to about 200 yards away, Capt. Kurt James, commander of the 12th Littoral Regiment’s Medium-Range Missile Battery, told Stars and Stripes before the news conference. The missiles have a maximum range of 115 miles.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I will believe this when I see it because the transfer of operational control has been discussed for decades now and still hasn’t happened:

Seoul is seeking to reclaim wartime control of its military from the U.S.-led U.N. Command in a move that would close a chapter of the three-year Korean War. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s administration will try to meet the criteria that would allow Seoul to finally retake control of its forces in the event of a war, according to a list of government goals released by South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday. South Korea’s alliance with the United States will become a “future-oriented” strategic partnership alongside a “firm and mature” relationship with Japan, the list states.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but as has been reported before the goal to retake OPCON is by 2030 which is afte the Lee presidency ends. This means a new president could just end the OPCON transfer like has happened before.

First of all, North Korea has no reason to begin talks with the South when their financial and military needs are currently being fullfiled by the Russians. Secondly the ROK is asking the Chinese to participate in a fantasy. There is no deal the ROK could make that would convince the Kim regime to give up their nuclear weapons. This is all just political theater:

 Foreign Minister Cho Hyun on Wednesday asked China to play its part to bring North Korea back to dialogue, stressing that South Korea seeks progress toward the North’s denuclearization and peace on the Korean Peninsula. 

Cho made the remarks during his first one-on-one talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as South Korea seeks to restore inter-Korean relations and resume dialogue with Pyongyang, despite the North’s repeated rejection of Seoul’s overtures amid its close alignment with Russia.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.