Does anyone think it is a coincidence that Cho Kuk received his pardon shortly after both Yoon’s were arrested and now sitting in jail?:
Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk was released from prison early Friday under a presidential pardon, after serving eight months of his sentence for academic fraud involving his daughter.
You can read more at the link.
So far President Lee is trying to maintain positive relations with Tokyo. How long will it be though before he brings up Dokdo, comfort women, or some other hotly contested topic to deflect attention from a domestic issue?:
President Lee Jae Myung will visit Tokyo on Aug. 23 to hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Lee’s office said Wednesday.
The meeting will involve a dinner hosted by Ishiba during Lee’s two-day working visit while on his way to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump on Aug. 25.
Lee’s trip to Japan is meant to resume a shuttle diplomacy — through which leaders of the two countries take turns traveling to a counterpart’s country frequently without diplomatic formalities — Lee’s spokesperson Kang Yu-jung said in a briefing at the presidential office in Seoul.
You can read more at the link.
This doesn’t look good for Kim Keon-hee if this true when combined with the prior handbag from hell allegations:
In 2022, during a Korean community dinner in Madrid, where she accompanied the former president on his NATO-related travels, Kim wore a Van Cleef & Arpels necklace valued at over 60 million won ($43,300) that was absent from her official asset disclosure. At the time, the presidential office said it had been “borrowed from an acquaintance.”
However, in May, Kim submitted a written statement to prosecutors claiming it was a replica and therefore not subject to disclosure under the public official asset reporting rules.
That alibi unraveled this month when Seohee Construction Chairman Lee Bong-kwan confessed to giving her the necklace in exchange for helping his son-in-law find a job in the Yoon administration.
Last month, the special counsel found a replica of the same model at the home of Kim’s elder brother’s mother-in-law. Prosecutors later brought both the genuine necklace — recovered from Seohee Construction — and the replica into court, using the contrast to challenge Kim’s account. They argued that the presence of the fake suggested a deliberate attempt to mislead investigators, a charge her defense has so far been unable to disprove. (…….)
Investigators also found a Vacheron Constantin watch box and an authenticity certificate during a search last month. The special counsel suspects the watch came from a businessman surnamed Seo, a major donor to Yoon, whose robotics firm later won a contract with the Presidential Security Service to provide a robot dog for patrol and surveillance. They are examining possible links between the gift and that deal.
Seo reportedly told prosecutors he met Kim in 2022 and bought her the watch after she expressed interest, claiming he could get it at a discount as a VIP and that she reimbursed him in cash.
You can read more at the link.
Notice that the goal to turn over OPCON to the ROK is well after President Trump leaves office which leaves door open for a new administration to delay it once again. The ROK has been saying decades now how they want wartime OPCON and then it always ends up being delayed. I guess in five years we will see what happens this time:
The Lee Jae Myung administration will seek to reclaim wartime operational control (OPCON) of the military from the U.S. within the next five years, establishing the goal as a key part of its foreign and security policy, according to its five-year policy road map announced Wednesday.
The blueprint links this initiative to a broader strategy of pragmatic diplomacy and permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, as well as to strengthening the country’s defense industry to enable it to become one of the world’s top four arms exporters.
The goals were announced by the State Affairs Planning Committee, a de facto transition team for the Lee administration following the snap election resulting from former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment.
You can read more at the link.
This was a pretty big screw up by whoever was captaining the ship:
Japan’s Ministry of Defense has denied a Japanese media report this week that Chinese naval vessels fired two warning shots at a Japanese warship that sailed into China’s territorial waters last year. Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyer JS Suzutsuki on July 4, 2024, inadvertently sailed within 12 nautical miles of the coast of Zhejiang province, Kyodo News reported at the time.
The Japanese destroyer was monitoring a live-fire exercise by Chinese forces in Hangzhou Bay, according to the report. After repeatedly warning the destroyer to change course, Chinese vessels fired two warning shots — one before it entered territorial waters and another after it crossed into the area, Kyodo reported Sunday, citing unnamed diplomatic sources.
You can read more at the link.
Eighth Army is now on its third commander in less than a year with a permanent commander yet to be appointed:
A new acting commander took charge recently of Eighth Army, the U.S. field army in South Korea, after his predecessor took on a new role as deputy commanding general of the service’s ROTC program. Maj. Gen. William Taylor, previously the operations director for U.S. Forces Korea, U.N. Command and Combined Forces Command, on Aug. 7 assumed command of Eighth Army from Brig. Gen. Sean Crockett, army spokesman James Choi said by email Tuesday. All three commands and the 2nd Infantry Division are headquartered at Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. military base overseas, about 40 miles south of Seoul in Pyeongtaek city. A former director of Army Aviation, Taylor led 2nd ID at Humphreys from May 2023 to June 2024.
You can read more at the link.
