Author: GIKorea

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

This has been long suspected will happen and now it has:

South Korea and the United States will conduct a major joint exercise this month to strengthen their combined readiness posture, the allies said Thursday, but added that around half of some 40 planned field training exercises will be rescheduled to next month.

The announcement came amid speculation that the allies may push back some field training tied to the annual Ulchi Freedom Shield (UFS) exercise until after September as South Korea seeks to mend frayed ties with North Korea.

The UFS exercise is set to take place from Aug. 18-28 and involves drills incorporating “realistic” threats aimed at enhancing the allies’ capabilities across all domains, their militaries said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The plan for Cho Kuk’s revenge gets closer to completion:

A special counsel team requested an arrest warrant for former first lady Kim Keon Hee on Thursday, a day after questioning her over allegations of election meddling and other irregularities.

Special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team said it filed for the warrant on charges of violations of the Capital Market Act, the Political Funds Act and a law on the acceptance of bribes for mediation.

“We requested it upon determining that the criteria for an arrest warrant were met,” assistant special counsel Oh Jeong-hee said during a press briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if this a good cop, bad cop dynamic where Colby is the good cop saying nice things to the ROK while Trump is the bad cop making big demands?:

Elbridge Colby, undersecretary of defense for policy, made the remarks on July 31 in a social media post following a phone call between South Korean Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back and U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“South Korea continues to be a role model in its willingness to take more of the lead in a strong defense against the DPRK and in its spending on defense,” Colby wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

DPRK stands for the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, North Korea’s official name. 

Colby also said the two allies are “closely aligned on the need to modernize the alliance” in response to shifting regional security dynamics.

Widely regarded as a key architect of Trump’s “America First” strategy in the security domain, Colby has led efforts to push U.S. allies to increase their defense budgets and assume a greater role in collective defense.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

If the former First Lady is locked up, Cho Kuk’s revenge will be almost complete:

A special counsel team on Wednesday wrapped up its first questioning of former first lady Kim Keon Hee over her alleged involvement in stock manipulation schemes, election meddling and other charges. Kim denied allegations against her, according to judicial sources.

The questioning lasted more than seven hours after beginning at around 10:23 a.m. at special counsel Min Joong-ki’s office in central Seoul.

Kim is the first spouse of a former or sitting president to publicly appear as a suspect in a criminal investigation.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This was a good idea by the Korean negotiators to really emphasize the manufacturing the ROK can help bring back to the U.S.:

During the interview, Kim also introduced a red baseball cap used by the South Korean negotiating team in talks with the U.S. The cap bears the embroidered slogan “Make America Shipbuilding Great Again” on its front, a message inspired by Trump’s “Make America Great Again” mantra. 

“We designed this and brought about 10 of them to the U.S.,” he said, adding that the tariff negotiations would have been very difficult if South Korea did not have the shipbuilding card.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.