Author: GIKorea

The Unification Minister wants to downgrade U.S.-ROK military drills despite receiving nothing in return from the Kim regime:

New Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Monday he will propose adjusting South Korea-U.S. military exercises to President Lee Jae Myung, hours after Pyongyang denounced such joint drills and accused Seoul of “blindly adhering” to its alliance with Washington.

Chung revealed the plan to reporters, saying, “Yes, I have such an intent,” in response to a question about whether he plans to propose adjusting South Korea-U.S. military exercises to Lee.

In mid-August, South Korea and the U.S. are set to kick off their annual large-scale Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise.

The minister’s response came hours after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, accused the Lee administration of “blindly adhering” to the South Korea-U.S. alliance, declaring that Pyongyang will never engage in talks with Seoul.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Chung is basically doing the bidding of Kim Yo-jong.

An advantage the ROK Army has is that they can count on the US-ROK alliance to bring additional troops and advanced weapon systems to help defend against a North Korean attack:

South Korea must maintain at least 500,000 active-duty troops to defend against potential surprise attacks from North Korea, according to a new military study released Sunday. The report highlights growing concerns over the nation’s shrinking pool of conscripts due to its declining birthrate.

Published in the summer edition of Defense Policy Studies, the study determined the minimum troop requirement by applying the U.S. Army’s minimum planning ratio doctrine to the Korean Peninsula. Under this doctrine, a defending force should be able to hold their position against an attacker with a troop ratio of 1 to 3, whereas an attacker generally requires a ratio of 3 to 1.

The study, led by Kim Jeong-hyuck of the Korea Army Research Center for Future and Jee Hyo-keun of Konyang University, reported that as of 2022, North Korea had approximately 1.28 million troops, compared to South Korea’s 500,000 — representing a roughly 2.6 to 1 ratio. In the Army alone, the margin widened to almost 3 to 1, leaving Seoul’s forces “at the bare minimum for defense,” according to the authors.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It sounds like this ROK C-130 was in contact with U.S. Air Force air traffic control to land at Kadena, but no one bothered to inform the Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) of this landing:

Japanese fighter jets intercepted a South Korean airlifter low on fuel that entered Japanese airspace without approval while diverting to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, officials from both countries said Friday. A South Korean C-130 Hercules entered Japanese airspace without approval on July 13, a spokesman for Japan’s Joint Staff said by phone Friday. It was en route to Andersen Air Force base, Guam, to participate in a multinational exercise, according to text messages sent to reporters by South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense.

The ministry did not name the exercise, but the U.S. Air Force is conducting the large-scale Resolute Force Pacific through Aug. 8 across the Indo-Pacific, including Guam. The C-130 burned more fuel than anticipated while rerouting around stormy weather and diverted to Kadena to refuel, according to the ministry. However, the diversion was made without prior clearance from Japanese authorities, the Joint Staff spokesman said.

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force scrambled jets to intercept the C-130, but the spokesman did not provide further details. “We transmitted to South Korea that this scramble is regrettable and asked them to take measures to prevent further instances,” he said. “But as they are our important partner, we will continue to work closely together to address the issue.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

What I find interesting about this is that the former ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife could face charges for trying to influence an internal party election. This stands is in comparison to the U.S. where members of the Democrat party meddled to remove a sitting President that had won his party’s primary for a female candidate that won no primaries. Nothing ever happened to the Democrats who meddled to remove Joe Biden:

A prominent opposition lawmaker appeared for questioning by a special counsel Sunday over his alleged involvement in the party’s candidate nominations for key elections in 2022 and 2024, reportedly at the behest of former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife. 

Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) arrived at the special counsel’s office in central Seoul at around 9:30 a.m.

“I will seriously, sincerely and faithfully cooperate with the investigation,” Yoon told a swarm of reporters before entering. 

Special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team is investigating allegations that the former president and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, exerted influence to have former lawmaker Kim Young-sun win the then ruling party’s nomination in the 2022 parliamentary by-elections.

In a previously disclosed phone call, allegedly recorded in May 2022, Yoon suggested to self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun that he would instruct Rep. Yoon to make sure Kim wins the party nomination.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

What is notable about this report is that Kim Jong-un did not launch any criticisms towards South Korea or the U.S. signaling that Kim may not have any current animosity towards ROK President Lee Jae-myung or U.S. President Donald Trump:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited the Friendship Tower in Pyongyang on the anniversary of the signing of an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, pledging not to forget the contributions of fallen Chinese soldiers, state media reported Sunday. 

Kim also appeared to refrain from criticizing South Korea or the United States, as state media made no mention of him making such remarks during the ceremony.

Kim laid a wreath before the tower the previous day, saying that North Korea “would never forget the militant feats and merits of the fallen fighters of the Chinese People’s Volunteers,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, bringing the Korean War to a halt. Since 1996, North Korea has marked the date as Victory Day, claiming it won the Liberation War against U.S.-led aggression.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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