N. Korea-Russia children’s campNorth Korean and Russian children take part in a ceremony at the Songdowon International Children’s Camp in the North’s eastern coastal city of Wonsan on July 22, 2025, to mark their entry into the camp as part of deepening their friendship, in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency the next day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
The personnel involved with catching the North Korean man who crossed the DMZ must have been really executing their responsibilities well to receive such recognition:
Two of the 10 South Korean soldiers who helped secure a North Korean man inside the Demilitarized Zone earlier this month were granted 30 days of leave, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. All 10 troops will receive commendations for their actions on July 3, when a North Korean man crossed the midwestern section of the heavily fortified border dividing the Korean Peninsula, a Joint Chiefs spokeswoman said by phone Thursday.
The group included two conscripts, who received the additional leave, and eight officers and noncommissioned officers, she said. South Korean forces deployed to interdict the man, who identified himself as a civilian, the South’s military said at the time. He was removed from the DMZ and remains under investigation.
Here is what the U.S. Commerce Secretary had to say in regards to South Korea after Japan signed a new trade deal with the U.S.:
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that he could hear “expletives” out of South Korea after Japan reached a trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this week.
Lutnick made the remarks, apparently suggesting that the tariff deal between the United States and Japan might have created a sense of urgency for South Korea, which seeks to reach a deal to avoid or lower the Trump administration’s 25 percent “reciprocal” tariff set to kick in on Aug. 1.
“I could hear the expletives out of Korea when they read the Japanese deal because the Koreans and the Japanese … they stare at each other,” he said in a CNBC interview.
“So you can imagine what they were thinking when they saw that Japan made that deal … They were like, ‘Oh man!,” he added, underscoring that Koreans “very much” want to make a deal.
Japan will at his direction, invest 550 billion US Dollars into the United States, which will receive 90 % of the profit and open markets for cars and rice. What is reciprocal?😢😢😢 https://t.co/gBuAHGrdwG
Tap water source covered with trash A massive amount of driftwood and other trash floats on Paldang Lake, a source of tap water for residents in Seoul and the surrounding Gyeonggi Province, in Hanam near Seoul on July 22, 2025, following a downpour that has hit the country. (Yonhap)
With the recent trade deal between the U.S. and Japan being agreed upon, this is now putting pressure on the ROK to get their own trade deal done before the August 1st deadline set by the Trump administration:
South Korea will take into account details of a recent trade deal reached between the United States and Japan in a bid to use it as a possible reference for Seoul’s trade negotiations with Washington, the presidential office said Wednesday.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday (local time) that Washington had reached an agreement with Japan to cut proposed reciprocal tariffs on Japanese goods from 25 percent to 15 percent, adding the deal also includes Tokyo’s $550 billion investment pledge.
South Korea is also seeking to reduce 25 percent reciprocal U.S. tariffs, as well as sectoral tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, through a comprehensive trade proposal ahead of the Aug. 1 deadline set by the Trump administration.
You can read more at the link, but it seems like the ROK will likely sign a deal with at least a 15% tariff rate so their imports remain competitive against Japan.
This is the first time I have heard of an abuse of power allegations where a national assemblyman had aids do household chores for them. For all the things for a cabinet nominee to resign over, being too lazy to dump your own trash was not on my bingo card:
Gender Equality Minister nominee Kang Sun-woo stepped down Wednesday amid criticism over alleged workplace abuses during her time as a lawmaker.
Kang has come under fire during her parliamentary confirmation hearing for various allegations, including having legislative aides perform her household chores, such as disposing of food waste at her home.
“I offer my sincere apologies to the people for the pain I have caused,” Kang said on her Facebook page. “I humbly accept the criticism and will live with self-reflection.”
“I am truly sorry to President Lee Jae Myung, who trusted me and gave me this opportunity,” she added.
There was no way Lee Jae-myung was going to keep such a high popularity rating. Like all other ROK presidents before him his approval rating is beginning to slide the longer he is in office:
President Lee Jae Myung’s approval rating slid for the first time since his inauguration in June after rising for five consecutive weeks, a survey showed Monday.
According to the survey by Realmeter and commissioned by a local news outlet, positive assessment of Lee’s performance fell 2.4 percentage points to 62.2 percent from the previous week, while negative assessment rose 2.3 percentage points to 32.3 percent.
The pollster said controversies surrounding ministerial nominees during last week’s confirmation hearings and damage from the recent torrential rains appear to have negatively affected the approval ratings.
Sit-in protest at comfort woman statue ends after 10 years This undated photo, provided by the civic group “Anti-Japan,” shows the Statue of Peace, a comfort woman statue, in front of the former Japanese Embassy in central Seoul. Members of the civic group vacated their sit-in site next to the statue on July 20, 2025, 10 years after the group began its protest in opposition to the December 2015 South Korea–Japan agreement on wartime sexual slavery victims. (Yonhap)
