Author: GIKorea

Some people have no sense of shame if they think ordering employees to do chores around their house is okay:

Gender Equality Minister nominee Kang Sun-woo apologized Monday for having legislative aides perform her household chores, such as disposing of food waste at her home, amid opposition criticism and calls for her resignation over alleged abuse of power. 

Kang offered the apology during a parliamentary confirmation hearing on her nomination, when she was pressed by opposition lawmakers, including Rep. Lee Dal-hee of the People Power Party, who actually brought a plastic bag of food waste to the hearing to make her point. 

“I sincerely apologize for the controversy I’ve caused. I offer my heartfelt apologies to the aides who may have been hurt in the process,” Kang told lawmakers at the National Assembly. 

“I humbly accept my shortcomings and will take this as a lesson to be more mindful in my words and actions, and to move forward with greater care and consideration,” she said.

Kang, a two-term lawmaker of the ruling Democratic Party, was nominated for gender minister late last month. 

The controversy arose after some of her staff members raised allegations that she ordered her aides to do her household chores and repair her toilet, claiming that her abusive behavior amounts to “gapjil” — a Korean term used to describe a power-abusing workplace practice by a superior.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I once saw Mt. Kumgang through a telescope along the DMZ on South Korea’s east coast. It looked like a pretty amazing mountain. I hope to visit it one day when the Kim regime is no longer around:

North Korea’s Mount Kumgang, noted for its striking natural beauty, has been inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site on Sunday.

During the 47th session of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee in Paris, the decision was made to inscribe the mountain and the historical relics in and around it on the list of protected landmarks and sites of internationally recognized cultural, historic or scientific value.

For more than a thousand years, Mount Kumgang (Geumgang in South Korean romanization) has enchanted artists, lyrists and travelers alike with its breathtaking panorama of craggy granite peaks, tumbling waterfalls and mist-veiled gorges.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The Pentagon is putting both the Japanese and the Australians in a difficult spot because it is in both countries interest to keep things ambiguous considering their business ties to China. It is even more complicated for Japan considering their pacifist constitution. However any conflict with China will likely lead to U.S. bases in Japan being attacked that would draw the Japanese into the conflict regardless:

The Pentagon is urging Japan to make clear the role it would play in the event of a U.S.-China conflict over Taiwan, a media report said Saturday, with the U.S. Defense Department’s No. 3 official later appearing to confirm the push.

U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby has been broaching the sensitive issue in meetings with Japanese and Australian officials in recent months, the Financial Times (FT) quoted unidentified sources as saying.

Japan Today

You can read more at the link.

This would seem to make sense that if the Trump administration wants to turn USFK into more of a regional defense force that OPCON should be transferred to the ROK:

South Korea’s presidential office dismissed speculation that wartime operational control (Opcon) is being discussed in ongoing trade and security talks with the United States, as political tensions flare over a potential “package deal” ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s Aug. 1 tariff deadline. 
  
With fewer than 20 days remaining until the Trump-imposed tariff timeline, the Lee Jae Myung administration moved to shut down political controversy surrounding the transfer of Opcon. 
  
Opcon refers to the authority to command combined U.S. and South Korean forces in wartime. Under the current system, a U.S. general heading the Combined Forces Command leads both militaries in the event of a major conflict with North Korea. 
  
Once Opcon transfers, a South Korean general would command the future Combined Forces Command.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but what is interesting about the OPCON topic is that the Korean left has long sought this. Now that there is a U.S. adminstration willing to give it to them the Lee administration is backpeddaling from the negotiations.

Hopefully Ukraine’s allies are keeping pace with Russia’s allies in the production of artillery rounds:

North Korea has continued to provide Russia with artillery shells to support its war against Ukraine, which amounts to more than 12 million rounds of 152 mm shells, according to South Korea’s military intelligence authorities Sunday.

North Korea is believed to have provided around 28,000 containers containing weapons and artillery shells to date, according to a report by the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) submitted to a lawmaker of the main opposition party.

“If calculated with 152 mm single shells, (the number of supplied shells) are presumed to have reached more than 12 million,” the DIA under the defense ministry said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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