(1) Marine Corps Lieutenant Ray Murphy earned the Medal of Honor in Korea for his incredible leadership in the face of a Communist Chinese assault on this day in 1953. Though badly wounded he rescued fellow Marines & covered their withdrawal with carbine. #usmc#koreanwar… pic.twitter.com/rhn3TymZOO
Snow-covered mountain This photo, taken from Uijeongbu, near Seoul, on Feb. 6, 2024, shows a snowy Mount Dobong that straddles the border with the capital’s Dobong Ward following snowfall overnight. (Yonhap)
Here are some interesting comments from President Yoon on the First Lady’s handbag scandal:
President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that first lady Kim Keon Hee failed to “cold-heartedly reject” a visitor armed with a hidden camera, speaking for the first time on allegations she accepted a luxury handbag from the man in 2022.
Yoon said in an interview with KBS TV that the bag was given to her as a “political maneuver” as it was filmed with a camera hidden inside a watch and the footage was only released last year ahead of an election year.
“The fact that she was unable to cold-heartedly reject him was the problem, if one can call it a problem, and it is a little regrettable,” he said. The interview was filmed on Sunday and aired Wednesday night.
Here are the details on how this was a planned political setup:
Yoon had come under growing pressure to address the allegations surrounding the first lady, even as his office maintained the Christian Dior bag, valued at around 3 million won (US$2,200), was given to her by a Korean American pastor in September 2022 as part of a premeditated hidden camera trap.
The issue was seen as a liability for the ruling party ahead of the April 10 parliamentary elections, as the incident occurred after Yoon took office as president in May 2022.
Yoon said in the interview that the incident took place when the couple were still living at their private apartment unit in southern Seoul, where his wife kept an office in the basement, before moving into the new presidential residence.
He suggested the pastor visited her at the office after claiming to have had ties with her late father and insisting that they meet.
“From now on, now that we have moved into the residence, not only will such things be managed well, but I think we will have to be clear so as not to cause any misunderstandings or anxieties or concerns among the people,” he said.
You can read more at the link, but the First Lady early in the administration was still living in their private home without a staff that would normally vet and advise on visits like this. When Kim Keon-hee was given the bag she seemed surprised which demonstrates she was not expecting it and thought this was only going to be a meeting with a pastor her father supposedly knew.
The fact this camera trap was executed early in Yoon’s presidency in 2022, but released shortly before the 2024 elections shows how this was a political setup to infleunce the upcoming election. President Yoon has made it clear there is a process in place now to prevent political setups like this from happening again.
Two former Park Geun-hye administration officials have received pardons from President Yoon after they had already completed their jail sentences. However these pardons will allow them to run for public office again:
This combination of file photos shows Kim Kwan-jin, left, former defense minister, and Kim Ki-choon, former presidential chief of staff. The two officials, who served in key positions during the Park Geun-hye administration, have been included on the special pardon list on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, the Ministry of Justice said on Tuesday.
Former Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin and former presidential chief of staff Kim Ki-choon ― both of whom served under former President Park Geun-hye before her impeachment ― have been included on a special pardon list, the Ministry of Justice said on Tuesday.
The two were among the 450,000 people expected to be granted pardons and regain rights, including the right to run for public office, by President Yoon Suk Yeol on the occasion of the Lunar New Year.
Kim Kwan-jin, 74, who served as defense minister and national security adviser under Park, was convicted in 2019 of meddling in politics by ordering the military cyber command to post online comments to sway public opinion in favor of conservative politicians.
He is currently serving as vice chairman of the presidential defense innovation committee.
Kim Ki-choon, 84, who served as chief of staff to Park between August 2013 and February 2015, was found guilty in 2017 of playing his role in creating a blacklist of artists critical of the administration.
Here is the latest building that will grace Seoul’s skyline in the next few years:
A 100-story landmark building will be built in central Seoul’s Yongsan District, which will also feature a pedestrian bridge linking buildings at the 45th-floor level, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said, Monday.
These are part of the city government’s revived plan to transform the 500,000-square-meter former railyard into an international business district.
The land has been vacant for 10 years after the previous development plan had been canceled due to the global economic crisis. The state-run railway operator KORAIL holds 70 percent ownership of the land.
Rape flowers on Jeju Island Rape flowers are in bloom near Sanbang Mountain in the city of Seogwipo on South Korea’s largest island of Jeju on Feb. 4, 2024. (Yonhap)
South Korea has found another customer for their growing defense industry:
During the talks held on the sidelines of the World Defense Show, the two sides discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation in defense and the arms industry, the ministry said.
On the margins the defense exhibition, South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) and Saudi defense ministry signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to pave the way for cooperation in the defense industry and joint weapons development.
Under the MOU, the two sides will launch a bilateral committee to jointly conduct research and development of weapons systems for continued cooperation in the defense industry, DAPA said.
Besides this MOU the ROK also secured a deal to sell missile interceptors to Saudi Arabia as well:
South Korean defense firm LIG Nex1 has clinched a US$3.2 billion deal to export mid-range surface-air-to missiles (M-SAM II) to Saudi Arabia, Seoul’s defense ministry said Tuesday.
LIG Nex1 inked the contract with the Saudi defense ministry to sell Cheongung M-SAM II in November, the ministry said.
It marks LIG Nex1’s second overseas sales of Cheongung-II following a deal with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January 2022.
The South Korean public understands what I have been saying for years, U.S. North Korea policy is at odds with reality because North Korea is never going to give up their nuclear weapons. The best that can be done is probably a deal that limits the amount of nuclear weapons they have and possibly eliminated their ICBM program:
Nine out of ten South Koreans are skeptical about the possibility of North Korea abandoning its nuclear program, a survey showed Monday, as the reclusive country continues to advance its nuclear weapons and missile programs.
According to the Gallup Korea poll of 1,043 adults, commissioned by the Chey Institute for Advanced Studies, 91 percent replied that the North’s denuclearization was “impossible.”
Of them, 41.4 percent considered denuclearization to be “not possible at all,” while 49.7 percent said it was not possible.
In last year’s poll, 77.6 percent of the respondents said they believed North’s denuclearization was impossible.
This may be signaling that the ROK may be interested in developing their own nuclear submarines in the future:
Adm. Yang Yong-mo (R), chief of naval operations, poses for a photo with Rear Adm. Thomas Buchanan (L), the commander of Submarine Group 10, which oversees Ohio-class submarines at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia on Feb. 2, 2024, in this photo provided by the South’s Navy on Feb. 4.
South Korea’s top naval officer visited a key naval submarine base in the United States for the first time and stressed the need to strengthen ties against growing North Korean threats, the South’s Navy said Sunday.
Adm. Yang Yong-mo, chief of naval operations, visited the Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay in Georgia, a southeastern coastal base home to key nuclear submarines, on Friday (local time), according to the Navy.
It marks the first time for a South Korean Navy chief to visit the base, which operates nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), a key U.S. strategic asset. SSBN is a sea-based leg of the U.S. nuclear triad that also includes intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bombers.
