Author: GIKorea

You would think these fire evacuation spaces would not have doors that lock you in like this:

A man in Incheon was rescued after being trapped in a small space within his apartment flat for 20 hours. The successful rescue was attributed to the man’s resourcefulness and a neighbor’s response, according to police on Monday.

On the last day of 2023, the man in his 70s found himself locked inside the building’s evacuation area, which is a mandatory 6.6 square meter space in new apartment buildings designed for fire emergencies. Stranded without a phone in the cold for 20 hours, he resorted to desperate and resourceful measures.

He discovered a piece of cardboard and a knife and used the blade to inscribe “SOS” on the paper. He then suspended the message outside his window, hoping that someone would notice and alert the police.

His hopes were realized when a resident in a neighboring apartment building spotted the message and promptly called the police.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but this man was lucky someone spotted his sign and called the police.

From the Chinese perspective why would their government do anything to stop the flow of fetanyl into the U.S.? The more Americans hooked on drugs creates social decay and money wasted combatting the problem which are things the CCP likes to see happen in the U.S. Plus deep down they probably look at this as payback for Opium Wars when western powers, primarily the British, did the same thing to China:

Fentanyl pills seized by U.S. Custom and Border Protection officers at the Port of Mariposa in Nogales, Ariz., in November 2023. (Jerry Glaser/U.S. Customs and Border Patrol)

 Chinese and American officials held the first meeting of a working group that aims to curb the flow of illegal drugs such as fentanyl to the U.S. and the chemicals used to make them. “We reached common understanding,” China’s Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong said Tuesday, describing the talks in Beijing as “professional” and “pragmatic.” “Our two sides agreed to follow the principles of mutual respect, managing differences, and mutually beneficial cooperation as we work to carry on cooperation on counternarcotics,” Wang said.

The U.S. side emphasized the need for progress. “President Biden sent such a significant delegation to underscore the importance of this issue to the American people,” Deputy Homeland Security Advisor Jen Daskal said at the meeting.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here are the latest comments from President Yoon on North Korea:

 President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday that the North Korean regime is an “irrational group” that has legalized the preemptive use of nuclear weapons and will likely carry out multiple provocations to interfere with South Korea’s April parliamentary elections.

Yoon’s remark came as North Korea has ratcheted up tensions on the Korean Peninsula with a series of weapons tests since the start of the year, including back-to-back cruise missile launches last Wednesday, Sunday and Tuesday. (…..)

“Such actions themselves are anti-national and anti-unification, and provocations and threats that run counter to history,” Yoon said while presiding over the annual central integrated defense council meeting at the former presidential compound of Cheong Wa Dae.

“The North Korean regime is an irrational group that has legalized the preemptive use of nuclear weapons as the only (country) in the world to do so. If it was a sensible regime, it would abandon its nuclear weapons and search for a way for its people to live, but the North Korean regime is bent only on maintaining its hereditary, totalitarian regime,” he said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I think what President Yoon gets wrong is that the Kim regime is rationale from their perspective. It makes sense for them to continue to conduct weapons tests and maintain their status as a global threat to be taken seriously. Why would the U.S. make any serious concessions to North Korea during any potential negotiations if North Korea did not have proven ICBM and nuclear capabilities? These capabilities have also become a source of national pride for North Korea, a country that has little to be proud of.

It also makes sense that the Kim regime is going to continue to conduct provocations before April’s parliamentary elections. To get to any potential negotations where concessions favorable to North Korea are made they need to get Yoon and other conservatives out of office. The parlimentary elections are the first step to politically neutering ROK conservatives and set conditions for another Korean leftist to become the next President.

North Korea ultimately wants to get sanctions dropped while giving up little to nothing in return. They almost got this deal during the Moon administration and South Korea and the Trump administration in the U.S.

Is this just some kind of strange streak of bad luck or are these crashes a symptom of something else?:

Amid an “in-flight emergency,” a U.S. F-16 fighter jet crashed in waters off South Korea’s west coast Wednesday morning, the U.S. Air Force said in a statement, adding that the pilot had “ejected safely” and was transported conscious to a medical facility for assessment. (…..)

This is the second time in less than two months that the U.S. Air Force has experienced incidents with its F-16s. In December, another F-16 fighter jet from the 8th Fighter Wing crashed into the Yellow Sea off South Korea’s southeastern coast, with the pilot also having ejected safely before the crash. At the time, Gaetke ordered a two-day pause on flights for investigation and recovery of the aircraft. It’s unclear if that investigation has concluded.

Last May, another F-16 pilot ejected safely before the aircraft crashed into farmland near Osan Air Base.

TIME

You can read more at the link as well as over at the Stars & Stripes.

Here is the latest on the Dokdo front, just more of the same nonsense:

Foreign ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk speaks during a press briefing in Seoul, Jan. 16. Yonhap

Korea “strongly protests” Japan’s repeated claims to its easternmost islets of Dokdo, the foreign ministry said Tuesday, after Japan’s top diplomat renewed the claim in a speech before the parliament.

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa reiterated the claims to the islets, called Takeshima in Japan, during a speech on this year’s foreign policy objectives in a parliamentary session earlier in the day.

“The government strongly protests against the Japanese government’s repeated unfair territorial claims over Dokdo, which is clearly our own territory historically, geographically and under international law,” ministry spokesperson Lim Soo-suk said in a commentary.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the Japanese government should put a gag order on their governmental officials making Dokdo claims. South Korea is never, ever going to give up Dokdo to Japan and to keep bringing this issue up publicly is not helpful when the Japanese government is trying to strengthen relations with the ROK.

Jewel in the Palace is one of my favorite Korean dramas, but I would be surprised that a sequel to the series after over 20 years will have the same charm as the original. With that said Tom Cruise pulled that off in Top Gun Maverick so maybe Lee Young-ae can do it in this sequel to Jewel in the Palace:

Actor Lee Young-ae pose at production press conference of “Maestra: Strings of Truth”, Seoul, Dec. 6, 2023. Courtesy of tvN

Actor Lee Young-ae will reprise the popular character Jang-geum again in a new TV series, a follow-up to the mega-hit MBC drama “Jewel in the Palace,” a local entertainment company said Tuesday.

Fantagio said it has recently sealed a contract with a writer for the series, seven months after it confirmed the casting of Lee in the new series, “Dae Jang Geum” (working title).

Shooting will begin in October, the company said, adding it plans to air the show early next year.

“Dae Jang Geum” will tell the life story of Jang-geum as the king’s first female physician.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.