The fat Rocketman is ringing in the holidays the only way he knows how with missile tests:
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Monday asked his national security team for an “instant and overpowering response to any North Korean provocations” following the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile by Pyongyang earlier in the day.
The North’s fifth ICBM launch of the year was fired into the sea off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Monday morning, as previously predicted by a senior Seoul official last week.
In a National Security Council meeting called hours after the test-firing, the president said three-way cooperation with the US and Japan would be bolstered with the real-time North Korean missile data scheme to be activated soon.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the ICBM was fired eastward from Pyongyang at around 8:24 a.m. Monday and traveled some 1,000 kilometers before falling into the sea. The JCS said the ICBM used solid fuel. Less than half a day prior at around 10:38 p.m. Sunday, North Korea had also launched a short-range missile into the sea east of the peninsula. (…..)
Based on information from the JCS, Yang said the ICBM appeared to have reached an altitude of at least 6,000 kilometers, flying for more than an hour before landing in the sea. He noted that the last ICBM fired in July also flew as high as 6,000 km, far surpassing the maximum altitude of 3,000 km reached by the ICBM tested just before that in April.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link, but the belief is that North Korea is once againing signaling to the U.S. that it can hit the continental United States with their ICBMs.
This is an interesting to see how both CEOs perform leading two of Korea’s biggest IT brands:
Naver CEO Choi Soo-yeon, left, and Kakao CEO nominee Chung Shin-a / Courtesy of each company
Naver and Kakao, Korea’s two major internet companies, are in a female leadership contest after the latter recently nominated Chung Shin-a, chief of the group’s venture capital unit, as CEO, according to industry officials and experts.
Naver, operator of Korea’s most used internet portal service, and Kakao, which owns the most popular mobile chat app KakaoTalk, are both to be run by female CEOs.
Of note, is how these two CEOs will lead the internet giants in the AI era, they said.
The appointment of women as CEOs in a rapidly changing IT industry is explained by their expertise in the sector, they said. Also, by appointing women as new leaders, the companies can expect to refresh their image.
“What is expected from female CEOs is not only their expertise but that they can scrutinize the business more thoroughly as women,” Kim Dae-jong, a professor of business administration at Sejong University, said.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
Of course the DPK is going to lie and claim a soju party is what caused South Korea to lose the Expo vote, but this is not a good look for a President to be out with private business CEOs like this:
President Yoon Suk Yeol toasts with Dutch Queen Maxima during a state banquet at the Royal Palace Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Dec. 13 (local time). Joint Press Corps
President Yoon Suk Yeol is mired in controversy over his recent international trips, with reports alleging he had “a secret drinking session” with accompanying business tycoons in France, and the Korean ambassador to the Netherlands being summoned by the Dutch government over Yoon staffers’ excessive demands on presidential protocol.
The Hankyoreh newspaper reported on Friday that Yoon had a closed-door dinner and drinks at a Korean restaurant in Paris on Nov. 24. Attending was Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong, Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Chung Euisun and other business leaders who accompanied Yoon to assist Busan’s bid to host the World Expo 2030.
It was four days before the Expo’s governing body held a vote to select the host city of the 2030 event. Busan lost to Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh in a 29-119 count, despite efforts from the government, the public and major Korean businesses.
It was Yoon’s second visit to Paris this year as part of campaigning to promote the city’s bid. The presidential office described the trip as “a tireless journey that wasted not even a second,” while the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) raised suspicion that it could have been a junket.
“While spending taxpayer’s money for a foreign visit, Yoon had a soju bomb dinner with conglomerates. Since when did binge drinking become a tireless journey?” DPK spokesperson Rep. Kang Sun-woo said in a commentary.
“Is the reason for bringing business leaders on foreign trips to find someone to join in the drinking sessions? No wonder a shocking outcome of 29-119 has unfolded.”
Lee Un-ju, a former lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party, said in a radio interview with CBS that Yoon and his cohorts behavior gives a misconception to foreign investors that Korea is a corrupt country where the government and businesses collude.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link, but President Yoon definitely has a lot of unforced errors that feeds negative press coverage of him.
A mountain in Hwacheon County in Gangwon Province is covered in snow amid a cold wave on Dec. 17, 2023. (Yonhap)
Kim Jong-il was the OG rocketman, so it is only fitting that his son would have a missile fired on his anniversary:
North Korea fired one short-range ballistic missile toward the East Sea on Sunday, the 12th anniversary of the death of late leader Kim Jong-il, according to South Korea’s military.
The launch briefly raised speculation that it could be an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) because South Korea’s First Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo said a few days earlier the North could fire an ICBM within this month.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, however, that the North fired a short-range missile from in or around Pyongyang at about 10:38 p.m. and it flew about 570 kilometers before splashing in the East Sea.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
For my readers in South Korea, bundle up because it is cold out there:
An icy cold wave that spread frigid winds over the weekend is expected to continue throughout the week, meteorologists said Sunday, urging caution over slippery roads, freezing and bursting water meters and other damage.
The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) issued cold wave advisories and warnings for most parts of the country, saying the ongoing cold spell is caused by a southward inflow of cold air from Siberia.
Midday highs remained at around minus 8 degrees Celsius across the country on Sunday. On Monday, morning lows in Seoul are forecast to be minus 11 degrees and midday highs minus 2 degrees. (…….)
Amid the cold weather, the Korea Railroad Corp. (KORAIL) reported damage to a Mokpo Station-bound KTX carrying 788 passengers, saying that windows on the bullet train were cracked at around 10:10 p.m. on Saturday.
KTX train windows are double-glazed, and this time the outer parts of the windows cracked, according to the company. The accident caused no injuries or disruptions to operation of other trains.
“While outside parts of the windows of the train have become weak due to the cold weather, some of them were cracked after they were hit by pebbles,” a KORAIL official said.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
