Author: GIKorea

You would think these idiots would do a Google search to see how many former USFK servicemembers have been caught smuggling drugs through the mail to realize it is not worth it:

This photo provided by police shows a raid on the home of a USFK soldier suspected of being involved in drug trafficking. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

A United States Forces Korea (USFK) service member has been arrested on charges of smuggling drugs from the U.S. via military mail and using, selling or distributing them in South Korea, police said Wednesday.

The 24-year-old service member is accused of illegally importing 350 ml of synthetic cannabis through USFK mail between February last year and May this year, and smoking, selling or distributing them to USFK soldiers and others together with two civilian women, according to the Gyeonggi Pyeongtaek Police Station.

The service member assigned to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, 61 kilometers south of Seoul, allegedly used plastic containers for drug smuggling, taking advantage of the fact that it is not easy to distinguish between liquid synthetic cannabis and liquid electronic cigarettes. 

The smuggled drugs have been mostly sold to U.S. soldiers stationed in Pyeongtaek and Dongducheon, 41 km north of Seoul, through the two women and five others, the police station said.

It said the two women — a South Korean and a Filipino — have been arrested on drug trafficking charges and transferred to the prosecution for indictment. In addition, 17 other U.S. soldiers have been apprehended and sent to the prosecution without detention on suspicion of being involved in the purchases and sales of the banned substance.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Long time Korea expert Victor Cha, who now teaches at Georgetown University, is a big advocate of trilateral cooperation between the U.S., South Korea, and Japan:

The three leaders agreed to “inaugurate a new era of trilateral partnership” to counter military threats from North Korea and “aggressive behavior” from China in the South China Sea, according to a joint statement at the time.

“As we embark together in this new era, our shared values will be our guide and a free and open Indo-Pacific, in which our half-billion people are safe and prosperous, will be our collective purpose,” the statement said.

Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force joined warships from the U.S. and South Korea in several military drills this year, including a ballistic missile defense exercise on Aug. 29 near Jeju Island, south of the Korean Peninsula.

The U.S., South Korea and Japan’s “institutionalization in the broader scope of cooperation really is unprecedented,” Cha said.

“It is transforming the U.S.-[South Korea] and U.S.-Japan alliances from being more than just private goods that provide exclusive benefits to allied partners, to also publicly benefit the world,” Cha added.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This is horrible what the mother did, but Korean teachers may not want to hold this case up as a shining example of what they are fighting for if in fact the day care worker was negligent and led to the child’s hospitalization:

A photo provided by a day care center worker shows herself with baby excrement smeared on her face. Screencapture from JTBC

More than 50,000 citizens have called on the legislative body to take action to better protect teachers’ rights following a recent assault of a day care center staff member after a parent threw a diaper with baby excrement.

The alleged assault began to gain attention after the worker’s husband posted a petition on the National Assembly’s website, Sept. 12, to call for public support for legal protections for workers and teachers at day care centers and education facilities.

Earlier this month, the parents in question claimed that their two-year-old child received insufficient care at the center in Sejong, which resulted in an injury after a scuffle with another child. As the injured child was hospitalized for treatment, the worker and the head of the center visited the hospital to apologize for their oversight. The mother then threw the child’s diaper containing excrement at the worker’s face.

The worker’s husband then took the humiliating case to the Assembly’s website, and his petition gained more than 50,000 endorsements from the public in four days, which will oblige the relevant Assembly committee to review the petition.

“I’ve witnessed many unpleasant incidents involving teachers and education workers, but never something like this: a baby’s excrement on a worker’s face. And the worker is my wife,” stated the petition filed by the husband who is also a teacher. “Inadequate teachers can be reprimanded, but how about inadequate parents? Do we have measures to hold them accountable? Teachers and education workers need protections and I seek your help.”

Korea Times

You can read the rest of the article at the link that explains the parent’s side of the story.

South Korea continues to increase its military engagement with Ukraine by providing some much needed mine clearing vehicles:

Fortunately for Ukraine, South Korean firm Hyundai produces a similar breaching vehicle: the K600. And Seoul just pledged two of the 62-ton vehicles to Kyiv. South Korea will deliver the K600s “as soon as possible,” a government source told Chosun.

Hyundai makes a two-person K600 by removing the turret from a K1 tank—a South Korean variant of the American M-1—and adding a plow, an articulated excavator arm and a device for safely triggering magnetic mines.

The K600 is compatible with two dozer blades, both made by Pearson. A wedge-shape blade works best for digging up and shoving aside buried mines. A straight blade works better for generic engineering tasks: filling in trenches, digging revetments, et cetera.

Hyundai delivered the first K600s to the South Korean army in 2020. The South Korean and Ukrainian governments began discussing a K600 transfer back in May; the South Koreans finally approved the deal this month. There’s one caveat. The Ukrainians must deploy the vehicles only in “humanitarian” roles.

The caveat is meaningless. Arguably any mineclearing operation—even one that occurs while the engineers are under enemy fire—is humanitarian.

Forbes via a reader tip

You can read more at the link.

Very convenient that Lee Jae-myung checks himself into a hospital due to his so call hunger strike when prosecutors issue an arrest warrant for him:

Democratic Party of Korea head Rep. Lee Jae-myung, who is on day 19 of his hunger strike against the Yoon Suk Yeol administration, is transferred out of his office on a stretcher Monday morning. (Yonhap)

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the bedridden leader of the Democratic Party of Korea on a strike against what he calls President Yoon Suk Yeol’s “tyrannical rule,” is wanted by prosecutors on an arrest warrant request for the second time this year.

Seoul prosecutors said Monday they filed a request for an arrest warrant against Lee, who is already a defendant in two corruption trials, on three different counts of accusations.

One is that he colluded with a policy aide while he was mayor of Seongnam to hand favors such as a change in land permits to private developers, allowing them to illicitly profit from a city development project. The second is that he personated a prosecutor, and then asked a witness to testify falsely in court. The last is that he, as governor of Gyeonggi Province, paid North Korean authorities to organize his Pyongyang trip and to negotiate the province’s business deals with North Korea.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Here is typical Korean political theater from Lee Jae-myung to try and gain public sympathy as he fights corruption allegations. The fact that he is going to these lengths of politcal theater shows that he is very concerned he is going to get the Lee Myung-bak treatment:

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung expressed his desire Monday to continue his hunger strike even after he was taken to a hospital due to deteriorating health on the 19th day of his fast earlier in the day, officials said.

Spokesperson Han Min-soo of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) delivered the information to reporters after Lee was transferred to a nearby hospital earlier, suffering dizziness and a sharp drop in blood sugar levels.

“Lee will only receive a minimal amount of IV treatment and will not consume any food. The move is interpreted as his will to put a stop to the reckless administration,” Han said.

Regarding Lee’s condition, Han said Lee is out of immediate danger but is far from regaining vitality.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.