Author: GIKorea

Tweet of the Day: Professional JAL Crew

Picture of the Day: Kim Jong-un Meets with Students on New Year’s Day

N.K. leader meets students on New Year's Day
N.K. leader meets students on New Year’s Day
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) is pictured with a group of students as he visits Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace in Pyongyang on Jan. 1, 2024, to watch them stage a performance to celebrate New Year’s Day, in this photo released the next day by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency. (Yonhap)

Did South Korean Intelligence Run a ‘Honeypot’ Sex Ring in Boston and Washington, DC?

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service is one of the suspects of who was the overall mastermind of a prostitution ring that specialized in servicing people who work for the government or defense industry:

The two brothels in Virginia (referred to in the affidavit as 'Target Locations 8 and 9') were situated in Unit 245 at the Avalon Mosaic in the quiet suburban town of Fairfax and Unit 649 of the nearby Hanover Tysons

The two brothels in Virginia (referred to in the affidavit as ‘Target Locations 8 and 9’) were situated in Unit 245 at the Avalon Mosaic in the quiet suburban town of Fairfax and Unit 649 of the nearby Hanover Tysons

Intelligence experts are becoming increasingly convinced that six high end brothels in the suburbs of Boston and Washington, D.C. were set up by a foreign nation as an espionage ‘honeytrap’.

They believe the brothels – allegedly masterminded by a 41-year-old South Korean woman – targeted politicians, high ranking government officials and defense contractors. 

But the mystery is which country was behind the scheme. Russia, China, Korea itself, or even Israel are al seen as possibly being behind the scheme.

‘Having the Koreans out front could have been a false flag to give China or another country plausible deniability if the plot unraveled,’ a one-time CIA senior operations officer told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview.

Daily Mail

Considering how stupid the people going to this brothel are they probably shouldn’t be working any where near the government:

Aspiring clients had to submit a membership application before they could book an appointment.

Required documentation included government-issued ID, phone and email contacts, employer information and credit card records, according to court records.

Bizarrely, numerous political, military and business officials provided it all without blinking an eye and proceeded to have sex in an apartment that for all they knew was outfitted with equipment to record video and audio footage.

‘Finding idiots like this would be pure gold for an intelligence service running a honeypot,’ said the retired foreign spy. 

A retired CIA senior operations officer was equally flabbergasted. 

‘This is at the level of a Nigerian prince scam,’ she said.

You can read much more at the link, to include a number of pictures of the prostitutes. Judging by the pictures these were some high-end Korean prostitutes working for this ring. Would China be able to recruit this many South Korean women to work for them? It seems more likely that the ROK NIS would be able to pull this off and according to the article ROK intelligence has attempted honeypot operations in the past to collect intelligence. It will be interesting if we will ever hear who was actually behind this honeypot operation.

Kim Jong-un Says North Korea Will End Diplomacy to Reunite the Two Koreas

Notice Kim Jong-un said that North Korea would abandon efforts to peacefully reunify with South Korea, this means takign over the South by force is still on the table. In other words really nothing has changed:

North Korea will scrap its efforts to reunify the Korean Peninsula due to South Korea’s “collusion with foreign forces,” the country’s state-run news agency reported Sunday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during the five-day, end-of-year ruling party plenary meeting in Pyongyang last week made a “decisive policy change” toward South Korea, according to a Korean Central News Agency report published Sunday.

Kim said Pyongyang will abandon its efforts to reunify the peninsula because of Seoul’s insistence on the “collapse of the [North Korean] regime” and “absorbing” the North, KCNA reported.

North Korean media frequently claim that efforts to peacefully reunite the peninsula following the 1950-53 Korean War is stymied by U.S.-South Korean military drills and economic sanctions.

“It is not suitable to … [North Korea] to discuss the issue of reunification with the strange clan, who is no more than a colonial stooge of the [United States],” the report said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Critics Claim ROK Defense Minister Holds Pro-Japanese Views of Dokdo Issue

You have to be an idiot if you think the ROK Defense Minister’s prior Facebook posting in anyway supports Japan’s claim to Dokdo. However, there are parliamentary elections in April in South Korea so expect a lot of stupid stuff like this to get brought up:

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik is facing criticism for his past remarks describing the nation’s easternmost islets of Dokdo as “disputed territory,” which critics claim reflects a distorted view of history.

“It is true that there are ongoing historical disputes, and territorial disputes regarding sovereignty over Dokdo between Korea and Japan,” Shin wrote in a Facebook post dated March 23, 2023, when he was a ruling People Power Party (PPP) lawmaker.

This view contradicts the official stance of the Korean government that the nation has long maintained effective territorial control of Dokdo – which Japan claims is its own territory – and therefore, there is no territorial dispute over the islets.

Shin further criticized liberal politicians for fueling anti-Japanese sentiment based on “outdated animosity towards the long-gone Imperial Japanese militarism.”

The Facebook post is currently hidden following several media reports about it.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Tweet of the Day: Huge “Tsunami”

https://twitter.com/SpecialJstorm/status/1742055206157000838

Picture of the Day: Lee Jae-myung Stabbing Suspect’s Realty Office Raided in Asan

Raid on office of suspect in attack on opposition leader
Raid on office of suspect in attack on opposition leader
Investigators from the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency seize materials during a raid on the office of a 67-year-old realty broker in Asan, 83 kilometers south of Seoul, on Jan. 3, 2024. The man stabbed the left side of the neck of Lee Jae-myung, head of the main opposition Democratic Party, during the latter’s visit to the construction site of an airport on Gadeok Island off Busan the previous day. (Yonhap)

ROK Military to Continue Policy of Limited Mobile Phone Use During Boot Camp

Considering how little time the Soldiers are given to use their phones during boot camp extending this program shouldn’t cause any issues with training:

Soldiers use mobile phones on an Army base in Gapyeong, 50 kilometers northeast of Seoul, Jan. 31, 2019. Yonhap

Soldiers use mobile phones on an Army base in Gapyeong, 50 kilometers northeast of Seoul, Jan. 31, 2019. Yonhap

The military has extended a trial program for new military conscripts at boot camps to use mobile phones for one hour on weekends and holidays, the defense ministry said Wednesday.

In July, the ministry introduced the six-month trial program as part of efforts to allow conscripts to use mobile phones during their mandatory military service to help them better connect with family members and friends.

The ministry said the program has been extended until it decides on a new policy on mobile phone use after analyzing the program’s results and considering measures to address possible security issues and impact on operations.

Conscripts used to be barred from carrying mobile phones for security reasons, but the troops — except for fresh recruits — can now use and possess phones from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 8:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

South Korean Government Protests Dokdo Being Included in Japanese Tsunami Warning

Even this recent deadly earthquake in Japan cannot stop the Dokdo madness:

Seoul’s foreign ministry expressed a strong protest against Tokyo on Tuesday as Japan’s weather agency included South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo in a tsunami advisory issued after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Japan.

In a map showing tsunami alerts on the Japan Meteorological Agency’s website, the rocky islets were highlighted in yellow, along with other regions on Japan’s west coast, indicating tsunami advisories were issued for the areas. 

The powerful quake struck the Noto Peninsula and surrounding areas in Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture on New Year’s Day, reportedly killing several people and causing tsunamis on South Korea’s east coast.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this is really an issue that President Yoon needs to work with Japan to resolve to further improve bilateral relations.

Tweet of the Day: U.S. Surpasses China as South Korea’s Biggest Export Market