With NATO showing increasing support for South Korea against North Korean provocations and energy and defense agreements with Poland, President Yoon had a very good NATO summit. He concluded his trip to Europe was a final excursion to Ukraine:
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| President Yoon Suk Yeol speaks to his aides during a meeting on Korea’s heavy downpour on a train from Ukraine to Poland, Saturday (local time). Courtesy of presidential office |
President Yoon Suk Yeol wrapped up his trip to three central European nations, Sunday (local time), during which he signaled Seoul’s stronger bonds with NATO and Ukraine.
While Yoon was attending the 2023 NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile on Tuesday in yet another act of defiance.
Following the summit and attending engagements in Poland, Yoon paid a surprise visit to Ukraine to discuss cooperation in reconstructing the war-torn nation. (…….)The highlight of the trip, however, came after Yoon finished his preannounced six-day schedule, as he redirected his itinerary to Ukraine.
Yoon was invited to visit Ukraine during Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska’s visit to Seoul in May, and the presidential office had been reviewing this while preparing for the NATO summit. Yoon made the decision during his trip and reportedly asked for Poland’s help for his visit to Ukraine during the summit with Polish President Duda, who offered a safe route via train to Ukraine.Only a limited number of presidential staff knew about this as it was kept secret even to most staffers until just hours before his departure to Ukraine.
Korea Times
During his summit with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Yoon expressed Korea’s empathic support of Kyiv and promised expanded military, humanitarian and educational aid to the country. Zelenskyy responded by asking for South Korea’s participation in the country’s restoration projects.
You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see what Russia’s reaction to this is.
Horrible tragedy happening in South Korea with the torrential monsoon rains hitting the country:
Flooding and landslides caused by heavy rains have killed 37 people nationwide and left nine people missing, while thousands have evacuated their homes due to rain damage, authorities said Sunday.
The Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasure Headquarters said 37 people had been killed in the aftermath of the heavy rains that have pounded the country since last week, while nine others remained missing as of 6 a.m.
The death toll includes nine bodies authorities recovered from a bus trapped in a flooded underground tunnel in the central town of Osong.
The 685-meter-long underground roadway was flooded in Osong, North Chungcheong Province, the previous day when a nearby river overflowed after an embankment was brought down by rising water levels due to heavy rain.
Casualties from the underpass flooding are expected to rise further as a rescue operation continues for 15 vehicles and several people believed to be trapped inside the tunnel. Most fatalities were reported in the southeastern province of North Gyeongsang, where 19 people died largely due to landslides and housing collapses, and eight others remained missing.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
These seems like a good bet by South Korea to increase economic cooperation with the growing Eastern European power, Poland as well as prepare to help with the rebuilding of Ukraine when the war is over:
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and Polish President Andrzej Duda pose for a photo during their summit talks at the presidential palace in Warsaw on July 13, 2023. (Yonhap)
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Thursday that he and Polish President Andrzej Duda discussed strategic cooperation in nuclear energy, arms and infrastructure and agreed the two countries are “optimal partners” for Ukraine’s reconstruction.
Yoon made the remark during a joint press briefing following a summit with Duda, noting the two countries have already made large strides in their strategic partnership established in 2013, with bilateral trade reaching a record US$9 billion last year and South Korea becoming a key investor in Poland.
“We noted South Korean businesses’ expansion into cutting-edge industries in Poland, such as electric vehicle batteries and 5G networks, and agreed to work together to secure a future growth engine for both countries,” he said during the briefing at the presidential palace.
Yoon said he and Duda agreed that nuclear energy development is the optimal means to achieve both energy security and carbon neutrality, and to actively support cooperation between the two countries’ businesses for the successful construction of nuclear power plants in Poland.
He also said the two leaders agreed to work harder to ensure mutually beneficial cooperation in the defense industry following Poland’s purchases of 20 trillion won (US$15.6 billion) worth of K2 tanks, K9 self-propelled howitzers and FA-50 fighters from South Korea last year.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Considering how corrupt the IOC is I doubt Kim Yuna will be upgraded to a gold medal:
The Korean Sport & Olympic Committee (KSOC) said Tuesday it will ask the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to reinvestigate the results of the women’s figure skating final at the 2014 Sochi Olympics after gold medalist Adelina Sotnikova recently admitted failing an initial doping test that year.
Joong Ang Ilbo
Korean figure skater Kim Yuna took silver in the event after finishing second. If a review of Sotnikova’s 2014 tests were to go ahead and she was to test positive, the IOC could opt to eliminate her and elevate Kim to the gold medal spot.
The decision to appeal comes after Sotnikova told a Russian YouTube channel that she failed a drug test in 2014, but was cleared after providing a second sample. Clearing an athlete based solely on a second sample is considered highly irregular.
You can read more at the link, but the judges from the competition were suspected of being corrupt as well. If you haven’t already I recommend watching on Netflix the show Icarus that goes into detail how the Russians cheated during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
