Author: GIKorea

I wonder what made up airspace boundaries Kim Yo-jong is claiming this aircraft violated?:

Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, on Monday claimed US reconnaissance aircraft intruded in the country’s airspace.

Kim issued a statement alleging that a US spy aircraft intruded in the North’s eastern airspace twice at around 5 a.m. and 8:50 a.m., respectively, on the same day.

In a statement carried by the Korean Central News Agency, she said the US is “engaging in a serious military provocation by conducting aerial surveillance.”

Kim Yo-jong added that the North will not respond directly to the US reconnaissance activities outside of the country’s exclusive economic zone, but warned that it will take “decisive action” if the US military again crosses its maritime military demarcation line.

Meanwhile, South Korea’s military rejected the North’s claim of its airspace being violated as “not true” and described flights by US aerial surveillance assets around the peninsula as part of regular surveillance activities.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Korea will have come a long way if lawmakers end up banning dog meat:

From left, Reps. Han Jeong-ae, Nam In-soon, Ko Min-jung and Seo Young-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea, Seoul City Councilor Kim Ji-hyang and HSI Korea Executive Director Chae Jung-ah hold a press conference at the National Assembly in Seoul, Monday, calling for a legislative ban on the consumption of dog meat. Newsis

Lawmakers and animal rights advocates joined forces, Monday, to urge the National Assembly to introduce a legislative bill that will permanently end the consumption of dog meat and eliminate the cruel industry. 

The group of four lawmakers, all of whom are from the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea, one Seoul City councilor and an animal rights advocate delivered their message in a press conference at the Assembly in Seoul, one day ahead of this year’s “chobok,” which marks the beginning of the hottest part of summer.

Traditionally, Koreans consumed dog meat on the day to replenish their strength against the hot weather, but this practice has been on a sharp decline, and more people opt for samgyetang, a soup containing chicken and ginseng.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I can remember the years prior to the 2002 World Cup where the boshintang restaurants could be easily spotted. However, because of the international attention of the World Cup these restaurants became much more discreet. Now a days I hardly ever see them as Korean consumers have largely given up on eating dog meat.

My biggest problem with dog farming in South Korea is that some of these farmers are very inhumane with dogs raised in small cages and then beaten to death to better tenderize the meat.

According to the experts getting a CT scan is more dangerous than Japan’s plan to released filtered waste water into the nearby ocean:

Rafael Mariano Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, second left, arrives to inspect the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant in Futaba, northeastern Japan, on July 5, 2023. (Hiro Komae, Pool)

The contaminated water that had been stored will be treated to remove most of the radioactive materials except for tritium (more on that below).

The wastewater will be diluted to 1,500 becquerels – a unit of radioactivity – of tritium per liter of clean water. For comparison, Japan’s regulatory limit allows a maximum of 60,000 becquerels per liter, while the World Health Organization allows 10,000. That means the concentration of tritium will be “far below” international regulatory standards, according to the Japanese government.

The water will then be released through an underwater tunnel about 3,280 feet (one kilometer) from the coast of Japan, away from areas where fishing routinely takes place. The process is expected to take 30 years or longer.

What is tritium?

Tritium is a form of hydrogen with two extra neutrons and it emits low levels of radiation. Like hydrogen, it combines easily with oxygen to form water, or in this case “tritiated water,” which is difficult to distinguish from ordinary water.

We’re actually exposed to small amounts of tritium every day, because it exists in tap water, in the rain and in the air.

In fact, tritium is already being discharged into rivers and oceans from other nuclear facilities around the world at higher concentrations than the treated water that is set to be released from Fukushima, said Tony Irwin, nuclear energy expert and honorary associate professor at the Australian National University. Facilities in China, South Korea, Taiwan, France, the United States and elsewhere release treated water that contains tritium, within regulatory standards.

“We go and have a CT scan or something like that, and you get multiple times the radiation doses without any harm,” Irwin said. “Low levels are no problem. Very high levels are a problem. But the sort of levels we’re talking about with this discharge are negligible.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but are all the people protesting this waste water release going to start protesting against other nations like China that release far more waste water into the environment? Better yet are they going to start protesting hospitals for giving out CT scans with even more radiation?

Since this incident apparently happened on Camp Humphreys back in 2018 it makes me wonder if this was a KATUSA soldier that was slapped?:

South Korean soldiers walk on the grounds of Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Friday, July 7, 2023. (Christopher Green/Stars and Stripes)

 A former South Korean army officer cleared of assault charges after slapping a subordinate on a U.S. military base in 2018 must stand trial again after the country’s highest court reversed an appellate court’s ruling.

The officer — identified as a colonel in South Korean media reports — was convicted in a military court of assault for lightly slapping a soldier five to eight times for failing to salute, according to a June 15 decision by the Supreme Court of Korea. The conviction carried a maximum two-year prison term. 

The decision sends the case to the Seoul High Court for retrial. 

Both soldiers served in the same unit that supported the U.S. armed forces, according to the supreme court decision. The incident occurred at an unspecified base in Pyeongtaek, home of the U.S. Army’s Camp Humphreys and the Air Force’s Osan Air Base.

Names, ranks and other information about the soldiers were redacted in the court filing. Except in extreme cases of “cruel” crimes, South Korean law protects the identity of the accused.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but back in the day physical punishment for infractions like this was common which is probably why this Colonel thought it was okay to slap the soldier. I once did combined training with a ROK Army unit and at morning formation a ROK soldier ran to formation a few seconds late and the platoon sergeant slapped him, pushed him to the ground, and kicked him. No one ever showed up late to formation the rest of the exercise.

I wish the Chief of the IAEA would have asked these lawmakers when South Korea is going to stop dumping their own treated radioactive water into the ocean?:

Rafael Mariano Grossi (R), director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), attends a meeting with Woo Won-shik (L), the floor leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), and Wi Seong-gon, a DP member who heads a special committee tasked with opposing Japan’s Fukushima water discharge plan, at the National Assembly on July 9, 2023. (Yonhap)

Senior officials of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) on Sunday met with the chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to express concerns and regret over Japan’s plan to discharge water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi met DP officials during his three-day visit to Seoul to explain the U.N. nuclear watchdog’s report that concluded Japan’s Fukushima water discharge plan would meet international standards.

DP floor leader Woo Won-shik expressed regret over the IAEA’s backing of Japan’s water release plan despite lingering public concerns over the potential long-term impact of treated wastewater on people and the environment. 

“(The IAEA’s) verification was biased in favor of Japan from the beginning, losing its neutrality and objectivity,” Woo, who has staged a hunger strike for the 14th day, said during the meeting at the National Assembly.

“It is very regrettable that (the IAEA) made a conclusion without properly investigating (the water release’s) impact on neighboring nations, making it ‘self-verification’ and ‘a Japan-tailored investigation,'” Woo added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this is all just political theater for the uninformed masses on this topic that do not realize that South Korea and other countries release more becquerels of tritium per year into the ocean than what the Fukushima plant is scheduled to release.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.