Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
South Korea is a much better location than China to be building a Gigafactory. The Chinese government is already meddling in Tesla operations in Shanghai. Tesla would likely be free of such meddling with a South Korea based plant:
President Yoon Suk Yeol met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Wednesday and asked for his investment in a gigafactory in South Korea, a presidential official said.
The meeting took place at Musk’s request during Yoon’s state visit to the United States, according to senior presidential secretary for economic affairs Choi Sang-mok.
Yoon said South Korea boasts world-class manufactured robots and an advanced labor force, making it an ideal location to run a gigafactory.
“Should Tesla decide to invest, we will provide active support in terms of location, workforce and taxes,” he was quoted as saying.
Musk responded that he expects to pay a visit to South Korea, saying the country remains an interesting and leading candidate to host a gigafactory, according to Choi.
Yoon also voiced hope for greater cooperation between South Korean businesses and SpaceX, a U.S. spacecraft company headed by Musk, to help foster South Korea’s space industry.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
If China would quit threatening Taiwan with naval blockades and firing missiles over the country than the U.S. would not need to send personnel to help train them in the first place:
The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Milius (DDG 69) conducts a routine Taiwan Strait transit on April 16, 2023. (U.S. Navy)
China warned against continued U.S.-Taiwan cooperation Wednesday, responding to reports that the U.S. military was sending officers to help train Taiwan’s counterparts and that a delegation of defense contractors would visiting the self-ruled island next week.
“We resolutely oppose the U.S. having any form of official or military contact with China’s Taiwan region,” Zhu Fenglian, spokeswoman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a weekly press briefing in Beijing.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
Here is an extremely odd story coming out of JBLM:
Lt. Col. Meghann Sullivan takes the 5th Battalion, 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade guidon at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, June 28, 2021. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Joseph Knoch)
A top officer in the Army‘s 5th Security Force Assistance Brigade has been investigated following allegations of multiple sexual assaults and a pattern of sexual harassment, according to two sources with knowledge of the investigation. It is unclear whether the investigation is ongoing, but it comes while another is underway into allegations of toxic leadership by the brigade’s commander.
Col. Meghann Sullivan, commander of the 5th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 5th SFAB, faces allegations of assaulting at least two subordinate men and harassing several others, with some of those incidents allegedly tied to alcohol abuse, according to one of the two sources. At least one of those alleged assaults involved forceful kissing and another grabbing a man below the belt without his consent.
Military.com
You can read more at the link.
This is a pretty easy call for the White House because the American public will be calling for North Korea to be turned into a glowing parking lot of they fired nuclear weapons at South Korea and the U.S. troops stationed there:
South Korea and the United States agreed to take “swift, overwhelming and decisive” action using all of their military capabilities, including U.S. nuclear weapons, in the event of North Korea’s nuclear attack, President Yoon Suk Yeol said Wednesday.
Yoon made the remark during a joint press conference with U.S. President Joe Biden following their summit talks at the White House, outlining a joint statement, dubbed the “Washington Declaration”, that they adopted to strengthen “extended deterrence” against the North’s nuclear and missile threats.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Here is the latest person to call for the redeployment of tactical nuclear weapons to South Korea:
The United States should redeploy its tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula to make US extended deterrence credible against escalating threats from North Korea, said John Bolton, former White House national security adviser, on Tuesday. This strategy would also enable South Korea to buy time to weigh up the gains and losses of nuclear armament, he added.
“I’ve refused to give up on the possibility of stopping North Korea from getting deliverable nuclear weapons in the first place. That should remain (at) the center of our attention. This is not over yet,” Bolton said at the Asan Plenum 2023 hosted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link, but the redeployment of nuclear weapons Bolton says is also a way to hold China accountable for allowing North Korea’s nuclear weapons program in the first place.
