Author: GIKorea

I figured it was only a matter of time before the leaker got caught. There are ways of tracking down people who print out classified documents and post them online:

A Massachusetts Air National Guard member who has emerged as a main person of interest in the disclosure of highly classified military documents was taken into custody Thursday by federal agents, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced.

Investigators believe that the guardsman, who specializes in intelligence, led the online chat group where the documents were posted. Garland identified the guardsman as 21-year-old Jack Teixeira, and said he would be charged with the unauthorized removal of classified national defense information.

FBI agents converged Thursday at Teixeira’s Massachusetts home and heavily armed tactical agents took Teixeira, who was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, into custody outside the property, “without incident,” Garland said.

Yahoo.com

You can read more at the link, but from what I have read about this guy he was posting these documents to essentially win arguments and be the cool guy in the chatroom he was part of. Hopefully he spends more time in jail than the last major leaker to be a deterrent to this type of behavior.

The Kim regime caused another evacuation order yesterday on the Japanese island of Hokkaido due to their latest missile test:

North Korea on Thursday fired what is believed to be a solid-fuel ballistic missile that landed between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, raising fears of possible technical advancement in its weapons program.

Speaking to reporters, a Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) official said North Korea’s military appears to have fired a new type of intermediate-range ballistic missile ― possibly running on solid fuel.

Solid fuel offers greater mobility for missiles and reduces preparation time before launch, compared with liquid fuel that takes more preparation time requiring activities that could be detected, therefore, giving some time for South Korea and the United States to prepare before launch.

“Given the significance of North Korean founder Kim Il-sung birthday on April 15, North Korea highly likely tested its solid-fuel ballistic missile,” Cheong Seong-chang, a senior analyst at the Sejong Institute think tank, told The Korea Times. “The test would give the regime the opportunity to send its defiant message to Seoul and its allies and to promote it as an accomplishment ahead of the politically important anniversary.”

A solid-propellant intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is one of the key weapons on the wish list of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who has been expanding and expressing his nuclear ambition following his fruitless summit with then U.S. President Donald Trump in 2019.

The JCS said the missile was fired at a high angle from its capital area and fell into the East Sea after a 1,000-kilometer flight.

North Korea’s latest provocation prompted Japan to issue an evacuation order on Hokkaido. The warning was retracted later when it became obvious that the missile would not fall near the northeastern Japanese island. The country’s defense ministry said the missile could be an ICBM. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see if this new policy has any effect on the amount of bullying in Korean schools:

This is a still image of Netflix’s “The Glory,” which revolves around the revenge-driven female character who survived horrifying abuse in high school. (Netflix)

Students with a history of bullying or school violence will have their records reflected in the regular college admissions process starting in 2024, and the current bullying record retention period of two years will be extended to four years after graduation, the government said Wednesday.

School violence records will be submitted to colleges “voluntarily” in the admissions process for the 2025 school year, but will be reflected on a “mandatory” basis for admissions in 2026. According to the Education Ministry, bullying records would not be included in this year’s college admissions because changes to university criteria and admissions guidelines must be announced two years in advance.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Here is an update on South Korea’s first lunar orbiter:

 South Korea’s unmanned space vehicle Danuri has sent photos of the moon’s far side during its mission to collect selenographic data, the science ministry said Wednesday.

Danuri, which is rotating around the moon 100 kilometers above the surface, took pictures of the Tsiolkovskiy crater on March 22 and the Vallis Schrodinger and Szilard M craters each on March 24 with its high-definition cameras, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).

They are the first photos of the moon’s far side that South Korea has taken.

On top of that, Danuri has sent separate photos taken with its wide-angle polarimetric camera, PolCam for short, designed to study the moon’s surface composition and its volcanic deposits through measuring the degree of polarization.

The science ministry said people can check the real-time location of Danuri on the lunar orbit, along with its photos and collected data, on the orbiter’s website (http://www.kari.re.kr/kplo).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The spring is my least favorite time of the year in South Korea due to the yellow dust storms. These storms are a great reason to wear a mask:

Almost all of South Korea was shrouded Wednesday by a yellow dust storm originating in the Gobi Desert in northern China and Mongolia, the state weather agency said.

The yellow storm had spread to almost all of the country as of 7 a.m. and will affect the entire nation until Thursday, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

A fine dust advisory was issued for all parts of South Korea, authorities said.

The average hourly concentration of fine dust particles smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter, known as PM 10, had risen to 192 micrograms per cubic meter in Seoul as of 7 a.m. and 494 micrograms in the city of Ulsan, 307 kilometers southeast of Seoul, the KMA said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but past studies have showed that 55% of air pollution in Seoul comes from China and these dust storms makes it even worse.

Here is some more Dokdo nonsense, anyone care?:

 South Korea lodged a strong protest against Japan on Tuesday over Tokyo’s renewed territorial claim to Dokdo, a set of rocky islets in the East Sea, in its latest annual diplomatic book.

The claim, strongly disputed by South Korea that has long maintained effective control of Dokdo with the permanent stationing of security personnel there, was included in the 2023 Diplomatic Bluebook that was reported to the Cabinet by Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi.

The Bluebook stated that South Korea has continued an “illegal occupation” of the area with no legal basis.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.