It will be interesting to see if this ruling leads to more Russian men trying to seek asylum in South Korea:
A local court on Tuesday ordered the Incheon Immigration Office to review refugee applications submitted by two Russian men who landed in Incheon International Airport last year after fleeing the military draft in their home country.
Korea Times
The Incheon District Court ruled in favor of the Russian men who filed complaints against the immigration authority, but dismissed a complaint filed by another man who was in a similar situation.
The judge did not give a detailed explanation about the ruling during the hearing, saying that a detailed verdict will be issued later.
There are two more Russian men ― college student Vladimir Maraktaev and former football player Dzhashar Khubiev ― who are still stuck inside the airport waiting for their next hearing scheduled for late February.
You can read more at the link.
It looks like all the time General Abrams spent dealing with North Korea’s “Rocket Man” has inspired him to become a Rocket Man himself:
Retired Army Gen. Robert Abrams, the former commander of U.S. Forces Korea, has joined the “green” rocket engine manufacturer Vaya Space as a senior adviser, according to a company news release Thursday.
Abrams, who commanded roughly 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea, also led U.N. Command and Combined Forces Command from 2018 until his retirement in 2021. He was succeeded by Army Gen. Paul LaCamera.
Florida-based Vaya Space manufactures rocket engines from recycled plastics and uses over 20 metric tons for each launch, according to its website. The company is scheduled to launch its first Dauntless vehicle later this year, which will be powered by ignited thermoplastics and liquid oxidizer.
Abrams said he chose to serve on Vaya Space’s board “because I became convinced that their technologies coupled with their excellent leadership team can make a tremendous difference for our country,” according to the company’s release.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
The Korean left are continuing their attacks on the first lady:
The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol again rejected stock manipulation allegations involving first lady Kim Keon Hee on Tuesday as the main opposition party stepped up its calls for a special prosecutor investigation.
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) has vowed to push for a special probe into the first lady after a court last week acquitted financiers in the stock manipulation scheme involving Deutsch Motors Inc., a BMW car dealer in South Korea, citing the expiration of the statute of limitations.
The DP has long accused Kim of playing the role of a financier and having her stock account managed and used in the manipulation.
But the court’s acquittal of the financiers makes it unnecessary to look into related suspicions related to the first lady for dealings covered between December 2009 and September 2010, a period where the statute of the limitations has expired.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but according to the Presidential office the lead investor who made 455 stock trades during this timeframe was found innocent by the court while Kim Keon-hee made only 3 trades. So the logic is how can 3 trades be considered stock manipulation when 455 trades is not?
To me this all seems like payback for the prosecutors continuing their investigation into the opposition leader Lee Jae-myung for his alleged corrupt dealings as the Gyeongi province governor.
Apparently the family waited too long to file a claim after the Korean Supreme Court issued their initial ruling of compensation for forced labor victims back in 2012:
A Seoul court on Tuesday ruled against the family of a man enslaved to work for Japan during World War II in a damages suit they filed against a Japanese company.
The man, surnamed Kim, was mobilized to work at a construction site operated by Japanese company Nishimatsu Construction in North Hamgyong Province in what is now North Korea in 1942 while the entire Korean peninsula was under Japan’s colonial rule, his family said.
Kim died two years later while working at the construction site, and a South Korean government committee in 2006 recognized him as a victim of Japan’s wartime forced labor.
Five family members of Kim filed the civil suit against Nishimatsu in 2019 on behalf of him, seeking about 70 million won (US$55,183) in compensation.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled the statute of limitations on the case already expired as it concluded the damages case against the plaintiffs.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but this is definitely an issue that needs to be resolved before bilateral relations between the ROK and Japan can move forward more collaboratively. Expect all the DPRK and PRC agitators to do all they can to stoke this issue with the Korean public in order to prevent Japan and the ROK from moving forward with bilateral relations.
It looks like the Chinese are now violating the territorial waters of Japan for spy purposes as well:
Tokyo lodged a diplomatic complaint with Beijing on Sunday after a Chinese navy vessel entered Japan’s territorial waters off the southern tip of its main islands, according to Japanese government statements.
A Shupang-class survey ship crossed the 12-mile territorial limit around Yakushima, an island 40 miles south of Kyushu, the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands, at approximately 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement that day.
The vessel remained for slightly less than two hours before exiting to the southwest of neighboring Kuchinoerabu island, the statement said.
The survey vessel’s intrusion was the first of the year by the Chinese navy, according to the Ministry of Defense website. Shupang-class survey vessels made five intrusions in 2022, according to the ministry.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
This would be a huge development if it comes to fruition:
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. says he’d consider a reciprocal military access agreement with Japan to guard his country’s fishermen and sea territory amid tension with China.
“If it will be of help to the Philippines in terms of protecting, for example, our fishermen, protecting our maritime territory, if it’s going to help, then … I don’t see why we should not adopt it,” Marcos said, according to an official transcript of an interview with reporters on his flight back Sunday from a five-day official trip to Tokyo.
Philippine officials are assessing whether such an agreement would help their country or worsen tensions in the South China Sea, Marcos said.
“We have to be careful also because we do not want to appear provocative,” he said. “That instead of calming the situation in the South China Sea, we would heighten it, right? That’s not what we want.”
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida “briefly” discussed the concept of a defense pact when the two leaders met on Thursday, Marcos said. That day, the pair signed an agreement that allows Japan to deploy its forces for humanitarian missions and disaster response in the Philippines, The Associated Press reported Friday.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but any military agreement the Philippines signs with Japan will be taken as provocative by China However, isn’t the Chinese forcibly claiming Philippines territory even more provocative?
