The wintertime surge that happened last year after the holidays appears to not be happening this year:
South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases fell for the sixth consecutive day Monday amid concerns over a wintertime surge, with the government beginning to require a PCR test for travelers from China as the virus spreads in the neighboring country.
The country confirmed 22,735 new coronavirus infections, including 35 from overseas, bringing the total to 29,139,535, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.
The daily caseload has been on a steady decline since Tuesday when the figure jumped to 87,578. Monday’s figure is smaller than 25,531 infections a week earlier.
The country added 53 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the death toll to 32,272. The death rate stood at 0.11 percent.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Here is President Yoon’s viewpoint on holding any future Inter-Korean summit:
On whether he has plans to seek a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Yoon said there was no doubt.
“But I think the people are a little fed up with summits that are for show only,” he said. “We have to start with dialogue on humanitarian issues, and open the door to contact and dialogue between South and North. We have to set a direction by having a certain amount of discussions on both countries’ agendas.”
Yoon added that, while there is no reason to reject a summit, such prior discussions have to take place in order to produce a useful outcome at the summit, and share it with the nation and neighboring countries.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but Yoon does have appoint in regards to accomplishing something from an Inter-Korean summit and not making it just another photo op. Really what has the ROK accomplished from all the prior Inter-Korean summits? The money funneled to North Korea from past summits have allowed the Kim regime to avoid collapse and advance their missile and nuclear programs. Inter-Korean business deals struck have all been reneged on with the Kaesong Industrial Plant and Gumgang Tours all closed now. These summits have been a colossal failure and Yoon appears to not want to add to these failures.
Here is an interesting interview with President Yoon where he is advocating for joint nuclear exercises with the U.S. to off set the North Korean nuclear threat:
President Yoon Suk Yeol has said South Korea is in talks with the United States to carry out joint planning and joint exercises involving U.S. nuclear forces to counter North Korea’s nuclear threats.
In an interview with the Chosun Ilbo newspaper published Monday, Yoon said the idea of the U.S. providing a nuclear umbrella or extended deterrence to South Korea is not enough to reassure the South Korean public.
The interview was published a day after North Korean state media reported leader Kim Jong-un called for “an exponential increase” of his country’s nuclear arsenal, while calling South Korea “our undoubted enemy.”
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see how the U.S. responds to this suggestions from President Yoon. More importantly will this actually do anything to deter the Kim regime from advancing their nuclear weapons program?
Considering that small low cost drones is the future of warfare it is amazing that South Korea didn’t invest in this technology years ago when North Korea first began flying drones into their airspace:
South Korea’s state arms agency said Thursday it will push to speed up the development of a jamming system against small drones after the military’s recent failure to shoot down North Korean drones.
The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said it will look to develop the counter-drone system over a 39-month period starting next year, compared to a 48-month window such a development usually requires.
DAPA also said it has opened bidding for a portable anti-drone jammer, which it plans to purchase and deploy next year.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
The last open thread of the year, please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section. I hope everyone has a great New Year!
