USS Makin Island arrives in S. Korea USS Makin Island, a Wasp-class amphibious assault ship capable of carrying 20 F-35B stealth fighters, moors at a naval base in Busan, 325 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on March 22, 2023, amid the South Korea-U.S. Field Shield joint drill on the Korean Peninsula. (Yonhap)
This must have been quite a sight for the people in Seoul who saw this zebra running around their neighborhood:
A zebra that escaped from a zoo in Seoul on Thursday was captured in the streets of the South Korean capital after having roamed at large in the streets for about three hours, according to zoo officials and fire authorities.
The zebra reportedly broke free from Seoul Children’s Grand Park’s zoo in eastern Seoul around 2:50 p.m. and roamed around the nearby residential area.
Former President Lee Myung-bak has made his first official event one where he paid his respects to the 46 sailors murdered by North Korea during the sinking of the Cheonan:
Former President Lee Myung-bak checks graves for sailors killed in North Korea’s sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010 at a national cemetery in Daejeon, Wednesday. Yonhap
Former President Lee Myung-bak visited a national cemetery in the central city of Daejeon on Wednesday to pay respects to sailors killed in North Korea’s sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010.
The visit was Lee’s first official activity after he was released from prison on a special pardon by President Yoon Suk Yeol in December. The sinking of the warship Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, happened when Lee was in office, and he pledged to visit the cemetery every year, even after leaving office.
“I will pray for national prosperity and the security of the Republic of Korea while honoring the sacrificial spirit on the front line of freedom,” Lee wrote in the visitors’ book at the cemetery, about 140 kilometers south of Seoul.
Lee chose the visit to the national cemetery as his first official activity since his pardon to keep his promise to visit the cemetery every year while he is alive, Hong Sang-pyo, Lee’s aide and former presidential secretary for press affairs, said.
This is likely the reason Lee Jae-myung sought leadership of the political opposition despite being a failed presidential candidate; so he could claim any charges against him were politically motivated:
Main opposition Democratic Party Chair Lee Jae-myung at the National Assembly in western Seoul on March 22, 2023 (Yonhap)
The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) decided Wednesday to allow party leader Lee Jae-myung to retain his position despite his indictment on corruption charges.
Earlier in the day, the prosecution charged him with bribery and breach of trust stemming from his time as mayor of Seongnam, south of Seoul, years ago.
Under Article 80 of the DP charter, the party is supposed to suspend those indicted on corruption charges from duty. But the rule does not apply when the indictment is deemed politically motivated.
The DP’s party affairs committee convened after Lee’s indictment was announced, and made the decision to exempt Lee from suspension, according to DP spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom.
#Trams were once the backbone of #Seoul's #publictransit system. The 1st launched on #Buddha's Bday in 1899 by Gojung, & the last ran Nov 30, 1968. The network was greatly expanded in the colonial era, & recently track laid in 1927 was uncovered in front of #Gyeongbukgung Palace pic.twitter.com/BGuwck4vh7
— Jack Greenberg (그린버그 잭) (@jackwgreenberg) March 20, 2023
Spring at Changdeok Palace Foreign tourists wearing the traditional Korean costume, hanbok, stroll among the spring flowers at Changdeok Palace in Seoul on March 21, 2023. (Yonhap)
Here is the latest missile test from North Korea during the ongoing Freedom Shield exercise that ends this week:
North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles toward the East Sea on Wednesday, the South Korean military said.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from the Hamhung area on the North’s east coast from 10:15 a.m. It did not immediately provide other details.
Observers raised the possibility that the launch might have involved a long-range strategic cruise missile known as the North Korean version of the U.S.’ Tomahawk missile.
The launch came as South Korea and the United States are conducting the combined Freedom Shield (FS) command post exercise as well as the concurrent field training exercise, called the Warrior Shield. The 11-day FS is set to end Thursday.
It is great to see that the U.S. is now stepping up to help India prevent Chinese land grabs going on in the high Himalayas between the two countries:
A convoy of Indian Army trucks drive along a road to Tawang, Oct. 21, 2021, near the Line of Actual Control (LAC), neighboring China, near Sela Pass in India’s Arunachal Pradesh state
India was able to repel a Chinese military incursion in contested border territory in the high Himalayas late last year due to unprecedented intelligence-sharing with the U.S. military, U.S. News has learned, an act that caught China’s People’s Liberation Army forces off-guard, enraged Beijing and appears to have forced the Chinese Communist Party to reconsider its approach to land grabs along its borders.
The U.S. government for the first time provided real-time details to its Indian counterparts of the Chinese positions and force strength in advance of a PLA incursion, says a source familiar with a previously unreported U.S. intelligence review of the encounter into the Arunachal Pradesh region. The information included actionable satellite imagery and was more detailed and delivered more quickly than anything the U.S. had previously shared with the Indian military.
It made a difference.
The subsequent clash on Dec. 9 involving hundreds of troops wielding spiked clubs and Tasers did not result in any deaths as previous encounters have, rather it was limited to a dozen or so injuries and – most conspicuously – a Chinese retreat.
“They were waiting. And that’s because the U.S. had given India everything to be fully prepared for this,” the source says. “It demonstrates a test case of the success of how the two militaries are now cooperating and sharing intelligence.”
President Yoon is absolutely correct in his comments:
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday refuted domestic criticism against his efforts to mend ties with Japan despite Tokyo’s reluctance to issue an additional apology for its past wartime wrongdoings, saying that neglecting the frayed relationship with the neighboring country for political interest is tantamount to dereliction of the president’s duty.
“The previous government left the troubled relationship between South Korea and Japan untouched and this resulted in the people of both countries and ethnic South Koreans living in Japan suffering, and the security and economies of both countries falling into a deep abyss,” Yoon said during his 25-minute opening speech at a Cabinet meeting.
“I also could have chosen an easy path for immediate political gains and left the worst-ever South Korea-Japan relations unaddressed. However, I believed that neglecting grave international circumstances and exploiting the hostile nationalism and anti-Japan sentiment for domestic politics are nothing more than abandoning my duties as the president.”
Yoon’s unscheduled speech came amid his faltering job approval ratings after last week’s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Fueling anti-Japan sentiment among South Koreans is the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) that has been harshly criticizing the president for having “paid tribute to Japan” with his “abysmal summit.” (………)
“In our society, there are groups which are seeking political gains by evoking exclusive nationalism and anti-Japan sentiment,” Yoon said, referring to the DPK’s criticism. “Japan has expressed its remorse and apologies over the history issue tens of times.”
Yoon cited past apologies released by the Japanese government, including the 1998 joint declaration announced by then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. In the declaration, Obuchi expressed his deep remorse and apology for the “tremendous damage and suffering” the South Korean people experienced during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial occupation.
You can read more at the link from President Yoon’s speech. The political opposition continues to call the Yoon administration “traitors” and vows to launch investigations against them for improving ties with Tokyo.
Like I have said before, but it is hard to take the political opposition seriously when they supported the North Korea policies of the prior Korean President Moon Jae-in. Kim Jong-un is in charge of a North Korean regime that has killed far more Koreans than Imperial Japan could ever dream of. Additionally Kim Jong-un is in charge of a regime that continues to regularly threaten South Korea with annihilation and enslaves a large amount of Koreans in labor camps among other human rights violations. Why isn’t the political opposition demanding constant apologies from the Kim regime?
Instead the political opposition is more concerned about stopping cooperation with a country that actually wants to help South Korea defend itself from annihilation from North Korea. When the opponents of President Yoon start making demands for apologies and compensation from North Korea then maybe I will take their claims against Japan seriously.
