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:
This photo provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff shows the launching pad for the short-range ground-to-air missile Cheonma during drills to strengthen defense against potential North Korean drone-based provocations in areas around Ganap-ri, Yangju, some 30 kilometers northeast of Seoul, on Dec. 29, 2022.
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.
Seoul restaurant denies Chinese police station allegations Wang Haijun (R, rear), a Chinese national who operates a Chinese restaurant, speaks during a press conference at the restaurant in Seoul on Dec. 29, 2022, denying allegations of its suspected operation as a secret Chinese police station. (Yonhap)
I have driven on this expressway many times and it is amazing that apparently an accident with a garbage truck caused a fire this big:
This photo of a fire on an expressway in Gwacheon on Dec. 29, 2022, is provided by a news reader. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)
At least five people were killed and 37 others injured, three of them seriously, Thursday in a noise-barrier tunnel fire along an expressway in Gwacheon, just south of Seoul, fire authorities said.
The blaze was reported to have occurred at 1:49 p.m. inside the noise tunnel in Gwacheon along the Second Gyeongin Expressway that connects the western port city of Incheon to Seongnam City, the authorities said.
Fire authorities initially announced the fire started after a collision between a bus and a garbage truck but later said they would need further investigation to determine the exact cause, leaving open the possibility that the truck alone may have been responsible for the deadly blaze.
There was a huge troop reduction during the President Moon years that the current President Yoon is not going to cut further:
South Korean marines pose during a graduation ceremony at Pohang Marine Base, South Korea, Feb. 26, 2016. (Allison Lotz/U.S. Marine Corps)
The South Korean military will maintain its current troop levels despite ongoing threats from North Korea’s military, according to a Ministry of National Defense prospectus released Wednesday.
South Korea will maintain its active-duty force of 500,000 service members until 2027, the five-year outlook states. The nation’s military numbered 618,000 active-duty troops in 2018, but was steadily downsized to 500,000 this year due to “a rapid decrease in young population,” according to the blueprint.
The plan adds 1,000 commissioned officers to the ranks while cutting 1,000 enlisted positions by 2027. Roughly 201,000 officers and 299,000 enlisted service members currently serve in South Korea’s military.
President Yoon appears to be highly upset that the ROK military has not developed the technology to counter North Korean drones:
President Yoon Suk Yeol berated Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup over the military’s failed operation against five North Korean drones that entered South Korean airspace earlier this week, officials said Wednesday.
Yoon met with Lee on Tuesday morning and was briefed on the military’s response to the North’s violation of South Korean airspace the previous day.
The drones flew across the Military Demarcation Line separating the two Koreas, with one flying over northern parts of Seoul, but the South Korean military failed to shoot them down.
“How can there be none preparing against North Korean drone attacks? There were many similar incidents in the past, so what have you been doing until now?” Yoon said during the meeting, according to one official who relayed the exchange.
Haze hits SeoulThis photo, taken from Mount Inwang in Seoul on Dec. 27, 2022, shows the capital’s downtown area blanketed in haze, as the atmospheric levels of PM2.5, harmful particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter, are forecast to remain “bad” in most areas of the country. (Yonhap)
It looks like people who like to get their freak on with sex dolls in South Korea will soon have more variety to choose from:
Sex dolls displayed on the website of a local company selling the products / Yonhap
The government’s latest decision to scrap a ban on imports of life-size sex dolls has reignited debates on sex doll experience cafes where customers pay money to enjoy the products in a private space.
The Korea Customs Service announced on Monday it will lift the ban on the import of complete-bodied sex dolls, ending a years-long dispute with importers of the products. Although there are currently no laws specifically prohibiting the import of sex dolls, customs authorities had been seizing most of them, citing a clause that bans the import of goods that may harm public morals.
The customs agency’s move came after a series of court rulings sided with the importers by saying that the use of sex dolls should be left to individual discretion. The authorities, however, stressed that child-like sex dolls and those resembling certain people will continue to be banned.
The lifting of import bans came as good news to owners of sex doll experience shops that have been increasing here in recent years. These shops offer customers a chance to enjoy the sex dolls at a private place. Now that the import ban is lifted, the shops will be able to provide their clients with more product options, not limited to domestically manufactured ones.
But the operation of such businesses in Korea is still in a legal gray zone, with opponents describing them as a “new form of sex trafficking.”
