Author: GIKorea

It is good to see the ROK Army now increasing their training readiness that had been impacted by COVID restrictions:

The South Korean Army flexed its combat power during a large-scale air drill held at two Army facilities in Icheon and Yangpyeong in Gyeonggi Province on Monday.

A total of 34 helicopters, including 16 Apache Guardians, 13 Black Hawks and five Chinooks were mobilized for the largest-ever exercise of its kind conducted by the Army, simulating a scenario in which troops are required to infiltrate enemy territory by air and secure a target.

In the training, the Army’s key asset, the Apache attack helicopters, executed sharp descents after soaring vertically, a maneuver intended to minimize exposure to hostile fire.

The choppers also fired some 150 2-point-75 inch rockets and 450 rounds from a 30-millimeter machine gun in a display of firepower.

KBS World News

You can read more at the link.

This is something you don’t hear very often happening in South Korea:

A female high school teacher in the southeastern city of Daegu has been under investigation on suspicion of having an inappropriate relationship with one of her students, police said Tuesday.

The unnamed teacher in her 30s, who has taught at a Daegu high school on a term contract, is suspected of having sex with a male student of the same school in late June in violation of the Child Welfare Act, according to the Daegu Bukbu Police Station.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Below is some more background information on the police chief protest that continues to be a major issue in Korea right now. Basically these police chiefs are unhappy about reforms to the National Police University and receiving government oversight after reforms from the last administration gave them more investigative powers from prosecutors:

 Interior Minister Lee Sang-min on Tuesday hinted at overhauling the police personnel system that favors graduates of the national police university, amid backlash from front-line police officers over the planned establishment of a police bureau under the ministry.

“It is unfair to automatically begin a career as a lieutenant, just based on graduating from Korea National Police University,” Lee told reporters before giving a policy briefing to President Yoon Suk-yeol at the presidential office.

A graduate of the four-year university is awarded the rank of a lieutenant, which is equivalent to the chief of a police precinct or the team leader at a police station. It takes at least 17 years of continuous service for an entry-level officer who did not graduate from the school to reach such rank.  (……..)

About 50 senior superintendents across the nation held a meeting Saturday to protest the plan, despite government warnings to desist, with some 140 others attending online. The minister likened the collective action to a “coup.” 

Police officers taking part in the action have expressed concern the bureau’s oversight would compromise their political neutrality and accountability, while the interior ministry has argued it is necessary, as the police are set to take on more investigative roles from the prosecution.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Is this a sign that the COVID protocols are slowly starting to come back?:

U.S. military travelers arriving in South Korea must immediately take a polymerase chain reaction, or PCR, test for COVID-19, according to a policy update by U.S. Forces Korea on Monday. 

The change applies to all arrivals regardless of their vaccination status, according to a post on USFK’s official Facebook page. 

USFK personnel, including family members, Defense Department civilian employees and contractors, should take the PCR test within a day of their arrival in South Korea. Their movements are restricted until the test returns a negative result.

The command adjusted its PCR test policy “in order to align with [South Korea’s] entry requirement changes,” its website said. 

South Korea on Monday reinstated its requirement that travelers take a PCR test within a day of arriving in the country, a change from a three-day window.

Stars & Stripes

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From the Joong Ang Ilbo:

Four bodies suspected of originating in North Korea have washed up in rivers in Gyeonggi this past month, raising questions about how and why they ended up dead in the South.  
   
The most recent body — of an adult woman — was discovered by a camper in a bush along the Imjin River, downstream from the Gunnam Dam, around 8:25 a.m. on Saturday, according to Yeoncheon Police Precinct.  
   
The source of the Imjin River is north of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the two Koreas and flows through northern Gyeonggi in South Korea before emptying into the Yellow Sea at Ganghwa Island, north of Incheon. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It seems like momentum is building to resolve the forced labor issue between the ROK and Japan:

Foreign Minister Psrk Jin said Monday he believes a summit with Japan will take place once thorny issues, like Japan’s wartime forced labor, are resolved.

“I anticipate that a summit between South Korea and Japan will likely be held when desirable resolutions for ongoing issues, like wartime forced labor, are prepared,” Foreign Minister Park Jin told a parliamentary interpellation session.

Acknowledging that bilateral ties between the two countries are unlikely to recover without such a resolution, Park said the government will aim to find a “reasonable measure” for both countries while respecting the opinions of the victims.

When asked about possible measures to mend ties, Park said the government is reviewing many options such as former National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang’s proposal to launch a fund for the victims backed by both companies and people of South Korea and Japan.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This seems like a lot of hyperbole by the Interior Minister:

Interior Minister Lee Sang-min strongly criticized the chiefs of police precincts Monday for their collective action on Saturday against the envisioned launch of a supervisory bureau inside the interior ministry, calling it “an incident akin to a military coup.”

During a news briefing, Lee said Saturday’s meeting of police officials reminded him of the Dec. 12 military coup led by a group of generals that took place weeks after the assassination of President Park Chung-hee in 1979.

“A lot of time has passed since then and we now live in an era when a military coup has become an unimaginable incident. But the fact that armed officials went ahead and gathered despite a warning from their superior and discussed an action against the government is a serious matter,” he said, indicating that the ministry will investigate those involved in the collective action.

The minister’s strongly-worded criticism came days after some 190 senior police officials from across the country responded to calls by Ulsan Jungbu Police Station Senior Superintendent Ryu Sam-young to gather and discuss how to react to the interior ministry’s plan to launch a supervisory bureau to put the police under its control.  

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.