Author: GIKorea

This should have been a great event for the U.S. troops involved in this training:

South Korea and the United States have been conducting combined military drills, involving a high-tech training system, Seoul official said Monday, amid the allies’ stepped-up efforts to sharpen deterrence against North Korea’s evolving security threats.

The 11-day training got under way at the Army’s Korea Combat Training Center (KCTC) in Inje, 165 kilometers east of Seoul, on July 11. It involved 4,300 South Korean troops from the 51st Brigade of the 12th Division and 81st Brigade of the 28th Division, as well as 300 U.S. troops of the 1st Armored Brigade.

It marked the first time that U.S. troops have been assigned to the South’s two separate brigade combat teams fighting against each other under a KCTC training program, according to Army officials.

During the troops, the South Korean and U.S. militaries mobilized some 100 pieces of battle equipment, including tanks, armored vehicles, self-propelled howitzers, attack helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles.

“Through high-intensity combat training, I have felt a sense of comradeship,” a South Korean participant was quoted as saying. “I will continue to engage in training programs to build strong combat capabilities to be able to fight and win right away in a battle against the enemy.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is a tricky issue that the Yoon administration is likely not going to win any domestic political points from even if they come up with a resolution. This issue is just too easy for the political opposition to demagogue:

The top diplomats of South Korea and Japan agreed Monday on the need for an early resolution of the long-running dispute over Korean victims of wartime forced labor.

Foreign Minister Park Jin and his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, held talks in Tokyo to discuss ways to mend soured bilateral ties and settle historical feuds stemming from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea. Park arrived earlier in the day in his first official visit to Japan since taking office in May. 

During the talks, Park said the Seoul government will make efforts to draw “a reasonable solution” related to the force labor issue and the two sides shared the view that the issue needs to be promptly resolved, Seoul’s ministry said in a release. (….)

Possible solutions suggested by observers include the creation of a fund with contributions from Korean and Japanese firms or the South Korean government compensating the victims on behalf of the Japanese companies.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I can understand why this guy has a grudge against the Unification Church, but it in no way justifies murdering Shinzo Abe:

The mother of the man suspected of murdering former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe donated more than 100 million yen ($720,000) to the Unification Church, a relative said.

The contributions to the religious group included 50 million yen she received from a life insurance policy taken on her husband, as well as proceeds from property sales, the relative told The Asahi Shimbun.

She was declared bankrupt in 2002.

Her son, Tetsuya Yamagami, 41, has been sent to prosecutors on suspicion of murdering Abe, 67, who was gunned down on July 8 while giving an election campaign speech in Nara.

Asahi.com

You can read more at the link.

Another example of Seoul slowly getting back to normal:

 Sexual minorities in South Korea held an annual festival in downtown Seoul on Saturday after a pandemic-driven two-year hiatus, with Christian and other conservative groups opposing the high-profile event.

The 23rd Seoul Queer Culture Festival took place at Seoul Plaza, bringing together members of the LGBTQ community — lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer persons — as well as their supporters and human rights activists.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I kind of agree with the Moon administration on this one, these two defectors admitted to murdering 16 people and this is not the type of people South Koreans should want in their country:

The office of President Yoon Suk-yeol immediately struck back at former Foreign Minister and National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong on Sunday after he defended the previous administration’s 2019 repatriation of two North Korean fishermen against their will.

Chung said earlier Sunday the then government of President Moon Jae-in determined the North Koreans’ expression of a desire to defect as insincere and decided to deport them, as they had confessed to killing 16 fellow crew members.

Chung also said the North Koreans “were rare, grotesque killers.”

“Some claim that we had to accept them into our society as defectors in accordance with our Constitution,” he said in a statement. “However, our domestic law stipulates that nonpolitical criminals, like them, should be deported without being allowed into the country. Nonpolitical serious criminals are also not considered refugees under international law.”

Just hours later, Choi Young-bum, senior presidential secretary for press affairs, hit back at Chung.

“What officials of the previous administration and the opposition party should do is not to engage in a political offensive, but to cooperate faithfully with the investigation,” Choi said.

Choi also criticized Chung for portraying the North Koreans as “grotesque killers,” accusing him of making such a characterization without a proper investigation of them.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Interesting posting over at ROK Drop favorite, Dr. B.R. Myers site about how many students who go into Korean Studies lose interest in it after a year or two:

Many a university here has learned this the hard way. I assume that a higher proportion of Westerners are willing to pay their own money to learn about China or Japan, because such a degree promises enhanced access to a much bigger economy, therefore better job prospects. I doubt if Hallyu fandom and demand for Korea-related courses are even a reliable indicator of an all-surpassing interest in this country. One can be crazy about BTS, and even crazier about Japanese anime.

The question is whether the measures Prof. King proposes will help incentivize young Westerners to pursue a Korean studies degree. Although not in a Korean studies department I have some relevant experience. About a third of my students are from foreign countries. Some stay in Korea for one semester, some for four years, and some settle down here, usually in an enclave of their countryfolk. Most seem to lose interest in studying the host language and culture within a year or two.

Funding is not a factor. Virtually all of my foreign students get at least half their tuition paid for; some are on full scholarships. They tend to become disaffected with the study of Korea because they become disaffected with Korea itself, and its perceived nationalism or xenophobia in particular. To give just one anecdote: recently some of my best foreign students, including one in an advanced stage of pregnancy, were asked to leave a coffee shop lest their alienness unsettle local patrons worried about COVID.

B.R. Myers

You can read more at the link.