Author: GIKorea

It looks like the ROK military has another high profile sexual harassment case:

An allegation was raised against a Navy field officer who asked a female soldier, “Are you out of your mind?” and tried to silence her when she tried to report sexual harassment. The Ministry of National Defense launched an investigation following the belated allegation. The victim, who was sent to another workplace shortly after her report, later suffered secondary victimization from other senior officers and eventually chose to leave the Navy.

According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun coverage on January 27, A, a female soldier of a lower Navy unit was sexually harassed by Sergeant B, her supervisor, several times from July 2017 to January 2018. Sergeant B rolled up his short pants and showed his underwear to A in the office where the two were alone. When A spent the night off base, B even told her to report where, with whom, and how she spent the night. A argued that B also instigated bullying within the unit and tormented her in addition to the sexual harassment.

In March 2018, A sought the counsel of the chief master sergeant on this issue, but had to suffer disadvantages. The officers in charge of the unit transferred A from her previous workplace, the executive office, to a small lounge next to a food waste collection area. The lounge was not equipped with any office equipment, such as a telephone and a printer, and it had no heating or air conditioning. Meanwhile, her assailant B continued to work in his office, subject to no personnel measures.

On May 8 that same year, A made an official report and asked Lieutenant Colonel C (battalion commander) who was the commanding officer of the unit at the time, to report her case to the upper unit and punish Sergeant B. 

Kyunghyang Shinmun

You can read the rest at the link, but the battalion commander proceeded to try and prevent the victim from reporting. Ultimately she was able to report and her harasser was removed from the military. However, now the battalion commander and the operations officer are being investigated for trying to prevent her reporting.

It must be a slow news day if the media is reaching this much to throw shade on Lee Jae-myung’s wife:

The wife of ruling party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung has come under fire over allegations aides to her husband ran her errands, including picking up packs of beef and getting drug prescriptions and leaving them at her door.

Kim Hye-kyung, the wife of the Democratic Party (DP) presidential nominee, issued an apology Wednesday, five days after SBS TV first reported the claims, saying she took full responsibility for what transpired as she should have drawn a line between personal and official business.

Yonhap

You can read more a the link, but unless there is more that comes out I can’t imagine this is going to sway a Korean voter one way or another.

If USFK servicemembers are any indication South Korea may still have a few weeks before they enter into a decline in COVID cases:

South Korea reached a new pandemic high of 20,270 coronavirus cases on Tuesday as the nation wrapped up the Lunar New Year holiday, three days typically marked by widespread travel on the peninsula.

Tuesday’s count was 1,928 cases higher than the previous record of 18,342 infections logged the day before, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Center. Over 6,000 cases were reported in Gyeonggi province, where Camp Humphreys, the largest U.S. military base overseas, is located.

Meanwhile, U.S. Forces Korea reported 196 new COVID-19 cases for the week ending Monday, its third consecutive week of declining numbers. USFK confirmed 379 new infections the previous week and a pandemic high of 1,599 between Jan. 4 and 10.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but in Japan USFJ servicemembers are experiencing the same trend of lowering cases while Japan’s daily COVID case rate surged to over 142,000.

If the Okinawa governor had his way he would have the U.S. military lockdown on base forever:

Also Monday, Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki on Twitter said he wrote the commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, Lt. Gen. James Bierman Jr., asking that U.S. troops on Okinawa remain on their installations, despite the end of a three-week COVID-19 confinement order that lapsed that day. U.S. service members, civilian employees and family members were restricted to their homes and military installations across Japan to help stem the virus’ spread.

Tamaki sent the same message to Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, asking that the U.S. military “extend the period of off-base activity restrictions on all military members stationed in US bases in Okinawa until the surge is over.”

A III MEF spokesman said the Marines were guided by their higher headquarters, consistent with the prefecture’s own messaging.

“We remain in line with [Okinawa prefectural government’s] request of its own citizens, per higher headquarters’ guidance,” Capt. Gabe Adibe told Stars and Stripes by email Tuesday. 

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but if the governor is not locking down his own citizens than why should the U.S. military lock down their personnel especially after voluntarily doing so for three weeks.

North Korea seems to want to remind the Biden administration they can target U.S. soil with their latest missile launch; they even put a camera on their missile to further drive that point home:

North Korea’s state-run news outlet on Monday confirmed it successfully test-fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile capable of reaching the United States’ territory of Guam.

The Korean Central News Agency announced the country had fired a Hwasong-12 missile on Sunday from the northwestern area of North Korea toward the eastern coast “in consideration of the security of neighboring countries.”

The Hwasong-12 is an intermediate-range ballistic missile with an estimated maximum range of 2,796 miles, more than enough distance to reach Guam, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It was first unveiled – and last tested – by North Korea in 2017, the same year the communist regime tested its first intercontinental ballistic missile.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.