Author: GIKorea

At some point the case rates need to stop being the metric to judge how effectively governments are handling the pandemic:

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases exceeded 18,000 for the first time Tuesday, since the first local case emerged two years ago, due to spread of the omicron variant during the Lunar New Year holiday.

The country reported 18,343 new COVID-19 infections, including 18,123 local cases, raising the total to 864,042 the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Daily infections jumped after reporting more than 17,000 cases for the past three days through Monday. (…..)

The death toll from COVID-19 came to 6,772, up 17 from the previous day. The fatality rate was 0.78 percent. 

The number of critically ill COVID-19 patients was 272, down five from a day earlier.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but last week the mortality rate was .84 compared to this week with a .78 percent rate.

There really isn’t much the ROK can do to stop North Korea’s missile development other than making sure they have adequate ballistic missile defense in place:

 South Korea’s Defense Minister Suh Wook inspected the combat readiness of the military’s missile command Monday amid a recent series of North Korea’s missile launches, the ministry said.

“Understanding the gravity of the current situation, the troops must maintain a thorough readiness position against any situations,” Suh was quoted as saying during his visit to the Army Missile Command.

He said the military’s ability to detect missiles and respond to possible attacks is more crucial than in the past, as North Korea’s recent provocations pose a serious threat to the peace and security of South Korea and the world.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The real question is whether the U.S. military wants or needs another THAAD battery in South Korea considering it is a very finite asset:

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol pledged Sunday to deploy additional units of the U.S. THAAD anti-missile system in South Korea following North Korea’s launch of an intermediate-range ballistic missile earlier in the day.

Yoon of the conservative People Power Party wrote the words “Additional THAAD deployment” on his Facebook page and did not elaborate.

The candidate has previously expressed support for the controversial missile defense system, which China has condemned as a threat to its national security.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

North Korea just increased their level of provocation with an IRBM test. This missile can range the U.S. territory of Guam. The next step to be even more provocative is to fire over Japan:

North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) into the East Sea on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, raising fears that Pyongyang has inched toward its threatened suspension of a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the missile, fired at a steep angle from Mupyong-ri in the northern province of Jagang, at 7:52 a.m., and it flew about 800 kilometers at a top altitude of 2,000 km.

The missile hit a top speed of Mach 16, 16 times the speed of sound, and appears to be similar to the Hwasong-12 missile that the North tested in 2017, a military official told reporters, requesting anonymity.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if this was a normal Olympics cycle I think the CCP would be upset about these missile launches taking headlines away from China. However, with no fans and a diplomatic boycott going on which is leading to little interest in the Olympics China probably has no issues with the Kim regime raising tensions.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.