Author: GIKorea

This is called keeping up with the Jones. The ROK Navy recently test fired an SLBM so the Kim regime likely told their weapons experts to hurry up and put together an SLBM test as well. Additionally the ROK has a space launch this week that North Korea is likely trying to steal headlines from as well:

 North Korea fired what appears to be a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) toward the East Sea on Tuesday, South Korea’s military said, in yet another setback to Seoul’s drive for peace with Pyongyang.

The short-range missile was launched from waters east of Sinpo, a city on the North’s east coast, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The launch was detected at 10:17 a.m., it said.

The missile traveled about 590 kilometers at a top altitude of around 60 km, an informed source said, noting the possibility that the North might have used a submarine as a launch platform this time.

The North previously conducted an SLBM test in 2015 and 2019. The South’s military believes that it used a barge rather than a submarine during the past tests.

Officials said that Tuesday’s launch came after South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities had detected signs of a possible weapons test near Sinpo, where the North has been pushing to build a 3,200-ton submarine capable of SLBM operations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

All Koreans that work for USFK will have to receive the COVID vaccine by next month:

 All Korean civilians employed by the U.S. military in South Korea are required to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by Nov. 22, according to a U.S. Forces Korea memo obtained by Stars and Stripes.

The Oct. 13 memo, signed by foreign labor program director Lebanon Spann, cites President Joe Biden’s executive order last month requiring all U.S. federal employees to be vaccinated “to ensure the health and safety of the federal workforce and members of the public with whom they interact.”

“The health and safety of the federal workforce, and the health and safety of members of the public with whom they interact, are foundational to the efficiency of the civil service,” Biden’s executive order said, adding that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “has found that the best way to do so is to be vaccinated.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Like many other places in the world it appears that the spread of the coronavirus is now seeing sharp drop in cases in South Korea as well:

 South Korea’s daily coronavirus cases dropped to the lowest level in more than three months Monday as the country eased restrictions on private gatherings ahead of preparations for a gradual shift to the “living with COVID-19” scheme. 

The country reported 1,050 new cases, including 1,030 local infections, raising the total caseload to 343,445, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said.

Monday’s tally is the lowest daily number since July 7, when the country reported 1,211 additional virus cases on the onset of the fourth wave of the pandemic. The daily cases have since stayed in the quadruple digits, including the record high of 3,273 on Sept. 25.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but hopefully the cases continues to drop so some kind of normal life can return to the people and small businesses in South Korea.

In the past week the U.S. military has lost former Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno and now General Colin Powell as well:

Colin Powell, the boundary-breaking military leader and diplomat whose sterling reputation of service to Republican and Democratic presidents was stained by his faulty claims to justify the 2003 U.S. war in Iraq, died Monday of COVID-19 complications. He was 84.

A veteran of the Vietnam War, Powell spent 35 years in the Army and rose to the rank of four-star general before becoming the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His oversight of the U.S. invasion of Kuwait to oust the Iraqi army in 1991 made him a household name, prompting speculation for nearly a decade that he might run for president, a course he ultimately decided against.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I always felt bad for Colin Powell because of how the intelligence community let him down with the faulty intelligence with Iraq. He seemed to take pride in his creditability and it was shot after the faultiness of the intelligence was discovered after the war in Iraq.

Condolences to all the friends and family General Powell.

There may be a new Prime Minister in Japan, but he has clearly told Korea that he is not budging on historical issues between the two countries:

President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have reaffirmed that the two nations are far from narrowing the differences in their views on historical issues such as Japan’s wartime forced labor and sex slavery.

The leaders had their first phone call Friday, which was made 11 days after Kishida took office. During the 30-minute call, the two agreed to develop bilateral ties in a future-oriented manner, according to Cheong Wa Dae and Japanese media report.

They also discussed other issues such as concerns over North Korea, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and COVID-19 response.

Although the two U.S. allies share similar security concerns over North Korea and China, their talks again showed disagreement over lingering colonial and wartime issues, signaling these are likely to remain as obstacles for bilateral relations for a while.

Japan insists that the 1965 treaty normalizing bilateral ties settled all war-related compensation, but President Moon explained during the phone call how the two countries have different legal interpretation over the 1965 treaty, saying the two nations must find solutions through diplomacy. 

Regarding the wartime sex slavery issue, he also called for an urgent solution, saying there are only 13 known survivors still alive.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but it is ironic that President Moon is saying there needs to be an urgent solution for the comfort women issue when in fact there was one under former President Park Geun-hye. However, when President Moon entered office he scrapped the deal.

Some early cold this year for everyone living in South Korea:

Temperatures in Seoul sharply dropped to nearly 1 degree Celsius on Sunday, marking the coldest morning for mid-October in 64 years, the state weather agency said.

The morning low in Seoul came to 1.3 C in the day, the lowest since Oct. 19, 1957, when the figure was minus 0.4 C, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

Some areas of the capital city saw the mercury drop below zero, and the season’s first ice was seen in the city, 17 days earlier than average, it added.

Cold weather also hit other parts of the country, with temperatures on average nationwide falling more than 10 C from a day earlier.

Temperatures on Mount Seorak in Gangwon Province plunged to minus 9.3 C in the mornning, and the border county of Yeoncheon saw its mercury dive to minus 3.9 C, the agency said, adding that first ice and frost were witnessed across the country.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.