Author: GIKorea

It looks like the Korean left is not getting their way on cancelling the upcoming US-ROK exercise:

Pentagon spokesperson John Supple nixed the possibility of postponing U.S.-Korea joint military exercises scheduled in August, after dozens of ruling Democratic Party (DP) lawmakers requested a delay.  
   
“There has been no change to the schedule of our planned training events,” Supple told Radio Free Asia on Friday. “Military readiness is a top priority of the secretary of defense. Our combined military training events are a principal method of ensuring our combined alliance readiness.”   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Well that didn’t take long for South Korean authorities to reverse the removal of mask mandates for vaccinated people that went into effect on July 1st:

Facemasks will remain mandatory in the greater Seoul area — even for vaccinated people — due to a recent surge in virus cases.  
   
In addition, drinking will be banned outdoors after 10 p.m. in parks and riversides in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi.  
   
A planned relaxation of measures has been called off as health authorities deal with a spike in new Covid cases.  
   
More than 80 percent of new cases have been registered in greater Seoul, and the proportion of patients in their 20s and 30s — who are not yet eligible for vaccinations — is on the rise.  
   
As a result, authorities decided to keep mask mandates both indoors and outdoors in the greater Seoul area. From July 1, people who received at least one Covid-19 shot were supposed to be exempted from the outdoor mask mandate. That is no longer the case in the greater Seoul area, but is in most other parts of the country. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but if authorities are trying to encourage people to get vaccinated this is not the way to do it.

It will be interesting to see if the Korean and international media will trash the KCTU for not following coronavirus restrictions like they did back in August against a conservative rally:

South Korea’s major umbrella labor union pressed ahead with a massive street rally Saturday in central Seoul despite the government’s warning of a stern response.

Around 8,000 members of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) gathered in the Jongno district, ignoring the government’s call to cancel the assembly feared to affect the fight against COVID-19. The country is struggling to contain a resurgence of coronavirus cases.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is probably good for Yoon that this trial is done and out of the way before the campaign season really heats up. However, I expect the Korean left will try and link him to this case even if it is not true:

The mother-in-law of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, a leading presidential hopeful, was sentenced to three years in prison Friday, kicking off a political firestorm ahead of the 2022 election.

The local district court in Uijeongbu, 23 kilometers north of Seoul, convicted the 74-year-old, surnamed Choi, of collaborating with three business partners to establish a medical foundation and open a long-term care hospital for senior citizens in February 2013, despite having no medical qualifications.

Choi was also convicted of fraud for accepting 2.29 billion won (US$2.02 million) in state benefits from the National Health Insurance Service until 2015 to run the hospital.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

You have to love the way the media empowers people that clearly have mental issues such as this supposed Instagram influencer who had plastic surgery to look like his favorite BTS singer:

“Now finally, I feel Korean,” said London. “I identify with the Korean community. Maybe they will accept me more now because I have the look. Maybe people will think I’m actually Korean, which would make me really happy. They can see how much I love their culture because this is the extreme length I’ve gone to, because I love Korea so much.

“I just want to make Jimin proud as well, because Jimin is my ultimate idol. I want him to be proud, I’m sure he’ll be proud that I look exactly like him now. I have his eyes. I finally have Jimin’s Korean eyes and they’re so, so beautiful… So I’m so, so happy with my new look. I can’t wait to see the final results when my swelling goes down.”

Newsweek

What makes this even better is that media turns to someone else who also clearly has mental issues, Rachel Dolezal, the fake black person, to further justify this behavior:

In an interview with TMZ, Dolezal, former president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington, was asked about the furore surrounding London, who now calls themselves Jimin.

“I don’t know Jimin personally, obviously, so they can speak for themselves in that regard,” she said. “But I do think that the broader issue here is compassion and kindness, and that personal identity is not the big fish to fry when it comes to somebody’s personal choices or how they feel.

“I think that we need to focus on fighting the public outrage issues of police brutality, of deinstitutionalizing racism. Those are the issues that I think that we need to come together on to fight publicly, and to be kinder to people and fight a little bit less on social media against somebody’s personal choices.

Newsweek

You can read more at the link.

From a strategic perspective it really makes no sense for the ROK to participate in a naval exercise in the Black Sea:

The United States fully respects South Korea’s decision to skip a multinational naval exercise, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday, also adding Seoul’s decision does not affect the South Korea-U.S. alliance in any way.

“It’s a sovereign decision by a nation state. And they’re certainly entitled to make that decision and to speak to that decision and we absolutely respect it,” the spokesman, John Kirby, said in a press briefing.

South Korea earlier said it had been invited to take part in the U.S.-led exercise, Sea Breeze 21, in the Black Sea that involves some 5,000 troops from 32 countries, including NATO members, but that it has decided not to take part.

The multinational exercise got under way this week and is scheduled to end July 10.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but South Korea will be participating in the Talisman Sabre multinational exercise with Australia which makes more sense for them strategically to participate in.

From the Stars & Stripes:

Gen. Paul LaCamera, described by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as a “quiet warrior” who “drives results,” has taken command of U.S. Forces Korea, United Nations Command and Combined Forces Command.

“Our alliance – forged in blood in the crucible of the Korean War – has been the bedrock of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula for more than 70 years,” LaCamera said during a Friday ceremony at Barker Field that included video remarks from Austin and flyovers by A-10 Warthogs and F-16 Fighting Falcons.

“I look forward to us getting together in the true spirit of one team, to strengthen our alliance and to propel it to even great heights,” LaCamera, who previously commanded U.S. Army Pacific, told an audience that included the head of Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. John Aquilino, and South Korean defense minister Suh Wook.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the prior USFK commander General Abrams is retiring after 39 years of service.

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