Here is an interesting issue that I doubt the Moon administration would do anything to change:
Foreign residents participate in mock early voting at Seoul Station, in this file photo taken on May 31, 2018, ahead of the June 13 local elections in that year. Korea Times photo by Shin Sang-soon
Growing anti-China sentiment is leading some to call for taking away the right of foreign permanent residents to vote here.
The move is intended to target Chinese residents, as they make up the majority of eligible immigrant voters in Korea. Recent disputes have pitted the people of the two countries against each other over various cultural issues, including recent claims coming from China that some elements of Korean culture, including kimchi, hanbok and samgyetang, originated there.
In my humble opinion anyone that believes that North Korea is willing to give up their nukes is not an expert on North Korea:
The captured image shows U.S. experts taking part in a webinar hosted by the Washington Times Foundation on May 4, 2021. They are (from top L, clockwise) Christopher Hill, former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, Joseph DeTrani, former special U.S. envoy to the six-nation denuclearization talks with North Korea, Guy Taylor, Washington Times journalist, and Alexandre Mansourov, professor of security studies at Georgetown University.
North Korea may still be willing to give up its nuclear weapons for the right price, but will likely wait to see how serious and committed the new U.S. administration is to diplomacy, U.S. experts said Tuesday.
“I do believe North Korea is committed to complete, verifiable denuclearization, assuming they get the security assurances they want and certainly they need because they’re concerned about regime change, and they realize nuclear weapons, indeed, are a deterrent,” Joseph DeTrani said in a webinar hosted by the Washington Times Foundation.
DeTrani served more than two decades at the Central Intelligence Agency before working as a special U.S. envoy to the six-nation denuclearization negotiations with North Korea.
You can read more at the link, but the engagement crowd is out pushing their talking point that the North Koreans would give up their nuclear weapons for the right security guarantees. The Kim regime has one goal and that is to sustain their rule. What better security guarantee could they have than possessing nuclear weapons? They saw what happened to Saddam Hussein and Muammar Gaddafi when they were prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons; they are not going to make the same mistake.
The best that can be hoped for is to limit the number of weapons they have and try to stop their ICBM development program to threaten the U.S. homeland. In conjunction with this, the U.S. and its allies should be working to thwart North Korean proliferation of these technologies to other rogue nations which we have seen them do before with Syria and Iran. This is a more realistic goal instead of pursuing the fiction that North Korea is willing to denuclearize.
I shit you not, I once knew a guy in Korea who brews his own beer and I told him that he should name his next beer "East Sea" if he wants to make the big bucks. He said no. https://t.co/be6l9gu3rS
Spring snow An area near the Hangyeryeong mountain pass in Gangwon Province, east of Seoul, is covered with snow in this photo provided by the Yangyang County Office on May 2, 2021. (Yonhap)
I wonder if living conditions has anything to do with this spread of COVID-19 in Gangneung among migrant workers?:
Foreign migrant workers take coronavirus tests in a temporary testing station in Gangneung on the South Korean east coast on May 3, 2021. (Yonhap)
More than 40 foreign migrant workers in the east coast city of Gangneung tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday after preemptive coronavirus testing, municipal officials said.
The municipality of Gangneung, 240 kilometers east of Seoul, has so far conducted the preemptive testing on 743 migrant workers and 43 of them were diagnosed with the new coronavirus, the officials said.
By nationality, Russians accounted for 36 of the confirmed cases, with the others from Central Asian nations, they noted.
North Korea tends to slowly build up towards a provocation cycle, so I would be surprised if they did anything bigger than what analysts are expecting:
What is assumed to be a new intercontinental ballistic missile is displayed during a ceremony to mark the 75th anniversary of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party of Korea in this capture image of Korea Central Television broadcasting, Oct. 10, 2020. Yonhap
Experts said Pyongyang may attempt to rattle its neighbors and the U.S. with a number of low-profile provocations before the May 21 summit between Biden and South Korean President Moon Jae-in. These could involve the closure of North Korea’s own organization on inter-Korean relations or the launch of short-range missiles. (….)
Cheong said Pyongyang is expected to limit its level of provocation given the relatively moderate expressions in the statement from the North’s foreign ministry director. According to him, Kwon, who is known as a hardliner, has toned down his rhetoric by indirectly mentioning Biden as the “U.S. chief authority” and described the president’s remarks as “a blunder,” not a provocation.
“Given the South Korea-U.S. summit is around the corner, there is a chance of one or two short-range missile launches by Pyongyang to pressure Seoul to exercise its influence on Washington’s North Korea policy,” Cheong said.
The Sister Strikes Again. #KimYoJong, #KCNA May 2: "Recently, south Korean "defector" trash yet again committed the unacceptable act of provocation of strewing anti-DPRK leaflets while crawling around…the southern authorities will bear the full responsibility for our action." pic.twitter.com/z2NmpBChH1
Kim Yo-jong is not happy with a ROK Drop favorite Park Sang-hak because his group continues leaflet activities into North Korea:
Park Sang-hak, head of a North Korea defectors’ activist group, Fighters for a Free North Korea, holds a placard criticizing the North’s leader Kim Jong-un in this undated handout photo. The group said Friday that it had flown balloons containing leaflets and booklets condemning Kim into the country twice between April 25 and 29. Courtesy of Fighters for a Free North Korea
Kim Yo-jong also issued a statement blaming Seoul for letting a North Korean defectors organization fly anti-Kim regime leaflets into the country last week.
In the statement carried by the North’s Korea Central News Agency, she called it “an intolerable provocation” and said “the South Korean authorities again did not stop the reckless acts of the defectors from the North, winking at them.” Kim warned of “a corresponding action,” without elaborating.
On Friday, Fighters for a Free North Korea, a group of North Korean defectors, claimed that it had flown balloons carrying leaflets, booklets and U.S. dollars across the border. This came weeks after South Korea criminalized such an act despite criticism from some U.S. lawmakers and international rights groups that the law banning anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns limited South Korea’s freedom of speech.
New frigate launched Seen here is the South Korean Navy’s new 2,800-ton frigate, the Daejeon, whose launching ceremony was held at its manufacturer Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Co.’s Okpo shipyard on the southern island of Geoje on May 3, 2021. (Yonhap)
Japan’s has seen a recent surge in coronavirus cases which includes USFJ personnel:
Travelers in coronavirus masks wait for their trains at Kamakura Station in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, April 27, 2021. AKIFUMI ISHIKAWA/STARS AND STRIPES
U.S. Forces Japan reported 47 COVID-19 patients at 10 installations across Japan on April 27.
Sasebo Naval Base, on the southern island of Kyushu, reported via Facebook on Sunday that two people tested positive during a medical screening and were quarantined.
The Marine Corps had three new COVID-19 patients between Saturday and Monday, one each at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and Camps Hansen and Courtney, according to a Facebook post by Marine Corps Installations Pacific on Monday.
