Author: GIKorea

The prior USFK commander General Vincent Brooks was also the U.S. Army Pacific Commander before taking over USFK:

U.S. Army Pacific Commander Gen. Paul LaCamera has been nominated to be the next commander of the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK), sources said Friday.

If confirmed, LaCamera will succeed Gen. Robert Abrams to lead the 28,500 American troops based in South Korea, as well as to take the helm of the U.N. Command and the South Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command. Abrams took office in November 2018.

The nomination is part of a routine reshuffle, though no official term of office is set for a USFK commander, the sources said, adding that LaCamera is expected to face a parliamentary hearing in around February or March.

LaCamera has been in command of the U.S. Army Pacific (USARPAC) since November last year, which is the land forces component of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and encompasses such locations as South Korea, Japan, Hawaii and Guam.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

President Moon and his Democrat Party keeps dropping in the approval ratings, but the Korean conservatives have yet to offer someone as their counter to him to capitalize on his unpopularity:

President Moon Jae-in’s job approval rating has fallen to a record low of 37.4 percent, a poll showed Thursday, with a rift between the justice minister and the top prosecutor deepening and housing prices in major areas continuing to rise.

Public approval for the ruling Democratic Party (DP) also dropped to 28.9 percent, the lowest since the launch of the Moon administration in May 2017, while that of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) rose to 31.2 percent, according to Realmeter.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Americans bringing dollars to Korea are getting a worse exchange rate:

Korea’s currency hit a 30-month high against the U.S. dollar Thursday as investors’ interest in safe-haven assets dwindled and expectations rose for vaccine development and further fiscal stimulus in the United States.  
   
Korea’s won closed at 1,097 won against the greenback Thursday, going below the 1,100-won level for the first time in two and a half years. The currency appreciated by 3.8 won, or 0.34 percent, against the U.S. dollar compared to the previous trading day.  
   
The exchange rate went to as low as 1,096.2 won Thursday. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

For a Buddhist monk that preaches piety he sure is living quite the lifestyle:

A popular Buddhist monk, who has faced public criticism over his lifestyle that appears to contradict his preaching of non-possession, belatedly apologized Thursday over another controversy over an apartment in New York believed to be owned by him. 

Ven. Haemin, also an author and teacher, has recently faced widespread criticism over his posh private home in central Seoul, and a subsequent news report claimed that he made gains by selling a building to a Buddhist organization allegedly run by him in the past.

Further allegations arose earlier this week that he had purchased an apartment complex in Brooklyn, New York, together with a foreign national in May 2011, for the price of US$610,000.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but he is of course sorry about all this now that he has been caught.

It was pretty clear that once the Moon administration came to power that the Korean left would find a way to put a true democracy activist like Park Sang-hak in jail:

Prosecutors have indicted the leader of an anti-North Korea leaflet campaign for alleged assault against journalists, officials said Thursday.

Park Sang-hak, 52, the head of Fighters for a Free North Korea, was charged on Nov. 25 with beating and throwing bricks at producers and crew from the broadcaster SBS on June 23. They visited his home in southern Seoul to interview him about the leafleting campaign but are said to have sustained injuries from his attack.

The North Korean defector is also accused of firing a tear gas gun at police officers who were dispatched to the scene following a report.

The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors Office charged Park on four counts, including assault and obstruction of justice.

Regarding Park’s complaints against the SBS employees over housebreaking, the prosecutors did not charge one of them and suspended indictment for three others. 

Meanwhile, Park is currently under a separate prosecution investigation on charges of violating the Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Act by sending propaganda leaflets into the North.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but Kim Yo-jong complained about the balloon launches to the Moon administration and shortly after the balloon launches were criminalized. Then the reporters break into house late at night for a so called interview. ROK Heads may remember that Park Sang-hak has been the victim of multiple assassination attempts by North Korean agents and assaulted by Korean leftists. What was he supposed to do get tea for the people that broke into his property late at night?