This has been a long time coming:
South Korea on Tuesday began accepting applications from men who want to substitute mandatory military service for other public services due to religious or personal beliefs, the military manpower agency said.
By law, all able-bodied South Korean men must carry out military service for about two years in a country that faces North Korea across one of the world’s most heavily fortified borders. Violators are punished with prison terms.
In December, the National Assembly passed a bill allowing “conscientious objectors” to do 36 months of alternative service at local correctional facilities, instead of joining the military.
Last week, a 29-member committee — comprising lawyers, professors, activists and other experts from various fields — was launched to review the applications.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but I have always felt there is more productive things that can be done with consciouses objectors than putting them in jail. It is good to see this now happening.
The Russians are alleging that the human rights activists sending of balloons with vulgar pictures of Kim Jong-un’s wife is what caused the recent uproar:
A Russian diplomat on Monday suggested that North Korea likely retaliated against defector-led anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns in South Korea after recent leaflets contained obscenely edited photos of first lady Ri Sol-ju.
Speaking to TASS Russian News Agency, Russian Ambassador to Pyongyang Alexandre Machegora said the North Korean leadership and citizens were furious over leaflets sent on May 31 containing content that was deemed vulgar and insulting.
Days before demolishing the Gaeseong liaison office, the North’s ruling party mouthpiece Rodong Sinmun said plotting to harm the regime’s supreme dignity is more threatening than Seoul and Washington’s joint military drills.
Pyongyang’s retaliation is also believed to have been triggered by posts in the online communities of some defector groups in which individuals claimed to be buying items used by COVID-19 patients to send to North Korea to spark a pandemic that would cause Kim Jong-un’s regime to collapse.
KBS World Radio
I doubt this because the defector groups have been sending unflattering material of the Kim regime for a long time without this reaction. My theory is that the Kim regime was just looking for a convenient excuse to start a provocation cycle to pressure the Moon administration. The Kim regime behaved and did what it could to help the Korean left win April’s parliamentary elections and now wants to cash in by pressuring the Moon administration to unilaterally drop sanctions.
The Moon administration plays the Imperial Japan card for everything just like certain groups in the U.S. play the race card for everything. Here is the latest example:
Japan’s reported protest against South Korea joining an expanded Group of Seven (G7) summit reflects its typical “shameless” behavior, a Cheong Wa Dae official said Monday.
The official was responding to a news report that the Shinzo Abe administration has delivered its objection to U.S. President Donald Trump’s idea of inviting President Moon Jae-in to the envisioned session.
Trump earlier announced that he wants to add the leaders of South Korea, Australia, India and probably Russia to the list of attendees at the event, which he hopes to host in the autumn.
Tokyo, however, has formally informed Washington of its negative view on the move to include Seoul, saying it is “not in lockstep with G7 members” on the China and North Korea issues, according to Japan’s Kyodo News service.
“There’s nothing to be surprised any more by Japan’s consistent attitude not to admit or atone for its wrongdoings,” the official said, describing Japan as accustomed to “harming” a neighboring country.
“The level of Japan’s shameless (stance) is something of the world’s top,” the official added. “I don’t expect any major impact (to Trump’s plan to expand the G7 and include South Korea as a member), as the international community, especially advanced nations, is sufficiently aware of Japan’s such level.”
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but the Abe administration would not have opposed ROK attendance at the meeting if it wasn’t for the bilateral differences mentioned, it has nothing to do with Imperial Japan. Bringing up Imperial Japan as a response just demonstrates that the Abe administration was correct since no subsistence response to differences on North Korea and China was provided.
Life is about to get a little better for USFK personnel still stationed at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul:
The U.S. military said Saturday that it will ease anti-coronavirus restrictions for troops and other personnel on this Army garrison in Seoul, but unauthorized travel to the capital from other bases remains prohibited.
The move, which begins at noon Monday, came more than a month after U.S. Forces Korea lifted restrictions for bases elsewhere in South Korea but maintained them for Yongsan because of continued cluster infections there.
USFK cited “the continued low numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases within Yongsan district,” for its decision to lower the health alert level from “Charlie” to “Bravo” for the area in central Seoul.
That means personnel may go to restaurants, hair salons, child care facilities, gyms and other off-base establishments in Yongsan for the first time in months, but only if they live in the area.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but personnel from bases out of Seoul are still not allowed to travel to the nation’s capitol city due to the coronavirus. The way this pandemic is turning out, you could have someone do an entire tour in USFK and never get a chance to visit Seoul because of the coronavirus.
Here is the latest Moon administration attack on the human rights group that send leaflets into North Korea:
The government is seeking stronger measures against activist and North Korean defectors groups that have been sending anti-North Korea leaflets across the inter-Korean border, stating that their campaigns are not helping to create peace on the Korean Peninsula.
North Korea watchers say that the government’s tough stance could lead to the campaigns losing ground here.
On Monday, the Ministry of Unification held a hearing to give two North Korean defectors’ groups a final opportunity to justify their actions before it makes a decision on whether to revoke their civic group licenses, following their sending of propaganda leaflets, rice and other items across the border.
“We held a hearing today for Fighters for a Free North Korea and Kuensaem,” the ministry said in a press statement. “After checking whether there are any additional documents they need to submit, we will proceed with the license revocation and other related procedures.”
If their licenses are annulled, they will not be able to hold official fundraisers. Currently, donors for activist groups are eligible for various tax benefits.“Individuals can donate, but their contribution could be seen as a donation of their property, which means they may have to pay gift taxes,” ministry spokesman Yoh Sang-key said.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link, but this is the state of affairs in Korea right now. Leaders running human rights groups trying to make change in North Korea will have to pay taxes for donations while leaders of comfort women groups get to embezzle the money and then get appointed to the National Assembly to avoid prosecution.
Will any ROK Heads be rushing to the store to buy this new Kellogg’s cereal?:
Kellogg Korea’s latest release, Chex Green Onion is stirring up the Internet even before hitting the shelves.
Kellogg Korea uploaded a 6-second-long video on June 17 on its YouTube channel, recruiting 50 people to try its newest product before its release. The video showed chopped green onion being sprinkled on chocolate flavored Korean cereal Chex with milk with background music with the lyrics “sorry, sorry, sorry” by trot singer Tae Jin-ah.
Korea Herald
You can read more about the cereal at the link.
