Author: GIKorea

It seems the South Korean public understands the reality of the Kim regime better than many elites in South Korea and the U.S.:

Nine out of 10 South Koreans think North Korea will not give up its nuclear weapons, but nearly half think the South should still seek dialogue with the North, according to a recent poll.

In an annual face-to-face survey of 1,003 adults conducted from May 20 through June 10 by the Korea Institute for National Unification, 89.5 percent said Pyongyang will not denuclearize, the highest since 2016.

Only 15.6 percent said they think dialogue and compromise are possible with the North’s Kim Jong-un administration.

Nevertheless, 45.7 percent think Seoul should keep trying — up from the previous survey in November 2019, when 38.1 percent thought so, but down from April 2019, when 51.4 percent did.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

A ROK Drop favorite, Robert Neff has an article published over in the Korea Times about Ethiopian soldiers that served during the Korean War:

One of the least-known participants in the Korean War was Ethiopia. 

The first battalion of Ethiopian soldiers arrived in Busan in May 1951. Known as the Kagnew (“to bring order out of chaos”) Battalion, it was viewed with a degree of skepticism by American officers.

Many felt the Ethiopians should be placed in rear areas instead of the front line, but the Ethiopians insisted on being in the heat of battle with their American counterparts. So they were assigned to the American Seventh Division. (………….)

The Ethiopian soldiers soon gained a reputation. The Chinese feared them. The Kagnew Battalion never left a man behind ― wounded or dead ― and none of their soldiers were ever captured by the North Koreans or Chinese. It was like they were ghosts. Perhaps even more alarming were the rumors of cannibalism by the Ethiopians. Of course, these were false, but they only made the Kagnew Battalion even more terrifying to the enemy.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The coronavirus response in South Korea continues to battle cluster infections:

The number of South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases bounced back to over 50 on Saturday amid another outbreak of cluster infections traced to a major church in Seoul.

A total of 51 people tested positive for the new coronavirus, according to data collated during the last 24 hours by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).

Among them, 31 people contracted the virus via community spread, while 20 cases were imported, it announced.

They included 15 in Seoul, 12 in nearby Gyeonggi Province and two in Daejeon, some 160 kilometers south of the capital.

In particular, nine people were added to the list of COVID-19 patients related to Wangsung Church in the southwestern ward of Gwanak, which has emerged as a source of cluster infections. It is known to have more than 1,700 followers.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is pretty clear to me anyway that President Moon did not want to single out North Korea as a security threat and instead made this broad statement:

Pledging a tough response to “provocations from any direction” in his Korean War anniversary speech this week, South Korean President Moon Jae-in was talking about “comprehensive security,” not just North Korea, his office said Friday.

The previous night, Moon attended the Seoul Air Base ceremony to mark the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the war and stressed, “Our military has strength to ward off any threat.”

He added, “It has a thorough readiness posture and will never allow even a handspan of our territory on land, sea or air to be violated again.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the only military threats to South Korea are from North Korea and their Chinese backers. However, to a South Korean leftist they actually believe Japan is a bigger security threat.

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

It is interesting how the Moon administration is putting more pressure on a human rights activist to change his behavior than they ever have on the Kim regime to modify their behavior:

Police on Friday searched the house and office of a former North Korean defector who has been at the center of the anti-Pyongyang leafleting campaign in South Korea, denounced vehemently by North Korea. 

The national security probe team of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency dispatched officials to search the home and office in Seoul of Park Sang-hak, who heads Fighters for a Free North Korea, an activist group that has been leading the campaign to send anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border. 

The police officials combed through Park’s places in Songpa Ward, eastern Seoul, to secure potential evidence.

“The search is part of efforts to seize materials so that we could verify if Park’s activities are in breach of law,” a police officer said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the Moon administration is searching his house and making a media spectacle out of it to force him to have to move. ROK Heads may remember that Park Sang-Hak in the past has faced assassination attempts by North Korean agents and had leftist thugs assault him to stop his balloon protests.

With his address now disclosed he will have to move to avoid the leftist crazies that will be coming after him. I would have to think that Park and his group knew this day was coming as soon as Moon Jae-in was elected President and have some kind of contingency plan in place to lay low for a while.

ROK Heads may remember that Park Sang-hak who leads the defector group, Fighters for a Free North Korea has been subject to assassination attempts before by North Korea. The ROK media appears eager to help North Korea finish the job.