So does anyone believe the Blue House did not know about this:
Oh Keo-don
The main opposition party on Monday accused the Blue House of arranging Busan Mayor Oh Keo-don’s resignation and admission of sexual assault to take place after this month’s general elections, following a revelation that a law firm hired to communicate with the victim was once headed by President Moon Jae-in.
“No one can possibly believe that the Blue House and ruling Democratic Party [DP] had no prior knowledge of the incident,” Rep. Shim Jae-cheol, floor leader and acting chairman of the United Future Party (UFP), said Monday. “Who will believe that Oh did not inform the party about this important incident?”
Busan Mayor Oh resigned Thursday after admitting to molesting a female employee of the city government. The resignation of the 71-year-old politician, the first DP member to win the mayor post of the southern port city in 2018 after three unsuccessful runs, took place one week after the ruling party’s landslide victory in the April 15 general elections.
You can read more at the link, but to be fair even if the Blue House knew and wanted to keep this out of the headlines, the victim said she did not want this incident publicized before the election either. However, even if this did come out before the election I doubt it would have made much difference nationally considering how big the Korean left won the parliamentary elections.
Congratulations to the Korean Unification Minister for creating a new word, “infodemic”:
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha (L) and Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul speak during a parliamentary session at the National Assembly in Seoul on April 28, 2020. (Yonhap)
Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul on Tuesday rejected unconfirmed reports of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s illness as “fake news” and “infodemic,” insisting he can say confidently there have been no unusual signs in the communist state.
Speculation about Kim’s health spiked after he skipped an annual visit to the mausoleum of his grandfather Kim Il-sung on the late national founder’s April 15 birth anniversary, the North’s most important national holiday.
Media reports have since speculated that Kim might be seriously ill, but Seoul officials have disputed the reports, repeatedly saying there are no unusual signs found in North Korea and that Kim is believed to be staying in the country’s eastern coastal town of Wonsan.
“It can be seen as a phenomenon of infodemic,” Minister Kim said during a parliamentary foreign affairs committee meeting, referring to a recent deluge of unfounded rumors about the leader’s heath. “We have intelligence capacity that allows us to say confidently that there are no unusual signs.”
Here is the latest from President Trump on the health of Kim Jong-un:
President Trump was asked about the widespread speculation surrounding the health of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a White House news conference on the coronavirus on Monday. Trump suggested he knew “exactly” how Kim is doing, but declined to reveal that information.
“Yes I do have a very good idea, but I can’t talk about it now,” said Trump when he was asked to provide an update on Kim’s condition. “I just wish him well.”
The statement mentions nothing about his health, but instead thanks workers building a special tourism area:
This photo, carried by North Korea’s state news agency on April 6, 2019, shows its leader Kim Jong-un (C) inspecting the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist area. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his gratitude to workers building a tourist zone in the east coast region of Wonsan, state media said Monday, amid reports his special train is parked at the area amid persisting speculation about his health.
“Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un has sent his appreciation to the workers who devoted themselves to building the Wonsan-Kalma tourist zone,” the Rodong Sinmun, the North’s main newspaper, said. The Korean Central Broadcasting Station carried a similar report.
Later in the day, the state-run Korean Central News Agency also reported that Kim sent a congratulatory telegram message to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday.
We will continue to publish the results of non-compliance enforcement actions related to current Force Health Protection Condition orders to ensure our community understands the adverse actions of not following USFK directives.#ProtectTheForce#SQUASHtheCurve#KILLtheViruspic.twitter.com/RIpn8OQ9eU
Gyeongbok Palace after eased social distancing People visit Gyeongbok Palace in central Seoul on April 25, 2020, on the first weekend after the government eased rules on social distancing over the coronavirus. (Yonhap)
Here is an interview in the Stars and Stripes with the first U.S. soldier in South Korea to be infected with the coronavirus:
Spc. Deontae Chappel poses for a photo outside Materiel Support Command-Korea headquarters at Camp Carroll, South Korea, Tuesday, April 21, 2020.
Army Spc. Deontae Chappel, the first U.S. service member to test positive for the coronavirus, was “shocked” but not overly worried when he found out he had the respiratory disease in late February.
But then the 23-year-old network systems clerk learned his wife and toddler also had been infected and would be joining him in a hospital isolation unit on Camp Humphreys, the main U.S. military base in South Korea.
“The saddest thing throughout the entire process was knowing that my wife and daughter caught it. If it was just me, I would say, ‘OK I’m going to prevail,’” Chappel said Tuesday in his first interview since being discharged from medical care.
Her is the most interesting part of the interview:
“The tests were fluctuating between positive and negative the entire time,” he said, sitting in a conference room in which everyone present was placed a socially distant 6 feet away from each other.
These fluctuations in test results is likely what explains the supposed “reinfections” of South Koreans that has been making media news.
You can read more at the link, but is good to hear that SPC Chappel and his family are doing well after this ordeal.
An assessment prepared by the Office of the Secretary of Defense proposes cutting two aircraft carriers from the U.S. Navy’s roster to boost the number of smaller warships. Under the proposal, the Navy would retire two aircraft carriers and plow the savings into buying several dozen frigate-sized ships, as well as large unmanned ships. The proposal is likely to run into stiff opposition from proponents of carriers as well as the carrier lobby both inside and outside government.
The study, according to Defense News, would trim the number of nuclear-powered “supercarriers” from 11 to just nine. The number of large surface combatants, both guided missile cruisers and guided missile destroyers, would remain constant at between 80 and 90, compared to the approximately 83 ships in service right now. The number of frigate-sized small surface combatants, on the other hand, would swell from 15 to 20 to between 55 and 70.
You can read more at the link, but smaller ships including unmanned ships make more sense if the Navy is preparing for a conflict to keep sea lanes open in the South China Sea. Bulky carriers that are big targets for China’s increasing ballistic missile capabilities are more challenging to deploy in response to such a crisis.
