Author: GIKorea

This is just bizarre and creepy that a four star general would do something like this if true:

U.S. Air Force Gen. John E. Hyten’s chances of being confirmed as the military’s second-highest officer may come down to one thing next week: whether senators believe an Army colonel’s charges that he sexually assaulted her while she was under his command — accusations he denies.

Col. Kathryn Spletstoser has accused Hyten, who is currently responsible for the country’s nuclear arsenal as the head of U.S. Strategic Command, of making unwanted sexual contact with her on several occasions in 2017 while the two were traveling for work.

Both Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Armed Services Committee maintain that her account is plausible, but some members have also said they are wary of taking her uncorroborated word over the categorical denials of a decorated four-star Air Force general endorsed by high-ranking colleagues. (…………..)

Spletstoser’s public remarks would probably mirror much of what she has told the panel in private and alleged in a Washington Post interview: that Hyten had taken a liking to her when he took over U.S. Strategic Command in November 2016, picking her to be his “point person,” but that two months in, he started making overt and unwelcome advances during official overnight trips.

The first time was in January 2017, she alleges, when Hyten grabbed her left hand as she was exiting a work meeting in his hotel room in Palo Alto, California, pulling it in toward his groin so she could feel his erection before she moved her hand away. In June 2017, Spletstoser said that Hyten interrupted another work meeting in his Washington, D.C., hotel room to fondle her breasts and kiss her — and that she pushed him away and admonished him. That prompted Hyten to panic, she said, and ask her through tears: “Are you going to tell on me?” Though she felt he had clearly “crossed a line,” she assured him she would not, she said.

Yet it was during the Reagan National Defense Forum in December 2017 that Spletstoser said Hyten made his most aggressive move, arriving uninvited at her hotel room in workout clothes carrying a binder, and claiming he wanted to discuss work matters. Within minutes, Spletstoser said, Hyten had pinned her against him and begun “grinding on me hard, like he wants to take my clothes off and have sex . . . and then I realize, he’s ejaculating.”

Washington Post

You can read more at the link, but what complicates this issue is that Col. Spletstoser was given a letter of reprimand from investigators for toxic leadership behavior. She was also given a negative officer evaluation report from General Hyten which she was appealing when he was nominated for the Vice Chairman job and she then made the complaint against him.

Interestingly no one else has come forward to say they saw anything inappropriate. This turns this into a he said, she said situation and it will be interesting to see what happens because in this #metoo environment those accused of sexual misconduct are guilty until proven innocent.

Who knows what and where this green roofed building is?:

2019 KOREA FINDER LEADERS BOARD

1. Comfortable Chairs – 3
2. Smokes – 1, BMW – 1, Chickenhead – 1, MTB Rider – 1

#MoonJaein admin to transfer $8M to #NorthKorea via WFP next week. Meanwhile, NK rejected SK rice aid, shot off more missiles, & warned SK, the day after Chinese & Russian military aircraft intruded KADIZ & a RU aircraft violated SK airspace. Priorities.https://t.co/6EN5QK1GCd

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) July 26, 2019

It looks like more gas stations in Korea are going to become more like their counterparts in the U.S.:

Gas stations are soon to become something very different, as charging units and hydrogen compressors are added across the land. But there’s more, as operators in the business look to diversify and make the outlets more profitable.

They are adding a wide range of goods and services, including maintenance centers, convenience stores, fast food restaurants and even coffee shops. Parcel delivery is also on the list.

Such changes come as gas stations struggle under intense competition. On average, 170 of them are driven out of business annually, forcing the adoption of new strategies to survive.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Does anyone believe this was a mistake by the North Korean military?:

 A fishing boat apparently operated by North Korea’s military has been towed into a South Korean port for investigation after “mistakenly” sailing across the inter-Korean sea border, the military authorities here said Sunday.

Three North Koreans, one wearing the communist nation’s military uniform, were aboard the 10-meter-long wooden boat, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

Asked initially if they have a desire to defect to the South, they said no, according to a source. 

But the military took them to the port to figure out the exact reason for the NLL crossing. An interagency probe team is looking into the personal backgrounds of the North Koreans and their intentions.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this could have been a insertion mission of North Korean agents into South Korea or simply something to judge ROK maritime reaction times.

Found this picture by chance. It seems about right. pic.twitter.com/i2KRRvGZqS

— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) July 25, 2019

The Blue House needs to have this exercise happen because it is part of the glide path for the ROK to take back operational control (OPCON) from the U.S. Taking back OPCON has long been a left wing goal that the Moon administration is trying to make happen:

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Friday that South Korea and the United States will proceed with their planned joint military drills as scheduled, despite North Korea’s warning.

North Korea’s state media said earlier in the day that the two short-range ballistic missiles the country fired Thursday were a “solemn warning” against South Korea, calling for the suspension of Seoul’s planned military exercises and its purchase of what it called offensive weapons.

Cheong Wa Dae said it will not issue an official statement regarding reports by the North’s media as it only responds to a country’s official stance.

When asked about the possibility to review the allies’ military drills, “It is known that nothing has changed,” a presidential official told reporters, asking not to be named.

Seoul and Washington plan to conduct the summertime exercise, named 19-2 Dong Maeng, to verify Seoul’s capabilities for its envisioned retaking of wartime operational control (OPCON) of its troops from Washington.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This has been a long time coming since it has been plague by delays and shoddy construction:

The United States took possession of a state-of-the-art, 68-bed hospital at the new U.S. military headquarters in South Korea during a ceremony Wednesday.

The handover put the $215 million facility one step closer to opening, seven years after the military broke ground on it.

The Brian D. Allgood Army Community Hospital and ambulatory care center, the namesake of the hospital that will close at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, is scheduled to officially open for patients on Nov. 15.

That will be a relief for the more than 30,000 Americans based at Camp Humphreys, many of whom must commute some 55 miles north to the South Korean capital for services, including behavioral health care and childbirth.

On Wednesday, speakers alluded to the problems that faced the South Korean-funded construction project. The hospital is a centerpiece of the nearly $11 billion effort to expand Camp Humphreys, a former remote outpost, as part of the long-delayed relocation of most American forces to the south of Seoul.

“Today is one of those days that I was afraid would never come,” said Col. Teresa Schlosser, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Far East District. She attended the ceremony on her last day as district commander.

“I appreciate being able to close out this hospital after all the years of hard work to get it across the finish line,” she said.The United States took possession of a state-of-the-art, 68-bed hospital at the new U.S. military headquarters in South Korea during a ceremony Wednesday.

The handover put the $215 million facility one step closer to opening, seven years after the military broke ground on it.

The Brian D. Allgood Army Community Hospital and ambulatory care center, the namesake of the hospital that will close at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, is scheduled to officially open for patients on Nov. 15.

That will be a relief for the more than 30,000 Americans based at Camp Humphreys, many of whom must commute some 55 miles north to the South Korean capital for services, including behavioral health care and childbirth.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but ground was first broken to build the hospital in 2012. It took seven years to build this hospital when I have seen entire new neighborhoods in South Korea constructed faster.