Author: GIKorea

It seems this former ambassador got off pretty light:

South Korea’s former Ambassador to Ethiopia Kim Mun-hwan, 55, was sentenced to jail on Monday for raping an employee of a Ministry of Foreign Affairs agency.

The Supreme Court on Monday confirmed the appellate court’s one-year sentence for the ex-ambassador for abusing his authority.

Kim was indicted in August 2017 on charges of raping a staff member of the Korea International Cooperation Agency at his residence in Ethiopia in 2015. He was also suspected of molesting two embassy officials on two different occasions while serving as ambassador from 2014 to 2017.

The ministry dismissed him from his post in September 2017.

In addition to the jail term, the court sentenced Kim to 40 hours of sex offender treatment. He is also barred from working at institutions related to children or adolescent affairs.

Korea Herald

What is ironic about this is that the Russians have done something more provocative than the Japanese have ever done with Dokdo. So are all the Dokdo crazies going to go protest in front of the Russian embassy now?:

South Korean warplanes fired hundreds of warning shots at a Russian military aircraft that entered South Korean airspace on Tuesday, defence officials said, while Russia denied violating any airspace and accused South Korean pilots of being reckless.

It was the first time a Russian military aircraft had violated South Korean airspace, an official at the South Korean Ministry of National Defence said in Seoul. 

The incident, which also involved China and Japan, could complicate relations and raise tension in a region that has for years been over-shadowed by hostility between the United States and North Korea. 

Two Russian Tu-95 bombers and two Chinese H-6 bombers entered the Korea Air Defence Identification Zone (KADIZ) together early on Tuesday, the South Korean defence ministry said. 

A separate Russian A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft later twice violated South Korean airspace over Dokdo – an island that is occupied by South Korea and also claimed by Japan, which calls it Takeshima – just after 9 a.m. (midnight GMT Monday), according to the South Korean military.

Reuters via a reader tip

You can read more at the link, but this is the first time a foreign aircraft has violated ROK air space and warning shots were fired. Despite all the Japan bashing over the years on the Dokdo issue they have never done anything close to this. Don’t forget that the Chinese are involved in this as well. Will any of the so called patriotic Koreans show up and protest in front of the Chinese embassy?

In my opinion this appears to be a planned provocation by the Chinese and the Russians to stir the pot between the ROK and Japan since they both claim the Dokdo islets.

Once again when are so called patriotic Koreans going to pull a stunt like this at the Chinese embassy to protest their current economic retaliation against South Korea and historical wrong doing against the Korean people?:

Police detained six college students Monday after they staged a demonstration inside the Japanese Consulate in the southeastern port city of Busan in protest of Japan’s trade restrictions on Korea. 

The students were in the consulate’s library, then stormed out to its yard at around 2:30 p.m. They shouted slogans and held banners that read, “We denounce Japan’s re-invasion,” “We condemn economic provocations,” and “Abe must apologize.” 

They were taken to a police station and are being probed on the account of trespassing the premises of a diplomatic mission, the police said. 

The students, who claim to belong to an anti-Japan group based in Busan, individually entered the consulate building earlier through due procedures, according to the police.

At the time of their protest, a coalition of 30 civic groups in the city was holding a joint news conference in front of the consulate’s rear gate to condemn Japan for its export restrictions against South Korea and call for a boycott of Japanese products.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but when are these protesters going to demand the Emperor President Xi of China apologize?

Anyway these activists pull these stunts against Japan because they know they can get away with it. If they tried this against the Chinese embassy they know there would likely be real repercussions. Remember the Chinese embassy once sponsored the assault of Korean citizens in Seoul and got away with it.  

Could you imagine what would happen if the Japanese embassy organized a mob to assault Koreans in Seoul?

Leaked documents reveal Huawei’s secret operations to build North Korea’s wireless network – my latest with ⁦@gerryshih⁩ ⁦@John_Hudson⁩ https://t.co/612ctFaSIf

— Ellen Nakashima (@nakashimae) July 22, 2019

Considering that South Korea receives most of their energy from the Middle East it seems like it would be in their interests to ensure the Strait of Hormuz remains open:

South Korea is closely monitoring the situation in waters off Iran, including the U.S.’ possible request for its troops dispatch to the region, the defense ministry said Monday.

The United States has been asking its allies to join a military coalition to ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.

“So far, we have not received any official requests from the U.S. side over the possible dispatch of our troops,” Col. Roh Jae-cheon, the deputy ministry spokesman, told a regular briefing.

“South Korea is keeping a close tab on the situation in the Strait of Hormuz while opening various possibilities in consideration of potential impacts the matter could have on our side,” he added.

Another official said that the ministry “is reviewing diverse options and measures with regards to the issue.”

Some observers have said that U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton could make such a request during his two-day visit here that begins Tuesday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but so far Iran has not messed with energy shipments to South Korea. South Korea has actually had good relations with Iran to include the prior President conducting a state visit.

President Moon might calculate that dispatching a naval presence to the Strait of the Hormuz could anger Iran. Another factor to consider is the ROK may not want to cooperate with the Japanese Navy if it participates in such a maritime mission as well. It will be interesting to see what President Moon decides if asked by the U.S. to participate in the mission.

The Chun Doo-hwan may have considered cheating in the 1987 election, but there is no evidence they actually did:

Newly declassified US intelligence reports that were originally submitted during South Korea’s 1987 presidential election campaign have confirmed that – as was widely suspected at the time – the military-backed ruling party considered using “black propaganda and dirty tricks” against the opposition, the South China Morning Post reported.

However, “it is unclear to what extent the ruling camp followed through on its plans to cheat in the election,” the newspaper concluded in its weekend report, saying it had obtained the reports through a Freedom of Information Act filing.

As the election turned out, ruling party candidate Roh Tae-woo, who’d been chosen by dictator Chun Doo-hwan, won handily thanks to a split opposition. He drew 37% of the vote as against 28% and 27% for Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, respectively. Each of the two Kims had refused to withdraw in favor of the other.

In the end – this reporter covered it – the election was generally viewed as having been honestly conducted. While dirty tricks would not have surprised anyone at the time, evidence that the former generals had employed them failed to materialize in any major way.Newly declassified US intelligence reports that were originally submitted during South Korea’s 1987 presidential election campaign have confirmed that – as was widely suspected at the time – the military-backed ruling party considered using “black propaganda and dirty tricks” against the opposition, the South China Morning Post reported.

However, “it is unclear to what extent the ruling camp followed through on its plans to cheat in the election,” the newspaper concluded in its weekend report, saying it had obtained the reports through a Freedom of Information Act filing.

As the election turned out, ruling party candidate Roh Tae-woo, who’d been chosen by dictator Chun Doo-hwan, won handily thanks to a split opposition. He drew 37% of the vote as against 28% and 27% for Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, respectively. Each of the two Kims had refused to withdraw in favor of the other.

Asia Times

You can read more at the link.

Does anyone have any suggestions on what to rename the joint US-ROK exercise to not upset Kim Jong-un?:

South Korea and the United States are reportedly considering conducting a joint military exercise early next month as scheduled, but under a different name.

The allies were known to have planned to conduct the exercise, named 19-2 Dong Maeng, to evaluate Seoul’s readiness to take over wartime operational control (OPCON) of its troops from Washington.

But multiple military sources said on Sunday that the two sides are reviewing whether to rename it in consideration of recent warnings from North Korea that the drill could affect its nuclear negotiations with the United States.

One of the possible new names to replace Dong Maeng, which means alliance in English, reportedly includes “OPCON Verification Exercise.”

The military sources said that the allies plan to hold the computer-simulated command post exercise for three weeks in early August.

KBS World Radio

Not as much as you think. Jack-@$$-ery is not limited to only the hours of 0100-0500. https://t.co/u7tdLbiER3

— Robert Abrams (@DogFaceSoldier) July 21, 2019