Kim Won-bong is basically the Benedict Arnold of South Korea. I think it is okay to record his military contributions as part of the historical record, but his treason should be part of the historical record as well instead of just receiving praise for his anti-Japanese activities:
Late General Kim Won-bong (1898-1958). Korea Times file
The Ministry of National Defense said Monday it was reviewing a request from its research arm to include details of Kim Won-bong’s fight for Korea’s independence in the historical records of the Korean military on its official website.
Kim was the leader of a secret society fighting for independence. He and his associates became undercover operatives for the Korean provisional government in China from the late 1930s to early 1940s. But Kim later went to North Korea, where he earned commendations from Pyongyang for his efforts in the Korean War.
“The ministry understands there is a need to record the late Kim Won-bong’s activities if they turn out to be based on historical facts,” ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo told reporters in a briefing at the ministry’s headquarters in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
A request was made last year by the Institute for Military History for the current history on the ministry website to be revised to include some facts about Kim’s activities including his creation of the anti-Japanese Korean Volunteer Corps in 1938 in Wuhan, China. Kim was later appointed deputy commander of the Korean Liberation Army in 1942 and served until 1945.
Currently, the ministry’s records only state certain facts such as those on the late independence activist Ahn Jung-geun and his assassination of then-Japanese Resident-General Hirobumi Ito in 1909, or the foundation of the provisional government in 1919, in the history before the 1945 liberation of Korea from colonial rule.
The historical assessment on Kim, however, remains controversial as he became a North Korean military commander in 1948 and fought against South Korea during the 1950-53 Korean War. He was said to have helped strengthen Kim Il-sung’s regime in North Korea before being purged in 1958.
Controversy surrounding Kim has recently resurfaced following President Moon Jae-in’s June 6 Memorial Day speech at Seoul National Cemetery, where he gave credit to him for his activities.
In these photos, U.S. Navy cruiser USS Chancellorsville (CG 62), right, is forced to maneuver to avoid collision from the approaching Russian destroyer Udaloy I (DD 572), closing to approximately 50-100 feet putting the safety of her crew and ship at risk. pic.twitter.com/BRNqWNV9zd
— Adm. John Richardson (@CNORichardson) June 7, 2019
8th Army Commander Lt. Gen. Bills at 75th anniversary event Eighth Army Commander Lt. Gen. Michael A. Bills delivers opening remarks at the 75th anniversary of the Army’s establishment at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, south of Seoul, on June 8, 2019. (Yonhap)
There have been so many false reports about the North Korean regime I find this report to be just another likely click bait headline:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reportedly executed a general accused of plotting a coup by throwing him into a piranha-filled fish tank. The unnamed general was said to be the latest victim of the dictatorial leader, who has executed numerous aides, including his envoy to the US in May. The general was allegedly killed inside a giant piranha tank built inside Kim’s Ryongsong Residence, in Pyongyang, after being accused of plotting a coup, the Daily Star reported.
It is claimed the general had his arms and torso cut open with knives before being thrown into the tank, which was filled with hundreds of piranhas imported from Brazil, it is reported.
This is a good idea that hopefully will lead to more ship seizures:
The U.S. State Department has pledged up to five million dollars for informants on North Korea’s violations of sanctions, including its illegal transshipment of coal and oil.
According to Radio Free Asia on Tuesday, the State Department announced to offer rewards for information that leads to the disruption of financial mechanisms of persons engaged in certain activities that support North Korea, including money laundering, sanctions evasion, cyber-crime, and WMD proliferation on the Rewards for Justice (RFJ) website run by the department.
The State Department has run the RFJ program since 1984 to obtain information about international terrorists. The newly announced reward prioritizes information about maritime illicit transshipment by North Korea for its export of coal and import of crude oil. In particular, a wanted poster with a caption to urge people, especially Chinese maritime workers, to stop North Korea’s illegal maritime activities was produced in both English and Chinese. The detection of maritime illicit transshipment is a challenging task as it requires a large scale oversight and North Korea has adopted ever more elaborate schemes to avoid sanctions.
Those who provide a critical piece of information to identify hackers who have stolen data or spread malicious codes under the orders of North Korea will be rewarded as well.
Kim Won Bong, 2nd person behind Kim Il Sung, reached ministerial level in Korea Workers' Party in #NorthKorea. He fought against #SouthKorea during the #Korean War. Yet #MoonJaein said KWB is "the root of SK military" & "the foundation of the SK-US alliance." Unbelievable! pic.twitter.com/lBRXj3AnK0
Forest fire victims rally A group of residents and merchants from the northeastern cities of Sokcho and Goseong, victimized by a devastating forest fire in April, rally near the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on June 7, 2019, to demand the government compensate them for their damages from the fire and come up with policies to support them. (Yonhap)
The Moon administration is not going to like this news:
Eight out of ten South Koreans think economic issues are more important than unification with North Korea, according to a new government survey.
The Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs released on Friday the results of their survey of three-thousand-873 South Korean adults, which indicates that 77-point-one percent of respondents would choose the economy over unification if only one of the two problems could be solved.
In the survey, 55-point-nine percent agreed with the proposition that South Korea and North Korea don’t necessarily have to form a unified country.
A full 53-point-two percent answered negatively when asked if they were willing to partially give up their quality of life for unification with North Korea.
I am not a fan of the raid on the North Korean embassy in Spain, but one of the perpetrators who was caught definitely should be worried about his life being in danger:
A Korean American man arrested in the U.S. on charges of raiding the North Korean embassy in Spain claims that he faces possibly fatal retaliation from the North should he be extradited to Spain.
According to the LA Times, attorneys for the 38-year-old former U.S. Marine Christopher Philip Ahn are making the case before a federal judge in Los Angeles that he is a devoted family man who is not a danger or a flight risk.
In court papers filed Thursday requesting his release on bail, the attorneys cited the fact that Ahn was previously involved in the extraction of Kim Han-sol after his father Kim Jong-nam, the estranged half-brother of the North Korean leader, was assassinated in Malaysia in 2017.
They said Ahn’s life could be in jeopardy in Spain and that North Korea has every incentive to either capture and torture him to extract information regarding Kim Han-sol’s whereabouts or to simply murder him as retribution for embarrassing the regime.
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