Category: Korea-General Topics

To make way for the Presidential office in Yongsan the ROK military’s Joint Chief’s of Staff office will be moving to Southern Seoul:

The South Korean government plans to relocate the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) headquarters to southern Seoul and seeks to construct its new building there by 2026, the defense ministry said Tuesday.

In a parliamentary policy briefing, the ministry made public the relocation plan, as the ministry’s key offices have occupied parts of the current JCS building since the presidential office’s relocation to what used to be the ministry’s headquarters in Seoul’s central district of Yongsan.

Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup said that the government plans to move the JCS building to the Capital Defense Command in Namtaeryeong, southern Seoul, in the “mid- and long-term.” 

Lee estimated that the relocation and the construction of the new JCS building may cost between 200 billion won (US$ 157 million) and 300 billion won, much more than initially expected.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully Keun Rhee isn’t too seriously injured and is able to recover:

A South Korean volunteer fighter in Ukraine was injured during a reconnaissance mission, his YouTube channel said Sunday.

Rhee Keun “recently incurred injuries while leading a special reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines. He has been transferred to a military hospital,” according to an English-language update posted on the YouTube channel ROKSEAL.

The YouTube channel did not provide any further details on Rhee’s condition.

The Navy SEAL-turned-YouTuber left for Ukraine in March to join the war against Russia in violation of a South Korean government ban.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like South Korea is breaking out of the omicron phase of the pandemic. Most notably is that the fatality rate has fallen from .69% in February to .13% now in May:

 South Korea’s new COVID-19 cases fell below 30,000 on Saturday in an apparent sign that the country’s virus cases are significantly declining amid eased social distancing rules.

The country added 29,581 new virus infections, including 25 cases from overseas, bringing the total caseload to 17,756,627, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The daily figure fell below the 30,000 mark for the first time in 15 weeks for any Saturday. 

The figure marked a sharp drop from 32,451 reported the previous day and 35,906 added on Thursday.

The country added 55 COVID-19 deaths, bringing the total to 23,661, the KDCA said. The fatality rate came to 0.13 percent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The claims against Ken Rhee makes me wonder if this is a Russian disinformation campaign targeting him? With that said he is a YouTuber so of course he is going to have people filming him:

Rhee Ken, a Korean YouTuber and former Korean Navy special warfare officer who went to Ukraine in March to fight Russia, denied allegations that a cameraman follows him around while he is on the battlefield and said that his team will take legal action against the person who is spreading this false information.  

A staff member working behind the scenes of Rhee’s YouTube channel “Rokseal” on Monday denied the claims about Rhee being accompanied by a cameraman in Ukraine by posting a photo of Rhee on the battlefield and writing, “This person claims that the man who departed with Lee [to Ukraine] is a cameraman, but he is actually a former sergeant major of the Marine Corps. He was given a clear mission which was to obtain evidence of war crimes requested by the International Criminal Court (ICC). But the situation became too dangerous, and with Rhee’s call, the former sergeant major did not partake in the mission.”  

Rhee’s YouTube channel staff member also added that Rhee has been fighting in Ukraine since the beginning of the war and that Rhee is “on duty as the commander of the International Corps’ most important team.”  

He gave additional reasons for Rhee’s participation in the war such as “granting special warfare technology and know-how in advanced countries, granting operational strategies as field commanders, and securing evidence for war crimes to be submitted to the ICC.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

I took a Blue House tour many years ago that was closely monitored by security and I didn’t really get to see much. I definitely need to go back and experience visiting the place without any security restrictions since it is now fully open to the public:

 Cheong Wa Dae was flooded with thousands of visitors Tuesday morning, the first day the former presidential office and residence fully opened to the public after new President Yoon Suk-yeol relocated the top office. 

Following an opening ceremony, more than 6,000 people entered the compound in central Seoul at 11:38 a.m. to look around the 250,000-square-meter space, including the main office building and the residence that were used by South Korean presidents for the past 74 years, as well as gardens and the state guest house of Yeongbingwan.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.