Category: ROK Military

It will be interesting to see if South Korea agrees to this because they would indirectly be seen by Russia as supporting the Ukrainians with arms:

The South Korean government has been reviewing the export of artillery shells to Canada in a bid to help the country replenish its depleted weapons stocks sent to Ukraine. 

Canada recently asked if South Korea is able to export 100,000 rounds of 155 mm artillery ammunition through a diplomatic channel, a South Korean senior official at the Defense Ministry confirmed to The Korea Herald on Monday. 

The South Korean official said the government has not yet formally begun procedures to proceed with the export. But the military has been reviewing whether it is capable of supplying the artillery shells in light of its weapons stocks and readiness posture. 

Canada made the request to fill up its ammunition stocks which have been exhausted due to its lethal aid to war-torn Ukraine, according to the official.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see how this case continues to play out since it was sent back to the ROK military court. They could try and find some different article to punish them with:

South Korea’s Supreme Court on Thursday threw out a military court ruling that convicted two gay soldiers for having sex outside their military facilities, saying it stretched the reading of the country’s widely criticized military sodomy law.

The court’s decision to send the case back to the High Court for Armed Forces was welcomed by human rights advocates, who had long protested the country’s 1962 Military Criminal Act’s Article 92-6, which prohibits same-sex conduct among soldiers in the country’s predominantly male military.

The article prescribes a maximum prison term of two years for “anal intercourse” and “any other indecent acts” between military personnel. Following the Supreme Court’s full panel deliberation of its 13 justices, Chief Justice Kim Myeong-su said they concluded the provisions should not be applied to consensual sex between male service members that takes place outside military facilities during off-duty hours.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

I would think the average young Korean male would be furious about the special treatment that celebrities would get with this bill. The celebrities that have already served in the ROK military have already been given largely special treatment as it is:

The ruling and opposition parties have discussed a need for swift review of a bill allowing K-pop superstar BTS and other prominent pop celebrities to substitute their mandatory military service for other public service, a lawmaker said Tuesday.

Rep. Sung Il-jong of the People Power Party, who serves as executive secretary for the parliamentary defense committee, told MBC radio that he and his Democratic Party counterpart recently discussed the need to swiftly review the bill pending in the National Assembly. 

“Since it is a matter related to fairness and national interest, I don’t think there will be any disagreement between the ruling and opposition parties,” Sung said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like there will be a little bit less depleted uranium in South Korea:

South Korea has handed over some 1.1 million rounds of potentially hazardous ammunition stored here for decades to the U.S. military for shipment to the United States, a ruling party lawmaker said Monday.

The country’s Air Force recently sent the depleted uranium ammunition to the U.S. 7th Air Force based in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, to ship them to the U.S. by sea by mid-April, according to Democratic Party Rep. Kim Jin-pyo.

Under a 1975 arrangement with the U.S., the South had stored the ammunition in a military airport in Suwon, just south of Seoul. The arrangement had long been plagued by public concerns about its potential radiation risks.

It remains unknown how that arrangement was brought about.

The ammunition is known to have been created to mount on A-10 anti-tank aircraft.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Condolences to all the family and friends of these ROK Air Force personnel:

The Air Force said Saturday it is holding a joint funeral for four pilots who were killed in a collision of two KT-1 trainer jets the previous day. 

The funeral is taking place for three days from Saturday at the Air Force 3rd Training Wing in Sacheon, about 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, and a ceremony will be held Monday. 

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Park In-ho paid his tribute to the deceased in the morning, and Defense Minister Suh Wook will visit the funeral later in the day, according to military officials. 

On Friday, two Air Force KT-1 trainer jets collided in midair and crashed near the base, killing all four pilots aboard the planes. Each jet carried a trainee pilot and a flight instructor.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the ROK military has another high profile sexual harassment case:

An allegation was raised against a Navy field officer who asked a female soldier, “Are you out of your mind?” and tried to silence her when she tried to report sexual harassment. The Ministry of National Defense launched an investigation following the belated allegation. The victim, who was sent to another workplace shortly after her report, later suffered secondary victimization from other senior officers and eventually chose to leave the Navy.

According to the Kyunghyang Shinmun coverage on January 27, A, a female soldier of a lower Navy unit was sexually harassed by Sergeant B, her supervisor, several times from July 2017 to January 2018. Sergeant B rolled up his short pants and showed his underwear to A in the office where the two were alone. When A spent the night off base, B even told her to report where, with whom, and how she spent the night. A argued that B also instigated bullying within the unit and tormented her in addition to the sexual harassment.

In March 2018, A sought the counsel of the chief master sergeant on this issue, but had to suffer disadvantages. The officers in charge of the unit transferred A from her previous workplace, the executive office, to a small lounge next to a food waste collection area. The lounge was not equipped with any office equipment, such as a telephone and a printer, and it had no heating or air conditioning. Meanwhile, her assailant B continued to work in his office, subject to no personnel measures.

On May 8 that same year, A made an official report and asked Lieutenant Colonel C (battalion commander) who was the commanding officer of the unit at the time, to report her case to the upper unit and punish Sergeant B. 

Kyunghyang Shinmun

You can read the rest at the link, but the battalion commander proceeded to try and prevent the victim from reporting. Ultimately she was able to report and her harasser was removed from the military. However, now the battalion commander and the operations officer are being investigated for trying to prevent her reporting.

This is what the leftist agitators have caused from their original bogus THAAD protests; now everyone thinks these missile defense radars rain radiation over everyone located near them which is not true. This is like the new fan death myth:

The Air Force launched a surprise operation on Tuesday to install an anti-missile radar on a mountain in the southeastern city of Busan, sparking angry protests from residents concerned about potential health hazards from the radar’s electromagnetic waves.

Police clashed with a group of protesters early Tuesday on Mt. Jang in the city, 450 kilometers southeast of Seoul, where the Air Force began installing a Green Pine land-based radar at around 6 a.m. Four people were arrested following repeated dispersion orders.

“We condemn the defense ministry for pushing ahead with the radar installation which the residents object to,” a representative of the protesting group said. 

The Air Force did not notify local authorities of the operation in advance in an apparent attempt to avoid obstruction from local resident and activists, who have raised concerns over potentially harmful effects of electromagnetic waves from the radar.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but probably the most offensive thing about the anti-THAAD protesters is that it is based on lies that the electromagnetic waves from the radar are going to cause cancer and kill crops. These Green Pine protesters are falling for the same propaganda.

If the residents want to go measure electromagnetic waves they can do it right now.  They can purchase their own detection device and stand at their homes or farms and see what electromagnetic waves they detect.  They are not going to detect anything though because a group of Korean reporters were invited to a THAAD site and have already measured electromagnetic waves and found nothing.  What is even dumber about this is that South Korea already has for years multiple Green Pine radars installed. It would be very easy to see if people are getting cancer and crops are dying in those locations.

This is simply not in my backyard protests that likely would not be happening if the leftist agitators had not protested and promoted false propaganda about the Korean THAAD site.

The UAE is looking to upgrade their missile defenses with the newest system the ROK is developing:

 The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has said it plans to purchase South Korean-made mid-range surface-to-air missiles in a deal likely to reach US$3.5 billion. 

The UAE’s Ministry of Defense tweeted Tuesday that it plans to acquire the missile, known as M-SAM. It did not elaborate further.

An official at South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) called the UAE’s announcement “positive” but noted negotiations have yet to be finalized.

“We still need to see how negotiations on the details will proceed,” a DAPA official said on condition of anonymity.

The M-SAM system, called “Cheongung II,” is a core element of South Korea’s multi-layered anti-missile program. Cheongung, means heaven’s bow in Korean.

Employing the “hit-to-kill” technology, the missile is designed to intercept hostile missiles coming in at altitudes below 40 kilometers.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.