Like I’ve been saying, it looks like we are reaching a “cooling tower” moment, a big made for TV spectacle that really means little:

Seoul and Washington last week confirmed that Pyongyang will scrap its Tongchang-ri missile engine test site and launch pad in the presence of international experts, a South Korean diplomatic source said Monday. 

That promise was one of several agreements reached by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un last September in their third and most recent summit. The regime, however, has stayed quiet on the matter, as nuclear talks between the United States were deadlocked. The silence had left Pyongyang watchers wondering whether the regime would actually follow through and destroy the site.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but remember the North Koreans already have very capable rocket engines and may not need this missile engine test site anymore. Plus if the did need to test again they can very easily just make a new one. This is all part of their “pretend denuclearization” strategy to get sanctions dropped.

It looks like Japanese Prime Minister Abe wants to try his hand at Trump style diplomacy with Kim Jong-un:

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday made public his determination to have talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a bid to normalize bilateral diplomatic relations.
In a policy speech to the Diet, Abe said he will “act decisively without losing any opportunity” to settle the issue of Japanese citizens abducted by the communist nation decades ago and its nuclear and missile programs.
“(We) should break the shell of mutual mistrust in order to resolve the North Korean nuclear and missile issue, and the most important issue of abduction,” he said. “The goal is to settle the unfortunate history with North Korea and normalize diplomatic relations.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Silly season between the ROK and Japan continues. I expect the ROK government will continue to push anti-Japanese issues to their domestic audience up to the March 1st Independence Movement Day holiday:

 South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo has instructed the Navy to sternly deal with the repeated low-altitude flybys by Japanese warplanes, describing them as “a serious provocation by an ally,” his ministry said Saturday.
He made the remarks during his unscheduled visit to the Fleet Command in the southern port city of Busan, the ministry said later in a release.
The minister was briefed on the details regarding multiple close-range flights by Japanese maritime patrol planes toward South Korean destroyers in recent weeks.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the most obvious question is what is the ROK Navy going to do, radio sternly worded messages to the aircraft?

The Kim Jong Un regime spent over $4.4 billion on luxury goods 2012-17. W/ it, #NorthKorea can buy 1.65M tons of rice–2x the shortage.
"North Korea's food shortages are not due to not enough intl aid, but b/c Kim doesn't have the will to feed the people."https://t.co/DHd15WS0tY

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) January 27, 2019

I think this could be interpreted by the North Koreans that the Trump administration is comfortable with a “cooling tower” like spectacle to justify dropping sanctions:

North Korea needs to take a “significant” step toward abandoning its nuclear weapons in order to get sanctions relief from the United States, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton has said.
In an interview with The Washington Times published Friday, Bolton indicated that U.S. President Donald Trump is ready to lift the sanctions on Pyongyang if the regime will signal its sincerity about giving up its nuclear arsenal.
“What we need from North Korea is a significant sign of a strategic decision to give up nuclear weapons and it is when we get that denuclearization that the president can begin to take the sanctions off,” he said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The threat of regime removal has long been less of a concern for the Kim regime compared to the threat to the regime’s legitimacy from subversive media. The fact they are willing to execute people for watching subversive media is proof of this:

The North Korean government is threatening residents along the border with South Korea with possible execution for being caught watching South Korean media, RFA sources say.
The regime has reportedly held lectures in South Hwanghae province, in the western part of the country, describing severe penalties for the possession of items from wealthy, democratic South Korea.
“In the new year, police officials began hosting lectures all over the province,” said a source from South Hwanghae in an interview with RFA’s Korean Service on Monday.
“The lectures consisted of threats that strictly demand that residents abstain from watching decadent video materials of capitalism and the possessing things like fliers and USB sticks that have found their way in from the South,” said the source.
Activists in South Korea have been known to release balloons laden with money, food, fliers and USB flash drives containing media files, hoping they will land in the North and be found and distributed.  But access to South Korean TV doesn’t always require the discovery of a downed balloon.
“In a recent lecture, they told us they are aware that a growing number of people are able to manipulate the frequencies [of their televisions] to watch South Korean TV programs,” the source said.
“They said that regardless of any individual’s status, those caught in violation could be executed by firing squad. [They want to] instill fear,” the source added.

Radio Free Asia

You can read more at the link.

I feel bad for the family in this case, but I think people do have a legitimate argument that taxpayers shouldn’t be responsible for the medical costs:

Whether the government should financially support an individual who fell from a cliff at the Grand Canyon and is currently in a coma is drawing a mixed reaction.

On Dec. 30, 2018, a 25-year-old man surnamed Park fell off the cliff and was transferred to a hospital. Although he survived physically, he is still unconscious. 

His medical bill at the Flag Staff Medical Center is now over 1 billion won ($ 885,347), and his family wants him to be brought back to Korea, which will cost an additional 200 million won.

“If the duty of citizen is to do their duty to the state, the state’s responsibility is to protect its countrymen, even one,” stated a post written by Park’s uncle on the Cheong Wa Dae website for a petition which has received more than 19,000 signatures. 

However, the post faced a huge backlash with people saying the government should not provide any financial support. 

Korea Times

You can read the rest at the link, but the family is blaming the tour guide for the fall. I have been to the Grand Canyon many times and there are areas without safety fences, however you have to be doing something stupid to fall off the cliff.