Here is a lawyer who thinks that North Korea is a great place to invest:

North Korea has an advanced arbitration system even compared to developed countries, and foreign companies face an even playing field in dispute resolution, according to Michael Hay, the founder of North Korea’s only foreign law firm Hay, Kalb & Associates. 

“From start to finish, (an arbitration case) could be done in six months… which is much faster than most other countries I have worked in,” Hay said in an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul, Monday. 

He has been a foreign legal counsel at HMP Law since December, after 12 years of operating his law firm in the North.

Hay emphasized that the North Korean regime has no choice but to maintain an advanced dispute resolution system in order to continue reeling in foreign investment and companies.

“One thing North Koreans are very conscious of: If they don’t have a dispute resolution system, people will not come and invest in the country. In my experience they are very supportive (of foreign firms),” he said.

Korea Times

You can read the rest at the link, but Mr. Hay says that the businesses that lost money in North Korea did so because they grandstanded about doing business in North Korea. He says businesses that kept their dealings quiet with the regime were more successful.

Is it just me or is Gwanghwamun Square seem like it is in a state of constant redevelopment?:

In two years, Gwanghwamun Square may be grander above ground and more complex below as the Seoul city government plans to remove structures on the square and build an underground plaza connecting at least five different subway and train lines. 

The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Monday that it selected a blueprint to renovate the square in central Seoul located south of Gyeongbok Palace by 2021.

“The announcement today is about more detailed plans to a project that was proposed last April with the Cultural Heritage Administration,” the city government said in a statement Monday. 

“We have decided on a winning design for the square that will focus on bringing back the historical value of the square and making it more pedestrian-friendly.”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Back by popular demand is Korea Finder. The goal of Korea Finder is to correctly identify the location in the picture presented each week. For this week who can name the below structure?:

#MoonJaein openly and continually violates sanctions. Is it time for the #UN and the #US to add him to the lists of sanctioned individuals? https://t.co/VMdP7j5xsX

— Gordon G. Chang (@GordonGChang) January 16, 2019

The Abe administration must be getting a good domestic political bump from the radar issue with the ROK because you would think at this point they would just let it go:

The Defense Ministry announced Monday it will terminate talks with its South Korean counterpart over the radar lock-on dispute, while revealing what it claims are sounds, converted from radio waves, of the fire-control radar system of a South Korean destroyer.
The 18-second audio file, if genuine, reportedly shows that continuous, intense radar waves were directed at the P-1 anti-submarine patrol airplane operated by the Maritime Self-Defense Force on Dec. 20 in the Sea of Japan.

Japanese defense officials said the wave patterns are completely different from surface search radar waves that Seoul claimed were being used by the South Korean Navy’s Gwanggaeto destroyer.
“We believe a third party would be convinced that what we have said is true if they examine the sounds, a video footage and other materials in a comprehensive way,” said a senior Defense Ministry official who briefed reporters at the ministry, referring in particular to 13 minutes of video footage.
The video footage also included the voice of the pilot of the MSDF P-1 aircraft, who the ministry said heard the same radar sounds while flying near the destroyer.
Japanese officials said that they had identified FC (fire control) waves as being directed from the STIR-180 fire control system of the South Korean destroyer.
However, it is not yet clear — and is perhaps unlikely — that the newly-revealed evidence will put an end to the Tokyo-Seoul dispute.
“We express deep regrets over its decision to stop consultations designed to verify the facts,” Choi Hyun-soo, a spokeswoman for Seoul’s defense ministry, said of Tokyo’s move, according to Yonhap News Agency.
“The sounds that the Japanese side presented are just mechanical sounds from which we can never verify the pieces of information we have demanded — the detection date, angle and traits of electromagnetic waves,” she added.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link, but the Japanese Defense Ministry even admits this is not a smoking gun, but believe all the evidence released so far would convince a third party observer that a fire control radar was in fact used by the ROK on the Japanese aircraft.

This issue is not going to be completely resolved unless the Japanese release sensitive radar data collection evidence which they likely will not do. Releasing how sensitive their radar wave detection capability is just to make a political point against the ROK is probably not worth it.

Just all the more reason the Japanese should just lets this issue go:

Instead of an emotional support animal this seems more like a way to draw attention to ones self:

On a recent Monday afternoon, Joie Henney walked into the Glatfelter Community Center at the Village at Sprenkle Drive, an assisted-living development north of York, with his emotional support animal on a leash.
He walked by an elderly woman sitting on a bench by a window, reading a book. The woman glanced up from her book, took a look at Joie’s emotional support animal, shrugged and went back to her book.
Which seemed kind of unusual. Joie’s emotional support animal is a four-and-a-half foot alligator. There must be some currency to the adage that if you live long enough, you’ll see everything.
Joie paused in the hallway while residents and staff gathered in a semi-circle, an air of curiosity mixed with the terror of seeing a huge reptile, its sharp teeth visible inside its powerful jaws, and kept their distance.
Joie said it was all right. Wally – that’s the gator’s name – wouldn’t hurt them. He’s a pretty mellow reptile, and he likes people in the companionship way, not the potential food way.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I wonder how long before we will see even more exotic animals as emotional support animals and people demanding they be allowed on planes and in other public spaces?

Gordon Chang is not a fan of the announced Kim-Trump 2 Summit:

On January 18, President Donald Trump met for about ninety minutes with Kim Jong-un’s emissary, Kim Yong-chol, in Washington, D.C. At the conclusion of the session, the White House tweeted that a second summit between Trump and the North Korean leader “will take place near the end of February.”
Let’s hope the February meeting does not occur. Trump had been successful through the middle of May of last year when he was pressuring—but not talking to—the North Koreans. Kim was, uncharacteristically, making all the concessions and Trump was making none. (………..)

And there was one more reason for Trump’s success: his so-called “maximum pressure” campaign of interdicting Kim’s revenue. “According to one U.S. government estimate,” the Wall Street Journal stated at the end of last May, “the sanctions regime has cut off half the country’s international revenue.”
Trump, who had the North Koreans where he wanted them, then suddenly changed course. As the Wall Street Journal reported, the administration decided to not sanction almost three dozen parties—some of them Russian and Chinese.
North Korea changes front companies all the time, meaning that not sanctioning new ones hollowed out the pressure campaign quickly. In short, Trump gave Kim de facto relief from the measures. Although there have been scattered designations of entities since then, they have been few in number and mostly inconsequential.

The National Interest

You can read more at the link.

1/18/19: President Donald J. Trump presented w/a letter from Chairman Kim Jong Un by Kim Yong Chol, Vice Chairman of the Worker’s Party of Korea and Chairman of the Korea Asia Pacific Peace Committee, followed by a expanded bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at the @WhiteHouse. pic.twitter.com/FgKtKqkDZn

— Dan Scavino Jr. (@Scavino45) January 20, 2019