If a Korean conservative politician did the same thing does anyone think the reaction would be different from the Korean left?:

 Opposition parties denounced the ruling Democratic Party (DP) Friday for its decision not to take any action against one of its lawmakers who is alleged to have speculated in real estate.
The DP’s leadership decided Thursday that it will not punish Rep. Sohn Hye-won based on its judgment that she had not intended to make a speculative investment in real estate in Mokpo, 410 kilometers southwest of Seoul.
Sohn is suspected of having mobilized her relatives and aides to buy properties in an old district of Mokpo before authorities designated it as a cultural asset site, according to media reports.
She is alleged to have used inside information she obtained while serving on the parliamentary culture committee and to have provided money to her relatives for the purchases. Sohn has denied the allegations, claiming that she encouraged her aides to buy properties as an act of goodwill to revive the city.

Yonhap

It will be interesting to see if the USFK cost sharing issue is in fact used to drawdown troops from South Korea:

While the United States and North Korea try to revive nuclear talks, another dispute is simmering on the southern half of the peninsula over funding for U.S. forces.
Seoul and Washington failed to agree on a new cost-sharing deal for the 28,500 U.S. servicemembers stationed in South Korea before the latest five-year contract expired on Dec. 31.
That has raised fears that President Donald Trump may threaten to draw down forces as he prepares for a possible second summit with North Korea.
The longtime allies held 10 rounds of talks since March but remained deadlocked as the new year began over Washington’s reported demand that South Korea increase its contribution by as much as 150 percent.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but analysts do have a point that if troops levels are reduced the Trump administration can blame South Korea for not increasing their contributions to the funding of the US-ROK alliance instead of saying it is a concession to North Korea.

If troops levels were to be cut it seems the easiest thing to do would be to stop the rotational brigade from deploying to South Korea.

The KTU is trying to kick native English teachers out of Korean classrooms:

A union of liberal teachers has called on education authorities to remove all ― if not reduce the number of ― native English teachers from elementary schools in Seoul.

According to the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) Wednesday, its Seoul office representatives will soon meet their counterparts from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE) to discuss the issue.

“There have been opinions that the quality of some native English teachers’ teaching skills is low, which increases Korean teachers’ workload,” a KTU official reportedly said. “They can be replaced by Korean teachers, given that what they teach is elementary level English.”

In April 2018, the SMOE announced measures to improve the quality of English education in public schools. As part of the reform, the office decided to provide native English teachers to all 557 elementary schools in the city.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I am no fan of the KTU which was banned by the prior Park Geun-hye administration due to its anti-Park government and pro-North Korean agenda that led to teacher firings.  ROK Heads may also remember that the KTU has a long history of teaching anti-Americanism in the classroom as well.

With that all said, on this issue I can understand what the KTU is trying to do. If it gets rid of the native-English teachers that opens up hundreds of jobs for Koreans. The kids English education may suffer, but from a union perspective that is probably a low priority to them.

I don’t know what’s worse, Secretary of State Pompeo referring to Chairman Un or CNN North Korea “expert” Will Ripley’s “Chol” f-up. Does this mean they think Kim Jong Un, his dad, and grandad all shared the same first name Kim, but had different last names – Sung, Il, and Un? https://t.co/mJ03PdsnGg

— Edward Oh 🇺🇸 (@EdwardHBOh) January 16, 2019

It will be interesting to see if hydrogen fuel cell car technology takes off in South Korea or not:

The government hopes the so-called hydrogen economy will create 420,000 jobs by 2040. 

On Thursday, the government laid out a roadmap to making hydrogen-related technologies a key new growth engine for Korea. 

The government wants to boost the hydrogen economy, which is currently valued at 1 trillion won ($890 million), to 16 trillion won in 2022, 25 trillion won by 2030 and 43 trillion won by 2040. Jobs in the industry are supposed to grow from the current 10,000 to 100,000 in 2022 and 200,000 in 2030. 

At an event in Ulsan attended by President Moon Jae-in, Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yun-mo and the Hyundai Motor Group heir apparent and vice chairman, Chung Eui-sun, the government described plans to raise the sales of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (or FCEVs) to 810,000 units in total by 2022. That figure includes 670,000 sold in the local market and 14,000 units exported. This year alone, the government is hoping for more than 4,000 FCEV unit sales. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the big problem with hydrogen fuel cells cars in the fueling infrastructure to support them. It is very expensive to open a hydrogen fuel cell station compared to a gas station or even an electrical vehicle charging station.

If Kim Jong-un was going to visit on any day, I am sure the Moon administration would love for it to be March 1st. The hope will be that conservative protesters against Kim’s visit will be muted because of a large dislike of the Japanese in South Korea that tends to reach a crescendo on the March 1st Independence Day which celebrates an uprising against Japanese colonial occupation back in 1919.

Is North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visiting Seoul on March 1? 

Reports of this began circulating Wednesday, citing unidentified government sources. Some had plausible details: for the leaders of the two Koreas to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement Day ― on the date and at the same location. 

The uprising on March 1, 1919 ― celebrated by both Koreas ― is recorded as one of the marquee grassroots independence movements during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. 

Presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday denied reports that Kim would visit Seoul on the historically symbolic day. Nevertheless, the speculation continues.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but if this visit does in fact happen I would expect there to be a large anti-Japanese buildup to try and unite most South Koreans before the Kim Jong-un visit.

No shocker here:

The thick smog that blanketed most of the country over the weekend was largely from pollutants from China, the JoongAng Ilbo reported exclusively Thursday after analyzing the Korean and Chinese governments’ data on fine dust movements in the atmosphere.

The paper analyzed the Air Quality Index (AQI) in cities and regions in China put out by the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment and the PM2.5 fine dust levels across Korea put out by the Korean Ministry of Environment’s National Institute of Environmental Research (NIER).

It found that rises and falls in the AQI in China were mirrored in the levels of PM2.5 in the atmosphere over Korea last week.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Meanwhile, Seoul’s new Defense White Paper removes reference to:#northkorea as “enemy”
“THAAD”
“Shared values of free democracy and market economy with Japan”

While it inserts:
“Strong will to defend Dokdo and maintain defense preparedness”

A convergence of clear priorities. https://t.co/NjL9kydUf3

— Sung-Yoon Lee (@SungYoonLee1) January 15, 2019