These drug smugglers must have forgot to pay someone off in the Mexican government to have this tip called in against them:

The Korea Customs Service announced Monday it confiscated a record amount of cocaine shipped into the Port of Busan. 

According to customs officials, 63.88 kilograms (140.8 pounds) of cocaine was smuggled into the port, the largest amount of drugs found since the opening of Busan Harbor. Authorities estimated that market value was about 190 billion won ($168 million). 

Customs authorities said the cargo left Mexico 20 days ago, arrived in Busan on Dec. 14 and was head to Tianjin, China.  

Customs was tipped off about the smuggling by Mexican customs officials. The Korea Customs Service was told the drugs were concealed in 22 tons of recyclable copper scraps, packed in small plastic bags that were stuffed into two large black bags. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

A few immutable conditions of the confederation model NK wants: 1) a co-equal governing body (which will actually favor NK’s preferences); 2) a neutral state (i.e., no US alliance/footprint); 3) reduced military on both sides (of course, NK has nukes, so they enjoy supremacy). https://t.co/hnCt3vryC7

— Edward Oh 🇺🇸 (@EdwardHBOh) December 14, 2018

This was never going to go well and it seems President Moon has finally realized this:

Anchor: President Moon Jae-in has acknowledged problems of his key economic policies, calling for ways to break the shock of minimum wage hikes and reduced work hours. This comes as the government forecasts the economy will be sluggish next year as well.
Kim In-kyung has the details.

Report: The government has decided to revise the minimum wage decision-making system by February and implement it from 2020, adjusting its pace of increase. It will also spend a record-high 61 percent of its budget in the first half of the year in 2019. 

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link.

This probably should be considered a good thing that the Trump administration is not in a hurry to cut a deal with North Korea for little to nothing in return:

U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that the U.S. is “in no hurry” to negotiate with North Korea.

On Twitter, Trump wrote that “many people have asked how we are doing in our negotiations with North Korea” and that he “always reply by saying we are in no hurry.”

Trump added there is “wonderful potential for great economic success” for North Korea and its leader Kim Jong-un “sees it better than anyone and will fully take advantage of it for his people.”

He maintained an optimistic outlook, saying “we are doing just fine.”

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link.

If North Korea is threatening to go to a Plan B, I imagine the Trump administration’s Plan B would involve Secretary Mattis: 

North Korea could decide to live under sanctions, rather than seeking rapid economic growth through a nuclear deal with the United States, if Washington insists on keeping sanctions until Pyongyang’s denuclearization, a former unification minister said Friday.
Lee Jong-seok made the remark during a conference in Seoul, saying North Korean leader Kim Jong-un wants to rebuild the country’s economy and that’s why he decided to pursue a nuclear deal with the U.S., but he’s unlikely to make “unilateral concessions” to the U.S. just for sanctions relief. 
“While I think the possibility is low for North Korea to break off from the denuclearization negotiations, I do think that it could prepare a Plan B,” Lee said, warning that the nuclear talks could be trapped in a long-term deadlock.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

At least one enemy of the Moon administration has been able to keep his job and avoid jail for now: 

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) President Shin Sung-chul will keep his post after the board decided Friday to defer the voting on whether to suspend him.

The board meeting was in response to a Ministry of Science and ICT’s demand to suspend Shin for allegedly embezzling money from the national research fund when he was Daegu Gyeongbuk Institute of Science and Technology (DGIST) president in 2014.

Shin denied the accusations, but the science ministry also filed a complaint with the prosecution.

“During the board meeting, the claims of the two sides from the government and the school were in opposition to each other, but they agreed to postpone the suspension voting,” a KAIST spokesman told reporters at the Eltower in southern Seoul. 

The school said the issue would be discussed at the next board meeting. KAIST is scheduled to hold its regular board meeting in early 2019.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but what Mr. Shin is really being attacked for is being friends with former President Park Geun-hye. 

Found on my doorstep this morning, this flier calls for creating a new unified flag to greet Kim Jong Un when the "noble guest of unification" comes to Seoul. The zeal of nationalism is indeed palpable, and pervasive these days. pic.twitter.com/eYTE0MaTEH

— Sam Kim (@samkimasia) December 1, 2018

It looks like the ROK will not be selling its Surion helicopter to the Philippines:

Korea’s prospects of selling its first homegrown helicopter, the Surion, to the Philippines are dimming as the island country inclines toward buying a tried-and-tested U.S. model instead. 
A high-ranking military officer here said Tuesday, “The Philippine government gave higher grades to the U.S.’ UH-60 Blackhawk than the Surion in fuselage evaluations. We’re trying hard to sweeten the deal by adding more incentives, but it looks like everything is pretty much set.”
Philippine Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the country concluded that purchasing Blackhawks is the “best option.”

Chosun Ilbo

You can read more at the link.