As I guessed would happen, the fate of upcoming exercises will be tied to any upcoming summit between Kim Jong-un and President Trump.  It makes too much sense to use these exercises as bartering chips if needed:

Seoul and Washington will make a decision on whether to conduct its annual Foal Eagle joint military exercise scheduled for next spring taking into consideration a potential second North Korea-U.S. summit, according to multiple military sources Thursday. 

“The United States is paying great attention to advancing North-U.S. relations,” a South Korean government source said. “Our military and government is also responding to the U.S. stance and having discussions taking into consideration the security situation on the Korean Peninsula.” 

U.S. President Donald Trump recently said that he is planning to hold his second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in January or February, making the suspension of the South-U.S. drill more likely. 

Another government source here said, “What it means to make a decision to hold the drills linking it to the North-U.S. summit is that, in the case that North Korea does not come to the negotiating table, the Foal Eagle may be conducted.”   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

Yes, their own people. https://t.co/YawX9VorHi

— Edward Oh 🇺🇸 (@EdwardHBOh) December 5, 2018

It is starting to become pretty clear that sanctions will ultimately be dropped before North Korea denuclearizes based on the new rhetoric coming from the White House:

ohn Bolton, the U.S. national security adviser, said Thursday that Washington will remove sanctions when it sees “performance” from North Korea and advocated a second summit between the two countries’ leaders.

In an interview with Washington-based National Public Radio (NPR), Bolton discussed a second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and said it will be possible “sometime after the first of the year.” 

Through a second North-U.S. summit, Bolton said Trump “is trying to give the North Koreans a chance to live up to the commitments they made at the Singapore summit” and has “held the door open for them.

“They need to walk through it,” Bolton continued. “This is one more chance for Kim Jong-un, who is the only decision maker that matters in the North Korean system, to deliver on what he said in Singapore.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

I still believe that a final US-ROK cost sharing deal will be reached as part of the ongoing negotiations with North Korea.  If Washington drops sanctions like Seoul wants than I think they will give the Trump administration the deal they want on cost sharing.  I guess we will see what happens: 

South Korea and the United States will resume negotiations over military cost-sharing issues in Seoul next week. 

Seoul’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday the tenth round of negotiations concerning the bilateral Special Measures Agreement(SMA) will be held for three days from Tuesday, where the two sides will have in-depth discussions to coordinate stances based on the previous talks. 

According to the ministry, the foreign ministers of the two countries agreed during their meeting in Washington on Thursday that they will continue to encourage the negotiators to produce mutually satisfying results.   [KBS World Radio]

You can read the rest at the link.

I am sure that this is something that enough cash sent up North can make happen.  His dad needed $500 million to host a summit in Pyongyang, so I am sure Kim Jong-un’s price to go to Seoul will be much higher:

Anchor:  North Korea continues to remain silent about a prospective visit to South Korea by leader Kim Jong-un.  If the visit is to take place before the end of the year, as the South Korean government hopes, there may only be a matter of days left to confirm a date and make arrangements.  Kim Bum-soo has more.

Report: It was at September’s inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang about three months ago when leaders of the two Koreas first held out the possibility of meeting again in Seoul.

[Sound bite: N. Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Korean)]
“I promised to President Moon Jae-in that I will visit Seoul in the near future. We will put an end to the tragedy of division as soon as possible and hold our hands together to embark on a sacred journey to peace and prosperity.”

[Sound bite: President Moon Jae-in (Korean)]
“I requested Chairman Kim Jong-un to visit Seoul and he decided to come to Seoul in the near future. ‘Near future’ means ‘within this year’ unless there is a special circumstances. Chairman Kim’s visit to Seoul would be the first by a North Korean leader and it will provide a breakthrough to the inter-Korean relations.”

Now, in December, with just a few weeks remaining in the year, the South still hasn’t heard any confirmation date from the North.  That’s according to Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, who told lawmakers Friday the South and North have been in talks to try to make the visit happen.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link, but it is not surprising at all to me the hypocrisy of how the Moon administration wants to champion someone with a visit to Seoul who has killed many Koreans in recent years, launched a nerve agent attack in an international airport just two years ago, has active gulags, still has kidnapped South Koreans, among a host of other provocations while at the same time regularly bashing the Japanese for things that happened 75-100 years ago.

Is anyone in the Moon administration going to demand apologies from Kim Jong-un for his regime’s transgressions against South Korea like they regularly demand from Japan?  Better yet what about demands for compensation for the victims of the Kim regime’s attacks?

In Japan the increasing use of English words in subway station names is drawing some criticism:

 

Following a recent naming trend that mixes Japanese and English words, Tokyo Metro Co. has announced that a new station set to open ahead of the 2020 Games will be called Toranomon Hills.

Toranomon Hills is the name of a skyscraper housing a business complex in the namesake district of Minato Ward. The station is under construction in an area between Kasumigaseki and Kamiyacho Stations on the Hibiya Line, seven minutes on foot from the supermodern, 52-story structure, which opened in June 2014.

The announcement Wednesday came a day after East Japan Railway Co. announced that a new station on the Yamanote Line between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations would be called Takanawa Gateway. JR East’s new station is scheduled to partially open in the spring of 2020, with full operations beginning in 2024.  [Japan Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but it seems to me that using English for stations linked to the 2020 Olympics makes sense.  Even nearby Korea uses English words for subway station names in Seoul such as “Seoul-forest”, “Ttukseom Park”, “Konkuk University”, etc.

However, some people have had fun with the English names for Tokyo subway stops by offering these recommended changes:

山手線改め山手メトロポリタンループラインの路線図です。ご査収ください。 pic.twitter.com/Fy0DRxcqXK

— くらげ (@kurage60) December 4, 2018

Does anyone have any good recommendations for changing subway station stop names in Seoul to English? I guess an obvious one would be to rename Itaewon Station to “Hooker Hill Station”.

Prosecutor Hong Seong-joon asked for 5 years jail for journalist Byun Hee-jai, already jailed prior to trial. For libel! This shouldn't be prosecuted at all, much less 5 yrs. Not guilty would delegitimize #MoonJaein govt. Breakdown in #RuleOfLaw. Suppression of #FreedomofthePress https://t.co/qhMbVnPgzT

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) December 5, 2018