Here is another one of these incidents where there is likely more to the story and both sides at fault, but radicals from each side will manipulate facts to push their agendas:

A recent assault case involving three men and two women at a bar near Isu Subway Station in Seoul — better known as the “Isu Station assault” case — has triggered an unexpected gender war online, after the women said they were attacked by men for their feminist choices, while others accused them of fabricating the account.

More than 350,000 Koreans signed an online petition asking for the presidential office to punish the three men after one of the two women claimed online that she and her sister were physically attacked for “not wearing makeup” and “having short hair.”

The woman, who is in her early 20s, said she deliberately chose the look — no makeup with short hair — as part of the “escape the corset” movement, a Korean feminist movement that rejects makeup and the rigid standards of beauty imposed particularly on young women in Korean society.  [Korea Herald]

You can read the rest at the link.

It seems pretty creepy for someone to wear the jacket of someone that was just killed and then continue to wear it even while being investigated and arrested:

The police said on Saturday that one of four middle-school students arrested in the death of a classmate Friday had worn the victim’s jacket at the time of the arrest and throughout the police investigation.

Four teenagers were booked on charges of causing death from bodily injuries after the other boy fell from the roof of a 15-story apartment building on Tuesday afternoon.

The Incheon Yeonsu Police Station confirmed that the jacket one of the suspects wore to court on Friday belonged to the victim. “The boy was wearing the jacket when we arrested him, and he has not been able to change as he has been under detention since then,” the police said.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

The Jangmadang Generation, our doc about North Korean millennials and their role in NK’s social change, was a privilege to work on and is one of my favourite projects.

And it’s now available in TEN languages!
Watch here (and please RT😊)👇https://t.co/ckWCHt45e2

— Sokeel Park (@Sokeel) November 19, 2018

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visits the Taegwan Glass Factory in North Pyongan Province, in the country’s northwest, in these photos published by the Rodong Sinmun on Nov. 18, 2018. The plant was put on South Korea’s sanctions list in 2016 for producing lenses for military use.  (Yonhap)

There have been many ROK soldiers that have committed suicide serving on the DMZ, all evidence seems to point to this being the case once again:

In light of rumors about the death of a South Korean solider in a heavily fortified cross-border region last week, the military suggested that the death was an apparent suicide unrelated to the North Korean military.

In light of rumors about the death of a South Korean solider in the heavily fortified inter-Korean border region last week, the military has suggested the death was an apparent suicide unrelated to the North Korean military.

According to the Army, a 21-year-old private first class was found dead Friday at a guard post in the eastern section of the Demilitarized Zone. The soldier’s body was found hours after he was sent for night duty to monitor thermal observation devices installed along the DMZ.

On Sunday, the Army said security cameras showed the soldier had walked alone into a restroom after receiving live ammunition at the gate to the guard post. The soldier’s smartphone also showed records of searches for the term “suicide,” the Army added.

“Only one rifle and an empty shell were found inside the restroom,” the Army said in a text message to reporters, suggesting there was no evidence of forced entry or an attack by outsiders.  [Korea Herald via a reader tip]

You can read more at the link.

More contracting fraud directed towards USFK:

Three South Korean companies have agreed to plead guilty and pay some $236 million in criminal and civil penalties for a “decade-long bid rigging conspiracy” involving contracts to supply fuel to U.S. military bases on the peninsula, the Justice Department said.

The companies — SK Energy Co. Ltd., GS Caltex Corp., and Hanjin Transportation Co. Ltd. — also agreed to pay a total of about $154 million to the United States for antitrust and false claims violations in separate civil claims, according to a statement.

The Justice Department said the criminal charges were the first to be announced in the investigation, which involved allegations that the petroleum and refinery companies and their agents conspired “to suppress and eliminate competition” during the bidding process for contracts from 2005 to 2016.

“Such a conspiracy is no less illegal for being hatched in South Korea, and as this case shows, federal law enforcement authorities can bridge the distance,” said Benjamin Glassman, U.S. attorney of the southern district of Ohio.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but does anyone think this is the only big rigging going on for USFK contracts?

It is amazing how the fine dust particles from China has now become a year around problem for South Korea:

Anti-pollution masks are strongly advised as fine dust levels across the country are expected to hit “bad” levels Monday, induced by industrial particles blown from China’s east coast.

The National Institute of Environmental Research said the capital area of the peninsula, northeastern province of Gangwon, central province of Chungcheong, southwestern province of Jeolla, southeastern province of Gyeongsang will all suffer “bad” levels of PM 2.5 dust, which range at around 35 micrograms of fine dust particles per cubic meter.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

This report shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone that regularly reads the ROK Drop:

China isn’t as committed to North Korea’s denuclearization as Washington or Seoul and aims to weaken the South Korea-U.S. alliance, according to an annual report on the U.S.-China economic and security relationship submitted to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.

Beijing also appears to have already relaxed its enforcement of sanctions on North Korea, “undermining the U.S. ‘maximum pressure’ campaign,” according to the extensive report by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

The report, which also outlined China’s North Korea strategy, stressed that the “timeline for cutting sanctions is perhaps the most prominent process issue.” It added that “harmonizing the timeline and sequencing for implementing a comprehensive agreement” will be a priority for negotiators.

U.S. officials prefer “speedy steps toward ending North Korea’s nuclear and long-range missile programs, with the bulk of actions from Pyongyang coming up front before sanctions relief” and have some “potential for flexibility,” according to the report. In turn, China has pushed for a “phased and synchronous” approach, with reciprocal actions from each side.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but what this report has wrong is that I believe it is arguable whether South Korea is committed to North Korea’s denuclearization as well.  The fact that the Moon administration has been pushing for the dropping of sanctions for little to nothing in return from North Korea is evidence of this.

When in history has "the right side of history" denied overwhelming evidence of concentration camps that hold 80,000 to 120,000 men, women & children? Or defended, in the name of feminism, a state that gives impunity to its officials who rape? This profanes history and peace. https://t.co/2ig4hR5Rrm

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) November 15, 2018