This is just another example of the growing arms race in Northeast Asia due to the rise and territorial expansionism of China:
The Pentagon’s No. 3 official has heaped praise on South Korea for being the first U.S. treaty ally outside of NATO to hike defense spending to 3.5% of gross domestic product — a move expected to impact Japan’s own spending plans.
“South Korea has now committed to spending 3.5% of its GDP on defense as soon as possible,” U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby wrote Friday on X. “It is America’s first non-NATO treaty ally to commit to the standard set by President (Donald) Trump at the Hague Summit.” (………)
Still, South Korea’s agreement to hike spending to the 3.5% level will reverberate in Tokyo.
At his first meeting with new Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi late last month, Hegseth said “there were never any demands” from Washington that Tokyo further hike its defense spending.
But media reports in June said Colby had asked Japan to raise its defense spending to 3.5% of GDP, a request that prompted Tokyo to call off annual “two-plus-two” security talks involving the allies’ top diplomats and defense chiefs.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has committed to have Tokyo shoulder more of the security burden in its alliance with Washington by emphasizing a plan to have Japan reach a defense spending target of 2% of GDP by the end of this fiscal year, effectively moving a planned hike ahead by two years.
You can read more at the link.
Notice how there has been no criticism of President Lee in the media or politicians for this accident unlike former President Park when the Sewol ferry sunk?:
President Lee Jae Myung on Sunday pledged to determine whether there were safety lapses at a thermal plant site in the southeastern city of Ulsan where seven workers were killed and sternly punish those found accountable.
Lee made the remark after authorities on Friday recovered the last of the seven workers who were trapped when a 63-meter tower at the plant collapsed on Nov. 6. The bodies of the six others had been recovered.
“As the person ultimately in charge of public safety, I am genuinely and deeply sorry,” Lee wrote on Facebook. “Despite the people’s wishes, all seven trapped workers returned to their families as bodies. My heart is deeply torn.”
You can read more at the link.
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
This will be a quick way for the Japanese government to raise money from tourists:
The government and the ruling coalition are considering a plan to raise the departure tax from the current ¥1,000 per person to ¥3,000 or more to fund measures against overtourism, informed sources said Thursday.
The specific size of the increase will be discussed during fiscal 2026 tax system reform talks at the end of the year.
Japan introduced the departure tax, formally called the international tourist tax, in 2019. It is levied uniformly on all travelers departing from Japan, including Japanese nationals traveling abroad for work or leisure.
You can read more at the link.
This is definitely a unique event every year in Korea. I cannot imagine Americans every getting this excited about supporting students taking the SAT:
The annual college entrance exam was held nationwide Thursday, concluding with the largest number of applicants in seven years due in part to an unusually high birth rate in 2007.
The College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), seen as one of the nation’s most important academic events, began at 1,310 test centers across the country at 8:40 a.m. and ended at 5:45 p.m.
Earlier in the day, test-takers arrived at designated centers amid cheers from their juniors, parents and teachers. Police officers were deployed nationwide to help transport students and, in some cases, bring them their lunch boxes from home. And students residing on small islands had traveled to the mainland beforehand as no test centers were set up on islets.
A total of 554,174 people have applied for this year’s exam, up 31,504, or 6 percent, from last year and the highest figure since 2018, according to the education ministry.
High school seniors and graduates account for 67.1 percent and 28.9 percent of the total, respectively, it said.
Outside a high school in Cheongju, about 110 kilometers south of Seoul, 21-year-old Shin Ju-won, a student at Chungbuk National University, joined a cheering squad.
“We were cheered on when we took the exam, so we want to repay our juniors,” Shin said. “They’re probably very nervous, but I hope they do well.”
You can read more at the link.
Japan’s new Prime Minister has made it very clear where her country stands in regards to a Chinese attack on Taiwan which the Chinese of course do not like:
Japan was involved in a war of words with China this week after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said a Chinese attack on Taiwan could constitute “a survival-threatening situation” for Japan requiring the use of force. Takaichi, who was elected as the country’s first female prime minister last month, said Friday that Chinese use of force around Taiwan would qualify as “an existential threat.” Her comment sparked sharp criticisms from Beijing over the weekend. “We have no choice but cut off that dirty neck that has been lunged at us without hesitation.
Are you ready?” Chinese Consul General Xue Jian said in a message posted on X, which was later deleted. Xue also criticized past remarks made by former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other Japanese lawmakers that of “Taiwan emergency is Japan emergency” as “blatant interference of Chinese internal affairs and violation of sovereignty” that require a retraction and apology.
You can read more at the link.
