It looks like reality has set in for the Moon administration’s attempt to raise the minimum wage even further in South Korea:

President Moon Jae-in admitted Monday he won’t fulfill his campaign pledge to raise the minimum wage to 10,000 won ($8.86) by 2020, after anguished protests about rising labor costs from small business owners and concerns voiced by at least one top member of his administration.

“As a result of the decision by the Minimum Wage Commission, it became difficult to achieve the target of raising the minimum wage to 10,000 won by 2020,” Moon said during a meeting with his senior secretaries at the Blue House on Monday. “I offer my apologies for being unable to keep my pledge.”

The president added that he respects the decision by the commission to keep next year’s minimum wage hike lower than expected and said the government will do its best to realize a 10,000 won minimum wage as early as possible.

Moon’s five-year term ends in May 2022. Moon expressed his appreciation to the commission for raising next year’s minimum wage by more than 10 percent.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Here is an unusual, but pretty cool story:

When most people enter their 60s, they start thinking about retirement.

But Dr. Tyrone Krause decided it was the perfect time to start a new career.

At 63, the heart surgeon from Skillman, N.J., joined the Navy after receiving a waiver that permitted him to enter the Reserves a year past the typical age limit because people with his skills are in demand.

“Sometimes I say to myself, ‘How did I get into this? Why don’t I just relax and sit in my backyard and drink some beer?’ But that’s not my style. I’ve always been on the move. And hopefully I’ll always be on the move,” Krause said.

“I feel, surgically, I’m in my prime. I could still operate very well, and if I can give back and help some of our young men and women in the military, that’s what I want to do.”

Krause was commissioned as a commander Friday aboard the destroyer USS Ramage, where his 27-year-old daughter, Laura, is an ensign and performed the ceremony.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but I once rode on a plane into Afghanistan with a psychiatrist who was commissioned directly as a Colonel. He was much like this heart surgeon, just a guy that had a private practice and was looking to make a difference by joining the military for a short stint.

Engagers usually give this answer when I ask this question in class or at conferences. This strikes e as thin and begs the question what how this experience is making N Korea less dangerous to its own people and the world? Why do we care if they learn about more about commerce? https://t.co/JMHOP9MgpX

— Robert E Kelly (@Robert_E_Kelly) July 15, 2018

Defense Minister Song Young-moo (C) presides over a hastily convened meeting of top military officers at the ministry in Seoul on July 16, 2018. The meeting came after President Moon Jae-in ordered the military to submit all documents to his office that are related to an alleged proposal by the Defense Security Command, a military intelligence unit, to consider imposing martial law to deal with possible unrest from nationwide protests last year demanding the ouster of then-President Park Geun-hye. (Yonhap)

Here is what came out of the general level talks with North Korea on the war remains issue:

The United States and North Korea have agreed to resume searching for the remains of thousands of American soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday.

The agreement came at a general-level meeting between the two sides earlier in the day, Pompeo said in a statement. On Monday the two countries will begin working-level talks to coordinate the repatriation of remains already found in the North, he added.

“This meeting was aimed at fulfilling one of the commitments made by Chairman Kim at the Singapore Summit,” Pompeo said in the statement, noting that it was the first general-level talks between the two countries since 2009. “Today’s talks were productive and cooperative and resulted in firm commitments.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I wonder if this so called search for remains in North Korea will require cash payments to the Kim regime as they demanded in past searches?

It looks like the Moon administration has found another avenue to go after their political enemies with:

A special team of military prosecutors will launch an investigation Monday into revelations that the military’s intelligence unit reviewed the possibility of imposing martial law last year in response to protests calling for then President Park Geun-hye’s ousting.

President Moon Jae-in ordered the investigation after the disclosure of a Defense Security Command (DSC) document that showed the military considered imposing martial law and mobilizing forces to quell candlelight protests against Park.

The military has since formed a special investigation team comprising about 30 prosecutors and investigators from the Navy and the Air Force. The team will complete the necessary preparations on Sunday and launch an investigation on Monday, officials said.

“We’re going to conduct a fair and thorough investigation according to law and principle,” an official said.

Those subject to the investigation are expected to include the then DSC commander, Cho Hyun-chun, then-Defense Minister Han Min-koo and Kim Kwan-jin, chief of the presidential National Security Office at the time. Then-Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn and jailed former President Park Geun-hye could also face an investigation.

Incumbent Defense Minister Song Young-moon is also expected to face an investigation. Song has come under fire for doing nothing even after he was briefed about the DSC document in March this year. Some opposition lawmakers have called for his resignation.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but this issue is nothing new.  The Korean leftwing politicians disclosed planning for martial law if needed all the way back in 2016.  Now there is a document that shows that planning did occur.  South Korea has a long history of martial law during past military dictatorships which makes it a very politically sensitive issue, however it is not illegal:

Under the law, the President has the right to declare martial law when it is considered necessary to maintain public order and security. And the head of state is required immediately to inform the National Assembly of the decision with details, including concrete reasons, a scope of territory and what will be subject to the emergency law. The National Assembly has the right to ask the President to lift the law and, if the latter refuses, the Assembly can start an impeachment process.  [Korea Times]

Former President Park obviously made no decision to impose martial law so I don’t see what case the Moon administration can make that anyone in the Park administration broke the law.  They can however play this out to further discredit and embarrass political conservatives in South Korea.  It may also give them the excuse to clean house of top military leadership accusing them of plotting a coup in order to replace them with more ideologically friendly officers.  I guess we will see how this plays out.

It looks like the Kim regime has made good progress on getting the restaurant workers returned to North Korea:

A former North Korean restaurant manager who defected to South Korea in 2016 together with a dozen female workers claimed Sunday that Seoul’s spy agency had lured and blackmailed him into defecting.

Ho Kang-il’s claim, made in a phone interview with Yonhap News Agency, corroborates suspicions that the high-profile defection was not voluntary and the then-government of President Park Geun-hye orchestrated it behind the scenes.

During the interview, Ho claimed that the South’s National Intelligence Service had tried to persuade him to defect, saying it would help him open a restaurant in a Southeast Asian nation, but the spy agency didn’t make good on the promise.

“Originally, I was a cooperator of the NIS and brought information to them,” Ho said. “But they lured me, saying that if I come (to the South) with my employees, they would get us to obtain South Korean citizenship and then they would open a restaurant in Southeast Asia that could also be used as an NIS hideout. They told me to run the restaurant there with the employees.”

Ho claimed NIS agents blackmailed him when he hesitated.

“They threatened that unless I come to the South with the employees, they would divulge to the North Korean Embassy that I had cooperated with the NIS until then,” Ho said. “I had no choice but to do what they told me to.”

He also said that the restaurant employees had thought they would be going to a restaurant in Southeast Asia, and it was only after they got on board the flight that they learned they were headed to the South.

Questions about their defection first arose in May after a local cable broadcaster aired an interview with the restaurant manager. Pyongyang has demanded their return, saying they were abducted by South Korean intelligence, but the South Korean government has claimed that all of the North Koreans defected voluntarily.

Last week, the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Tomas Ojea Quintana, called for a “thorough” and “independent” investigation after he met with some of the defectors.

“It is clear that there were some shortcomings in regards to how they were brought to South Korea,” Quintana told reporters. “From the information I received from some of them, they were taken to the Republic of Korea without knowing they were coming here.”  [Yonhap]

First of all the ROK intelligence service should be asking North Koreans if they want to defect, however I don’t believe they should not be blackmailing them.  With that said we don’t know if the blackmail claims from the restaurant manager are true.  Remember these allegations from the restaurant manager only came up after the Moon administration came to power.  Is the Moon administration putting him under intense pressure and allowing the North Koreans to contact him with threats against his family back in North Korea?

Remember these restaurant workers could have easily have made statements to the media that they were kidnapped before Moon became President or even over the first year of the Moon administration.  It was only this past May when JTBC, Pyongyang’s favorite South Korean news channel, was allowed to interview the restaurant manager did these claims come up.  It is going to be interesting to see if the Moon administration ups the pressure on the restaurant workers to voluntarily return to North Korea to keep the current peace process moving forward.

This makes a total of 3 NK refugees admitted to the US thus far in 2018. (There was 1 person in 2017.) https://t.co/6zAtSKshgY

— Sheena Greitens (@SheenaGreitens) July 13, 2018

Pedestrians walk past street artworks depicting fried eggs and melted rubber slippers in front of Hyundai Department Store in Daegu on July 13, 2018, fitting structures for the city some 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul which often records some of the highest temperatures during summer. The mercury rose to 34 degrees C on the day but felt close to 38 degrees due to sun rays and humidity. (Yonhap)

The general level meeting between the US and North Korea over the return of Korean War remains did happen this weekend:

The United States and North Korea held general-level talks for the first time in more than nine years on Sunday to discuss the details of an agreement to repatriate the remains of American troops killed during the 1950-53 Korean War.

The meeting had originally been scheduled to take place Thursday, but the North called it off at the last minute, citing a lack of preparations. The North then suggested holding general-level talks with the U.S.-led U.N. Command (UNC) on Sunday, and the U.S. agreed.

Sunday’s talks began around 10 a.m. at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom. Maj. Gen. Michael Minihan, chief of staff for the UNC, led the U.S. side and the North’s delegation included a two-star general, sources said. Further details were not immediately available.

Earlier, three U.S. Forces Korea vehicles arrived at the Tongil Bridge near the border around 8:20 a.m. before putting U.N. flags on them and heading to Panmunjom. It was unclear whether the talks would conclude Sunday or be extended for another day.

Recovering and repatriating the remains of U.S. troops killed during the war was one of the agreements that U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un reached during their historic summit in Singapore last month.

Sunday’s talks were expected to focus on such details as when and how the remains should be transferred. But the North could also demand something in exchange for the return or raise other issues related to the armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I think we all know North Korea is not going to hand over these remains out of the goodness of their heart.  When dealing with the Kim regime there is a price for everything.  These negotiations should determine what the price will be.