Here is some more reporting that North Korea ballistic missile technology jump apparently came from Ukraine:

When North Korea launched a series of increasingly potent missiles last year, analysts were left scratching their heads. How had the renegade regime’s weapons program advanced so quickly?

The answer may lie more than 4,000 miles away, in eastern Ukraine, according to one nuclear expert.

Michael Elleman is convinced that North Korea’s recent missiles were powered by engines made at a once-buzzing factory in the former Soviet Union.

Elleman, a senior fellow for missile defense at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a think tank, believes that Pyongyang acquired the 1960s Soviet-era missile engine known as the RD-250 within the past two years.

With some slight adjustments, Kim Jong Un’s government used that engine to successfully launch a medium-range missile and two intercontinental ballistic missiles, he says.

In a report published late last year, Elleman suggested that North Korea had procured the high-powered Soviet engines through a network of arms smugglers. He said it was unlikely that the transfer had been sanctioned by the Russian government or even those operating the warehouses and factories.

“These facilities have what we call ‘bone yards’ where you have old engines that are no longer in service that are just stored,” he said. “It’s not surprising that there are dozens that would be available for transfer.”

At about 6.5 feet tall and 3 feet wide, and weighing 800 or 900 pounds, the engines could be boxed and transported like a big motorcycle, Elleman suggested.  [NBC News]

You can read more at the link, but this arguably another unintended consequence of the war and instability allowed to happen in Ukraine.

DC Comics´ New Aquaman Is N.Korean Defector https://t.co/qkSD2OIiQa

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) February 27, 2018

A group of South Korean athletes moves into their lodging facility in the country’s eastern alpine town of PyeongChang on March 3, 2018, to participate in the upcoming Paralympics to be held from March 9-18. (Yonhap)

This sounds more like an attempt to get more teaching jobs for Koreans instead of to native English teachers:

Most English teachers in primary and secondary schools do not believe that having native-speaking assistants is beneficial in cost-effective terms, a recent survey shows.

Gwangju Metropolitan Office of Education surveyed 312 teachers ― 212 elementary school teachers and 100 middle school teachers ― who have been partnered with native English-speaking instructors.

More than half of those surveyed cited the native speakers’ low competence, poor attitude, lack of experience and mediocre education benefit. They said the number should be reduced or the program should be abolished.

They said it would be better to train more Koreans to teach English.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

That is what a professor from Hankuk University believes:

Professor Kim Jang-ho from Hankuk University believes that for this reason, the detente won’t last. He is also sceptical of President Moon’s motives and doesn’t believe there has been any breakthrough with North Korea.

“President Moon is trying to buy some time so that he can achieve a summit meeting with Kim Jong-un.

“Our president wants to meet him to symbolically say that North Korea is a normal nation and they are capable of talking. It automatically propels him to the list for the Nobel Peace Prize. But the US and Japan will pressure us to go ahead with military exercises as soon as possible, late April maybe.

“I think certainly with those exercises continuing, and they will go ahead definitely before May, we will go from the thaw to tension all over again.”

Many doubt North Korea’s willingness to discuss getting rid of its nuclear weapons with the US. Kim Jong-un has tried to reassure Seoul by saying his missiles are not pointing at South Koreans, they’re pointing instead at the “US aggressors”, and that they could be used to protect all of Korea.

I put it to Professor Bong Young-shik that North Korea would never give up its missiles. The research fellow at Yonsei University disagreed.

“The North Korean regime’s ultimate goal is survival and security,” the expert in North Korea said.  [BBC]

You can read more at the link, but before anyone considers President Moon for a Nobel Peace Prize they should realize that when he was the Chief of Staff for former President Roh Moo-hyun, they helped to funnel billions of dollars in aid that allowed the Kim regime to build their nuclear weapons and ICBMs.

You would think though that after the embarrassment of awarding a Nobel Peace Prize to former ROK President Kim Dae-jung the Nobel committee would be weary of awarding one to another ROK president.  This is because it was later discovered that the Inter-Korean Summit between Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-il was only possible after North Korea received a $500 million dollar bribe.

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

US serious about attacking North Korea: CNN https://t.co/2WWR3k5FHq

— NorthKoreaRealTime (@BuckTurgidson79) March 2, 2018

President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook raise their hands in hurrah after a march in front of the Seodaemun Prison History Hall in Seoul on March 1, 2018. The day marked the 99th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement Day when people started nationwide rallies to demand Korea’s independence from Japanese colonial rule. The Seodaemun Prison is where many independence fighters were jailed and martyred. (Yonhap)

Via a reader tip comes this news that presidential advisor Moon Jung-in has been speculating recently that if President Moon Jae-in asks US forces to leave Korea, they should leave:

Moon Jung-in, mentor to President Moon Jae-in on foreign and North Korea affairs, often previews Seoul’s policy.

Now under question is his remark in a seminar in Washington, D.C., to the effect that U.S. forces should leave Korea, if its president shows the door. The comment was made in the context of explaining the structure under which the U.S. has wartime control of ROK forces.

The U.S. is said to be resistant to changing the structure, which would make the U.S. general subordinate to the Korean general.

Some experts say the U.S. would rather leave Korea than have its troops under ROK command.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I would be surprised if the Pentagon signs on to any plan that allows a ROK general to command US forces.  ROK generals do not have the experience to command the hi-tech weapons, logistics, communications, and command & control systems that the US military brings to a fight.

This is why in the past it has been reported that if an OPCON change happens the US command will be downgraded to a three-star general in charge of an military organization called KORCOM.  ROK generals would take back control of all their forces during wartime, but would have no command authority over KORCOM.  Instead KORCOM would support the ROK military as needed.

If President Moon wants US forces out of Korea without explicitly demanding it; requesting that KORCOM fall under the command of ROK general would be the way to do it.

It looks like the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle exercises that are reportedly scheduled for next month will occur, but the ROK government wants them scaled down and low key as part of their “maximum prudence” strategy:

The allies delayed the Key Resolve and Foal Eagle drills, originally scheduled for February, to prevent possible tension with North Korea ahead of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. North Korea also held a low-key military parade on the eve of the Olympics in an apparent gesture of reconciliation.

Downsizing the drills is the most probable scenario for Seoul to maintain the ongoing mood for dialogue with Pyongyang.

North Korea has demanded the U.S. and South Korea suspend the drills for good, threatening to take “stern” countermeasures against the move.

The government, however, is likely to resume the drills as planned in April, as the U.S. has expressed a strong willingness to conduct the exercises right after the closing of the PyeongChang Paralympics in mid-March.

“There is little chance of the delay or suspension of the joint exercises,” Moon Chung-in, special adviser to President Moon Jae-in, said in a seminar in Washington, Tuesday.

Pyongyang is likely to lodge a vehement protest even against toned-down annual drills, so he said the thing is how to proactively deal with the reaction from the North.

He said President Moon will feel like he is walking on egg shells, taking an approach of “maximum prudence” on North Korea unlike maximum pressure from the U.S.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I guess time will tell if maximum prudence will become maximum appeasement at some point.