The Moon administration asking to do this is a definite possibility, but I would be surprised if the US government agrees to an indefinite suspension. The joint exercises are a key part of maintaining combined readiness on the Korean peninsula. I guess we will see if Key Resolve gets cancelled because it has already been delayed, but cancelling all joint exercises indefinitely I just don’t see happening:
Sue Mi Terry
South Korea could push to indefinitely postpone joint military exercises with the United States in exchange for North Korea taking steps to denuclearize, a U.S. expert said Tuesday.
The allies earlier agreed to suspend the annual drills for the duration of the PyeongChang Winter Games. North Korea views the exercises as an invasion rehearsal and has protested with various provocations in the past.
Sue Mi Terry, senior fellow for Korea at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the liberal administration of South Korean President Moon Jae-in could seek to extend the suspension and bring the U.S. and North Korea together for denuclearization negotiations.
“(The South Korean government wants) to make sure that this opening with North Korea over the Olympics leads to something and leads to perhaps U.S.-North Korea dialogue,” she told a press briefing, referring to Pyongyang’s recent agreement to participate in the Games.
“So they’re going to try very hard,” she added, “and if they cannot give concessions on the sanctions front, they have to give something, because North Korea will demand it. So I’m a little bit concerned that the Moon government might actually push for the postponement of joint military exercises.” [Yonhap]
Women quietly broke through barriers last fall when they became the first in the Army to earn the prestigious Expert Infantryman Badge at Fort Bragg.
The badge, which was created in the 1940s, only recently opened to women when the Department of Defense struck down regulations that prevented them from serving in infantry jobs. The women earned the badge during testing with hundreds of male candidates in November — about two years after infantry jobs opened to women.
“This historic achievement is a reminder of the great things we can achieve when women are seen and treated as equals and given the same chance to contribute to their country,” U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth said in a statement. The Democrat from Illinois was among the first Army women to fly combat missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but what is ironic about this is that female ROK soldiers have been able to earn the EIB before female US Army soldiers:
A group of new cadets receive basic military training at the Armed Forces Nursing Academy in the central city of Daejeon on Jan. 22, 2018, with an assistant instructor watching them. (Yonhap)
I think retired Army officer Steve Tharp makes a fair point to be concerned about an increase in anti-Americanism during the upcoming Winter Olympics. With that said I think the conditions are a bit different this time compared to the 2002 World Cup where this time I think the likelihood of a large increase in anti-Americanism is low:
Steve Tharp
What is unknown right now is how the Korean populace will react towards the United States and its athletes during the Olympics. In 1988, South Koreans were observed cheering wildly for the Soviet athletes during competitions against the Americans. In 2002, I watched on TV as the South Korean soccer team mimicked a speed skating maneuver in front of the American net after South Korea scored, which brought a very emotional reaction from their fans in the bar where I was watching the game. I found both events disconcerting.
A final factor will be the presence of the North Korean delegation. It has long been my contention that there is a zero-sum game in South Korea when it comes to sentiment for and against the U.S. and North Korea. When pro-North Korean sentiment increases, pro-U.S. sentiment goes down, and the converse is also true. A possible effect of the combined Korean delegation may be that some South Koreans view the U.S. and its athletes in a more negative manner.
I hope my concerns prove unfounded and that we don’t have another spike in anti-Americanism in the coming months. While there is never a good time for a wedge to be driven into the ROK-U.S. alliance, this seems an especially bad time given the current political and security situation. Let’s not repeat history but instead, as they say at the ROK-US Combined Forces Command, “Let’s Go Together!” [Korea Times]
You can read the whole article at the link, but during the World Cup timeframe many Koreans felt differently about North Korea due to the implementation of the Sunshine Policy. So when negative incidents involving Americans happened the ROK media, politicians, and public felt free to inflate their importance and bash the US. The 2002 Armored Vehicle Incident is a perfect example of this; the media published lies, politicians demagogued, and the public relentlessly bashed the US over a tragic traffic accident that USFK was deeply remorseful for.
During this same timeframe the North Koreans deliberately launched an attack that killed six ROK sailors and the media and politicians made excuses while the ROK public paid little notice. This is how strongly the Sunshine Policy altered the ROK public’s perceptions of the US and North Korea.
Since 2002, the Sunshine Policy has been revealed as a sham that gave the Kim regime billions of dollars to help develop their nuclear and ballistic missile programs. Additionally the North Koreans have made many deadly provocations to include sinking a ROK naval ship killing 46 sailors and even shelling a South Korean island with artillery. The change in perceptions of North Korea by the ROK public compared to 2002 is most evident by the relatively cool reception North Korean athletes are receiving that will attend the Winter Olympics.
With all these factors converging at the Winter Olympics I would not be surprised if US athletes receive cheers from the ROK public if they end up competing against a North Korean athlete.
Kim Jong-un may not have exactly told Koreans to surrender to his demands, but that is essentially what is being said in this statement:
North Korea sent a rare announcement addressed to “all Koreans at home and abroad” on Thursday, saying they should make a “breakthrough” for unification without the help of other countries, its state media said.
It said all Koreans should “promote contact, travel, cooperation between North and South Korea” while adding Pyongyang will “smash” all challenges against reunification of the Korean peninsula.
The announcement, issued after a joint meeting of government and political parties, added Koreans should wage an energetic drive to defuse the acute military tension and create a peaceful climate on the Korean peninsula.
Military tension on the Korean peninsula was a “fundamental obstacle” for the improvement of inter-Korean relations and unification, the North’s official news agency said.
It added joint military drills with “outside forces” has shown to be unhelpful for the development of relations between North and South Korea. [Reuters]
This message makes it pretty clear that the Kim regime wants the inter-Koreans ventures such as the Geumgang Resort tours and Kaesong Industrial Complex reopened as a means for foreign currency and to circumvent sanctions. That is why the Masik Ski Resort is being promoted so heavily as part of the Winter Olympics charm offensive by the North Koreans. They see that resort as another potential cash cow to circumvent sanctions.
This message also continues the Kim regime’s efforts to separate the ROK and the US by demanding joint military exercises be cancelled. I would not be surprised if the ROK government asks to cancel the already delayed Key Resolve exercise.
The Moon administration had previously said that they wanted to take over wartime operational control (OPCON) of military forces in the early 2020’s. Now the defense minister is saying they want to speed up the change over:
South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo, right, shakes hands with U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis.
Defense Minister Song Young-moo urged the military’s top brass on Tuesday to hasten preparations to take back Korea’s wartime operational control from the United States.
“The transfer is crucial to realize a reliable national defense suitable to Korea’s power and military capabilities,” Song said during a meeting at the Joint Chiefs of Staff, “and to defend the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula.”
He also urged the military to create a combined defense system with the United States under Korean leadership. The meeting was attended by about 200 senior officers of the Ministry of National Defense, Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army, Navy and Air Force as well as key operational units of the military.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff said it has focused on preparing a command structure that will be used after the transfer and that it has worked to improve the military’s capabilities so it can lead combined operations with the United States, which is one of the agreed-upon prerequisites for the transfer, in addition to a stable environment and an ability by Korea to counter North Korean nuclear and missile threats. To verify that these prerequisites have been met, one preliminary evaluation and three assessments are required, but the Ministry of National Defense presented a plan last week to speed up the transfer by skipping the preliminary evaluation, which is scheduled for 2019, and beginning immediately with the first assessment that same year.
Reporting to Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon on Friday, the ministry said it will update its plan and discuss it with the United States at the Security Consultative Meeting in October.
Song’s request echoes the sentiment of President Moon Jae-in, who has pushed for an early transfer since taking office in May. In his summit in July with U.S. President Donald Trump, Moon made an agreement with Trump to continue working to “expeditiously enable the conditions-based transfer of wartime operational control.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
One of ROK President Moon’s top priorities after taking office was to push for the early transfer of OPCON to ROK forces. The US government has pretty much told him that if he wants it he can have it, but the US side of the command will be downgraded to a three-star general.
I can only imagine what the Family Readiness Group (FRG) meetings would have looked like if this soldier’s gangster husband showed up to them:
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Chang denied bail Wednesday for the accused pimp who federal prosecutors describe as violent and intimidating.
Isaiah McCoy is charged with sex trafficking by force.
Wearing a white, inmate jumpsuit and a belly chain, McCoy did not speak in court, allowing his assistant federal public defender Max Mizono to argue that McCoy is not a danger to the community or a flight risk.
McCoy’s wife, Army Sgt. Tawana Roberts, also remains at the federal detention center. Her bond hearing is scheduled for Jan. 24.
The couple was arrested on Jan. 3 by police in an undercover prostitution sting at a Waikiki hotel.
One of the pieces of evidence being used against the couple, a Facebook Live video posted two months ago, in which Roberts and McCoy are in a hot tub.
McCoy jokingly asks as he grabs his wife, “How much is this going to cost me?”
Roberts responds: “You already know the going rate for me … five stacks.” That’s slang for $5,000.
But, according to HPD documents obtained by Hawaii News Now, Roberts agreed to take $500 from an undercover officer in exchange for sex acts.
McCoy has been in Hawaii less than a year after he was released from Delaware’s death row.
He married Roberts a few months ago. She is a food service specialist at Schofield Barracks.
McCoy is not allowed on post because of prior convictions for burglary, robbery and drug crimes. [Hawaii News Now]
You can read more at the link, but this McCoy character is quite the walking crime spree. His wife is not much better considering she was arrested working as a prostitute over in Waikiki.
South Korean tennis phenom Chung Hyeon holds a news conference after beating Tennys Sandgren of the United States 3-0 (6-4, 7-6 (7-5), 6-3) in the quarterfinals at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne on Jan. 24, 2018. Chung, 21, became the first South Korean tennis player to reach a semifinals at a Grand Slam event. (Yonhap)
