If the North Koreans do decide to commit a Chuseok holiday provocation the US and ROK military say they are ready:

The military is to remain on high alert against possible provocations from North Korea during the Chuseok holiday.

A military official said Saturday that troops are maintaining a bolstered defense posture as the North can carry out provocations at any time.

South Korean and U.S. forces are known to be closely observing any moves by the North Korean military using cutting-edge surveillance and reconnaissance assets in order to respond immediately in case of a provocation.

Authorities believe Pyongyang could engage in another major provocative act in the near future.

It’s speculated the regime could launch a ballistic missile around October tenth, which marks the founding anniversary of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party.   [KBS World Radio]

Reports today are saying that missiles from the Sanum-dong missile plant are currently on the move.  I guess we will see what happens in the next few days.

More corruption charges related to the Camp Humphreys relocation project:

A 58-year-old Pearl City man is in custody at the Federal Detention Center on charges that he accepted and hid more than $2.8 million in bribes that he solicited to steer more than $400 million worth of engineering and construction work to a particular South Korean-based multinational company when he worked as a contracting officer for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

A federal grand jury returned an indictment Thursday charging Duane Nishiie and South Korean national Seung-Ju Lee, 50, with conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud, money laundering and lying in connection with the awarding of two contracts that are part of a massive, ongoing U.S. Army relocation project in South Korea.

Nishiie pleaded not guilty Friday. Lee has yet to answer to the charges.  (…….)

According to the indictment, Nishiie and Lee steered a December 2008 infrastructure and engineering contract worth more than $400 million to a particular company and a March 2010 construction contract worth more than $6 million to the same company in exchange for bribes. Lee was an officer in the procurement arm of the Korean Ministry of Defense, which is working with the U.S. government on the Army relocation project.  [Honolulu Star Advertiser]

You can read more at the link.

Lots of informal roadside hustling and money-making in these September shots of life in North Korea via @nknewsorg https://t.co/EEqZvCZPyP pic.twitter.com/oqxuAkkH8C

— James Pearson (@pearswick) September 27, 2017

Bumper-to-bumper traffic clogs one side of a highway to the port city of Busan in Seoul’s Seocho Ward, on Sept. 29, 2017, as many holidaymakers hit the road to take advantage of up to 10 consecutive days off, including Chuseok, the Korean harvest holiday, which falls on Oct. 4 this year. (Yonhap)

This is an example of how the ROK government during the Sunshine Policy years helped to fund North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs and the leftists running the country at the time thought the North Koreans would actually pay them back.  Despite all this the current Moon Jae-in administration in South Korea wants to give them even more money they will likely never pay back:

North Korea seems unwilling to repay loans it received from South Korea when inter-Korean relations were good in the 2000s, an opposition lawmaker claimed Thursday.

Citing data from the Export-Import Bank of Korea (Eximbank) and the National Assembly Budget Office, Rep. Shim Jae-cheol of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) said the North’s outstanding liabilities are 161.4 billion won ($142.5 million) as of July, out of accumulated loans of 1.05 trillion won ($932 million).

“North Korea has not paid back a penny since 2012 but the government has yet to come up with any countermeasure,” Shim said.

“The amount of redemption must have been used in nuclear and missile development. The government should do its utmost not to lose the entire 1.05 trillion won, which is the people’s tax money.”

According to the National Assembly data, the Kim Dae-jung government offered loans worth 369 billion won ($327 million) and the Roh Moo-hyun administration provided as much as 683.7 billion won ($650 million) in the form of food, material and equipment.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

I believe this when I see it happen since the ROK has literally vowed to take over operational control from the US military for decades to only keep putting it off:

He vowed to strengthen the Korea-U.S. alliance while beefing up domestic military capabilities in order for the country to command its own troops in the event of a conflict.

“My administration is pursuing the early takeover of wartime operational control,” he said. “The handover on the basis of our independent defense capabilities will ultimately lead to a remarkable advancement in the fundamentals and abilities of our military. When the South has wartime operation control, the North will fear us more, and the people will trust our armed forces more. With elevated self-esteem, our military will become stronger, and the Republic of Korea will emerge as a security hub in Northeast Asia. I am convinced that our military is equipped with such capabilities. The people and I have confidence in our armed forces.”

Recovery of wartime operational control of the Korean forces from the United States was a presidential pledge of Moon. During the Roh Moo-hyun administration, Seoul and Washington agreed that the transfer would take place in 2012, but the plan was delayed by the succeeding conservative presidents. Moon said he will complete it during his presidency, which ends in May 2022.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but I think this may have a real chance of happening this time since President Trump reportedly wants the same thing. Anyway this whole OPCON issue has historically had little to do with military strategy and more to do with being a reactionary response to Korean nationalism.  I had reach way back in the archives, but ROK Heads can read how President Moon’s mentor former President Roh pushed this same issue from this 2005 posting.

This sounds like a complete amateur hour if the accusation is true:

A Korean soldier stationed in the inter-Korean border county of Cheorwon, in Gangwon Province, died of a mysterious gunshot to his head on Tuesday, the latest in a series of fatal incidents there.

The victim, 22, whose name was not released, was returning to his platoon with about 20 soldiers and their commander after working when the bullet hit him. Who fired the bullet and where it came from are unknown.

The incident occurred about 4:10 p.m. The soldier was taken to hospital but died at 5:20 p.m.

The bullet most likely came from a military shooting range within 400 meters of the incident site, media reports said.

But a netizen who claimed to be a family member of the victim said the commander was responsible for the death. The family member, who was with the victim’s body at the Armed Forces Medical Command in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, said the platoon commander led the solders “right across the shooting range while shooting practice was in progress.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link on how the ROK Army has had a series of unusual shooting deaths.

Japan just killed 177 whales in annual hunt, including 43 minke whales, ostensibly for "scientific research" https://t.co/d1VUWNlgJq pic.twitter.com/jAtAfViJYO

— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) September 27, 2017

Former President Lee Myung-bak (C) leaves his office in Seoul on Sept. 28, 2017, in this image taken from Yonhap News TV. Lee castigated President Moon Jae-in’s sweeping campaign to address the alleged misdeeds of previous governments. “I am watching these events unfolding in the name of eliminating the accumulated ills surrounding the previous governments, when the security situation is grave and people’s livelihoods are difficult,” Lee, who led the country from 2008-2013, wrote on Facebook the same day. (Yonhap)

People best think twice before sharing any images or videos of ex-lovers while living in South Korea:

The government and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea will push ahead with legislation to toughen penalties on revenge porn.

If the National Assembly passes the new law, which it is very likely to, those who attempt to humiliate ex-lovers by sharing images online or videos of their naked bodies, won’t just be slapped on the wrist with a fine as many of them are currently. Instead, they may face up to five years in prison without the option of a fine.

Under the current law, such criminals face up to five years in prison or a maximum fine of 10 million won ($8,800), and most end up with the fine.

Hong Nam-ki, head of the Office of Government Policy Coordination, announced a package of measures Tuesday to better protect people from the crime, which has become a social issue in recent years.

Those who commercially use such images or videos could face up to seven years in prison.

The new law will also require offenders to pay the costs of removing the contents online.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.