The timing of the recent provocations could just be coincidence, but maybe the Kim regime is trying to embarrass Chinese President Xi:

“There’s a lot of domestic politics in North Korea where this young leader who isn’t well-known, he’s not proven yet, especially has to show that he’s not in the pocket of Beijing,” said John Delury of Seoul’s Yonsei University. “I think he made the decision first to keep Hu Jintao and then (current President) Xi Jinping really at bay.”

Within months of coming to power, Kim telegraphed North Korea’s intentions by amending its constitution to proclaim itself a nuclear state. The execution of Jang in 2013 sealed Beijing’s distrust of the young leader.

“Of course the Chinese were not happy,” said a foreign diplomat in Beijing focused on North Korea. “Executing your uncle, that’s from the feudal ages.”

In an attempt to warm ties, Xi sent high-ranking Communist Party official Liu Yunshan to attend the North’s October 2015 military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

Liu hand-delivered a letter from Xi praising Kim’s leadership and including congratulations not just from the Chinese Communist Party but Xi’s personal “cordial wishes” in a powerful show of respect.

Xi’s overture has been repaid with increasingly brazen actions by Pyongyang, which many observers believe are timed for maximum embarrassment to Beijing. Sunday’s nuclear test, for example, took place as China hosted a BRICS summit, while in May, the North launched a long-range missile just hours before the Belt and Road Forum, dedicated to Xi’s signature foreign policy initiative.  [Reuters]

You can read more at the link.

Dark Side of Pyongyang–Literally. It's dark. https://t.co/oIMycoeMXC

— KingSejong (@KingSejong) September 8, 2017

Female soldiers salute the national flag during a ceremony in Seoul on Sept. 6, 2017, to mark 67th anniversary of the establishment of South Korea’s Women’s Army Corps. (Yonhap)

What does North Korea have to do to convince the Korean left that billions of dollars in economic aid the Kim regime can use to bolster their nuclear and missile programs is not a good idea?:

South Korea’s unification ministry said Friday it plans to seek trilateral economic cooperation involving the two Koreas and Russia after taking into account international sanctions and public sentiment.

President Moon Jae-in has unveiled the so-called new Northern Policy designed to expand economic cooperation with northern states including North Korea.

The Ministry of Unification said that the initiative involving the two Koreas and Russia will help implement Moon’s another vision to build a new economic belt with North Korea.  (…..)

The JoongAng Ilbo reported that the government plans to boost the fund by about US$2 billion to fund a potential trilateral project among Seoul, Pyongyang and Moscow to establish the complex in areas spanning the North Korean port city of Rajin and Russia’s Khasan.

Lee said that the report is not true, saying that the state inter-Korean cooperation fund for next year amounts to just 1.046 trillion won.

The idea of building a factory park in the Rajin-Khasan area was first floated under the liberal government of former President Roh Moo-hyun in 2003-2008. But it was known to be put on hold mainly due to North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I am sure it would interesting to be a fly on the wall and listen to President Trump reaction after he reads this.

Can someone please define what temporary means?  Is the North Korean missile threat to South Korea just going to magically go away sometime soon to where the THAAD system will no longer be needed?:

South Korean President Moon Jae-in defended the government’s decision to fully deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system here Friday, saying it was an inevitable decision to protect his people from evolving nuclear and missile provocations from North Korea.

The president, however, hinted at possible changes in the future, calling it only a temporary decision.

“While ignoring our government and the international community’s repeated demands and warnings, North Korea staged its sixth nuclear test following a series of ballistic missile launches. And due to these developments, our security situation has become more serious than ever,” the president said in a released statement.

“Therefore, the government reached a decision that it could no longer delay the temporary deployment of THAAD to prevent war on the Korean Peninsula and protect the lives and safety of its people,” he added.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Via a reader tip comes this absolutely horrible assault of a 14-year old girl in Busan:

A horrific attack in South Korea’s Province of Busan has caused outrage around the globe after pictures of the victim were revealed online.

A group of middle school students attacked and nearly killed a 14-year-old girl in Busan, South Korea. The four attackers were captured on CCTV attacking the girl with a metal pipe, a chair, several soju bottles, and lit cigarettes. The girls then took pictures of the bloodied victim after the attack and sent it to other students to ‘brag’ about what they did.

While the victim was 14 years old, three of her attackers were of the same age as she was too. One of the attackers was only 13 years old. They attacked her for 1 hour and 30 minutes before leaving her to die.  [Viral 4 Real]

You can read the rest at the link, but this was actually the second time they assaulted her in response to the victim accepting a phone call from the boyfriend of one of the attackers.

Peace in our time with North Korea is just around the corner, US ambassador to North Korea former NBA basketball player Dennis Rodman is on the case:

With tensions brewing between the leaders of the United States and North Korea, one man believes he can help keep the peace.

Former NBA star Dennis Rodman hopes to “straighten things out” between President Donald Trump and supreme leader Kim Jong Un, two men Rodman calls friends.

He appeared on “Good Morning Britain” via satellite from Los Angeles on Wednesday and was asked about his relationship with Kim and the multiple trips to North Korea.

A first look at #NorthKorea's Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site–multiple landslides visible in initial post-test imageryhttps://t.co/GpszJ6Gdnm

— 38 North (@38NorthNK) September 5, 2017

This photo, taken on Sept. 6, 2017, shows farming machines that residents placed to block a road to a village near a U.S. base in Seongju, 296 km southeast of Seoul, where two launchers for an advanced U.S. missile defense system, known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), are deployed. The residents’ move came amid reports that the U.S. military will deploy four additional THAAD missile interceptor launchers to the base at 2:00 a.m. the next day. (Yonhap)

Here is the latest on the follow up actions from the Trump administration after North Korea’s weekend nuclear test:

President Donald Trump left war with North Korea on the table as an option if Pyongyang doesn’t behave after a call with China’s Xi Jinping on Wednesday that the the U.S. leader described as ‘very, very frank.’

Trump told reporters as he was leaving the White House for a tax speech outside Washington, ‘We will not be putting up with what’s happening in North Korea.’

War is ‘certainly not our first choice,’ he said in response to a shouted question, ‘but we will see what happens.’

The administration has repeatedly said it is keeping every option on the table as it grapples with the threat from North Korea. The president’s remark is likely to stir new worries, however, that Trump is actually mulling military action. [Daily Mail]

You can read more at the link, but why shouldn’t the President consider all options available to him?  It is pretty clear the Chinese option is the one he is pursuing and giving a chance to work before even contemplating a military response.