Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
This relocation of aircraft off of Kunsan AB makes sense if the goal is to free up space there to station F-35’s as has been recently speculated:
The U.S. 7th Air Force is forming a second “Super Squadron” of 31 F-16 Fighting Falcons at Osan Air Base, its largest installation in South Korea and the one closest to the North Korean border. The shift will draw down resources at Kunsan Air Base, about 115 miles southwest of Seoul, and lead to the inactivation of two fighter squadrons there.
The Air Force began evaluating the concept of a super squadron — which includes one-third more aircraft than standard units — last summer to determine whether it could generate more sorties with fewer resources, 7th Air Force spokeswoman Maj. Rachel Buitrago said by phone Thursday. In July, nine aircraft and 150 airmen from Kunsan arrived at Osan to establish the first 31-jet squadron. This month, additional F-16s and roughly 1,000 more airmen will relocate from Kunsan to Osan to form the second squadron, Buitrago said.
You can read more at the link.
If Han Duck-soo wins the Presidency what a journey he would have had. He served as the Prime Minister for both liberal and conservative governments. He then became acting President when Yoon Suk-yeol was impeached to just get impeached himself. He was then reinstated by the Constitutional Court as acting President and now he is resigning to run for President:
Acting President Han Duck-soo resigned Thursday, indicating he would run for the June 3 presidential election.
Han announced his decision in an address to the nation, ending weeks of speculation over whether he would enter the election triggered by the impeachment of his former boss — former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
“Thinking of the weight of the responsibility I carry at this grave time, after thinking long and carefully about whether such a decision is in fact right and inevitable, I decided that if this is the only way, I must take it,” he said from the government complex in Seoul.
You can read more at the link, but I doubt it is a coincidence he is running for President now after the decison by the Supreme Court to nullify the election law violation aquital of Lee Jae-myung.
Out of all the shady things that Lee Jae-myung is under investigation for lying to the media could be what brings him down:
The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down a lower court’s acquittal of Democratic Party presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung on charges of election law violation, sending the case back to the appeals court.
In a televised decision, the top court overturned the Seoul High Court’s verdict in March, which acquitted Lee of lying as a presidential candidate during the 2022 election campaign.
The Supreme Court’s ruling came about a month before the country will hold the June 3 presidential election. The case has drawn intense attention due to the possibility that the top court’s decision could affect his eligibility to run for office.
What is interesting about the verdict is that it was an overwhelming decision. 10 of the 12 justices agreed that the appeals court was wrong to overturn the conviction. You would think a Supreme Court ruling would reimpose the verdict that the appeals court nullified. However, according to the Korea Times his case has to be retried:
The Supreme Court on Thursday overturned an appellate court’s decision to acquit Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung of his election law violation charges, sending the case back to the high court for a retrial.
The ruling does not immediately disqualify Lee as a candidate in the upcoming June 3 presidential election, as the retrial verdict is unlikely to be reached before Election Day. However, the Supreme Court’s ruling — which found that the appellate court misinterpreted parts of the law, effectively implying Lee’s guilt on some charges — is expected to reignite political debate over his suitability as a candidate, with less than five weeks remaining before the election.
Under the relevant law, anyone fined 1 million won ($699.30) or more for violating the nation’s election law is barred from running for public office for the next five years or up to 10 years if sentenced to imprisonment.
The case centers on two controversial remarks made by Lee during his previous presidential campaign in 2021. Prosecutors charged him with violating the Public Official Election Act for allegedly making false statements regarding land development projects in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, which took place while he was mayor of the city.
You can read more at the link, but it is going to be interesting to see how this ruling impacts Korea Presidential election which Lee is the current favorite to win.
China is using all manner of Chinese nationals in South Korea to spy on ROK military facilities:
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported 11 incidents of unauthorized filming of military facilities in Korea by Chinese nationals since June of last year, according to lawmakers Wednesday.
The revelation came during a closed-door meeting between the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee and the NIS, according to Rep. Lee Seong-kweun of the People Power Party and Rep. Kim Byung-kee of the Democratic Party of Korea.
On June 25, 2024, three Chinese nationals were caught flying a drone toward the Naval Operations Command in the southern port city of Busan, taking photos of an aircraft carrier docked at the base.
The NIS noted that these 11 cases of unauthorized filming were primarily carried out by temporary visitors, such as tourists and international students from China, including minors.
You can read more at the link.
We have another hangbag gate to include necklace gate involving the former Korean First Lady:
Prosecutors searched the Seoul residence of former President Yoon Suk Yeol on Wednesday as part of an ongoing corruption investigation involving a spiritual adviser.
The Seoul Southern District Prosecutors’ Office sent investigators to seize evidence related to suspected lobbying and illicit financial exchanges between the former presidential couple and a shaman named Jeon Seong-bae, better known by his alias “Geonjin.”
The disgraced former president and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, face multiple criminal charges, including corruption and election interference, but Wednesday’s operation marked the first time investigators searched their residence.
Jeon, 65, is under investigation on suspicion of receiving illegal political funds from candidates in the 2018 local elections. He was arrested in December 2024 on charges of violating the Political Funds Act, which governs how political parties and politicians can raise, manage and spend money for their activities.
The probe later expanded to include Yoon and Kim following revelations linking them to the case.
Jeon, who was reportedly involved in Yoon’s election campaign during the 2022 presidential race, is suspected of exerting influence over personnel appointments and acting as an intermediary using his personal ties with the former first couple.
Prosecutors allege a former high-ranking Unification Church official, identified only by his surname, Yoon, delivered a diamond necklace worth 60 million won ($42,000) and an expensive handbag to Jeon shortly after Yoon Suk Yeol took office in May 2022. The items were reportedly intended as gifts for the former first lady.
Prosecutors are investigating whether the gifts were actually delivered to Kim. Jeon is said to have testified that he lost the necklace.
The investigators also suspect that the Unification Church official attempted to lobby the couple through Jeon in a bid to secure official development assistance (ODA) funding through the government for the church’s business projects in Cambodia.
You can read more at the link.
