A project to set up the donated statue of Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun is underway at a park in Euijeongbu, north of Seoul, on Aug. 8, 2017. The Charhar Institute, a Chinese civic think tank, donated the statue to the city to promote friendship between the two countries. The Korean national hero shot and killed Hirobumi Ito, the first Japanese governor-general of the Korean Peninsula, at a railway station in the Chinese city of Harbin in 1909. The statue depicts Ahn pulling out a gun to shoot the governor while running toward him. (Yonhap)

All the media has been headlining the preemptive war claim from General McMaster made during a recent interview.  It seems to me this is just prudent planning to provide the President options on how to respond to North Korea’s threats.  I am willing to bet that US military planners provided preemptive strike options to President Obama while he was in office as well.  It doesn’t mean the President will choose that option which clearly so far clearly President Trump has decided not to do:

The United States is preparing for a “preventive war” with North Korea among many options to deal with its missile and nuclear threats, President Trump’s top security adviser has said.

In an interview aired Saturday on MSNBC, National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster said the president has been clear he will not tolerate North Korea’s threats to attack the U.S. with nuclear weapons.

A preventive war is initiated to prevent an enemy from carrying out an attack.

“What you’re asking is are we preparing plans for a preventive war, right?” McMaster said. “If they have nuclear weapons that can threaten the United States. It’s intolerable from the president’s perspective. So of course, we have to provide all options to do that. And that includes a military option.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

It seems to me that Japanese geographers would not include Dokdo on their maps in the 1800’s because no one cared about two worthless rocks in the Sea of Japan at the time.  The two rocks only gained value in modern times when national borders and thus exclusive economic zones could be tied to them.  Using the logic this Korean researcher is using does he support Japan’s claim to the Kuril Islands based on this map?:

A scholar recently unveiled maps of a government-approved Japanese textbook which show that Japan did not perceive Dokdo as its territory in the 19th century.

The findings will give weight to Korea’s ownership of the islets off the country’s east coast, which Japan claims as its own, referring to them as Takeshima Islands.

Prof. Han Cheol-ho of Dongguk University’s history education department displayed maps of a geography textbook compiled by Okamura Matsutaro in 1886 in a presentation at a conference held at the Northeast Asian History Foundation’s Institute of Dokdo Research last week.

The textbook’s map of Asia does not mark Dokdo as its territory. On the map is a red line marking Japanese territory, but not only is Dokdo not included in the area inside the red line, Dokdo is not marked on the map at all.

The border lines are marked the same way in textbooks compiled by geologist Manziro Yamagami in 1902 and 1903.

“The textbook’s map of Asia has the Oki Islands marked, but not Ulleungdo and Dokdo,” Yonhap News Agency quoted Han as saying.

“If Japan perceived Dokdo as its territory it would have drawn the islets on the map and stretched the line to include Dokdo.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

The majority of Americans may support defending South Korea if attacked, but currently only a minority of 40% support any preemptive military action:

More than 60 percent of Americans are in favor of sending troops to defend South Korea in the event of an attack by North Korea, a survey showed Monday, indicating a strengthened commitment toward the Asian ally.

The survey, conducted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs with support from the Korea Foundation, found 62 percent of Americans favored the use of U.S. troops if North Korea invaded South Korea, the first time there was a majority since the first survey in 1990.

The council attributed the spike to the public’s sense of a heightened threat from North Korea.

The survey was conducted on a weighted national sample of 2,020 adults living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia between June 27 and July 19. Some of the respondents are presumed to have been aware of North Korea’s first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile on July 4.

The ICBM had the range to strike Alaska or Hawaii, according to experts.

According to the survey, 75 percent of the respondents viewed North Korea’s nuclear program as a critical threat, up 15 percentage points from last year and 20 points from 2015.

The council said it was the largest on-year increase for a potential threat mentioned in this year’s survey.

North Korea’s nuclear program ranked among the top threats facing the country, it added.

On the policy options to stop the North’s nuclear weapons program, imposing tighter economic sanctions on the country won the most support with 76 percent, followed by imposing sanctions on Chinese companies doing business with North Korea at 68 percent.

The other options were conducting airstrikes on nuclear production facilities (40 percent), sending U.S. troops to destroy nuclear facilities (28 percent), accepting that North Korea will possess nuclear weapons in exchange for producing no more (21 percent), and accepting that North Korea will produce more nuclear weapons (11 percent).  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

SK declares radar designed to locate NK artillery guns for counter-attack to be combat-ready: to be deployed in 2018 https://t.co/nphWLD7vXV

— Noon in Korea (@NoonInKorea) August 6, 2017

In this photo courtesy of the Defense Ministry, South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo, escorted by Gen. Vincent K. Brooks, who commands the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) and Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC), inspects an honor guard during his first visit to the CFC on Aug. 4, 2017. (Yonhap)

Steph Curry just got to experience what it feels like to be on a Korean variety show:

Steph Curry is a man of many talents—he’s arguably the best shooter in NBA history, he’s a two-time World Champion and he’s a damn good golfer.

Brother Seth isn’t too shabby of a player himself, but even the mighty Curry brothers are no match for giant inflatables. Particularly not when the basket the Currys are shooting on is literally spinning, while the other side gets a hoop that’s more than twice regulation size.

The Currys faced these monumental odds on a Korean variety show, where they played against a team of Korean comedians.  [Sports Illustrated via a reader tip]

You can read more at the link and see the videos from the show below:

I agree that the National Intelligence Service should not be organizing people to leave comments in support of a political party, but I doubt this had much if any effect on the election:

A newly formed investigative team in the National Intelligence Service (NIS) announced Thursday that the former intelligence chief, Won Sei-hoon, who served in the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration, orchestrated a smear campaign to help former President Park Geun-hye get elected.

Park ultimately won out against current President Moon Jae-in by a small margin, though it is unclear how much impact the NIS had on public opinion at the time.

The team, which launched their probe last month after Moon became president in a snap election in May, has yet to mention whether it will hand over their evidence to prosecutors or formally ask them to dig deeper, which would likely affect the prosecution’s own trial with Won.

Last week, prosecutors requested a local court hand down a four-year jail term. A verdict is expected to come later this month.

The NIS team said Thursday that Won was found to have led a group of civilians from 2009 to 2012, who were ordered to post online comments slandering liberal politicians and presidential candidates. The group, according to the NIS, was funded through state coffers.

The so-called “commentary troop,” a term coined by the local media, gathered members from all over the country, said the NIS team, from office workers and CEOs to students and housekeepers.

The troop grew over the years, peaking at nearly 3,500 members in 2012 by the time Korea held its presidential election.

Their tasks ranged from tracking North Korea’s espionage attacks on the country’s most popular search engines to leaving right-leaning comments on online posts. Some 200 million won ($177,800) was collectively paid to troop members every month, according to the internal probe.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Like I have said before these sanctions are only as good as they are enforced:

The United Nations Security Council voted Saturday for the third time in two years to block countries from buying North Korean coal, the country’s primary export, in a move intended to choke off funding from Kim Jong Un’s weapons programs.

The new ban plugs a loophole that allowed North Korea to sell coal to China under the guise of “humanitarian” trade, even though much of North Korea’s coal trade has been devoted to weapons development, not humanitarian purposes, according to recent U.S. court filings.

The humanitarian loophole was large enough that after the first such U.N. ban in March 2016, Chinese companies actually imported more North Korean coal.  [Washington Post]

You can read more at the link.

South Korea Supreme Court Ruling Considered A Victory For LGBT Rights | NewNowNext https://t.co/7GBm3Sjdcg

— KingSejong (@KingSejong) August 6, 2017