🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲 pic.twitter.com/Eh4rGyGFWJ

— Christöphér Allen (@CleverGoose) June 30, 2017

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (R) and former U.S. President Barack Obama pose for a photo during their meeting at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on July 3, 2017, in this photo released by the presidential office. Obama has visited South Korea to attend a leadership conference organized by the vernacular daily Chosun Ilbo. (Yonhap)

The Korean government better be ready to pay more for USFK cost sharing because this is something that I suspect President Trump will not waver on:

The Korean Ministry of National Defense said on Monday it is working toward a “reasonable” solution to the issue of maintaining U.S. troops here, following U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim that Korea should pay a larger portion of the cost.

Moon Sang-gyun, the Korean Defense Ministry spokesman, said in a briefing Monday, “The U.S. Forces Korea’s contributions to defense on the Korean Peninsula, our financial capability, the security situation on the Korean Peninsula, and also enabling conditions for stability in the stationing of USFK will all be comprehensively taken into consideration to enable negotiations to set burden-sharing at a reasonable standard.”

Trump said during the joint press briefing with President Moon Jae-in Friday in Washington after their summit, “We are working together to ensure fair burden-sharing in support of the U.S. military presence in South Korea.” He upped pressure on Seoul ahead of negotiations later this year to decide a defense cost-sharing plan.

“Burden-sharing is a very important factor,” Trump also said at the joint conference, which is “becoming more and more prevalent, certainly in this administration.”

This marks the first time Trump has publicly raised the issue of Korea paying more for the stationing of U.S. troops since he took office in January, amid concern in Seoul over upcoming cost-sharing negotiations.

During his presidential campaign, Trump took an “America First” stance and has urged for U.S. allies to pay their fair share of the cost in defense.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

The evacuation of Hungnam during the Korean War is a well known event, but I will have to read up more about Colonel Edward Forney’s part in the evacuation when I have the time:

The descendants of U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Edward Forney who helped evacuate about 100-thousand Koreans during the Korean War visited South Korea on Thursday.

The First Marine Division announced on Friday that it invited Forney’s granddaughter Alice Krug and great-grandson Ben Forney to mark June, which is the Month of Patriots and Veterans.

The two guests viewed a road named after Forney inside the unit in Pohang on the southeastern coast and an exhibition hall honoring his achievements.

Forney is considered to be a war hero because he persuaded then Commanding General of the U.S. X Corps, Edward Almond, to evacuate roughly 100-thousand refugees during the Hungnam evacuation in December 1950 from North Korea to the South.

He stayed on for three years after the war to serve as a senior adviser for South Korea’s Marine Corps.  [KBS World Radio]

The man that just signed the richest contract in NBA history looks like he will be making a few more bucks during his visit to South Korea on behalf of Under Armor:

NBA All-Star Stephen Curry will visit Korea in July.

He will be here on July 27 for the “Under Armor – Stephen Curry Live in Seoul” event sponsored by the Under Armor Korea Corporation.

Fans who wish to participate will be given a raffle ticket after they buy at least 50,000 won ($43) of Under Armor products by July 5.

Raffle ticket submissions can be made at all Under Armor stores nationwide — excluding outlets — or through the official Under Armor event webpage.

Winners will be sent a text on July 10 and may bring a friend.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Pyongyang calls Moon Jae-In's Foreign Minister a "dolt." Who can find the Korean version? What word does it use?https://t.co/1kVrV7AMFU pic.twitter.com/lCfwPJfQ4S

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) July 2, 2017

Actress Gong Seung-yeon poses ahead of an interview with Yonhap News Agency in Seoul on June 30, 2017, Gong stars in tvN’s sci-fi drama “Circle: Two Worlds Connected.” (Yonhap)

Supposedly a lot of people thought the Trump-Moon summit was going to be a disaster and to me it concluded the way I expected it to.  President Trump advanced his issues on trade and USFK cost sharing and President Moon advanced his ideas on how to engage North Korea:

Ken Gause, a North Korea expert at CNA Corp., said that the summit “went far better than many expected.”

“I was pleased to see that Trump backed Moon’s lead on peninsula affairs, including supporting inter-Korean dialogue,” Gause said. “We shall see if this gives Moon more traction with Pyongyang, which still may need a greater commitment from Washington. Trump will continue to support if it shows progress. It also gives Moon the latitude he needs to deal with Beijing.”

He said it’s no surprise at all that Trump pushed for renegotiation of the FTA and greater defense cost-sharing.

“These are just as much domestic as foreign policy issues for the administration. If Trump can show he is getting a good deal from the Koreans on these issues, it gives him more latitude to support Moon’s approach to North Korea,” the expert said.

“So bottom line, the summit doesn’t appear to be the disaster many were predicting. Whether it has laid the foundation for a way forward, we will have to see,” he said. “I don’t expect Moon will get traction with Pyongyang unless he is willing to open the aperture for dialogue beyond denuclearization. Washington will have to support the expansion of the aperture for this to work.”  [Yonhap]

Did people really think President Trump was going to say something crazy about President Moon?  Trump has been respectful to those who have been respectful to him.  President Moon is a seasoned politician and understands how to approach Trump.  He is not like former ROK President Roh Moo-hyun.  If Roh and Trump were in the same room together then I would be worried about a summit disaster.

Here is the latest defections from North Korea:

Five North Koreans in a small boat crossed the sea border into South Korean waters Saturday, a Coast Guard official said, in an apparent bid to defect to the South.

The five people, including four men and one woman, have expressed their wish to live in the South as defectors, the Yonhap news agency reported.

“Coast guards guided the boat to safety at (the eastern port of) Mukho,” a South Korean coast guard official told AFP.

Government authorities were questioning the five North Koreans, he added.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.