Here is the latest armored brigade to rotate into South Korea:

A new combat brigade took point on the heavily militarized Korean Peninsula on Wednesday.

The 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division replaced the 1st ABCT, 1 ID as the only U.S. combat brigade in South Korea during a transfer-of-authority ceremony at Camp Humphreys. It also marked the first day of the new brigade’s nine-month rotational deployment.

“I’m very proud to have the Black Jack brigade rejoin the rolls of the 2nd Infantry Division,” Maj. Gen. Ted Martin, the division’s commander, said during the ceremony.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

This 5,100-ton Canadian naval ship Ottawa is moored at South Korea’s Incheon port on June 27, 2017. The ship made an Asia-Pacific port call in commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the North American country’s founding. (Yonhap)

Another example of the advancements in North Korea’s nuclear program:

North Korea clearly has the ability to produce tritium internally, a basic element for making hydrogen bombs, although the country has yet to weaponize it, an American nuclear expert said Tuesday.

“The evidence is quite clear that North Korea is able to produce tritium, which is necessary for a hydrogen bomb to create fusion. So you need tritium when you are going to have hydrogen bombs,” Siegfried Hecker, a professor at Standford University, told a group of journalists here.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Here is a horrible murder story that happened down in Changwon:

Changwon Seobu police are hunting two people who allegedly abducted and killed a woman.

The suspects, Shim Cheon-woo, 31, and Kang Jeong-im, 36, allegedly targeted the woman, 47, who was leaving a golf practice facility in Uichang-gu, Changwon, in South Gyeongsang Province, about 8:30 p.m. on June 24. A man, identified as Shim, 29, also was involved, police said.

They said they caught Shim hiding under a car in an apartment parking lot in Haman, in the same province, about 1:30 a.m. Tuesday. They have sought an arrest warrant for him on a murder charge.

Police found the victim’s body in a bag under Jinsu Bridge in Jinju about 6 p.m. the same day. It was sent to the National Forensic Service.

Police have seized an SUV used in the crime. They put the suspects on a wanted list Wednesday, with a 5 million won ($4,390) bounty.

The crime’s motive remains unknown.  [Korea Times via Reddit Korea]

The article says the motive remains unknown, but according to the below Yonhap video the woman’s credit card was stolen and over $4,000 withdrawn.  This makes me wonder if these are a couple of druggies trying to get money for their next hit?

Here is the latest outrageous demand from North Korea:

North Korea on Wednesday warned of capital punishment against a former South Korean president and former spy chief for their alleged plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The angry statement came after a Japanese media report that former South Korean President Park Geun-hye had instructed former National Intelligence Service (NIS) Director Lee Byung-ho to oust Kim by any means — including assassination.

The latest claim came amid lingering tensions on the Korean peninsula over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

“Former President Park Geun-hye and former spy chief Lee Byung-ho as well as NIS agents can never make any appeal even though they meet miserable dog’s death any time, at any place and by whatever methods from this moment,” the North Korea Ministry of State Security said in an English-language statement carried by the country’s official Korean Central News Agency.

The statement demanded South Korea immediately hand over Park and Lee to North Korea, claiming they committed what it claims is hideous state-sponsored terrorism against the North’s supreme leadership.

North Korea also warned it will impose summary punishment without advance notice on those who organized, took part in or pursued the plot in case the U.S. and South Korea again try to stage a terrorist attack against North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I hope President Park has good security around her because of how unpopular she is in South Korea you never know if the Kim regime may think they could get away with an attack on her.

The U.S. has an enduring friendship with a democratic South Korea, forged by the sacrifices of those who served in the ‘Forgotten War.’ pic.twitter.com/qTiXrBcG2n

— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) June 27, 2017

Some 2,000 students from about 300 colleges in 32 nations dance together during an orientation for the international summer campus program at Korea University in Seoul on June 27, 2017. (Yonhap)

It looks like the ROK government is trying to build trust with the local protesters in Seongju in an attempt to hopefully open the road to the THAAD site:

Vice Defense Minister Suh Choo-suk told a group of residents of Seongju County, North Gyeongsang, that the government will “guarantee” their participation in the environmental impact appraisal of the U.S.-led Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) battery.

Suh sought out Seongju residents on Tuesday at the Soseong-ri town hall, near the former golf course where the U.S. Forces Korea’s Thaad battery is partially deployed. Some have interpreted his remarks as suggesting that the government plans to conduct a full environmental impact appraisal, which would take at least one year, as opposed to a smaller study.

Under the Environmental Impact Assessment Act, a small-scale appraisal does not require gathering input from residents and can take under six months to complete.

Seongju residents and Won Buddhists have been protesting the deployment, especially the stealthy, expedited manner in which it was moved to the golf course in late April under the previous government without a proper environmental appraisal.  (……….)

“The residents are most concerned about including a delegation while measuring electromagnetic waves,” he said.

The vice minister elaborated that he thus emphasized to them the principle of guaranteeing their participation, and that the Ministry of National Defense is reviewing how to do so. But he said it not official that the assessment will be undertaken.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

If the residents want to go measure electromagnetic waves they can do it right now.  They can purchase their own detection device and stand at their homes or farms and see what electromagnetic waves they detect.  They are not going to detect anything though because a group of Korean reporters were invited to the THAAD site on Guam and have already measured electromagnetic waves and found nothing.

What is so stupid about this claim is do these activists really think the US military would just let their personnel on the site get exposed to dangerous electromagnetic waves much less local residents?  Do they think soldiers on Guam just keep dropping dead and the US military just keeps replacing them with no one noticing?

Fortunately this protest did not turn violent:

Conservative South Koreans who favor THAAD deployment confronted anti-THAAD activists near the site in Seongju when they attempted to enter the local town hall.

More than 200 members of a coalition of conservative organizations, including irate Korean homemakers, began a rally outside the building around noon on Tuesday, South Korean news service News 1 reported.

As tensions mounted between the two factions, about 1,500 police were deployed to block potential conflict, which was avoided until about 5 p.m. when activists calling for the “prompt deployment of THAAD” began marching on town hall.

 A Buddhist sect was holding an event on the road outside the building when the march began.

Won Buddhists protesting THAAD have called for its cancellation.

Facing police obstruction, the conservative activists demanded the “right of way quickly,” citing the law.

Shouts were exchanged across the sides, and anti-THAAD activists blocked the road to prevent an escalation.

No injuries were reported.

South Korean activists who oppose THAAD have not stopped occupying the town hall and outlying areas since the missile defense system was deployed in April.  [UPI]

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest from animal rights activist trying to stop the dog meat industry in South Korea:

Following the closure of most dog meat shops at Moran Market in Seongnam, animal rights activists are now targeting one of the largest dog meat markets in Seoul.

According to the Dongdaemun-gu Office, one of the six dog meat sellers at Gyeongdong Market in central Seoul closed his business last month after officials convinced him to so do.

This came after animal rights activists’ constant demands for banning the dog meat trade there.

“We have already responded to about 100 petitions on the issue this year,” a district official said. “It would be more than 1,000, including unofficial petitions by phone calls.”

The demand puts officials in a bind, in which they can do little to solve the issue. That’s because the current livestock hygiene laws do not classify dogs as livestock, and consequently can’t ban killing and sale of dogs, which makes it difficult for them to regulate the industry.

The only thing meat dealers must be cautious of is animal protection laws, which bans killing animals for no particular reason, killing them in a cruel way and killing them in front of other animals of the same kind.

Well aware of the laws, sellers usually electrocute dogs out of view of other dogs, which is legal.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but my biggest problem with dog farming in South Korea is that some of these farmers are very inhumane with dogs raised in small cages and then beaten to death to better tenderize the meat.