I saw this interesting Yongsan Garrison history lesson posted on the USFK Facebook site:

Regimental Bachelor Officers’ Quarters; later Imperial Japanese Army Hospital; now JUSMAG-K Headquarters.

Garrison Front Gate on Itaewon-ro (now the finance office).
The Japanese began their construction of the U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan, which served as their occupation headquarters until the end of World War II in September 1945. These were early milestones in the establishment of the U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan by the Japanese:

This was a well known controversy back in 2007

A former top diplomat on Friday disclosed a document to back up his claim that Seoul officials consulted North Korea before a key U.N. vote in 2007. It added fuel to a political fire that has engulfed presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in, who was then a chief presidential aide.

In October, Song Min-soon published a memoir in which he said that South Korea abstained in a vote for the 2007 U.N. resolution on North Korea’s human rights violations after discussing the issue with Pyongyang officials.

Song served as the foreign minister from 2006 to 2008 in the liberal Roh Moo-hyun government.

Moon, who was the presidential chief of staff and involved in the decision, has claimed Song’s allegation is not true.

In an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo daily, Song disclosed the document he alleged was made by the then-presidential office based on secret communications with the North.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but long time ROK Heads may remember that the Roh Moo-hyun years were when the South Korean government was actually giving more money to North Korea to help them build nuclear weapons and missiles then for the upkeep of the US-ROK alliance.

Via a reader tip comes this Youtube video of the music played in Pyongyang each morning:

It looks like China at least in the short term has cut the amount of fuel being imported into North Korea. The real question is if this is all just for short term show or is China really committed to enforcing fuel sanctions on the Kim regime?:

Car users in Pyongyang were scrambling Friday to fill up their tanks as gas stations began limiting services or even closing amid concerns of a spreading shortage.

A sign outside one station in the North Korean capital said sales were being restricted to diplomats or vehicles used by international organizations, while others were closed or turning away local residents. Lines at other stations were much longer than usual and prices appeared to be rising significantly.

The cause of the restrictions or how long they might last were not immediately known.

North Korea relies heavily on China for its fuel supply and Beijing has reportedly been tightening its enforcement of international sanctions aimed at getting Pyongyang to abandon its development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Just in case anyone has any ideas about trying something like this you may want to read below because you can be held legally accountable:

A Korean-American woman is suing her ex-boyfriend for secretly dosing her with birth control pills.

The woman, 36, surnamed Hyo, filed a compensation suit for $5 million to her American ex-boyfriend, a neuroradiology doctor, for allegedly feeding her “Plan B One-Step” without her knowledge, according to The New York Post.

Hyo confronted her ex-boyfriend last May when she found an empty birth control pill box inside a trash bin.

“I knew you would not consent to taking birth control pills voluntarily, so I resorted to using this method,” the man allegedly confessed after admitting that he had been dissolving the pills in her juice.

The two broke up after the incident.

Plan B One Step is a birth control pill that can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex and can be bought only with a doctor-signed prescription.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

So, the feeling is mutual then.https://t.co/pbvZZkskq2 https://t.co/4yLD6al2ov

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) April 19, 2017

Pictured is the casino of Paradise City, South Korea’s first casino and hotel complex, which opened in Yeongjongdo, close to Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on April 20, 2017. The construction of the mega-scale foreigners-only casino resort, worth 1.3 trillion won (US$1.14 billion), kicked off in late 2011 on a 300,000-square-meter lot. (Yonhap)

It looks like Chung Yoo-ra is running out of legal options in Denmark:

A Danish court on Wednesday upheld prosecutors’ decision to extradite Chung Yoo-ra, the daughter of impeached former President Park Geun-hye’s friend at the center of a bribery scandal.

But it remains uncertain whether or when Chung will be extradited to Seoul, as she appealed again to a higher court.

Last month, the local prosecutors’ office decided to send Chung, the only daughter of Choi Soon-sil, back to Korea to face an investigation. But she filed an appeal.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

With former President Park impeached and sitting in jail, Chung Yoo-ra is basically just a side show now.

According to the article the conclusion of the land transfer to USFK allows the US military to expedite preparations to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to the site:

South Korea and the United States completed the regulatory process needed for Seoul’s provision of a base site for a U.S. missile defense battery, the foreign ministry said Thursday.

A bilateral committee on the status of U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) approved the plan for land transfer, allowing the U.S. military to begin work for the deployment of a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in the some 300,000-square-meter land in the southeastern county of Seongju.

The land was formerly owned by a Lotte Group affiliate and used as a golf course.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The Joong Ang Ilbo has an update on the racial incident involving a Columbian man at a Busan Costco.  His activism after the incident led to positive change at the Busan police department that handled his case:

After the incident took place, did the Busan Yeonjae Police Department chief (Ryu Sam-yeong) call to apologize?

That’s correct. On Sunday (April 2) night, three days after, he apologized, saying, “We do have training, but it was very insufficient and we will expand training pertaining to foreigners.” On the next day, I called again and requested to have an internal racial discrimination training session. I went for a lecture to the police station on April 5. When I met him at the chief’s office, he said, “Of police chiefs countrywide, I am the only one with a perm. Of policemen, there are those who dislike hearing a lecture held by a foreigner. I ask for your understanding even though the audience may be small.”

When I actually went to the lecture hall, there were 250 policeman cramped inside. The policeman who handled the incident at the time attended and apologized to me in person. I learned for the first time in my 16 years living in Korea that there was an external affairs section that investigated incidents involving foreigners.

What kind of thoughts did you have?

With all that’s happened, the police chief can be called a hero. Anyone can write or post something. However, the police chief went above and beyond what he had to do and went a step further. In the end, the incident ended on a positive note. I counted, and there are 252 police departments in Korea. The change at the Yeonjae Police Department cannot stop there. The remaining 251 police chiefs must take an interest in safety measures for foreigners.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but the Korean man involved in this incident ultimately giving a half hearted apology for the incident as well.