I know a few people that have been impacted by this government hiring freeze. It will be interesting to see how long it lasts:
Col. Joseph Holland, commander of U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys, says the federal hiring freeze is having a big impact on military operations in South Korea, despite exemptions.
The Trump administration’s hiring freeze has left key jobs vacant and could jeopardize readiness at this U.S. base, the commander said Wednesday.
“The hiring freeze that we’re under right now … is having a big impact on us in Korea writ large,” Col. Joseph Holland, commander of U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys, said in an interview in his office.
President Donald Trump ordered a government-wide hiring freeze on Jan. 23, just three days after taking office. He excluded the military and allowed the Office of Personnel Management to grant exemptions elsewhere. [Stars & Stripes]
Here is an example of some of the impacts the hiring freeze is having on Camp Humphreys:
For example, the air field, which is active around-the-clock, is relying on an acting manager because officials were unable to push through a final offer to fill the role on a permanent basis before the Feb. 22 cutoff date, Holland said.
“We have a final offer given to a gentleman coming from the United States, but he can’t come here because of the hiring freeze. He fell outside of the window,” he added.
Holland said other vacancies stranded by the hiring freeze included directors for the Army’s substance-abuse program and the community service program, as well as the garrison sexual-assault response coordinator and victim advocate.
Members from conservative civic organizations calls for China to stop retaliatory steps against South Korea’s planned deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system, dubbed “the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD),” on its soil in a protest in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul on Feb. 15, 2017. (Yonhap)
It looks like Korean motorists will have a high end electric car choice available to them in May:
Tesla completed the manufacturer registration process to sell cars in Korea on Wednesday, putting it on track to begin operations here within the first half of this year.
“Tesla plans to bring its test product into the country by this month and begin sales in May,” said an official from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, which is in charge of the registration process.
The only step left for the automaker is to report basic specs of the model it plans to sell at least 10 days before sales begin, a relatively simple step compared to previous hurdles. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but South Korea I believe is a perfect market for electric cars considering the short driving distances to get around the country.
If these women are in fact North Korean agents you would think they would have had a better get away plan because it seems they were both arrested fairly easily:
The second female suspect arrested for the assassination of Kim Jong-un’s half brother Kim Jong-nam, in a yellow shirt and blue pants, is led to a police car Thursday afternoon to be taken to a local police station in Malaysia. [Joong Ang Ilbo]Malaysian police on Thursday arrested two more persons, including a second female suspect, over alleged involvement in the killing of the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, foreign reports said.Police detained a 25-year-old woman who was holding an Indonesian passport bearing the name of Siti Aishah in connection with Kim Jong-nam’s death, according to a Malaysian police statement. A third male suspect, the Malaysian friend of the female detainee, was also taken into custody, the Associated Press reported. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link.
UPDATE #1:
As it turns out at least the 2nd women arrested is not a North Korean, but is a confirmed Indonesian national:
One of the female suspects had Vietnamese travel documents and was picked up Wednesday at the budget terminal of the airport, the same place where the attack took place. The other woman held an Indonesian passport and was arrested early Thursday.
Indonesian diplomats met with that suspect and confirmed she is an Indonesian citizen, officials said. Authorities identified her as Siti Aisyah, 25, originally from Serang in Banten, a province that neighbors the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
Indonesian Immigration Office spokesman Agung Sampurno said officials from the Indonesian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur met with the woman in Selangor state, where she is being held, and ensured she is in safe condition. [Associated Press]
It makes me wonder if these women were some how duped into carrying out the act by the actual North Korean agents who have not been arrested yet?
UPDATE #2:
It is looking like the two women involved in the attack are not North Korean agents, but instead women from the area recruited by North Korean agents who may not have been aware of what they were doing:
The suspect, who wore a white sweater with LOL printed on it in large letters, was captured on camera shortly afterwards waiting for a taxi at the exit.
Malaysian police said the woman has confessed to killing Kim with another Vietnamese woman and four men with North Korean passports. A search for the others is under way.
Reports said the six suspects all fled the scene and converged at a hotel just a 15-minute drive from the airport. The men apparently watched from a restaurant on the airport’s shopping concourse as the two women attacked Kim.
The woman who was arrested told police that all the other suspects fled and she was the only one left behind at the hotel.
Malaysian police conducted a post-mortem on Wednesday. Local reports said the toxin used was “stronger than cyanide.” The North Korean ambassador to Malaysia and other embassy staff watched the autopsy.
The South Korean government identified Jong-nam’s body on Monday. “He had foam in his mouth, which is a characteristic sign of poisoning,” a government official here said.
The suspect told police that she came to Malaysia to travel with the other woman and was approached by the four men, who told them to play a joke on Kim by spraying a liquid on his face, according to a local newspaper report. [Chosun Ilbo]
This explanation seems plausible to me considering how easily both women were arrested compared to the four men who still have not been arrested. Pretty smart by the possible North Korean agents because using the women gives the Kim regime plausible deniability of not being behind the assassination.
This will be interesting to see what industry comes up with to develop mortar rounds that are biodegradable after they are fired and impact in the ground:
Marines train with the M203 40mm grenade launcher and the shoulder-launched multipurpose assault weapon at Camp Lejeune, N.C., April 23, 2015. The U.S. Army recently sought proposals to make biodegradable 40 mm to 120 mm training rounds loaded with specialized indigenous seeds that, when grown, will eliminate ammunition debris and contaminants from ranges around the world.
In a famous photograph from 1967, a Vietnam War protester placed flowers into rifle barrels of National Guardsmen. That role could one day fall to tank commanders and mortarmen.
The U.S. Army recently sought proposals to make biodegradable 40 mm to 120 mm training rounds loaded with specialized indigenous seeds that, when grown, will eliminate ammunition debris and contaminants from ranges around the world.
The three-phase study will test the concept’s viability and look at the potential financial and environmental impact, according to Frank Misurelli, a spokesman for the U.S. Army’s Armament Research Development and Engineering Center at Picatinny Arsenal, N.J. If successful, the winning proposal would become a “Program of Record” and the rounds could make their way into America’s military training arsenal. [Stars & Stripes]
It is telling that Secretary of Defense James Mattis gave no warnings to South Korea or Japan during his recent visit to the area, but did gave a warning to NATO to increase spending:
SecDef Mattis, in Brussels, warns @NATO allies they have to increase their defense spending this year or US "will moderate its commitment."
This undated Yonhap file photo shows Sung Hae-rim, the mother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s half brother Kim Jong-nam, who was assassinated allegedly by two North Korean female agents at a Kuala Lumpur airport in Malaysia on Feb. 13, 2017. Born in South Korea in 1937, Sung went to North Korea during the Korean War. Kim is a love child between Sung and the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, the father of Kim Jong-un. Sung had lived alone at a sanatorium in Moscow since 1974 and died in May 2002. (Yonhap)
It looks like Paris has their own example of apparent police misconduct being used as an excuse by thugs to riot and rob:
A group of South Korean tourists in Paris were robbed of their train tickets and one passport in what appeared to be a case linked to the recent unrest over alleged police brutality, officials said Sunday.
Some 40 Korean tourists were on a bus to their hotel around 9 p.m. Saturday (local time) when three or four black men boarded the bus and fled with the tourists’ Eurostar tickets and the passport of the group’s Korean tour guide, according to officials at the South Korean Embassy in Paris.
The men shouted and brandished what appeared to be glass bottles and struck some of the tourists on their heads. The group included children and senior citizens.
An official at the embassy urged caution in the suburbs north of Paris where the hotel is located, citing safety concerns. More than 2,000 protesters gathered in the nearby suburb of Bobigny the same day to express support for a 22-year-old black man who was alleged raped and subjected to unnecessary violence by police officers during his arrest on Feb. 2. [Yonhap]
Police have cleared two civilians over a man’s death during a citizens’ arrest.
The civilians, surnamed Kim and Kwon, saw the man carrying out a sexual act near a villa in Suwon on Aug. 13, 2016.
They chased the man and caught him after he collided with a power pole.
They subdued him and handed him to the police, but he died en route to the police station.
The man’s family sued Kim and Kwon in October after the National Forensic Agency found that the death was related to physical impact during the arrest.
But on Saturday, Suwon Nambu police sent the case to the prosecutor, saying there was no evidence for an indictment.
“The police investigated the death and the manslaughter suit against the civilians,” a police official said.
“However, the prosecution concluded there was insufficient evidence to charge the civilians with manslaughter and ordered the case to be designated ‘clear from suspicion’.” [Korea Times]
