Who will put up the first statue in front of the Chinese Embassy in Seoul? https://t.co/pmLilogPB9

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) January 21, 2017

Former Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun appears before the office of the independent counsel in Seoul on Jan. 22, 2017. (Yonhap)

Eggs from US chicken farmers have now arrived in South Korea to stop the rise in prices caused by the ongoing bird flu epidemic.  Fortunately there was no one out protesting about Mad Egg Disease or any other nonsense to stop this US import like we have seen in the past:

Eggs imported from the United States began to hit shelves Saturday, industry sources said, as the government seeks to contain rising egg prices amid the outbreak of bird flu.

About 96 tons of eggs from the U.S. passed the state food regulator’s quarantine review earlier in the day, the sources said, a week after they arrived in South Korea to serve as a cheaper alternative to the expensive eggs from local farms.

Local egg prices jumped in recent weeks as South Korea is struggling to control the spread of bird flu that has led to more than 30 million chickens and ducks being culled since the outbreak in mid-November.

Right after the eggs cleared procedures for safety checks, distributors transported some of them to discount supermarket chains in Seoul and adjacent areas, according to the sources.

They said that distribution of the imported eggs began Saturday, and most consumers will be able to purchase them at supermarket chains starting early next week.

A carton of 30 U.S. eggs was being sold at 8,950 won (US$7.61) at a mart in southwest Seoul, almost 1,000 won less than the cheapest bundle of local eggs being sold, according to an official.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I think the Kim regime is taking a wait and see approach with the incoming Trump administration because of the high possibility of a left wing government being elected in the ROK.  As many long time readers know a left wing ROK government means a lot of free cash going North with little to nothing in return.  Causing trouble now could cause ROK voters to rally around an anti-North Korean candidate.  Plus I think the Kim regime is betting on that President Trump’s demands for more funding for US forces in South Korea will lead to increased tensions between the ROK and US governments that they can later capitalize on:

North Korea’s state media issued a short report on the inauguration of U.S. President Trump on Sunday but refrained from making significant comments.

“Donald Trump of the Republican Party was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States on Jan. 20,” reported the Rodong Sinmun, a daily of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party. “The inauguration ceremony took place in Washington.”

The newspaper, however, did not deliver a separate commentary or statements on Trump. North Korean media outlets have not been making significant statements on the new administration in Washington since Trump’s victory in the election last year.

Political pundits said Pyongyang is apparently taking a wait-and-see stance until the new administration comes up with details on its polices against North Korea.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

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

Chinese expert on Donald Trump’s inaugural speech: A declaration of war on the American establishment? pic.twitter.com/k104NpeIb4

— CGTN (@CGTNOfficial) January 21, 2017

Flanked by two bodyguards, a wax figure of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is unveiled at the Grevin Museum in central Seoul on Jan. 20, 2017. The museum opened its “Air Force One” zone, a replica of the office area of the U.S. presidential plane, to the public to mark Trump’s inauguration. (Yonhap)

Here is evidence that the President Duterte’s drug crackdown is being used as cover for illegal activity:

The Philippine national police chief apologized to South Korea on Thursday over the death of a Korean man who was arrested illegally and then slain by members of an anti-drug task force at the main police camp in Manila.

Police Director-General Ronald Dela Rosa said the policemen detained Jee Ickjoo with a fake arrest warrant last October with the intent of holding him for ransom, but killed him the same day. He said they then extracted a ransom payment from Jee’s family without telling them Jee was dead.  [Washington Post]

You can read more at the link.

Foreign Policy has a good article published that tries to give perspective to the hysteria created by Kim Jong-un’s New Year’s speech which caused so many people in the US to get in a panic about an upcoming ICBM test:

Of course, it is an obvious inference that North Korea might test an ICBM in 2017. We should probably expect an ICBM test to come sooner or later. But Kim didn’t commit to an ICBM test in 2017. He indicated that one was possible. And he also restated North Korea’s long-standing demands for reducing tensions. You don’t have to think Kim’s offer is an appealing one or that he is sincere. Frankly, I have my doubts on both accounts. But he did make an offer.

That isn’t what got reported of course. “North Korea Will Test Intercontinental Ballistic Missile, Kim Says,” blared the New York Times. The headline was a heck of a lot less careful than the story, by Choe Sang-Hun. Eventually, the editors toned down the headline, but too late. By that time, the damage was done. Kim’s speech wound its way through the news and social media, cut up and condensed into 140-character snippets like a modern-day game of telephone. In the end, his bland speech had been transformed into a “grim promise” to test “a missile to reach U.S.”  [Foreign Policy]

This is nothing new in regards to the media sensationalizing everything coming out of North Korea.  The Foreign Policy article goes on to explain how in response to these news articles various US government officials have inflamed tensions with North Korea further.  To calm things back down this is the recommendation given:

North Korea’s demand that the United States cancel all its exercises is a nonstarter, but Washington could offer further transparency and agree to some limits on their scale. There are lots of good reasons to do this, not least because the bomber appearances are losing their shock value. They have become a poor substitute for a strategy. We might as well get something for taking a break from them.

We don’t have to work out all the details in advance. But the basic framework for a potential compromise is clear: scaling back the exercises in 2017 that Kim complained about in his speech for his agreement to refrain from nuclear and missile testing during the same period. It is a timeout to reduce tensions while Trump and Kim figure each other out.

I recommend reading the whole article at the link, but I think the idea isn’t too bad depending on what scaling down of the military exercises means?  The North Koreans want to take every opportunity to drive a wedge between the US and the ROK and the annual military exercises are a major component of readiness and team building between the two country’s militaries.  They should not be canceled, but it may be worth determining what could be scaled back and see if there is any interest from the North Koreans in freezing their testing in return.

This is a pretty interesting read by an Air Force Academy alumnus who recently saw the changes the academy has gone through to train officers for today’s Air Force:

None of this was happening. They were walking at rest, not greeting anyone. Actually, they were ignoring the upperclassmen walking by. I stopped one of them and asked him, “Cadet, are you recognized yet?”

“No, we are not,” was his response. He kept walking. There was no “sir” in his response. He obviously knew I was an alumnus and former military officer. The problem was that he simply didn’t care. He didn’t care because he had been taught not to care. Military bearing was absent. Completely gone. Removed.

And then, the shock continued.

As the time started to get close to the Noon Meal Formation, where the cadets form up and march into Mitchell Hall for lunch, I again realized nothing was happening. Cadets were nonchalantly walking to the huge cafeteria where they are served all at once during the school week for lunch. I subsequently found out the formation had been cancelled due to high winds. I laughed to myself.  There wasn’t even a breeze. Wow, things really have changed.

Inside the noon meal, all former military decorum and training at the lunch table had been vaporized. There was nothing. The freshman cadets didn’t even have the civilian decency to serve their alumni guests first, not to mention any military bearing. They just took the food and ignored everyone else at the table.

It gets worse: after lunch, my colleagues walked into the academic building. Before my eyes, where there used to be formal lecture halls, was a Dunkin’ Donuts. My jaw hit the floor and I actually took a picture– I was that amazed. This was no longer a military academy; it was UCLA in uniforms.  [Ops Lens]

Here is the most profound thing he realized from his visit to the US Air Force Academy:

Not once did I hear the word warrior. In a flash, I got it. The academy was no longer training cadets to be Air Force warriors. They were no longer training to fight for our country and win wars. They were being trained to function in the bureaucracy. The academy was all about competing with civilian institutions in a variety of ways.

You can read much more at the link, but I am curious if anyone agrees with this former cadet’s assessment of the current state of the US Air Force Academy.