South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo (6th from L, 2nd row) and U.S. Forces Korea’s top commander Vincent Brooks (5th from L, 2nd row) pose for a photo with a group of soldiers as they visit a South Korean-U.S. combined division in Dongducheon, north of Seoul, on Nov. 29, 2016, to check up South Korean and U.S. troops’ joint readiness to better cope with threats posed by North Korea, in this photo released by the defense ministry. The division consists of a brigade from the South Korean Army and the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, with each entity to carry out normal duties in its assigned area during peacetime. (Yonhap)
It is looking like President Park Geun-hye will resign as the South Korean President in late April which means elections are supposed happen 60 days after that. That makes late June 2017 as the timeframe for the next ROK Presidential election:
A rift emerged in the opposition alliance to impeach President Park Geun-hye this week as last-minute talks among the leaders of three liberal parties broke down Thursday, while ruling party lawmakers united to promote an “orderly” resignation of the president in April.
Chairwoman Choo Mi-ae of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, Rep. Park Jie-won, acting head of the People’s Party and Chairwoman Sim Sang-jeong of the Justice Party held a meeting Thursday afternoon to discuss a specific timeline for an impeachment motion in the National Assembly. Citing an agreement from the previous day, Choo and Sim said the motion must be submitted on Thursday to allow a vote today. Park disagreed. He said he opposed a vote that was guaranteed to fail.
The embattled president issued a public statement Tuesday saying she was willing to cut her term short. She asked the National Assembly to decide the fate of her presidency in response to a public clamor for her resignation over a still snowballing abuse of power scandal.
Her proposal was considered an alternative to impeachment. Since Tuesday, members of her own party who were supporting impeachment have swung to the idea of another kind of resignation, which has been code-named the “orderly” departure scenario.
Park won a five-year presidential term in the 2012 election and her tenure is scheduled to end in late February 2018. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Over at One Free Korea he has a great read posted in response to Joel Wit’s recent article in the Atlantic advocating for President-Elect Trump to negotiate a deal with the North Koreans. You can read my response to Wit’s article at this link. In One Free Korea’s post he does a good job articulating what North Korea’s negotiating strategy really is:
What North Korea really wants is a peace treaty negotiation — the longer and more inconclusive, the better. Its diplomatic strategy is to draw the U.S. and South Korea into an extended “peace process” in which it would make a series of up-front demands (the lifting of sanctions) in exchange for (at most) a partial freeze of its nuclear programs, which would effectively recognize it as a de facto nuclear weapons state. In short order, it would also demand the end to U.S.-South Korean military exercises, the curtailment of missile defense, and other demands that would ensure its nuclear and military hegemony over South Korea. Then, Pyongyang would demand an end to diplomatic and humanitarian criticism of its regime, censorship of anti-regime leaflets, demonstrations, and satirical films — in short, a limited recognition of its political supremacy over Seoul that would end in a one-country-two-systems Korea under North Korean domination, with Pyongyang gradually escalating its financial and political demands. [One Free Korea]
I am not sure what else the Pentagon is supposed to say other than they plan to continue to move forward with the THAAD deployment unless told otherwise:
The U.S. Defense Department said Tuesday that the planned deployment of a U.S. advanced anti-missile system to South Korea will move forward regardless of President Park Geun-hye’s possible resignation or impeachment over the corruption scandal.
“Our Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) deployment continues,” said Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook at a briefing. “Those remain ongoing, and the alliance continues to move forward with that plan.” [Korea Times]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un pays tribute to the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro at the Cuban Embassy in Pyongyang on Nov. 28, 2016, in this photo released by the North’s ruling party organ Rodong Sinmun the next day. (Yonhap)
This is a big change for the ROK Army with the merging of FROKA and TROKA into one ground command that will lead to a large reduction in leadership positions, but more responsibility for the ROK Army:
Official preparations are underway by the Ministry of National Defense to launch a Ground Operations Command, which will be central to the transfer of wartime operational control of troops and in defense reforms.
The Defense Ministry completed building facilities for the command within the Third ROK Army in Yongin, Gyeonggi, in October, a military source told the JoongAng Ilbo on Monday.
Starting from November, a temporary ground operations command was formed.
In an attempt to reform the military’s structure, the government merged the 1st and 3rd Armies to create the Ground Operations Command to lead frontline units in case of an emergency on the Korean Peninsula and will also function as the Ground Component Command.
The Defense Ministry did not announce the launching of a Ground Operations Command in its defense reform guideline for 2014 to 2030 released in 2014, leading to questions of how serious the ministry was about the plan.
Through the launching of the new command, the 1st and 3rd Armies will naturally dissolve. Thus, overlapping positions of the two armies are expected to disappear, which could mean as many as 10 general positions may be cut. Likewise, overlapping executive and commissioned officer positions are expected to decrease.
Once the Defense Ministry makes an operation plan for the command, it is expected to be tested out in the Ulchi Freedom Guardian military exercise in August 2018. (……..)
The Ground Operations Command is expected to be transferred the tasks of the Ground Component Command (GCC) as well. The GCC is charged with commanding ground operations of the ROK-U.S. Combined Forces during an emergency on the Korean Peninsula and carrying out wartime operational control.
The GCC is currently helmed by the deputy commander of ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command (CFC). After the Ground Operations Command is launched, the deputy commander of ROK-U.S. Combined Forces Command can focus on the role of supporting the CFC commander.
U.S. and Korean army officials will revise the combined operation plans so that the new command will be able to take on the tasks of the GCC. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Here is the latest on the North Korea sanctions front:
The U.N. Security Council (UNSC) has passed a new resolution aimed at preventing North Korea from exploiting loopholes in past sanctions to pursue its nuclear ambitions.
The latest sanctions, which were approved at a meeting in New York City, Wednesday, mainly target Pyongyang’s coal earnings.
Starting Jan. 1, they will restrict North Korea’s annual exports of coal, a major source of hard currency and its single largest export item, to $400 million or 7.5 million tons, whichever is lower in value.
They also newly blacklisted 10 entities and 11 individuals, many of who are suspected of helping the Korea Mining Development Trading Corporation (KOMID).
The KOMID sells coal and other natural resources to raise cash for the Kim Jong-un regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The 11 individuals include two former ambassadors _ Park Chul-il and Kim Sok-chol who served in Egypt and Myanmar, respectively.
Among the 10 entities are banks and trading companies, such as the Korea United Development Bank, Ilsim International Bank, Korea Daesong Bank, Korea Foreign Technical Trade Center and Korea Daesong General Trading Corporation. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link which includes a number of other sanctions the regime is hit by.
I am just wondering who from the United Nations is going to be sitting at the Chinese border to make sure the proper tonnage of coal is being imported into China? We have already seen how China does not enforce sanctions with their continuing oil imports into North Korea. From what I have read I have seen nothing in these latest sanctions that will change regime behavior.
Over at One Free Korea he has a very good rundown on the sanctions and explains why they are largely unenforceable and feature a number of loopholes the North Koreans are sure to exploit.
This will be a big change for the job hiring process in South Korea if this bill gets implemented, but it seems that face to face interviews will be the way for employers to get around the intent of this bill:
Rep. Han Jeoung-ae of the main opposition Democratic Party (Yonhap)
The South Korean parliament’s labor committee on Monday approved a bill which bans employers from requiring job seekers to provide a headshot and information such as their weight and height.
It also seeks to prohibit the “discriminatory” practice of requiring information about an applicant’s birthplace, religion, marital status, assets and family details on application forms.
Violators will be slapped with fines of up to 5 million won (US$4,275) under the bill proposed by Rep. Han Jeoung-ae of the main opposition Democratic Party.
The proposal calls for punishing acts of requesting and offering illegal favors, exerting undue influence and giving and taking gifts or cash in the recruitment process with fines of up to 30 million won. [Yonhap]
