Trump has done pretty well for himself by not listening to the experts.  I guess we will see if he wants to the listen to the so called experts about North Korea and decide to cut a deal with the Kim regime:

“Engagement” will be the most viable option for the new U.S. government to make North Korea give up its nuclear and missile programs, three experts said Friday.

A forum in Seoul called on the Donald Trump administration that begins in January to seek dialogue-based engagement policies toward a nuclear-armed North Korea.

Ken E. Gause, director of the International Affairs Group at the Center for Naval Analyses, outlined possible policy options for the incoming Trump administration — pre-emption, intensified sanctions and engagement — as President Obama’s “strategic patience” approach is widely received as a failure.

He proposed the new government give priority to engagement involving both dialogue and pressure, citing the potentially catastrophic downsides of pre-emptive attacks and the ineffectiveness of stronger sanctions heavily reliant on China.

“It is an option, however, that will require many years, if not decades, to achieve,” Gause said.

“The (engagement) option is the least appealing to the U.S. and South Korean policymakers. It is tainted by the history of past policies of appeasement. It smacks of rewarding bad behavior and giving Pyongyang de facto recognition as a nuclear state, something the United States and South Korea have said they will never do,” Gause said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The 2nd Infantry Division headquarters will move to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek next year which means Camp Red Cloud will be closed and redeveloped:

A U.S. military base in Uijeongbu in Gyeonggi Province will be turned into tourist facilities after U.S. forces there move to Pyeongtaek, the city government said Wednesday.

The U.S. Army’s 2nd Infantry Division (2ID) stationed at Camp Red Cloud (CRC) is scheduled to be moved to Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek next year in accordance with Seoul and Washington’s plans to relocate the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK). Pyeongtaek is located 70 kilometers south of the capital.

“We will come up with detailed plans by February 2018 to turn CRC into a tourist complex,” the city said in a release. “Toward that end, we recently commissioned a study to a private, specialized company.”

Once the 628,000 square meters of land are vacated, the city is planning to create a complex in which visitors can learn about Korea’s modern and contemporary history as well as the importance of national security.

The city is also considering using records related to the Korean War, World War II and the Vietnam War, currently stored in a CRC war museum.

After detailed plans are prepared and a feasibility and profitability study is conducted, the city will ask the central government to lead in the construction.

The city expects the envisioned complex will be especially attractive to tourists, together with another cultural complex there whose construction is scheduled to be completed in 2018. The cultural complex will host a Pororo theme park, featuring the popular animated character, and family hotels as well as YG Entertainment’s YG Global K-Pop Cluster. [Korea Times via a reader tip]

You can read more at the link, but a history complex and a Pororo Theme Park to me seems like it does not go together very well.  Plus Korea already has so many museums that another one in Uijongbu will not drive tourism to the city.  The government should turn the whole thing into a giant Pororo Theme Park which would drive tourism to Uijongbu and further develop that part of the city.  As it is right now Koreans really don’t have a reason to go to Uijongbu and a Pororo Theme Park would give Korean families a good reason to visit.

At best this so called airplane looks more like hang-glider which the Koreans do not even have any physical or design evidence to support its existence:

Korea had built an airplane 300 years ahead of the Wright brothers, although none of the ancient plane or its design has been left, the head of an organization to restore the ancient plane, an activist claimed Thursday.

“Korea is the origin of the flying aircraft. We should perfectly restore the plane to get recognition of it worldwide,” Kim Dong-min, chairman of the Jinju Bicha Restoration Commitee, said at a seminar in Jinju, 434 kilometers southeast of Seoul.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

North Korea devotes full page spread to South Korean president political crisis and protests in today's Rodong Sinmun. pic.twitter.com/mp0TPRO8yS

— James Pearson (@pearswick) November 8, 2016

Climbers take pictures on the summit of Mount Deokyu in Muju, some 240 kilometers south of Seoul, on Nov. 11, 2016, as the season’s first snow fell on the 1,614-meter mountain, in this photo provided by the office of Mount Deokyu National Park. The first snow with a precipitation of 3 centimeters was 15 days earlier than usual. (Yonhap)

The Korean left has finally found a cause that they can rally masses of Koreans around after sniffing around for the past 8 years since the anti-US beef crisis for another anti-government cause to rally Koreans behind:

South Korea’s deputy prime minister on Friday pleaded for a peaceful demonstration as hundreds of thousands of people are expected to join an anti-government protest Saturday, amid rising public anger over President Park Geun-hye’s corruption scandal.

Lee Joon-sik, education minister and deputy prime minister for social affairs, released a statement ahead of the rally that may draw the largest number of participants this millennium.

Police expect 170,000 protesters to join the rally, involving 1,500 civic groups, while the organizers put the number between 500,000 and 1 million.

“The government is concerned that the rally might turn into a massive violent incident and hinder the opportunity (for people) to soundly voice their opinions,” Lee said in the statement.

“We are well aware that our people are disappointed about the latest scandal, and that they are worried about the operation of state affairs,” he said. “The government is putting utmost efforts to run the country and to lead our society in the right direction.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Her office is claiming this is libel against the President, but even if she did have a procedure done is it illegal for the President to have cosmetic surgery?  Every time I hear these accusations I wonder what these people expect Park to do when the tragedy happened, drive to Cholla-do and jump into the water and rescue all the students herself?

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Friday denied as “groundless” allegations that President Park Geun-hye received plastic surgery during a 2014 ferry disaster.

Despite Cheong Wa Dae’s repeated denials, allegations have continued to dog Park that she was absent from her office for some seven hours during the sinking of the Sewol ferry on April 16, which left more than 300 passengers, mostly young students, dead or missing.

Presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk stressed that “malicious” reports on the allegations constitute “grave” libel.

“The continuing allegations that Park underwent plastic surgery on the day the ferry Sewol sank are totally groundless rumors,” he told reporters, stressing that the president herself reconfirmed that the allegations were unfounded.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Even the Korea Times is jumping on the bandwagon that Trump won the US Presidential election because America is filled with white racists:

In disbelief and denial, people fear how their lives may or may not be impacted under a leader who has constantly been labeled a racist and sexist throughout a divisive and ugly campaign.

But for many Korean-Americans, the uncertainty runs even deeper.

”We’re talking about a man who has been hating on immigrants, not to mention criticizing South Korea as ‘free-riders,”’ says Michael Kim, 26, one of many younger generation Korean-Americans who have teamed up to campaign for Trump’s defeated Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton in California, a liberal stronghold. ”These two factors alone can’t be good for all of us Koreans who live in the U.S.”

Korean-American political observers say never in recent history have so many Koreans been unified against one single candidate.

According to a recent poll, 63 percent of eligible Korean-American voters said they would vote for Clinton, while only 10 percent backed Trump.

”The reason is simple,” says Lisa Kim, 42, a member of the Korean American Coalition in New York, a non-partisan community advocacy organization. ”People are feeling threatened by this new and emerging political force who has awaken a movement of white nationalists.”

Life in America under Trump’s leadership, Kim says, is likely to be tougher for Asians and other minorities.

”Racism is one of the biggest concerns we’re facing,” she said, stressing that this election has exposed a surprising depth of underlying racism deeply planted in the American society. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I fully expect more articles like this from the media as well as complaints about the Electoral College system in an attempt to delegitimize Trump before he even takes over the Presidency.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (background, 2nd from L) watches a tile-breaking training session during a visit to a special operation battalion under the Unit 525 of the Korean People’s Army, in this photo released by the North’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station on Nov. 4, 2016. As is customary, the station didn’t mention the timing of his visit or the unit’s location. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

Is this the tank that will one day be used to crush ISIS or will it be Kurds?

Turkey has completed the development of a new battle tank with South Korea’s technical support and assistance, media here said Thursday.

Otokar, a defense firm affiliated with local conglomerate Koc Holding, has finished the seven-year effort to develop the Altay.

A top company official was quoted as saying that the firm plans to begin mass production within the next 18 to 22 months.

The Altay project started in 2008 with Turkey signing a contract with Hyundai Rotem Co., a subsidiary of the Hyundai Group and the manufacturer of the K2 Black Panther battle tank, for technology transfer.

South Korea commenced the mass production of K2s in 2013 and each unit reportedly costs over US$8.5 million.  [Yonhap]