I knew this was BS when I first read about it. Some planners in the Pentagon were probably working on different force structure options in the Pacific. Different options were developed and someone decided to leak this information even though no formal discussiosn or decisions on anything has been made:
South Korea’s military on Friday firmly denied that any discussions have taken place with the United States regarding a potential withdrawal of American troops from the peninsula, following a media report suggesting the White House was considering such a move. “Absolutely nothing was discussed,” the Ministry of National Defense said in a text message to reporters.
It emphasized that the 28,500 U.S. troops stationed in the South remain a “core strategy” of the U.S.-South Korea alliance and a key deterrent to North Korean aggression. The statement came hours after The Wall Street Journal, citing two unnamed U.S. military officials, reported that President Donald Trump’s administration was evaluating a possible redeployment of 4,500 troops from South Korea to other Indo-Pacific locations, including Guam. The report said the idea was among several under consideration and had not yet been presented to Trump.
You can read more at the link, but the USFK troops can’t move to Guam anyway because Congressman Johnson said it would tip over.
If you believe the Korean presidential polling, Lee Jae-myung is still the front runner by 9 percentage points. For Kim Moon-soo to win this he needs to some how get Lee Jun-seok to back him with his 10% of voters:
A three-way presidential race tightened as Democratic Party (DP) candidate Lee Jae-myung lost some of his lead in the latest opinion polls, while People Power Party (PPP) candidate Kim Moon-soo gained ground.
With the election just eight days away, opinion polls have still put Lee in front, but the gap between Lee and Kim had narrowed, while Lee Jun-seok of the minor New Reform Party (NRP) garnered his double-digit support.
A Realmeter survey released Saturday showed support for the DP’s Lee at 46.6 percent, followed by Kim with 37.6 percent and the NRP’s Lee with 10.4 percent. The margin of error was 3.1 percentage points at a 95 percent confidence level.
According to a Realmeter survey released on May 11, a day before the official campaign began, the DP’s Lee garnered 52.1 percent support against Kim’s 31.1 percent in the hypothetical three-way race that also included the NRP’s Lee, who earned 6.3 percent.
You can read more at the link.
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
I had no idea that the Japanese road tax sticker was designed by a USFJ civilian employee. This is a pretty cool story:
Tomoko Hyatt has no formal art training, but her designs are in high demand across Japan, displayed by tens of thousands of people and growing in popularity. Hyatt, a civilian employee at this U.S. airlift hub in western Tokyo, creates the colorful sticker that anyone under the status of forces agreement must display each spring on their personal vehicle to prove they have paid the annual Japanese road tax. (………)
Her husband, Matthew Hyatt, a meteorological technician with the 374th Operations Support Squadron, has a background in graphic design and introduced her to Adobe Illustrator. Her work has sparked a following. She recently launched a Facebook page — Tomoko’s Tokyo Treasures — where she sells items featuring her designs, including patches, ceramic ornaments and stickers.
You can read more at the link.
Some people are in big trouble in the hermit kingdom after this failed launch of their new naval vessel:
North Korea’s newest warship was severely damaged during a launch ceremony Wednesday, with leader Kim Jong Un, who witnessed the accident, saying it brought shame to the nation’s prestige and vowing to punish those found responsible, state media reported.
In a rare admission of failure, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said a malfunction in the launch mechanism caused the stern of the as-yet unnamed 5,000-ton destroyer to slide prematurely into the water, crushing parts of the hull and leaving the bow stranded on the shipway.
Kim called the launch failure “a criminal act” and blamed it on “absolute carelessness” and “irresponsibility” by multiple state institutions – including the Munitions Industry Department, Kim Chaek University of Technology and the central ship design bureau.
You can read more at the link.
Kim Jong-un has made it very clear that he does not want reunification and this is just another attempt remind people of that:
North Korea has erased another symbol of reconciliation with the South, renaming a key building in the Demilitarized Zone and removing signage promoting reunification, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said this week. The building, previously known as the Unification Pavilion, was renamed Panmun Hall sometime in 2024, ministry spokesman Koo Byongsam said at a news conference Monday in Seoul. A sign bearing the former name was taken down in January 2024 and replaced with the new one about seven months later, he said. The move is part of a broader campaign by Pyongyang to strip away references to reunifying the Korean Peninsula, Koo said.
You can read more at the link.
