A traditional market in Seongnam, southeast of Seoul, is crowded with people on Sept. 9, 2016, who shop ahead of Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving that falls on Sept. 15 this year. (Yonhap)

Fortunately the article that sparked the controversy was just a Chinese style Onion click bait site which I am not going to provide a link to.  However, it shows the ridiculousness of China’s recent territorial claims that people were actually taking it seriously for a while:

Even though the map and article were someone’s attempt at a little fun, there is a larger point. China’s use of maps, passports and other mapfare-style methods of pushing a narrative of rightful territorial claims whether over Taiwan or the 9 or actually 10-dash-line in the South China Sea and others areas has been part of Beijing’s toolkit for sometime now. The fact that none of us at the conference were shocked speaks volumes to the now ingrained perception of China on the international stage as a power bent on changing the status-quo—no matter what the cost. A reputation as some sort of rogue state is a tough thing in international politics to change—and it’s something Beijing should bare in mind.  [National Interest]

You can read more at the link.

It is pretty obvious that sanctions are not stopping the Kim regime’s nuclear and missile programs and it is because of China’s refusal to strictly enforce them:

While the U.S. government says sanctions work, a recent analysis by John Park of Harvard University and Jim Walsh of MIT concluded that sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council “have not worked, and that in some ways, the sanctions have had the net effect of actually improving (North Korean) procurement capabilities.”

One effect of sanctions is that North Korean trade with nations other than China has come to a virtual halt. But China allows numerous state-run companies from North Korea to operate on its soil and those have learned to adapt, Park and Walsh wrote in their study, “Stopping North Korea, Inc.: Sanctions Effectiveness and Unintended Consequences.”

The North Korean managers in charge of these companies have hired better Chinese middlemen, moved to China to improve their effectiveness and expanded their nuclear procurement operations in Hong Kong, Southeast Asia and North Korean embassies around the world, the study found.

Some analysts, such as Gordon Chang, author of Nuclear Showdown; North Korea Takes on the World, urge the U.S. to impose sanctions on Chinese companies that aid North Korea’s nuclear program.  [USA Today]

You can read more at the link, but I agree with Gordon Chang that sanctioning Chinese companies may be an incentive to get the Chinese to clamp down on the North Korean nuclear program.

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

Utter silliness. ANYONE who believes NK would negotiate away its nukes needs his brain checked for radioactivity. https://t.co/UbMbGsDmxT

— the oranckay (@oranckay) September 9, 2016

An official points to North Korea’s northeastern county of Kilju, where the communist country conducted a nuclear test, at the Korea Meteorological Agency in Seoul on Sept. 9, 2016. The test, the fifth of its kind following its first in 2006, second in 2009, third in 2013 and fourth in January 2016, caused a 5 magnitude tremor. North Korean news media, including the Korean Central TV Station, confirmed the latest nuclear test in their reports later in the day. (Yonhap)

I would be surprised to see this happen:

The Defense Ministry said it was implementing a three-pillared system against North Korean weapons threats. On top of the already known Kill Chain to preemptively destroy North Korea missiles and the Korean Air Missile Defense system for air strikes, the ministry will add the so-called Korean Massive Punishment and Retaliation program, which would authorize joint allied forces to attack the North Korean military command if the country causes nuclear damage. The military plans to back the program with precision missiles and specially trained forces. Korean and U.S. forces are also developing new type of preemptive-strike operations.

Seoul should persuade Washington to redeploy tactical nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula until the North Korean nuclear threat is removed. NATO allows jet fighters of members to mount tactical nuclear weapons. The South Korean president as well as the U.S. president need to have the power to authorize the use of such weapons.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

I would think a lot more than targeting regime leadership and key sites would happen to North Korea if they used a nuclear weapon against the South:

South Korea vowed on Friday to counterattack North Korea’s leadership including ruler Kim Jong-un if Pyongyang uses its nuclear weapon.

“If the North harms us with nuclear arms we will directly target, punish and retaliate against the North Korean leadership, including its war command,” said Lieutenant General Lim Ho-young, strategy and planning director of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “We will operate our strike capabilities, including missiles that are capable of making precise strikes en masse simultaneously and will deploy our elite special operations forces.”

The retaliation will target the North’s command and control system, he said, as well as missile facilities and submarine bases using the South’s capabilities. He said the South has missile capabilities comparable to cruise and ballistic missiles of the North, while its air-to-ground guided bombs and missiles are superior to those of the North.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but if the North launched a nuke at Seoul you would think the US would respond in kind against South Korea.

At least one ROK lawmaker wants to get really serious about preventing ROK military corruption:

– A lawmaker from the ruling Saenuri Party proposed a new bill on Thursday to classify military-related corruption as a form of aiding and abetting the enemy, paving the way for courts to hand out stricter punishment including the death penalty.

Under South Korean law, any action benefiting the enemy can land a person in jail for at least five years, with more serious offences leading to capital punishment.

“Irregularities in the military have an adverse impact on national defense that leads directly to the safety of the people,” Rep. Sin Sang-jin said, adding the existing system cannot sufficiently root out military-related corruption due to ineffective punishment.  [Yonhap]

Korea #27 best expat country to live in according to survey https://t.co/ytwf8B64qy #Korea #expat #life #travel pic.twitter.com/ufGHdVH893

— Haps Magazine (@hapsmagazine) September 7, 2016