North Korea slammed that Liam Neeson movie where he does an uncanny impression Gen. Douglas MacArthur https://t.co/iMR1ZwIqFE
— Elizabeth Shim (@GlobalAsianista) August 19, 2016
The Korea Minting, Security Printing and ID Card Operating Corp. (KOMSCO) produces 50,000 won (US$45.13) notes at its printing factory in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongang Province, on Aug. 12, 2016. The amount of the circulated large-denomination bills has surpassed a 70 trillion won mark thanks to their surging demand and production. (Yonhap)
Just as I predicted the Not In My Backyard (NIMBY) complaints if the THAAD location does move would just shift from one location to another:
The Ministry of National Defense said it will begin to evaluate candidate locations which are being mentioned for an alternative site for THAAD as soon as possible. Candidate sites being mentioned include a country club owned by Lotte Group located in Chojeon Township of the county, Mt. Yeomsok in Geumsu Township and Mt. Kkachi in Suryun Township.
The ministry’s acceptance of the county’s request seems to have resolved the mounting conflict in Seongju to some extent, but at the same time is causing fresh protests from residents living in Gimcheon County as residents there are close to the Lotte Skyhill Country Club, which has been mentioned as the most prominent alternative site.
The Lotte golf club has emerged as an alternative location to host THAAD as it is located at an altitude of 680 meters above sea level, which is higher than the Seongsan artillery unit, located at an altitude of 380 meters. The golf course is also located 18 kilometers away from any residential areas, while the Seongsan artillery unit is only 1.5 kilometers away. Those conditions seem to be better to resolve controversy over the safety of the radar.
Right after Kim’s news conference, Gimcheon residents formed a protest committee that is planning to stage a large-scale rally Wednesday with around 10,000 residents.
Gimcheon City Council also issued a statement, saying, “The Lotte golf club is very close to Gimcheon, which means Gimcheon will suffer the damage of the THAAD deployment. We are opposed to the deployment at the golf club.” [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the Sky Hill Golf Resort is not 18 kilometers from residential areas. On Google Earth I measure downtown Gimcheon as being 7 kilometers away from the golf resort and smaller villages outside of the city are even closer.
The article also discusses the other point I brought up earlier this week in regards to the need to purchase private land from the Lotte Group. It seems to me to get this system deployed as quickly as possible leasing the land would be the fastest solution until a longer term agreement can be reached.
The Army Times has a great article by a certified fitness trainer who points out everything that is wrong about Army fitness with ideas to fix it. I have copy and pasted the whole article below since it is behind the Army Times pay wall. Unfortunately I do not see much changing until the Army does away with maximum Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) scores. As long as leaders are partly judged by APFT scores they will continue to have their troops conduct exercises that promote injury. If troops reach the minimum score on a APFT and pass height and weight why should they be pushed further to do exercises that cause long term injuries? They instead should be taught better all-around fitness which prevents long-term injuries and a healthy lifestyle which is what the author of this article promotes:
Never have I seen so many young adults with musculoskeletal injuries until I joined the United States Army. And I’m not referring to basic training where some injuries are expected; I’m speaking of the active Army. Specifically, the airborne infantry is my point of reference, the part of the Army most of my experience is in. Many of these injuries are preventable.
Some of the blame can be placed on the individual solider from this new “inside” generation; however, much of the blame must be placed on the Army. I was even more surprised at the amount of injuries I saw in basic training considering the moderate (dare I say low) intensity of the training regimen, but that was not so much the fault of the Army.
I enlisted in the Army with a bachelor of science degree, having been a certified personal trainer and martial arts instructor prior to joining. In basic training, I was taught PRT (Physical Readiness Training), the Army’s exercise program. It had many great exercises that are usually only seen from exercise professionals (surprise, it was designed by them). Most soldiers do not think very highly of PRT because it will not take one to a high level of fitness. What it is designed to do is to create proper movement and muscle balance in a soldier’s body. [Army Times]
Another one bites the dust:
North Korea shut down its embassy in Uzbekistan early this month.
Embassy staff returned to North Korea late last month, while the building in the Uzbek capital of Tashkent was sold along with the official cars and other assets.
The Uzbek government demanded the closure as part of international sanctions against North Korea in response to the North’s latest nuclear test in January.
A diplomatic source in Uzbekistan said, “Diplomatic relations have not been severed, but North Korean diplomats were virtually evicted by the Uzbek government rather than voluntarily closing down the mission due to financial problems.”
The Tashkent embassy was the North’s sole remaining diplomatic mission in Central Asia after the embassy in Kazakhstan was shut down in 1998. [Chosun Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but considering how these North Korean embassies are primarily used for illicit activity to bring in foreign currency to the Kim regime who would want one of these in their backyard?
The Eugene Bell Fdn requested the US to relax NKorea sanctions to allow for Genexpert, a test for TB diagnosis https://t.co/wxWHaFm4Pu
— Elizabeth Shim (@GlobalAsianista) August 17, 2016
A group of air force instructors makes a high altitude, low opening (HALO) jump from a military chopper at a height of 10,000 feet on Aug. 18, 2016, in this photo provided by the air force. (Yonhap)
Via a reader tip comes this news that the North Koreans decided to do their part and begin a provocation cycle during the UFG16 military exercise by planting landmines at the Panmunjom peace village:
The American-led U.N. Command in South Korea on Tuesday accused North Korea of planting land mines near a truce village inside the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two Koreas.
Much of the border, one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints, is strewn with land mines and laced with barbed wire. But South Korean media said no land mines had been planted in the area of the truce village of Panmunjom until North Korea placed an unspecified number there last week.
The U.N. Command said in a statement that it “strongly condemns” any North Korean action that jeopardizes the safety of personnel in the DMZ.
It said it wouldn’t speculate on why North Korea placed the mines there. Yonhap news agency, citing an unidentified South Korean government official, said the North apparently planted the mines to prevent front-line North Korean soldiers from defecting to South Korea via Panmunjom. [Seattle Times]
You can read more at the link, but it would be surprising to see a North Korean soldier defect at Panmunjom because of how specially selected they are for that mission. Anyway according to the Joong Ang Ilbo the mines were planted near the Bridge of No Return:
Image of the Bridge of No Return via the DMZ webpage.“The South Korean and U.S. intelligence authorities detected last week that the North Korean soldiers were planting multiple mines north of the Bridge of No Return near Panmunjom,” the source said. “It is the first time that they witnessed the North’s land mine placement in that area since the Armistice Agreement was signed in July 1953.”
The Bridge of No Return is located inside the truce village, west of the Joint Security Area. The bridge crosses the military demarcation line between the two Koreas, and it was used for prisoner exchanges at the end of the Korean War. The name came from the final ultimatum given to the prisoners of war before their repatriation, because they would never be allowed to return once they cross the bridge to return to their homeland.
“Under the regulations governing the truce, planting land mines is forbidden in the areas near the Panmunjom,” said a South Korean government official. “The guards are banned from carrying heavy weapons. The United Nations Command strongly protested to the North about the move.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but keep in mind that the Bridge of No Return was the location of the 1976 DMZ Axe Murder Incident. August 18th was the 40 year anniversary of this incident which leads me to believe the planting of the landmines was a North Korean jab at the US in regards to the anniversary of this incident.
The games are on and no I am not talking about the Olympics:
The U.S. and South Korea kicked off a new round of war games Monday despite protests from the North, which threatened a pre-emptive nuclear strike.
The annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises come as relations between the two Koreas have sharply deteriorated since North Korea conducted its fourth underground atomic test in January. Tensions spiked again last week when Seoul confirmed that a senior North Korean diplomat had defected from his post at Pyongyang’s embassy in London.
About 25,000 U.S. servicemembers — including 2,500 from areas off the peninsula — and 50,000 South Korean forces will participate in the nearly two-week drills, which are mainly computer simulations.
The U.N. military armistice commission gave the North Koreans advance notice about the exercise, which runs through Sept. 2, and stressed its “nonprovocative nature,” the Combined Forces Command said in a statement. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see what provocation North Korea tries for this UFG.
It would be interesting to know if the recent defection of a North Korean diplomat also included the confiscation of regime funds:
Defection by North Korean diplomats who have access to foreign currency holdings would make it harder for North Korea to bring in money from abroad which can eventually hasten the communist regime’s collapse in the event of a financial crisis, a renowned U.S. scholar said Monday.
The analysis by Stephen Haggard, professor at the University of California San Diego, reflects the speculation of growing instability in North Korea, as seen by recent defections of North Korean overseas workers who had played a part in repatriating hard currency to the cash-strapped regime.
Last week, the South Korean government confirmed that a London-based senior North Korean diplomat defected to the South with his family, which can be viewed as another sign of cracks in the North’s ability to keep its key people in check.
Seoul did not confirm whether the diplomat, Thae Yong-ho, brought foreign currency with him, but news reports said his escape may have dealt a blow to North Korea’s overseas earnings because he reportedly may have had knowledge of the foreign exchange operations of the Kim Jong-un regime in Europe.
In April, a group of 13 North Korean employees working at a North Korean state-run restaurant in China defected to South Korea en mass, spawning speculations that the sanctions-squeezed North Korean elite were feeling the pinch of United Nations’ sanctions on the communist country and opting to bolt.
“Historically, I’ve never thought of the collapse of North Korea in terms of political collapse, but I believe in the scenario … with respect to the possibility of financial crisis,” the professor said in a seminar arranged by the East Asia Foundation in Seoul.
North Korea’s thinning foreign currency income, caused by UN-imposed trade bans and the shutdown of its inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex, left the country vulnerable to the possibility of a “sudden” financial crisis that can lead to a subsequent regime collapse, he said. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but as Mr. Haggard points out in the article as long as China continues to not impose UN sanctions on North Korea the Kim regime will likely continue to survive.
