The conservatives have finally settled on a candidate. I guess we will see if it is too little, too late to overcome the huge lead Lee Jae-myung has:
Former Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said Sunday he “humbly accepts” his party’s decision to vote down his presidential candidacy, pledging to assist the party’s final candidate Kim Moon-soo’s presidential campaign.
Lee Jung-hyun, a spokesperson for Han, made the remarks during a press briefing held a day after the People Power Party’s (PPP) plenary meeting voted down a motion led by the party’s leadership to replace the party’s presidential candidate, Kim, with Han.
Kim, a former labor minister, had secured the party’s nomination through the primaries, while Han had outperformed him in public polls against Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.
Like I had speculated before it does appear that the general officer reductions being considered by the Pentagon could impact USFK and other organizations in the Pacific:
On Monday, Hegseth issued a memo that ordered a minimum 20 percent reduction of four-star active-duty positions and of general officers in the National Guard, as well as an additional minimum 10 percent reduction in general and flag officers — with an aim to “optimize” and “streamline” the U.S. military leadership.
The memo has given rise to speculation that the Pentagon could consider a potential change in the USFK leadership as it seeks to focus primarily on countering evolving threats from China while hoping that regional allies will step up to cope with other challenges, including from North Korea.
Reuters has reported that the USFK commander post and the head of the U.S. Army Pacific might be among the four-star positions that Hegseth might look at.
Asked if the secretary’s order for the reduction would affect the USFK, a U.S. defense official said the Pentagon has no announcements to make at this point.
You can read more at the link, but if the USFK commander is reduced to a three star then the question becomes will the U.S. handover OPCON to the ROK military? This would mean a ROK four-star would lead the Combined Forces Command and the USFK three-star would be the deputy. Dropping the USFK commander to a three-star would put USFK in line with the three-star that commands USFJ.
Additionally if the USARPAC commander is reduced to a three-star shouldn’t the Pacific Fleet (PACFLT) and Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) commanders also be reduced to three-stars and just leave the INDOPACOM commander as the only four-star in the Pacific?
The video shows a site in Baotou, Inner Mongolia, likely the Baogang Tailings Dam, not near any ocean, contradicting claims of ocean dumping. This area, far from coastlines, handles toxic waste from rare earth processing, causing significant environmental issues like groundwater…
Controversy over bill halting criminal trials for president-elect Lawmakers of the conservative People Power Party, including its floor leader Kweon Seong-dong (C, 1st row), chant slogans during a rally at the National Assembly in Seoul on May 7, 2025, to express their objection to the passage of a bill by a parliamentary judiciary subcommittee led by the Democratic Party that suspends an ongoing criminal trial for a president-elect. The passage came ahead of the June 3 presidential election after the Supreme Court struck down a lower court’s acquittal of DP presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung on charges of election law violations, sending the case back to the appeals court. (Yonhap)
The war on the fish in the East Sea continues by the North Koreans:
North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles toward the East Sea on Thursday, South Korea’s military said, in what could be a performance test aimed at exporting arms to Russia.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch, involving various types of multiple short-range ballistic missiles, from the North’s eastern coastal city of Wonsan between 8:10 a.m. and 9:20 a.m.
The North’s missile flew up to 800 kilometers before splashing into the East Sea, it said. The latest test is also believed to have involved the North’s KN-25 super-large 600-millimeter multiple rocket launcher and the KN-23, which is similar to Russia’s Iskander short-range ballistic missiles.
What exactly did this military agreement achieve that makes it worth restoring?:
South Korea’s leading presidential candidate has pledged to restore a military deconfliction agreement with the North if elected, aiming to reduce rising tension on the Korean Peninsula. Lee Jae-myung, leader of the opposition Democratic Party, said the Comprehensive Military Agreement signed on Sept. 19, 2018, should be reinstated. The deal was effectively scrapped by both countries last year. “We urgently need to ease military tensions and restore trust between the two Koreas,” he said in a recent news release.
It seems this could lead to a Constitutional crisis if Lee is convicted after he is President:
The Seoul High Court on Wednesday postponed the first hearing of Democratic Party (DP) presidential candidate Lee Jae-myung’s retrial on election law violation charges until after the June 3 presidential election, citing the need to guarantee his right to a fair trial.
The court said it postponed the hearing from May 15 to June 18 “in order to guarantee a fair electioneering opportunity to the defendant, who is a presidential candidate, and eliminate controversies about the fairness of the trial.”
Tom Cruise in S. Korea U.S. actor Tom Cruise (L) and director Christopher McQuarrie acknowledge fans after arriving at Seoul Gimpo Business Aviation Center in the capital on May 7, 2025, for a promotional event for the film “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning.” (Yonhap)
