It has been some happy days recently for the Lee Jae-myung family:

Dong-ho (33), the eldest son of President Lee Jae-myung, had a private wedding ceremony at Samcheonggak in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul on the 14th.

According to participants on the 15th, only those who received invitations were allowed to enter the wedding the previous day, and strict security was provided, such as having to put a seal on a mobile phone camera when entering.

After entering the inside of the ceremony, it was said that it was in a friendly atmosphere like any other wedding. The wedding ceremony was hosted by actor Ahn Jae-mo for about two hours. When Dong-ho was in school, his teacher attended and delivered a congratulatory speech, and idol-turned-singer Lee Chang-seop sang a wedding song.

More than 200 people attended, including Lee’s family, relatives, and National Assembly Speaker Woo Won-sik, former and incumbent lawmakers, including the new floor leadership of the Democratic Party, and officials from the presidential office.

Maeil Business Newspaper

You can read more at the link.

THey may have relaunced the destroyer, but it is unclear how much damage this ship still has to be repaired:

North Korea says it has repaired and relaunched a naval destroyer that capsized during a failed launch attempt last month, but defense experts remain skeptical about the regime’s claim of a quick recovery. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un oversaw the relaunch of the 5,000-ton warship Thursday at Rajin Shipyard on the country’s northeastern coast, the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported Friday.

The event came just three weeks after that vessel capsized and sustained hull damage during a launch attempt at Chongjin Shipyard, about 50 miles south of Rajin. In a rare admission, KCNA acknowledged the failure, quoting Kim at the time as calling it a “criminal act caused by absolute carelessness.” Despite the setback, KCNA on Friday portrayed the relaunch as a testament to North Korea’s maritime strength. The rapid repairs are proof of the communist regime’s “progress and lead of the warship-building industry,” the report said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like things are going to be a little quieter along the DMZ:

North Korea stopped broadcasting propaganda along the inter-Korean border late Wednesday, hours after the South took the first step by silencing its own loudspeakers — a move aimed at easing tensions. South Korea halted its broadcasts along the 160-mile Demilitarized Zone at 2 p.m.

Wednesday, according to a statement from the presidential office the following day. By that evening, no North Korean broadcasts were heard along the border, South Korean army Col. Lee Sung-jun said during a news conference Thursday. The South’s loudspeakers have typically played K-pop music, news and other content intended to challenge Pyongyang’s ideological control. North Korea’s broadcasts, in contrast, feature political monologues condemning South Korean society and democratic governance.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This guy is definitely rotting away in a gulag somewhere judging by these actions:

 North Korea appears to have edited recent state media images to remove a top naval commander after last month’s failed launch of a new warship, NK News has reported.

In state media footage aired Friday on the relaunch ceremony of the 5,000-ton Kang Kon destroyer, Kim Myong-sik, the North’s former chief navy commander, was notably absent from images showing leader Kim Jong-un’s earlier inspection of the warship’s construction.

Hong Kil-ho, manager of the Chongjin Shipyard — where an incident involving the destroyer reportedly occurred — also appeared to have been deleted from the images.

NK News said state media has not commonly deleted officials from photos since the 2013 execution of Jang Song-thaek, an uncle of the North’s leader who was purged from senior leadership.

Yonhap

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Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section below. Have a safe Friday the 13th!

With North Korea currently assisting Russia with an active war against Ukraine, it doesn’t make sense for Kim Jong-un to try and pursue diplomacy with the U.S. at this time:

 U.S. President Donald Trump is “receptive” to correspondence with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and wants to see the progress that was made during their first summit in 2018, a White House spokesperson said Wednesday.

Karoline Leavitt, the spokesperson, made the remarks after NK News reported, citing an “informed high-level source,” that North Korean diplomats in New York had refused to accept a letter from Trump, which was aimed at reestablishing communication channels between Washington and Pyongyang.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.