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.@yonhaptweet reports it was a "cold launch" and the SLBM achieved ignition above the surface but flew only for a few minutes.

— Daniel A. Pinkston (康大植) (@dpinkston) April 23, 2016

A group of members from more than 130 civic organizations in South Korea calls for the Japanese government to abolish discrimination against a high school for ethnic Koreans in Japan, called “Chosun School,” in a rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on April 22, 2016. The Japanese government has moved to exclude only this school among other high schools for foreigners from its free education program for high schools, citing tense Japan-North Korea relations and the North’s nuclear and missile threats. Most of the students in the school are from pro-Pyongyang families. (Yonhap)

This is an interesting development in the defector restaurant worker issue.  The North Koreans are willing to send the families of the defectors to Seoul.  I would assume that not all of their families would go and the ones sent would be risking the death of the families members staying behind if they too defected.  I would also think these family members would be under strict instructions to try and convince the defectors to come back to North Korea.  The ROK authorities probably understand this and this is why they denied North Korea’s request:

North Korea has notified Seoul of its plans to send family members of the restaurant workers who defected earlier in the month to South Korea, the country’s state-run news agency said Friday.

A group of 13 North Korean people defected from the same Pyongyang-run restaurant in China and came to South Korea in early April in what has become a steady stream of people leaving the isolated country.

North Korea has consistently claimed South Korea abducted the workers and demanded that they be returned to their loved ones at once. Pyongyang also threatened to take strong action against the South if its demands are not met.

“The families of the abductees are eagerly asking for face-to-face contact with their daughters as they were forced to part from their beloved daughters,” said the notification sent to South Korea by Ri Chung-bok, chairman of North Korea’s Red Cross.

The notification was carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency.

“At their earnest requests, our side again seriously notifies your side of our decision to send them to Seoul via Panmunjom (a truce village),” it showed.

South Korea should not conceal the unethical crime under the pretext of “international practice,” but should take “immediate technical measures” for the families to reunite with the defectors, the letter said.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry refused the demand, however, saying in a press release after the report that “The latest group defection by the workers at a overseas North Korean restaurant was completely of their own free will.”

A ministry official also said the South Korean government has not received any official notification letter from North Korea on the matter of sending the family members of the defectors to Seoul.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

In an effort to probably save face after their failed Musudan test the North Koreans have now launched an submarine launched ballistic missile that may have failed as well.  Unlike the Musudan test though that may have blown up at the launch site this test did at least go 30 kilometers before possibly failing, so they did get some data from the launch to continue to improve the missile.  An SLBM is particularly dangerous because a submarine can appear anywhere and launch which makes missile defense especially challenging:

North Korea launched what appeared to be a ballistic missile from a submarine in the East Sea Saturday, the South Korean military said.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said North Korea fired a projectile that it believes was a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) around 6:30 p.m. The JCS said it is keeping close tabs on the North Korean military while maintaining its readiness posture.

The JCS added that the missile flew for only about 30 kilometers, well short of the minimum SLBM range of 300 km.

Separately, a South Korean government source said the SLBM’s engine ignited after it was ejected from a 2,000-ton Sinpo-class submarine but it only traveled a short distance.

“This projectile, which is believed to be an SLBM, was airborne for a couple of minutes,” the source added.

Last month, a U.S. news report claimed that North Korea had conducted a ground test of an SLBM, the KN-11. The Washington Free Beacon said the test on March 16 involved an ejection test of the KN-11 from a canister at Sinpo shipyard on the North’s eastern coast.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This makes the missile test failure even worse for the North Koreans if true:

North Korea’s failed launch of its Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile last week sparked a huge fireball that damaged the launcher and could have also injured or killed missile technicians on the ground, a news report said Wednesday.

The missile blew up about 300 feet above the ground, shortly after Friday’s launch, and U.S. strategic defense surveillance systems, both airborne and space-based, videotaped the explosion, the Washington Free Beacon reported, citing U.S. defense officials.

Two road-mobile Musudan launchers were set up for the test, but the second was not fired after the explosion, the report said. It also cited a diplomatic source as saying that the likely cause of the explosion was a faulty fuel system or turbo pump failure.

The Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile is an indigenous variant of the Russian SS-N-6 submarine-launched ballistic missile, known by Moscow as the R-27, which the North obtained covertly from Russia sometime in the 1990s, the report said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

It is always tough to run against candidates that promise free stuff to the public without the responsibility that goes along with paying for it:

President Park Geun-hye warned against the dangers of populist campaign pledges Friday, stressing that maintaining fiscal soundness is a key factor that the government should take into account in setting its 2017 budget proposal.

“Laws containing populist ideas will burden not only the current generation but the next,” Park said chairing the national fiscal strategy meeting at the presidential office. She added excessive spending on welfare could have an impact on the country’s long-term fiscal health.

The chief executive also advocated special administrative rules like the “pay-go” system. The system makes clear that any additional outlays must be offset by spending cuts or revenue increases.

“The problem of maintaining long-term fiscal soundness is something that is agreed upon by the people,” the president pointed out.

At the meeting that sets government guidelines on spending, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said it will maintain its expansionary fiscal policy mode for the next five years to prop up the economy. It, however, said every effort is going to be made to cut unnecessary outlays.

The ministry moreover has been moving to streamline the public sector to get rid of overlapping institutions. This can save money and lead to a more efficient fiscal spending structure.

The chief executive’s latest remarks apparently came after the political parties spearheaded different welfare pledges in the lead-up to the April 13 parliamentary elections.

Kim Chong-in, interim chairman of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, stressed the importance of “productive welfare,” saying that the expanded welfare policy will eventually induce growth in related industries, such as health and medical services.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The Kim regime must be pretty embarrassed by the recent mass defection of 13 overseas restaurant workers because they are continuing to make the claim that they were all kidnapped:

In the video, the North Koreans are seen demanding the immediate repatriation of the defectors.

The defections are being labeled as an operation of the “treasonous clique of [South Korean President] Park Geun-hye,” and the two videos feature various North Koreans: restaurant workers, a student and a party cadre.

One interviewee condemned the South Korean puppets for “kidnapping our people 10 at a time,” adding “the [South Korean] presidential Blue House, the devil’s lair, should be destroyed and our people delivered as soon as possible.”

On April 7, North Koreans – a man and 12 women – had arrived in the South after they sought asylum at Seoul’s embassy in Bangkok.

North Korea has slammed Seoul, claiming South Korea “dragged” the North Koreans to a “Southeast Asian country.”  [UPI]

You can read more at the link.

This is something i have discussed before that the cost sharing of troops in South Korea actually saves money for the Pentagon compared to keeping the same troops in the US.  What else that can’t be calculated is how many US jobs are generated due to the large amount of defense equipment bought by the ROK because of its close military relationship with the US.  Like I have maintained, if politicians want to criticize about freeloading US allies I am all for it, but South Korea is a poor choice to try and make this claim with:

The four-star Army general picked to lead American forces in Korea says it’s less expensive to keep U.S. troops stationed in South Korea than in the United States.

In testimony Tuesday, Gen. Vincent Brooks tallied up the financial load South Korea carries in what amounted to a rebuke of Donald Trump, the GOP’s front-running presidential contender.

Trump has called for U.S. allies to pay more for their own defense.

John McCain of Arizona, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, prompted Brooks’ answers.

Brooks says South Korea pays half of the annual cost, or $808 million, for U.S. troops to be stationed on the peninsula.

The general says South Korea is paying for 92 percent of a $10.8 billion construction project to build a base for U.S. troops.  [Associated Press]

Rolling fields of rye, Anseong Farmland. iPhone photos by Robert Koehler of SEOUL, where, in the upcoming May… https://t.co/VuQQ4qd2Jj

— Seoul Selection (@SeoulSelection) April 21, 2016