Farmers pick green tea leaves at a tea plantation in South Korea’s southern county of Hadong on April 8, 2016, in this photo provided by the county office. The harvest was the first of its kind in the region. (Yonhap)

I guess we will see if the mass defection of 13 overseas workers from a North Korean restaurant will become a trend or not.  I would think the regime after this defection would really tighten the controls on their overseas workers by threatening their families back in North Korea:

Future mass defection by North Koreans working abroad cannot be ruled out following the recent escape of 13 people, South Korea’s unification ministry said Sunday.

Speaking to reporters, a ministry official explained that considerable pressure to send back hard currency to Pyongyang in the face of tough United Nations sanctions played a part in the restaurant workers’ defection.

The government hinted earlier that the defectors were fearful that they would be punished if they were unable to send back money to North Korea. Many restaurants have been forced to close due to a drop in patrons, with estimates placing roughly half of them unable to send money back to the North.

The official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said one restaurant serving staff testified that with tough sanctions taking hold, people felt there was no hope for the North Korean regime.

He said a second worker confirmed she watched South Korean TV dramas and knew about life in the South, while another said she realized what happiness was really like while living abroad, and did not want to go back to the North.

“They expressed a desire to live their lives as South Koreans and believed the joint action was their last chance to get away from the North,” the official said. He added the defectors had Internet connection to the outside world, which is not possible inside their isolationist homeland.

“Such information (about the world at large) caused them to crave freedom,” the official claimed.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This is definitely a long shot to ever happen, but if there was ever going to be conditions for someone like General Mattis to be elected President this is probably about as good as they will ever be:

General Mattis may be called back into action to serve his country — this time possibly assuming the role of Commander-in-Chief.

According to The Daily Beast, an anonymous collective of conservatives are in a position to persuade General James “Mad Dog” Mattis, the retired Marine Corps commander who has a reputation as a superb combat leader with excellent rapport with his men.

Considered a contingency action if Trump gets the nomination by the Republicans in Ohio,
Mattis could swing the vote and disrupt operations, even as a third-party candidate.

“Everyone is hoping that Ted Cruz pulls it out, but I think a great deal of Republicans would rally behind an American hero if the choice is between Mattis and Trump,” said John Noonan, a former Jeb Bush aide now involved in the project to draft Mattis.

“He’s a man of character and integrity. He’s given his life to his country. How do you ask someone like that to leap headfirst into this toxic mud-puddle of a race? It’s damn hard. But Trump is a fascist lunatic and Hillary has one foot in a jail cell. That means the lunatic can win. I’d be first in line to plead with the general to come save America,” Noonan added.

While a Mattis victory would not be an easy task, the primary strategy appears to be that of political insurgency — denying Clinton and Trump the 270 electoral votes needed to outright win a general election. On top of that, the benefactors of the Mattis camp would have to undertake the challenge of getting Mattis on the ballot in a large number of states.  [USMC Life]

If he did try and third party candidacy could you imagine the awesome quotes he would give on the campaign trail.  Here is just one from this article:

Mattis has gone on record in saying that he feels he could not endure the political correctness involved in being a Presidential candidate.

“I’ve lived a very colorful life and I’ve said some things,” Mattis told an audience last year. “But not once have I taken them back, and I’ve never apologized for them — and I won’t. I like the enemy knowing there are a few guys like me around.”

You can read much more on how the strategy to get him elected would work at the link.

Beautiful day in a North Korean coal mine. #production #accordions pic.twitter.com/WyvfHCatwT

— Adam Cathcart (@adamcathcart) April 7, 2016

Kids and parents look around KidZania Busan which opened in South Korea’s largest port city on April 8, 2016. The indoor theme park, the 22nd of its kind in the world, enables children to role-play and experience a variety of professions. (Yonhap)

North Korean radar and anti-aircraft batteries along the DMZ would probably locate and take out a number of the drones.  I think such an idea would actually work better if executed by activist groups in China if they are able to not get cracked down on by the Chinese authorities:

A researcher has called on the United States to consider using drones to send USB sticks with information that can effectively win the hearts of North Koreans and provide them with information about the outside world.

Senior Researcher Kim Yon-ho at the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies made the call in his recent contribution to Foreign Policy on Saturday.

Kim said that there are limitations to the conventional methods of smuggling high-tech data into North Korea, claiming that delivering USBs with drones is a high-tech alternative to traditional smuggling tactics.

The researcher said that due to the flourishing black market and technological developments, the means of access to outside media has advanced beyond televisions, radios, and DVDs into more interactive forms such as PCs, tablets and USB drives.

Kim said that USB drives are considered effective means of accessing information about the outside world, as they are smuggled through balloons and easily made available on the black market.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read the whole Foreign Policy article at this link.  The article pretty much makes the case that I have been making for year to execute a coordinated information warfare strategy within North Korea which should be part of a larger strategy to undermine the legitimacy of the Kim regime.

At least the Korean courts have decided to keep this dirt bag in jail.  I can remember the days when the Korean courts were so weak on sexual assault that they were letting rapists routinely go free:

The Seoul High Court turned down a sexually abusive stepfather’s appeal for a lighter sentence Sunday.

The convicted, 48, was charged for abusing his sleeping stepdaughter, 25, and later threatening her with physical violence in an attempt to prevent her from alerting authorities.

In the original trial he received five years in prison for incestuous sexual assault, but later appealed, saying his sentence was too heavy.

The appeals court turned down his plea in a decision saying, “The nature of the defendant’s crime is malignant as he had not only sexually assaulted his own stepdaughter, but also threatened her with a weapon to cover up his crime.”  [Korea Herald]

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

https://twitter.com/ZacharyKeck/status/718447705182314496

This undated Yonhap file photo shows Lee Boo-jin (L), president of Hotel Shilla, and Sky Park, vice chairwoman of E-Land Group, whom Forbes magazine has put on its annual list of Asia’s 50 Powerful Businesswomen in 2016 on April 7. (Yonhap)