If THAAD is going to be deployed to South Korea it appears it will happen pretty rapidly:

The United States hopes to deploy the THAAD missile defense system to South Korea “as quickly as possible” and the two countries will begin formal discussions on the matter “in the next few days,” the Defense Department said Monday.

“We would like to see this move as quickly as possible. We’re beginning the consultations now in the coming days with the South Koreans and we expect that this will move in an expeditious fashion,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said at a briefing.

Shortly after North Korea’s long-range missile launch Sunday, South Korea and the U.S. announced they would launch formal consultations on the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to the South to better defend against the North’s nuclear and missile threats. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Commuter who walked past actress at Waterloo station cleared of 'bizarre' sex assault claim https://t.co/AOr8nRVv8Y

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) February 7, 2016

The South Korean military confirms on Feb. 9, 2016, that North Korea successfully launched a three-stage rocket on Feb. 7, putting a satellite into orbit. (Graphic provided by Defense Ministry)   [Yonhap]

This has been something I have been saying for years that the Kaesong Industrial Complex is a cash cow for the Kim regime which further helps them build the very weapons they use to threaten South Korea and the international community with:

South Korea said Wednesday it has decided to “completely” shut down a joint industrial complex in North Korea in response to the North’s recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

The Unification Ministry announced that it will suspend the operation of the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the North’s border city of the same name, the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation.

Seoul’s move is part of its “bone-numbing” measures against North Korea’s nuclear test on Jan. 6 and its long-range missile launch earlier this week.

On Sunday, the North launched a long-range rocket carrying a satellite, which Seoul and Washington view as a cover for a banned test of intercontinental ballistic technology.

“Despite our efforts to support the Kaesong complex, the factory zone is seen as being used for North Korea’s development of nuclear weapons and long-range missiles,” Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo said in a press briefing. “We’ve decided to halt the operation of the Kaesong complex to prevent South Korean money from being funneled into the North’s nuke and missile developments and to protect our companies.”  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link, but I think the Park administration has left Kaesong open as something of a bargaining chip to make the North Koreans behave.  This clearly has not worked and finally the Park administration has had enough and shut it down.

Via a reader tip comes this sad news that the former Eighth Army Commander General Charles Campbell has passed away from an undisclosed illness:

Former Eighth Army and Army Forces Command chief Gen. (retired) Charles C. “Hondo” Campbell died Monday after a lengthy illness, according to The Times, his hometown newspaper in Shreveport, La.

Campbell, 68, was the Army’s last continuously serving officer who had seen action in the Vietnam War, according to an Army statement released at the time of his retirement in 2010.

“When I went to Vietnam, we had more than 500,000 soldiers in Vietnam (alone),” Campbell said in the statement.

There are fewer active-duty soldiers than that in the entire Army today with plans to cut troop strength to 450,000 by the end of 2017.

During his service, Campbell saw the Army’s transition to an all-volunteer force, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the counterinsurgency campaigns that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

He spent his final four years in uniform as chief of Forces Command, overseeing all continental U.S.-based conventional operating forces.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more about General Campbell at the link, but my condolences go out to his family and friends.

For the Banco Delta Asia type of sanctions to work the US must be willing to play hardball with Chinese banks and cut them off from the international financial system:

The United States does not rule out imposing sanctions on North Korea similar to the 2005 financial restrictions that had almost cut off the communist nation from the international financial system, the White House spokesman said Monday.

“I wouldn’t rule out additional steps like that,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a briefing in response to a question whether unilateral sanctions the U.S. is currently considering against Pyongyang would be different from the 2005 measures.

At that time, the Treasury Department blacklisted a Macau bank. The measure not only froze North Korean money in the bank named Banco Delta Asia, but also scared away other financial institutions from dealing with Pyongyang for fear they would also be blacklisted.

That resulted in the North getting almost cut off from the international financial system.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but One Free Korea has a great analysis of the sanctions options that Congress in considering.

A quick take on North Korea's successful satellite launch: https://t.co/qZRO6kKraO

— Stephen Young (@StephenUCS) February 7, 2016

A U.S. veteran of the 1950-53 Korean War views a stone monument listing those killed in the conflict during a visit to the War Memorial of Korea in Seoul’s Yongsan Ward on Feb. 2, 2016. He is part of a group of 40 people comprising veterans affiliated with the California National Guard’s 40th Infantry Division and their families. During the three-year conflict, the veterans helped build Gapyeong High School in Gapyeong, northeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)

With the completion of the comfort women agreement it would seem that moving forward at some point on the military intelligence sharing agreement would be the next area of cooperation that the ROK and Japan should focus on.  This is especially important considering the increasing security threats from North Korea:

South Korea said Monday that gaining the public’s support is a prerequisite for Seoul to review whether to seek a pact on sharing military intelligence with Japan.

Japan’s Kyodo News reported Sunday that South Korea and Japan seem to hold the view that conditions are ripe for deepening military cooperation, saying that Defense Minister Han Min-koo said Seoul is mulling reviewing whether to clinch a Seoul-Tokyo pact on sharing military intelligence.

In 2012, the two nations initialed such a pact to spur the exchange of information on North Korea. But Seoul suspended its signing due to strong opposition from civic groups, which claimed the deal was inked hastily and behind the scenes.

Seoul’s defense ministry dismissed the report, adding that Han’s remarks meant that various factors should be first taken into consideration.

“Support from the National Assembly and the general public should be prerequisites for the accord to be clinched,” the Defense Ministry said. [Korea Times]

Via a reader link it appears that the North Koreans have not corrected the mistakes from their first satellite launch since this satellite is reportedly tumbling out of control in orbit as well:

The satellite North Korea fired into space on Sunday is “tumbling in orbit” and incapable of functioning in any useful way, a senior U.S. defense official told CNN.

Sunday’s launch of the long-range rocket triggered a wave of international condemnation and prompted strong reaction from an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council.

North Korea maintained the launch was for scientific and “peaceful purposes.”

South Korea has recovered about 270 pieces of debris, believed to have come from the rocket launch, from the ocean Sunday and is working to analyze the objects, a South Korean Defense Ministry official told CNN.  [CNN]

You can read the rest at the link, but probably more important to the North Koreans is that it appears they have proven that they have perfected their rocket technology with another successful launch.  Over at 38North.org they even have more great analysis about the technical achievement the North Koreans have accomplished with this launch.