The Economist has an article published that discusses why the US military has had a hard time recruiting and how military generals have too much power:

Seasonal factors, including a strengthening labour market and negative media coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, have widened the gulf. So have the dismal standards of education and physical fitness that prevail in modern American society. At a time of post-war introspection, these factors raise two big questions. The first concerns America’s ability to hold to account a military sector its leaders feel bound to applaud, but no longer competent to criticise. Andrew Bacevich, a former army officer, academic and longstanding critic of what he terms the militarism of American society, derides that support as “superficial and fraudulent”. Sanctified by politicians and the public, he argues, the army’s top brass have been given too much power and too little scrutiny, with the recent disastrous campaigns, and similarly profligate appropriations, the almost inevitable result. The second question raised by the civil-military disconnect is similarly fundamental: it concerns America’s future ability to mobilise for war.  [The Economist]

You can read the rest at the link, but according to one military official the amount of obese potential recruits is the biggest recruiting challenge currently.  As far as the military brass having too much power, I would also disagree with this, they are executing the strategy given to them from the White House.  If strategy is flawed the military campaign will be flawed as well.  As far appropriations Congress is just as much to blame as the military brass who help keep flawed acquisitions programs going because of the jobs they provide in their district.

Navy coordinated with Japan SDF, Korean Navy as Russian planes approached USS Ronald Reagan https://t.co/GQMHhza58p

— Erik Slavin (@eslavin_stripes) October 30, 2015

Cattle and farming equipment are paraded on downtown Seoul streets on Oct. 28, 2015, ahead of Farmers’ Day on Nov. 11. The parade is also a ritual to wish for the advancement of the agricultural industry. (Yonhap)

That is what the below article in the Daily Beast is speculating on.  I have said this for a long time that if the Kim regime was to collapse the South Koreans are going to have immediately move to secure North Korea before the Chinese do.  It should also be done without US troops.  US troops moving north just legitimizes Chinese intervention into North Korea.  Once the Chinese are in the ROK government may never get them out:

At the beginning of last week, Seoul launched a new round of China diplomacy to encourage Beijing to play a “constructive role” in denuclearizing North Korea. Optimally this marks a new era of cooperation between Seoul and Beijing, but it could also be part of a process leading to China’s colonization of the North.

The move follows President Park Geun-hye’s controversial trip to the Chinese capital in early September to participate in the military parade marking the 70thanniversary of the end of World War II. Washington, worried that South Korea was making itself a Chinese satellite, had tried to discourage her from attending the event.

Short of extraordinary measures, there is little the U.S. can do about Park’s increasingly visible tilt to China. Her mission is to seek the peaceful reunification of the two Koreas—her so-called Dresden Initiative announced in March of last year—and she has moved to enlist the Chinese by charming them into cooperation, seeking to engage them at every opportunity.

Park’s efforts to woo China look like they are paying off. Seoul, not Pyongyang, is Beijing’s friend these days on the Korean Peninsula. It is telling that Xi Jinping traveled to Seoul in July 2014, the first time a leader of the People’s Republic visited the South before going to the North. And in fact, he has yet to visit Pyongyang, the capital of his country’s only formal military ally, in his position as China’s president.

Despite all the smiles, the fear in Seoul is that China will frustrate Park’s vision of a unified Korean nation by sending its army south and either leaving behind a puppet regime or even colonizing North Korea.  [The Daily Beast]

You can read the rest at the link.

I hope everyone that celebrates Halloween had a fun holiday.  Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

British soldier somewhere North of Kaesong, probably late September 1950. pic.twitter.com/4pDA3Q0F7O

— Adam Cathcart (@adamcathcart) October 27, 2015

The U.S. nuclear-propelled Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier (L) and the Aegis-equipped Sejong the Great-class destroyer sail in waters off South Korea’s east coast on Oct. 28, 2015, as 25 South Korean and U.S. warships take part in a joint naval exercise aimed at bolstering combat readiness and interoperability, in this photo provided by the Navy. (Yonhap)

Noted Korea historian and a ROK Drop favorite, Robert Neff has an article published in the Korea Times that discusses Seoul’s haunted past:

According to many, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Seoul was haunted. Homes deserted after murders and lynchings had occurred during times of unrest were natural sites for haunting but not all ghosts were content with remaining at one site ― some roamed about the streets.

At a well near Cheonggye Stream and the Jeongdong area, women were afraid to go there by themselves ― especially at night ― for fear of being accosted by the spirit of a decapitated man who had been executed for some unknown transgression. Apparently the ghost wandered about seeking a drink to quench his everlasting thirst but was unable to do so because he had no head.

The area surrounding the Independence Arch was avoided at night because it was said to be plagued by restless spirits and tokgabi (goblins). Tokgabi were generally mischievous but could be extremely dangerous if angered. They assumed many shapes and often began as simple mundane items that had been corrupted when blood ― especially women’s ― was splattered upon them. Thus, it is no wonder they were often found near execution grounds, battle-fields and sites where murders or accidents had occurred. The tokgabi often roamed in legions and could cause whole neighborhoods or villages to become deserted. [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link.

It is going to be interesting to see how this plays out.  The Chinese have so much invested in these South China Sea islands I just don’t see them backing down even if the UN court rules against them.  The domestic political blowback would be too much with accusations of the Chinese government backing down to foreigners.  The UN court though could legitimize the freedom of navigation patrols which are currently being executed by the US Navy.  The ruling is supposed to be released sometime in 2016:

The Hague (AFP) – An international tribunal ruled Thursday it had the power to hear a case brought by the Philippines over disputed islands in the South China Sea, in a move likely to trigger fury in Beijing.

Manila has insisted the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, which the Philippines and China have both ratified, should be used to resolve the bitter territorial row over isolated reefs and islets, which has triggered growing international alarm.

But China has refused to participate in the proceedings, arguing the Permanent Court of Arbitration — which is more than a century old and based in The Hague — had no jurisdiction over the case.

“Reviewing the claims submitted by the Philippines, the tribunal has rejected the argument” by China that the “dispute is actually about sovereignty over the islands in the South China Sea and therefore beyond the tribunal’s jurisdiction,” the court said in a statement.

Instead, the court ruled the case reflects “disputes between the two states concerning the interpretation or application of the Convention” — something which falls within its remit.

China insists it has sovereign rights to nearly all of the South China Sea, a strategic waterway through which about a third of all the world’s traded oil passes.

The disputed waters — claimed in part by Vietnam, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Brunei — have also become the stage for a tussle for regional dominance between Beijing and Washington, the world’s two largest economic and military powers.

Following a stand-off between Chinese ships and the weak Filipino Navy in 2012, China took control of a rich fishing ground called Scarborough Shoal that is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.  [Associated Press]

You can read the rest at the link.

Why has South Korea started classes for kids about the 'comfort women’? The minister in charge explains. https://t.co/0Zta6zXG8f

— Alastair Gale (@AlastairGale) October 29, 2015