Children raise South Korea’s national flag Taegeukgi at a ceremony at the Ahn Jung-geun Memorial in Seoul on March 26, 2015, to mark the 105th anniversary of Ahn’s death. Ahn, an independent fighter under the Japanese colonial rule of Korea, assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the first Japanese governor general of Korea, at a railway station in Harbin, northeastern China, on Oct. 26, 1909. The freedom fighter was caught immediately and executed at a Japanese prison in the northern Chinese city of Lushun the following year. (Yonhap)

It is interesting that for fixed military pensions it is okay to turn these into 401k’s, but the minute someone mentions turning Social Security in a 401k suddenly the claims of throwing grandma at the mercy of the Wall Street casino comes into play.  So how come it is okay to throw servicembers retirement at the mercy of the Wall Street casino while it is not for grandma?  The answer is a lot more grandmas vote compared to servicemembers:

President Barack Obama announced Monday he will back sweeping overhauls to the military retirement and health care systems as a way to ensure the costly benefits survive into the future.

Obama said he will provide Congress a list of proposals by the end of April that will be based on the recommendations of the Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission, a panel created by lawmakers to find solutions to ballooning personnel expenses.

The panel has advised the military to eliminate its 20-year pensions in favor of a 401(k)-style retirement system, and replace Tricare health coverage with a wide variety of private insurance plans. Those and a list of 15 changes to military compensation — including a consolidation of commissaries and exchanges — could save almost $5 billion next year and up to $10.4 billion per year by 2020, the panel claims.

“I believe the recommendations are an important step forward in protecting the long-term viability of the all-volunteer force, improving quality-of-life for service members and their families, and ensuring the fiscal sustainability of the military compensation and retirement systems,” Obama wrote in the letter to Congress.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but just think how much money Wall Street is going to make off of “service fees” for all these new 401k’s.  Those guys always win.

This guy is quite the burglar considering he stole over $480,000 in valuables in less than a year:

An ex-convict who allegedly underwent surgery to change his appearance in order to continue carrying out burglaries has been arrested, authorities said Monday.

Police in Incheon, west of Seoul, said the 35-year-old man stole 530 million won (US$480,000) worth of valuables from April to December 2014.

The man had undergone surgery to reduce his jaw size and lengthen his legs in an apparent attempt to conceal his identity, the Incheon Nambu Police Station said. The man, however, said the procedures were intended to boost his self-esteem.

A former worker in home decoration, he also used handmade tools to dismantle digital door locks at more than 80 apartments, authorities said, adding they are looking to see whether he had committed other crimes.  [Yonhap]

Via One Free Korea comes the latest story of yet another group of rogue North Korean soldiers rampaging within China:

Two armed North Korean border patrol guards from Sinuiju in North Hamkyung Province reportedly escaped the country and crossed over into China’s Dandong on Tuesday, Daily NK has learned. Of the two, one was captured on Thursday by Chinese public security officials, while the other is still on the run, according to local sources.

Upon discovery of the incident, North Korea’s military authorities immediately alerted Chinese authorities in the border city of Dandong, leading to a large-scale manhunt on the same day and the plastering of posters featuring the soldiers’ images around heavily trafficked areas of Dandong. Going AWOL, particularly while armed, is considered an offense of great magnitude in both North Korea and China.

Three days into the search, one of the soldiers was arrested in a small rural village near Dandong. “A North Korean solider carrying a gun was apprehended in quiet village near Dandong Singu District,” a source based in the border city told Daily NK. “At the time, there were large numbers of public security officials and soldiers on the streets.”

He added, “The solider held a woman hostage shortly before he was captured, creating a standoff with security officials. But in the end he was subdued.”  [Daily NK]

You can read the rest at the link, but One Free Korea has much more on how this is a sign of how the crackdown on the border to prevent guards from accepting bribes from defectors could be leading to these crime sprees within China.

'No way North Korea' — DPRK refused entry to China-led AIIB http://t.co/eY0UBBNbo4

— Casper van der Veen (@caspervdveen) March 29, 2015

A model, identified only by her family name, Lee, enters a courtroom in Seoul on March 26, 2015. She was given a suspended prison term after being convicted of blackmailing actor Lee Byung-hun for millions of dollars over a video clip of themselves exchanging lewd jokes. (Yonhap)

Along with the recent purchase of 40 F-35’s from Lockheed the Koreans are also partnering with them to develop their own domestic fighter:

South Korea on Monday selected Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) and partner Lockheed Martin for a multi-billion-dollar contract to develop 120 “indigenous” fighter jets to replace Seoul’s ageing fleet.

The bid from KAI and the US aerospace giant, which is subject to a screening process before being officially approved, was always seen as the favourite for the 8.6 trillion won ($7.8 billion) deal over a rival bid by civilian carrier Korean Air (KAL) teamed with Airbus.

The Defence Ministry also approved a separate $1.28 billion deal to buy Patriot PAC-3 missiles and upgrade its air defence system aimed at intercepting North Korean ballistic missiles.

The KF-X fighter project is designed to develop and produce 120 fighter jets of a new, indigenous type to replace South Korea’s ageing fleet of F-4s and F-5s.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link.

The North Koreans claim that the two South Koreans they have detained were not kidnapped from China, but instead detained inside of North Korea:

South Korea on Friday urged North Korea to immediately release two of its citizens detained in the country over alleged espionage, the latest in a series of arrests in the North of foreign nationals.

The North’s state media said late Thursday that the two were detained last year for allegedly collecting confidential state information and attempting to spread “bourgeois lifestyle and culture” in the North at the order of South Korea’s spy agency and the U.S. It identified the men as Kim Kuk Gi and Choe Chun Gil and said the two acknowledged their acts during what was described as a news conference in Pyongyang.

North Korea has occasionally detained South Koreans, Americans and other foreigners on accusations of spying in what analysts say are attempts to wrest outside concessions. Authorities in Pyongyang in the past staged news conferences, during which foreign detainees appeared before the media and made statements that they recant after their releases.

On Friday, South Korea’s Unification Ministry confirmed that Kim and Choe were South Korean citizens but denied they were engaged in espionage operations. Ministry officials could not explain how the two ended up in the North.

“We strongly demand North Korea to quickly release our citizens Kim Kuk Gi and Choe Chun Gil and repatriate them without hesitation,” ministry spokesman Lim Byeong Cheol told reporters in Seoul.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, the country’s main spy agency, denied the North’s accusations of spying.

The North’s Korean Central News Agency said Kim was detained in September in Pyongyang and Choe near the border with China in December.  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link, but if true that they were detained inside of North Korea than I believe the ROK government shouldn’t feel pressured to have them released.  If people are stupid enough to travel inside North Korea than they need to be prepared to accept the consequences.

It looks like 2ID is getting a few more soldiers and a whole lot more artillery firepower:

The Pentagon says it is adding 400 soldiers to its force in South Korea. They are members of an Army battalion equipped with the Multiple-Launch Rocket System, an armored vehicle that fires surface-to-surface rockets.

A Pentagon spokesman says the extra firepower and soldiers were not requested by U.S. commanders in South Korea. Rather, the additions reflect an internal Army reorganization that is increasing the number of Multiple-Launch Rocket System battalions in each field artillery brigade from two to three worldwide.

The unit deploying to South Korea on a nine-month rotation is the 2nd Battalion, 20th Field Artillery Brigade.  [Associated Press]

What the AIIB Means for the US-China Power Transition http://t.co/JEuazVGrxI pic.twitter.com/HbB8GTa4vN

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) March 29, 2015