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North Korea Continues GPS Jamming Activities Across the DMZ

More tit-for-tat between North Korea and the ROK:

 North Korea’s jamming of GPS signals across the border with South Korea continued Sunday for the 10th consecutive day, the military said.

GPS jamming was detected in the northern part of Gangwon Province early Sunday morning, according to the military. 

The latest jamming attacks began near the northwestern islands before they began spreading to the northern parts of Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces last Thursday.

The military has said the jamming has involved weaker signals than in May and June and lasted for shorter periods over various directions.

The jamming appears to be a North Korean military exercise in responding to the possible appearance of drones, according to the military.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Biden Calls on Xi to Stop North Korean Troop Dispatches to Russia

I seriously doubt that the North Korean troop dispatch to Russia was not cordinated with China in the first place. This phone calls seems more about optics of appearing to do something instead of actually expecting something to be done:

U.S. President Joe Biden called Saturday for China to use its clout to prevent an escalation of Russia’s war in Ukraine through the dispatch of more North Korean troops, while raising concerns over the possibility of Pyongyang engaging in provocations, a senior U.S. official said Saturday.

National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan elaborated on the discussions that Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had during their talks on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, amid mounting concerns about broad security implications of a military alignment between Moscow and Pyongyang.

“(Biden) also pointed out (to Xi) that the PRC does have influence and capacity and should use it to try to prevent a further escalation or further expansion of the conflict through the introduction of even more DPRK forces,” Sullivan told reporters in a press briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Tweet of the Day: Over in Gwanghwamun

Picture of the Day: U.S. Citizen Appointed as CEO of Hyundai Motor Company

Hyundai Motor appoints non-Korean as CEO
Hyundai Motor appoints non-Korean as CEO
This photo, provided by Hyundai Motor Co., shows Jose Munoz, the company’s global chief operating officer and president and CEO of its North American operations for Hyundai and its luxury Genesis brand. Munoz was appointed as Hyundai’s new CEO on Nov. 15, 2024. A native of Spain and a U.S. citizen, he is the first non-Korean to hold the position. (Yonhap)

Lee Jae-myung Receives Suspended Prison Sentence for Election Laws Violations

Lee Jae-myung if he does become the Korean President in the futre he can exchange stories with Trump about he was also convicted of breaking election laws and had an assassination attempt against him:

A rift appears to be forming within the Democratic Party of Korea after a Seoul court sentenced party leader and previous presidential candidate Rep. Lee Jae-myung to a suspended jail term Friday for election law violations.

The Democratic Party has officially denied that Lee’s conviction — which, if confirmed by higher courts, could cost him his legislative seat — would divide the party or necessitate a leadership shake-up.

The party’s secretary-general, Rep. Kim Yun-duck, told reporters Sunday that the party “stands united behind” Lee. “We are not at all considering instating a new party leader,” he said. “There is absolute consensus about that among our party.”

The Democratic Party leader, who was narrowly defeated by President Yoon Suk Yeol in the 2022 election, is still the widely favored pick for the next president, according to recent polls.

If Lee ends up being unseated and loses his shot at running for president, however, the Democratic Party will have no choice but to look for another candidate to run in the next presidential election, now less than three years away.

Beneath the surface, the non-Lee faction is slowly rallying around other liberal figures who served in the last Democratic Party administration under former President Moon Jae-in.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Kim Yo-jong Threatens South Korea After Activists Launch Propaganda Balloons into North Korea

The tit-for-tat between the ROK and North Korea continues:

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Sunday that South Korea will have to pay a “dear price” for sending propaganda leaflets across the border the previous day.

Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the central committee of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party, said “various kinds of political agitation leaflets and dirty things” were dropped by the South near the border and further inland.

“We strongly denounce the shameful and dirty acts of the ROK scum who committed the provocation of scattering anti-DPRK political and conspiratorial agitation things once again in disregard of our repeated warnings,” she said in a statement carried by the North’s Korean Central News Agency, referring to South and North Korea by their formal names, the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

“There will be no house owner who hardly gets enraged at such dirty rubbish scattered in the clean yard, which even a mutt dislikes to touch,” she said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

ROK Drop Open Thread – November 15, 2024

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

Picture of the Day: Pyongyang Children’s Food Factory

N. Korea's children's food
N. Korea’s children’s food
This photo, provided by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on Nov. 13, 2024, shows a children’s food factory in Pyongyang. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

Opposition Leader’s Wife Fined for Improper Use of Governmental Credit Card

I am surprised that auditors did not catch this spending irregularity sooner on the government credit card:

A regional court on Thursday fined the wife of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung 1.5 million won ($1,070) for providing free meals during her husband’s run in the party primary to select the candidate for the 2022 presidential election.

Kim Hye-kyung, wife of Democratic Party of Korea Chair Lee, was indicted after providing meals worth 104,000 won to the wives of three former and current party lawmakers and three of her aides at a restaurant in Seoul in August 2021, shortly after Lee declared his bid for the party election.

A corporate card from the Gyeonggi Province government, of which Lee was governor at the time, was allegedly used for the payment.

The Suwon District Court found Kim guilty of having her secretary, surnamed Bae, pay for the meals with her “permission” and imposed the fine.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but probably not coincidentally the Korean opposition party decided today to vote for the third time for a special investigation into President Yoon’s wife. The vote symbolic because it will fail again due to a Presidential veto.

Trump Plans to End Tax Credit for EV Cars

I would have to think Elon Musk must have approved of this idea if Trump is planning to do this probably betting that tariffs on foreign EV competitors are also coming:

 U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is aiming to end a tax credit for electric vehicle (EV) purchases, a key element of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as part of broader tax reform legislation, Reuters reported Thursday, citing two unnamed sources.

The potential repealing of the $7,500 consumer tax credit is being discussed in meetings by an energy-policy transition team, which is headed by Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, according to the news agency.

The removal of the credit could have an impact on EV sales and affect EV-producing companies and battery manufacturers. Naysayers have argued that ending the credit would impede a transition to EVs.

Tesla representatives have told a Trump transition committee they support repealing the subsidy, Reuters said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.