The new Secretary of Defense says ties with both Japan and South Korea will be strengthened. The ties with both country’s militaries are already very strong. If anything it will be interesting to see if ties with South Korea degrade if President Trump decides to cancel joint military exercises like he did in his first term when pursuing diplomacy with North Korea:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke Friday with his counterparts in South Korea and Japan, vowing to strengthen military ties with both countries amid regional security concerns, according to their respective defense ministries.

In his first phone call with South Korea’s acting defense minister, Hegseth and Kim Seon-ho agreed to “deepen and expand the level and scope” of their 71-year military alliance and strengthen security ties with Japan to deter North Korea, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement Friday. Hegseth also spoke that day with Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani. The two expressed their “firm intent to continue the initiatives to reinforce the alliance,” Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a news release.

They also agreed to “bilaterally cooperate to realize the vision of a free and open” Indo-Pacific and reaffirmed that their security treaty covers the Senkaku Islands, which China claims as its territory.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Maybe these Korean firms need to be lobbying the Mexican government to start cracking down on fentynal smuggling and human trafficking along the border to get these tarriffs removed:

South Korea’s economy has come under direct impact as US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Saturday imposing tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, raising concerns about a prolonged global trade war.

Industry experts warned on Sunday that Korea, heavily dependent on exports, could face significant setbacks if Trump’s tariff war escalates. Major companies, including Samsung Electronics, have manufacturing plants in Mexico and additional trade restrictions could disrupt their supply chains and profitability.

Korean firms strategically expanded their production bases in Mexico after the first round of US trade sanctions against China under the previous Trump administration. Electronics giants such as Samsung and LG, as well as automaker Hyundai Motor Group, bolstered their investments, either expanding existing facilities or establishing new ones.

As a result, Korea’s investment in Mexico surged from $11 million in 2020 to $396 million in 2022.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It is hard to believe we are already through the first month of 2025. Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

Is it really taking advantage of America by producing a product in your own country and selling it to the U.S.? If making the product in the U.S. was cheaper than manufacturing it in Korea for example, these foreign companies would do so:

President Donald Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary accused South Korea and Japan on Wednesday of having “taken advantage of” America’s “good nature,” stressing the need to work together with the allies to bring their production to the United States.

Howard Lutnick, a preeminent businessman, made the remarks during a Senate confirmation hearing, pointing to steel products from Japan and appliances from South Korea, as he responded to a senator’s question over what he will do to foster an environment to encourage joint ventures with U.S. allies.

“Our great allies have taken advantage of our good nature, and they like steel in Japan and appliances in Korea … I mean, they’ve just taken advantage of us. It’s time for them to partner with us and bring that production back home,” Lutnick told the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if this is something coming from the new Secretary of Defense or something the Chief of Staff of the Air Force had previously planned to announce?:

Career field identifier patches and 57 colors of nail polish are out, gig lines and short hair are in, according to an Air Force order that reverses dress and appearance regulations loosened just one year ago. “I expect compliance with these updates as the military duty of the total Air Force,” Air Force chief of staff Gen. David Allvin wrote in a memo Friday.

A copy was posted Wednesday on the unofficial Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page, where it quickly accumulated more than 700 comments. Allvin banned without comment the career field identifier patches worn on airmen’s camouflage-pattern utility uniforms. He also reduced the permitted colors of nail polish from 60 to three; now only “clear, or French or American Manicure” are allowed. He also clarified that hair may not touch the ears and all male airmen not on a waiver must be clean shaven at the start of each duty day.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Heavy snow

A town in Hoengseong County, Gangwon Province, is covered in snow on Jan. 28, 2025, in this photo provided by a reader. (Yonhap)

Just like the previous administration the Trump administration is negotiating from a starting point of fantasy if they think the Kim regime will ever negotiate away their nuclear weapons program:

U.S. President Donald Trump will pursue the “complete denuclearization of North Korea,” a White House official said Tuesday, amid questions over whether Trump’s recent reference to the North as a “nuclear power” signaled any policy shift.

National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes made the remarks shortly after the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a nuclear-material production base and a nuclear weapons institute in an apparent move to highlight its military capability.

“President Trump will pursue the complete denuclearization of North Korea, just as he did in his first term,” Hughes said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.