Here is another weird story of a stupid Soldier getting himself in significant trouble:

A U.S. Army staff sergeant who was visiting his girlfriend in Russia was arrested and remains in custody on charges he stole from her, U.S. officials said. Staff Sgt. Gordon Black, 34, was detained Thursday in Vladivostok, a military and commercial port in the Pacific, and is in a pre-trial detention facility, Army spokeswoman Cynthia Smith said Tuesday in a statement. Black was assigned to Eighth Army, U.S. Forces Korea at Camp Humphreys in South Korea and was scheduled to move to Fort Cavazos, Texas, Smith said. Instead, Black, who is married, traveled to Russia to see a longtime girlfriend, according to officials who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss personnel details.

His arrest further complicates U.S. relations with Russia, which have grown increasingly tense over the war in Ukraine. “Instead of returning to the continental United States, Black flew from Incheon, Republic of Korea, through China to Vladivostok, Russia, for personal reasons,” Smith said. “Black did not request official clearance, and [the Defense Department] did not authorize his travel to China and Russia. There is no evidence Black intended to remain in Russia after his [permanent change of station] leave period ended.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the Soldier’s mom believes the Russian girlfriend was a spy that lured him to Russia. Here is what else his mom had to say to ABC News:

Upon arrival in Russia, Jones said Black told her he was questioned by authorities at the airport for “nine hours.”

“He said he was when he got off the plane, that he was pulled to the back in this room for nine hours and questioned why he was there,” Jones said.

Jones said she did not know if her son had a visa to visit Russia.

Jones was critical of her son’s girlfriend, whom she says he met at a club in South Korea over a year ago. Jones claims her son told her the girlfriend was deported to Russia from South Korea after she and Black allegedly got into a dispute in the fall of 2023.

“I knew something was going to happen,” Jones said.

ABC News

Considering they questioned him for nine hours, that leads me to believe the girlfriend was not a spy. Instead Russian intelligence probably could not believe their good fortune and needed nine hours to figure out what to do with him. It looks like SSG Gordon has been lying to his family as well:

“There was some woman involved… He had been seeing her for a good while. Apparently she was living in South Korea until she was deported,” he said. “I have a feeling that she had a lot to do with it,” Jones said, adding that he learned of the arrest last Thursday.

According to Black’s stepfather, Jones had left the U.S. for South Korea two and a half years ago, “and the army kept extending him there. He was only supposed to have been there for a year.”

The Daily Beast

The Army did not involuntary extend him in South Korea for an additonal 1.5 years. He very likely volunteered to extend so he could spend more time with his Russian girlfriend. Notice he decided to go back to the U.S. after the Russian girlfriend was deported. This is what happened that caused her to get deported once again from The Daily Beast article:

The channel also claims Black has a history of beating Vashchuk, who is said to have called the police on him over an incident in South Korea. He’s charged with “theft causing significant damage to a citizen,” which carries a maximum penalty of five years behind bars.

Unnamed U.S. officials told the AP that Black and his Russian girlfriend had gotten into a “domestic dispute” last fall while they were in South Korea and she left the country shortly after.

The domestic dispute probably caused South Korean authorities to check her immigration status which led to her getting deported is my guess. So this guy gets into a domestic dispute with her that causes her deportation, I doubt she was very happy to see him turn up in Russia looking for her. Anyway this is what the Russian news media has been reporting that SSG Black did that got him arrested:

Russian news Telegram channels including Baza reported that Black had been serving in the South Korean port of Pyeongtaek when he met a Russian woman, who moved back to Vladivostok. Black visited the woman recently, during which time they argued. Gordon is accused of attacking the woman and stealing 200,000 rubles; around $2,200.

Newsweek

Radio Free Europe was able to track down the Russian girlfriend’s TikTok trail to provide further information about her:

U.S. Staff Sergeant Gordon Black (left) and his Russian wife, Aleksandra Vashchuk

RFE/RL found a TikTok account of Black’s romantic partner, Vladivostok native Aleksandra Vashchuk, who posted numerous videos of the couple together in South Korea, including at least one showing Black in his U.S. Army fatigues.

Among the hundreds of often profanity-laced TikTok videos posted by Vashchuk, 31, are several in which she refers to Black as her “husband” and affectionately as “pindos,” a Russian slang word for Americans that roughly translates to “Yankee punk.”

Most of the videos of the couple together in 2022 and 2023 appear to have been shot in South Korea, where Vashchuk says on TikTok that she had lived for more than five years. (…..)

In one of the videos posted to Vashchuk’s TikTok account, which she closed to the public on May 7, Black is seen in his U.S. military fatigues with his name clearly visible on his uniform.

In one video, Vashchuk asks Black to comment on U.S.-Russian relations for her followers. He echoes several talking points frequently used by the Kremlin to justify the February 2022 invasion, calling NATO “pretty aggressive.”

“I understand Russia’s position, obviously. They want to defend their country,” Black says in the video before Vashchuk interjects and says former U.S. President Donald Trump “is better” than current U.S. President Joe Biden.

Radio Free Europe

You can read more at the link to include some of the videos that SSG Black was in. What is unclear is that media has been saying SSG Black is married. His mom claims Vashchuk is a girlfriend. If so then who is he married to? Someone back in the U.S. or is the media referring to his supposed marriage to Vashchuk? Anyway this whole situation is pretty stupid and should serve as warning to others to not travel to Russia.

When it comes to claims from defectors I give the usual caveat of who knows how true this actually is. With that said I would not be surprised if Kim Jong-un didn’t have his own pleasure squad as the defector claims:

사진 확대Kim Jong-un (left) and North Korean defector Park Yeon-mi [Photo source = Yonhap News, Mirror]

A North Korean woman claimed that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is selecting a “joy group” for pleasure like his father Kim Jong-il.

On the 30th of last month (local time), the British Mirror published an article titled “Kim Jong-un picks 25 maidens every year to entertain him in the creepy pleasure class.”

The Mirror wrote an article based on the argument of Park Yeon-mi, a North Korean defector. Park introduced when Joyjo appeared and which women were selected.

He claimed that he was a twice-nominated candidate but was not chosen because of his family’s status.

Park explained that the Joyjo idea was devised by Kim Jong Il in the 1970s. He said he picked a few pretty women and took them to the resort where his father, Kim Il-sung, was going.

Kim Jong-il created a second Joyjo for himself in 1983, Park claimed.

“The three men have different preferences for women, so the team composition has changed,” he said. “Kim Jong-il prefers women who are shorter than 160cm but not too tall, and Kim Jong-un prefers slim and Western women.”

Park claimed that the Joy group consisted of three groups each responsible for massage, performance, and sexual activity.

Maiel Kyeongchae

You can read more at the link.

It appears Indonesia is getting cold feet in regards to boosting their Air Force capabilities with new fighter jets from South Korea:

 Indonesia has proposed reducing its payment for a joint fighter jet development project with South Korea to around one-third of its original amount, sources said Monday, amid concerns over its delayed payments.

Indonesia recently suggested paying only 600 billion won (US$442.3 million) in total for the KF-21 jet project, they said, after originally agreeing to pay about 20 percent of the 8.1 trillion-won program launched in 2015 to build the advanced supersonic fighter by 2026.

Jakarta had initially agreed to pay the sum in return for receiving one prototype model and technology transfers, and producing 48 units in Indonesia, but is said to have proposed reducing the payment amount for fewer technology transfers.

It has so far contributed around 300 billion won to the project and has failed to keep up with payment deadlines, leading to questions over its commitment.

Indonesia is known to have asked South Korea late last year to defer its payment for the project to 2034, but Seoul has maintained its stance that it should be made by the development deadline of 2026.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Satellite imagery indicates that North Korea conducted an unannounced test of a liquid propellant rocket engine from the Yunsong vertical engine test facility during the fourth week of April 2024.

Earlier in the month, several sources suggested that North Korea was preparing to… pic.twitter.com/rOdiwT13l8

— CSIS Korea Chair (@CSISKoreaChair) May 6, 2024

How is $184 going to restore anyone’s “livelihood”?:

Rep. Park Chan-dae, the new floor leader of the Democratic Party, speaks at the National Assembly in western Seoul on May 3, 2024. (Yonhap)

The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) plans to propose legislation providing cash handouts of 250,000 won (US$184) to the entire population as its first bill of the new National Assembly set to open later this month, its new floor leader said Monday.

Rep. Park Chan-dae unveiled the plan in a radio interview with local broadcaster MBC after DP leader Lee Jae-myung asked President Yoon Suk Yeol last Monday to accept his election pledge for the cash handouts as a way to help restore the people’s livelihoods.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Being a farmer in South Korea is definitely not a lucrative business and very dependent on subsidies according to this report:

I ask people around me how much money I earn from farming in Korea on average per year. It usually refers to about 30 million won to 60 million won. Maybe it’s because there’s an amount of money I heard from somewhere. That’s roughly correct, as farm household income averaged 46.1 million won in 2022.

However, among them, the actual agricultural income earned from farming is only 9.5 million won. It’s about a fifth. The rest are non-agricultural income (19.2 million won), transfer income (15.2 million won), and non-ordinary income (2.2 million won). In other words, money earned from business or government direct payments or subsidies accounts for 80% of farm income.

Maeil Kyeongchae

You can read more at the link.

None of this should be surprising to people who have lived for a while in South Korea; always check your receipts and make sure the taxi drivers turn on the meter:

Foreign tourists to Korea are least happy with its shopping and taxi riding experience, a Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) report showed Sunday.

The KTO said its Tourist Complaint Center received 902 complaints last year, seeing a significant increase compared to 288 in 2022.

It said the number of complaints decreased between 2020 and 2022 during the COVID-19 pandemic but hiked last year as the tourism industry recovered.

Of the complaints, 808 (89.6 percent) were made by foreign visitors.

The highest number of complaints (215) was related to shopping, including price gouging, tax refunds and refund and exchange policies.

“I bought a set of 10 foot masks after viewing the price at 8,000 won in combine, but later realized that I was charged 80,000 won. When I asked for cancellation, the seller told me to come back the next day because the store manager wasn’t present,” a Japanese tourist was quoted as saying by the KTO.

Taxi service was the second-greatest inconvenience for foreign tourists, taking up 18.8 percent of the complaints (170). Problems included overcharging and refusing to turn on meters, drivers not being courteous with customers and deliberately taking longer routes for higher fares.

The Jeju Special Self-Governing Provincial Police Agency said Thursday it caught a taxi driver who tried to charge a Chinese tourist an exorbitant fare for a ride from Jeju International Airport to a hotel near Hamdeok Beach.

The police said the taxi driver received 200,000 won when the taxi fare should have been 23,000 won and ordered him to return 177,000 won.

Complaints concerning accommodations came in third.

Among 142 reported cases, those related to poor facilities and hygiene accounted for 31.7 percent.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

South Korea is considering sharing advanced military technology with the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia through the so-called AUKUS partnership, South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said. https://t.co/CYNgsuMopP

— Corey Stutte (@coreystutte) May 1, 2024

Ozone alert issued

This photo shows a view of Seoul from Namsan Park on May 4, 2024, as an ozone alert was issued in 14 districts in Seoul. (Yonhap)