More political violence in South Korea as parliamentary elections are just two months away:

This Dec. 6, 2023, file photo shows People Power Party lawmaker Rep. Bae Hyun-jin. (Yonhap)

People Power Party lawmaker Rep. Bae Hyun-jin sustained a head injury after being attacked by an unidentified assailant Thursday but remains in stable condition, her office said.

The incident happened around 5 p.m. in the southern Seoul district of Gangnam. According to Bae’s aide, a male pedestrian walked up to Bae and asked, “Are you the lawmaker Bae Hyun-jin?” and struck her in the back of the head with a rock the size of an adult man’s fist.

Bae was transported to Soonchunhyang University Hospital with her head bleeding. Bae remained conscious and her injury is not believed to be life threatening.

The suspect was momentarily arrested by police in Gangnam, and claimed to officers that he is 15 years old.

Bae, 40, is a former television news anchor who was elected to her first term in the National Assembly in 2020. She briefly served as a spokesperson for then President-elect Yoon Suk Yeol in 2022.

CCTV footage provided by Bae’s office showed that the suspect struck the lawmaker fifteen times with the rock within a span of some 10 seconds until nearby witnesses physically engaged the suspect.

Footage showed that the suspect, who wore a mask and a beanie while dressed in a hoodie, remained at the scene observing the lawmaker until Bae’s aides apprehended him. He was later handed over to police.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the doctors believe she will be okay after stitching her head closed. They are going to continue to monitor her for a concussion and microbleeding in her cranium. It will be interesting to see what the motivation was for the attacker to commit this crime or if he has a history of mental illness or not.

It appears the whole Dior handbag scandal involving Korea’s first lady, Kim Keon-hee was a setup with a spy cam and a acquaintance giving Korea’s first lady the hand bag with her responding “Why do you keep bringing me these things?”:

Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Hwang Un-ha speaks as the controversial video footage of first lady Kim Keon Hee accepting a Christian Dior bag from a pastor is being shown in the background during a meeting of the National Policy Committee at the National Assembly in Seoul on Monday. (Yonhap)

When a YouTube video of South Korea’s first lady receiving a Dior handbag went viral last year, it initially made few waves in mainstream news media.

In the weeks before April’s general election, the footage has become a wedge that is straining relationships among People Power Party lawmakers, as well as a piece of political ammunition for the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea.

Opposition lawmakers have been raising their suspicions that first lady Kim Keon Hee violated anti-graft legislation that forbids public officials and their spouses from receiving gifts valued at one million won ($748) at a time or a total of three million in a single year from the same person. (…….)

Kim is featured in the 86-minute video for less than a minute, as the rest of the video is filled with commentaries and discussions among panels. Wearing a casual T-shirt, she asks Choi, who visited her at the headquarters of her company Covana Contents located in southern Seoul, “Why do you keep bringing me these things?”

The box of the Dior handbag is shown perched up on the coffee table between Kim and Choi next to glasses filled with water, but the video does not show Kim accepting the gift. It was revealed that Kim had accepted the gift through a statement released by the presidential office and ruling party which said the bag was “being managed and stored as a property of the government.”

The footage was filmed with a spy cam in September last year, Choi admitted through a press conference held at the National Assembly on Monday. Choi said he was able to meet Kim because he shared an acquaintance with her father.

Choi claimed that he decided to film the video to expose how Kim was abusing her power as the first lady.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

The ROK defense minister had some blunt talk for the Kim regime:

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik visits the 17th Fighter Wing at Cheongju Air Base, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, which operates 40 F-35 stealth fighter jets, on Jan. 24, 2024, in this photo provided by his office. 

 South Korea’s defense chief said Wednesday that North Korea will face the end of its regime if it wages war, hours after the North fired several rounds of cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea in its latest series of weapons tests. 

Defense Minister Shin Won-sik issued the warning during his visit to the 17th Fighter Wing at Cheongju Air Base, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, which operates 40 F-35 stealth fighter jets.

“North Korea has defined the Republic of Korea as its principal enemy and has maintained a hostile policy under the goal of communizing the whole Korean Peninsula,” Shin was quoted as saying, referring to South Korea’s official name.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest provocation in what will likely continue to be a busy year of provocations from North Korea:

North Korea fired several cruise missiles toward the Yellow Sea on Wednesday, the South Korean military said, the latest in a series of saber-rattling that heightened tensions.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the North’s launch took place around 7 a.m. but did not elaborate, citing an ongoing analysis.

“While strengthening our monitoring and vigilance, our military has been closely coordinating with the United States to monitor additional signs of North Korea’s provocations,” the JCS said in a text message sent to reporters.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Considering all the publicity the Alkonis family made trying to get him transferred to a U.S. prison, it was doubtful they would ever keep his release low key:

A Navy officer’s release by U.S. authorities from his prison term for two 2021 traffic deaths near Mount Fuji has stirred a wave of criticism by Japanese on social media. Online critique of Lt. Ridge Alkonis’ release, ordered Jan.12 by the U.S. Parole Commission, and his subsequent media appearances “goes far beyond the scale” sometimes leveled at the U.S. military in Japan, said Jeffrey Hall, a special lecturer at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba prefecture. (……)

“The pressure campaign to release Alkonis and his subsequent release received very little media attention in Japan,” he told Stars and Stripes by email Friday. “If they had not decided to draw attention to themselves with a post-release victory tour in the US news media, this event probably would have been largely unnoticed in Japan.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Some US Army occupational specialities in South Korea are now going to have the option to take a $5,000 lump sum bonus to extend their tour on the peninsula:

Eighth Army troops in jobs on a critical shortage list may earn up to $5,000 for extending their tours in South Korea for another year. Career specialties on the critical list are eligible for that incentive; jobs deemed “understrength” could be offered $3,600, Eighth Army assistant chief of staff Col. R. Arron Lummer said by email Tuesday.

The critical list includes fire control specialists, rocket system crew members, Black Hawk helicopter mechanics, information technology specialists, satellite communication systems operators, military working dog handlers, preventive medicine specialists, wheeled vehicle mechanics, culinary specialists and AH-64E Apache helicopter pilots. Understrength jobs include combat engineers, joint fire support specialists, air defense enhanced early warning system operators, air traffic controllers, cavalry scouts and utilities equipment repairers. The bonuses are dispersed to eligible soldiers in a lump sum on the first day of their extended yearlong tour in South Korea.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but this is the first time I can remember a large lump sum bonus like this being to keep Soldiers in 8th Army.