I don’t think safe is the word; more like better behaved:

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday boasted his personal ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that he had built during his presidency, stressing America was “safe” then.

Trump made the remarks during a rally in Indianola, Iowa, on the eve of the first vote of the Republican Party’s nomination contest in the lead-off state. Hours earlier, Pyongyang fired a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile into the East Sea in its first missile launch this year.

“Kim Jong-un (is) very smart, very tough, but he liked me and I got along really well with him and we were safe,” Trump said during a live-streamed speech.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The testing of an IRBM is sending a message to the US and Japan that bases in both countries can be targeted with this missile:

North Korea fired a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) into the East Sea on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, in Pyongyang’s first missile launch this year amid heightened tensions over its continued saber-rattling.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from an area in or around Pyongyang at about 2:55 p.m. and the missile flew around 1,000 kilometers before splashing into the sea.

The JCS strongly condemned the launch, calling it a “clear provocative act,” adding that it shared data on the North Korean missile with U.S. and Japanese authorities, with an analysis on its specifications under way.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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

The man who murdered a South Korean tourist on Guam has been found dead by suicide and the driver of the getaway vehicle has been arrested. I figured an island that small with all the cameras around the criminals would be found:

A man suspected of fatally shooting a South Korean tourist during a robbery last week in Guam was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and his alleged getaway driver was in custody, police in the U.S. territory said Tuesday.

Police said the first suspect was found dead inside a parked car Tuesday night, KUAM-TV reported. Police won’t release his name until his family has been notified. 

A second man believed to have been the driver of the SUV allegedly used in the deadly Jan. 4 robbery was found in a game room and taken into custody, police said.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link, but both were unsurprisingly long time criminals.

Expect Lee Jae-myung to play up his one centimeter puncture wound as much as possible:

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DP), speaks to reporters in front of Seoul National University Hospital on Jan. 10, 2024, eight days after he underwent surgery on a knife wound sustained in an attack. (Yonhap)

Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung will not be able to attend hearings in his corruption trial for the time being because he has yet to recover from a stabbing attack, his legal representative said Friday.

“It seems it will be hard (for Lee) to attend the trials for now,” Lee’s lawyer said during a preparatory hearing held at the Seoul Central District Court. “On the face of it, he seemed to have trouble even speaking.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I am not a doctor, but I am not sure how a one centimeter wound to the juglar vein impacts the vocal cords?

It will be interesting to see what more comes out about the motivations for the stabbing of Lee Jae-myung. Was this guy really a right wing wacko posing as a Democratic Party member as many online are portraying him?:

The man apprehended for attacking Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung, a 67-year-old individual surnamed Kim, is taken to the Busan Metropolitan Police Agency. (Yonhap)

The real estate agent surnamed Kim who attacked Democratic Party leader Lee Jae-myung on Tuesday in Busan has been found to have been a member of the People Power Party (PPP) for several years before joining the Democratic Party 10 months ago.

Kim’s acquaintances have testified that he frequently joined the far-right “Taegeukgi rallies” and enjoyed watching political content on YouTube.

The police, in connection to the statements made by Kim’s acquaintances about his party membership, checked relevant materials with the cooperation of the PPP and the Democratic Party after obtaining a search warrant from the court on Wednesday.

Article 24 of the Political Parties Act stipulates that the roster of party members “shall not be subject to inspection, with the exception of the case where a court requests it in the interests of a judgment, and where an election management commission concerned wants to confirm a matter pertaining to a party member.” It also states that a writ issued by a judge is compulsory in the event of a criminal investigation.

According to officials from both the PPP and the Democratic Party, Kim was a member of the United Future Party, the predecessor of the PPP, and joined the Democratic Party in March 2023 and remained a member until recently.

A Democratic Party official stated that Kim was “known to be a local party member in Asan, South Chungcheong Province.”

Hankyoreh

You can read more at the link.