It looks like the difference between Yoon getting impeached and possibly going to jail is two similar sounding Korean words:
A former military commander involved in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law bid confirmed Thursday that the people Yoon ordered to be removed from the National Assembly were lawmakers, not agents, a claim that Yoon again rejected.
Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, the then chief of the Army Special Warfare Command, made the remark as a witness during the sixth formal hearing of Yoon’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court.
Yoon was also in attendance.
“I obviously thought and understood the part about dragging people out from inside as referring to lawmakers because there were no operation agents inside the main (parliamentary) building at the time,” Kwak said, referring to a phone call he received from Yoon on the night martial law was imposed on Dec. 3.
Kwak was confirming testimony he has previously given in parliament, as former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun has disputed the claim, saying Yoon had in fact ordered the removal of agents, not lawmakers.
In Korean, the words for agent and lawmaker are similar in pronunciation.
Yoon once again denied the claim — saying he has never used the term “agent” — and accused Kwak of plotting against him.
You can read more at the link.
Here is the latest on the North Korean troop dispatch to Russia:
This image, captured from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s X account on Jan. 12, 2025, shows a passport he said one of the two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces was possessing. (Yonhap)
North Korean troops deployed to support Russia’s war against Ukraine appear to have been absent from combat in the front-line Kursk region since mid-January, the spy agency said Tuesday.
The National Intelligence Service (NIS) disclosed the intelligence, confirming a recent report from The New York Times that North Korean soldiers who fought alongside Russian troops in battle against Ukraine have been pulled from the front lines in mid-January due to heavy casualties, citing Ukrainian and U.S. officials.
“Since mid-January, there have been no signs showing North Korean troops deployed to the Russian Kursk region engaging in battle,” the NIS said.
The spy agency echoed the news report, saying that heavy casualties appear to be one reason for the absence of North Korean troops, adding that efforts are under way to determine the exact reason.
You can read more at the link.
Here is an update on the embattled daughter of former President Moon:
Prosecutors on Wednesday indicted former President Moon Jae-in’s daughter without physical detention over alleged drunk driving and illegally operating a house-sharing business.
Moon Da-hye collided with a taxi in Seoul’s Itaewon district while trying to change lanes on Oct 5. Her blood alcohol concentration was measured at 0.149 percent at the time, exceeding the 0.08 percent threshold for driver’s license revocation.
She is also accused of running an Airbnb business without official registration at three locations, comprising a studio apartment and villa in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo district, and a house on the southern resort island of Jeju.
You can read more at the link.
The same ROK general involved with consulting a shaman on many occasions before the failed martial law decree also apparently gave orders based on movie screenplays:
Noh Sang-won, the former commander at the Korea Defense Intelligence Command under investigation for his role in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched imposition of martial law, once ordered disposal of his own men with explosives, an Army brigadier general formerly under Noh’s command said Tuesday.
Brig. Gen. Park Min-woo, who served at the KDIC under Noh, told the National Assembly that Noh used to give orders that “were based on movie screenplays.” During Park’s time as the deputy chief of the KDIC’s Headquarters of Intelligence Detachment, he used to oversee espionage missions against North Korea.
Park’s remarks were made in a parliamentary hearing to illustrate Noh’s character, not Noh’s actual role in the plotting and execution of Yoon’s Dec. 3 martial law plan.
“In 2016, I was working on an important mission against North Korea for six months, and Commander Noh instructed me to get rid of the agents after the mission,” he told the special parliamentary committee investigating the president for allegedly leading an insurrection. “When I asked how I would do it, he told me to blow them up. The method was to make them wear explosive belts that could be remotely detonated.”
“I cursed at him to myself. … He wasn’t an expert in special missions, so all I had to do was return (the agents) safely (without carrying out Noh’s orders),” he said.
Park feuded with Noh in August last year, in which Noh supposedly threw objects at him and Park filed for complaint against Noh for assault. Noh then claimed that he had been subject to verbal abuse by Park and filed a complaint against him.
You can read more at the link, but General Noh appears to have ascended to the top ranks of toxic leaders.
If these Soldiers even wanted to return to North Korea, would the Kim regime even allow them? Officially North Korea has never confirmed they are at war with Ukraine. Accepting these Soldiers back would confirm they are in fact fighting against Ukraine:
The Ukrainian government is open to discussions with South Korea regarding the potential transfer of two captured North Korean soldiers to the South, according to Ukrainian Ambassador to South Korea Dmytro Ponomarenko.
While Kyiv has yet to begin formal negotiations with Seoul, Ponomarenko said Ukraine is willing to cooperate on transferring the soldiers if they refuse to return to their home country.
“Given the threat to the life and freedom of North Korean servicemen in the event of their repatriation to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), and if they refuse to go back, we are open for a dialogue with international partners, in particular the Republic of Korea, regarding the possibilities of their transfer to third countries,” Ponomarenko said in a recent written interview with The Korea Times, referring the two Koreas by their official names.
You can read more at the link.
Former ROK intelligence commander Roh Sang-won apparently sought the advice of a Shaman based out of Gunsan over 20 times over the past two years:
Lee Sun-jin, a shaman known as “Vidan A” testified to the National Assembly on the 4th that former intelligence commander Roh Sang-won visited him and saw the fortune and fortune of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and military officials related to martial law.
Lee appeared as a witness at the Special Committee on the Investigation of State Affairs to Investigate Alleged Insurrection by the Yoon Suk Yeol Government’s Declaration of Emergency Security.
Lee said, “Former commander Roh created a problem with former minister Kim and said that if it goes well, he may work in the government again.”
“[Former commander Roh] brought Minister Kim Yong-hyun’s name and date of birth at first,” Lee said. So I said, ‘I don’t think this person is an ordinary soldier,’ he said. “That was before (former minister Kim) became a minister, and (former commander Roh) said this person would become a minister later.”
When asked by Rep. Han Byung-do of the Democratic Party of Korea, “Did former commander Roh bring a list of soldiers to search for traitors and request a fortune teller?” Lee replied, “That’s right.”
He then explained, “I asked a lot if I could follow him to the end when I (gave him) together, and I asked a lot of luck for each soldier.”
You can read more about how this fortune teller warned Roh before the martial law decree that Yoon would be impeached at this link.
