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A rally held in support of Palestine in Seoul on Sunday. Participants, ranging from Koreans to citizens of Egypt, Jordan and other countries in the region, uphold signs urging Israel to stop bombing Gaza. [YONHAP]

The cooperation between the U.S., the ROK, and Japan continues to expand:

South Korea, the United States and Japan plan to conduct a joint aerial exercise for the first time near the Korean Peninsula next week, a source said Wednesday, amid efforts to bolster three-way security cooperation against North Korean threats.

The trilateral aerial exercise is scheduled for Sunday over the Korean Peninsula, involving the U.S. strategic bomber B-52 currently deployed to South Korea.

“The joint aerial exercise involving South Korean, U.S. and Japanese Air Forces will consist of a formation flight with the B-52 escorted fighter jets from the three countries,” a source familiar with the matter said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like things really are returning back to normal in post-COVID North Korea:

North Korea is witnessing an escalation in terror, as the totalitarian state has increasingly relied on public executions, a move by its dictator Kim Jong-un to strengthen his grip over national governance.

According to reports citing an informed source with insights into North Korean internal affairs, the number of public executions has been massively increased. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea saw an average of about 10 public executions annually, but over the past year, this number has surged to an estimated 100 or more.

During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, North Korea took measures to reduce public executions significantly in a bid to prevent the spread of infections. However, with the pandemic subsiding and human interactions increasing, these gruesome acts have resurged.

“North Korea public executions occur relatively frequently,” Cheong Seong-chang, director of the Department of Reunification Strategy Studies at the Sejong Institute, said.

“These executions cover a wide range of cases, including heinous crimes, drug smuggling, and, in rare instances, individuals caught producing and selling prohibited content, including South Korean dramas.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This lawmaker had to get a whole decade of suicide death data to reach this 144 number which to me does not seem very high considering the huge population of teachers in South Korea. This number would be more meaningful compared to other professions with similar numbers of employees. For example how many truck drivers or delivery workers have committed suicide over the past decade?:

Wreaths of condolence flowers are laid in front of an elementary school in the central city of Daejeon in this file photo taken Sept. 8, 2023, after a teacher there died by an apparent suicide. (Yonhap)

The number of elementary, middle and high school teachers who took their own life over the past decade amounted to 144, a ruling party lawmaker said Wednesday, citing data from the Ministry of Education.

The suicides occurred between 2014 and August this year, Rep. Lee Tae-kyu of the ruling People Power Party said, noting the annual number spiked from six in 2014 to 20 in 2018 and 25 in 2021.

The number decreased to 20 last year but as many as 14 teachers died by suicide in the first eight months of this year, Lee added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

By Korean rally standards this is a very small group, however it did have U.S. embassy officials attend this rally in Seoul in support of Israel:

The flags of Israel and Korea held by participants of a rally in Seoul on Tuesday in support of Israel in the wake of the Hamas militant group’s attack on Israel and the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. [NEWS1]

Hundreds of Koreans and Israelis in Korea rallied to support Israel in Seoul on Tuesday as top diplomats from Israel and the United States stood side-by-side to voice support for the Jewish state in the wake of Hamas’s brutal attack on Oct. 7. 
  
“Thank you to all the Jewish and Israeli people living in Korea for coming today to Gwanghwamun and not giving in to fear or anxiety,” said Akiva Tor, ambassador of Israel to Korea, addressing the crowd gathered near Gwanghwamun Station in Seoul on Tuesday, many waving the flag of Israel. “I would like to thank the Republic of Korea’s government for its strong statements of condemnation of the Hamas atrocities and for being a friend to Israel.”

The rally, organized by the Korea-Israel Friendship Association and Israel Forum, was joined by some 200 participants, according to the organizers.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

I would hope someone is developing technology to detect moving drone based mines like we are seeing the Black Sea right now from Ukraine:

Northrop Grumman has been contracted to provide technical support for South Korea’s upcoming naval minesweeping helicopter, the company announced in a news release Monday. 

The Virginia-based company will support the integration of its Airborne Laser Mine Detection System, or ALMDS, into Korea Aerospace Industries’ Korean Mine Countermeasures Helicopter program by 2027, according to the release.

The purpose of the ALMDS is to detect and identify floating and near-surface moored mines, Northrop Grumman said on its website. The system has been used in U.S. Navy littoral combat ships and the MH-60S Seahawk helicopters since its development in 2016.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.