N. Korea’s industrial plant opening ceremony An industrial plant opens its doors in the North Korean border city of Kaesong as part of Pyongyang’s local development plan on Feb. 1, 2025, in this photo released by the North’s Korean Central News Agency the following day. (Yonhap)
Shouldn’t you had made peace in order to receive a peace prize?:
A wave of controversies has erupted between the two rival parties here following a recommendation on Tuesday by a main opposition lawmaker suggesting that U.S. President Donald Trump be considered a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.
According to the party’s senior spokesperson, Jo Seoung-lae, Rep. Park Sun-won of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) recommended Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in facilitating dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. during former President Moon Jae-in’s administration.
“The recommendation was made on Jan. 30 to the Norwegian Nobel Committee and party leader Lee Jae-myung and senior DPK Rep. Kim Min-seok have been informed about this,” he said.
If Yoon was trying to arrest members of the Korean parliament, it was the most incompetent coup attempt ever:
President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday he ordered sending troops to offices of the National Election Commission (NEC) during his martial law declaration as he has suspected election fraud allegations.
Yoon made the admission while attending the fifth formal hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul, where he again denied allegations that he ordered military commanders to drag lawmakers out of parliament in an attempt to prevent them from blocking the martial law imposition. (……)
Yoon is also alleged to have sent military troops to the National Assembly to keep lawmakers from voting down the martial law declaration and to have planned to arrest key political figures.
“Nothing actually happened (during martial law decree) … I feel like we are chasing the moon’s shadow on a lake,” Yoon said. “You would know the true nature of this case if you saw it based on common sense.”
Yoon claimed that dragging lawmakers from parliament could not have been possible as there are thousands of civilians in the National Assembly compound and troops were withdrawn after martial law was lifted.
It was only a matter of time before someone in the Trump administration said something that the Kim regime could latch on to, to justify future provocations:
North Korea on Monday condemned U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio for calling Pyongyang a “rogue state” and vowed powerful counteraction in its first official criticism against the Trump administration.
A spokesperson at North Korea’s foreign ministry issued the statement after Rubio said the United States has rogue states to deal with, such as Iran and North Korea, during his recent interview with U.S. journalist Megyn Kelly.
North Korea condemned Rubio’s remarks for tarnishing the image of a sovereign state, calling them a “grave political provocation,” according to the Korean Central News Agency.
“It is necessary to mention how absurd and illogical it is that the most depraved state in the world brands another country a rogue state,” the spokesperson said, stressing that Rubio’s remarks reaffirmed the U.S. hostile policy toward the North remains unchanged.
Here is another cultural change coming to the military:
All official monthly celebrations related to race and identity in the Defense Department are banned effective immediately, under an order issued late Friday saying such initiatives divide the force. The decision comes at the start of Black History Month, which typically entails various celebrations at military installations around the world.
The guidance was issued under the title “Identity Months Dead at DoD.” “Our unity and purpose are instrumental to meeting the Department’s warfighting mission. Efforts to divide the force — to put one group ahead of another — erode camaraderie and threaten mission execution,” the Pentagon statement said.
The directive applies to all components and departments in the military, which are prohibited from using official resources, including man-hours, to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months. Instead of traditional identity celebrations, military units were encouraged to recognize “the valor and success of military heroes of all races, genders, and backgrounds as we restore our warrior culture and ethos,” the Pentagon said.
The new Secretary of Defense says ties with both Japan and South Korea will be strengthened. The ties with both country’s militaries are already very strong. If anything it will be interesting to see if ties with South Korea degrade if President Trump decides to cancel joint military exercises like he did in his first term when pursuing diplomacy with North Korea:
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke Friday with his counterparts in South Korea and Japan, vowing to strengthen military ties with both countries amid regional security concerns, according to their respective defense ministries.
In his first phone call with South Korea’s acting defense minister, Hegseth and Kim Seon-ho agreed to “deepen and expand the level and scope” of their 71-year military alliance and strengthen security ties with Japan to deter North Korea, South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense said in a statement Friday. Hegseth also spoke that day with Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani. The two expressed their “firm intent to continue the initiatives to reinforce the alliance,” Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a news release.
They also agreed to “bilaterally cooperate to realize the vision of a free and open” Indo-Pacific and reaffirmed that their security treaty covers the Senkaku Islands, which China claims as its territory.
