Just like their buddies in North Korea, Iran has plenty of money for humanitarian purposes they just choose to use it to fund a burgeoning nuclear program, ballistic missiles, terrorism groups, etc. The real reason these funds were released was because Iran released five American hostages showing that kidnapping and terrorism do work:

State department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel is seen answering questions during a daily press briefing at the department in Washington on Aug. 14, 2023 in this captured image. (Yonhap)

The Iranian funds currently held in South Korea can only be used for humanitarian purposes while the United States will continue to hold Iran accountable for any destabilizing actions, a state department spokesperson said Monday.

Vedant Patel, principal deputy spokesperson for the state department, also emphasized that the money had always been available to Iran for humanitarian use.

“Allowing Iran to use such funds for humanitarian purposes is consistent with long standing U.S. policy to ensure that our sanctions do not prevent humanitarian goods and services from flowing to ordinary people, no matter how objectionable or problematic their government is,” the department spokesperson told a daily press briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Its August which means provocation time from North Korea due to the annual joint exercise between the U.S. and the ROK:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has called for a “drastic boost” of the country’s missile production capacity, the North’s state media said Monday, as South Korea and the United States plan to stage joint military drills later this month.

Kim made the remarks during a two-day visit to major factories that produce strategic missiles, rocket launchers and other military weapons on Friday and Saturday, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The visit came less than a week after the North Korean leader conducted a “field guidance” of major munitions factories as South Korea and the United States plan to hold their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise later this month, which Pyongyang has denounced as a rehearsal for an invasion of the North.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This audit and investigation of the Scout Jamboree could get real interesting considering it is also going to include how North Jeolla province, a major area of support for the prior Moon administration was selected for the event. Was this really the best site for the event or a political favor? It looks like we will eventually find out along with where all the money went:

South Korea’s state audit agency could launch an inspection of what went wrong and who was responsible for the poor organization of the 2023 World Scout Jamboree as early as this week, officials said Sunday.

The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) has begun preparations to inspect the organizing committee, the North Jeolla Province government, and the gender equality and interior ministries following the event’s conclusion on Saturday, according to the officials.

The jamboree, which ran from Aug. 1-12, opened at a campsite in Saemangeum, a reclaimed wetland on the southwestern coast, but faced severe criticism for lacking the facilities to host some 40,000 participants from around the world during a scorching heat wave earlier this month.

The participants were later relocated to various cities across the nation to escape a powerful approaching typhoon.

Officials said the BAI will announce the launch of the inspection as soon as the number of inspectors is finalized. It is expected to cover everything from how Saemangeum was chosen to host the event, how the necessary infrastructure was built, the operations of the organizing committee and details of where the massive 100 billion won (US$75 million) budget for the jamboree was spent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Definitely not the best marketing strategy for the Oppenheimer movie in Japan:

Sachiko Ishikawa, a YouTube video blogger from Tokyo, talks about the “Barbenheimer” controversy in Japan against a backdrop of the fan poster on Aug. 9, 2023. (Sachiko Ishikawa/YouTube)

When “Barbie,” the live-action movie about a plastic doll, opened Friday in Japan, it did so without “Oppenheimer,” the rival film with which it shared a bill in the United States.

“Oppenheimer,” a biopic about the father of the atomic bomb, has no opening date in Japan, thus far, and Universal Studios has said nothing about the film coming to the only country targeted in anger with atomic weapons. 

“Barbie” arrived divorced from its trendy “Barbenheimer” partner, a phenomenon in July in the United States but a cultural faux pas in Japan. (…………..)

Warner Bros.’ official “Barbie” account on X, formerly known as Twitter, re-tweeted a fan-art poster showing Murphy’s Oppenheimer carrying Robbie as Barbie superimposed over a mushroom cloud.

“It’s going to be a summer to remember,” declared the tweet, since deleted.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Why is the U.N. providing North Korea any aid? I don’t care if it is just tents, the Kim regime has money to build nuclear weapons, ICBMs, submarines, etc., but can’t buy their own tents?:

A U.N. Security Council panel has approved sanctions exemptions for the World Health Organization (WHO) allowing the delivery of tents into North Korea, its website showed Saturday.

On July 20, the U.N. committee overseeing sanctions approved the waiver on the importation of five “multipurpose” tents into the North for humanitarian relief to civilians to help cope with flood, drought and other emergencies, according to the U.N. website.

The exemption will be valid for nine months, the committee said.

It remains unclear when the items will be delivered to the North, as the reclusive country maintains border controls due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.