This is one issue I really wish the Japanese would work out with the Yoon administration. Ties between the two countries will never be fully normalized until this issue is resolved:

South Korea issued a strong protest on Friday against Japan’s renewed territorial claim to its easternmost islets of Dokdo in an annual defense white paper, calling for its immediate retraction.

Earlier in the day, Tokyo adopted the security document during a Cabinet session, renewing the claim to the pair of rocky outcroppings in the East Sea in the paper for the 19th consecutive year.

“The government of the Republic of Korea (ROK) strongly protests against the Japanese government’s repeated inclusion of unjust sovereignty claims over Dokdo, which is clearly an integral part of the ROK territory historically, geographically and under international law,” Lim Soo-suk, the spokesperson of the foreign ministry, said in a statement, using South Korea’s official name.

“The ROK government urges the Japanese government to immediately withdraw such claims,” he said, adding that the claims do not and will not have any impact on South Korea’s sovereignty over Dokdo and that Seoul will respond “firmly” to any provocation over the islets.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the Japanese are likely not showing much flexibility on this issue because of their ongoing territorial dispute with the Russians over the Kuril Islands which are islands they actually care about.

Hopefully the Russians got a cheap price for these North Korean artillery rounds which are apparently not very reliable:

While North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has supported Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war effort, weapons produced in his country have apparently been turned against Russian forces.

The Financial Times reported Friday that Ukraine has been launching unpredictable, North Korean-made rockets at Russian troops. Ukrainian soldiers manning multiple-launch rocket systems near Bakhmut showed the weapons to the outlet.

A Ukrainian artillery commander told FT his troops don’t like using the weapons, which were made in the 1980s and ’90s, because they can often misfire or fail to explode. One soldier said, “They are very unreliable and do crazy things sometimes.”

Yahoo News

You can read more at the link.

Dictatorship 101 says to put large portraits of yourself everywhere and for Putin he even has the North Koreans putting up his picture now. This is a bit surprising because it makes North Korea look like a vassal state:

Kim Jong Un decorated his walls with huge portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin during a tour of a state office building, state media images show.

The portraits were visible as the North Korean leader gave a personal tour to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Shoigu was attending a banquet at the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party headquarters in Pyongyang, per the Daily Mail. It comes as the country celebrated the 70th anniversary of the end of the Korean War, which took place from 1950 to 1953.

In the bizarre images, Kim and Shoigu can be seen walking down a corridor while huge portraits of Putin and Kim loom over them from either side.

Business Insider

You can read more at the link.

It isn’t really surprising that some parents would abuse the changes made to the child abuse law to go after teachers:

It was the second weekly gathering of teachers and aspiring teachers, as the organizers seek to hold rallies regularly until early September, which will be 49 days after the death of the 23-year-old teacher who took her own life in an elementary school classroom in Seocho-gu, earlier in July. The rally last week saw some 5,000 participants.

Saturday’s rally indicated that parents’ abuse of the right to report a child abuse case against teachers has been obstructing teachers’ responsibility to manage their behavior and discipline them appropriately, as often teachers believe no actual child abuse was committed.

Once a teacher is accused of abusing a student in his or her classroom, the teacher is suspended and the rest of the child’s classmates and their parents face the change of the teacher into a substitute teacher, and the accused teacher cannot return until they are cleared of the abuse allegation.

“Consequently, the classroom (ecosystem) is imploding,” an unnamed teacher said before the protesters.

“We are seeing the children’s right to be protected being respected at all times, while teachers’ responsibility to teach children how to behave appropriately is being dwarfed by the law to prevent child abuse. This needs to improve.”

Also joining the rally was another unnamed teacher with over 20 years of work experience, who was acquitted of her child abuse allegation earlier in July after a year of litigation.

The teacher was accused of child abuse by the parent of a student who beat up their classmates. She had flipped a table to get students’ attention when a student was exerting violence, and tore into pieces what was supposed to be a letter of apology by the student as it contained no show of apology and the student told the teacher she should let go of it.

Wearing sunglasses, the teacher claimed that a teacher who tries to break up a fight between classmates faces allegations of physical abuse, and a teacher who yells at children who picked a fight will face allegations of emotional abuse.

“Is it normal to take our courage in both hands to teach what we are supposed to teach?” she said.

“I feel like I’m walking on thin ice every day. … The law to prevent child abuse should not be abused to allow parents to handcuff or threaten teachers.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but flipping a table may not be child abuse, but it does seem a bit unhinged on this teacher’s part.

It appears the pro-US-ROK alliance activists greatly outnumbered the anti-US protesters last week outside of Camp Humphreys:

Thousands of demonstrators converged outside Camp Humphreys on the 70th anniversary of the Korean War armistice, prompting a response by hundreds of police officers and snarling traffic on the U.S. Army installation.

Activists — some opposed to the U.S. presence on the Korean Peninsula, some in full-throated support — arrived in dozens of buses throughout Thursday, some coming from as far as Busan, about 150 miles south of the U.S. base in Pyeongtaek.

The atmosphere outside the gates resembled a music festival: Whistles, chants and techno music blared from speakers mounted on parked cars as delivery trucks hauled digital billboards scrolling “Support U.S. alliance” slowly past the crowd.

Around 8,000 people gathered near at least two of the base’s six gates, the largest assembly in the area since South Korea ended COVID-19 social distancing restrictions in April 2022, according to an email Friday from Erick Crudup, operations officer for the base Directorate of Emergency Services.

Activists on both sides of the road leading to Yoon Gate — the main entrance to Humphreys — chanted “USA” while waving American and South Korean flags. U.S. service members driving past the scene honked their horns and waved in support.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but according to the article there was only about 100 anti-US protesters present. This is in stark contrast to the massive hate filled anti-US protests that were launched when Camp Humphreys was being expanded years ago.

Thank goodness this was only another small earthquake, I can only imagine how much damaged would be caused in South Korea if ever hit by a large earthquake:

A 3.5 magnitude earthquake struck northern Jangsu, 216 km south of Seoul, on Saturday, South Korea’s weather agency reported, with no casualties or damage being immediately reported.

The quake occurred in the region in North Jeolla Province at 7:07 p.m. according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA). The KMA initially reported the earthquake was a magnitude 4.1 but shortly revised it down.

The depth was estimated at 6 km.

It was the third-strongest quake to occur on the Korean Peninsula or waters around it so far this year. 

The province’s fire authorities have confirmed receiving around 40 reports related to the earthquake, but no damages have been reported so far.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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