The North Koreans used the excuse of regularly scheduled US intelligence flights as their excuse for firing an ICBM when the real reason they fired it is because they are likely upset about President Yoon attending the NATO summit:

North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) into the East Sea on Wednesday, the South Korean military said, after the recalcitrant regime warned of military action over U.S. spy aircraft operations earlier this week.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the launch from an area in or around Pyongyang at about 10 a.m., and the missile, fired at a lofted angle, flew around 1,000 kilometers before splashing into the water.

The North’s first ICBM launch in about three months came amid tensions heightened by Pyongyang’s tough rhetoric against the United States, a move seen as aimed at firming up internal unity and building a rationale for provocations.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I am sure this guy will happily pay the fine considering he probably got a lot of social media attention and followers to pay for it:

Prosecutors have summarily indicted a British free climber on charges of ascending up to the 72nd floor of the tallest skyscraper in Seoul without permission last month, legal sources said Tuesday.

George King-Thompson, 24, was taken into custody while climbing up the outer wall of the 123-story Lotte World Tower in southern Seoul with his bare hands on June 12, before he was escorted inside the building and captured by police.

The Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors Office has summarily indicted him, seeking a punishment of 5 million won ($3,864) in fines for obstructing business.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This should not be surprising that the North Koreans are making bold threats they likely won’t or can’t carry out:

Anchor: The sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un issued another warning just several hours after claiming that a U.S. military reconnaissance plane repeatedly violated the North’s airspace. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, on its part, urged Pyongyang to put a stop to such false claims that heighten military tensions.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.

Report: Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North’s leader, warned on Tuesday that U.S. forces will face a “very critical flight” if they continue with what she termed an “illegal intrusion.”

She issued the warning in a statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency(KCNA) as she said that she will act “upon authorization” if a U.S. spy plane again violates the North’s exclusive economic zone(EEZ).

The warning came just nine hours after Kim accused a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft of intruding into the zone over waters east of Tongchon of Kangwon Province and waters southeast of Uljin County in North Gyeongsang Province between 5:15 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Monday.

In a separate statement issued under the name of the defense ministry spokesperson, the reclusive state repeated Kim’s claims and warned that it can shoot down U.S. planes.

KBS World

You can read more at the link.

Over time this makes me wonder if NATO will become more of a factor for security on the Korean peninsula than the United Nations? With Russia and China on the UN Security Council any attempt to assist South Korea to repel North Korean aggression would likely get vetoed. It makes sense that President Yoon would pursue cooperation with an alternate security organization:

President Yoon Suk Yeol and North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg hold Individually Tailored Partnership Programs signed by the two sides during a meeting at the Lithuanian Exhibition and Congress Center in Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday (local time). Yonhap

South Korea and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) signed a new partnership agreement composed of 11 documents, called Individually Tailored Partnership Programs (ITPPs), which will cover bilateral cooperation in new sectors such as cybersecurity, new technologies, climate change and the defense industry.

The agreement was signed at a meeting between President Yoon Suk Yeol and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Vilnius, Lithuania, Tuesday (local time). Yoon is currently visiting the Baltic country to attend the 2023 NATO summit.

“This year’s participation in the NATO summit is aimed at institutionalizing the framework of cooperation between South Korea and NATO through ITPPs and discuss cooperation in military intelligence and cybersecurity,” Yoon said during the meeting.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The French Air Force is currently conducting training with their U.S. and Japanese counterparts during the Northern Edge exercise:

A French Rafale fighter prepares for takeoff at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, July 5, 2023. (Hannah Strobel/U.S. Air Force)

 The French air force trained alongside its American and Japanese counterparts across the Indo-Pacific recently even as the French president objected to NATO opening an office in Tokyo.

French President Emmanuel Macron has told NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg he opposes such a plan, Japan’s national broadcaster NHK reported Sunday.

The plan was revealed in May amid concern about Chinese aggression toward Taiwan with one defense expert suggesting Yokota Air Base, the home of U.S. Forces Japan in western Tokyo, as a likely site. 

However, an unidentified official at France’s presidential office told journalists Friday that articles of the NATO alliance specify its geographical scope, which is the North Atlantic, according to NHK.

Meanwhile, the French are training alongside U.S. and Japanese forces as part of Northern Edge, which began July 2 and wraps July 21, Air Force Lt. Col. Keegan Dale, commander of 13th Fighter Squadron, told Stars and Stripes by phone Friday. The squadron, from Misawa Air Base, Japan, was deployed to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, south of Hiroshima, for the exercise.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest gay rights issue being promoted in South Korea:

Kim Gyu-jin and Kim Se-yeon held their wedding ceremony during the 2023 Seoul Queer Culture Festival earlier this month in central Seoul. Hundreds at the festival congratulated the wife-wife couple on their union — even though it is not legally recognized by South Korean law — as well as on the baby they are expecting.

The Kim couple revealed that their quest to have a child required a trip to a foreign country, Belgium, as accessing a sperm donor had not been possible for them in South Korea.

In addition to same-sex couples, single women also face significant obstacles here when it comes to accessing sperm donations, largely due to a combination of legal restrictions and customary practices within the medical community.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.