Here is an update of one of the events occurring as part of the Freedom Shield exercise that has North Korea so upset:

 South Korea and the United States are conducting combined high-tech military drills with increased “intensity and realism,” the Army here said Monday, as part of joint efforts to bolster deterrence against growing North Korean threats.

The drills are under way at the Korea Combat Training Center (KCTC), a facility employing cutting-edge technologies for realistic ground drills, in Inje, 165 kilometers east of Seoul. The maneuvers are to run through Friday, in connection with the allies’ ongoing Freedom Shield exercise.

For the drills, the U.S. military deployed a battalion-size unit for the first time. The South mobilized wheeled-armored vehicles and reconnaissance drones, while the U.S. brought Stryker armored vehicles and other assets.

The latest drills are divided into two three-day parts of separate defense and attack operations to heighten its “intensity and realism,” according to the armed service. Previous KCTC sessions were held for four days in total.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The usual suspects out protesting increasingly cooperation between South Korea and Japan:

Political strife escalated Saturday over the recent South Korea-Japan summit, as the liberal opposition took to the streets blasting President Yoon Suk Yeol for cozying up to Tokyo and looking past historical disputes on wartime forced labor. 

Yoon held a summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Thursday to mend ties strained by historical disputes stemming from Japan’s colonization of the Korean Peninsula from 1910-45. 

Earlier this month, South Korea announced its plan to compensate the victims of wartime forced labor through a foundation with donations from domestic companies and not the accused Japanese firms, a move opposed by the victims, opposition parties and activists.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but where were these activists and protesters when the last Korean president Moon Jae-in was cozying up to Kim Jong-un? He is in charge of regime that has killed far more Koreans than Imperial Japan could ever dream of. Additionally Kim Jong-un is in charge of regime that continues to regularly threaten South Korea with annihilation and enslaves a large amount of Koreans in labor camps among other human rights violations.

Yet these activists are more concerned about stopping cooperation with a country that actually wants to help South Korea defend itself from annihilation from North Korea. This is despite Japan’s transgressions happening 75+ years ago that they have repeatedly apologized and made compensation for. Where is North Korea’s apologies and compensation for all the destruction and deaths they have committed against South Korea in the 75+ years since World War II?

When the Korean left starts making demands for apologies and compensation from North Korea then maybe I will take their claims against Japan seriously.

It is amazing how many women this guy was able to rape before finally having the police investigate him:

A man described as a “prominent member” of Sydney’s Indian community is currently on trial for 13 counts of rape, among multiple other sex crimes, in Australia.

Balesh Dhankhar, former president of the Indian diaspora organization OFBJP Australia, stands accused of rape by five women, all of whom are Korean and in their mid-20s. The women claimed that they were lured by Dhankhar under the pretext of offering them jobs before he drugged and raped them in his apartment between January 2018 and October 2018.

Dhankhar reportedly posted a job ad for Korean-to-English translation work on the classified ads site Gumtree to lure women to Sydney’s Hilton Hotel bar, which is located near his apartment. 

Next Shark

You can read more at the link, but there are many more women out there that he assaulted because the police found 47 videos of him raping unconscious women. Incredibly this turd is pleading not guilty. I assume his defense is going to be that every woman he had sex with did so consensually and then passed out. I think it is unlikely that a jury will believe that.

The fact that North Korea has been launching missiles to protest the Freedom Shield exercise is about the most unsurprising news of the past week:

North Korea fired a short-range ballistic missile on Sunday in yet another provocation amid South Korea’s combined military exercise with the United States.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that it detected the missile launched from Dongchang-ri, North Korea’s key long-range rocket shooting site in its northwestern coast, at 11:05 a.m. It flew about 800 kilometers across land before falling into the waters off its east coast.

It was North Korea’s fourth weapons test apparently targeting the Freedom Shield exercise that began last Monday. On Thursday, only several hours before President Yoon Suk Yeol’s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo, the North fired a Hwasong-17 intercontinental ballistic missile into the East Sea between the two countries ― after launching two short-range ballistic missiles on March 14 and two cruise missiles from a submarine on March 12.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

With North Korea’s increasing belligerence it only makes sense to tighten military cooperation with Japan:

The defense ministry initiated the process to normalize a military intelligence-sharing deal with Japan on Friday, following a summit agreement between the leaders of both countries the previous day.

The defense ministry said it sent a letter to the foreign ministry requesting measures to normalize the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA).

The foreign ministry is soon expected to send an official letter to its Japanese counterpart in response, officials said.

On Thursday, President Yoon Suk Yeol said he agreed to “completely normalize” the military pact during his summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo as part of efforts to better respond to North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This was the big news over the weekend in Korea and another one of these only in Korea stories:

Earlier this week, Chun Woo-won, a grandson of former authoritarian President Chun Doo-hwan, shocked many with revelations about his family’s extravagant lifestyles paid for with money from slush funds. On Friday, the grandson again caught many by surprise by using drugs live on a YouTube broadcast from his New York apartment.

The former president died in November 2021 aged 90. Convicted of treason and bribery, he refused to comply with a forfeiture order ― almost 92.5 billion won ($70.5 million) of the money in question remains unrecovered. 

The grandson wrote he would “reveal everything” on his Instagram account around 4 p.m. Thursday (local time), and began livestreaming around 5 p.m., according to news reports. 

First, Chun apologized for what his family had done and said that he is also a criminal and should be arrested. Then, he mentioned the names of drugs and appeared to use them. He appeared to quickly lose control of his body, shaking badly and rolling on the floor. 

The livestream, which had been on for an hour-and-a-half was stopped when authorities entered his apartment and dragged him out. The video has since been removed from YouTube. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I think anyone with half a brain knew the Chun family had long been hiding money considering the luxurious lifestyle they had been living. Based on what he says in the video it appears most of this money is likely in the U.S. where he resides. Hopefully this guy gets the drug rehab and mental help he clearly needs.

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