Just from a security stand point getting the Presidential office out of North Korean artillery range would be a smart move:

Several government ministries will team up to help facilitate the construction of a second presidential office in Sejong City, an administrative area 144 kilometers south of Seoul, by 2027, according to government officials, Sunday.

Setting up a second presidential office and a legislative building in Sejong was a key campaign pledge of President Yoon Suk-yeol, a vision he believes will cement the sparsely populated city as the nation’s administrative capital. The plan gained traction after the National Assembly revised related laws in May. 

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Ministry of Interior and Safety and the National Agency for Administrative City Construction said a joint team of officials will commission a study before October to determine the function, size and location of the second office. Plans to strengthen the public transportation system and infrastructure in a broader context of city planning will also follow.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I would definitely like to view this documentary if it gets released on a streaming channel at some point:

“I wanted to make a film that logically refutes [the distorted historical record.]”These are the words of Lee Suk-jae, who directed the documentary film “Koko Sunyi” about victims of Japanese wartime military sexual slavery. In a recent interview, he pointed out that Japan’s distortion of history is ongoing, which is why he felt the need to make the film. 

Many movies, dramas, TV programs and books related to the so-called comfort women issue have been published so far, but among them, “Koko Sunyi” logically refutes the absurdity of some of the claims of Japan’s far right based on historical data.Much of the information shared in “Koko Sunyi” is based on the Japanese Prisoners of War Interrogation Reports No. 48 and 49 published by the US Office of War Information (OWI), which contains details about the “comfort women” at the time. 

Lee’s film is centered around the life of Grandmother Sun-yi, who was taken to a sexual slavery camp, also known as a “comfort station,” in Myanmar during the war. Lee, who works as an investigative reporter for KBS, found that, among the 20 “comfort women” in Myanmar recorded in the OWI report, a woman with the surname Koko and first name Sun-yi was actually a woman named Park Sun-yi who lived in Hamyang, South Gyeongsang Province.

Hankyoreh

You can read more at the link.

If President Yoon and the PPP doesn’t get its act together Lee Jae-myung is going to be very difficult to beat in the next election. Fortunately for the PPP the next presidential election is five years from now and lot can happen between now and then:

Rep. Lee Jae-myung, who narrowly lost the presidential race against rival Yoon Suk-yeol in March, was elected, Sunday, as the chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK).

The latest victory marks an extraordinary comeback for Lee to the party’s mainstream from his defeat in the presidential election. The two-year chairmanship will assure Lee of his right to recommend candidates for the next general election in 2024. He is anticipated to enjoy uncontested power within the party, paving the way for the 57-year-old to make another presidential bid five years from now. 

During the DPK’s national convention at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul, Lee secured a total of 77.77 percent of votes to outpace Rep. Park Yong-jin, who garnered 22.23 percent. The number of votes Lee received is the highest on record in the party’s election for a leader.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The KCTU might as well as just say they get their marching orders from Pyongyang:

 Representatives of South Korea’s largest trade unions are warning that Ulchi Freedom Shield, the largest military exercise by the U.S. and South Korea in five years, runs counter to their members’ interests.

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and the Federation of Korean Trade Unions together claim more than 2 million members working in government, schools, public transportation and the automotive and food industries.

Their street demonstrations against the large-scale drills have been frequent sights outside the presidential office in Seoul and U.S. bases like Camp Humphreys since the start of Ulchi Freedom Shield on Aug. 22.

“If a war breaks out, those who will suffer from the war are our people: workers and laborers,” Lee Jihyun, spokeswoman for the Federation of Korean Trade Unions, told Stars and Stripes by phone Thursday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I find it interesting that not once has the KCTU held a major rally to protest North Korea’s various provocations, missile launches, or nuclear tests. However the ROK holds defensive drills with the U.S. after suspending them for five years for nothing in return and they have a problem with that.

I think all the protesting and activism will have the opposite effect the family is looking for:

Holding the small hands of her three young children, Brittany Alkonis has been protesting near the White House since last week, demanding the Biden administration do more to free her husband, Ridge Alkonis, a 34-year-old Navy lieutenant imprisoned in Japan.

On Wednesday, she was at it again, wearing a blue T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Bring Ridge Home.” Her children – ages 8, 7 and 4 – have stood by her, along with supporters such as Trevor Reed, the former Marine recently released from Russian custody.

Ridge Alkonis is serving a three-year prison term in Japan for a car crash that left a Japanese man and woman dead. As the United States’ efforts to free Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan from Russia make headlines amid the heightened tensions of the war in Ukraine, the Alkonis family hopes their fight will draw attention to detained Americans around the world – not just those held by adversaries, but also allies.

While stationed in Japan in May 2021, Alkonis was driving home with his family and their Australian labradoodle after a visit to Mount Fuji, near Tokyo. They had gone to an area about 8,000 feet high and accessible by car. After parking, the family hiked on a mostly flat trail for a few hours, Brittany Alkonis said. On their way home at 1 p.m., Ridge Alkonis was talking to his oldest daughter as he drove.

But mid-sentence, Alkonis suddenly fell unconscious, his family said. The vehicle, going about 25 mph, veered into a parking lot and crashed into several cars that were then pushed against two pedestrians: an 85-year-old woman and her 54-year-old son-in-law. They both died. A third person, a daughter of the elderly woman, was injured. Brittany Alkonis sustained an ankle injury.

When Ridge Alkonis awoke several minutes after the crash, witnesses said his face looked pale, his family said, citing police reports. His symptoms – paleness and a loss of consciousness – align with those of acute mountain sickness, which can affect people at altitudes above 8,000 feet, according to information published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. In June 2021, a neurologist told Alkonis that he had suffered from the illness at the time of the crash, his family said.

I bet Alkonis could have quietly had his sentenced reduced or transferred to the U.S. at some point, but he may end up doing the full time in Japan

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I do not believe the excuse of mountain sickness when the accident happened at a much lower elevation nearer to sea level and not at the higher elevation of 8,000 feet. Dropping in altitude relieves mountain sickness and does not make it worse. He likely got up early for the trip, had been hiking all day and was tired during the drive back. The mountain sickness excuse probably caused him to get a harsher sentence because it made it appear he was not accepting responsibility for what happened.

I think the protesting is making it harder for Japanese authorities to quietly reduce his sentence or transfer him to a U.S. prison. With all the attention this is causing the Japanese public is likely going to expect their politicians to keep Alkonis in jail in Japan for his full sentence.

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