This is something that the ROK government needs to stop or they are going to end up with a large drug addicted homeless population like we have in the US:

“Do you want to try it? It feels really good, and it helps you lose weight too. One time can’t hurt.”  
   
Those were the words heard by a 17-year-old student as she was handed a syringe by a man in his thirties, whom she met through a slightly older friend.  

He was lying. The first time led to another, and another — and an addiction.

Arrested by the police last year, the 17-year-old student admitted she made a mistake taking that first injection. But the older man wasn’t honest at all with her. “If I knew it was methamphetamine inside that syringe, I would have never done it in the first place.”  

Korea is developing a teen drug problem, its size difficult to estimate. One indication: over 100 million individual purchases every year of drugs from overseas, according to the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office.

Importing, manufacturing, trading, buying, selling, transporting, possessing, and using drugs are all considered drug crimes in Korea.   (……)

“Based on the UN’s standards, if the number of drug offenders exceeds 20 in a population of 100,000, it means that drugs aren’t under control and it is not a drug-free nation,” said Cheon young-hoon, a psychiatric specialist and director of Incheon Chamsarang Hospital.    
   
“Considering Korea’s population of 50 million, the number of drug offenders per 100,000 is actually more than 30.”

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Former President Lee is temporarily released from prison for health issues, but I would not be surprised if this is a prelude to him being pardoned in the near future:

The prosecution suspended the imprisonment of former President Lee Myung-bak for three months due to health reasons Tuesday, more than a year and a half after the Supreme Court finalized a 17-year sentence for him for corruption.

The Suwon District Prosecutors Office made the decision to release Lee from the Anyang Correctional Institution, after the 81-year-old former president filed for suspension of his imprisonment earlier this month, citing deteriorating health.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

UPDATE: The car of the missing family has been found and we should soon know whether the bodies of the family are in it:

Police on Tuesday said they found the car of a missing family off the southwestern coast after a female elementary school student and her parents disappeared mysteriously from a guesthouse in the region about a month ago.

The car with the same license plate as that of the family — 10-year-old Cho Yu-na and her parents in their 30s — was found at about 5:12 p.m. hanging on the fence of a fishing farm off Wando, according to local police and coast guard. 

Whether there were bodies inside have yet to be confirmed. Police said they plan to raise the car from the water early the next morning after taking necessary measures to protect any evidence.

Yonhap

—————————————————————

This is a very weird story, hopefully this family turns up:

A massive police search has been under way for a family of three missing on a remote island on the southwestern coast, as a female elementary student and her parents disappeared mysteriously from a guesthouse there about a month ago.

Police said Monday the search for 10-year-old Cho Yu-na and her parents in their 30s, who reside in the southwestern metropolitan city of Gwangju, entered its sixth day on Wando, a quiet island about 120 kilometers south of their home.

Cho has been absent from her Gwangju school since May 19 after reporting that she would take part in an out-of-school experiential learning program on Jeju Island together with her parents until June 15.

In South Korea, students applying for out-of-school experiential learning are recognized as attending school.

But Cho did not return to school after her out-of-school field trip ended on June 16. The school then filed a missing persons report with police on June 22 after repeatedly failing to contact the family on their cell phones.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the parents sold their computer business before driving to Wando. They were seen on camera leaving their guesthouse at 11PM at night and turning off their cell phones near a dock at 4AM in the morning. Their car has not been found as well. This is all very weird circumstances that hopefully authorities can get answers to.

According to the article half of the items in the exchanges are from China. I am actually surprised that number is that low. I try to buy things not manufactured in China and often time every brand of the product I am looking for is made in China. It would be interesting to see what the exchanges would look like without made in China products:

Some military resale experts are warning that a proposal to ban the sale of Chinese-made products in military exchanges and commissaries would be “devastating,” especially to exchanges.

The proposal, an amendment introduced by Rep. Mark Green, R-Tenn., was approved by the House Armed Services Committee Wednesday.

“We cannot in good conscience fill post exchanges with products created with slave labor and sponsored by and benefiting financially the authoritarian regime of the Chinese Communist Party,” Green said during the markup of fiscal 2023 defense policy bill. In addition, he said, “The Chinese Communist Party believes they can steal our military technology without consequence. We need to show them that isn’t the case.

“The last thing we want to do is financially contribute to their tyranny. They’re laughing at the idea of American soldiers funding their schemes by filling the shelves of our PXs and BXs with their products.”

Army Times

You can read more at the link.

The KNPA director was highly criticized by President Yoon after he approved a personnel reshuffle without running it by the President for approval. The KNPA director is a hold over from the prior Moon administration so he was probably going to get changed out anyway:

National Police Agency Commissioner General Kim Chang-yong offered to resign Monday, days after President Yoon Suk-yeol strongly chastised police over a recent personnel reshuffle flip-flopping.

Police released the names of new senior superintendents general a week earlier, only to reverse seven of the selections two hours later. Yoon rebuked police, calling the flip-flopping a “serious disturbance of national discipline.”

The resignation offer also came as police have protested the interior ministry’s plan to establish a “police bureau” to increase its control of the law enforcement agency set to take over greater investigative roles from the prosecution.

“I determined that resigning now would be the best way,” Kim said, offering an apology to the public and policemen for “failing” to safeguard the neutrality and independence of police.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I hope they throw this guy in jail for the rest of his life. A message needs to be sent to these people who so easily sell out their country like this:

A retired U.S. Army helicopter pilot pleaded guilty Thursday in San Diego for selling sensitive aviation-related information to China, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.

Shapour Moinian, 67, admitted in federal court to acting as an agent of a foreign government, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 10 years and a $250,000 fine, according to the Thursday news release.

He also pleaded guilty to making false statements during national security background checks, which carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 29. As part of the plea agreement, federal prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of no more than 20 months.

“The defendant admitted to being an unregistered agent of a foreign power, lying on his background check paperwork to obtain his security clearance, knowingly providing proprietary information to people controlled by the Chinese government, and willingly receiving payments from them,” Stacey Moy, the FBI agent in charge of the case, said in the news release.

“This is another example of how the Chinese government enhances its defense capabilities through the illicit exploitation of U.S. technology,” Moy said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but of interest is that this guy was using a South Korean bank that the Chinese agents would put the money in. His stepdaughter would then take out the money from the bank for her dad.