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Tweet of the Day: Why is North Korea Reporting COVID Numbers?

Picture of the Day: Kim Jong-un Mourns Death of Military General

Kim mourns death of top military official
Kim mourns death of top military official
This photo released by the North’s Korean Central News Agency shows leader Kim Jong-un and other officials paying tribute to the late Hyon Chol-hae, marshal of the Korean People’s Army, at the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang on May 20, 2022. The top military official died the previous day at the age of 87. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

ROK Defense Minister Says that Country Will Push for Normalization of THAAD Battery

The THAAD has been in South Korea now for five years and still the environmental assessment has not been completed and protesters continue to block the road. This clearly has little to do with the environment and everything to do with politics. It will be interesting to see if the Korean left tries to mobilize around the THAAD issue and launch Braveheart style attacks against ROK police if and when they try and remove the protesters like they did at Camp Humphreys years ago:

Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup talks with troops at a boot camp in Nonsan, 213 kilometers south of Seoul, on May 23, 2022, in this photo released by his office. 

South Korea will expeditiously push for the “normalization” of a U.S. THAAD missile defense unit here, Seoul’s defense minister said Monday, as it has been in the status of “temporary installation” due to an environmental assessment and other reasons.

Lee Jong-sup made the remarks as Seoul and Washington are striving to sharpen joint deterrence against Pyongyang amid growing concerns about possibilities of the regime’s additional provocations, like a long-range ballistic missile or nuclear test.

“The normalization of the THAAD unit should have been done (earlier),” Lee said in a meeting with reporters. “We will push for it (to materialize) at an early date.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

A K-Pop Star Wins KATUSA Category of U.S. Military’s Best Warrior Competition

Here is one of these only in Korea stories. There are not many countries that would have pop stars completing mandatory military service like Korea does:

Pfc. Kang Young Hyun, a Korean Augmentation to the United States Army Soldier assigned to Eighth Army’s Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, plots points on a map while participating in the land navigation course challenge held during the 2022 Eighth Army Best Warrior and Squad Competition at Camp Casey, South Korea, May 8, 2022. (U.S. Army photo by Pfc. Taylor Gray/20th Public Affairs 

K-pop idol Kang Young-hyun, best known as Young K to fans of his group Day6, is a winner in the Eighth Army’s Best Warriors competition in South Korea.

There’s a lot to sort out there, so let’s take things a step at a time and decode that sentence.

Forty-nine U.S. and Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army, or KATUSA, soldiers participated in a six-day competition that included events like an eight-mile march, small arms qualification, land navigation, water survival, obstacle courses, knot-tying and overall military knowledge.

The Eighth crowned winners in categories like best soldier, best noncommissioned officer, best officer and best warrant officer.

Military.com

You can read more at the link, but Kang won the KATUSA category of the Best Warrior competition. The next level of competition is at U.S. Army Pacific in Hawaii. According to the article it is unclear if Yang will compete in this competition. Regardless it is great to see Yang not trying to dodge service like some other celebrities have been able to do. It is also awesome to see him taking his service seriously and pushing himself like he did to win this competition.

President Biden Tours the KAOC During Visit to South Korea

If President Yoon wanted to show President Biden where close integration between the USFK and the ROK Military happens, the KAOC is good place to start:

President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden meet with South Korean and American troops at the Korean Air and Space Operations Center at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on May 22, 2022. (Yonhap)

President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden visited an Air Force operations center Sunday on the last stop of Biden’s three-day trip to South Korea, underscoring the allies’ readiness against threats from North Korea.

The two visited the Korean Air and Space Operations Center (KAOC), which is situated in an underground bunker and serves as a key command post for air and space operations at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul.

Yoon described the center as a symbol of the South Korea-U.S. alliance and a key site where the two countries jointly respond to “continually advancing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Tweet of the Day: Don’t Drink Soju

Picture of the Day: Small Group Protests for Removal of USFK

Civic group demands withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea
Civic group demands withdrawal of U.S. troops from Korea
Members of a civic group chant a slogan demanding the withdrawal of U.S. troops from South Korea during a rally held in Yongsan, Seoul, on May 20, 2022, hours before the arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden for a three-day visit to South Korea. (Yonhap)

Two Secret Service Employees To Be Sent Back to U.S. After Drunken Taxi Cab Related Incident

Any bets if the argument with the cab driver had to do with not running the meter and charging an exorbitant fee?:

Members of Secret Service Counter Assault Team (CAT) walk on the tarmac as U.S. President Joe Biden lands aboard Marine One in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., May 11, 2022.

Two Secret Service employees — an agent and an armed physical security specialist — in South Korea to prepare for President Joe Biden’s impending arrival are being sent home after an alleged alcohol-fueled incident that ended with a report being filed with local police, according to two sources briefed on the situation.

The personnel were assigned to help prepare for the presidential visit when they went out for dinner and then stopped at several bars, the sources told ABC News. As the evening progressed, the two Secret Service staffers became apparently intoxicated and the agent wound up in a heated argument with a cab driver, according to the sources.

ABC News

You can read more at the link.

Biden and Yoon Agree to Start Discussions to Expand U.S.-ROK Exercises

It looks like Key Resolve and UFG exercises could be coming back:

President Yoon Suk-yeol and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed Saturday to begin discussions on expanding joint military exercises between the two countries amid growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea.

The two reached the agreement during their first summit in Seoul, which took place as both countries believed a nuclear test or intercontinental ballistic missile launch from the North was imminent and could even happen while Biden was touring the region.

“Both leaders agree to initiate discussions to expand the scope and scale of combined military exercises and training on and around the Korean Peninsula,” a joint statement on the summit said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this news will assuredly be used as an excuse for North Korea to conduct a provocation on some kind.

ROK Drop Open Thread – May 20, 2022

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