North Korea just increased their level of provocation with an IRBM test. This missile can range the U.S. territory of Guam. The next step to be even more provocative is to fire over Japan:

North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) into the East Sea on Sunday, South Korea’s military said, raising fears that Pyongyang has inched toward its threatened suspension of a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and long-range missile tests.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said it detected the missile, fired at a steep angle from Mupyong-ri in the northern province of Jagang, at 7:52 a.m., and it flew about 800 kilometers at a top altitude of 2,000 km.

The missile hit a top speed of Mach 16, 16 times the speed of sound, and appears to be similar to the Hwasong-12 missile that the North tested in 2017, a military official told reporters, requesting anonymity.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but if this was a normal Olympics cycle I think the CCP would be upset about these missile launches taking headlines away from China. However, with no fans and a diplomatic boycott going on which is leading to little interest in the Olympics China probably has no issues with the Kim regime raising tensions.

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

This photo, captured from North Korea’s Central TV on Jan. 28, 2022, shows a target island hit by two surface-to-surface tactical guided missiles that the North test-fired the previous day. ((Yonhap)

South Korea has not reached its peak yet for COVID cases and this latest record will likely only grow:

South Korea’s daily COVID-19 cases reached yet another record high Friday, as the country grapples with the rapid spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant with a new nationwide virus response system set to come into force. 

The country reported 16,096 new COVID-19 infections, including 15,894 local cases, raising the total to 793,582, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said. 

The daily count broke the record for the fourth consecutive day, spiking from 8,570 on Tuesday. The per day figures have more than quadrupled since Jan. 17, when the tally hovered around 3,800. 

The death toll from COVID-19 came to 6,678, up 24 from Thursday. The fatality rate stood at 0.84 percent.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the fatality rate is remaining very low and the .84% number is probably even lower when taking into account the new of COVID cases that are not detected in the population.

I don’t think anyone would be surprised that China would be upset to see Yoon Suk-yeol win the Korean Presidency:

The Chinese Embassy in Seoul has denied the allegation that China tried to meddle in Korea’s upcoming presidential election.

In a statement released to Korean journalists on Monday, the embassy expressed regret that a JoongAng Ilbo newspaper column published on the same day accused China of trying to intervene in the presidential election based on several Chinese officials’ remarks. 

“China, like many other countries in the world, is watching the South Korean presidential election, but it has never intervened in it and will never do it,” the press release reads. “China’s announcing of its position and argument on China-related issues is aimed at protecting its interests and the overall development of Sino-Korea relations, and has nothing to do with the so-called interference in the Korean presidential election.”

The Chinese Embassy’s reaction came as the JoonAng Ilbo published a column titled, “China’s attempt to ‘intervene’ in Korea’s presidential election regretful.” In the article written by its chief Beijing correspondent, the journalist cited former Chinese Ambassador to Korea Qiu Guohong’s “inappropriate” comments about Korea during an online international academic conference held Jan. 20.

“I hope presidential candidates of Korea would not mention any sensitive issues related to China,” Qiu was quoted as saying, adding he believes the bilateral relations between China and Korea should not be ruined by some politicians’ remarks.

The JoongAng Ilbo column presented Qiu’s remarks as being disrespectful to Korea, pointing out that the former ambassador was indirectly criticizing recent remarks made by Yoon Suk-yeol, the presidential candidate of Korea’s main opposition conservative People Power Party (PPP).

The article also mentioned several other Chinese scholars’ remarks about how some conservative politicians in Korea tried to China-bash as a campaign tactic.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but Yoon should use this as one of his campaign slogans that he is the candidate that China does not want to see elected.

Here is the latest attempt to bring down Yoon Suk-yeol’s campaign through criticisms of his wife:

The latest fodder emerged Sunday during MBC TV’s airing of recordings of phone calls between Yoon’s wife, Kim Keon-hee, and a reporter for a liberal YouTube channel, in which Kim claimed she was a “spiritual” person who preferred discussing the meaning of life with “dosas,” or gurus, to visiting nightclubs.

Kim’s remark received attention because she has previously been reported to have close ties to shamanism and introduced certain shamans to her husband.

Then, local newspaper Segye Times reported Monday that a shaman introduced by Kim has been exercising undue influence over Yoon’s campaign while working as an adviser for a subunit named “Network Headquarters.”

The PPP scrambled to dispel the allegations, saying the person in question is not a shaman but a Buddhist figure who has made several visits to the campaign but has never been appointed an adviser nor had any sway in the campaign.

On Tuesday, the party announced the dissolution of the Network Headquarters, saying the decision was made by Yoon.

When asked to address the claims, Yoon expressed disbelief.

“I was introduced to him by a party official and we introduced ourselves, but I know him to be a monk,” the candidate told reporters Monday. “I saw the article about (him being involved in) my schedule and public messaging, but it’s a truly absurd story.”

Yoon’s opponents have likened his wife to Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of former conservative President Park Geun-hye, who was also accused of having ties to shamanism and running state affairs from behind the scenes.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the comparison to Choi Soon-sil is ridiculous when Choi was essentially a lobbyist collecting money from Samsung for her sports foundation in return for influence over then President Park. The shamanism claims was just sensationalism added to the story by the media. What is going on now with the claims against the Yoon campaign is likely the same thing. With that said his Kim Keon-hee needs to be careful what she says to the media because they will use anything she says in or out of context to damage her husband’s campaign.