It looks like servicemembers in Japan will be stuck on their bases for a little while longer:

The U.S. military authority in Japan has extended a stay-at-home order until Jan. 31 for its service members, civilian employees and their families as COVID-19 continues to spready quickly throughout the nation.

“This decision was made out of an abundance of caution to protect all personnel from rapid spread of COVID-19 in local communities,” U.S. Forces Japan announced on its website Friday. The original two-week order was scheduled to expire Monday.

Omicron, while creating milder symptoms and fewer hospitalizations than previous variants, continues to infect record numbers of people in Japan. But case counts within the U.S. military are flattening and, at many U.S. bases, numbers are falling, according to USFJ.

“The stringent COVID-19 mitigations implemented in December have effectively stalled the spread of the virus on U.S. installations,” said Friday’s statement.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the omicron variant has become the dominant strain in South Korea now judging the by the increasing case numbers despite enhanced social distancing measures being implemented:

 South Korea’s daily coronavirus cases on Sunday spiked to the second-largest figure since the pandemic outbreak, putting health authorities on alert amid the fast spread of the omicron variant.

The country added 7,630 new COVID-19 infections, including 7,343 local infections, raising the total caseload to 733,902, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

Sunday’s figure marks the second-largest tally since the daily record high of 7,848 on Dec. 15.

The daily tally surged at a fast pace last week from the 4,000 level to over 6,000 on Thursday and above 7,000 on Saturday, nearly doubling in less than a week.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but despite the increasing cases the Korean government has decided to lower the quarantine period from 10 to 7 days. This is arguably because too many people are being put out of work for too long thus impacting the economy.

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

We all knew it was coming at some point that North Korea was going to return to brinkmanship to get what they want which is the dropping of sanctions and the Korean War peace treaty:

North Korea is dusting off the old playbook of provocations to capture the attention of the U.S. and gain the upper hand in future talks by hinting at lifting a self-imposed moratorium on nuclear and inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) tests, according to diplomatic observers.

Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KNCA) reported, Thursday, that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un decided to reconsider resuming “all temporarily-suspended activities” at a political bureau meeting held the previous day.

“We should make more thorough preparations for a long-term confrontation with the U.S. imperialists,” it said, criticizing the U.S.’ hostile policy of reaching a dangerous level.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but my prediction is that the ROK election will determine the level of brinkmanship the Kim regime returns to. If Yoon Suk-yeol is elected the provocations will likely be more severe due to his tougher stance against North Korea compared to his rival Lee Jae-myung. Regardless I think after the ROK election in March is when they will move forward with actions more provocative than the short range missile tests we have seen in recent weeks.

FM meets Korea troops in UAE

Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong (R) shakes hands with a member of South Korea’s Akh unit in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Jan. 17, 2022, in this photo provided by the unit. The troops are stationed in the UAE on a mission to train the Gulf nation’s service members and protect Korean nationals in emergencies. Chung is accompanying President Moon Jae-in on his Middle East trip. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Who would have thought that of all things that Yoon Suk-yeol’s wife is what will probably cost him getting elected President of South Korea? This is another major unforced error by Yoon’s wife:

Comments made by Kim Keon-hee, the wife of main opposition People Power Party (PPP) presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, have backfired as some #MeToo victims and gender experts demand an apology.

Kim Ji-eun, who worked as a secretary for the former South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung and who exposed the fact that she was sexually assaulted by him, issued a statement via the Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center, Monday.

“I heard her sarcastic comments on TV where she was speaking about my case. Her words are baseless and contradict the court’s judgment regarding the guilty verdict,” Kim said in the statement, urging the presidential candidate’s wife to deliver a sincere apology for her “reckless remarks.” 

“Your thoughtless words resulted in secondary victimization and internet users are now harassing me with malicious comments,” she said.

The Supreme Court handed down a sentence of three years and six months to former Governor An on the charge of sexual assault by exploiting his position of power at work against Kim Ji-eun, Sept. 2019. The case was viewed as a symbolic event in the #MeToo movement here at the time.

In the recordings of Kim’s private phone calls, revealed on Sunday by the local broadcaster MBC, Kim was heard saying, “Conservatives make sure they pay. They never use someone free of charge.” 

Kim was also heard claiming that #MeToo victims reveal sexual assault allegations because they didn’t get paid, referring to several sex scandals within the ruling democratic bloc. She went on to say that she felt sorry for the former governor and she and her husband were on An’s side. 

In a letter sent to MBC to clarify her position, the presidential candidate’s wife said that she made some inappropriate remarks while criticizing some people who were involved in sexual exploitation and she was sorry for that. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the recording and releasing to the media the private conversation is actually illegal in South Korea. So it will be interesting to see if anyone gets charged with this.