It is going to be interesting to see how many politicians end up being connected to the Unification Church, so far one minister resigning:
The Unification Church’s alleged bribery of ruling bloc figures is hitting the Lee Jae Myung administration, with one minister resigning over his alleged money acceptance from the religious organization and several other top officials also under similar suspicion.
It is feared that the scandal will further shake the administration if more ministers and officials fall under suspicion. It could also extend to influencing the ruling bloc’s strategies and nominations for next June’s local elections.
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Chun Jae-soo submitted his resignation early Thursday, amid allegations that he received between 30 million won ($20,377) to 40 million won in cash and two luxury watches from an official of the Unification Church, which sought his influence in its project to build an undersea tunnel connecting Korea and Japan.
You can read more at the link.
This change in security measures at Osan Airbase shows how upset USFK leadership must have been when the Lee administration sent special prosecutors to raid the base without notifying Osan leadership in advance:
The U.S. Air Force in South Korea is set to take measures to tighten security by retaking control of access to a gate at Osan Air Base, currently shared with the South Korean military, officials said Thursday.
The move comes after the U.S. military lodged a complaint over a special counsel team’s search and seizure at the air base in Pyeongtaek, some 65 kilometers south of Seoul, in July as part of its investigation into former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s failed martial law bid.
Currently, the U.S. side controls access to two of three gates that are in use at the air base, which also stations key facilities operated by the South Korean Air Force, such as the Air Force Operations Command and the Air Force Master Control and Reporting Center.
Once the tighter security measure goes into effect next month, South Korean military personnel would need U.S.-approved defense identification cards to access the remaining gate at the air base. The South’s military now can access it with identification cards issued by the South Korean government.
The U.S. 51st Fighter Wing confirmed that base access requirements have been “updated” to ensure security.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Here is the U.S. and Japanese response to the recent military provocations against Japan by the Chinese:
U.S. strategic bombers joined a fleet of Japanese fighter jets in a joint military exercise meant to demonstrate their military cooperation around Japan’s airspace, defense officials said Thursday, as tensions with China escalate.
The exercise showcasing joint Japanese-U.S. air power came a day after Chinese and Russian bombers flew together around western Japan, prompting Tokyo to scramble fighter jets, though there was no airspace violation. It also follows China’s military aircraft locking radar on Japanese jets Saturday, another incident that has caused Tokyo-Beijing relations to further deteriorate.
Japan’s Air Self Defense-Force and the U.S. military conducted the joint exercise Wednesday as “the security environment surrounding our country is becoming even severer,” the Japanese Joint Staff said.
You can read more at the link.
This is an interesting story from the Korean War I had not heard about before that may lead to the awarding of a Medal of Honor:
A 100-year-old Korean War veteran involved in a secretive dogfight with seven Russian fighter planes more than 70 years ago would be eligible for the Medal of Honor upon the passage of a new defense spending bill expected to be voted on later this week. The National Defense Authorization Act for 2026, finalized on Sunday, includes legislation that removes a five-year statute of limitations rule so that Royce Williams, whose exploits as a Navy pilot are now part of military lore, can be considered for the nation’s highest award for courage under fire.
On Nov. 18, 1952, Williams was piloting an F9F-5 Panther when he encountered seven Soviet MiG-15s. Williams, a lieutenant at the time, shot down four of the fighters and survived a 37-millimeter round to his fuselage. Though his plane was badly damaged, he managed to make a safe landing on the deck of the USS Oriskany aircraft carrier off the North Korean coast.
After the mission, he was directed to keep silent about the high stakes dogfight that pitted him against Soviet aviators at the peak of the Cold War. “In the moment I was a fighter pilot doing my job … I was only shooting what I had,” Williams said in an earlier Navy account of the dogfight. “They had me cold on maneuverability and acceleration — the MiG was vastly superior on those counts to the F9F. The only thing I could do was out-turn them.” Williams battled the Russian pilots for 35 minutes, making the encounter the longest dogfight in U.S. military history, according to the Navy.
You can read more at the link.
This is a scary indication of the world we now live in where you cannot even trust videos you see because they may be deep fakes. Hopefully Son Heung-min is able to sue this gambling website for using his image and likeness without permission:
Illegal advertisements using artificial intelligence(AI) to create entirely fake news reports and endorsements by celebrities such as football star Son Heung-min are rampant, especially on social media. Authorities are now strongly warning consumers to be on alert.
Rosyn Park has this report.An ad making the rounds online appears to show the famous footballer Son Heung-min speaking as a PR ambassador for Kangwon Land, a resort and casino in South Korea.
The video is promoting an illegal gambling site, using AI-manipulated images and audio to replicate Son.
The Korea Consumer Agency(KCA) said it monitored online gambling ads posted on Facebook for two months, starting in August, and identified 38 cases of false advertising, including some that used deepfakes.
You can read more at the link.
It appears the Unification Church attempts to bribe whoever is in power to advocate for what they want. In the U.S. this bribery is called lobbying which usually ends up with “donations” to a campaign fund:
Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Wednesday that he intends to issue a public statement on Thursday addressing allegations he received bribes linked to the Unification Church, signaling confidence in his innocence.
“I will issue a statement tomorrow morning,” Chung told reporters. “So it will probably turn out to be quite anticlimactic. I will clearly lay out the basic facts and what actually happened. Please trust me. Trust my integrity.”
Chung made the remarks after the final court hearing began for Yun Young-ho, the former head of the church’s global headquarters who has been accused of providing luxury gifts to first lady Kim Keon Hee in a broader corruption scandal linked to ousted former President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Yun had earlier suggested he could reveal a list of politicians from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea who were allegedly lobbied by the church, but the final hearing concluded without any such disclosures. Chung has repeatedly been mentioned as a key figure in connection with alleged lobbying efforts.
The Unification Church has been at the center of one of South Korea’s most combustible political scandals in recent years, involving allegations of illegal political funding, influence peddling and improper ties with figures linked to the main opposition People Power Party — a controversy that is now spreading to the ruling Democratic Party.
The scandal gained fresh momentum after Yun’s court testimony on Friday suggested the church had also sought contacts with politicians from the Democratic Party.
Yun testified that the church had closer ties to Democratic Party politicians from 2017 to 2021 than with the People Power Party. He also alleged that he approached four minister-level officials of the current Lee Jae Myung administration prior to the church’s “Korean Peninsula Peace Summit” in 2022.
You can read more at the link.
The Russians and Chinese are once again trying to flex their military might against their neighbors:
Nine Chinese and Russian military aircraft briefly entered and left South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) above waters east and south of the country, South Korea’s military said Tuesday.
Two Chinese military planes and seven Russian aircraft successively entered the KADIZ at around 10 a.m. prompting the military to dispatch Air Force fighter jets in preparation for a possible accidental situation, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
They did not violate South Korea’s air space, the JCS said, adding it detected the aircraft before they entered the air defense zone.
The air defense zone is not territorial airspace but is delineated to call on foreign planes to identify themselves so as to prevent accidental clashes.
The aircraft, including bombers and fighter jets, intermittently entered and left the KADIZ for about an hour before completely retreating from the air defense zone, a JCS official said.
You can read more at the link.
