In the past week the U.S. military has lost former Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno and now General Colin Powell as well:

Colin Powell, the boundary-breaking military leader and diplomat whose sterling reputation of service to Republican and Democratic presidents was stained by his faulty claims to justify the 2003 U.S. war in Iraq, died Monday of COVID-19 complications. He was 84.

A veteran of the Vietnam War, Powell spent 35 years in the Army and rose to the rank of four-star general before becoming the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His oversight of the U.S. invasion of Kuwait to oust the Iraqi army in 1991 made him a household name, prompting speculation for nearly a decade that he might run for president, a course he ultimately decided against.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I always felt bad for Colin Powell because of how the intelligence community let him down with the faulty intelligence with Iraq. He seemed to take pride in his creditability and it was shot after the faultiness of the intelligence was discovered after the war in Iraq.

Condolences to all the friends and family General Powell.

There may be a new Prime Minister in Japan, but he has clearly told Korea that he is not budging on historical issues between the two countries:

President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have reaffirmed that the two nations are far from narrowing the differences in their views on historical issues such as Japan’s wartime forced labor and sex slavery.

The leaders had their first phone call Friday, which was made 11 days after Kishida took office. During the 30-minute call, the two agreed to develop bilateral ties in a future-oriented manner, according to Cheong Wa Dae and Japanese media report.

They also discussed other issues such as concerns over North Korea, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and COVID-19 response.

Although the two U.S. allies share similar security concerns over North Korea and China, their talks again showed disagreement over lingering colonial and wartime issues, signaling these are likely to remain as obstacles for bilateral relations for a while.

Japan insists that the 1965 treaty normalizing bilateral ties settled all war-related compensation, but President Moon explained during the phone call how the two countries have different legal interpretation over the 1965 treaty, saying the two nations must find solutions through diplomacy. 

Regarding the wartime sex slavery issue, he also called for an urgent solution, saying there are only 13 known survivors still alive.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but it is ironic that President Moon is saying there needs to be an urgent solution for the comfort women issue when in fact there was one under former President Park Geun-hye. However, when President Moon entered office he scrapped the deal.

Some early cold this year for everyone living in South Korea:

Temperatures in Seoul sharply dropped to nearly 1 degree Celsius on Sunday, marking the coldest morning for mid-October in 64 years, the state weather agency said.

The morning low in Seoul came to 1.3 C in the day, the lowest since Oct. 19, 1957, when the figure was minus 0.4 C, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

Some areas of the capital city saw the mercury drop below zero, and the season’s first ice was seen in the city, 17 days earlier than average, it added.

Cold weather also hit other parts of the country, with temperatures on average nationwide falling more than 10 C from a day earlier.

Temperatures on Mount Seorak in Gangwon Province plunged to minus 9.3 C in the mornning, and the border county of Yeoncheon saw its mercury dive to minus 3.9 C, the agency said, adding that first ice and frost were witnessed across the country.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Disney+ is coming to South Korea soon and they are using a popular South Korean show to help launch it:

A spin-off of long-running South Korean television show “Running Man” is among the Korean originals to be released on Disney+ after the service’s launch in the country on Nov. 12, its operator said Thursday.

“Outrun by Running Man,” the first official spin-off of the SBS TV variety show, will star three members of the show’s original cast — Kim Jong-kook, Haha and Jee Seok-jin, the Walt Disney Company said during an Asia-Pacific content showcase of the streaming service. 

But the original show’s main cast member Yoo Jae-suk will not participate in the spin-off series.

“Running Man,” which revolves around emcees and guests competing with each other to complete missions at a landmark in Seoul, has been hugely popular for over a decade in Korea and other Asian countries.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is an interesting academic corruption nugget from the Korea Times:

Nearly half of all underage co-authors listed in research papers from Seoul National University (SNU) were the children of SNU professors, a ruling party lawmaker said, Thursday, calling for harsher disciplinary action against misconduct involving research by professors abusing their status. 

According to Rep. Seo Dong-yong of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is on the National Assembly Education Committee, the university’s 22 research papers that listed minors as co-authors were concluded as cases of misconduct. Among them, nine involved children of SNU professors.

Among the nine cases, four professors listed their own children as co-authors, while five listed children of their colleagues. 

Other than children of SNU professors, there were more cases involving children of their acquaintances, such as friends and relatives, Rep. Seo said. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but this is a clever way that these professor are giving their children a leg up on college admissions by showing their have published research articles when really their parent likely did all the work for them.

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