Condolences to all the friends and family of SGT Lott:

A 2nd Infantry Division soldier stationed near the border with North Korea died at a local hospital on Sept. 19, the command said in a press release Wednesday.

Sgt. Damionia Lott served as a supply sergeant with the 70th Brigade Support Battalion, 210th Field Artillery Brigade at Camp Casey, according to the release. The command said her death was not attributed to a training incident but declined to provide additional information.

Lott, a Louisiana native, enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2016 and joined the Army four years later. She arrived at the battalion in South Korea in July. Her age was not provided.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

As we have been saying here on the ROK Drop, Kim Jong-un is eager to pressure the Moon administration to get a deal cut with Biden administration before the ROK presidential elections this Spring. If a conservative takes power in South Korea the Kim regime knows they have little prospects of getting a deal that gives them what they want with little to nothing in return. The time to get a deal in their favor is now, so expect continued missile tests to keep North Korea in the headlines and the pressure on the Biden administration.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Wednesday he will restore inter-Korean hotlines early next month, while calling Washington’s outreach to Pyongyang for dialogue “a petty trick.”  
   
“The U.S. is touting ‘diplomatic engagement’ and ‘dialogue without preconditions’ but it is no more than a petty trick for deceiving the international community and hiding its hostile acts and an extension of the hostile policy pursued by the successive U.S. administrations,” Kim said in a speech to the Supreme People’s Assembly on Wednesday, according to an English-language statement carried by the North’s official Korea Central News Agency (KCNA).    
   
It was the first time that Kim directly responded to the Joe Biden administration’s repeated calls for dialogue “without any preconditions.”  
   
Kim spoke in a more conciliatory tone about the South, in what appeared to be an attempt to pressure Seoul to get the Joe Biden administration to ease crippling sanctions, suspend joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises, or allow it to keep its existing arsenal of nuclear weapons and missiles – the list of items that the regime has repeatedly demanded from Seoul and Washington.   

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Hopefully no one in the U.S. military had any travel plans to Seoul anytime soon:

The military command responsible for U.S. troops in South Korea has temporarily restricted troops from traveling to 41 districts following a surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.

The updated travel guidelines announced by U.S. Forces Korea on Wednesday reflect a recent increase in coronavirus cases around the country, according to a post on the USFK official Facebook page. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Saturday reported 3,271 new cases, a new daily record in the country.

The surge comes days after Chuseok, the nation’s harvest holiday. South Korean health officials previously said they expected a dramatic increase in cases and warned residents to limit their travel plans during the three-day holiday Sept. 20 to 22. Nearly 33 million people traveled during the holiday week, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

USFK has divided the country into roughly 230 districts to reflect changing rates of coronavirus infection. USFK service members, civilian employees, family members and contractors are prohibited from traveling to districts with 50 or more confirmed COVID-19 patients per 100,000 people over a seven-day period. The command updates its district guidelines every week.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the article states that 80% of Seoul is off limits due to the COVID surge.

The Korean Military Academy continues this great initiative to honor West Point graduates that made the ultimate sacrifice during the Korean War:

Twelve West Point graduates killed during the 1950-53 Korean War were memorialized in a plaque erected last week at South Korea’s military academy.

The Korea Military Academy, about seven miles from Seoul, was established in 1946, one year before the 12 cadets graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y.

The 12 West Pointers from the class of 1947 took part in fierce battles during the Korean War, including the 55-day Nakdong River Defense Line Battle of 1950. Of the dozen killed from that graduating class, the remains of three have yet to be found.

“We will admire their ultimate sacrifice and professional military spirit,” said a statement from the Korea Military Academy. “Their sacrifice reminds people of the importance of the [South Korea]-U.S. alliance.”

Three other memorials honoring West Point alumni from other graduating classes are on the South Korean academy grounds and three more are to be constructed by 2023.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

If they did test a hypersonic missile experts are saying it is in a very early developmental stage. However, as we have seen with their ICBM program they can make gains pretty quickly with repetitive testing. This may be an indication that they plan to do more upcoming testing as part of provocation cycle to pressure the Biden administration to give them what they want:

North Korea’s newly unveiled “hypersonic missile” appears to be at an early stage of development and can be intercepted by South Korean and U.S. military assets, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Wednesday.

The assessment came hours after the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the country’s Academy of Defense Science conducted the first test fire of the hypersonic Hwasong-8 missile from Toyang-ri, Jagang Province, on Tuesday.

“Given the detected speed and other features of the ‘hypersonic missile’ North Korea said it test-fired yesterday, it appears to be at an early stage of development that would require considerable time for actual deployment,” the JCS said in a statement. 

The North’s missile reportedly flew at a speed of around Mach 3, though the military declined to confirm details, including its flight range and altitude.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Another great addition to the ROK Navy:

South Korea on Tuesday launched a new indigenously developed 3,000-ton-class submarine equipped to fire ballistic missiles, the Navy said.  
   
Named after a prominent Korean independence activist, Shin Chae-ho, the new sub was launched in an afternoon ceremony at the shipyard of Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. in the southeastern city of Ulsan on Tuesday, according to the military.  
   
The Shin Chae-ho is the third and final submarine in the Jangbogo-III Batch-I vessel class that the South Korean military has built and developed using domestic technology.  
   
The 3.09 trillion won ($2.77 billion) project, which began in 2007, has yielded three submarines that can fire submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs). 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.