The mess of the Afghan pullout may land on the front doors of Japan and South Korea:
This file photo taken Feb. 27, 2020, shows the U.S. Forces Korea’s Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province.
The United States is considering using American military bases in South Korea as one of the housing sites for evacuees from Afghanistan, along with other overseas bases, including those in Japan, the Wall Street Journal has reported.
The Pentagon is “looking at American bases in Japan, Korea, Germany, Kosovo, Bahrain and Italy” as existing housing sites in Qatar and elsewhere are filling up quickly, the paper reported Saturday (U.S. time), citing unidentified officials.
The problem with this bill is who defines what fake news is? The last ROK President was impeached in part with help from fake news which the people pushing this bill didn’t mind at the time:
Opposition People Power Party lawmakers attempt to block the approval of an amendment to the Press Arbitration Act by Culture Committee Chairman Do Jong-hwan on Thursday. [YONHAP]
Ruling Democratic Party (DP) members on a parliamentary committee Thursday approved a bill that would impose a five-fold increase in penalties on media outlets that make false or fraudulent news reports, ignoring protests from opposition lawmakers and media associations.
The proposal – an amendment to the existing Press Arbitration Act – was passed at a plenary session of the National Assembly’s Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee by its DP lawmakers and after a boycott by protesting opposition lawmakers.
Afghanistan debacle surely affects Kim Jong Un's view of the value of any prospective deal with the U.S. He may conclude that the U.S., under any leadership, cannot keep a deal, and it only seeks capitulation. But, Kim also rejects becoming Xi's lackey in order for NK to survive.
Graduation amid pandemic A masked graduate poses in a classroom at Kyunghee University in Seoul on Aug. 18, 2021, as students have “I was there” photos taken. Most universities in the country, which canceled graduation ceremonies amid fears of the coronavirus pandemic, are expected to continue online classes in the second semester. (Yonhap)
North Korea may show how upset they are with ROK and US service members playing computer simulated war-games together by firing a missile:
A new type of a tactical guided missile is launched from the North Korean town of Hamju, South Hamgyong Province, on March 25, 2021, in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency. South Korea’s military said the previous day that the North fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea.
North Korea had declared a no-sail zone for ships off the east coast earlier this week, sources said Thursday, indicating that it had plans to launch missiles amid an ongoing combined exercise between South Korea and the United States.
The navigational warning was issued for Sunday through Monday for northeastern regions in the East Sea, according to the military sources. Such an advisory is usually issued ahead of missile launches or other weapons tests to warn vessels to stay clear of certain areas expected to be affected.
A Gumi woman, surnamed Seok, arrives at the Gimcheon branch of the Daegu District Court in Gimcheon, southeastern South Korea, on Aug. 17, 2021, to attend her hearing in a child death case. (Yonhap)
A forty-something woman, who recently made headlines in South Korea for allegedly switching her newborn infant with her daughter’s baby years ago, was sentenced to eight years in prison on Tuesday for attempting to abandon the body of her 3-year-old daughter this year and abducting her granddaughter of the same age in 2018.
The Gimcheon branch of the Daegu District Court gave the prison term to the 48-year-old woman, surnamed Seok, after convicting her on multiple charges, including baby switching and abduction.
You can read more at the link, but why would you switch the babies to just then starve what you know to be your granddaughter to death? Additionally how did her daughter not know the babies were switched? Like I said this whole thing is bizarre.
Starbucks coffee on the menu at the "Sunrise Cafe" in #Pyongyang Remember spotting a large tub of Quality Streets on sale in the shop there for €40. One of the few cafes which kept their curtains open with a view overlooking the streets below. Taken in 2019. #NorthKorea#DPRKpic.twitter.com/Xy6XSFcVaX
Jeju tightens COVID-19 rules A downtown street on the southern resort island of Jeju is nearly empty on Aug. 18, 2021, after the local government raised its social distancing restrictions to curb COVID-19 to the highest level on the day. (Yonhap)
Rep. Song Young-gil, head of the ruling Democratic Party, speaks during a party meeting at the National Assembly in Seoul, wednesday
Rep. Song Young-gil, chairman of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), Wednesday, struck back at tweets by a Washington Post columnist saying that South Korea would be like Afghanistan if the U.S. forces leave the Korean Peninsula.
In addition, he added that Seoul needs to take advantage of the Afghanistan crisis to regain wartime operational control (OPCON) of South Korean forces from Washington.
On Monday (local time), Marc Thiessen, a former speechwriter for former U.S. President George W. Bush, tweeted, “If South Korea were under this kind of sustained assault, they would collapse just as quickly without US support. There’s virtually no American ally who could defend themselves without us.”
You can read more at the link, but the ROK military will fight and not capitulate like the Afghan government that was corrupt and unpopular. South Korea is a developed democracy with a first world military with equipment far better than anything North Korea has. There is no way the ROK military would abandon their posts and rush to Osan Airbase to cling to fleeing C-17’s.
![Opposition People Power Party lawmakers attempt to block the approval of an amendment to the Press Arbitration Act by Culture Committee Chairman Do Jong-hwan on Thursday. [YONHAP]](https://i0.wp.com/koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2021/08/19/4403d723-8178-4a80-9db3-fd5191db71a6.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)
