It is a bit ironic that the Moon administration is relying on nuclear energy to meet the need for increased power supply from the summer heat when they have long claimed they want to do away with nuclear power:

The government is trying to stabilize the nation’s power supply by getting nuclear reactors back into operation.    
   
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said Tuesday that the Shin Kori unit 4 reactor, which was closed for maintenance, will be back in operation July 21, a week earlier than planned.    
   
Shin Wolsong unit 1 reactor, which had its start date moved up a month to July 18, will reach its full capacity of 1,000 megawatts by July 21.    
   
The Wolsong unit 3 reactor, which was shut for maintenance, will go back into operation on schedule on July 23.  
   
The three reactors will be contributing 2,150 additional megawatt of energy this week.    

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but like I have always said windmills and solar panels are not going to power a modern, industrial economy.

Hopefully this mountaineer can be found, but considering the altitude he got lost at and the extreme terrain, it seems any rescue is going to be difficult:

South Korea has asked China and Pakistan for help in the search for a Korean mountaineer missing in the Himalayas, a foreign ministry official said Tuesday. 

Kim Hong-bin, a mountaineer also known for having lost his fingers to frostbite, went missing on Monday while on his way back down from the summit of the 8,047-meter high Broad Peak, located in Pakistan’s Karakoram Range.

He broke the record of climbing all of the world’s 14 highest peaks in the Himalayas as a person with a disability. 

“We contacted the authorities in Pakistan and China as soon as we learned he went missing and requested a dispatch of rescue teams, including a helicopter,” ministry spokesperson Choi Young-sam said in a press briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is amazing that it has been nearly a decade and half since ROK Army soldier, SGT Yoon Jang-ho was killed in Afghanistan. Well now the memorial to him and other Soldiers have been disposed of after the U.S. military shut down Bagram Airbase:

Much of the work done by several people during the final stretch was “sanitizing” Bagram. 

“We pulled off stickers, signs went down,” said Kimberly Culverhouse-Steadman, who came to Bagram in February to close the USO and bring back its mementos. “They just didn’t want anything reminiscent of American presence.”

This effort was to “ensure consistency in appearance,” said Col. Jennifer Spahn, spokeswoman for U.S. Forces – Afghanistan, in a statement Friday. 

Some objected to painting over the murals at Bagram, including James Von Holland, a contractor at Bagram who has photographed hundreds of murals during his time at U.S. bases in the Middle East. 

“I didn’t like it at all,” Von Holland said. “It’s like going into the Louvre and destroying the Mona Lisa.”

Stars & Stripes

Here is SGT Yoon’s memorial afterwards:

It is tough to see these memorials being dismantled, but I think it had to be done. What would people think if the Taliban take the base over and we seem them defecating, blowing up, and doing other destructive things to these memorials.

By the way if you haven’t you should read up on SGT Yoon who has deep American ties and returned to Korea just to do his mandatory military service. He was the first Korean servicemember killed in action since the Vietnam War.

I don’t see why the Moon administration even thought the Japanese government was ready to do them any favors considering all the animosity between them the past four years:

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has decided not to visit Japan this week, as no satisfactory accomplishment is expected in proposed summit talks, Cheong Wa Dae announced Monday.

Moon plans to send Hwang Hee, minister of culture, sports and tourism, there to attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, slated for Friday, as head of his government’s delegation.

The president had considered a trip to Tokyo for the event. South Korea and Japan had consultations on the possibility of holding the first face-to-face summit between Moon and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on the occasion.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This incident shows how living in close quarters leads to super spreader events:

A total of 247 sailors of the 301-strong Cheonghae unit on an anti-piracy mission in waters off Africa have tested positive for the coronavirus, the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday, confirming a widely feared mass infection, seen as the worst in South Korea’s military.

An additional 179 have newly tested positive after 69 were confirmed infected Sunday, the JCS said. 

“Test results on all the 301 crewmembers of the Cheonghae unit showed that 247 tested positive and 50 negative. Samples of four individuals were undecipherable,” the JCS said in a release.

All the service members are expected to return home Tuesday as the government decided to airlift all and sent two KC-330 aerial tankers to Africa on Sunday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.