It is probably good for Yoon that this trial is done and out of the way before the campaign season really heats up. However, I expect the Korean left will try and link him to this case even if it is not true:

The mother-in-law of former Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, a leading presidential hopeful, was sentenced to three years in prison Friday, kicking off a political firestorm ahead of the 2022 election.

The local district court in Uijeongbu, 23 kilometers north of Seoul, convicted the 74-year-old, surnamed Choi, of collaborating with three business partners to establish a medical foundation and open a long-term care hospital for senior citizens in February 2013, despite having no medical qualifications.

Choi was also convicted of fraud for accepting 2.29 billion won (US$2.02 million) in state benefits from the National Health Insurance Service until 2015 to run the hospital.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

You have to love the way the media empowers people that clearly have mental issues such as this supposed Instagram influencer who had plastic surgery to look like his favorite BTS singer:

“Now finally, I feel Korean,” said London. “I identify with the Korean community. Maybe they will accept me more now because I have the look. Maybe people will think I’m actually Korean, which would make me really happy. They can see how much I love their culture because this is the extreme length I’ve gone to, because I love Korea so much.

“I just want to make Jimin proud as well, because Jimin is my ultimate idol. I want him to be proud, I’m sure he’ll be proud that I look exactly like him now. I have his eyes. I finally have Jimin’s Korean eyes and they’re so, so beautiful… So I’m so, so happy with my new look. I can’t wait to see the final results when my swelling goes down.”

Newsweek

What makes this even better is that media turns to someone else who also clearly has mental issues, Rachel Dolezal, the fake black person, to further justify this behavior:

In an interview with TMZ, Dolezal, former president of the NAACP chapter in Spokane, Washington, was asked about the furore surrounding London, who now calls themselves Jimin.

“I don’t know Jimin personally, obviously, so they can speak for themselves in that regard,” she said. “But I do think that the broader issue here is compassion and kindness, and that personal identity is not the big fish to fry when it comes to somebody’s personal choices or how they feel.

“I think that we need to focus on fighting the public outrage issues of police brutality, of deinstitutionalizing racism. Those are the issues that I think that we need to come together on to fight publicly, and to be kinder to people and fight a little bit less on social media against somebody’s personal choices.

Newsweek

You can read more at the link.

From a strategic perspective it really makes no sense for the ROK to participate in a naval exercise in the Black Sea:

The United States fully respects South Korea’s decision to skip a multinational naval exercise, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday, also adding Seoul’s decision does not affect the South Korea-U.S. alliance in any way.

“It’s a sovereign decision by a nation state. And they’re certainly entitled to make that decision and to speak to that decision and we absolutely respect it,” the spokesman, John Kirby, said in a press briefing.

South Korea earlier said it had been invited to take part in the U.S.-led exercise, Sea Breeze 21, in the Black Sea that involves some 5,000 troops from 32 countries, including NATO members, but that it has decided not to take part.

The multinational exercise got under way this week and is scheduled to end July 10.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but South Korea will be participating in the Talisman Sabre multinational exercise with Australia which makes more sense for them strategically to participate in.

From the Stars & Stripes:

Gen. Paul LaCamera, described by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as a “quiet warrior” who “drives results,” has taken command of U.S. Forces Korea, United Nations Command and Combined Forces Command.

“Our alliance – forged in blood in the crucible of the Korean War – has been the bedrock of peace and stability on the Korean peninsula for more than 70 years,” LaCamera said during a Friday ceremony at Barker Field that included video remarks from Austin and flyovers by A-10 Warthogs and F-16 Fighting Falcons.

“I look forward to us getting together in the true spirit of one team, to strengthen our alliance and to propel it to even great heights,” LaCamera, who previously commanded U.S. Army Pacific, told an audience that included the head of Indo-Pacific Command, Adm. John Aquilino, and South Korean defense minister Suh Wook.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the prior USFK commander General Abrams is retiring after 39 years of service.

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

North Korean defector Yeonmi Park has been on a roll lately with her comments lately:

Park, however, said the Olympic-qualified athlete was “so privileged” and that she does not know what oppression under a dictatorship really looks like.

“In North Korea, people who are actually oppressed don’t even know they’re oppressed,” she said. “The fact that she’s complaining about oppression and systemic racism — she does not understand that she’s so privileged.”

“There are people dying to come to America at this very moment,” Park said. “I just hope they go to North Korea, China and see how humans are being oppressed, and they will truly understand how valuable the freedom that we have is.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Was is interesting about the ROK participation in the Australian led exercise is that the Japanese are also participants:

South Korea plans to take part in a large-scale naval exercise that the United States and Australia plan to hold next month, the defense ministry said Monday.

The Navy will send a 4,400 ton-class destroyer to the Talisman Sabre exercise set to take place in mid-July in Australian waters. The biennial exercise is the largest bilateral training activity between the U.S. and Australia.

“We’ve decided to join the exercise for the first time this year with a goal to improve our capabilities of conducting combined operations,” ministry spokesperson Boo Seung-chan told a regular press briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but besides the U.S., Australia, and the ROK; Britain, Canada, New Zealand and Japan are also participants, while France, India and Indonesia are observers this year.