Doug Bandow writes that it is time for the U.S. to give up its policy of denuclearizing North Korea:

After three decades of insisting that the DPRK can never be allowed to possess nuclear weapons, Washington must confront the failure of U.S. policy. American policymakers should consider accepting North Korea as a nuclear state and treating it as a normal country.

It no longer makes sense to talk of preventing the North from developing nuclear weapons. It already has them. There is great uncertainty as to how many nuclear weapons the Kim regime has or could potentially make—around sixty is a common estimate. However, that could be just the start. The Rand Corporation and Asan Institute figure Pyongyang could possess some two hundred by just 2027, a scant six years away. That would give it more nuclear weapons than currently possessed by India, Israel, and Pakistan. (………..)

Most realistic would be a focus on arms control, with the hope of developing a relationship that might lead to denuclearization. Even such a more limited objective would be advanced by developing a broader and more normal relationship. Meaning diplomatic ties—officials contacts are especially important with potentially dangerous adversaries—cultural exchanges, and economic ties.

The National Interest

You can read more at the link, but I agree with Bandow that denuclearization is now a fantasy. What is more realistic is negotiating away North Korea’s ICBM program, capping their number of nuclear weapons, and stopping nuclear proliferation. Without ICBMs their nukes cannot threaten the United States and it is in the US’s interest that North Korea not sell nuclear technology abroad like they have done in the past.

This is pretty unusual to see a brown bear go into a major city and just start attacking people:

Chased by a car after going on a rampage that injured three people, a wild brown bear crossed a busy road, forced its way onto a military camp in northern Japan and attacked a Japanese soldier on guard duty.

Footage on local television showed the bear wandering a street in Sapporo. After a car began to speed after it, the bear crossed a busy road and forced its way into the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Camp Okadama. The bear knocked down a uniformed soldier on duty at the gate.

The soldier suffered cuts to his chest and stomach, but his injuries were not life threatening, according to the Defense Ministry.

The bear, on the the loose all night in a city in northern Japan, also disrupted flights at the airport Friday before being shot and killed by authorities.

Army Times

You can read more at the link.

I like how the parking attendant is supposedly hospitalized after being pushed to the ground. I an sure some settlement money will help him quickly heal which is what this USFK employee should be quickly putting together to resolve this incident:

South Korean authorities are investigating a U.S. Forces Korea civilian employee accused of assaulting a Seoul parking lot attendant over the weekend.

Police were called out to a disturbance at the Hongdae Street lot on Saturday evening and witnessed the altercation, a Mapo District Police Station official told Stars and Stripes by phone on Thursday. He spoke on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation. 

Video footage obtained by South Korea’s MBC News shows a man pushing the uniformed parking attendant while tripping his leg. The attendant was injured and hospitalized, according to police.

The USFK employee, whom South Korean police are not identifying due to privacy laws, was not intoxicated when officers arrived, the police official said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I also found it interesting that an activist group was protesting at the U.S. embassy over this. Talk about not having a life.

Here is the latest map that is being claimed to show Dokdo as Korean territory:

Spain has shown President Moon Jae-in an old map that describes Dokdo as part of the territory of Korea, according to Cheong Wa Dae, Wednesday (local time). 

The map showing came amid Japan’s renewed territorial claim over Dokdo, Korea’s easternmost islets, on its website for the Tokyo Olympics. 

According to presidential spokeswoman Park Kyung-mee, Moon visited the Spanish senate library after delivering a speech at the senate.

The library officials showed Moon the map, titled “Royaume de Coree” (Kingdom of Korea), which was made by French geographer and cartographer Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville (1697-1782), in 1737 when the territory was known as the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I doubt this map depicts Dokdo. Just looking at the map the islands are not even geographically where they should be and according to the article the island that is supposedly Dokdo was not even spelled right. When you think about it why would a Spanish cartographer include Dokdo on this map back then as Korean territory when they would have just been worthless rocks? The only thing that makes Dokdo valuable today is the territorial waters that it brings with it in modern times which did not exist back then.

This high rate of vaccination of personnel is putting USFK pretty close to herd immunity:

Three American service members and a dependent have tested positive for the new coronavirus upon their arrival here, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) said Thursday. 

One of the service members arrived at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, around 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on a U.S. government-chartered flight, while the others traveled via commercial flights, according to the U.S. military.

All of them have since been transferred to isolation facilities designated for COVID-19 patients, it said.

“Despite the recent confirmed cases, USFK remains at a high level of readiness with more than 75 percent of its affiliated community vaccinated and less than 1 percent of its active duty service members currently confirmed positive with COVID-19,” it said in a release.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but an interesting statistic which will be probably never hear is how many of the USFK personnel who tested positive on arrival were previously vaccinated?

This is actually a really brilliant move by the conservative opposition party in Korea because it demonstrates that the old guard many Koreans are fed up with is transitioning power to the younger generation:

The election of a young new leader is giving a boost to the main opposition People Power Party (PPP), with it seeing the highest gains in support in years and positive signs of a potential “conservative big tent” to counter the liberal ruling bloc ahead of next March’s presidential election. 

Public attention to the rise of the 36-year-old Lee Jun-seok and his victory at the party convention is pushing the party’s support rate. According to a survey of 2,512 adults conducted last week by local pollster Realmeter, and released Monday, 39.1 percent of respondents said they supported the PPP, while 29.2 percent said were behind the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK)

Political watchers believe the PPP has succeeded in responding to the growing public calls for change and innovation in politics by electing the youngest-ever party chairman, and it is now being recognized by the public as an alternative political force that could hold the supermajority DPK in check. Even before Lee’s rise, the DPK was already losing public support due to corruption and land speculation scandals involving high-profile government officials and party members.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.