Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk is still riding high with a presidential pardon, having most of his political enemies arrested or in jail, and now being elected as the leader of his minor party with almost North Korea like voter approval. Few people have had such as change in fortune more than Cho Kuk with the election of a new President:

The minor Rebuilding Korea Party on Sunday elected former Justice Minister Cho Kuk as its leader with 98.6 percent approval.

Cho was the only candidate in the election held during a national convention in Cheongju, 137 kilometers south of Seoul.

In a speech, he pledged to chart a new path not taken by either of the major political parties “with only the people’s will as the compass.”

“We are embarking in earnest on a voyage to political reform, people’s livelihood reform, economic reform, social reform and human rights reform,” he said.

Cho, who founded and previously led the minor party, returned to politics after receiving a special presidential pardon in August while serving a two-year prison term for academic fraud involving his children and unlawful interference with a government inspection.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is literally internatonal political version of the bully running to the teacher that they are being bullied because someone decided to standup to them bullying their classmate:

China has taken its growing dispute with Japan to the United Nations, accusing Tokyo of threatening “an armed intervention” over Taiwan and vowing to defend itself in its strongest language yet in the two-week-old dispute.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi committed “a grave violation of international law” and diplomatic norms when she said a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo, China’s U.N. Ambassador Fu Cong wrote in a letter on Friday to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Reuters

You can read more at the link.

Reunification of the Korean peninsula at this point will only happen on the terms of the Kim regime in North Korea. The Kim regime will never agree to reunification on the South’s terms:

 President Lee Jae Myung said Sunday reunification with North Korea remains South Korea’s ultimate goal and a constitutional duty, vowing to pursue it through dialogue rather than unilateral action.

Lee, in Johannesburg for the Group of 20 summit, made the remarks in a written interview with Turkey’s Anadolu Agency, published ahead of his state visit to Ankara.

“Reunification remains our ultimate goal and is not merely an ideal but a constitutional duty. Our government will not pursue reunification through a unilateral approach,” Lee said in the translated interview. 

“Our government seeks gradual and phased reunification through peaceful coexistence and mutual development, reflecting the democratic will of all people on the Korean Peninsula,” he added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but as long as the Kim regime remains in power there will never be reunification “reflecting the democratic will of all people on the Korean Peninsula” when there is no democracy in North Korea. If Lee really wanted reunification he would be working to undermine the Kim regime and sustain it. The ROK had its chance 20-30 years ago to seek reunification on their terms and instead the Korean left pushed the Sunshine Policy that sustained the Kim regime and led to the nuclear threat they now face.

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

I think the Japanese Navy in response should sail right through so called Japanese territorial waters in the South China Sea in response to this:

The Chinese coast guard entered waters Japan claims as its territorial limit around the Senkaku Islands over the weekend, less than 10 days after Japan’s prime minister warned Tokyo would use military force if China attacked Taiwan. Four Chinese vessels crossed into the 12-mile zone east of the Senkakus around 10:15 a.m. Sunday, according to a Japan coast guard statement released the same day. The uninhabited Senkakus — five islets and three rocky outcrops — lie about 105 miles east of Taiwan and 254 miles west of Okinawa. They are administered by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.