It does seem like the future of warfare is leaning towards using more unmanned equipment:

“Unmanned” is the latest buzzword among the world’s militaries, and Korean defense companies are wading deep into the race of developing remotely controlled and artificial intelligence-powered weapons both at home and abroad.  
   
With the support of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA), Hanwha Defense and Hyundai Rotem have developed advanced military hardware, such as optionally manned and unmanned fighting vehicles, to better brace for evolving future battle environments.

Under a rapid acquisition project worth 26 billion won ($22.8 million), DAPA in October decided to buy 12 military items that employ state-of-the-art technologies, such as remote control and autonomous driving powered by artificial intelligence. The agency launched the rapid acquisition project to accelerate the adoption of innovative technologies for military purposes. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

President Biden is sending one of his buddies to Japan:

President Joe Biden is expected to nominate former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Japan, according to a person familiar with the president’s decision.

The person, who was not authorized to comment publicly about the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity Tuesday, said the White House plans to announce Emanuel’s nomination later this month.

Emanuel is a former three-term congressman who served as Barack Obama’s first White House chief of staff and was a senior adviser in Bill Clinton’s administration. Biden had considered naming Emanuel to serve as his transportation secretary but ultimately passed him over in the face of fierce opposition from some in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party and liberal activists.

Asahi Shimbun

You can read more at the link, but a good thing about being an ambassador to Japan is that if he needs to send a dead fish to anyone they will be easy find.

I wonder if anyone on the Korean left is going to claim this is training to assault Dokdo:

French forces are training on Japanese soil for the first time during drills this week that will include beach raids alongside U.S. Marines and Japanese amphibious troops supported by an Australian frigate.

The Jeanne D’Arc 21 exercise began Tuesday at Camp Ainoura, home of Japan’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade at Sasebo in Nagasaki prefecture, III Marine Expeditionary Force said in a statement Wednesday.

The brigade, modeled on U.S. Marines, has about 100 people in the exercise, including infantry, engineers and command and control troops, according to Marine Capt. Thomas Delaney, a firepower control team leader on Kyushu.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It is hard for the Kim regime to accept COVID vaccines when they are probably getting ready to start a provocation cycle in time for this summer’s Tokyo Olympics:

The U.S. is making efforts to facilitate talks with North Korea with an offering of COVID-19 vaccines, but the probability of Pyongyang accepting this offer seems to be low, given the Kim Jong-un regime’s ignoring of humanitarian aid offers and its strict quarantine policy. 

Experts said Wednesday the U.S. move can be interpreted as a tactic of showing various benefits available to the North if it joins the party, in the wake of the Joe Biden administration’s new North Korea policy. However, they have expressed doubts whether the North will find the vaccine offer attractive, as the regime seeks to be on equal footing with Washington and has not been acting desperate for vaccines.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It appears this is going to be the new left wing talking point that COVID was caused by global warming even though there is plenty of circumstantial evidence that it was accidentally released from a Chinese lab:

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic may be the “last warning from nature” that is urging humanity to respond immediately to the climate crisis, former U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday. 

Ban, who currently chairs the Ban Ki-moon Foundation for a Better Future, made the remark during the Korea Forum 2021, co-hosted by The Korea Times and its sister paper, the Hankook Ilbo.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is a phenomenon of the climate crisis,” he said in a keynote address at the forum held at the Cultural Depot Park in Seoul. “Following the virus outbreak, humans have realized the need to fundamentally resolve environmental problems for their sustainable survival.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I don’t like the corrupt Cho Kuk either, but this lawsuit seems pretty frivolous to me:

Former Justice Minister Cho Kuk was sued Tuesday by 1,618 individuals for inflicting what the plaintiffs have called psychological damages “caused by Cho’s lies and illegal activities.”  
   
In the class-action lawsuit, filed at the Seoul Central District Court, the plaintiffs demand compensation of 1 million won ($900) per person from Cho, claiming that his actions caused them “depression, hair loss, insomnia, rage-related disorders, suicidal tendencies and anger management issues.”  
   
Lawyer Kim So-yeon, a member of the opposition People Power Party (PPP) who represents the plaintiffs, asked people in September to join the lawsuit through a link on her Facebook page where she wrote, “I am pursuing a class-action lawsuit due to requests from many people who have suffered extreme stress and even developed illnesses due to Cho’s numerous lies regarding his private equity fund, his daughter’s academic fraud and his son’s university admission.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the article says that the lawsuit will likely not even get a hearing.