This could be the Kim regime preparing their people for an upcoming provocation cycle and whatever repercussions come from it:

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for waging another “arduous march” to fight severe economic difficulties, for the first time comparing them to a 1990s famine that killed hundreds of thousands.

Kim had previously said his country faces the “worst-ever” situation due to several factors, including the coronavirus pandemic, U.S.-led sanctions and natural disasters last summer. But it’s the first time he publicly drew parallel with the deadly famine.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

There has finally been an indictment of a Blue House official in regards to the Ulsan Mayor election meddling case:

Prosecutors on Friday indicted a presidential official in a high-profile political scandal surrounding a 2018 mayoral election.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office charged Lee Jin-seok, presidential secretary for state affairs monitoring, with violating election laws, wrapping up more than a year of investigation into the case in which presidential officials and a ruling party candidate’s campaign allegedly colluded to win the mayoral election in the southeastern city of Ulsan. (…..)

In January 2020, a total of 13 officials including Song Cheol-ho, current mayor of Ulsan and longtime friend of President Moon Jae-in, and Han Byung-do, former senior presidential secretary for political affairs, were put on trial in the same case.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the pandemic in South Korea:

Korea may be at the beginning of a fourth big wave of COVID-19 infections, according to health experts, with the daily caseload reaching its highest level in three months amid sporadic cluster infections across the country. 

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), the country reported 700 daily new cases for Wednesday, the highest level in 91 days, bringing the total caseload to 107,598. Among the new cases were 674 local infections and 26 cases from overseas.

Medical experts who viewed that Korea has already entered its fourth wave of infections expressed concerns that the daily caseload could cross into the thousands unless the government introduces tighter social distancing measures, considering deepened public fatigue from the year-long pandemic and increased outdoor activities in the warming weather. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

One the ring leaders of the sex video blackmail case has received a lengthy prison sentence:

 A court on Thursday sentenced a key member of an online sexual blackmail ring to 34 years in prison for coercing dozens of women and girls into sharing sexually explicit videos of themselves. 

A district court in the southeastern city of Andong convicted Moon Hyung-wook, 24, of operating the sexual exploitation chatrooms on Telegram and producing and distributing thousands of obscene videos of female victims.

“The defendant caused irreparable damage to the victims and his antisocial crime that violates human dignity deserves a severe punishment,” the court said in the ruling.

The court also ordered him to wear an electronic bracelet for 30 years.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I doubt he will remain in jail for 34 years. He will probably receive parol early thus the electronic bracelet requirement for 30 years.

It wasn’t all that long ago when the ruling Democratic Party were smug and seemed unbeatable. That is no longer the case:

 After his Democratic Party (DP) suffered an election rout, President Moon Jae-in stated Thursday that he takes it as a “reprimand” from the public.

He said he will carry out his duties with a “humble demeanor and heavy sense of responsibility,” according to Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kang Min-seok.

Moon was quoted as adding that he will concentrate efforts on meeting the people’s “desperate demands,” including overcoming the COVID-19 crisis, revitalizing the economy, stabilizing the people’s livelihoods and the real estate market, and rooting out corruption.

The liberal DP was overwhelmingly defeated by the conservative main opposition People Power Party in the Seoul and Busan mayoral by-elections the previous day.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

A correspondent for the Joong Ang Ilbo Park Hyun-young is concerned he is going to be targeted in the U.S. for being Asian. He titled his piece “A Jungle of Violence”:

I liked to talk on the phone or listen to podcasts while walking. But I don’t put my earphones on when walking in downtown Washington so that I can be aware of my surroundings. If I use earphones, it is hard to know whether there’s someone behind me or if person is talking to me or walking faster suddenly.

It is a new habit I’ve developed as crimes against Asian Americans are on the rise in the United States. If I run into a stranger in a secluded place, I look around to see if there’s any surveillance cameras.It is more often that I don’t find them. (…….) Before America gets the disgrace of being labeled a “jungle” dominated by the physically strong, the Biden administration needs to address the issue seriously without political calculation.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read the rest at the link, but one could argue that Mr. Park’s title for his article is racist in itself by trying to compare the U.S. to a jungle. Just ask President Biden. Anyway something else that Mr. Park needs to realize is that even white people in certain areas of D.C. have to be careful where the walk and what they doing. The mentally ill and criminal elements often behind these assault don’t limit their illegal activities to just Asian people.