No surprise here that the ruling Democratic Party gave in to orders from Kim Yo-jong to criminalize the activists sending leaflets into North Korea:

The ruling Democratic Party of Korea’s (DPK) passage of a bill at the national Assembly prohibiting the sending of leaflets with anti-North Korea messages across the border is facing a strong backlash from defectors’ groups and the opposition as well as the international community.

Park Sang-hak, the head of the Fighters for a Free North Korea, a North Korean defectors’ group, said Tuesday that he will file a petition with the Constitutional Court against the so-called “anti-leaflet law,” which can hand down a prison term of three years or a maximum fine of 30 million won to people sending messages critical of the North Korean regime via leaflets or broadcasts.

The DPK pushed ahead with passing the bill despite a protest from the conservative opposition People Power Party late Monday evening. The bill came after a statement from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s sister Kim Yo-jong in June in which she strongly denounced such leaflets and called on Seoul to do something about them. The opposition and activists for North Korean human rights such as Park have derided it as legislation “submitting to Kim Yo-jong’s order.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the article speculates that this might impact relations with the incoming Biden administration. I would be surprised if it does because when did anyone in the Obama administration ever strongly support these activists? I doubt the Biden administration will be much different.

By the way the North Korean reaction and the South Korean left’s quick criminalization of Park Sang-hak and his group is a sure sign that the leaflets are having an effect in North Korea.

Here was a good move by Ambassador Harris to score some easy points with the Korean public at the expense of the Chinese:

U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris learned how to make kimchi from a renowned chef Tuesday, calling the fermented cabbage dish “uniquely Korean, world-renowned food.”

The kimchi-making event at the Habib House, the ambassador’s official residence in Seoul, came amid Chinese media’s claim that Beijing led the development of a global standard for the staple Korean dish.

“There’re some pretenders out there, but I think there’s nothing more Korean than kimchi,” Harris said during the 25-minute event streamed live on Facebook by the Asia Society Korea Center. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but great job who ever came up with the idea for this event.

This looks like an attempt to show the public “we are doing something”:

More than 300 Special Warfare officers were dispatched to public health centers Monday to help with the government’s handling of the new coronavirus, the Army said. 

A total of 379 officers from the Army’s Special Warfare Command were sent to 78 public health centers in Seoul and the surrounding areas to conduct diverse supporting roles, such as contact tracing, data management and transferring samples for virus tests for two months, according to the Army. 

The move came as the metropolitan area has reported large numbers of COVID-19 cases in recent weeks. On Sunday, the country’s number of daily infections hit a record high of 1,030, and nearly 80 percent of them were from Seoul, the western city of Incheon and Gyeonggi Province.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this appears to be nothing more than a PR move because you don’t need special forces soldiers to do contact tracing or data management.

Here is the future of warfare:

A drone has been converted into a flying flamethrower in central China in a fiery campaign to eradicate more than 100 wasp nests.

Blue Sky Rescue, a volunteer group that conducts search and rescue and other emergency work, have teamed up with villagers in Zhong county near the city of Chongqing.

They raised 80,000 yuan ($12,200) to buy a drone and equip it with a gasoline tank and an arm-length nozzle.

Videos released by Blue Sky show a recent mission by the six-arm drone. It hovers above a hive as large as a suitcase before swooping down. The drone operator flips the ignition switch, and the drone spits bursts of fire onto the hive.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link, but image in a swarm of drones equipped with flamethrowers coming at dismounted U.S. troops.

USFK continues to slowly but surely give back more its land to South Korea. It will be interesting if any of the left wing groups will use this as an opportunity to protest environmental issues like they have done for past hand overs:

Parts of Yongsan Garrison and the former headquarters of Stars and Stripes in Seoul are among a dozen U.S. military sites that will be returned to South Korea by U.S. forces, according U.S. and South Korean officials.

The decision, which did not include timelines for the handovers, was made during a virtual Status of Forces Agreement Joint Committee meeting involving both nations Friday, according to a statement that day.

“The parties agree that further delays aggravate the economic and social challenges of the local communities surrounding the camps and that the returns process should be expedited,” the statement said.

Included in a list of facilities is the Far East Engineer District Compound in Seoul’s Dongdaemun neighborhood that was home to Stars and Stripes’ South Korean headquarters before it relocated to Camp Humphreys, south of Seoul, in September 2018.

Also on the list are parts of Pilsung Air Range, Taebaek; parts of Camp Walker, Daegu; Commander Naval Forces Korea Detachment, Pohang; parts of Camp Mobile, Dongducheon; Camp Jackson, Uijeongbu; Sungnam Golf Course, Hanam; Seobinggo Compound, Seoul; Niblo Barracks, Seoul; 8th Army (Religious) Retreat Center, Seoul; Camp Kim, Seoul; and parts of Yongsan Garrison, Seoul.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.