Horrible story where the mother received little punishment for killing a newborn:

An unregistered Thai woman was given a suspended prison sentence for neglecting her newborn baby, resulting in death, according to a local court, Thursday. 

The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced the 37-year-old woman to a two-year prison term suspended for three years for the crime of abandonment of an infant resulting in death.

The woman delivered the baby at around 8 p.m., Mar. 29, in Gwanak District, Seoul, alone without medical assistance. The baby died around two hours later as she neglected the infant without giving it sufficient care including failing to clear amniotic fluid from the baby’s nose and mouth. 

It was found during the police investigation that she had been staying in the country illegally, and therefore did not contact the police nor take the baby to the emergency room, out of concern that her illegal stay would be revealed. 

Regarding the baby’s father, the accused stated that she had become pregnant with one of her clients at a massage shop where she was working. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is just another example of a governmentsmaking a grand proclamation, but put it so far out in the future that no one in power now can be held accountable for it:

The ever-manifesting global alliance on lowering carbon emissions to curb the feared consequences of global warming has recently forced the South Korean government to announce on Oct. 28 the country would go “net zero” by 2050 ― bringing the net amount of carbon emissions to zero. The announcement came after the Moon Jae-in administration in July released the Green New Deal, a set of future-oriented policies invested with 73 trillion won ($66.2 billion) to minimize carbon emissions, as part of the game-changing Korean New Deal plan to restructure the country’s economy.

But the Green New Deal stoked doubts and drew criticism over its superficiality and lack of detailed plans, as well as its focus on job creation and the economy rather than the dire environmental concerns already affecting lives. Since then, people have demanded an incisive and critical evaluation of the country’s ongoing carbon reduction efforts that embrace both future industries and future generations. (…..)

“The Moon administration’s announcement of net zero is a welcome sign after the Green New Deal caught flak from many experts, including myself, for putting climate ambitions in the backseat to concentrate on the COVID-19-hit economy,” said Ban, now heading the National Council on Climate and Air Quality (NCCA) established in 2019 directly under President Moon. “It also seems inevitable after China and Japan announced earlier this year going net zero by 2060 and 2050, respectively, and U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden promised to push for net zero by 2050 with a $2 trillion budget and new carbon adjustment fees and return to the Paris Agreement.” 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This could just be a tactic to end the strike, but at some point I am sure GM has some red line they have identified to close their plant in Korea if this continues:

An executive of General Motors Co., the parent company of GM Korea Co., said the U.S. automaker could withdraw from South Korea if workers at the Korean unit continue to go on strike for wage hikes amid the COVID-19 pandemic, according to GM Korea Thursday.

GM Korea workers have been staging several rounds of partial strikes since Oct. 30, demanding an end to a wage freeze and a new vehicle production plan at its No. 2 Bupyeong plant in Incheon, just west of Seoul. 

The persistent industrial action has cost the company 17,000 vehicles in lost production, and the number is expected to reach 20,000 by the end of the week, Steve Kiefer, president of GM’s international operations, told Reuters.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is what the Army Secretary had to say about the SHARP program:

“My preliminary review of the report, recent cases and recent media coverage, have hardened my belief that the Army’s SHARP program hasn’t achieved its mandate to eliminate sexual assaults and sexual harassment by creating a climate that respects the dignity of every member of the Army family,” McCarthy said in a video statement Wednesday afternoon.

Army leadership intends to also release an action plan to address the review’s recommendations when it’s released next month.

The Army’s Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention program, or SHARP, has been under scrutiny in recent months following the death of Spc. Vanessa Guillen, a Fort Hood soldier who prosecutors say was murdered in an armory on post by a fellow 3rd Cavalry Regiment trooper.

Guillen’s family said she had been sexually harassed by a fellow soldier prior to her death, but she didn’t report the incident for fear of retribution. Following those allegations, Army Forces Command sent a small team in June to specifically look at the SHARP program on Fort Hood.

Army Times

You can read more at the link, but the problem I see here is setting an unattainable goal. The Army will never eliminate SHARP incidents, just like it will never end theft, murder, assault, and other crimes in the ranks. Everyone who has ever served in the Army has experienced barracks thieves. What makes SHARP different is the politics involved with the issue. When have you ever heard a politician claim theft between soldiers needs to be ended?

What needs to be determined is if the system is allowing soldiers to report and seek investigations and ultimately punishment of those responsible. It is pretty clear that a large number of soldiers are reporting based on the numbers from the Pentagon, what is tricky is the punishment portion when you get into the he said, she said cases particularly when many of them involve alcohol.

This is the same problem that civilian courts have and no one is trying to blow up the civilian court system like politicians want to do with the military justice system.

Just like South Korea Japan is seeing a surge in coronavirus cases with Yokota Airbase being the hotspot for the US military in Japan:

Japan is experiencing a coronavirus spike that began Nov. 3 with 468 new cases and rose to 1,694 on Sunday, just shy of the pandemic peak of 1,998 on Aug. 3, according to data from the World Health Organization. Japan recorded 1,190 new patients on Tuesday for a pandemic total of 119,326 cases and 1,903 deaths.

The capital, Tokyo, on Wednesday reported 493 people newly infected, its highest daily total thus far, according to public broadcaster NHK. The previous peak, 472, occurred Aug. 1, according to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government website.

Tokyo exceeded 300 new daily cases for four days last week ending Saturday. A panel of experts is expected to recommend the city raise its public health alert level to the highest of four stages, NHK reported Wednesday.

Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo recorded its highest one-day total, 14 new cases, including one at the base high school, on Wednesday, according to a base Facebook post and a letter from the school principal to staff and families.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

With the weather getting colder these spikes in cases are occurring all over the northern hemisphere, but South Korea’s spike is way smaller than others:

South Korea’s new coronavirus cases hovered above 300 on Wednesday to reach the highest level since late August, setting alarm bells ringing over another potential wave of the pandemic.

The country added 313 more COVID-19 cases, including 245 local infections, raising the total caseload to 29,311, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA).

The daily figure exceeded 300 for the first time since Aug. 29, with the daily caseload hovering over 200 in the last four days.

Cluster infections from private gatherings, public facilities and hospitals continued to occur in several parts of the nation, making it harder for health authorities to pin down potential cases and curb the spread of the virus.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is a gigantic fail by whoever was responsible for Ft. Bragg’s Twitter site:

“Holy s—, this is the largest US military installation,” an OnlyFans adult-content creator said to herself on October 22, moments after one of her Twitter posts went viral.

The sex worker, who asked that we refer to her by her stage name, Quinn Finite, was in the car with her boyfriend when she started receiving hundreds of alerts after the official Twitter account for Fort Bragg, the home of the US Army’s Airborne and Special Operations Command, had replied to her tweets with sexually charged messages in public view.

The elite Army base’s Twitter account commented on her pubic hair and reacted to one of her nude images by suggesting that Finite and the Twitter account should engage in sexual acts.

As the minutes passed by, hundreds of Twitter users began noticing the sexually charged tweets and replying back with jokes. The installation responded roughly an hour later by claiming its account was compromised by a malicious entity.

“As many of you may know, there were a string of explicit Tweets from our account this afternoon,” a representative for the North Carolina base said in a statement. “This was not the work of our admins. Our account was hacked. We apologize to our followers.”

The next morning, the XVIII Airborne Corps apologized for its earlier statement and identified an “administrator” as the source of the tweets. “Appropriate action” was underway, the unit said.

Fort Bragg’s official Twitter account was taken down the same day and remained offline as of Tuesday.

Yahoo News

You can read more at the link, but the sex workers says that the Tweet caused interest in her site to rise so much that she went from making $7,000 a month to $35,000 a month.