The reelection of Kim Jong-un is the type of election Xi likes, one with no opposition because anyone that thinks of opposing is killed:
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday sent a congratulatory letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on his reelection as the ruling party’s general secretary, vowing to strengthen strategic cooperation with Pyongyang, a Chinese news report said.
Xi sent the celebratory telegram to Kim after the North Korean leader was reelected as general secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea during the ongoing party congress, Xinhua News Agency reported.
You can read more at the link.
It will be interesting to see how Korea reacts to this latest tariff news:
U.S. President Donald Trump warned Monday that any country that wants to “play games” with last week’s Supreme Court ruling against his administration’s emergency tariffs, will face a “much higher” tariff.
Trump issued the warning in a social media post after the high court ruled Friday against his use of the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) to justify country-specific “reciprocal” tariffs and other duties in a major setback to his trade policy.
“Any Country that wants to ‘play games’ with the ridiculous supreme court decision, especially those that have ‘Ripped Off’ the U.S.A. for years, and even decades, will be met with a much higher Tariff, and worse, than that which they just recently agreed to,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
“BUYER BEWARE!!!,” he added.
You can read more at the link.
Fortunately no one was hurt in this crash caused by the now former Forestry Service Chief driving drunk:
President Lee Jae Myung has dismissed the minister of the Korea Forest Service, Kim In-ho, after he was found to have committed an unlawful act, Lee’s office said Saturday, without further elaborating.
“We have found that the minister of the Korea Forest Service caused trouble by committing a serious violation to existing laws, and decided to dismiss him from the post,” Lee’s office said.
The presidential office did not elaborate on what specific law Kim violated but warned it will react sternly to any violations of law by high-ranking officials going forward.
Later in the day, police confirmed they have booked Kim on charges of driving under the influence.
Kim is accused of subsequently ramming into a bus and a car while drunk driving at an intersection in the Bundang district of Seongnam at around 10:50 p.m. on Monday, according to the Bundang Police Station in Gyeonggi Province, south of Seoul.
You can read more at the link.
I am very curious to know what the ROK Defense Minister was protesting to the USFK Commander about?:
Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back checks the readiness of the military, in this file photo taken on Feb. 15, 2026, and provided by the Ministry of National Defense. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s defense minister has lodged a protest with the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) early this week over its brief standoff with Chinese fighter jets during a rare air exercise, military sources said Saturday.
Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back has delivered a complaint in a call with Gen. Xavier Brunson, the commander of the Combined Forces Command and the United States Forces Korea, immediately after he received a report of the incident on Wednesday, according to the sources.
Gen. Jin young-sung, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also lodged a complaint in a call with Gen. Brunson, they added.
On Wednesday, U.S. and Chinese fighter jets engaged in a rare standoff over the Yellow Sea during a training operation of the U.S. Air Force, which involved some 10 USFK F-16 fighter jets.
The F-16 jets reportedly flew to an area between the respective air defense identifications zones of South Korea and China, prompting the Chinese military to dispatch its own fighter jets to the scene, but no clash occurred.
The USFK had notified the South Korean military of its plan ahead of the exercise but apparently did not elaborate on the details, including the purpose of the drills, officials have said.
The U.S. planes were flying in international airspace. Is there some kind of policy agreed to between the ROK and USFK that they will not fly military aircraft in international airspace in the Yellow Sea? According to this Korea Herald article the exercise near the Chinese ADIZ was unusual and could be signaling that USFK was transforming towards deterring China which is what the ROK Defense Minister may be upset about:
The deployment of a significant number of USFK Air Force assets near the Chinese ADIZ is considered unusual, prompting interpretations that the exercise may have been aimed at signaling deterrence toward China.
The drills come amid growing speculation that Washington may seek to adjust USFK’s role as it shifts focus toward countering China and encourages allies to assume greater responsibility for regional security.
It is interesting that the ROK government is this upset about an air exercise in international waters near China when the Chinese and the Russians have flown aircraft straight through the the ROK ADIZ on multiple occasions. The last time they did it was just this past December when nine Russian and Chinese aircraft violated in the ROK ADIZ to the South and East of the peninsula. Where was the ROK government’s protests to China and Russia over those incursions? Yet it is going to complain to Gen. Brunson about flying USFK aircraft in international waters?
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
