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USFK Commander Wears New Army Uniform to Commemorate 70th Anniversary of the Korean War

More and more senior Army leaders are rocking the service’s new dress uniform to include the USFK commander:

U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Robert Abrams wears the new Army Green Service Uniform during a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Korean War at Camp Humphreys, South Korea, Thursday, June 25, 2020. The uniform is modeled in the service’s iconic World War II-era “pinks and greens.”

Gen. Robert Abrams, commander of U.S. Forces Korea, donned a new look Thursday as he spoke during a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.

Or, rather, it was an old look.

Wearing a dark olive jacket and pinkish-brown trousers, he joked that his uniform looked similar to those worn during the 1950-53 conflict on the divided peninsula.

“Some of you are already inquiring what uniform is General Abrams wearing. Some have accused me already of being a Korean War re-enactor,” he said as the audience laughed. “This is the newly approved Army Green Service Uniform, and it will be required for service members in the next few years.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Report Claims U.S. May Move Troops from Germany to the Indo-Pacific Region

The big question is where in the Indo-Pacific would these troops go if they are in fact moved out of Germany?:

U.S. soldiers stand in formation during a ceremony to kick off the Yama Sakura exercise at Camp Asaka, Tokyo, Dec. 9, 2019.
SETH ROBSON/STARS AND STRIPES

Thousands of troops may be redeployed to the Indo-Pacific under a plan to reduce U.S. forces in Germany, according to the White House’s national security adviser.

President Donald Trump announced last week his intentions of cutting troop levels in Germany from 34,500 to 25,000. He said the country, where the U.S. has stationed troops since 1945, has shortchanged the United States on trade and defense, and that he will reduce troop numbers “until they pay” more.

The move has been criticized by lawmakers in Germany and in the United States, including members of the Republican Party.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the article claims that Australia may be a place for the troops to be stationed.

Tweet of the Day: Problems with Solar Panels in Korea

Picture of the Day: KCTU Wants Minimum Wage Increase

Rally for minimum wage increase
Rally for minimum wage increase
Members of the umbrella labor group Korean Confederation of Trade Unions rally in front of Samsung Electronics Co.’s headquarters in Seoul on June 24, 2020, to declare their campaign to seek an increase in the minimum wage, among other demands. (Yonhap)

DPAA to Return Remains of 147 ROK Army Soldiers from the Korean War

147 remains of ROK Army veterans of the Korean War are finally returning home:

A 2018 remains return to U.S. and South Korean scientists by North Korea shows Drs. Debra Prince-Zinni, left, and Jennie Jin, forensic anthropologists with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), secure a case containing the possible remains of service members lost in the Korean War. Some of those remains have now been verified as South Korean in origin and are being repatriated. (Sgt. 1st Class David J. Marshall/Army)

The largest repatriation of remains of South Korean soldiers who fought alongside U.S. troops in the Korean War is being held at 4 p.m. EDT today at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii.

The soldiers’ remains are being returned to their homeland of South Korea after 67 years away, officials said.

“This, like the past repatriation, is due to the strong and long standing partnership between the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and [South Korea’s] Ministry of National Defense Agency for KIA Recovery and Identification,” said Lee Tucker, spokesman for the Defense Prisoners of War/Missing in Action Accounting Agency, said. “It is the incredible improvements in technology, advancements in forensic science and the strong partnership between DPAA and MAKRI which led to these identifications.”

Scientists with DPAA and MAKRI have conducted joint forensic investigations and were able to validate these 147 remains as being of South Korean origin, according to a Pentagon statement.

Military Times

You can read more at the link.

North Korea Decides to Suspend “Military Action Plans” Against South Korea

Here is the latest on the recent North Korean manufactured “crisis”:

In this combined photo, taken from an observatory on South Korea’s Ganghwa Island on June 24, 2020, a propaganda loudspeaker is seen removed (in circle, bottom) in the North Korean town of Kaepung on the western front-line border with South Korea. The loudspeaker was spotted the previous day (in circle, top). (Yonhap)

North Korea was seen removing multiple propaganda loudspeakers reinstalled recently along the border with South Korea, officials said Wednesday, after leader Kim Jong-un ordered the suspension of military action plans against the South.

The North recently set up around 20 to 30 loudspeakers in border areas after threatening to take military action against what it called “the enemy” in anger over Seoul’s failure to stop defectors from sending anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets across the border.

“North Korea is taking down those newly installed loudspeakers from earlier today,” a military source said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the most obvious question likely no one in the media will ask, is what did the Moon administration promise the Kim regime in return for reducing tensions?

Bolton’s Book Claims Trump Threatened to Pull Out USFK from South Korea and Called Kim Jong-un a “Psycho”

Of all the excerpts given to the media there is hardly anything new he is disclosing because it has been widely reported President Trump has threatened to pull out USFK if South Korea does pay more for US-ROK cost sharing:

This EPA file photo shows U.S. President Donald Trump (L) and then-U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton at the 73rd session of the General Assembly of the United Nations at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on Sept. 24, 2018. (Yonhap)

 U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to pull American troops from South Korea if Seoul did not pay US$5 billion under a defense cost-sharing deal, his former National Security Adviser John Bolton said in his memoir.

In “The Room Where It Happened,” set to be published Tuesday, Bolton recalled an Afghanistan-related meeting that took place last August ahead of the start of Special Measures Agreement negotiations between South Korea and the United States.

“Get out of there if we don’t get the five billion-dollar deal (for South Korean support of U.S. bases),” Trump was quoted as saying. “We lose $38 billion in trade in Korea. Let’s get out.”

Trump’s initial demand for $5 billion has been widely reported as the two countries remain deadlocked over how much Seoul should pay for the upkeep of 28,500 American troops stationed on the peninsula.

Yonhap

Here is something new that hasn’t been heard before, that President Trump allegedly call Kim Jong-un a “psycho”:

At the meeting, Trump also called the “war games” with South Korea a “big mistake,” referring to the allies’ combined military exercises.

“You shouldn’t have let them go on,” Bolton quoted Trump as telling him. “I’m trying to make peace with a psycho,” he added of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

You can read more at the link.

Tweet of the Day: President Trump Reads Yonhap?

https://twitter.com/oldtype/status/1275291016610734086

Picture of the Day: Anti-Leaflet Protest

Residents call for stop to leaflet campaign
Residents call for stop to leaflet campaign
Residents hold a news conference in Paju, 30 kilometers north of Seoul, on June 22, 2020, calling on North Korean defectors’ groups to cancel plans to fly anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border. (Yonhap)

ROK Prosecutor General Delays Moon Administration Attempt to Exonerate Corrupt Former Prime Minister

The last person remaining that can delay the Korean left’s attempt to completely take over prosecuting powers is Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl. The Moon administration is trying to rehabilitate the image of former corrupt Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook by appointing a judge with deep ties to to disgraced former Justice Minister Cho Kuk to look into it. ROK Heads may remember that Cho is good friends with Moon, so it is likely anyone with ties to him will provide investigation results favorable to Han Myeong-sook. Yoon has been delaying the investigation much to the ire of the Korean left:

President Moon Jae-in, center, speaks at the anti-corruption policy meeting at the Blue House on Monday. Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, left, was among the participants of the meeting, as well as his rival, Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae.  [YONHAP]
President Moon Jae-in, center, speaks at the anti-corruption policy meeting at the Blue House on Monday. Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl, left, was among the participants of the meeting, as well as his rival, Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae. [YONHAP]

President Moon Jae-in on Monday urged his justice minister and the prosecutor general to stop fighting each other and cooperate to complete reform of the prosecution.    

“Last week, the Ministry of Justice and the prosecution each launched task-force teams to protect human rights during criminal procedures,” Moon said during his opening remarks at a Blue House policy meeting that included both top officials. “Since the two powerful organs willingly started the initiatives, they must cooperate with each other and prepare a bold reform measure to make the people feel actual changes.”    

Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl has been facing growing pressures from the ruling party to step down for his constant discord with Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae.

Moon stressed the importance of cooperation as the friction between Yoon and Choo reached a new peak last week amid disagreements over an ongoing investigation into the prosecutors’ handling of a 2010 corruption probe into former Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook.    

On May 29, Yoon reassigned the case to the human rights monitoring office of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office. The investigation is reviewing prosecutors’ suspected coercion of a witness to testify against Han, and was originally assigned to the more independent and powerful Inspection Headquarters of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office.    

Led by Han Dong-soo, a former judge appointed by Choo’s predecessor Cho Kuk, the Inspection Headquarters has the power to request warrants, conduct raids and detain suspects, unlike the human rights monitoring office. Han Dong-soo has also argued that his team should be in charge of the internal probe.    

During a National Assembly hearing last week, Choo said Yoon’s assignment was a mistake. She then ordered the Inspection Headquarters to directly question key witnesses instead of waiting for the human rights office’s findings.  

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read much more at the link, but the Korean left wants Yoon to resign, but by law his term runs until July 2021.