Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
General Paik Sun-yup is arguably South Korea’s greatest Korean War hero and if he was to pass away in the near term he may not be allowed to be buried or even have his body removed from the Seoul National Cemetery:
It became known on May 26, 2020 that the Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs recently visited the hero of the Korean War, General Paik Sun-yup (백선엽) and said, “If the National Cemetery Act (국립묘지법) is revised, [we’re] worried that General Paik could be interred at the National Cemetery in Seoul, only to be pulled out.” General Paik is 100 years old this year and his ability to move has been known to have degraded. The Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs said, “I heard that General Baek’s health is not good, so we wanted to ask about his general health status,” but General Paik’s family said “Our family is considering even the most evil scenario.”
East Asia Research Center
You can read the rest at the link, but what is going on is that the newly elected National Assembly dominated by the Korean left, is trying to change the National Cemetery Act to remove the graves of “pro-Japan, anti-minjok [Korean] figures interred in the National Cemetery and install tombstones describing their pro-Japan activities.” This would effectively prevent him from being buried in the Seoul National Cemetery if passed. If General Paik was to pass away before this Act was changed he would face having his body removed from the cemetery.
If the Korean left hates General Paik so much for helping stop a North Korean invasion, establishing the Republic of Korea, and speaking out against communism over the years, then an offer should be made for him to be interred in the United Nations Memorial Cemetery in Busan. There I believe he would be properly recognized for his contributions during the Korean War and to the nation of South Korea.
I had the chance to talk to General Paik many years ago and got him to sign a copy of his book, From Pusan to Panmunjon. He was fascinating to talk to because his great memory of events that occurred and people he met during the Korean War. If you haven’t read his book I highly recommend reading it because of the ROK perspective it provides in regards to events during the Korean War.
The fact that this was not leaked to the activist groups to and block the convoy means that the Moon administration sees no need to play the anti-US card yet:
New interceptor missiles were brought onto a U.S. THAAD missile defense base in South Korea on Friday as replacements, the defense ministry said, in a surprise overnight operation aimed at minimizing friction with local residents opposed to the base.
Also brought onto the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) base in the central town of Seongju were power generation equipment and other items to be used to improve the living conditions of troops stationed there, according to the ministry.
The ground transport operation, which began around 10 p.m. Thursday, ended around 6 a.m., officials said.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
This is pretty sad when active duty military units are now on alert to respond to violence because local and state authorities are unwilling to stop it:
As unrest spread across dozens of American cities on Friday, the Pentagon took the rare step of ordering the Army to put several active-duty U.S. military police units on the ready to deploy to Minneapolis, where the police killing of George Floyd sparked the widespread protests.
Soldiers from Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Drum in New York have been ordered to be ready to deploy within four hours if called, according to three people with direct knowledge of the orders. Soldiers in Fort Carson, in Colorado, and Fort Riley in Kansas have been told to be ready within 24 hours. The people did not want their names used because they were not authorized to discuss the preparations.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link, but active duty servicemembers do not have policing powers due to the Posse Comitatus Act, the National Guard does though. This is why the Guard is called in to deal with situations like this.
If active duty units are sent, according to the article they will be deployed using the Insurrection Act of 1807. If you click the link you can read more about the act which essentially allows the government to deploy active duty troops if the Posse Comitatus Act fails to stop lawlessness, insurrections, or rebellions. I would be very surprised if these escalated to the point of needing active duty troops.
Good job by the USFK civilian employee responding to an attempted suicide on the Mapo Bridge in Seoul:
Andres Torres was out for an early morning bike ride when he spotted two South Korean men perched dangerously on the tall barriers lining the Mapo Bridge in Seoul.
Torres, who works for the Defense Intelligence Agency on Yongsan Garrison, couldn’t remember the local emergency number (119) and doesn’t speak much Korean but felt he had to do something to keep them from jumping.
“I was just telling them, ‘This is not a good idea. You don’t want to do this. It’s a beautiful day outside,’” he said, describing the May 21 incident. “I just rambled, but at least I got their attention for a little bit.”
The city installed 8.5-foot-high, curved barriers along the bridge in 2016 to keep people from trying to jump as it had become a popular spot for suicide attempts. But the men had managed to climb on top.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
I have always said that the Kim regime is not going to feel the real effect of sanctions until the Chinese banks are sanctioned. Hopefully this is a sign of the U.S. government more aggressively going after Chinese banks:
The U.S. government has charged 28 North Korean and five Chinese individuals with facilitating more than $2.5 billion in illegal payments for Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons and missile program as part of a clandestine global network operating from countries including China, Russia, Libya and Thailand.
In a 50-page federal indictment unsealed Thursday in Washington, D.C., the Justice Department accused the individuals of acting as agents of North Korea’s Foreign Trade Bank, in what officials say is the largest North Korean sanctions violations case charged by the U.S.
Working for the FTB — which is North Korea’s primary foreign currency bank and under sanctions for facilitating nuclear proliferation — the agents allegedly set up more than 250 front companies and covert bank branches around the world to mask payments transiting the U.S. financial system, including through several Chinese banks and for equipment from Chinese telecommunications giants Huawei Technologies Co. and ZTE Corp., according to charging documents. (…….)
The massive enforcement action comes as United Nations experts have detailed North Korea’s widespread evasion of sanctions by using agents of state-owned and other banks overseas to facilitate a global web of illicit oil, arms and coal deals to bring in foreign currency. The efforts have been augmented through offshore, ship-to-ship transfers, large-scalecryptocurrency hacks and ransomware attacks.
Washington Post
A ROK Drop favorite Joshua Stanton from One Free Korea is quoted in the article:
“This adds to the already overwhelming evidence that China’s government is willfully assisting Kim Jong Un in his violations of North Korea sanctions,” said Joshua Stanton, a lawyer who helped write the 2016 law that strengthened North Korea sanctions.
“I’ll believe it’s ‘maximum pressure’ when those banks begin to face nine- and ten-digit penalties, like the ones President (Barack) Obama imposed on European banks that broke Iran sanctions,” Stanton said, and has advised House and Senate staffers on North Korea sanctions law.
According to the article no one is in custody because assuredly the North Koreans and Chinese won’t hand these people over. However, already $63 million in assets have been seized.
Maybe the politics of the coronavirus is finally causing our government to take real action against Chinese banks?
