Here is what North Korea is believed to have tested a couple of days ago:

 North Korea is believed to have tested a super-large multiple rocket launcher in this week’s projectile launches after reducing firing intervals for operational deployment, experts and military sources said Tuesday.

On Monday, the communist country fired two projectiles in quick succession from its eastern coastal city of Wonsan into the East Sea. They flew around 240 kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of around 35 km, according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). 

It was the first such test by the North since Nov. 28, when it launched two missiles from what is presumed to be a super-large multiple rocket launcher.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is going to go no where considering President Moon’s political party controls the legislature:

The National Assembly said Monday lawmakers will formally consider a public petition demanding President Moon Jae-in’s impeachment.  

According to the National Assembly Secretariat, a petition was submitted on Friday to the legislature’s online bulletin board, demanding that the National Assembly impeach Moon for his failed response to protect the people’s lives from the deadly coronavirus outbreak. The petition received over 100,000 signatures from the public in just four days and was created by someone surnamed Han.

“The more I see Moon’s response to the latest Wuhan pneumonia crisis, the more I see a president of China, not Korea,” Han wrote, criticizing the administration for the shortage of face masks and its decision to not impose a full entry ban on all travelers from China. “As the president, his top priority should have been protecting the country’s own people. If he had truly cared about the people, he should have imposed an entry ban on travelers from all regions of China.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but this issue does make me wonder if this will be the next thing that Washington Democrats will try to impeach President Trump for?

Here is the latest on the coronavirus spread in South Korea:

South Korea’s new coronavirus caseload approached 5,200 on Tuesday, with an alarming cluster of infections continuing to swell in the southeastern city of Daegu. President Moon Jae-in declared a “war” on the fast-spreading virus.

The 374 new cases, which were identified over the past 16 hours on Tuesday, brought the nation’s total number of infections to 5,186, the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said.

Tuesday’s additional cases followed 600 new cases on Monday and the nation’s sharpest daily spikes of 1,062 on Sunday and 813 on Saturday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is what the founder of the Shincheonji church had to stay about the spread of the virus through his church in Daegu:

Lee Man-hee, founder of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus, issued an apology Monday as his secretive sect is investigated for manslaughter for refusing to cooperate to stop the deadly coronavirus outbreak.  

“Regarding the mass infections linked to Patient No. 31, I, as the leader of Shincheonji, offer a sincere apology to the people,” said Lee, 88, in a press conference. “We had no intention [to allow it], but many were infected. We did our best, but we could not completely stop [the spread of the disease]. I apologize to the people.”

After Patient No. 31, a 61-year-old woman and a Shincheonji follower in Daegu, was diagnosed last month, health officials said she may have helped spread the disease. As of Monday morning, 3,260 infections were reported in Daegu and nearby North Gyeongsang. 

In his first public appearance since the church emerged as a nexus in the outbreak, Lee, who founded the controversial doomsday sect in 1984, said Shincheonji is “actively cooperating” with the government and all gatherings of the followers have been stopped. “We will do our best to offer all human and material resources to the government,” he said. 

After reiterating apologies and begging for forgiveness from the government, Lee dropped to his knees and touched his head to the ground twice. “Now is not the time to investigate who is at fault,” he said, “and heaven will help us.” He also asked the public not to “misjudge” his followers. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but Lee Man-hee seems a bit shall I say not all there. However, prosecuting this guy for manslaughter seems to be political to me, unless the church was intentionally spreading the virus which I have seen no evidence of.

All the best to this family in South Korea:

A 45-day-old baby has been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, health authorities here said Sunday, becoming the youngest patient in South Korea. 

Health authorities said the baby boy, born on Jan. 15, 2020, tested positive for COVID-19 after their parents had contracted the virus. 

According to the authorities, the baby’s father first tested positive for the novel coronavirus last Thursday.

The baby and her mother have entered self-quarantine at their house in Gyeongsan, North Gyeongsang Province, after doctors said they are in good condition. Health authorities said they will transfer them to a hospital after monitoring their health situation.

Korea Times

This news caused me to wonder how at risk children are to be infected with the coronavirus? Below is an excerpt from an interview the Harvard Gazette recently did with one of the university’s epidemiologists about this topic:

GAZETTE: What do we know about for sure about how children are affected by this virus?

LIPSITCH: We know that the cases of children sick enough to get tested is much lower per capita than those of adults. And we also know that, in China outside of Hubei province, the difference between children and adults is smaller. Children are still underrepresented, but they’re a larger part of the total than inside Hubei province. That would suggest that part of the equation is that they are getting infected but they’re not that sick — it’s easier to identify less-severe cases in a system that’s not overwhelmed as it is in Hubei. But we don’t know whether they’re infected and not as sick or whether there are a lot of kids that aren’t getting infected even when they’re exposed.

Harvard Gazette

Here is some more interesting information from the interview:

GAZETTE: You mentioned children having been hit only lightly by this. What about other parts of the population? What do we know about the impact of this from a demographic standpoint?

LIPSITCH: It’s definitely the case that the older you are, the more at risk of getting infected you are and, if you get symptomatic infection, the more at risk of dying you are. Men also seem to be overrepresented among those getting severe illness. The reasons why are a really important research question. One thing that also needs to be looked at is the impact on health-care workers because they are at high risk of getting infected, and I would like to know whether they’re at higher risk of getting severe infection. Some of the anecdotal cases of young physicians dying make me wonder whether they’re exposed to a higher dose and that’s making them sicker.

It appears that along with an elderly age and preexisting medical conditions, that men are more susceptible of being infected with the virus.

In non-coronavirus news, North Korea wants everyone to know they are still there:

North Korea fired what appeared to be two short-range ballistic missiles into the East Sea on Monday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, the first such launches since it warned of “a new strategic weapon” early this year.

The projectiles were fired from areas near its eastern coastal city of Wonsan towards the northeast at 12:37 p.m. within a 20-second interval, the JCS said, adding that both flew around 240 kilometers, reaching a maximum altitude of around 35 km.

“South Korean and the U.S. intelligence authorities are analyzing their type. We found some similarities in features between what it fired today and those launched last year,” a JCS officer told reporters. 

The latest ones appear to have been fired from transporter erector launcher (TEL) vehicles, he added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Meanwhile in Alaska:

An airman in Alaska was demoted and received a letter of reprimand for peeing in his squadron’s office coffee maker, among other violations of the Uniformed Code of Military Justice, according to documents from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Formally charged as a violation of article 92, dereliction of duty, the unnamed airman “knew or should have known” to “refrain from urinating in the squadron coffee maker,” according to the redacted charge sheet provided by the base public affairs office. The incident occurred sometime between Jan. 1 and Oct. 31, 2019, but the document does not stipulate how the crime was discovered.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.