According to analysts this move may be to send a message to North Korea:

The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday it has deployed a new low-yield nuclear warhead on at least one strategic submarine, citing the need to deter potential adversaries, which could include North Korea. 

John Rood, U.S. under secretary of defense for policy, said in a statement that the W76-2 low-yield warhead had been fielded on the U.S. Navy’s submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM). 

The move appeared to be reciprocal, according to Rood, who said it was “to address the conclusion that potential adversaries, like Russia, believe that employment of low-yield nuclear weapons will give them an advantage over the United States and its allies and partners.”  (……)

But Kristensen assessed that despite the focus on deploying the weapon to deter Russia, “it is much more likely that the new low-yield weapon is intended to facilitate first-use of nuclear weapons against North Korea or Iran.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but the low yield nukes are supposed to have about a third of the power of the nuclear bombs dropped on Japan during World War II.

At least it appears that Korean traditional markets are not selling bat meat which is what is believed to have caused the coronavirus outbreak in China:

The Seoul Metropolitan Government conducted a rare inspection of restaurants in the city’s three major traditional markets, Wednesday, for the possible illegal consumption of bat meat, as part of its efforts to prevent the spread of a coronavirus, according to city officials.

On Wednesday, three additional cases of infection were confirmed here, putting the total number at 19. 

The inspection team consisting of city officials overseeing hygiene matters, police and consumer rights activists looked into restaurants in Daerim Central Market in Yeungdeungpo, Gyeongdong Market in Dongdaemun and Joyang Market in Gwangjin; areas that are frequented by Chinese immigrants and tourists.

The selling of bat meat is illegal here, but the inspection was carried out on suspicions that small quantities could potentially be brought to those venues from China. The officials said that so far they had not found any irregularities. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It took long then I expected, but here is the inevitable article about how racist Americans are towards Koreans because of the coronavirus:

Koreans in US discriminated over coronavirus

Starting last week, Kathy Yang has been getting a weird feeling while carrying on her daily business. 

”At work, at Costco, at the doctor’s office…I keep getting this odd feeling that people are looking at me in a way unlike before,” said the 41-year-old, who works as a bank teller in the Bay Area. ”Their facial expression looks as if they’re trying to decipher if I’m sick or not.” 

So far, only 11 cases of the China-originated coronavirus have been confirmed in the U.S. But fear and racism over the new and unpredictable virus appear to be spreading faster than the virus itself. 

”I’ve lived in the U.S. for more than 15 years and this is the first time I’ve felt discriminated to this level on so many occasions in such a short period of time,” said Yang. 

Many others living in the U.S. say they’ve also been racially victimized because of the virus. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the status of US-ROK cost sharing talks:

 Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Thursday that South Korea and the United States still have “big” gaps in their negotiations over Seoul’s share of the cost for stationing American troops here despite a broadening of “mutual understanding.”

Her remarks came as the two countries are preparing for the seventh round of negotiations expected to take place in Seoul this month to determine Korea’s payments for the upkeep of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea under the cost-sharing deal, called the Special Measures Agreement (SMA). 

“Though gaps are still big, the two countries have deepened mutual understanding much more, and we are in a situation where we have to make an agreement based on that understanding,” Kang said in a press briefing.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I don’t see this getting done before the April parliamentary elections in Korea. In whatever deal that is reached it is pretty clear that Korea is going to end up paying more and that won’t look good politically for the Moon administration. It makes sense for them to wait until after the April elections to make a deal.

Here is the latest on the attempted scuttling of suspected corruption within the Moon administration by its new Justice Minister:

Justice Minister Choo Mi-ae’s unprecedented decision to stop full disclosure of indictments of allies of President Moon Jae-in in an election-meddling scandal touched off an uproar on Wednesday. 

“We’ve reached a conclusion that a wrongful custom must no longer be repeated,” Choo told reporters Wednesday morning on her way to the office. “Until now, we have seen a wrongful routine where lawmakers demanded indictment documents, and the media released their entire texts. Due to this practice, the people’s right to a trial was violated, and various fundamental rights were infringed upon during the criminal justice process.” 

Choo was responding to a public uproar after the Ministry of Justice on Tuesday rejected the National Assembly’s request for indictment documents for 13 suspects linked to the 2018 Ulsan mayoral election scandal. The ministry said it withheld the information because it could violate the defendants’ right to a fair trial and privacy. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

She is going after any leakers of these indictment documents as well:

She also ordered an investigation into how the Dong-A Ilbo obtained the indictment documents and reported the details. “We need to check how it was leaked,” Choo said.

The Dong-A Ilbo published Wednesday a series of exclusive reports based on the indictment papers, without revealing the source. According to the newspaper, Song Cheol-ho had a dinner with Ulsan police chief Hwang on Sept. 20, 2017, and asked him to conduct a “more aggressive, concentrated probe” into his rival Kim. 

ROK Heads may remember that the prior Justice Minister, Cho Kuk had to step down due to public protests over the corruption surrounding him and his family. It is pretty obvious that Choo Mi-ae has been brought in to scuttle and silence as much has possible on going corruption probes into Moon administration officials as much as possible before the April 15th parliamentary elections.

What makes the political aspects of this even more obvious is that during the corruption trials of figures in the former Park Geun-hye presidential administration, the indictment documents were all released by the Moon administration. Now that their people are being investigated for corruption, all efforts are being made to scuttle and silence them.