Even without a denuclearization deal it appears that President Trump is going to continue to try and keep a friendly relationship with Kim Jong-un:

U.S. President Donald Trump has congratulated North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on his birthday, South Korea’s top presidential security adviser said Friday after returning from his trip to Washington, D.C.

Chung Eui-yong, head of Cheong Wa Dae’s national security office, had a brief meeting with Trump at the White House during the three-day visit.

Trump had some congratulatory words for Kim on the occasion of his Jan. 8 birthday and asked President Moon Jae-in to deliver the message, according to the Cheong Wa Dae official.

“As far as I know, the message was conveyed to North Korea yesterday in an appropriate manner,” Chung told reporters at Incheon International Airport.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It appears the prosecutors office is trying to quickly seize what evidence they can to support their corruption investigations before the new ROK Justice Minister completely gets it shut down:

Cheong Wa Dae expressed strong regret Friday over state prosecutors’ attempt at what it called a reckless search of the presidential office.

Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office in the morning sent a team of investigators to Cheong Wa Dae with a search warrant for the office of a unit that handles policies related to support for provincial governments.

It was part of an intensive probe into allegations that President Moon’s aides had meddled in the 2018 Ulsan mayor election in which Song Cheol-ho, Moon’s longtime friend, won.

Prosecutors failed to enforce the warrant due to Cheong Wa Dae’s refusal to cooperate.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is a very odd story of a son’s body being used as a bargaining chip for payment by a Seoul hospital:

An Alabama couple was locked in a web of bureaucracy as they fought for a week to retrieve their son’s body after he died Jan. 2 in a South Korean hospital, leaving a $24,000 bill for his care.

Gregory Allen, a 31-year-old civilian employee at the Child Development Center on the Army’s Yongsan Garrison, died during open-heart surgery after he arrived on Dec. 30 at Soon Chun Hyang University hospital in Seoul in a disoriented state.

Allen’s parents flew to Seoul as soon as they heard Gregory had fallen ill and found him on Jan. 1 the intensive care unit. The official cause of death was pulmonary embolism, his parents said.

“We were shocked,” said his father, Leroy Allen Jr., a retired soldier from Madison, Ala., who had served in South Korea.

He and his wife, Margie, had little time to grieve. They said hospital officials handed them the bill and demanded payment before Gregory’s body would be released.

They gave the hospital $3,000 but didn’t have the rest. Gregory Allen’s insurance policy covered 80% of the cost, but it took time to process the claim.

“This was like 3 o’clock in the morning and they’re asking me for $21,000,” Gregory’s father told Stars and Stripes in an interview Tuesday. “Now they’re charging 90,000 won (about $80) every day that he’s sitting in that freezer in that hospital until that $21,000 is paid off.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Osan Airbase’s A-10 aircraft have just had an upgrade that will allow them to continue to support USFK into the 2030’s:

All but one of nearly two dozen Air Force A-10 Thunderbolt IIs in South Korea have completed wing upgrades that should extend the service life of the close combat support jet well into the 2030s.

The new wings are designed to last up to 10,000 flight hours without a major inspection. The upgrade includes a new wiring harness created for easier wing removal and to reduce the chance of damaging the wing during the process.

“Most of our airplanes [at Osan] have between 9,000 to 12,000 airframe hours. They are old, but this upgrade is helping us to keep going. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of the airplanes go 16,000 hours,” Senior Master Sgt. Dustin Schwartz, lead production superintendent for the 25th Aircraft Maintenance Unit, 51st Fighter Wing, told Stars and Stripes on Wednesday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see how domestic streaming companies handle the big global streaming companies entering the Korean market:

The video streaming wars are heating up, as the existing players prepare for new, highly competitive entrants. With Apple and Disney seen coming to Korea in a serious way, Netflix, Wavve and Watcha are digging in and consolidating their positions.

Since Monday, homegrown Wavve has been charging new users to its streaming service only 100 won (9 cents) for the first month. This comes just after a recent offer of 4,000 won for the first three months. Wavve is a joint video-on-demand platform of three terrestrial broadcasters, KBS, MBC and SBS. 

Netflix will partner with local production houses to increase Korean-language content, while other competitors are beefing up their offerings and providing cinema-level viewing experiences at home.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This should be a surprise to no one that with the appointment of the new Choo Mi-ae as the ROK Justice Minister that stopping further investigation into the current government would be her first priority:

The Ministry of Justice abruptly reassigned prosecutors who have been investigating abuse of power and corruption allegations against key members of the Moon Jae-in administration and effectively demoted Prosecutor General Yoon Seok-youl’s closest aides. 

The ministry announced Wednesday evening that 32 senior members of the prosecution will be moved to new posts as of Monday. According to the ministry, 10 prosecutors were promoted to serve as heads of five high prosecutors’ offices and five district prosecutors’ offices, and the remaining 22 were reassigned to other jobs.

While prosecutors who have been working on high-profile cases involving Moon’s associates were moved to less important posts outside Seoul, prosecutors who had maintained amicable ties with the current administration or the administration of Roh Moo-hyun, the political mentor of Moon, were moved into powerful posts. 

According to the ministry, Han Dong-hoon, head of the anticorruption and organized crimes department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, was named as deputy head of the Busan High Prosecutors’ Office. Han was the lead prosecutor in the investigations into academic and financial transgressions allegedly committed by former Justice Minister Cho Kuk and his family. 

Park Chan-ho, head of the public security department of the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office, was named head of the Jeju District Prosecutors’ Office. Park has been investigating the allegations that the Blue House abused its power to influence the 2018 Ulsan mayoral election and help a Moon associate win. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

Here is what prosecutors had to say:

“This is an overt attempt to dismantle the investigations [against the administration],” a senior prosecutor said. 

After Moon formally appointed Choo as justice minister last week, a massive reshuffle was expected. The announcement was made abruptly Wednesday evening.  

Choo left her office at the government complex in Gwacheon, Gyeonggi, around 4 p.m. Wednesday and headed to the Blue House, presumably to brief Moon about her plan. 

Two hours after Choo left the Blue House, the ministry announced the reshuffle around 7:30 p.m. “I have never seen a reshuffle announced after sunset,” said a prosecution official. 

Legal sources said the reshuffle was a political amputation of Yoon’s authorities. They said prosecutors loyal to the administration were appointed to the vacancies left by Yoon’s allies.

You can read more at the link, but when you hear the Korean left talk about prosecutor reform, this is the reform they are talking about. The next step will be having the prosecutors closely aligned with the Korean left begin investigating their political rivals.

It is looking like the Moon administration is going to drag its feet on this issue in attempt to stay out of any conflict between the U.S. and Iran:

The United States has ramped up its pressure on Korea to send a naval contingency force to the Middle East to be part of the U.S.-led coalition in the Strait of Hormuz. 

Seoul remains well aware of the importance of strengthening its alliance with Washington, but the government appears unable to make a quick decision on this as military tension between the U.S. and Iran escalates further. This follows Iran’s retaliatory attack on U.S. bases in Iraq, Wednesday, in the wake of a U.S. airstrike last week that targeted and killed an Iranian general. Participation in any maritime mission in such a climate, could endanger Seoul’s ties with Tehran and threaten the safety of Korean residents in Iran.

The latest push for participation from Seoul’s biggest ally came from U.S. Ambassador to Korea Harry Harris.

“I would hope that Korea will send forces out there,” Harris said in an interview with local broadcaster KBS, Tuesday, noting that Seoul gets so much of its oil from the Middle East.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but South Korea actually has good relations with Iran that they likely do not want to impact by sending a naval contingent to the Strait of Hormuz.