This is the Korean version of a filibuster:

Following a violent protest by the main opposition party and its supporters on the premises of the legislature, National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang scrapped a vote Monday on fast-tracked bills. 

“I will not open a plenary session today because it won’t be possible to smoothly operate a session,” Moon said in a statement. “The ruling and opposition parties must reach an agreement on contentious bills, designated as fast-tracked items, as soon as possible.” 

The Liberty Korea Party (LKP) started a rally in front of the National Assembly’s main building around 11 a.m. to criticize the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and its legislative allies for attempting to railroad through bills revising the electoral system and weakening the prosecution’s powers. 

The National Assembly turned into mayhem after a violent scuffle took place between protesters and police at a rally hosted by the LKP. The party’s Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn, floor leader Rep. Shim Jae-cheol, chief policymaker Rep. Kim Jae-won and other lawmakers attended the rally. Thousands of LKP members and supporters also participated. 

Before the rally started, LKP lawmakers complained that the National Assembly’s security team was restricting entry to the premises. LKP Secretary General Rep. Park Wan-su lodged a formal complaint to National Assembly Secretary General Yoo In-tae, and the legislature decided to open the main gate. 

Thousands of LKP supporters rushed in along with members of conservative groups and ultra-conservatives who support impeached President Park Geun-hye known as the “Taegeukgi Troops,” for the Taegeukgi, or the Korean national flag, they always wave. 

“Your rage will impact the National Assembly,” Hwang told the protesters in encouragement. “You’ve already won a victory.” 

The protesters waved Korean and American flags and shouted slogans such as “Let’s kill Speaker Moon Hee-sang” and “Let’s destroy the National Assembly.” Although the LKP repeatedly told the participants they must not enter the Assembly building, some rushed the doors. As the police tried to block them, violent scuffles took place. The main entrance doors were partially broken in the scuffles. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

How many corruption cases is Cho Kuk involved in? I am losing count:

– Cho Kuk, former justice minister and presidential secretary, on Monday attended a questioning over bribery allegations involving the former vice mayor of Busan.

Cho appeared at the Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors Office on Monday morning to attend the questioning, the first time he was called in regarding the bribery case.

Cho was the head of the presidential office’s civil affairs division that oversaw a special inspection of the vice mayor’s bribery allegations.

Yoo Jae-soo, Busan’s former vice mayor of economic affairs, was recently indicted for allegedly receiving bribes worth 49.5 million won (US$42,224) during his term at the state financial regulator.

While he was under surveillance by Cheong Wa Dae’s special inspection team in 2017, he avoided punishment for an unknown reason and became Busan’s vice mayor in 2018.

The string of developments raised suspicions that some Cheong Wa Dae officials may have engaged in a cover-up of the bribery case.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It is going to be interesting to see if the Trump administration allows this to happen:

 Iran’s Foreign Ministry called in the South Korean ambassador last month to demand payment of 7 trillion won ($6 billion) for oil it sold to the Asian country, Chosun Ilbo reported, citing officials it didn’t identify.

Iran expressed “strong regret” over Seoul’s failure to complete the payment, which has been deposited at two South Korean banks without being transferred to Iran’s central bank for years due to U.S. sanctions against the Middle Eastern country, the newspaper said. It added that other Iranian authorities including the central bank also complained.

South Korea sent a delegation to the Middle East late last month and explained that the country will cooperate with the U.S. to successfully complete transfer of the payment, it added.

Bloomberg

There was deadly driving conditions this past weekend in Gyeongsangbuk-do:

Two massive pileups occurred within moments on a highway in the country’s southeast early Saturday, killing at least five people and injuring more than two dozen others, officials said. 

The first crash occurred at about 4:40 a.m., when some 10 vehicles, including cargo trucks, collided on a highway en route to Youngcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, 301 kilometers south of Seoul.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

When I immediately saw this I thought the Cadets were playing the Circle Game where you make people look with the circle hand sign and punch them on the shoulder. To the U.S. media these Cadets are a bunch of racists:

 The Army and Navy academies are looking into hand signs flashed by students that can be associated with “white power” and were televised during the Army-Navy football game on Saturday, school officials said.

Cadets at West Point and midshipmen at the Naval Academy in the stands both appeared to display the sign during the broadcast, officials with the two military academies told The Wall Street Journal. The gesture was seen during an ESPN broadcast segment.

School officials are trying to determine what the hand signals were meant to convey, they said.

Associated Press

You can read more at the link, but this is much to do about nothing. The Anti-Defamation League which all the media articles have been referring back to, states that the white power hand sign is actually a hoax:

In 2017, the “okay” hand gesture acquired a new and different significance thanks to a hoax by members of the website 4chan to falsely promote the gesture as a hate symbol, claiming that the gesture represented the letters “wp,” for “white power.” The “okay” gesture hoax was merely the latest in a series of similar 4chan hoaxes using various innocuous symbols; in each case, the hoaxers hoped that the media and liberals would overreact by condemning a common image as white supremacist.

Anti-Defamation League

The Anti-Defamation League article even says up front that people should use caution when evaluating this hand signal because it is a hoax. Of course the media have fallen for it to once again drive a racial issue in search of clicks. The Cadet in the above picture is not even holding up his hand as an OK hand sign but instead holding in low just like people do with the Circle Game.

However, with that said all said, it would be interesting to know if the cadets were told beforehand to not make any hand gestures in front of television cameras? This seems like an easy way to prevent someone from misconstruing some random hand sign and not have a situation like this happen.

North Korea is just continuing to up the pressure campaign against the Trump administration through the media with these tests. North Korea did not even say what this test was, but I assume it was probably an engine test of whatever rocket they plan to fire:

North Korea said Saturday that it will use its new technologies to develop a strategic weapon to counter the U.S. nuclear threat.

Pak Jong-chon, chief of the North Korean military’s General Staff, also said North Korea has “stored up a tremendous power” and the military is fully ready to put into action any decision of leader Kim Jong-un.

“In the situation of the acute confrontation, the U.S. and other hostile forces will spend the year-end in peace only when they hold off any words and deeds rattling us,” Pak said in a statement carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.

The comments came hours after North Korea said it successfully carried out “another crucial test” at its satellite launch site in a possible sign of further provocations unless its year-end deadline is met.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.