North Korea is still using the US-ROK joint exercise as an excuse to continue test their short range missile systems:

North Korea conducted its fourth weapons test in two weeks early Tuesday morning with a pair of unidentified projectiles launched into the East Sea, justifying the act as an “essential and powerful physical means” in a statement from its foreign ministry. 

The projectiles, which South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles, were fired at 5:24 a.m. and 5:36 a.m. from an area around Kwail County in South Hwanghae Province. They each flew a distance of around 450 kilometers (280 miles) with peak altitudes of 37 kilometers at Mach 6.9, according to a JCS spokesman. 

South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials believe the rockets displayed a flight pattern similar to the short-range ballistic missiles launched on July 25, the first in a series of four tests that all involved projectiles launched into the East Sea. The North’s state media followed up each of the previous three tests – on July 25, July 31 and last Friday – with reports saying the country had tested new types of ballistic missiles and rocket artillery, all under the personal direction of its leader, Kim Jong-un. (…..)

“Despite our repeated warnings, the United States and South Korean authorities have finally started the joint military exercise targeting the DPRK,” read the English-language release, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “This is an undisguised denial and a flagrant violation of June 12 DPRK-U.S. Joint Statement, Panmunjom Declaration and September Pyongyang Joint Declaration, all of which are agreements to establish new DPRK-U.S. relations and build a lasting and stable peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.”

Saying the North had no reason to keep its promises while the United States and South Korea ignored theirs, the statement stressed the regime was “compelled to develop, test and deploy the powerful physical means essential for national defense.”North Korea conducted its fourth weapons test in two weeks early Tuesday morning with a pair of unidentified projectiles launched into the East Sea, justifying the act as an “essential and powerful physical means” in a statement from its foreign ministry. 

The projectiles, which South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles, were fired at 5:24 a.m. and 5:36 a.m. from an area around Kwail County in South Hwanghae Province. They each flew a distance of around 450 kilometers (280 miles) with peak altitudes of 37 kilometers at Mach 6.9, according to a JCS spokesman. 

South Korean and U.S. intelligence officials believe the rockets displayed a flight pattern similar to the short-range ballistic missiles launched on July 25, the first in a series of four tests that all involved projectiles launched into the East Sea. The North’s state media followed up each of the previous three tests – on July 25, July 31 and last Friday – with reports saying the country had tested new types of ballistic missiles and rocket artillery, all under the personal direction of its leader, Kim Jong-un. (…..)

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

It is not surprising that Korean lawmakers are all rushing to out do each other on their anti-Japan ideas:

A top ruling party lawmaker said Monday that the government must impose travel bans on large areas in Japan, including Tokyo, citing health risks from high radioactive levels, as a means to counter Japan’s economic retaliations.  

“We need to impose travel bans,” said Rep. Choi Jae-sung of the Democratic Party (DP), chairman of the in-house special committee on countermeasures against Japan’s economic retaliations. “We need to consider [imposing travel bans on] areas including Tokyo.” 

Choi made the recommendation during an interview with MBC radio as he discussed Korea’s possible countermeasures against Japan. In July, Tokyo tightened export restrictions on three materials crucial for Korea’s semiconductor and display productions. 

Last Friday, Tokyo escalated the row further by taking Korea off of its so-called white list of 27 trusted trade partners. 

“I cannot say the specifics of the countermeasures we are currently considering, but there are various options,” Choi said. “And we have non-economic options. Japan is making economic and industrial [attacks], but we can take non-economic measures.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but I wish someone in the media would ask these politicians why they did not advocate for a travel ban against China which continues its economic retaliation against Korea over the THAAD dispute.

Despite the news of a rising life expectancy rate in South Korea, many believe they have bad health and stress is one of the main reasons:

Four out of every five Korean office workers say their job has a negative effect on their health.

According to a survey conducted by job search website Incruit, 83.9 percent of 671 respondents said that working has a negative effect on their health. 

By age, people in their 40s believe they suffer the most – 87.7 percent of this age group said they were suffering from health problems.

The most common work-related issues were stress-related symptoms like depression and sleeping disorders, with 18.9 percent of respondents complaining of these health problems. Sixteen percent of respondents experienced digestive disorders like stomach ulcers, chronic constipation and diarrhea. 

Burnout was offered as a separate option from stress-related symptoms, receiving 12.6 percent of the vote.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This does not surprise me at all:

Koreans have the fifth-highest life expectancy among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries, but few of them think they are healthy, according to a government report. 

The report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, based on data from the OECD, said babies born in 2017 are expected to live 82.7 years, up by 3.5 years from 2007. This is the fifth-highest in OECD countries, with its average at 80.7. Girls born in 2017 were expected to live 85.7 years, six years longer than boys. (…..)

Despite better health, Koreans don’t think they are in good health, as only 29.5 percent think they are healthy. The ratio was the lowest of OECD countries. Contrary to Korea, 88.5 percent of people in Canada and 87.9 percent in the United States think thought they were healthy.

Korea’s suicide rate ranked second, with 24.6 out of every 100,000 people in 2016, after Lithuania with 26.7.Koreans have the fifth-highest life expectancy among Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries, but few of them think they are healthy, according to a government report. 

The report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, based on data from the OECD, said babies born in 2017 are expected to live 82.7 years, up by 3.5 years from 2007. This is the fifth-highest in OECD countries, with its average at 80.7. Girls born in 2017 were expected to live 85.7 years, six years longer than boys. (…..)

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I think the bad environmental conditions in South Korea combined with constant stress and the wellness craze is what causes Koreans to think they are not healthy despite their ever growing life expectancy.

ICYMI: A group of Korean students claiming to be "progressives" stormed into Fuji TV's Seoul office to protest criticism of Moon Jae-in. This is very shameful and there's nothing progressive about it. Would they want Korean journalists to be treated the same way in Tokyo? pic.twitter.com/FNtepVIQA0

— Sam Kim 김혜성 (@samkimasia) August 2, 2019

This makes sense, with worsening youth unemployment in South Korea the ROK government has decided to cancel a job fair just because it features Japanese companies:

A job fair for Japanese companies has been scrapped amid worsening ties between Seoul and Tokyo, according to the labor ministry, Monday.

The Seoul Career Vision, a job fair hosted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and co-organized by the Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Human Resources Development Service of Korea, was scheduled to be held on Sept. 24 in Seoul and Sept. 26 in Busan.

It is a fair for young people seeking jobs at foreign companies, and Japanese firms have taken up a large portion in recent years, with last year’s events only for Japanese firms. 

However, the ministry has decided to cancel the event, citing the strained diplomatic relations following Japan’s economic retaliation against the Korean Supreme Court’s rulings over compensation for surviving South Korean victims of wartime forced labor.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but I am still waiting for the ROK government to cancel a Chinese job fair because of the economic retaliation from China over the THAAD dispute.

This is all very predictable that President Moon would make the claim that Japan’s trade restrictions is about trying to stop South Korea’s economic development:

Last week, Tokyo removed Seoul from its “white list” of more than two dozen nations eligible for simplified customs procedures in buying strategically sensitive materials. Moon has characterized the move as part of Japan’s attempt to prevent South Korea from further developing its economy.

“Japan can never block the leap of our economy,” Moon said. Its export curbs will rather serve as a “catalyst” for South Koreans’ resolve to build economic power, he added.

Moon pointed out that the Japanese economy is superior to South Korea’s in size and domestic market. If a peace economy is realized through economic cooperation between the two Koreas, South Korea would overtake Japan at a stretch, Moon said.

Despite tumults in inter-Korean relations or Pyongyang-Washington talks, he added, South Koreans shouldn’t be easily pessimistic about a peace economy or give up efforts toward it.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the only reason Japan imposed the trade restrictions was because of the Moon administration’s cancelling of the comfort women agreement and threatening to confiscate assets of Japanese companies. None of trade restrictions would be in place by Japan if the Moon administration abided by past agreements signed between Japan and Korea resolving financial liability for past Imperial Japanese actions.

As far North Korea being an economic growth engine that can replace Japan’s importance to the South Korean economy, good luck with that because that will only happen after the Kim regime is gone.

As every Korean politician knows, you can’t exploit anti-Japanese sentiment without sensationalizing the Dokdo issue. Some needs to tell the Blue House this is 2019 and not 1941:

In a move to protest Japan’s decision to remove it from a list of trusted trading partners, South Korea plans to hold a joint military exercise on a cluster of islets that sits in the sea between the neighboring countries, a government source said Sunday.

“The Ministry of Defense is considering conducting a joint defense drill on Dokdo this month,” the source said, Sunday. However, he was reluctant to provide specifics as the ministry has not confirmed the details of its plan. 

Military exercises were first conducted near the tiny land mass in 1986 and they were made a biannual practice since 2003 with naval ships, marines, military aircraft, maritime patrol boats and relevant combat personnel participating. A 3,200-ton of naval destroyer, maritime patrol vessels, P-3C anti-submarine and maritime surveillance aircraft and F-15K fighters are typically mobilized during the drill, according to the ministry. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but you have China also claiming Korean territory and flying bombers over it and the Russians have actively violated Korean airspace over Dokdo with their war planes and there was never a rush to conduct a military exercise in response.

The worse the Japanese have done with Dokdo is threaten to have a research vessel of scientists enter into Dokdo’s exclusive economic zone. This of course set off a full scale crisis in South Korea and threats of war and even talks of assistance from North Korea. Japan never did send the research vessel, but Russian and Chinese warplanes are flying over Dokdo and Ieodo with no military drill in response.

The hypocrisy of the Korean left comes into full display every time they are in power when it comes to their anti-Japan agenda.