The tensions between South Korea and Japan could end up having security impacts as well if the Blue House seeks to end the GSOMIA which authorizes the two countries to share intelligence information:

 A rancorous diplomatic spat between South Korea and Japan is casting doubts over the fate of a military intelligence-sharing pact seen as a rare symbol of their trust and a key platform for trilateral security cooperation involving the United States.

The tussle that started from a simmering row over Japan’s wartime forced labor has been escalating into the economic domain with Tokyo’s July 4 measure to tighten restrictions on exports to South Korea of key industrial materials. 

It is now feared to be spilling over into the security realm, apparently putting Washington on edge as the U.S. is keen on firming up cooperation with its two Asian allies to promote regional stability amid North Korea’s lingering threats and China’s growing assertiveness.

The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) between Seoul and Tokyo is automatically renewed every year unless either side expresses its intent to rescind it 90 days ahead of the end of its extendable one-year period.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but clearly the Moon administration is willing to bargain with the GSOMIA because they feel the current peace process with North Korea means intelligence from Japan is not needed.

However, this whole dispute could be ended today if the Moon administration does not move forward with seizing the assets of Japanese companies in South Korea. However, the Moon administration miscalculated in their Japan bashing and have gone so far now it is hard politically for the Moon administration to change course.

I would not be surprised if this man had a history of mental problems:

A 78-year-old South Korean man died hours after setting himself ablaze near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Friday, police said, at a time of worsening tensions between Seoul and Tokyo.

The man, surnamed Kim, ignited a fire inside his car parked in front of the building where the Embassy is located. The man died later Friday while being treated at a Seoul hospital, police said.

Police said Kim had phoned an acquaintance earlier to say he planned to self-immolate to express his antipathy toward Japan.

Kim’s family told investigators that his father-in-law had been conscripted as a forced laborer when the Korean Peninsula was under Japan’s colonial rule from 1910-45, according to a police statement.

Associated Press

Of course the news media did not bother to fact check if he was in fact a force laborer. Simple math puts this highly in doubt. The article says he is 78 years old, which means that in 1945 when most of the forced labor happened he would have been 4 years old.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

Following Yonhap News, my job title is again "begpacker buster" on JTBC. Whatever, hope authorities will clampdown on the stream of shameless #begpackers entering Korea. pic.twitter.com/OZ9RVGdmA7

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) July 16, 2019

This is a chilling statistic to see on the increase which appears to be influenced by the poor economy:

Kim Sung-kwan, 37, had a habit of telling lies. 

He told his wife and his in-laws that he was working at a well-known company and was about to inherit a fortune from his grandfather, but in reality, he was relying on money from his mother.

Unable to deal with her son any longer, Kim’s mother drew a line and told Kim that she could not give him any more money. Kim grew furious with her and his family. He created a plan with his wife to murder his mother, stepbrother and stepfather.

“We can buy time to get away by killing everyone in the family,” Kim said to his wife.

Kim went to his parent’s house in Yongin, Gyeonggi, on Oct. 21, 2017, and killed his mother and stepbrother. To confuse police, he sprayed flour over the bodies and covered the bodies with a blanket.

“Two down, one to go,” read Kim’s message to his wife.

Later that day, Kim killed his stepfather and took 120 million won ($102,625) from his mother’s bank account. He fled to New Zealand with his wife and two children. Kim was arrested by New Zealand police and was extradited to Korea 80 days later.

Kim was sentenced to life in prison by a Korean court.

The number of crimes toward family members is on the rise, as the number of people arrested for the murder of a family member increased from 60 in 2015 to 91 in 2018, according to data from the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office. From January to April, 32 people have been arrested for killing a family member and experts estimate this number will surpass 100 by the end of the year. The number of people arrested for domestic violence increased from 988 in 2014 to 2,414 in 2018, doubling in just four years. Criminal psychology experts said that there are many cases where people take out their stress and anger on their families.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

I am not surprised that the U.S. government would not side with anyone over this dispute. I would think the U.S. government may look at this as why should it put its relationship with Japan at risk because the Moon administration over reached in its Japan bashing for domestic political reasons and is now paying the consequences.:

The United States takes the tensions between Korea and Japan very seriously but cannot play a “mediating role,” according to the chair of the Korean National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee who said the message was relayed to him by the U.S. State Department point man for East Asian affairs. 

Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun, a third-term lawmaker of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, met with David R. Stilwell, the new U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, Wednesday evening amid the diplomatic spat over Japan’s recent export restrictions on Korea.  

Yoon told the JoongAng Ilbo over the phone that Stilwell told him that the United States “could not take one side or the other because taking one side means losing the other.” 

Stilwell then conveyed, according to Yoon, that Washington “encouraged its two friends,” Seoul and Tokyo, “to resolve the issue through dialogue.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

NYT revealed Mercedes imported to N.Korea via Busan to Vladivostok then to Pyongyang by the ships. Ships once reached Vladivostok, they bring Coal to S.Korea.S.Korea became the route for N.Korea sending Mecedes and take Coal. No wonder why JPN sanction us.https://t.co/W5hUNTKoxx

— Dong Yon Kim/김동연 기자 (@dongyonews) July 16, 2019

ROK Heads may remember the story about the Air Force NCO who was demoted after making comments about black female service members. Well she has now been separated from the Air Force:

An Air Force noncommissioned officer who made headlines last year for a racist rant that she posted to social media is no longer in the service, personnel officials confirmed.

Geraldine Lovely, who last served as a staff sergeant at Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, was separated from the Air Force on April 5, according to information provided by the Air Force Personnel Center. The reason for her separation and the nature of her discharge were not provided due to privacy restrictions, the Air Force said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.