It looks like President Trump is continuing the messaging that he is open to talks on North Korea’s denuclearization while simultaneously increasing sanctions to further pressure the Kim regime:

President Donald Trump will make a two-day visit to South Korea this weekend, officials said Monday, as the U.S. administration said it’s ready to resume nuclear talks with the North “at a moment’s notice.”

Trump’s visit, which will be his second trip to the divided peninsula as president, comes amid new optimism for the stalled diplomatic push to persuade the North to abandon its nuclear weapons.

The president sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that was welcomed by the communist state, raising hopes for efforts to break the deadlock that followed the February summit between the two men, which ended without agreement in Vietnam.

“I can confirm that that letter was, in fact, sent,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Sunday. “And I am hopeful that this will provide a good foundation for us to begin to continue the important discussions with the North Koreans to denuclearize the peninsula.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Welcome to modern day U.S. Air Force training:

A safety brief analyzing security concerns at one military installation offered up an eccentric example of a potential hazard when instructors warned airmen in attendance of the growing threat of incels, or involuntary celibates.

The online-based community of introverted, sexless individuals that may have started decades ago as an innocuous attempt at achieving a sense of belonging has, in recent years, become a label for a more aggressive sect of repugnant men who cast the entirety of the blame for their coitus-free existence onto women.

This scorn has manifested in the form of heinous misogyny shared over online message boards, and in a handful of cases, escalated into deadly violence.

In the wake of learning Army veteran and Dallas courthouse shooter, Brian Isaack Clyde, was an active participant in the incel subculture, at least one base — Maryland’s Joint Base Andrews — is now taking measures to educate service members on the warning signs — including the use of a popular meme Clyde shared on his social media — of potential violence carried out by the incel community.

In the time leading up to the shooting, Clyde shared a version of the incel meme known as “Virgin vs. Chad,” in which the characteristics of an incel man are stacked up against his antithesis. In Clyde’s case, the meme contrasted the ways in which the Virgin and Chad would carry out a mass shooting, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Air Force Times

You can read more at the link, but I believe this less about being a so called “incel” then people suffering from mental disorders that use not getting a date as an excuse for violence.

I am surprised that Prime Minister Abe thought a deal over the Kuril Islands would ever be possible with Russia:

Kimio Waki remembers the day in 1945 when Soviet soldiers burst into his home, “machine guns in their hands, and with their shoes on.” He was just 4 years old. “They ransacked the house,” he said. “I’m left with my memory of fear.”

Waki and his family were among of 17,000 Japanese living on the southernmost Kurile islands – known in Russia as the Kurils – when Soviet troops invaded after Japan had announced its surrender in World War II. Over the next four years, all of them either fled or were forcibly evicted.

More than seven decades later, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has embarked on a quixotic dream to persuade Moscow to return at least some of the islands, with President Vladimir Putin first dangling – then seemingly withdrawing – the prospect of a deal.

There had been hopes the two leaders might have signed a framework agreement on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit, which begins June 28 in Osaka. But that dream has died, experts say.

“A deal to settle the territorial dispute – that’s really not on the table anymore,” said James Brown, an associate professor at Temple University’s campus in Japan.

Instead, Russia is now proposing to deepen economic cooperation by introducing visa-free travel for residents of the Russian island of Sakhalin and Japan’s island of Hokkaido, which lie west of the disputed smaller islands.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but Putin pulled the old okey-doke on Japan by appearing to be open to something Abe really wanted to pursue, but then twist it to try and get something else.

Putin is never going to willingly give back the Kuril Islands because it ensures that the Sea of Okhotsk remains a giant Russian lake by denying undetected submarine access. It also allows easy entry and exit for the Russian Pacific fleet anchored at Vladivostok.

“I watched both my uncle and my father starve to death. Fearful that I too would die, I fled – only to find myself sold into slavery in China. The horrors faced by N. Korean women like me when we cross the border into what we imagine will be safety is ignored by Western gov’ts.” https://t.co/yxtD8cNbpK

— Sung-Yoon Lee (@SungYoonLee1) June 21, 2019

The Moon administration must be really upset about the criticism they are facing from the KCTU, a major leftwing ally to arrest their leader like this:

The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has pledged an all-out struggle against the government, following the arrest of its Chairman Kim Myeong-hwan, last Friday.

The arrest and the militant umbrella union’s response signal yet another low point in the already strained ties between labor and the Moon Jae-in administration. The latter had hoped for talks with the labor sector to settle various labor issues such as the ratification of key conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and a decision on next year’s minimum wage. 

Kim, former leader of the Korean Railway Workers’ Union, was charged with overseeing “illegal” KCTU protests in front of the National Assembly in Seoul in May last year and earlier this year. During the rallies, labor activists clashed with police officers, tearing down fences and plastic shields to get inside the assembly compound to stop anti-labor bills. 

Three others in the hardline union were arrested on similar charges recently. The clampdown and arrests of union leaders are hardly novel but they reveal how quickly ties can unravel between the labor sector and President Moon, who promised liberal and worker-friendly reforms when he came to power in May 2017.

The KCTU immediately lashed out at the arrest, saying Kim could not be held responsible for incidents of violence between protesters and police.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but the KCTU is upset that President Moon has not kept his promise to further increase the minimum wage. The steep increases in the minimum wage have already increased unemployment which the KCTU apparently is not concerned about.

Here is the latest penpal letter that President Trump has sent to Kim Jong-un:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has received a personal letter with “excellent” and “interesting” content from U.S. President Donald Trump, Pyongyang’s state media said Sunday.

“After reading the letter, the Supreme Leader of the Party, the state and the armed forces said with satisfaction that the letter is of excellent content,” the Korean Central News Agency said, referring to its leader.

“Appreciating the political judging faculty and extraordinary courage of President Trump, Kim Jong-un said that he would seriously contemplate the interesting content,” it added.

The KCNA did not disclose when and how the letter was delivered to Kim.

The letter appears to be in answer to a letter Kim sent to Trump recently in time for the anniversary of their first-ever summit in Singapore last June.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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

Has anyone tried this yet?:

Young Koreans are going crazy for KFC’s new fried chicken skins as the so-called bizarre food trend sweeps the country.

At 9: 40 a.m. on Wednesday, the KFC in Gangnam Station, southern Seoul, was full of people waiting to get their hands on the snack. When the store started serving food 20 minutes later, people rushed to line up at the self-service kiosk stands. 

They were rushing to get their hands on the limited-edition fried chicken skin, which are sold for 2,800 won ($2.40) for 12 pieces. 

The salty and greasy fried skins were first offered at KFC restaurants in Indonesia. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.