The Stars & Stripes had a reporter check out a recently opened DMZ hiking trail:

The U.S.-led United Nations Command, which oversees activities in the DMZ, has approved plans for three trails in the DMZ.

So far, only the one in Goseong, which sits in the section that snakes north of the 38th parallel and features a view of North Korea’s famous Mount Kumgang, has begun accepting visitors.

Groups of about 20 tourists at a time, escorted by soldiers, walk along a coastal path marked by two rows of tall barbed wire fences cutting off the beach. Signs warn of land mines on the other side.

On Friday, the guide Park Jeung Hey rattled off the names of trees and flowers and historical tidbits. Her charges were delighted when a deer appeared nearby before retreating into the trees.

Park noted abandoned railroad tracks along the route. “You might imagine that you might use this road and the railway to visit Mount Kumgang in the near future,” she said. (……….)

So far, only the one in Goseong, which sits in the section that snakes north of the 38th parallel and features a view of North Korea’s famous Mount Kumgang, has begun accepting visitors.

Groups of about 20 tourists at a time, escorted by soldiers, walk along a coastal path marked by two rows of tall barbed wire fences cutting off the beach. Signs warn of land mines on the other side. (………)

The trail consists of two courses — one by foot and the other by vehicle — and ends at a barricaded gate that has been used in the past by travelers to North Korea’s famous Mount Kumgang for reunions of families who had been separated by the war.

A sign declared it to be the northernmost point of South Korea.

Lee Saet-Byeol of the Goseong district office said more than 4,300 people have participated in the tours since they began on April 27, coinciding with the first anniversary of the first summit between Moon and Kim.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Deng Xiaoping on a visit to NK in Sept 1978 chided #KimIlSung for his excesses on the "Golden Boy" (pejorative term used by foreigners in Pyongyang) statue of himself. Later the gold came off and Kim became the Bronze Boy. https://t.co/CMilnA7K4v

— Sung-Yoon Lee (@SungYoonLee1) June 17, 2019

This is concerning that a North Korean boat is able to pull right into the harbor at Samcheok and the crew able to get out, walk around, and ask to use phone with no authorities there to detain them:

The South Korean military failed to detect a North Korean boat that freely sailed in its waters for four days – even after its crew moored in an eastern harbor and asked to use a phone, the JoongAng Ilbo learned Wednesday. 

The military also faced fire for an obviously false initial announcement about how the wooden boat and its four crews were discovered in Samcheok Harbor in Gangwon on Saturday. After questioning, two of the crew defected to the South, while the other two returned to the North through the border village of Panmunjom on Tuesday. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but also keep in mind that Samcheok is not a South Korean community adjacent to the DMZ. It is pretty far south from the maritime border between the two countries.

This is pretty predictable, since the Trump administration is hammering the Chinese economy with tariffs, President Xi is now trying to use his North Korea card for leverage. I guess we will see if the Trump administration falls for his snake oil or not:

 On the eve of his first visit to North Korea, Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed Wednesday to play a greater role in helping make progress in negotiations on Korean Peninsula issues and addressing Pyongyang’s “reasonable” demands through dialogue.

Xi made the pledge in an op-ed piece to the Rodong Sinmun, North Korea’s official newspaper, in a rare move seen as part of efforts to emphasize their friendly and close bilateral relations, a day before he visits Pyongyang for the first time since assuming office in 2013.

“We will actively contribute to regional peace, stability, development and prosperity by strengthening communication and coordination with North Korea and other relevant parties to make progress in talks and negotiations on Korean Peninsula issues,” Xi said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The U.S. military has a new Secretary of Defense:

Pat Shanahan confirmed Tuesday that he has resigned as acting defense secretary and ended his campaign to seek the job outright amid reports of domestic violence in his family involving himself, his ex-wife and their son.

Army Secretary Mark Esper was selected by President Donald Trump to be the new acting defense secretary, made public in a series of tweets that also announced Shanahan will step down.

“I know Mark, and have no doubt he will do a fantastic job!,” Trump tweeted.

Shanahan said in a prepared statement following Trump’s tweets that “after significant reflection” he was withdrawing from consideration for defense secretary and resigning from his post.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the domestic violence incident is pretty bad with Shanahan’s 17-year old son beating his mother with a baseball bat. Shanahan who was divorced at the time, rushed to hire a lawyer and defend his son for beating her because his ex-wife had a documented history of abuse. Not a good look for Shanahan.

Anyway with the Secretary of the Army taking over this would likely mean increased influence for the Army within the Department of Defense.

This is just an extremely bizarre murder of a U.S. Army Special Forces soldier by a group of Navy Seals and U.S. Marines:

A Navy SEAL convicted in the death of a Green Beret soldier is under investigation by authorities for approaching his victim’s widow under a pseudonym at a Las Vegas party, allegedly requesting access to her room and telling her that the SEALs involved in her husband’s death were “good guys,” according to military documents and three people familiar with the case.

Chief Special Warfare Operator Adam C. Matthews faced a murder charge in the death of Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar, and was wearing a Rambo costume at the time, according to the documents, which were obtained by The Washington Post. They were verified with three people familiar with the investigation, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the case.

The encounter adds a new layer of strangeness in the death of Melgar, a member of 3rd Special Forces Group who previously had deployed to Afghanistan. (………)

Melgar was strangled June 4, 2017, after a group of men that had been out drinking burst into his room in the Malian capital of Bamako with a sledgehammer with plans to choke him unconscious, bind him with duct tape and record a video of a Malian man sexually molesting him as part of a hazing plot, according to testimony by a Marine Raider convicted in the case.

Stars & Stripes

You would think Special Forces operators would have more important things to do than plotting how to sexually assault one of their own. What a disgrace.

The Hong Kong protests provide some great content to stuff onto USB sticks headed for North Korea. https://t.co/uQgg17jPBT

— 🇰🇷Edward Oh🇺🇸 (@EdwardHBOh) June 16, 2019

It is pretty clear that improving the human rights for North Koreans is not a concern for the Moon Jae-in administration:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is likely to have asked for Ojea Quintana, the United Nations’ special investigator on human rights in North Korea, to take a “toned-down” approach in handling North Korea’s human rights abuses.

Quintana is on a five-day trip to Seoul from Monday as he plans to meet with ranking ministerial officials including Second Vice Foreign Minister Lee Tae-ho and Vice Unification Minister Suh Ho.

“His visit is intended to gather relevant data on the status quo of the North’s human rights situation before the United Nations General Assembly convenes on the condition of North Korea’s human rights situation in October,” a foreign ministry official said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Moon Jae-in gave a speech in Swedish parliament. He denied #NorthKorea invaded #SouthKorea by saying "South&North never invaded another country in 5000- year history..only a sad history of pointing guns at each other." NKorea invaded SKorea on 1950-6-25.https://t.co/NKuOCzsfHK

— Tara O (@DrTaraO) June 15, 2019