There is more than just plastic straws that cause problems for bird and marine life, but this is a small way to start mitigating plastic pollution:

The debate on banning on single-use plastic straws to cut plastic waste is clashing with the pursuit of convenience.

As over 10 billion plastic straws are used every year in Korea, environmental groups are calling for a ban on disposable plastic products to reduce litter and other environmental consequences of plastic waste.

However, some claim such a move is premature given that an abrupt ban without proper alternatives can inconvenience consumers.

The Korean Federation for Environmental Movement held a press conference Tuesday, urging the government to ban use of plastic straws by law. It is gathering signatures both on and offline to support the plan.

“The current law does not recognize plastic straws as a disposable product thus they are not subjected to government rules on their free use at restaurants or coffee shops,” the environmental group said in its statement. “Plastic straws cause not only air pollution, but also soil contamination and harm to marine life.” 

Korea Times

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

Which begs a fundamental question: if true that no amount of sanctions can convince NK to make the strategic decision to denuclearize, then why do we think unbridled concessions would? If we asked Kim what it would take for him to willingly go to zero, he wouldn’t have an answer. https://t.co/7n5QSpxLGp

— 🇰🇷Edward Oh🇺🇸 (@EdwardHBOh) June 5, 2019

As it turns out Emperor President Xi will not visit South Korea on this way to Japan for the G20 summit:

Chinese President Xi Jinping won’t visit South Korea on the occasion of the upcoming G-20 summit in Japan, a government official here said Friday.
“President Xi is not coming to South Korea” just before or after his trip to Osaka for the June 28-29 G-20 session, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The confirmation came amid multiple news reports here that Xi is expected to travel to South Korea on his way to Osaka or after travelling there.
A Cheong Wa Dae official indicated that President Moon Jae-in instead has a plan to sit down with Xi on the sidelines of the G-20.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

From Yonhap:

Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo met with the visiting commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) on Friday and discussed ways to boost a combined readiness posture and the bilateral alliance, the Seoul ministry said.
During his meeting with Gen. Richard Clarke in Seoul, Jeong said that the close cooperation between the special operations commands of the two countries has contributed to their staunch readiness posture, and he asked for continued support from the U.S. for ongoing diplomacy to achieve the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and permanent peace. 
Noting that his visit to South Korea helped him reaffirm the strong bilateral alliance and the joint defense posture, the U.S. general vowed to make the utmost efforts to further enhance the close partnership between the special operations commands of the two nations, according to the ministry.

Yonhap

If there should be massive protests against any world leader visiting South Korea, President Xi should be it. China is the country that most recently invaded and destroyed the country, not the Japanese and China continues to be the lifeline that supports North Korea, a country that is committed to the destruction of the ROK:

Chinese President Xi Jinping is rumored to be visiting Seoul this month for a summit with President Moon Jae-in. 

The JoongAng Ilbo, citing an unnamed diplomatic source, reported Thursday that Xi will visit Seoul to meet Moon before going to Osaka, Japan, in late June to participate in the G20 meeting, scheduled for two days from June 28.

Cheong Wa Dae and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said “nothing has been decided” on Xi’s possible trip to Seoul. They did however, say Seoul and Beijing have been working closely to realize his visit. 

“The Chinese government is known to be preparing a schedule for Xi’s visit to South Korea on the last week of this month before he participates in the G20 summit,” the newspaper quoted an unnamed diplomatic source as saying.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but another reason Koreans should be protesting Xi is that China continues to be the home of a modern day comfort women industry and yet the South Korean left will only protest Imperial Japanese comfort women polices from 75 years ago.

You throw in the Chinese fishing boats encroaching on ROK territory and murdering ROK Coast Guard personnel and the Chinese government sponsored assault on Korean citizens in Seoul ten years ago, there are plenty of reasons that Koreans should be unhappy with President Xi.

However, it is likely little if any protests will occur because China is a hard target to protest against because they will retaliate compared to the easy target that is Japan.

Canada "will commit assets to help monitor North Korean sanctions enforcement, providing maritime patrol craft to combined efforts to monitor the DPRK’s smuggling operations."https://t.co/jHNGZgpcLX

— The Korea Society (@koreasociety) June 4, 2019

It appears that the North Korean uranium enrichment facility has never slowed down operations during the recent peace initiative:

North Korea’s main nuclear complex shows continued activity around its uranium enrichment facility, indicating ongoing operations at the plant, a U.S. monitor said Wednesday.
38 North, a project run by the Stimson Center think tank, said recent commercial satellite imagery shows the movement of vehicles, equipment and personnel near the uranium facility at Yongbyon.
“Our observation, that periodic material transport (e.g., possibly to deliver liquid nitrogen) has continued at the Uranium Enrichment Complex over time, provides a new indicator that the complex is operational, and therefore that it is also most likely producing enriched uranium,” 38 North said on its website, citing satellite imagery from past months up to May 28.
“However, we do not have any definitive means to determine either the actual levels of enrichment or the total production throughput of the ~4000 centrifuges at this time,” it added.
North Korea has built nuclear weapons from both plutonium and uranium, with some estimating that the regime now holds an arsenal of 20 to 30 nuclear weapons.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the original 38 North article can be read at this link.

I can still remember the days when the North Korean apologists were all saying that former President Bush was lying about North Korea having a uranium program. Now many of these same people are still giving advice about North Korea.