Here is another example of an anti-US effort being promoted by the South Korean left:

The conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) on Friday criticized a decision by the Incheon city legislative council to compensate residents for damages incurred by the U.S.-led landing at the port city during the Korean War. 

The Incheon Metropolitan Council approved a municipal ordinance on March 15 that will offer subsidies to residents of Wolmi Island who suffered damages from the 1950 military operation or their descendants.

The surprise amphibious landing at Incheon resulted in a critical strategic reversal in favor of the U.S.-led United Nations troops and South Korea during the Korean War. The operation, which took place from Sept. 15 to 19, 1950, allowed the recapture of Seoul two weeks later. The operation, led by U.S. Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur, involved bombings of Incheon by UN forces. 

“The Incheon city council, where the Democratic Party [DP] controls the majority, created the compensation plan,” said Rep. Kim Jin-tae of the LKP. “Do they want to compensate the people for all past damages, such as those from Donghak Peasant Revolution [in 1894], the Qing invasion of Joseon [in 1636] and the Japanese invasions of Korea [from 1592 to 1598]?” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

Remember the leftist in Incheon are the same people that tried to tear down the General McArthur statue at Jayu Park in the middle of the city.

Here is the best quote from the article that explains what this is really all about:

Kim also said offering compensations to the residents would only satisfy Kim Il Sung, the late founder of the North who initiated the North’s invasion of the South in 1950.  (……..)

“If compensations are sought for the damages caused by the Incheon landing operation, they must ask for the money from the North, since it caused enormous damage by starting the Korean War,” said Rep. Jun Hee-kyung, spokeswoman of the LKP. “They are saying nothing to the North, but supporting the civic groups which demand compensation from the UN forces that helped the South. Is this what the Moon Jae-in administration refers to as justice?” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

Remember little issues like this are all about keeping the kettle of anti-Americanism simmering in South Korea before finding a major issue the South Korean left can sensationalize. We saw this happen prior to the 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident that the Korean left used to create a huge anti-Americanism backlash.

We saw another huge anti-American backlash in 2008 with the anti-US Beef Riots that nearly toppled the newly elected conservative President Lee Myung-bak.

It looks like the Moon administration better come up with a Plan B because their effort for an “ethnic exemption” to sanctions appears to not be getting traction in the US:

The U.S. Congress may pass a bill calling for additional sanctions on North Korea as early as May, according to multiple diplomatic sources Tuesday, a move to pressure Pyongyang to take meaningful denuclearization measures. 

Despite analysis by Seoul officials that Washington was unlikely to implement new sanctions on North Korea in the near future, the sources indicated that preparations for new legislation are already finished. 

“Following the collapse of the second North-U.S. summit, the Republicans and Democrats are considering introducing legislation to strengthen sanctions on North Korea,” said one diplomatic source in Washington. “Because they have been preparing the bill for a year, there is plenty of possibility it may be introduced in May or June.”

The source said that the push to strengthen sanctions on the North is centered around the Senate’s committees on armed services, finance and foreign relations. 

Another overseas source said, “If North Korea doesn’t show steps toward meaningful denuclearization measures by next month, it will be a matter of time that sanctions will be strengthened, rather than eased.”

The source added, “I met with a key U.S. administration official in charge of sanctions following the Hanoi summit who clearly said that they are not considering sanctions relief to allow the resumption of Mount Kumgang tourism or the reopening of the Kaesong Industrial Complex.” 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Inchon City Council seeks compensation for victims of the Sept 15, 1950 "Inchon Landing," a turning point in the #KoreanWar, from the #ROK AND the #US & #UN. Why leave out the culprit of the war, the #DPRK? https://t.co/mGBXgW302K

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

Predictably the North Koreans have stormed out of the joint liaison office at Kaesong:

North Korean officials withdrew from the inter-Korean liaison office in the border city of Gaeseong on Friday. 

Seoul’s Unification Ministry said that North Korean officials held a meeting with their South Korean counterparts in the morning to announce the decision. 

The North Koreans are said to have cited what they called an order from the upper levels of leadership. 

The 15 or so North Korean officials left with only their documents, while leaving behind equipment, noting they didn’t care whether South Korea continues to maintain its office and that they would be in contact with the South to resolve working-level matters. 

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link, but remember that this is the liaison office that the ROK government spent $8.5 million to renovate.

It almost seems like both sides know they will not reach a deal and are each posturing to blame the other side for its failure:

 U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday he has ordered the withdrawal of new sanctions on North Korea, possibly signaling an intention to continue denuclearization negotiations with the regime.
Trump was initially thought to be referring to sanctions the U.S. Department of the Treasury imposed Thursday on two Chinese shipping companies accused of helping the North evade sanctions.

The Washington Post later reported, citing officials familiar with the matter, that Trump was in fact referring to future sanctions that had been scheduled for the coming days.
The confusion lay in Trump’s announcement on Twitter.

“It was announced today by the U.S. Treasury that additional large scale Sanctions would be added to those already existing Sanctions on North Korea,” he wrote, although no new North Korea-related sanctions were announced Friday.
“I have today ordered the withdrawal of those additional Sanctions!” he said.

The announcement came as negotiations to dismantle North Korea’s nuclear weapons program have hit an impasse following the collapse of last month’s summit between Trump and the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a message to reporters, “President Trump likes Chairman Kim and he doesn’t think these sanctions will be necessary.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I think the Trump administration can now say the ball is in the court of the Kim regime to respond to the US not implementing any new sanctions.

In the meantime it appears the Treasury Department will focus on going after Chinese companies.

Here is the latest attempt by the Korean left to increase tensions with Japan and indoctrinate Korean children. Do not expect these attempts to increase tensions to stop anytime soon:

South Korea’s largest province is considering whether to stigmatize nearly 300 Japanese companies over their purported actions during World War II, by imposing an ordinance that requires schools to put alert labels on these firms’ products in their schools.

Twenty-seven members of the Gyeonggi Province council submitted the bill last week in an attempt to give students the “right understanding on history.” If passed, schools will have to place on the items stickers that say: “This product is made by a Japanese war criminal company.”
The move is likely further deepen a diplomatic spat between Seoul and Tokyo, which are at loggerheads over territorial issues and the legacy of Japan’s 35-year colonization of the Korean Peninsula (1910-1945).

The list of 299 companies includes Nikon, Panasonic and Yamaha. The rule would apply to items such as projectors, camcorders, cameras and copy machines with a price tag of 200,000 won ($190) or more. Most of the companies on the list do not commonly supply products to schools — they include Tokyo Gas, Kawasaki Heavy Industries and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

Nikkei Asian Review

You can read more at the link, but maybe the Trump administration should offer a compromise to the Moon administration to reopen the Kaesong Industrial Complex only if a war crimes label is attached to every product that looks like those grotesque ads seen on cigarette boxes.

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

“The main issue is that there’s just no escaping them.”

Once I was reading mainstream Korean news outlets online at a law firm in the US and someone threatened to tell her superiors I was looking at porn sites. https://t.co/z9NPgGMGUc

— the oranckay (@oranckay) March 20, 2019