It sounds like this ROK C-130 was in contact with U.S. Air Force air traffic control to land at Kadena, but no one bothered to inform the Japanese Air Self Defense Force (JASDF) of this landing:

Japanese fighter jets intercepted a South Korean airlifter low on fuel that entered Japanese airspace without approval while diverting to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, officials from both countries said Friday. A South Korean C-130 Hercules entered Japanese airspace without approval on July 13, a spokesman for Japan’s Joint Staff said by phone Friday. It was en route to Andersen Air Force base, Guam, to participate in a multinational exercise, according to text messages sent to reporters by South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense.

The ministry did not name the exercise, but the U.S. Air Force is conducting the large-scale Resolute Force Pacific through Aug. 8 across the Indo-Pacific, including Guam. The C-130 burned more fuel than anticipated while rerouting around stormy weather and diverted to Kadena to refuel, according to the ministry. However, the diversion was made without prior clearance from Japanese authorities, the Joint Staff spokesman said.

The Japan Air Self-Defense Force scrambled jets to intercept the C-130, but the spokesman did not provide further details. “We transmitted to South Korea that this scramble is regrettable and asked them to take measures to prevent further instances,” he said. “But as they are our important partner, we will continue to work closely together to address the issue.”

Stars & Stripes

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What I find interesting about this is that the former ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol and his wife could face charges for trying to influence an internal party election. This stands is in comparison to the U.S. where members of the Democrat party meddled to remove a sitting President that had won his party’s primary for a female candidate that won no primaries. Nothing ever happened to the Democrats who meddled to remove Joe Biden:

A prominent opposition lawmaker appeared for questioning by a special counsel Sunday over his alleged involvement in the party’s candidate nominations for key elections in 2022 and 2024, reportedly at the behest of former President Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife. 

Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) arrived at the special counsel’s office in central Seoul at around 9:30 a.m.

“I will seriously, sincerely and faithfully cooperate with the investigation,” Yoon told a swarm of reporters before entering. 

Special counsel Min Joong-ki’s team is investigating allegations that the former president and his wife, Kim Keon Hee, exerted influence to have former lawmaker Kim Young-sun win the then ruling party’s nomination in the 2022 parliamentary by-elections.

In a previously disclosed phone call, allegedly recorded in May 2022, Yoon suggested to self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun that he would instruct Rep. Yoon to make sure Kim wins the party nomination.

Yonhap

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What is notable about this report is that Kim Jong-un did not launch any criticisms towards South Korea or the U.S. signaling that Kim may not have any current animosity towards ROK President Lee Jae-myung or U.S. President Donald Trump:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has visited the Friendship Tower in Pyongyang on the anniversary of the signing of an armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War, pledging not to forget the contributions of fallen Chinese soldiers, state media reported Sunday. 

Kim also appeared to refrain from criticizing South Korea or the United States, as state media made no mention of him making such remarks during the ceremony.

Kim laid a wreath before the tower the previous day, saying that North Korea “would never forget the militant feats and merits of the fallen fighters of the Chinese People’s Volunteers,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

The armistice was signed on July 27, 1953, bringing the Korean War to a halt. Since 1996, North Korea has marked the date as Victory Day, claiming it won the Liberation War against U.S.-led aggression.

Yonhap

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

The personnel involved with catching the North Korean man who crossed the DMZ must have been really executing their responsibilities well to receive such recognition:

Two of the 10 South Korean soldiers who helped secure a North Korean man inside the Demilitarized Zone earlier this month were granted 30 days of leave, the South’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday. All 10 troops will receive commendations for their actions on July 3, when a North Korean man crossed the midwestern section of the heavily fortified border dividing the Korean Peninsula, a Joint Chiefs spokeswoman said by phone Thursday.

The group included two conscripts, who received the additional leave, and eight officers and noncommissioned officers, she said. South Korean forces deployed to interdict the man, who identified himself as a civilian, the South’s military said at the time. He was removed from the DMZ and remains under investigation.

Stars & Stripes

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Here is what the U.S. Commerce Secretary had to say in regards to South Korea after Japan signed a new trade deal with the U.S.:

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Thursday that he could hear “expletives” out of South Korea after Japan reached a trade deal with U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration earlier this week.

Lutnick made the remarks, apparently suggesting that the tariff deal between the United States and Japan might have created a sense of urgency for South Korea, which seeks to reach a deal to avoid or lower the Trump administration’s 25 percent “reciprocal” tariff set to kick in on Aug. 1.

“I could hear the expletives out of Korea when they read the Japanese deal because the Koreans and the Japanese … they stare at each other,” he said in a CNBC interview.

“So you can imagine what they were thinking when they saw that Japan made that deal … They were like, ‘Oh man!,” he added, underscoring that Koreans “very much” want to make a deal.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.