Here is the most hypocritical thing I have read all week:

Japan’s emperor should hold hands with women forced to work in the country’s military brothels and make a personal apology if Tokyo wants to end the decades-old dispute, South Korea’s top lawmaker said.

National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang said in an interview Thursday that Japanese Emperor Akihito — as the “the son of the main culprit of war crimes” — should deliver the apology before his planned abdication in May. Moon was asked how the two U.S. allies could resolve a worsening diplomatic feud fueled by disagreements over Japan’s 1910-45 occupation of the Korean Peninsula, much of it under the emperor’s late father, Hirohito.

“It only takes one word from the prime minister, who represents Japan — I wish the emperor would do it since he will step down soon,” said Moon, South Korea’s No. 2 elected official and a former presidential envoy to Japan. “Isn’t he the son of the main culprit of war crimes?

“So, if a person like that holds the hands of the elderly and says he’s really sorry, then that one word will resolve matters once and for all,” he said.

Bloomberg

So will Moon Hee-sang next call for Kim Jong-un to hold hands and apologize to the victims of the Korean War, something his grandfather caused that was far more destructive than anything the Japanese ever did to South Korea? Or call for him to hold hands and apologize to the families of South Koreans abducted over the years by North Korea? Better yet will he call for Kim Jong-un to hold hands with the families of the victims of the Cheonan sinking and Yeonpyeong Island shelling?

Instead of calling for these apologies, South Korea’s left wing politicians like Moon Hee-sang instead want to pay tribute to Kim Jong-un. The Japanese government should call out these South Korean politicians for their hypocrisy.

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

This is one of the most absurd lines Trump said last night. At the end of the Obama term, there was no sign that US + NK were about to go to war. Then Trump started with his “fire and fury” and “Rocket Man” tweets in 2017. That increased tensions. https://t.co/hrFJkW8GUb

— Edward Wong (@ewong) February 6, 2019

Who knows where this bridge to nowhere is located?

2019 Korea Finder Leaders Board

1. Smokes – 1

As I have said before why can’t a country that can afford a nuclear weapons program buy its own Tamiflu?:

South Korea has no problem in drawing global cooperation for its planned delivery of antiviral medication to North Korea, a unification ministry official said Thursday.
The government promised to send 200,000 doses of Tamiflu to North Korea via a land route over their western border, but delivery has been repeatedly put off as Seoul says more time is needed for relevant preparations.
Speculation arose that Washington’s discomfort with the plan’s potential undermining of a global sanctions regime against Pyongyang might be behind the prolonged delay.

Yonhap

The hesitation from Washington is probably because they realize the Tamiflu is likely going to be sold on the blackmarket for millions as yet another illicit Kim regime money making operation to avoid sanctions.

I like this idea of having elevated bike paths, much safer than sharing the road with cars, especially in a congested city like Seoul:

Seoul has announced the winners of an architectural design contest for elevated bike paths that can provide cyclists a more continuous and safer ride around Seoul.

The first prize went to a submission titled “UNDER the C,” which drew up plans for a bike path beneath an elevated expressway in northeastern Seoul. If built, this elevated bike lane will connect cyclists in the Jeongneung Station area to the Jungnang stream, whose bike paths eventually connect to those along the Han River in the south. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

"Trump has found that his lack of experience in politics and diplomacy, which require policy knowledge, team building and nuanced negotiating ability, has left him at a decided disadvantage despite his boasts about his deal-making prowess" https://t.co/B5cZYgQbfE

— Francis Fukuyama (@FukuyamaFrancis) February 4, 2019

It has been speculated that the Trump administration would agree to end the Korean War and it appears that is the direction Trump-Kim II Summit negotiations are going:

President Moon Jae-in and Chinese President Xi Jinping may join the summit to be held between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this month in Vietnam to declare an end to the Korean War.

As U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun stated last week, President Trump is open to formally ending the war as part of measures to spur denuclearization talks with North Korea. This is an idea Moon, Xi and Kim have all been supporting.

One major obstacle was North Korea’s opposition to the continued presence of U.S. troops in South Korea. However, the North has reportedly changed its stance on this.

U.S. and South Korean officials said ending the Korean War is a major topic in the ongoing pre-summit talks in Pyongyang.

Korea Times

You can read more a the link, but I have said this repeatedly, North Korea does not have to call for a withdrawal of US troops when its surrogates in South Korea will do it for them.

Anti-US leftist groups will claim that a peace treaty calls into question why US troops are needed in Korea. Two of the largest anti-US leftist groups, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy and Minbyun-Lawyers for a Democratic Society are already advancing this idea.

The PSPD and Minbyun are both extreme left wing pro-Pyongyang organization that have long been anti-US.  For example PSPD is one of the groups behind the ongoing THAAD protests, blamed the US for Christian missionaries kidnapped by the Taliban, was a member of the Korean Alliance Against the Korea-U.S. FTA that even had one of their own set himself on fire outside one of the FTA meetings in Seoul.  PSPD was also one of the lead organizations against the relocation of US forces to Camp Humphreys.

Minbyun on the other hand, have been used to legally attack North Korean defectors, one of the groups behind the US beef riots, and have long attacked the USFK relocation plan.

I would not be surprised that these groups and other large anti-US leftist groups eventually mobilize to protest and blockade US military bases to disrupt operations and make life miserable for US servicemembers in Korea. The THAAD site is already experiencing this.

If the traffic at Camp Humphreys is already bad can you imagine what would happen if people had to deal with protesters as well while trying to get through the gates?

The protests combined with the ROK government playing hardball on USFK cost sharing would be intended to convince President Trump to withdraw some if not all of the US troops. This is why North Korea doesn’t have to call for US troop withdrawals when they have surrogates to do it for them.