Everyone complaining about this influencer gave him the attention he was seeking:
Japanese influencer Gamix (left) and K-pop band Ateez member San (Gamix’s Instagram account)
A Japanese influencer with more than 2 million followers on Instagram has come under fire online for making a racist eye gesture mocking Ateez member San’s performance at Seoul World Cup Stadium.
Local media reported Friday that the influencer, who goes by the name Gamix, uploaded a video Thursday recreating the K-pop singer’s dance performance to the song “Bad.”
In the video, Gamix wore a shirt made to look like the Atletico Madrid jersey that San wore during a ceremonial kickoff before a match at Seoul World Cup Stadium on Aug. 9. A photo of San wearing the shirt was displayed at the bottom of the video.
You can read more at the link.
More good news for Korea’s shipbuilding industry:
U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed a national security memorandum permitting foreign shipbuilders to build up to two ships in their parent shipyards for delivery to the United States, as the U.S. seeks to rebuild its Navy and shipbuilding industrial base.
The memorandum came as the U.S. is stepping up shipbuilding cooperation with Korea, which has committed to investing $150 billion in the U.S. shipbuilding sector as part of a total $350 billion investment pledge under last year’s bilateral trade and investment deal.
You can read more at the link.
I would hope there would be some kind of paper trail to import a crocodile into South Korea. Fortunately the crocodile was spotted before winter came which would have assuredly killed the reptile:
Police in Yeoju, Gyeonggi Province, have launched an investigation into how a critically endangered Siamese crocodile ended up in a local stream and who previously owned it.
Yeoju Police Station is reviewing surveillance camera footage from around Soyang Stream, where the reptile was captured Saturday, and interviewing nearby residents. Investigators are also checking whether anyone in the area previously registered a Siamese crocodile or a similar wild animal.
You can read more at the link.
There is a great article over at Small Wars Journal that explains the 12 different grey zone strategies that the Chinese Communist Party is currently using against the U.S. For those that follow this issue closely, the tactics will not be surprising, though I have to admit I wasn’t aware of the smuggling of agro-weapons to threaten the U.S. food supply with. Anyway the first tactic of algorithmic cognitive warfare should be very familiar to ROK Drop readers:
While the West treats media and influence as mere public relations, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) integrates strategic cognitive communications at a structural level. Reorganized into the PLA Information Support Force and historically anchored by the political warfare units of Base 311, these specialized operators execute what Beijing terms the “Three Warfares” (psychological, public opinion, and legal warfare). As outlined by researchers at the Project 2049 Institute in their specialized reports on PLA political warfare and the Global Taiwan Institute in their strategic briefs, these entities deploy industrial-scale digital networks, bot ecosystems, and tailored disinformation engineered to inflame Western partisan divides and paralyze political decision-making.
I recommend reading the rest of the article at the link. However, due to the political partisanship in D.C. I don’t see how the author’s recommendations will ever get implemented outside of a major Chinese provocation forcing a whole of government and society approach in response.
Another good sign in the growing cooperation between the ROK and Japan:
South Korea’s top military officer was set to attend a trilateral meeting involving his U.S. and Japanese counterparts in Washington to discuss security cooperation in the face of North Korean nuclear and missile threats, officials said Wednesday.
Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) Chairman Gen. Jin Yong-sung will meet with his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Gen. Dan Caine and Gen. Hiroaki Uchikura, on Wednesday (local time) for a Trilateral Chiefs of Defense (Tri-Chod) meeting, according to the JCS.
Jin arrived in the United States on Tuesday, marking his first trip to the country since taking office in September.
You can read more at the link.
