Tag: South Korea

The Kim regime is cheering for a liberal to win the upcoming Presidency likely in hopes they will get another pay day for little or nothing in return like during the Sunshine Policy years:

With South Korea’s presidential election just one day away, North Korea on Monday called for an end to the history of inter-Korean confrontation.

“The tragic North-South Korea relations today have been wrought by the conservative groups which, having been in power for the past 10 years, revived the foregone period of confrontation and maximized the political and military rivalry between the same race,” the leading ruling party newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said in a column on its Monday issue.

On Tuesday, South Korea is to pick a new president to replace Park Geun-hye who was removed from her presidency in March over corruption charges.

The last poll before the election showed Moon Jae-in of the Democratic Party leading the race by a wide margin. If elected as president, Moon is likely to tilt toward engagement with North Korea, a departure from the sanctions-focused policy under Park and her previous conservative administration led by Lee Myung-bak.

“Our people’s yearning for peace has been mercilessly trodden by the conservative groups, manic followers of confrontation,” the North Korean newspaper said. “The history of inter-Korean confrontation, led by the conservatives, should be put to an end and a new era of unification should open up in collaboration between our race .. To that end, the conservative groups’ scheme to seize power again should be resolutely shattered.”  [Yonhap]

It looks like TIME magazine has declared Moon Jae-in the winner of the upcoming ROK Presidential election already:

Appearing on the cover of the U.S. magazine TIME is sometimes more than just being a cover model — especially before important political events.

The news magazine used to wrap its front cover with a staged portrait of the most likely new leader of a country before his/her formal election (or victory by any means). And in recent memory, there was no case denying the accuracy of its model-winner matchup.

Four years ago, TIME bet on Park Geun-hye, not knowing that she — described as the Strongman’s Daughter in its cover story — would defeat Moon by a very narrow margin.

On Thursday, Moon appeared on the cover of TIME’s Asian edition, which indicates that the magazine firmly believes he will be South Korea’s next leader, replacing the ousted Park Geun-hye, when the presidential election is held on May 9.

The photo shows Moon glaring forward with his lips shut tightly -– somewhat resolutely –- against a black backdrop, under the headline “The Negotiator.”

The story covers Moon’s life, from a front-line commando who put his life on the line in 1976 for a deadly mission in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), to his family background, the time he served as a human rights lawyer, political philosophy (especially on North Korea and the United States) and how he made his way toward the nation’s top job.

Moon told TIME that his destiny is to bring the two Koreas closer together after seven decades being apart.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

So what else does North Korea have to do to the ROK to gain primary enemy status?:

Yoo: “Is North Korea our primary enemy?”
Moon: “Such a designation must not be made by president. If you become president, Mr. Yoo, you yourself would also have to solve inter-Korean problems.”
Yoo: “This is nonsense the commander in chief cannot call North Korea our primary enemy.”

Bareun Party candidate Yoo Seong-min asked Democratic Party’s Moon Jae-in if North Korea is the primary enemy.

Moon responded that presidents should not label the North as such as the job requires solving inter-Korean problems.

As Moon avoided answering the question, Yoo said it was nonsense that a candidate for commander in chief cannot identify North Korea as an enemy.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see if this fire was started intentionally to threaten the THAAD site in South Korea:

Another fire broke out late on Sunday near the site where the U.S. is installing the controversial anti-missile system called THAAD. It started at around 7:30 p.m. near the top of a mountain located closely to the golf course picked for the THAAD deployment in the country’s southern town of Seongju.

Firefighters are working to bring the fire under control but are having trouble in doing so due to darkness. The exact cause of the fire has not been confirmed yet.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

This photo provided by KT Sat, a satellite service arm of KT Corp., on May 5, 2017, shows South Korea’s fourth telecommunications satellite, named the Mugunghwa-7, being launched from the Guiana Space Center at Kourou in French Guiana. (Yonhap)

It has been a while since there has been a large wildfire in Gangwon-do, but it seems this is the area where they tend to happen the most at:

The Gangneung city government said more than 2,500 residents were ordered to flee Saturday as a wind-fed forest fire spread in the eastern city.

About 300 residents are known to have fled from their homes after the blaze started on a hill near Daegwallyeong, a mountain pass close to the east coast, at around 3:30 p.m., according to city officials.

A total of 30 private houses were damaged by the fire as of 10 p.m., but no casualties have been reported, they said.

The residents took shelter at nearby schools and other public facilities, officials said.

Traffic along some parts of a nearby expressway was temporarily restricted but returned to normal at 10 p.m.

About 2,700 people, including hundreds of firefighters, soldiers, police officers and government officials, have been dispatched to fight the fire, but they are struggling to extinguish it, the officials said.  [Yonhap]

Once again people are confusing the term missile defense system with THAAD:

North Korea is believed to have designed its series of missile tests in a way that can beat THAAD and other U.S. missile defense systems aimed at protecting South Korea and Japan, according to a congressional report Thursday.

The Congressional Research Service said in a report cited by the Washington Times that the North test-launched missiles last year in flights precisely designed to avoid interception by rocketing them into much higher altitudes.

That was aimed at getting the reentry warhead to descend at a steeper angle and faster speed, “making it potentially more difficult to intercept with a missile defense system,” the CRS report said, according to the newspaper.

The North has also demonstrated an ability to launch a salvo attack with multiple missiles, it said.

“This is consistent with a possible goal of being able to conduct large ballistic missile attacks with large raid sizes, a capability that could make it more challenging for a missile defense system to destroy each incoming warhead,” the CRS report said.  [Yonhap]

First of all of course if North Korea masses enough ballistic missiles at one location and there is not enough Patriot and THAAD interceptors to shoot them down then ballistic missiles will get through.  This is not a missile defense problem it is a math problem.  The other thing people need to realize is if the Kim regime masses missiles in one location to defeat a missile defense battery that means it has less in its inventory to use in other locations.

Secondly there are different types of missile defense systems which THAAD is one part of.  Patriot is a lower tier system that cannot do engagement outside the atmosphere.  THAAD is a system that can do engagement outside the atmosphere to intercept missiles fired at higher altitudes as cited in the article.

When I get time I will have to read the actual CRS report because what the media claims and what is actually in a report are often very different things.

To counter charges by opponents that he is pro-NK ("jongbook"), Moon Jae-In started highlighting his service in special operations. pic.twitter.com/nUKGQwz6cq

— Noon in Korea (@NoonInKorea) May 5, 2017

Shown is a tower crane that collided with another crane at a Samsung Heavy Industries shipyard in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province, on May 1, 2017, to kill six people and injure 19 others. (Yonhap)

Instead of making threats about the THAAD deployment how about Beijing do something about the Kim regime that is the reason for it being in South Korea in the first place?:

China on Tuesday warned of stern measures against the ongoing deployment of an advanced U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.

“China calls for an immediate stop to the THAAD deployment on the Korean Peninsula,” China’s foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said during a regular press briefing.

“China will pursue protecting its interests going forward by taking the necessary measures in a stern manner.”

He was speaking in response to the U.S.’ announcement that the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery being installed on a former golf course in the southern county of Seongju is “operational and has the ability to intercept North Korean missiles and defend” South Korea.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.