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.
I just don’t understand why people like President Lee continue to push this fairy tale that North Korea can be denuclearized. I have yet to hear one good argument on how this can be done:
South Korea seeks phased denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula as it also seeks to normalize ties with North Korea, President Lee Jae Myung has said ahead of his state visit to Mongolia, which he called a “trusted partner” in such efforts.
In an interview with Mongolia’s state-run Montsame news agency released Thursday, the South Korean president highlighted Mongolia’s potential role in bridging the divided Koreas.
“I hope that Mongolia … will contribute even more to peace and stability, not only on the Korean Peninsula but across Northeast Asia as a whole.” the president said. “I believe that the power to create peace comes not from military force, but from mutual trust and dialogue.”
“Mongolia has maintained balanced relations not only with China and Russia, but with other key countries of the region … I believe this diplomatic capacity of Mongolia is more important now than at any time before,” he added.
You can read more at the link.
It will be interesting to see how attractive this visa ends up becoming:
South Korea has launched its digital nomad visa with more relaxed eligibility requirements than those applied during its pilot program, the Ministry of Justice said Tuesday.
The F-1-D visa, also known as the “workation” visa, became officially available on June 30. It allows foreign nationals employed by overseas companies to live in Korea while working remotely, unlike a work visa, which requires employment with a Korean employer.
You can read more at the link.
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments.
For Soldiers in Korea looking to convert some U.S. dollars into Won, now is the time to do it:
The South Korean won weakened against the U.S. dollar Tuesday amid renewed expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve would raise its rates this year.
The won traded at 1,539.1 won per dollar, down 2.1 won from the previous session, as of 3:30 p.m., partly hit by a sell-off by foreign investors in local stocks.
The won opened at 1,539.4 won per dollar earlier in the day but tumbled to as low as 1,542.1 won at one point, marking the weakest level since June 8.
You can read more at the link.
