It is not so much that Lee Jun-seok switched to English, but what he said, “You became one of us but you don’t look like us as of now” that is really racist:
Naturalized South Korean doctor Yohan Ihn’s appointment as reform head of the ruling People Power Party in October came as a surprise move in a country with a relatively short history of racial or ethnic diversity in politics.
Following his appointment, the 64-year-old Ihn, also known as John Linton, who is white and the descendant of US missionaries, has faced personal attacks over his ethnicity from political opponents who sought to undermine his power, overshadowing his reform agenda.
At the same time, the issue has opened up opportunities for counterattacks by Ihn’s supporters over the bigoted nature of the attacks.
On Saturday, Ihn made a surprise appearance at a conference in Busan, where disgraced ex-People Power Party Chair Lee Jun-seok was scheduled to speak. Ihn attended the conference to meet Lee face-to-face, two days after his party membership suspension was lifted upon Ihn’s recommendation.
Lee appeared to give Ihn the cold shoulder and, while onstage during the conference, switched to English and argued to Ihn that he thought it was not the right time to hold such a meeting.
Lee said that Ihn had “failed to meet the prerequisites” for an in-person meeting with him on the grounds that, he believes, Ihn represents the current leadership of the party over which President Yoon Suk Yeol holds sway. Lee further believes that the party leadership has not learned its lesson from its critical by-election loss in Seoul’s Gangseo-gu in October.
“The reason I spoke to you in English is,” Lee said in Korean, before switching back to English to continue: “You became one of us but you don’t look like us as of now. Please be (on) our side, and speak in the same language as we do, and speak in the language of democracy with us, please. I said please.”
Korea Herald
Dr. Ihn has also faced attacks from local media for talking positively about the late General Paik Sun-yup who is arguably one of the most important Koreans in the ROK’s modern history:
The critical public reception of Ihn has not been hard to notice in Korea over the last few weeks. Citizens’ Press Dandelion, a local citizens’ media outlet, in October described Ihn as a “special Korean” who has a “lopsided and superficial understanding of Korea’s history and politics.”
The comments were made in criticism of Ihn’s past remarks praising a controversial historical figure, the late former Gen. Paik Sun-yup, in a news report headlined, “Heavy burden on Yohan Ihn, who loves Korea but does not know much about it.”
You can read more at the link.
Another example of the increasing cooperation between South Korea and Japan. Previously South Korea had flew Japanese citizens out of Israel as well:
This Kyodo News photo, filed Oct. 23, 2023, shows a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force aircraft parked at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo on Oct. 21, after returning from Israel with Japanese nationals, 18 South Koreans and one foreign family member in an evacuation from the war-torn region. (Yonhap)
A Japanese aircraft carrying a group of South Korean nationals, along with its own people, returned from Israel on Friday, Seoul’s foreign ministry said, the second such flight Japan has offered after South Korea brought Japanese citizens home on its plane last month.
The Air Self-Defense Force aircraft carrying 15 South Koreans and one foreign national family member related to a Korean national landed at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, at 6:45 p.m., the foreign ministry said.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
I guess we will see if President Yoon actually follows through on debt reduction because it easy to say, but as we see with U.S. politicians, it is actually harder to follow through on:
President Yoon Suk Yeol cited reducing the national debt and stabilizing prices as his top priorities in an address to the National Assembly on Tuesday.
“The approach our government is taking in managing our finances is to avoid passing on unaffordable debts to the country’s future generations,” the president said in a budget speech delivered before the members of the Assembly.
“A sound fiscal policy is crucial to stabilizing prices in the long run and protecting our economic security,” the president said, adding that the International Monetary Fund has appraised his administration’s take on balancing the budget as heading in the right direction.
Yoon stressed that a sound fiscal policy was “not just about cutting down on spending, but about using taxpayers’ money more efficiently and responsibly, with efforts to not let a single dime go wasted.” He said that the budget would primarily be spent on strengthening the country’s essential functions such as national defense, education, health care and social security for the vulnerable.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link.
I would not be surprised that this old guy probably has a mental illness of some kind:
A 77-year-old man passing by the defense ministry compound Tuesday took out a knife and stabbed two police officers guarding the compound, which also houses the presidential office.
The man, identified by his family name Park, yelled in front of the compound and attacked the officers at 1:20 p.m. as they tried to subdue his shouting. One of the officers was stabbed in the abdomen and the other in the left arm, and both were taken to a hospital.
The man was arrested at the scene.
The ministry compound houses the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Australia’s military is expanding its role in the Pacific this time participating in a trilateral exercise in South Korea:
Over 130 U.S., South Korean and Australian aircraft began large-scale airpower drills this week to improve their teamwork, three days after U.S. and South Korean soldiers concluded a ground and air exercise.
Vigilant Defense, a five-day exercise that kicked off Monday, is taking place throughout South Korea with 25 types of aircraft, including U.S. F-35B Lightning IIs and F/A-18 Hornets, and South Korean F-35As and E-737 airborne early warning and control aircraft, according to a Ministry of National Defense news release Saturday.
A KC-30A multirole tanker transport from the Royal Australian Air Force will conduct aerial refueling drills, the release said. The Australian air force first appeared for the exercise last year when a KC-30A refueled South Korean KF-16s and U.S. F-35Bs.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
This think tank is calling for 100 modernized tactical nuclear weapons to defend South Korea, but believes they should be stored in the U.S.:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (L) talks with officials during a visit to the Nuclear Weapons Institute in Pyongyang on March 27, 2023, in this file photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). Kim guided the work to mount nuclear warheads on ballistic missiles, and the institute reported the recent years’ work and production for bolstering the North’s nuclear forces, both in quality and quantity, according to the KCNA. (Yonhap)
South Korea and the United States should modernize around 100 U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to support the security of the South against North Korea’s growing threats, a research report said Monday.
The Asan Institute for Policy Studies and the Rand Corp. made the suggestion in a joint report, stressing the North has “already established a nuclear weapon force that could pose an existential threat” to South Korea and is “on the verge” of posing a serious threat to the U.S.
“Kim Jong-un appears to be planning a force of at least 300 to 500 nuclear weapons… the 300-weapon threshold could almost be reached in 2030,” the report, titled “Options for Strengthening ROK Nuclear Assurance,” said.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes the North Koreans to rescue the people on this ship:
This file photo, taken Oct. 27, 2017, shows a South Korean patrol ship departing a port in Sokcho, 151 kilometers northeast of Seoul. (Yonhap)
A South Korean patrol ship on Sunday spotted a North Korean vessel stranded near the de-facto inter-Korean sea border in the East Sea and provided humanitarian assistance, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
The patrol ship was dispatched after a maritime patrol aircraft spotted the distressed vessel drifting in waters 200 kilometers east of the coastal town of Jejin and around 3 km north of the eastern Northern Limit Line (NLL) at 2:16 p.m., according to the JCS.
The South Korean ship initially deployed one inflatable boat to approach the vessel and confirmed it as a North Korean ship.
The North Korean vessel is suspected to be a small commercial ship some 10 meters long, according to an informed source. The military reportedly did not inspect the identities of those on board as the ship was in waters north of the NLL.
The people on board the North Korean ship said they have been adrift for 10 days and wished to return to their homeland, requesting assistance with food and water.
The South Korean military provided food and water “on humanitarian grounds,” and notified the North of the situation through the United Nations Command and international maritime communication channels for its assistance.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but I also wonder what this so called commerical ship was transporting and where from?
