Monitoring of early-voting ballot boxes

An official at the National Election Commission in Gwacheon, south of Seoul, looks at monitors showing CCTV screens installed at locations storing ballot boxes from early voting on May 31, 2026, as the country is set to hold nationwide regional elections and parliamentary by-elections on June 3. (Yonhap)

In Korea it can be illegal to operate a porn site as these people have just found out:

Korean police arrested 15 people linked to an online pornography site with more than 6,000 members, accusing its operators and users of distributing hundreds of sexually explicit photos and videos, police said Friday.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency’s cyber investigation unit said it booked eight operators of the site, called Honors Club, on charges of distributing obscene materials in violation of the Information and Communications Network Act. Seven site members were also arrested on the same charge. (……)

The operators are accused of running the site from January 2022 through April 2026 and uploading or allowing the distribution of about 700 explicit photos and videos, including footage of group sexual activity among members, according to police.

The site presented itself as a community for married couples and partners seeking open relationships. However, police said its operators used the platform to circulate sexually explicit content and recruit members through multiple online channels, including a Daum cafe, Telegram channels and chat rooms, and an account on X.

The site had 6,325 members, while related online groups drew 2,361 members on Daum cafe, 736 users on a Telegram channel, 944 participants in a Telegram chat room and 6,214 followers on X, police said.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

This professor came to Korea to monitor the upcoming elections and has now put himself at risk of being jailed:

Police on Monday applied to the Ministry of Justice for an exit ban on Morse Tan, a Korean American professor and former U.S. ambassador at large for global criminal justice under the first Trump administration, amid an ongoing investigation into defamation charges tied to false claims he made about President Lee Jae Myung.

Tan, also known by his Korean name Dan Hyun-myung, returned to Korea on Thursday, citing intentions to personally monitor and verify the June 3 local elections for irregularities.

Officers traveled to Incheon International Airport on the day of his arrival, formally notifying him to appear for questioning the following day. Tan declined to comply, submitting a written statement explaining his rejection of the summons and filing a separate request to have the assigned investigating officers replaced.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

According to the article the explosion happened when cleaners were trying to clean propellant residue off of tools of some kind. I would not be surprised to find out someone was cutting corners with safety:

Five people were killed Monday while two others were injured following an explosion at a Hanwha Aerospace factory in the central city of Daejeon, officials said.

Fire authorities received a report of the explosion at the defense company’s factory at 10:59 a.m., mobilizing some 100 personnel to put out a blaze at the site, according to the fire and police officials.

The explosion left five people dead and two people hurt — one with full-body burns and the other with minor injuries. The late victims were all found dead at the site. Two were contract employees in their 20s, while the others were permanent employees, with two in their 50s and one 30-something-year-old.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

According to the article there are still 7,000 personnel unaccounted for from the Korean War and this team is hoping to find some of them with an increased search effort in South Korea:

The South Korean Ministry of National Defense Agency for KIA Recovery and Identification — and DPAA — the U.S. Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency — have formed a 10-member team to look for 50 American service members killed or missing from battles involving the U.S. 2nd Infantry Division, according to a ministry news release on Tuesday.

The investigators will survey six locations: Hongcheon in Gangwon province; Yangpyeong in Gyeonggi province; Changwon in South Gyeongsang province; Mungyeong and Sangju in North Gyeongsang province; and Yeongdong in North Chungcheong province. DPAA identified Hongcheon and Yangpyeong as potential spots tied to missing troops in January during a working-level coordination meeting by the U.S., South Korea and Australia, according to the release. Those areas are linked to battles during Chinese offensives in 1951, the ministry said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

What the U.S. and Australia need to works towards is getting South Korea and Japan to participate in an exercise together in Australia instead of two separate ones running concurrently:

American soldiers and Marines helped kick off the largest Australian army exercise of the year alongside Japanese troops on Friday. Southern Jackaroo is slated to run until July 3 at Townsville Training Ground in the eastern state of Queensland, according to U.S. and Japanese officials. Marine Rotational Force-Darwin, the Alaska-based 11th Airborne Division, the Australian army’s Townsville-based 3rd Brigade and the Japan’s Middle Army are participating, according to the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force.

About 300 U.S. Marines are involved in the drill, along with 1,500 Australian troops and 400 from Japan, Capt. Kevin Hicks, a spokesman for the rotational Marines, said by email Friday. The Marines will “conduct offensive and defensive operations, live-fire platoon attacks, small-arms/indirect-fire employment, and a capstone multi-national combined-arms live-fire exercise,” he said. Southern Jackaroo “is the largest Australian Army exercise this year,” he said.

A Jackaroo is an Australian ranch hand. South Korean troops are also in Australia participating in Exercise Tiger Dingo, which runs concurrently with Southern Jackaroo, Hicks said. U.S. forces are training for littoral combat, which means jungle warfare, Australian defense researcher Allan Orr told Stars and Stripes by email Friday. “The only place in Australia that has a jungle environment is North Queensland,” he said of the area that encompasses Townsville.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.