Author: GIKorea

This is cool that the 2ID commander was able to honor his great uncle that was killed during the Korean War:

U.S. and South Korean troops joined family members of 1st Lt. Thomas A. Lombardo this month to rededicate the athletic field at Camp Casey that honors the fallen Korean War hero. Lombardo, commander of I Company, 3rd Battalion, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division, was killed in action on Sept. 24, 1950, during a mission near Ch’ogye, shortly after the North Korean retreat that followed the Pusan Perimeter breakout.

Among the family members attending the ceremony on April 8 at Lombardo Field were the lieutenant’s daughter, Joanne Showman; son, Thomas Lombardo III; and grandnephew, Maj. Gen. Charles Lombardo, the current commander of the 2nd Infantry Division. The general, a St. Louis native like his great uncle, described the lieutenant as a leader committed to serving on the front lines. “He could’ve stayed up in a division staff — he fought so hard to get down,” he said in remarks provided Wednesday by division spokesman Sgt. Alexander Knight. “He wanted to be with soldiers, lead from the front, and didn’t want to be in the staff.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

The Chinese Government has lifted the secrecy clause that the luxury brands had in place the Chinese Manufacturers
and now the manufacturers are exposing your favorite “luxury” brands and letting everyone know it all comes from them. pic.twitter.com/n18jvyBYBv

— Gerry (@GerryKeogh_) April 13, 2025

I can understand why the police are getting turned around, this would be like the Washington, DC police showing up at the White House and asking the Secret Service to hand over SIPR phones and computers. It is not going happen without a proper security review to release those materials due to classified information on those machines that have nothing to do with the investigation:

A special police investigation team withdraws from its attempt to raid the presidential office in Seoul’s Yongsan district on April 16, 2025, over allegations that former President Yoon Suk Yeol obstructed the execution of a detention warrant early this year.

Police failed to raid the presidential office Wednesday over allegations surrounding former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law bid after a 10-hour standoff with presidential security officials.

The police’s special investigation team presented a warrant to search the presidential office’s secure phone server, and the Presidential Security Service (PSS) office and residence, all in the central Seoul district of Yongsan, earlier in the day, according to officials. 

But security officials blocked their entry, and the presidential office later submitted a statement of disapproval, prompting investigators to leave the scene.

The police said the PSS had instead agreed to voluntarily provide certain materials, including data from the classified phone server.

Police have repeatedly attempted to seize the server records of a secure phone used by Yoon related to his Dec. 3 martial law imposition but have been largely unsuccessful.

By law, military facilities and other areas that handle confidential information cannot be searched or seized without approval from the responsible authority or office.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It makes sense that North Korea would be looking to upgrade their air defenses considering the strategic bombing threat they face if conflict was to happen on the peninsula:

The chief of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command reportedly said North Korea provided ballistic missiles and artillery shells to support Russia’s war in Ukraine and will receive advanced air defense equipment in return. 

According to Ukraine’s daily Kyiv Post on Monday, Adm. Samuel Paparo conveyed the information during a briefing for the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. 

Paparo reportedly said North Korea has sent hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles and hundreds of thousands of artillery shells to support Russia’s war and that in return, it will receive advanced air defense equipment, including surface-to-air missile systems and other technology.

KBS World

You can read more at the link.

I guess we will see in the coming days if North Korea does anything in response to this latest air drill from the ROK and US:

South Korea and the United States on Tuesday staged joint air drills, involving at least one U.S. B-1B bomber, over the Korean Peninsula, the defense ministry said, in a show of force against North Korean military threats.

The drills, which also mobilized South Korean F-35A and F-16 fighter jets and U.S. F-16s, were designed to demonstrate the allies’ capabilities to respond to North Korea’s advancing nuclear and missile threats, according to the ministry.

The drills coincided with the 113th birth anniversary of North Korea’s late state founder Kim Il-sung, a major national holiday in the North, called the “Day of the Sun.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

China's GHOST Cities

$170 BILLION worth of Empty Cities, Abandoned Skyscrapers, and Fake European Towns that nobody lives in

Here are China's most Haunting Ghost Cities: pic.twitter.com/AJannsz0RE

— Chidanand Tripathi (@thetripathi58) April 13, 2025

Former President Yoon Suk Yeol, wearing a baseball cap reading “Make Korea Great Again,” greets supporters gathered near the presidential residence in Seoul’s Yongsan District, Friday, as he departs the premises. Joint Press Corps 

I guess we will see next week if the ROK can strike a deal or not with the Trump administration. What will be interesting is if a deal is struck will the likely Lee Jae-myung administration in two months stick to it?:

The United States will engage in trade negotiations with South Korea next week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday, stressing the “first mover advantage,” as countries are striving to strike deals with the U.S. to minimize the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff policy on their economies.

In a Bloomberg interview, Bessent touched on plans for upcoming negotiations with South Korea and Japan. Earlier this month, Trump imposed steep “reciprocal” tariffs on the two allies and dozens of other countries but later placed a 90-day pause on the new tariffs.

“We had Vietnam in last week. We (have) Japanese in on Wednesday. … South Korea next week,” he said. “So it’s going to move fast.”

The secretary underscored there will be a “first mover” advantage as Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba told parliament Monday (Tokyo time) that Japan will not make compromises for the sake of quickly wrapping up tariff talks with the U.S.

“I think there will be advantage to our allies, especially a first mover advantage,” he said. “Usually, the first person who makes a deal gets the best deal.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

In my opinion if kids leave school without permission they should be given detention or some other form of punishment. If the DODEA schools allow these kids to protest without punishment than what is too stop students from leaving class to protest other hot button topics?:

Parents and students say that administrators initiated an unannounced lockdown drill to stop a planned walkout at Netzaberg Middle School on Thursday, a claim school officials dispute. The incident has raised concerns in the U.S. military community near Grafenwoehr and Vilseck that the school deliberately kept students from speaking out against the removal of material deemed to support diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as the shuttering or reorganization of groups with gender, racial or cultural affiliations. (…….)

Parents and students say that administrators initiated an unannounced lockdown drill to stop a planned walkout at Netzaberg Middle School on Thursday, a claim school officials dispute. The incident has raised concerns in the U.S. military community near Grafenwoehr and Vilseck that the school deliberately kept students from speaking out against the removal of material deemed to support diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as the shuttering or reorganization of groups with gender, racial or cultural affiliations.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but if you want to be an activist go do it outside of school hours. However, I am willing to bet it is probably the parents pushing these kids to go and protest during school.