Category: International Headlines

I read the article and still have a hard time understanding what this British company was complaining about; no wonder the case was dismissed:

The top U.S. court has dismissed an appeal case by a British company claiming it was wrongfully excluded during South Korea’s purchase of advanced U.S.-made F-35 fighters, Seoul’s arms procurement agency said Thursday.

The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed the appeal Monday in a case that South Korea has argued is beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts as the transaction was one between governments, according to the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA).

In December 2020, Blenheim Capital sued the South Korean government, Lockheed Martin, the F-35’s manufacturer, and others, claiming it was excluded from the transaction as the broker of an offset program connected to the deal and sought US$500 million in damages, DAPA said.

High-cost military contracts between countries usually involve offset programs, where a buyer receives other goods or technologies in return for the deal. Seoul’s F-35 purchase included an offset program involving a military satellite capable of integrating with the jets.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

If all these countries join it makes me wonder of the AUKUS is turning into a Pacific version of NATO to counter China:

The United States, Britain and Australia are considering South Korea, Canada and New Zealand as potential partners for cooperation on advanced capability projects of their AUKUS security partnership, a senior U.S. official said Tuesday.

The remarks came a day after the defense chiefs of the three countries issued a joint statement noting their consideration of Japan as a partner for Pillar II projects of the partnership.

Launched in September 2021 in an apparent move to counter China’s assertiveness, AUKUS consists of two key pillars. Pillar I is to support Australia in acquiring conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines, while Pillar II is for cooperation in high-tech areas, including quantum computing, artificial intelligence and hypersonics.

“The AUKUS partners are considering a range of additional partners who may bring unique strengths to Pillar 2, including the ROK, Canada and New Zealand, in addition to Japan,” the official said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency. ROK stands for South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but China is of course complaining about this announcement. If China would quit trying to forcibly take over other nation’s territory there would be no need for AUKUS in the first place.

This is actually surprising that the ROK issued a statement against China on this issue. It will be interesting to see if China responds:

South Korea’s foreign ministry expressed deep concerns Thursday over the collision between Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels in the South China Sea, a region long plagued by persistent territorial disputes.

“Our government is deeply concerned about the dangerous situation caused by the collision between the Chinese and Philippine vessels and use of water cannons against the Philippine vessels in the South China Sea,” the ministry spokesperson, Lim Soo-suk, said in a press briefing. 

“We support the maintenance of peace, stability and rules-based order in the South China Sea, as well as the freedom of navigation and overflight based on the principles of international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”

The Philippines Coast Guard earlier said a Chinese Coast Guard ship caused damage to one of its ships attempting to deliver supplies to Second Thomas Shoal, known as Ayungin Shoal, by Manila on Tuesday. China’s use of water cannons also caused injuries to four Filipino crew members.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but from a ROK perspective it would not be in their interest for China to gobble up the entire South China Sea and claim it as Chinese territory. This is because the majority of ROK energy imports comes through the South China Sea and if China takes it over it could stop energy and other exports through the waterway.

The COVID madness may be returning to a country near you:

A man takes pictures of a mask wearing a face mask in front of the Marina Bay Sands hotel and resort in Singapore on Feb. 18, 2022,. Governments across Southeast Asia are bringing back measures to limit a rapid resurgence of respiratory infections. (Roslan Rahman, AFP via Getty Images/TNS)

Governments across Southeast Asia are bringing back measures to limit a rapid resurgence of respiratory infections such as COVID-19, including installing temperature scanners at airports and encouraging people to wear masks again.

The goal is to slow the spread of a variety of germs, as a confluence of COVID, flu and other respiratory pathogens may set off wider outbreaks that ultimately stretch healthcare systems.

But it can be a fraught process, with the public highly attuned to the risk of draconian measures, which were put in place early in Asia at the start of the pandemic in 2020 and which lasted for much longer than in other parts of the world, coming back.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It seems there was enough South Korean volunteers that joined the Ukrainian military to warrant putting out a press release on their status:

 Some volunteer soldiers from South Korea were deployed in Ukrainian front-line units fighting against Russia, an official from Ukraine’s military has said.

Damien Magrou, a spokesperson for the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine, confirmed the activities of South Koreans during a recent interview with Yonhap News Agency.

Ukraine has claimed that it established the Ukrainian foreign legion on Feb. 27, days after Russia’s invasion, and over 20,000 people from 52 countries have joined the brigade-level unit.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but interestingly Rhee Keun the former ROK Navy Seal turned Youtuber who volunteered, they say has not been sent to a frontline unit yet.

Here is the latest on the Kim Jong-un health watch:

 U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he does not know about the health condition of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un but hopes he is doing well amid unconfirmed reports that the young leader may be seriously ill.

“These are reports that came out, and we don’t know. We don’t know,” Trump said at a White House coronavirus press briefing. “I can only say this: I wish him well. Because if he is in the kind of condition that the reports say, that the news is saying, that’s a very serious condition, as you know, but I wish him well.”

Trump said he doesn’t place “too much credence” in any report put out by CNN. Citing an unidentified U.S. official, CNN first reported that the U.S. is looking into intelligence that Kim is in “grave danger” after a surgery.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.