Category: Politics-US

I don’t think safe is the word; more like better behaved:

Former President Donald Trump on Sunday boasted his personal ties with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that he had built during his presidency, stressing America was “safe” then.

Trump made the remarks during a rally in Indianola, Iowa, on the eve of the first vote of the Republican Party’s nomination contest in the lead-off state. Hours earlier, Pyongyang fired a suspected intermediate-range ballistic missile into the East Sea in its first missile launch this year.

“Kim Jong-un (is) very smart, very tough, but he liked me and I got along really well with him and we were safe,” Trump said during a live-streamed speech.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

With an impending government shutdown coming up by the end of the week it appears paychecks for U.S. troops and possibly even the Coast Guard are going to be protected:

Lawmakers are scrambling to ensure troops will be paid in case of a looming government shutdown, including Coast Guard members who typically go without paychecks during the closing of federal agencies.

In the House, Rep. Jennifer Kiggans, R-Va., a former Navy helicopter pilot, is pushing a bill that will keep service members paid if Congress fails to agree on a funding plan by Oct. 1. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, a Marine Corps veteran, is leading a similar effort in the Senate alongside Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who introduced a separate bill focused on Coast Guard pay.

“Our service members shouldn’t suffer because of Washington’s dysfunction,” Kiggans said. “As we continue working to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month, this legislation will give our troops the financial certainty they deserve.”

Active-duty troops are required to keep working in a shutdown and could start missing paychecks if lawmakers cannot agree on either short-term or full-year funding for the Pentagon. House Republicans have twice failed in recent weeks to put their defense appropriations bill on the floor for a vote due to party infighting.

The proposed military pay legislation guarantees the same paycheck protections Congress gave troops hours before the start of a 16-day government shutdown in 2013. The military was largely unaffected by the last shutdown in late 2018 to early 2019 because the Pentagon had a congressionally approved budget at the time, though the Coast Guard continued to work without paychecks for 34 days.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but these shutdowns are so dumb because all the government workers receive their back pay and are essentially being paid to stay home.

I would be surprised if Park shows up at Yoon’s inauguration considering how furious she probably still is about her imprisonment:

President-elect Yoon Suk-yeol met with former President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday, telling her he was sorry over their erstwhile relationship surrounding a corruption probe of Park and inviting her to his inauguration ceremony.

“We talked about the president’s health,” Yoon told reporters after paying a visit to Park at her residence in her hometown of Daegu. “And we do have a history. I told her about my regret and that I felt sorry for her in my heart.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It seems like a pretty big unforced error for Sery Kim, but who knows maybe this is what the people in the district she is running for want to hear. Additionally it has given her national media attention because I have never heard of her until now:

Multiple U.S. media outlets reported that Young Kim and Steel issued a joint statement to say they cannot continue to support Sery Kim, who is running to represent Texas’ sixth Congressional District.

“As the first Korean American Republican women to serve in Congress, we want to empower and lift up fellow members of the AAPI community who want to serve their communities,” the lawmakers said in the statement CNN reported on Saturday. “We talked with Sery Kim yesterday concerning her hurtful and untrue comments about Chinese immigrants, and made clear that her comments were unacceptable.”

Sery Kim is currently mired in controversy, after she answered a question about U.S. immigration during a forum on Wednesday. “I don’t want them here at all,” she said, referring to Chinese immigrants.

“They steal our intellectual property, give us the coronavirus, and they don’t hold themselves accountable,” she said. “And quite frankly, I can say that because I’m Korean.” The candidate also lashed out at China, claiming that the coronavirus was created at a lab in Wuhan, according to a YouTube video recording of the event uploaded by Kim’s election camp.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Congress has made it official now that Joe Biden will be the next U.S. President:

South Korea on Thursday congratulated U.S. President-elect Joe Biden after the Congress certified his election, expressing hopes for closer cooperation and a stronger alliance.

In a joint session of the House and Senate, U.S. lawmakers affirmed Biden as the winner of the Nov. 3 presidential election. Biden finished with 306 electoral college votes while outgoing President Donald Trump had 232. 

“Our government congratulates President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris on the confirmation of the presidential election victory through the U.S. Congress’ certification of electoral college results,” Choi Young-sam, spokesman of the foreign ministry, said in a commentary.

“The government is looking forward to close communication and cooperation with the incoming Biden administration on the continued development of the firm South Korea-U.S. alliance, denuclearization and the establishment of lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula and global pending issues including public health security and climate change,” he added.

Before the congressional certification, extreme Trump supporters stormed the Capitol, creating an unprecedented scene of chaos at the legislature at the core of America’s democracy. But Trump said that there will be an “orderly transition” until Biden takes over on Jan. 20.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Korean-Americans are beginning to have growing political influence:

Young Kim, a Korean-American Republican, won the U.S. House election in a Southern California district on Friday, U.S. media reported. 

The former state lawmaker joined three other politicians of Korean descent elected to the House of Representatives in the Nov. 3 elections.

Kim, 57, was born in South Korea and grew up in Guam. She won 50.6 percent of the vote to beat Democratic incumbent Gil Cisneros by a margin of 1.2 percentage point in the 39th Congressional District anchored in Orange County, reports said. It was a rematch from 2018.

She joined Marilyn Strickland and Michelle Park Steel to become the first Korean-American women to serve Congress in its 230-year history.

Democrat Strickland, former mayor of Tacoma, won the race in Washington’s 10th Congressional District, while Republican Steel claimed the 48th District in Orange County. 

Democrat Andy Kim, a Korean-American man, won the race in New Jersey’s 3rd District.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but ROK Heads may remember that Young Kim was project to win the election two years ago to have it taken from her with the mail in ballots.

Here is the latest world leader to contact Joe Biden after his media declared election win:

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and his incoming U.S. counterpart, Joe Biden, agreed to work closely together to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue, as they had a 14-minute phone conversation Thursday, Cheong Wa Dae said.

Biden described South Korea as a “linchpin” of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific region, according to Moon’s spokesman Kang Min-seok.

Moon asked Biden to “communicate closely” for the forward-looking development of the Seoul-Washington alliance, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and establishment of lasting peace here.

The president cited the allies’ 70 years of partnership for the protection of such shared values as democracy and human rights, Kang said.

Biden reaffirmed Washington’s firm security commitment to South Korea and said that he would “closely cooperate” for a resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue, he added.

They also agreed to expand cooperation on global challenges, including COVID-19 and climate change, and agreed to meet at an early date after Biden’s inauguration, Kang said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but really nothing new in this phone call.

The article is right that Michelle Flournoy likely becoming the next Secretary of Defense was not a well kept secret:

On June 20, 2016, then-Vice President Joe Biden delivered keynote remarks at an event hosted by the Center for a New American Security, the think tank founded and, at that point, led by Michèle Flournoy.

Flournoy introduced Biden, praising him as a national security thinker and noting the ties between his staff at the White House and CNAS. Biden, in turn, acknowledged the little-kept secret of the defense world: that Flournoy was in line to become the first woman to serve as defense secretary under President Hillary Clinton.

“Well, madam secretary,” Biden said with a laugh as the crowd applauded. “I’m writing a recommendation for her, you know.”

The Clinton administration never materialized, following the election of President Donald Trump. But four years later, president-elect Biden is widely expected to fulfill his promise and tap Flournoy to lead the U.S. military.

Defense News

You can read more at the link, but supposedly Tammy Duckworth is interested in the position as well. Flournoy is way more qualified especially when you consider the difficulties Duckworth had running the Illinois VA. What creates confidence that she could run a much larger organization like the Pentagon?

The Biden administration has vowed to strengthen alliances with America’s allies and one way to do that with South Korea is quickly sign a cost sharing agreement:

The election of U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden would mean a stronger alliance with South Korea and other allies, but tensions with North Korea could escalate because Pyongyang could try to test his administration, experts said Saturday.

“I think if Biden is elected, most American allies, including South Korea, will breathe a sigh of relief. He is likely to work much harder to strengthen our alliances,” said Gregg Brazinsky, professor of history and international affairs at George Washington University.

One of Biden’s key foreign policy advisers, Brian McKeon, said the Democratic candidate would immediately seek to repair the country’s alliances and reaffirm the United States’ commitment to improving its relations with its allies.

“(Biden) frequently says when he takes office, he will immediately get on the phone with some of our key allies in Europe and Asia, and centrally say, ‘America is back, and we have your back’,” McKeon said in a recent interview with Yonhap News Agency.  (………..)

Brazinsky noted a Biden administration would likely treat U.S. allies with more respect.

“The U.S. will have severe economic difficulties due to the (COVID-19) pandemic, and it is possible that even under Biden, the U.S. will need South Korea to share more of the costs of maintaining American troops,” he told Yonhap.

“But I think if this is the case, Biden will attempt to negotiate this change in a manner that treats South Korea with the appropriate respect,” he added. (………………)

Harry Kazianis, senior director of Korean studies at the Washington-based Institute for the National Interest, said that Biden would likely seek to quickly conclude the negotiations and at a much lower rate of increase.

“I would argue that a Biden Administration would quickly sign a new SMA with Seoul within the first 100 days of taking office, as Biden will not want to drag on talks any longer and likely ask for a 3-5 percent increase per year for a multiyear period,” he said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I think Seoul would be willing to give the Biden administration a small increase because it would allow Biden to say he got the ROK to pay more when Trump could not.

Here is what the experts think a Biden administration means to U.S. diplomacy in Korea:

Joe Biden’s election as U.S. president could give South Korea more “room” in handling inter-Korean affairs, as he is expected to respect the alliance and listen more to what Seoul has to say on inter-Korean matters, experts said Sunday.

His “principled” diplomacy on North Korea, however, could raise tensions and fail to produce any immediate breakthrough in denuclearization talks, which experts said could make it hard for Seoul to pursue many of its envisioned cooperative and reconciliatory cross-border projects.

Biden has vowed to strengthen the alliance with its allies, including South Korea, in what appears aimed at differentiating himself from President Donald Trump, who has often derided friends and allies and denounced them as free riders.

“Respecting the alliance means turning his ears to the ally’s opinions on issues such as inter-Korean affairs, which has rarely been seen under the Trump administration,” Hong Min, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said.

“If South Korea says it wants to improve inter-Korean relations, Biden will listen to it. He could also take a more flexible approach in applying sanctions on the North than the Trump administration attempting to keep cross-border relations in check through sanctions,” he added. 

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised that if a few months into the Biden administration that the Kim regime will provoke a provocation cycle to see what Biden does. I believe they will probably not do anything decisive and just manage the problem like the Obama administration did.

Trump tried to do something decisive on the issue, but it just didn’t work because he didn’t understand that the Kim regime had no intention of denuclearizing.