The ROK government intends to give Ivanka Trump the same red carpet treatment that gave Kim Yo-jong in hopes of apparently convincing President Trump to go along with President Moon attending an Inter-Korean Summit in Pyongyang:
Ivanka Trump
The government is preparing a VIP welcome for U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who comes to Korea for the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Feb. 25. The government apparently wants to soften her up so Trump agrees to a mooted visit to Pyongyang by President Moon Jae-in.
One key ruling-party lawmaker said, “You can say that Ivanka Trump holds the key to convincing the U.S. government. We will provide all the support we can in terms of diplomatic protocol.”
Trump runs the White House like a private fiefdom and has levered both Ivanka and her husband Jarred Kushner into ill-defined foreign-policy roles.
Technically, Seoul has no diplomatic obligation to roll out the red carpet for the child of a U.S. leader, and even the head of a U.S. presidential delegation does not receive the treatment given to a head of state.
But a government official here said, “We are considering exceptional measures by having a high-ranking official greet Ivanka and accompany her during her visit.” The Cheong Wae Dae security team rather than the police handle her safety during her visit. (…….)
“Since President Trump cannot make it to Pyeongchang, Ivanka is his proxy and envoy,” a ruling-party official said. “It’s important to win her support to realize the inter-Korean summit.” [Chosun Ilbo]
I also find it interesting that the Chosun Ilbo took a shot at Melania Trump:
First lady Kim Jung-sook may also show Ivanka around, on the assumption that she is to all intents and purposes the first lady of the U.S. rather than Trump’s reluctant wife Melania.
Admiral Harris seems to understand what the Kim regime’s ultimate goal of their nuclear weapon’s program is:
This file photo shows U.S. Pacific Command chief Adm. Harry Harris. (Yonhap)
A top U.S. military commander said Wednesday he believes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is intent on reunifying the Korean Peninsula under a single, communist system.
Adm. Harry Harris, chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, told a congressional hearing he does not agree with the predominant view that Kim is pursuing nuclear-tipped missiles to safeguard his regime only.
Kim is “after reunification under a single, communist system,” Harris told the House Armed Services Committee, adding that is the “long view.”
The North Korean leader’s nuclear ambitions contribute to that view and help him blackmail countries such as South Korea and the U.S., the commander said. And Washington should continue to increase economic and diplomatic sanctions on Pyongyang under its “maximum pressure” campaign to persuade Kim to abandon his nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs. [Yonhap]
None of these attacks led to a retaliatory strike because of their conventional capabilities were an effective deterrent. So clearly there is more to why they want to develop nuclear weapons so aggressively. The theory that makes the most sense is that the true intention of their nuclear program is to separate the US from South Korea and then seek a confederation on North Korean terms.
An ambulance company operator and eight drivers are accused of profiting from the transportation of singers who were running late, police said Thursday.
They are suspected of having carried — with sirens and lights on — two unidentified trot singers to concert venues and airports in Ulsan and surrounding areas dozens of times between June 2015 and November 2017
It is illegal for ambulance drivers to turn on emergency alarms and transport healthy people.They are also suspected of driving the ambulances beyond the designated business area of Ulsan without permission. [Korea Times]
This is one of the most powerful moments from a State of the Union speech that I can remember, a North Korean refugee holding up his crutches:
Indeed, President Trump’s State of the Union speech showcased how the simple image of one man, standing up for freedom – in this case, the powerful symbol of a North Korean defector named Ji Seong-ho, hoisting his old crutches in the most compelling act of defiance I have ever seen against the Kim regime – can signal why North Korea’s fate is sealed. Kim Jong Un’s band of bad guys will be swept into the ash heap of history. It is a question of when, not if.
While the tired talking heads on the left will spend the next day or so trashing President Trump on his immigration policies or attacking his tax plan, what they need to pay attention to is the moral smackdown he delivered to the hermit kingdom.
For if it wasn’t clear by now, Team Trump is clearly laying down a marker: North Korea will be the foreign policy issue for this administration for the months and likely years to come. Forget ISIS, Iran or Russia—taking on the Kim regime and its growing nuclear arsenal is Trump’s greatest challenge, bar none. And now, we have a powerful symbol that can only serve as a rallying cry to inspire the imagination of the American people that such a policy is the right one. [Fox News]
This makes me wonder if anywhere else would charge an ambulance driver for running a red light while trying to get an infant to the hospital?:
An ambulance carrying an infant suffering a possible medical emergency and an SUV collided at an intersection in Songpa-gu, Seoul, early Jan. 1. / Yonhap
The driver of an ambulance carrying an infant suffering a possible medical emergency faces prosecution for ignoring traffic lights after the vehicle and an SUV collided.
The incident happened about 2 a.m. on January 1 at an intersection south of Olympic Bridge in Songpa-gu, Seoul. The ambulance, with its siren sounding, was coming from North Chungcheong Province and heading to Seoul Asan Hospital. It was also carrying the three-month-old child’s parents and a nurse. The infant was in a critical condition with fluid on the lungs.
The ambulance ran a red light before the collision with the SUV. Police said the SUV driver’s blood-alcohol level was 0.12 percent, enough for license revocation. No one was seriously injured in the crash.
Songpa police booked both drivers without arrest ― the ambulance driver for ignoring the traffic light and the SUV driver for driving under the influence of alcohol. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but long time residents in Korea are probably used to seeing how few cars bother to get out of the way of ambulances with their warning sirens and lights on as well.
It looks like the North Koreans have no plans of freezing their nuclear program:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (2nd from R) laughs and claps during his guidance of a missile launch in Pyongyang in this photo, released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency on Sept. 16, 2017. For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution. (Yonhap)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has pledged to complete the country’s nuclear program, saying that its final goal is to establish an “equilibrium” of military force with the U.S., its state media said Saturday.
Kim made the remark during his inspection of the launch of a Hwasong-12 intermediate-range ballistic missile that flew over Japan a day earlier, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).
North Korea on Friday fired a ballistic missile from Pyongyang that crossed over Japan. It flew around 3,700 kilometers while reaching a maximum altitude of some 770 km.
“We should clearly show the big power chauvinists how our state attain the goal of completing its nuclear force despite their limitless sanctions and blockade,” Kim was quoted as saying by the KCNA.
He underlined “the need to put an end to them with the all-state efforts as it has nearly reached the terminal,” he added.
It marked the second missile launch over Japan in less than a month. It also followed the wayward regime’s sixth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 3.
“Our final goal is to establish the equilibrium of real force with the U.S. and make the U.S. rulers dare not talk about military option” for North Korea, Kim said.
Kim, in addition, called on the North’s scientists and technicians to “put rockets on a modern and ultra modern basis and develop the operation level onto a higher stage with their close combination” — remarks that some observers say hinted at the possibility of additional provocations from Pyongyang.
The photo of the launch, released by the North’s daily Rodong Sinmun, showed that the Hwasong-12 missile was fired from a road-mobile launcher — an indication of enhanced mobility. The North was seen using a fixed launchpad to fire the same missile in May and last month. [Yonhap]
The final group of Americans willing to pay Kim Jong-un foreign currency to help support his missile and nuclear programs has traveled to North Korea:
A group of American travelers ― probably the last before the U.S. government bans its citizens from visiting the reclusive state from Sept. 1 ― landed in North Korea on Saturday.
The eight travelers ― include CNN correspondent Will Ripley on his 14th trip ― were undeterred by possible arrest, imprisonment or nuclear war.
Details about the other tourists, including their itinerary, are unknown. Beijing-based Koryo Tours organized the visit, which general manager Simon Cockerell is leading on his 165th trip to the North.
“It [the ban] is a pity for anyone curious who wants to go, but especially for North Koreans who might want to know what American visitors are really like,” Cockerell told CNN. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but this travel ban should have been in place a long time ago.
A project to set up the donated statue of Korean independence fighter Ahn Jung-geun is underway at a park in Euijeongbu, north of Seoul, on Aug. 8, 2017. The Charhar Institute, a Chinese civic think tank, donated the statue to the city to promote friendship between the two countries. The Korean national hero shot and killed Hirobumi Ito, the first Japanese governor-general of the Korean Peninsula, at a railway station in the Chinese city of Harbin in 1909. The statue depicts Ahn pulling out a gun to shoot the governor while running toward him. (Yonhap)
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