Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

Whatever family this North Korean Soldier has are definitely in labor camps now with him providing intelligence information to the ROK:

A North Korean soldier captured by Ukraine said that the North has military training camps that feature mockups of facilities and buildings in Seoul, Busan and Jeju Island, according to a South Korean lawmaker who recently met the soldier on Thursday. 

Rep. Yu Yong-weon of the ruling People Power Party made the remarks in an interview with SBS radio, as he released an audio clip of the North Korean soldier, identified only by his surname Ri. Ri is one of two North Korean soldiers captured by Ukrainian forces in January during combat against Kyiv in Russia’s Kursk region.

“When you go to the place where we train, called the Armed Forces Training Ground, it is filled with buildings modeled after the terrain of Seoul’s Jongno District, as well as Busan, Daegu, Jeonju, and Jeju Island,” Ri said in the audio recording. 

The training site, apparently aimed at simulating raids on South Korea, is located in Koksan County in North Hwanghae Province in North Korea, Ri said. 

Although it has been known that North Korea has built training sites resembling the former presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae for military exercises in the past, Yu said, “The existence of such a facility specifically in Koksan was largely unknown.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this really shouldn’t be surprising that North Korea would have these mock ups. I think the only thing surprising is a mock up of Jeju island. That would be logistically very challenging for the North Koreans to pull off any kind of operation there, but obviously they are training for it.

UPDATE #1: It is now being reported that not one, but two KF-16’s mistakenly bombed the village. I am not a fighter pilot, but how does something like this happen?:

Several people were injured Thursday in Pocheon city after two South Korean fighter jets accidentally released eight live bombs outside a practice range, according to South Korea’s air force. The MK-82 bombs were “abnormally” dropped at 10:04 a.m. Thursday beyond an unspecified live-fire range by a pair of KF-16 fighters, according to an air force statement to reporters that day. Each jet dropped four bombs, according to the air force. The bombs were not practice rounds, a Ministry of National Defense spokesman said by phone Thursday. The MK-82 is a 500-pound, 7-foot-long free-fall bomb also employed by the U.S. military. The KF-16 is the South Korean air force’s variant of the U.S. F-16 Fighting Falcon. At least 15 people, including area residents, were injured in the incident, Yonhap News reported Thursday.

Stars & Stripes

Original Posting: This a huge mistake that hopefully will not have repercussions on USFK’s continued use of Rodriguez Range as a live fire location:

An Air Force fighter jet on Thursday misdropped eight bombs outside a training range during live-fire drills, injuring civilians in the area, officials said.

The KF-16 fighter jet taking part in a live-fire exercise “abnormally” released eight MK-82 bombs outside the training range in Pocheon, 42 kilometers northeast of Seoul, at 10:04 a.m.

The Air Force said it is conducting an investigation into the accident and apologized for the damage to civilians.

(Korea Times)

You can read more at the link, but locals have complained about live fire training at Rodriguez Range near Pocheon. It will be interesting to see what caused this horrible accident because I have never heard of something like this ever happening before.

If it seems like there are a lot of foreigners living in South Korea now a days it is because there are compared to the recent past:

The number of foreign residents in Korea reached a record high last year, accounting for more than 5 percent of the country’s total population, justice ministry data showed Monday.

According to the Korea Immigration Service, a justice ministry agency, the number of foreigners living in Korea stood at 2.65 million, making up 5.17 percent of the total population. This marks an increase of 126,127 from the previous high in 2019 and surpasses the 4.89 percent level recorded in 2023.

Over the past decade, Korea has seen a steady rise in foreign residents, from 1.9 million in 2015 to 2.52 million in 2019. Although the numbers declined due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they rebounded in 2022 and have continued to rise since.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

With North Korea re-opened to Western tourists, applications are now being accepted for the Pyongyang Marathon on 6 April 2025, as per @KoryoTours.

— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) March 3, 2025

Since when has North Korea ever cared about UN resolutions?:

 The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief said Monday there are signs of North Korea continuing to operate uranium enrichment plants in two different locations, as he stressed further development of its nuclear program is a “clear” breach of U.N. Security Council resolutions.

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi made the remarks in reference to the plants in Kangson near Pyongyang, and Yongbyon, north of the capital, as he delivered an introductory statement during the agency’s Board of Governors meeting in Vienna, Austria.

The assessment came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was reported in January to have toured a nuclear-material production base and a nuclear weapons institute — a sign that Pyongyang is doubling down on its nuclear program though Seoul and Washington are pursuing the “complete” denuclearization of North Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Should schools being helping students to organize protests especially during school time?:

More than 60 high school students staged a walkout here Friday to protest Pentagon policies affecting diversity initiatives, the third such demonstration at a Defense Department school since Feb. 11.

The Kadena High School students — children of airmen and DOD employees — walked out at 10 a.m. for a 15-minute protest in front of the school, principal James Bleeker wrote in a letter emailed to parents that afternoon. Stars and Stripes counted at least 80 students in photos taken from about 250 feet away. Sophomore Elliot Field organized the walkout with support from the DODEA Student Advocacy Core Team, which also backed a Feb. 21 protest at Nile C. Kinnick High School on Yokosuka Naval Base, she said by email Wednesday. She took inspiration from that protest, where about 150 students walked out.

“It’s kind of frightening because I’ve never done anything like this before,” she told Stars and Stripes outside the school before the walkout. “I’ve always sort of been like, if something needs to get done, why not just do it? Something needed to happen.” Field said she coordinated the protest with Bleeker. Miranda Ferguson, a spokeswoman for Department of Defense Education Activity-Pacific, confirmed in an email Friday that the demonstration was organized with school administrators.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but would these same DODEA administrators allow students to organize a MAGA protest, an anti-abortion protest, a border security protest, etc.? Where is line for organized protests during school hours?