I am surprised that auditors did not catch this spending irregularity sooner on the government credit card:

A regional court on Thursday fined the wife of opposition leader Lee Jae-myung 1.5 million won ($1,070) for providing free meals during her husband’s run in the party primary to select the candidate for the 2022 presidential election.

Kim Hye-kyung, wife of Democratic Party of Korea Chair Lee, was indicted after providing meals worth 104,000 won to the wives of three former and current party lawmakers and three of her aides at a restaurant in Seoul in August 2021, shortly after Lee declared his bid for the party election.

A corporate card from the Gyeonggi Province government, of which Lee was governor at the time, was allegedly used for the payment.

The Suwon District Court found Kim guilty of having her secretary, surnamed Bae, pay for the meals with her “permission” and imposed the fine.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but probably not coincidentally the Korean opposition party decided today to vote for the third time for a special investigation into President Yoon’s wife. The vote symbolic because it will fail again due to a Presidential veto.

I would have to think Elon Musk must have approved of this idea if Trump is planning to do this probably betting that tariffs on foreign EV competitors are also coming:

 U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team is aiming to end a tax credit for electric vehicle (EV) purchases, a key element of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), as part of broader tax reform legislation, Reuters reported Thursday, citing two unnamed sources.

The potential repealing of the $7,500 consumer tax credit is being discussed in meetings by an energy-policy transition team, which is headed by Harold Hamm, founder of Continental Resources, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, according to the news agency.

The removal of the credit could have an impact on EV sales and affect EV-producing companies and battery manufacturers. Naysayers have argued that ending the credit would impede a transition to EVs.

Tesla representatives have told a Trump transition committee they support repealing the subsidy, Reuters said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the Korean defense industry has found yet another potential customer:

Second from left, Vice Admiral Angus Topshee, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, is briefed about HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Aegis destroyer, the King Jeongjo the Great, at the shipbuilding site in Ulsan on Tuesday. [HD HYUNDAI]

HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (HD HHI) is in discussions with Canada regarding potentially contributing to the nation’s naval defense.  
  
Vice Admiral Angus Topshee, commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, toured the HHI’s Ulsan headquarters as part of discussions related to Canada’s upcoming Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP), estimated to be worth 60 trillion won ($42.8 billion), the company said Tuesday. 
  
Canada’s Department of National Defence is in the process of acquiring up to 12 3,000-ton submarine fleets in a bid to strengthen the nation’s maritime defense as part of the project.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This is one example of what Trump is hoping his tarrif threats leads to, businesses moving more production to the U.S.:

After years of record exports, especially to the US, Korea’s food industry is now keen to gauge the impact of Donald Trump’s second presidency.

The outspoken leader declared during this campaign that he could impose blanket tariffs of 10 to 20 percent on all US imports, raising concerns for Korea’s key export items such as computer chips and cars. But it is often overlooked that the US remains the largest export destination for Korea’s agricultural and seafood products.

In the first 10 months of this year, Korea’s agricultural and food exports soared 22 percent to $8.19 billion, and the US made up $1.31 billion of the total, driven by growing demand for popular K-foods such as gimbap, tteokbokki and ramyeon.

“Trump’s second term will likely have a significant impact on the K-food industry,” said Lee Hong-joo, a professor of consumer economics at Sookmyung Women’s University. “With possible hikes in tariffs and other non-tariff barriers, the price competitiveness of Korean products could weaken, dampening the consumer demand. Smaller businesses in particular may face higher production costs and weakening profitability.”

But Lee urged strategic shifts to reduce the risks, saying “Companies could reduce tariff burdens and reach local consumers more quickly by expanding production and distribution bases within the US. These localization efforts, in the long run, could help raise their consumer awareness and sales.”

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

Peter Hegseth has long been an advocate for U.S. troops, however he has to be one of the least qualified Secretary of Defenses we have ever had. With that said anything considered “woke” in the military is likely to be gone considering his past statements:

– U.S. President-elect Donald Trump tapped Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary on Tuesday, describing him as a “warrior for the troops and for the country.”

Trump issued a statement on the designation of Hegseth, an Army veteran with tours in Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan, as America’s next defense secretary is tasked with handling a series of tough security challenges, including North Korea’s military threats, Russia’s war in Ukraine and instability in the Middle East.

The Pentagon chief post requires Senate confirmation.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This is interesting, I did not realize that the U.N. Cemetery in Busan has never buried remains of an unknown remains from the Korean War:

Military veterans and troops from more than 20 countries gathered here Monday to pay their respects as an unknown Korean War service member was laid to rest at the U.N. Cemetery in Korea. Roughly 1,000 people attended the service on International Memorial Day for U.N. Korea War Veterans, observed each year on Nov. 11. It was hosted by the U.N. Command and South Korea’s Ministry of Patriots and Veterans Affairs, or MPVA, at the only cemetery overseen by the command.

The burial ground, roughly 200 miles southeast of Seoul, holds the remains of 2,329 veterans from 14 member states who participated in the 1950-53 Korean War. They include 40 service members from the United States; 892 from the United Kingdom; 38 from South Korea; 462 from Turkey; and 281 from Australia. Monday’s service honoring war veterans included the cemetery’s first interment of an unidentified U.N. Command service member. The remains were initially recovered from Yeoncheon county in 2010 by South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense Agency for Killed in Action Recovery Identification. (…….)

DNA testing and dental records determined the 17- to-25-year-old service member was of Caucasian descent and likely to have been from Britain, according to the MPVA. Unable to confirm the identity or nationality with certainty, the South Korean government allowed the service member to be buried in a new plot dedicated to unidentified remains.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Good job by this Army veteran living in Pyeongtaek:

A quiet evening at home took a chaotic turn for U.S. Army veteran Arthur Chavarria when his wife, Kim Dong Young, opened the door on Nov. 1 and shouted, “There’s a fire!” Chavarria was headed for bed that night, but instead slipped on a pair of flip-flops and ran toward smoke rising from an old house in Seokgeun village near Camp Humphreys. “I heard a woman screaming — a really loud, desperate scream,” he told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday. “The moment I heard that, I just ran toward the residence.”

What happened next earned the couple a commendation from the Pyeongtaek Fire Department and praise from Fire Chief Kang Bong-ju. “We would like to express our gratitude to Mr. and Mrs. Chavarria for quickly reporting the fire and rescuing a precious life,” Kang said at Wednesday’s commendation ceremony. When he rushed outside that night, Chavarria saw a neighboring homeowner, an elderly woman, heading back into the burning structure. “I thought, ‘There’s probably somebody in there if she’s going back inside,’ ” he said.

Chavarria followed her in and quickly realized she was alone, attempting to fight the flames with a garden hose. “She was handing me the hose, wanting me to help her put out the fire,” he said. But the smoke was heavy, and he could not let her stay. “She could’ve passed out or worse,” he added.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.