Heavy snow

A town in Hoengseong County, Gangwon Province, is covered in snow on Jan. 28, 2025, in this photo provided by a reader. (Yonhap)

Just like the previous administration the Trump administration is negotiating from a starting point of fantasy if they think the Kim regime will ever negotiate away their nuclear weapons program:

U.S. President Donald Trump will pursue the “complete denuclearization of North Korea,” a White House official said Tuesday, amid questions over whether Trump’s recent reference to the North as a “nuclear power” signaled any policy shift.

National Security Council spokesperson Brian Hughes made the remarks shortly after the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visited a nuclear-material production base and a nuclear weapons institute in an apparent move to highlight its military capability.

“President Trump will pursue the complete denuclearization of North Korea, just as he did in his first term,” Hughes said in response to a question from Yonhap News Agency.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is impeached President Yoon’s opinion on his martial law decree:

 Indicted over charges of leading an insurrection in December, President Yoon Suk Yeol defended his decision to declare martial law in a meeting with his legal representatives on Tuesday.

Seok Dong-hyeon, one of Yoon’s lawyers, told reporters that Yoon wondered aloud how his decision to impose martial law on Dec. 3 could be considered an act of insurrection when “everything was done within the boundaries of the Constitution.” (…….)

According to Seok, Yoon said he exercised his constitutional rights to declare martial law to inform the people of the crisis that the nation was facing, with the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) having taken over parliament.

Yoon also noted that he immediately lifted the martial law once the National Assembly voted down his declaration.

Yoon told his lawyers that his action could not constitute an act of insurrection because there had not been any bloodshed or casualties, nor had there been any arrest of politicians.

Seok said Yoon claimed that he had never intended to maintain martial law for an extended stretch of time because he had not prepared any manual on how to run the administrative and judicial branches in such a state, and because he had fully expected the National Assembly to promptly vote it down.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This photo provided by a reader shows an Air Busan airplane on fire at Gimhae International Airport in Busan, 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Jan. 28, 2025. Fire authorities said all 169 passengers and seven crew members safely evacuated. (Yonhap)

If traveling in South Korea for the Lunar New Year holiday please be careful because the conditions look pretty challenging out there right now:

Heavy snow blanketed South Korea for the second consecutive day Tuesday, disrupting transportation services and causing traffic congestion for people heading to their hometowns for the Lunar New Year holiday.

As of 4 p.m., 130 centimeters had piled up on Mount Halla on the southern resort island of Jeju since Monday, while some counties in the eastern province of Gangwon had 40 cm of snow over the same period. Cities of Anseong and Pyeongtaek in Gyeonggi Province, about 60 kilometers south of Seoul, had received about 25 cm of snow. In Seoul, the southwestern ward of Gwanak had 13.7 cm of snow.

For Wednesday, the Korea Meteorological Administration forecast an additional 5 to 15 cm of snow in the mountainous areas of Jeju and about 5 to 10 cm of snow in the Chungcheong and Jeolla provinces.

Yonhap

You can read much more about the transportation delays and road conditions at the link.

Trump has already identified something that many people do not realize about Kim Jong-un, he is not crazy, he is very smart:

As US President Donald Trump has hinted at attempting a fresh summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, South Korea is likely to confront more complicated diplomatic developments concerning US relations with North Korea.

When asked during a Fox News interview that aired Thursday, Trump said he would reach out to Kim again in his second term. “He liked me and I got along with him,” Trump said. “He is not a religious zealot. He happens to be a smart guy.”

Trump’s comment marked the first time he explicitly expressed his willingness to resume talks with Kim since he took office Monday.

Trump’s new overture for bromance diplomacy came at a time when the US is expected to try to resolve the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine. The situation in Ukraine is already complicated because North Korea has sent its troops to Russia to help fight Ukraine, according to Seoul’s National Intelligence Service.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It looks like South Korea has found another potential defense export market:

Acting Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho and Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the defense sector and the arms industry Monday, according to the defense ministry.

In the talks held in Seoul, Kim noted that the two countries’ cooperation in the cybersecurity sector has been advancing and suggested expanding such ties to other areas, according to the defense ministry.

Kim also briefed Pevkur on South Korean weapons systems, including the K9 self-propelled howitzer that Estonia has acquired.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but at this point the Korean defense industry should send Putin a gift basket because all of this aggression towards his neighbors has been a boon for weapons sales.