It is expected that if Kamala Harris wins the U.S. presidency she will continue to emphasize a strong U.S.-ROK alliance and push for the fairy tale of a denuclearized North Korea:

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, right, stands at a military observation post as she visits the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, in Panmunjeom in South Korea on Sept. 29, 2022. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Kamala Harris, endorsed by Biden on Sunday as his successor as the Democratic presidential candidate, is anticipated to continue the Biden administration’s emphasis on alliances if the U.S. vice president wins the upcoming presidential election against Trump, according to analysts. She could become the first Black woman and first Asian American to lead the ticket of a major U.S. political party. 
  
As a senator during Trump’s presidency, Harris criticized Trump’s conciliatory approach toward North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, arguing that Trump was not responding strongly enough to North Korea’s nuclear threats. 
  
“Let me start by saying this: I guarantee you I won’t be exchanging love letters with Kim Jong-un,” Harris said in August 2019 in response to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)’s question to Democratic presidential candidates whether they would agree to partial sanctions relief in exchange for the partial dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. “President Trump has handed Kim one PR victory after the next, all without securing any real concessions, so the next president will have serious work to do. 
  
“Ultimately, we can’t accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state,” she added. “But it’s clear that simply demanding complete denuclearization is a recipe for failure; we must work closely with our allies to contain and reverse the short-term threats posed by Pyongyang as we work toward that long-term goal.” 
  
This contrasts with Trump, who boasted of his friendship with Kim, saying the North Korean leader “misses” him and “would like to see [him] back” in a speech to the Republican National Convention on July 18. 
  
During an appearance on CBS in September last year, Harris said, “We are all absolutely clear and unequivocal about our goal of the complete denuclearization of North Korea.”

Though not directly involved with Korean affairs and having limited exposure to the Korean public, Harris visited South Korea in September 2022, where she stressed the “ironclad” nature of the U.S. commitment to the defense of the Republic of Korea.  

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but according to the article Harris has approximately 8 hours of experience visiting South Korea back in 2022.

North Korea is opening up tourism to these college students from Japan. I wonder if they are just a bunch of Chosen Soren kids? Maybe Kim Jong-un can invite some of the protesting kids from our US college campuses as well so they can experience the wonders of communism they seem to idolize so much:

North Korea has reportedly approved the visit of about 140 students from Korea Universityin Japan and allowed Korean students to visit as well.

On July 21, the Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun reported that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un issued a special permit for Korea University students to visit at the end of August. The newspaper stated, “It is known that North Korea has explained that students with South Korean nationality can also visit.”

Since the global outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, North Korea has implemented a border lockdown for over three years. The newspaper noted that this group visit is the first since the pandemic began.

Mainichi Shimbun reported, “The visitors will be fourth-year students from Korea University, divided into several groups to stay in North Korea for about a month from August to November.” It also noted that “when using North Korea’s Air Koryo from Beijing, each individual is allowed to bring up to 50kg of luggage.”

MSN

You can read more at the link.

The greedy doctors in Korea are now vowing to not train medical students in order to stop the government’s plan of increasing the number of doctors in South Korea:

Some medical professors vowed Saturday to boycott training programs for junior doctors in protest of the government’s push for accepting the resignations of striking trainees and the medical school admission quota hikes.

Professors of the radiology department at Catholic University of Korea said in a statement that they will not take part in education and training programs for trainee doctors set to join the course in the second half of this year as long as the government goes ahead with “wrongful policy measures.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the government is trying to address the doctor shortage, especially in rural areas with an increase in medical students. The doctors however do not want the increase because it means increased competition for their services which ultimately impacts their wallets.

The ongoing saga around the hangbag from hell political hit job continues for Korea’s First Lady:

First lady Kim Keon Hee was interrogated by prosecutors over allegations that she illegally accepted a luxury handbag from a Korean American pastor and was involved in a stock manipulation scheme, according to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, Sunday,

Kim was summoned on Saturday for an investigation into graft and stock manipulation cases. She was questioned face-to-face at an undisclosed government building for about 12 hours.

Kim faces allegations that she illegally accepted a Christian Dior handbag valued at around 3 million won ($2,158) from pastor Choi Jae-young during their meeting in Seoul in September 2022, four months after President Yoon Suk Yeol’s inauguration.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This tit-for-tat is better than the two Koreas shooting at each other:

South Korea’s military blared K-pop songs and news through its loudspeakers across the border with North Korea on Sunday as it stepped up its psychological campaign in response to North Korea’s repeated launches of trash balloons.

The move came five days after Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, warned of “gruesome and dear” consequences over continued leaflet campaigns seen by North Korea as psychological warfare.

North Korea has sent more than 2,000 trash-filled balloons into the South over nine occasions in a tit-for-tat retaliation for anti-Pyongyang leaflets that North Korean defectors in South Korea send to North Korea using balloons.

“As we have warned numerous times, we will conduct loudspeaker broadcasts in full-scale at all fronts starting from 1 p.m.,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a notice to reporters.

The propaganda broadcasts typically comprise news, a message urging North Korean soldiers near the border to escape to South Korea as well as K-pop songs, including global K-pop sensation BTS’ megahit singles “Dynamite” and “Butter.”

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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