This is another way for South Korea to respond to increasing provocative behavior from North Korea:

South Korea’s army held live-fire artillery practice near the border with North Korea for the first time in six years, and the first such move since suspending a ban on live drills in June. The artillery drill was conducted at an unspecified firing range within three miles of the Military Demarcation Line, the actual border dividing the Korean Peninsula, according to a news release Tuesday from the South Korean army.

The border is inside the 2½-mile-wide Demilitarized Zone. Numerous air and artillery ranges are scattered near the border with North Korea. U.S. and South Korean troops conduct drills throughout the year at the 3,390-acre Rodriguez Live Fire Complex roughly 16 miles south of the border. Tuesday’s artillery drill focused on South Korea’s “response capabilities and fire preparedness” in the event of North Korean provocations, the release said. The army said it plans to regularly conduct artillery drills around the area for the foreseeable future.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

If measures are taken to reduce elderly drivers in South Korea it will be interesting to see what the impact is to the taxi industry which seems to have a lot of older drivers:

Authorities conduct a recovery work at the scene of the car crash that killed nine pedestrians at an intersection near Seoul City Hall in central Seoul, July 1. Yonhap

Public opinion is reigniting over the need for stricter measures for older drivers after a 68-year-old man involved in a deadly car crash near Seoul City Hall, which claimed nine lives, was identified.

However, there are growing concerns that this debate could deteriorate into indiscriminate criticism or personal attacks on older drivers.

Even before last week’s tragedy, how to deal with older drivers — specifically, encouraging older drivers to return their licenses — has been a hot-button issue as the number of drivers aged 65 or older is increasing steadily amid the nation’s aging population.

Just two days after the fatal car crash, a taxi driven by a man in his 70s crashed into the National Medical Center building, Wednesday, where an altar had been set up for one of the victims of the City Hall car crash, injuring three people, one seriously.

On Saturday, another incident occurred near Seoul Station, where a car driven by a man in his 80s struck pedestrians while attempting a U-turn, injuring two people. The vehicle continued for about 20 meters after hitting the first pedestrian before striking another and stopped after crashing into a wall.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This just further shows what an important geostrategic, economic, and military power South Korea has become by being invited to attend a NATO summit:

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its Indo-Pacific partners, including South Korea, plan to discuss resilience, support for Ukraine, disinformation, cybersecurity and emerging technologies during their summit in Washington next week, a senior U.S. administration official said Friday.

The NATO summit is set to take place in the U.S. capital from Tuesday through Thursday. The leaders of the alliance’s four Indo-Pacific partners (IP4) — South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Japan — have been invited to the summit that marks the 75th anniversary of NATO’s founding.

“We are bringing together some of our closest non-NATO partners to have a discussion around issues like resilience, cyber, disinformation, technology and the like,” the official said in a virtual briefing.

He added, “This particular grouping of IP4 as we call them in NATO lingo — Australia, Japan, New Zealand and ROK … These are some of our closest partners that we work with in the region.” ROK stands for South Korea’s official name, the Republic of Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I hope every American reading this has a great 4th of July holiday!

Japanese vending machines are great and they are about to get an upgrade:

The ubiquitous Japanese vending machine is keeping its place on U.S. military bases, despite a nationwide round-up of obsolete machines. Many of the 4.1 million vending machines across Japan, each worth around $13,000, will be replaced this summer when Japan rolls out a new set of bank notes featuring holograms to stop counterfeiting, according to a New York Times report June 8. Some older machines will not accept the new currency. The change-out will not affect most vending machines on U.S. military bases from Misawa Air Base in the north to Marine Corps camps in the south, according to the Army and Air Force Exchange Service and the Navy Exchange. They and local contractors maintain and operate 3,800 machines.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but I wish the U.S. could have as many convenient vending machines as Japan. However, the high crime rate compared to Japan makes it impossible in the U.S.