This demonstrates how concerned the ROK was of Trump winning the election that they have prioritized getting this cost sharing agreement signed before the election:
South Korea and the United States formally signed a defense cost-sharing agreement Monday, as Seoul seeks to speed up its domestic ratification procedure to ensure the stable stationing of American troops here ahead of the U.S. elections.
The signing came a month after the allies reached a new five-year deal on determining Seoul’s share of its cost for the upkeep of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).
Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Philip Goldberg signed the deal, known as the Special Measures Agreement (SMA), at the foreign ministry in Seoul, officials said.
Under the 12th SMA, which will last until 2030, South Korea will pay 1.52 trillion won (US$1.19 billion) in 2026, up 8.3 percent from 1.4 trillion won in 2025.
You can read more at the link.
The latest manufactured scandal the Korean left is coming up with is that President Yoon helped to select someone in his own party to run for office:
Opposition parties have been intensifying their protest against President Yoon Suk Yeol and first lady Kim Keon Hee amid a swirling election meddling scandal surrounding the presidential couple and a political broker.
Their upgraded offensive, which even includes calls for Yoon’s impeachment, came as the president’s job approval rating plummeted to the lowest level since his inauguration in May 2022, at 19 percent.
The ruling party, however, is struggling to counter the offensive as new allegations involving the first couple — particularly Kim — continue to surface. The presidential office is reiterating its position that the first couple does not bear any legal responsibility even if the allegations are proven true, which falls short of public expectations for higher moral standards.
On Saturday, the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) held a large rally in central Seoul, demanding a special counsel bill to investigate allegations against Kim, including stock manipulation, her receipt of a luxury bag and interference in the party’s candidate nominations for the 2022 parliamentary by-elections and the April 2024 general elections.
You can read more at the link, this has always been the Korean left’s plan ever since Yoon was elected, make accusations real or imagined and then use the media to drive down his approval ratings to impeach him. It worked with former President Park Geun-hye and they are attempting the same playbook now. They are trying to turn this election operative Myung into Yoon’s Choi Soon-sil. Remember Park Geun-hye was impeached for abuse of power and that is the narrative the Korean left is once again attempting with Yoon.
I am totally for students keeping their phones in their lockers during the school day:
Korea may soon join a growing list of countries moving to ban mobile phones in classrooms, as the policy idea is gaining increasing support from teachers, parents and politicians here.
According to lawmakers and education administrators on Sunday, Rep. Cho Jung-hun and 10 other lawmakers of the ruling People Power Party are pushing for a countrywide ban on the use of phones and other smart devices in schools to protect the mental health of students.
“Many countries, including the United States and France, are trying to restrict phone use through legislation as social media addiction becomes a serious problem. This is also true in Korea, where 25 percent of children aged between 3 and 9 and 40.1 percent of those aged between 10 and 19 were found to be overly dependent on smartphones,” they said, explaining the reason for proposing the bill. “To protect their mental health, we are proposing to restrict the use of smart devices in schools unless permitted for educational or emergency purposes.”
You can read more at the link.
Nothing new here, just the continuation of Biden’s policies:
Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Saturday touted the South Korea-U.S. alliance as a “linchpin” of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and around the world, while underlining Seoul’s “sizable” contributions to the upkeep of the 28,500-strong U.S. Forces Korea (USFK).
Vice President Harris made the remarks in a special contribution to Yonhap News Agency, reiterating America’s “ironclad” security commitment to South Korea, vowing to preserve its global leadership and accentuating the importance of the bilateral alliance forged in blood during the 1950-53 Korean War.
Titled “Let’s Go Forward, Together: Creating a Prosperous Future for Korean Americans,” her exclusive contribution is the first of its kind to a South Korean media outlet in this year’s election cycle. It came just days ahead of the U.S. presidential election.
“In 2022, I stood at the DMZ and reaffirmed the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of South Korea. I know our alliance has been a linchpin of security and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific and around the world,” she wrote, recalling her trip to the Demilitarized Zone separating the two Koreas.
“Trump, by contrast, is demanding that South Korea pay $10 billion a year to host our troops despite its already sizable contributions — disparaging our alliance and disregarding America’s standing in the Indo-Pacific,” she added as she is set to face off against her Republican rival in Tuesday’s showdown.
You can read more at the link.
Who knows how true this is, but apparently 7,000 North Koreans are now deployed near Ukraine’s border with Russia:
Kyiv’s defense intelligence agency has said Russia appears to have deployed more than 7,000 North Korean soldiers, armed with AK-12 rifles, mortar rounds and other assault weapons, to areas near the border with Ukraine.
South Korea and the West have warned that North Korean troops in Russia may soon enter into combat against Ukraine that would pose a major security threat to both Europe and the Indo-Pacific region.
The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) said on Saturday (local time) that Russia moved more than 7,000 North Korean soldiers from Russia’s coastal region to areas near Ukraine last week.
“The North Korean troops were moved to the frontline with the help of at least 28 military transport aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces,” the DIU said on its website.
You can read more at the link.
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