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South Korean Man Arrested in China for Alleging Stealing Information About Semiconductor Chips

It is kind of ironic that the Chinese arrested this guy for industrial espionage when they are likely the world’s leaders in industrial espionage:

China confirmed Tuesday that it has detained a South Korean citizen on suspicion of violating the country’s anti-espionage law, marking the first case where a South Korean national has been arrested in China since the revised law took effect last year.

“A South Korean national was arrested by Chinese authorities on charges of espionage,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson at China’s foreign ministry, told a press briefing, without disclosing other details.

He said China has notified the South Korean Embassy in Beijing of the incident in a bid to help it provide necessary consular assistance.

“As a law-governing country, China has detected illegal activity in accordance with the law while guaranteeing the person’s legitimate rights,” he said.

The 50-something person, living in Hefei, in China’s eastern province of Anhui, was arrested late last year on charges of violating the anti-espionage law, according to diplomatic sources.

Chinese authorities are believed to have suspected the person of leaking semiconductor-related information to South Korea as the individual was working at a chipmaker in China.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Former President Moon’s Daughter Now Being Investigated for Illegal Vacation Rentals

More legal troubles for former President Moon’s daughter:

Police have secured CCTV footage of a studio apartment owned by former President Moon Jae-in’s daughter as part of an investigation into allegations that she illegally operated a house-sharing business without official declaration, officials said Monday.

The announcement came as police have been conducting a preliminary investigation into suspicions that Moon Da-hye illegally operated her studio apartment in Seoul’s Yeongdeungpo district and a house on the southern Jeju Island for house sharing without the necessary official declaration.

Under the Public Health Control Act, owners of studio apartments, known as “officetel,” must file a declaration with the district office and install the necessary equipment to operate their properties for house sharing.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Kim Yo-jong Threatens to Have North Korea Fly Propaganda Drones Over Seoul

This would be the next logical step in escalation from North Korea. With that said they have already flown drones multiple times over South Korea in the past showing how hypocritical their claims against the ROK now are:

Inter-Korean tensions are escalating over propaganda leaflets, as North Korea threatened, Monday, to deploy unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to drop leaflets over Seoul. The North also reiterated its claim that the South Korean military recently sent leaflet-distributing drones into its territory.

“It would be interesting to see how they will bark if a drone appears in Seoul and scatters leaflets,” Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said in a statement via the North’s mouthpiece Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Noting a hypothetical situation, she said, “An unidentified drone appears over Seoul and scatters leaflets denouncing ‘the puppet Yoon,’” apparently referring to President Yoon Suk Yeol. “Our military, individual organizations, or any individual have not flown any drones, cannot confirm such actions, and do not consider it worth responding to.”

Her remarks appear to sarcastically criticize the South Korean military’s response to North Korea’s claims that the South sent a drone carrying anti-regime leaflets over Pyongyang earlier this month and that they found debris from a UAV of the same type operated by the South Korea’s military. In response to these claims, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said, “We cannot verify (the claim), and the claim is not worth replying.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Tweet of the Day: Homophobic Rally?

Picture of the Day: Banner Against Anti-Pyonyyang Leaflets

Ban on distribution of anti-Pyongyang leaflets
Ban on distribution of anti-Pyongyang leafletsA banner announcing a ban on distributing anti-North Korea leaflets is hung by the South Korean border towns of Yeoncheon and Paju at Imjingak Pavilion in Paju, 30 kilometers north of Seoul, on Oct. 28, 2024. This comes amid a plan by the Association of the Families of Those Abducted by North Korea to send 100,000 copies of leaflets to the North using balloons in the border area sometime this week. (Yonhap)

North Korean Troops Reportedly Using Civilian Trucks to Mobilize in Russia’s Kursk Province

It looks like the initial wave of 1,500 North Korean special operations troops sent to Russia are going to be used to try and help push Ukrainian troops out of the Russian territory of Kursk:

 Russia is using civilian-plated trucks to transport “mercenaries” from North Korea to a frontline area, Ukraine’s military intelligence service has said, amid concerns over North Korean troops possibly joining combat in Russia’s war on Ukraine.

On Sunday, Russian police officers stopped a truck with civilian license plates carrying North Korean military personnel on the Kursk-Voronezh highway, the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine said, noting the driver did not have a combat order.

The announcement comes amid reports of North Korean troops gathering in Russia’s southwestern region of Kursk, where a major Ukrainian incursion took place in August.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

North Korea Claims Drone that Flew Over Pyongyang Came from a South Korean Island

One of the drones that flew over Pyongyang earlier this month carrying propaganda leaflets crashed and the North Koreans were able to extract information from it to determine it came from South Korea:

North Korea said Monday that its analysis of the flight log of a drone that crashed in Pyongyang earlier this month showed it took off from a South Korean border island in the Yellow Sea, insisting that the South Korean military is behind what it claimed were South Korea’s drone incursions.

South Korea’s military called the North’s latest claim “unilateral,” saying it is “unworthy” of verifying or responding to.

North Korea earlier claimed that South Korean drones carrying anti-North Korea propaganda leaflets were detected in the night skies over Pyongyang three times this month and threatened to respond with force if such flights occur again.

Announcing the final results of its probe into the drone incursions, North Korea’s defense ministry said it has analyzed the flight control program from the remains of a drone that crashed after intruding into the North on Oct. 8, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The North said the drone took off from South Korea’s border island of Baengnyeong in the Yellow Sea at 11:25:30 p.m. on Oct. 8 and intruded into the territorial air of North Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

JBLM Based Stryker Brigade Takes Over Rotational Mission in Korea

The 2nd Infantry Division has a new rotational brigade in South Korea:

A Stryker combat team has taken over as the U.S. Army’s rotational force in South Korea, relieving a cavalry unit in a ceremony at Camp Casey, the U.S. base closest to North Korea. The 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash., assumed the responsibility Friday at Camp Casey, about 15 miles from the border, replacing the 3rd Cavalry Regiment out of Fort Cavazos, Texas.

The Stryker brigade is outfitted with the eight-wheeled armored combat vehicle of the same name. The rotational force of approximately 3,500 soldiers and 1,500 prepositioned vehicles supports the 2nd Infantry Division in nine-month deployments to South Korea. The division is headquartered at Camp Humphreys, roughly 40 miles south of Seoul.

Stars and Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Picture of the Day: Abducted Leaflets

Leaflets by families of N. Korean abduction victims
Leaflets by families of N. Korean abduction victims
Choi Seong-ryong, head of the Association of the Families of Those Abducted by North Korea, unveils a leaflet containing personal information on the abductees during a news conference in front of the National Police Agency in Seoul on Oct. 25, 2024. The organization announced plans to send 100,000 copies of the leaflet to the North using balloons in the border city of Paju, 30 kilometers north of Seoul, sometime in the following week. (Yonhap)