This is a good deal for Japan, they get to sell the Patriot missiles to the U.S. and maintain their charade of not providing aid to Ukraine:
Japan will begin selling domestically produced missiles to the United States in a bid to bolster U.S. weapon supplies in the region. The U.S. will purchase approximately $19.6 million worth of Patriot Advanced Capability-3 interceptors, or PAC-3 missiles, the Japanese Defense Ministry’s agency for acquisition, technology and logistics said in a Sunday news release. The number of missiles included in the deal was not disclosed. (….)
“By providing Japanese-made PAC-3 missiles to the United States, Japan can indirectly assist Ukraine with much-needed air-defense systems, but without provoking a public backlash,” Brown told Stars and Stripes by email Wednesday.
You can read more at the link.
Another example of the growing trilateral cooperation in Northeast Asia:
The defense chiefs of South Korea, the United States and Japan signed a document on the Trilateral Security Cooperation Framework (TSCF) on Sunday , Seoul’s defense ministry said, in a move solidifying their continued commitment to three-way security cooperation against North Korean threats.
South Korean Defense Minister Shin Won-sik and his U.S. and Japanese counterparts, Lloyd Austin and Minoru Kihara, respectively, inked a Memorandum of Cooperation on the framework in Tokyo amid their deepening security cooperation in response to the North’s persistent nuclear and missile threats and growing military alignment with Russia.
You can read more at the link.
This seems like a fair compromise, Japan gets their UNESCO site and South Korea gets a marker explaining the history of Korean forced laborers:
South Korea has given the green light to designate Japan’s gold and silver mines on Sado Island — where an estimated over 1,500 Koreans were forced to work at the end of Japan’s colonial rule — as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Foreign Ministry announced on Friday.
Japan’s ongoing efforts to have the Sado Island Gold Mines recognized have fueled a dispute with South Korea. The controversy revolves around Japan’s deliberate omission of its history regarding the forced mobilization of Koreans during its brutal colonial rule over the peninsula. (….)
An inscription on the World Heritage list typically requires a two-thirds majority vote from the WHC member states. However, it has become customary for the final decision to be reached through consensus, ensuring broader agreement and cooperation among the committee members.
The South Korean Foreign Ministry’s confirmation came hours after Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported that a preliminary agreement had been reached. Under the agreement, Japan will display the history of Korean forced laborers at the site in exchange for South Korea’s consent to the inscription of the Sado Mine complex as a UNESCO World Heritage site.
You can read more at the link.
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.”
You can read more at the link.
It has been a while since GI crime has been an issue on Okinawa, but the disclosure of these two sexual assault cases has given the island’s left wing government plenty to complain to USFJ about:
The U.S. military has yet to announce new restrictions on troops stationed in Japan despite calls from local authorities after two service members were indicted for alleged sexual crimes on Okinawa. “There is currently no update right now in terms of any changes to liberty policy at the moment,” Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Wright, spokesman for U.S. Forces Japan, told Stars and Stripes by phone Monday.
Tensions have escalated on Okinawa, where the U.S. military stations approximately 30,000 service members, more than 50% of its troops in Japan, following disclosures in late June of the two indictments by the Naha Public Prosecutors Office. The commanding generals of Okinawa-based III Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Corps Installations Pacific directed their commanders to “reinforce their expectations of standards and conduct across the force,” III MEF spokesman 1st Lt. Owen Hitchcock said by email Monday.
Stars and Stripes
You can read more at the link, but as I have said before, the expectation of zero crime from US servicemembers is unrealisitic. There is always going to be some crime that happens, what matters is how low is the crime rate and is it being properly prosecuted? I have seen no indications of a high crime rate on Okinawa from US troops and clearly cases are being prosecuted as these latest incidents show.
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.
After the U.S. Presidential debate debacle, the ROK and Japan are probably accelerating the institutionalizing of various parts of their combined cooperation:
Former U.S. President Donald Trump caused friction with both allies during his time in office by demanding greater payment for their hosting of U.S. troops while holding one-on-one meetings with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
Under Biden, Washington is seeking to solidify its system of alliances, both with increasingly sophisticated exercises and diplomatic agreements, Graham said. “It’s obviously a U.S. attempt to try and mesh their alliances as positively as possible, not just given the challenge of their adversaries, but also the uncertainty around a second Trump administration,” he said. “They’re trying to institutionalize as many of these habits of cooperation while they can.” Tensions with North Korea are at their highest point in years, with the pace of Kim Jong Un’s weapons programs intensifying, despite heavy international sanctions.
Stars & Stripes
You can read more at the link.
