Jeju airport crowded with departing touristsPassengers check in for a flight departing from the southern resort island of Jeju at Jeju International Airport on May 5, 2020, the last day of a long holiday that began April 30. (Yonhap)
Site of new Jeju AirportAn activist carries out research on migratory birds living near the site of a new international airport on the southern resort island of Jeju on Jan. 19, 2020, to assess the project’s potential impact on their natural habitat. (Yonhap)
Eve of beach openingTourists enjoy their holiday on a beach on Jeju on June 21, 2019, one day before the opening of beaches on the southern resort island. (Yonhap)
Tulips in full bloom on Jeju IslandVisitors walk through a field of tulips at a park in the city of Seogwipo on South Korea’s largest island of Jeju on March 8, 2019, with the 1,950-meter Mount Halla seen at the top. (Yonhap)
President Moon Jae-in said Sunday that he could give North Korea’s Kim Jong-un a tour of Mount Halla, South Korea’s tallest mountain, on the southern island of Jeju, if the leader comes for a visit.
Moon made the remarks in response to a reporter’s question about what he would show Kim should the communist leader reciprocate his own visit to Pyongyang last month for the third inter-Korean summit aimed at fostering inter-Korean rapprochement and cooperation.
“As we have an expression like ‘from Mount Paekdu to Mount Halla,’ I could give him a tour of Mount Halla if (he) wants,” Moon said during talks with reporters after climbing up to a peak of Mount Bukak just behind the presidential office of Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul. [Yonhap]
A valley on Mount Halla on the southernmost resort island of Jeju is lined with trees turning autumn colors of red and yellow on Oct. 19, 2018. (Yonhap)
Adm. John Aquilino, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, holds an interview with Yonhap News Agency on the USS Ronald Reagan after the nuclear-powered supercarrier entered a naval base on Jeju, South Korea’s southernmost island, on Oct. 122, 2018. The ship joined the International Fleet Review off Jeju the previous day. (Yonhap)
The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier was blocked entry to the Jeju Navy base by a group of kayak protesters on Thursday.
Some 200 civic activists in kayaks paddled out to the sea off the base to protest the 2018 International Fleet Review, interrupting the entry of the U.S. aircraft carrier.
The USS Ronald Reagan, one of the Navy’s largest warships participating in the naval event, has been rescheduled to enter Friday, according to a South Korean Navy official, Munhwa Ilbo reported.
The U.S. warship attended a nautical parade, as scheduled, which is a highlight of the fleet review that featured 40 ships and 24 aircraft demonstrating their naval prowess. The fleet review runs until Sunday. [UPI]
You can read more at the link, but the Korean left has long been unhappy about the Jeju naval base largely because it was pushed through by a prior conservative administration. One of the main reasons for the base was because of the territorial claims that China was making towards Ieodo a submerged rock that is home to a Korean research station off the coast of Jeju.
If the US signs a peace treaty to end the Korean War these leftist protesters will be emboldened to do things like claiming that the US military presence is no longer needed because there is “peace”. The Moon administration will do little to nothing to stop the protesters from disrupting US military operations much like what we are currently seeing with the THAAD site in Korea that is still blockaded by protesters.
Courtesy of the Japanese Navy, the Moon administration has a nice distraction to rally all Koreans around:
The Navy said Sunday it remains in opposition to a Japanese warship carrying a controversial imperialistic flag to an international naval event in South Korea next month.
The southern island of Jeju will stage the International Fleet Review from Oct. 10-14, and the Navy said warships from 15 nations, including Japan, the United States and China, will participate in the first such event in South Korea since 2008.
The Japanese vessel is expected to display the Rising Sun Flag, viewed as an emblem of the country’s wartime aggression in South Korea, where historical animosity over the wrongdoings of the country’s former colonizer still runs deep. Japan colonized the peninsula from 1910-45.
South Korea earlier informed participating nations that they should raise their national flag and the flag of the host country. One South Korean Navy official said the stance hasn’t changed.
“We’ll continue to speak with Japan regarding this matter,” the official said. “Our Navy has a separate communication channel with the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, and we’ll continue to let them know where we stand.”
Another South Korean military source said he expected Japan to carry the flag into Jeju waters and then take it down during the actual review. [Yonhap]
