It figures that Korean leftists would be upset the United States military is working on a way to better defend their country:
Korea is back in the hot seat as the U.S. military has announced plans to improve its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries including the one here.
Korea Times
As the upgrade is focused on extending the range of its defense area, the plan is raising speculations that the launchers may be transferred to Seoul or its surrounding areas, or that additional launchers may be deployed, which may reignite disputes with China over the anti-missile system. A report has also sparked concerns that the U.S. may push Korea to fund the construction of the THAAD base, which could run counter to the allies’ agreement on the issue.
You can read more at the link, but what is going on here is that the THAAD system’s launchers are hardwired into the rest of the system. What the update will provide is the ability to remote launchers further out away from the rest of the battery wirelessly. What this does is extend the area a THAAD battery can defend.
This is technology that the Patriot missile defense system already has and is only natural that THAAD would eventually develop this technology as well. There are Patriot missile batteries spread out all over South Korea that receive technology updates, but only the THAAD system continues to be continuously protested by the Korean left. Part of this is because former President Park Geun-hye approved the deployment of the battery; to a Korean leftist that means it must be a bad decision.
The second part of this is the China who does not like the deployment of the system. They claim it spies on them which is nonsense, they just use the issue to create a wedge between the U.S. and the ROK. The Moon administration may be calculating that if their supporters keep up their THAAD protests, President Trump will redeploy the system which solves their China problem and is another erasing of a major accomplishment during the former Park administration.
This will cause South Korea to have less ballistic missile defense protection, but to the Korean left they have never looked at North Korea as a threat anyway.
The calls to stop Chinese nationals from entering South Korea is growing:
South Korean websites have been flooded with comments calling on the government to block or expel Chinese and racist remarks about Chinese eating habits and hygiene. A popular Seoul seafood restaurant frequented by Chinese tourists posted a sign saying “No entry for Chinese” before taking it down Wednesday after an online backlash.
About 600,000 South Koreans have signed an online petition filed with the presidential Blue House calling for a temporary ban on Chinese visitors. Some conservative opposition lawmakers publicly back these steps, and about 30 people rallied near the Blue House on Wednesday demanding the government immediately ban Chinese tourists.
“Unconditional xenophobia against the Chinese is intensifying” in South Korea, the mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial Thursday. “Infectious diseases are a matter of science, not an issue that can resolved through an emotional outpouring.”
Associated Press
You can read more at the link.
Here is an inner left wing fight over who should be able to appoint the chief of the Industrial Bank of Korea, the Blue House or the labor unions:
Protests outside the state-run Industrial Bank of Korea are expected to intensify, with the union’s fight against the top-down appointment of CEO Yoon Jong-won gaining support from powerful national labor associations in recent weeks.
The Federation of Korean Trade Unions, one of the two largest umbrella labor organizations here, announced Wednesday that it was joining the IBK unionists in protesting what they see as excessive government meddling in the organization’s personnel affairs.
The new leader of the FKTU, Kim Dong-myung, visited the IBK headquarters in central Seoul to announce the organization’s participation and vowed to continue until the workers’ demands were met. The FKTU had around 930,000 members as of the end of 2018, according to data published by the Ministry of Employment and Labor in December.
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, which has a membership of more than 960,000, announced it was joining the fight earlier this month.
Korea Herald
You can read more at the link.
I do not support aggression against South Korea’s riot police, especially since many of them are mandatory service conscripts. With that said the protests against the Moon administration are nothing like the violent protests we have seen Korean leftists commit in the past with little to no consequences:
State prosecutors on Friday sought a court warrant to arrest a conservative pastor for his alleged role in a violent anti-government protest.
Rev. Jun Kwang-hoon, chief of the Christian Council of Korea, led a mass rally in central Seoul on Oct. 3 calling for the resignations of a scandal-ridden justice minister and President Moon Jae-in.
Police have investigated the pastor, also chief of a coalition of conservative groups which organized the rally, on suspicions that he instigated protesters to use violence against police when they marched toward the adjacent presidential office.
Prosecutors requested a Seoul court issue arrest warrants for Jun and two other protest leaders on charges including obstruction of justice and breaching assembly and demonstration laws, according to legal sources with knowledge of the matter.
Hundreds of thousands participated in the rally in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul. Speakers on stage shouted radical phrases such as “Seize the Blue House” and “Arrest the president.”
Joong Ang Ilbo
You can read more at the link, but when the Korean government did arrest a violent left wing KCTU protester last year they ended up letting him go. It will be interesting to see if the Korean courts do the same thing with this pastor.
