The ROK defense minister had some blunt talk for the Kim regime:
Defense Minister Shin Won-sik visits the 17th Fighter Wing at Cheongju Air Base, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, which operates 40 F-35 stealth fighter jets, on Jan. 24, 2024, in this photo provided by his office.
South Korea’s defense chief said Wednesday that North Korea will face the end of its regime if it wages war, hours after the North fired several rounds of cruise missiles into the Yellow Sea in its latest series of weapons tests.
Defense Minister Shin Won-sik issued the warning during his visit to the 17th Fighter Wing at Cheongju Air Base, 112 kilometers south of Seoul, which operates 40 F-35 stealth fighter jets.
“North Korea has defined the Republic of Korea as its principal enemy and has maintained a hostile policy under the goal of communizing the whole Korean Peninsula,” Shin was quoted as saying, referring to South Korea’s official name.
These regulations which are probably intended to help Korean tech companies at the expense of U.S. companies would also benefit Chinese tech companies as well in Korea:
Fair Trade Commission Chairman Han Ki Jeong, right, speaks with American Chamber of Commerce in Korea Chairman James Kim during a special luncheon event at Grand Hyatt Seoul in this March 2023 file photo. Yonhap
The Yoon Suk Yeol administration’s drive to regulate market-dominant online platforms could be evolving into a potential diplomatic dispute with the U.S., according to industry officials, Thursday.
The U.S. state and commerce departments reportedly raised their concerns regarding South Korea’s proposed regulations. They conveyed these concerns by sending messages to Yoon’s office, the foreign ministry, and the trade ministry late last year.
Although a Fair Trade Commission (FTC) official in charge of the matter said the agency has not received an official comment from Washington, Seoul is said to be trying to persuade the U.S. government by emphasizing that there is no intention of imposing regulations more strictly on foreign firms in favor of domestic companies.
The primary concern for U.S. firms revolves around the potential that the upcoming competition policy rules might inadvertently favor Chinese late movers, like Aliexpress and Temu, which are not expected to be affected by the regulation due to their relatively low market shares.
“It now appears the European Union’s approach is contagious, as Korea’s pro-tech government has tabled a Digital Markets Act-like bill that would unfairly target U.S. platforms while giving Chinese platforms a pass, a policy very much not in U.S. companies’ interests,” the Center for Strategic & International Studies said in a report on Jan. 11. “Korea’s proposed act and the bills under discussion set limits that unfairly target U.S. companies which will, in turn end up helping Chinese companies gain larger market share.”
It will be interesting to see if China in the coming weeks or months tries to conduct military drills around Taiwan to pressure their new President:
The outcome of the presidential election in Taiwan is expected to pose significant diplomatic challenges for Korea, particularly in navigating relations with China and neighboring countries. Tensions in Asia could escalate in response to any sensitive rhetoric or actions, adding complexity to Korea’s diplomatic landscape.
In Saturday’s presidential election, Lai Ching-te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, known for his U.S.-friendly stance, secured victory by garnering 40.05 percent of the total ballots. He outpaced Hou Yu-ih from the China-friendly opposition Kuomintang.
Viewed widely as a proxy battle between the U.S. and China, Lai’s campaign emphasizing self-determination, social justice, and resistance to China’s threats resonated with Taiwanese voters, earning their trust even in the face of increasing pressure from Beijing.
China’s foreign ministry promptly issued a statement following Lai’s election win asserting Beijing’s “One China” policy.
“Whatever changes take place in Taiwan, the basic fact that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is part of China will not change,” it said. “The Chinese government’s position of upholding the one-China principle and opposing ‘Taiwan independence’ separatism, ‘two Chinas’ and ‘one China, one Taiwan’ will not change,” it added.
Here is how the Yoon administration in South Korea has reacted to the election:
The Yoon Suk Yeol administration has displayed a strong inclination towards the U.S., as the president stated in previous media interviews that Seoul opposes attempts to alter the status quo by force in reference to tensions in the Taiwan Strait, despite China’s displeasure. Simultaneously, Korea maintains its adherence to Beijing’s “One China” policy, refraining from reinstating diplomatic ties with Taiwan that were severed in 1992 when Seoul established diplomatic relations with Beijing.
An official at Seoul’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, “We hope for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and peaceful progress in China-Taiwan relations,” adding that the Korean government’s stance on Taiwan has not changed, while Seoul hopes for practical cooperation with Taiwan in various fields.
Just another example of why the Kim regime cannot be trusted to keep to agreements:
North Korea breached the recently scrapped 2018 inter-Korean military accord approximately 3,600 times, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday.
The number of violations by North Korea, counted from the time the deal was reached six years ago, was announced following three consecutive days of North Korean provocations along the sea boundary.
The JCS in Seoul told the press that due to North Korea’s firing of artillery shells near South Korean border islands over the past three days, there are now no areas where military measures are halted.
“Rather than reacting to the enemy actions on a case-by-case basis, our troops will be carrying out drills according to our own plans in the northwestern islands,” it said.
Even this recent deadly earthquake in Japan cannot stop the Dokdo madness:
Seoul’s foreign ministry expressed a strong protest against Tokyo on Tuesday as Japan’s weather agency included South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo in a tsunami advisory issued after a 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck Japan.
In a map showing tsunami alerts on the Japan Meteorological Agency’s website, the rocky islets were highlighted in yellow, along with other regions on Japan’s west coast, indicating tsunami advisories were issued for the areas.
The powerful quake struck the Noto Peninsula and surrounding areas in Japan’s Ishikawa Prefecture on New Year’s Day, reportedly killing several people and causing tsunamis on South Korea’s east coast.
You can read more at the link, but this is really an issue that President Yoon needs to work with Japan to resolve to further improve bilateral relations.
This is horrible and hopefully Lee Jae-myung is able to fully recover from this attack:
Opposition leader Lee Jae-myung was attacked during a visit to the southeastern port city of Busan on Tuesday and taken to a hospital while conscious.
Lee, chairman of the main opposition Democratic Party, was attacked on the left side of his neck by an unidentified man at 10:27 a.m. during a question and answer session with reporters after touring the construction site of a new airport on Busan’s Gadeok Island.
Lee was transferred to Pusan National University Hospital approximately 20 minutes after the attack.
At the time of the transfer, Lee remained conscious, but the bleeding continued.
The male suspect, pretending to be one of Lee’s supporters, approached the politician asking for an autograph and then carried out the attack with an unidentified weapon approximately 20-30 centimeters in length, according to eyewitnesses.
You can read more at the link, but this is not the first time political violence like this has happened in South Korea. Park Geun-hye was slashed in the face in 2006 and U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert’s face and neck back in 2015. Hopefully the man that committed this latest political violence spends a long time in jail.
Considering all the criticism past elections have been receiving that is impacting public confidence in elections, hand counts verifid by a machine count I think is the most effective way of maintaining election creditability which is what Korea plans to do:
The National Election Commission (NEC) said Wednesday it will introduce a manual ballot counting system for general elections in April in an effort to ensure transparency and prevent potential election rigging.
Currently, machines are used to sort out and count votes.
Under the envisioned new system, however, ballots will first be sorted out by machines, and election staff will manually check all of them before putting them into the counting machines.
“It is meant to boost transparency and credibility over the course of the elections to prevent vote-rigging suspicions,” the commission said, adding that repeated suspicions over election fraud have “hampered national unity and fostered the boycott of election results.”
It is expected to take longer for the commission to confirm election results under the new system, and the commission will significantly beef up personnel for the process.
