Tag: South Korea

Trilateral ties may be unshakeable, but good luck trying to get North Korea to denuclearize because that is pretty much a fantasy as this point:

The top diplomats of South Korea, the United States and Japan held their first meeting since the launch of the new Trump administration, reaffirming their “unshakable trilateral partnership.”

Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul and his American and Japanese counterparts Marco Rubio and Takeshi Iwaya held talks on Saturday on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany.

According to Seoul’s Foreign Ministry, the top diplomats discussed ways to enhance trilateral cooperation, responses to North Korea issues including its nuclear weapons, regional situations, and ways to expand economic cooperation.

In a joint statement, the three sides reaffirmed their resolute commitment to the complete denuclearization of North Korea.

KBS World

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the difference between Yoon getting impeached and possibly going to jail is two similar sounding Korean words:

A former military commander involved in President Yoon Suk Yeol’s botched martial law bid confirmed Thursday that the people Yoon ordered to be removed from the National Assembly were lawmakers, not agents, a claim that Yoon again rejected.

Lt. Gen. Kwak Jong-keun, the then chief of the Army Special Warfare Command, made the remark as a witness during the sixth formal hearing of Yoon’s impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court.

Yoon was also in attendance.

“I obviously thought and understood the part about dragging people out from inside as referring to lawmakers because there were no operation agents inside the main (parliamentary) building at the time,” Kwak said, referring to a phone call he received from Yoon on the night martial law was imposed on Dec. 3.

Kwak was confirming testimony he has previously given in parliament, as former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun has disputed the claim, saying Yoon had in fact ordered the removal of agents, not lawmakers.

In Korean, the words for agent and lawmaker are similar in pronunciation.

Yoon once again denied the claim — saying he has never used the term “agent” — and accused Kwak of plotting against him.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Former ROK intelligence commander Roh Sang-won apparently sought the advice of a Shaman based out of Gunsan over 20 times over the past two years:

Lee Sun-jin, a shaman known as “Vidan A” testified to the National Assembly on the 4th that former intelligence commander Roh Sang-won visited him and saw the fortune and fortune of former Defense Minister Kim Yong-hyun and military officials related to martial law.

Lee appeared as a witness at the Special Committee on the Investigation of State Affairs to Investigate Alleged Insurrection by the Yoon Suk Yeol Government’s Declaration of Emergency Security.

Lee said, “Former commander Roh created a problem with former minister Kim and said that if it goes well, he may work in the government again.”

“[Former commander Roh] brought Minister Kim Yong-hyun’s name and date of birth at first,” Lee said. So I said, ‘I don’t think this person is an ordinary soldier,’ he said. “That was before (former minister Kim) became a minister, and (former commander Roh) said this person would become a minister later.”

When asked by Rep. Han Byung-do of the Democratic Party of Korea, “Did former commander Roh bring a list of soldiers to search for traitors and request a fortune teller?” Lee replied, “That’s right.”

He then explained, “I asked a lot if I could follow him to the end when I (gave him) together, and I asked a lot of luck for each soldier.”

Maeil Business Newspaper

You can read more about how this fortune teller warned Roh before the martial law decree that Yoon would be impeached at this link.

Shouldn’t you had made peace in order to receive a peace prize?:

A wave of controversies has erupted between the two rival parties here following a recommendation on Tuesday by a main opposition lawmaker suggesting that U.S. President Donald Trump be considered a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

According to the party’s senior spokesperson, Jo Seoung-lae, Rep. Park Sun-won of the main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) recommended Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in facilitating dialogue between North Korea and the U.S. during former President Moon Jae-in’s administration.

“The recommendation was made on Jan. 30 to the Norwegian Nobel Committee and party leader Lee Jae-myung and senior DPK Rep. Kim Min-seok have been informed about this,” he said.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but if the DPK wants to get into the good graces of Trump recommending him for a Nobel Peace Prize may do it.

If Yoon was trying to arrest members of the Korean parliament, it was the most incompetent coup attempt ever:

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday he ordered sending troops to offices of the National Election Commission (NEC) during his martial law declaration as he has suspected election fraud allegations.

Yoon made the admission while attending the fifth formal hearing of his impeachment trial at the Constitutional Court in Seoul, where he again denied allegations that he ordered military commanders to drag lawmakers out of parliament in an attempt to prevent them from blocking the martial law imposition. (……)

Yoon is also alleged to have sent military troops to the National Assembly to keep lawmakers from voting down the martial law declaration and to have planned to arrest key political figures.

“Nothing actually happened (during martial law decree) … I feel like we are chasing the moon’s shadow on a lake,” Yoon said. “You would know the true nature of this case if you saw it based on common sense.”

Yoon claimed that dragging lawmakers from parliament could not have been possible as there are thousands of civilians in the National Assembly compound and troops were withdrawn after martial law was lifted.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Maybe these Korean firms need to be lobbying the Mexican government to start cracking down on fentynal smuggling and human trafficking along the border to get these tarriffs removed:

South Korea’s economy has come under direct impact as US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Saturday imposing tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, raising concerns about a prolonged global trade war.

Industry experts warned on Sunday that Korea, heavily dependent on exports, could face significant setbacks if Trump’s tariff war escalates. Major companies, including Samsung Electronics, have manufacturing plants in Mexico and additional trade restrictions could disrupt their supply chains and profitability.

Korean firms strategically expanded their production bases in Mexico after the first round of US trade sanctions against China under the previous Trump administration. Electronics giants such as Samsung and LG, as well as automaker Hyundai Motor Group, bolstered their investments, either expanding existing facilities or establishing new ones.

As a result, Korea’s investment in Mexico surged from $11 million in 2020 to $396 million in 2022.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

It looks like South Korea has found another potential defense export market:

Acting Defense Minister Kim Seon-ho and Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the defense sector and the arms industry Monday, according to the defense ministry.

In the talks held in Seoul, Kim noted that the two countries’ cooperation in the cybersecurity sector has been advancing and suggested expanding such ties to other areas, according to the defense ministry.

Kim also briefed Pevkur on South Korean weapons systems, including the K9 self-propelled howitzer that Estonia has acquired.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but at this point the Korean defense industry should send Putin a gift basket because all of this aggression towards his neighbors has been a boon for weapons sales.