Free Republic

Washington -- Ex-Japanese prime minister Taro Aso has met former president Donald Trump and both the leaders discussed the enduring importance of the US-Japan alliance to their physical and economic security in the strategic Indo-Pacific region. Aso, vice president of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, met Trump on Tuesday at the Trump Tower in Manhattan. Both the leaders discussed the enduring importance of the US-Japan alliance to both countries’ physical and economic security and stability in the Indo-Pacific, according to a statement issued by the Trump Campaign on the meeting with the 83-year-old visiting Japanese leader. “They also discussed challenges...

Multiple senior members of conservative President Yoon Suk-yeol’s administration and the head of his People Power Party (PPP) tendered their resignations on Thursday after vote counts confirmed that the left-wing Democratic Party decisively took over the National Assembly in Wednesday’s midterm election. The Democrats overcame a chaotic campaign season in which leader Lee Jae-myung survived a would-be assassin stabbing him in the neck. The day he was released from the hospital, three members of his party defected, protesting that Lee was running an authoritarian and corrupt “regime” within the party. Lee was in court on Tuesday for a hearing addressing...

Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar warned on Friday that “one tiny mistake” could turn Cyprus into “a new Gaza”. Tatar, not recognized as a head of state by the international community, also suggested that Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan may soon recognize the north. Turkey is the only country that recognizes the so-called Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. in an interview with the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph, said, “A mistake or a misunderstanding such as the shooting of a Turkish soldier on the Green Line… would provoke a bomb between the two populations.” “If you shoot one Turkish soldier, you...

Lee Dong-hwan, the pastor who was recently expelled by the Methodist Church of Korea for blessing same-sex couples, is now turning to the secular court in his continued battle for reinstatement. The 43-year-old is planning to file legal charges against the Methodist Church's decision after its tribunal confirmed his disfellowship last week. "I did not launch the fight for reinstatement so that I can regain my title as a Methodist pastor. I'm (going to the court) because I did not want to leave a bad precedent among the protestants," he said during a public event in Mapo-gu, Seoul, on Tuesday....

South Korean drivers are concerned that their future EVs could catch fire while charging or in a car crash ... In 2020 and 2021, several high-profile cases of EVs catching fire were reported in South Korea. Three years ago, an electric bus manufactured by Hyundai Motor caught fire while in use. A few months earlier, Hyundai Motor recalled more than 77,000 Kona EVs sold globally after 13 of the electric crossover vehicles caught fire. Hyundai and its battery supplier LG Chem were at odds over the reasons for the recall, with the battery cell maker saying it wasn’t its battery...

Actor William O’Connell, who played a “Star Trek” villain and a Clint Eastwood nemesis, is dead at the age of 94. According to Deadline, which said a family friend informed the outlet of his passing, he died Jan. 15 at his home in Sherman Oaks, California. No cause of death was revealed. O’Connell was a 1st lieutenant in the 45th Infantry during the Korean War. For his service, he was honored with the Bronze Star and other commendations. O'Connell appeared in multiple TV shows in the 1960s, including “Highway Patrol,” “Peter Gunn,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Dennis the Menace,” “Bonanza,” “Batman”...

SEOUL -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's declaration that he is abandoning unification with South Korea, after more than 50 years of alternating progress and stagnation, hints at greater confidence in Pyongyang's military capabilities -- with apparent aid from Russia. South Korean media recently took note of a change in the North: Weather forecasts on Pyongyang's state-run Korean Central Television switched from a map that highlighted the entire Korean Peninsula to one that only marked the northern half. This was around the same time that Kim declared in a January speech that North Korea should "completely eliminate such concepts...

South Korea's customs office has busted a chip smuggling operation that involved 53,000 chips worth $11.6 million, making it by value the biggest chip smuggling bust yet (via BusinessKorea). They found strategic chips using US tech were being routed through Korea to China. This smuggling operation was so massive that an entire company, known only as 'Company A,' rather than a single individual was behind it. All executives at the company have been charged by prosecutors for the crime which was perpetrated over three years. From August 2020 to August 2023, 'Company A' legally bought U.S.-made chips and imported them,...

Last week I wrote about the concerns of a pair of North Korea analysts that something had changed in the tone of the rhetoric emanating from Kim Jong Un. Of course North Korea has a long history of belligerent talk and threats against the US but something about this seemed different and more urgent. Kim said he was giving up on reunification with South Korea. Instead, South Korea would now be considered the North’s top enemy.But it’s more than just empty rhetoric. Sometime over the past few days Kim ordered a monument meant to symbolize hope for reunification torn down.Kim...

North Korea’s first missile test of 2024, which came on January 15, has renewed fears among Asian and Western military leaders that the Hermit Kingdom may have more advanced missile technologies than previously thought, including hypersonic warheads. Meanwhile, in an alarming parallel development, President Joe Biden has continued to postpone missile defense upgrades for U.S. military bases in the Pacific. South Korean and Japanese military officials reported shortly after the launch earlier this week that the missile flew some 620 miles from Pyongyang before splashing into the sea. After testing five long-range intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in 2023 – the...

According to what Bloomberg News describes as a US intelligence report, Chinese authorities discovered that some of their missiles’ fuel tanks were filled with water – and that this was a marquee example of corruption whose unraveling led to Chinese President Xi’s recent military purge. Bloomberg reported that it got the information from unnamed people who were “familiar with” a US intelligence assessment and that those US sources also said that new Xinjiang missile field silos were fitted with lids that were not installed properly and would not work – taken as another example of corruption. Pentagon officials and “experts”...

Seoul, South Korea CNN — South Korea’s parliament passed a bill Tuesday banning the breeding and slaughter of dogs for consumption, ending the traditional yet controversial practice of eating dog meat after years of nationwide debate. The bill received rare bipartisan support across South Korea’s divided political landscape, highlighting how attitudes toward eating dog have transformed over the past few decades during the country’s rapid industrialization. The law will ban the distribution and sale of food products made or processed with dog ingredients, according to the corresponding committee of the National Assembly.

SEOUL — North Korea fired more than 200 artillery rounds into the sea on Friday near a tensely defended maritime border with South Korea, a military official said, while residents of two South Korean islands were ordered to evacuate due to an unknown “situation.” The defense ministry would not confirm if the order was prompted by the North’s artillery firing or South Korean drills in response. However, a text message sent to residents and confirmed by an island official cited “naval fire” to be conducted by South Korean troops from 3 p.m.(0600 GMT) Friday. An official on Yeonpyeong island, which...

Footage showing the Stabbing Attack earlier against the Leader of the Democratic Party of South Korea, Lee Jae-myung while he was Speaking to a Crowd in the Southeastern City of Busan. VIDEO AT LINK..............

A dormant North Korean port near the border with Russia has sprung back to life, fueling what experts say is a burgeoning trade in arms destined for the frontlines in Ukraine that is simultaneously bolstering the anemic economy managed by Kim Jong Un. Satellite imagery of the Najin port taken from October to December shows a steady stream of ships at the facility, hundreds of shipping containers being loaded and unloaded, and rail cars ready to transport goods. The activity appears to have picked up since early October, when the U.S. accused North Korea of sending munitions to Russia. The...

"I've been saying for six months now: hit Iran" Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham... US Central Command says that a US warship shot down a drone and a missile off the coast of Yemen... Canadian political activist Ezra Levant owner of "Rebel News" fined 13-thousand dollars for publishing a book critical... US politics President Donald Trump removed from the ballot in the State of Maine by Democrat... Israel attacking Syria tonight... A federal judge in New York rejecting a bid by Democrat Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey to delay his trial... Venezuela announcing military maneuvers near Guyana in response...

South Korea’s semiconductor industry is witnessing a robust resurgence, with significant surges in both production and shipments. As per the data from the national statistical office, chip production in November saw a 42% increase year-on-year, marking the most substantial rise since the early months of 2017. Additionally, semiconductor shipments experienced an unprecedented 80% increase, the most sizeable since late 2002. This growth trajectory indicates a revival of technological momentum that not only bodes well for South Korea’s economic prospects but also for the broader global technology sector.

South Korea is facing “extinction” and needs to embrace immigration to stave off its “demographic catastrophe”, the country’s justice minister has warned. “When it comes to immigration policies, we have passed the stage of deliberating whether to implement them or not. Because if we don’t, we cannot escape the fate of extinction due to the demographic catastrophe,” Han Dong-hoon, told a parliamentary meeting in Seoul, reported the Korea Times.

SEOUL, South Korea — Dressed in borrowed camouflage fatigues, they fumbled with their ammunition belts and K2 assault rifles. Some had white hair and a slow, shuffling gait; their average age was 63, the oldest 75. It was the most unconventional batch of trainees that the 52nd Infantry Division's Seocho Reserve Forces Training Center had ever seen, and Lt. Col. Hwang Hyeon-seok received them with a strained smile, desperately hoping that none of them would get hurt.

The 2018 inter-Korean military agreement included removing guard posts at border areas and buffer and no-fly zones near the armed border. It was signed by then South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in 2018 during a brief reconciliatory mood between the two Koreas.