Free Republic

Had you have taken a direct flight from London to Seoul yesterday afternoon, by the time you would have landed you might have been none the wiser that anything had happened at all. At near midnight South Korean time, President Yoon Suk-yeol imposed martial law across the so-called “land of the morning calm.” Only six hours later it was subsequently, and pointedly, revoked. As South Korean citizens continue with their daily lives, the political establishment has once again entered a period of precarity. Yoon has scored a significant own goal; its implications do not end there. It is no understatement...

A U.S. battery maker backed by the Biden administration relies on technology from a Chinese Communist Party-led company, according to a Daily Caller News Foundation review of Chinese media reports. The Department of Energy (DOE) awarded KORE Power, a U.S.-based battery firm, an $850 million loan in early June to construct its “KOREPlex” battery-cell production facility in Arizona. DOE billed the loan as part of the administration’s efforts to “onshore [electric vehicle] supply chains.” However, KOREPlex will rely on technology from the firm’s long-time Chinese manufacturing partner, Do-Flouride New Materials (DFD), DOE Loan Programs Office (LPO) Director Jigar Shah said...

While only 22 North Korean athletes are competing at the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, they can be guaranteed of a rapturous welcome at their events. An astonishing 229 cheerleaders dominated the 280-member delegation that crossed the demilitarised zone dividing the two Koreas at a post north of Seoul on February 7. Previously heralded as North Korea’s “army of beauties”, the women turned heads and made global headlines in their matching travel outfits of fur-trimmed scarlet coats, fur hats and ankle boots. Their retro glam style – think the Duchess of Cambridge’s Christmas Day church outfit crossed with the rigid chic of...