Free Republic

WASHINGTON, Sept 28 (Reuters) - U.S. Army Private Travis King faces an uncertain future following his arrival at a U.S. military base in Texas on Thursday after being expelled from North Korea.A U.S. military flight carrying King, who in July made a surprise dash across the heavily militarized Korean border, landed at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston at about 0530 GMT, a U.S. defense official told Reuters. Television footage showed a group of people leaving a plane at the base at that time.A Pentagon spokesperson, Bryce Dubee, said King was at the base's Brooke Army Medical Center. "The Army’s...

South Korean police are investigating 17 US soldiers and five other people who allegedly smuggled or used synthetic marijuana via military mail. This follows raids in at least two US army bases in May, including Camp Humphreys, its largest overseas base. A Filipino and a South Korean have been arrested, while prosecutors review the cases against all 22 suspects. A tip from the US Army's enforcement arm had sparked a four-month investigation by Korean authorities. It was one of the largest in recent years involving American soldiers, US media reported citing Cha Min-seok, a senior detective in South Korea. Joint...

"News outlets no longer write about the war...This means Ukraine is losing" President Trump talking about the Ukraine War... Mr. Trump also speaking about the abortion issue seeking a moderate compromise on it. He denounced a six-week abortion law signed by rival Florida Governor Ron DeSantis... Russia's ambassador in North Korea says his country has offered food assistance... Fighting in Sudan's capital city Khartoum... In Stuttgart, Germany police arresting hundreds of supporters of Eritrea's political opposition... Meeting on the Mediterranean island of Malta this weekend between US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi...Late word is...

HCMC – Hyundai IONIQ 5 electric cars, assembled by Hyundai Thanh Cong Vietnam Auto Joint Venture JSC (HTV) in Ninh Binh Province, are now available at showrooms in Vietnam with a starting price of VND1.3 billion per unit. HTV announced yesterday, July 31, that the joint venture officially rolled out the first batch of Hyundai IONIQ 5 vehicles for distribution in Vietnam. This is the first time that a high-tech electric vehicle model from Hyundai Motor has been assembled in Vietnam. Hyundai IONIQ 5 vehicles are assembled at Hyundai Thanh Cong 2 plant (HTMV2) in the northern province of Ninh...

North Korea finally confirmed Tuesday that US soldier Travis King is being detained in the country — nearly a month after he bolted across the border. King told investigators that he had decided to enter North Korea because he “harbored ill feelings against inhuman mistreatment and racial discrimination within the US Army,” officials said. The 23-year-old also expressed his willingness to seek refuge in North Korea or a third country, saying he “was disillusioned at the unequal American society,” the North Korean official news agency, KCN, said in a statemen

After it was reported on Thursday that Iran had transferred five Iranian Americans from prison to house arrest, it became clear that a deal between the Biden administration and the radical Islamist state had been reached — which would include billions of dollars of frozen Iranian assets in exchange for the Americans.This again raises the question — which we’ll tackle later in the article: Should the United States pay ransom to rogue states and others for the release of captured Americans?Anyway, sure enough, the United States and Iran have reached an agreement in which the Islamist regime will free the...

MailOnline can reveal today how volunteers have been left 'incandescent at the lack of leadership' amid the chaos at the World Scout Jamboree which has seen hundreds treated for heat-related illnesses and forced the US and UK to pull children out. Organisers - who have been heavily criticised for poor preparation - are now facing demands to cancel the event as South Korea battles with a blistering heatwave, where temperatures have soared to 100F. The 4,500-strong UK contingent, the largest at the jamboree, announced yesterday that they would evacuate children to hotels in Seoul for the rest of their stay,...

A half-century ago today, South Korean strongman Syngman Rhee, winner of that country’s 1956 presidential election, had the runner-up hanged for treason. Cho Pong-am (or Cho Bong-am), who cut his teeth as a young Communist in the 1920’s and 30’s but had become an independent socialist since, won over 2.1 million votes as the Progressive Party candidate in 1956, on a platform of peaceful reunification with North Korea — the outstanding political issue in South Korea at the time. The position had some popularity as against Rhee’s “march North” policy of conquering North Korea by force. Peaceful unification and support...

A study published by Korean scientists has thrown cold water on the idea that cutting the amount of carbon in the atmosphere will automatically lead to lower temperatures. In the study, the Koreans simulated how removing large amounts of carbon would affect the progress of local climate changes related to global warming. Computer modeling looked at the hypothetical scenario in which “carbon dioxide concentrations continued to rise from present-day levels for 140 years, then were gradually reduced back to the initial levels over another 140-year period,” according to Space.com The study results suggest that the local climate in these areas...

North Korea continues to advance its nuclear weapons and missile programs despite UN Security Council sanctions and high-level diplomatic efforts. Recent ballistic missile tests and military parades suggest that North Korea is continuing to build a nuclear warfighting capability designed to evade regional ballistic missile defenses. Such an approach likely reinforces a deterrence and coercive diplomacy strategy—lending more credibility as it demonstrates capability—but it also raises questions about crisis stability and escalation control.U.S. policy as well as U.N. resolutions call on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons and missile programs. Kim Jong Un has repeatedly rejected “denuclearization” talks. According...

American soldier Travis King had shown signs of possibly defecting from the Army nearly a year before he fled into North Korean territory, telling military officials while serving in South Korea that he would not “return to post or America.” *** It was not the first sign of trouble for the Wisconsin native, who was facing assault allegations over a fight at a club on Sept. 25. [On] Sept. 4, while serving at Camp Bonifas near the southern end of the Demilitarized Zone that separates North and South Korea, King skipped out on his daily formation and took off to...

The mother of the US soldier who has been detained in North Korea after crossing into the country without authorization said the risky behavior was unlike her son. The 23-year-old Army private, Travis King, was stationed in South Korea and was on a tour of the demilitarized zone between the two countries Tuesday when he strayed from the group and ran across the border. “I can’t see Travis doing anything like that,” Claudine Gates, of Racine, Wisconsin, told ABC News. She said she last spoke to her son a few days ago and just wanted him to come home. King...

Large groups of North Koreans have appeared uniformly masked as recently as the end of June By Timothy H.J. Nerozzi | Fox News Reports of North Korean citizens going maskless in large groups indicate the country has rolled back its intense COVID-19 restrictions. South Korean analysts are speculating that the hermit nation has ended its blanket mask requirements as of the beginning of July. "Photos carried by the Rodong Sinmun show that the wearing of face masks has notably declined since July 3. They are only worn in extremely rare cases," a spokesperson for South Korea's Unification Ministry told the...

The filings also show that Pence has earned big sums on the speaking circuit, collecting a total of $3.4 million for 32 speeches between January 2022 and the end of April this year. Pence announced his candidacy for the White House in early June. The most lucrative engagement: A $550,000 honorarium for a February 2022 appearance at a world summit underwritten by the Universal Peace Federation in Seoul, South Korea. The group was established by the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon – the Korean evangelist and businessman who founded the Unification Church – and his wife, Hak Ja Han. According...

Yeonmi Park’s account of the horrors of North Korea made her a human rights celebrity. Her new claims that America is on the same path have made her a right-wing media star.

Korea's household debt-to-gross domestic product (GDP) ratio was the highest among the world's 34 major economies in the first three months of this year, data showed Monday. This has raised concerns that banks and other financial firms may face higher default rates amid higher interest rates and deepening economic warning signs. According to the latest Global Debt report by the Institute of International Finance (IIF) on Monday, the country's household debt-to-GDP ratio stood at 102.2 percent, topping the list, followed by Hong Kong at 95.1 percent, Thailand at 85.7 percent, U.K. at 81.6 percent and the U.S. at 73 percent....

"Japan has expressed 'serious concerns' after Chinese and Russian long-range strategic bombers conducted joint patrols over the Sea of Japan as far as the East China Sea and western Pacific Ocean. Both South Korea and Japan scrambled fighter jets on Tuesday when the Chinese and Russian joint patrols got underway as part of their militaries' annual cooperation plan. Four Russian and four Chinese military aircraft entered South Korea's air defence zone in the south and east of the Korean peninsula. Japan's military said it had verified two Russian bombers had joined two Chinese bombers over the Sea of Japan and...

Truman's inaction against China during the Korean war made the World a much more dangerous place since China assisted both Pakistan and North Korea to obtain nuclear weapons; China consolidated its takeover of Tibet causing much suffering. Lives could have been saved in Vietnam if Truman had attacked China during the Korean War. Inaction against China during the Korean War had its price. What would be the consequences of inaction against Iran? By Ezequiel Doiny Harvard Belfer Center reports China is winning the economic race with the US. This represents a victory of tyranny over freedom. Inaction has its price....

Japan put its ballistic missile defences on alert on Monday and vowed to shoot down any projectile that threatens its territory, after North Korea notified it of a planned satellite launch between May 31 and June 11. The nuclear-armed North says it has completed its first military spy satellite and leader Kim Jong Un has approved final preparations for the launch. It would be the North's latest step in a series of missile launches and weapons tests in recent months, including one of a new, solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile. Tokyo expects North Korea to fire the rocket carrying its satellite...

On this date in 1980, the former intelligence chief of South Korea was hanged for assassinating President Park Chung-hee.* In this surreal affair — known after its date as the “10.26 incident” in South Korea — the head of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency popped the autocratic head of state during a private dinner party at a secret KCIA compound. He then returned to another dinner party at the compound and, without disclosing what he had done, reported an “accident” and started dropping suggestions to a general that this might be an opportune moment to arrange martial law. Instead, the...