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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.

An industrial robot brutally slaughtered a South Korean robotics technician Tuesday, allegedly mistaking him for just another container of organic material in need of stacking. The victim, a man in his 40s, was attempting to diagnose an issue with a pick-and-place robot's sensor at the Donggoseong Export Agricultural Complex in the southern county of Goseong, as there was an equipment test planned for later in the week, reported the Register. The paprika-sorting robot, reportedly created and installed by the victim's employer, spotted the man with its sensor, figured him for a box of vegetables, then seized him using its arms...

A network of "sophisticated" high-end brothels in greater Boston and eastern Virginia provided sex for pay to "elected officials, high tech and pharmaceutical executives, doctors, military officers, government contractors that possess security clearances, professors," and others, federal prosecutors said Wednesday...Charged in the case were Han "Hana" Lee, 41, Junmyung Lee, 30, and 68-year-old James Lee.

The US Army has charged defector Travis King with several offenses including desertion for sprinting into North Korea in July — as well as the solicitation of child pornography and other crimes dating back to at least last year. *** The Army claims the private had the intention of abandoning his military duties permanently when he ditched his South Korean post by running across the demilitarized border into the totalitarian country. He “did remain so absent in desertion until on or about 27 September 2023,” when the hermit kingdom released him back to the US, the court records state. The...

South Korea says China has forcibly repatriated a "large number" of North Korean defectors.This follows recent reports from human rights groups claiming that as many as 600 North Koreans have been sent back. Seoul said on Friday that the reports appear to be true, but did not confirm the exact number who were repatriated. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the defectors, mostly women, could face imprisonment, sexual violence or even death once back in the North.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will lead a congressional delegation trip to China, Korea and Japan next week to advance U.S. economic and national security interests in the region, his office announced Tuesday. He will take the trip with Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the ranking Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, and other colleagues during the Columbus Day recess. Schumer has often urged the United States to take a tougher approach to China and last year he spearheaded passage of the CHIPS and Science Act, which was intended to improve U.S. competitiveness with China. The trip will include meetings...

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...