South Korea

US Exclusive: SOFREP Interviews ROK/US Navy SEAL Ken Rhee About His Recent Deployment to Ukraine

I think if I had to do it all over again and I got to choose, I’d be Ken Rhee.

He pretty much checks all of the boxes for being a 21st-century badass superhero, except being able to take flight under his own power. And rumor is, he’s working on that one.

Rhee in Ukraine taking a brief break in the action for a photo op. Photo courtesy of Ken Rhee

While preparing for my interview with Ken, I quickly discovered that he’s a massive celebrity in South Korea, where he was born. His YouTube channel, ROKSEAL, has almost 800 thousand followers. In a recent interview with Korea Now, the host described him as “The most famous personality in South Korea.” Damn, I thought, “Who is this guy, and what has he done?”

I was asked to interview him because he recently returned from a deployment to Ukraine with the International Legion.

This is a screenshot from an age-restricted YouTube video. If I had posted the actual video, all you would have seen is a big gray block with the word “age-restricted” on it. I’ll add the link below. Ken is on the left, and his buddy driving the car has a head laceration (don’t worry, it was superficial, he’s fine). They are leaving a building in Ukraine where they were taking accurate artillery fire. Video courtesy of YouTube and ROKSEAL.

If you haven’t already heard of Ken Rhee, I figured I’d start your introduction to him the same way I received mine; through this YouTube video. Go watch the first couple of minutes of it; I’ll wait. Oh, just so you know, it contains some blood and NSFW language; viewer beware. Ken would later tell me that’s the closest he’s been to dying. It was one of those situations where if you were over by where you were taking a piss two minutes ago, you’d be dead now. This footage seems to be straight out of an action movie, but I assure you, it’s quite real. To add to the drama and suspense, their vehicle (obviously not military) broke down while they were under small arms fire. Such was the experience of LT Ken Rhee fighting with the International Legion in Ukraine.

But I’ve gotten ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning.

Ken was born in South Korea and came to the United States at an early age, where he attended school up to and including graduating from the Virginia Military Institute (VMI). He found out during his application to the US Naval Academy that he was not a US citizen. Can you imagine that? One day finding out suddenly that you were not the American you always considered yourself to be? His parents explained to him that since he was born in South Korea and they had never applied for US citizenship for him, he was South Korean.

“Fine,” he thought. He had always wanted to join the Navy; now, he’d be joining the South Korean (the Republic of Korea, or ROK) Navy. In 2007 he did just that, was commissioned as an officer, and became a ROK Navy SEAL. After multiple deployments for the ROK, he had the opportunity to attend BUD/S in the US Navy, where he was a member of class 294. Following BUD/S, he attended SQT and was awarded his trident. To my knowledge, he’s the only man to have ever completed both grueling SEAL programs. A true international badass.

I hope you enjoy reading the SOFREP interview with LT Rhee as much as I did talking with him.

Rhee and his team in Ukraine. Image Credit: LT Ken Rhee

SOFREP: Some of our readers watched your latest video where you were in Ukraine, and the driver of your vehicle had a nasty-looking head laceration.

LT Rhee: Yeah, he cracked his head open pretty good.

SOFREP: Was he alright?

LT: Rhee: Yeah, he was maybe out of it for maybe two, three weeks. He got surgery, but then he was back in the game after that…so it wasn’t too bad.

SOFREP: They [the readers] wondered how bad that guy was injured; some didn’t realize that superficial head wounds tend to bleed that much. Once he realized he was OK, he wanted a souvenir pic of it.

LT Rhee: (laughs) I think he was pretty out of it; he had a concussion.

SOFREP: You grew up in the States, right?

LT Rhee: I did. So, I was born in South Korea, but I grew up in the States. Elementary school, Junior High School, High School…all the way to college. I went to VMI, Virginia Military Institute.

SOFREP: I understand that after you graduated, you went back to Korea.

LT Rhee: After I graduated from VMI, I went back to Korea, joined the Navy, went through officer candidate school (OCS), got commissioned, and became a Korean SEAL. Then I did a couple of deployments in Somalia. Then after these deployments, I had an opportunity to go to US SEAL training…US BUD/S…I applied for that and did that. I think it was about two weeks before graduation, the commander of BCT at the time, he came up to me and said I was hand-selected for SQT, which is SEAL Qualification Training. So I actually got to go through the entire SEAL pipeline. BUD/S, the junior officer training course, and SQT. It was pretty much a two-year pipeline…I got pinned, then I came back to Korea.

SOFREP: So you were actually a member of the US military and Korean military concurrently?

LT Rhee: Yeah, in a way. So I got to go through Korean SEAL training and US SEAL training. So, I have two tridents.

SOFREP: You’re probably the only one. I’m not aware of anyone else who’s done that.

LT Rhee: Yeah, I believe that I’m the only foreign officer that was able to able to go to SQT, not just the only foreign officer, but the only foreigner, enlisted or officer, I was the only one who was able to go to SQT.

SOFREP: Did you ever deploy with the US SEALS?

LT Rhee: No… uh, actually, in a way, I did in Ukraine because there were a few team guys there…US team guys.

SOFREP: I remember hearing in the interview after the combat footage on the YouTube video that your government, the South Korean government, wasn’t letting people go to Ukraine.

LT: Rhee: That’s correct; it’s against the law to go to Ukraine.

SOFREP: Has anyone come after you for that once you got back?

LT Rhee: (smiles) Oh, yeah, I had 15 cops waiting for me. So, we landed and were taxiing to the door. Before the door opened, there was an announcement that everyone on the plane had to stay seated; no one could get up. Once the door opened, all these dudes started pouring into the plane. They came up to my seat, showed me their badge, and said, “It’s time to go.” I counted them and thought, “you sent 15 suits after me; I wasn’t going to make a run for it.” (laughing). But they didn’t put handcuffs on me. They questioned me and told me that because we still have COVID restrictions in Korea, I’d have to be self-isolated for a week, and I would get my investigation after that.

SOFREP: And you had a torn ACL at the time, so you really weren’t going anywhere. How’s that doing now?

LT Rhee: I was first diagnosed at the Ukrainian military hospital, and they said it was ACL tears and I got checked in Korea when I got back, and my Korean doctors are saying that I tore my meniscus…in both of my knees. So, I’m going to go through surgery in mid-July, and fortunately, it’s not going to be a very big surgery; they’re 100% that I’ll get better, back to my feet within a few months. That was ultimately the reason I ended up leaving the country and coming back to Korea.

SOFREP: How was the medical care you received in Ukraine?

LT Rhee: In Ukraine, especially on the front lines, there aren’t any adequate hospitals. Even on operations, there’s pretty much no MEDEVAC or CASEVAC plan…so, medically, it’s really tough out there. The biggest military hospital would be in Kyiv; even in that hospital, I noticed that their operating rooms aren’t very sanitary because there are so many operations being conducted there. Obviously, they’ve been overloaded because of the war. It’s a tough situation.

SOFREP: So, how long were you in country?

LT Rhee: I was in country for approximately three months.

SOFREP: Do you plan on going back after your knee rehab?

LT Rhee: Yeah, that’s the plan. After my whole situation in Korea, I’m not sure how that’s going to work. I’m going to try to request permission now that we have a new President and a new administration…the atmosphere is a lot different now. We’ll see. I can’t be certain for now, but personally, yes, I’d like to go back. I have my teammates…I talked to one of them today; he’s a former agency guy and a former Green Beret, and he’s like, “you need to come back out here, you know,” and I’m like, yeah, man, I miss it. (smiling broadly) I do want to go back. So, we’ll see what happens.

SOFREP: From our end, we’re hearing that the Russians are pretty jacked up, there are morale issues, resupply issues, and troops are abandoning their posts and refusing to go back. Nothing seems to be happening to them as a result. Have you seen this?

LT Rhee: Well, morale is definitely bad, and I saw that first hand. I’ve worked with the Ukrainian Navy SEALS, the 73rd Center, and on the last operation where we were working together, they caught a few Russians. And what Russians are telling us, the prisoners, they were saying that a lot of them are deserting and there’s a full-scale operation with the Russians trying to find their own deserters (laughs) So, that’s how bad it is. In terms of equipment and weapons, they definitely have good weapons out there, but they also have the sh*tty side as well. Because Russia is so big, and their military is so huge, you’ll see both sides.

I remember being told before going to Ukraine people were telling me, “Oh, their training isn’t very good, their technology sucks,” and whatever, but when I got there, I’ve seen some good fighters. I’ve s en some good planning on their part as well, and I saw the part they weren’t very good at. But, for the most part, I think their strategy has definitely changed after losing Kyiv, Bucha, and Irpin. So, they definitely brought in new officers to change up their strategy, to change up their tactics…and it’s getting tough now.

SOFREP: Why do you think they have retreated to the eastern part of the country to regroup instead of trying to take everything at once?

LT Rhee: Yeah, they realized it was just too tough…they did a lot of cowboy sh*t at the beginning of the war, and they got all the way to the outskirts of Kyiv and were almost successful at it, too; that’s the scary thing. But I think they realized that the Ukrainian fighting spirit it’s strong. So the thought, “We can’t do this; we’re just stretched too thin.” So they pulled back, concentrated most of their forces in the east, and in the south, near the Black Sea, and they definitely changed up their strategies because they were taking a lot of losses.

On the Ukrainian side, especially the US…the international community, they’re coming together…they’re helping the war effort. You’ve got the International Legion like I was part of; you have advisors like me going in there and working with the Ukrainian Special Forces. So, I think it’s really pissing off the Russians. But I don’t believe the Russians will be successful in taking over the country, that’s for sure. I think they’re going to have a tough time even gaining more ground…but we’ll see. What I m worried about is that people are starting to forget about what is going on right now…the war is dragging out; it’s going on for a while, and people are not interested in the war anymore, which could result in the international community not helping as much. But, at the same time, the Ukrainians, they are losing soldiers. They have about 200 soldiers dying each day, so if their numbers are going down and people are not interested in the war, then that might be catastrophic in the future.

So, I’m what I’m trying to do out here in Korea is let people know that there’s still a lot of fighting going on. Ukrainians, they still need all the help they can get. The international community needs to support the war effort, so that’s one of the things I’m trying to do.

SOFREP: Do you think the international aid is being put to good use? All the weaponry that has been sent?

LT Rhee: Oh, yeah. It’s helping tremendously. My unit got to use the Javelins that were sent over. I know the howitzers they were coming over as I was doing my last operation, and they’re helping a lot. I mean, it’s actually changing the tide of the war. So, I hope that they continue to go to Ukraine, and it’s not just the Javelins or the howitzers…I know switchblades went in as well. I was just talking to my former teammates who utilizes switchblades very well, and they were able to get a lot of good kills with them.

So hopefully that kind of support…you know the humanitarian support is very important as well, the water, the food, the MREs and all that stuff, but the main [thing] would be the weapons, and I hope that doesn’t stop, especially from the US because they can’t send troops over officially, so, what can they do? Continue with the arms. That’s gonna really change the tide of war.

I’m really grateful to the US as well; most of the International Legion are Americans most of my teammates were Americans, so the US definitely has a foothold in Ukraine; it’s pretty crazy. I think most of the Legionnaires are American or British.

SOFREP: We really don’t hear a lot in the mainstream media about individual US citizens getting involved in the fighting. You’ll hear about the occasional SF guy taking early retirement, and then a few weeks later, he is on a plane to Ukraine, but that’s about it.

LT Rhee: Oh, yeah, there are guys like that. You’ve got a whole bunch of guys. You’ve got guys from the 75th Ranger Regiment, from the SF Groups, from the SEAL teams, from JSOC, from the Agency…It’s the same with the British side as well, SAS guys, paratroopers, good bunch of guys.

LT Rhee’s team taking out some bad guys. Image Credit: LT Ken Rhee

Everyone here at SOFREP thanks LT Rhee for taking the time to talk with us about his experiences in Ukraine. We wish him the best with this surgery and hope that he realizes his wish to get back out there in the action again.

You can keep track of him on his Instagram account here.

US Military Ends 70 Year Stay in South Korean Capital

The United States formally ended seven decades of military presence in Seoul, South Korea’s capital Friday with a ceremony to mark the opening of a new headquarters.

Camp Humphreys, about 45 miles south of Seoul, has opened and many of the U.S. troops have already moved there. The rest of the command will relocate there by the end of the year.

The U.S. military had been headquartered in Seoul’s central Yongsan neighborhood since American troops first arrived at the end of World War II. The Yongsan Garrison was a symbol of the U.S.-South Korea alliance but its occupation of prime real estate was also a long-running source of friction.
Located in the western port city of Pyeongtaek and close to a U.S. air field, the new 3,510-acre (1,420-hectare) command cost $11 billion to build and is the largest overseas U.S. base. South Korea has paid about 90 percent of the cost.
“This headquarters’ building, within the headquarters’ complex that surrounds it, represents the significant investment in the long-term presence of U.S. forces in Korea,” Gen. Vincent Brooks, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said during the opening ceremony. “U.S. Forces Korea will remain the living proof of the American commitment to the alliance.”
In a message read out at the ceremony by an aide, South Korean President Moon Jae-in said that the headquarters is the cornerstone of the U.S.-South Korea alliance.
“In opening a new era of the U.S. forces headquarters in Pyeongtaek, I hope that the U.S.-South Korea alliance will develop beyond a ‘military alliance’ and a ‘comprehensive alliance’ and become a ‘great alliance,'” Moon said in the statement.
The relocation is part of a broad U.S. plan to realign its 28,500 troops and their bases in South Korea into two major hubs: one in Pyeongtaek and the other in the southeastern city of Daegu. U.S. officials say they want to move out of highly populated areas and improve efficiency and military readiness.
“Modern warfare is all about concentrating and deploying forces quickly, and Pyeongtaek in these terms has many advantages because it can really function as an outlet, unlike Yongsan, which was stuck in the middle of a population center,” said Yun Jiwon, a security professor at Pyeongtaek University.

The Yongsan area has always had a foreign military presence. The Chinese, when they occupied the country in the late 19^th century, the Japanese from 1910 thru the end of World War II, and finally the U.S. after the Japanese left occupied it from 1945-1949 but returned a year later when the Korean War began all based in Yongsan.

To read the entire article from ABC News, click here:

Photo courtesy AP

US Cancels August Military Drill With South Korea, Kim Visits China

The United States has canceled a major joint exercise with South Korea as a sign of good faith with the summit meeting with North Korea. Meanwhile, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“Consistent with President Trump’s commitment and in concert with our Republic of Korea ally, the United States military has suspended all planning for this August’s defensive ‘wargame’,” Pentagon spokesperson Dana White, said in a statement.

“The South Korean and U.S. military authorities have been having close consultations over the combined exercises that U.S. President Donald Trump has said he will stop,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.

The suspension of the military exercises reportedly will include a clause to resume the exercises if North Korea stops bargaining in good faith.

This is Kim’s third trip to China this year, coming a week after he met Trump in Singapore for historic talks.
Trump agreed to work with Kim toward complete denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, committed to provide the North’s regime with security guarantees and pledged to end “war games”, which Pyongyang and Beijing have long seen as provocative.
South Korea and the Pentagon announced they would halt the annual Freedom Guardian military drill scheduled for August.
In an unusual move, Chinese state media announced Kim’s visit and said he would stay for two days. Previously China would only confirm Kim had visited after he had left the country.

While critics of Trump are saying that he conceded these exercises with no assurances, they should recall that at the request of South Korean President Moon Jae-in, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis postponed the start of the Foal Eagle air, sea and land exercises prior to the Winter Olympics and Paralympics in South Korea.

To read the entire article from Reuters, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Summit Surprise: Trump Agrees to Curtail Military Exercises in Korea

President Trump extended an olive branch to North Korea during the summit by agreeing to stop the large United States-South Korean military exercise, something Pyongyang has long called a “grave provocation” that is a preparation for an invasion.

The president’s revelation that he planned to put the “war games” on hold as part of the agreement with Kim to work “toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”
“Under the circumstances that we’re negotiating a very comprehensive complete deal, I think it’s inappropriate to be having war games,” Trump told reporters.
He also described the exercises as “very provocative” and said the move would “save us a tremendous amount of money.”
The next round of the joint drills were due to be held in August.
But both the Pentagon and South Korea’s military appeared to have blindsided by Trump’s statement.
U.S. Forces Korea said it had “received no updated guidance,” and Seoul said it would need to clarify the “intention behind his comments.”
Around 28,000 U.S. troops are based in South Korea. The U.S. and its allies maintain the drills are purely defensive in nature.
As well as putting the North on edge, the drills highlight the gulf between the capabilities of the South Korean military and its advanced U.S. ally, and the sizable but aging North Korean forces.
In December, joint exercises named Vigilant Ace involved some 230 planes and 12,000 U.S. military personnel in what was described as “a realistic air combat exercise.”
Despite signing the statement with Kim, Trump told reporters Tuesday that reducing the number of U.S. troops in South Korea was “not part of the equation right now.”

While the many detractors of Trump point out that he made concessions while the North Koreans promised only to do what they’ve promised before, it was extending an olive branch as a show of faith only. Those war games can be turned back on as quickly as they’re turned off.

It was a first step, nothing more, to generate further talks between the two sides.

Just a few months ago, there was worry about a nuclear confrontation between North Korea and the United States. That potential event seems much less likely today.

To read the entire article from NBC News, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

North and South Korea Agree to Hold Military, Red Cross Talks

While the on-again, off-again summit meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un is still in flux, the divided Korean states, both North and South have agreed to conduct military and Red Cross talks later this month. They are trying to finally end the war that began 68 years ago and hopefully set the table for families to be able to reconnect since the war began.

The rivals also agreed at a meeting of senior officials at the border village of Panmunjom to soon establish a liaison office at the North Korean border town of Kaesong and hold sports talks on fielding combined teams in some sports at the Asian Games in August, as they continue to take steps toward reconciliation.
South Korea says building trust with North Korea is crucial amid a U.S.-led diplomatic push to persuade the North to give up its nuclear weapons.
The high-level meeting between the Koreas followed talks in New York between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and senior North Korean envoy Kim Yong Chol on a possible summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. American delegations are also meeting with North Koreans at Panmunjom and in Singapore.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reported that “good progress” has been made with North Korea and setting up the meeting between President Trump and Kim Jong Un.

The US is pressing a demand for “complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization.” The US has promised the North Koreans security guarantees as well as helping them achieve economic prosperity.

To read the entire article from Fox News, click here:

Photo: screenshot of North and Korean leaders meeting

North Korea Still Willing to Meet With President Trump

Kim Jong Un has stated that North Korea is still willing to meet with President Donald Trump “at any time” despite the recent cancellation of the summit meeting between the two leaders.

The two leaders were slated to meet in Singapore on June 12^th. The language of their message was not as bombastic as usual for the North’s Foreign Ministry.

Kim Kye Gwan, a top official at North Korea’s Foreign Ministry, said Trump’s decision to cancel the talks runs counter to the global community’s wishes for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
“We would like to make known to the US side once again that we have the intent to sit with the US side to solve problem(s) regardless of ways at any time,” said Kim in comments published by the country’s state-run news agency KCNA Friday.
Kim said Trump’s decision is “not consistent with the desire of humankind for peace and stability in the world, to say nothing of those in the Korean Peninsula.”
President Trump canceled the summit Thursday in a letter addressed to Kim Jong Un, citing recent hostile comments from top North Korean officials and concern over Pyongyang’s commitment to giving up its nuclear weapons. Trump said it would be “inappropriate” to have the summit given his worries.
The final straw, US officials said, was a statement Thursday from North Korea’s Foreign Ministry calling US Vice President Mike Pence a “political dummy” and hinting that Pyongyang was ready for a “nuclear showdown” should diplomacy fail.
Trump’s administration claimed there had been hiccups behind the scenes. In a background briefing a senior White House official said the North Koreans had failed to turn up to a meeting with a White House official in Singapore to talk planning and logistics. “The North Koreans didn’t tell us anything. They simply stood us up,” the official said.
But despite President Trump’s abrupt cancellation, he appeared to leave the door open for talks to resume at some point, telling reporters Thursday that “if and when Kim Jong Un chooses to engage in constructive dialogue and actions, I am waiting.”

The two sides can still meet and South Korea, who was acting almost as a middleman in the earlier negotiations will be key if future talks are planned. The North Koreans did destroy their nuclear test site in a show for western media.

To read the entire article from CNN News, click here:

Photo courtesy CNN Video Screenshot

Kim Yo Jong is the Darling of the Olympics….Why?

If there is a bigger head-scratching moment out there right now, please inform the world. Kim Yo Jong, the younger sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has been representing her brother and the regime at the 2018 Olympics at the PyeongChang Games. Yo Jong has smiled, and shook hands and played the part of the young smiling face of the regime in front of the world and they are lapping it up.

The western media as a whole has been totally reporting on the North Korean propaganda reports as if they were the official news service of the North’s government. Kim Jong Un has to be extremely pleased. The words used to describe Yo Jong’s dance at the Olympics have been,“ stealing the show” with the benefit of “her warm smile and message.” And the kicker was that she was “earning a gold medal for her diplomatic dance.” These are being reported by American journalists. But the fact that his sister is wooing the masses there would be funny if it were not so scary.

And scariest of all, the South Koreans are buying it. The same ones who live right next to one of the most repressive regimes in the world and constantly have to worry about the next missile launch, as Jong Un fires ICBMs into the Sea of Japan with the care a 12-year old playing with Roman candles on the 4th of July.

The official South Korean news agency, Yonhap reported that Yo Jong was “wearing a wine-colored jacket and black pants,” at a dinner as if she were a member of the Hollywood elite’s beautiful people, instead of what she truly is.

Yo Jong is a member of the North’s Politburo and is the deputy head of the Propaganda and Agitation Department. Reportedly she’s one of the very few trusted advisors that the dictator Jong Un has and she has run interference for him, being the advance party prior to his appearances.

And her position within the Propaganda Department has been well-served in the last few days. She’s smiled and said the right things and then wrote in a guestbook message that, “I hope Pyongyang and Seoul get closer in our people’s hearts and move forward the future of prosperous unification,” she penned.

She is the first member of the ruling family to visit South Korea since the Armistice was signed in 1953. That shows the trust that Kim Jong Un, who is as untrusting as anyone alive has in his sister. And she’s totally won over the media in a brilliant move. The North has done its homework in the manner of winning over the Korean people and the international media.

Even western analysts are dropping the ball here. One called Yo Jong’s appearance, the answer to having Ivanka Trump representing the U.S. for the closing ceremonies. Another, Ken Gause was quoted by CNN as saying, “And it also is a signal that North Korea is not this crazy, weird former Cold War state — but it too has young women that are capable and are the future leadership.”

Except that it IS a crazy, weird Cold War state. The North still has gulags where thousands of people get sent for the slightest infractions. Kim Jong Un is a paranoid dictator who will kill hundreds in public executions if he feels even the slightest bit of uneasiness from his people. He’s executed senior party officials and even had his own half-brother assassinated in an airport last year with a VX nerve agent.

The North Korean people have no fundamental human rights of any kind. No freedom of expression, of the press, or any outside communication. If a North Korean citizen is found in possession of a cell phone, they risk being sent to a prison camp.

Thousands of citizens starve to death or die of disease every year in the north. Kim Jong Un survives all of this because the people are completely controlled by the party, which is him. And his sister, “The Ivanka Trump” of North Korea is in it up to her neck.

It is not at all surprising that the western press has forgotten about Otto Warmbier. He was visiting the North in 2016 when he was arrested and charged with attempting to steal a propaganda poster from his hotel. He was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor where he was tortured so bad in 17 months, the North Koreans shipped him home in a coma, where he died a few days later. His “hostile acts”, the supposed theft of a propaganda poster cost him his life.

The only cracks we saw into what really lies behind the smile was when the South sat her next to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. The two didn’t shake hands, smile blankly at one another or even make eye contact. But when Pence was cheering the U.S. squad marching by, Yo Jong gave him the side eye. If looks could kill…

That is the North Korea of Kim Jong Un and his sister Kim Yo Jong. But the western press will keep smiling and repeating their propaganda verbatim for the North like good little “useful idiots”, right up until the next missile launch. Hopefully, that one too will end up in the Sea of Japan and not on a western city.

Photos: Wikipedia

North Korea May Hold Military Parade on Eve of Olympic Opening

The North Korean military is planning on conducting a large military parade on the eve of the Olympics opening ceremonies which are slated to begin on Feb. 9.

A copy of what appears to be a letter sent from North Korean authorities to defense attaches, seen by CNN, invites them and their spouses “to attend festival functions held in Pyongyang” to mark the 70th anniversary of the formal creation of the Korean People’s Army (KPA) on February 8.
Diplomatic sources in Pyongyang told CNN that defense attaches with relations to North Korea had received invitations to the event.
On Thursday, North Korea analyst website NK News published satellite images believed to show preparations underway in Pyongyang for the event at the Mirim Parade Training Ground.
February 8 and April 25 both have significance for the founding of the KPA. But April 25 has been the bigger date since the seventies, and has been designated Army Foundation Day. Winter parades are also rare, though some analysts attribute this to training schedules beginning towards the end of the year.
Parades in North Korea typically involve choreographed performances involving thousands of individuals.
In negotiations at the Panmunjom truce village on the DMZ, it was agreed the two countries would march together at the Olympics under a flag showing a unified Korean Peninsula. North Korea also agreed to send a large delegation of athletes, supporters and performers.
While many have welcomed the reduction in tensions on a Peninsula which last year appeared to be barreling towards war, some in Seoul and Washington have questioned whether South Korea is giving up too much for too little.

The North Korean government is playing the aggrieved party card claiming that the US-South Korean military drills “serve as a prelude to the aggressive war bringing a nuclear disaster to the Korean Peninsula,” in their state-run newspaper.

So the parade may be just to inject some show of power into the mix.

To read the entire article from CNN, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Retired General: “I Know How Powerful North Korea’s Army Is”

A retired and well-respected South Korean general said that North Korean soldiers will defend their homeland with a religious fanaticism if the United States decides to attack.

“I try to explain to the Americans — if we have to go into North Korea, it is not going to be like going into Iraq or Afghanistan. It’s not going to be like toppling (ex-Iraqi President Saddam) Hussein. This would be more like trying to get rid of Allah,” said I.-B. Chun, referring to the Arabic word for God.
Chun, speaking at a London think tank late Wednesday, said. “I said to my team: Can you imagine what that would look like? (North Korean leader) King Jong Un and his family is a cult in North Korea.”
The Kim dynasty has ruled North Korea since its founding in 1948. Its three leaders — first Kim Il Sung, then Kim Jong Il and now Kim Jong Un — have inspired an intense, devotional following that has kept them in power.
In her new book, North Korea: The Country We Love to Hate, political analyst Loretta Napoleoni described the isolated nation’s ruling “juche” philosophy that values self-reliance and extreme nationalism “as a modern religion, similar to Scientology, a non-transcendental doctrine with a twist of absurdity and plenty of dogmas.”
“I have had the opportunity to speak to North Korean soldiers who have defected to South Korea — and you cannot imagine how indoctrinated they are,” Chun said. “These are people who have defected, and yet there is still an innate belief in their system which is close to ridiculous.”

Chun stated that most of the military’s infrastructure is underground due to the bombing by the US in the 1950s and that although their air force is outdated, he’d expect them to use them in kamikaze style attacks as well as their huge chemical weapons stockpile.

Chun urged that a war against North Korea should be a last resort.

To read the entire article from The USA Today, click here:

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

South Korea Seizes Ship Allegedly for Illegal Oil Shipments to the North

The South Korean government seized a Hong Kong-registered ship last month for allegedly supplying oil to the North in breach of United Nations sanctions. The Koreans, armed with U.S. satellite photos said the ship Lighthouse Winmore transferred 600 tons of refined oil to a North Korean ship.

The UN Security Council resolution bans any ship-to-ship transfers of goods destined for Pyongyang.

The revelations came as China denied claims by President Donald Trump it had allowed oil shipments to the North.
The ship entered Yeosu port in South Korea on 11 October to load up with refined oil and left for Taiwan four days later, Yonhap news agency reported.
But instead of going to Taiwan it transferred the oil to a North Korean ship and three other vessels in international waters on 19 October, South Korean officials were quoted as saying.
This defies a UN Security Council resolution imposed on 11 September.
The New York Times said the transfer was captured in US satellite photos, released by the US Treasury in November, although the Lighthouse Winmore was not named by the Treasury.

The ship is registered in Hong Kong but the company that owns it is a shadowy group supposedly based in Taiwan. President Trump announced that the Chinese were behind it, which Beijing reported “was not consistent with the facts.”

North Korean state-owned news services have responded with the usual bluster that the sanctions are “an act of war” by the U.S.

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