@soryang Your in depth info and analysis on all the SK is always appreciated here.
I have ran across a couple of articles about how a plan to murder the opposition leader was in the works.
To that I say, any leader approving having his opponent murdered should be in the docks. I want to add, no matter what country, including and especially mine.
I hate and despise the ridiculous way we put on those Christmas displays designed to remind you to go buy gifts.
Well, it is easier to hand a friend $5 so they can buy a doz. eggs, and pass along to them some free cereal, some box of spaghetti, some fresh fruit, that someone gave you. No goofy decor is necessary.
I just did this yesterday.
Hey, you forgot: "It depends on what the definition of "is" is."
Enjoy your weekend, friend!

Vote was 205 to 85, if I remember correctly.

The most popular radio host in South Korea, Kim Eo-jun, told an incredible story to the national assembly yesterday. I'm not sure what to think about it. The word was put out to arrest him, along, with the democratic party leadership, and Han Dong-hun, the PPP party leader. Ostensibly, there has been a rift between Yoon and Han since Han became head of the PPP. Han a former prosecutor, Yoon's justice minister, and all around hatchet man for years, was talking to his boss as a peer apparently, which changed their relationship. It was Han's minority faction in the PPP that put the impeachment vote over the 200 required to suspend Yoon from the presidency and refer his impeachment case to the Constitutional Court for a final decision. 60 days after that a presidential election.

So initially, the martial law order on Dec 3, was defeated in early hours of Dec 4 by the National Assembly vote. The opposition political leaders and also the PPP leader Han Dong-hun were to be arrested. So none of the aforementioned persons to be apprehended by the military were. Allegedly according to Kim Eo-jun's hearing testimony, there was going to be a false flag event, in which members of the counter intelligence command's anti-North Korean agent team, would seize the same group of people, allegedly kill Han Dong-hun, and "rescue" communist sympathizers, (jong buk) state enemies, like Lee Jae-myung, Cho Guk, Kim Eo-chun, etc. In the course of this unexecuted plan, US military personnel were to be killed; the special anti North Korean team, leaving behind their North Korean uniform disguise, providing a strong impetus for the US armed forces to go to war against North Korea. I heard Rep. Brad Sherman on Korean tv news yesterday in an interview, saying the US would not have gone to war, because, the US command there can tell the difference, between a genuine North Korean plot, and any alleged South Korean false flag attack in South Korea.

I'm not clear on the timing on when this attack was planned, if it was in fact, the alleged plan, for a 2nd martial law coup, after the first one apparently failed. In any case, when Kim Eo-jun was asked during his testimony where did he get this story, and who "protected him" from the plot to seize him and others, he said persons from "a friendly country embassy." Pending the plan for a second attempt at a coup d'etat, it is alleged that the US 8th Army Command in South Korea was placed on alert.

I really like Kim Eo-jun and listen to video outtakes from his program often. However I got the impression that Kim had either memorized a script while he was telling his story at the Assembly hearing or was in shock. Also, I have to note here that his easily recognizable colleague, whom I've seen often in his videos, an attractive woman, journalist and political activist, was video taped in a confrontation with an armed South Korean soldier outside the National Assembly building, on the night of the "first" coup attempt, in which she grabbed his rifle, and said something like, go ahead shoot me. The scene was broadcast in media around the world. fwiw.

I'm not buying the SK vibrant democracy meme. The republic of South Korea has profound structural problems, economically, socially, and politically. This drift into authoritarianism, the suppression of a free press, the institutional corruption of the press on behalf of the five major chaebol monopolies, the oppression of labor unions, etc., is a perennial problem, that lends itself to the emergence of dictatorship. This still isn't over. The now acting president, the prime minister Han Duck-soo, is a suspect in Yoon's plot to overthrow the republic. How can he function as the chief executive? Also, there is the recent final conviction of Cho Guk, an opposition leader, and reformer of the Justice system, which is one of the South's crippled politicized institutions; the rigged prosecutions of Lee Jae-myung aren't resolved yet. Then there is the forthcoming impeachment trial by the Constitutional Court, what will they do?

Martial law plans drawn up during the Park Geun-hye impeachment, were most likely, planned for execution, if the Constitutional Court, at that time, 2017, failed to impeach Park. There would have been massive demonstrations in Seoul and other cities, which would have potentially paralyzed the country. Luckily, this didn't happen. Will opposition leader Lee Jae-myung be convicted and disqualified from office? This is another destabilizing situation. Will the corruption of prosecutors and the chaebol run conservative press (unlawful prosecution-press collusion to facilitate politically motivated prosecutions 검언유착 ) be resolved somehow?

South Korea’s parliament votes to impeach president over martial law debacle

OTC, thanks for the odds and ends. I can't help but thinking of Clinton's "I smoked marijuana but did not inhale," along the lines of "I did not have sex with that woman."

I have to say that Ms. So and I find the new Christmas display at the corner park in our neighborhood, which the city obviously wasted large sums on, offensive, in circumstances where that that same neighborhood suffered tremendous losses from Milton. It's like a kind of political promotion for a corrupt and incompetent local government led by real estate developers. I admire the tenacity and survival instincts of my neighbors.

@Enchantress With all sincerity, I hope this reply finds you in good health and total comfort.
My brother has been going to a pain management dr. for years. He is drug tested each trip. He loses the protocol if he tests positive for cannabis, cbd, or hemp, all of which are legal and all of which are prescribed by drs. (Pot is legal if dr. prescribed, otherwise illegal.) So, his relief is highly addictive drugs. I did represent a PA when the feds got him for running a pain management clinic scam. He lost his license, did 18 months in a federal prison. Now, you can keep your guns and hunting license while taking handfuls of Vicodin, but medical marijuana will cost you your 2nd. Am. rights.
I see all the markers of your neighbor being a snitch, or what the drug world calls pimps. We had a meth house in town that neighbors constantly reported, and the local sheriff ignored the calls. When the neighbor called the SO in an adjacent county, the house was immediately busted, 4 people arrested, all in jail with high bonds set. See if you have a state level drug task force. We have one in TX. People just do not know about it. The head of the branch that covers my county is a client. I got him a divorce and won him custody of his children.
Meditation my ass, although the addiction can slip up on anyone one day. I firmly believe there are generic drugs out there that may be for a totally different problem that have a pain killing side effect. There is no money in it. Quite likely, the insurance provider is concerned about their increasing liability the longer you take pain killers. They must have long past their peak profit, and you are denting their profit margin.
Damned if you do, blah blah...At least your new knee is superior to the one you were born with, so good on you!
Thanks for sharing your adventures with meds and meth, chica!

The meth story is typical. It’s always the first time they tried it, or they only had two beers when they’re stopped for DUI. I'm sure you've heard all those stories. I though do live next door to someone who cooks meth. I’ve called the cops numerous times. He has been arrested 3 times. The last time he had 4 felony counts against him, and I just knew he was going to prison. Nope. He only got 3 years' probation. The same day he pled guilty, there was a big meth bust. Can you say snitch. I can tell when he’s cooking. It gets in my eyes, and I get floaters. Hopefully he’ll overdose before he goes completely nuts.

I also go to “Pain Management.” I told my worker there about living next to a meth house. She told me not to worry about it because I haven’t flunked a drug test yet and she’ll let me know if anything comes back funky. I can be banned if I fail so many tests.

Speaking about the Insurance Companies trying to screw people, I get my Medicare Part D from WellCare. They keep telling me that I should consider getting off my pain medication and instead try counseling or meditation for my pain. Meditation can calm you, but I really doubt it will cure my pain, and nobody wants to hear about how bad you hurt, even if they’re getting paid to hear it. Getting a new knee has helped tremendously though. Their rationale is that I am putting myself at risk for addiction. Not going to happen. If I was, it would have happened a long time ago.