Samit Basu comments

@isabelle

The 1965 treaty doesn’t cover damages from Japanese occupation of Korea. Korea proposed to include damages in the treaty text but Japan demanded it taken out, because Japan deemed the occupation legal thus no damages occured.

It is formally established by the Korean supreme court that the 1965 treaty doesn’t cover damages thus Japanese corporations and individuals are exposed to damages claims. Conversely, assets claims againt Japan are thrown out because it’s deemed covered by the treaty.

The ball is in Japan’s court, because Lee has no choice but to let the liquidation of seized Japanese assets proceed. What Ishiba does afterward determines the course of bilateral relations.

Those analysts misunderstand Lee and Democratic party's Japan policies.

As far as Lee and the Democratic party is concerned, all prior agreement that Yoon has made with Japan is null and void, starting with the pending liquidation of seized Japanese assets to compensate forced laborers. Lee has pledged to drop all government legal tactics to delay the liquidation and drop the case to let the justice be served.

It is upto Ishiba and LDP to come up with a resolution regarding damages payment for forced laborers, not Lee's. The ball is in Japan's court now.

Other than the forced laborers and Japanese seafood, everything else negotiable, but not those two.

@gaijintraveller

Maybe they should go back to making R34 GTRs. They sell for a fortune now.

Doesn't meet the emissions and auto safety standards today.

@SaikoPhysco

From what I read, it was the Nissan executives who said no, because they thought they had a more lucrative buyout offer from Foxconn where Nissan executives get to keep their jobs instead of getting fired if Nissan was taken over by Honda.

Unfortunately, Foxconn then walked away from Nissan takeover, leading to the current day situation where Nissan's days are numbered.

Nissan cannot sell bonds in its current condition; it must sell itself, presumably a majority stake(60%) to some Chinese automaker to prevent what happened to Carlos Ghosn and Renault.

The only Japanese product I regularly buy are camera and camera lenses and pricing has been brutal, prices are going up $400~500 overnight.

At least at as bad as DJI Osmo Pocket 3 whose prices has doubled to $800.

This is unnecessary.

Lee Jae Myung pledged a disengagement from Japan and restored relations with China/Russia during the presidential debate yesterday.

Interesting, no Japan Today reports on Japanese 30 year bond interest spiking to 3.5% and Ishiba warning that Japanese government finance is worse than Greece...

https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/japan/japan-financial-crisis-greece-shigeru-ishiba-tax-cuts-b2753693.html

Japan PM warns financial condition worse than Greece’s

Monday 19 May 2025

Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba said his country’s financial condition was worse than Greece’s as he rejected calls for tax cuts at a time of rising borrowing costs.

Only if Tatsuki Ryo didn't get the March 2011 date right....

We will see if she gets July 2025 date right again in 50 days....

https://i0.wp.com/jbj.luf.temporary.site/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/watashigamitamirai-2020-5-22-1.jpg?ssl=1

T-4 is now over 30 years old and is due for a replacement.

While T-4 is engineered in Japan, its replacement Boeing T-7A will not be and instead be imported, due to Japan's ongoing industrial decline.

Japan imports armored vehicles, artillery shells, and machine guns nowadays as well.

@WiseOneIn Kansai

The last presidential election, you predicted that Lee would win by a landslide which he didn't.

https://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?lang=e&id=Po&Seq_Code=193025

Gallup: DP’s Lee 51%, PPP’s Kim 31%, Ex-PPP Chair Lee 8%

Lee Jae Myung : 51%

Kim Moon Soo : 31%

This will be the last training for the next 5 years since Lee Jae Myung is scheduled to swear in on June 3rd and all exchanges stop at that point.

Ironically, the only islands that Jaoanese can visit freely is the Liancourt Rocks. Korea’s claim on the Liancourt Rocks is so rock solid Korea doesn’t feel threatened by the presence of Japanese tourists. Korea welcomes Japanese vistors while Japanese government asks its citizens to not visit it.

Japanese citizens are banned from visiting the Diaoyu Islands by Jalanese government while only select few with ties to the Kurils Islands during Japanese occupation are allowed to visit the Kurils via Russian approval.

https://www.koreatimes.co.kr/amp/southkorea/politics/20250414/ex-opposition-chief-lee-jae-myung-widens-lead-in-opinion-poll

Ex-opposition chief Lee Jae-myung widens lead in opinion poll

Lee Jae Myung(Democratic Party) : 48.8%

Kim Moon-Soo(PPP) : 10.9%

Han Duck-Soo(PPP) : 8.6%

Han Dong-Hoon(PPP) : 6.2%

Elbridge Colby, the new defense undersecretary, wants to back out of AUKUS deal. Instead of selling Virginia class submarines to Australia, he wants to base US Navy owned Virginia class subs in Australia instead.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/09/trump-pick-for-pentagon-says-selling-submarines-to-australia-would-be-crazy-if-taiwan-tensions-flare

Trump pick for Pentagon says selling submarines to Australia would be ‘crazy’ if Taiwan tensions flare

Nominee for undersecretary for defense policy says Aukus deal to deliver Virginia class submarines could leave US sailors ‘vulnerable’

Careful, or Uniqlo's gonna get hit with a 100% tariff...

@itsonlyrocknroll

Fuji x100vi

Bad autofocus

Bad stabilization

@Sh1mon M4sada

The Sigma BF camera is way more beautiful.

BF has all the problems of X100VI plus rolling shutter problem.

Chinese fear of North Korean nuclear weapons is real, China has presented its own North Korea denuclearization plan and is urging ROK and Japan to join in. This greatly restricts what China can and want to do within North Korea as one wrong move can get Beijing nuked.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2025/03/c5e26b7d5347-china-eyes-teaming-up-with-japan-s-korea-to-denuclearize-n-korea.html?phrase=population%20aging&words=

China eyes teaming up with Japan, South Korea to denuclearize North Korea

KYODO NEWS KYODO NEWS - Mar 29, 2025 - 18:57 | World, All

China has drawn up a scenario to bolster cooperation with Japan and South Korea over North Korea's denuclearization in a bid to drive a wedge in the three-way ties between the two Asian neighbors and the United States, Chinese sources familiar with the matter said Saturday.

OPCON transfer will be completed in the next 4 years as both Trump and soon-to-be ROK President Lee Jae Myung want it to happen. Then the ROK calls the shots and USFK goes under the command of ROK MoD during wartime.

https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-03-05/national/diplomacy/Pentagon-nominee-voices-support-for-bolstering-South-Koreas-role-in-alliance-over-Opcon-transfer-question/2254970

Pentagon nominee voices support for bolstering South Korea's role in alliance over Opcon transfer question

During an interview with Yonhap News Agency in May last year, Colby expressed his backing for the swift Opcon transition, saying the Asian ally should undertake "overwhelming" responsibility for its own defense.

@Desert Tortoise

The first thing the Chinese would do is neutralize their nuclear weapons.

PLA can't. They don't know where all the North Korean nukes are. There are no pro-China factions within North Korea, they are all dead and high ranking North Korean generals and officials do not defect to China.

China could quickly overwhelm DPRK if it was serious about taking control.

1) PLA troops will be nuked once they cross Yalu.

2) Then surviving PLA troops face ROK troops.

I think it is safe to assume the PLA has done planning for exactly such a contingency in the event DPRK went belly up economically.

Yes there is a contingency plan, the Chinese plan is to let the ROK take over North Korea in 2 weeks and stabilize situations. China will seal off the border while the ROK does its job. In return, the ROK pledges no new US bases above DMZ post-war.

The existence of this secret ROK-China contingency management agreement was confirmed by two former ROK presidents, Lee Myung Bak and Park Geun Hye.

China surprisingly isn't interested in going into North Korea and let the chaos spill over into Northeast China. Rather, the Chinese focus is prevent the expansion of US bases above north of DMZ, and violating this agreement guarantees US bases across Dandong post-war, 400 miles away from Beijing.

@theFu

Is is strange that I wouldn't mind if China invaded NK and took over completely?

China can't without risking Beijing getting nuked.

The ROK has a world class integrated missile defense, so much so that USFK is sending its PAC-3 battery to Middle East and come under ROK's missile defense protection.

China doesn't have such a robust missile defense even for Beijing and is more vulnerable to North Korean nuclear missiles.

Additionally, Chinese invasion of North Korea means an automatic China vs ROK war, since ROK regards North Korea as its territory.

So the probability of Chinese invasion of North Korea is near zero.

https://armyrecognition.com/news/army-news/2025/breaking-news-us-relocates-patriot-air-defense-missiles-from-south-korea-to-middle-east-amid-rising-tensions

*Breaking News: US Relocates Patriot Air Defense Missiles from South Korea to Middle East Amid Rising Tensions.*

*While the PAC-3 systems are an integral part of South Korea's multi-layered missile defense network, designed primarily to counter the threat of North Korean ballistic missiles and nuclear capabilities, their temporary removal suggests a calculated and coordinated approach. It also highlights the growing confidence in South Korea’s domestic missile defense systems—including the L-SAM and KM-SAM—which will continue to ensure national security during the redeployment period*

@Desert Tortoise

Assuming the prosecutors do not appeal their recent reversal to the Supreme Court

They did but it's not possible for the final appeals verdict to come out before the June 3rd election, hence the case will be frozen until the end of Lee's term in 2030. Additionally, it's extremely unlikely a "Not guilty" verdict can be overturned, something like 1.5% chance of that happening anyway.

Lee was safe from other cases for the next 18 months(That's how long it would take for the next case to be finalized at the Supreme Court), and now they all will be frozen after June 3rd since he's immune from criminal prosecution during his term.

This is why the verdict was delayed until today, since certain conservative judge wanted to delay Yoon's verdict until Lee's appeals verdict was announced(Not guilty on all counts).

The most anti-Japan president in Korea's history Lee Jae Myung will be elected on June 3rd.

He currently polls 3 times the strongest PPP candidate, so the outcome is already predetermined.

Lee Jae Myung will make sure all the agreement that Yoon has made with Japan is thrown out the window.

So it's a "Escape Japan or die" situation?

@isabelle

Japan can, and should, still work with South Korea, but it cannot rely on it until the DPK/PPP policy swings stop.

Lee Jae Myung was cleared of Yoon prosecution office's BS charges in appeals trial. He's cleared of any disqualification threats for the next 15 months.

The conservatives are desperately praying for a miracle, that Yoon on too is cleared of his impeachment trial because if a new presidential election is held today, Lee would win by a margin of 30 points at the least.

Anyhow, stopping Democratic Party/PPP policy swing rests with Japan, not Korea. Japan has to take appropriate actions to make it happen, like embracing Japan's wartime history to the fullest extend, apologizing and compensating to comfort women and forced laborers, etc.

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/03/26/south-korea-opposition-inches-closer-to-presidency-after-legal-win.html

South Korea opposition clears hurdle for presidency after winning legal appeal

A South Korean appeals court reversed on Wednesday a lower court’s ruling and found main opposition leader Lee Jae-myung not guilty of violating the election law, removing a barrier that could have blocked him from running for president.

@Sh1mon M4sada

Don't believe Korean media, all entertainers no matter how popular and successful are still controlled by the management companies. 

Kim Soo Hyun's management company is owned by Kim Soo Hyun himself. The dead actress Kim Sae Ron also worked for Kim Soo Hyun's management company.

The issue at hand is whether Kim Soo Hyun and Kim Sae Ron dated while Kim Sae Ron was still a minor under 19(In Korea, age of adulthood is 19, not 18). Kim Soo Hyun denies it, but is accused by press.

@Agent_Neo

Unlike Europe, America, and Japan, South Korea's weakness is that it is not a democracy that it won for itself.

Actually you got it backward.

Korea won its democracy in 1987 through blood and sweats of protesters. Japanese never fought for democracy and is not a democracy today, but a single party oligarchy ruled by one party for 70 years and it never occurs to Japanese voters that they need to change the course.

@nandakandamanda

Actually the judge misinterpreted the law in this case.

The law governing detainment warrant makes distinction between hours and days.

Although the detainment section spells hour 7 days, the judge applied 168 hours and ruled the window for approving detainment warrant has passed. Ironically, it was a liberal judge interested in "human rights" that made this ruling to protect Yoon's rights.

This ruling will be appealed and Yoon will remain in jail until appeal is ruled.

Does that mean "Made In Mexico" Japanese brand vehicles for brands like Toyota and Nissan get hit with 25% tariff since the exemption only mentions US automakers?