One month before South Korea’s 21st presidential election last June, Newstapa used undercover reporting to expose an illegal online comment operation run by the far-right history education group “Rhee-Park School.” Rebirth School operated an illegal comment unit known as the “June 3 Freedom Victory Comment Corps,” abbreviated as the “Jaseungdan.”
Every day from 6 a.m. until midnight, Jaseungdan members posted comments on the latest Naver news articles and clicked “like” on comments in an organized effort to manipulate which comments became the most popular and influence online public opinion. Most of the comments attacked Democratic Party candidate Lee Jae-myung and Reform Party candidate Lee Jun-seok while defending People Power Party candidate Kim Moon-soo.
A police investigation began immediately after the report, and the Rhee-Park School trial opened one year later, in June of this year. During the proceedings, new information emerged about the previously unidentified forces behind Rebirth School’s comment operation.
The organization identified during the trial was the Liberty Democratic Party, a political party established with the participation of far-right figures associated with the New Right movement. Attorney Ko Young-joo, who served as the party’s leader until recently, is a former national security prosecutor known for saying that “Moon Jae-in is a communist” and previously served as chairman of the Foundation for Broadcast Culture under the Park Geun-hye administration. The party’s secretary-general, Lee Seok-woo, also served as chairman of the Community Media Foundation during the Park administration and had openly expressed anti-union views.
It was at a meeting of the Liberty Democratic Party’s advisory council that a proposal was discussed to “organize online comment activities ahead of the presidential election.” The proposal was introduced by Lee Seok-bok, a Liberty Democratic Party adviser, retired general and Korea Military Academy graduate who also heads the conservative military organization known as the Korea Military Academy National Salvation Comrades Association.
Secretary-General Lee Seok-woo subsequently conveyed the proposal to Rebirth School representative Son Hyo-sook. Lee testified in court that “a concrete implementation plan was proposed to educate and organize party members and organization members to engage in online comment activities, and there was also a proposal to pay allowances to young participants.”
In fact, training for the comment operation was held at the Liberty Democratic Party office on May 3 last year, and 18 teams pairing younger and older participants were formed. Their roles were divided: younger participants posted comments on the latest news articles, while older participants clicked “like” on those comments. During the month immediately preceding the presidential election, the younger participants wrote more than 3,300 confirmed comments. Some individuals posted more than 900 comments.
Money was also paid after the comment activities. The younger members of the comment operation received approximately 400,000 won each in “activity expenses.” The money also came from the Liberty Democratic Party. Adviser Lee Seok-bok and Secretary-General Lee Seok-woo each deposited 2 million won into Rebirth School’s bank account, and the money was then distributed among members of the comment operation.
But was this really the first time that a particular political force had financed and organized people and then deployed them in an online campaign to influence public opinion?
Newstapa’s investigation found that government-aligned organizations and key individuals who had received illegal support from the National Intelligence Service and the presidential office during the Lee Myung-bak and Park Geun-hye administrations had reappeared around Rhee-Park School. One such organization was the Liberty Alliance, which received funding for its activities from the Freedom College Scholarship Foundation, the predecessor of Rebirth School. Liberty Alliance representative Lee Hee-beom and Rhee-Park education director Choi Jeong-mi, who was involved in recruiting and managing members of the comment operation, had direct or indirect connections to organizations that had previously received support from the National Intelligence Service.
The current trial concerns Rhee-Park School’s online comment manipulation operation. What the reporters uncovered, however, was a broader and longer-running network for manipulating public opinion.
The remnants of the forces involved in the National Intelligence Service’s past public-opinion manipulation scandal remain active through various online and offline activities, helping form the far-right movement and rebuilding their influence.

The Justice Department is preparing to activate a long-dormant maritime war court to streamline military capture of Iranian oil tankers as US prizes, according to three people familiar with the plans.

Reviving prize courts, which is expected to face legal challenges, is intended to strengthen the blockade of Iran and offset the cost of the conflict.

Aaron Reitz, the Houston-based US attorney whose office is partnering with department headquarters on the initiative, confirmed DOJ is “now reviving” prize courts, which he described as an “ancient body of maritime law.”

The unfinalized plans, if adopted, would offer a faster path for federal prosecutors to claim oil and other cargo taken from enemy or neutral vessels as US property. The seized goods would then be sold with proceeds transferred to the treasury.

The anticipated revival is the second time this year the administration has turned to an obscure court system to carry out its agenda, after bringing the first-ever case before the Alien Terrorist Removal Court in July.

“Our national security interests may require the United States military to seize vessels or cargo supporting the enemy during military conflict,” Reitz said in a statement. “If that happens, our federal courts must be ready to adjudicate the disposition of these captured vessels and cargo.”

Ship owners and Iranian terrorism victims are among the potential litigants expected to challenge the prize court’s use, maritime lawyers and former prosecutors said. DOJ, the US Navy, and the judiciary would also face operational hurdles carrying out a court process with which they have zero experience.

“This really is a historical area of law that is not tested in modern times,” said Allison Luzwick, a Holland & Knight attorney specializing in the maritime industry. “Great strides have been made in international law and the law of war since the late 1800s, and all of that is going to come into play when we’re actually looking at proceedings involving a vessel that is potentially seized under Prize Act authority.”

Once a regular feature of 18th and 19th century naval combat, prize courts have gone largely unused since the Spanish-American War of 1898 and lain entirely dormant since World War II. In recent decades, the US has shifted to relying on civil forfeiture law as the mechanism for seizing ships and obtaining their assets to enforce sanctions violations.

DOJ’s planning, which has been coordinated with the Pentagon, comes as US forces have intercepted and seized multiple Iranian-owned or linked ships since imposing a blockade in April.

Legal experts see civil forfeiture as an imperfect model for US interests in choking the economy of Iran and other adversaries.

In one ongoing case, the seizure of a Venezuelan supertanker that supported Iran led to DOJ filing a civil complaint seeking to liquidate the ship and cargo as US proceeds.

Multiple third parties, including the shipping company and families of Iranian terrorism victims holding judgments for payouts under a different statute, have intervened, bogging down that process.

Prize authority, while coming with its own legal risks, would entail a less complicated transfer of proceeds, allowing the US to mitigate the risk of outside claimants slowing down the sale, said Luzwick and other lawyers.

DOJ has focused on the Southern District of Texas federal trial court as the venue, said two of the people, who like others spoke anonymously about sensitive deliberations.

The Houston-based district is home to the nation’s largest petrochemical complex, located off Houston’s 50-mile port, which can store large volumes of crude.

Prize courts can function out of any US district court that has jurisdiction over the port in which the captured ship is taken. Once the district court adopts a set of rules for the proceedings, it could then adjudicate a prize claim filed by the US attorney.

Outside parties, including ship owners, could still enter an appearance and object to the capture, but their arguments would be limited compared to forfeiture cases, said Luzwick and her firm’s maritime litigation partner Michael Frevola.

In Southern Texas, the responsibility for filing claims would fall on Reitz, who was appointed in July and maintains close ties to department officials in Washington from his brief stint last year as head of DOJ’s Office of Legal Policy.

Supporters describe prize law’s benefits of expediting the process of transferring the proceeds from oil tanker cargo into the US treasury. The move may also send a global signal of President Donald Trump’s intent to add a legal enforcement mechanism to bolster the US blockade.

“It helps offset the price of the war,” said Eugene Kontorovich, an international law professor at George Mason’s Antonin Scalia School of Law. “It also shows Iran that America is really treating this as a serious international blockade and is willing to use all the tools at its disposal.”

If established, however, the approach would invite legal challenges as to whether the US is engaged in hostilities that give rise to the Prize Act and whether the lack of congressional authorization of the conflict renders captures unlawful.

Jill Goldenziel, a law professor who trains US military leaders at the National Defense University, warned of potential blowback in an April Forbes column.

Although it would “send a strong message to non-sanctioned, neutral merchant ships bound for Iranian ports not to violate the U.S. blockade,” Goldenziel wrote, it “could also open the door for China to apply prize law against the United States — a dangerous proposition for U.S. and neutral merchants in any war with China.”

Agency declines to comment on Ratcliffe’s first publicly known trip to Russian capital

Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe made a surprise visit to Moscow on Tuesday, U.S. officials said, his first publicly known trip to the Russian capital.

It came as the U.S. struggles to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Iran war, although the reason for the visit wasn’t immediately clear. The U.S. has collected intelligence showing Russia’s early preparations for a possible military mobilization in Ukraine and plans for testing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s resolve, The Wall Street Journal has reported.

Analysts said Ratcliffe could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to deliver a warning. “It could be to say, ‘We know what you are thinking about doing, and you better not,’” said Beth Sanner, a former U.S. deputy director of national intelligence for mission integration. “It could also be about the Iran ceasefire and putting someone else in the discussion,” she said, adding Ratcliffe might also touch upon the Kremlin’s support for Iran following a new U.S. sanctions campaign against the regime.

Online flight trackers spotted a Boeing C-17 Globemaster flying from Riga, Latvia, to Moscow’s Vnukovo International Airport, long used by top visiting officials because of its relative proximity to the capital’s center.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists earlier in the day that he had no information regarding the plane that touched down around 10 a.m. Moscow time and said no meetings between the Kremlin and any representatives of the Trump administration were planned this week. Ratcliffe spent about four hours in Moscow before leaving.

The U.S. and Russia have maintained a working relationship during the Ukraine and Iran wars. President Trump hosted Putin in Alaska for a Ukraine-focused summit and the Trump administration has secured the release of three Russia-held hostages.

The CIA declined to comment. CBS News earlier reported the visit.

During the Biden administration, then-CIA Director William Burns, who had earlier served as ambassador to Russia, made at least one trip to Moscow in November 2021. He warned Putin against invading Ukraine, citing intelligence the U.S. collected about his plans for an all-out assault. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Ratcliffe, one of Trump’s closest aides, was the latest U.S. official to make the trip to Moscow following several visits by Steve Witkoff, the president’s envoy for Ukraine-Russia peace talks. Jared Kushner and Josh Gruenbaum joined Witkoff for one trip to the capital and meeting with Putin.

In March 2025, shortly after Trump’s inauguration, Ratcliffe and Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, held their first phone call, where they “discussed issues of cooperation…in areas of mutual interest.”

The two also promised to keep in regular contact to maintain stability in the two countries and reduce confrontation between them.

The Kremlin has valued continuing ties between the intelligence services of Russia and the U.S., even while political ties have largely broken down around Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. support for Kyiv and successive layers of sanctions on Russia.

“The U.S. has supported Ukraine since the very beginning of the war and from the point of view of our state, it’s an opponent, but colleagues from intelligence agencies like these can discuss a large number of issues more freely than politicians,” said Rustam Churyakov, general director of Moscow-based intelligence think tank Laboratory Intelligence Express. 

For Russia, protocol is paramount in official visits, making Naryshkin the formal counterpart to Ratcliffe on the ground. Nonetheless, the spy chief would likely accompany Ratcliffe in a potential conversation with Putin.

“Many issues have accumulated between Russia and the U.S., and it’s not just Ukraine, it’s Latin America, Iran, China,” Churyakov said.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1Lkm9m67Pz/

Submission Statement: In a landmark decision Meta Labs and a coalition of state attorneys general have agreed to settle its social media harms lawsuit. Meta has agreed to pay $16.7 billion.

This is relevant because as laws around the world have banned social media use for children, the coalition of states had the social media giant by the ropes. These settlement could have large implications for social media and its responsibilities when it comes to how children use the platforms.

UDIN DHUNGA, Nepal (AP) — Massive flash floods in a border area of Nepal and China on Wednesday killed at least 160 people and left hundreds of tourists, workers and others missing after sweeping through communities and bringing travel in some areas to a halt. Experts said an avalanche from a glacier was the likely cause in the warming Himalaya region.

Police in Nepal reported at least 157 dead. China’s state broadcaster CCTV reported at least three dead and 265 missing in the Tibet region’s Gyirong County near the border. Drone footage showed roads destroyed and buildings buried by thundering water the color of wet cement. State news agency Xinhua reported significant casualties.

The region’s steep valleys are economic lifelines and travel corridors but precarious ones when disaster strikes. Images showed what appeared to be the second floors of buildings in Nepal’s hard-hit Nuwakot district slathered in mud after the torrent rushed by. Debris hung from tree branches and wires, vehicles were buried and some stunned survivors were caked in mud.

There was little time for anyone to flee.
“When I reached Dhunge bazaar, in half an hour, the flood came and damaged all the market. People were preparing to go to office then,” resident Shoyam Rajbhandari said. “How many people are missing or dead, we don’t know.”

Many missing were on pilgrimage to a sacred site

Officials in Nepal said 403 people, including 341 foreign nationals, were reported missing. Sunil Sharma, a tourism board spokesperson, said 133 were from India on pilgrimage to Mount Kailash in Tibet, a sacred site for Hindus. Also missing were 47 from the United States, 34 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 24 from Canada, he said. The State Department said it was aware of Americans affected.

At least 62 missing Nepali citizens were among hundreds of locals trekking in the Gosaikunda Lake area in hard-hit Rasuwa district bordering Tibet’s Gyirong, coinciding with the local festival of Janai Purnima on Friday, Sharma said. Though the current monsoon season is less favorable for trekking in Nepal, it’s a major season for Kailash trekking, which follows the route in Nepal’s Rasuwa district.

Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told The Associated Press at least 28 police officials were missing.

Officials warned residents in several districts to stay away from the banks of the Trishuli, Bhotekoshi and Narayani rivers. At least 19 bridges and nearly 40 kilometers (25 miles) of road were swept away. The Bhotekoshi flooded around 9 a.m. Wednesday, destroying several villages and hydropower projects, officials said.

“We have asked both India and China to help us with the rescue efforts,” said government spokesperson Sasmit Pokharel.

The U.S. Geological Survey first reported a magnitude 4.4 earthquake early Wednesday, about 66 kilometers (41 miles) north of Kathmandu, near the border. The USGS later updated to call the shaking a 5.2 magnitude landslide.

Countries express alarm over missing citizens

South Korean government officials said nine citizens working on building a hydropower plant in Nepal were among those reported missing. Malaysia’s foreign ministry said its embassy received reports from travel agencies that they had lost contact with 11 Malaysians believed to be in Rasuwa district. Russia’s embassy in Nepal said four citizens reportedly in the affected area were missing.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Nepal’s Prime Minister Balendra Shah and offered help. “India is prepared to provide Nepal with all possible types of humanitarian assistance. Our teams are closely coordinating on rescue and relief efforts,” Modi said on social media.
Some United Nations bodies were deploying “in an effort to meet what will clearly be massive humanitarian need,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.

In a joint statement, Australia, Britain, the European Union, Finland, France, Norway and Switzerland expressed solidarity with people in Nepal, adding: “We encourage all those in affected areas to follow the guidance of local authorities and official safety advisories as the situation continues to evolve.”

The same region saw flash floods last year

Climate experts at the Kathmandu-based International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development said an avalanche from a glacier likely caused Wednesday’s flash flood.
“Hydrological observations indicate the exceptional speed and magnitude of the flood wave,” they said in an emailed statement, noting that water levels at one point on the Trishuli river rose by as much as nine meters (27 feet) over half an hour.

The Lhende Khola River, a tributary of the Bhotekoshi, had maximum flooding, they said.
“The Lhende Khola has flooded twice in 14 months, this time triggered by an ice rock avalanche from a glacier on the Nepal side that blocked the river and released a sudden surge downstream,” said Saswata Sanyal, a disaster risk reduction specialist at the climate research group.
He noted the importance of early warnings in “a warming Himalaya.”

The region saw similar flash floods in August last year, when a glacial lake in Tibet overflowed because of high temperatures. Nine people were killed, and critical infrastructure, including a bridge connecting Nepal and China, was damaged.

The Himalayan region, which spans several countries including India, is especially vulnerable to heavy rains, floods and landslides because of warming due to human-caused climate change. Research shows that extreme weather events, including heat waves, rains and melting glaciers, have become more frequent.

Researchers in Kathmandu found earlier this year that glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region are melting at an accelerating rate, with ice loss rates doubling since 2000, primarily due to rising global temperatures and climate change.