This guy is claiming he was just being multicultural:
A man who was caught allegedly robbing a house while wearing women’s panties has been identified and apprehended, Seoul police said Monday.
The incident occurred some three months ago. The 63-year-old man, identified only as Hwang, was allegedly ransacking a house when the owner walked in. Hwang escaped, but not before getting his pants and panties caught on the window as he was jumping out.
Police took hair and fluid samples in the underwear to identify the man and arrested him last Wednesday.
The man claimed he wore the women’s underwear because of a traditional superstition, Gangseo-gu district police said. [Korea Times]
A South Korean defense company will sign a deal with Poland, today, to sell 120 locally developed self-propelled howitzers, a military source said Tuesday.
“Samsung Techwin Co. will sign a contract with Poland’s defense ministry at 7 p.m. in Korea to export K-9 self-propelled howitzers,” the source said, asking not to be identified. “Under the contract, the company will directly supply 24 howitzers by 2017. The remaining 96 will be produced in Poland.”
The total export value is estimated at about $320 million (347 billion won), according to the source.
Samsung Techwin developed the 155-millimeter howitzer for the nation’s armed forces in 1998 to replace K-55 howitzers. Equipped with state-of-the-art firing and mobility systems, the K-9 has a maximum range of 40 kilometers. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but this arms purchase by Poland is definitely aimed at upgrading the country’s defenses in wake of Russian aggression in the region. Samsung Techwin ought to send a big thank you note to Putin for the increased business to the arms market that the South Koreans have been trying to expand for many years.
I wonder if the crackdown on illegal taxi practices will include the high fares that some of these taxi drivers try and charge US military servicemembers instead of running the meter?:
The Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday it would clamp down on illegal business practices of taxi drivers for the rest of the month.
Working with Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, the city government deployed 120 officials, 277 police officers and four patrol cars equipped with surveillance cameras to prevent taxi drivers from turning down certain passengers in violation of regulations.
Taxis are required to accept customers regardless of their destination, but the practice of taxi drivers handpicking passengers or speeding away from them for various reasons is rampant in Seoul and elsewhere.
Seoul City officials will patrol the 24 busiest districts in Seoul including Jongno-gu, Guro-gu and Gangnam-gu until Dec. 31.
Officials will impose a fine of 200,000 won ($180) on taxi drivers who refuse passengers. The city also plans to clamp down weekly on taxis from other areas such as Incheon and Gyeonggi Province, which are barred from transporting customers within Seoul. [Korea Herald]
I guess a billionaire has to find ways to spend his money:
The Sultan of Brunei rented out half of a luxury hotel in Busan for the two days of the ASEAN-Korea Commemorative Summit, according to an industry source.
The source said Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, accompanied by 12 princes and princesses, booked 119 rooms. The sultan stayed in a presidential suite measuring 654 square meters, with a spectacular ocean view, which costs 10 million won per day. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the Sultan is worth $40 billion from his kingdom’s oil and gas riches.
I wonder if the juicy bar owners are the ones pushing the mayor to make these complaints because they are the ones currently losing big money due to USFK’s decision to ban servicemembers from giving money to juicy girls:
The mayor of a city near the North Korean border is seeking $2.7 billion from the South Korean government, claiming the delayed relocation of American troops from Dongducheon is hurting the local economy and redevelopment plans.
City officials say Mayor Oh Se-chang told Defense Minister Han Min-koo that if Dongducheon — home to camps Casey and Hovey — doesn’t see some show of support from the government by the end of the year, the city will consider holding a large demonstration and a nonbinding referendum on whether U.S. troops should remain there.
Approximately 5,900 soldiers are assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division in Area I, which extends from just north and east of Seoul up to the Demilitarized Zone.
“If U.S. troops want to stay in Dongducheon, they should be of help to the local economy or all of them should go away,” a city official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity. He said troops should be spending more money at off-post Korean-owned businesses instead of shopping solely at post exchanges or other on-base facilities. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but basically the mayor just wants to get paid off by the national government to keep quiet. Also of interest in the article is that a spokesman said that Camp Casey is now scheduled to be handed back over to the local government in the 2020 timeframe. I will believe that when I see it.
This was bound to happen considering how many complaints servicemembers have had about this contractor:
The U.S. Department of Defense Inspector General has opened an investigation of the nearly $1 billion contract to ship servicemembers’ cars overseas.
Investigators will target the Globally Privately Owned Vehicle Contract, or GPC III, under whose auspices International Auto Logistics was chosen by the U.S. Transportation Command, which is based at Illinois’ Scott Air Force Base.
The investigation began when Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Thad Cochran, R-Miss., contacted the Defense Contract Management Agency in October to request an audit of the shipping program.
The senators’ request for the audit came after a swelling tide of complaints over the summer from International Auto Logistics customers in Illinois and the rest of the nation. The customers were upset about vehicles shipped home after military tours overseas that were either missing, arriving months later than promised or mysteriously damaged. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but what is most concerning about this contract are the Unification Church and North Korean connections to IAL:
The Rev. Hyung-jin Moon, left, son of the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon, and Park Sang-kwon, the president of Pyeonghwa Motors, take questions from the press after returning from North Korea near the truce village of Panmunjom, in the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas, in 2012. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)
Formed in August 2012 with the sole purpose of pursuing this contract, IAL submitted a bid two months later. IAL’s parent company is International Auto Processing, also in Brunswick, whose chairman is Park Sang-Kwon. Anything but a native Georgian, Park is a global financial figure who was chairman of Pyeonghwa Motors, a joint venture between North and South Korea — a rarity indeed. Billed as “The Bridge between South and North Korea,” the partnership was formed in 1999 between Pyonghwa Motors of South Korea, owned by the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church, and Ryonbong General Corp. of North Korea.
Though the company’s headquarters was in Seoul, Park enjoyed a close relationship with the North Korean regime. At a time when travel between the Koreas is difficult, Park has visited North Korea 200 times. In late 2012, he was even awarded an honorary citizenship in North Korea, only the second person ever to receive such a commendation. “This means that North Korea has acknowledged the trust they had put in me,” Park told Agence France Presse at the time. “They were also encouraging me to start new projects in the North, more freely and aggressively.”
Throughout its history, Pyeonghwa Motors struggled. In 2012, the joint venture ended when Park and the Unification Church relinquished their interest in the failing enterprise to the North Koreans. One report suggested the company was given to the North Korean regime for the right to conduct future business in the country. At the same time, Park submitted an application to the Ministry of Unification in South Korea to undertake new businesses in the North. It was now — as Park was dealing with this business failure — that his International Auto Processing formed IAL, which ended up with a $300-million defense contract. [The Hill]
So it is pretty clear that Park set up IAL just to win the Pentagon contract after his failed business venture in North Korea. So who did Park call on to help him win the contract? I am sure most ROK Heads could have guessed this:
According to court papers, IAL lists Boyle Transportation, of Billerica, Mass., as a major subcontractor. Boyle’s board of advisers includes three retired generals: Gen. William Tuttle Jr., the former commander of theU.S. ArmyMateriel Command, which overseas SDDC; Maj. Gen. Charlie Fletcher, Transcom’s former director of operations and plans, and Maj. Gen. Dan Mongeon, former director of operations for the Defense Logistics Agency.
SDDC is an Army command that’s part of the U.S. Transportation Command, also based at Scott. SDDC supervises the movement of military property. It directly oversees the IAL contract. [Military.com]
