The Sri Lankan man was arrested for the sky lantern that caused the oil tank fire in Goyang, but what about the personnel at the elementary school that originally lit the sky lanterns? Shouldn’t they also be partially to blame for lighting sky lanterns that are an obvious fire hazard?:
The Sri Lankan construction worker investigated for his involvement in the fire at a gasoline storage facility in Goyang, Gyeonggi, is released by a local police precinct on Wednesday. [YONHAP]The man was arrested on Monday.
He told police he lit the lantern out of curiosity after he discovered two lanterns which had landed at the construction site after a ceremony at a nearby elementary school on Saturday. A gust of wind blew the lantern away just after he lit the small fuel cell inside, the man said. He chased it towards the storage station but did not see the lantern land on the grass.
“He regrets his action a lot,” said Jang Jong-ik, the chief detective of the Goyang Police Precinct, who is investigating the case, on a CBS radio program on Wednesday.
According to Jang, the Sri Lankan man has been living in Korea for three years with his younger brother. He makes around 3 million won a month.
Police concluded Monday that the man was aware that the storage facility contained flammable material and arrested him on charges of misdemeanor arson. They requested a detention warrant for him on Monday, but the prosecution dismissed the request on Wednesday, stating there is a “lack of evidence on the cause and effect of the incident.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but I think the largest blame should go whoever is responsible for safety at the oil storage facility. Just imagine the damage North Korean saboteurs could do if a simple sky lantern can do this much damage.
Instead of a foreign spouse learning how to speak Korean, now the Korean spouse can also learn to speak their partner’s language for a visa:
A foreigner applying for a spousal visa in South Korea will have a higher chance if the Korean spouse learns his or her native language, the Ministry of Justice said Monday.
The ministry has eased the assessment criteria for a foreigner’s spousal visa application if his or her Korean partner takes classes in the spouse’s native language for more than three months, or passes a proficiency test in that language, it said in a statement.
Until now, the foreign spouse had to obtain a Korean proficiency test certificate or take Korean lessons for over 120 hours to be eligible for the visa. [Korea Times]
Trading away our national security & that of our allies for a short-term political advantage. Which it is, because Pyongyang isn't disarming. https://t.co/YYEj7uqPwL
Participants call for Japan to apologize for its wartime sexual slavery at a weekly rally in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Oct. 10, 2018. Some 200,000 women, mostly Koreans, are estimated to have been forced to serve the Japanese army in front-line brothels during World War II. They are euphemistically called “comfort women.” (Yonhap)
I still can’t think of one thing the Kim regime has done to really denuclearize or even pose less of a threat to the ROK. The North Korean artillery and troops are still forward deployed on the DMZ. Why doesn’t the Moon administration at least demand they withdraw North Korean troops 50 kilometers north of the DMZ for example before considering dropping sanctions?:
Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha takes an oath during a parliamentary audit of her ministry’s affairs at its headquarters in Seoul on Oct. 10, 2018. (Yonhap)
South Korea is reviewing whether to lift its sanctions against North Korea, Seoul’s top diplomat said Wednesday, amid a summit-driven reconciliatory mood.
“A review (of the issue) is under way” in consultation with other related government agencies, Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha told lawmakers during an annual parliamentary audit of the ministry. She did not elaborate.
The Ministry of Unification, which handles inter-Korean affairs, is in charge of the issue.
Kang was responding to a question about whether the government is willing to lift the sanctions, called the May 24 Measure, imposed after the North’s deadly torpedo attack on a South Korean warship, the Cheonan, in 2010.
The previous conservative administration of Lee Myung-bak introduced the sanctions to prevent almost all inter-Korean ties except for humanitarian assistance.
Despite some cross-border exchanges this year, the main elements of the sanctions, such as a ban on trade and investment, remain valid, overlapping with the U.N.-led punishments of Pyongyang for its nuclear and missile programs.
Kang indicated that the government is considering the removal of the May 24 Measure largely as a symbolic step meant to help improve the Seoul-Pyongyang relations.
“It’s an important executive order. (We) have constantly reviewed it,” she pointed out. “As there are many (bilateral) sanctions overlapping the U.N. ones, it won’t necessarily mean the substantive lifting (of sanctions on the North).” [Yonhap]
The dropping of the sanctions by the ROK just further signals to other countries that it is okay to trade with North Korea. We already see various countries helping North Korea cheat on sanctions and South Korea is just giving them further reason why it is okay to cheat.
Inspectors look around a charred oil storage tank in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, Monday. /Korea Times photo by Hong In-ki
The recent explosion of an oil tank in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province ― and the ensuing fire that consumed 2.6 million liters of gasoline over 17 hours ― has revealed the lack of adequate safety regulations at oil storage sites in the country.
The explosion on Sunday was caused by a sky lantern released by a young Sri Lankan migrant worker, about 300 meters from the oil storage site, police said.
The grass around the storage compound caught fire as the sky lantern, lifted by a burning flame inside, landed there, CCTV footage showed.
As there were no fire detectors installed outside the oil tank, the operators were unaware of the danger until the explosion came 18 minutes later, the police revealed in a briefing Tuesday.
Police suspect the explosion occurred as fire sparks from the grass made contact with oil and natural gas vapors emitted from the tank’s ventilation hatch. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but it seems it should take much more then a fire lantern to blow up a huge oil tank like this. I try to look at this from the perspective of a North Korean saboteur. If a sky lantern can do this much damage imagine what a coordinated North Korean sabotage attempt against the nations oil storage infrastructure could do?
I am willing to be this is President Moon’s idea to further help reform the image of Kim Jong-un:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will invite Pope Francis to the communist nation’s capital Pyongyang, promising a “fervent welcome” during the papal visit, Cheong Wa Dae said Tuesday.
In a briefing, presidential spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said Kim’s invitation would be delivered to the Pope when President Moon Jae-in visits Vatican City.
Moon is expected to visit the Vatican on Oct. 17-18, part of a nine-day European tour starting Oct. 13.
“President Moon suggested that Chairman Kim meet the Pope, pointing out that he is very much interested in peace on the Korean Peninsula,” Kim told reporters. “Kim promised Moon he would give a fervent welcome to the Pope if he visited Pyongyang.” [Korea Times]
I guess we will see if the Pope is willing to be a propaganda tool for the Moon administration and the Kim regime to help reform Kim Jong-un’s image in order to help get sanctions dropped and their confederation idea implemented.
Did KJU really say "inspectors" in Korean? Are both sides using same word & definition? Will they really get to inspect & with what equipment, or just observe? "Inspections," "tour/visit" all different for NK in past. And KCNA readout different emphasis vs State: prep for summit. https://t.co/U78ioocPG5
Calligrapher Kim Dong-wook writes Korean letters at an event at Gwangwhamun Square in Seoul on Oct. 8, 2018 to commemorate Hangeul Day, which falls on Oct. 9. Hangeul is the Korean alphabet. (Yonhap)
Despite Japan’s cancellation of participation in naval exercise at Jeju Island due to the Rising Sun flag controversy, they have decided not to retaliate and welcome ROK Naval ships to Sasebo:
This file photo shows South Korean naval destroyer Dae Jo Yeong. (Yonhap)
Three South Korean naval ships carrying hundreds of military cadets will make a port call at Japan’s Sasebo naval base early next month, officials said Sunday.
The flotilla of three ships — comprising the lead vessel, 4,000-ton destroyer Dae Jo Yeong, and two amphibious landing ships, the Cheon Wang Bong and Il Chul Bong — will depart from the Korean naval base of Pyeongtaek to Sasebo via Jeju Island as part of a training cruise. The ships will visit ports in neighboring countries from Oct. 28 through Nov. 18.
About 600 students from South Korea’s national military, naval and air force academies will be on board the ships, according to the Ministry of National Defense. It is the first time the cadets from the three academies will have taken part in a joint cruise exercise.
After Sasebo, the ships will sail to the Russian port of Vladivostok, the ministry said. [Yonhap]
