Moon admin is dismantling anti-tank barriers. Says it's for people's convenience & safety. What about national security? With no barriers, could allow #NorthKorea to invade #Seoul within hours. pic.twitter.com/WguZbEEVTh
North Korean members of the unified Korean canoeing team celebrate after the team grabbed its first-ever gold in women’s 500-meter dragon boat racing at the 18th Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games on Aug. 26, 2018. (Yonhap)
Apparently some people are upset at KBS for highlighting the looks of the biracial child of Korean soccer player Park Joo-ho:
Park Joo-ho and his family. Capture from Naver TV account of “The Return of Superman.”
KBS2’s reality show “The Return of Superman” has sparked a controversy for promoting “lookism” to market a four-year-old biracial girl on Aug. 19.
National football star Park Joo-ho appeared with his biracial daughter, Park Na-eun.
Park married Swiss woman Anna when Park was a player of FC Basel from 2011-13. Anna gave birth to their first daughter Na-eun in 2015.
Na-eun was an instant hit. But the show put excessive emphasis on her appearance, describing her as “pretty even when eating.”
Then it compared and contrasted her to Suri Cruise, daughter of Hollywood heavyweight Tom Cruise. The narrator said, “Na-eun looks better than Suri in my eyes.”
The aim of the program was to show how fathers care for their children without help from mothers, but it has long deviated, showing cute children in order to gain higher ratings.
“Looks are not everything,” commented a viewer. Another wrote: “Lookism is so deeply rooted in some people ― they do not even know what the problem is.” [Korea Times]
It was only a matter of time before some lawyers would round up BMW owners in Korea and start launching lawsuits. What is interesting is that they are calling on President Trump to do the investigating for them since he is supposedly hostile to German auto manufacturers:
Ha Jong-sun of Barun Law, who is leading a class action suit against BMW over fire-prone engines, speaks during a press conference at the law firm’s office in Seoul, Monday. The lawyer said BMW drivers in Korea would file lawsuits against government officials and send letters to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump. / Yonhap
BMW drivers in Korea sent letters to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump to urge the German and U.S. authorities to investigate the cause of engine fires in BMW vehicles, an attorney for the drivers said Monday.
The so-called “BMW fire victims group” consisting of 1,000 BMW car owners in Korea also said they are considering filing lawsuits against government officials at the transport and environment ministries for their alleged dereliction of duty.
“We decided to send letters to Merkel via German Ambassador to Korea Stephan Auer to ask the German government and prosecutors to investigate BMW headquarters for its alleged concealment of the defect,” Ha Jong-sun of Barun Law told reporters at the law firm’s office in Seoul.
The lawyer added the victims would send letters to Trump to call on him to issue an executive order to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board to initiate its own investigation into potential defects in exhaust-gas recirculation (EGR) valves and coolers in BMW’s SUVs.
“Accordingly there is an immediate need to check the safety of EGR valves and coolers in X3, X5 and X6 diesel SUVs sold in the U.S. to prevent fatal car fires and save innocent lives on U.S. highways and roads,” Lee Gwang-deok said in the letter.
The victims plan to ship a burnt BMW vehicle to the U.S., as the cause of its fire has not been discovered in Korea.
They expect the U.S. president to take an appropriate measure, considering he has been hostile toward German carmakers. [Korea Times]
The message President Moon should bring with him is very simple, get rid of the nukes if you want sanctions dropped:
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will likely seek to mediate a breakthrough in talks between the United States and North Korea when he visits Pyongyang for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, a Seoul official said Sunday.
The presidential aide highlighted the importance of Moon’s role in advancing apparently stalled talks on the North’s denuclearization following the cancellation of U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s visit to the North scheduled for this week.
“I believe President Moon’s role has only become greater,” the official from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said when asked about any possible change to Moon’s scheduled trip after U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday abruptly called off Pompeo’s visit.
Trump cited a lack of “sufficient progress with respect to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.” [Yonhap]
Moon admin: Setting up liaison ofc at Gaesong is "sovereignty issue" "why must (we) get US permission on every little thing?" "A thick water stream is flowing haughtily; sanctions controversy is not a big obstacle." Sanctions is but "a small problem."https://t.co/hFmVf1NQJ7
Models shows off U.S. melons at a Lotte Mart store at Seoul Station on Aug. 27, 2018. The discount chain is slated to sell those imported melons starting on Aug. 30. (Yonhap)
The Special Counsel for the Druking online opinion rigging scandal, has very bluntly said that the ruling party led by current Governor Kim Kyoung-soo manipulated online comments before the last presidential election. The challenge will be actually convicting Governor Kim since he is a close friend of President Moon Jae-in who he helped elect:
Special prosecutor Huh Ik-bum speaks during a press conference announcing the results of the two-month probe into alleged opinion rigging involving a power blogger and South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo at the special prosecution’s office in southern Seoul on Aug. 27, 2018. (Yonhap)
The suspected massive opinion rigging led by a political blogger was ultimately aimed at influencing public sentiment in favor of the now-ruling Democratic Party in the run-up to last year’s presidential election, special prosecutors said Monday.
Special counsel Huh Ik-bum announced the result of the 60-day investigation into the alleged manipulation of online comments by the blogger Kim Dong-won, known as Druking, and his crew, which also implicated South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo as a possible co-conspirator.
The team of 87 investigators was launched on June 27 upon the National Assembly’s passage of a bill on the independent probe. Suspicions have centered on Druking and Gov. Kim, then a ruling DP lawmaker, for allegedly working together to jack up “like” clicks for comments on Internet news articles to benefit the DP beginning in November 2016 and in the lead-up to the 2017 presidential election. [Yonhap]
It looks like General Brooks is keeping an open mind about this ROK proposal:
Gen. Vincent Brooks, leader of U.S. Forces Korea, the United Nations Command and the Combined Forces Command, attends a press conference at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club, Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2018.
The top U.S. commander in South Korea expressed support Wednesday for a plan to remove some guard posts from the tense border, saying it’s a “reasonable” risk that may help denuclearization talks with the North.
South Korea’s defense ministry has said it plans to close about 10 guard posts along the Demilitarized Zone and expects the North to reciprocate as part of a bilateral summit agreement to ease tensions.
Gen. Vincent Brooks — who wears three hats as the leader of U.S. Forces Korea, the United Nations Command and the Combined Forces Command — said he supports the initiative to reduce tensions and build trust between the rival nations.
“I have some concerns about what that means militarily to the ability to defend along the Military Demarcation Line and in depth beyond it,” he said at a press conference at the Seoul Foreign Correspondents’ Club.
“I believe that there’s a reasonable amount of risk that’s involved in this, not an excessive amount of risk,” to the defense of South Korea, he said. [Stars & Stripes]
I hope nobody is surprised by the fact missiles will reportedly be displayed in this parade. What will be interesting is what kind of missiles? If their mobile ICBMs are displayed I think that would be a clear sign to the Trump administration they are not giving them up:
Satellite imagery shows large numbers of tanks and other vehicles in a plaza in Pyongyang that the regime uses to practice for a military parade celebrating its 70th founding anniversary on Sept. 9, according to Voice of America on Thursday.
About 100 tanks and other mobile vehicles can be seen standing in formation according to their length and color and moving about in the plaza near Mirim Airport.
Six large vehicles about 12 to 14 m long, which looked capable of carrying intercontinental ballistic missiles, were also seen at the rear. [Chosun Ilbo]
