Author: GIKorea

You would think that with all the media attention on BMW cars catching fire that the owner of this vehicle would have had his car inspected and repaired by now.  The cynic in me thinks we may be at a point where owners want their cars to catch on fire to launch lawsuits against BMW:

A BMW sedan caught fire in South Korea on Monday in the latest in a series of similar cases that have sparked a police investigation the German carmaker’s massive recall in Korea.

The fire broke out in the 520d sedan around 4:49 p.m. as it traveled on an expressway in the city of Mungyeong, 155 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Firefighters put out the blaze and no one was hurt, officials said.

It was the latest in more than 35 similar fires that have affected BMW vehicles this year.

Police have launched an investigation after a group of BMW owners filed a complaint accusing the carmaker of negligence and other charges.  BMW has blamed defects in the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) for the fires.  [Korea Times]

This should serve as a warning to USFK officials that the Korean media now controlled by the political left will make big news out of any USFK crime story they can find, to include one that happened two years ago that they just heard about:

A former U.S. senior airman is serving a 15-year jail sentence for sexually molesting two South Korean male orphans and possessing dozens of child pornography videos, court records showed.

Robert Kelgard, who was stationed at Kunsan Air Base, 270 kilometers south of Seoul, between 2012 and 2013, was convicted by a court-martial in April 2016, Col. John Bosone, the commander of the 8th Fighter Wing at the base, confirmed the information last week in a response to questions from Yonhap News Agency.

Bosone called Kelgard’s crimes “heinous and despicable,” noting that his wrongdoings have resulted in his dishonorable discharge from the Air Force, 15 years of confinement in military prison, total forfeiture of pay and allowance, and demotion.

“As soon as United States Air Force investigators stationed at Kunsan Air Base were made aware of the incidents, they, with Korean National Police, immediately and aggressively investigated the allegations, and Kelgard was militarily prosecuted for his crimes,” the commander said.

“This is a very shameful past moment for Kunsan Air Base and our community,” he added, stressing that the crimes by the “predator” are not reflective of U.S. service members who serve here for the defense of South Korea under an alliance treaty.  [Yonhap]

You can read much more at the link, but considering that the molestation crime happened off post the ROK authorities could have asked to prosecute him.  However, like we have seen with other incidents ROK authorities have let USFK prosecute servicemembers if the crime does not become well known in the Korean media because the perpetrator for a sex crime receives greater punishment.

Here is an update on the Inter-Korean family reunions that the North Koreans are currently holding at the Kumgang Resort on the country’s east coast:

The first session of reunions will be followed by a dinner to be hosted by the North Korean side later in the day.

Some of them appeared to be a little uncomfortable at first, apparently reflecting the decades without contact, but the awkwardness soon melted away and they engaged in conversation, asking each other about how they have lived.

On the second day, the families will be granted more time to meet, helping them become closer. They will see each other again Tuesday morning and have lunch together in their hotel rooms, the first time the separated families will have had such a private meeting since the start of the reunion event.

They will have six meetings totaling 11 hours by Wednesday, according to the unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affair.

In subsequent reunions planned to take place from Friday to Sunday, 83 North Koreans will also meet their relatives found to be alive in the South. More than 300 South Koreans will travel to the venue later this week for the event.

The two rounds of family reunions are a follow-up on an agreement the leaders of South and North Korea reached in April to address humanitarian issues arising from nearly seven decades of division caused by the Korean War.

The event came amid a thaw in relations between the two Koreas after a yearslong hiatus and tensions heightened by the North’s continued pursuit of nuclear and missile programs.  [Yonhap]

You can read much more at the link, but I have to wonder how much money was transferred to host this event?  Family reunions has long been used by the Kim regime as a bargaining chip to get what they want from the ROK and a cottage industry to make money.  We know that South Korea had to renovate the Kumgang Resort for the North Koreans.  How much did that cost?

Like I have been saying Governor Kim Kyoung-soo who is a close friend of ROK President Moon Jae-in will likely be protected from prosecution over the Druking online opinion rigging scandal:

A Seoul court on Saturday refused to grant an arrest warrant for South Gyeongsang Province Gov. Kim Kyoung-soo over his alleged involvement in a massive opinion-rigging case.

The Seoul Central District Court said the charges against Kim are disputable and that he presents little risk of fleeing given his current position.

Special Counsel Huh Ik-bum has been investigating suspicion that he colluded with Kim Dong-won, better known by his nickname Druking, to manipulate comments in news articles to benefit the ruling Democratic Party.

The special prosecution questioned him twice this month, and filed for the arrest warrant on Wednesday on the charge of digital business obstruction.

He’s accused of artificially jacking up likes on Internet news articles about DP, then main opposition, and its then-presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in in November 2016.

Druking argues he got “a nod” from the governor to carry out the scheme to influence public sentiment in favor of the party. He claims he showed him a demonstration of a computer program designed for such tasks.

Kim has denied the allegations. He admitted he had met Druking at his publishing company office but never saw any presentation about a computer program.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

If DPRK is saying they will allow monitors in and inform ICAO of missile tests, does not bode well for freeze. Perhaps timed to apply pressure on admin to come to agreement with DPRK while hinting could restart tests in future under ICAO monitoring.

— Nathan J Hunt (@ISNJH) August 19, 2018

Members of a unified Korean men’s rowing team catch their breath after finishing last in their qualification group in the team’s Asian Games debut at Jakabaring Lake inside Jakabaring Sports City in Palembang, a co-host city of the 2018 Asian Games along with Jakarta, on Aug. 19, 2018. (Yonhap)

A group of activists stages a rally at the city hall in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, on Aug. 16, 2018, to express their opposition to the government’s plans to build a wind power generation complex in the city. (Yonhap)

It looks like the heat wave in South Korea will be ended by this typhoon:

Powerful typhoon Soulik is on course to strike the Korean Peninsula this week, the state weather agency said Sunday, warning people on Jeju Island and in southern coastal areas to prepare.

Soulik, classified as “strong” with maximum gusts of 144 km/h and central pressure of 955 hPs, was 830 kilometers east-north-east of Guam at 9 a.m. Sunday, and was moving northwest at 34 km/h, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).

The typhoon is expected to hit southern Japan on Wednesday and the peninsula’s southern coast on Thursday morning. The southwestern city of Yeosu is expected to bear the brunt of the typhoon.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Here is an opinion piece from Professor Sung-Yoon Lee of Tufts University, that discusses how ROK President Moon Jae-in did not mention the role of US forces in Korea’s liberation after World War II and instead implicates the US military’s presence at Yongsan Garrison as being a continuation of Japanese colonialism:

Consider South Korea’s presidential Liberation Day speeches. Curiously, the causal effect of the sacrifices of U.S. servicemen in vanquishing Imperial Japan and Korean liberation are not only assiduously accorded the silent treatment, but the role of the U.S. in Korea is occasionally frowned upon. President Moon Jae-in, giving his Liberation Day speech today outdoors in the sweltering heat of Yongsan, Seoul, the site of the pre-1945 Japanese military base and post-1945 U.S. military base, did mention the “ROK-U.S. alliance,” but only in the context of the recent relocation of the U.S. base.

Calling the grounds where he stood “the center of exploitation and subjugation,” Moon remarked that Yongsan, having “long been taken away from us,” now has been “returned to the arms of the people after 114 years” and has “finally become an integral part of our territory.” The implication that the U.S. military presence in Korea was an exploitative continuation of Japanese colonialism or, at least, an unwelcome usurpation of Korean sovereignty, was noteworthy.  [The Hill]

You can read the whole article at the link.

Like I had previously said, An may have gotten off criminally, but his career is over politically considering 20,000 people were motivated to come out and protest like this:

Around 20,000 people rallied in downtown Seoul, Saturday, to protest a court’s recent decision to acquit former South Chungcheong Province Governor An Hee-jung of sexually assaulting and harassing his former secretary.

The public anger over the ruling in favor of the fallen political star in a high-profile #MeToo case signals a critical juncture in the months-long movement. The protest organizer expected only up to 2,000 participants.

The crowd, mostly dressed in black and of varying age groups, chanted slogans such as “A judiciary that protects sex offenders is an accomplice,” while holding placards stating, “No country for women” and “We, the survivors, are all Kim Ji-eun” (the alleged victim in An’s case). [Korea Times]

Here is some interesting facts about the case:

When Kim Ji-eun disclosed the sexual offenses by An in March, he first admitted to the crime on Facebook saying, “My office’s statement it was a consensual sexual relationship was wrong. This is all my fault.” However, he changed his statement after an investigation started, saying they had consensual sex.

The Seoul Western District Court ruled last Tuesday there was “insufficient evidence” that the accused used his position of authority to coerce the victim into having unwanted sex, saying the incident did not involve “the degree of physical force that makes it impossible for the victim to resist.”  (…….)

In a letter read out to the protesters through her lawyer, Kim Ji-eun also reiterated this point.

“Do I have to kill myself to be recognized as a true #MeToo victim?” Kim’s letter read. “I was physically and sexually assaulted by An that day; I did everything in my power to show I did not want it to happen; I could not run away because I knew that I would be fired.”

Kim also denounced the court proceedings for not questioning An’s testimony.

“Dear judges: Did you ask An why he said sorry to me; why he first wrote on Facebook it was not a consensual relationship; and why he destroyed his phone before the prosecutors got to him? Why did you not question the perpetrator?” Kim said in the letter.

The protesters also said they were frustrated at the court’s failure to recognize the sexual intercourse between the employer and the employee as a rape only because there was no physical coercion or verbal threats.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.