To the hard left, the real tragedy of Korea is that Kim Il-sung was never allowed to extend his chain of gulags all the way to Cheju-do. https://t.co/q7bhhOOMfd
Activists stage a rally in front of a court in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, 200 kilometers south of Seoul, on Aug. 16, 2018, denouncing a Seoul court ruling that found former South Chungcheong Province Gov. An Hee-jung not guilty of sexually abusing his former secretary Kim Ji-eun. The 54-year-old politician was indicted in April on charges of forcing Kim to have sex with him four times and molesting her multiple times between the middle of last year and early this year in Seoul and while on overseas business trips. The Seoul court said that there was not sufficient evidence to prove An used his position to have sexual relations with the plaintiff. (Yonhap)
This seems an awful lot of fencing to be removed from the border areas:
South Korea’s defense ministry plans to gradually remove more than half of all coastal and riverside barbed wire fences across the country to help ease residents’ inconveniences, officials said Thursday.
The move, which is part of the Defense Reform 2.0 initiative aimed at creating a smaller yet stronger military, came amid Seoul’s push for inter-Korean cooperation and rapprochement.
The ministry plans to inspect all fences across the nation, which measure about 300 kilometers in total, to determine which can be eliminated in a way that does not hurt the country’s coastal defense.
“At this point in time, we think that some 57 percent of the fences can possibly be removed,” a ministry official said, declining to be named. “We will take action this year as to the sections that the military can eliminate on its own, while we plan to take care of other fences in stages.” [Korea Times]
The US Treasury Department is continuing to go after companies that violate sanctions against North Korea:
The United States imposed sanctions on a Russian port service agency and Chinese firms for aiding North Korean ships and selling alcohol and tobacco to Pyongyang in breach of U.S. sanctions.
The U.S. Treasury said in a statement on Wednesday that China-based Dalian Sun Moon Star International Logistics Trading Co. Ltd and its Singapore-based affiliate SINSMS Pte. Ltd had netted more than $1 billion a year by exporting alcohol and cigarette products to North Korea.
The department also sanctioned Russian-based Profinet Pte Ltd and its director general, Vasili Aleksandrovich Kolchanov, for providing port services on at least six occasions to North Korean-flagged ships.
Kolchanov was personally involved in North Korea-related deals and interacted directly with North Korean representatives in Russia, the department said.
“The tactics that these entities based in China, Singapore, and Russia are using to attempt to evade sanctions are prohibited under U.S. law, and all facets of the shipping industry have a responsibility to abide by them or expose themselves to serious risks,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said in the statement. [Reuters]
Korean Sex Crimes: Sharing the public information of a sex offender = 3 million won fine (£2000~). Sharing the naked pictures of your girlfriend online without her consent = 2 million won fine (£1400~). Laws are fascinating. I should've studied law. #regrets#korea#phdlife
This image provided by Seo Kyoung-duk, professor of Sungshin Women’s University, on Aug. 14, 2018, promotes a video clip on YouTube (https://youtu.be/5isUH0g_YEU) that he made to criticize Japan for its attempts to distort the history of its wartime sexual slavery. South Korea has designated Aug. 14 as national day for the former sex slaves, also known as comfort women. (Yonhap)
Remember Reality Winner? Well she is about to be sentenced for leaking Secret information to the media and it is not looking good for her:
Reality Winner
A Georgia woman who mailed a secret U.S. report to a news organization faces the “longest sentence” ever behind bars for a federal crime involving leaks to the news media, prosecutors said in a court filing.
Former National Security Agency contractor Reality Winner, 26, is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 23 by U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall in Augusta. She pleaded guilty in June to a single count of transmitting national security information when she worked in Augusta as a translator at an NSA facility.
Winner’s plea deal with prosecutors calls for imprisonment of five years and three months. But the sentencing judge isn’t bound by that agreement. Winner’s crime carries a maximum penalty of 10 years.
The Trump administration has made prosecuting government employees who leak sensitive information to the media a high priority, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions pledged to clamp down on leaks last year.
In a court filing Tuesday, federal prosecutors in Winner’s case said the 63-month sentence they’re recommending is plenty stiff to deter other government workers from leaking sensitive information, even if it could be tougher. [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link, but I have no sympathy for people who leak Secret information to the media. What makes this even more pathetic for her is that the information she leaked CNN had already reported on back in October 2016. A federal official told CNN that Russia may have compromised the personal information of Florida, Illinois, and Arizona voters. Reality Winnner’s leak of the document just confirmed what was already known.
