Author: GIKorea

A Swedish Youtube star famous for playing and filming video games that he plays decided to take the infamous DOD Cyber Awareness Challenge.  The results were pretty funny:

PewDiePie, a Swedish YouTuber with 65 million subscribers who is best known for sharing videos of himself playing video games, just took the Cyber Awareness Challenge.

In a 25-minute video posted to the video-sharing site Thursday, he takes an unclassified version of the infamous Department of Defense computer security training. The video has already been viewed upwards of 1.6 million times.

“Who would make something like this?” he asks early in the process.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link or watch the video below:

This is a horrible story coming out of Incheon:

A middle school student has admitted raping a 13-year-old, who committed suicide in Incheon on July 23.

He was one of two male students suspected of sexual assault, Incheon police said.

The victim hanged herself in her room. No suicide note was found.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

"The Korean," who regularly pooh-poohs the First Amendment, is another example of why multiculturalism doesn't work.

Despite not being born in the US, he would shred our Constitution just so he can feel better about himself.

I say it's multiculturalism that's "super overrated." https://t.co/1mroeE0kFs

— King Baeksu (@KingBaeksu) August 8, 2018

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and his wife Ri Sol-ju inspect a fish pickling factory in southwestern North Korea in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency on Aug. 8, 2018.  (Yonhap)

I would argue that the fact the US has to voice confidence in South Korea’s willingness to enforce sanctions on North Korea shows there is some doubt and thus they need reminding:

The United States on Wednesday voiced confidence in South Korea’s implementation of sanctions against North Korea amid reports a shipment of North Korean coal docked at a South Korean port.

U.S. broadcaster VOA reported that a Belize-flagged ship docked at South Korea’s southeastern port city of Pohang over the weekend after being spotted at the Russian port of Nakhodka with black material believed to be North Korean coal.

U.N. Security Council Resolution 2371 bans North Korean exports of coal and other mineral resources that could generate revenue for the regime’s development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles. U.N. member states are also required to stop and inspect vessels suspected of engaging in illicit activities with the North.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the cover up of companies shipping North Korean coal into South Korea in violations of UN sanctions is in full effect:

A South Korean coal importing company is being investigated by the customs authority on suspicions of importing what is believed to be North Korean coal and disguising it as being from Russia, government officials have disclosed. Reportedly, this is only one of nine suspicious cases being investigated by the authorities.Misrepresenting the origin of coal counts as illegitimate importing under the Customs Act and the forgery of private documents under the criminal code.

And since importing North Korean coal is banned by UN Security Council sanctions against North Korea (Resolution No. 2371), this could also represent a violation of sanctions, if the coal does turn out to be from North Korea.On Aug. 6, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Korea Customs Service (KCS) met reporters at the Foreign Ministry office in Seoul’s Jongno District and explained the current status of their investigation into the import of coal suspected of being from North Korea.“We were provided with intelligence related to allegations of importing North Korean coal from the relevant government agency in Oct. 2017.

We have been investigating the importer implicated in the intelligence in question and are currently wrapping up that investigation,” said a KCS official. The KCS is planning to announce the details of its investigation when it hands over the case to the prosecutors, after completing the investigation.  [Hankyoreh]

So the investigation has been going on for nearly a year which causes me to believe this is being slow rolled.    Here is what the ROK government is trying to get people to believe:

But until upcoming investigations have run their course, it’s too soon to say whether the coal these companies imported is actually from North Korea. There are a number of possibilities that will have to be determined by investigators. The companies may have actually imported Russian coal; they may have known it was North Korean coal and passed it off as Russian; or they may have been fooled by Russian companies and imported coal without realizing it was from North Korea.

“We’re getting this intelligence from an ally, and the intelligence itself does not constitute definitive proof that the coal is from North Korea,” said an official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

I get the feeling this investigation will lead no where, but I guess we will see.

If you own a BMW you better get it checked out soon:

Two more BMW diesel cars caught fire Thursday morning, less than an hour apart, as Korea’s Transport Ministry mulls banning the fire-prone BMW vehicles from Korean roads.

This makes 36 cases of BMWs bursting into flames in Korea this year, eight in the last nine days.

As some of the vehicles that caught fire in recent weeks are not even included in BMW’s official recall list, industry analysts are raising new doubts about the company’s description of the cause of the fires.

On Thursday, a 730Ld model caught fire on the Namhae Expressway in South Gyeongsang.

The fire was extinguished within 15 minutes, according to the local fire station.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but BMW is saying the fires are being caused by an exhaust gas recirculation issue.

There is no reason why this travel ban should be allowed to expire.  The North Koreans have never come clean about what happened to Otto Warmbier and allowing Americans to travel to North Korea gives the Kim regime a fresh pool of hostages to grab when the current negotiations inevitably collapse:

A U.S. ban on its citizens traveling to North Korea is expected to expire at the end of this month.

The U.S. government announced on Aug. 2 last year that U.S. passport holders were banned from traveling to North Korea for a year. The ban took effect on Sept. 1.

There has been no announcement from the U.S. government of an extension.

The travel ban followed the death of U.S. college student Otto Wombier, who suffered brain damage after he was detained by North Korea.  [Korea Times]

It's a bit weird and yet understandable. Some of my best older Korean friends are among this lot. I don't try to belabor the point and just accept them as my friends with… https://t.co/k2eG0OfoqL

— tomcoyner (@tomcoyner) August 8, 2018

Employees of Korea Post demonstrate drone delivery service at a post office in Yeongwol, Gangwon Province, on Aug. 8, 2018, in this photo courtesy of Korea Post. (Yonhap)