The wreckage of the ship. / Courtesy of Shinil Group
The Shinil Group’s announcement on July 17 that it had located the Dmitrii Donskoi, a Russian cruiser that went down 113 years ago, just two days before created a sensation, with the stock price of Jeil Steel (in which the Shinil Group holds a majority share) soaring and setting a new record.But the next day it turned out that the Dmitrii Donskoi was not a new discovery by the Shinil Group but had actually been found fifteen years before by the government-funded Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST), which had also attempted to raise the wreck.
KIOST furthermore argued that the Shinil Group had located the Donskoi through the unauthorized use of location information that belonged to the institute, which raises questions about the credibility of the Shinil Group’s assertion that it is “the first to discover the Dmitrii Donskoi and the only proven right holder.
”For now, therefore, extreme caution and care are probably required for the various projects and deals organized by the Shinil Group and promoted with rumors that the Donskoi is loaded with 150 trillion won (US$132.41 billion) worth of gold coins and gold bars. Jumping into these projects could have unforeseen consequences.“We had already discovered the Donskoi in 2003 and even released photos. It’s preposterous for the Shinil Group to claim ownership as if they’d been the first to find it,” a key official at KIOST said during a phone call with the HuffPost on July 18. [Hankyoreh]
You can read more at the link, but if another group found the ship 15 years ago it seems to me they would have removed any gold that was there by now, assuming there was any gold to begin with.
I kind of feel bad for Lee Hyo-ri and her husband that they had to sell their her house on Jeju, but you would have thought that they would have seen this coming after agreeing to make the show:
A poster for JTBC’s reality show “Hyori’s Homestay” features singer Lee Hyo-ri, right, her musician husband Lee Sang-soon and singer Yoon-a. Courtesy of JTBC
Singer Lee Hyo-ri’s slow life on Jeju Island with her musician husband Lee Sang-soon has been ruined by break-ins, curious tourists and pranksters.
In response, the couple has sold their home that served as the location for reality show “Hyori’s Homestay” to the cable network that made the program.
JTBC said it bought it over fears the program’s image would be damaged if it were sold to a third party.
“There is a possibility that the content image of ‘Hyori’s Homestay’ could be ruined if it was used for commercial purposes such as an open facility,” JTBC said.
Even before “Hyori’s Homestay” was aired, the couple was the target of excessive public attention. But the program made it worse.
“There were those who knocked on the door of the couple’s home and even trespassed inside,” the channel said. “This kind of privacy violation issue was at a level beyond the expected range.”
“Hyori’s Homestay” started last year. The second season ran from February to May. [Korea Times]
The show is actually available on Netflix and I thought it was pretty entertaining. I really liked her husband Lee Sang-soon who seemed like a pretty cool person to hang out with. I thought their home and surrounding property was quite nice, but it only had a chain link fence around it that anyone could jump over. I remember watching the show thinking that they were going to have stupid people jump over that fence and trespass on their property. Sure enough that is what happened and now they had to sell their house because of it.
Even fairy tale characters are no longer safe from accusations from feminists:
Gender Equality and Family Minister Chung Hyun-back recently accused the woodcutter, the character in the folktale “The Woodcutter and the Fairy,” which can be found in the children section at the Cheong Wa Dae website, to press for her case of feminism. Captured from Cheong Wa Dae website
A prominent lawyer says Gender Equality and Family Minister Chung Hyun-back’s depiction of a folktale hero as a kidnapper-rapist is not based on law but on herd mentality.
Hwang Ju-myung, a former judge and chairman of HMP Law, said Chung did not provide evidence to support her accusation and by her logic would have to prepare for a legal challenge from the woodcutter in the “Woodcutter and the Fairy.”
“Besides, it is being silly to accuse the character from the old story of such a heinous crime,” Hwang said when asked his legal view of the minister’s argument. “As far as the law is concerned, it is hard to find any indication in it that he resorted to coercion to have sex with the fairy or to force her to live with him.”
Chung claimed during a seminar Saturday: “When in elementary school, I took a great pity on the woodcutter but seen from the standpoint of the fairy, two children she had with him, and the fairy’s parents, he could be a kidnapper and rapist. The point of view should be changed in the context of achieving gender equality.”
The minister is a ferocious supporter of feminism and she attended a weekend pro-woman, anti-man protest and promised thousands of women that she wouldn’t forget their voices. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but for those that have read this Korean fairy tale, there is no suggestion in the book that the woodcutter kidnapped and raped the fairy. I have to seriously wonder what is wrong with someone mentally to even think of something like that from this story? By the way it would be funny if someone sued Chung on behalf of the woodcutter for libel which this clear is.
Additionally when did it become okay to attend anti-man protests, especially a cabinet member in the South Korean government? What would people say if anti-women protests were held?
A ship that sunk off of Ulleungdo in 1905 that had previously fought in the Russo-Japanese has been discovered by Korean treasure hunters:
The wreckage of the ship. / Courtesy of Shinil Group
A Russian battleship that sank 113 years ago in waters off South Korea’s Ulleung Island ― allegedly carrying tons of gold coins and bars ― has been located.
The rusty hull of the Dmitri Donskoii was found on the seabed a kilometer from the island’s Jeodong-ri and 434 meters underwater, said Shinil Group, a South Korean company which has endeavored to find the ship for years.
“We found the body of the Dmitrii Donskoi 434 meters deep in seas 1.3 kilometers off Ulleung Island at around 9:50 a.m., Sunday,” Shinil Group said.
The vessel’s shape and details were “confirmed to be identical with the Dmitri Donskoii,” the company said. It inspected the wreckage with two manned submarines on Saturday. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but the ship was rumored to be filled with gold worth $133 billion today. The treasure hunters are in the process of trying to lift the ship to look for the gold. If a billions in gold is discovered, I think it may pose an interesting legal challenge from the Russians because it is technically their property.
Because nothing bad has ever happened to tourists who visited North Korea, and it's absolutely guaranteed that nothing bad will ever happen to those who visit in the future. https://t.co/cKBrbnTAnU
— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) July 18, 2018
Friends and family gathered at Knight Field, US Army Garrison Yongsan, to welcome newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, Harry Harris, and to say goodbye to Marc Knapper, outgoing , July 17. Knapper served as Chargé, d’Affaires for more than a year replacing former ambassador, Mark Lippert.(Photos by Staff Sgt. David Chapman, UNC-CFC-USFK) [USFK Facebook page]
Now there is supposedly not a time limit on North Korean dencuclearization:
U.S. President Donald Trump says that there is “no time limit” on North Korea’s denuclearization, reiterating that negotiations with Pyongyang are a process.
Trump made the remarks to reporters on Tuesday at a meeting with members of Congress at the White House, explaining the outcome of his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
Trump said that discussions on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program are ongoing and progressing well, but stressed that there is “no rush for speed” to achieve the goal.
He added that the sanctions against Pyongyang are still in place and referenced the improving U.S.-North Korea relations as the North has refrained from missile tests for nine months and released three U.S. detainees in May. [KBS World Radio]
You can read more at the link, but it may seem like more of the same in regards to North Korea negotiations. However, I would not hit the panic button on this as long as the sanctions remain in place. The big question though is what is Kim Jong-un’s time limit? At some point the regime is going to want the sanctions dropped for little to nothing in return.
A possibility is that the Trump administration’s new strategy may be to wait out the Kim regime. Maybe the Trump administration understands now that the Kim regime will not denuclearize and instead just play along with negotiations while keeping the sanctions in place. If North Korea eventually returns to making provocations this could be the excuse the Trump administration needs to take other actions against the regime.
Another example of USFK soldiers helping a Korean civilian injured in a traffic related accident:
From left to right: Army Spc. Won Seok Kim, command group driver, Col. Editha Ruiz, deputy commander for nursing, and 1st Lt. Alexander Seawright, nurse, pose at the Brian Allgood Army Community Hospital in South Korea, Monday, July 16, 2018. WILLIAM WIGHT/U.S ARMY
Three American medical soldiers were in the “right place at the right time” on Friday the 13th.
Two Army nurses and a command driver were headed from the main U.S. military hospital at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul to a meeting at Camp Humphreys when they saw a woman injured in an accident on the highway near Osan, about 30 miles south of Seoul.
The trio, assigned to the Brian Allgood Army Community Hospital, stopped to help.
Col. Editha Ruiz, deputy commander for nursing, and 1st Lt. Alexander Seawright, a nurse, performed first aid while Spc. Won Seok Kim, the command driver, translated and helped keep others on the scene calm until an ambulance arrived. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but for those not familiar with Korea it is not uncommon to see other Koreans not assist other injured people due to concerns of liability lawsuits.
