This working group should have been established long ago to address Korean visa concerns instead of trying to game the system which led to detainment of hundreds of Koreans earlier this month:
South Korea and the United States will launch a working group this week to improve the visa system for Korean workers after the detention and release of more than 300 South Koreans in a recent U.S. immigration raid, diplomatic sources said Sunday.
The two nations will hold the inaugural meeting of the working group in Washington on Tuesday (local time), the sources said, weeks after the Georgia raid on South Korean workers.
In early September, more than 300 South Korean workers at a factory construction site in Georgia were detained for a week over unclear violations of visa rules. They were released after diplomatic negotiations.
Seoul’s foreign ministry and the U.S. State Department will lead the working group, the sources said. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and Commerce Department are also believed to be taking part in the group.
You can read more at the link.
Lithium ion batteries continue to be a major fire risk:
Burned lithium-ion batteries sit in a water tank after a fire at the National Information Resources Service in Daejeon. Friday’s blaze in an uninterruptible power supply room at the government data center disrupted hundreds of public services. Yonhap
Hundreds of government and financial services across Korea remain offline after a fire at a key national data center, disrupting citizens’ daily routines and causing frustration. Officials warned it could take up to two weeks before operations return to normal, affecting everything from housing applications to moving contracts.
The blaze broke out Friday evening at the National Information Resources Service (NIRS) headquarters in Daejeon, the “nerve center” of Korea’s e-government infrastructure. Officials said 13 workers had been replacing lithium-ion batteries when sparks from one battery are believed to have ignited the fire, which spread across the fifth-floor server room. About 100 people evacuated safely, and one worker suffered minor burns. Firefighters brought the fire under control after 10 hours, but it took nearly 22 hours to completely extinguish it.
You can read more at the link.
President Lee is just speaking reality here:
Speaking to global investors at the New York Stock Exchange, Lee sought to reassure them, vowing to reduce security risks on the Korean Peninsula and reinforce investor confidence, as he noted that South Korea’s stock market has been “undervalued” despite its elevated economic and military stature.
“North Korea seems to have secured sufficient nuclear weapons needed to maintain its regime, with only atmospheric reentry technology remaining (for Pyongyang to complete) the development of nuclear-tipped ICBMs capable of reaching the continental U.S.,” Lee said at the event, called the “Korea Investment Summit.”
Here is where he becomes delusional:
If unchecked, Pyongyang would add 15-20 nuclear bombs to its nuclear arsenal each year, he warned.
“What’s worrisome is that there is a high possibility that North Korea would export (weapons) to other countries. Wouldn’t there be considerable security benefits if we could just halt the production of nuclear warheads or the development and export of ICBMs?,” he said.
“That is why I have proposed stopping them in the short term, reducing them in the midterm and pursuing (the North’s) denuclearization in the long term,” he added, referring to the three-stage plan to foster lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula.
I can support a deal to stop production of nukes and ICBMs to prevent proliferation, but North Korea will never reduce or give up their nuclear weapons. Lee could offer to surrender the ROK to Keep m in exchange for his nukes and I don’t think he would take that deal. Nukes mean regime survival, without them Kim is vulnerable.
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
The ruling party is continuing their purge of trying to jail or remove anyone in the government that has crossed them:
Tensions between the judicial branch and the ruling Democratic Party of Korea escalated Wednesday, as the party voted through an unprecedented motion to summon Supreme Court Chief Justice Jo Hee-de for a parliamentary hearing.
The conservative opposition People Power Party boycotted the vote and condemned the move as a fatal blow to the separation of powers.
You can read more at the link, but the Korean left believes Jo conspired with the ruling party to throw out a lower court acquittal of an election law violation by President Lee prior to the election.
