Chinese delegation in N. Korea Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong offers flowers in front of the statues of North Korea’s late founder, Kim Il-sung, and his late son and successor, Kim Jong-il, at Mansudae Hill in Pyongyang on Jan. 25, 2024, in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency. A delegation of Chinese diplomats, led by Sun, has arrived in the North Korean capital, as the two countries are marking the 75th anniversary of establishing diplomatic relations this year, the North’s state media reported. (Yonhap)
The Yoon administration is probably calculating that a new investigation will not try and determine what caused the Itaewon crowd crush, but instead try to create a narrative to blame it all on Yoon to impeach him:
President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday vetoed a special bill mandating a new investigation into the Itaewon crowd crush in 2022, his office said.
Yoon exercised his veto power by endorsing a motion demanding the National Assembly reconsider the legislation that the main opposition Democratic Party (DP) railroaded through the National Assembly earlier this month.
The motion was approved during a Cabinet meeting earlier in the day.
The legislation, which will now be sent back to the Assembly, calls for establishing a special investigation committee to reexamine the causes of the deadly crowd crush that claimed 159 lives in a narrow alley in central Seoul’s Itaewon during Halloween weekend in 2022 and to ensure the rights of the victims.
Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said the legislation gives the special investigation committee too much power in a way that could potentially undermine constitutional principles and that fairness and neutrality cannot be guaranteed in the committee’s formation.
You can read more at the link, but the only questions I have remaining from the Itaewon crushing disaster is who started the pushing at the top of the hill that led to people falling on top of each other like dominoes? Finally why did it take a police station literally across the street from the Hamilton Hotel four hours to respond to overcrowding in the area?
It will be interesting to see how this safety law is enforced because you can have good safety practices and sometime things just happen:
An employee makes dough at a bakery in Seoul on Friday, one day before expanded implementation of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, a workplace safety law aimed at penalizing employers for serious industrial accidents, takes effect as scheduled. (Yonhap)
Expanded application of the workplace safety law is expected to have a substantial impact on the South Korean business community, as it holds employers with more than five workers legally responsible for deadly accidents. Concerns are growing as this change, which officially took effect Saturday, will cover 837,000 workplaces, including small neighborhood restaurants, bakeries, pubs, cafes and mom-and-pop stores.
Regardless of the size of the businesses and their financial capabilities, under the law, employers of small and large companies face the same criminal charges if a deadly accident happens during their operations.
“I am paying more attention to safety as the workplace safety law is expanded. But I am very concerned that if an accident occurs, the business will be forced to close,” said a business owner surnamed Kim, who has been running a timber company in North Chungcheong Province for 30 years. His company has 20 employees.
The food service industry argues that safety support should be provided before punishment is pursued.
“Many restaurant business owners are anxious because they think guidelines on the scope of responsibility are unclear. They are also worried since even with good safety training, accidents can always occur due to employee negligence. Some business owners are expected to reduce the number of employees they have hired for a long time to avoid the application of the law,” an official from the Korea Food Service Industry Association said.
It looks like South Korea has developed another defense product with export potential:
South Korea is mass-producing its own unmanned aerial vehicle, 14 years in development, to boost its reconnaissance capabilities against the North. Production began recently for the medium-altitude UAVs, according to a news release Thursday from South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration.
The agency signed onto the $353 million project with three defense contractors — Korean Air, the country’s primary airline, and Seoul-based firms LIG Nex1 and Hanhwa Systems — in December; development began in 2008. The UAV is expected to fly at an altitude of roughly six to seven miles for South Korea’s air force and coast guard, with the possibility of it being exported to other countries, according to the release.
N.K. leader inspects submarine-launched cruise missile tests North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) watches a cruise missile being launched from a submarine on Jan. 28, 2024, in this photo carried by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency the next day. Kim oversaw the test-fire of the new Pulhwasal-3-31 strategic cruise missile and reviewed a project to build a nuclear-powered submarine, state media reported. (Yonhap)
This would be a big development if true, however with the decrepit state of its submarine fleet it is doubtful this is a real functional wartime capability for the Kim regime:
This photo, carried by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency on Jan. 29, 2024, shows the North’s firing of submarine-launched cruise missiles the previous day.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has overseen the test-fire of submarine-launched cruise missiles and reviewed a project to build a nuclear-powered submarine, state media reported Monday.
The new Pulhwasal-3-31 strategic cruise missile precisely hit an island target after flying over the East Sea for 7,421 seconds and 7,445 seconds, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, suggesting the test involved two missiles.
The flight time translates to two hours, three minutes and 41 seconds, and two hours, four minutes and five seconds, respectively. The KCNA did not give further details, including whether the missiles were launched from a submarine or a barge and how far they flew.
Kim Jong-un made sure to throw in the word “nuclear” to get the media’s attention:
Kim stressed Sunday that “the nuclear weaponization of the navy is an urgent task of the times and a core requirement for building the state nuclear strategic force,” the KCNA said.
“He set forth the important tasks arising in realizing the nuclear weaponization of the navy and expanding the sphere of operation of the state nuclear deterrence in a diversified way,” it said.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday it is weighing the possibility that North Korea might have “exaggerated” information on the missile’s flight time, adding that it is analyzing details of the launch platform.
The latest launch came as North Korea has been diversifying missile launch platforms to deliver nuclear weapons in a bid to bolster its capabilities to stage a surprise attack and evade the existing missile defense system.
You can read more at the link, but the ROK is probably right that this test is exagerated. However, it is clear what they are working towards because a submarine with cruise missiles would pose a challenge to missile defenses because you don’t know where it is to direct your missile defense radars against.
Even though Korea’s First Lady was setup to create a political scandal, she should not have accepted the handbag and that is what President Yoon should have stated shortly after this whole issue erupted:
This photo shows first lady Kim Keon Hee sending a prayer at a Catholic church in Sorokdo island in South Jeolla Province during her visit there in November. (Presidential office)
President Yoon Suk Yeol is facing mounting pressure to clarify his stance regarding the revelation of an alleged graft case involving first lady Kim Keon Hee.
A Gallup Korea’s poll on Friday showed that 63 percent of South Korean people disapproved of Yoon’s performance in the fourth week of January, up 5 percentage points from the week before.
Yoon’s disapproval rating has hit its highest point in nine months since April 2023, when his remarks suggested that the past during Japan’s colonial occupation of the Korean Peninsula in the early 20th century, including forced labor conscription, should be left behind. His approval rating also came to 31 percent, his lowest in three months.
Controversy surrounding Kim’s alleged breach of the Improper Solicitations Act, and Yoon’s poor communication with the public, were two of the three major reasons respondents to a recent poll gave for their disapproval of Yoon’s performance, along with high costs of living.
