Author: GIKorea

This is really morbid:

The whereabouts of another unregistered baby is unknown, officials said Thursday, after two undocumented babies were found dead in a refrigerator, revealing serious problems with the country’s birth registration and child abuse prevention systems.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency said it booked a woman in her 20s on charges of abandoning her baby. She claimed she gave away the baby to a stranger she got to know online a month after giving birth in December 2021, but police believe her statement is suspicious.

The incident is the second such case after a woman in her 30s was taken into custody Wednesday for killing two babies shortly after their births in 2018 and 2019, and storing their bodies in a fridge in her apartment in Suwon, just south of Seoul.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Kim Gi-hyeon does make a good point and this proposal would encompass more than just Chinese nationals:

The leader of the ruling People Power Party (PPP) on Tuesday suggested scrapping the voting rights of Chinese nationals living in South Korea, saying that vice-versa is not the case.

Rep. Kim Gi-hyeon made the remark in an address at the National Assembly as leader of a parliamentary negotiating bloc, saying relations between South Korea and China should be based on the principle of reciprocity.

“At the time of the local elections in June last year, about 100,000 Chinese nationals residing here had the right to vote. However, no suffrage is guaranteed at all for our people in China,” Kim said during the address.

“Why should we be the only one opening the latch? What is fair would be not to give voting rights to foreigners from countries that do not give our people voting rights,” he said.

Since 2005, South Korea has given foreigners the right to vote in local elections if three years have passed since they gained permanent residency. Some critics have said the law gives Chinese too much say in local politics.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to hear what the Chinese response to this will be.

It looks like the Yoon administration has France on its side if they need to have the UN send Kim Jong-un any sternly worded letters:

South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (L) and French President Emmanuel Macron give a joint press statement ahead of their summit at Elysee Palace in Paris on June 20, 2023. (Yonhap)

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Tuesday that South Korea and France will cooperate closely to deal with North Korea’s unlawful provocations as fellow members of the U.N. Security Council.

Yoon made the remark before going into a summit with French President Emmanuel Macron at Elysee Palace, the presidential office and residence.

Yoon arrived in Paris the previous day to attend a general assembly of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE), the international body in charge of overseeing the World Expo, to promote South Korea’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo in its southeastern city of Busan.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It looks like this guy was trying to be a copy cat of the last wacko that tried this stunt on an Asiana Airlines flight a few weeks ago:

A passenger attempted to open the plane door during flight early Monday, the second such incident in less than a month after the shocking mid-air door opening accident on an Asiana Airlines flight. 

The door did not open in Monday’s incident, and no one was hurt. 

The unidentified passenger tried to force the door open on a Jeju Air flight that was on its way to Incheon from Cebu in the Philippines, according to the airline and online postings by passengers. 

The Boeing 737 plane, carrying about 180 passengers aboard, had departed from Cebu at 1:49 a.m. 

About an hour into the flight, the passenger began to act strange, complaining he felt pressure on his chest, according to Jeju Air. 

The flight crew offered to move him to a seat near the jump seats, but he continued his abnormal behavior and ran toward the exit to force the door open. 

The flight attendants and some other passengers subdued the passenger, three hours before landing, and the person was immediately handed over to the Incheon airport police afterward, Jeju Air said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I wonder if these sanctions will actually do anything or are they just for show because wouldn’t China have to enforce them?:

The U.S. on Thursday imposed sanctions on a North Korean husband and wife living in Beijing accused of helping to procure equipment for ballistic missiles that ended up in the hands of North Korean and Iranian customers.

Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control said Choe Chol Min and his wife Choe Un Jong work through North Korea’s Second Academy of Natural Sciences, a state organization that conducts research for the nation’s ballistics missiles program, to help procure equipment for buyers.

Treasury says Choe Chol Min worked with North Korean weapons trading officials to buy equipment for Iranian customers. His wife is accused of coordinating at least one order for dual-use bearings that are used in North Korean ballistic missile production.

The isolated Asian nation uses a network of representatives in foreign countries, including China and Iran, to illegally import restricted materials used to create ballistic missiles and other weapons in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions, Treasury said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

This Marine got off pretty light with a two year suspended sentence considering what he did:

This screenshot from an All Nippon News report shows security camera footage from a car dealer in Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 3, 2022. (ANN)

A Marine whose conduct a Japanese judge described as “bold, violent and vicious” received a two-year suspended sentence Friday for stealing a car, driving drunk and injuring two others in a collision.

Lance Cpl. Dominic Youngren pleaded guilty June 6 to illegal entry, theft, drunken driving and negligent driving in December. He was formally convicted and sentenced Friday by Judge Soshi Okada in Yamaguchi District Court in Iwakuni city.

Youngren, an F-35B Lightning II mechanic with Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 242 at the air station, broke into an Iwakuni car dealership at 7:08 a.m. Dec. 3, according to a case summary of Okada’s remarks in court.

The Marine took a key to a car worth $38,000 and drove away in it at 7:57 a.m., drunk, according to the summary. These were “bold, violent and vicious” acts, the judge said.

After driving more than 2 ½ miles on city streets, Youngren rear-ended a car at a stop light, according to the summary. The other driver and a passenger suffered neck and back injuries that required 10 days of treatment. 

Youngren left the scene without reporting the accident, Okada said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but according to the article the Marine paid $1,400 in restitution to the car dealership, apologized, and promised to never drink again. That was enough to get his sentence suspended.