It is interesting that the ROK government is using the same argument that the Japanese have been using to deny paying reparations to individual Koreans for World War II era atrocities, that a post-war agreement between the ROK, the US and Vietnam nullified these claims:
A district court has ruled in favor of a Vietnamese national who filed a lawsuit against the Korean government for the 1968 atrocities committed by Korean troops against Vietnamese civilians during the Vietnam War.
Korea Times
It is the first time that a Korean court ruled against the Korean government regarding the atrocities committed by the ROK Marine Corps.
On Tuesday, the Central District Court ordered the Korean government to pay approximately 3 million won and losses incurred by the delay.
“(Then) the soldiers of the 2nd Korean Marine Brigade entered the plaintiff’s house and threatened the family members at gunpoint to force them outside. And then they fired at them. The court acknowledges that the family members of the plaintiff were killed on the spot and the plaintiff was seriously wounded as a consequence,” the ruling reads. “This is obviously illegal.”
The court denied the Korean government’s claim that a Vietnamese national cannot file a lawsuit against the Korean government as stated in the military accord signed among Korea, the United States and Vietnam, saying that the agreement signed by military authorities and government institutions itself didn’t make Vietnamese civilians ineligible to seek compensation from the Korean government.
You can read more at the link, but considering what is alleged to have happened the compensation is very low:
Nguyen Thi Thanh, 62, filed a compensation suit against the Korean government in 2020. As a victim of a wartime massacre by Korean marines, she has sought an apology from the Korean government along with 3,000,100 won ($2393) in compensation ― the minimum amount required for a court ruling.
The troops in question were from the 2nd Marine Division, also known as Blue Dragon Division. They allegedly killed 74 unarmed civilians in the villages of Phong Nhi and Phong Nhat of Qu?ng Nam Province in Vietnam, where Nguyen lived, on Feb. 12, 1968.
“Korean soldiers shouted and threatened families with grenades to come outside,” Nguyen said at the Seoul Central District Court, last August. She is the first Vietnamese to testify about the atrocities before a Korean court.
You can read the rest at the link.
Any guesses on where these Thai tourists went:
A total of 23 Thai tourists have gone out of contact after arriving at Muan International Airport in southwestern South Korea over the past week, the justice ministry said Monday.
The ministry said 10 Thais disappeared soon after landing at the Muan airport in Muan, 385 kilometers south of Seoul, on a chartered flight from the Southeast Asian country Monday morning. It said all efforts are under way to find the missing Thais.
Earlier, 13 out of 174 Thai tourists who arrived at Muan International Airport last week have not shown up for their return flight and remained out of contact, according to the ministry.
The 174 Thais landed at the Muan airport on a chartered flight last Monday to visit major tourist attractions in South Jeolla Province.
But 13 of them disappeared soon after their arrival at the airport and did not board their return flight slated for Sunday, the ministry said.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
It looks like the Kim regime wants to play balloon games just like the Xi regime in China:
A suspected North Korean weather balloon entered South Korea’s airspace earlier this week, prompting Seoul’s military to strengthen its monitoring activities, according to a Seoul official Monday.
Korea Times
The balloon measuring around 2 meters in length was spotted flying over the South Korean territory on Sunday afternoon and appears to have left the South hours later, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The military did not take specific air defense steps, such as sending fighter jets to the scene, as it deemed the balloon as having no intention for spying activities.
You can read more at the link.
It is not looking good for the four people still missing from this sunken fishing boat:
Rescuers searching a 24-ton fishing boat that capsized off the southwestern coast found five missing crew members dead inside the shipwreck Monday, Coast Guard officials said.
Seawater started to flood the ship’s engine room, causing the vessel, the Cheongbo, to overturn at 11:19 p.m. Saturday in waters 16.6 kilometers west of the uninhabited island of Daebichi that lies some 20 km from the southwestern county of Sinan.
The sinking had left nine of the 12 people, including three foreign nationals, on board the ship missing, while the other three were rescued by another boat at the scene.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
A ROK Drop favorite Dr. Tara O has a great article about the investigation into North Korean spies in South Korea. What kind of mental illness must you have if you think the Kim regime is a better form of government than what the ROK has?:
Similarly, the underground organization “HGH” (ㅎㄱㅎ) (presumed to be HanGilHoe or One Way Committee) in Jeju Province was created after North Korean agent Kim Myung-sung met with another spy suspect Mr. Kang since 2017 in Cambodia. (1:47) It was revealed that while Kang was in Cambodia, he stayed at the same residence in Siem Riep as North Korean agents—Kim Myung-sung and 4 other agents stayed for 2 nights and 3 days, pledging loyalty to the Kim regime, becoming Workers’ Party members with a ceremony, and receiving spy training. The duration of 2 nights and 3 days was relatively short, because in the past, the similar process occurred in North Korea, rather than a third country, and it took longer due to the complexity of the decryption method, among other reasons.
Kang is a former chairman of the Jeju Island branch of the Progressive Party (진보당의 제주도당), which was formerly the United Progressive Party, which was outlawed by the Constitutional Court. Its leader Lee Suk-ki went to prison more than once for violating the National Security Law, inciting insurrection, and embezzlement. Lee Suk-ki was released early from prison by Rho Moo-hyun in 2003 and then again by Moon Jae-in in 2021.
Kang recruited two people—a Jeju labor official and a “peasants’ activist” (농민운동) to organize HGH. In October 2021, North Korea ordered HGH to conduct activities calling for suspending ROK-U.S. combined military exercises, dismantling ROK-US-Japan military cooperation, and opposing the import of advanced weapons (F-35) from the U.S. by mobilizing groups, such as the Progressive Party’s Jeju branch (진보당 제주도당), KCTU Jeju Branch’s April 3 Unification Committee (4·3통일위원회), and the Jeju Branch of the National Federation of Peasants (전국농민회 제주도연맹).
The Cultural Exchange Bureau agent instructed spy suspects to form underground organizations in Changwon, South Gyeongsang, and Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, wage an anti-government struggle in solidarity with “progressive candlelight forces,” and propagandize the Juche ideology and the greatness of North Korea’s “State Affairs Chairman Kim Jong Un.”
After their establishment, these underground organizations were operating under Kim Myung-sung’s orders of “struggle against the U.S.” “infiltrate and seize power in the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) and expand their power” and “denounce Yoon Suk-yeol,” among others.
East Asia Research
You can read much more at the link, but this should all serve as a reminder of the possible motivations of the anti-USFK and ROK government protesters especially if they are affiliated with the KCTU.
It is surprising how many elderly people ride the subway and the financial burden it is putting on the Seoul subway system:
The free subway fare for senior citizens, which was introduced in 1984, is one of the rare perks only seniors can enjoy in this aging society. It helps reduce rates of suicide and depression, as well as medical fees by keeping senior citizens active, according to the Korea Transport Institution’s research in 2015.
Korea Times
However, transporting elderly riders for free doesn’t give only advantages.
It has recently emerged as a headache for heads of big city governments, especially Seoul where most of the nation’s population is concentrated, as the deficits of Seoul Metro are snowballing to a dangerous new level.
“Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Seoul Metro has faced a deficit of 1 trillion won ($ 8.1 billion) annually, and the seniors’ free rides account for 30 percent of the deficit. Before COVID-19 it took 60 percent,” Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon wrote on Facebook, Tuesday. “In the meantime, Seoul Metro has endured by issuing corporate bonds, but now it has reached its upper limit. If it was a private company, it would have already gone bankrupt.”
You can read more at the link, but the Seoul government wants the national government to kick in money to support the subway system to prevent prices from going up even further.
