Author: GIKorea

Rocket failures during testing is part of perfecting space technology. NASA, SpaceX, etc. have all had rocket failures. I am sure the ROK scientists will learn from this and correct the identified issues with the third stage of the rocket that failed to reach 7.5 km per second which is the orbital velocity needed to put a satellite into orbit:

South Korea failed to put a dummy satellite into orbit with its first homegrown space rocket Thursday, dealing a setback to the country’s decade-long project to join the elite global space club.

The KSLV-II rocket, also known as Nuri, flew to a target altitude of 700 kilometers but failed to place the 1.5-ton dummy satellite into orbit.

“The test-launch of Nuri-ho was completed. I am proud of it,” President Moon Jae-in said in a press briefing at the Naro Space Center in the country’s southern coastal village of Goheung. “Regrettably, we did not perfectly reach the goal, but we made a very creditable achievement in the first launch.” 

The failure underscores the challenges of sending a satellite into orbit, a space launch vehicle technology that South Korea has been seeking to acquire for more than a decade for its space program.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this rocket launch likely means the North Koreans are going to launch something in response in the near term. We saw that they recently launched an SLBM not long after the ROK tested theirs. I would not be surprised if North Korea attempts a space launch in the near term to try and show up the ROK.

This has been long suspected and would explain why the Kim regime murdered him in such a brutal way:

Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who was murdered in Malaysia in 2017, was linked to South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS), according to a report by South Korean broadcaster SBS, Tuesday.

SBS reported that it had confirmed from a number of former and current NIS officers that Kim Jong-nam had been providing information on top North Korean officials including Kim Jong-un for at least five to six years before he was killed.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

The Japan based sailor that killed two people after falling asleep at the wheel has received a three year sentence:

A U.S. naval officer charged in a car crash that killed two pedestrians broke down in tears as a Japanese judge found him guilty of negligent driving on Monday. 

Lt. Ridge Hanneman Alkonis, 33, was sentenced to three years in Japanese prison during a hearing at Shizuoka District Court in Numazu, a punishment just short of the 4½-year-sentence requested by prosecutors. Alkonis’ defense attorneys, on the other hand, had asked for a suspended sentence, effectively a term of probation. 

Alkonis was charged with negligent driving causing death and injury after his car crashed into pedestrians and parked vehicles at a soba restaurant parking lot in Fujinomiya on May 29. The city is in Shizuoka prefecture, about two hours from Yokosuka Naval Base, where he’s stationed as a weapons officer aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but ROK Heads may remember that Lt. Alkonis tried to claim that high-altitude mountain sickness from his visit to Mt. Fuji is what caused him to fall asleep. The judge did not buy that argument and I agree with him. It is probably more likely that Alkonis fell asleep because he was exhausted after getting up very early to hike up and down Mt. Fuji.

Regardless it is a tragic accident that should remind everyone that if you are drowsy you should not drive.

It looks like the KCTU has immunity to coronavirus prevention measures put in place across South Korea. The next time any organization wants to hold a large gathering I guess they can just call it a KCTU protest and they will be okay:

The protesters affiliated with the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) poured onto the streets in downtown en masse around 1:30 p.m. and began marching toward Seodaemun Station, holding flags and banners calling for labor rights.

Some of them scuffled with police trying to prevent them from moving to the rally site.

Police mobilized about 12,000 personnel and set up fences and bus walls in central Seoul to prevent the rally.

The strike was held despite the government’s call for restraint amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Unionized members called for guaranteeing workers’ rights and ensuring better working conditions, as they sought to bring labor issues to the forefront in the run-up to the 2022 presidential elections.You can read more at the link.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the KCTU claims 27,000 protesters showed up.

Though cases are dropping nationally in South Korea there has been a slight uptick in cases in Seoul which has led to this decision:

U.S. Forces Korea put four districts in Seoul and three in adjacent Gyeonggi province off-limits following a rise in COVID-19 cases there, according to an announcement Wednesday.

Only mission-essential visits are permitted to the Jongno, Yeongdeungpo, Guro and Geumcheon districts in Seoul and the Gwacheon, Dongducheon and Ansan districts in Gyeonggi, according to USFK’s weekly travel restrictions update. The command placed 10 districts off-limits Wednesday.

The Jongno district includes the U.S. Embassy, Seoul City Hall and the presidential Blue House. Camp Humphreys, the headquarters for USFK and the U.N. Command, and Osan Air Base are in Gyeonggi province.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is a rare instance where I actually agree with the Kim regime, no parent should let their kids watch squid game which is brutally violent:

North Korea has been taking jabs at South Korean Netflix megahit “Squid Game” by airing criticisms of the dystopian-thriller coming from many countries around the world. 

The nine-episode show, the U.S. streaming company’s all-time biggest hit estimated to generate $900 million (1.06 billion won) in value, features hundreds of debt-ridden adults participating in a series of deadly Korean children’s playground games to win 45.6 billion won in prize money. The drama is Netflix’s most-viewed drama in 90 countries.

“Squid Game is about survival in a capitalist society where you can earn money if you win by any means and you die otherwise. As children have started acting out games from the violent drama, schools around the world have been advising children not to watch it and urging parents to take extra precautions, but they are helpless,” North Korean state-run website Arirang Meari said, Tuesday.

The propaganda site picked a few examples of opposition to the thriller’s content. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Here is an interesting read in the Korea Times about how solar energy farms in South Korea are destroying the environment and impacting the livelihood of farmers:

Thousands of solar energy facilities have been built in rural mountainous regions in recent years, in line with a government policy to increase the ratio of renewable energy sources in the country’s energy mix. 

However, many of them have become danger zones as the removal of trees for their construction has heightened the possibility of landslides, becoming a major headache for local residents during the nation’s annual rainy season. What is of more concern is that the installations are feared to end up destroying the landscape and environment through massive deforestation.

Seokdong Village in Gangjin County, South Jeolla Province, is one such village, where over 25,400 square meters of forest there were cut down to install solar panels in 2016. 

But since then, soil has been washed away from the facilities during each summer’s rainy season, and in July this year two meters of stone embankments and 20 meters of barbed wire fencing collapsed.

“As the rain poured in July, the solar facilities collapsed and the village’s rice paddies were completely flooded. Fortunately, nobody was on site and hurt but if there had been, it would have caused many casualties,” Lim Jun-hyung, the village head, told The Korea Times, Friday. “The company that installed the panels won’t come to fix it for months, no matter how many times we call them. I can’t even stand the sight of those panels now.” 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but what is ironic is that the Korean government is blaming global warming for the flooding and not the fact that huge swaths of forest were cut down to put in these solar farms. I also find it interesting that these farmers are not protesting and blockading these solar farms like the farmers blockading the THAAD site are which has done absolutely nothing to their crops.

By the way I am actually impressed the Korea Times actually published an article like this critical of solar farms. Generally it seems the media doesn’t want to report anything negative about green energy projects.