It will be interesting to see how eager this guy is going to be to go back to North Korea anytime soon:
Australian student Alex Sigley gestures as he arrives at the airport in Beijing on Thursday, July 4, 2019. The Australian student who vanished in North Korea more than a week ago arrived in Beijing on Thursday morning. (AP Photo/Emily Wang)
A 29-year-old Australian student detained in North Korea surfaced in Beijing airport on Thursday, saying he was in “very good” spirits after being released.
Alek Sigley ― one of a handful of Westerners living and studying in North Korea ― disappeared without a trace around June 23, prompting a week of deep concern and frantic speculation about his fate.
For days Sigley’s family received no word about his whereabouts or wellbeing, stoking fears he may be the latest in a long line of foreigners to become entangled in North Korea’s police state.
Then, with little warning, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday told lawmakers that Sigley had “been released from detention in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” and that “he is safe and well”.
You can read more at the link, but there has been speculation that his detention may have been linked to the Trump-Kim summit at the DMZ. The North Koreans may not have wanted word of the meeting to leak and took extreme precautions to include detaining this Australian man until after the summit was complete.
The biggest surprise for me is not that they illegally hired Filipino maids, but do you really need 11 maids in one home?:
The wife and the eldest daughter of late Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho received suspended jail sentences for illegally hiring Filipino maids.
On Tuesday, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Lee Myung-hee, the wife of Cho Yang-ho, to 18 months in prison, suspended. The court also sentenced Cho Hyun-ah, infamous for the so-called “nut rage” incident, to one year, suspended.
Korean Air was fined 30 million won ($25,660) in the case.
The Cho family members were charged with illegally hiring 11 Filipino women as maids by passing them off as Korean Air employees.
The suspended prison sentences for the two Cho family members are significantly higher than what prosecution demanded. The prosecutors had asked the court only to fine the two: Lee 30 million won and Cho Hyun-ah 15 million won.
Russian military delegation visits N.K.A Russian military delegation poses after arriving in Pyongyang on July 2, 2019, in this photo provided by the Korean Central News Agency the next day. (Yonhap)
The only way I could see ever holding any joint Korean War ceremony with North Korea is if the Kim regime acknowledges they started the war. Currently they continue to claim the ROK invaded North Korea to start the war despite all the evidence to the contrary. Sadly many South Korean leftists believe this claim:
The Defense Ministry is considering co-hosting a ceremony with North Korea next year to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War.
The inclusion of the North in such a ceremony is expected to lead to strong protests by families of soldiers killed during the 1950-53 war, which Pyongyang still insists was triggered by a South Korean invasion. It celebrates Armistice Day on July 27 as “Victory Day.”
In fact North Korean forces invaded the South, and miscalculations on both sides put the border back more or less where it was before after three years of bloodshed. The two Koreas remain technically at war.
A copy of a Defense Ministry report leaked to the Chosun Ilbo details various plans to mark the 70th anniversary. The ministry said the report was put together by a contracted agency and is simply a set of proposals, which it will “selectively consider.”
I fail to see what the big deal is about the July 4th celebration involving the U.S. military:
As they strolled along the National Mall Tuesday, visitors to the nation’s capital were just learning about the grandiose July 4th celebration that will showcase Army tanks and military flyovers beyond the usual pageantry.
“Awesome,” California school teacher and U.S. Air Force veteran Walter De Graaf, 57, said as he stood near the Washington Monument. “Let’s show America who we are. Let’s show the world who we are.”
“A little extreme,” David Havens, 67, a salesperson from Sebastian, Florida, said about the military display. “Not so sure about that.”
Trump has yet to deliver his address near the Lincoln Memorial Thursday, but his “Salute to America” already is eliciting strong opinions over whether a president revered by supporters and reviled by opponents was injecting politics in an event above the partisan fray that enjoys national appeal.
You can read more at the link, but there is going to be two Abrams tanks and two Bradleys on static display and a fly over by military aircraft which has people all worked up like this has never happened before when it has many times in the past.
The $2.5 million cost that National Park Service reportedly said the event is going to cost has also been widely cited with claims the money would otherwise go to park improvement projects. What the media isn’t saying is that the annual fireworks show in Washington D.C. usually costs the National Park Service $2 million to put on. I have never heard the media tell the NPS to stop the annual fireworks show because it is a waste of money, it is only a waste of money when the President shows up.
That pretty much sums up all the criticism to the event, Trump is involved so it must be bad.
Anyway I hope everyone has a great 4th of July holiday.
I think President Trump is more interested in modifying the treaty than ending it:
With Mount Fuji in the background, an Air Force F-35A Lightning II assigned to the 34th Fighter Squadron takes off at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Feb. 9, 2018.
The Japanese government has dismissed a U.S. media report saying that President Donald Trump spoke of ending the two nations’ longstanding postwar defense pact.
Bloomberg News, citing anonymous sources, reported Monday that Trump had privately mused about withdrawing from the “one-sided” security treaty with the United States’ longtime ally.
The president thinks the accord is unfair because it promises U.S. aid if Japan is attacked but doesn’t oblige Japan to come to America’s defense, the Bloomberg report said.
However, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, told reporters at a news conference in Tokyo Tuesday that “there is no such talk as mentioned in the report.” The Japanese government has dismissed a U.S. media report saying that President Donald Trump spoke of ending the two nations’ longstanding postwar defense pact.
It is unfortunate, but you can't reason with a #Kim ruler. No country–not #China, #Russia, #SouthKorea–has ever been able to entice #NorthKorea into good behavior over the long term. The regime in Pyongyang is inherently belligerent. https://t.co/EvEskkoTpg
Anti-red tide drillYellow clay is scattered during a civic- government-military joint drill to control the spread of red tide in waters off Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, on July 2, 2019. (Yonhap)
Col. Michael Tremblay assumes command of Camp Humphreys in a ceremony at the Army garrison in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, on Thursday, June 27, 2019.
Col. Michael Tremblay assumed command of Camp Humphreys on Thursday as the Army’s new home in South Korea faces the final push in its much-delayed expansion.
Tremblay, a career infantryman, inherits a garrison that has experienced growing pains, including housing problems and traffic jams, as its population more than tripled to surpass 35,000 in just over three years. It’s ultimately expected to reach more than 40,000.
The next major move is due to occur when the problem-plagued hospital finally opens in November, triggering the final steps toward closing Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, which had served as the main U.S. military base in South Korea in the decades after the 1950-53 Korean War.
Tremblay, 46, of Schoolcraft, Mich., was most recently the executive officer to the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command in Florida.
The garrison was hit with a series of complaints about housing on Humphreys, including children stuck in elevators, mold and slow responses to work orders, during a town hall meeting held in February as part of a campaign to deal with a military-wide crisis.
The leadership responded swiftly, including establishing an elevator task force, and has expressed confidence that the most severe problems have been resolved.
An elevator task force had to be established to fix elevators on a brand new base. The incompetence and fraud surrounding the Camp Humphreys construction is staggering. Anyway best of luck to Colonel Tremblay in completing the relocation from Yongsan Garrison to Camp Humphreys.
It appears that the Abe administration has lost patience with the Moon administration over the forced labor ruling and decided to do what the Chinese did and economically retaliate against South Korea:
South Korea’s trade minister said Monday the government plans to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over Japan’s decision to tighten the rules for exports of semiconductor and display materials to Seoul, amid a simmering diplomatic row over wartime force labor.
“South Korea has been making efforts to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with Japan,” Industry Minister Sung Yun-mo told reporters, describing the Japanese measure as an “economic retaliation” against South Korea’s Supreme Court ruling on compensation for wartime forced labor.
Sung added the action contradicts not only WTO rules but also global efforts to seek a free, fair and predictable free-trade environment as proposed at the Group of 20 summit held in Japan last week.
“(The government) will continue to communicate closely with local firms to minimize the impact, and will take this event as an opportunity to beef up the competitiveness of the country’s parts, materials, and equipment (sectors),” Sung said, adding that Seoul will take all necessary measures including diversifying import sources.
Earlier in the day, the Japanese government said it will strengthen regulations on the export to South Korea of high-tech chemicals used in semiconductor and smartphone production starting Thursday, apparently in response to South Korea’s ruling on compensation for wartime forced labor.
You can read more at the link, but for those that have not been following this issue, the Japanese side does not dispute the forced labor claim, what they dispute is that they already paid compensation with the 1965 treaty. Instead of handing out money for individual compensation, the ROK government used the money to develop the economy instead.
As I have always said about this issue is the ROK government going to support compensation claims against China for their role in the destruction of South Korea during the Korean War that killed tens of thousands of South Koreans?
Speaking of China they have just launched their latest economic retaliation against South Korea for hosting the THAAD battery:
China removed ~120 billboard/bus station ads of #SouthKorean companies #Samsung, #Hyundai & #Kia overnight on 6/29 with no compensation nor notice. It recruited ~400 people using cranes & solder equipment. China’s pressure tactic.https://t.co/1V7PrA1Kft
Despite all the economic retaliation against South Korea from China over the THAAD dispute, the Moon administration has not lodged complaints to the WTO. This is just the latest example of hypocrisy between how the ROK government responds to the Japanese government compared to China.
