It looks like everything went as expected for the Kim-Putin summit in Vladivostok:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday highlighted his “unwavering” will to cement ties with Russia while President Vladimir Putin made an emphatic call for a peaceful resolution of Pyongyang’s nuclear quandary. The leaders held their first summit in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok amid Pyongyang’s stalled nuclear negotiations with Washington. The much-anticipated summit was seen as a key test of Kim’s diplomatic outreach aimed at breaking the logjam in the parley with the United States, easing sanctions pressure and catalyzing his lackluster drive for economic development. “I had candid, meaningful talks with President Putin on the issues of developing the friendly relationship between North Korea and Russia, of guaranteeing peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, and common international issues,” Kim said during a dinner session after the summit that lasted for around three hours. (……)
During a press conference, Putin stressed the need for an “international” security guarantee for the North as part of efforts toward denuclearization and a lasting peace on the peninsula. He also said that multilateral talks on the North’s denuclearization, including long-stalled six-party dialogue, ought to resume if a need arises.
You can read more at the link, but Putin talking about how there needs to be an international security guarantee for the North to denuclearize I believe is code for withdrawal of USFK.
Kim Yong Chol, NK's top negotiator with the US, and Ri Su Yong, head of the party's International Department, not going to Russia with Kim Jong Un. First time for Kim or Ri to skip out on the leader's foreign trip.
Kim-Putin summitWorkers hang the North Korean and Russian flags on a road leading to the Far Eastern Federal University in Vladivostok, Russia, on April 23, 2019. The school is widely believed to be the venue for an upcoming summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Yonhap)
Not that it surprises me that Korean police barged into a home without a search warrant, but what is weird about this is why would Hoengseong police be investigating in Seoul?:
It was confirmed on April 14, 2019 that the police are actually investigating, even by illegally entering a residence without authorization, those related to the college student gathering “Jeondaehyeop,” who posted satire posters all over university campuses. The posters in question parodied letters from the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, satirizing the behavior of the South Korean ruling party and their supporters.
Two police officers from the Hoengseong Police Station in Gangwon Province entered the home of Mr. “A” in Seoul’s Dongjak District without a search warrant. A, as a member of “the Solidarity to Support Jeondaehyeop,” transported the posters.
These two have much to discuss on how they plan to avoid international sanctions against North Korea:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un emerges from his private train upon arriving at the Russian border city of Khasan, Wednesday morning. Russian government officials welcomed him there. After staying for an hour at the station, he resumed his trip to Vladivostok where he is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Yonhap
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un arrived in Vladivostok on his personal train, Wednesday, for a high-stakes summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Russia gave a red-carpet welcome for Kim at the train station in the Russian Far Eastern city amid tight security.
En route to Vladivostok, Kim’s train stopped at Khasan near the border between the two countries at around 9:40 a.m. (KST).
Russian government officials greeted the North Korean leader with flowers, salt and bread, as part of a local tradition to welcome guests. Local media outlets reported that Kim said he would visit Russia again in the future.
Kim stayed at the station for about an hour before resuming his journey to Vladivostok.
South Koreans know how to dominate online reactions and this Wall Street Journal reporter is finding that out:
The Wall Street Journal’s “mocking” review of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Fold smartphone has caused a controversy here as some internet users have criticized the U.S. newspaper for posting an “insensitive” video on YouTube.
Critics said Monday the paper’s journalist should have offered a thorough and independent review of Samsung’s latest smartphone in the video rather than focused on ridiculing it.
In February, Samsung unveiled its first foldable smartphone and the device is set to hit the U.S. market April 26, but the phone has been criticized by U.S. reviewers as the top layer of the display easily peels off, which can cause serious damage to the screen.
WSJ reporter Joanna Stern posted the video review of the Galaxy Fold, Friday (local time). In the three-minute video, the reporter put a sausage inside the screen of the smartphone, showed clips of peeling a banana and orange and folded a colored piece of paper.
The video has gone viral logging more than 570,000 hits as of 3 p.m. Monday, but has generated negative responses from some viewers, recording 22,000 thumbs-downs while having 10,000 thumbs-ups. More than 4,400 people left comments on the video, many expressing anger over mocking the device by putting a sausage and other objects inside the smartphone.
This cancer in the US will be removed, one #China spy after another. Until we can stabilize the critical situation, we should disengage from China as fast and as completely as we can. This will be unfortunate and will cost our society, but Beijing is leaving us no choice. https://t.co/4AQNDhVNmc
Hyundai founder’s grandsonA grandson of late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung, only known by his surname Chung, is taken to a police station in Incheon, west of Seoul, after being arrested at Incheon International Airport earlier in the day for drug charges on April 21, 2019. (Yonhap)
With all the scams out there I generally do not trust charities either and highly recommend that everyone do their homework before donating:
Close to 60 percent of Koreans are hesitant to make donations to charity organizations as they don’t trust how the funds are being used, a recent survey showed.
The Korea Association of Fundraising Professionals (KAFP) released the results of its survey, Tuesday, conducted at the request of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The KAFP surveyed 1,052 people over the age of 19 from October to December.
According to the survey, 424 people, or 40 percent of the respondents, had given donations at least once in the past year, and 56.8 percent of them said they didn’t know how their contributions were spent.
The people who had not given any donations during the period were allowed to give multiple reasons for their decision. Of this number 65.3 percent said they did not donate because of economic reasons and 61.5 percent said because they could not trust the charity organizations.
This should not be surprising to anyone that rapidly increasing the minimum wage will cause small business owners such as restaurant owners to cut jobs because they cannot afford to pay them:
Restaurant jobs in Korea have been vanishing quickly, according to data released Tuesday.
Analysts say the loss in jobs is largely the result of the rapid increases in the minimum wage over the past two years.
According to the Supplementary Results of the Local Area Labor Force Survey in the Second Half of 2018, the number of people employed by restaurants last October was down 104,000 from the same month a year earlier.
That fall was the largest of all categories in the survey.
Other categories also showing major year-on-year declines included: employment agencies, down 85,000; retailers, with 37,000 jobs lost; and land transport services, with 28,000 fewer jobs. Due to troubles at domestic automakers, employment by auto part manufacturers was down 28,000.
By job types, the number of retail workers decreased by 63,000 in October 2018 year on year, followed by construction workers (at a negative 48,000), drivers (down 40,000) and food and beverage service workers (with a fall of 38,000 year on year).
Analysts believe the rapid rise in the minimum wage is largely to blame.
