We could be seeing the beginning of the end of Asiana Airlines:
Thirty-one years and two months ago, Asiana Airlines was founded. Very soon, it could be history after its controlling shareholder said it would be selling off the debt-laden carrier.
Asiana Airlines was formed in 1988, the year the Olympic Games were held in Seoul, as Seoul Air International.
The Chun Doo Hwan government in February 1988 approved the Kumho Group, as it was known at the time, to form the country’s second private airline. The market had been monopolized by Korean Air.
The Summer Games put Korea on the global map, but there was a shortage of flights to transport the visitors. In August 1988, Asiana inaugurated its first service and changed its name in December.
While the airline first operated with a single Boeing 737, it enjoyed the Golden Age of travel in the 1990s along with its competitor as the government lifted the overseas travel ban, and Koreans started going abroad en masse.
You can read more about Asiana Airlines at the link. I like flying Korean Air better than Asiana Airlines, but I still thought it was a good airline. I would rather fly Asiana than any of the major US airlines.
Rescue drillAgents from the Special Warfare Forces jump from a chopper into water to save a person from drowning during a rescue drill in Icheon, east of Seoul, on April 15, 2019. (Yonhap)
South Korea expresses its condolences to France for the fire that damaged the Notre Dame cathedral:
South Korea voiced regret Tuesday over the massive fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and announced plans to conduct emergency inspections of local cultural assets. The flames damaged the 12th-century cathedral, located in the heart of Paris, the previous day, sending a shock wave across the world. “On behalf of the South Korean government, the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA) expresses deep regret for the fire at the Notre Dame Cathedral,” the agency said in a press release. “South Korea has nearly suffered a loss of precious cultural property due to the fire at Sungnyemun Gate.” In 2008, the wooden portion of the gate, designated as a National Treasure of South Korea, was damaged by arson, with restoration work completed five years later.
You can read more at the link, but like the Sungnyemun Gate, it will be interesting to see if the Notre Dame cathedral fire was cause by arson as well. However, Paris officials are claiming it is an “accident” though they are investigating where the fire started. I don’t know how you claim something is an accident if you don’t know what started it.
Kim Jong-un promised that he would visit Seoul and Moon Jae-in doesn’t seem to eager to force his hand to make that visit:
President Moon Jae-in speaks at a meeting with his senior aides at Cheong Wa Dae on April 15, 2019. (Yonhap)
President Moon Jae-in said Monday that he hopes to meet again with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as early as possible, welcoming Kim’s latest message on denuclearization talks. Moon stressed that the venue and format of his fourth summit with Kim does not matter, as he seeks “concrete and substantive discussions” on ways to produce “fruits” to outdo those of two U.S.-North Korea summit talks. “Now is the time to make preparations and push for South-North summit talks in earnest,” he said in a meeting with senior presidential aides here. He added, “As soon as North Korea’s conditions are created, I hope the two Koreas will have another summit without being restrained by the venue and format.”
You can read more at the link, but Kim Jong-un I think will not visit Seoul unless he receive a huge payoff. His dad needed $500 million to host a summit in Pyongyang, so I am sure Kim Jong-un’s price to go to Seoul will be much higher.
Fossils of dinosaur footprintsCouncil members of Jinju city, 434 km southeast of Seoul, inspect a site for an industrial complex in the city on April 12, 2019. Some 7,700 dinosaur footprint fossils were recently discovered there. (Yonhap)
One of my favorite defector groups, Fighters for A Free North Korea have been quiet during the Moon administration which is not friendly to defector groups. The Korean police have been sent to stop their balloon launch operations while at the same time the Moon administration allows protesters to blockade the THAAD site which is there to defend the country.
In this file photo, taken Oct. 10, 2017, and provided by Fighters for a Free North Korea, members of the civic group prepare to send balloons carrying anti-North Korea leaflets across the border in Gimpo, northwest of Seoul.
However, it appears that with the steep drop in President Moon’s popularity and the fact more people are realizing that the Kim regime will not denuclearize has given them an opportunity to restart their balloon operations:
The group, Fighters for a Free North Korea, flew 20 balloons carrying 500,000 leaflets from Yeoncheon, north of Seoul, at around 2 a.m., it said. The balloons carried leaflets slamming the Kim Jong-un regime, as well as one-dollar bills and booklets. Park Sang-hak, the head of the organization, said earlier this month that it plans to send the leaflets because the North’s leader “did not keep his promise” to give up the country’s nuclear program. The Seoul government has urged local activists to stop their leaflet campaigns, saying that they go against efforts to reduce tensions and improve ties with the North.
There has been another horrible murder incident on Okinawa that will probably get the anti-US protesters riled up again:
Okinawa police said the bodies of a U.S. Navy sailor and a Japanese woman were found in a unit of this apartment building around 7:30 a.m. Saturday, April 13, 2019.
A U.S. sailor fatally stabbed a Japanese woman and then killed himself on Okinawa, Japanese officials said. The two were found dead Saturday morning inside a six-story apartment building in the Kuwae district of Chatan, according to an Okinawa Prefectural Police spokesman. The woman’s child was present when the incident occurred and called a relative, who then called police at 7:26 a.m., the spokesman said.
