Just two weeks after the Korean government ousted him as Chairman of Korean Air in a possible effort to nationalize the airline, Cho Yang-ho dies of lung disease:
The family of Hanjin Chairman Cho Yang-jo. At left is Cho Hyun-ah, President of the KAL Hotel Network, Cho Hyun-min, senior managing director at Korean Air, Lee Myung-hee, chairperson of the Ilwoo Foundation, Cho Yang-jo, and Cho Won-tae, president of Korean Air.
Hanjin Group and Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho has died at the age of 70 from lung disease at a hospital in Los Angeles.
According to Korean Air, Cho, who had been treated for the disease in the U.S. since last December, died just after midnight on Monday Korea time.
His wife, two daughters and son Won-tae, the president of Korean Air, were reported to have been by his side at the time of his death.
Arrangements are being made to transport Cho’s coffin from the U.S. for his funeral in South Korea.
An official from Korean Air said Cho’s condition drastically worsened from the shock and stress following the recent news of his removal from the airline’s board of directors.
It looks like a perfect storm of events led to the massive wildfire in Gangwon province:
A bus burned in the wildfire that ravaged Sokcho, Gangwon, from Thursday to Friday is transported on Sunday afternoon. [NEWS1]
Authorities investigating the wildfires in Gangwon that started Thursday and burned at least 400 houses and 2 square miles of land suspect they began at three separate locations on Thursday.
The first spark came at around 2:45 p.m. on a hiking trail in Inje County. The fire spread quickly in strong winds with speeds up to 6.5 meters per second (14.5 miles per hour) and moved into residential areas.
Around 95 residents in the area were evacuated. As firefighters fought the blaze near the residential areas, the fire burned through 30 hectares of forests before it was put out around noon on Saturday, according to the Korea Forest Service.
The cause of the spark on the hiking trail is being investigated.
“We have not ruled out the possibility of a fire caused by an accident,” said a police officer.
The second spark in Gangwon on Thursday came at around 7:17 p.m. on an electric wire connected to a power switch at a gas station in Goseong County.
The state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) said Friday that the fire seemed to have been sparked when “an alien substance” blown by the wind caught on an electric wire connected to a power switch.
The fire that began from spark spread quickly due to the wind, blazing through 250 hectares of the county and Sokcho area before it was put out Friday afternoon.
“We think it is likely that an alien substance, flying in strong winds, that hit the electric wire,” said Kim Chae-hyun, head of the Sokcho branch of Kepco. “Through this force, the wire could have been cut, causing the sparks to fly and catch fire in the vicinity.”
Authorities are investigating Kepco’s management of the electric poles and wires in the area.
In a similar case in the United States, Pacific Gas & Electric Company admitted that its equipment sparked the most destructive wildfire in California in November last year. The company filed for bankruptcy in January.
The third spark in Gangwon on Thursday is suspected to have came around 11:46 p.m. in a small town in Gangneung. The fire blazed through Gangneung and Donghae, burning some 250 hectares of forests and land, before it was put out Friday afternoon.
Police are investigating a temple in the town as the starting point of the fire.
They found four altars at the temple, one of which was burned black, and candles on the altar. The temple is run by a man in his 80s who lives with his wife and daughter nearby.
The good news is that one of the largest wildfires in South Korean history is now under control; the bad news is that one person lost their life and hundreds of homes and buildings were destroyed:
Officials of the local government in the east coast city of Sokcho assess damage from a forest fire on April 7, 2019. (Yonhap)
More than 400 homes and 920 livestock facilities were confirmed to have been burned in a devastating forest fire that raged through east coastal regions this past week, government data showed Sunday, as more damage has been discovered after the blaze was brought under control. The fire, which started Thursday night in the county of Goseong, about 160 kilometers northeast of Seoul, spread quickly to neighboring cities and counties, reducing forests about 742 times the size of a soccer field to ashes. One person was killed in the blaze, one of the biggest wildfires in South Korea. According to the government’s anti-disaster office, the human casualties remain the same, but more property damage has been identified. So far, a total of 401 homes, 925 livestock facilities, 77 warehouses and 100 buildings have been confirmed to have been burned. In addition, 241 agricultural machines and 15 cars were also lost in the fire, according to the office.
Pres. Moon (@moonriver365) at 63rd Newspaper Day Ceremony: "Newspapers are a mirror for our society. They are a barometer for the strength of a people and a nation. Thus, there is no difference between the goals of the people and the Government and those of #newspapers.” pic.twitter.com/eBbQa1uPGZ
— The Office of President Moon Jae-in (@TheBlueHouseENG) April 4, 2019
Apparently something blowing around in the wind made contact with a power switch to start the massive fire in Gangwon-do:
The state-run Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) announced that the fire seemed to have been sparked by a power switch at a gas station in Goseong, just miles south of the border with North Korea. According to Kepco, “an alien substance” blown by the wind caught on an electric wire connected to a power switch, causing a spark, which grew into a fire.
No further detail was given about the unidentified substance.
You can read more at the link, but shouldn’t there be better fire prevention measures around these power switches to where something blowing in the wind doesn’t start a fire?
Ruling party lawmaker Park Jeong attended the commemoration event for North Korean & Chinese forces buried in Paju, South Korea. But he skipped the commemoration event for the sailors killed from NK's attacks on Cheonan, Yeonpyeong, etc. held only 3 days prior. https://t.co/vpOzhKhCcr
It shows how big this fire on South Korea’s East Coast is that President Moon felt like he had to go out there in get in front of the cameras:
President Moon Jae-in on Friday made a surprise visit to the eastern city of Goseong, where more than 10,000 firefighters and military personnel have gathered to put out a massive fire that started the day before. The president first visited the site command center in Goseong, 160 kilometers east of Seoul, where he urged continued efforts to completely put out the fire that is believed to have destroyed more than 300 buildings so far.
“We may have failed to prevent the fire from spreading in the early stage because of strong winds, but I still believe we were able to stop the fire from spreading further because of the joint efforts of our firefighters, military and police officers and also civilians,” the president said after being briefed on current conditions, according to pool reports.
Later, the president visited a makeshift shelter set up at a school to offer his personal condolences to those evacuated and dislocated. “The most important thing is not to get hurt. The life is what is most important,” Moon said while meeting with a group of residents who evacuated their homes in Goseong.
This is a really pretty area of South Korea that is unfortunately being scorched by this large wildfires:
Burnt out vehicles fill a junkyard in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, Friday, after a massive forest fire, which started in the neighboring town of Goseong the previous night, spread to the eastern coastal city. /Yonhap
A series of fires wreaked havoc on eastern coastal cities in Gangwon Province, from Thursday night to Friday, killing one person and forcing more than 4,000 to be evacuated from their homes.
The government declared a national disaster Friday morning as the damage mounted up, especially around Goseong; and is also considering designating the affected regions natural disaster areas to provide better support. A state of disaster is proclaimed when there is an urgent need to deploy emergency measures to minimize casualties and damage in the event of a major catastrophe.
According to the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters, the fire in Goseong started by a roadside at around 7:17 p.m. Thursday, and spread quickly to neighboring areas, especially around Sokcho as strong winds fanned the flames.
Earlier in the afternoon, a separate fire broke out on one mountain in Inje, and another near Gangneung at about 11:50 p.m. that spread to Donghae.
A 60-year-old man died from the fire in Goseong, and another was seriously injured while more than 30 people have been treated for minor injuries.
About 130 houses, 11 warehouses and other buildings were destroyed in five towns and counties in the area, and more than 4,000 residents and tourists at holiday destinations in the province were evacuated, according to the authorities.
The Korea Forestry Service said about 250 hectares of forest was burnt down in Goseong alone, nearly the size of 735 soccer fields, as well as another 250 hectares in Gangneung and 25 hectares in Inje.
This seems like a political stunt to me because I doubt a member of parliament can’t find child care:
National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang
National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang has decided not to endorse a female lawmaker’s request to bring her six-month-old child to a plenary session.
Speaker Moon explained in a letter sent Thursday to Liberty Korea Party Representative Shin Bo-ra that his decision was inevitable, given the impact it could have on other lawmakers and deliberations on bills.
However, he positively evaluated her request and efforts to raise public awareness about childcare and the social need to create family-friendly working environments finding balance between work and family.
Speaker Moon promised to seek cooperation from the House Steering Committee to ensure discussions are swiftly held on revising the parliamentary law to reflect the lawmaker’s request.
Shin sought permission last week to bring her baby to work with her when she briefs other lawmakers on her proposals for two bills aimed at improving the conditions in which women work and take care of children.
Dr. Tara O has an article posted about the April Fool’s Day posters that were put up on college campus around South Korea lampooning people to overthrow the Moon administration on behalf of Kim Jong-un. The posters were put up by the Jeondaehyeop organization that many members of the Moon administration were once part of:
Satire posters criticizing the Moon Jae-in administration popped up all over South Korean university campuses to coincide with April Fools’ Day. The heading on the posters stated “Letter to South Korean students” and “Let’s overthrow the South Korean system” with Kim Jong-un and Jeondaehyeop (전대협) listed at the bottom. The group claimed they posted in about 450 universities nationwide.
There are two Jeondaehyeop organizations. The older Jeondaehyeop, also known as the National Council of Student Representatives, was a university student organization formed in 1987. It was controlled by the “NL” (National Liberation) faction. This group, whose members are now in their 50s and many of whom are in the Moon administration and the ruling party, worshipped Kim Il Sung and looked to North Korea to usher in socialism/communism in South Korea and to unify the Korean Peninsula. They saw the U.S. as an obstacle to this goal, thus were (and still are) active in anti-U.S. activities
Im Jong-seok (임종석), President Moon Jae-in’s former Chief of Staff, was the third president of Jeondaehyeop and led many prominent pro-North Korea activities, including arranging for another student Lim Su-kyung’s (임수경) illegal visit to North Korea in 1989. When Im was called a communist, he sued another citizen for libel. The fourth president of Jeondahyup Song Kap-seok (송갑석) said “North Korea is the only legitimate government on the Korean Peninsula, which guarantees justice and sovereignty, and only the unification by North Korea is the genuine motherland unification” (3:09). Song is now a national assemblyman, Deoburreo Minjoo Party. Song was also the Deputy Chief Administrator of Moon Jae-in’s presidential campaign and the Chairman of the Gwangju Regional Committee of the Rho Moo-hyun Foundation.
You can read much more at the link, to include the full English translation of the poster. Something I did not realize is that the Jeondaehyeop organization which was once pro-North Korean is now an anti-North Korean student group.
Besides the group changing its political leanings, what is so ironic about this is that the Moon administration is investigating Jeondaehyeop under the National Security Law, when they have allowed openly pro-North Korean rallies in the middle of Seoul.
When you read the English translation of the poster it is pretty clear why the Moon administration is hitting back at this group hard because much of what is said in the poster may resonate with many Koreans.
