Lee Seok-gi urged his followers to help #NorthKorea in case of war by blowing up bridges, oil facilities, bases, etc. in #SouthKorea & overthrow #SK government. Caught on video in 2012. He was jailed for that. He's no Mandela. https://t.co/XIcGL9kylW
No words needed how hot the weather in Korea is in these days. So a Donga reporter went out and roasted pork and soft-boiled eggs BY THE SUNBEAM ONLY https://t.co/pi2Jijn3Kg
A temperature map of Yeongcheon and surrounding areas. The red dot at the center of the dark red area is Yeongcheon, where the temperature reached 40.3C at 3:27 p.m., Tuesday, the hottest temperature on the Korean Peninsula since 1907. / Captured from KMA website
Remember July 24, 2018. The Korean Peninsula had its hottest day ever.
The midday high in a small town (Shinryoung-myeon) in Yeongcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, reached 40.3C (at 3:27 p.m.), melting down the previous record of 40C set in Daegu on Aug. 1, 1942, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).
The KMA has been collecting weather data since 1907. [Korea Times]
It was only a matter of time before the resurgent leftists in South Korea went after another one of their boogeymen, Kim Hyun-hui:
The bereaved family members of the victims of the KAL 858 bombing hold a news conference on their filing of a lawsuit against its culprit Kim Hyun-hui in front of the Seoul Central District Court on July 23, 2018. (Yonhap)
The bereaved family members of the victims of the mysterious mid-air bombing of a South Korean passenger jet in 1987 on Monday sued the culprit, Kim Hyun-hui, a female North Korean former terrorist, for libel and obstruction of business, while calling for reinvestigation of the case.
Prior to filing the suit with the Seoul Central District Court, they claimed at a news conference, “There was no objective evidence to verify that Kim is a North Korean terrorist or that the plane in question was blown up.”
In particular, Kim Ho-soon, head of the group, insisted the group’s own probe has found that Kim was not a North Korean spy but an agent from the South Korean spy agency under the Chun Doo-hwan government.
According to the official findings of South Korean government probes into the disappearance of Korean Air Flight 858 in 1987, Kim and another North Korean agent planted timed bombs on the plane and exploded it near Myanmar, killing all 115 people on board. Kim made a failed attempt to commit suicide shortly before being arrested. She was sentenced to death at a Seoul court in 1990 and pardoned later that year. She is now living in South Korea as a housewife.
Then, North Korea strongly denied the charges that made the U.S. blacklist the North as a terror-sponsoring state in 1988.
But the family members have long raised suspicions that the incident was possibly arranged by the South Korean government two months ahead of the presidential elections, and the government of leftist President Roh Moo-hyun re-examined the case in 2004, with no reversible outcomes.
“The announcements made by the government on the incident at that time were dependent wholly on Kim’s confession,” they asserted in the suit, while demanding a reinvestigation. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but the statement that the ROK government’s findings were also based on Kim’s confession is completely untrue. There was far more evidence of North Korea’s responsibility for the bombing than just Kim’s confession. I recommend readers read my prior posting on this topic at the below link:
I would not be surprised at all if left wing lawyers are the ones behind this libel lawsuit against Kim Hyun-hui. During the presidency of former leftwing President Roh Moo-hyun she was constantly being attacked by leftists with the same claims that she was not a terrorist, but instead a ROK government secret operative that intentionally bombed the plane.
It seems like total absurdity that someone would think the ROK government would bomb and murder 115 of their own citizens, but remember South Korean leftists still think the ROK government murdered their own sailors by intentionally sinking the ROK naval ship the Cheonan in 2010 instead of a North Korean torpedo. This is the lengths that South Korean leftists will go to defect blame on their political opposition instead of holding the real culprits, the Kim regime, responsible for the murder of these ROK citizens.
These deportations and arrest will likely give critics support for not admitting anymore refugees into South Korea:
Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon, right, chairs the anti-terror committee’s meeting at the Seoul Government Complex in Gwanghwamun District on Monday. Yonhap
Six migrant workers have been deported this year over allegations they supported international terrorist groups.
This followed a joint operation by South Korea’s top law enforcers.
Police, prosecutors, the national intelligence service and the justice ministry discovered evidence that the suspects endorsed the terrorist groups “beyond curiosity” and shared information about them with others.
The information came to light in a report revealed during the national anti-terror committee’s regular meeting at the Seoul Government Complex on Monday. Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon presided over it.
Another report said a Syrian migrant worker was arrested in Incheon for inciting co-workers to join extreme Islamic terrorist group ISIS. The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency’s international criminal investigation bureau arrested the man, 33, for showing ISIS promotional video clips to the workers and encouraging them to join it. The authority sent his case to prosecutors early this month. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but a flood of Muslim refugees into Jeju Island from mostly Yemen has caused terrorism fears to grow in South Korea in recent months.
The wreckage of the ship. / Courtesy of Shinil Group
The Shinil Group’s announcement on July 17 that it had located the Dmitrii Donskoi, a Russian cruiser that went down 113 years ago, just two days before created a sensation, with the stock price of Jeil Steel (in which the Shinil Group holds a majority share) soaring and setting a new record.But the next day it turned out that the Dmitrii Donskoi was not a new discovery by the Shinil Group but had actually been found fifteen years before by the government-funded Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST), which had also attempted to raise the wreck.
KIOST furthermore argued that the Shinil Group had located the Donskoi through the unauthorized use of location information that belonged to the institute, which raises questions about the credibility of the Shinil Group’s assertion that it is “the first to discover the Dmitrii Donskoi and the only proven right holder.
”For now, therefore, extreme caution and care are probably required for the various projects and deals organized by the Shinil Group and promoted with rumors that the Donskoi is loaded with 150 trillion won (US$132.41 billion) worth of gold coins and gold bars. Jumping into these projects could have unforeseen consequences.“We had already discovered the Donskoi in 2003 and even released photos. It’s preposterous for the Shinil Group to claim ownership as if they’d been the first to find it,” a key official at KIOST said during a phone call with the HuffPost on July 18. [Hankyoreh]
You can read more at the link, but if another group found the ship 15 years ago it seems to me they would have removed any gold that was there by now, assuming there was any gold to begin with.
A ship that sunk off of Ulleungdo in 1905 that had previously fought in the Russo-Japanese has been discovered by Korean treasure hunters:
The wreckage of the ship. / Courtesy of Shinil Group
A Russian battleship that sank 113 years ago in waters off South Korea’s Ulleung Island ― allegedly carrying tons of gold coins and bars ― has been located.
The rusty hull of the Dmitri Donskoii was found on the seabed a kilometer from the island’s Jeodong-ri and 434 meters underwater, said Shinil Group, a South Korean company which has endeavored to find the ship for years.
“We found the body of the Dmitrii Donskoi 434 meters deep in seas 1.3 kilometers off Ulleung Island at around 9:50 a.m., Sunday,” Shinil Group said.
The vessel’s shape and details were “confirmed to be identical with the Dmitri Donskoii,” the company said. It inspected the wreckage with two manned submarines on Saturday. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but the ship was rumored to be filled with gold worth $133 billion today. The treasure hunters are in the process of trying to lift the ship to look for the gold. If a billions in gold is discovered, I think it may pose an interesting legal challenge from the Russians because it is technically their property.
The English terms "liberal," "human rights," & "democracy" do not translate into analogous concepts in contemporary Korean society. https://t.co/ofAL4hT7q8
It looks like the Moon administration has found another avenue to go after their political enemies with:
A special team of military prosecutors will launch an investigation Monday into revelations that the military’s intelligence unit reviewed the possibility of imposing martial law last year in response to protests calling for then President Park Geun-hye’s ousting.
President Moon Jae-in ordered the investigation after the disclosure of a Defense Security Command (DSC) document that showed the military considered imposing martial law and mobilizing forces to quell candlelight protests against Park.
The military has since formed a special investigation team comprising about 30 prosecutors and investigators from the Navy and the Air Force. The team will complete the necessary preparations on Sunday and launch an investigation on Monday, officials said.
“We’re going to conduct a fair and thorough investigation according to law and principle,” an official said.
Those subject to the investigation are expected to include the then DSC commander, Cho Hyun-chun, then-Defense Minister Han Min-koo and Kim Kwan-jin, chief of the presidential National Security Office at the time. Then-Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn and jailed former President Park Geun-hye could also face an investigation.
Incumbent Defense Minister Song Young-moon is also expected to face an investigation. Song has come under fire for doing nothing even after he was briefed about the DSC document in March this year. Some opposition lawmakers have called for his resignation. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but this issue is nothing new. The Korean leftwing politicians disclosed planning for martial law if needed all the way back in 2016. Now there is a document that shows that planning did occur. South Korea has a long history of martial law during past military dictatorships which makes it a very politically sensitive issue, however it is not illegal:
Under the law, the President has the right to declare martial law when it is considered necessary to maintain public order and security. And the head of state is required immediately to inform the National Assembly of the decision with details, including concrete reasons, a scope of territory and what will be subject to the emergency law. The National Assembly has the right to ask the President to lift the law and, if the latter refuses, the Assembly can start an impeachment process. [Korea Times]
Former President Park obviously made no decision to impose martial law so I don’t see what case the Moon administration can make that anyone in the Park administration broke the law. They can however play this out to further discredit and embarrass political conservatives in South Korea. It may also give them the excuse to clean house of top military leadership accusing them of plotting a coup in order to replace them with more ideologically friendly officers. I guess we will see how this plays out.
