An illustration of the KPLO’s planned trajectory (provided by Korea Aerospace Research Institute)
A South Korean orbiter to be launched toward the moon in 2020 will be carried on a rocket by the private US aerospace manufacturer SpaceX. “The US company SpaceX has been selected to carry out the scheduled launch of the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) in 2020, and a launch contract was signed on Dec. 15,” the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) announced on Dec. 18.
SpaceX and India’s Antrix took part in the overseas bidding to carry out the launch, with KARI selecting SpaceX as a priority negotiation candidate. The final launch contract is determined through negotiations. SpaceX entered the bidding with its Falcon 9 rocket, a launch vehicle weighing 549 tons and measuring 70 meters in length and 3.7 meters in external diameter with a two-stage liquid-propelled engine that is capable of carrying 22.8 tons into low earth orbit, 8.3 tons into geostationary transfer orbit, and 4 tons into Mars transfer orbit. South Korea’s lunar orbiter weighs approximate 550 kg.
For the first stage of its lunar exploration effort, KARI plans to cooperate internationally with the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on development and operation of the KPLO and establish the necessary core technology and an independent base for lunar exploration. The KPLO is to carry a payload of six items, including a domestically developed high-resolution camera, wide-angle polarimetric camera, lunar gamma ray spectrometer, lunar magnetic field scanner, and space internet, along with a shadow camera developed by NASA. [Hankyoreh]
President Moon Jae-in (C, rear) meets two victims of sexual enslavement by the Japanese military during World War II to have lunch with them at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Jan. 4, 2018, in this photo released by his office. Moon reiterated his stance that a 2015 deal between Seoul and Tokyo on ending their longstanding dispute over former wartime sex slaves is defective but said the incumbent government may still work with the agreement to resolve the issue. (Yonhap)
Here is what one good idea fairy Mr. Emanuel Yi Pastreich from Kyunghee University wants to do with the UN Headquarters:
So what are the implications of American disengagement from the U.N. for South Korea, and for the peninsula as a whole? The immediate response among my Korean friends is dread. After all, Koreans see their country as a “shrimp among whales” that needs constant protection and support from the U.S.
But every crisis is an opportunity, if you have the courage to seize the moment.
No country is more deeply committed to multilateralism in trade, in diplomacy and in security than South Korea, granted that the alliance with the U.S. limits the South’s ability to make good on this general sentiment among policy makers. Whether on the left or on the right, there is a remarkable consensus in South Korea concerning good relations with all its neighbors (with the notable exception of North Korea).
What if South Korea proposed that U.N. headquarters be moved from New York City to the Korean Peninsula, perhaps even to Seoul?
To start with, the Trump administration might welcome this proposal. Just look at all the administration has done to undermine multilateral cooperation over the last year. Moreover, there are also progressive voices around the world that suggest the U.S. is no longer qualified to be home to such an institution in light of the country’s recent shift to isolationism.
There has been a strong argument for years that a major U.N. institution should be located in Northeast Asia. After all, other than the United Nations University in Tokyo and some smaller offices, The major U.N. institutions are in Geneva (and elsewhere in Europe), Nairobi, New York City and Washington D.C.
Northeast Asia, as the new center of the global economy and a growing source for new cultural production, would be a logical place for the headquarters. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I do find it interesting that Mr. Pastreich is claiming US isolationism and disengagement from the UN when the Trump administration has repeatedly gone to the UN for sanctions on North Korea. Mr. Pastreich’s argument is mostly based on the Trump administration’s decision to relocate the US embassy to Jerusalem. Last I checked the United Nations has no authority to tell other countries where their embassy should be located.
Also Mr. Pastreich talks about the Trump administration wanting to limit or end global governance. In my opinion the Trump administration wants to influence global governance that is not in the US’s interest. Sanctions on the Kim regime is in the US’s interests thus why the Trump administration pursues it with the United Nations. Signing on to the Paris Climate Accord brokered by the UN the Trump administration determined was not in the US’s economic interest.
Goods that are tribute to K-pop girl band GFRIEND have angered fans because the objects can apparently be used as sex toys.
The life-size pillows, 180 centimeters long and 60 centimeters wide with a full body image of each member color-printed on top, are the source of the controversy. People criticized the goods for encouraging fans to hug the objects and perhaps do more than just hugging them.
Source Music released the products on Dec. 29 ahead of the band’s first exclusive concert on Jan. 6-7 at Olympic Park in Songpa-gu, Seoul. They were introduced on the band’s social network site with hashtags “#GFRIEND 1st Concert 2018” and “#Season_of_GFRIEND.”
Each object in the six-piece package costs 60,000 won ($56). They were among 25 new products including cheering wands and shopping bags. The goods are worth a total of 1 million won. [Korea Times]
"I don't eat dogs, but I am disgusted by those who preach that only animals deemed cuddly enough or friendly enough by Westerners deserve to live." My story on South Korea's dog-eating tradition & debates over 'Western hypocrisy" @AFPhttps://t.co/w1uAOOMhMZ
If this happened in the US the media would probably be claiming racial profiling and activists would use legal action to stop the deportations. In Korea deporting people with terrorism ties is considered common sense:
South Korea has deported 17 foreigners in a preemptive anti-terror action before the PyeongChang Olympics in February, the immigration office said Tuesday.
They were from five countries, including unidentified ones in Southeast and Central Asia, according to the Korea Immigration Service.
They were either members of international terrorist groups specified in the country’s Anti-Terror Law or those on a wanted list shared by a network of intelligence agencies. Detailed information about them was unavailable.
“We have deported 17 foreigners who could potentially pose a terrorist menace to the Olympics,” an immigration official said. “It was possible with the close cooperation and intelligence sharing of spy agencies in 50 countries.”
He did not elaborate, but said the government will spare no effort to make the Olympics a success.
“We must be very thorough in counter-terrorism as athletes and people all over the world are coming to the PyeongChang Winter Olympics,” he said.
“We don’t rule out the possibility that foreign terrorists could enter (the country) by pretending to be Olympics travelers or hired workers at Korean companies. So we have to be vigilant before and during the Olympics.” [Korea Times]
When it comes to the comfort women issue the Moon administration has made it clear that there will be no compromise with Japan:
South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha bowed her head expressing regret over a controversial comfort women deal that she said has left scars to the hearts of victims and their families during a press conference held in Seoul on Dec. 27, 2017. (Yonhap)
South Korea’s previous government of ousted President Park Geun-hye kept part of a 2015 deal with Japan on resolving the issue of wartime sexual slavery secret from the public in order to avoid criticism of concessions made to Tokyo, a task force said Wednesday.
After months of looking into how the unpopular deal was reached, the foreign ministry task force also said that the Park administration failed to make adequate efforts to listen to victims before reaching the agreement.
It called for the government to come up with a longer-term approach to resolve such a historical matter as the so-called comfort women issue, saying that “give-and-take” negotiations or political compromise could not be the ultimate solution.
“A victims-centered approach, which has become the norm when it comes to the human rights of women in time of war, has not been sufficiently reflected and the deal was reached through give-and-take negotiations like an ordinary diplomatic agenda” the task force said in its 31-page report on the outcome of its review.
“The agreement was finalized mostly based on government views without adequately taking into account the opinions of victims in the process of negotiation,” it added.
The findings are expected to make the already unpopular deal even more so, and could spark stronger calls for renegotiation, a move sure to strain relations between the two neighboring countries. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but according to the article despite the supposed anger of the comfort women with the agreement, 36 out of 47 of them took the compensation money from Japan.
With that all said when is the Korean government going to demand that China apologize and pay compensation for all the Koreans they killed and their near success of destroying the Republic of Korea during the Korean War? That is more recent history then the World War II era comfort women issue.
The fire killed 29 people in Jecheon may have had such a high death toll because of a number of factors to include a broken emergency exit door:
This photo, provided by Fire Prevention News on Dec. 23, 2017, shows traces left by victims of a deadly blaze at a gym in Jecheon, some 170 kilometers southeast of Seoul, near the emergency exit on the second floor where 20 out of 29 dead were found. The fire took place at the eight-story sports center on Dec. 21. (Yonhap)
Witnesses also pointed to insufficient emergency exits and illegally parked cars that caused a delay in putting out the fire by blocking fire trucks’ access to the building.
The incident is invoking comparisons with a fire which erupted three years ago at an apartment in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province. The building also contained the flammable material and was constructed in a similar style.
Police will also look into whether the building was properly managed, including the maintenance of sprinklers and other fire prevention facilities. Some reportedly testified that the exit door of the sauna, located on the second and third floors, had been broken. Twenty of the 29 people who died were using the facility when the fire erupted. [Korea Times]
I have personally seen fire exits chained before in Korean buildings so the fact that the exit door from the sauna was not working and no one bothered to repair it is not surprising to me. Additionally it has been discovered that the building’s design and materials used caused it to be an increased fire hazard.
Then to make matters the firefighters appeared to be totally unprepared to deal with such a large fire:
The burned building and its surroundings are covered in soot. / Yonhap
Firefighters have been criticized for not acting fast enough to save the 29 people killed in a fire that engulfed an eight-story commercial building in Jecheon on Thursday.
Witnesses said firefighters did not break the windows of the North Chungcheong Province building to allow people to escape but only used their hoses from the outside.
A victim’s husband, in his late 50s, cried that his wife struggled to break out of the building for so long that when he reached her body she no longer had fingerprints. The heartbroken man blamed firefighters for not breaking the windows to let people out.
Firefighters from the Chungbuk Fire Service Headquarters entered the second floor, where 20 of the deaths occurred, 40 minutes after arriving. Many of the victims were in the women’s sauna room in a public bathhouse.
City fire emergency service Chief Lee Sang-min said firefighters could not promptly reach the second floor because cars parked around the building were on fire and there was a danger of gas explosions.
Rescuers also were criticized for the delay in positioning a ladder platform fire engine. If it were not for a private firm sending a ladder truck, there might have been more deaths, reports said.
The fire engine was delayed about 30 minutes and saved only one person trapped high in the building while the private truck saved three on the eighth floor.
Lee said the ladder platform arrived late because of parked cars at the site. [Korea Times]
That is pretty sad when a private company was able to get a ladder truck to rescue people before the fire department and saved more lives.
So I wonder if the Korean left will blame President Moon for the slow rescue response, lax safety standards, and demand that he should have personally been on site to direct the rescue like they did to former President Park after the Sewol Ferry Boat sinking? Of course they won’t because the criticism was all politically motivated. There was nothing President Park could have done to rescue the people on the Sewol just like there was nothing President Moon could do to rescue people at this fire. I suspect we will hear little else about this fire and the lax safety culture in Korea will continue which there is a lot of blame to go around for that.
President Moon Jae-in made a surprise trip to the site of a tragic fire in the small southeastern city of Jecheon Friday.
