This has to be the longest police chase I have ever heard of:
After a 71-and-a-half-hour chase involving special forces, a helicopter and three patrol boats, Jeju Maritime Police boarded and took control Thursday of a Russian freighter, which was on the run after dropping logs into waters east of Korea.
The “Tyumen,” a 4,516-ton boat transporting lumber, sent a distress call on Monday morning, indicating that it was sinking about 68.5 kilometers (42.6 miles) east of Mukho Harbor, Donghae, Gangwon province. The boat was en route to China from Russia.
South Korean maritime police dispatched a vessel after receiving the signal, but the Tyumen fixed its problem after dumping about 2,000 logs overboard. The boat fled into international waters with maritime police in pursuit while collecting the logs.
(…)
After several warning broadcasts, the police stopped the boat by surrounding it with the three patrol craft. Ten heavily armed special forces troops boarded the boat from a helicopter, but the 13 Russian crew members barricaded themselves in the wheelhouse.
After 25 minutes, the troops and police gained control of the Russian boat. The police took the boat and its crew to Hwasun harbor where the captain was being questioned on charges of violating Korean laws governing public water management.
US is apparently moving ahead with a plan to enforce further financial penalties on the North Koreans because of their illegal counterfeiting and financial activities:
But under the draft order, almost all finance companies would be effectively prohibited from doing business with North Korea. That would also affect international financial institutions outside the U.S. and thus deal a heavy blow to North Korea’s overseas trade.
In Perl’s reading, financial institutions would have a choice whether they are with or against the U.S., but given the importance of their U.S. interests, it would in effect force most major international firms to stop dealing with the North.
The South Korean government is of course upset that the US would enforce their own laws and levy penalties against the North Koreans for violating them. The financial sanctions plan will have an affect on the North Koreans, but I don’t see it causing the regime to collapse. The regime will not collapse until the South Koreans and Chinese stop given them continuous free hand outs. Whatever amount of money they lose from the financial sanctions the North Koreans will just demand an equable amount of aid from the South Koreans to make up for the short fall.
It appears that Koreans will be able to enter the US Visa free by 2008:
Michael Kirby, U.S. consul-general to South Korea, said on Thursday that it will be possible for Seoul to join Washington’s Visa Waiver Program (VWP) as early as 2008 if it shows a visa refusal rate below 3 percent for two years.
South Korea recorded a 3.2 percent rate last year, according to sources. They believe the rate will go below the 3-percent level this year.
“I am very optimistic that, if everything works out, it will be possible perhaps for (South) Korea to join the program as early as 2008,” Kirby told YTN, a 24-hour cable news channel.
I think it is great if South Korea becomes part of the Visa Waiver Program because it has been a sore point for Koreans traveling to the US for a long time, plus the US Embassy in Seoul would be greatly relieved because they currently process more visa applications than any other US Embassy in the world. I just think that it is important that the VWP rules not be bent to allow the Koreans to join. There are set rules that must be met and if Korea meets them by 2008, than they should be allowed to join the program.
A Korean Air Force F-16 has crashed in Chungju, South Korea:
Lieutenant Colonel Kim Jae-hwan, a spokesman for the Air Force, said the pilot ¿ identified as a 35-year-old major ¿ suffered only minor injuries and was in a stable condition.
The F-16C caught fire as it was taking off and crashed near the base’s perimeter fence after the pilot ejected. The Air Force immediately grounded all combat aircraft except those on crucial air patrols and is investigating the incident.
Air Force officials said F-16s have been deployed nationwide since 1986. Since then, seven have crashed, the first in 2002.
Here is one Japanese cultural transfer I hope makes it to Korea, Beerbots!
:
Japanese beer maker Asahi plans to give away 5000 personal bartending bots, each of which can store up to six cans of beer in a refrigerated compartment within its belly. At the push of a button the simple robots will open a can and pour the chilled contents into a glass for a thirsty owner.
To win one of the beer-bots, in a promotion for the company’s new low malt beer, contestants must collect 36 tokens found on the specially marked beers. But the competition, starting in February, is only open to those in Japan.
Some robotics experts see the promotion as a fun way to promote a wider interest in robotics. Others, however, say it is a gimmick that distracts from genuine robot research.
Via the Dram Man, (a good blog by the way worth checking out) here is a Samsung animator’s attempt on how to properly use a urinal in Korea:
Kind of reminds me of when I was in Japan and there they had to post diagrams on how to use the Asian style urinals there:
My elevator could of used the Samsung diagram when this person kept pissing all over my apartment’s elevator.
In an anticipated move, South Korea has agreed to reduce it’s movie quota system for foreign films:
Finance Minister Han Duck-soo said during a weekly briefing South Korea would halve the quota requiring cinemas to show local films for 146 days of the year to 73 days.
The United States, South Korea’s second-largest trading partner, has pressed Seoul to open the film market more, saying the quota system was a major impediment for negotiating a bilateral free trade agreement.
“The government has decided to take measures needed for the goal of reducing the screen quota to 73 days starting on July 1, after considering such quotas in other countries,” Han said.
Can we put a quota system on Hollywood films in America? Hollywood movies is recent years for the most part have sucked. If the Korean film industry continues to produce high quality domestic movies I see no reason why they should fear Hollywood.
I still can’t get over the money I wasted watching the Fantastic Four and other crap Hollywood movies this past summer.
Korean officials are currently meeting to decide the future of the US military’s Yongsan Garrison in Seoul:
The South Korean government held its first planning meeting this week to decide the future of the 600 acres in the capital city that is now Yongsan Garrison, according to a spokesman from the Korean prime minister’s office.
The Yongsan National and History Park Construction Promotion Committee met Monday to begin brainstorming ideas for the future of the land, which is about three-fourths the area of New York’s Central Park.
The land, which once housed Japanese military quarters and now is home to U.S. Forces Korea headquarters, could become a key part in linking the Han River with nearby Namsan Park for a large public space in this crowded city of more than 10 million people, the committee members said Monday.
How come I suspect that five years after the US military leaves Yongsan Garrison that the place will be filled with more high rise apartments than trees?
This is the reason why I stay home during Lunar New Year in Korea.