I don’t know if the timing of this ceremony is coincidence or not considering ongoing negotiations for the return of Korean War remains, but this ceremony does show the importance of the return of remains to the US military and surviving family members:
A ceremony is held at the Seoul National Cemetery in the capital on July 13, 2018, for the return of remains of Korean and American soldiers killed in the 1950-53 Korean War in this press pool photo. The remained were retrieved in North and South Korea, respectively, through a joint search project by the U.S. and the North. (Yonhap)
The United States and South Korea held a ceremony on Friday to return home the remains of two servicemen killed during the 1950-53 Korean War.
Seoul’s Defense Ministry said the remains of an unidentified allied soldier, presumably American, found in South Korea in 2016, will be sent to the United States. Meanwhile, the U.S. military has brought to Seoul the remains of a South Korean soldier found in North Korea in 2001 during a joint search between the United States and North Korea.
Friday’s ceremony in Seoul was attended by U.S. Forces Korea Commander Vincent Brooks, South Korea’s Defense Minister Song Young-moo and relatives of South Korean soldier Yun Gyeong-hyeok, who received his remains. [Washington Post]
The top finishers of the Miss Korea beauty pageant 2018 pose for a photo during a publicity event at a water park in Hongcheon, a town in South Korea’s northeast province of Gangwon, on July 13, 2018. (Yonhap)
I think these mom and pop stores have a valid complaint because big businesses can respond to the wage increase by cutting jobs or hours and then automating where necessary. Mom and pop stores may not have the capital available to automate like a bigger business:
Owners of mom-and-pop stores on Friday called on the government to freeze the minimum wage in 2019, claiming rising labor costs will seriously impact their profitability.
If the government moves to raise the minimum hourly wage from the current 7,530 won, the Korea Federation of Micro Enterprise (KFME) won’t accept it, a KFME official said.
The Minimum Wage Commission is required to set the guidelines for next year’s minimum wage level by Saturday. Representatives for labor are demanding a 43 percent increase in the wage to 10,790 won, but small businesses have made it clear that such a step is unacceptable.
Mom-and-pop stores and other modestly sized firms account for 86 percent of the country’s enterprises and hire 36 percent of its total workforce, according to Statistics Korea.
The country’s minimum wage shot up this year, and the Moon Jae-in government is pushing to raise the hourly base to 10,000 won within three years to achieve “income-led growth.”
But local businesses are lukewarm to the idea. There has been a move to let go of workers due to rising costs, with people in their 20s and 30s facing greater difficulties landing jobs. [Yonhap]
Two Russian military planes on Friday violated South Korea’s air defense identification zone (KADIZ) four times and flew away following warnings, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said.
The JCS said that the aircraft first entered the KADIZ north of the eastern island of Ulleungdo at 2:08 p.m. and flew out of it 74 kilometers southeast of Pohang at 2:35 p.m. They re-entered the KADIZ at 3:21 p.m. from the east and then left from the northwest of Jeju Island at 3:45 p.m.
At 4:08 p.m., the planes entered the KADIZ northwest of Jeju and flew out of it at 4:32 p.m. At 5:36, they re-entered the KADIZ from the east of the Dokdo islets and left at 5:53 p.m.
South Korea deployed its aircraft to send warnings to the planes, the JCS explained. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but the Russians do these flights through US and Japanese ADIZ’s as well likely to assess the response times of ground alert aircraft.
Some how I doubt the radical Islamists will try and exploit this Koran burning by a wacko Korean feminist group compared to when a wacko US preacher throated to burn the Koran and it landed him as number two on Al Qaida’s hit list:
WOMAD, a radical feminist group, has claimed one of its members burned a copy of the Quran, the central religious text of Islam.
The person who posted a picture of the burning Quran Wednesday said, “Muslim cockroaches and Korean men should be eliminated.”
It is unclear whether she actually burned the text and, if so, how she obtained it.
This came just a day after another member posted a photo of a Catholic sacramental wafer scribbled with foul language in red ink.
Following the news, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Korea (CBCK) denounced the posting as a serious insult to the Catholic Church and vowed to take action in response.
“In accordance with Catholic regulations, the CBCK is preparing the process to notify the Vatican through the Vatican ambassador in Seoul,” said priest Ahn Bong-hwan, spokesman of the CBCK.
Under the motto, “We hate all men,” WOMAD has gained notoriety for bashing religions and men since its 2016 inception. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the wacko US preacher who threatened to burn Korans, worked as a Uber driver. Clearly his 15 minutes of fame is over.
This photo provided by Asan Medical Center in Seoul on July 12, 2018, shows Sarang, who was born at 302 grams, the lowest weight of any newborn in South Korea, in January. She gained weight to over 3 kilograms by the end of June with the help of medical staff at the hospital. (Yonhap)
Here is the latest on the drawn out return of remains from US servicemembers during the Korean War by North Korea:
Marines of the First Marine Division pay their respects to fallen buddies during memorial services at the division’s cemetery at Hamhung, Korea, following the break-out from Chosin Reservoir, December 13, 1950. Cpl. Uthe. (Marine Corps)
The United States and North Korea have agreed to hold talks Sunday to discuss the repatriation of American troops’ remains from the 1950-53 Korean War, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman said.
Heather Nauert said in a statement that the North Koreans proposed the date Thursday after a meeting expected the same day failed to materialize.
“Vice Chairman Kim Yong-chol agreed in his dialogue with Secretary Pompeo to have his team meet with an American team in Panmunjom on or around July 12th to move forward with the repatriation of American service members’ remains,” the spokeswoman said. “Mid day July 12th they contacted us and offered to meet on July 15th. We will be ready.” (……….)
About 200 sets of remains are expected to be returned through the inter-Korean border to the United Nations Command (UNC), which oversees the cease-fire that ended the Korean War.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said earlier that the UNC would receive the remains, not the South Korean or U.S. militaries alone, because all 21 nations that fought under the U.N. flag alongside South Korea and the U.S. lost troops in the conflict.
There was widespread speculation that Pompeo would return with the remains following his visit to Pyongyang, but that did not happen. Once the remains cross the inter-Korean border, they will be moved to the U.S. air base in Osan, south of Seoul, and then to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii for forensic identification.
The level of the meeting Sunday was not immediately known.
North Korea has reportedly proposed holding general-level military talks with the UNC over the repatriation of remains, sources here said Thursday, after it failed to show up at the meeting earlier that day.
With the meeting not taking place, the UNC reportedly made a phone call and North Koreans responded by saying that they needed to upgrade the “level” of the talks.
“North Korea apparently wants a U.S. general to appear at the table to quickly finalize the repatriation issue,” the source said. “It is likely that military generals from the U.S. and North Korea will take part in the meeting.”
The UNC told the U.S. Defense Ministry about North Korea’s proposal and is waiting for Washington’s answer, the source added.
“We have to see the U.S. Defense Ministry’s response, but the UNC reportedly gave a positive signal to North Korea, so there is a good chance of the talks taking place on Sunday,” the source said.
If realized, they will be the first general-level military talks between North Korea and the UNC since March 2009. [Jong Ang Ilbo]
