Supporters of ousted former President Park Geun-hye hold South Korean and U.S. flags as they march on the street in front of the Seoul Central District Court after the court sentenced her to 24 years in jail and fined her 18 billion won (US$16.83 million) on April 6, 2018. (Yonhap)
I would hope that the US government is holding secret, direct talks with the North Koreans in preparation for the Kim-Trump summit. Does CNN think they should hold negotiations on the White House Facebook page?:
The United States and North Korea have been holding secret, direct talks to prepare for a summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, a sign that planning for the highly anticipated meeting is progressing, several administration officials familiar with the discussions tell CNN.
Central Intelligence Agency Director Mike Pompeo and a team at the CIA have been working through intelligence back-channels to make preparations for the summit, the officials said. American and North Korean intelligence officials have spoken several times and have even met in a third country, with a focus on nailing down a location for the talks. (………)
Officials said the decision to use the already existing intelligence channel was more a facet of Pompeo’s current status as CIA director as he awaits confirmation as secretary of state than a reflection of the content of the discussions. Pompeo is expected to begin the process of Senate confirmation in the next several weeks.
One of Trump’s most trusted national security advisers, Pompeo has led efforts to prepare for the summit, which Trump has pressed his aides to organize. If he confirmed, he will assume oversight of the diplomatic preparations. [CNN]
It looks like some apartment complexes in South Korea are having mountains of recyclable waste building up around them as private companies are having a harder time making money from recycling the waste:
A worker at a recycling company examines piles of compressed plastic bottles in a yard in Chuncheon, Gangwon, on Thursday. [YONHAP]As the confusion over recyclables continues in apartment complexes in Seoul and Gyeonggi, the Ministry of Environment on Thursday began an emergency round of checkups to find out which private companies are refusing to retrieve plastic and Styrofoam waste.
Forty-eight private recycling companies announced last week they would no longer retrieve plastic and foam waste because they could no longer make a profit from it. Paper collection was not affected.
The announcement threw people into confusion over how to discard their recyclables until Monday, when the Environment Ministry said in a statement that after negotiations, all 48 waste disposal companies agreed to resume regular services.
But the agreement may not have been as final as the ministry thought.
According to the Gyeonggi provincial government on Wednesday, 20 out of 31 local governments in the province said the companies were collecting recyclables the same way as before.
The rest are “in the process of negotiating.”
“We are in the process of negotiating to resume regular services, but some apartment complexes may experience inconveniences for a while,” said an official from the Resource Recirculation Division of the Gyeonggi provincial government. “We will try to reach agreement as soon as possible, and if we cannot, then we will have the city governments and county offices provide the services instead.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link, but the main issue appears to be the decision by China to cut the import of many types of recyclable waste. China had been taking the waste and making solid fuel pellets for it to burn in factories or heat homes, but to decrease air pollution they have cut the import of the recyclables.
In Seoul, the epicenter of K-dramas and K-pop, you can now 'Rent An Oppa', who are supposed experts of architecture, food and/or cultural, to take you around the city https://t.co/jhbevdTwBG
The Japanese Foreign Minister is finding out that no one wants to hear that the North Koreans are already misbehaving before a deal has even been reached:
Foreign Minister Taro Kono got a scathing reaction from the international community over his call to not be taken in by North Korea’s latest charm offensive.
Kono insists that North Korea is gearing up for a seventh nuclear test, but his warning has fallen on deaf ears.
“(North Korea) is working hard for its next nuclear test,” Kono asserted in a lecture he gave in Kochi on March 31.
On April 2, 38 North, a website operated by Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies that is devoted to analysis about North Korea, posted an article dismissing Kono’s contention based on current activity at the nuclear test site.
“Commercial satellite imagery from March 23 shows quite a different picture: namely, that activity at the Punggye-ri test site has been significantly reduced compared to previous months,” the article says. [Asahi Shimbun]
You can read more at the link, but it seems a nuclear test would be within the Kim regime’s playbook to conduct if a deal to their liking is not reached in upcoming negotiations.
Former President Park has received more time in prison than murderers and rapists in Korea:
People in Seoul Station watch the judge reading the verdict on former President Park Geun-hye on television, Friday. /Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Former President Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison and 18 billion won in fine on Friday in a massive corruption scandal that toppled her from power early last year.
In a live televised trial, the Seoul Central District Court meted out the guilty verdict for the 66-year-old former leader, about a year after her arrest in late March of 2017.
Park was convicted of 16 counts of corruption, including bribery, coercion and abuse of power. Prosecutors had demanded a 30-year jail term. [Yonhap]
Here is what the judge found her guilty of:
They include forcing conglomerates to contribute 77.4 billion won to two non-profit foundations Choi controlled; forcing Hyundai Motor Group to sign deals with Choi-controlled companies; forcing Lotte Group to pitch into Choi’s project to build a sports facility in return for a duty-free business license; forcing Posco to create a fencing team and have the Choi-controlled The Blue K take over its management; and forcing Samsung Group to fund some 1.6 billion won to a winter sports education center practically run by Choi as well as buy three horses for Choi, whose daughter Chung Yoo-ra is a dressage athlete.
“Park abused the power given to her by the people of the country and conspired with Choi to demand bribes from companies and meddle in their business decisions,” Kim said. “She abused her power as the president and received 14 billion won worth of bribes from Samsung and Lotte, and requested 8.9 billion won from SK Group.”
The court said Park received bribes worth 7.2 billion won from Samsung Group, though it cannot determine how much she kept for herself.
Park was also found guilty of abusing her power by blacklisting artists and cultural figures critical of her administration and exercising undue influence in the appointment of civil servants. She was found guilty of abusing her power as president to pressure former senior official of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Roh Tae-kang, to step down, after he pointed out problems concerning special treatment given to Choi’s daughter. The court judged Park had also pressured three officials in the ministry who did not cooperate on blacklisting artists to step down. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
So she was convicted of taking bribes even though the prosecutors could not prove she received any bribes. I have yet to see definitive evidence of how Park supposedly pressured these companies to donate Choi’s organizations. Has anyone seen a definitive listing of the evidence that proves she told someone to donate money to Choi or else?
Interestingly this is what she was not convicted of:
However, the judge found Park not guilty of pressuring Samsung Electronics’ Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong to financially help Choi’s equestrian daughter, Chung Yoo-ra. [Korea Times]
Park’s lawyers will likely appeal the ruling. I suspect that this sentence will be greatly reduced after the appeals process takes place, which is why I think this heavy sentencing is more for domestic political consumption. ROK Heads may remember Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong received a five year sentence for corruption and then was quietly released on appeal a few months later. I don’t think Park will be released in a few months, but I doubt she will do 24 years in prison considering rapists and murderers don’t spend that much time in Korean jails.
This has to continue to be infuriating for the families of the deceased sailors killed by this attack:
The wreckage of the Cheonan frigate displayed at the Navy’s 2nd Fleet Command in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province / Yonhap
North Korea has again denied its involvement in a torpedo attack of the South’s Cheonan frigate in 2010, expressing discomfort over Seoul repeatedly laying responsibility on Pyongyang.
The regime has for years claimed no responsibility for the tragic incident that left 46 South Korean sailors dead. But the latest in a series of verbal conflicts came on Monday when Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the regime’s ruling Workers’ Party’s Central Committee, sarcastically vented his anger about the incident.
In a recent meeting with South Korean journalists, Kim introduced himself as “the man who the South claims masterminded the attack.”
A group of South Korean musicians visited the North for three days beginning Sunday in a move to enhance a festive and reconciliatory inter-Korean mood ahead of the planned summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un later this month.
The remark came about a month after the ranking North Korean official visited Seoul on the sidelines of the PyeongChang Winter Olympics. At that time, South Korean activists and opposition parties denounced President Moon for allowing the alleged “Cheonan culprit” to visit the South. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but it seems pretty clear the ROK government is not going to make any demands for the North Koreans to come clean on this murder of 46 ROK servicemembers.
Broadcast vehicles are parked in front of a court in southern Seoul on April 5, 2018, the eve of the sentencing hearing for ousted President Park Geun-hye. Impeached and arrested in March last year, Park, 66, has been on trial on bribery, abuse of power and 16 other charges. (Yonhap)
