Flag-bearers enter the closing ceremony of the Winter Paralympics at the Olympic Stadium in PyeongChang, northeastern South Korea, on March 18, 2018. (Yonhap)
Hyundai Motor Co.’s new hydrogen fuel-cell electric vehicle NEXO, featured in this photo from the company on March 16, 2018, will go on preorder from March 19. The automaker plans to export the vehicle overseas within this year, aiming to sell 10,000 units globally by 2022. (Yonhap)
That is what Oh Young-jin from the Korea Times thinks:
If there could be lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula after two summits by the end of May, all three protagonists ― President Moon Jae-in, U.S. President Donald Trump and, yes, North Korea’s young dictator Kim Jong-un ― would deserve a piece of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
True, we would have moral reservations about giving them the award.
Receiving the greatest objections would be Kim, the grandson of the North’s founder, Kim Il-sung, who led a southern invasion at the start of the 1950-53 Korean War. The third-generation dictator in the anachronistic dynasty has demonstrated his disdain for human rights, with gulags, cold-blooded purges and mass killings.
The thirty-something allegedly ordered his agents smear a deadly chemical on the face of his elder brother-in-exile at a busy international airport.
He also had his uncle mowed down by fire from anti-aircraft guns. His father, Kim Jong-il, masterminded numerous terrorist acts, including blowing up a South Korean airliner. Under his watch, and toward the end of his life, the North staged a torpedo attack on the frigate Cheonan, killing 46 South Korean sailors. [Korea Times]
Notice that Oh Young-jin couldn’t write an article without showing his hatred of President Trump:
In Trump’s case, the list of reasons for his disqualification is long, pointing to him being an elected dictator. These include allegedly getting help from an enemy state, Russia, in the election, suppressing freedom of expression, and going back on key international agreements such as the Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal. And he is openly looking down on and antagonizing Muslims at the risk of triggering a clash.
He treats women like sexual playthings. Why he is not on the #MeToo list is a mystery, although it is not entirely inexplicable. Giving him the Nobel Peace Prize is like endorsing Trump’s misogyny and misanthropy.
Trump is an elected dictator? If Trump is an elected dictator then how come Hillary Clinton isn’t being indicted or jailed right now like the Korean left has done to their political opponents? Even more ridiculous is to state President Trump has suppressed freedom of expression. The vast majority of major news networks and newspapers air and publish anti-Trump propaganda against him every day without being shutdown. Protests against President Trump occur regularly without police beating them down. President Trump arguably may be considered a lot of other things, but he is no dictator.
Anyway lets get back at the topic at hand, in my opinion Kim Jong-un should not receive a Nobel Peace Prize because his regime is the one that has created the conflict. If Kim Jong-un receives a Nobel Peace Prize then they should have awarded one to his grandfather Kim Il-sung and Chinese leader Mao Zedong for negotiating an end to the Korean War; which was a war they started.
If half of the corruption allegations against former President Lee Myung-bak are true, then it looks like he may be in some serious trouble:
Lee Myung-bak
Troubled shipbuilder Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering was the source of bribes former President Lee Myung-bak allegedly accepted from a banker, sources from the prosecution said Friday.
Lee, who was in office from 2008 to 2013, is being investigated over various corruption accusations. Of the 20 charges he is facing, one is an allegation that he had accepted a total of 2.25 billion won ($2.12 million) from Lee Pal-sung, then-chairman of Woori Financial Group, from 2007 until 2011. The banker allegedly paid the money to keep his job during Lee’s presidency.
According to prosecution sources, a memo was found in Lee Pal-sung’s home during a raid last month. It detailed his payments to Lee’s family, including the former president’s son-in-law.
The money came from Sungdong Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, which was in serious financial trouble at the time, the prosecution sources said. The midsize shipbuilder was established in 2003 but its financial situation deteriorated in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial meltdown. Up to now, the firm received 9.3 trillion won in bailouts, but has not been turned around. The government decided earlier this month to let the company file for court receivership.
Lawyers of the former president said Friday that Lee told the prosecution during questioning earlier this week that he had no knowledge of the bribery.
The JoongAng Ilbo reported Friday that the prosecution has secured testimony from a former CEO of auto component maker DAS that former President Lee accepted large amounts of secret funds from the company for years.
According to sources from the legal community, the prosecution suspects that Lee had took about 3.5 billion won from DAS. The auto parts maker is technically owned by Lee’s elder brother, but prosecutors believe that Lee is the actual owner. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Here is what the PACOM commander says Kim Jong-un will do if the US military pulls out of Korea:
Admiral Harry Harris
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un would do a “victory dance” if the United States pulled its troops from South Korea, a top U.S. military commander said Thursday.
Adm. Harry Harris, chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, was offering his assessment of how Kim would respond in the event the U.S. succumbed to the North’s longstanding demand to remove its 28,000 troops from the South. [Yonhap]
I think it depends on the context of the pull out. If the US unilaterally pulls out of the US-ROK alliance due to a split with the South Korean government, Kim Jong-un would of course do a “victory dance”.
However, if the US pulls out after an intrusive international inspection program verifies the end of their nuclear program, reduction in forces along the DMZ, elimination of ICBMs, and other measures then he likely would not. We will see what the upcoming talks lead. It should be another interesting year for those of us who follow events on the Korean peninsula.
This photo, taken on March 16, 2018, shows the landscape of Jungcheong Peak, which was covered with snow in an overnight snowfall, on Mount Seorak in Yangyang on South Korea’s east coast, in this photo released by the office of the Mount Seorak National Park. (Yonhap)
In addition to being an odd story, I am some what surprised he actually received 7 years in jail for rape:
A Korean man was sentenced to seven years in prison for raping the sister of his Filipino wife. The man, 39, surnamed Jeon, was also ordered to receive 120 hours of sex-crime prevention education.
An appellate court in Gwangju handed down the ruling on Wednesday, overturning a lower court’s acquittal.
“The accused raped his sister-in-law who came from the Philippines to attend his wedding ceremony. It’s really a bad crime,” wrote Judge Lee Jae-kwon in a ruling statement. “The victim experienced a great deal of humiliation, shame and mental shock, which caused serious depression, stress-driven emotional disorder and chronic insomnia.”
According to court documents, the incident happened on Feb. 15 last year, three days before the wedding ceremony. The groom-to-be raped his sister-in-law after they went out together to buy gifts for wedding guests.
A lower court acquitted him based on circumstantial and tangible evidence, with which it presumed the two to be in a romantic relationship. [Korea Times]
As is often the case, in an effort to save money increased costs were pushed on to servicemembers and their families:
The Defense Commissary Agency has saved tens of millions of dollars shipping produce to the Pacific since 2015. However, a recent inspector general report says the agency failed to provide effective oversight of its new contracts, leaving customers paying significantly more for fresh fruits and vegetables.
In the past, DeCA subsidized contractors’ produce shipments to commissaries in Japan and South Korea, costing the agency about $114.6 million from 2013 to 2015, the IG report said. When contracts were renegotiated in 2015, DeCA stopped paying for shipping, instead aiming to purchase more locally grown produce and having suppliers foot those costs.
Since then, DeCA has saved about $38 million per year.
After the deal was made, prices for fresh produce climbed at Pacific commissaries, according to the report. Between November 2015 and April 2017, customers in mainland Japan paid 20.9 percent more for produce. Over the same period, Okinawa customers saw an increase of 23.6 percent while those in South Korea paid 31.5 percent more.
The report’s findings were based on a review of prices for 239 unique fresh produce items in mainland Japan, 237 on Okinawa and 231 in South Korea.
The 2015 contract’s aim was to keep the quality and cost of produce on base comparable to what they were before the contract, but the IG report says those expectations were not met. It blamed DeCA for the price hike, saying the agency’s “market research did not adequately evaluate the feasibility of obtaining fresh produce items from in-country for DeCA commissaries in the Pacific theater.” [Stars & Stripes]
