Members of North Korea’s team to the PyeongChang Winter Paralympics arrive at the customs, immigration and quarantine office in Paju, just south of the inter-Korean border, on March 15, 2018, on their way back home. A 24-member delegation, with six athletes, came for North Korea’s first participation in the Winter Paralympics. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
Here is an article about a new open concept school that was constructed for DODEA students in Daegu:
Daegu Middle High School seniors Neena Ibit, Nurfatihah Melendez and Jonathan Wilson give a tour of their school at Camp Walker, South Korea, Friday, March 9, 2018.
Wander the halls of the new Daegu Middle High School and a you might feel like you’ve stepped into the future.
One of several “21st Century” schools that the Department of Defense Education Activity opened recently in Korea, Japan and Germany, the $20 million, 299-student facility is a far cry from most people’s childhood memories.
Its open-air studio classrooms are a contrast to the refurbished barracks where kids learned at Camp Walker before the school opened last fall. The school is so new that, on Friday, part of the cafeteria was cordoned off and filled with equipment waiting to be installed.
“This school is way, way bigger [than the old school],” said senior Nurfatihah Melendez, 17, during a tour that showed off spacious music halls, robotics laboratories and an impressive JROTC wing. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but unsurprisingly the administrator have found out that the open classroom concept causes sound from other classes to going on to be a distraction and thus need to install walls.
Condolences to this man’s family after he was randomly murdered by someone with a long criminal history and yet is still not in jail. This attack at least should lock him up for a long time:
A Korean man has died after a mysterious street attack in Waikiki, Hawaii, local media reported.
Kim Pil-sung, 29, lost consciousness after allegedly being punched and kicked by Cesarin Perez, 34, outside a bar early on Feb. 20. Kim was taken to a hospital but died on March 1.
Perez was caught Thursday and charged on suspicion of second-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter. His bail is $500,000.
Why Perez allegedly attacked Kim is unclear because there were no specific ties between the two. The suspect had been convicted multiple times of prostitution and drug use charges, among others, according to local media.
An autopsy determined Kim died from injuries to his brain from blunt-force trauma. [Korea Times]
Judging by past history the odds are that the South Korean businesses involved with these joint projects will lose out on their investments, but I guess they are hoping things will be different this time:
South Korea is considering a resumption of economic projects with North Korea, but officials are choosing their words carefully since Pyongyang is still subject to international sanctions and the U.S. is still insisting on “maximum pressure.”
With detente seemingly setting in on the peninsula, Finance Minister Kim Dong-yeon hinted that the ministry has some plans for economic cooperation with the North. “I think of the issue, but it is not appropriate to [speak] about this now because the president asked us to deal with North Korean affairs very carefully, like handling a fragile glass cup,” Kim told reporters.
Seoul appears concerned about crossing lines set by the United Nations. Most recently, in December, a Security Council resolution limited the supply of crude oil and refined petroleum products to the North, while also banning the country from exporting its food and agricultural products.
But there are also rumblings that South Korea and its state enterprises are eyeing joint projects. Local media reported on Thursday that state-run Korea Expressway Corp. wants to build a highway connecting the South Korean border city of Munsan and Kaesong, a North Korean border city where the neighbors ran a joint industrial complex until 2016. [Nikkei Asian Review]
4-Star General Vince Brooks to step down from RoK-US Combined Forces Command in July or August per Joongang for "personal reasons." Brooks made his decision known to DoD sources and let his acquaintances know that he'll be leaving in the 2nd half of 2018.https://t.co/JtU0aqTPVT
Former President Lee Myung-bak (C) arrives at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office on March 14, 2018, to be grilled as a suspect over a string of corruption allegations that include bribery, embezzlement and abuse of power. (Yonhap)
I would not put too much stock in this statement which I think could be interpreted as rhetoric for the friendly audience and part of a negotiating strategy for US-ROK cost sharing and trade talks. With that said the ROK would probably be wise to not totally dismiss his comments:
President Donald Trump hinted he may withdraw American troops from South Korea if the U.S. ally doesn’t concede more in trade negotiations, a newspaper reported.
The Washington Post quoted Trump as saying Wednesday in a fundraising speech that the United States was losing money on trade with South Korea as well as the military presence that is meant as protection against aggression from the North.
“We have a very big trade deficit with them, and we protect them,” Trump said Wednesday in audio obtained by the Post. “We lose money on trade, and we lose money on the military. We have right now 32,000 soldiers between North and South Korea. Let’s see what happens.”
“Our allies care about themselves,” he said in the 30-minute speech to donors in Missouri. “They don’t care about us.” [Stars & Stripes]
It appears the Kim regime is positioning its self for talks with President Trump. Wanting a peace treaty that would lead to the withdrawal of USFK has been a long term goal of the Kim regime:
North Korea on Wednesday slammed the ongoing negotiations between South Korea and the United States to renew their deal on defense cost sharing, claiming that South Koreans want the withdrawal of U.S. forces from the peninsula.
The North’s claim comes ahead of a planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and its leader Kim Jong-un that would be held by May. It fuels speculation that the North may seek to strengthen its bargaining power ahead of the talks, experts say.
The North has long insisted that the some 28,500 American forces stationed in South Korea should be pulled out for peace. Analysts said that Pyongyang might seek inter-Korean unification by force if U.S. troops are withdrawn.
The Rodong Sinmun, the newspaper of the North’s ruling party, condemned Seoul and Washington’s latest talks on defense cost sharing, claiming South Koreans are the ones who hope for the troops’ withdrawal.
“What South Koreans want is an unconditional withdrawal of U.S. troops from the South, an unwelcome guest that poses a threat to peace and security on the Korean Peninsula,” the newspaper said. [Yonhap]
Here is another article about the modern day comfort women that few in South Korea seem to care about:
North Korean women experience high levels of sexual violence in their country and in China, say women who have defected. File Photo by Andrew Wong/UPI
A defector who says she was raped in a North Korean prison camp and was a victim of human trafficking in China said most North Korean women who work with brokers have experienced some form of rape.
May Joo, 37, who resettled in the United States after leaving North Korea in 2005, told UPI on Monday that even rape victims do not know the act is categorically a crime.
“That’s because [North Koreans] do not have a concept of human rights,” Joo said. “The violation of women’s rights, they don’t know what that is.
“Rape victims just think, ‘Well, I guess that happened.’ It never occurs to them to speak up, or seek justice.”
In the era of a global #MeToo movement, where women are increasingly vocalizing their anger and naming perpetrators of sexual abuse, the lack of rights protection for North Korean women is a reminder the Kim Jong Unregime — which stunned the world by offering to talk with U.S. President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in — has yet to address what may be the most pressing issue in the country.
Yoonseo Lee, 32, whose hometown is in North Korea’s South Hwanghae Province, said sexual violence is a serious problem in North Korea, but incidents of rape are more common in China.
“Getting raped is preferable to arrest in China,” said Lee, who resettled in South Korea. “Because the minute you alert the authorities, you are arrested.” [UPI]
