Visitors enjoy themselves at the newly opened Marvel Experience in the southeastern port city of Busan, Asia’s first Marvel hall that provides virtual and augmented reality experiences and 4-D videos, on Oct. 26, 2017. (Yonhap)
A 30-something woman has been sentenced to six years in prison after being convicted of killing her acquaintance’s 2-year-old son, who allegedly harassed her 1-year-old daughter, a local court said Saturday.
The unidentified woman was arrested in October last year when she threw the 2-year-old at her acquaintance’s home in Asan of South Chungcheong Province, about 100 kilometers south of Seoul, after getting angry at the boy for pushing her daughter while trying to get a toy from her.
The baby boy suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and was pronounced dead at the hospital the following day. [Yonhap]
You can read the rest at the link, but the woman is appealing because she did not intentionally seek to injure the boy. What did she think was going to happen when she threw a two year old across the room?
Some strong language from the US and ROK Defense Chiefs:
South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo (R) shakes hands with his American counterpart James Mattis before a joint press conference in Seoul on Oct. 28, 2017. (Yonhap)
The defense chiefs of South Korea and the United States made clear Saturday that North Korea’s provocations will never be tolerated, as the two warned any act of aggression will be met with a “massive military response.”
They also stressed it’s pipe dream for North Korea to be recognized as a nuclear power.
The allies “reaffirmed that any North Korean aggression or military provocation will not be tolerated,” read the joint communique issued after their annual defense ministerial talks.
The two sides will continue combined efforts to “make North Korea understand that it cannot achieve the ends it seeks through its provocative behavior,” it added.
South Korea’s Defense Minister Song Young-moo told reporters that he and U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis condemned the North’s reckless provocations, including a series of recent ballistic missile launches and a nuclear test. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I guess the question now becomes what is an “act of aggression”? Does ballistic missile and nuclear tests count as an act of aggression worth a massive military response?
I am glad these two women are okay, but here is a power tip for anyone thinking of going on a very long trip on a sailboat, learn how to sail it and bring a personal locator beacon:
The Navy has rescued two women lost in the Pacific for months after their small boat’s engine failed and they were blown off course during a voyage from Hawaii to Tahiti.
The Sasebo, Japan-based amphibious ship USS Ashland rescued Jennifer Appel and Tasha Fuiava, both of Honolulu, along with their dogs Zeus and Valentine after their adrift sailboat was spotted Wednesday about 900 miles southeast of Japan.
“Thank god we’ve been rescued,” was Appel’s first thought when she saw the American sailors approaching her stricken craft in a small boat launched from the Ashland Thursday morning.
“They saved our lives,” she said, according to a Navy statement about the rescue. “The pride and smiles we had when we saw [the Navy] on the horizon was pure relief.” [Stars & Stripes]
Just another example that South Korea is a “rule by law” not a “rule of law” country:
Professor Park Yu-ha (C) at Seoul-based Sejong University leaves the Seoul Eastern District Court on Jan. 25, 2017, after the court acquitted her of defaming women who were sexually enslaved by Tokyo during World War II. (Yonhap)
An appeals court in Seoul overturned a lower-court acquittal of a professor and fined her on Friday, finding her guilty of charges that she defamed victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery with her book.
The Seoul High Court handed down a fine of 10 million won ($8,846) to Park Yu-ha, a Sejong University professor, who was charged with defaming sexual slavery victims, known as “comfort women,” with her controversial book “Comfort Women of the Empire.”
Victims and other critics claimed the book disputes the coerciveness of the “comfort women” system.
Friday’s verdict overturned the lower court’s decision in January that she is not guilty because academic freedom is a basic right guaranteed by the Constitution. [Korea Times]
This whole controversy shows that in South Korea if you say or write something unpopular the government can use the defamation law to prosecute you to shut you up even if what you right is true.
A group of Biafrans calls for the Nigerian government to stop the suppression of ethnic Biafrans in the eastern states of the African nation during a news conference in downtown Seoul on Oct. 26, 2017. Biafra declared independence in 1967, which led to two and a half years of civil war, and was reintegrated into Nigeria after the war. (Yonhap)
The Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) has been emboldened ever since the Korean left was able to impeach President Park. So them protesting the US Navy personnel in Busan is not surprising:
Pictures of an anti-U.S.protest rally in South Korea spread online, causing concern ahead of U.S.President Donald Trump’s state visit to the country next month.
The rally was led by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the country’s second-largest umbrella trade union.Near a Busan hotel where the U.S.Navy held a party to celebrate its 242-year history Oct.14, protesters chanted messages like “U.S.troops go home!”
Since then, photos and a video of their protest have been shared by thousands of people on social media, including U.S.sailors and their families.
In their propaganda pamphlet to the sailors, they said, “Koreans despise dotard Trump.We also abhor you, his servants.It is because you are a war monster.”
A 35-second video, which is believed to have been filmed by a U.S.sailor on the same day, shows a Korean woman screaming and cursing at U.S.soldiers.
The KCTU, which has carried out anti-U.S.protests before, also criticized local police on its Facebook and Twitter accounts for protecting the sailors from protesters.
The pictures, video and the KCTU’s messages aroused anger among many Americans as well as Koreans. [Korea Times]
The 2nd Infantry Division looked to the future and the past Thursday as it celebrated its centennial with a mass re-enlistment ceremony for 100 soldiers and a time capsule.
Against the background of a hill covered with autumn foliage, 2nd ID commander Maj. Gen. Scott McKean praised the soldiers for renewing their service while stationed in South Korea, which remains technically at war with the North.
Tensions have been rising in recent months as the communist state increases the pace of its banned nuclear weapons program.
“Volunteering to continue your service in defense of our great nation, and to do it in the face of the enemy, on freedom’s frontier, that Warriors, is a sign of commitment and courage,” he said.
The ceremony on a field on Camp Casey, an Army base near the heavily fortified border that divides the peninsula, marked the start of a day of celebration as the Warrior Division celebrated its 100th birthday. [Stars & Stripes]
As the below picture shows US Defense Secretary Mattis decided not to wear his old Marine uniform to the DMZ like he previously indicated he would:
South Korean Defense Minister Song Young-moo (R) and U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis issue their statements on North Korea at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the Demilitarized Zone on Oct. 27, 2017. (Joint Press Corps-Yonhap)
Mattis arrived in South Korea earlier in the day. Shortly after landing at Camp Bonifas by Black Hawk chopper, he and Song headed to the OP Ouellette, a hilltop border post, and looked around a bunker underneath the facilities only 25 meters away from the North’s territory.
They were briefed on Panmunjom by U.S. Army Col. Steve Lee, secretary of the United Nations Command Military Armistice Commission (UNCMAC). They then toured the UNCMAC’s blue-colored conference building which stands on the Military Demarcation Line.
The North’s guards closely monitored the ministers’ activities, with a group of tourists looking down from the Panmungak building in the North.
In their Clark talks, the South’s minister proposed Mattis, a former Marine Corps general, wear a combat uniform for the DMZ trip to send a highly symbolic message to the North. Mattis responded positively to the offer at that time, according to Song.
But Mattis was dressed in a suit as usual after internal consultations apparently in order to avoid possible controversy over a dress code reflecting the U.S. defense secretary’s public availability.
Asked whether President Donald Trump can travel to the DMZ when he visits South Korea early next month, Mattis was guarded.
Following the DMZ tour, he paid a courtesy call on President Moon Jae-in at Cheong Wa Dae and met with Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha. [Yonhap]
