It sounds like this chaplain needs to find another line of work even if the IG finds he did nothing against regulations:
Air Force Reserve Chaplain Capt. Sonny Hernandez.
After initially denying an investigation, the Air Force said Friday that its inspector general’s office is reviewing complaints against reserve chaplain Capt. Sonny Hernandez, who proclaimed that Christian servicemembers are wrong to support the rights of other faiths to practice their religion, actions that he said will lead them to hell.
“I can confirm that the Air Force is reviewing IG complaints made against Chaplain Hernandez that were referred to the Air Force Inspector General’s office,” Air Force spokesman Col. Patrick Ryder said Friday. “At this time it would be inappropriate to comment on the nature of those complaints or speculate on potential outcomes.” [Stars & Stripes]
I feel so bad for the victim’s parents that this murderer was only sentenced to 20 years for this horrible crime:
The Incheon District Court on Friday sentenced the suspect who murdered an 8-year-old girl and dismembered her body to 20 years in prison, and doled out a life sentence for the accomplice. The court also said the two must wear ankle monitors for 30 years.
“Kim very carefully planned the crime,” the court said. “And Park was in a close relationship with Kim and she was her accomplice through the act.”
The suspect is a 17-year-old female student surnamed Kim. Her accomplice is an 18-year-old female student surnamed Park.
The Juvenile Act prevents anyone under 18 from receiving a life sentence or death penalty for murder or other serious crimes. The act says a minor convicted of murder can receive a sentence of up to 15 years. But Kim was sentenced to 20 years after the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes was applied to her case. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Here is the latest show force executed by the United States this weekend in response to North Korea’s threats:
In this photo made available by the Department of Defense, a U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer, deployed from Ellsworth Air Force Base, prepares to take off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam to the Korean Peninsula on Saturday. [YONHAP]The Pentagon flew its Air Force B-1B Lancer strategic bombers Saturday east of North Korea, near the demilitarized zone, demonstrating U.S. President Donald Trump’s resolve.
The U.S. Department of Defense announced later that day that the bombers flew from Guam, escorted by F-15C Eagle fighters from Kadena Air Base in Okinawa, Japan, to international airspace over waters east of North Korea.
“This is the farthest north of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) any U.S. fighter or bomber aircraft have flown off North Korea’s coast in the 21st century,” said Pentagon Spokesperson Dana White, “underscoring the seriousness with which we take reckless behavior.”
The B-1B, dubbed “the swan of death,” is considered one of three main strategic bombers of the U.S. Air Force, alongside the B-52 and B-2 bombers. It is able to deliver a heavier payload than the B-52 and B-2 bombers, and is also quicker than the other two, capable of reaching the Korean Peninsula from Guam in two hours.
“This mission is a demonstration of U.S. resolve and a clear message that the President has many military options to defeat any threat,” White said, underscoring the “grave threat” that the North’s weapons program poses to the Asia-Pacific region and the international community.
She continued, “We are prepared to use the full range of military capabilities to defend the U.S. homeland and our allies.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
An article carried by the Rodong Sinmun, the organ of North Korea’s ruling party, on Sept. 22, 2017, blasts Chinese media for criticizing the North’s nuclear program. The article, published on Page 6, called out different outlets of China, the biggest patron of the North, by names and called their news coverage “an act of the blind whose eyes are open and the deaf and dumb” who cannot understand the essence of the nuclear issue. “They had better mind their own business, before impudently pointing an accusing finger at others,” it said. (Yonhap)
I wonder if this earthquake was caused by a collapsing tunnel at the nuclear test site which hopefully isn’t leaking out radiation now:
A 3.2 magnitude earthquake detected near North Korea’s nuclear test site Saturday was judged to be a natural quake, South Korea’s weather agency said.
The tremor occurred at 5:29 p.m., 20 kilometers southeast of the country’s Punggye-ri nuclear test site in the northeastern province where the North conducted its sixth nuclear test Sept.3, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.
The agency upgraded the scale of quake from its earlier assessment of the 3.0 magnitude.
“The quake has been analyzed to have occurred naturally,” an agency official said.“A sound wave, which is usually generated in the event of an artificial earthquake, was not detected.”
The Preparatory Commission for the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) said that it detected two seismic events in North Korea, but they were “unlikely (to have been) man-made.” [Korea Times]
As with many of these defector accounts it is impossible to know how true the claims really are:
A North Korean defector has told of Kim Jong Un’s teen sex slaves, lavish caviar lunches and gory public executions. Hee Yeon Lim, 26, is the daughter of a high-ranking soldier from Pyongyang and a member of the regime’s inner circle.
But when her father, Col. Wui Yeon Lim, 51, passed away, she and her family decided to flee the country in 2015. Now in South Korea, Hee Yeon has spoken of what life was like inside the secretive rogue state.
She told the Mirror she saw “terrible things” in her home city of Pyongyang despite her family’s relative privilege. She said officials came to her school to pick out teen schoolgirls to work at the chubby dictator’s homes. The escapee said they would only choose the prettiest girls, who were taught to feed him caviar and massage him.
If they refused, they would “disappear,” she said.
Hee Yeon — who has met the despot — also told how he would dine out on imported delicacies like caviar and Chinese “bird’s nest soup,” which can cost $2,700 a kilo (2.2 pounds).
And she described one occasion when she was forced to watch as a group of 11 musicians accused of making a pornographic video were slaughtered. Hee Yeon told how she and her classmates were ordered out of their classrooms in the middle of the day by soldiers who took them to a stadium at the city’s Military Academy.
She said the hooded and gagged victims were brought out and tied to the end of anti-aircraft guns in front of some 10,000 spectators. The escapee then recalled how the guns were fired one by one, saying: “The musicians just disappeared each time the guns were fired into them. [New York Post]
This is an example of why I never use a credit card in a bar or restaurant when traveling overseas. Scams like this I remember were common in the villes outside US military bases back in the day:
A promise of a fun night out at a bar in Itaewon left an American tourist with a booze tab totaling 17 million won ($15,000).
Seoul police said on Thursday owners and employees at three bars in Itaewon, Yongsan-gu, have been indicted without detention for overcharging foreign tourists.
One of the indicted bar owners, surnamed Lee, allegedly charged an American tourist 17 million won for drinks he had during his one hour and 40 minutes stay at the bar.
The tourist found out about this overcharging only after returning to the US and receiving his credit card bill.
Two other indicted bar owners allegedly conspired to rip charge a German tourist about 7.9 million won.
The police are investigating whether the bar owners deliberately intoxicated the tourist, as traces of zolpidem and other narcotics were found in his hair. [Korea Herald]
