Humanitarian missions to NK slowed to a trickle under Lee MB & Park GH. Led by For Min Kang, however, Moon seems to want this back on track. pic.twitter.com/Qnc2CXm7IB
It appears as the US increases its force posture in the area that the North Koreans are trying to signal that they have no intentions of giving up their weapons program no matter how much pressure is put on them:
North Korea launches a mid-range ballistic missile in this undated file photo. (KCNA-Yonhap)
North Korea fired a ballistic missile from its eastern coast early Monday morning, dealing another blow to efforts by South Korea’s new government to improve inter-Korean ties.
The missile, presumed to be a Scud type, was launched eastward from the vicinity of Wonsan, Gangwon Province, at around 5:39 a.m., according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
“The flight distance is around 450 kilometers,” it said.
The North’s latest action was immediately reported to President Moon Jae-in, who ordered related government officials to convene a National Security Council meeting, said the JCS.
The session started at 7:30 a.m., presided over by Moon’s national security adviser Chung Eui-yong.
The U.S. Pacific Command also confirmed the launch occurred near Wonsan Airfield, saying the missile was tracked for six minutes until it landed in the East Sea. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but some speculation is stating that the North Koreans may be testing an anti-ship variant of the SCUD missile in response to American aircraft carriers in the area.
People are in a line at a Seoul court on May 26, 2017, to enter a lottery for admission to the trial of ousted President Park Geun-hye on alleged bribery set for early June. (Yonhap)
Over at the Korea Herald they have an article published that details some of South Korea’s most prolific serial killers. Most I have heard of before, but there was actually a group of serial killers called the Jijon Clique that murdered five people and ate them in 1993 that I had not heard of before:
There was a crime group that systematically murdered people as well.
Kim Ki-hwan, 25 at the time, organized the group dubbed the “Jijon clique” in July, 1993. All in their 20s, they had hated the rich and decided to “act out.”
Their first target was a 23-year-old factory worker, who they raped and killed in 1994. They also set up a makeshift jail and incineration facility in a basement of the leader’s house in South Jeolla Province.
While it all started from their frustration against the rich and the economic polarization in society, their targeted victims were not always wealthy. One of the five people they killed was also one of their members, Song Bong-eun, who tried to secede from the group.
In September, 1994, they kidnapped four people and killed three of them in the most brutal ways. One victim, after being tortured, escaped to report the gang to the police. The six members were finally caught and were executed in November the same year.
In their testimony, one of the members revealed that they had practiced cannibalism, because they “gave up on being human.” [Korea Herald]
You can read more about South Korea’s past serial killers at the link. However, one serial killer not mentioned in the article that may also be its most famous is the Hwaseong Serial Killer that has never been caught. The killings were featured in one of Korea’s most well known crime movies, “Memories of Murder ” which I highly recommend watching for those who haven’t seen it already.
My favorite part of the below story is how one of the officers was accused of not completing their Anti-Terrorism Level-1 training. Wearing a PT belt might be more effective at stopping the below stupidity than the AT Level-1 training:
Then Lt. Col. Roger T. McDuffie in a photo released by the U.S. Marines.
Three married U.S. Marine officers have found themselves under investigation for a night in February that went off the rails in Bogotá, involving allegations they went drinking with some local women, were slipped illicit drugs, robbed of U.S. property and landed in a local hospital emergency room.
The men may have fallen prey to what is known as “burundanga poisoning,” according to a report on the investigation conducted by the Marine Corps Forces, South, a Southern Command subsidiary, and obtained by the Miami Herald.
The report recommended that Marine Col. Roger T. McDuffie, a Harrier pilot who serves as the chief of operations at the unit known as MARFORSOUTH; Maj. Andrew L. Mueller, described as a theater security cooperation planner; and Maj. Mauricio Saenz, exercise planner, face “appropriate administrative or judicial proceedings.” [Miami Herald]
You can read the rest at the link, but these three ended up bringing the prostitutes back to their rooms at the hotel, while walking by other Marines at 4:30 in the morning mustering to get on a shuttle bus to the airport. After getting to their rooms they were then robbed of their government phones and laptops among other personal possessions by the prostitutes. To make this story even more incredible is that one of the officers actually used his government travel card to take out a cash advance to pay two of the prostitutes.
Shown is a photo of the last album, soon to be released, by girl group Sistar. The group has said after seven years together it will disband after dropping its last single album titled “Lonely” on May 31, 2017. (Yonhap)
The ROK Naval Captain is claiming that the sex was consensual, but regardless the Captain shouldn’t be sleeping with a junior officer in the first place. However, I am not sure if the ROK military has any guidelines against such behavior; if not it should:
A female Navy lieutenant, under the purview of the Navy’s headquarters at the Gyeryongdae compound, was found dead in her home on 5:40 p.m. Wednesday.
While the naval military police view the incident as a suicide, they arrested a male navy captain under allegations of having sexually assaulted the lieutenant the night before.
Her colleagues attempted to reach her by phone after noting her absence in the workplace.
When they went to her home and found she had apparently hanged herself, they contacted military police.
Near her body was a memo saying, “I guess I’m leaving empty-handed like this,” and “By tomorrow, I won’t be a person of this world.”
“There are no signs of forced entry,” military police said.
“She told me she was raped by a superior,” a friend told her family, who then told police.
The military police arrested a naval captain who was at the domicile.
According to naval military police, the two officers drank into the night at a departmental dinner. Police suspect the captain raped her after she lost consciousness.
“I can’t remember clearly cause I was drunk,” he said, adding that while they had sex, he maintains it was consensual. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
I wonder if someone is just trying to rile people up by putting up this flag?:
SHOCKED neighbours have been speculating about whether Kim Jong-un has opened a base within a suburban house in the north east of England.
Hoisted on a 20 foot pole in the garden of a house in Ingleby Barwick, Teesside, is the red, white and blue North Korean flag stamped with its distinctive communist red star. (……)
One neighbour Michelle Ungurs-Wood, 35, has lived in the street for five years and said it was “bizarre”.
She said: “It doesn’t really bother me but I would like to know why they have put it up.
“I didn’t even know which flag it was I had to Google it, it surprised me to find it was North Korea.
“They might just be doing it to be controversial.”
She said the pole itself had been up since the World Cup, saying it had previously held a British flag. [The Sun]
