Chang Hye-jin, a double Olympic gold medalist in archery, speaks after being named South Korea’s top female athlete of the year during a ceremony at a Seoul hotel on Nov. 29, 2016. (Yonhap)
Fortunately it appears no one was seriously hurt from this emergency landing at Osan AB:
A U.S. pilot escaped from a fighter jet after making an emergency landing during an aerial combat exercise, the United States Forces Korea (USFK) said Saturday.
The USFK said a pilot of F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 36th Fighter Squadron successfully escaped from his jet after landing at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul. The incident occurred at approximately 5 p.m.
The USFK said emergency teams have reached the pilot with authorities trying to determine the cause of the incident. [Yonhap]
Here is the press release from Osan Airbase that shows that the pilot actually ejected from the aircraft while on the ground:
After landing from a training mission, a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot ejected from an F-16 Fighting Falcon
assigned to the 36th Fighter Squadron at approximately 5 p.m.
The pilot was taken to the 51st Medical Group clinic and was listed in good condition.
“We are relieved that our Mustang pilot ejected safely, and is now in the good hands of our medical team,”
said Col. Andrew Hansen, 51st Fighter Wing commander. “We are currently focused on thoroughly
investigating the cause of this incident in order to minimize the chances of it happening again in the future.”
A board of officers will investigate the accident as part of a safety investigation board. [Osan AB]
This is something that seems to happen from time to time which is random people getting killed by long forgotten landmines near the Korean DMZ:
The front of the badly damaged truck, whose driver was killed. / Yonhap
A dump truck driver was killed in an apparent landmine explosion at a farm in Cheorwon Country, Gangwon Province, on Wednesday afternoon.
The man, surnamed Han, was severely injured while carrying stones and earth from a construction site to a nearby farm. He died in hospital.
From August to October, military authorities searched for landmines at the construction site near Pungam Dam using excavators. After the military confirmed there were no landmines, Cheorwon County began moving the excavated soil. [Korea Times]
Many foreigners do not seem to realize this, but attending protest rallies is actually illegal in Korea:
Foreigners participating in the protests against President Park Geun-hye may carry legal complications ― theoretically.
“As legal counsel I would say not to go to the rallies, as there are some articles in law that in principle prohibit foreigners from attending rallies,” said Nam Won-chul, a lawyer with Hwang Mok Park law firm.
According to the Immigration Control Act, “No foreigner sojourning in the Republic of Korea shall engage in any political activity with the exception of cases provided by this Act or other statutes.” The act empowers the Ministry of Justice to order a violator “in writing to suspend such activity” or “take other necessary measures.”
This may include deportation or a ban on visa renewal, according to one source familiar with the matter.
The law applies to all foreigners regardless of visa type, Nam says. “According to the text of the article, I think all foreigners are uniformly prohibited from political activities.” [Korea Times]
The memorial hall for late President Park Chung-hee is destroyed in a fire on Dec. 1, 2016, in his birthplace in Gumi, some 261 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The fire took place at around 3:15 p.m., and is being investigated as arson, at a time when his daughter, incumbent President Park Geun-hye, is facing strong public pressure to step down in order to take responsibility for an influence-peddling scandal involving herself and her confidante. (Yonhap)
Kim Jong-un may be enjoying the political scandal going in South Korea, but I am willing to bet the people in North Korea are noticing in the images shown in the media how South Koreans are allowed to rally and protest their government and they cannot:
Now, North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-Un can just sit back and watch as his counterpart President Park Geun-hye looks set to leave office under popular pressure. South Koreans have protested against Park for five straight weeks over her alleged involvement in an influence-peddling case, adding to spiking frustration with the nation’s history of political corruption.
“For North Korea’s leadership, the political instability [in South Korea] is excellent evidence for why its system and society are better than South Korea’s, supporting its position that North Korea is the one true, legitimate Korea,” Alison Evans, deputy head and senior Asia-Pacific analyst at IHS Markit, explained.
The two Koreas share language and family ties, but remain bitter enemies at the political level, having fought a three-year war to a stalemate in 1953. But they are currently experiencing a rare moment of unity in their common resentment towards Park.
Media outlets in both countries have lashed out against the head of state, with op-eds routinely referring to Park as a traitor and calling for her prosecution. Of course, North Korean media is entirely state-run, unlike the South.
“North Korean media has widely reported on the turmoil in South Korean politics to show how, unlike Kim Jong Un’s government, South Korea’s government does not listen to its people, particularly the workers’ unions,” Evans continued. [CNBC]
Some readers may remember that General James Mattis was the person that an anonymous collective of conservatives were supposedly trying to recruit for a third party run for President. Instead he is now going to be the next Secretary of Defense for the soon to be President Trump:
“We are going to appoint ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis as our secretary of defense. But we’re not announcing it until Monday, so don’t tell anybody,” Trump told his supporters in Cincinnati, Ohio. “Keep it inside the room,” he added jokingly.
Mattis, who served in the Marines from 1969 until his retirement in 2013, represents a big change from the current secretary of defense, the bookish Ashton Carter, a former Harvard professor who was trained as a physicist. [Yahoo News]
South Korea has another cultural property recognized by UNESCO:
Female divers of Jeju Island made it into the UNESCO’ cultural heritage list Thursday, boosting South Koreans’ hopes to preserve the traditional symbol of women’s empowerment and attract more tourists to the resort island.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Wednesday added “haenyeo,” or sea women, to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity during a session in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
It marks Korea’s 19th cultural asset to win the world body’s heritage status.
UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage committee said the haenyeo culture shows a region’s unique cultural identity and cultural diversity. The listing is expected to raise awareness of the importance of jobs for women and promote communication with other communities with traditions similar to haenyeo, it said.
The world organization also said the haenyeo culture reflects female empowerment, best represented by haenyeo’s inclusion in the workforce. [Yonhap]
