Hopefully the headlines these guys are making does not encourage others to go to North Korea to try and do the same thing:
Brisbane lads Evan Shay and Morgan Ruig have attracted a few admirers after their whirlwind golfing tour that fooled North Korean authorities into believing they were top golfers. Picture: Nigel Hallett
FURIOUS North Korea has demanded Aussie larrikins Morgan Ruig and Evan Shay return to Pyongyang and apologise for their prank appearance in a golf tournament in the communist state.
Ruig and Shay, both 28, created worldwide headlines after pretending to be members of the Australian golf team and fooling North Korean authorities into letting them play in a two-day international tournament in Pyongyang last month.
The pair, who had been playing polo in China when they decided to email organisers for an invitation, even had fake green golf jackets made up with Australian badges.
But neither Ruig nor Shay plays golf and performed so badly their North Korean caddie told them they had brought shame on their families.
The stunt has brought the lads international fame and they were mobbed by fans on a visit to the Gold Coast yesterday.
Ruig said outraged North Korean officials had now demanded an apology. [Courier Mail]
You can read more at the link, but I would feel no pity for these guys if they ended getting arrested in North Korea if their prank was discovered. I am just concerned the headlines these guys are making will encourage other random people to try and get their 15 minutes of fame by trying something like this in North Korea again. What I also don’t like is that some random official in North Korea is probably going to be held responsible for allowing these guys into the country in the first place. Should a North Korean official’s livelihood be put at stake just because a couple of random people want their 15 minutes of fame?
Thousands now marching in Seoul, calling for president to resign. Biggest Korean demonstration since 2008 beef protests. About 43,000 here. pic.twitter.com/JCriIL02QV
This provided photo shows Kim Jeong-ah (L), leader of Tongil Mom, a group comprised of North Korean refugee women working to be reunited with their children, holding a rally in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington on Oct. 31, 2016, to urge China not to deport North Korean defectors. (Yonhap)
Via a reader tip comes news that Korean-American diplomat Sung Kim has been sworn in as the US Ambassador to the Philippines:
Secretary of State John Kerry administers the oath of office to Sung Kim, joined by his wife Jae, center, as U.S. Ambassador to Philippines, Thursday, Nov. 3, 2016, during a ceremony at the State Department in Washington. AP/Carolyn Kaster
Secretary of State John Kerry expressed confidence Thursday that the U.S. relationship with the Philippines can survive recent turbulence as he swore in a new U.S. ambassador to the Southeast Asian nation.
Kerry administered the oath of office to Sung Kim, formerly the chief U.S. envoy for North Korea policy, in a ceremony at the State Department.
Kim, a career diplomat, takes up his new position in turbulent times. Outspoken Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who took office in June after winning a presidential election, has been antagonistic to Washington over human rights criticisms.
Duterte has forged closer ties with China — a blow to the Obama administration effort to forge deeper ties with Asia. He has declared his desire to scale back military engagements with the U.S. and has told President Barack Obama to “go to hell.” [PhilStar.com]
You can read more at the link, but good luck to Ambassador Kim. His posting in the Philippines should be a memorable one considering he will be dealing with President Duterte quite a bit.
Here is an interesting read from the LA Times about a soldier stationed at Yongsan Garrison that was being charged with the manslaughter of his best friend:
Raymond Royal, Chrissy Royal, Kathleen Stanfield and Karen Anderson sit in the Royals’ Seoul apartment after Raymond Royal’s two-day preliminary hearing.
The men were U.S. Army mechanics, and they had arranged to be deployed at the same time in South Korea. Pfc. Royal, 22, was based at the Yongsan Garrison, a major U.S. military base near Itaewon. Pfc. Anderson, 20, was stationed at Humphreys, a rural garrison 55 miles south, and he was visiting for the weekend.
They drank; they played pool; they wrestled like muscle-bound, army-trained puppies, grappling into chokeholds until one or the other cried uncle. They got matching tattoos — “friends forever” swirling down their forearms in blue Korean script.
Chrissy — an energetic young woman from Royal’s North Carolina hometown — went home early, and just after midnight, Royal and Anderson decided to go home too. A taxi dropped them off near Royal’s apartment. Royal and Anderson began roughhousing. Royal pushed Anderson with two hands — a shove to the chest — and Anderson fell backwards.
Thus began the first in a tragic series of unpredictable events that would leave one friend dead, the other on trial, and the military justice system forced to grapple with complex questions about responsibility and punishment in a case whose primary villain seemed to be fate.
It happened in a matter of seconds. Just as Anderson tumbled into the street, a car veered around a corner and blazed through a red blinking light, plowing suddenly over Anderson with both axles — bump, bump. The car stopped. The police arrived. And 12 days later, Anderson died in the hospital, hooked up to a mechanical ventilator.
The Army charged Royal with manslaughter.
The hearing that would determine whether Royal would have to face a full court-martial began on a crisp day in October. [LA Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but it seems to me that the person most culpable for the accident is the driver that ran the red light in the first place.
The Chinese government has quite the nerve to complain about the use of firearms in law enforcement operations when they are the same people that gunned down thousands of protesters in Tiananmen Square:
Two Chinese fishing boats, which were seized while illegally fishing in South Korean waters in the West Sea, arrive in the port of Incheon, west of Seoul, on Nov. 2, 2016. South Korea’s Coast Guard fired warning shots with an M60 machine gun to capture the vessels earlier in the day. No Chinese fishermen were injured and nothing was damaged. (Yonhap)
China called in a senior South Korean diplomat to lodge a formal protest against the use of a machine gun to crack down on Chinese fishing boats, Beijing’s foreign ministry spokesperson said Friday.
On Tuesday, South Korea’s Coast Guard fired 600-700 bullets from a ship-mounted M60 toward Chinese vessels that were violently interfering in the capture of two fishing boats operating illegally off the western port city of Incheon. No injuries or damage were reported.
China’s foreign ministry protested the “violent law enforcement methods used” via its spokesperson Hua Chunying during a regular press briefing.
“China is strongly against any use of violent measures by South Korea that threatens the safety of Chinese fishermen,” she said. The official added that illegal fishing should not be a reason for South Korean authorities, including its Coast Guard, to use firearms. [Yonhap]
North Korea, getting money's worth over South Korean political scandal, reprints pics of guillotine erected in central Seoul this weekend. pic.twitter.com/N3O5vhCKdD
U.S. Forces Korea’s top commander Vincent Brooks gives a pep talk to South Korean soldiers in Yeoju, about 100 kilometers southeast of Seoul, on Nov. 2, 2016, as he visits a river-crossing drill conducted by the Army’s 8th Division. The maneuver is part of the broader Hoguk combined drill that the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force have carried out since 1996. (Yonhap)
Via a reader tip comes this article from Korea Bizwire criticizing USFK’s use of electricity compared to the ROK military.
Recent data from the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) showed that electricity consumption per capita for the USFK was almost ten times the average rate for the Korean military, again raising questions over excessive energy consumption by American military personnel stationed on the peninsula.
According to KEPCO, electricity consumption by the USFK was 683 million kWh in 2015, compared to 1.595 billion kWh for the Korean military.
However, given the number of personnel, with 28,500 American soldiers but around 630,000 Koreans, the average American soldier (23,965 kWh) consumed 9.47 times more electricity than their Korean counterpart (2,531 kW), the data noted.
Officials suggest that the USFK’s cheaper electricity rates are one of the factors encouraging excessive consumption of electricity.
The USFK currently receives electricity benefits, paying cheaper rates than Korean households and even industrial customers, which pay the lowest rate at 107.41 won per kWh. In 2015, the USFK paid a rate of 106.94 won/kWh, while the rates were 122.28 won/kWh for the Korean military, 123.69 won for households, and 113.22 won for educational institutions.
Another electricity benefit includes exemption of penalties or interest for overdue electricity bills. [Korea Bizwire via reader tip]
You can read more at the link, but considering the various command centers, barracks, family housing, commissaries, exchanges, etc. that US military bases have compared to a typical ROK military installation its seems this article is comparing apples to oranges.
