Another death caused by the security doors in Seoul’s subway system:
The victim, circled, collapses after coming through an emergency door on the platform. He died in hospital. / Yonhap
A man was killed after being caught between subway safety doors and a train at Gimpo International Airport Station in western Seoul, Wednesday.
The passenger, surnamed Kim, 36, was on a train heading for Banghwa Station of line No. 5. As the train arrived at Gimpo station, he was getting off but got caught in the 30-centimeter gap between the train and the platform safety screen door.
As the subway engineer closed the train doors and screen doors to depart, a passenger reported through the intercom on the train that a man was caught between the two sets of doors, according to Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corp.
The engineer re-opened the doors and closed them again 27 seconds later and started moving the train, apparently failing to check whether the man got out of the gap. [Korea Times]
Any tri-lateral cooperation like this good between the US, ROK and Japan:
The destroyer USS McCampbell sails with a South Korean ship in waters off the Korean Peninsula on Oct. 15, 2016. The McCampbell will join Japanese and South Korean forces Oct. 22-23 in an exercise focused on detecting and stopping ships carrying weapons of mass destruction. Christian Senyk/U.S. Navy
The United States, Japan and South Korea will practice detecting and stopping ships carrying weapons of mass destruction during a sea exercise this weekend.
The trilateral exercise comes in light of North Korea’s continued work on its nuclear weapons and missile program, South Korean defense officials told reporters in Seoul on Thursday.
The maritime interdiction operation will be held Saturday and Sunday in international waters south of South Korea’s Jeju Island, Yonhap News reported.
The sea services also will conduct search and rescue exercises aimed at rescuing personnel on disabled ships, the report said. [Stars & Stripes]
This photo taken on Oct. 17, 2016, shows the rooftop garden of the Sejong Government Complex in Sejong, south of Seoul, that went on the Guinness World Records as the world’s biggest among its peers. The garden sits atop bridge-connected structures, measuring 3.6 kilometers in length and 79,194 square meters in space. (Yonhap)
Does anyone think permanently deploying US bombers and Aegis ships will do anything to change the behavior of the Kim regime?:
Defense Minister Han Min-koo, left, speaks as Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se, second from left, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, third from left, and Defense Secretary Ash Carter listen during a meeting at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday. / AP-Yonhap
South Korea and the United States have officially begun discussions on the permanent deployment of strategic weapons such as nuclear-capable bombers on the Korean Peninsula.
This was at the top of the agenda in the “two plus two” high-level security talks among Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and Defense Minister Han Min-koo, and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Ash Carter in Washington, Thursday.
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se told reporters after the meeting that the two defense chiefs will discuss details about how to deploy U.S. strategic assets in South Korea during the annual Security Consultative Meeting (SCM).
“The permanent deployment of U.S. strategic assets will be discussed at the defense chiefs’ talks,” he said.
U.S. strategic assets include nuclear-capable B-52 and B-1B bombers, F-22 stealth fighter jets, nuclear-powered attack submarines and nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
Military sources here said that working-level officials of the two nations have already been talking on permanently deploying B-1B Lancers or Aegis destroyers to South Korea. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but this article from Yonhap says the US is unlikely to station strategic assets in South Korea due to cost and concerns of upsetting China:
The scholar said as the U.S. has gradually reduced its defense budget, it will be financially burdensome to deploy its strategic assets on or near the Korean Peninsula.
“The U.S. prefers to operate those assets on a rotational basis to flexibly respond to conflicts in the Middle East, the South and East China Sea, if necessary,” he pointed out.
China remains another major obstacle as the North’s closest ally will be “definitely irritated” by permanent deployment of any U.S. nuclear-armed weapons in South Korea, said Kim Dong-yeob, a professor at Kyungnam University’s North Korean studies school. [Yonhap]
Horrible news for the family of this South Korean ship captain who was kidnapped by the ISIS linked Abu Sayyaf group in the Philippines:
Suspected Abu Sayyaf militants have abducted a South Korean skipper and a Filipino crewman from a South Korean cargo ship in the latest such attacks that have sparked a security alarm in the busy regional sealanes, military officials said Friday.
About 10 gunmen boarded the MV Dongbang Giant using ropes from a speedboat and abducted skipper Chul Hong and Filipino crewman Glenn Alindajao on Thursday off Bongao town in Tawi Tawi province. The ship was on its way to South Korea from Australia, regional military spokesman Maj. Filemon Tan said.
Other crewmen were not seized and one managed to call his family, which reported the assault to authorities, according to Tan. [Associated Press]
It looks like the North Koreans are preparing for their next provocation:
North Korea said Thursday it will continue to launch satellites into space despite South Korea’s condemnation, which analysts said points toward Pyongyang testing a long-range rocket soon.
North Korean satellites will continue going up even as South Korea condemns Pyongyang’s move, an unidentified spokesman at North Korea’s bureau on space development was quoted as saying by the country’s media.
“We will march toward the goal of conquering space by firing off more satellites in accordance with our five-year space development program,” the spokesman said.
The report came amid growing speculation that North Korea is likely to launch a long-range rocket in the not-too-distant future after its last launch in February.
Pyongyang has claimed it has the right to develop its space program by putting satellites into orbit, but Seoul and Washington have viewed Pyongyang’s move as a disguised test for its ballistic missile technology. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I wonder if they will time it to coincide with the US Presidential election?
An American teacher working at an elementary school in Busan and her family have been selected to receive a community service award from the city of Busan for helping to clean up Gwangalli Beach after Typhoon Chaba struck the city:
From left: Sisters Fiona and Stella Rupert and their mother Deanna walk on Gwangalli Beach in Busan which they cleaned on Oct. 5 after typhoon Chaba wrecked it. / Yonhap
An American family who voluntarily cleaned Busan’s Gwangalli Beach that was wrecked by deadly typhoon “Chaba” this month will receive an award for their service to the community.
The city’s Suyeong-gu District Office said on Monday that it would present Deanna Rupert, 38, and her two daughters, Fiona, 11, and Stella, 5, with an “award certificate for foreign residents” to honor what they did.
The three Americans — who live near the beach — and a group of Koreans cleaned up the beach for more than four hours on Oct. 5. They had brought their own equipment.
“Fiona told me the beach was our neighborhood, and that it was our duty to clean it up and protect its environment,” said her mother, according to Yonhap news agency. [Korea Times]
North Korean school children are told about the importance of washing their hands on Oct. 17, 2016, as the country marked Global Handwashing Day in this photo from the North’s Korean Central News Agency. (Yonhap)
