I can’t remember anything like this happening before with a major manufacturer stopping production of an electronic device due to safety reasons:

Samsung has permanently halted production and sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone after failing to correct a problem that was causing the devices to burst into flames.

The loss of one of its flagship smartphones is a major embarrassment for Samsung , which was forced to recall 2.5 million Note 7s shortly after the device went on sale in August.

The South Korean firm attempted to fix the problem by switching battery suppliers and updating the smartphone’s software. Company executives issued a slew of apologies.

But when replacement phones were issued, a number of customers reported that those devices also caught fire, including one aboard a passenger jet.

Samsung on Monday advised all customers to stop using the phones, sending its shares tumbling by 8% in Seoul. The world’s biggest smartphone maker said Tuesday it was killing off the phone entirely.  [CNN]

You can read more at the link.

The ROK government is under increasing pressure to do something about the increasing number of illegal Chinese fishing boats that continue to violate South Korea’s sovereign waters:

The government is under pressure to come up with stronger measures to stop Chinese fishermen from operating in Korean waters illegally.

The calls come three days after a Coast Guard speed boat sank after being rammed by a Chinese fishing vessel.

The 4.5-ton boat was one of two Korean vessels dispatched to waters near Socheong Island where 40 Chinese boats were fishing illegally. The Chinese boat weighed about 400 tons.

Rep. Chung Jin-suk, the floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, demanded stern action from the administration. “The government should find the Chinese vessels that escaped and bring them to justice,” he said.

Noting it is about maritime sovereignty, Chung said, “It is not news that Chinese fishermen use steel pipes and knives against coastguards during crackdowns. I wonder if the Korean authorities have become powerless.”

He said his party would consider stationing more Coast Guard officers in the West Sea.

Rep. Woo Sang-ho, the floor leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, echoed Chung. “The violent, illegal activities by Chinese fishing boats are beyond a tolerable level. I would say they are not fishermen but pirates.” [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but maybe the ROK Coast Guard should treat them as pirates and sink them on the spot if they don’t comply with demands?

I will never understand how these leftists continue to think that the Kim regime will ever denuclearize?  How does he plan to do this?  By more talks and negotiations with the North Koreans:

Rep. Moon Jae-in, a former leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea and presidential aspirant, called on the government Sunday to temporarily suspend ongoing procedures to deploy a U.S. anti-missile system to the Korean Peninsula, demanding diplomatic efforts resume to denuclearize North Korea.

In his Facebook post, Moon also pointed out that the agreement between Seoul and Washington to deploy a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to the peninsula by end-2017 needs parliamentary approval.

“Rather than arguing that only the THAAD deployment serves the national interests, there should be discussions about national interests from a more comprehensive perspective,” he wrote, apparently alluding to President Park Geun-hye’s defense of the deployment plan.

But he added it would not be easy to reverse the agreement with the United States, South Korea’s top security ally, to station a THAAD battery in a golf course in the southern county of Seongju, about 290 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

Moon, then, said that South Korea has already shown to the world a “strong resolve” against Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs through the deployment decision, and that a delay would not cause any big change in the allies’ efforts to install the THAAD in Seongju.

“The fundamental resolution of North Korea’s nuclear problem is through the realization of (the goal to) denuclearize the Korean Peninsula,” he said. “A freeze on the North’s nukes is urgent, and then we should go in a direction towards a complement dismantlement of the North’s nuclear arms.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

So true: South Koreans revere King Sejong, monarch who invented Korean alphabet. But he gets scant mention in #NorthKorea. #history #divided https://t.co/v74FPfpI8a

— Jean H. Lee (@newsjean) October 10, 2016

Visitors to Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul take pictures in front of the statue of King Sejong on Hangeul Day on Oct. 9, 2016. King Sejong created the Korean alphabet. (Yonhap)

Here is the latest on the Apple versus Samsung copyright battle:

Overturning an earlier decision, a U.S. appeals court on Friday reinstated a lower-court verdict that Samsung Electronics pay Apple US$120 million for violating three iPhone patents.

In February, a three-member panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington ruled that Samsung did not infringe upon the patents on “quick links,” “slide-to-unlock” and “auto-correct” technologies, and therefore does not need to pay $120 million ordered by a lower court.

Apple appealed that decision, arguing that the panel relied on extra-record evidence “none of which, it said, was of record and that the panel appears to have located only through independent research,” according to court records.

On Friday, a full panel of judges at the same court accepted Apple’s appeal in a 8-3 decision.  [Yonhap]

You can read the rest at the link, but for Apple the $120 million is probably enough to pay their lawyer fees considering how long this fight has been going on.

It looks like the Obama administration is about to make a bigger issue of North Korea’s human rights record:

The United States ambassador to the United Nations visited a settlement support center for North Korean defectors on Sunday, official sources said.

Samantha Power, who arrived in Seoul the day before, toured the Hanawon center in Anseong some 77 kilometers south of the South Korean capital and held talks with North Koreans who fled the reclusive country.

Authorities said she took part in a prayer session with some of the defectors who are receiving training so they can assimilate into their new lives in the South.

Government insiders said the trip reflects Washington’s drive to make an issue of the North’s deplorable human rights abuses that could lead to the matter being linked to additional sanctions down the road. Currently talks are underway at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to penalize the North following its fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Here is another article that shows that more people are considering the surgical strike option against North Korea’s nuclear program:

Calls for “surgical strikes” against North Korean nuclear facilities have gained ground recently along with calls for more stringent sanctions, despite many observers expressing skepticism that neither South Korea and the United States have the political will to pursue such a military option.

The close allies have both recently floated the idea of a pre-emptive surgical strike on the North’s nuclear facilities after the communist regime conducted its fifth and most powerful nuclear test on Sept. 9.

Seoul’s defense ministry said Thursday the two allies will “have a consultation over a possible pre-emptive strike against North Korea depending on situations in case of an imminent nuclear attack by the North.”

In Washington, officials have revisited the surgical strike option which was considered against North Korea’s Yeongbyeon nuclear facilities under the Bill Clinton administration in 1994. That’s because the North has continued to improve its nuclear and missile capabilities despite international sanctions and condemnation.

Democratic U.S. vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine said Tuesday (U.S. time) he will support pre-emptive strikes against North Korea if it shows signs of launching a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the United States.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the real question is what does the US and ROK do when North Korea responds to such a strike by launching ballistic missiles and artillery against South Korean population centers?

10K running to conquer breast cancer! Ambassador @mwlippert enjoyed the #PinkRibbonMarathon this morning. pic.twitter.com/UlIghB7XpX

— U.S. Embassy Seoul (@USEmbassySeoul) October 9, 2016

This photo from the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Oct. 6, 2016, shows the completed first phase of Honggondo tideland. The section is part of a giant project to connect islands along the west coast with levees and create 35 square kilometers of tideland. (Yonhap)