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)
I guess we will see if there will be an upcoming rocket test by the North Koreans:
Increased activity has been detected at North Korea’s rocket launch site with a concerted effort under way to conceal what is taking place, a U.S. website monitoring the North said, amid concerns the regime could undertake renewed provocations to mark a key anniversary this week.
Commercial satellite imagery taken on Oct. 1 of Sohae Satellite Launching Station in North Pyongan Province showed increased movement around the engine test facility, 38 North said Saturday.
It said photos showed crates next to the gantry tower on the launch pad and several large vehicles in front of the newly built fuel-oxidizer bunker. It said covers placed over many sites made it impossible to observe if a space launch vehicle or related components are located at the gantry tower or have been moved into the assembly structures.
The website then said images showed shelters erected next to the rocket test stand, indicating some sort of work may be underway.
“It may indicate preparations for a new engine test or continued work at the test stand in the aftermath of the September 20 engine test,” it said. [Yonhap]
I guess we will see how well the Philippines enjoy being under the hegemony of the Chinese:
The Philippines’ bombastic President Rodrigo Duterte has ordered a halt to his nation’s 65-year military alliance with the United States. Duterte, who is locked in a bitter war of words with the US, has taken steps to suspend joint military patrols and ordered American troops to leave the country.
Duterte’s defence minister, Delfin Lorenzana, said the 28 joint military exercises that the countries carry out each year under a 1951 defence treaty will be stopped, patrols with US navy vessels in the South China Sea had ended and 107 American troops flying surveillance drones against Islamic extremists would soon leave as soon as Philippines soldiers were equipped to take over their duties.
Duterte, nicknamed ‘The Punisher’ or ‘Duterte Harry’, has previously told US told President Barack Obama to “go to hell”, and described him as the “son of a whore” following criticism for his war on drugs. An ongoing US-Philippine amphibious beach landing exercise will be the last during his six-year tenure, Duterte announced.
“This year would be the last,” Duterte said according to The Guardian on Friday (7 October) in the southern city of Davao. “For as long as I am there, do not treat us like a doormat because you’ll be sorry for it. I will not speak with you. I can always go to China.” [IB Times]
Here is the part that really gets me:
Lorenzana said that he would ask the Philippines Congress for $50m (£40m) to $100m a year to compensate for a hole in US military aid and said the country may contact Russia or China for new equipment.
“We have been allies since 1951,” he said according to The Times. “All we got are hand-me-downs, no new equipment. The Americans failed to beef up our capabilities to be at par with what is happening in the region.”
So they are complaining about receiving free military equipment? Do they expect the US to give them free F-22s? If they want modern military equipment to keep up with the Chinese how about buying your own equipment? It is not the US’s fault the Philippines is too corrupt to purchase their own modern military equipment to keep pace with the Chinese.
Contenders for the 2016 Miss Global Peace Queen pose at a welcoming ceremony at a Seoul hotel on Oct. 6, 2016. The annual pageant, designed to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula, will select the Queen on Oct. 24 after evaluating the participants through various events from now until then, including meetings with South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Korean war veterans, and visits to the National Cemetery, Demilitarized Zone and the truce village of Panmunjom. This year’s theme is “Create World Peace.” (Photo courtesy of ERM Korea) (Yonhap)
Here is a story of yet another senior military officer getting in trouble:
It wasn’t an encounter with a female junior enlisted sailor that led the Navy to strip a warship commodore of his command in August, it was his attempt to mislead investigators after being confronted about the incident.
According to a 40-page investigation received by The Virginian-Pilot through the Freedom of Information Act on Thursday, Capt. Anthony L. Simmons cast his visit to a Chesapeake Wild Wing Cafe as a 20-minute stop to pick up a take-out order during which he had a beer, spoke with the sailor and bought her and one other person a drink, all while his wife waited in the car.
But investigators found that Simmons entered the restaurant alone, dressed in civilian clothes around 6 p.m. Aug. 5 and went to the bar. His take-out food sat there for nearly an hour after he initiated conversation with the female sailor from a few seats away. As other patrons arrived at the restaurant, Simmons moved closer to her and attempted to buy her a drink. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but the junior enlisted sailor reported him for sexual harassment after he tried to pick her up at the bar.
The police on Jeju have launched a crackdown on Chinese tourists due to them committing 95% of petty crime by foreigners on Jeju island:
A female owner of a restaurant in Yeon-dong, Jeju, lies face-up on the ground (indicated by red circle) on Sept. 9 after she was assaulted by eight Chinese tourists, who refused to pay for their food after the owner told them not to bring in alcohol from outside the restaurant. [JEJU WESTERN DISTRICT POLICE PRECINCT]In downtown Jeju on Sunday night, booming sounds echoed down the streets as three drunken Chinese men pounded on a video arcade in front of a game room. A few passing women were so startled they let out shouts of surprise, but the men only kept on whooping loudly.
“After a Korean woman was murdered in a cathedral in Jeju,” said Park Soo-jung, a 32-year-old resident of Jeju, “seeing big Chinese men scares me.”
On Sept. 22 in Yeon-dong of Jeju, an area often crowded with Chinese visitors, police officers tried to prevent two Chinese tourists from jaywalking.
“Do not jaywalk!” the officers called out to them in Mandarin Chinese.
One of them, a 42-year-old Chinese man surnamed Ma, reportedly answered, “Why are you picking on us when everyone else is jaywalking?”
Ma was charged 20,000 won ($18.26) for breaking the law. He was just one of about 40 found jaywalking within two hours in downtown Jeju.
“After the cathedral incident, we’ve heightened the crackdown against crimes committed by Chinese tourists,” said Kim Chang-hyun, head of a local police team in Jeju. “Once the sun sets, I start worrying what kind of crimes committed by Chinese tourists I’ll be seeing that night.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
It looks like North Korea could be preparing for yet another nuclear test next week:
Signs of increased activity at North Korea’s Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site could indicate it is preparing a sixth nuclear test, according to recent satellite imagery.
The South Korean government and military have warned that Pyongyang may conduct another nuclear test or ballistic missile launch to coincide with its ruling Workers’ Party’s founding anniversary on Oct. 10. South Korea is maintaining a state of emergency preparedness. Another possible timing for an additional provocation from Pyongyang, according to observers, could be the U.S. presidential election scheduled for Nov. 8.
Satellite images of the Punggye-ri site in North Hamgyong Province from Oct. 1 indicated continuing activity at all three tunnel complexes that could be used to conduct another nuclear test, according to 38 North, a website run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies Thursday.
Imagery showed a large vehicle, possibly a truck, near the entrance of the North Portal, where the Sept. 9 nuclear test occurred, along with boxes or other materials around the side of the main building. This could be for collecting data following the fifth test, sealing the portal or preparing for another detonation, according to the analysis. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
![A female owner of a restaurant in Yeon-dong, Jeju, lies face-up on the ground (indicated by red circle) on Sept. 9 after she was assaulted by eight Chinese tourists, who refused to pay for their food after the owner told them not to bring in alcohol from outside the restaurant. [JEJU WESTERN DISTRICT POLICE PRECINCT]](https://i0.wp.com/pds.joins.com/jmnet/koreajoongangdaily/_data/photo/2016/10/04202501.jpg?resize=610%2C379)
