Japanese authorities investigate the scene where an explosion took place at a park in Tokyo on Sept. 24, 2016. The explosion injured three South Koreans who were preparing to open a booth for Korean cuisine at the South Korea-Japan cultural exchange event. (Yonhap)
It looks like there could be some serious gridlock if the subway workers strike as planned to stop the implementing of performance based pay:
The Korean Public Service and Transport Workers’ Union will enter an all-out strike from today, while metros in Seoul and Busan also announced a strike from today, which comes as worrying news for many commuters who fear they may have to contend with nationwide paralyzed underground and railroad traffic.
The announcement on Monday heralds the first time in 22 years that the transport workers’ union and public metro companies in Seoul decided to hold a simultaneous strike.
The transport workers’ strikes follow a general strike by the Korean Financial Industry Union since Friday, and will be followed by another from Korean Health and Medical Workers’ Union on Wednesday and by the Federation of Korean Trade Unions and Korean Confederation of Trade Unions on Thursday.
The unions are protesting the central government’s plan to extend the performance-based salary system to more employees of public companies and organizations. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link.
This is probably not much of a surprise to people following this issue:
The militaries of South Korea and the United States are expected to announce a golf course as the new site for an advanced American antimissile system this week, a defense official here said Sunday.
According to the defense ministry official, evaluations for three candidate sites to host the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in Seongju County, located in the southeastern part of the nation, “are virtually complete.” The announcement will likely be made before the end of September after the military briefs Seongju residents on its decision. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but the government still faces two problems before the THAAD site can be established. First of all, according to the article Lotte wants $90.6 million to hand over the golf course which will require additional funds from the National Assembly. The second issue they face is that the citizens of Gimcheon plan to launch full scale protests to stop the THAAD deployment.
Over at Mashable they have the story about Lieutenant Hiroo Onada posted who was the Japanese soldier who after Japan surrendered during World War II decided to fight on with his companions. The below article features some great photos that are worth checking out:
After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on Aug. 15, 1945, Japan announced its surrender, bringing an end to World War II.
But for some, the war was not over.
Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda was 22 years old when he was deployed to Lubang Island in the Philippines in December 1944. As an intelligence officer, he was given orders to disrupt and sabotage enemy efforts — and to never surrender or take his own life.
Allied forces landed on the island in February 1945, and before long Onoda and three others were the only Japanese soldiers who had not surrendered or died. They retreated into the hills, with plans to continue the fight as guerrillas.
The group survived on bananas, coconut milk and stolen cattle while engaging in sporadic shootouts with local police.
In late 1945, the group began encountering air-dropped leaflets announcing that the war was over, and ordering all holdouts to surrender. After careful consideration, they dismissed the leaflets as a trick, and fought on. [Mashable]
You can read the rest at the link, but Lt. Onoda and his companions over the decades would either surrender or be killed leaving him ultimately along until his surrender in 1974. I always thought that Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda should have been hunted down and held accountable for his crimes. His group had to have known that the war was over and yet they continued to kill civilians. I believe the real reason his group did not surrender was not because of honor, but because they did not want to be held accountable for the war crimes they committed.
I’ve always thought in North Korea human beings ceased to be the chief reason of things, especially after the famine https://t.co/G7fzzMbZc8
— Elizabeth Shim (@GlobalAsianista) September 23, 2016
Visitors to Air Power Day at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, check out a B-1B Lancer bomber on Sept. 25, 2016. (Yonhap)
This does seem pretty weird that the North Koreans would be flying a model F-16 during one of their airshows unless it was being used as part of dogfight demonstration of some kind?:
Now here’s something you don’t see every day: an F-16 fighter jet buzzing through the skies of North Korea and launching — fireworks.
The plane roaring over people’s heads at the country’s first air show Sunday was actually a remote-controlled mock-up of the fabled U.S Air Force fighter.
The scale models of the F-16 and a Chinese J-10 fighter were featured on the second day of the Wonsan International Friendship Air Festival.
The choice of flying a one-sixth scale F-16 at the show was an odd one considering the outrage North Korea regularly expresses over the presence of U.S. troops and Air Force bases in South Korea. [Associated Press]
You can read more at the link.
She is probably one of many Chinese companies aiding the North Korean regime. However, she for whatever reason may be the one being used by Beijing to show the US that the Chinese are “doing something” to rein in North Korea:
A Chinese businesswoman under U.S. scrutiny for her alleged role in aiding North Korea’s nuclear program is also a suspect in a Chinese criminal investigation into her trading business, a corporate filing shows.
Friday’s disclosure about Ma Xiaohong is the first to tie her to a criminal investigation. Police in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning said earlier this month that they were investigating the trading firm that Ms. Ma founded, Hongxiang Industrial Development Co., for alleged “serious economic crimes,” without naming her. (………………)
The investigation into Ms. Ma and her company appears to mark a new effort by U.S. and Chinese authorities to pursue Chinese businesses that are suspected of supporting North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program. The U.S. and China have often sparred over how best to rein in North Korea.
Earlier this month, Pyongyang conducted its fifth atomic test in a decade.
Liaoning police announced their investigation after prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice made two trips to Beijing last month to alert Chinese officials about alleged activities by Ms. Ma and Hongxiang Industrial, The Wall Street Journal reported this week.
The Justice Department cited alleged evidence that the businesswoman and her company had aided Pyongyang’s nuclear program and its efforts to evade United Nations and Western sanctions, according to U.S. officials.
It isn’t known if the Liaoning police probe is related to the U.S. allegations. [Wall Street Journal]
You can read more at the link.
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
A sporting chance for #NorthEstAsia #Trilateralism. Next 3 Olympics are Pyeongchang 2018, Tokyo 2020, Beijing 2022: https://t.co/hyO5yfItfu
— Aidan Foster-Carter (@fcaidan) September 24, 2016
