Korean archer Ki Bo-bae shoots an arrow during the women’s archery team competition in Rio Olympics at Sambadrome, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Sunday. Ki and the rest of the Korean team made history by taking its eighth successive title from the event. [NEWSIS]
The Chinese government is opposing the UN condemning the recent North Korean missile launch because they also want the UN to condemn the South Koreans for taking measures to protect themselves from these missile launches with the deployment of the THAAD system:
The United Nations Security Council has been unable to condemn the launch of a missile by North Korea that landed near Japan because China wanted the statement to oppose the planned deployment of a US anti-missile defense system in South Korea. North Korea launched a ballistic missile last Wednesday that landed in or near Japanese-controlled waters for the first time, the latest in a series of launches by the isolated country in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.
The 15-member council held a closed-door meeting on the same day, but has been unable to agree on a US-drafted statement to condemn the launch, which was almost identical to two previous statements issued by the council on North Korea (DPRK). China proposed that the statement also say “all relevant parties shall avoid taking any actions which could provoke each other and escalate tensions, and shall not deploy any new anti-ballistic missile stronghold in Northeast Asia with an excuse of dealing with threats of the DPRK nuclear and missile programs.” [The Indian Express]
If true this is all the more reason why South Koreans should want the THAAD battery if the intent of the Chinese missiles is to target US troops reinforcing the ROK during a crisis:
China is maintaining ballistic missile bases in its northeastern territories, all equipped with missiles capable of reaching U.S. bases in the Pacific including Okinawa, according to a report posted on the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) website.
The bases may explain Beijing’s strident opposition to the deployment of a U.S.-made anti-missile defense system in South Korea, as its presence could hamper China’s missile striking capabilities if conflict broke out on the Korean Peninsula.
The presence of the U.S.-operated Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) system in South Korea could thwart Beijing’s attempt to attack U.S. ships ferrying soldiers to the peninsula with long-range ballistic missiles, analysts say. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
A mom with a 7-month-old baby was slapped in the face after she asked a man in 50s to “put out a cigarette” in a no smoking area.
Seoul Seobu Police said Saturday that a man in his 50s was accused of slapping a mom in the face while she was pushing a stroller carrying her baby.
According to the police, the man was smoking at around 5 p.m. on July 30, near the entrance of Eungam Station in Seoul, when the woman asked him to put out his cigarette or go elsewhere.
They were caught on CCTV, with the man following the woman and slapping her on the face while she tried to cross the street at a crosswalk with a stroller, the police said. [Korea Herald]
Pinwheels designed after South Korea’s national flag are installed at a ward office in Incheon, west of Seoul, on Aug. 8, 2016, ahead of the 71st anniversary of the country’s Liberation Day. Aug. 15 marks the day Korea was freed from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule. (Yonhap)
After North Korea fired a missile last week that landed in their EEZ I wondered if they were going to take measures to prevent this in the future. It looks like they will:
Japan has ordered its Self-Defense Forces to intercept and destroy incoming flying objects after North Korea fired a ballistic missile last week that landed in Tokyo’s exclusive economic zone. The command issued on Monday is to apply to all incoming projectiles, South Korean news service Newsis reported. The directive is to be in effect for the next three months. But according to Japanese press reports the command is to be updated every three months, signifying the policy is more than a temporary measure designed to respond to North Korea provocations. [UPI]
You can read more at the link, but to defend water the Japanese would have to rely on their Aegis ships equipped with SM-3 missiles which would mean ensuring always having one out at sea to support a missile defense mission. That is likely why after three months this decision will be reviewed because there is probably better things these sailors could be doing than sailing in circles for three months if the North Koreans are no longer firing into their EEZ.
Who do these leftist politicians serve, the people of South Korea or China?:
First-term Rep. Kim Young-ho of the Minjoo Party of Korea answers questions at Gimpo International Airport Monday departing on a three-day visit to Beijing. [CHO MOON-GYU]President Park Geun-hye Monday lashed out at political rivals’ opposition to the deployment of a U.S.-made missile defense system, saying issues of national security should be bipartisan.
The president’s sharpest criticism was aimed at six first-term Minjoo Party lawmakers who embarked on a three-day visit to Beijing on Monday, describing them as siding with Beijing on the missile system deployment, which it vociferously opposes.
At a regular senior secretariat meeting at the Blue House, Park noted it was the basic responsibility of politicians “to work in a bipartisan manner and avoid creating internal divisions when it comes to issues of national security.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but this is just another example of how the Korean left is trying to keep the THAAD issue alive to use as a political weapon during next year’s Presidential race.
Over at One Free Korea there is a good article posted about the legal “lawfare” being used by leftists in South Korea against North Korea defectors:
North Korean restaurant workers that defected.
I wish I could say that South Korea’s hard left, most prominently represented these days by the lawyers’ group Minbyun, had also lost its faith in Kim Jong-un. Sadly for South Korean history, Minbyun is no fringe group; it has already produced one South Korean president and one presidential candidate. Once, it defended human rights against right-wing South Korean dictators, but since then, it has lost its way. Today, Minbyun wages lawfare for North Korean dictators. It fraudulently represents itself as a human rights group while abusing the law to deny North Korean refugees their human rights. It has taken to doing this by bullying 12 young North Korean women who had the courage to flee the from a restaurant in China, where their government had effectively impressed them into forced labor.
Minbyun has demanded the right to interrogate the women — publicly, before the eyes of the North Korean authorities who hold their loved ones as hostages — about their intentions to defect. This would be in flagrant violation of a refugee’s absolute right to confidentiality, a right the U.N. High Commission for Refugees has long affirmed. When the judge correctly dismissed Minbyun’s petition, Minbyun demanded that the judge be removed from the case. Since then, an appellate court has refused to remove the judge.
The justification for Minbyun’s legally frivolous petition is North Korea’s factually absurd claim that the South Korean intelligence service kidnapped the women. [One Free Korea]
I recommend reading the whole article at the link, but I would not be surprised if there were Pyongyang agents working in conjunction with the Minbyun group some how.
