The 69-year-old Park Bok-dal strokes her father Park Jeong-soo’s tombstone at the National Cemetery in Seoul on June 24, 2016, one day before the 66th anniversary of the three-year Korean War. North Korea invaded South Korea on June 25, 1950. (Yonhap)
A night of drinking on a South Korean fishing boat led to the murder of its captain and chief engineer in the Indian Ocean:
Kwang Hyun 803, a Korean fishing vessel whose Korean captain and chief engineer were allegedly killed by two Vietnamese crewmen, arrives at Port of Victoria, Seychelles, Thursday. The Korea Coast Guard officers took the suspects into custody and are transporting them to Korea. / Yonhap
Korea Coast Guard officers have taken into custody two Vietnamese crewmen who allegedly killed the Korean captain and chief engineer of a fishing boat.
The detention was made at Port of Victoria in Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, Thursday night, as the Korean vessel arrived there four days after the alleged killings.
The coast guard officers are now bringing the suspects to Korea.
According to the coast guard, seven of its officers boarded the vessel, Kwang Hyun 803, with local police when a pilot was boarding around 10:10 p.m. local time. The coast guard gained control of the ship and had the vessel steered to the pier. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the two suspects have been flown back to Korea from the Seychelles to be investigated.
According to this survey working as a mascot in front of a store in the sweltering heat is the worst summer job in South Korea:
Standing outside a shop in a full-size mascot costume trying to entice customers inside is the worst summer job in Korea, according to a survey.
Part-time job portal website Albamon released the results of a survey asking 1,340 student workers what they thought were the best and worst part-time jobs for the summer.
Of the respondents, 30.3 percent of replied that their nightmare job was working as a mascot in a giant, sweltering costume.
Meanwhile, 19.5 percent of respondents chose parking attendant as the worst job. They said that high temperatures in parking lots as well as harmful vehicle emissions made the job unpleasant. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but I once worked at a restaurant a long time ago as a teenager and one of my jobs was be the guy that would wear a bear costume to promote the restaurant or go to catered events. The mascot gear fortunately had a little fan inside of it, but when that fan was not working it was incredibly hot to wear so I can understand why this is an undesirable summer job in South Korea. However, I would rather do that than be a parking attendant smelling exhaust all day.
A South Korean expedition, led by climber Ko Sang-don, pose after scaling the 6,190-meter-high summit of Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, on June 18, 2016. Sponsor Kolping Co. provided this photo. (Yonhap)
The Patriot PAC-3 is designed to shootdown short range ballistic missiles not an intermediate range missile which the category the Musudan falls under. That is what the THAAD system is for:
A medium-range ballistic missile launched Wednesday by North Korea flew at an average speed of Mach 11.3, or 11.3 times faster than the speed of sound, according to an analysis of a timeline seen on a monitor at the launch site.
The hypersonic speed of Mach 11.3 has sharply raised concerns about the capabilities of the Patriotic Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) missile defense system that the South Korean military has purchased to upgrade its existing PAC-2 missile defense system. The PAC-3 flies at Mach 3.5 to 5 and intercepts incoming missiles at altitudes of up to 40 kilometers (25 miles). [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but a professor at the Korea National Defense University explains in the article that THAAD can shoot down the Musudan. This is all the more reason why both Japan and the ROK should look at either purchasing their own THAAD system or deploying one into theater from the US.
Here is a strange story of a Korean movie director who broke a promise to an actress to not release a topless scene in the movie and now is facing a sexual violence crime for not keeping that promise:
Kwak Hyun-hwa, left, and Lee Soo-sung
Prosecutors have indicted film director Lee Soo-sung for allegedly releasing a “director’s cut” of an adult movie without agreeing with the actress who was nude in it.
The Seoul Central District Court has charged Lee with infringing the sexual violence crime punishment laws and making a false charge in his counter-accusation against Kwak Hyun-hwa, the actress.
Kwak, who starred in Lee’s movie “House With a Good View” in 2012, did not want to be part of any nude scene. Lee persuaded her that he would consider cutting out such scenes when editing the film and insisted she go topless, to which she agreed. [Korea Times]
If North Korea continues with their heavy flight testing schedule this seems like it could be a realistic estimate:
The North Korean military test launches one of two Musudan missiles Wednesday, June 22, 2016, in this photo from North Korean media outlet Rodong Sinmun.
North Korea’s missile launch was a “partial success” that suggests the provocative country could have a road-mobile ICBM capable of reaching the U.S. mainland by early next decade, a U.S. think tank says.
After failing in four previous tries, the North fired back-to-back Musudan missiles in just over two hours Wednesday. The first was considered another failure, but the second flew 620 to 880 miles high before falling into the Sea of Japan.
The actual distance traveled — 250 miles — was well short of its potential range that would put it within range of Japan and U.S. bases in the region. Experts said the missile was fired at a high angle to avoid provoking Japan, but the ability to achieve that altitude shows that the North Koreans are making technical progress.
The U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University, in its 38north.org blog, called the test a “partial success.” But it noted that six tests since mid-April despite repeated failures suggest the Musudan is not the North’s long-term focus.
“This isn’t so much an engineering program so much as an exercise in tossing a coin or rolling a die until it comes up with the result they like,” analyst John Schilling wrote in Thursday’s post.
However, he said, it was the first time the Musudan’s engine, which is shared by North Korea’s intercontinental ballistic missiles, was flight tested. Previous tests either crashed or exploded prematurely.
“This partial success increases the likelihood that North Korea’s KN-08 and KN-14 road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) will reach operational status early in the next decade,” he said.
“We still don’t expect them to have those missiles operational before 2020, but early flight testing by that date is increasingly likely,” he added. [Stars & Stripes]
