North Korea is using the 14th anniversary of the tragic 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident to bash the United States and call for a withdrawal of US troops from Korea:
Site of 2002 armored vehicle accident.
North Korean media urged South Koreans to turn toward anti-American sentiment and repel U.S. troops from South Korea, and mentioned the 2002 deaths of two schoolgirls crushed by a U.S. military vehicle.
The Yangju highway incident in South Korea, which happened 14 years ago today, was a tragic accident in which a U.S. military vehicle hit and crushed two Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun, both 14, while they walked beside a narrow country road on their way to a birthday party.
“Fourteen years ago today, two South Korean schoolgirls at the age of 14 were struck and killed by devilish homicidal American imperialists’ Caterpillar truck,” wrote state newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Monday, calling the incident “only one of many incidents in which American invaders have crushed the dignity and sovereignty of South Koreans.”
Pyongyang’s other publications also described the incident, and urged South Koreans to repel U.S. forces from the Korean Peninsula.
“This evilest deed of all evil deeds is only capable of being carried out by the soldiers of an evil empire, which was built on the skulls and blood of Native Americans …” wrote state medial portal Uriminzokkiri. [NK News]
ROK Drop favorite Andrei Lankov has an opinion piece in the Korea Times that explains how China’s supposed harsh line with North Korea was merely a short term fluctuation and things are back to normal between the two countries:
For a brief while, South Korean diplomats were in a rather celebratory mood: it looked like China, for a change, had joined the ROK and the U.S. in their efforts to subject North Korea to the toughest sanctions ever. Indeed, in early March the Chinese representative in the U.N. Security Council voted for Resolution 2270 which introduced such measures, and for a while the united front looked like a reality.
Frankly, for yours truly, it was a surprise: the harsh position Beijing had seemingly committed itself to was unprecedented, and China’s switch happened quite suddenly. However, now it seems that this change was merely a short-term fluctuation.
There are many signs of a warming of relations between China and North Korea. In early June, Ri Su-yong, the former North Korean foreign minister who currently is the Korean Workers’ Party vice-chairman responsible for foreign relations, visited Beijing. It is the first time since 2013 that a North Korean official of such high rank has appeared in the Chinese capital. Among other things, Ri was granted an audience with President Xi Jinping. It lasted merely 20 minutes and therefore was, first and foremost, a formality, but it still had much symbolic meaning. It is equally important that the Chinese media devoted much space to describing the visit.
Simultaneously, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman expressed dissatisfaction with the new U.S. policy initiative ― unilateral sanctions, targeting banks that deal with North Korea. On the other hand, the U.S. authorities subpoenaed Huawei, a massive Chinese telecommunication company, for its alleged deals with North Korea. There is also a growing body of evidence that China is not being as strict with sanctions’ enforcement as many had hoped for.
There is nothing surprising about all this. Like it or not, when it comes to the Korean Peninsula, Chinese interests are seriously different from those of the United States. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but like I have always said China is never going to take a position that would risk the stability of the Kim regime. As bad as the regime is, to the Chinese government it is better than the alternative of regime collapse and the unification of the peninsula under South Korean rule backed with US troops.
The arrest of the three men accused of gang raping a Korean teacher on the remote Korean island Heuksan-do has finally happened. Due to the public outrage it appears the Korean police are not going to give the perpetrators the benefit of using the “I was drunk excuse” so commonly used in these cases:
Three suspects have been charged with premeditated rape and assault in the investigation of a sexual assault case involving a female teacher in her 20s by three local men from Heuksan Island in Sinan County, South Jeolla.
The three suspects were scheduled to be sent to the prosecution today for further investigation. Each is a father of children in kindergarten, elementary or middle school. The children of two of the suspects are attending the school where the victim worked. They were arrested by police last Saturday, after the victim reported the crime.
One of the suspects, surnamed Park, 49, owns the restaurant where the teacher was having dinner prior to the crime on May 21. He and one other suspect, Lee, 34, are accused of having invited the teacher to join them and getting her drunk.
After the victim became intoxicated, Park brought her to a building at an elementary school at 11:00 p.m in his car while Lee followed. About 30 minutes later, police say, the other suspect, Kim, 38, drove to the elementary school building, as well.
The police initially planned to impose less severe charges on the three since they claimed the rape was not planned.
“The testimonies of the three suspects didn’t match,” said a police officer. “They seemed to have lied when they said the crime was not plotted.”
But given that the three suspects live in the same neighborhood, contacted each other before and after the crime and went inside the building and raped the victim in sequence, the police charged them with premeditated rape. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link. Also for those wondering where Heuksan-do island is located at here is a Google Map of its location:
Incredibly the arrest of one of the suspects surnamed Kim has been linked to a 2007 rape in Daejon. The DNA found on the teacher matched the DNA found on the victim in the Daejon case. Due to the victim speaking out about this rape she may have gotten a serial rapist off the streets. It seems like if someone wanted to lie low and hide out somewhere Heuksando would be a place to go.
South Korea’s national team wrestlers work out rigorously at the Taeneung National Training Center in Seoul on June 10, 2016, for the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in August. Chung Mong-gyu, chief of the South Korean Olympic delegation, visited the center on the same day with 57 days before the Games begin. (Yonhap)
This incident involving a Chinese fishing boat shows the very dangerous situation that could have materialized along the inter-Korean Northern Limit Line (NLL) because the Chinese government absolutely refuses to control their fishermen:
Incheon Coast Guard chase a Chinese fishing vessel to seize it for violating South Korea’s territorial waters off Yeonpyeong Island near the Northern Limit Line in the Yellow Sea, on Saturday. The Chinese vessel blockaded its wheelhouse and tried to flee by sailing north with South Korean Coast Guard officials still on board. [NEWSIS]A Chinese vessel illegally fishing off Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea was seized by Incheon Coast Guard – but not before trying to flee with Korean officers still on board.
A 50-ton Chinese boat illegally caught some 45 kilograms (99 pounds) of crab and small fish in waters 8.6 kilometers (5.3 miles) to the south of the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border between the two Koreas, at around 4:40 p.m. Saturday afternoon, according to the Incheon Coast Guard Sunday. This was in violation of Korea’s exclusive economic zone.
During the raid, 14 Korean Coast Guard officers boarded the Chinese fishing vessel to seize it.
But Chinese sailors blockaded the wheelhouse and tried to take off with the Coast Guard officers still on board. They managed to sail around 1 kilometer to the north before control was seized.
This led to the arrest of all seven Chinese sailors on board, who were transported to Incheon.
Had the South Korean Coast Guard crossed over into North Korean waters, it could have given Pyongyang a pretext for some form of retaliation. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if the Chinese government puts out some statement trying to put blame on the Korean Coast Guard for the incident. I have always believed that these fishermen need to be jailed and their boats auctioned off as a deterrent to this activity. These Chinese fishermen have not only injured and murdered Korean Coast Guard personnel in the past, but now they are even threatening to start a war with North Korea.
This is a horrible tragedy with so many dead and wounded caused by the terror attack on a Orlando nightclub. I am actually amazed a terrorist has not tried to attack a packed night club sooner considering how crowded they can be and have few exits to escape:
A gunman opened fire inside at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., early Sunday, killing 50 people and leaving 53 others hospitalized in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Officials identified the gunman as Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen. According to the Washington Post, Mateen’s family is from Afghanistan, while Mateen is believed to have been born in the United States. According to CBS News, Mateen had no apparent criminal history.
You can read much more at the link, but the FBI is treating this as an act of domestic terrorism despite not knowing if the shooter was inspired by radical Islam:
Orlando authorities said they consider the violence an act of domestic terror. The FBI is involved. While investigators are exploring all angles, they “have suggestions the individual has leanings towards (Islamic terrorism), but right now we can’t say definitely,” said Ron Hopper, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Orlando bureau. [CNN]
Also get this authorities according to the article are also investigating if this is a hate crime. ABC News is reporting that Omar Mateen has been on the radar of authorities as a possible threat:
Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old U.S.-born citizen, has been identified as the suspect in Sunday’s mass shooting that left at least 50 dead and more than 50 others wounded at the Pulse Nightclub, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Mateen’s parents were born in Afghanistan, and he was “on the radar” of U.S. officials for some time, but was not the target of a specific investigation, law enforcement officials told ABC News. [ABC News]
TMZ is reporting that Omar Mateen was a security guard with proper fire arms licensing and they have a picture of the terrorist wearing an NYPD shirt:
The killer in the Orlando nightclub slaughter is 29-year-old Omar Mateen. TMZ has done a records search and found he held a Florida security officer license and a state firearms license. [TMZ]
His parents say the killings had nothing to do with religion and instead he just hated gay people. NYPD also says that Mateen has nothing to do with the department.
How come I have a feeling that after this there will once again be an effort to restrict everyone’s right to own a firearm instead of finding ways to keep firearms out of the hands of the mentally ill and terrorists that commit just about every mass shooting in the US?
Coincidentally this weekend “The Voice” singer Christina Grime was gunned downed in an unrelated shooting in Orlando this weekend as well.
Condolences to everyone affected by both shootings.
A conservative Christian nongovernmental organization protested the 17th Korean Queer Culture Festival to be held today and condemned Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for supporting sexual and gender minority rights in front of Seoul City Hall on Friday.
“Homosexuality out! Park Won-soon out! Ban Ki-moon out!” a pastor from the Jesus Foundation shouted on a stage at Seoul Plaza. “Antidiscrimination law out! Islam out!”
A flier in front of a tent erected by the foundation read, “Homosexuality is a sin that challenges the order God has created!”
The Jesus Foundation has been conducting protests of the annual gay pride parade in front of Seoul City Hall for over 400 days and collecting signatures on a petition to propose an anti-gay marriage bill. The foundation stepped up its demonstration a day before the opening of the biggest festival in the nation to advocate the rights of the so-called LGBTAIQ, or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, asexual, intersex and queer, community.
The size of the festival has grown from only 50 people in 2000 to 30,000 in 2015. Some 65,000 are expected to participate in today’s parade, and a police force of about 2,000 will be dispatched to oversee the event.
The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Seoul Plaza. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
As usual these protesters always produce some funny quotes:
The foundation denounced Park and Ban for their active support of gay people. “Homosexuals in Korea enjoy the most privileges in the entire world; they are like VIPs,” Rhim said, despite the fact that gay marriage is still not recognized in Korea.
You can read more at the link, but I wonder what VIP privileges Mr. Rhim is referring to?
