Welcome to Korea Finder. The way this contest works is that each week a new image is posted and the first reader to accurately describe or locate the image gets a point. At the end of the year the reader with the highest amount of points will win a Korea related book of their choice.
Military officials display for the press what is believed to be debris from a North Korea-launched rocket at a naval fleet in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, on Feb. 11, 2016. The pieces, three in total, were retrieved from the ocean floor in the Yellow Sea. North Korea launched the rocket on Feb. 7 and claimed it put an Earth observation satellite into orbit, but it is widely viewed as a test of its intercontinental ballistic missile technology. (Yonhap)
If anyone should be apologizing it is the Russians who continue to support the Kim regime. As far as the issue at hand I would think the Russians probably covered their tracks really well in regards to any rocket components transferred to the North Koreans:
Russia demanded an apology from South Korea on Wednesday for raising suspicions that key components of North Korea’s recently tested rocket are from Russia.
Mikhail Ulyanov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s nonproliferation and arms control department, said in a news conference that South Korea should present evidence backing up the suspicions or retract them and apologize.
“This statement is irresponsible and unprofessional. One cannot come forward with such accusations without having clear evidence,” the official said.
After the North’s missile launch on Sunday, officials of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said in a closed-door emergency briefing to the parliamentary intelligence committee that key components of the missile appear to have come from Russia, according to lawmakers. [Yonhap]
Apparently Conan O’Brien is coming to South Korea for five days to shoot his show in Seoul:
American talk show host Conan O’Brien will shoot his “Conan” show in South Korea, a local fan who claims to have been contacted by the Conan team said Thursday.
O’Brien will arrive here on Sunday for a five-day journey that involves trips to downtown Seoul and a traditional Korean village in the city’s outskirts, a Naver blogger who goes by the alias KIMMYS said in a blog post. More than 1,100 people are subscribed to the blog which has been posting updates on O’Brien’s schedule in South Korea.
He will also likely try out “soju,” or Korean rice liquor, make kimchi and receive acupuncture, with a meeting with more than 200 fans scheduled for Monday.
Other rumors say O’Brien will make cameo appearances in a Wonder Girls music video and other local shows.
O’Brien had shown interest in Korean culture previously on his show. In an episode aired February 2015, O’Brien visited a Korean spa in Los Angeles with Korean-American actor Steven Yeun. [Yonhap]
Members of South Korea’s conservative civic groups rally in Seoul on Feb. 11, 2016, to condemn North Korea for launching a long-range rocket, a move widely believed to be a de facto test-firing of a long-range ballistic missile. (Yonhap)
Here is something that all servicemembers should keep in mind this political campaign season:
In a year that will undoubtedly be headlined by politics both national and local, the Air Force is warning airmen to watch what they say and how they say it.
With the 2016 presidential election just nine months away, the Air Force released an informational video last week, reminding airmen of Department of Defense regulations on discussing politics on social media.
In the video, Tech. Sgt. Holly Roberts-Davis cites a long-established DoD directive that prohibits active-duty military members from directly participating in partisan political activities, but includes updates as the policy relates to social media.
Things like campaigning for a candidate, soliciting donations to a particular campaign and even wearing a military uniform to a partisan political event have long been outlawed by the military, Roberts-Davis says in the video. But 21st century ways of communicating have extended those same concepts to the online world.
Roberts-Davis says active-duty military members are generally allowed to express political views on social media platforms, but there are several important caveats.
“If that social media site, or your post identifies you as on active-duty … then you must clearly and prominently state that the views expressed are those of you as an individual only and not those of the Department of Defense or your service,” Roberts-Davis says. [Stars & Stripes]
Kim Jong-un is either taking a very hardline against corruption or this is just a cover to eliminate people he doesn’t completely trust or may be it is both:
North Korea has executed its army chief of staff, Ri Yong Gil, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported on Wednesday, which, if true, would be the latest in a series of executions, purges, and disappearances under the country’s young leader.
The news comes amid heightened tension surrounding the isolated North Korea after its Sunday launch of a long-range rocket, which came about a month after it drew international condemnation for conducting its fourth nuclear test.
A source familiar with North Korean affairs also told Reuters that Ri had been executed. The source declined to be identified, given the sensitivity of the matter.
Ri, who was chief of the Korean People’s Army General Staff, was executed this month for corruption and factional conspiracy, Yonhap and other South Korean media reported. [Business Insider via reader tip]
