The investigation into the live anthrax spores shipped to the US military in South Korea has uncovered numerous other shipments of anthrax.  However, those shipments featured dead spores unlike the one that was mistakenly shipped to South Korea that had live spores in it.  Fortunately no one who was exposed to the live spores has contracted anthrax:

A probe by Seoul and Washington into an erroneous shipment of a live anthrax sample to a U.S. military base in Korea revealed on Thursday that samples of the deadly bacteria have been brought into the country many more times over the past six years than initially known.

Since 2009, a total of 16 anthrax samples were brought into the country by the United States Forces Korea (USFK) without the knowledge of Korean authorities, according to the results of the joint investigation.

The USFK initially told the Korean government in May that only a single anthrax sample was shipped here and that it was the first time for such an occurrence.

A live anthrax sample was mistakenly shipped in late April to the Osan Air Base in Gyeonggi, where 22 personnel were possibly exposed to live anthrax spores.

These exposed researchers and staff took antibiotics and vaccines and have not contracted the disease so far, and the live bacteria sample was immediately destroyed. However, there was an outcry in Seoul over the potential risks.

In response, the United States and Korea in July formed a joint task force to investigate how live anthrax shipments entered Korea undetected. It was composed of military and foreign affairs officials.

The 15 other anthrax samples were shipped to the U.S. military base in Yongsan District, central Seoul, between 2009 and 2014 for biological testing purposes, according to the investigation.

Korean authorities said they were not aware of these anthrax shipments because customs officials here are not authorized to look into biochemical samples for the USFK that are labeled “inactivated.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

https://twitter.com/dramafever/status/677217145722306561

Tatsuya Kato, a Japanese journalist accused of defamation against the South Korean president, walks into the Seoul Central District Court on Dec. 17, 2015, for his sentencing trial. The court found him not guilty, saying that while his article was inappropriate, it falls under the freedom of the press. Kato, former Seoul bureau chief for Sankei Shimbun, was charged with defamation against President Park Geun-hye for his report in August suggesting that she was with her personal confidant when the passenger ferry Sewol sank on April 16, 2014. The whereabouts of the president at the time of the tragedy are one of the criticisms leveled against the government by the family members of the victims and civic groups. The prosecution had demanded a 18-month prison term for the Japanese reporter. (Yonhap)

Apparently when Chinese authorities saw a rehearsal of Kim Jong-un’s girl band they immediately decided to cancel the concert due to the propaganda they saw.  What did they expect with inviting Kim Jong-un’s girl band to China?:

 

The mysterious cancellation of a Beijing concert by North Korea’s Moranbong Band on Saturday appears to be linked with the girl group’s program, which included adulations of leader Kim Jong-un and possibly boasts about the country’s nuclear tests, which China’s government was against.

South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) told lawmakers that it believes Chinese authorities, after watching a rehearsal on Friday, balked at the propaganda-filled program.  [Joong Ang llbo]

You can read the rest at the link.

First of all notice how they call this the Climate Change Performance Index instead of the Global Warming Performance Index.  This just shows how they have actual little confidence in global warming and instead hedge their bets by calling it climate change.  Regardless South Korea is supposed not doing a whole lot to meet global warming goals:

South Korea is getting a failing grade in its response to climate change, ranking among the worst countries in the world according to an international environmental organization and a nongovernmental research institute.
In the 2016 Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI), South Korea ranked fifth from the bottom, among 58 countries being assessed. The index was released on Dec. 8 – amid a conference of countries that are party to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – by Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe, an international alliance of environmental groups, and by Germanwatch, an independent German research institute.

While South Korea is 57th on the list, its actual rank is 54th; researchers left the first three spots empty to reflect the fact that no countries are adequately responding to climate change. This was two spots lower than last year and 23 lower than 2010.

These two organizations draw up the index every year by ranking the 58 countries whose greenhouse gas emissions collectively account for at least 90% of total global emissions. In assigning ranks, 30% of points are given for emissions levels, 30% for recent development of emissions, 20% for climate change policies, 10% for recent development of renewable energy and its share of the primary energy supply, and 10% for efficiency levels and recent developments in efficiency.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read the rest of the link.

As South Korea begins to establish a more robust space program that will include multiple defense satellites, being able to monitor and defend against threats to those assets as well as providing missile warning is important:

South Korea wants help from the United States as it tries to develop its nascent space-defense program, Defense Ministry officials said Wednesday.

The nation’s space plans aren’t targeting a particular country or threat, ministry officials told Stars and Stripes. However, North Korea’s continuing research on long-range ballistic missiles represents a threat that theoretically could be defeated using space-based technology.

Seoul will be “building up the foundation to carry out space warfare by creating and conducting a high-level U.S.-South Korea defense space development [tabletop exercise] regularly,” according to a recent Defense Ministry statement.

The Defense Ministry and the Pentagon will also share information on space development, a ministry spokesman said Wednesday.

South Korea established its first Space Operations Center in July, when it also announced plans to build a national space surveillance system by 2030. Last week, defense officials said the new space center successfully tracked a falling Russian satellite, with assistance from the U.S. Strategic Command.

The pact with South Korea follows similar actions taken between the U.S. and Japan to bolster cooperation earlier this year. In April, Tokyo and Washington revised 1997 bilateral defense guidelines to include a section on space, calling for the nations to “share information to address emerging threats against space systems.”  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.

Is this the worst family Christmas card of all time?https://t.co/B9SUvPZoHX pic.twitter.com/8HcJC1go4N

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) December 16, 2015

South Korean speed skater Lee Sang-hwa smiles during an interview at Incheon International Airport on Dec. 15, 2015, after returning from the fourth leg of the 2015-2016 International Skating Union Speed Skating World Cup in the Netherlands. Recovering from knee injuries, Lee, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has won four of the eight 500 meter races and leads other female skaters in points at the World Cup. (Yonhap)

Like I have said for all of these detainment cases, I feel for the families effected by this, but if you willing travel into North Korea this is the risk you are taking.  No one else should be expected to get you out of trouble when things go wrong.  This is why I have advocated for no one to travel to North Korea because not only are you supporting the Kim regime with hard currency, but you are also giving the regime bargaining chips they can use for future use if they feel they need them:

North Korea sentenced a detained Canadian pastor to life imprisonment with hard labor 10 months after taking him into custody.

Pyongyang’s state-controlled KCNA reported, “The trial of Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim, who undertook a special plot to overthrow the state, took place before the Supreme Court on Dec. 16.”

North Korea said the defendant received a life sentence with hard labor and was found guilty of violating Pyongyang’s Criminal Law Article 60, or conspiring to overthrow the Kim Jong Un regime. Pyongyang added there were “witnesses” who had evidence of Lim’s wrongdoing.

Speaking on behalf of the defendant, 60, North Korea said Lim had admitted to his wrongdoing: adopting South Korea’s anti-Pyongyang hostile actions by “insulting [North Korea’s] highest dignity and its system with vicious slander” and “harboring ill will and attempting to take down [North Korea].”  [UPI]

You can read the rest at the link.

Here is another example of South Korea’s laws that can be used to restrict free speech:

Lee Ha gets two year suspended sentence over poster that satirized former President Chun Doo-hwan

The Supreme Court said on Dec. 11 that it was upholding a court ruling issuing a suspended 100,000-won (US$85) fine to an artist accused of violating the Minor Offenses Act by putting up wall posters satirizing former President Chun Doo-hwan.

The sentence suspension system allows those accused of minor infractions to avoid punishment if two years pass without a sentence.Political pop artist Lee Ha (real name Lee Byeong-ha), 47, was indicted for putting up 55 of the posters in the area around Chun’s residence in the Yeonhui neighborhood of Seoul early on the morning of May 17, 2012, the eve of the anniversary of the 1980 Gwangju Democratization Movement. The images showed Chun dressed in prison clothes and handcuffs and carrying a check for 290,000 won (US$250), which was all the money he said he had at time, despite his corruption while president from 1980-88.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read the rest at the link.