A bus with solar panels mounted on its roof is parked in the North Korean city of Nampho, in this still image from a program of the North’s Korean Central TV Station on Nov. 2, 2015. The bus, which is equipped with 32 100-watt solar panels, 50 batteries and a 95-kilogram electric motor, can run at a speed of 40 kmph, the broadcaster said. (Yonhap)
I wonder if the Korean National Police requested this or is something USFK has been pushing to do? Regardless I am always uneasy with pushing personnel in uniform to patrol Korean neighborhoods, especially a college district. It just helps to legitimize all the leftist propaganda in South Korea about USFK being an occupying force:
U.S. Forces Korea and Seoul police began joint patrols of the popular Hongdae neighborhood over the Halloween weekend and will continue them through the end of the year, officials said Wednesday.
Although Seoul police haven’t released reports of significant incidents involving USFK personnel recently, Hongdae has been the scene of multiple, high-profile arrests over the past decade.
The neighborhood includes a large college student population and several bars and clubs.
Most personnel in South Korea are law-abiding, but such patrols are an additional prevention measure against misconduct, USFK officials said. [Stars & Stripes]
This is going to be a really big defense upgrade for the ROK Army once these new Apache helicopters are fielded:
The latest-version AH-64 Apache attack helicopters destined for South Korea have been unveiled months before the start of deliveries, the country’s arms procurement agency said Tuesday.
Boeing held a rollout ceremony for the AH-64E Apache Guardian in Mesa, Arizona, on Monday (local time), attended by representatives from South Korea’s Army and the Defense Acquisition Procurement Administration (DAPA).
The choppers will be first delivered to the U.S. Army for test flights and transferred to South Korea beginning in the first half of next year, according to DAPA officials.
The DAPA signed a US$1.6 billion contract with the U.S. in a Foreign Military Sales program in 2013 to buy 36 AH-64Es, an upgraded model of the AH-64D Longbow. [Korea Times]
Here is a pretty cool story about a US Marine who was seriously injured in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan and before having her leg amputated decided to walk across the UK with Prince Harry cheering her on:
But among the small group of warriors drawing breath at the special reception laid on for them, none should feel more proud than Kirstie Ennis, an Afghan veteran like Harry, and the sole woman to take part in the 72-day expedition.
She is lucky to be alive. Surgeons have practically rebuilt her in the course of 38 separate operations. She has somehow covered the extraordinary distance on a leg so damaged and painful that her medical team insists it should be amputated – and it will be removed once today’s final agonising mission is complete.
It is just three years since the slender blonde was told she would never walk again. In fact, so exemplary is Kirstie’s determination that she and the Prince have forged a remarkable bond in the past few weeks, when Harry joined 24-year-old Kirstie and the other walkers on their journey. [Daily Mail]
You can read the rest at the link, but I wish Kirstie all the best as she continues her recovery from her injuries
An excavator dismantles facilities on the roof of the former Japanese Embassy, built in 1976, in Seoul on Nov. 2, 2015, as the embassy has implemented a project to rebuild its building, scheduled for completion by 2020. The embassy has been running operations at a nearby building since July 2015. (Yonhap)
The Itaewon Burger King murder trial has started with former convict for the murder Edward Lee pointing the finger at Arthur John Patterson as the murderer of Korean student Cho Choong-pil:
John Arthur Patterson
During the questioning, Lee found it difficult to recall the situation in which the murder took place in April 1997, but the Korean-American said in the courtroom that he saw Patterson suddenly turning to the victim and stabbing him.
“When the murder took place, I went to the bathroom to wash my hands,” he said. “Patterson suddenly started to stab him. I turned around and I was shocked.
“Cho was trying to hit the accused with his right hand, but Patterson stabbed him and kept stabbing him.”
He admitted that there were only three people including Patterson, Cho and himself at the crime scene. But he continued to accuse Patterson of murdering Cho.
He also took issue with the credibility of the past investigation records and how he was treated during the questioning by the police and prosecutors.
“I have consistently asked for an interpreter, but they didn’t provide me with one,” he said. “I was interrogated without an interpreter, coerced and threated during the first investigation for 17 hours. They didn’t let me go to sleep.” [Korea Herald]
You can read the rest at the link, but Patterson continues to claim that Lee is the actual murderer. I feel so bad for the victim’s mother who also testified and had to listen to the details about how her son was killed for no reason and then see these two each deny responsibility. Even if Lee did not commit the murder he is still culpable for not saying anything after it happened. If he saw Patterson stabbing someone to death he should of at least immediately alerted people in the restaurant to call the police and paramedics.
What I find most amazing about this report is that Germans on average work four months less a year than Koreans. This just shows how unproductive the hours by Korean workers likely are when Germans are able to have a manufacturing and export based economy like Korea without the need for long hours:
Company employees and self-employed Koreans worked an average of 2,124 hours per person last year, second only to Mexico, at 2,228 hours.
Koreans work 354 more hours every year than the OECD average of 1,770. This calculates to 6.8 more hours of work each week.
In addition, the average number of hours worked by Koreans rose by 45, up from 2,079 hours in 2013.
Korea had the highest average number of working hours until 2007 when Mexico exceeded this.
The lowest average of working hours is in Germany, at 1,371 hours a year. This is equivalent to eight months of working hours in Korea. [Korea Times]
Really nothing new here because reports of North Korea being able to target the US have persisted for years despite the fact they have never test fired one of their KN-08 missiles to prove it:
“North Korea has an extensive ballistic missile force that could strike South Korea, Japan, and US military bases in Asia,” the report states. “Pyongyang has deployed at least 400 Scud short-range tactical ballistic missiles, 300 No-Dong medium-range missiles, and 100 to 200 Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missiles.”
The longest-range missile, the Taepo Dong 2, is still in development. However, if deployed, the missile is believed to be nuclear capable if North Korea ever succeeded in miniaturizing nuclear warheads.
The most serious of North Korea’s missile threats comes from the country’s KN-08 missile. The KN-08 is a road-mobile intercontinental missile, meaning Pyongyang can move the launch system throughout the country. In contrast, other long-range missiles must be fired from stationary launch pads.
“It’s the relocatable target set that really impedes our ability to find, fix, and finish the threat,” Adm. Bill Gortney, the commander of NORAD, told reporters in April 2015. “And as the targets move around and we if don’t have the persistent stare and persistent [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] that we do not have over North Korea at this time, that relocatable nature makes it very difficult for us to counter it.”
Heritage notes that Gortney also said in April 2015 that the KN-08 “is operational today. Our assessment is that they have the ability to put a nuclear weapon on a KN-08 and shoot it at the homeland.” [Business Insider]
