The outbreak of MERS in South Korea has now turned deadly:
South Korea on Tuesday reported the first two deaths from an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) that has affected 25 people in two weeks.
A 58-year-old woman who had had contact with South Korea’s first patient died of acute respiratory failure on Monday, the Health Ministry said. A 71-year-old man who had been on respiratory support with a history of kidney ailments also died.
The ministry reported new confirmed cases on Tuesday, bringing the total to 25. South Korea now has the third highest number of cases after Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. [Reuters]
I wonder how USFK would treat a similar case of theft by a civilian in a situation like this?:
On March 6, a large sum of cash was stolen from a slot machine room at the Navy’s largest base in Asia.
This wasn’t the first time money had gone missing from a Navy entertainment facility in Japan. In 2010, $67,000 went missing from a Naval Air Facility Atsugi club. Only a few civilians had access to the cash, but no one was ever arrested.
Navy officials in Japan say that while they can make it hard to steal and even harder to go unidentified, a determined thief is going to have opportunities at entertainment facilities, which are primarily operated by civilians who, unlike servicemembers, do not fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
When crime prevention among civilians fails, the question then becomes whether federal officials will prosecute them. Unless the crime is violent or particularly noteworthy, the answer is probably not.
When criminal suspects fall under the UCMJ, custody and prosecution become straightforward legal matters. If the suspect is a civilian, custody may become subject to international accords and possibly extradition agreements, which can take months or years to find their way through the courts.
Sources familiar with the March theft at Yokosuka told Stars and Stripes that a suspect is a third-country national admitted to Japan. If the suspect is still in Japan and off-base, the U.S. has no jurisdiction to make the arrest and would need assistance from Japanese authorities. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but if the military lacks legal jurisdiction than why was this person allowed on base in the first place?
Anyway speaking of slot machine scams, does anyone remember this case of the Korean woman who made $1.2 million signing people on to post to gamble on Yongsan Garrison? As far as I can tell nothing happened to her either other than losing pass privileges.
This seems like a common sense thing to do to stop the spread of MERS:
A Chinese tourist, wearing a facial mask, visits Gyeongbok Palace in Seoul on June 1, 2015, as South Korea confirmed three additional cases of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome that day, raising the number of patients diagnosed with the illness to 18. (Yonhap)
The South Korean government is moving to place a temporary ban on people exposed to the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) from leaving the country, officials said Monday, as part of efforts to prevent the disease from spreading.
The move comes as a South Korean man, despite having come in close contact with a MERS patient and developing possible symptoms of the potentially deadly disease, left for China last week.
The 44-year-old man has since been diagnosed with the disease and is in isolation at a Chinese hospital.
The move also came as the country reported three more confirmed cases of MERS earlier Monday, bringing the total number of people infected with the disease to 18.
The latest infected people had been in the same hospital where the country’s first MERS case was reported. Two of them were patients in the hospital, while the other person is a son of another patient who had visited the hospital to care for his parent, the Health Ministry said. [Korea Times]
Farmers pick mulberries at a field in a village of Hamyang, South Gyeongsang Province, southeastern South Korea, on June 1, 2015. Koreans consume the fruit, known to be effective against hypertension and diabetes, as a juice or alcoholic beverage. (Yonhap)
I think in this case the Seoul police are correct in how they are handling this issue. If there is going to be a confrontation between different groups why would should the police allow this to happen in the middle of Seoul and make traffic miserable for everyone that works there?:
LGBT pride parade in South Korea on June 7, 2014. (Courtesy of Cezzie901 via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Police have denied permission for a street parade highlighting the rights of sexual minorities scheduled for later this month in central Seoul, upsetting the event’s organizers.
According to the festival organizer Monday, the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency turned down the organizer’s request for the June 28 parade.
It was planned as a part of events for the Korea Queer Festival, which will run from June 9-28. The opening ceremony will take place at Seoul Plaza, and the parade was also scheduled to start at the plaza.
The police said other groups had already submitted plans to stage a parade at the same time and location. They also said that the organizer’s parade, which was to proceed from the plaza and along Cheonggye Stream before returning to the plaza, would worsen traffic conditions in the area.
The festival organizers protested.
“For the last 15 years, the festival has not caused any traffic problems,” said one member of the festival organizing committee.
The Korea Queer Festival marks its 16th year this year. Previously, festivals and parades were held on the streets of Sinchon, where there is a large college student population. This was the first event planned for Seoul Plaza.
The organizer suspects others who scheduled events that effectively blocked the street parade were conservative Christian groups which opposed the festival, thus giving police an excuse to say no to the parade. [Korea Times]
It figures the SOFA would come up in response to the anthrax scare at Osan AB:
South Korea is considering revising its military agreement with the U.S. to prevent another accidental shipment of live anthrax to the South, a ruling party lawmaker said Monday.
Safety jitters over biological weapons flared up after the U.S. military said last month a U.S. Defense Department laboratory had mistakenly sent a live anthrax sample to the U.S. Forces Korea’s Osan Air Base, south of Seoul.
Public concerns did not subside despite the USFK announcement that the sample was destroyed before inflicting any damage.
“(The government and the ruling party) decided to review necessary enhancement and supplement measures after determining whether there is a problem in the management and process of the Status of Forces Agreement,” Saenuri Party Rep. Won Yoo-chul said after a policy coordination meeting with Vice Defense Minister Baek Seung-joo. Seoul will discuss any revisions at a joint SOFA committee meeting with the U.S., planned for July, the lawmaker said. [Korea Herald]
I have not even heard of this company before, but its Korean-American owner was featured in Forbes as one of the most successful self made women:
Thai Lee, a 56-year-old Korean-American businesswoman, has one of the largest female-owned businesses in the U.S., Forbes reported Wednesday.
Lee was featured in the first ever list of America’s “top 50 most successful, self-made women.”
Lee is CEO of Software House International, an unlisted company specializing in software sales and services.
Headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey, SHI operates about 30 branches in Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, and the U.K., as well as in the U.S. With 3,000 staff and 17,500 clients, it had sales of US$6 billion last year, making it one of the top three minority-owned businesses in the U.S. [Chosun Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but good on her for making her company into the billion dollar business it is today.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspects a tree nursery being constructed by the Korean People’s Army in this composite photo released by the North’s state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper on May 29, 2015. The nursery, which covers an area of about 1.98 million square meters, consists of various facilities for nursery tree production. Kim was accompanied by his sister, Kim Yo-jong, who made her first public appearance in 47 days amid rumors of giving birth. (Yonhap)
