Park Chun-bong, who has admitted to killing a woman and brutally butchering her body in Suwon, south of Seoul, is flanked by police officers as he leaves the Suwon Western Police Station on Dec. 14, 2014, to attend a hearing for his arrest warrant. (Yonhap)
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
Does everyone remember the American idiot who tried to swim to North Korea a few months ago? Well he’s back and this time he made into North Korea via China:
SEOUL (Reuters) – A U.S. citizen who said he illegally entered North Korea held a press conference in Pyongyang on Sunday to deliver a 4,000-word statement denouncing U.S. domestic and foreign policy, CNN said.
CNN said the man identified himself as Arutro Pierre Martinez, 29, from the U.S. border town of El Paso. His mother told CNN her son was bipolar, and had previously tried to enter North Korea from the South Korean side.
“He is very smart and he got the court to let him out and instead of coming home to us he bought a ticket and left for China,” the television news channel quoted Patricia Eugenia Martinez as saying. (Reuters via reader tip)
You can read more at the link, but this guy went to North Korea two days after the other two Americans were released. This just shows that the U.S. government negotiating for the release of these individuals is just encouraging others idiots and the mentally ill to go to North Korea as well.
These people need to be treated like the past military defectors that were allowed to rot in North Korea. The U.S. Government needs to let Martinez rot there as well.
침팬지를 불법구금하고 있다고 주장하는 소송, 뉴욕 항소법원에서 패배 | Court rules against Tommy the Chimpanzee in habeas corpus bid http://t.co/37NLL48p5P
— T.K. of AAK! (@AskAKorean) December 11, 2014
South Korean actress Park Shin-hye poses during a news conference to promote her new movie in Seoul on Dec. 10, 2014. (Yonhap)
This hack of Sony by likely North Korean hackers is actually turning out to be a very effective way for the North Koreans to influence how Hollywood tries to depict their country in future films. The Kim regime has clearly had enough of being the stereotypical bad guys for various Hollywood films and the leak of these internal Sony emails is proving to be highly embarrassing and could lead to legal action against the company for many years to come:
The hits on Sony keep coming.
As journalists pore over hundreds of thousands of internal Sony emails the hacker group calling itself Guardians of Peace starting releasing on Nov. 24, more sensitive information continues to be uncovered, including revelations published on Friday by The Daily Beast, Re/code, Gawker, and The Verge.
To date, the hackers have released Sony executives’ salaries, top-secret profitability data, employees’ Social Security numbers, embarrassing emails and at least five films and opened up legal risks for years to come. The most revealing information leaked so far has come from the email exchanges between studio execs and Hollywood’s elite. Here are 10 of the latest developments. [Yahoo Movies]
You can read more at the link, but surely any Hollywood film company is going to think twice about making North Korea the stereotypical bad guys for their films after this cyberattack against Sony.
I wonder if the North Koreans will demand that the other American detainees will need to pay bills as well?
North Korea has sent a U.S. citizen who was detained in Pyongyang last year a 3.6million won ($3,241) bill, according to a recently published book which reveals the story of the detainee.
Merrill Newman, 86, visited Pyongyang for a tour last year, but was held in the Yanggakdo Hotel for 42 days on charges of espionage from Oct. 26, 2013.
The book, “last P.O.W.,” written by a former CNN correspondent Mike Chinoy, reveals that Pyongyang sent the U.S. Department of State a bill for Newman’s stay via the Swedish ambassador in Pyongyang. The Swedish Embassy in Pyongyang plays a role in protecting U.S. people there.
The bill includes $2,610 for the room, $591 for meals, $14 for dessert, and even $3 for “lost plates.” The tourist season rate of $75 a day was charged for six days and the ordinary season rate of $60 was applied for the other 36 days. The bill also includes $23 for international phone calls he made to his wife in the U.S.
The 86-year-old detainee, however, left the bill unpaid after he confirmed with the State Department that paying would not help then detainees, Kenneth Bae and Mathew Miller, the book reads. [Korea Times]
There has been funding battles going on between the national and provincials governments in Korea in regards to the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics. The IOC has now stepped in to recommend that Korea try and share the 2018 Games with Japan to reduce costs. It appears the suggestion of sharing the games with their rival Japan has gotten the attention of Korea:
The 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games chief organizer confirmed Friday “there is no possibility” events will be shared with cities outside of Korea.
“Construction for all the venues for the PyeongChang Games has begun. At this juncture, it is difficult to adopt the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) reform package,” the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) President and CEO Cho Yang-ho said in a statement.
He said he “highly appreciates” the IOC’s initiative for the reforms because it will be very effective for the Olympic Movement down the road, but insists all events in 2018 will be staged in the counties of PyeongChang and Jeongseon, and the city of Gangneung.
The IOC Monday unanimously approved President Thomas Bach’s 40-point “Olympic Agenda 2020” reform package, which includes recommendations allowing cities to stage some events in different countries to cut costs.
The IOC is worried that a new sliding venue under construction in Gangwon Province may have little use after the Games and wants the POCOG to move sliding events to countries that already have venues, such as Japan. But, local governments and interested parties have insisted they have no intention of splitting the host role with other countries. [Korea Times]
So the bottom line is that all the venues that will have no use after the Olympics will be built.
China’s Xi Is a More Effective Leader Than Obama http://t.co/XE41K61ulB
— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) December 11, 2014
An inflammable material explodes during a talk show hosted by Korean-American activist Shin Eun-mi and opposition politician Hwang Sun at a cathedral in Iksan, North Jeolla Province, on Dec. 10, 2014. A high school senior was detained for hurling the material accusing the two women of making pro-North Korean remarks. (Yonhap)
