It is anyone surprised the Korean leftists were not out protesting the ROK-China FTA like they were doing with the U.S.?:

Korea and China more or less concluded years of on-and-off talks about a free trade pact on Monday. President Park Geun-hye and her Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping announced the conclusion of the FTA in Beijing on Monday.

The negotiations began in May 2012.

Once the FTA goes into effect, binding the world’s second and 15th-largest economies, it will create an economic bloc valued at US$11 trillion.

Korea stands to gain greater access to a W5,000 trillion (US$1=W1,085) market with a population of 1.3 billion.

Korea is only the third country along with Chile and Peru to sign FTAs with the U.S., EU and China.

The biggest gain for Korean negotiators is that most of the agricultural market, including rice, remains protected from Chinese imports. China in turn managed to maintain existing tariffs on Korean-made petrochemical products, steel and cars. (Chosun Ilbo)

You can more at the link.

The leading conservative daily in Korea, the Chosun Ilbo is not happy with the announced changes to the Yongsan Garrison relocation plan:

Korea and the U.S. have agreed to keep the Combined Forces Command in Seoul even after the U.S. Forces Korea headquarters moves to Pyeongtaek in 2016. The CFC compound accounts for between eight to nine percent of the total area of the U.S. garrison right in the middle of Seoul.

If the housing compound for American Embassy staff is included, the total area of the base that the U.S. will continue to use rises to 17 percent. A Defense Ministry official claimed relocating the CFC further south would make it “difficult” to establish a smooth command system in conjunction with South Korean top brass in an emergency.

The official claimed that it would cost an additional W400 billion (US$1=W1,058) to relocate the CFC to Pyeongtaek. These are all valid reasons.

But Korea and the U.S. are in the process of building a new military base in Pyeongtaek at a cost of almost W9 trillion. Supporters say the move would help the U.S. military’s capabilities. The CFC was to be among the facilities being relocated, and the budget had taken that into account. Now the military is saying that the CFC should stay in Seoul. That is an absurd reversal.

The government hopes to build a 2.64 million sq.m park at the Yongsan site that rivals New York’s Central Park. The relocation of the U.S. garrison is also a highly symbolic event that signifies the return of land back to the Korean people after being used by foreign armies for around a century.

When Seoul and Washington agreed in 2004 to relocate the Yongsan base to Pyeongtaek, then U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said it was absurd to have a foreign military base sitting in the middle of a nation’s capital. Seoul agreed to shoulder the entire cost of the relocation because the Korean public agreed with Rumsfeld’s view.

But now, the symbolic significance of the relocation is about to lose its luster although trillions of won in taxpayer’s money have been spent. (Chosun Ilbo)

You can read more at the link, but the Chosun thinks the land should be developed into a park with some land sold to make apartments to offset the cost.

The captain of the Sewol ferry boat will likely die in prison considering his age, but I am surprised how the engineer was convicted of murder and not the captain:

A district court on Tuesday sentenced the captain of the sunken ferry Sewol to 36 years in prison for abandoning passengers at the time of the deadly sinking.

Lee Joon-seok, however, was acquitted of charges that he murdered 304 passengers as he left them behind while he was the first to be rescued when the ill-fated ship was sinking off South Korea’s southern coast on April 16.

The Gwangju District Court in this southern city convicted the 68-year-old skipper of gross negligence and dereliction of duty, including abandoning his ship while the passengers, most of them high school students on a school trip, remained trapped inside the ship.

“Captain Lee ordered the second mate to tell passengers to get off the ship when the patrol ship was about to arrive at the scene,” judge Lim Jung-yeob said in his ruling. “It is hard to conclude that the captain’s act eventually led to the death of the passengers just based on the evidence submitted by the prosecution.”

Prosecutors, who had earlier sought the death penalty against Lee, said they would immediately appeal the verdict.

In the same ruling, the Gwangju District Court sentenced the ship’s chief engineer, only identified by his surname Park, to 30 years in prison, convicting him of murder.

Prison terms ranging from five years to 20 years were delivered to 13 other crew members, including the first engineer surnamed Sohn, who have been charged with abandonment and violation of a ship safety act. (Yonhap)

I do find it interesting how these crew members are deservedly getting smashed with these sentences while the corporate owners and aids of the ferry boat company who in my opinion are the biggest villains get a slap on the wrist.

Police and the FBI are hunting for a bank robber disguised as an airman who can’t pass the tape test.

Kansas City authorities say what appears to be “a heavy-set woman” wearing an Air Force PT jacket and pants combo is the suspect behind a bank robbery and an attempted bank robbery on Monday in Missouri, Fox4KC reports. The suspect was also seen wearing a winter-style Skull cap, dark sunglasses, black gloves and carried a laptop-style black bag.

The suspect reportedly walked up to a teller at a Capitol Federal Savings inside of a Price Chopper supermarket in the Northland area at approximately 11:41 a.m. and presented a note demanding money, Fox4KC said. The suspect escaped with an unknown amount of cash into what police believe is a blue, four-door Nissan Altima.

About 30 minutes later, a person matching suspect’s description targeted a Community America Bank inside another supermarket, Hy-Vee, approximately five miles away. The suspect walked up to the teller station, presented a note, but fled without any cash.

No one was injured in both instances. Authorities believe the suspect is acting alone.

It is unclear if the suspect’s uniform makes a “swish-swish” sound. [Flight Lines]

Former North Korean prison camp escapee and now human rights activist Shin Dong-hyuk recently had an editorial published on the CNN website that provides this idea in regards to holding North Korea accountable for reported human rights violations:

The North Korean dictatorial regime should not just emptily deny that these political prison camps exist. If they are truly honorable and fair they should immediately allow an international inspection delegation, comprised of myself and organizations such as Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch, or the United Nations, to be able to conduct on-the-ground visitations to the political prison camps. These delegations must include political prison survivors like myself and other defectors.

READ: Defectors describe horror, heartbreak of labor camps

Only recently did they concede that “labor detention centers” exist, but solely for the incarcerated to have their lives improved “through their mentality and to look on their wrongdoings.”  [CNN]

You can read more at the link, but the concern I have about Shin’s idea is that the North Koreans would empty these camps through executions before allowing anyone to inspect them.  So this idea is not viable.  However, Shin also offers the idea of the international community preventing the free travel of Kim regime family members.  This actually seems more viable though many countries like China and Russia will likely not enforce it.  Does anyone else have any ideas on how to address North Korean human rights violations?

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p>&quot;Gov&#39;t Cancels Billion-Dollar Fighter Jet Contract with BAE&quot; has been published on Koreanoodles. Read it at… <a href=”http://t.co/2Kk4tKHac8″>http://t.co/2Kk4tKHac8</a></p>&mdash; Korea Noodles (@Korea_Noodles) <a href=”https://twitter.com/Korea_Noodles/status/530863789290553344″>November 7, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>

Displayed at a booth at “Internet of Things Fair 2014 ” in Seoul on Nov. 5, 2014, is a drone capable of transmitting real-time pictures through a long-term evolution (LTE) network. (Yonhap)

Here is an update I received from the 2nd Infantry Division Association on upcoming events for those interested:

Dear Veterans, Active Duty Soldiers, Family Members, and Friends of the
2nd Infantry Division:

Here is an update on 2ID Association Activities.

1.  National Reunions.  The next three reunions will be held at:

– San Antonio, TX from September 22-26, 2015.

– Springfield, MO in September 2016.

– Washington, DC in the fall of 2017 to commemorate the 100th birthday
of the Warrior Division.

2.  New Association Officers.

– Aves Thompson (23rd Infantry, Korea-DMZ),  President

– John Batty-Sylvan (23rd Infantry, Korea-DMZ), 1st Vice
President

– Barry Napp, (17th Field Artillery, Korea-DMZ), 2nd Vice President

3.  Active Division.  The 2nd Infantry Division Artillery (DIVARTY) was
reactivated at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington on September 25,
2014.  DIVARTY assumed training and development responsibility for the
artillery battalions assigned to both 2nd Brigade-2ID and 3rd
Brigade-2ID.  It also has responsibilities on the Korean Peninsula. Its
headquarters would be with some of the first called for combat missions
if the current Armistice ended and war returned between North and South
Korea (Source: News article in the JBLM  Northwest Guardian newspaper).

4.  Merchandise.  Show your pride in your service as a member of the
famous 2nd Infantry Division.  The holidays
are coming up and you can now order something online for your favorite
Warrior at:  http://2ida.org/merchandise/

Second to None!

Membership/Public Relations Committee
The Second Indianhead Division Association, Inc.

2IDA.Mail@charter.net
www.2ida.org
www.twitter.com/2idAssn
www.facebook.com/215063201924897/
www.facebook.com/groups/123352941013974/

More Korean Couples Hit Reno for Quickie Divorce http://t.co/wMeLv5BjLg

— The Chosun Ilbo (@EnglishChosun) November 7, 2014

Members of the girl group “Rainbow” pose at an event in Sogwipo, Jeju Island, on Nov. 2, 2014, to promote a tangerine fair on the southern resort island. (Yonhap)