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Greenpeace Activists Deface Sign In Front of Hyundai Headquarters in Seoul

Greenpeace is doing Greenpeace things:

A man writes a message reading “No more internal combustion engines” on a billboard promoting Hyundai Motor’s Sonata sedan in front of the automaker’s headquarters in Yangjae, southern Seoul, on Monday. 

Greenpeace is under police investigation for defacing an advertisement for Hyundai Motor in their war against pollution from cars.

A member of the environmental group climbed a 40-meter (131-foot) billboard for Hyundai Motor’s new Sonata sedan close to the automaker’s head office in Seoul on Monday morning and posted a message in large black hangul characters reading, “No more internal combustion engines.”

“Getting rid of internal combustion engines is a must to-do task in today’s environment,” said Lee In-sung, a climate campaigner for the local branch of the non-governmental environmental organization, which is headquartered in Amsterdam.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

Picture of the Day: No Additional Cable Car for Mt. Seorak

Gov't disapproves mountain cable car
Gov’t disapproves mountain cable car Environmentalists hold a news conference in Seoul on Sept. 16, 2019, to welcome the government’s disapproval of the installation of a cable car system on Mount Seorak, a popular tourist destination near the country’s eastern coast. (Yonhap)

Seoul Subway Stations with the Most Sexual Assault Cases

Here is some information to keep in mind when traveling on public transit in Seoul:

Seoul’s subway Line 2 is the most sexual crime-prone public area with 2,069 cases over the past five years. Among stations, Express Bus Terminal on Line 3 topped the list with 56 cases in the January-July period.

Rep. Han Sun-gyo of the main opposition Liberty Party of Korea revealed the figures on Sunday, citing National Police Agency data. 

Subway Line 9 was the second most prone with 1,479 cases since 2015, followed by Line 1 (848 cases), Line 4 (756 cases), Line 3 (407 cases), Line 5 (288 cases), Line 6 (163 cases) and Line 8 (41 cases). 

Noryangjin Station was the second most sexual crime-prone subway station (24 cases since July) after the Express Bus Terminal. Third was Yeouido (23 cases), followed by Sadang (21 cases), Seoul Station (20 cases), Gangnam (19 cases), Dongjak (18 cases) and Sindorim (17 cases).

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

USFK Slaps Curfew Back on 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team

The suspension of the USFK curfew will continue for another 3 months for all Soldiers except for those in the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team:

 American troops in South Korea received at least three more months without a curfew after Gen. Robert Abrams extended the temporary suspension of the policy on Tuesday.

However, the 1-5 a.m. off-installation curfew has been slapped back on the 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, also known as the “Greywolf Brigade,” which began a nine-month rotation in South Korea in early June.

Abrams, the commander of U.S. Forces Korea, said the temporary reprieve has been going well, but he’s not ready to make it permanent.

“The vast majority of our personnel have conducted themselves appropriately, but I felt it was important to implement an additional 90 days to ensure we are making the correct decision regarding the curfew,” he said in a statement.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the article didn’t say but I assume there must have been enough incidents of misbehavior in the brigade to warrant being subject to the curfew again.

Japan Has Stopped Asking For Intelligence Information from South Korea

Here is the latest on the South Korea-Japan spat:

Japan did not ask South Korea to share information on two unidentified projectiles launched by North Korea Sept. 10. The North has said the launch was a “test-fire of a newly developed super-large multiple rocket launcher.”/ Yonhap

Japan did not ask South Korea for intelligence on North Korea’s recent launch of two “unidentified projectiles” after Seoul ended its military information sharing pact with Tokyo. 

Political analysts in Seoul said Sunday the key motivation behind the silence was because it did not want to be viewed as seeking help to acquire classified information after the termination of the pact, commonly known as GSOMIA, Aug. 22.

However Tokyo seems fully capable of monitoring North Korea’s military activities in cooperation with the United States and does not need to work with South Korea, they added. 

Seoul’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) and Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) have yet to finalize their assessment of the projectiles’ maximum altitude and speed ― two key pieces of information when analyzing the specifications of North Korean missiles or projectiles.

“I think Japan is curious to know about North Korean projectiles last week but does not want to appear to be begging for help from the South,” Shin In-kyun, president of the Korea Defense Network said. “This is why Japan has not asked for related information on the projectiles. It is as simple as that.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but maybe the Japanese are not bother to ask the ROK because they already received their intelligence information from the United States?

Picture of the Day: Opposition Party Leader Shaves Head in Protest

Political fighting over justice minister
Political fighting over justice ministerHwang Kyo-ahn, chairman of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, has his head shaved at a plaza in front of the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae in Seoul on Sept. 16, 2019, calling for the resignation of Justice Minister Cho Kuk amid suspicions about his daughter’s school award and his family’s investment in a private equity fund. (Yonhap)

President Moon Plans to Punish Three Government Agencies for Mislabeling East Sea and Dokdo on Maps

I would love to know what the context is in regards to these maps that were found on these government websites. This sounds like more stirring of the pot to get anti-Japanese issues back in the headlines:

Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Ko Min-jung speaks at a press briefing in this undated file photo. (Yonhap)

President Moon Jae-in ordered disciplinary action against three government-affiliated agencies Monday for their description of the waters between Korea and Japan as the Sea of Japan, not the East Sea.

The East Sea is South Korea’s official name for the waters, and the country is campaigning hard to publicize that name internationally.

But the three organizations, under the wing of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, were found to have used the name, the Sea of Japan, on their Korean or English websites. They are Korea Forestry Promotion Institute, National Plant Quarantine Service and Agricultural Policy Insurance & Finance Service.

They also called Dokdo, a set of rocky islets in the East Sea, “Liancourt Rocks.” The naming of the Seoul-controlled islets is a highly sensitive and important issue for South Koreans, as Japan claims the sovereignty over them.

Yonhap

ROK Foreign Minister Claims Kim Jong-un Has Invited President Trump to Pyongyang

It will be interesting to see if President Trump takes Kim Jong-un up on his offer to visit Pyongyang. I can only see this happening if a significant deal is reached. I don’t think he would want to fly to Pyongyang and have a summit lead to no results like what happened in Hanoi:

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, left, and Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul prepare to give a briefing on current security affairs to lawmakers at the National Assembly, Monday. Yonhap

Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha said Monday that she had been briefed by the United States about a personal letter sent by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to U.S. President Donald Trump inviting him for a third summit to be held in Pyongyang.

“I was recently told in detail from the U.S. about the existence of the letter,” she told lawmakers during a meeting at the National Assembly.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Armed North Korean Government Boat Threatened Japanese Fisheries Agency Vessel

The Japanese are apparently letting the North Korean authorities push them around in their own EEZ:

A North Korean government vessel with an armed crew threatened a Fisheries Agency’s patrol ship in the Sea of Japan in late August, prompting Japanese fishing boats operating in the area to flee, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.

Stars & Stripes

Tweet of the Day: How to Get A Medal Being Drunk on Duty