Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
"Drunk" man in Korea beats up gf with fist, suspects she's interested in other man. She falls, hits head, dies 2 days later. He's sentenced to 6 yrs jail.
— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) July 5, 2019
But 2nd trial released him: found his text messages, showed he loved her. Can now continue studies. https://t.co/VtAMOSJF4c
This is really nothing new because North Korea regularly uses the term “denuclearization of the Korean peninsula” which to them means the removal of the US nuclear umbrella over South Korea.
North Korea has released a commemorative coin that emphasizes denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, an official from an inter-Korean cooperation body said Tuesday.
Lee Sang-hyun, a member of the Korean Council for Reconciliation and Cooperation (KCRC), said he has obtained a commemorative coin issued by the North’s central bank this year.
The coin obtained by Lee was engraved with text reading, “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” and “protection of the world’s peace and security.” The center of the coin shows three hands squeezing a nuclear missile-like object with the letter “N.”
The coin contrasts with North Korea’s commemorative coins issued in the past. Last year, Pyongyang’s central bank minted a coin with a picture of fist pressing a rocket printed with the letters “USA,” and the American flag.
Pundits here said the North’s commemorative coin appears to have been designed with an intention to demonstrate Pyongyang’s denuclearization efforts.
Yonhap
The KCTU fresh after getting their leader released from jail is now out trying to increase their ranks by protesting to get contract workers designated as regular employees at the schools:
School workers across the country joined the first-ever general strike by public sector contract employees Wednesday, leaving thousands of children without lunches.
Around 2,500 contract workers at elementary, middle and high schools, which included bus drivers, cafeteria cooks and janitors, took part in rallies across Seoul on Wednesday calling for an increase in their basic incomes and an elevation of their status to workers on regular payrolls.
The biggest was held in Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, where around 40,000 contract workers gathered, according to the rally’s organizers. The Labor Ministry estimated the number of attendees at around 26,000.
The strike and rallies are set to continue until Friday.
This week’s rallies, organized by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) – an umbrella organization representing around one million members nationwide – are supposed to draw an estimated 100,000 contract workers in the public sector, with around half of them working at around 6,000 schools across Korea.
Joong Ang Ilbo
You can read more at the link.
It will be interesting to see how eager this guy is going to be to go back to North Korea anytime soon:
A 29-year-old Australian student detained in North Korea surfaced in Beijing airport on Thursday, saying he was in “very good” spirits after being released.
Alek Sigley ― one of a handful of Westerners living and studying in North Korea ― disappeared without a trace around June 23, prompting a week of deep concern and frantic speculation about his fate.
For days Sigley’s family received no word about his whereabouts or wellbeing, stoking fears he may be the latest in a long line of foreigners to become entangled in North Korea’s police state.
Then, with little warning, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday told lawmakers that Sigley had “been released from detention in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” and that “he is safe and well”.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link, but there has been speculation that his detention may have been linked to the Trump-Kim summit at the DMZ. The North Koreans may not have wanted word of the meeting to leak and took extreme precautions to include detaining this Australian man until after the summit was complete.
The biggest surprise for me is not that they illegally hired Filipino maids, but do you really need 11 maids in one home?:
The wife and the eldest daughter of late Hanjin Group Chairman Cho Yang-ho received suspended jail sentences for illegally hiring Filipino maids.
On Tuesday, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced Lee Myung-hee, the wife of Cho Yang-ho, to 18 months in prison, suspended. The court also sentenced Cho Hyun-ah, infamous for the so-called “nut rage” incident, to one year, suspended.
Korean Air was fined 30 million won ($25,660) in the case.
The Cho family members were charged with illegally hiring 11 Filipino women as maids by passing them off as Korean Air employees.
The suspended prison sentences for the two Cho family members are significantly higher than what prosecution demanded. The prosecutors had asked the court only to fine the two: Lee 30 million won and Cho Hyun-ah 15 million won.
Joong Ang Ilbo
You can read more at the link.
The only way I could see ever holding any joint Korean War ceremony with North Korea is if the Kim regime acknowledges they started the war. Currently they continue to claim the ROK invaded North Korea to start the war despite all the evidence to the contrary. Sadly many South Korean leftists believe this claim:
The Defense Ministry is considering co-hosting a ceremony with North Korea next year to mark the 70th anniversary of the Korean War.
The inclusion of the North in such a ceremony is expected to lead to strong protests by families of soldiers killed during the 1950-53 war, which Pyongyang still insists was triggered by a South Korean invasion. It celebrates Armistice Day on July 27 as “Victory Day.”
In fact North Korean forces invaded the South, and miscalculations on both sides put the border back more or less where it was before after three years of bloodshed. The two Koreas remain technically at war.
A copy of a Defense Ministry report leaked to the Chosun Ilbo details various plans to mark the 70th anniversary. The ministry said the report was put together by a contracted agency and is simply a set of proposals, which it will “selectively consider.”
Chosun Ilbo
I fail to see what the big deal is about the July 4th celebration involving the U.S. military:
As they strolled along the National Mall Tuesday, visitors to the nation’s capital were just learning about the grandiose July 4th celebration that will showcase Army tanks and military flyovers beyond the usual pageantry.
“Awesome,” California school teacher and U.S. Air Force veteran Walter De Graaf, 57, said as he stood near the Washington Monument. “Let’s show America who we are. Let’s show the world who we are.”
“A little extreme,” David Havens, 67, a salesperson from Sebastian, Florida, said about the military display. “Not so sure about that.”
Trump has yet to deliver his address near the Lincoln Memorial Thursday, but his “Salute to America” already is eliciting strong opinions over whether a president revered by supporters and reviled by opponents was injecting politics in an event above the partisan fray that enjoys national appeal.
USA Today
You can read more at the link, but there is going to be two Abrams tanks and two Bradleys on static display and a fly over by military aircraft which has people all worked up like this has never happened before when it has many times in the past.
The $2.5 million cost that National Park Service reportedly said the event is going to cost has also been widely cited with claims the money would otherwise go to park improvement projects. What the media isn’t saying is that the annual fireworks show in Washington D.C. usually costs the National Park Service $2 million to put on. I have never heard the media tell the NPS to stop the annual fireworks show because it is a waste of money, it is only a waste of money when the President shows up.
That pretty much sums up all the criticism to the event, Trump is involved so it must be bad.
Anyway I hope everyone has a great 4th of July holiday.
