A #SouthKorean soldier lost his foot to mine. Senior military, trying to please #MoonJaein administration, created a "Foot for Peace" monument. And have the soldier there to celebrate the unveiling. Disgraceful, to say the least.https://t.co/wcVmlBNT3b
— Tara O (@DrTaraO) April 24, 2019
Despite the sensational headlines, this story does not seem very well sourced:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ordered the execution by firing squad of four foreign ministry officials after the failure of his Hanoi summit with Donald Trump, a report has claimed.
The officials were reportedly executed after the February talks between North Koreaand the US came to an end without any deal being made.
Pyongyang had accused the four officials of selling information to Washington before the Hanoi summit, according to a Japanese news agency.
The executions, which included a diplomat from North Korea’s embassy in Hanoi, have not been verified.Asia Press claimed its reporter spoke to a trade official who was told the rumour about the executions.
Yahoo News
It is claimed that the executions were watched by members of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea and Korean People’s Army.
You can read more at the link, but increasingly in our news media rumors and innuendo are being treated as hard news.
Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
On April 19th, Michael Breen, who has been writing about Korea for years, wrote a column for the Chosun Ilbo, a conservative daily newspaper. He voiced his opposition to building a memorial for the victims of the Sewol at Gwanghwamun Square. https://t.co/9foBiYl5A7
— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) April 23, 2019
Is China trying to protect local businesses from international competition or does Amazon just suck at selling goods in China as Chinese critics claim?:
Amazon says it is curtailing business operations in China, the world’s biggest retail market, after struggling against better entrenched local players for more than a decade.
VOA News
The company announced recently that as of July 18, it will no longer provide services through its Chinese website, Amazon.cn. The decision means Amazon will stop selling goods from China-based vendors to domestic consumers on the portal. Although it is moving out of the e-retail business in China, Amazon will continue with its cross-border business, bringing foreign brands and goods to China, the company said.
“Their demand for high-quality, authentic goods from around the world continues to grow rapidly, and given our global presence, Amazon is well-positioned to serve them,” the company said.
The announcement has raised questions about the extremely thin presence of foreign companies in internet-related businesses in China, while Chinese companies like Alibaba create market space for themselves across the world.
You can read more at the link.
Meanwhile in the Philippines:
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte wants Canada to come get tons of trash that was wrongly sent to his country — and he’s threatening extreme steps if Canada doesn’t clean up the situation. “We’ll declare war against them,” Duterte said Tuesday.
The president was referring to a large shipment of municipal trash that has sat in Manila since its arrival in 2013 and 2014. The more than 100 shipping containers had been declared to hold recyclable plastic. But when the doors were opened, customs officials found “household trash, plastic bottles and bags, newspapers, and used adult diapers,” according to Filipino news outlet ABS-CBN.
“I will not allow that kind of s***,” Duterte said at a news conference Tuesday, adding that Canada has attempted to provide educational grant money to the Philippines — on the condition that it also accept the garbage.
Duterte said he wants the trash gone within a week, even if he has to return it by force. (…..)Duterte said he doesn’t care what Canada does with the garbage: “Eat it if you want to.” He jokingly suggested Canadians should prepare a gala reception to mark the repatriation of the refuse, which dates from the previous Filipino administration headed by President Benigno Aquino III.
NPR via a reader tip
“Prepare and celebrate,” Duterte said, “because your garbage is coming home.”
You can read more at the link, but one obvious question is why is a country as big as Canada exporting garbage to a country as small as the Philippines? Secondly what would a war between the Philippines and Canada look like?
ROK cable network MBN's bureau chief on disciplinary action after station misreported FLOROK Kim Jung-sook as "First Lady Kim Jong Un," "North Korean president (instead of "President Moon") has message for KJU from President Trump." https://t.co/kq9pyOA3RC
— Soo Kim (@mllesookim) April 22, 2019
It looks like everything went as expected for the Kim-Putin summit in Vladivostok:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Thursday highlighted his “unwavering” will to cement ties with Russia while President Vladimir Putin made an emphatic call for a peaceful resolution of Pyongyang’s nuclear quandary.
The leaders held their first summit in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok amid Pyongyang’s stalled nuclear negotiations with Washington.
The much-anticipated summit was seen as a key test of Kim’s diplomatic outreach aimed at breaking the logjam in the parley with the United States, easing sanctions pressure and catalyzing his lackluster drive for economic development.
“I had candid, meaningful talks with President Putin on the issues of developing the friendly relationship between North Korea and Russia, of guaranteeing peace and security on the Korean Peninsula and in the region, and common international issues,” Kim said during a dinner session after the summit that lasted for around three hours. (……)During a press conference, Putin stressed the need for an “international” security guarantee for the North as part of efforts toward denuclearization and a lasting peace on the peninsula. He also said that multilateral talks on the North’s denuclearization, including long-stalled six-party dialogue, ought to resume if a need arises.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but Putin talking about how there needs to be an international security guarantee for the North to denuclearize I believe is code for withdrawal of USFK.
