I think the key word in this article is “temporary”. What is temporary about the THAAD deployment to South Korea? Are North Korea’s missile going to magically disappear one day to where South Korea will no longer need the THAAD battery?:
Seongju residents gather on Aug. 30 after receiving letters from the Defense Ministry concerning the proposed deployment of four additional THAAD missile launchers. The sign is calling for those opposed to THAAD missile deployment to come to Soseong-ri, Seongju, North Gyeongsan Province on the day that the launchers are to be installed. (Provided by the Committee Opposed to THAAD Deployment)
Groups opposing the THAAD deployment are up in arms after revelations that Minister of Defense Song Young-moon sent a letter to Seongju and Gimcheon residents asking them for their “understanding” on the antimissile system’s temporary deployment. Groups working to oppose the THAAD deployment reported on Aug. 30 that Ministry of Defense officials, including active colonels and lieutenant colonels in the military, had traveled to the homes of around 20 people on Aug. 23–25 to deliver the letter from Song. The homes included those of the leaders of seven villages in the Seongju and Gimcheon areas, as well as the chairs of senior citizens’ and women’s associations, the groups said.
The letter stated that the temporary THAAD deployment was “unavoidable for a priority response to the North Korean threat.” “A temporary deployment means temporarily installing THAAD in open terrain with minimal preparations based on a small-scale environmental impact assessment, as opposed to completing the deployment after a general environmental impact assessment and the building of a permanently infrastructure,” it explained. [Hankyoreh]
What I learned from this article is that if you commit fraud under a religious pretext it is perfectly legal. By the way who knew being a shaman could be so lucrative?:
A shaman who was taken to court on charges of fraud was ruled not guilty by the Seoul Southern District Court on Wednesday.
“Shamanism is, for the most part, aimed at gaining consolation and inner peace. Even if shamanistic rituals do not yield the promised outcome, it is difficult to hold the shaman accountable for the failure,” the court said.
The shaman in the case had blamed the spirits of the victim’s aborted twin babies for her husband’s flagging business and suggested the victim appease the spirit babies through special rituals.
The prosecution accused the shaman of fraud for carrying out an excessive number of rituals and charging over 560 million won ($499,000). The shaman provided 133 rituals in the period between January 2011 and December 2015. During the time, she sent mobile text messages to the alleged victim using baby talk as if she was possessed with the twins’ spirits.
The text messages read, “I know how you feel mommy. Please don’t feel sad. We love you,” “We ate loads of the meat you sent us. We love it very much.” [Korea Herald]
Soyanggang Dam in Chuncheon, east of Seoul, opens its gates to discharge water on Aug. 25, 2017, for the first time in six years, after heavy rain fell in the area earlier in the week. (Yonhap)
This is turning into what seems a monthly activity, North Korea shoots a missile and the US military responds with a practice bombing strike:
Two days after North Korea flew a missile over Japan, the United States and South Korea staged their own show of force with state-of-the-art stealth fighters Thursday.
Four US F-35B fighter jets joined two US B-1B bombers and four South Korean F-15 fighter jets in the joint US-South Korean flyover of the Korean Peninsula, an official with the South Korean air force told CNN.
The exercise was designed to “strongly counter North Korea’s repeated ballistic missile tests and development of nuclear weapons,” the official said.
In a statement, the air force said the US bombers flew out of Guam and four stealth fighter jets from a US Marine Corps base in Japan.
They conducted a mock bombing drill, which simulated a surgical strike of key enemy facilities, over the Pilsung Range in the eastern province of Gangwon. [CNN]
I suspect it was more than playing golf that got his wife this upset to cut off his penis and flush it down the toilet:
A woman has been arrested on charges of cutting off her husband’s penis while he was sleeping, police said Monday.
According to Yeosu Police Station, the incident happened at an apartment in Yeosu, South Jeolla Province, at 11:58 p.m. on Saturday.
The woman, 54, whose is unidentified, allegedly cut off the tip of the penis with a kitchen knife and flushed the flesh down the toilet.
A neighbor found the husband, left in pain, and took him to a nearby hospital, where he is in stable condition.
A police investigation revealed that the couple were on unhealthy terms.
Not only had the husband been violent to the woman, she had harbored a grudge because he gave her no money, but spent lavishly on his own enjoyment, such as like playing golf. [Korea Times]
I guess the moral to this story is that the teacher should have waited until the student was 13 which is just a creepy as having sex with a 12 year old:
South Gyeongsang Province education office director Kim Sang-kwon, middle, bows in apology for “inappropriate” relations between a female teacher and her 12-year-old male student, Tuesday. / Yonhap
A female teacher has been arrested for allegedly having sex with an elementary student.
According to police and South Gyeongsang Province education office, the teacher, 32, had sex with a male student, 12, in the classroom and her vehicle. They had sex several times between June and early August by what the teacher claimed was mutual consent, police said.
Having sex with a minor aged under 13 is punishable, even if it is consensual.
The case was reported to the police by the student’s parents, who found photos of the half-naked teacher on their son’s mobile phone.
They also found text messages from the teacher saying, “I love you,”and “I’ll buy you dumplings, come outside.” [Korea Times]
This is actually a name that has been floating out there for quite some time:
Victor Cha
The Trump administration plans to name a Washington-based academic and former White House official, Victor Cha, as the next US ambassador to South Korea, an administration official said on Tuesday.
Cha is a former director for Asian affairs on the White House National Security Council and served as deputy head of the US delegation in multilateral talks with North Korea over its nuclear program during the administration of President George W. Bush.
An administration official said he expected the appointment, which will be subject to a Senate confirmation hearing, to be announced “soon,” and added that it had “been in the works for a long time.” [Business Insider]
This couple will spend three years and six months in jail for what they did to this homeless girl:
A couple in their 20s has been jailed for forcing a homeless teenage girl into prostitution and sadistically punishing her when she refused.
Daegu District Court on Monday sentenced the couple to three years and six months jail on charges of forcing prostitution, intimidation and inflicting critical injuries.
The judges said the crime was “immoral and extremely grievous in its sadism,” causing the victim “indelible trauma.”
The court heard that the man, 25, and the woman, 21, met the girl in January after she ran away from home. They abused the girl for 16 days, forced her into prostitution 50 times and took the money she earned.
When the victim refused to offer sex services, the couple burned her with a cigarette and forced her to eat dog food mixed with their saliva. [Korea Times]
This file photo is of rugby player Andre Jin Coquillard, who recently was approved for naturalization in Korea, according to the Korea Rugby Union on Aug. 26, 2017. Born to a Korean mother and American father, Coquillard, currently a forward with Korea’s military team, had joined the Korean national squad in 2015. He needed the naturalization to play in the Olympics. (Yonhap)
