Tag: South Korea

Like I have beens saying President Moon is not stupid and the THAAD is not going anywhere.  The whole current environmental assessment issue with the THAAD deployment is just domestic politics:

Chung told reporters Friday that the decision to postpone the full deployment was a domestic measure to ensure a “transparent and democratic process.” He didn’t give a timeframe.

“Our government plans to deal with the THAAD deployment with a few principles while being fully aware of North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats,” Chung said. “The government has no intention to fundamentally change what it has promised under the Korea-U.S. alliance.”

“THAAD was a decision made to protect South Korea and U.S. Forces Korea from North Korea’s growing threats,” he added. “The government will not handle such a decision lightly just because there has been a government change.”

Many South Koreans oppose THAAD because they fear it will have negative economic and environmental effects while being positioned mainly to protect U.S. forces in southern areas. China also strongly objects to the anti-missile battery, fearing it can be used against its military.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link, but the talking point that the THAAD is just there to protect US forces in the southern sections of the country like much of the criticism of the THAAD is stupid.    First of all it is the US-ROK alliance which means the THAAD will protect ROK assets as well.  The US military is not going to let ROK bases get blown up.  Secondly, if a nuclear warhead is launched at a US or ROK base at Busan for example, shooting the ballistic missile down protects the entire city not just the military base.

Finally the environmental concerns talking point has already been disproven and yet people continue to repeat it.  The Congresswoman from the one other location in the world that has an forward deployed THAAD battery, has said Guam has had no problems with the system in the four years it has been there.

I don’t mind criticism of the THAAD deployment, but like so many other issues between the ROK and the US the criticism is largely not fact based.

Considering that this woman had to be extradited from France, that leads me to believe that she knows her money was embezzled, but we will see what the courts decide:

A local court issued an arrest warrant on Friday for a daughter of a late businessman who controlled the operator of a sunken ferry that killed hundreds of passengers in 2014.

The Incheon District Court issued the warrant for Yoo Sum-na, the daughter of Yoo Byung-eun, the de facto owner of Cheonghaejin Marine Co., in light of risks that she “might flee or destroy evidence.”

She was arrested on charges of embezzling 4.6 billion won (US$4.09 million) from Cheonghaejin, the operator of Sewol.

The 51-year-old, who was extradited from France earlier this week, is said to deny the charges levied against her, claiming that the money her design company had received from her father’s company was “fair compensation for consulting services.”

She ran the company from June 2011 till December 2013 with a woman surnamed Ha who was close to her father. She is suspected to have coerced Cheonghaejin to pay her 2.5 billion won under the pretense of providing design consulting.

In another case, she is also accused of making another company of hers pay 2.1 billion won to a company founded by her brother without a justifiable reason.  [Yonhap]

I never thought of this before, but yes Army units from Alaska would have a very limited amount of time to train in darkness since the best months weather wise to train have a lot of daylight:

Six hundred U.S. troops wrapped up a monthlong training rotation to South Korea Monday with something in short supply this time of year at their home station in Alaska — darkness.

Soldiers from the Fort Wainwright-based 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment “Bobcats” spent May living and training at the 3,390-acre Rodriguez Live Fire Range north of Seoul.

“We’re here to build our lethality,” battalion commander Lt. Col. R. Blake Lackey said Wednesday.

That includes being able to operate day and night, the latter being difficult in the Alaskan summer, he said.

“This time of year we’ll be training at 1:30 in the morning and it’s still daylight,” said Staff Sgt. Benjamin Moore, 34, a recon team leader with the battalion.

“When it’s dark in Alaska it’s winter and it’s pretty harsh,” the West Palm Beach, Fla., native added. “So it’s really difficult to get after some of the more basic and fundamental [requirements].”

The Korea rotation has taken the unit “to a higher level of readiness we didn’t think was possible,” Lackey said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.

Constitutional Court Chief nominee Kim Yi-su (L) apologizes to bus driver Bae Yong-joo for sentencing him to death about 40 years ago prior to his confirmation hearing at the National Assembly in Seoul on June 8, 2017. Then military judge Kim handed down the capital punishment to Bae for killing four policemen when driving his bus carrying civilian militia members though a police cordon during a pro-democracy movement on May 20, 1980. (Yonhap)

Another setback for President Moon’s Sunshine 2.0:

North Korea rejected South Korean lawmakers’ call to hold a reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, saying Wednesday there can “never be any kind of humanitarian cooperation” between the two countries unless 13 North Koreans “detained” in the South are returned.

They include a group of 12 workers from a restaurant in China run by the North Korean government, whom Seoul says defected voluntarily. Pyongyang claims they were kidnapped by South Korea’s spy agency.

The North also wants a 13th citizen, Kim Ryon-hui, a vocal Kim Jung-un endorser here who wishes to go back home. She left her home in Pyongyang to seek advanced medical treatment in China for a liver illness. She asserts to have been deceived by a Chinese broker in 2011, who told her she could make a fortune in the South and then return to China or North Korea.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

This is a life-size model of a new bullet train on display in the square in front of Changwon Station in Changwon, 398 km southeast of Seoul, on June 7, 2017. Korea Railroad Corp. and Hyundai Rotem, a train-making unit of Hyundai Motor Group, have developed the electric multiple unit train for the first time in the country. (Yonhap)

Officials at the Korean National Red Cross in Seoul check a database on inter-Korean families separated during the 1950-53 Korean War on June 5, 2017, when the speaker and ruling and opposition floor leaders agreed to seek their reunion on the Aug. 15 Independence Day. (Yonhap)

Osan AB is getting a new runway:

U-2 spy planes, fighter jets and other aircraft have been deployed off the peninsula as the Air Force temporarily halts flights from Osan Air Base while it begins rebuilding a Korean War-era runway.

The disruption comes amid rising tensions over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs, but officials stressed missions would continue to be conducted from other air bases in South Korea and Japan.

Four U-2 planes were moved to Kadena Air Base on Okinawa last week along with some 180 personnel from the 5th Reconnaissance Squadron usually stationed on Osan.

“While at Kadena the 5th RS will continue to fulfill their intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance mission and provide continued support to U.S. allies and partners” in the region, Pacific Air Forces said in a statement.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link, but other aircraft have been moved to Alaska and Kunsan AB during the June 5th – July 5th construction period.

Via a reader tip comes this example of the absurdity that sometimes occur with South Korea’s defamation laws:

Korea’s Constitutional Court has ruled that saying “You are f—ing crazy” in English may be derogatory but not defamatory.

The ruling came after two men from an apartment building in Gyeonggi Province argued in May last year over the watering of flowers at a nearby garden. Lee, 62, and his neighbor, 43, sued each other for physical violence and false accusation.

The pair clashed again days later, after the neighbor failed to address Lee respectfully ― a social norm in Korea when there is a large age difference.

But when an apartment warden approached, the neighbor changed his tone and used honorifics to address Lee. The neighbor’s sudden change frustrated Lee and he said to himself: “You are f—ing crazy.”

The neighbor heard it and sued Lee for defamation. But prosecutors rejected the filing because, while admitting Lee’s criminality, it was hard to indict him based on the circumstances.

The issue was then referred to the Constitutional Court.

The court ruled unanimously, saying:

“‘F–ing’ elaborates ‘crazy,’ like ‘very,’ while ‘crazy’ has many meanings like ‘unnatural,’ ‘absurd’ or ‘passionate.’  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but it is amazing that this went all the way to the Constitutional Court for a final ruling.

It's Memorial Day in Korea. The day is to commemorate the men and women who died while in military service during the Korean War. pic.twitter.com/yyEP4DCon2

— VisitKorea London (@CoolstuffKorea) June 6, 2017