These idiots just never learn that Korean customs inspects the military mail and many people have been caught and arrested for mailing drugs into Korea:
Prosecutors on Wednesday arrested U.S. soldiers and their Korean accomplices for smuggling bags of philopon methamphetamines worth 13.6 billion won ($11.9 million).
Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office arrested an American private, 20, and two Korean-Americans for infringing Korean narcotics laws. Prosecutors also booked without arrest another American private, 20, stationed at K-6 base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, for providing an address to where the contraband could be sent.
They are also searching for four Korean-Americans.
An accomplice in California sent the drugs to Korea in December, prosecutors claim.
They weighed 4.1 kilograms ― enough for 130,000 users. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I hope they are sentenced to the maximum penalty allowed by Korean law.
It appears to me that the Trump administration’s get tough on North Korea policy that includes increased emphasis on military strike rhetoric is aimed more at China than North Korea. Tillerson seems to be basically signaling to the Chinese that if they don’t enforce stronger sanctions and reign in North Korea then the US will by military means:
In a press conference in Seoul, Tillerson declared the end of former U.S. President Barack Obama’s “strategic patience” policy and signaled a sharp turn toward a tougher policy involving ramped-up sanctions, pressure and even military actions.
“The policy of strategic patience has ended,” he said. “We are exploring a new range of diplomatic, security and economic measures. All options are on the table.”
Tillerson said that military measures could be one option if the threat from the North gets too high.
He also ruled out the possibility of any immediate negotiations. He noted that conditions are “not ripe” for any talks with the North, while calling on China to do more to induce a meaningful change in its behavior.
In Tokyo, he emphasized the need for a “new approach” after the failure of the past two decades of talks and aid to the North on hopes that it will take the path to denuclearization.
He didn’t provide details but provided a glimpse into what appears to be the Trump administration’s new policy toward the recalcitrant North, experts said.
Wang, meanwhile, hinted that China doesn’t see eye-to-eye with the U.S. on how to deal with the North. He said that diplomacy should be pursued and called for the resumption of the long-suspended six-party denuclearization talks. [Yonhap]
Thehe retaliation by China against the ROK is extremely petty and not something an aspiring super-power should be doing:
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, right, talks with USFK Commander Gen. Vincent K. Brooks in the truce village of Panmunjom on Friday while a North Korean soldier outside the building takes photos of them through a window. Tillerson began his two-day trip to South Korea on Friday, flying from Japan. [YONHAP]U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday that China’s economic retaliation against South Korea for its decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (Thaad) U.S. antimissile system was “inappropriate and troubling,” and that Washington asks Beijing to “refrain from such action.”Although the U.S. “acknowledges” China’s opposition, Tillerson urged China to “address the threat that makes Thaad necessary.”
The statement was Tillerson’s first time personally addressing the issue in public. It was made during a 20-minute joint press conference with South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Yun Byung-se in central Seoul, ahead of his closed-door meeting with Yun.
Tillerson touched down at Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi, 70 miles south of the capital, Friday morning for his second of three-leg trip in Asia. He had flown in from Tokyo, where he had talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, among others. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
It is pretty clear that Danish authorities waited until the political drama concluded in South Korea before decided to send Chung home. I think this was smart on their part because they protected her from clearly being used as a tool to get a political outcome. With the impeachment of Park Geun-hye she is now no where near as valuable to the political opposition:
The Danish prosecution said Friday it decided to extradite the daughter of ousted South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s close friend for an investigation into a high-profile scandal that removed Park from office.
“It is the assessment of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions that all conditions to extradite a South Korean woman to her home country are met,” the prosecution said in a press release.
Chung Yoo-ra was arrested in the European country’s northern city of Aalborg in January as the Korean investigators put her on a wanted list. It was suspected that she received inappropriate academic and financial favors based on her mother’s close ties with the former leader.
“Chung Yoo-ra has three days to decide whether she will bring the decision by the Director of Public Prosecutions before the Danish courts,” the prosecution said. “If that happens, the District Court of Aalborg will be the first instance.”
Chung’s lawyer reportedly informed the Danish prosecution that Chung will appeal the decision.
“We believe this is highly political, and we have a fear that they want her to be able to press the mother,” Peter Martin Blinkenberg was quoted as saying by the Associated Press. [Yonhap]
Rear Adm. James Kilby, commander of U.S. Carrier Strike Group 1, makes remarks after arriving with the group’s flagship supercarrier USS Carl Vinson at South Korea’s southeastern port city of Busan on March 15, 2017. The Carl Vinson is taking part in joint South Korea-U.S. military maneuvers aimed at countering North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats. (Yonhap)
The next Presidential election will soon happen in the ROK:
Korea will elect its next president on May 9, the government said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn, acting president since Park Geun-hye’s presidential impeachment on Dec. 9, 2016, hosted a cabinet meeting and endorsed the plan.
Interior Minister Hong Yun-sik held a press conference and announced the date. Election day will be designated a holiday. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
This guy may want to stop having sex with women in bathrooms to stop the false rape allegations:
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office on Tuesday indicted another woman on charges of falsely accusing singer-actor Park Yu-chun of boy band JYJ of rape.
The 24-year-old woman, identified by her surname Song, had consensual sex with Park in the toilet of a hostess bar in Gangnam in December of 2015.
But prosecutors believe she became aggrieved when Park left without saying another word to her, even though he had had flirted and asked for her phone number before he had his way with her.
In June of last year, Song read press reports about another woman who accused Park of rape and decided to take the same steps. She gave two media interviews falsely accusing Park of rape.
Earlier, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced a 25-year-old woman identified Lee of falsely accusing Park of rape and trying to extort W500 million from him (US$1=W1,150). [Chosun Ilbo]
I still believe the people who make these false allegations should receive the same punishment as someone convicted of rape.
