A highly pathogenic strain of bird flu was discovered in two dead cats on Saturday, a provincial government official said, marking the first infection of the virus found in mammals in two years.
The H5N6 strain of avian influenza (AI) which has infected chickens across the country was found in the bodies of the cats in Pocheon, some 46 kilometers north of Seoul, the official said, citing information from health authorities.
The cats were found dead earlier this week some 2 kilometers from a chicken farm where the strain of the virus was first reported last month. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but this seems pretty significant because if the bird flu spreads to cats it is an animal that people are more likely to handle than chickens.
I have always thought that South Korea is sitting on a massive real estate bubble considering all of its empty apartments that so many people have borrowed money invested in. According to this article the debt problems in South Korea is far worse than just the real estate market:
One of the important aspects that gets missed about Korean exports is their overall lack of diversity. About 48 percent of all Korean exports consist of electronics and related components while 31 percent are transportation goods (cars, boats, and related parts). A game-changing shift in the playing field for any product area could spell a slow but steady downward spiral for the entire Korean economy. Even a 10 percent drop in exports would literally shrink the economy by 5 percent, costing tens of thousands of jobs that ultimately depend on export revenue, exacerbating the already high underemployment rate of 14 percent and youth unemployment rate of 9 percent.
With a retinue of Chinese firms like Huawei and Oppo hot on the heels of Samsung, a potential decline becomes even more plausible considering the fact that Korean corporate culture is not always the most favorable for fostering the development of next-generation ideas and technology, often the easiest (and sometimes only) way for technology companies to remain competitive. This lack of forward thinking is most striking in the clean energy field, where Korea has been completely left out of the latest developments, despite its global reputation for being a technology powerhouse.
Another key area of concern is corporate debt. South Korea’s total corporate debt is worth about 171 percent of its GDP. Although this high percentage is not unique to Korea (the U.S. and China have about 304 percent and 169 percent, respectively), Korea is more susceptible to adverse consequences for a number of reasons. The first is the high prevalence of “zombie companies,” corporate entities that have been unable to repay debt for at least three years running. It is estimated that about a quarter of all Korean corporate debt is held by zombie companies, unlikely to ever be repaid. [The Diplomat]
This plan to build a cable car from Osaek to the summit of Seorak Mountain would just be a disaster. For people who don’t have the mobility to hike there is already a cable car built at the National Park entrance that provides fantastic views of the park. Installing a cable car at Osaek seems unnecessary to me. I have hiked up to the summit of Seorak Mountain from Osaek before and saw how many people already hike up this mountain. In fact there are so many hikers there is a lodge near the summit to house them. A cable car would just bring that many more hordes of tourists to the top of mountain spreading trash everywhere and generally ruining what is a great hike to the summit Seoraksan:
Picture of Seorak Mountain’s summit with the lodge in the foreground.
A government panel on Wednesday rejected a proposal to set up a cable car on a popular mountain range near the country’s eastern coast, a plan that has been criticized for its potential harm to the regional environment, government officials said.
The project calls for a 3.5-kilometer-long cable car system to be built in the southern region of Mount Seorak in Yangyang County, some 215 kilometers east of Seoul, providing a means of convenient transportation all the way up to the peak of the Osaek area hiking course.
According to the officials, the panel under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has assessed that the project is feared to do harm to cultural assets and the habitat of the region.
The panel will review the plan again if the county proposes a revised version.
The cable car project has been a controversial issue among environmentalists here, who have argued that the mountain’s natural environment must be preserved.
The county government had submitted its cable car construction plans in 2012 and in 2013, but was rejected both times due to issues that the structure’s design could pose a threat to the habitat of some of the wildlife in the area.
Advocates, on the other hand, say that the cable car will help to boost tourism and thereby add to the economic development of the region, especially ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, located just south of the county. [Yonhap]
As I have said before, the installation of this statue is needlessly provocative against Japan which has apologized an offered compensation multiple times for its past wartime activities. If these activist groups really cared about sexual slavery then they would be putting up a statue in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul in protest of the modern day sexual slavery of North Korean women in China. However, that would take real courage because China will retaliate unlike Japan that these activists know will just continue to take it:
This photo, taken on Dec. 30, 2016, shows people installing a statue of a girl representing victims of wartime sex slavery by the Japanese military in front of the Japanese Consulate in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan. (Yonhap)
A civic group installed a statue of a girl symbolizing the victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery in front of the Japanese Consulate in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan on Friday after the Dong Ward municipality gave its approval.
The ward municipality agreed earlier in the day to let the civic group install the statue on the sidewalk about 40 meters away from the consulate’s back door.
It marked the second of its kind established in front of Japan’s overseas diplomatic missions after one was installed in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
“We will not stop the civic group from installing the statue in front of the consulate if they wish to do so,” Park Sam-seok, chief of the municipality, said at a press conference. [Yonhap]
Installing this statue outside the Japanese consulate in Busan seems needlessly provocative to me. If these activist groups are so concerned about sexual slavery then they should be putting up statues in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul in protest of the modern day sexual slavery of North Korean women in China:
Members of a civic group confront police on the sidewalk near the Japanese Consulate in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan on Dec. 28, 2016, after attempting to install a statue symbolizing victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery. (Yonhap)
Dozens of members from a civic group without authorization attempted to install a statue of a girl symbolizing the victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan, but the attempt was foiled due to opposition from officials and police.
The group tried to set up the statue on the sidewalk in front of the back door of the Japanese Consulate shortly after a weekly rally around 12:30 p.m. calling for the Japanese government to offer an apology and compensation for its wartime sexual enslavement of Asian women, many of whom were Korean.
As many as 150 activists from the group staged the rally to protest a Seoul-Tokyo landmark deal in December last year in which Tokyo apologized for its colonial-era atrocities and agreed to provide 1 billion yen (US$9.4 million) for the creation of a foundation aimed at supporting the victims, euphemistically called comfort women. [Yonhap]
Participants to the decade-long weekly protest calling for Japan’s apology for the Japanese army’s forcible sexual slavery of Korean women during World War II in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul march toward the foreign ministry while holding up the portraits of the deceased sexual slaves, called “comfort women,” on Dec. 28, 2016. They called for the nullification of the Korea-Japan agreement on comfort women signed last year. (Yonhap)
It seems to me if the Foreign Ministry really wants to send a message about the behavior of the former diplomat they should send him packing back to Chile to face legal consequences there:
A screengrab from a Chilean TV program showing South Korean diplomat Park Jeong-hak attempting to kiss an actress disguised as a teenage girl.
South Korea’s foreign ministry referred a diplomat to the prosecution on Wednesday over sexually abusing a teenage girl in Chile, officials said.
The councilor, previously posted at the South Korean Embassy in Chile, is accused of committing a sexual offense against a 14-year-old girl in September while teaching her Korean.
Tipped off by the girl, a Chilean television channel filmed and broadcast the diplomat sexually harassing another woman earlier in the month who was acting as a teenage girl trying to receive Korean language lessons.
Holding a disciplinary committee on Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs dismissed the diplomat surnamed Park from public office.
“Today, the ministry reported Park to the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and submitted evidence including an indictment bill filed by the victim’s family,” officials here said. [Yonhap]
If you want to open up a pizza shop, teaming up with Pizza Hut is the most expensive option. But when it comes to turnover, Domino’s is the way to go.
These were just a few of the pizza facts provided by the Korea Fair Trade Mediation Agency Monday when it released a study of pizza franchises in Korea.
The agency under the Fair Trade Commission has been releasing studies on food-related franchises this year. Past studies have dealt with coffee shops and chicken joints.
According to the study, there are 103 pizza brands with 6,015 franchise stores across the country. Some 264 are managed directly by the headquarters. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but my favorite chain pizza restaurant in Korea is Mr. Pizza. Anyone else want to share their favorite pizza restaurant in Korea?
Between 1966-1970 soldiers stationed on the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) came in regular contact with North Korean infiltrators probing US military defenses in what became known as the “DMZ War”. Two examples of such incidents occurred the morning of August 10th, 1967 when North Korean infiltrators conducted two separate ambushes of 2nd and 7th Infantry Division soldiers:
The events that morning began when a 2nd Infantry Division military working dog by the name of “Blackie”, handled by Specialist Jack L. Tyrrell, were leading a squad sized patrol in the early morning hours. The patrol was sent out at dusk after a sentry during the night had heard a possible North Korean infiltrator near his post. As the patrol looked for the infiltrator Blackie smelled something suspicious and headed for a nearby tree. That is when a North Korean infiltrator sprung out from behind the tree and shot Blackie and SPC Tyrrell.
Ambush Prevented
After the initial firing more concealed North Koreans opened fire on the American patrol. However, the warning provided by Blackie had given the other members of the US patrol time to take cover. This allowed the Americans the opportunity to immediately return fire at the ambushers. The North Koreans realizing that their ambush had been compromised withdrew back towards the DMZ. The ambush cost Blackie his life, but no other Americans were killed with SPC Tyrrell being the only person wounded.
Work Detail Ambush
However, the ambush that Blackie had prematurely triggered was not the only ambush the North Koreans had planned that morning. US 7th Infantry Division soldiers from B company 2-31 Infantry Regiment had conducted a woodcutting mission inside the South Korean side of the DMZ that morning before returning to their camp for lunch around 11:45 AM. The soldiers moved south in a two truck convoy up a small hill in a drizzling rain. Each truck carried a platoon of US soldiers in the back of it. As the convoy approached the crest of the hill approximately 3-4 North Koreans appeared on the side of the lead truck and lobbed grenades at it. One of the grenades landed on the hood of the truck and killed the Platoon Sergeant Philip Boudreaux.
After the initial grenade attack more North Koreans opened up on the lead truck with small arms fire. In the ensuing ambush two more US soldiers, PFC Donald Craplicki and PFC Jerry Skaggs would be killed. The fatalities could have been much worse if it wasn’t for the actions of Specialist David Richardson who stood up on the back of the truck and returned fire at the ambushers while the other soldiers jumped out over the side of the truck and into an adjacent ditch to take cover. SPC Richardson was wounded by grenade fragments and shot twice, but incredibly continued to return fire. The return of fire from Richardson allowed platoon leader 2nd Lieutenant David Colwell who rode in the second truck to organize a response to the ambush.
While soldiers in the second truck took cover Colwell crawled up the hill to the first truck to check on the status of the soldiers. After helping to get wounded soldiers in the ambush zone out of the truck and administering first aid he ran back down the hill to order a soldier to run to a nearby outpost to request reinforcements. Other soldiers in the second truck then pushed forward to return fire at the ambushers. The firefight lasted about 30 minutes before the North Koreans withdrew back across the DMZ. No North Korean bodies were found, but US soldiers reported seeing some of the ambushers shot and blood was later found at the scene.
The aftermath from the ambush left the US with 3 soldiers killed in action, 16 more wounded and one ROK Army Korean Augmentee to the US Army (KATUSA) also wounded. 2LT Colwell would later go on to be recognized with a Bronze Star for his actions that morning. I could find no record of Specialist Richardson being awarded any valor medals, but it seems like he would have been a great candidate as well.
November 25, 1967 edition of the Stars & Stripes newspaper announcing the Bronze Star awarded to 2nd Lieutenant David Colwell.
Ambush Aftermath
A few days after the ambush the United Nations Command officially protested the aggression during the 253rd meeting of the military armistice commission. During the meeting the UNC spokesman Major General Marvin Demler blasted the North Korean delegation for the deadly attacks. North Korean spokesman Major General Chung Kuk-pak had the audacity to claim that if any UN soldiers had been killed it was because they shot each other by mistake. Later in the meeting Maj. Gen. Demler responded to the North Korean subterfuge by saying, “My colleagues and I agree that the proper assessment of this situation is that every ass likes to hear himself bray.” Demler continued to say that the UNC would “hunt down and kill or capture all North Korean communist intruders.” Despite Demler’s tough talking the North Koreans would go on two weeks later to launch an even more deadly ambush on Camp Liberty Bell that left 4 soldiers dead and 26 wounded to further escalate the growing DMZ War.
August 18, 1967 edition of the Pacific Stars and Stripes newspaper.
Click the below link for more DMZ Flashpoints articles:
An egg wholesaler looks down at empty trays of egg at his storage facility in Seoul on Dec. 27, 2016. The nation has been suffering a severe egg supply shortage due to the worst-ever avian influenza that has forced poultry farmers to cull more than 26 million chickens and ducks since mid-November. (Yonhap)
