Visitors to Gwanghwamun Plaza in Seoul take pictures in front of the statue of King Sejong on Hangeul Day on Oct. 9, 2016. King Sejong created the Korean alphabet. (Yonhap)
It looks like the Obama administration is about to make a bigger issue of North Korea’s human rights record:
United States Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power (C) at the truce village of Panmunjom on Oct. 9, 2016. (Yonhap)
The United States ambassador to the United Nations visited a settlement support center for North Korean defectors on Sunday, official sources said.
Samantha Power, who arrived in Seoul the day before, toured the Hanawon center in Anseong some 77 kilometers south of the South Korean capital and held talks with North Koreans who fled the reclusive country.
Authorities said she took part in a prayer session with some of the defectors who are receiving training so they can assimilate into their new lives in the South.
Government insiders said the trip reflects Washington’s drive to make an issue of the North’s deplorable human rights abuses that could lead to the matter being linked to additional sanctions down the road. Currently talks are underway at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to penalize the North following its fifth nuclear test on Sept. 9. [Yonhap]
Contenders for the 2016 Miss Global Peace Queen pose at a welcoming ceremony at a Seoul hotel on Oct. 6, 2016. The annual pageant, designed to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula, will select the Queen on Oct. 24 after evaluating the participants through various events from now until then, including meetings with South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Korean war veterans, and visits to the National Cemetery, Demilitarized Zone and the truce village of Panmunjom. This year’s theme is “Create World Peace.” (Photo courtesy of ERM Korea) (Yonhap)
Citizens look around food trucks with a variety of specialties and ethnic menus at the 2016 Food Truck Festival in Sejong, south of Seoul, on Oct. 7, 2016. The pop-up restaurants are increasingly gaining popularity in the country. (Yonhap)
Noh Hyo-dong (R), a Yonhap correspondent in Washington, poses with U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Mark Lippert during an award ceremony for the Don Oberdorfer Prize at the American Center Korea in Seoul on Oct. 4, 2016. Noh became the first recipient of the prize which was initiated this year to honor the late Oberdorfer, a former Washington Post journalist and foreign affairs expert best known in South Korea for his influential best-seller “The Two Koreas.” (Yonhap)
This is just a horrible story coming out of Pocheon, north of Seoul:
A middle-aged couple was arrested Sunday for allegedly binding their 6-year-old adopted daughter with duct tape for 17 hours and, when she suffocated, burning her body on a mountain.
The couple denied intentionally killing the girl and said she was being punished for being “too gluttonous.”
Police requested a pre-trial detention warrant Monday for the 47-year-old man and his 30-year-old wife on charges of murder, physical abuse, as well as the mutilation and abandonment of a dead body.
A 19-year-old woman living with the couple in Pocheon, Gyeonggi, was also apprehended on the same charges. Police identified the teenager as a daughter of the father’s close friend, who allegedly took some – if not equal – part in the crime.
The three suspects said during police questioning that they habitually struck the child with their bare hands or a fly swatter because she didn’t obey orders.
Last Wednesday night, they allegedly bound the girl up with duct tape and left home, returning 17 hours later to find her struggling to breathe.
The adoptive mother claimed she performed CPR on the child before she took her last breath. The three moved the body to the couple’s car Friday and drove to a nearby mountain. They allegedly burned the body to hide the evidence. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more of the details at the link, to include how the police determined the adopted parents killed the girl.
Typhoon Chaba struck South Korea pretty hard causing a handful of deaths and missing people. I don’t mean to make light of the people who died or missing but scrambling on to your roof, hanging out at a construction site or trying to tie down your fishing boat are not activities I recommend in the middle of a major typhoon:
Vehicles are submerged in a parking lot near the Taehwa River in Ulsan Wednesday as the river flooded due to the impact of Typhoon Chaba, which headed toward Japan later. [NEWSIS]Typhoon Chaba slammed through southern cities Wednesday morning, killing at least four people, paralyzing flights and trains and knocking out power for a few hours.
According to the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, 1,183 hectares of farmland was flooded in South Jeolla, 950 cars get trapped in water in Ulsan and Jeju, and some 210,000 houses lost power in Jeju, South Jeolla and South Gyeongsang.
The Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) issued typhoon warnings in Busan, Ulsan and South Gyeongsang regions from 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, as the tropical storm that passed through Jeju Island Tuesday approached. The maximum wind speed reached 115 kilometers per hour (71 miles per hour) on Wednesday afternoon.
According to authorities, four people died and two went missing on Wednesday.
According to Busan police, a 90-year-old woman fell from the rooftop of her house in Mangmi-dong due to strong winds and died. A 59-year-old construction worker died when he was crushed by a falling crane at a construction site at Kosin University. A 56-year-old surnamed Heo, who was reportedly checking whether his boat was fastened to a breakwater in Daehang-dong, was swept away by waves and later found dead.
A resident of Ulsan was found dead some 60 meters (197 feet) from his apartment entrance, and a rescue worker in Ulsan and a fisherman in Jeju went missing, according to local authorities. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Considering how Trump has repeatedly said that he is going to make Koreans pay more for their defense and increase taxes on imports to protect American businesses is it any wonder why Hillary Clinton is polling so high in South Korea?:
Hillary Clinton meets then-ROK President Lee Myung-bak during her time as secretary of state.
If South Koreans could vote in the U.S. presidential election next month, Hillary Clinton would win by a landslide. More than 8 in 10 would throw their weight behind the Democratic candidate, who is surging in popularity both domestically and abroad, a survey released September 30 suggests.
In the poll of over 44,000 adults in 45 countries from August to September, WIN/Gallup International found that 82 percent of South Koreans would have voted for Clinton as the next U.S. president, compared to 3 percent backing her Republican opponent Donald Trump and 15 percent undecided or declining to answer.
South Koreans were Clinton’s third-strongest supporters behind only Finland and Portugal, which backed her 86 and 85 percent, respectively. The former first lady, senator, and secretary of state found support across the board, with Russia the only surveyed country preferring her business mogul rival and China nearly split on the candidates. [The Diplomat via a reader tip]
If you live on the southern coast of South Korea it is best to take precautions for the flooding that Typhoon Chaba is likely to bring:
Typhoon Chaba will threaten lives and property across mainland Japan and South Korea this week after lashing the Ryukyu Islands on Monday night.
Chaba reached super-typhoon status, strengthening to the equivalent of a Category 5 hurricane, on Monday afternoon, local time. Chaba has since weakened below super-typhoon status, but residents of Japan and South Korea should not let their guard down.
Powerful winds, torrential rain and rough seas around Chaba’s center will pose significant danger to shipping interests across the East China Sea, Korea Strait and Sea of Japan through Wednesday night.
Residents of southern mainland Japan and southern South Korea need to prepare for Chaba to make a direct hit or pass dangerously close on Tuesday night into Wednesday. [AccuWeather]
![Vehicles are submerged in a parking lot near the Taehwa River in Ulsan Wednesday as the river flooded due to the impact of Typhoon Chaba, which headed toward Japan later. [NEWSIS]](https://i0.wp.com/pds.joins.com/jmnet/koreajoongangdaily/_data/photo/2016/10/05202738.jpg?resize=320%2C441)
