A group of guests, including the chief of naval operations, poses in front of the new submarine Hong Beom-do during its launch ceremony at a Hyundai Heavy Industries dockyard in the country’s southeastern city of Ulsan on April 5, 2016. The 1,800-ton, diesel-electric vessel, armed with torpedoes and guided missiles, can navigate at a maximum speed of 20 knots. (Yonhap)
I wonder if Donald Trump will mention South Korea’s illegal immigration crackdown on the campaign trail?:
The government said Monday it will clamp down on foreigners staying in South Korea without proper visas and reduce the rate of illegal aliens in the country below 10 percent by 2018.
The government will selectively allow entry to foreigners with low possibility of violating the immigration control law and beef up screening of visa issuance, it said during a planning committee meeting on foreigners policy held in Seoul.
The government’s move is in response to a recent series of airport-related security problems that caused alarm bells to go off.
In January, two Chinese nationals snuck into the country without being noticed by immigration officials or picked up by the airport’s security systems. Later in the same month, a Vietnamese transfer passenger forced his way through the gate of an unmanned automatic immigration checkpoint without being checked.
All the people that entered South Korea illegally were later apprehended.
Last year, 11.3 percent of foreigners in South Korea were believed to be staying here illegally, according to the Ministry of Justice. [Yonhap]
South Korea is far from being the first country to naturalize foreign born athletes to bolster their Olympic teams:
From left, Eric Regan, Matt Dalton, Anna Frolina and Alexander Starodubets
Naturalized citizens will represent Korea at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games.
Two Canadian-born ice hockey players, Matt Dalton and Eric Regan, and two Russian-born biathletes, Alexander Starodubets and Anna Frolina, have acquired Korean citizenship, the Justice Ministry said on Thursday.
The Korean nationality law allows people with special talents in specific areas such as science, culture and sports to be fast-tracked to citizenship.
Dalton, 30, and Regan, 28, who play for Korean ice hockey club Anyang Halla, previously made names for themselves playing in Europe. Their addition to the team means there are now six naturalized players on the national ice hockey squad.
Starodubets and Frolina will be the first naturalized Koreans to represent the country in the biathlon. Starodubets, who was a member of the Russian junior national team, chose to represent Korea because it would give him more opportunities to compete. [Chosun Ilbo]
Environmental activists wearing Pinocchio masks demonstrate in Seoul against Volkswagen AG on April 1, 2016, demanding the German automaker pay due compensation for its faked emissions test results. (Yonhap)
A model stands beside the CRF 1000L Africa Twin motorbike, manufactured by Japan’s Honda Motor Co., during a motorbike exhibition at the Convention and Exhibition Center in Seoul on March 31, 2016. It marks the first time for the new motorbike to be showcased in the South Korean market. (Yonhap)
Good news for Mexico because obviously the ROK leadership views their country as one worthy of seeking investment in:
More than 100 business executives plan to travel to Mexico this week along with President Park Geun-hye, officials said Monday, in an apparent effort to try to forge new business opportunities with the large North American country.
Park is set to meet with her Mexican counterpart Enrique Pena Nieto next Monday to discuss how to boost cooperation in a wide range of issues between the two countries.
The trip follows Park’s visit to Washington for the Nuclear Security Summit with U.S. President Barack Obama and other world leaders set to be held on Thursday and Friday.
A total of 108 companies, including Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor, plan to send their senior executives to Mexico on the occasion of Park’s visit to try to explore new business opportunities.
It marks South Korea’s largest business delegation ever to Mexico. In 2010, only a dozen business executives traveled to Mexico with then-President Lee Myung-bak. [Korea Times]
With the nuclear threat North Korea is building and the continued territorial aggressiveness of the Chinese developing nuclear weapons in both South Korea and Japan may happen eventually anyway:
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has reiterated that he is open to allowing South Korea and Japan to have nuclear weapons so as to defend themselves against threats from North Korea.
Trump made the remark during a town hall meeting televised on CNN Tuesday night, stressing that the North has nuclear weapons and the U.S. is no longer rich enough to defend other wealthy nations, like Japan, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.
“Can I be honest are you? Maybe it’s going to have to be time to change, because so many people, you have Pakistan has it, you have China has it. You have so many other countries are now having it,” Trump said, referring to nuclear weapons.
“At some point we have to say, you know what, we’re better off if Japan protects itself against this maniac in North Korea. We’re better off, frankly, if South Korea is going to start to protect itself,” Trump said, referring to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Asked again if he means it’s OK for Japan, South Korea and even Saudi Arabia to have nuclear weapons, Trump said, “It’s going to happen anyway. It’s going to happen anyway. It’s only a question of time. They’re going to start having them or we have to get rid of them entirely.” [Yonhap]
A woman representing a nationwide association of brothel owners, known as Hanteo, sobs at the Constitutional Court in Seoul on March 31, 2016, after the court declared the law punishing voluntary prostitution constitutional. (Yonhap)
Some people should not be allowed to board a airplane. This story makes me wonder if alcohol was in any way involved or if he is just an old guy with mental issues?:
A Japan-bound airplane returned to Hawaii because of a violent passenger who wanted to do yoga instead of sit in his seat, the FBI said.
The pilot of the March 26 United Airlines flight from Honolulu International Airport to Narita International Airport turned the plane around after hearing that Hyongtae Pae was yelling at crew members and shoving his wife, the FBI said in a criminal complaint.
Pae told the FBI he didn’t want to sit in his seat during the meal service, so he went to the back of the plane to do yoga and meditate. He became angry when his wife and flight attendants told him to return to his seat. “Pae pushed his wife because she was trying to make him stop,” the complaint said. “He felt that she was siding with the flight crew.”
He tried to head-butt and bite Marines who were passengers on the flight and tried to force him back to his seat, Assistant U.S. Attorney Darren Ching said at Pae’s detention hearing Wednesday.
According to the complaint, he threatened to kill passengers and was yelling that there is no god.
Pae went into a rage because he felt the flight crew was ordering him around, Ching said.
Ching said Pae shouldn’t be released because he’s a danger to his wife, himself and others. Pae urinated on himself and was on suicide watch at the Honolulu Federal Detention Center, Ching said. [Associated Press]
