Tag: South Korea

Via the Stars and Stripes comes this YouTube video which shows when the two ROK Army soldiers were hit by the planted North Korean landmine:

Here is what experts in the article had to say about detecting such infiltrations:

A South Korean military official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said that while South Korean troops aggressively monitor the border with advanced surveillance equipment and their naked eyes, their ability to monitor some portions of the DMZ is limited.

North and South Korean troops man outposts along the Military Demarcation Line, often in forested areas.

“It’s very difficult to keep watch there for 24 hours a day, especially if it’s rainy or foggy,” said Kim Seongmin, a defector and former North Korean military officer who now heads Free North Korea Radio. “If North Korean troops want to violate the armistice agreement, they can do it there,” he said.

An Chanil, who was stationed at the DMZ as a platoon sergeant in the North Korean army, agreed.

“Nobody can see everywhere,” said An, who defected in 1979 and is now president of the World Institute for Korea Studies, a Seoul-based think tank.

He said ordinary North Korean soldiers would have difficulty crossing the demarcation line, though specially trained reconnaissance soldiers could do so with ease.

“The DMZ is their home ground,” he said.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but this is why any North Korean soldiers caught violating the armistice should be shot on site.  In the past warning shots were fired when they were caught crossing the DMZ.  It is now time to start attriting their operatives who are specially trained for these missions.  That will be a deterrent to continuing to launch such attacks.

Obesity emerges as major health threat in South Korea http://t.co/yEGCAho2V3 #Korea #Health #Obesity pic.twitter.com/RUGYpSji3z

— The Korea Herald 코리아헤럴드 (@TheKoreaHerald) August 13, 2015

This file photo, dated Dec. 19, 2011, shows SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won surrounded by reporters as he enters the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office to be grilled over allegations that he embezzled a massive amount of group funds in collusion with his younger brother. Chey was included in the list of special pardons that President Park Geun-hye granted to high-profile businessmen and more than 6,500 people on Aug. 13, 2015. The pardons are part of celebrations to mark the 70th anniversary on Aug. 15 of Korea’s independence from Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule. (Yonhap)

The Lone Star issue continues to make headlines.  This time it is about how Lone Star bribed an activist group leader to essentially shut up.  So if there was any doubt, everyone now knows it is illegal to bribe activist groups in South Korea:

A local court sentenced the head of a private watchdog to two years in prison for taking bribes from Lone Star Funds in return for dropping protests over the U.S. firm’s local deal and trying to help it settle a stock manipulation trial.

The Seoul Central District Court ordered Jang Hwa-sik, the head of Spec Watch Korea, also to forfeit 800 million won (US$681,000), he received in 2011 from Yoo Hoe-won, former head of Lone Star’s local unit.

“Despite fairness and integrity expected for him as an executive of an organization whose nature is clearly of public concern, he used his position in taking the heavy amount of financial reward,” the court said.

Jang, formerly a head of the labor union at Korea Exchange Bank (KEB), had led protests against Lone Star’s profit taking in the firm’s purchase and reselling of KEB.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The comfort women issue appears to be bringing out the crazy in people now, just like the Dokdo issue:

An elderly man set himself on fire near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul Wednesday and is in critical condition, a police officer said.

The incident took place around 12:40 p.m. when Choi Heon-yeol suddenly set himself on fire in front of the embassy before being put out by people nearby.

More than 2,500 people were holding a weekly rally there for the elderly Korean women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japan’s World War II soldiers.

The 81-year-old has since been transported to a hospital specializing in burns in southwestern Seoul, where he lies unconscious.

“More than half of his body is burned, 40 percent of which are third-degree,” doctor Yang Hyeong-tae of Hallym University Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The ROK probably should have never stopped clearing shrubbery around the DMZ in the first place considering North Korea’s long history of border incursions and provocations:

Han’s remarks came as the South’s military is preparing to take preliminary steps to pave the way for offensive operations within the 250-kilometer stretch of the four-kilometer-wide buffer zone.

It is considering forest burning in some areas, an operational practice the South decided to stop in 2001 following inter-Korean working-level military talks.

An official explained that burning shrubs will help the military secure a view of North Korea’s guard posts and reconnaissance activities ahead of launching offensive operations within the area. The official said if it is conducted, the burning operation would be carried out in the fall to avoid southerly wind.

Amid such considerations, a South Korea-U.S. joint artillery live fire drill began on Wednesday.

Running through the end of this month, the drill will see the participation of cutting-edge weapons, including South Korea’s K-2 tanks and FA-50 fighter jets as well as the U.S.’ Paladin self-propelled howitzers, Apache helicopters and A-10 attack aircraft.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link.

For some people thinking of moving to Korea this health insurance change needs to be something to be aware of:

The government will strengthen national health insurance eligibility requirements for overseas Koreans and foreigners beginning in October to prevent abuse of the system.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday that it will enact revisions to ordinances so that overseas Koreans and foreigners who enter the country for work will only be eligible to enroll in national health insurance after a three-month stay.

However, those who enter the country for study, marriage or other purposes that make it clear that they are going to stay in the country for more than three months may continue to immediately join the health insurance.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link.

According to the below article there is not much that the South Koreans can do in regards to the recent mine attack that wounded two South Korean troops.  I disagree, just for starters the ROK government should have Park Sang-hak and his team on speed dial to go launch some of their propaganda balloons with DVDs of “The Interview” on them.  Announcing government funding for defector radio stations is another option.  The biggest trump card the ROK government has is to end the near-slave labor operation going on at Kaesong that is a major Kim regime cash cow:

South Korea announced a series of measures this week aimed at deterring another North Korean land mine attack, from broadcasting anti-Pyongyang messages across the Demilitarized Zone to changing patrol times for its soldiers.

But in a climate where military officials fear that even the smallest exchange of fire could escalate into a full-blown conflict, there might be little Seoul will do to punish the North or discourage further provocations, some experts say.

Two South Korean soldiers were maimed Aug. 4 after triggering several recently planted land mines during a routine morning patrol at the DMZ, near Paju. The blasts happened about 1,440 feet south of the Military Demarcation Line, which marks the actual border between the two Koreas. One of the soldiers lost his legs, and the other lost a foot.

The land mine attack, while tragic, is a relatively minor incident in the larger picture of inter-Korean relations, and the appropriate response for Seoul is unclear, said Daniel Pinkston of the International Crisis Group, a nonprofit committed to preventing and resolving deadly conflict.

“It’s this real kind of gray area that doesn’t rise to the level of triggering some kind of military counter attack,” he said.

South Korean forces will vary patrol times so they cannot be tracked by North Korea, and will increase the number of search and reconnaissance missions along the DMZ. Troops will also conduct a sweep for additional land mines this month, and will toughen engagement rules for North Korean troops who cross into the South’s territory, according to South Korean media reports Tuesday.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

Busan City Launches New Music Video “Really Like Busan” http://t.co/9QLYXAtfBx

— Haps Magazine (@hapsmagazine) August 11, 2015

This photo, released on Aug. 11, 2015, by the Defense Ministry, shows loudspeakers that South Korea has installed at a unidentified site on the western front-line bordering North Korea to resume its anti-Pyongyang propaganda broadcasting. The resumption of the loudspeaker campaign is in retaliation of a the North’s bloody mine detonation on South Korean soldiers on the South Korean side of the demilitarized zone in Paju, north of Seoul, on Aug. 4. (Yonhap)