Category: Uncategorized

It appears someone’s pet monkey has gotten lose and is now threatening hikers on Mt. Bukhan just outside of Seoul:

A rogue monkey on Mt. Bukhan has attacked several hikers.

According to the Ministry of Environment Thursday, officials have been trying to capture the monkey since they received reports about it last week. The mountain is not a natural habit for the creatures.

A video clip, which has gone viral, shows the monkey wandering around the mountain. The person who posted it on YouTube on June 9 was almost attacked when he went near the animal.

He backed off and said: “This monkey is not afraid of humans at all.”  [Korea Times via a reader tip]

You can read more at the link or view the Youtube video below:

In this July 8, 1951, photo, a North Korean solider, center, looks at Time magazine flanked by two U.S. soldiers in Gaesong during a ceasefire talks for the Korean War in Gaeseong. This is one of 14 Korean War-related photos at the National Institute of Korean History (NIKH) collected from the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). / Courtesy of NIKH  [Korea Times]

Who pays the hotel bill is allegedly one of the issues being discussed between US and North Korean negotiators:

The prospect for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula could hinge on who picks up the tab for Kim Jong Un’s hotel.

The arrangements for the five-star accommodations are among many that have to be hashed out before Kim and President Trump sit down for the historic talks in Singapore, the Washington Post reported.

But the US would need to circumvent its own sanctions against the rogue nation.

The peace talks are set for The Fullerton Hotel Singapore on June 12.

A rack rate room goes for $415 that night but a super-luxurious suite, befitting a world leader, could go for as much as $6,000, the newspaper said.

The hermit kingdom reportedly requires that all of Kim’s lodging bills are picked up by another country.

The US is open to paying for Kim. But first, Trump’s team would have to get around its own economic sanctions against North Korea — by obtaining a waiver from the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.  [NY Post]

You can read more at the link, but it is amazing how shameless the Kim regime is about having other people pick up their tabs.  They kind of remind me of this woman who recently made headlines in New York City.

Korean residents in the United States wait for South Korean President Moon Jae-in and first lady Kim Jung-sook outside the former Korean legation building in Washington on May 22, 2018. The presidential couple visited the building on its reopening day as an exhibition hall and a museum. The legation, opened in February 1889, was Korea’s first diplomatic mission in a Western country. (Yonhap)

Women collect wild tea at a field in Hwagae Village in the southeastern town of Hadong on May 15, 2018. The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization has designated the region, which was certified in 2008 as the first to grow tea on the Korean Peninsula, as one of its world agricultural heritage systems in recognition of the site’s traditional tea-growing methods that maintain biodiversity. (Yonhap)

If this report is true this is an interesting location for a summit considering that Singapore is a friendly US ally.  I would have thought Beijing would have been a better third nation location from the North Korean perspective:

Singapore has emerged as the most likely venue for the planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, according to multiple diplomatic sources, Monday.

The sources said the historic summit will likely take place between June 9 and 15, after Trump attends the G-7 Summit slated for June 8 to 9 in Quebec, Canada.

This suggests the White House is losing interest in the truce village of Panmunjeom, although Trump proposed both the Peace House and Freedom House as possible venues for the summit.  (……)

The sources said the White House is leaning toward Singapore over Panmunjeom for “practical reasons.”

A source pointed out that officials of the U.S. and North Korea have held talks several times in Singapore and it is an excellent neutral location for both sides.

A different source said Singapore has a history of hosting summits for leaders of third countries, including that of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou in 2015.

Both the U.S. and North Korea have embassies in Singapore, making it easier for their officials to prepare for the summit.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Australian Ambassador to South Korea James Choi (L) poses for a photo during a publicity event at a department store in Seongnam, south of Seoul, on March 23, 2018, to promote Australian grapes. (Yonhap)

This seems pretty outrageous to me that former President Park is looking at 30 years in jail when murderers and rapists in South Korea get far less time than that:

The prosecution demanded a 30-year prison term for former President Park Geun-hye, Tuesday, at the latest hearing in a corruption trial stemming from an influence-peddling scandal that removed her from office. It also called for the court to fine her 118.5 billion won ($110 million). The Seoul Central District Court held the final hearing for Park, who again refused to appear citing health problems. If she is found guilty, the sentencing for Park, who was indicted for receiving 59.2 billion won in bribes among 18 charges, will be held April 6.

The harsh sentence demand was widely expected as taking 100 million won ($97,000) or over in bribes is punishable by a minimum prison term of ten years. The Supreme Court sentencing guideline stipulates that a minimum of an 11-year prison term be imposed for those who received 500 million won or over in bribes. Choi Soon-sil, Park’s longtime friend and the central figure in the scandal, who faced 13 out of the 18 charges Park did, was sentenced to 20 years.

Prosecutors said Park deserved harsh punishment for the influence-peddling scandal that undermined constitutional values and the public trust in the judicial system. The charges against her were substantiated by evidence including witness statements and meeting minutes made by the presidential chief of staff and presidential secretaries, they added. “Park is the central figure in the influence-peddling scandal. She was head of state and a political figure with ultimate power, and had full authority in managing administrative affairs,” the prosecution said. “She gave powerful discretion to a private individual, Choi, thereby subjecting the public to the unprecedented trauma stemming from the scandal, from which we can never easily recover.”

Such an act, the prosecution added, violated the public’s expectation that the country would be governed by socially agreed-upon principles, and that individuals would be respected for their own merit not for their connections. “It also violated the public expectation that people should be guaranteed a fair opportunity regardless of their occupation or status and lead a life in a free and just country,” it said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I have yet to see the prosecutors show evidence that President Park ordered someone to pay a bribe.

I do agree that the above statement “She gave powerful discretion to a private individual, Choi, thereby subjecting the public to the unprecedented trauma stemming from the scandal” is a valid point.  Choi Soon-shil definitely used her position as a close friend of Park Geun-hye to benefit herself and President Park gave her that platform.  However, does a politician have criminal liability because one of their friends are corrupt?  If so there should be a whole lot more Korean politicians heading to jail than just Park Geun-hye.

The ROK government intends to give Ivanka Trump the same red carpet treatment that gave Kim Yo-jong in hopes of apparently convincing President Trump to go along with President Moon attending an Inter-Korean Summit in Pyongyang:

The government is preparing a VIP welcome for U.S. President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka, who comes to Korea for the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Feb. 25. The government apparently wants to soften her up so Trump agrees to a mooted visit to Pyongyang by President Moon Jae-in.

One key ruling-party lawmaker said, “You can say that Ivanka Trump holds the key to convincing the U.S. government. We will provide all the support we can in terms of diplomatic protocol.”

Trump runs the White House like a private fiefdom and has levered both Ivanka and her husband Jarred Kushner into ill-defined foreign-policy roles.

Technically, Seoul has no diplomatic obligation to roll out the red carpet for the child of a U.S. leader, and even the head of a U.S. presidential delegation does not receive the treatment given to a head of state.

But a government official here said, “We are considering exceptional measures by having a high-ranking official greet Ivanka and accompany her during her visit.” The Cheong Wae Dae security team rather than the police handle her safety during her visit.  (…….)

“Since President Trump cannot make it to Pyeongchang, Ivanka is his proxy and envoy,” a ruling-party official said. “It’s important to win her support to realize the inter-Korean summit.”   [Chosun Ilbo]

I also find it interesting that the Chosun Ilbo took a shot at Melania Trump:

First lady Kim Jung-sook may also show Ivanka around, on the assumption that she is to all intents and purposes the first lady of the U.S. rather than Trump’s reluctant wife Melania.

You can read more at the link, but wouldn’t it be awesome of Ivanka Trump showed up and said that the Trump administration supports an Inter-Korean Summit if it is held in Seoul?

Admiral Harris seems to understand what the Kim regime’s ultimate goal of their nuclear weapon’s program is:

A top U.S. military commander said Wednesday he believes North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is intent on reunifying the Korean Peninsula under a single, communist system.

Adm. Harry Harris, chief of the U.S. Pacific Command, told a congressional hearing he does not agree with the predominant view that Kim is pursuing nuclear-tipped missiles to safeguard his regime only.

Kim is “after reunification under a single, communist system,” Harris told the House Armed Services Committee, adding that is the “long view.”

The North Korean leader’s nuclear ambitions contribute to that view and help him blackmail countries such as South Korea and the U.S., the commander said. And Washington should continue to increase economic and diplomatic sanctions on Pyongyang under its “maximum pressure” campaign to persuade Kim to abandon his nuclear weapons and ballistic missile programs.  [Yonhap]

As I and others have said repeatedly the development of nuclear weapons solely to deter US led regime change does not make sense.  North Korea’s conventional capabilities have proven to be an effective deterrent for decades.  Look at what they have done over the years with killing US soldiers, taking US naval personnel hostage, shooting down a US plane, attacking the Blue House to kill the ROK president, bombing an airliner out of the sky, hijacking an airplane, shelling a ROK island, sinking a ROK ship, etc.

None of these attacks led to a retaliatory strike because of their conventional capabilities were an effective deterrent.  So clearly there is more to why they want to develop nuclear weapons so aggressively.  The theory that makes the most sense is that the true intention of their nuclear program is to separate the US from South Korea and then seek a confederation on North Korean terms.