Yoon honors Dutch ward dead in Amsterdam South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol (2nd from R) and his wife, Kim Keon Hee (R), place a wreath in front of the National Monument at Dam Square in Amsterdam on Dec. 12, 2023, to pay tribute to Dutch war dead during his state visit to the Netherlands. (Yonhap)
I did not realize that the Netherlands had their own chipmaking capabilities:
President Yoon Suk Yeol began his state visit to the Netherlands by meeting with a group of Korean residents and vowing to upgrade the two countries’ relations to a “semiconductor alliance.”
As the first official schedule, Yoon and first lady Kim Keon Hee attended a welcoming ceremony hosted by Willem-Alexander, king of the Netherlands, held at Dam Square in Amsterdam on Tuesday (local time).
oon arrived in Amsterdam on Monday on a four-day visit aimed at strengthening cooperation between South Korea, a leading chip manufacturer, and the Netherlands, home to chipmaking equipment companies such as ASML.
“Semiconductors are an important area not only for our industries but also for our security,” he said during the dinner meeting with some 100 Korean residents at an Amsterdam hotel. “Through this visit, the semiconductor cooperation between South Korea and the Netherlands will be upgraded to a semiconductor alliance.”
It looks like there will be a vodka shortage for a little while for the Kim regime elite:
Vodka bottles that were seized by the customs authorities in the port of Rotterdam. Photograph: Robin Utrecht/AFP/Getty Images
Dutch customs officials at the port of Rotterdam have seized 90,000 bottles of vodka believed to be destined for the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and his army chiefs. The discovery, on the eve of Kim’s two-day summit with Donald Trump in Hanoi, was made after Dutch authorities flagged up the suspicious route and records of a Chinese-owned container ship, Nebula.
The Russian vodka, contained in 3,000 boxes, had been recorded as being due for unloading in China, via the ports of Hamburg and Rotterdam. When officers sought to retrieve the container from the ship’s hull, it was found to be concealed and hemmed in by the fuselage of an aircraft also due to be exported to China.
People are too quick to use the racism word, inappropriate is a more accurate description of this:
Patrick Roest, Jan Blokhuijsen and Sven Kramer of the Netherlands / Reuters
Dutch skater Jan Blokhuijsen has sparked a dog meat controversy at the PyeongChang Winter Olympics.
At Wednesday’s press conference for the men’s team pursuit speed skating event, in which his team won a bronze medal, Blokhuijsen said, “Please treat dogs better in this country.”
The comment came out of nowhere. When reporters did not have questions, his teammate Sven Kramer asked, “All Japanese (reporters)?” And then Blokhuijsen made the remark before they left the conference.
After the news went viral, many Koreans expressed fury, claiming that it was racist and ignorant of a different culture. Some claimed the case should officially be reported to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
“The IOC should punish him for making that racist statement,” a netizen said.
Another said, “The Korean government should file an official complaint. I think most young people do not eat dog meat anyway. But some still do, because that’s what we used to eat when we were poor and it became a custom.” [Korea Times]
Dutch King Willem-Alexander (C) tours Gyeongbok Palace, the main royal palace during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910), in downtown Seoul on Nov. 4, 2014. His wife, Queen Maxima, is at his left. (Yonhap)
