Tag: Russia

Russia Demands that South Korea Apologize Rocket Technology Transfer Accusation

| February 13, 2016

If anyone should be apologizing it is the Russians who continue to support the Kim regime.  As far as the issue at hand I would think the Russians probably covered their tracks really well in regards to any rocket components transferred to the North Koreans:

russia-south-korea-flag

Russia demanded an apology from South Korea on Wednesday for raising suspicions that key components of North Korea’s recently tested rocket are from Russia.

Mikhail Ulyanov, director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s nonproliferation and arms control department, said in a news conference that South Korea should present evidence backing up the suspicions or retract them and apologize.

“This statement is irresponsible and unprofessional. One cannot come forward with such accusations without having clear evidence,” the official said.

After the North’s missile launch on Sunday, officials of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service said in a closed-door emergency briefing to the parliamentary intelligence committee that key components of the missile appear to have come from Russia, according to lawmakers.  [Yonhap]

Russia Plans to Install Indian Genocide Statue In Front of US Embassy

| February 2, 2016

Is Putin borrowing a tactic from the comfort women protesters in South Korea to stick it the US?:

Last week it was made known that the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation—a Russian analogue to the U.S. House Committee on Oversight, which has consultative powers—is planning to put forward a proposal for the installation of a memorial by the site of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, dedicated to the “genocide of the American Indians,” according to the RIA News Agency.

The request for permission to install such a monument was sent to the Administration of Russian President Vladimir Putin, to the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation and to the Moscow city authorities.

“The initiative to install the monument [near the US Embassy] is very timely as an act that will remind [people today] from where the history of the USA started,” stated member of the Civic Chamber Valery Korovin, who supported the proposal. “This monument must become the silent reproach to the modern American elites which had significantly deviated from the idealistic principles that were laid into the foundation of the American state.”

According to Mr. Korovin, the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation should also appeal to the U.S. Congress to consider the “rehabilitation” of American Indians “as the native people of the United States, to admit the fact of their genocide by the US Government, to carry out the act of national repentance and thus to close this dark chapter of the U.S. history.”  [The Observer]

You can read more at the link.

Over 5% of Russian and South Korean Seafood Tests Positive for Radiation

| December 30, 2015

Something to think about the next time you decide to buy seafood:

Radioactive material was discovered at detectable levels in domestic and Russian seafood products, a recent study confirms.The news comes amid growing concerns about radiation contamination in seafood products entering the country since the 2011 disaster at Japan’s Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant. In response, environmental groups are calling for more intensive inspections of seafood for radioactivity.The findings were announced on Dec. 23 after a study by three groups: the Institute for Environment & Community Development Studies (IECDS), the Korea Radiation Watch Center, and the Gwangju chapter of the Korean Federation for Environmental Movement.

Analysis of 150 samples of mackerel, pollock, cod, kelp, and sea mustard taken from discount stores and markets in Seoul, Busan, and Gwangju between March and November showed the presence of radioactive cesium-137 in eight of them, or 5.3%.Cesium-137 is considered one of the chief examples of a radioactive isotope detected in the process of artificial nuclear fission, with an acceptable standard of 100 becquerels per kilogram.The isotope was found in samples of pollock and cod from Russia and domestic mackerel and kelp at levels of 0.37 to 1.09 becquerels per kilogram.The highest rate of detection was for Russian cod at 13%, followed by Russian pollock at 11.5%, Korean kelp at 7.7%, and Korean mackerel at 3.3%.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read the rest at the link.

Kim Jong-un Is Expected To Be A No Show for World War II Commemoration In Russia

| May 2, 2015

It looks like Kim Jong-un got cold feet and decided not to travel to Russia after all:

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South Korea sees no abnormal signs in North Korea which might have caused its leader, Kim Jong-un, to cancel his planned trip to Russia next week, a Defense Ministry official said Friday.

On Thursday, a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that the North Korean leader will not visit Moscow for a celebration to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, saying that the decision “is related to internal Korean affairs.”

South Korean and Russian officials had expected the leader of the reclusive nation to attend a military parade and hold a bilateral meeting with Putin. It would have been his first foreign trip since taking office in 2011 upon the death of his father, Kim Jong-il.

“We don’t believe that any notable internal affairs are taking place in North Korea (that are) serious enough to cause Kim not to attend the event,” the official said, requesting anonymity.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but experts think that Kim Jong-un decided not to go because he is not ready to share the stage with many other national leaders.

Russia Again Voices Complaints About Deployment of THAAD to South Korea

| April 6, 2015

It sounds like some in South Korea are getting tired of hearing complaints from the Chinese and Russians against the deployment of the THAAD missile defense system:

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On Thursday, the Russian ambassador to South Korea called the proposed deployment of a U.S. missile defense system on the peninsula a security threat to the region, the third time in as many weeks that he has weighed in on the issue.

In an interview with Yonhap News Agency, Alexander Timonin, who served as the ambassador to North Korea until last year, said the deployment of Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) on the Korean Peninsula would constitute a security threat to both Russia and the wider region.

“What concerns us is that a U.S. missile defense system could be placed in areas not far from Russia, adding to worries over THAAD’s radar system or technology,” he told Yonhap.  (…….)

“Of course it has multi-purpose tasks. One of the tasks, of course, is North Korea,” Vorontsov told The Diplomat on Thursday. “But, additionally, the capability of this system allows this equipment to intercept missiles, Russian… missiles for example. So, yes, unfortunately, there are grounds for concern vis-a-vis [the] security situation of Russia… and the Chinese.”  (……………..)

But some Koreans have received the Russian and Chinese objections coldly.

Song Dae-sung, a professor of political science and former brigadier general with the South Korean Air Force, said that Russia and China preventing THAAD would be the same as South Korea demanding the removal of Russian and Chinese missile placements that could target the Korean Peninsula.

“If China and Russia really hate the placement of THAAD in South Korea, they can take resolute action to ensure the destruction of weapons of mass destruction held by North Korea and a halt to their development,” the Konkuk University professor told The Diplomat late last month. “The insistence that we only consider the South Korea-China and South Korea-Russia relationships and not deploy THAAD, which is opposed by China and Russia, is an insistence that neglects the absolute value of national security.”  [The Diplomat]

You can read the rest at the link, but I do find it interesting that a Russian is publicly complaining about THAAD preventing their country from shooting missiles at South Korea.