Tag: South Korea

It looks like South Korea is back on Putin’s good graces again:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he highly appreciates South Korea’s position not to directly supply weapons to Ukraine, and that Moscow is ready to restore relations with Seoul.

Putin made the remark during a meeting with representatives of leading international news agencies, including Yonhap News Agency, which was held on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The remark drew attention in that Putin, who began his fifth term as president last month, showed a positive attitude toward South Korea and openly talked about the possibility of improving relations with Seoul.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The owner of the company that found there is a possibility of a large oil and gas reserve off the coast of Pohang is currently in South Korea meetings:

The owner of the U.S.-based geoscience research company Act-Geo, which took part in South Korea’s project for potential offshore oil and gas reserves, arrived in the nation Wednesday for meetings with government officials.

Vitor Abreu, the owner of the Houston, Texas-based research firm, arrived at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, noting his visit was aimed at following up with the state-run Korea National Oil Corp. (KNOC) on the potential discovery of up to 14 billion barrels of gas and oil.

“I came here to discuss with the KNOC what’s the best way for us to approach this and actually to give a better or more clear response for the Korean people in this very, very important project,” Abreu told reporters upon his arrival.

Abreu refrained from offering more details on the project, citing a “confidentiality agreement” with the state-run firm.

Yonhap

Here is how the article responded to claims from critics about the creditability of Abreu’s company:

The government commissioned Act-Geo to conduct a study in February last year, which reported that the deposits could hold between 3.5 billion and 14 billion barrels of gas and oil.

Meanwhile, there have been rising questions surrounding the credibility of the firm, with some claiming that the address of the company headquarters was that of a residential house in suburban Houston.

In response, the KNOC said Abreu was a veteran of 30 years in the field of deep-sea exploration and previously served as the head of the geology division at ExxonMobil and the president of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

The company also said that during his days at ExxonMobil, Abreu played a leading role in the exploration of the largest deep-sea oil field in Guyana, South America.

You can read more at the link.

This potential oil and gas reserve off the coast of Pohang would be huge for South Korea’s economy considering how dependent it is on foreign oil imports:

President Yoon Suk Yeol said Monday that a potentially massive oil and gas reserve could be buried off the southeast city of Pohang and drilling will begin later this year to determine whether it is real.

The reserve off Yeongil Bay in Pohang, about 260 kilometers southeast of Seoul, could hold up to 14 billion barrels of oil and gas, an amount that could meet South Korea’s gas demands for 29 years and oil demands for four years, Yoon said.

He cited a geophysical study conducted by an unidentified foreign seismic research company.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see if the Yoon administration stops Park Hang-sak and his group, Fighters for a Free North Korea, from sending propaganda balloons to North Korea in order to put and end to the North Korean trash attacks:

A cleaner takes away bags of trash carried airborne by North Korean balloons in a parking lot outside a shopping mall in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, on June 2, 2024. (Yonhap)

North Korea said Sunday it will temporarily stop sending trash-filled balloons across the border to South Korea, though it also threatened to resume such operations if Seoul sends more anti-Pyongyang leaflets.

In a statement carried by the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), North Korean Vice Defense Minister Kim Kang-il claimed Pyongyang had sent 3,500 balloons, carrying 15 tons worth of debris, toward South Korea between Tuesday night and Sunday morning.

Kim offered to temporarily halt that activity because it was solely in response to anti-communist leaflets flown up north by South Korean activists.

Kim added that should South Korea send such leaflets again, North Korea will retaliate with balloons carrying “garbage amounting to 100 times” the quantity of those propaganda pieces of paper.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I doubt the North Koreans are going to care much about these loudspeaker broadcasts blaring again:

The presidential National Security Council (NSC) is expected to discuss a plan to resume propaganda campaigns via loudspeakers across the border with North Korea, in response to the North’s launch of some 600 balloons carrying trash to the South, a source close to the matter said Sunday.

The NSC meeting will be held Sunday afternoon and presided over by National Security Adviser Jang Ho-jin, according to the office of President Yoon Suk Yeol. 

Earlier in the day, South Korea’s military said North Korea has been sending the trash-carrying balloons to the South since Saturday, despite the South warning it would take “unendurably” painful measures against such provocative acts.

It marks the first time the presidential office will hold an NSC meeting over the North’s balloon provocation.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

That is what one elderly Korean woman warned a Youtuber recently hiking alone on a mountain:

A video of a middle-aged woman warning a female YouTuber who climbed the mountain alone, saying, “You shouldn’t come to the mountain alone,” is a hot topic online.

On the 27th, a number of online communities posted an article titled “A lady advising a female YouTuber who climbs alone.”

This article is a compilation of a video filmed by YouTuber “A Million Songhee in the Mountain” with 280,000 subscribers at Samaksan Mountain in Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, on the 25th of last month.

At that time, YouTuber 1 million Song-hee said, “There are really no people today,” and “It’s a little scary because it’s been a long time since I’ve experienced this.”

Meanwhile, a middle-aged woman A, whom she encountered, began to tell a million Song-hee how dangerous it was to climb a mountain alone.

A said, “My friend was supposed to go with me, but I had a puncture, so an old lady went to the mountain alone,” and “A man sexually harassed and died on the spot.” It’s been about five years,” he told a million Songhee about what happened in the past.

Maeil Kyeongchae

You can read more at the link, but I think the dangers of hiking alone for females is overstated. There is probably more risk having a fall or medical emergency than someone hiding in the woods to kill you.

I don’t know why any company withe sensitive technology would hire a Chinese national when China literally has a law that states their citizens must assist with espionage if asked:

A Chinese national who worked for SK hynix is on trial for allegedly stealing key semiconductor technology from the Korean chipmaker for Chinese IT firm Huawei, the latest in a series of chip technology leaks to Chinese firms, according to the police, Tuesday.

The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police said a woman in her 30s, a Chinese national, was sent to prosecutors last month on suspicion of violating the Act on Prevention of Divulgence and Protection of Industrial Technology.

The former SK hynix employee was hired by the company in 2013 and worked in the department responsible for analyzing defects in semiconductor designs. From 2020 to 2022, she was involved in consultations with business-to-business client in China, according to the police agency.

The Chinese national returned to Korea in June 2022, and moved to Chinese IT company Huawei the same month. Shortly before leaving the Korean company, she allegedly printed out more than 3,000 sheet of documents related to front-end semiconductor manufacturing technology.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

This is a bit surprising that the Chinese have decided to join the ROK and Japan in a trilateral summit in Seoul:

Leaders of South Korea, China and Japan will hold a long-suspended trilateral summit in Seoul next week for the first time in 4 1/2 years, the presidential office said Thursday.

President Yoon Suk Yeol will meet with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul on Monday, Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo said during a press briefing. 

Yoon will separately hold bilateral talks with Li and Kishida at the presidential office on Sunday. It will be Li’s first visit to South Korea since taking office in March 2023.

It marks the first trilateral summit among the Asian countries since December 2019, after a hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and strained Seoul-Tokyo relations over historical disputes.

Kim said the summit will cover six areas of cooperation, comprising economy and trade, sustainable development, health issues, science and technology, disaster and safety management, and people-to-people exchanges, which will be included in a joint statement.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see if any tangible comes out of this.