This would explain why Kim Jong-un made the unusual public appearance of sorrow after the tragic bus accident in North Korea that killed 32 Chinese tourists:
Mao Xinyu, left, became the youngest Major General of the People’s Liberation Army of China, according to Chinese newspaper Ming Pao in Hong Kong, August 2010. / Korea Times file
Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong’s only grandson Mao Xinyu was possibly killed in a bus crash in North Korea in April that killed over 30 Chinese, according to a report from French radio.
Xinyu, the son of Mao Zedong’s second son Anqing who died fighting in the Korean War, was possibly one of 32 Chinese tourists who died when a bus fell from a bridge in North Hwanghae Province, Radio France Internationale’s Chinese version reported on April 30, citing a Chinese source.
The report said Xinyu, a Major General in the People’s Liberation Army of China, and most of the other Chinese tourists were the children of Chinese soldiers who fought in the Korean War.
The accident also killed four North Koreans.
The tourists died reportedly on their way back from a cemetery in Hoechang County in South Pyongan Province that was for Chinese soldiers who died during the Korean War. Mao Zedong’s eldest son Anying was buried there, which leads to the supposition Xinyu could have visited the cemetery to pay tribute to his uncle.
If it is true that Xinyu was among the dead, two direct descendants of Mao Zedong have perished on the Korean Peninsula. [Korea Times]
It looks like Kim Jong-un is highly concerned about losing Chinese tourists and their money after this horrible bus accident in North Korea:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited survivors in hospital, calling the bus crash his people’s “own misfortune”
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has expressed his “bitter sorrow” after dozens of Chinese tourists were killed when a bus they were travelling in plunged off a bridge.
Thirty-two Chinese tourists and four North Koreans perished in the accident south of Pyongyang Sunday night, Chinese officials and state media said. Two other Chinese nationals were injured.
In a rare admission of negative news from North Korea’s tightly controlled propaganda network, the KCNA news agency on Tuesday said Kim met personally with the Chinese ambassador in Pyongyang and later visited survivors in hospital.
The Rodong Sinmun newspaper, the mouthpiece of the ruling party, carried a front-page on Kim’s actions, including pictures of him in a doctor’s white coat, holding the two survivors’ hands as they lay in their hospital beds. [AFP via a reader tip]
You can read more at the link, but such a high profile appearance by Kim Jong-un probably means that the North Korean driver was at fault for the accident as well.
Condolences to the friends and family of the USFK soldier killed in a recent traffic accident in South Korea:
A U.S. soldier from the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade in South Korea was killed in a vehicle accident, police said Friday, Dec. 8, 2017.
A U.S. soldier was killed when a truck slammed into a military ambulance and a car that had pulled over to the side of a highway after an earlier collision south of Seoul, officials said Friday.
The Eighth Army confirmed that a 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade soldier died of injuries suffered in a vehicle accident. The soldier was not further identified pending family notification.
“Medical aid was provided on the scene until the soldier was transported via ambulance to the Good Morning Hospital,” the 8th Army said in a statement. “The incident is under investigation.” (…..)
The deadly chain of events began when a car rear-ended the U.S. military vehicle on an interchange, prompting the soldier to get out to examine the damage. An 8-ton cargo truck then slammed into them, according to the regional fire service. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but imagine what the response would have been if it was a US soldier that killed a Korean civilian in a traffic accident? The usual suspects would be protesting and demanding apologies from the US President.
I bet the leadership in USFJ when they heard about this accident probably thought to themselves, at least this accident did not happen on Okinawa:
A Yokota civilian was under the influence of alcohol before the car he was driving crashed into another vehicle, injuring its occupant, Japanese officials said Monday.
A man in his 20s was taken to the hospital after the accident, which happened around 6 p.m. on May 7, a North Kanto Defense Bureau spokesman said. The man sustained minor injuries to his neck, he said. [Stars & Stripes]
Here is an interesting read from the LA Times about a soldier stationed at Yongsan Garrison that was being charged with the manslaughter of his best friend:
Raymond Royal, Chrissy Royal, Kathleen Stanfield and Karen Anderson sit in the Royals’ Seoul apartment after Raymond Royal’s two-day preliminary hearing.
The men were U.S. Army mechanics, and they had arranged to be deployed at the same time in South Korea. Pfc. Royal, 22, was based at the Yongsan Garrison, a major U.S. military base near Itaewon. Pfc. Anderson, 20, was stationed at Humphreys, a rural garrison 55 miles south, and he was visiting for the weekend.
They drank; they played pool; they wrestled like muscle-bound, army-trained puppies, grappling into chokeholds until one or the other cried uncle. They got matching tattoos — “friends forever” swirling down their forearms in blue Korean script.
Chrissy — an energetic young woman from Royal’s North Carolina hometown — went home early, and just after midnight, Royal and Anderson decided to go home too. A taxi dropped them off near Royal’s apartment. Royal and Anderson began roughhousing. Royal pushed Anderson with two hands — a shove to the chest — and Anderson fell backwards.
Thus began the first in a tragic series of unpredictable events that would leave one friend dead, the other on trial, and the military justice system forced to grapple with complex questions about responsibility and punishment in a case whose primary villain seemed to be fate.
It happened in a matter of seconds. Just as Anderson tumbled into the street, a car veered around a corner and blazed through a red blinking light, plowing suddenly over Anderson with both axles — bump, bump. The car stopped. The police arrived. And 12 days later, Anderson died in the hospital, hooked up to a mechanical ventilator.
The Army charged Royal with manslaughter.
The hearing that would determine whether Royal would have to face a full court-martial began on a crisp day in October. [LA Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but it seems to me that the person most culpable for the accident is the driver that ran the red light in the first place.
What a horrible tragedy in Busan. If this guy has such a bad neurological disorder why was he even allowed to drive?:
A Peugeot crashes into cars at the intersection of Haeundae Cultural Center in Haeundae District, Busan, on Sunday. The accident, which involved seven cars in total, killed three and injured 14, including the driver. [BLACK BOX SCREEN CAPTURE]A Peugeot traveling at more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) per hour ignored traffic lights at a crossroad in Haeundae District in Busan on Sunday and crashed into six other cars, killing three and injuring 14, including the driver.The driver, a 53-year-old man surnamed Kim, was traveling between 100 and 120 kilometers per hour and allegedly did not hit the brakes even when he neared the crosswalk at the intersection of Haeundae Cultural Center, according to police.
The Peugeot hit a Hyundai Accent waiting at a red light, skidded and hit four people crossing the street, including a woman in her 40s, her teenage son and a middle school student. The mother and her 18-year-old son were visiting Busan on a family vacation. All three died. The Peugeot hit five more cars that were passing the intersection before stopping. The accident occurred at 5:18 p.m. Sunday.
Police said Kim was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs at the time of the accident. “I don’t remember why the accident happened,” Kim reportedly told police. “I woke up and I was at the hospital.”
Kim testified to police that he is suffering from a neurological disorder and did not take his medication on the day of the accident. Kim’s doctor in Ulsan told police that Kim was diagnosed with epilepsy last September, and that he was on medication from November. The doctor said patients suffering epilepsy can lose consciousness sporadically if they stop taking medication, even for a day. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but this wasn’t his first accident caused by his condition according to the article.
North Korea is using the 14th anniversary of the tragic 2002 Armored Vehicle Accident to bash the United States and call for a withdrawal of US troops from Korea:
Site of 2002 armored vehicle accident.
North Korean media urged South Koreans to turn toward anti-American sentiment and repel U.S. troops from South Korea, and mentioned the 2002 deaths of two schoolgirls crushed by a U.S. military vehicle.
The Yangju highway incident in South Korea, which happened 14 years ago today, was a tragic accident in which a U.S. military vehicle hit and crushed two Shim Mi-son and Shin Hyo-sun, both 14, while they walked beside a narrow country road on their way to a birthday party.
“Fourteen years ago today, two South Korean schoolgirls at the age of 14 were struck and killed by devilish homicidal American imperialists’ Caterpillar truck,” wrote state newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Monday, calling the incident “only one of many incidents in which American invaders have crushed the dignity and sovereignty of South Koreans.”
Pyongyang’s other publications also described the incident, and urged South Koreans to repel U.S. forces from the Korean Peninsula.
“This evilest deed of all evil deeds is only capable of being carried out by the soldiers of an evil empire, which was built on the skulls and blood of Native Americans …” wrote state medial portal Uriminzokkiri. [NK News]
A huge pileup due to foggy weather on the bridge leading from Incheon International Airport to Seoul has killed two people and injured dozens more:
Two people were killed and more than 60 others were injured on Wednesday as more than 100 vehicles piled up on a bridge near Incheon International Airport in foggy weather, police said.
The collision took place at 9:34 a.m. on the Seoul-bound side of the bridge linking the western port city with an island where the airport, South Korea’s main gateway, is located.
A total of 63 people were injured and taken to nearby hospitals. Ten of them were in serious condition, while two were in critical condition, authorities said.
Of the injured, seven were Chinese, three Thai, two Vietnamese and two Filipino. The other four foreign nationals were Japanese, Russian, Bangladeshi and Swiss, respectively.
One of the two Vietnamese victims was in serious condition, firefighters said.
The bodies of the two victims have been moved to hospitals in Goyang, a northern Seoul suburb, and western Incheon, respectively, police said. They were identified only as a 51-year-old surnamed Kim and a 46-year-old surnamed Lim.
Police said a taxi in the first lane bumped another taxi in front of it into the second lane. An airport limousine bus ran into the second taxi, causing a mass collision of cars behind it. [Yonhap]
