Korea Thread: Liberal Moon Jae In Elected

[jimmy olsen]

The North launched three ballistic missiles today.

http://in.reuters.com/article/northkorea-missiles-idINKCN0ZY2P9

North Korea fired three ballistic missiles early on Tuesday which flew between 500 and 600 kms (300 and 360 miles) into the sea off its east coast, South Korea's military said, the latest in a series of provocative moves by the isolated country.

The U.S. military said it detected launches of what it believed were two Scud missiles and one Rodong, a home-grown missile based on Soviet-era Scud technology.

North Korea has fired both types numerous times in recent years, an indication that unlike recent launches that were seen as efforts by the North to improve its missile capability, Tuesday's were meant as a show of force.

"This smells political rather than technical to me," said Melissa Hanham, a senior research associate at the U.S.-based Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, California.

"I think the number and distance of the missiles lets them remind the ROK (Republic of Korea) of what they are up against," she said, referring to South Korea by its official name.

The launches came days after South Korea and the United States announced a final decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) anti-missile system in the South to counter threats from the North, which had prompted Pyongyang to threaten a "physical response."

"Our assessment is that it was done as a show of force," a South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff official said at a briefing.

The missiles were launched from an area in the North's western region called Hwangju between 5:45 a.m. South Korea time (2045 GMT Monday) and 6:40 a.m., the South's military said, an indication that the North was confident they would not crash on its own territory.

"The ballistic missiles flight went from 500 km to 600 km, which is a distance far enough to strike all of South Korea, including Busan," the South's military said in a statement.

Busan is a South Korean port city in the south.

North Korea has test-fired a series of ballistic missiles in recent months, in defiance of United Nations Security Council resolutions, including intermediate-range missiles in June and a submarine-launched missile this month.

"In addition to the basic goal of enhancing missile units' readiness to fight, it might be a way of reminding their southern neighbors that the site chosen for a THAAD battery in South Korea is within reach," Joshua Pollack, editor of the U.S.-based Nonproliferation Review, said of Tuesday's launches.

South Korea announced last week the THAAD system would be deployed in the southeastern county of Seongju.

In addition to the decision to base a THAAD system in South Korea, the United States recently angered North Korea by blacklisting its leader Kim Jong Un for human rights abuses.

"The threat to our national security is growing very quickly in a short period of time," South Korean Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn told parliament on Tuesday.


BOMBS, MISSILES AND SANCTIONS

North Korea conducted its fourth test of a nuclear device in January, and activity at its nuclear test site has increased recently, according to media reports in South Korea and Japan citing government officials, as well as a report by Washington-based North Korea monitoring project 38 North.

Following the latest nuclear test and a February space rocket launch that was widely viewed as a missile test in disguise, the U.N. Security Council imposed tough new resolutions that further isolate North Korea.

While China supported tougher sanctions against its neighbour and ally North Korea, it has sharply criticized the decision to base a THAAD battery in South Korea, saying the move will destabilize the security balance in the region.

China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday's missile launches.

Japan denounced the launches.

"The latest launch is a breach of the UN Security Council resolution and is extremely hazardous to shipping and aircraft and we have strongly protested," the Japanese government said in a statement.


(Additional reporting by Ju-min Park, Tim Kelly in Tokyo and Ben Blanchard in Beijing; Writing by Tony Munroe; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

[Josquius]

Hong Kong is special. The Brits basically built the place (or at least were in charge of the people who built the place). But still not terrible impressive there Brits.

It is really difficult for them.  There are like three thousand common Chinese characters, and they have different meanings when combined in different ways.  You have to memorise the pronounciation of each.  You can't guess the pronounciation by looking at the characters.  You just have to remember it.  And the characters may have different pronounciations in different situations.  Cantonese has like 9 tones, depending on how you count.  Mandarin has 4 only and that's already a huge headache for a lot of people.  Now, you also have to take into account the fact that spoken Cantonese has very different rules from written Chinese.  Different words, different usage, different grammar...I'm still not getting into the differences between simplified and traditional Chinese, or the differences between Mandarin and Cantonese.  Let's just say these two are not mutually intelligible.

So let's just keep it simple.  We learn English 

Chinese may well be very different but in japanese that's not true. Often you can guess pronunciation based on the key radicals.
Chinese tones screw that one up or...?

[Tonitrus]

Timmah better watch out for evil communist mosquitos...

https://www.nknews.org/2016/06/malaria-increase-linked-to-loss-of-inter-korean-cooperation/

[jimmy olsen]

Not good to put it mildly.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/northkorea/2016/08/24/39/0401000000AEN20160824000353315F.html

N. Korea test-fires submarine-launched missile: Seoul

By Kim Soo-yeon

SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea on Wednesday test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) in waters off its east coast, the South Korean military said, in an apparent show of defiance against the ongoing military drill between Seoul and Washington.

North Korea launched the missile from waters near the port city of Sinpo at around 5:30 a.m., according to South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

The military said the missile flew about 500 kilometers, which is an improvement compared with past launches. North Korea's missile fell into waters inside Japan's air defense identification zone, it added.

Tensions are high on the divided peninsula as North Korea threatened on Monday to wage a "pre-emptive nuclear strike" on South Korea and the United States against the allies' annual military exercise.

Seoul and Washington on Monday kicked off an annual two-week joint military drill involving about 75,000 troops. North Korea has long denounced the joint drill as a rehearsal for a northward invasion, a charge denied by Seoul and Washington.

"North Korea's launch of the SLBM seemed to be aimed at raising military tension in response to the Seoul-Washington military drill," the JCS said, adding that the North's provocation is a clear violation of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.

"We will sternly and strongly respond to any provocation by North Korea," the military added.

North Korea has often made missile provocations ahead of or during the Seoul-Washington drill, but this year, inter-Korean tension has further flared up following the latest defection by a senior North Korean diplomat and the decision to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system in South Korea.

Thae Yong-ho, a minister at the North Korean embassy in London, recently defected to South Korea, making him one of the highest ranking North Korean officials to do so.

"North Korea seems to be strengthening internal solidarity by shifting people's attention to the Seoul-Washington military drill and away from Thae's defection," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.

In July, Seoul and Washington decided to place the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) on South Koraen soil by end-2017 in a bid to counter North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats.

Experts said that if the North succeeds in firing off an SLBM, it would make it difficult for the THAAD system to intercept a missile launched by North Korea as the missile can be launched underwater anywhere near the South.

The South Korean military has expected North Korea to be able to deploy SLBMs for combat use within two or three years, but local experts said that the Wednesday launch could enable the North to move the deployment to as early as 2017.

"The SLBM, which flew about 500 km, can be evaluated as a success," said Moon Keun-sik, an expert at the Korea Defense and Security Forum. "The North could seek to develop a large submarine capable of carrying 12 SLBMs."

   Since North Korean leader Kim Jong-un took office in late 2011, North Korea is believed to have test-fired more than 30 ballistic missiles, including six intermediate Musudan ballistic missile, which theoretically can fly as far as the U.S. territory of Guam.

North Korea is banned from developing ballistic missile technology under relevant United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions. The UNSC slapped its toughest sanctions on North Korea over its fourth nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch in the following month.

North Korea has claimed breakthroughs in its nuclear and missile programs, saying that it has succeeded in developing a nuclear warhead small enough to be put on a missile. Seoul and Washington have been skeptical about the North's claims.

[The Larch]

No update for Hanjin's bankruptcy, Tim?

Hanjin Shipping bankruptcy causes turmoil in global sea freight
Some vessels seized by authorities and creditors, with others refused entry to ports unload after South Korean company loses the support of banks

The bankruptcy of the Hanjin shipping line has thrown ports and retailers around the world into confusion, with giant container ships marooned and merchants worrying whether hundreds of tonnes of goods being carried by the South Korean company will reach shelves.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday and stopped accepting new cargo. With its assets frozen, ships were refused permission to offload or take aboard containers because there were no guarantees that tugboat pilots or stevedores would be paid.

Hanjin is the world's seventh-largest container shipper and the news left cargo headed to and from Asia in limbo. There were reports that some Hanjin ships had been seized in China on behalf of creditors.

Seeking to contain the fallout, a South Korean court said it would begin proceedings to rehabilitate the carrier – which would allow Hanjin to take legal action in other countries to keep its ships and other assets from being seized.

But the court action was seen as mainly procedural and an eventual liquidation of assets was likely, analysts and industry officials said.

"Unlike dry cargo, liner shipping is all about marketing and service reliability – we haven't seen any large carriers come back from collapse," said Rahul Kapoor, a director at maritime consultancy Drewry Financial Research Services.

"There is a loss of faith among customers. It's very unlikely Hanjin can come back from the ashes."

Hanjin's banks decided to end financial support for the shipper this week and many of its vessels were denied entry to ports or left unable to dock as container lashing providers worried they would not be paid. This included the port of Busan, South Korea's largest.

The Korea International Trade Association said on Thursday that about 10 Hanjin vessels in China have been either seized or were expected to seized by charterers, port authorities or other parties. That adds to one other ship seized in Singapore by a creditor earlier in the week.

The collapse comes at a time of high seasonal demand for the shipping industry ahead of the year-end holidays.

In the US, at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the nation's busiest port complex, three Hanjin container ships, ranging from about 700 feet to 1,100 feet long, were either sitting offshore or anchored away from terminals on Thursday. A fourth vessel that was supposed to leave Long Beach on Thursday morning remained anchored inside the breakwater.

The National Retail Federation, the world's largest retail trade association, wrote to the US secretary of commerce, Penny Pritzker, and the Federal Maritime Commission chairman, Mario Cordero, on Thursday, urging them to work with the South Korean government, ports and others to prevent disruption.

Hanjin represents nearly 8% of the trans-Pacific trade volume for the US market and the bankruptcy was having "a ripple effect throughout the global supply chain" that could cause significant harm to both consumers and the US economy, the association wrote.

"Retailers' main concern is that there [are] millions of dollars' worth of merchandise that needs to be on store shelves that could be impacted by this," said Jonathan Gold, the group's vice president for supply chain and customs policy. "Some of it is sitting in Asia waiting to be loaded on ships, some is already aboard ships out on the ocean and some is sitting on US docks waiting to be picked up. It is understandable that port terminal operators, railroads, trucking companies and others don't want to do work for Hanjin if they are concerned they won't get paid."

Hanjin has been losing money for years and filed for bankruptcy protection a day after its creditors, led by a state-run bank, refused to prop it up.

Other shipping lines were moving to take over some of the Hanjin traffic but at a price, with vessels already are operating at high capacity because of the season. The price of shipping a 40ft container from China to the US jumped by up to 50% in a single day, said Nerijus Poskus, director of pricing and procurement for Flexport, a licensed freight forwarder and customs broker based in San Francisco, who predicted the higher prices would last a month or two.

The price from China to west coast ports rose from $1,100 per container to as much as $1,700 on Thursday, while the cost from China to the East Coast jumped from $1,700 to $2,400, he said.

Hanjin's bankruptcy was a major factor, he said, although prices also were affected by an upcoming Chinese national holiday, Golden Week, that would close factories, and by shipping lines sidelining vessels to reduce overcapacity.

A weakened economy since the 2008 recession hurt global demand and trade at the same time that steamship lines continued to build more and larger vessels — immense ships that were conceived as cost-effective when freight costs were higher several years ago.

The weaker trade and overcapacity has sent ocean shipping rates plunging in recent years.

[jimmy olsen]

First I heard about it.

Not to surprised though, too much supply, too little demand.

[mongers]

A fifth 'nuclear' test, perhaps this one was more successful?

North Korea: Large quake detected close to nuclear test site
9 September 2016

A magnitude five earthquake has been detected in North Korea, amid reports the country had been preparing for its fifth nuclear test.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said it had been an "artificial quake".

The US Geological Survey said the tremor had been detected in the north-east of North Korea, close to a known nuclear test site.

There has been no confirmation from the North as yet that a nuclear test has been carried out.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37314927

[jimmy olsen]

A fifth 'nuclear' test, perhaps this one was more successful?

North Korea: Large quake detected close to nuclear test site
9 September 2016

A magnitude five earthquake has been detected in North Korea, amid reports the country had been preparing for its fifth nuclear test.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency said it had been an "artificial quake".

The US Geological Survey said the tremor had been detected in the north-east of North Korea, close to a known nuclear test site.

There has been no confirmation from the North as yet that a nuclear test has been carried out.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37314927

5.3, equivalent to a 10 kt blast

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/5-3-magnitude-shake-north-korea-could-be-nuclear-test-n645236

[Josquius]

Let's boost this north korea story to the top instead please

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-korea-bans-sarcasm-kim-jong-un-freedom-speech-a7231461.html

North Korea bans sarcasm because Kim Jong-un fears people only agree with him 'ironically'

Mocking expression 'a fool who cannot see the outside world' is said to be circulating in North Korea

Harriet Agerholm @HarrietAgerholm Thursday 8 September 201669 comments
   
   
   
   
   
32K
kim-jong-un.jpg
Government held mass meetings with residents telling them to 'Keep your mouths shut' Reuters
North Korea has forbidden people from making sarcastic comments about Kim Jong-un or his totalitarian regime in their everyday conversations.

Even indirect criticism of the authoritarian government has been banned, Asian media reported.

Residents were warned against criticising the state in a series of mass meetings held by functionaries across the country.


North Korea claims success in fifth and biggest nuclear test
"One state security official personally organised a meeting to alert local residents to potential 'hostile actions' by internal rebellious elements," a source in Jagang Province told Radio Free Asia's Korean Service.

READ MORE
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North Korea fires three ballistic missiles in G20 show of power
North Korea soldiers 'armed with nuclear backpacks' as tensions rise over US-South Korean military exercises
"The main point of the lecture was 'Keep your mouths shut.'"

The caution was also issued in neighbouring Yangang Province, sources revealed.

Officials told people that sarcastic expressions such as "This is all America's fault" would constitute unacceptable criticism of the regime.

"This habit of the central authorities of blaming the wrong country when a problem's cause obviously lies elsewhere has led citizens to mock the party," an anonymous source said.

North Korea's worst human rights abuses
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show all
Another mocking expression, "A fool who cannot see the outside world," was also said to be circulating in the totalitarian state, referring to the country's notoriously isolationist leader.

The phrase was apparently conceived when officials voiced shock that Mr Kim did not attend celebrations held in Russia and China to mark the end of the Second World War.

Regional media have reported an increase in public acts of dissent in the country of late. Graffiti mocking the government and its leader have appeared twice in recent weeks.

[Malthus]

Heh. this would cut a swathe through Internet discussions if it were applied world wide:

Officials told people that sarcastic expressions such as "This is all America's fault" would constitute unacceptable criticism of the regime.

[jimmy olsen]

Earthquake shook my apartment.  My bed moved with me on it.

http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/news/2016/09/12/0200000000AEN20160912011300315.html

[Syt]

A German paper reports that over 100 people died in floods in NK, and more than 100,000 are homeless.

[jimmy olsen]

Aftershock! Felt as bad.

[jimmy olsen]

Got an emergency text from the government. 5.8 at a depth of 8km

[jimmy olsen]

Epicenter is a couple hundred miles from me. Hope there wasn't too much damage.

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/