Korea Thread: Liberal Moon Jae In Elected

[The Brain]

Have the US and China discussed which of them is gonna rush in and snatch the nukes when NK collapses (before the nukes disappear onto the black market)?

[PJL]

So guys, given that diplomacy doesn't seem to be working, and that North Korea looks likely to miniaturise it's nuclear weapons in the next 18 months, the least worst option seems to be a pre-emptive strike on their missile sites. Is this a feasible option, given how North Korea & China would react? Given the situation, if I were American president I would be prepared to accept up to 10,000 US deaths in order to prevent the deaths of tens or even hundreds of thousands of US lives.

[Tamas]

So guys, given that diplomacy doesn't seem to be working, and that North Korea looks likely to miniaturise it's nuclear weapons in the next 18 months, the least worst option seems to be a pre-emptive strike on their missile sites. Is this a feasible option, given how North Korea & China would react? Given the situation, if I were American president I would be prepared to accept up to 10,000 US deaths in order to prevent the deaths of tens or even hundreds of thousands of US lives.

I still think this all hangs on China. Yes something should be done the sooner the better but not if that is happening without rock-solid assurances from China. I just hope the God Emperor can be persuaded to care for all that.

[mongers]

Tim, just change the thread title to "We're all going to burn and die",  OK.

[Jacob]

I still think this all hangs on China. Yes something should be done the sooner the better but not if that is happening without rock-solid assurances from China. I just hope the God Emperor can be persuaded to care for all that.

In the end, IMO, everyone's just kicking the can down the road, hoping it doesn't explode right this instant. Eventually it'll either blow up, or something will change and the situation defuses.

[jimmy olsen]

This is crazy even by Korean entertainmen standards

http://mengnews.joins.com/view.aspx?aid=3037805

Wanna One looms large over K-pop : Insiders warn that group's success hurts the industry as a whole
Aug 31,2017

Since their debut, boy band Wanna One has been setting record after record. On Aug. 7, Wanna One held their debut performance at Gocheok Sky Dome in western Seoul, an arena that can hold a maximum of 25,000. Their song "Energetic" topped music charts immediately after its release.

The unprecedented popularity

The response to Wanna One has been more explosive than anyone could have imagined. Yet, the group has been met with criticism since before they even set foot on stage. The rapid rate at which Wanna One has been able to flourish thanks to the huge investment of CJ E&M, a large entertainment company, was a source of concern for many management agencies who complain that the group has a significant advantage over the competition.

Additionally, the exclusive contract members were required to sign binds the group to stay together for a year and six months, and prevents them from participating in any activities previously organized by their agencies.

Despite the criticism, the group has pushed some unexpected boundaries as well. Wanna One has demolished the invisible wall that major broadcasting companies have built up against groups created on TV audition programs. The group has made appearances on shows on most of the major networks, who have been seen competing against each other to get the hottest boy band of the moment on their shows because they guarantee high ratings.

Additionally, whatever the boys in the group wears soon sells out in stores across the country. The month-old boy band can demand sponsorship rates almost as high as hugely popular groups like Big Bang, Exo and BTS. The cosmetic facial masks used in the second season of cable channel Mnet's "Produce 101" were sold out even before the products had officially launched.

The chief reason for this unprecedented popularity is that each of the members was chosen by the public through "Produce 101" and they developed relationships with the members during the course of the hugely popular show.

Those who voted have been keeping an eye on their favorite members from the very beginning, creating a maternal affection to the group.

Another factor that boosts the value of Wanna One is that the group has an expiration date. After Dec. 31, 2018, the group will no longer exist, and fans want to make sure that they get to see the group perform before it's too late.

Structural problems

Market insiders are skeptical about the success of the next Wanna One. They added that they are not sure if agencies are going to want to send their trainees to be a part of the new big audition program.

Although there is a benefit to trainees developing their own fans, the agency has to relinquish control over their artists during the contract period.

For the agencies, it is the right timing to redeem what they have invested into the trainees so far, but they have to share the group's profits with CJ E&M, the entertainment company that owns Mnet.

The share of these profits is significantly less than it would be if the artist was not contractually obligated to the entertainment behemoth.

According to the profit structure, CJ E&M gets 25 percent, YMC Entertainment, which oversees Wanna One, takes another 25 percent, and the remaining 50 percent is split amongst the 11 members and each of their agencies. CJ E&M has been criticized for taking too much from the group and not fully compensating them for their work.

After the money is split, members of the group only get access to a very small portion of their earnings. The money they earn does not reflect their fame and number of activities they did. Just because they're gaining attention, it remains to be seen if the reward is worth all of the work they need to put in.

Accordingly, a federation of three corporate bodies, the Korea Management Federation, the Korea Music Content Industry Association and the Korea Entertainment Producer's Association, announced in a statement on Aug. 9 that they disapproved of broadcasting companies producing audition shows that extend what the agencies are already doing. It pointed out that broadcasting companies are monopolizing the entertainment industry.



Way to harmonize

Wanna One has been called a bullfrog that is destroying the ecosystem. To prevent them doing damage, many in the industry are working to find way to coexist.

An anonymous market insider said that the concept of "Produce 101" is good, as it is a best way to introduce the singers to the public in a short period. He added, "However, there should be adjustment in contracts. For instance, shortening the period to one album could be the most plausible way."

"Audition programs like 'Produce 101' surely have positive effects in growing the industry as the power of the large agencies has moved to the smaller agencies. With these programs, more people recognize that there are many agencies and trainees in Korea," said another market insider who asked for anonymity.

Also, although a trainee fails to make the group, their chances of being able to debut with another group greatly increases, which is another positive outcome of the of shows.

BY KIM YEON-JI, HWANG JEE-YOUNG [[email protected]]

[Razgovory]

North Korea just tested a nuke.

[Jacob]

North Korea just tested a nuke.

Happy labour day long weekend!

[jimmy olsen]

 

https://twitter.com/SwiftOnSecurity/status/904215833983012864

Oh great, the North Korea nuke expert changed his avatar to him getting sloshed as we experience nuclear war. This is fine. @ArmsControlWonk

[jimmy olsen]

Interesting. I hadn't heard of these weapons before.

http://www.newsweek.com/south-korea-builds-blackout-bombs-take-down-pyongyang-without-firing-shot-680465

The South Korean military is developing a new weapon to fight North Korea's growing nuclear capabilities.

Seoul's Agency for Defense Development (ADD) has acquired the technology to build graphite bombs, non-lethal weapons that can take down North Korea's power system in case of a war, according to military sources who spoke to South Korea's  news agency Yonhap on Sunday.

"All technologies for the development of a graphite bomb led by the ADD have been secured," a military official said. "It is in the stage where we can build the bombs anytime."

Known as "blackout bombs," the warheads can be dropped by a plane over power stations. A form of cluster bombs, they split into several canister-like "sub-munitions," which in turn release carbon graphite filaments that short-circuit the electricity supplies.

The bombs were first used by the U.S. Navy in 1991 to black out power supply in Iraq during the first Gulf War. They were later also deployed against Serbia during the Balkan conflict in 1999.

After their use in Kosovo, NATO spokesperson Jamie Shea said that the bomb's impact is mostly psychological, as the targeted country feels literally and figuratively powerless. "We can turn the power off whenever we need to and whenever we want to," Shea told the BBC at the time.

South Korea is adding the weapons to its arsenal as part of one of its recently-developed military programs, the so-called "Kill Chain," which aims to detect an imminent missile attack from the North and react with a pre-emptive strike.

As reported by the Korea Times in 2016, the arms build-up also includes the Korea Air and Missile Defense Program, tasked with tracking and shooting down nuclear missiles heading for South Korea, and an initiative known as the Korean Massive Punishment and Retaliation system, which would first strike back against a North Korean attack.

Originally due for completion in the mid-2020s, South Korea has sped up the program's timeline to face North Korea's rapidly advancing nuclear weapons development program.

Monitoring groups such as the  Nuclear Threat Initiative recorded Pyongyang conducting 19 missile tests this year alone, including two intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. North Korea also tested a hydrogen bomb in its sixth—and most powerful—nuclear test to date.

The South Korean military says there are no signs of an imminent threat.

"We have yet to detect any signs of immediate provocations from North Korea," a South Korean military source said on Monday,  quoted in Yonhap, adding: "We are maintaining an upgraded monitoring effort to guard against any developments."

[The Brain]

A powerful weapon. They can turn off the nighttime lights in North Korea at will.

[jimmy olsen]

This has been a media sensation the last week

Watch the video here

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/22/north-korean-defectors-daring-escape-caught-on-video

North Korean defector's daring escape caught on video

Footage shows regime soldiers pursuing and shooting at their compatriot, who was hit at least five times as he ran for his life across the border

Justin McCurry in Tokyo

Wednesday 22 November 2017 07.33 GMT  First published on Wednesday 22 November 2017 05.59 GMT 

Dramatic footage has emerged showing a North Korean military defector fleeing across the border to South Korea as he is pursued and shot at by his compatriots before being hauled to safety by troops from the other side.

The video, released on Wednesday by the UN command in the South, shows the soldier, who defected last week, racing towards the border village of Panmunjom in a military vehicle before crashing it and continuing his escape on foot.

The video shows the man collapsed on the ground after being shot just south of the demilitarised zone (DMZ).

Later three members of South Korea's security battalion security forces crawl to the wounded defector and drag him away to safety.

The release of the footage came amid news that the unnamed soldier, who was shot at least five times during his escape, was showing signs of recovery.

A government official said that the soldier had regained consciousness and had asked to watch television. He was being shown South Korean films for his "psychological comfort", the official said.

Col Chad G Carroll, a spokesman for the UN command, said the North Korean soldiers who shot at the defector had violated the armistice agreement that halted the Korean war, since they fired their weapons across the military demarcation line running along the middle of the 2.5-mile wide DMZ and had physically crossed the border as they pursued the defector.

North Korea has not publicly commented on the defector, whose readiness to put his life in danger to flee across the DMZ will embarrass the regime, which insists that all defectors have actually been kidnapped or tricked into leaving.

About 30,000 North Koreans have fled to South Korea since the end of the Korean war, although few have crossed via the heavily guarded DMZ, most of which is lined with tall fences and dotted with landmines. Most North Koreans cross into China and then gain passage to the South via a third country.

The soldier's flight from North Korea and his battle to survive has gripped South Korea. After undergoing two operations to repair internal organ damage and other injuries, he was conscious and no longer needed a ventilator, according to Shin Mi-jeong, a spokesman at the hospital in Suwon, just south of Seoul. The lead surgeon, Lee Cook-jong, told reporters: "He is fine. He is not going to die."

The soldier, said to have been traumatised by his dramatic escape, was receiving counselling. Hospital staff placed a South Korean flag in his room to convince him that he had indeed crossed the border.

"As the patient is showing signs of depression due to intense psychological stress following two rounds of major surgeries, he will undergo tests for post-traumatic stress disorder," Lee said. "It's not like the patient will open his eyes and walk out of the hospital after surgery as you see in movies."

Lee added, however, that he had been able to talk at length to his patient, who had told him that he alone had taken the decision to flee the North.

"The reason that he defected, risking death and facing a barrage of gunshots, was because he had positive hopes about South Korea," Lee said.

The soldier had watched Transformers, CSI, and Bruce Almighty, and enjoyed the song Gee by popular South Korean female band Girls' Generation, Lee added.

The soldier will be kept under observation for at least several more days. "The patient requires intensive care, detailed tests and observation as there is a chance his condition may worsen due to infections of his bullet wounds," the hospital said in a statement.

Doctors removed dozens of parasites from the defector's ruptured small intestine, including what appeared to be roundworms that were up to 27cm in length – indications of poor nutrition among ordinary North Korean soldiers.

[jimmy olsen]

Also, a media sensation, BTS performance at the American Music Awards.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/bts-ama-performance_us_5a12cdd8e4b0dd63b1ab8e6f

[jimmy olsen]

Just booked tickets for the men's half pipe finals in the Olympics!

[The Brain]

Just booked tickets for the men's half pipe finals in the Olympics!