Korea Thread: Liberal Moon Jae In Elected

[jimmy olsen]

Anyways, Alcibiades was cool. I wasn't betrayed to the Spartans.

Time was tight, he only had three hours free time because the Army brass was running herd on him something fierce, so I just took him to an American bar for some food. Walked around and talked. That's about it.

[jimmy olsen]

Holy shit! Is this the beginning of the end for the DPRK!?

I don't think their economy can survive without Chinese imports.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/china-announces-sanctions-against-north-korea-a6969256.html

China announces sanctions against North Korea

Coal, iron, gold and titanium are among the resources that will be banned
Serina Sandhu |
9 hours  ago|
16 comments

China has announced a series of sanctions against North Korea.

The country has restricted imports of North Korean coal and sales of jet fuel under UN sanctions.

The Security Council passed a resolution in March, which expanded UN sanctions aimed at withholding funds for the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. It came after Pyongyang conducted four tests in recent months.

Among the North Korean materials to be banned, some of which are fundamental to the country's revenue, are coal, iron, iron ore, gold, titanium and rare earths.

While China's restrictions allow some North Korean materials to be imported for civilian use, any trade connected to the North's missile or nuclear programmes has been prohibited. For the UN sanctions to succeed, the cooperation of China - an ally of North Korea - has been viewed as essential.

The move by China comes after the global Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington last week. There, at a meeting between Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping, the US President said both countries were "committed to the [denuclearisation] of the Korean Peninsula".

Mr Xi said: "China and the US have a responsibility to work together."

After the vote on the resolution, drafted by the US and China, US Ambassador Samantha Power said the sanctions were the toughest yet, Reuters reported.

"Virtually all of the DPRK's (North Korea) resources are channelled into its reckless and relentless pursuit of weapons of mass destruction," she said.

UN sanctions have been imposed on North Korea since 2006 because of the country's nuclear tests and rocket launches.

[CountDeMoney]

Fuck off.

[jimmy olsen]

Fuck off.

I love you too!

[Savonarola]

Certain systems which we employ use GPS for timing; consequently I'm on the Civil Global Positioning System Service Interface Committee mailing list.  Today we got this notification:

All CGSIC:

On 7 April 2016 the U.S. Department of State released the following notice.

START NOTICE

Korean Peninsula GPS Jamming Notice
A continuing series of incidents have been reported in the general location of Incheon, Republic of Korea and the surrounding Gyeonggi and Gangwon provinces out to approximately 100 nautical miles beginning on or about 0000Z31March16. The nature of the events appear to be Global Positioning System (GPS) jamming emanating from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea causing signal disruptions to airplanes, ships, and buoys in the area. Exercise caution when transiting this area. If appropriate, further information may be forthcoming. Vessels experiencing disruptions in the area are urged to report them to the point of contact (POC) below.

Since this is going out to the Civil GPS group the civilian GPS channel is being blocked (the military one may be as well; I'm not on that list.)  GPS signal usually operates at a very low receiver strength; so it's easy to jam.

[jimmy olsen]

Hopefully good news.

http://www.wtvm.com/story/31689143/seoul-senior-north-korea-military-officer-defects-to-south

Seoul: Senior North Korea military officer defects to South
Monday, April 11th 2016, 4:57 pm KST

By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - A colonel from North Korea's military spy agency fled to South Korea last year in an unusual case of a senior-level defection, Seoul officials said Monday.

The announcement came three days after Seoul revealed that 13 North Koreans working at the same restaurant in a foreign country had defected to the South. It was the largest group defection since Kim Jong Un, North Korea's young leader, took power in late 2011. South Korean media reported that the restaurant is located in the eastern Chinese city of Ningbo.

Defections are a bitter source of contention between the rival Koreas, and Seoul doesn't always make the high-profile cases public. Liberal lawmakers and media outlets have linked the recent defection announcements to what they say is an attempt by the conservative government of South Korean President Park Geun-hye to muster anti-Pyongyang votes ahead of this week's parliamentary elections. The government denied this.

The colonel who defected worked for the North Korean military's General Reconnaissance Bureau before fleeing to South Korea, according to Seoul's Defense and Unification ministries. Both ministries refused to provide further details, including a motive for the defection.

The Unification Ministry said that a North Korean diplomat based in Africa separately defected to South Korea last year. It didn't elaborate.

The reconnaissance agency was believed to be behind two deadly attacks blamed on Pyongyang that killed 50 South Koreans in 2010.

There have been occasional reports of lower-level North Korean soldiers defecting, but it is unusual for a colonel to flee to the South.

The highest-level North Korean who took asylum in South Korea is Hwang Jang-yop, a senior ruling Workers' Party official who once tutored Kim's late dictator father, Kim Jong Il. Hwang's 1997 defection was hailed by many South Koreans as an intelligence bonanza and a clear sign that the North's political system was inferior to the South's. Hwang died in 2010.

More than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government records. Many defectors have testified that they wanted to avoid the North's harsh political system and poverty. Pyongyang usually accuses Seoul of enticing North Korean citizens to defect.

The announcement on the defections comes as the two Koreas trade threats amid Pyongyang's anger over annual South Korean-U.S. military drills that North Korea calls a rehearsal for an invasion. The North has fired a slew of missiles and artillery shells into the sea in an apparent protest against the drills.

South Korean officials said they disclosed the restaurant workers' group defection because it was an unusual case and happened after tough U.N. sanctions were imposed over Pyongyang's nuclear test and rocket launch this year. The officials said they confirmed the two individual defections in response to news reports on them.

[alfred russel]

Good news for the colonel, bad news for the colonel's wife and children.

[Caliga]

More than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government records.

I wonder how often people defect the other direction.  I was amazed to learn a few years back that after open hostilities ended in 1953, a few American POWs chose to remain with the communists.

[derspiess]

More than 29,000 North Koreans have defected to South Korea since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, according to South Korean government records.

I wonder how often people defect the other direction.  I was amazed to learn a few years back that after open hostilities ended in 1953, a few American POWs chose to remain with the communists.

Seems like in any war we're in there's a handful that decide to side with the enemy.  But it is fascinating; wiki has bios of some of the ones who stayed.  The Norks would "recruit" non-Korean wives for them so they wouldn't alter the pure Korean gene pool.  IIRC there was only one dude who ended up living a long life and staying there.  The rest either died in the 50s/early 60s or eventually came home.

[jimmy olsen]

Seems like Park lost her parliamentary majority in a shocker today. Will post more once results are finalized.

http://m.yna.co.kr/mob2/en/contents_en.jsp?cid=AEN20160413005053315&domain=3&ctype=A&site=0100000000

[celedhring]

What are the likely consequences to this? Can't say I'm very knowledgeable on Korean political party platforms. 

[jimmy olsen]

What are the likely consequences to this? Can't say I'm very knowledgeable on Korean political party platforms. 

Gridlock. President Park's effort to ease firing rules will fail.

[jimmy olsen]

Due to the opposition splitting into two parties right before the election due to factional fighting, pre-election polls and common sense assumed that the Conservatives would significantly extend their slim majority, to perhaps as many as 180 seats. They came nowhere close.

http://www.wsj.com/articles/south-korea-ruling-party-expected-to-fall-short-of-parliament-majority-exit-polls-show-1460545395

Ms. Park's conservative Saenuri Party was projected to secure 121 of 300 seats with 99% of the votes counted early Thursday, according to the National Election Commission. The main opposition Minjoo Party was projected to win 123 seats.

[jimmy olsen]

[jimmy olsen]

The Conservatives lost because turnout for people in their 20s was up 13 percent and for people in the 30s it was up 6 percent.

http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/739886.html

The reason that the ruling Saenuri Party was trounced in the general elections on Apr. 13 and that the opposition parties made such a strong showing was because of the intense anger felt by people in their 20s and 30s, analysts say. The members of a generation who have had to sacrifice their hopes and dreams - even things as basic as dating, marriage and children - massed at the ballot box in large numbers with the hope of escaping from "Hell Joseon," a satirical term that describes the difficulties faced by young South Koreans.