http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/korea/ en-us Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:19:05 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050883/posts N.Korea ‘to Stay on Terror List Until Verification Is Agreed’ The U.S. has told North Korea that it will not strike it from the list of state sponsors of terrorism until it agrees on a verification protocol for its nuclear programs and stockpiles, it emerged on Thursday. A reliable source in Washington said Wednesday the U.S. reaffirmed its position that it will not remove North Korea from the terrorism list until it agrees on a detailed verification procedure. The U.S. was expected to strike the North off the list on Aug. 11 but will hold off however long it takes... Chosun Ilbo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050883/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:19:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050877/posts 'Radioactive' Woman Shuts Down Russian Airport Terminal Thursday, July 24, 2008 An airport terminal in Vladivostok, Russia was evacuated Thursday after a ‘radioactive’ woman set off an alarm. The woman had just arrived from a flight from Seoul, South Korea when a radiation alarm went off forcing security officers to shutdown the terminal, Interfax news agency reported. The alarm was eventually called off when officials discovered the source of the scare was the woman. According to the news agency, she had just received radiation therapy. Fox news http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050877/posts#comment Fri, 25 Jul 2008 00:11:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050264/posts Rooms with a view are built over changing North Korean capital Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor It is one of history’s great architectural white elephants, a monument to the ambitions of a dictatorship that became a symbol of its incompetence and self-delusion. However, the Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea, the biggest construction site in the world, is to be finished as part of an effort to rejuvenate the country’s capital, Pyongyang. Times of London http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2050264/posts#comment Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:53:56 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049565/posts Five Koreans ― four men and one woman ― had been abducted by several unidentified kidnappers who had disguised themselves as police officers in a U.S.-Mexico border city on July 14, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Tuesday. The official, asking not to be identified, said the abductors have demanded $30,000 in ransom, but declined to give details about the whereabouts of the South Korean nationals and their condition. "As far as I know, the kidnappers have contacted one of the families of the hostages and asked if they were willing to meet their demands... The Korea Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2049565/posts#comment Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:48:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048136/posts The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the controversial Unification Church, has been hurt as a helicopter he was in attempted an emergency landing in South Korea. The Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the controversial Unification Church, has been hurt as a helicopter he was in attempted an emergency landing in South Korea. Moon, 88, was among several people on the aircraft when it made an emergency landing at Gapyeong, 25 miles east of Seoul. News agencies quoted officials as saying Rev Moon's injuries were slight. The casualties were taken to Cheongshim Hospital, which is owned by the Church,... Alaska Report http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2048136/posts#comment Sat, 19 Jul 2008 20:45:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046904/posts Trade deals with Colombia, Korea, and Panama, all rife with political import, are stalled in Congress. In the meantime, some U.S. exports lag In its Decatur (Ill.) factory, Caterpillar (CAT) assembles a line of the heaviest-duty off-highway trucks, behemoths specialized for use in mining, quarry, and construction operations. One model, the $1.2 million, 163,089-lb. 777F truck, can hit a top speed of 40 mph even while carrying 100 tons of dirt, enough to fill 350 wheelbarrows. Caterpillar has seen a robust market in recent years for these monster trucks, but is worried that companies in other countries will start to... BusinessWeek http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046904/posts#comment Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:28:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046429/posts "The manager of a popular South Korean beach festival said Tuesday that drunken and rowdy U.S. troops are such a problem that organizers have considered banning servicemembers from the event...." "Lee said it’s easy to identify U.S. troops because of their short haircuts" Stars and Stripes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2046429/posts#comment Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:03:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044316/posts A court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by the family of a comatose 75-year-old woman to let her die. Kim’s children said their mother, who survives on life support, had the right to die with dignity so she would not have to continue living a meaningless life and asked for permission to remove the respirator and discontinue injections and feeding. But the Seoul Western District Court said that stopping treatment conflicted with the principle of the absolute value of life, and there was no way to confirm Kim’s own will. The court ruled that even family members do not... The Chosunilbo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2044316/posts#comment Sat, 12 Jul 2008 05:47:58 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043816/posts Woman tourist shot dead at North Korean resort SEOUL (Reuters) - A woman tourist in her fifties was shot and killed at a mountain resort in North Korea popular with South Korean tourists, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday. Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043816/posts#comment Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:43:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043812/posts IT was a time of secrecy and fear. Fear of a strange enemy driven by an alien ideology, killing Americans abroad, threatening Americans at home. And it created a new terror. In the early 1950s, American troops were being killed and captured by the thousands in Korea. Panic spread that China’s Communists had learned how to penetrate and control the minds of American prisoners of war. The technique was called “brainwashing.” And suddenly it’s worth recalling what brainwashing was about. Because now we know, from an article in The New York Times last week, that in a new time of... NY Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2043812/posts#comment Fri, 11 Jul 2008 06:23:13 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042943/posts The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is Cpl. Steven Lucas, U.S. Army, of Johnson City, N.Y. He will be buried July 11 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Representatives from the Army met with Lucas’ next-of-kin to explain the recovery and identification process, and to coordinate interment with military honors on behalf of the Secretary of the Army. In late November 1950, Lucas was... DOD http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2042943/posts#comment Wed, 9 Jul 2008 15:58:17 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041716/posts As told by most history textbooks in the U.S., the Korean War started with a June 25, 1950, invasion from the communist north and the freedom-loving U.S. came to the aid of the besieged democratic Republic of Korea in the south. The reality was very different. Not only did the RoK’s dictatorial, fascist-like regime of U.S. puppet Syngman Rhee make the first move, it had prepared for it for more than a year in advance. These preparations included using paramilitary fascist organizations and the regular army for cross-border raids on northern villages to test the defenses of the Democratic People’s... Workers World http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2041716/posts#comment Mon, 7 Jul 2008 07:04:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040962/posts North Korea in bid to recycle toxic waste By Michael Rank Last Updated: 12:01pm BST 30/06/2008 North Korea is planning to recycle waste that is so polluted other countries refuse to handle it. The Stalinist regime, which is reputedly a significant poppy grower for the world heroin trade, is now tendering for bids to process toxic waste at a refurbished port close to the capital Pyongyang as part of its desperate efforts to earn foreign currency. Through a Chinese-language website the country is seeking supplies of plastic and electronic waste which "can be processed in the port but which other... Telegraph http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040962/posts#comment Sat, 5 Jul 2008 03:54:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040959/posts Pakistan's Military Knew Of Nuclear Technology Transfer To N Korea, Says Scientist 7/4/2008 2:52 PM ET Abdul Qadir Khan, who is considered to be the father of Pakistan's nuclear program, said on Friday that the country's former military regime was aware of the transfer of nuclear technology to North Korea. AQ Khan told media on Friday that the Pakistani army, which was headed by President Pervez Musharraf then, was aware of the technology transfer as the uranium enrichment equipment was dispatched onboard a North Korean plane under the supervision of Pakistani army officials in 2000. Khan's statements on Friday contradicts... RTT News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040959/posts#comment Sat, 5 Jul 2008 03:43:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040948/posts (SEOUL) — Han Chang-kweon is skeptical when he hears that his homeland is taking steps to get rid of its nuclear weapons. Born in North Korea in 1961, he escaped from a communist logging camp in his early 30s, lived in Uzbekistan, and sought asylum in the United States before moving to Seoul in 2005. He said North Korea’s nuclear weapons are its only bargaining chip, and the country can’t survive without them. "What they are doing now is nothing but a show. They will never give up their nuclear programs — they simply can’t, at least for as long... Stars and Stripes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040948/posts#comment Sat, 5 Jul 2008 03:04:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040947/posts The communists were watching intently. One wore a rough, green military uniform with a cut-off collar. He had a large, moon-like face and an inscrutable expression. The other, who had a flint-like look in his eye, was in a slick grey suit. It's not often you wake on a train to find a pair of communists sitting cross-legged an arm's length away and staring at you. But that, I soon discovered, is par for the course in North Korea. Both men, like almost everyone else I would meet in the country, sported red circular badges depicting North Korea's founding father,... The Times Online (U.K.) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040947/posts#comment Sat, 5 Jul 2008 02:57:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040755/posts Police in South Korea say they have arrested a number of South Asian men suspected of involvement in drugs rings linked to Taleban insurgents. The men were suspected of trying to smuggle raw materials for heroin production into Afghanistan, a police spokesman said. In one raid, officers seized about 12 tons of acetic anhydride. When mixed with morphine extracted from opium poppies, the chemical produces heroin. Separate raids A total of nine people had been arrested in South Korea, the French news agency AFP quoted police as saying. Two men, an Afghan and an Indian, were arrested on Wednesday when... BBC http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2040755/posts#comment Fri, 4 Jul 2008 16:13:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2039525/posts US has means to verify North Korea statement -Rice (Adds amount of plutonium, other details) By Susan Cornwell KYOTO, Japan, June 26 (Reuters) - The United States believes it has the means to verify North Korea's estimate of its nuclear programmes, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday. North Korea was expected to declare between 30-50 kg (66-110 lb) of plutonium in the document, given to the Chinese government on Thursday, a senior U.S. administration official said separately, but added that "our estimates are greater". Verification, which meant calculating and resolving differences in estimates, could take "months and... Reuters http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2039525/posts#comment Wed, 2 Jul 2008 01:59:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2039008/posts USFK commander takes war cue from Iraq By Franklin Fisher, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition, Sunday, June 29, 2007 CAMP HUMPHREYS, South Korea — The top U.S. military commander in South Korea plans steps to ensure U.S. forces are ready to counter any Iraq-style insurgency tactics that North Korea might try to use in a conflict on the peninsula. In a brief interview with Stars and Stripes on Friday, U.S. Forces Korea commander Gen. Walter Sharp said he thinks it’s likely North Korea has been keeping close watch on the tactics used by insurgents in Iraq and would no doubt... Stars and Stripes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2039008/posts#comment Tue, 1 Jul 2008 05:39:10 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038745/posts If John McCain is looking to distance himself from President Bush in voters' minds, there is no better place to do so than on the Bush administration's recent decision to take North Korea off the list of state sponsors of terrorism. A frontal attack on Bush's multilateral accommodation with Kim Jong Il would constitute a principled stand on national security, nuclear non-proliferation, and human rights. Moreover, by simply demonstrating that North Korea has given no indication of its readiness to declare, disable, and dismantle its nuclear programs in compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, McCain would be taking a hard-nosed... Commentary Magazine http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038745/posts#comment Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:56:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038525/posts TOKYO — International television crews were invited to reclusive North Korea on Friday to witness the destruction of the cooling tower at the country’s main nuclear weapons plant. Viewers around the world later watched the most visible symbol of the North’s nuclear ambitions collapse in a cloud of shattered concrete. In North Korea itself, however, the explosion was a nonevent. The state news agency carried no information about it on Friday, and the images had not found their way onto state television. News blackouts are not big news in isolated North Korea, which also let a full day pass before... NYT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038525/posts#comment Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:16:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038422/posts Refugees shot fleeing North Korea Michael Sheridan in Hunchun, China North Korean guards, newly armed with Russian Dragunov sniper rifles, have shot dead refugees attempting to ford the river that divides their hungry homeland from China, according to human rights campaigners. On the Chinese shore alone, two bodies, marked by several bullet holes, were found by a local activist, said Tim Peters, an American pastor who runs a Christian group supporting the fugitives. The shootings indicate a coordinated change in tactics by North Korea and China to deter refugees from crossing. They want to stamp out bribery among border guards... Times of London http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038422/posts#comment Mon, 30 Jun 2008 03:46:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038119/posts SEOUL — After being turned away by one of its own cities, a South Korean civic group has finally found a home for a monument to the American general it credits with saving the country — on an American military base few South Koreans are allowed to enter. The Korea America Friendship Association, or KAFA, plans to unveil a $770,000 statue of Lt. Gen. Walton Walker at U.S. Army Garrison-Yongsan on Dec. 23, the 58th anniversary of the general’s death in a jeep accident near Uijeongbu. Walker successfully led the defense of a critical line around Busan, the only pocket... Stars and Stripes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038119/posts#comment Sun, 29 Jun 2008 13:21:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038107/posts More than 100 injured in South Korea beef protests Posted: 29 June 2008 1306 hrs SEOUL: South Korean police clashed violently with protesters opposing US beef imports here on Sunday, leaving more than 100 people injured, officials and witnesses said. Police fired water cannon and wielded batons to try to control protesters, who hit back with poles and steel pipes, smashing police bus windows and spraying street fire hoses. With rocks also hurled through the air, many of the injured suffered head wounds and were taken to hospitals in ambulances, according to witnesses on the scene Channel News Asia http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038107/posts#comment Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:55:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038037/posts â—† N. Korea says used 2 kg of plutonium in 2006 nuke test: source SEOUL, June 28 KYODO North Korea's declaration of its nuclear programs that it submitted this week states that it extracted a total of around 30 kilograms of plutonium and used 2 kg in the nuclear test it conducted in October 2006, a six-party talks source said Saturday. A nuclear weapon normally requires between 4 and 8 kg of plutonium. There is speculation that North Korea may have declared a smaller quantity to counter rumors that the 2006 nuclear test, which resulted in a relatively small explosion,... Kyodo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2038037/posts#comment Sun, 29 Jun 2008 05:08:14 GMT