http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/korea/ en-us Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:41:28 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418211/posts The pastor of the Tucson church that missionary Robert Park attended says he wouldn't be surprised if Park, believed to be detained in communist North Korea, gets an audience with the country's leader, Kim Jong Il. "I hope and pray that he does get an audience. I know it sounds pretty crazy, but isn't this whole thing crazy?" said the Rev. John A. Benson, pastor of Life in Christ Community Church on Tucson's south side. The church is part of the Southern Baptist Convention. "It's a little out there — beyond what we would think. So yes, I'm asking for... AZstar.net http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2418211/posts#comment Thu, 31 Dec 2009 07:41:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2415752/posts What could a free man hope to accomplish by crossing without permission into North Korea, to ask its rulers to repent, close the prison camps and free the people? Robert Park, a young American of Korean descent made exactly that crossing on Christmas day, walking from China into North Korea across the frozen Tumen River. There are reports that as he crossed, he called out, “I came here to proclaim God’s love.” A manifesto attributed to Park, leader of a Christian group advocating human rights for North Koreans, includes the statement: “All we are asking is for all North Koreans... The Rosett Report _ PJ Media http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/2415752/posts#comment Sun, 27 Dec 2009 15:50:33 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412407/posts SEOUL — North Korea Monday warned South Korean ships to avoid the disputed Yellow Sea border area where a clash broke out last month, saying its coastal artillery would target the area in firing exercises. The communist state's naval command, in a statement on official media, said the move came in response to "reckless military provocations" from the South. Tensions have remained high off the west coast since a brief but intense gunfight on November 10 left a North Korean patrol boat in flames. There were deadly naval gunbattles there in 1999 and 2002. The North refuses to accept the... AFP/Google News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2412407/posts#comment Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:32:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409406/posts Caveats:1) The streaming video, located on THIS Japanese news web page, may only be up for a half day or so. The link could go dead, or could link to another, new story.2) Not all computer systems might be able to play the video. You might need Microsoft Silverlight installed, but probably most can see the short stream.3) Go to the link and hit the photo with the white triangle and stream. Now for the explanation of this important video taken today of photos of the cargo of an aircraft seized in Bangkok which was heading from North Korea... NNN (Nihon Television) Network, Japan (Evening News) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409406/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 11:52:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409235/posts Nuclear Diplomacy: President Obama has sent a "personal" letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, hoping to coax him back to the table to talk about cutting his nation's nuclear program. Good luck with that. Repeated U.S. entreaties to the hermit state to cut its nuclear arsenal have availed us nothing. Just this month, U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth traveled to North Korea with a bunch of new diplomatic carrots for the regime. The result? Bosworth put it this way, in classic diplomatese: "We identified some common understanding on the need for and a role of six-party talks and the... Investors.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2409235/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:03:47 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2409174/posts YONGSAN GARRISON, South Korea — Jeff and Patty Guerrero held their son close as a sense of joy — and relief — washed over them. “We endured a long, lengthy adoption process, and it took two years for my son to pass the naturalization process,” Jeff said minutes before 3-year-old Ethan, who was adopted from Japan, was sworn in as a U.S. citizen Tuesday at Yongsan Theater. It may have been a long journey for the Ethan and the 54 other immigrants who became Americans during the naturalization ceremony, but it was one they were all happy to take. “This... Stars and Stripes http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2409174/posts#comment Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:33:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408742/posts South Korea has one of the highest rates of abortion in the world, even though abortion is technically illegal there except in a few rare circumstances. According to official government figures, there are 340,000 abortions each year, although one parliamentarian has estimated that there may be as many as 1.5 million. At the same time, Korea's birth rate is the second-lowest in the world – 1.19 births per woman -- and some Koreans fear that their very survival as a nation is in doubt. That is the background for a courageous decision by a 50-year-old Seoul obstetrician and gynaecologist, Dr... mercatornet.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2408742/posts#comment Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:37:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406226/posts Five Eastern European men were detained and their plane was impounded and grounded at Don Muang Airport on Saturday after it was found loaded with tons of war weapons. Government Spokesman Panithan Wattanayakorn declined to reveal where the plane was from and its its destination, saying Thai authorities are investigating the five men reportedly from Belarus and Kazakhstan. A TV footage showed military trucks believed to be loaded with the confiscated weapons left Don Muang Airport. The footage also showed the grounded plane. Thai TV reported that the weapons were transferred in the military trucks to a depot in Nakhon... www.nationmultimedia.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406226/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 19:46:23 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406297/posts The visiting head of Japan's ruling party apologized Saturday for wrongdoings his country committed during its colonization of Korea in the early half of last century. Speaking at a South Korean university ahead of his dinner meeting with President Lee Myung-bak later in the day, Ichiro Ozawa also called for increased cooperation among his country, China and South Korea in dealing with regional instabilities. Yonhap http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406297/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 22:25:57 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406099/posts Thai security forces seized more than 35 tonnes of arms from a cargo plane and arrested five crew members after the aircraft made an emergency landing to refuel at a Bangkok airport, officials said on Saturday. Monthon Sutchukorn, a deputy spokesman for the Thai air force, said the plane had departed from North Korea but had no further details. An air force official involved in the inspection, who declined to be named, said the Thai authorities had been asked by the United States to investigate the plane and its cargo. "We were approached by the United States, seeking our cooperation... Reuters via Yahoo! News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2406099/posts#comment Sat, 12 Dec 2009 15:40:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2405606/posts Bae Yong Joon may be one of the few oenophiles still living in Korea based on wine's dropping popularity on the peninsula. (Photo courtesy of Arnaldo Bassini) Wine sales in Korea are continuing to decline according to a Dec. 8 Korea Times article. The Korea Customs Service told the Times that 2009 (at least the first 10 months) was the first year they noticed a decline in wine sales in Korea since the Asian financial crisis reached its zenith in 1998. However, the South Korean government expect wine imports from Europe and South America to improve after recently signed free-trade... Beyond Koreanfornian Cooking http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2405606/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:11:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405122/posts SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea said Friday that it understands the need to resume the stalled international talks on ending its nuclear programs, and that it agrees to work with the United States to narrow unspecified "remaining differences." The statement from North Korea's Foreign Ministry was the first reaction from the communist nation to three days of high-level talks with President Barack Obama's special envoy. Upon returning from North Korea on Thursday, envoy Stephen Bosworth made similar remarks in Seoul that the two sides reached common understandings on the need to restart the nuclear talks. Though the North stopped... AP/Yahoo News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405122/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:30:22 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405058/posts A visit to North Korea by U.S. envoy Stephen Bosworth ended in failure Thursday to convince the North to return to multilateral nuclear disarmament talks. "We identified some common understandings on the need for and the role of the six-party talks and the importance of the implementation of the 2005 Joint Statement," Bosworth told reporters. "It remains to be seen when and how [North Korea] will return to the six-party talks." He added, "This is something that requires further consultations among all six of us." But Bosworth claimed he had "very useful" meetings with senior North Korean officials. Further bilateral... Chosun Ilbo News, Seoul (English) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2405058/posts#comment Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:36:05 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404352/posts North Korean Money Shift Sparks Violence By EVAN RAMSTAD SEOUL -- New reports emerged Tuesday of protests and deadly violence in North Korea as the country's authoritarian regime over the past week seized most of its citizens' money and savings via a new-currency issue. Open Radio for North Korea, a Seoul-based shortwave radio station that broadcasts news to the North, said police killed two men in Pyongsong, a market center outside of Pyongyang, on Friday after they divided their savings among a large group of people and urged them to exchange the money for them, attempting to get around the... WSJ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2404352/posts#comment Thu, 10 Dec 2009 05:47:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402789/posts U.S. envoy Bosworth arrives in Pyongyang: N. Korean media SEOUL, Dec. 8 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. envoy on North Korea arrived in Pyongyang on Tuesday, the North's media said, in the highest-level visit to the communist nation since the Barack Obama administration took power in Washington early this year. Stephen Bosworth and his entourage "arrived in Sunan Airport" just outside the capital, the Korean Central News Agency said. Bosworth departed from the U.S. Osan air base in South Korea at around 2 p.m. on a three-day mission to bring the North back to a multilateral forum on its nuclear program Yonhap News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2402789/posts#comment Tue, 8 Dec 2009 14:04:29 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401894/posts N. Korea's Currency Reform Could End in Chaos The North Korean military is on alert for a possible civil uprising following last week's sudden currency reform, according to a Russian business newspaper citing foreign diplomats in the communist country. The currency reform involved the exchange of only limited amounts of old bills at a rate of 100:1, with the state confiscating the remainder. People who are afraid of exposing the size of their wealth have no choice but to hide their old bills. It is difficult to ascertain the actual circumstances, but it is apparent the North Korean regime is... Chosun Ilbo News, Seoul http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401894/posts#comment Mon, 7 Dec 2009 08:09:21 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401826/posts The North Korean military has seized charge of the economy, elbowing out other ministries and the Workers' Party, the Washington Post said Tuesday. According to the daily, North Korea's military has "grabbed nearly complete command of the nation's state-run economy and staked out a lucrative new trade in mineral sales to China to make money for its supreme commander, Kim Jong-il." "The army has earned hundreds of millions of dollars selling missiles and weapons to Iran, Pakistan, Syria and other nations." But its two nuclear tests in October 2006 and in May 2009 "have triggered UN sanctions that are now... Chosun Ilbo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401826/posts#comment Mon, 7 Dec 2009 03:59:43 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401766/posts OK, this is confusing: but this is the LINK to the original Japanese language article from the conservative/trustworthy South Korean "Chonsun Ilbo" daily newspaper website in Korean which reported from a Russian news agency just a little while ago.The headline is 北朝鮮デノミ：「住民騒乱を懸念、軍が戦闘準備」 ("North Korean Currency Devaluation: Worries Over Uprising By North Korean People; North Korean Army Goes on Sub-War Status") Chosun Ilbo News, Seoul, S. Korea (original in Japanese) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401766/posts#comment Mon, 7 Dec 2009 01:34:54 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401405/posts Why Bosworth Should Not Go to Pyongyang By Chris Green [2009-12-04 16:48 ] Author of, among other things, “Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World,” Gordon Chang has today called for Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. chief nuclear negotiator, not to make the trip to Pyongyang for bilateral talks that he is scheduled to make on December 8th. Writing for Forbes, Chang asserts that for Bosworth to go to Pyongyang at this time is both playing into North Korean hands and completely undermining the policy which Washington had appeared to be adhering to since Barack Obama came to office, namely... Daily NK http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401405/posts#comment Sun, 6 Dec 2009 09:01:26 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401265/posts This is a short video clip of the top news from the major Japanese JNN Network today. The link is to a Japanese news page on Yahoo!Japan; one just needs to click the arrow to stream the report.Before streaming, please note:-Not all PC/Mac systems can stream the video but most can.-The video may be up for only a few more hours. Then (usually) the links go down. Please see while you can.-You may need to have Microsoft Silverlight installed on your machine.The horrid news report about North Korea, in Japanese, is HERE.And HERE is a clip of what the... JNN News (Television) from Japan http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2401265/posts#comment Sun, 6 Dec 2009 00:53:53 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399970/posts The South Korean economy grew 3.2 percent in the third quarter from three months earlier, the fastest growth in over seven years, thanks to improving domestic demand and brisk exports, the central bank said Friday. The country's gross domestic product (GDP), the broadest measure of economic performance, was revised up from an earlier prediction of a 2.9 percent on-quarter expansion for the July-September period, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). It marked the fastest quarterly growth since a 3.8 percent advance in the first quarter of 2002. Compared with a year earlier, Asia's fourth-largest economy expanded 0.9 percent last... Yonhap http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2399970/posts#comment Fri, 4 Dec 2009 05:39:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2398026/posts She was probably 16 years old and had a wide, flat Asian face, a long neck and a slim figure. The girl died 1,500 years ago. But now she's reborn -- well, partially, at least. The restoration is the result of two years of interdisciplinary work that brought together experts in archaeology, forensic medicine, anatomy, genetics, chemistry and other fields -- a notable step forward in Korean archaeology. In December 2007, archaeologists discovered the complete remains of the girl and partial remains of three others in a tomb in Changnyeong County, South Gyeongsang... The work revealed that the four... Joongang Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2398026/posts#comment Wed, 2 Dec 2009 00:34:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2395493/posts In 1965, a mural was discovered in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, when local authorities decided to build a road in the middle of the Afrasiab tepe. A tepe is a mound marking an ancient site, in this case pre-Mongol Samarkand. When it was found, the mural was weathered and its images obscured. But those who discovered it had the foresight to make a drawing of it, from which replicas have been made. A replica of this mural is now being shown as part of the exhibit "The Crossroads of Civilizations: The Asian Culture of Uzbekistan" until September of next year at the... JoongAng Daily http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2395493/posts#comment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 19:00:59 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2395484/posts A joint expedition of Russian and Korean archeologists studying a site of Balhae Era resulted in finding evidences that prove existence of a big administrative centre in the Primorye Territory in the 9th-11th centuries. "We have found a building in the shape of a palace, well-known to us from diggings of capital cities of Balhae in China. Nothing of the kind had been found in the Primorye before. The discovery confirms the supposition that Primorye was not just a periphery of the Balhae state, but an administrative centre once existed there. We are going to find out what it was... Russia IC dot com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2395484/posts#comment Fri, 27 Nov 2009 18:49:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393146/posts Pyongyang, November 23 (KCNA) -- In order to put an end to confrontation and conflict in the Korean Peninsula and ensure its lasting peace and stability it is indispensable to terminate the state of ceasefire between the DPRK and the U.S. and establish a peacekeeping mechanism. Rodong Sinmun Monday says this in a signed commentary. Recalling that recently a group of warships of the south Korean forces perpetrated such unpardonable criminal act as opening fire on a patrol boat of the Navy of the Korean People's Army on routine guard duty in the waters of the north side in the... KCNA http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393146/posts#comment Tue, 24 Nov 2009 03:21:55 GMT