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Firefight Between North and South Korean Navy This Morning: Causualty Unknown Happened on the morning of Nov. 10 at NLL. N. Korean patrol boats went over NLL to the south. Warning shots fired, but ignored. S. Korean navy fired at N. Korean ship. N. Koreans returned fire.

The point of this posting is to continue to systematically attack the notion that it is natural for two Koreas to exist and to continually eat away at all the justifications that South Koreans make in order to some how to ease their collective guilt as they lead their moderately wealthty lives as the other half of the nation continues to suffer (For more on how North Koreans continue to suffer see last week's issue of the New Yorker or what Professor Brad DeLong at UC Berkeley has noted to be last weeks "must read.") I do this under the...

Its Spoken Language Fading, Buton Tries a Script From Seoul That Has Global Ambitions SORAWOLIO, Indonesia -- In an elementary school here on the remote Indonesian island of Buton, a teacher named Abidin recently began to show students how to write their endangered native language -- in the Korean alphabet. Mr. Abidin carefully copied some Korean letters from a textbook onto the blackboard and asked his fourth-grade class what they spelled in their Cia-Cia tongue, a Malayo-Polynesian language related to others spoken across Indonesia. "I eat fish," they replied in unison. The students know little about Korea, 3,500 miles north...

After rare US talks, NKorean diplomats hit VegasSTAFF WRITER 3:47 HRS IST Washington, Aug 22 (AFP) After holding rare talks with a prominent US governor, a diplomatic duo from the reclusive state of North Korea is off to see another side of the United States -- Las Vegas. A senior US official confirmed on condition of anonymity yesterday that the two North Korean diplomats had told US authorities they planned "personal travel" in America's casino capital as well as in Los Angeles. The US official declined further details on the travel of the pair, who are accredited at the United...

Sixty-four years ago, the United States dropped the first nuclear weapon used in war on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. A few days later, another was exploded over Nagasaki. More than 200,000 people died in the bombings and many of them were Korean. S. Koreans pray in font of the cenotaph for Korean atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima, Japan, 05 Aug 2009 S. Koreans pray in font of the cenotaph for Korean atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima, Japan, 05 Aug 2009 At a ceremony in Seoul, the Koreans who survived the blasts marked the 64th anniversary of the Hiroshima attack...

It's the worst year in history for the industry: Two Detroit companies went bankrupt, and even the Japanese are losing money. But nothing stops those Koreans. Hyundai and Kia are expanding their lineups, a new Kia plant is to open in Georgia, and they are setting most ambitious goals. Their cars may not be the best, but they are improving--many get on the "recommended" list in Consumers Reports--and they are getting major help from the home country's weak currency. The two are connected under the name Hyundai Kia Automotive Group. Hyundai is larger and owns a 39% controlling stake in...

A Korean Invasion Blindsides the U.S. Army -- but in a Good Way Immigrants From Peninsula Swamp Program Offering Citizenship; Other Groups Squeezed By MIRIAM JORDAN LOS ANGELES -- Suk Joon Lee, a South Korean immigrant, feared his days in the U.S. were numbered. His ice-cream shop wasn't doing well, and if it failed, his investor visa could be revoked. Then Mr. Lee stumbled upon a Korean-language Web site that described a way out: a program that the Army was about to launch that offered a shortcut to getting U.S. citizenship. The site was created by another Korean immigrant, James...

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North Korea's Kim Jong Il and his henchmen are often described as "irrational" or "mad." This description does them a great disservice, for they have stayed in power for decades by manipulating great powers. Sunday's missile launch is just another step in a complicated political game whose aim has not changed since the 1960s: to ensure a steady influx of foreign aid without making any concessions which might put regime at risk. [...] The first target of the North Korean missile is, of course, the White House -- not literally, but figuratively. Pyongyang's leaders know that under Barack Obama's administration,...

SNIPPET: "The CIA is attempting to recruit more spies by advertising on the internet, radio and television, and by holding meetings with American Muslims to make up a severe shortage of Arabic speakers.... Leon Panetta, the new CIA director, will meet Muslim groups in cities such as Detroit to spearhead personally the new drive to recruit Arabic speakers. He recently lamented the fact that only 13 per cent of CIA officers speak a foreign language, and just 22 per cent come from minorities. "In order to accomplish our vital intelligence mission we want to market our employment opportunities to speakers...

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing from the Korean War, have been identified and will be returned to his family for burial with full military honors. He is Sgt. 1st Class Patrick J. Arthur, U.S. Army, of Broken Bow, Neb. He will be buried on May 1 in Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. Arthur was a member of Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 38th Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. In mid May 1951, elements of the 2nd ID were securing their positions on the No Name Line south of the...

The New Hot Cuisine: Korean Why its flavors are cropping up everywhere from haute cuisine to fast food By JULIET CHUNG The noted Chicago eatery Blackbird has kimchi on the menu, and California Pizza Kitchen is developing Korean barbecue beef pizza. In Los Angeles, crowds are lining up for street food from a pair of Korean taco trucks called Kogi. The slightly sour-tasting Korean frozen yogurt served at the Pinkberry and Red Mango chains has inspired many imitators. Redolent with garlic, sesame oil and red chili peppers, Korean food is suddenly everywhere. It's even on the packaged-food industry's radar. "Last...

AS the sun begins to sink behind the Santa Monica Mountains and the northbound traffic thickens on the 405 freeway, the hungry refresh their browsers. After obsessively checking the Twitter postings of the Korean taco maker to see where the truck will park next, they begin lining up — throngs of college students, club habitués, couples on dates and guys having conversations about spec scripts. And they wait, sometimes well beyond an hour, all for the pleasure of spicy bites of pork, chicken or tofu soaked in red chili flake vinaigrette, short ribs doused in sesame-chili salsa roja or perhaps...

The largest Methodist congregation in the world is the 120,000 member Kumnan Church in Seoul, Korea, whose pastor/bishop is an colorful enthusiast for South Korea's alliance with America. "Without [the] U.S. presence, Korea would not have grown to be one of the largest concentrations of Christians in the world," explained a senior U.S. Army chaplain to the United Methodist News Service recently. "The Korean people are on fire for the Lord. Bishop Kim credits his success to prayer and preaching the unadulterated Word of God." Methodist Bishop Hong-Do Kim is the 70-year-old pastor who led a 75 member congregation to...

Enjoy your stay... at North Korean embassy By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin Last Updated: 1:52am BST 05/04/2008 North Korea, one of the poorest countries in the world, is reportedly raising much needed funds by transforming parts of its Berlin embassy complex into a backpacker hostel. The deal would see North Korea, famous for the secretive regime of dictator Kim Jong-il, throwing open the doors of former diplomatic buildings to budget travellers from around the world. The large embassy compound is located in former East Berlin close to tourist attractions including Checkpoint Charlie and the Brandenburg Gate. A display case...

Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!   For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.   Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ~ Hall of Heroes ~ Tibor Rubin Info from this website.               Tibor Rubin: An Unusual Hero Of The Korean War by Seymour "Sy" Brody Tibor Rubin's bravery during the Korean War is probably unparalleled in the history of America's fighting heroes. That is why many organizations and individuals are involved in a...

N Korean denies link to Israel's strike on Syria By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem Last Updated: 12:02pm BST 18/09/2007 North Korea has strongly denied allegations from unnamed American intelligence sources that its regime provided nuclear technology and expertise to Syria. The allegations came after Israel's covert airstrike in northern Syria, with US sources suggesting the target was some sort of shipment of nuclear-connected material provided by Pyongyang. Israel has not given any details on the operation in Syria While North Korea has been providing arms for years to Syria, most notably customised Scud missiles, this was the first allegation about...

N Korean ship 'linked to Israel's strike on Syria' By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem Last Updated: 4:52pm BST 17/09/2007 A suspicious North Korean freighter that re-flagged itself as South Korean before off-loading an unknown cargo at the Syrian port of Tartous is at the centre of efforts today to investigate Israel's recent airstrike on Syria. Israel has not given any details on the operation in Syria An Israeli on-line data analyst, Ronen Solomon, found an internet trace for the 1,700-tonne cargo ship, Al Hamed, which showed the vessel started to off-load what Syrian officials categorised as "cement" on Sept 3....

South Korea's presidential office said Tuesday that negotiators from the South Korean government and the Taliban reached an agreement to release all of the 19 South Korean hostages still held in Afghanistan. "The hostage release agreement was reached after direct talks between Korean and Taliban negotiators from 5:48 p.m. to 7:20 p.m. (Korea Standard Time). The South Korean government welcomes the agreement on the hostage release," presidential spokesman Cheon Ho-seon said in a press conference.

Taleban militants in Afghanistan say they have freed two women from among the 21 South Korean hostages they are holding as a "gesture of goodwill". Taleban negotiators, who have been holding talks with a South Korean delegation in the city of Ghazni, had said earlier a deal could be near. No Afghan or South Korean officials have been able to confirm the release. The South Korean Christian aid workers were seized last month. Two have already been killed by the rebels. "Our leadership council decided to free unconditionally and as a gesture of goodwill two women hostages who are sick,"...

Taleban rule the road in Ghazni Alastair Leithead BBC News, Ghazni, central Afghanistan Thunder echoed around the wide valley announcing the arrival of a blinding sandstorm that rushed along the roads and down corridors between tall, impenetrable mud compounds. The hostages could be held in as many as 15 separate villages The dust whipped up around the police - dozens of them, all heavily armed - who accompanied us to the place where the South Korean church volunteers had been kidnapped. They tentatively showed us where they think the 21 survivors are being held. In two weeks, two hostages have...

South Korean officials have begun their first face-to-face talks with Taleban militants on the fate of 21 Christian hostages, Afghan officials say. The talks were being held in the city of Ghazni, a senior official in the province told the BBC. The official said he was optimistic about the outcome of the talks. Two of the South Korean hostages have been killed, and the Taleban say they will kill more of them if a number of militants are not released from prison. Earlier the Taleban said the Afghan government had provided a written promise of safe passage to two of...

A second South Korean hostage has been killed by the Taleban in central Afghanistan, local police say. They said the bullet-riddled body of the man was found at the side of the road in the village of Arizo Kalley, in Ghazni province. The Taleban seized 23 Korean Christian aid workers, most of them women, on 19 July and shot dead their leader - a male pastor - last Wednesday. Earlier, a video of the hostages was aired on Arabic TV station al-Jazeera. A reporter for the Associated Press news agency at the scene said the victim appeared to be in...

U.S. Food Guru Hails Korean Cooking “The future of Korean food is bright; it’s healthy and the flavors are unique,” says Assoc. Prof. John Nihoff of one of the top culinary schools in the U.S. He was speaking at the 2007 New York Food Fair. Prof. Nihoff, who has been lecturing in French cuisine and cultural history of food at the CIA - that’s the Culinary Institute of America -- for 20 years, has a special affection for Korean food thanks to his Korean wife. He is a judge on the popular TV show “America Iron Chef.” “Korean dishes...

In the aftermath of the bloodbath that 23-year-old Seung-Hui Cho unleashed on a peaceful Virginia Tech campus only a few months before, American citizens were left to endure an unendurable tragedy and to deal with an ineffable grief that had enveloped all of America. But, mostly, they were left with a multitude of questions that needed answering: Did Virginia Tech do enough to protect its students after its authorities grew aware that a gunman was wreaking havoc on its campus? What was it, really, that finally drove a student to coldly and methodically extinguish 32 promising lives in what the...

Shooter at Tech massacre identified in bomb threat; 9 hospitalized; victims named Monday morning's campus rampage was the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. These are the latest details to emerge. Alan Kim | The Roanoke Times At mid-day today, Blacksburg's South Main Street looks much the same as it always does. Traffic is manageable. Businesses are open. But the flag at A Cleaner World drycleaner is at half mast. Farther down the street, in downtown Blacksburg, it looks a little like a Virginia Tech Game Day. Plenty of students are crossing streets and walking along sidewalks. Almost every one...

(snip) During the stalemate in March 1952, elements of the 40th Infantry Division were occupying positions on the central front. Among the men assigned was Episcopal Chaplain Robert M. Crane. The 40th Division was a National Guard unit that had relieved the 24th Infantry Division little more than a month before. Although Crane, like many of the men he served, had had previous Army experience, his second tour had begun only 12 months earlier. He spent most of that time in Japan where the two National Guard divisions, the 40th and the 45th, trained and provided security while high-level commanders...

Police are investigating a shooting in University City involving a University of Pennsylvania student and students from Drexel University. Authorities said the University of Penn student fired 15 shots into an apartment occupied by Drexel students on 44th Street near Pine. Police said the shooting all stemmed from an argument between a Penn student and a Drexel student about their backgrounds. The Penn student, who is Korean, was arguing with the Drexel student, who is Indian, over their backgrounds, police said. "There's some indication that he was accusing him of being from another country, possibly being spies and that’s what...

France searches N Korean vesselNorth Korean ships can be searched in territorial waters French officials in the Indian Ocean have inspected a North Korean ship under the terms of UN Security Council sanctions adopted against Pyongyang. The ship was examined on the island of Mayotte, but there were no reports it was carrying any illegal cargo. It is believed to be the first time a North Korean vessel has been inspected under Security Council Resolution 1718. The resolution imposed sanctions on North Korea after it carried out a nuclear test in October. The measures are aimed at preventing North Korea...

Natural Selections: Roaming Free in the DMZ War can sometimes establish unexpected havens for wildlife. By Mary C. Pearl DISCOVER Vol. 27 No. 11 | November 2006 | Environment Strewn with mines and bordered with barbed wire, the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea extends in a narrow band about 150 miles long and two and a half miles wide. No permanent structures or settlements exist in the DMZ, and over the past 50 years, only occasional soldiers, observers, and the 225 residents of Daeseong-dong, a little village on the southern border, have been allowed in. Because of this...

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. (Army News Service, Nov. 2, 2006) – After more than 50 years of waiting, hoping and praying, the family of a Korean War hero can rest easier knowing their Soldier is finally home. The remains of Pfc. Francis Crater Jr. were buried in the family plot in Akron, Ohio, Oct. 21 – nearly 56 years after his death. Crater’s great nephew, a current Soldier, was one of more than 250 people who attended the funeral. “He was part of our family and meant a lot to us,” said Staff Sgt. Bob Jenkins, motor sergeant, 106th Transportation Battalion,...

China Holds Ethnic Koreans for Attempted Uranium Sale Chinese police last month arrested two men on charges of trying to sell 1 kg of enriched uranium, an essential raw material for nuclear weapons, press reports said Monday. The two were ethnic Koreans living in China, police in Beijing confirmed. Press reports said Beijing police arrested the two men, identified as Chang and Chung, on charges of attempting to sell 969.03 grams of enriched uranium at a hotel there on Sept. 11. Beijing police said initial investigations found the enriched uranium probably came from Russia, but sources there say the possibility...

SEOUL: He's no Dumbo the Flying Elephant but with his ability to "speak," perhaps as close to the Disney cartoon character as a real life elephant can get. The Everland amusement park said Friday its 16-year-old male Asian elephant, named Kosik, can make sounds imitating up to eight Korean words, including 'sit', 'no', 'yes', and 'lie down'. The pachyderm produces humanlike sounds by putting his trunk in his mouth and shaking it while exhaling - similar to how people whistle with their fingers. But the park said it's unclear if Kosik knows the meaning of the sounds he makes. Kim...

The news about the successful missile defense test conducted Friday by the Defense Department came at an opportune moment. Not only do we have constant reminders from North Korea and Iran of the importance of this program, but the program itself has been in real need of a boost, because congressional appropriations have been lagging.

LOS ANGELES A Korean grocers' group sued former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young for libel for claiming that they and other market owners "ripped off" blacks. The suit, filed last week in Los Angeles County Superior Court, also names the Wal-Mart store chain and seeks at least $7.5 million in damages. The former Atlanta mayor resigned as head of a Wal-Mart advocacy group on Aug. 18 amid controversy over comments he made to the weekly, black-owned Los Angeles Sentinel. In an interview, Young said that Wal-Mart competition had forced smaller, "mom-and-pop" stores out of his neighborhood. "But you see, those are...

Story by Multi-National Division - Northeast PAO A Korean doctor treats a patient at the Zaytun Hospital. Department of Defense photo by MND-NE PAO. On a recent hot morning, a 76-year-old woman from a small village near Irbil was ushered into the hospital in a wheelchair pushed by her son. She was greeted with thunderous applause. Mariam Mhiadin had become the 40,000th patient admitted to the Republic of Korea's Zaytun Hospital since it opened Nov. 27, 2004. During the brief ceremony that followed, Republic of Korea Lt. Col. Lee Hae-Seol, commander, ROK Division's Medical Battalion, handed flowers and gifts...

LOS ANGELES -- The U.S. Justice Department is suing Los Angeles Clippers owner and real estate mogul Donald Sterling, accusing him of discriminating against black tenants, and of favoring Korean renters. The suit, filed in federal court in Los Angeles, alleges that Sterling refused to rent apartments in Beverly Hills to black applicants. And at buildings in Koreatown, he allegedly refused to rent to tenants who were not Korean. In announcing the suit, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said his agency remains "committed to protecting the rights of our nation's citizens to obtain housing without fear of discrimination." Sterling's wife, Rochelle,...

Tuesday July 11, 11:22 AM Satellite photos detect activity at N Korea missile bases: report TOKYO (AFP) - North Korea could be preparing for new launches of mid-range missiles following last week's tests, with activity detected at its bases, a report has said citing Japanese government sources. US and Japanese satellite photos show that mid-range Rodong missiles had been set up on launch pads at a base in southeastern North Korea, but were later removed, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper reported. Fuel tanks could be seen near the launch pads, the report said. The report said the satellite photos were taken...

Some Inland-region Korean- Americans said Thursday that missile tests by North Korea this week are an attempt to force world attention on the starving nation. But it's a dangerous game that is scaring relatives in South Korea and could backfire, they said. "They're doing something crazy," said Roger Park, 54, of Colton. Park was born in Seoul, South Korea, and came to the United States 25 years ago. A brother and sister remain there. "So many countries don't want them to test fire," Park said by phone. "They're still going to do it. That's a concern, especially for South Koreans....

Report: NKorean envoy to UN threatens countermeasures in case of sanctions(Updated 11:39 a.m.) 2006/7/6 TOKYO (AP) A North Korean envoy to the United Nations has threatened "all-out countermeasures" if other nations enforce sanctions over its test-launch of several missiles, Japanese broadcaster TBS has reported. "We will be forced to take all-out countermeasures if sanctions are exercised," Han Song Ryol, deputy chief of North Korea's U.N. mission in New York, said in a telephone interview Wednesday, TBS said. Han said the missile launches were part of a regular military drill, according to TBS.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/060621/kyodo/d8icjovo0.html Wednesday June 21, 8:32 PM Chinese, N. Korean military confirm ties amid missile question (Kyodo) _ Chinese and North Korean military officials agreed Wednesday to boost bilateral cooperation, China's state-run media reported in a dispatch that gave no hint as to whether a possible test-firing of a missile by North Korea was mentioned in their Beijing talks. The talks were held in the Chinese capital between a visiting North Korean delegation headed by Ri Yong Hwan, an army commander of the Korean People's Army, and Liang Guanglie, chief of the general staff of the People's Liberation Army, Xinhua News...

WASHINGTON - A South Korean businessman accused of accepting millions of dollars from Iraq in the United Nations oil-for-food scandal has been charged with lying to the FBI. On Wednesday, a federal grand jury returned an indictment accusing Tongsun Park of falsely telling investigators in 2004 that he played no role more than a decade ago in the adoption of the U.N. resolution that set up the oil-for-food program. The one-count, single-sentence indictment also says Park made false statements when he said he had no business dealings with an unidentified U.N. official, and when he told the FBI that he...

Text of report in English by South Korean news agency Yonhap Seoul, 31 May: South Korea's main opposition Grand National Party was expected to win a landslide victory in Wednesday's [31 May] elections to elect over 3,800 officials and members of local governments and assemblies, including 16 heads of provincial and metropolitan governments, exit polls by local TV stations said. The main opposition party was expected to win at least 11 of 16 elections in seven major cities and eight provinces, including Seoul, Pusan, Inchon and Kyonggi Province, according to the polls released right after the vote was over at...

Clues lead to a shared past / Newly discovered 4th-century ceramics show Korean influence Kazuya Sekiguchi and Hiroshi Tanaka / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers The recent discovery of Sueki unglazed ceramics at an archaeological site in Uji, Kyoto Prefecture, has experts rethinking the chronology of early exchanges between Japan and the Korean Peninsula. The discovery revealed that the production of Sueki wares began in Japan in the late fourth century, 20 to 30 years earlier than archaeologists had believed, indicating that people from the Korean Peninsula who produced the ceramics arrived in Japan around the same time. Horseback riding and...

Reflecting on his childhood, Brigadier General Dean Carlton DuBois, Sr. recalled his mother’s quip: “You look like you’re full of enthusiastics.” Though he remembered the phrase as awkwardly charming, it would define his character, even in the darkest days prior to his death.

South Korea sends more missionaries than any country but the U.S. And it won't be long before it's number one. ...In 1973, there were at least 3,411 non-Western, crosscultural missionaries in the world. That number has now exploded to 103,000... As the Western mission movement matures and slows down, [Non-Western] missions are expanding. South Korea sends more than 1,100 new missionaries annually. That means Korea alone sends out as many new missionaries each year as all of the countries of the West combined. ...For seven years, Lee worked with Muslims in ...violence-torn Chechnya... He now trains Korean missionaries for Frontiers,...

A home invasion and attack near Duluth a week ago has set off a political firestorm that may reach all the way to China. Peter Yuan Li said he was tied up and beaten in his Chatburn Way home by several men on Feb. 8. The men spoke Korean and Mandarin and left behind certain valuables, including a camcorder and television, but took his computers, a phone and his wallet, according to Li. They also demanded unspecified documents and pried open two file cabinets, he said. But Li claims it was no ordinary robbery. The culprits, he said, were Chinese...

SEOUL, South Korea - Disgraced cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk was questioned Friday by South Korean government authorities for the first time since the scandal erupted over his falsified stem cell research. The Board of Audit and Inspection questioned Hwang about his possible misappropriation of state funds, spokesman Park Jin-kyu said. Hwang received $42.2 million in government funds for his research as well as $4.35 million from private foundations, according to the board. Hwang already has been questioned by a Seoul National University panel, which has accused the professor of veterinarian medicine of fabricating results published in landmark 2004 and 2005...

SEOUL (Reuters) - The president of Seoul National University stripped a title from a disgraced researcher because of science fraud and called for six others to be punished who were part of the same cloning scandal, the school said on Friday. Once heralded and now scorned, scientist Hwang Woo-suk lost his title as "chair-professor." Hwang had already resigned his post at the university on December 23 when an investigation panel said in an interim report that he bore major responsibility for deliberately fabricated data in two landmark papers on embryonic stem cells. Seoul National University President Chung Un-chan said the...

SEOUL, South Korea - Disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk asked his fellow South Koreans for forgiveness Thursday at his first public appearance in almost three weeks, saying he takes full responsibility for his fraudulent stem cell research. "I ask for your forgiveness," Hwang told a nationally televised press conference in Seoul. "I feel so miserable that it's difficult even to say sorry." Seoul National University, where Hwang is a professor, on Tuesday issued a final report that he fabricated landmark published claims in 2004 and 2005 to have created the world's first human embryonic stem stells from cloned embryos. "The use...