Free Republic

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...

Ancient Tomb of Exiled Korean King Found in Japan An education board in Japan¡¯s Nara Prefecture said Thursday it has discovered a luxurious tomb most likely that of a king from Korea¡¯s ancient Baekje kingdom who went into exile in the island country. The tomb is in the ancient Kazumayama burial grounds, often referred to as "the kings' ravine," which house many royal tombs including Takamatsuzuka. It is a stone chamber built with flagstone-like bricks in the Baekje style, and judging from the earthenware excavated from it is likely to have built in 660-670 B.C., the Asukamura Education Board said....

FUGITIVE IN $8 MILLION KOREAN STOCK FRAUD NABBED Arrest Results from Collaboration by ICE, U.S. VISIT, & Interpol OLD TAPPAN, N.J.-Acting on information supplied by Interpol, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in New Jersey arrested Heung Joo Kim, a man wanted by the Republic of Korea for embezzling stock and currency valued at $8 million. The Korean national is the subject of an Interpol "Red Notice." He is now in ICE custody facing a deportation hearing and an extradition request from the Republic of Korea. The arrest is the result of a cooperative effort between a special Compliance...

BEIJING - North Korea criticized the United States Thursday for undermining the spirit of cooperation at six-nation talks on the North's nuclear programs, casting a pall over discussions aimed at persuading the regime to disarm, news reports and the U.S. envoy said. The North said Washington's sanctions against firms suspected of weapons proliferation and its accusations that North Korea is counterfeiting U.S. money would block progress in the latest round of talks, the South's Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed officials. Delegates say this week's discussions — the fifth in a series that has progressed fitfully and amid deep distrust...

Song Yoo-geun, 8, wants to build flying cars, defying Newton's law of gravity, and the physics genius which has made him Korea's youngest university student may very well drive him to that dream. Amid scholastic achievements that have confounded experts, the public spotlight is squarely on the child prodigy and his parents, both 46 and both former teachers. What has made Yoo-geun - born late November 1997 and actually just shy of 8 years old - so special? _____________________________ Whoa! Wish I had those kinda brains. Do you think he knows about Santa, the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, etc?

Gwen Stefani's Harajuku girls have been getting a lot of attention lately, and I have to say that I am confused. I like Gwen Stefani, she's allright. She's very stylish, has a nice voice and a flat stomach. She is a rock star and quite good at it. Now she has 4 things all together, the Harajuku Girls. I want to like them, and I want to think that they are great, but I am not sure if I can. I mean, racial sterotypes are really cute sometimes, and I don't want to bum everybody out by pointing out the...

PoWs from Korean War still held after 52 years By Richard Spencer in Beijing > (Filed: 26/10/2005)North Korea admitted yesterday that it was still holding prisoners from the Korean War as well as South Koreans it had abducted since. Ten PoWs are still in the North, 52 years after the war ended, the South Korean ministry of unification was told in response to inquiries about 103 missing people. Another 11 people who had been abducted were also being held. Six PoWs and 10 abducted prisoners whose existence was previously unknown had died in captivity. The rest were unaccounted for, the...

NEW YORK : A US Army deserter said the one thing he did right during his 40 years in North Korea was to leave the country, which was training his daughters as spies, in an interview. "I made a big mistake of my life, but getting my daughters out of there, that was one right thing I did," Charles Robert Jenkins told Time magazine 40 years after he downed 10 beers and wandered across the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. Jenkins, a GI from North Carolina, said North Korea wanted him to have Western-looking children that they could...

Four decades after he vanished into North Korea, an American soldier today pleaded guilty before a US military court to desertion and tearfully recounted how depression and fear of death drove him to defect. Sergeant Charles Robert Jenkins, now a frail 64-year-old, was given a light 30-day jail term in a case that had pitted American demands for justice with Tokyo’s call for leniency so Jenkins could settle down in Japan with his Japanese wife. In gripping court-martial testimony that shed light on a long-standing Cold War mystery, Jenkins said that he never intended to stay in North Korea, and...

RALEIGH, N.C. - A U.S. Army deserter who spent decades in North Korea says his communist keepers abused him and controlled every aspect of his life, down to telling him how often to have sex. "It was the worst mistake anyone ever made," Charles Jenkins said. "In words, I cannot express the feelings I have towards North Korea, the harassment I got, the hard life." In an interview airing Sunday on CBS' "60 Minutes, Jenkins said he was given no painkillers when a tattoo on his forearm that read "U.S. Army" was cut off with a scalpel and scissors. ...........

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan, Sept. 2, 2005 — The Republic of Korea Army replaced their 100th Construction Engineer Army Group with 147 new, fresh soldiers. An advanced group of Korean engineers arrived at Bagram Airfield Aug. 13 and the main body followed shortly after, arriving Aug. 25-29. They will keep the same name as the previous group -- the 100th Construction Engineer Army Group. "We are well aware of the sufferings of the people caused by the cruelties of war. That is the very reason we're here in Afghanistan, as a dependable comrade to our coalition forces and as a friendly...

CAMP LEMONIER, Djibouti, Aug. 18, 2005 – Call it the prototype for a new method of warfare. The Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa, headquartered here, is fighting the global war on terror with good deeds, not weapons. Task force commander Marine Maj. Gen. Timothy Ghormley very proudly tells one and all that no one in his command has "fired a shot in anger," but the command may have prevented hundreds of young men and women in the region from embracing the terrorist philosophy. "My combat forces are doctors, veterinarians, engineers and dentists," Ghormley said during an interview at...

OK, I have a strange question. In my job search I was contacted by a recruiter who believes I am an excellent fit for a position that sounds very exciting. But there is a catch. They want someone who is fluent in Korean. He advised me a strong candidate will be given the opportunity for company paid language training, but I was wondering. How tough is Korean to learn? I studied German and some Latin, but nothing anything like this before.

UN probes Wheat Pool Payments of $23.15M made in oil-for-food scandal congressional hearing told Steven Edwards CanWest News Service Saturday, April 30, 2005 UNITED NATIONS -- The Saskatchewan Wheat Pool has emerged as one of the companies involved in Iraq oil-for-food deals now under investigation by a U.S. congressional committee probing the United Nations aid program, which Saddam Hussein manipulated to skim off billions of dollars for himself. The focus on the company comes as the UN announced Friday it had discovered a staff-rule violation by Canadian businessperson and international diplomat Maurice Strong, whose long record at the world body...

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Wednesday declared improper a request by the Presbyterian Church (USA) to allow an immediate takeover of the property of First Presbyterian Church in Torrance, Calif., and the installation of former General Assembly Moderator Syngman Rhee as the interim minister. Judge David Yaffe ruled that their request was improperly timed and that he would not consider it until after conducting a hearing in June. The leaders of the 2,700-member Torrance congregation, the largest Korean church in the PCUSA, are seeking to renounce the jurisdiction of the PCUSA and stake claim to their property, which is...