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Wed, October 4, 2023 | 21:20
NK-China fishing deal
North Korea has sold fishing rights worth $30 million to China this year, according to the National Intelligence Service (NIS) last week. Under the deal, the cash-strapped regime in Pyongyang issued fishing licenses to about 1,500 Chinese vessels, triple the number in an average year. Speculation has been rife that Pyongyang might have sold its fishing rights near the Northern Limit Line in the West Sea, but this is the first time that details about the secret deal have come to light.
Ahn's departure
Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo quit as the co-chairman of his minor opposition People’s Party Wednesday over a campaign kickback scandal involving three party members. Ahn, an IT expert-turned-politician and a presidential hopeful, resigned from his post 149 days after being elected as the co-leader at the party's inauguration ceremony on Feb. 2. Rep. Chun Jung-bae, co-chairman of the third-largest party, also stepped down with Ahn.
Ugly policemen
The government adopted the school police system in 2012 to combat school violence after a student in Daegu who had been bullied committed suicide. It is shocking in this regard that police officers in Busan were found to have had sex with the high school students they were supposed to protect, and then quit without any consequences.
Brexit and currency war
In the aftermath of Britain's vote to leave the European Union last week, fears are mounting that the world might plunge into a currency war. On Monday, China's central bank cut the yuan's fixed rate by almost 1 percent to 6.6375 to the dollar as the greenback surged after the Brexit vote. Monday's fix was the lowest level since December 2010.
New party in crisis
Rep. Park Sun-sook of the minor opposition People's Party appeared before the prosecution in Seoul Monday for questioning about a political funding scandal. Park, who served as the party's secretary general during the April 13 general election, entered the prosecutors’ office without answering reporters' questions. Park was the party's third official summoned by prosecutors over the kickback scandal. She is suspected of having falsified campaign expenditure records submitted to the National Election Commission (NEC).
Childhood memories and future
By accident, my current workplace in Seoul is not far from where I was born. So whenever I have free time, I make it a habit to look around there in search of my childhood memories. The two separate houses in a mountain village where I used to live until I became 14 no longer exist. In the locations believed to have accommodated my old homes are structures I don't know. To te...
N. Korea's missile threat
North Korea confirmed its commitment to develop the ability to strike U.S. military bases on the Pacific island of Guam on Thursday, trumpeting the success of its new medium-range ballistic missile test the previous day. The North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as saying that the launch now gives his country "the sure capability to attack in an overall and practical way the Americans in the Pacific operation theater." Pyongyang test-fired two Musudan missiles Wednesday and one of them flew 400 kilometers into the East Sea.
Defectors' testimony
A court hearing to determine whether a dozen former North Korean restaurant workers defected to the South in April, out of their own free will, ended without any conclusion Tuesday. The Lawyers for a Democratic Society, which had filed a petition with the Seoul Central District Court questioning if the female defectors might be detained illegally here, asked for the judge to be replaced. The court said it would decide to resume the hearing later after discussions.
Failed lobbying?
The prosecution on Monday indicted Hong Man-pyo, a senior prosecutor-turned-lawyer, as part of its probe into a scandal involving Jung Woon-ho, CEO of the cosmetics company Nature Republic. Hong is suspected of receiving 300 million won in illegal attorney fees last August from Jung, who is serving a prison term for gambling overseas, under the pretext of lobbying senior prosecutors. He is also accused of receiving another 200 million won from Jung in September 2011 to lobby senior officials of Seoul Metro over the cosmetics firm’s subway store contract. Hong is charged with evading 1.5 bill...
Strong fiscal measures
The government appears to have changed its position on a supplementary budget. On Friday, Strategy and Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho said the government would seek measures to inject vitality into the economy. The remarks were taken as indicating that the government would create an extra budget, and this represents a major shift from Yoo’s earlier skepticism about a supplementary budget.
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