Podcast: Sony cancels release of 'Interview' after threats
Today on The Korea Times Podcast: Sony cancels the release of the US Comedy “The Interview” after threats were issued and regional trilateral Foreign Minister talks unlikely before 2015.
Host Steve Miller discusses US Congressman Michael Honda visit to Seoul as part of the Congressional Member Exchange Program and the plethora of problems facing the second Lotte World.
Sony cancels release of 'Interview' after threats
Sony Pictures announced it was canceling the theatrical release of "The Interview," a project that had angered North Korea and prompted threats from hackers calling themselves The Guardians of Peace.
Threats posted on an Internet message board warned theaters and movie-goers to be aware of attacks akin to those perpetrated on September 11, 2001, prompting Sony Pictures to release the following statement, "In light of the decision by the majority of our (theater) exhibitors not to show the film 'The Interview,' we have decided not to move forward with the... theatrical release.”
Trilateral FM meeting unlikely this year
The Foreign ministers of South Korea, China and Japan are unlikely to meet before the end of the year, delaying a possible summit among the three countries. In November, President Park Geun-hye offered a summit proposal with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during the ASEAN+3 meeting in Myanmar.
However, the three nations have failed to make progress in their discussions to hold a meeting, something that’s been made even more difficult to achieve due to Japan’s snap election for its lower house of parliament last weekend.
US congressman here on 'sexual slavery' mission
Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se met U.S. congressman Michael Hondato discuss issues of mutual interest, including ways to enhance ties between the two countries.A member of the U.S. House of Representatives, Honda, a Democrat from California, is on a visit here through Sunday at the invitation of the foreign ministry as part of the Congressional Member Exchange Program.
Honda was a key member in the U.S. Congress who sought passage of a resolution in 2007 on sex slaves, the majority of which were Koreans, who were forced to work at military brothels for Japanese soldiers during WWII.
He will meet U.S. Ambassador to Korea Mark Lippert and visit American soldiers at the U.S. Army Garrison in Yongsan; he plans to visit the House of Sharing in Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province - a shelter for Korean survivors of Japan’s sexual enslavement of women during its 1910-45 colonial rule.
Lotte apologizes for safety lapses
Lotte Group apologized earlier this week for its failure to prevent a series of recent safety lapses at the second Lotte World in southern Seoul. At the problem-ridden 123-story skyscraper, the CEOs of Lotte Corp., Lotte Engineering & Construction, Lotte World and Lotte Cinema said they were sorry for cracks at its aquarium and vibration problems at the theater, as well as the death of a construction worker in the building on Tuesday.
The apology came a day after the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) ordered the second Lotte World to suspend operations of its aquarium and theater amid mounting safety concerns.