Free Republic

SEOUL - South Korea has taken delivery of its first cargo shipped by a Korean firm via the Northern Sea route, as the government looks to increase use of the new shipping route opened up through the Arctic. A vessel chartered by Hyundai Glovis took 35 days to deliver a 44,000 ton cargo of naphtha from Port Ust Luga in Russia to Gwangyan Port, about 350 km (220 miles) south of Seoul, arriving late Monday, the Korean Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries said on Tuesday. Cargoes of coal, diesel and gas have made the trip through the new route opened...

China Asked Korea Not to Sell Jets to Philippines China asked Korea not to sell FA-50 fighter jets to the Philippines, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Saturday. The daily said Beijing made the request ahead of a summit in Seoul between President Park Geun-hye and Philippines President Benigno Aquino on Oct. 17. Korea declined, saying it cannot accept "interference" in arms exports, an issue of its national interest, according to the daily. In their meeting, Park thanked Aquino for Manila’s decision to buy the FA-50 jets and urged a speedy signing of the contract. A government official here said, "The Philippines...

A Palestinian girl has won the top prize at an essay contest held by Korea University. In an essay describing her reflections on how she became a fan of Korean pop music and dramas, Samir Maisa (19), a student at Al Quds University in Palestine, wrote, "I heard a saying that there are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle. I decided to choose the latter." She said that Korean dramas appeared in her life one day like a "miracle" to give her...

A massive fraud in local governments’ certifications of supposedly eco-friendly food products was investigated and public servants indicted, the prosecution said yesterday. The Seoul Western District Prosecutors’ Office yesterday announced the result of its investigation into alleged corruption in eco-friendly food product certifications. A 59-year-old deputy governor of Jangseong County in South Jeolla was indicted on charges of falsifying public records and dereliction of duty. Ten other people face prosecution in similiar schemes and all 11 are being detained until trials. The prosecutors said it will press charges against 15 others without detaining them. According to the prosecution, the deputy...

SEOUL, Oct. 16 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean Navy has made a request to build three more Aegis destroyers to bolster defense against its Asian neighbors and North Korea amid increasing military tension due to territorial disputes, a military source said Wednesday. South Korea currently operates three 7,600-ton Aegis warships, but the Navy has sought to increase its fleet to cope with rising regional tension in light of Pyongyang's third nuclear test conducted earlier this year and ongoing territorial disputes between China and Japan. "The Navy made a request for three additional Aegis ships to the Joint Chiefs of Staff...

DAEGU, South Korea — Asia’s large-scale gas importers, long saddled with premium prices, say a cheaper alternative lies several thousand feet below North American soil, where companies are unlocking enormous gas reserves from shale rock. The shale boom has already revolutionized the gas market in the United States and Canada, giving both countries not only a reliable domestic supply but also the ability to sell overseas. Asian utility and gas company executives, speaking this week at a global energy forum here, have said that North America’s gas wealth could prove nearly as transformative across the world, leading to the first...

Full operational control of South Korean troops should not be handed over to Seoul in haste and out of political considerations, a U.S. academic says. Michael O'Hanlon, a fellow at the conservative Brookings Institution, made the recommendation in an article titled "Don't Rush the U.S.-Korea Command Change" on Tuesday. "In Korea, our preeminent concerns need to be unity of command and effectiveness of our combined deterrent against a still very potent North Korean threat," he said. "Ensuring fair burden-sharing is not the principal prism through which this issue should be viewed." The original decision was a political one, because then-President...

Some 3-thousand citizens, cultural leaders. and Prime Minister Chung Hong-won gathered in central Seoul for a national ceremony, marking the 567th anniversary of the invention and proclamation of Hangul, the Korean alphabet. "Hangul is the world's only writing system that has been proclaimed with a clear purpose and created with scientific principles. Its scientific superiority is globally acknowledged and it is a piece of world heritage for humankind." At the ceremony, six individuals and two groups were given national awards of merit for their contributions to research and promotion of the Korean language, followed by performances celebrating the event. This...

South Korea seeks stealth jet edge while North's MiGs age (Reuters) - South Korea's decision to reject a bid by Boeing (BA.N) to supply 60 warplanes and to re-issue a tender was made in the interests of stealth technology but may not be justified given North Korea's weak air capabilities, experts said. Lockheed Martin's (LMT.N) F-35A, previously considered too expensive, has shot to the front of the race for a multi-billion dollar deal after the Defence Ministry singled out a fifth-generation fighter as the preferred option. Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle, the only bid within budget, had been poised to win...

ANALYSIS: Seoul’s F-X III backdown raises thorny questions about competition Seoul’s decision to re-tender the F-X III competition for 60 fighters raises questions about the viability of a revised process, and greatly enhances the Lockheed Martin F-35’s chances of securing the deal. After announcing its decision not to move forward with an F-15 Silent Eagle acquisition, Seoul’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) has yet to clarify how it plans to replace the South Korean air force’s McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms and Northrop F-5s. In an email to Flightglobal, Boeing was quick to register its dismay at Seoul’s announcement. “Boeing is...

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's military shot and killed a man who undertook a rare attempt to enter North Korea on Monday by floating across a river that runs near the heavily militarized border, an official in Seoul said. It was not clear whether the man was a South Korean, the official said on condition of anonymity. The military was still trying to recover the body and investigating the incident, he said. South Korea's Yonhap news agency said South Korean guards had called out to the man to return. But he ignored the instructions, jumped into the Imjin River and...

Much has been made recently of the unique and ascendant role Turkey is playing in international relations. As a member of NATO, a diplomatic power broker in the Middle East and a rising international economic player, Turkey has become a novelty even in an era of unprecedented global cooperation and political interdependence. But this is actually nothing new. For more than half a century, Turkey has played this unique role, symbolized so succinctly by the bridge over the Bosporus River that links Asia to Europe, East to West. For the United States, the bridge to Turkey spans more than two...

When a US delegate once confronted a Chinese diplomat about Beijing's uncompromising support for Pakistan, the Chinese reportedly responded with a heavily-loaded sarcastic remark: "Pakistan is our Israel". But judging by China's unrelenting support for some of its allies, including North Korea, Burma, Zimbabwe and Sudan, its protective arm around these countries is no different from the US and Western political embrace of Israel - right or wrong. ..."China is trying to reassert its political clout at the United Nations as a counterweight to its defensive stand on currency and trade issues." The New York Times newspaper said on Tuesday...

S. Korea's ex-air force chiefs slam Boeing choice in fighter deal SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea's 15 former air force chiefs have signed a petition opposing the selection of Boeing Co's F-15 Silent Eagle for the country's 8.3 trillion won ($7.64 billion) fighter jet program, one former chief said on Thursday, saying the plane lacked the cutting-edge stealth capabilities of more modern fighters. The petition comes after Boeing's F-15SE became the only bid eligible to be chosen in South Korea's biggest-ever arms procurement program, ahead of Lockheed Martin's costlier F-35 stealth fighter and the Eurofighter consortium's Typhoon. Lockheed and the...

(Reuters) - South Korea faces possible power blackouts this winter and next summer, as cable safety issues and protests that are holding up completion of an ultra-high-voltage power line threaten to keep more nuclear reactors offline. Asia's fourth-largest economy generates a third of its electricity using nuclear power, primarily to replace oil and gas, for which South Korea relies almost entirely on imports. But six of its 23 reactors are offline, including three shut since May to replace cables supplied with forged safety certificates. In addition, another reactor will soon be closed to check the welding on a steam generator....

SEOUL, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea ranked 117th in terms economic growth last year, data showed Wednesday, apparently as the protracted slump in the global economy dealt a harsh blow to the export-reliant country. South Korea's real gross domestic product (GDP) grew 2 percent in 2012, with its ranking falling 60 notches from two years earlier, according to the World Fact Book released by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Asia's fourth-largest economy grew 6.3 percent to rank 57th among 189 countries in 2010, but it slowed to reach 3.6 percent in 2011 to rank 102nd. South Korea's economic-growth ranking...

Seven out of 10 children who were abused by their parents nonetheless return to their care, according to a study, and 10 percent end up being abused again. Lee Yeo-jin, a researcher with the National Assembly Research Service, analyzed data compiled by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and found that 83.1 percent of the 6,058 cases of child abuse in 2011 were committed by the child's parents, and 86.6 percent occurred at home. But 72.6 percent of the children who were abused by their parents had to stay at their homes, even though they often needed therapy and medical...

Korea recorded 40,000 new cases of tuberculosis (TB) infections last year, a government report showed Sunday, hinting the country still needs more attention on the disease usually found in developing countries. According to a report released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, a total of 49,532 people were reported as TB patients in 2012. Among them, 39,545 were cases of new infections. The number of male patients was some 30 percent higher than that of female patients. By age, 16,033 of the new TB patients were between 20 to 40 years, accounting for 40.5 percent of the entire new...

Credit card spending abroad hit an all-time high in the second quarter, before even the summer holidays took huge numbers of Koreans abroad. According to the Bank of Korea on Friday, credit card bills from overseas totaled US$2.53 billion in April-June, up 10.9 percent on-year. The previous quarterly record was $2.52 billion in the fourth quarter of 2012. "The total amount of money outbound travelers spent overseas fell because their numbers dropped, but credit card spending rose because that is becoming the preferred option." The total amount Korean travelers spent overseas in the second quarter was $4.96 billion, down slightly...

(Reuters) - South Korea's manufacturing sector activity contracted for the third consecutive month in August albeit at a slower pace than July, a private survey showed on Monday, showing that growth momentum in Asia's fourth-largest economy remains elusive. The HSBC/Markit purchasing managers' index (PMI) on South Korea's manufacturing sector edged up to a seasonally adjusted 47.5 in August from a 10-month low of 47.2 in July, Markit Economics said in a statement. The index has remained below the 50-point mark separating expansion from contraction in manufacturing activity since June. The sub-index on new export orders fell to a seasonally adjusted...