Free Republic

South Korean health officials said on Wednesday that total COVID-19 infections in the country have reached 10 million amid a surge in severe cases and deaths, Reuters reported. South Korea’s total caseload as of Tuesday was 10,427,247, with a virus-related death toll of 13,432, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA), per Reuters.

SK Innovation has asked the US president to intervene in its battery patent fight with LG Energy Solution, saying it might have to “abandon” a $2.6 billion production base in Georgia after its defeat last month in the top US trade court. Making a case for a presidential veto of the court decision, the South Korean firm gave a presentation to US government officials, which the Wall Street Journal reported underscored that the Georgia plant will create 2,600 new jobs and contained so far undisclosed plans to expand the complex by investing another $2.4 billion, which would create an additional...

South Korea on Tuesday said it had scrambled fighter jets after nearly 20 Russian and Chinese military aircraft entered its air defense identification zone. According to Reuters, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that it identified four Chinese warplanes and 15 Russian aircraft entering its Korea Air Defense Identification Zone (KADIZ). In response, the South Korean military dispatched fighter aircrafts, although the Chinese military eventually told South Korea that its planes were conducting routine training. The JCS confirmed in a statement that the incident appeared to be “a joint military drill between China and Russia,” but added the...

A Smithfield Foods pork processing plant in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, was visited by representatives from its Chinese Communist Party-tied parent company one month before the first COVID-19 case was confirmed at the facility, according to three employees. After the first illness was confirmed at the plant on March 26, the facility quickly became the epicenter of the state’s outbreak of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly known as the novel coronavirus. South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem wrote in an April 11 letter that 238 plant employees had contracted the virus, accounting for 38 percent of the state’s confirmed...

Those who thought getting the coronavirus once was bad enough may not be comforted by new research from South Korea. Jeong Eun-kyeong, the director of South Korea's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, warned on Monday that the coronavirus may be able to reactivate in people who have been "cured" of the disease because 51 patients tested positive for the virus after being discharged with negative results. “While we are putting more weight on reactivation as the possible cause, we are conducting a comprehensive study on this,” Jeong said. “There have been many cases when a patient during treatment will...

While the Trump administration's Department of Health is forecasting some 200k or more deaths from the coronavirus scare and lots of hell over the next few weeks, here is the bell curve that South Korea has been sliding out of now since the middle of March as they are well on their way out of the virus scare. South Korea was also hit pretty good with this virus being right next door to China ...

SEOUL -- Since its first outbreak of the novel coronavirus in late January, South Korea has been waging a hard battle to contain the virus infections by preaching a "social distancing" drive and tracing all potential cases. Months later, its virus cases are showing signs of a slowdown. What is drawing much attention from peer nations is, among others, its virus testing capability. Since Jan. 3, the country has conducted some 316,000 tests and identified more than 8,600 COVID-19 cases, according to data from Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC). The country reported its first COVID-19 case on...

A church in South Korea sprayed salt water inside the mouths of followers out of a false belief it would help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but by using the same spray bottle without disinfecting the nozzle, it resulted in 46 church-goers infected, authorities said on Monday.

JAPAN is recalling its ambassador to South Korea over a statue commemorating Korean “comfort women” forced to work in Japanese wartime military brothels during World War Two, the government said on Friday. The term “comfort women” is a euphemism used for the girls and women who were subjected to the practice. South Korean activists estimate that there may have been as many as 200,000 Korean victims. Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga said the statue in the southern city of Busan was “extremely regrettable” and stated that Japan has asked for its removal.

N. Korea behind recent mine explosion in DMZ: Defense Ministry 2015/08/10 10:30 SEOUL, Aug. 10 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is believed to have masterminded the bloody explosion of land mines in the demilitarized zone last week, the Defense Ministry said Monday, in the latest military provocation by the North, happening just weeks before a scheduled joint military exercise between South Korea and the U.S. The mine blasts took place on the morning of Aug. 4 on the southern side of the DMZ near the city of Paju, Gyeonggi Province, while eight South Korean Army troops carried out a regular scouting...

N.Korea Moves Arms Closer to Border 10/13/11 North Korea has recently moved fighter jets near the Northern Limit Line, the de facto maritime border, and ground-to-air missiles close to Baeknyeong Island. There is speculation that it plans a minor provocation while South Korean president Lee Myung-bak visits the U.S. since any show of unity between the two allies tends to incense the North. "The North Korean military was seen moving mobile missile launchers at a ground-to-ship missile base near the NLL," a government source said. "There's likelihood that the North will launch a military provocation" while Lee is away. The...

New Investigative Agency Starts Work In Russia September 7, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A powerful new Russian law enforcement agency called the Investigative Committee has began work. The Investigative Committee, which Russian officials say is loosely modeled on the FBI in the United States, will be chaired by Aleksandr Bastrykin, a former law-school classmate of President Vladimir Putin. "In my opinion, the establishment of the Investigative Committee is a meaningful step forward," Boris Gavrilov, an investigator with the Russian Interior Ministry, told RFE/RL's Russian Service. "Most importantly, this can in the future become a Federal Investigative Service." The Investigative Committee will...

Big News Network.com Saturday 5th February, 2005 (UPI) The United States would dispatch 690,000 troops to help defend South Korea if war broke out on the peninsula, Seoul's Defense Ministry said Friday. Some 2,000 military planes and 160 warships would also be sent in the event of an attack from communist North Korea, the ministry said in its White Paper. The reinforcements would include several carrier battle groups capable of launching multilateral naval operations and air strikes against North Korea's border artillery forces, as well as self-guided weapons to hit the North's air force facilities and weapons of mass destruction,...

On the one hand we have a major television network racing to broadcast news about 30-year-old ``documents'' - now proven to be fraudulent - all in an effort to discredit President Bush [related, bio]. On the other hand we virtually have all of the networks ignoring a real, fresh-as-today, scandal involving the Kerry campaign's fund-raising. The Associated Press reported this past week that a South Korean national who met with John Kerry's fund-raisers and discussed setting up a new political group for Korean-Americans was actually an intelligence agent for South Korea. Chung Byung-Man, a counselor official in Los Angeles prior...

Pyongyang, September 20 (KCNA) -- The U.S. Solidarity Committee for Supporting the Struggle of the National Democratic Front of south Korea and the South Korean People was inaugurated. John Paul Cupp, chairman of the U.S. Group for the Study of the Songun Policies, was elected chairman of the solidarity committee. In an inaugural declaration the solidarity committee said that neither the genuine political sovereignty of the south Korean people nor the reunification of Korea, the cherished desire of the whole Korean nation, can be achieved unless more than 40,000 U.S. troops are pulled back from south Korea and the U.S....

NEWINGTON, CT, Sep 16, 2004 One of the oldest radio amateurs in the US has become a Silent Key. Michael J. "Mike" Anuta, W8HKY, of Marinette, Wisconsin, died September 9 after suffering a severe stroke a week earlier. He was 103. After leaving school after the eighth grade and working as a Western Union delivery boy and a railroad telegrapher, he went on to study law by correspondence and become an attorney. He retired in 1996 after a 67-year law career in Michigan that included 10 years as prosecuting attorney and 10 years as a municipal judge. Alma College...

Actor Marlon Brando, KE6PZH/FO5GJ, SK One of the best-known names in cinematic as well as Amateur Radio circles, actor Marlon Brando, died in Los Angeles July 1 at age 80. Known to hams worldwide as KE6PZH and FO5GJ, Brando is listed on the FCC database as Martin Brandeaux. He was on the air occasionally through the years with his FO5 call sign from his private island in French Polynesia. In an interview with Larry King on CNN in 1994, Brando confirmed his continued interest in Amateur Radio. In response to a caller's question, he said ham radio provided him with...

Oldest Amateur in US--Byrl "Tex" Burdick, W5BQU, SK "Tex" Burdick, W5BQU. He sometimes used the phonetics "Big, Quick and Ugly." NEWINGTON, CT, Jun 2, 2004--The man believed to be the oldest Amateur Radio operator in the US--Byrl "Tex" Burdick, W5BQU, of El Paso, Texas--died May 30. He was 103. Admired as much for his courteous and kind personality as for his longevity and youthful appearance, Burdick was licensed for nearly three-quarters of a century. During his many years on the air, he took pleasure in meeting new friends and was a regular QSLer. When Burdick, an ARRL member, turned 103...

A serial killer who terrorized Wichita during the 1970s by committing a series of seven murders has claimed responsibility for an eighth slaying and is probably now living in Wichita, police said Wednesday. A letter The Wichita Eagle received Friday suggests that the BTK strangler was responsible for the Sept. 16, 1986, strangulation death of Vicki Wegerle, who was found dead in her home at 2404 W. 13th St. The crime was never solved. The letter contained a single sheet of paper with a photocopy of Wegerle's driver's license and three pictures that apparently were taken of her body. Each...

The Coast Guard intercepted and boarded the ship, 'Athena' off the coast, then escorted it upriver to be docked. Since it docked at the Port of Longview Friday, it's been under constant surveillance from a Coast Guard Gunboat with Coast Guard and customs agents watching from shore. Just down river from the ship, fishermen Mike Young and Gerald Senesac reel in their catch and wonder why the cargo ship is being guarded. "With guns ready, there's got to be something different than what the government's saying," says Senesac. KATU's Dan Tilkin learned a few details about the ship: Before the...