ROK Drop Open Thread – December 23, 2012

Tags: Open Threads

• Sam
  3:33 am on December 23rd, 2012 1

  ROK Solider Found Dead of Gunshot Wound up by DMZ

  (Reposting this as it’s a new story and GI started a new open thread) Can’t blame the North just yet as anything could’ve caused this. I’ll spare you my bad translation and just provide the link, no english site’s picked it up yet:

  http://search.ytn.co.kr/ytn/view.php?s_mcd=0115&key=201212230138156115&q=gop

• kangaji
  4:22 am on December 23rd, 2012 2

  He’s a private that’s only been in since October, so I’m guessing it might have been his first time with a weapon and isolation.

  Another site says they’ve informed his family and that the cause of the incident is still under investigation.

• The Sanity Inspector
  7:23 am on December 23rd, 2012 3

  Active shooters, then http://bit.ly/Rb5BBo

  and now http://bit.ly/UR36BR

• Denny
  7:24 am on December 23rd, 2012 4

  Tiny, rocky island subject of dispute between Canada and United States

  http://news.yahoo.com/tiny-rocky-island-subject-dispute-between-canada-united-093109528.html

  A tiny island between New Brunswick and Maine is the subject of renewed calls from both sides of the border to settle a territorial dispute once and for all.

  Machias Seal Island is a flat, treeless piece of rock located about 19 kilometres south of Grand Manan Island and 16 kilometres west of the Maine coast at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy.

  There are no permanent human residents on the island, just pairs of lightkeepers who spend 28 days at a time maintaining a lighthouse operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The original lighthouse was built by the British in 1832, and a lighthouse has been maintained there ever since.

  So why would anyone even care which country gets title to Machias Seal Island?

  The answer lies in the 720 square kilometres of water around the island in what’s called a grey zone. Lobster fishermen from both Canada and the U.S. fish these waters

  A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade said ownership of the island and surrounding waters is clear as far as Canada is concerned: they are Canadian.

• Sam
  10:11 am on December 23rd, 2012 5

  South Korea warns that North Korea has developed rockets that can reach the US mainland.

  http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/12/23/south-korea-warns-that-north-korea-has-developed-rockets-that-can-reach-us/

  Well… duh.

• Eddie Cantor
  10:50 am on December 23rd, 2012 6

  http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2012/12/123_127528.html

  Yongsan skyscraper project in jeopardy

  An ambitious skyscraper plan for Seoul’s Yonsan district, aimed at giving the Korean capital a Hong Kong-inspired facelift, appears to be on verge of being derailed.

  The major shareholders of the 31 trillion won ($28.85 billion) project seem ready to bail from the country’s most expensive property scheme ever as they grapple with an acute shortage of funds amid the bad economy and a toxic real estate market.

  Developers now have less than 10 billion won in their coffers, which could run out by mid-January. Without a massive capital injection, bankruptcy would be unavoidable, according to officials close to the project.

  The companies involved are calling on the government to step in with a solution. However, it remains to be seen whether the new Park Geun-hye administration will be willing to commit to such a biblical mess at a time of fiscal pressure.

  Dream Hub, the special purpose company set up to push the Yongsan project forward, said it isn’t waving the white flag yet. However, one has to wonder whether it’s just delaying the inevitable.

  The company attempted to raise some 250 billion won earlier this month by issuing convertible bonds but failed because none of the 30 shareholders of the project, including the largest, Lotte Tour, and No. 2, Korail, were willing to open their wallets.

  “We will have to pay interest of 4.7 billion won by Jan. 17 or otherwise go bankrupt,” a Dream Hub official said. “We are trying to raise 100 billion won with contributions from shareholders. But this is not enough to put the project fully back on track so we are developing various ways to attract investment.”

  The government approved the Yongsan International Business Zone project in August 2006. Under the plan, some 60 buildings, including a 111-story landmark building, a wealth of riverfront business and tourist venues, a shopping mall, department stores and apartments, were to be built by 2016 on 566,800 square meters, part of which was previously used for railroad operator Korail’s facility maintenance center.

  The project faced problems from the start. The first conflict between the two largest shareholders surfaced in 2007 after Korail and the Seoul City government agreed to build the business zone on a bigger block of land without Lotte’s consent. The clash was focused on how to secure additional funding to ensure smooth progress.

  Yet the discord reached a new level in September this year as the two started engaging in a nasty war for managerial control of the project.

  Korail has a 25-percent stake in Dream Hub, with Lotte holding 15.1 percent. The remaining shares are held by construction firms and financial investors.

  Dream Hub operates an asset management company for the Yongsan project. It is 70.1 percent-owned by Lotte, with Korail holding the remaining 29.9 percent. Lotte used to hold a 25 percent stake but after Samsung C&T withdrew from the development scheme, the tourism and real estate developer took over Samsung’s 45.1 percent share. But Korail has been seeking to acquire that 45.1 percent stake from Lotte in order to secure managerial control of the partly-stalled project.

  Korail wants to streamline the decision making process and facilitate the progress of all affairs related to construction, while Lotte has refused to relinquish the stake.

  The two parties are also at odds over how to finance the project.

  Korail wants to raise the capital of Dream Hub up to 3 trillion won from the current 1.4 trillion by attracting investment from current stakeholders and others interested in taking part in the project. Lotte opposes this saying increasing Dream Hub’s capital is not an urgent issue.

  They have also failed to narrow their differences over how to proceed.

  Korail wants to move forward site by site, given the shortage of funds. But Lotte is seeking to carry out working on all planned areas, arguing the railroad operator wants to develop the land it owns, disregarding other sites including nearby apartment complexes.

• Glans
  10:55 am on December 23rd, 2012 7

  Puntland, a region of Somalia, is prosecuting some of its soldiers for taking a North Korean ship which had been impounded for dumping its cargo off the coast. That’s part of this Reuters story by Abdiqani Hassan.

• Glans
  7:22 am on December 24th, 2012 8

  Senator Michael Crapo, conservative Republican from Idaho, a Mormon, has been arrested for drunk driving. Here’s the TPM editor’s blog with links.

• Leon LaPorte
  7:43 am on December 24th, 2012 9

  C-R-A-P-O
  C-R-A-P-O
  C-R-A-P-O
  and Crapo was his name-O.

  Q. Why should you always have two Mormon senators?

  A. Because if you have just one, he will drink all of your beer and get a DUI.

• JoeC
  1:07 pm on December 24th, 2012 10

  South Korea may purchase four block 30 Globalhawk drones.

• jim
  5:41 pm on December 25th, 2012 11

  request to see fewer psy-related stories, kthxbi

• Leon LaPorte
  7:10 pm on December 25th, 2012 12

  Jim, whenever I see a post I am not interested in, I generally scroll past it. It doesn’t take much effort.

• Eddie Cantor
  2:24 pm on December 26th, 2012 13

  Roh’s daughter gets 6 months for money laundering but where did the money come from? http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2012/12/116_127761.html

  The prosecution is seeking a six-month prison term for Roh Jeong-yeon, the daughter of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, on charges of converting a huge sum of money into U.S. dollars and illegally sending it overseas buy an apartment in New Jersey in 2009.

  In a hearing at the Seoul Central District Court in southern Seoul on Wednesday, prosecutors claimed that the defendant, 37, also violated the Foreign Exchange Law by converting the money through underground brokers.

  She was indicted in August for changing 1.3 billion won ($1 million at that time) into dollars through a middleman and transferring it to a Korean-American lawyer who was selling a New Jersey apartment in a building called the Hudson Club.

  Investigators concluded the money was the last installment for the purchase of the luxury apartment.

  The lawyer, Gyeong Yeon-hee, 43, was subject to a summary indictment by prosecutors on the same charge, because both parties of the deal are subject to punishment in illegal foreign transfer cases.

  Prosecutors didn’t bring charges against former first lady Kwon Yang-sook, who gave the 1.3 billion won to her daughter.

  Kwon earlier stated that she had received the money from acquaintances who visited Cheong Wa Dae during Roh’s term and their retirement residence in Bongha Village, South Gyeongsang Province, afterwards.

  The former first family claimed acquaintances raised the money for them. The prosecution wrapped up the investigation without finding the ultimate source of the money

  However, civic groups claim the money was linked to a slush fund created by the former president who committed suicide in May 2009.

• Casanova
  5:24 pm on December 26th, 2012 14

  The accused has become the accuser, funny how this type of thing comes back around.

  http://news.msn.com/science-technology/samsung-seeks-us-sales-ban-on-some-ericsson-products

• Kingkitty
  11:50 am on December 28th, 2012 15

  Every day more bottle water sold to markets just outside of American bases are first tainted by urine then resealed. Two markets outside of Camp Humphreys were placed off limits for this practice and currently another six are being investigated in the Songtan area.

• chefantwon
  5:57 pm on December 28th, 2012 16

  #15, new meaning to the statement, just piss on it….or in this case, in it.

  #6, Easy way of making money for the place, one of those non-existant brothels somewhere in one of the secluded areas of the building. Every lay costs 500,000 won and 100,000 goes towards the building fund…of course there IS that 200,000 won kickback fee.

• Singleton Stone
  7:34 pm on December 29th, 2012 17

  Japan’s police probing 868 missing persons cases; abductions by N. Korea can’t be ruled out: support groups
  http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121230a5.html

• Singleton Stone
  7:39 pm on December 29th, 2012 18

  Any unicorn updates? http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/50058129/ns/today-today_news/t/north-korea-claims-discovery-unicorn-lair

• Singleton Stone
  7:42 pm on December 29th, 2012 19

  The BBC World Service could broadcast programmes aimed at residents of North Korea for the first time, under proposals being discussed by MPs, corporation bosses and US officials.

  Barack Obama’s administration is encouraging the Foreign Office to back plans to establish a BBC Korean service to help open up the most secret country on earth.

  They believe the BBC’s reputation for impartiality could help build up trust with communist state’s 24 million population.

  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/tv-radio/how-do-you-solve-a-problem-like-bbc-world-service-korea-8432714.html

• Leon LaPorte
  4:21 am on December 30th, 2012 20

  19. Good luck with that. The norK’s are definitely not interested in impartiality.

 

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