Day: October 28, 2023

SEOUL, South Koreans avoided boisterous Halloween celebrations Saturday, the eve of the country marking one year after the deadly crowd crush in Seoul’s Itaewon district that claimed 159 lives, with people mourning the death of the victims.

The crowd crush, the deadliest ever in South Korea, took place in the nightlife district of Itaewon on Oct. 29, 2022, a Saturday night when about 100,000 people flocked to the area for Halloween celebrations.

Late Saturday, Seoul’s crowded entertainment areas, including Itaewon and Hongdae, were bustling with citizens and foreign tourists, just like any ordinary weekend, but there seemed to be no uproarious Halloween celebrations.

“I used to enjoy Halloween parties, but I’ve decided to spend this year’s Halloween quietly due to last year’s accident. I think it would be difficult to enjoy Halloween in Itaewon,” said Kim Hyung-seok, 28, who visited Itaewon with his girlfriend.

Police, the fire service and district offices stepped up efforts to implement intensive crowd control measures. Police set up safety fences in alleys leading to the Hongdae subway station to enable people to walk in a two-way direction without getting tangled up.

Last year, victims were crushed to death in a narrow 3.2-meter-wide downhill alley in Itaewon, where a massive crowd surged in and packed the path, piling onto one another.

Police controlled traffic flows on roads near a hotel adjoining the site of the deadly accident in Itaewon in a bid to prepare for a possible increase in visitors for the Halloween weekend.

Ahead of the first anniversary, more people also visited a memorial wall for the victims of the Halloween crowd crush in Itaewon, placing flowers, snacks and drinks as well as notes carrying commemorative writings.

“It is regrettable that there were no measures that could have prevented the accident and the truth behind it has not been fully determined even after the tragedy,” Ahn Ye-ryoung, 19, said.

Bereaved families plan to mark the tragedy Sunday with a public mourning event in central Seoul that includes a march from Itaewon to Seoul City Hall and a mass rally in the evening.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

SEOUL, North Korea’s top diplomat on Saturday criticized a trilateral statement released by Seoul, Washington and Tokyo earlier this week condemning the reclusive regime’s arms transfer to Russia, calling it a “groundless criticism and defamation.”

North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui issued the statement via Pyongyang’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), saying that others have “no right to interfere in the issues belonging to the national sovereignty of states.”

Earlier this week, South Korea, the United States and Japan issued a joint statement condemning North Korea’s provision of military equipment and munitions to Russia, saying they have confirmed some weapons deliveries.

The three countries “strongly condemn the provision of military equipment and munitions by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the Russian Federation for use against the government and people of Ukraine,” said the statement issued under the names of their top diplomats, referring to the North by its official name.

“If they have no malice toward the DPRK and Russia, there will be no reason to strain every nerve and feel uneasy about the development of equal and normal relations between the two countries,” Choe added.

Washington earlier revealed that Pyongyang had sent over 1,000 containers of military equipment and munitions to Moscow for use in its war in Ukraine, as the North’s leader Kim Jong-un held a rare summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

INCHEON, Police will summon actor Lee Sun-kyun of the Oscar-winning “Parasite” on Saturday for questioning on suspicions of his drug use.

Lee has recently been booked for investigation on charges of using illegal drugs in violation of the Narcotics Control Act.

The Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency plans to conduct a drug test when he shows up for questioning to determine whether he used illegal drugs and, if he did, how often and what kinds.

On Friday, the police imposed an overseas travel ban on him after confirming that he is staying in South Korea.

Lee is suspected of having used marijuana and other illegal drugs at the home of a hostess working at a high-end bar in Seoul’s Gangnam district on multiple occasions since early this year.

The police learned about Lee’s suspected drug use during an investigation prompted by a tipoff about illegal drug circulation in Gangnam nightclubs last month and have since booked eight people, including Lee, the hostess, a third-generation scion of a conglomerate family and a would-be entertainer.

G-Dragon of K-pop group BIGBANG has been separately booked for his suspected drug use.

The rapper-singer, whose real name is Kwon Ji-yong, denied the suspicions and pledged to cooperate with the police investigation in a statement released through his lawyer Friday.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

INCHEON, Actor Lee Sun-kyun of the Oscar-winning movie “Parasite” tested negative in a simple reagent drug test Saturday, as he was grilled by police over suspicions of drug use.

Earlier in the day, Lee appeared at the Incheon Nonhyeon police station in Incheon, about 30 kilometers west of Seoul, for his first questioning on charges of using illegal drugs in violation of the Narcotics Control Act.

Lee is suspected of having used marijuana and other illegal drugs at the home of a hostess working at a high-end bar in Seoul’s Gangnam district on multiple occasions since early this year.

The drug crime investigation division of the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency said it carried out a brief reagent test on a sample of his urine and hair, and the outcome was negative.

But it plans to send the sample to the National Forensic Service, as the outcome of such a test could lack accuracy. Drug users test positive if they use narcotics five or ten days before the test, but it is hard to get an accurate result in the case of drug use long before.

“It would take about a month for the results of the forensic service’s drug test to come out,” a police officer said.

Lee is believed to have refused to make any statement on the drug use allegations during the police probe.

“I submitted my mobile phone and responded to the requests needed for the next formal investigation. I’ll faithfully answer whenever police summon me again for a probe,” he told reporters after the investigation.

In the run-up to the probe, Lee told reporters in front of the police station that he “sincerely apologizes for disappointing many people for his involvement in such a dishonorable affair” and will “honestly” cooperate with the investigation.

“I also feel sorry for my family members who are enduring such hard pain at this moment. … Once again, I would like to sincerely apologize to everyone,” he added.

Dressed in a suit, the 48-year-old actor bowed his head several times to express his remorse.

Earlier in the day, police seized his mobile phone and vehicle with a court-issued search warrant. He is currently under an overseas travel ban.

The police learned about Lee’s suspected drug use during an investigation prompted by a tipoff about illegal drug circulation in Gangnam nightclubs last month and have since booked eight people, including Lee, the hostess, a third-generation scion of a conglomerate family and a would-be entertainer.

G-Dragon of K-pop group BIGBANG has been separately booked for his suspected drug use.

The rapper-singer, whose real name is Kwon Ji-yong, denied the suspicions and pledged to cooperate with the police investigation in a statement released through his lawyer Friday.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

WASHINGTON,President Joe Biden highlighted the need for the United States and China to “responsibly” manage their competition and cooperate to tackle global challenges during his talks with the top Chinese diplomat in Washington on Friday, the White House said.

Biden met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi as Washington seeks Beijing’s cooperation in preventing the war between Israel and the Hamas militant group from spreading across the Middle East and in addressing other global challenges.

Wang’s trip to the U.S. came amid speculation that the U.S. and China have been fine-tuning details for an expected summit between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit slated to take place in San Francisco from Nov. 11-17.

“The president emphasized that both the United States and China need to manage competition in the relationship responsibly and maintain open lines of communication,” the White House said in a readout. “He underscored that the United States and China must work together to address global challenges.”

Biden expressed his condolences on the passing of former Premier Li Keqiang, his office said.

Asked to comment on whether Biden and Xi will meet at the APEC gathering, John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, reiterated Biden’s hopes to see Xi “in the near future.”

“The president has said that he fully expects to meet again with President Xi,” Kirby said in an online press briefing. “We are confident that that’s going to happen.”

The official also underscored that both sides have acknowledged the importance of leader-level channels of communication to manage “this most consequential bilateral relationship.”

Though Washington has accused Beijing of conducting “coercive and risky” action in the South China Sea and tightened its chip export restrictions against China, it has been seeking cooperation on matters of mutual concern.

The U.S. hopes that Beijing will use its influence in the Middle East, especially its relations with Iran, to head off an escalation in the Israel-Hamas war at a time when Israel is expected to launch a ground incursion into Gaza amid rising tensions with Hezbollah militants from Lebanon.

Later in the day, Wang met with U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

The two sides affirmed that they would work together towards a meeting between Biden and Xi on the sidelines of next month’s APEC summit, a senior administration official told reporters on condition of anonymity.

“We are working together towards that goal and making preparations on our side,” the official said.

Wang met Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday and Friday morning.

In recent months, the Biden administration has been pursuing better ties with Beijing under its drive to “de-risk” — rather than decouple — the bilateral relationship. The efforts were evidenced by high-level visits to China by Blinken, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen and Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo.

The U.S. outreach to China followed a period of tensions caused by China’s sending a spy balloon over North America early this year.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

SEOUL, South Korea’s agricultural authorities said Saturday they have vaccinated nearly 82 percent of cattle subject to emergency inoculation amid growing concerns over the nationwide spread of lumpy skin disease (LSD).

As of Saturday morning, health authorities have administered the vaccine to 357,000 out of 438,000 cows subject to emergency inoculation, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

Since the first-ever outbreak of the viral infection last week, the country has so far confirmed 55 LSD cases nationwide, including three from Saturday. Authorities are investigating four suspected cases as well.

The number of cattle culled so far came to 3,758.

The agriculture ministry has been scurrying to further expand its emergency vaccination campaign by securing more vaccines from abroad, and the interior ministry vowed to manage the overall vaccination program based on plans drawn up by each local government.

South Korea plans to complete the vaccination program by early November, although authorities believe the number of cases will rise for the time being, considering it takes around three weeks for vaccinated cattle to develop protective antibodies against the disease.

LSD, which does not affect humans, is a highly infectious disease that causes skin lesions, fever and loss of appetite, often leading to a fall in milk production and even death. It affects cattle and buffalo via mosquitoes and other blood-feeding insects.

Meanwhile, a cow escaped from a farm in Imsil, 218 kilometers south of Seoul, the previous day while awaiting inoculation. Authorities said it safely returned to the farm and was not infected with the disease.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

By Song Sang-ho

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Oct. 27 North Korea’s state-sponsored hackers were responsible for cryptocurrency theft worth nearly $1.7 billion last year, the U.N. Panel of Experts on U.N. Security Council (UNSC) sanctions against Pyongyang said Friday.

Citing a cybersecurity firm’s report, the panel said that North Korean cybertheft last year was about three times the amount in 2021, while noting that the North is prioritizing cryptocurrency hacks to bankroll its nuclear weapons program.

“Actors working for the Reconnaissance General Bureau continued to use increasingly sophisticated cybertechniques to steal funds and information,” the report said, referring to North Korea’s military intelligence agency.

It added that companies in the cryptocurrency, defense, energy and health sectors were particularly targeted.

The panel pointed to overseas North Korean workers, including some on student visas, as another source of revenue. The UNSC has imposed a ban on North Koreans working overseas on concerns that their income would contribute to the North’s weapons programs.

The panel also reported continuous activities at the Punggye-ri nuclear test site although no nuclear test has been detected since September 2017.

Touching on the North’s ballistic missile launches, the panel said that those tests contribute towards fulfilling two goals under the North’s five-year road map announced in January 2021 — the acquisition of a “ground-based solid propellant” intercontinental ballistic missile and “tactical nuclear weapons” capabilities.

Noting the North’s drive to bolster its war deterrence and “nuclear counterattack” capabilities, the panel said that these developments point to a strategy of deterrence akin to “second strike” capability — a term referring to a nuclear retaliatory strike capability.

The report, in addition, indicated that the North might have imported refined petroleum products beyond the permitted annual cap of 500,000 barrels.

From Jan. 1 through May 1 this year, 25 North Korean-flagged tankers, including nine designated by the UN Security Council, made 46 deliveries of refined oil products.

To circumvent sanctions, the North was seen using various measures, that included deactivating a vessel’s automatic identification system during shipments and conducting such shipments under the cover of darkness usually at before dawn or dusk, according to the panel.

Source: Yonhap News Agency