Category: General

The following is a summary of inter-Korean news this week.

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(LEAD) S. Korea imposes unilateral sanctions on N. Korean firm, 5 individuals linked to WMD financing

SEOUL — South Korea on Friday imposed unilateral sanctions on a North Korean company and five individuals involved in illicit financing for weapons of mass destruction programs, Seoul’s foreign ministry said.

The North’s Ryukyong Program Development and its chief, Ryu Kyong-chol, were among those newly added to Seoul’s sanctions list against Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile development programs, according to the ministry.

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S. Korea’s military ends operation to salvage sunken wreckage of N. Korean rocket

SEOUL — South Korea’s military has ended a search and salvage operation for the sunken wreckage of a purported North Korean space rocket without finding anything “meaningful,” an official said Friday, following its failed launch last week.

The military concluded the search and salvage operation in waters west of the Korean Peninsula on Thursday, which began immediately after the botched launch of the rocket carrying what Pyongyang claimed to be a military reconnaissance satellite on Aug. 24.

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N. Korea apparently reopens its border due to economic difficulties: Seoul

SEOUL — North Korea apparently has decided to reopen its border after more than three years of its tight virus curbs due largely to economic challenges from its border closure, South Korea’s unification ministry said Monday.

North Korea said Sunday it has allowed its citizens abroad to return home amid eased concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic and will put them under quarantine for a week. The decision marked the secretive regime making official the reopening of its border.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

South Korean cosmetics giant LG H&H Co. said Thursday it has changed the name of its luxury beauty brand, The history of Whoo, and will launch the brand’s renewed flagship product line in China this week.

The history of Whoo, now renamed The Whoo, renewed its key basic skincare line, Cheongidan, for the first time since the line was launched in 2010 to improve anti-aging functions.

The new Cheongidan products will be launched in China on Friday and will be available in South Korea in October.

LG H&H launched a five-day promotion event in Shanghai on Wednesday.

China was once the biggest purchaser of South Korean cosmetics products, but in recent years, their sales in China have decreased due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the popularity of “nationalistic consumption” by Chinese consumers.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

Southeast Asian countries and Taiwan on Thursday objected to China’s latest version of its territorial map because of new boundaries that reach waters they claim as well in the South China Sea.

Beijing released the map on Monday amid tensions with the United States over Taiwan, and days after China Coast Guard ships formed a cordon to block Philippine supply boats delivering supplies to the BRP Sierra Madre, Manila’s military outpost in Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal), in the disputed waters.

“This latest attempt to legitimize China’s purported sovereignty and jurisdiction over Philippine features and maritime zones has no basis under international law, particularly the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS),” the Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said in a statement.

A 2016 international arbitration ruling had invalidated China’s sweeping claims to the South China Sea, the department noted.

“The Philippines, therefore, calls on China to act responsibly and abide by its obligations under UNCLOS and the final and binding 2016 Arbitral Award,” it said.

The 2023 edition of China’s territorial map covers Taiwan and most of the West Philippine Sea, particularly the contested Spratly Islands. The West Philippine Sea is how Filipinos refer to South China Sea waters within their nation’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Fellow ASEAN members Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, along with Taiwan, also spoke out against the new map.

“Taiwan, the Republic of China, is a sovereign and independent country that is not subordinate to the People’s Republic of China,” said Jeff Liu, spokesman for the foreign ministry of Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province.

“The People’s Republic of China has never ruled Taiwan. These are universally recognized facts and the status quo in the international community,” he said.

China claims nearly the entire South China Sea, including waters within the EEZs of Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

In Jakarta on Thursday, Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi told reporters that the government had always maintained that any claim must be consistent with UNCLOS.

While Jakarta is not an active claimant in the South China Sea, it has been locked with China in tensions over the Natuna Islands.

In Malaysia, Foreign Minister Zambry Abdul Kadir said the government would lodge a formal protest with China over the new map.

“This map has no binding effect on Malaysia whatsoever,” Kadir had said a day earlier when his office responded angrily to it.

And in Vietnam, the government on Thursday called the map “a violation of Vietnam’s sovereignty and international laws, especially the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.”

Spokeswoman Pham Thu Hang said China’s sovereignty and maritime claims, based on a new 10-dash line as depicted on the map, were null and void, according to Vietnamese media.

Extra dash

China came out with its revised map soon after the Philippines announced upcoming joint patrols with Australia and the U.S. in South China Sea waters. Japan has said it was negotiating for a similar defense arrangement with the Philippines as it seeks to contain China’s military growth in the region.

In Manila, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri promised to expedite passage of the proposed Philippine Maritime Zones Act to quell attempts by China to include waters claimed by the Philippines as its own.

Zubiri said officials were confident that China’s 2023 map would solidify support for the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruling, which quashed the nine-dash line that had appeared on older Chinese maps.

“More countries will support and stand with the Philippines to condemn and to appeal to China not to follow that ridiculous 10-dash line. It violates the sovereignty, not only of the Philippines now, but of several other countries all around Asia,” Zubiri said.

The added 10th dash takes in the island of Taiwan, and the map also encompasses small islands claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia, according to Paris-based Modern Diplomacy.

In addition, the new map also includes the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

“We will not be alone this time. I think India has filed a formal protest, Indonesia and Malaysia have also filed protests along with Vietnam. And I think that will speed up the process of a code of conduct in the South China Sea,” Zubiri said.

India filed its own protest on Tuesday, a day after the map’s release, according to media reports.

Risa Hontiveros, another Philippine senator, called China “delusional” for issuing the new map.

“We know that China is a master manipulator, willing to bend the truth for her own gain, at the expense of countries like ours,” Hontiveros said. “China will continue to spread fake news, fund pro-Beijing mouthpieces and distribute propaganda materials. We must push back. We must not rest until China stops her absurdity.”

Collins Chong Yew Keat, a security analyst at University Malaya in Malaysia, said the map’s timing invited scrutiny in light of rising regional tensions that would compel Beijing to defend its interests and maximize its gains.

He said the path chosen by Beijing is based on a three-pronged factor. First, he said, is a fast-closing window and timeframe for Chinese President Xi Jinping to execute his planned reunification with Taiwan.

“Second, the increasing counterforce capacities by the U.S. in thwarting Beijing’s moves have challenged Beijing’s near-term capacities. And third, the declining effectiveness of deterrence and influence of ASEAN itself in showing real and credible opposition to Beijing’s inroads, will give a clearer path for Beijing to reassert its push,” Chong said.

Responding to the criticism, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said “China’s position on the South China Sea is consistent and clear.

“The competent authorities of China routinely publish standard maps of various types every year,” he told reporters on Thursday. “We hope parties concerned can view it in an objective and rational light.”

Source: Radio Free Asia

Police have confirmed eight more people were present at the scene when a police officer fell off an apartment building in Seoul to his death earlier this week and imposed exit bans on all of them over suspected drug use, officials said Thursday.

The officer in his 30s, affiliated with the Gangwon Provincial Police Agency, died at around 5 a.m. on Sunday in Seoul’s Yongsan district after falling from an apartment building’s 14th floor.

Police initially identified seven people who were at the site and booked them for an investigation on suspicions of violating the narcotic control act.

Officials said Thursday that eight more people were found to have been with the officer at the time, and all 15 people have been banned from leaving the country for an investigation on drug charges.

Instant drug tests conducted on some of the initial suspects were positive for ketamine, ecstasy and cocaine. Police said another round of instant drug tests were under way for the other eight suspects.

Police earlier confiscated syringes and unidentified pills at the apartment belonging to one of the suspects and were looking into whether they had been utilized for drugs.

Investigations showed the police officer and the others got together the night before his death at the apartment. They told police the officer opened a window and jumped while they were spending time together as members of a sports club.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

President Yoon Suk Yeol will visit Indonesia and India next week to attend regional summits involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Group of 20 (G20), his office said Thursday.

Yoon will visit Jakarta from Tuesday to Friday to attend a South Korea-ASEAN summit, an ASEAN Plus Three summit and an East Asia Summit before also holding a bilateral meeting with Indonesian President Joko Widodo as part of an official bilateral visit to the country, Principal Deputy National Security Adviser Kim Tae-hyo told reporters.

From Jakarta, Yoon will head to New Delhi, India, on Sept. 8 and attend the G20 summit during a three-day stay.

Source: Yonhap News Agency

The Seoul city government said Thursday it has finally selected Sangam-dong in the western district of Mapo as the site of its new waste incineration plant.

Sangam-dong has been chosen out of five candidate sites throughout the capital after comprehensive environmental impact assessments, the city government said.

Sangam-dong is already home to a waste incineration plant, formally called the Mapo Resource Recovery Facility, and the new incinerator will be built right next to the old one, it said.

The new waste incineration plant will be built underground on a 21,000-square-meter lot by 2026 and the old plant will be demolished by 2035 and be converted into a park, it said.

At present, Seoul has three other incineration plants — Yangcheon in the southwestern district, Nowon in the northern district and Gangnam in the southern district — and the four facilities incinerate about 2,200 tons of waste per day.

About 1,000 tons of waste that cannot be handled by the four plants is now being sent to a landfill in Incheon, west of Seoul. But the Incheon landfill will be shut down in 2026.

The new Sangam-dong plant will have a daily incineration capacity of 1,000 tons, compared with the old one’s 750 tons.

Considering fierce protests from Sangam-dong residents, the city government said it will thoroughly monitor pollutant emissions from the new incinerator through the installation of cutting-edge automation and pollution prevention facilities and build various cultural and leisure facilities on the grounds of the plant.

Source: Yonhap News Agency