It sucks to get ripped off like this, but I really can’t feel sorry for someone who was dumb enough to do business in North Korea in the first place:

“I blew $500,000 on Rajin-Sonbong 15 years ago,” recalls Roh Jeong-ho, who headed the first South Korean business to set up operations in North Korea’s Rajin-Sonbong Economic Special Zone in 1995.

Roh (46) is scathing about North Korea’s latest attempts to woo investment to the impoverished Stalinist nation. “It’ll be a repeat of the 1990s, which ended in a belly-flop,” he said. “Nothing has changed in North Korea.”

Roh was once touted by the South Korean media as one of the young leaders in his early 30s who were expected to lead the post-unification era when he exported 44 km of barbed-wire fences to Rajin-Sonbong in 1995. North Korea had asked Roh to supply the fences to isolate the area from ordinary North Koreans. In return, the North offered him the use of 33,000 sq. m of land in the free zone for 50 years.

But there was a catch. The problem was a clause in the contract stipulating that the groundwork on facilities to be built within the leased land must be completed within two years. North Korea continued to make unreasonable demands regarding construction when the area was devoid of crucial infrastructure like roads, running water and electricity, and construction had to be delayed.  [North Korea]

Read the rest at the link on how North Korea ripped him off.

Here is an interesting article in the Chosun Ilbo that discusses how North Korea goes about producing and then exporting illicit weapons:

Curbing North Korea’s illicit arms trade is difficult since the renegade country launders containers carrying weapons three or four times, a defector who was in charge of illicit arms deals told the Chosun Ilbo on Monday.

The defector revealed that a factory in Jagang Province, which is believed to produce tractors, is the center of the communist country’s weapons production, including chemical warheads. The defector, who is under police protection, did not want his identity to be revealed fearing reprisal attacks against family members still in the North.

◆ Foreign Forwarders Transport Weapons

Five departments of the North Korean government are involved in arms exports: the military arms production wing of the Workers’ Party, the Second Academy of Natural Sciences, the Surveillance Division of the People’s Armed Forces, Operational Department of the Workers’ Party and the Second Economic Committee. He said the Economic Committee, which is directly under the control of the powerful National Defense Commission, is the biggest.

The military arms production wing procures materials for the Yongbyon nuclear plant and North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. “The General Bureau of Atomic Energy only produces yellow cake [the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment], while the arms production wing is in charge of the Yongbyon facility,” the defector said. The Second Academy of Natural Sciences exports missiles and also provides after-sales service for exported products by upgrading performance and exchanging components.

“The main client is the research center of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, while experiments are conducted in unison,” he said. Iran successfully test-fired a rocket on Feb. 3 which is believed to have been powered by the same engine as North Korean Rodong missiles.   [Chosun Ilbo]

Read the entire article at the link, but I found it interesting how often China and Iran’s name came up in the article.

Hopefully this isn’t anything serious for long time American diplomatic icon Henry Kissinger:

Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was admitted to a hospital in Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday with a stomach virus, a doctor told CNN.

“He is getting hydration and holding his food down,” Dr. John Linton of Yonsei Severance Hospital said. “All his signs are normal. We hope to send him on his way tomorrow, but he is an elderly gentleman, so we are watching him like a hawk.”

The state-run Yonhap news agency reported that Kissinger, 86, arrived in the South Korean capital Wednesday for a security forum and met with President Lee Myung-bak on Friday.

A special medical team did a check-up and MRI scan and took X-rays, but found nothing serious, staff sources at the hospital said.

Kissinger will likely remain at the hospital overnight and will probably be released Sunday, they said.  [CNN]

Here is an update of that awful rape and murder of a teenage Korean girl in Busan:

The police investigation of a recent rape and murder case of a teenage girl in Busan is facing difficulties due to lack of evidence.

The 33-year-old, Kim Gil-tae, caught Wednesday, has denied the charges and remained silent during interrogation, said officials.

He only admitted stealing money and keys in a nearby hair shop while he was hiding from police.

Investigators requested an arrest warrant on Thursday, based on genetic evidence such as Kim’s DNA found in the body of the 13-year-old victim, Lee Yu-ri.

The police, however, have so far failed to collect definitive evidence linking him to the murder.

She was found dead last Saturday inside a rooftop water tank, after disappearing on Feb. 24. Her body was hidden and covered with lime powder.  [Korea Herald]

I just can’t imagine that the Korean police would bungle this investigation enough that they won’t convict this guy.  Could you imagine the up roar if this guy went free?

Korea and Denmark have made agreements to cooperate in green technology:

Korea and Denmark have promised to further strengthen bilateral cooperation in developing renewable energy sources and improving fuel efficiency.

President Lee Myung-bak and Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen, who is on his first official visit to Korea, held a summit at Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday.

Lee said the two countries agreed to cooperate in many fields, especially in conserving energy and developing green technologies. Information technology, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals were also discussed as areas where the two countries can join efforts, he added.  [Chosun Ilbo]

Korea may want to be careful on far it goes with its recent efforts in so called green technology:

There is no evidence that industrial wind power is likely to have a significant impact on carbon emissions… Denmark, the world’s most wind-intensive nation, with more than 6,000 turbines generating 19% of its electricity, has yet to close a single fossil-fuel plant. It requires 50% more coal-generated electricity to cover wind power’s unpredictability, and pollution and carbon dioxide emissions have risen (by 36% in 2006 alone).

Flemming Nissen, the head of development at West Danish generating company ELSAM (one of Denmark’s largest energy utilities) tells us that “wind turbines do not reduce carbon dioxide emissions.” The German experience is no different. Der Spiegel reports that “Germany’s CO2 emissions haven’t been reduced by even a single gram,” and additional coal- and gas-fired plants have been constructed to ensure reliable delivery…

Industrial wind power is not a viable economic alternative to other energy conservation options. Again, the Danish experience is instructive. Its electricity generation costs are the highest in Europe (15¢/kwh compared to Ontario’s current rate of about 6¢). Niels Gram of the Danish Federation of Industries says, “windmills are a mistake and economically make no sense.” Aase Madsen , the Chair of Energy Policy in the Danish Parliament, calls it “a terribly expensive disaster.”  [Via Andrew Bolt]

Just another reason why wind will at least in the near term always be a niche energy source.  The best “green” technology for energy creation if you judge it by carbon emissions continues to be nuclear power in my opinion and the Koreans are already well on their way to taking even further advantage of that and even exporting this technology.

I think this may be more troops to help with the disaster response in Haiti:

Defense Minister Kim Tae-young says the government will create a 1,000-strong unit of troops for overseas dispatch on July first.

Kim on Friday told KTV that the nation needs such a unit in order to repond to a U.N. request for troop deployment within one month.  [KBS Global]

I continue to think it would be a great thing for the US Army to form a disaster response brigade with all the appropriate search & rescue personnel, water purification equipment, field sanitation equipment, cooks, logistics, etc. needed in the aftermath of a natural disaster.  It seems like every time a major disaster happens the US military gets sent anyway, why not form a unit with the appropriate equipment and training instead of continuing to conduct these responses ad hoc?

A Republic of Korea (ROK) Marine helps undo the safety harness from a Marine assigned to the 3D Marine Logistics Battalion from Okinawa, Japan, after rappelling from a tower during training with the ROK Marines at the ROK Mountain Warfare Training Center. The 3D Marine Logistics Battalion is in Korea to participate in Key Resolve/Foal Eagle 2010. Exercise Freedom Banner involves the movement of U.S. Marine Corps equipment on Maritime Propositioning Force ships and is part of Exercise Foal Eagle. Key Resolve is primarily a command-post exercise with computer-based simulations. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Bobbie G. Attaway

Via IMCOM-Korea.

Here are the the USFK court martial results for the month of February from the USFK website.  As you can tell below it was a pretty slow month for GI incidents:

Court-Martial Results for February 2010

At a summary court-martial on 3 February 2010, PVT Nichlos S. Duke, Delta Battery, 6th Battalion, 52d Air Missile Defense, 35th Air Defense Artillery, 8th Army, was convicted of disobeying a lawful order, two specifications of disobeying a lawful general regulation, and being drunk and disorderly.  He was sentenced to confinement for 30 days.

At a special court-martial on 12 February 2010, PFC Kyle G. Tavel, 55th Military Police Company, 94th Military Police Battalion, 2d Infantry Division, was convicted of indecent acts and dereliction in the performance of his duties.  He was sentenced to reduction to Private E1, confinement for 90 days, and to be discharged with a bad-conduct discharge.

ROK Criminal Prosecution Results for February 2010

In Gunsan Branch of Jeonju District Court on 29 January 2010, Captain Michael Kwon, 8th MDOS, was convicted of DUI.  His adjudged sentence was a 1,000,000 Won fine.

In Seoul Central District Court on 3 February 2010, SPC Stacy L. B. Bernard, HHC, 524th MI Battalion, was convicted of infliction of bodily injury.  Her adjudged sentence was a 2,000,000 Won fine.

In Seoul Central District Court on 4 February 2010, SGT Gary D. Rhodes, A Btry, 1/15th FA, 2d Infantry Division, was convicted of infliction of bodily injury.  His adjudged sentence was a 1,000,000 Won fine.

In Seoul Central District Court on 5 February 2010, MSgt Solomon B. Plummer, SOCKOR, was convicted of traffic law violations resulting in personal injury.  His adjudged sentence was a 3,000,000 Won fine.

In Suwon District Court on 24 February 2010, SFC Vicente B. Lalap, 3d BCD-K, was convicted of infliction of bodily injury.  His adjudged sentence was a 3,000,000 Won fine.

I looked around to see this report because I would be very interested on who else the added to it:

A conservative group has released a preliminary list of what it says are pro-North Korean figures it will include in its official register of offenders.

The “Committee for the Normalization of the State” held a news conference on Friday to disclose a list of about 100 names from various fields including opposition lawmakers Kwon Young-ghil and Kang Ki-gap and novelists Jo Jung-rae and Hwang Suk-young.

Former presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun were among the five-thousand candidates who were considered for inclusion on the preliminary list.

The group said that all those included on the register have conducted antistate, pro-North Korean activities  [KBS Global]

I want to see the list just to see how many of my useful idiots have made the list.