Monthly Archives: December 2007

Korean Video Reunions

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South Korean family members talk to their North Korean relatives via video

SKorea to pay NKorea 1,000 dlrs for each reunion message

South Korea said Thursday it would pay North Korea 1,000 dollars a time to record videotaped messages from families separated by the border, but denied media criticism that the sum is excessive.

Tens of thousands of family members have been separated for half a century following the 1950-53 war. Mail or telephone services are not available to civilians across the heavily fortified border.

The two sides already organize face-to-face reunions and live televised reunions, but the video message program is new.

The South’s unification ministry said it endorsed a special budget of 317 million won (340,000 dollars) on Thursday to initiate the new project.

It said it would supply the impoverished North with cameras, vehicles and other equipment as well as 1,000 dollars to cover filming costs for each northern family.

Chosun Ilbo newspaper’s online edition, in a report headlined “Video reunions to prove nice little earner for N.Korea,” quoted a source as saying the communist North initially demanded thousands of dollars for filming each family.

1,000 dollars is 17 times the 60-dollar monthly pay of a North Korean worker in a Seoul-funded industrial site at Kaesong.

Unification ministry spokesman Kim Young-Il said the agreed cost was reasonable given poor filming conditions in North Korea.

“The money is not an outrageous sum. To videotape the families, North Koreans first need to locate people scattered in various regions, bring them to a studio in Pyongyang and do other preparatory work,” Kim told AFP.

Twenty families will exchange videotaped messages in a pilot project early next year. Thirty families would follow suit every three months, according to the ministry.

Since the first Korean peace summit in 2000, some 15,000 people have been allowed face-to-face meetings. About 2,700 others have been reunited via TV link since August 2005.

But more than 90,000 people from the South alone have still not seen loved ones since the war ended.

South Korea regards family reunions as a pressing issue because many relatives are desperate to see family members before they die.

The Yellow Brick Road

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Ahmadinejad: Report a victory for Iran

A new U.S. intelligence review concluding Iran stopped developing an atomic weapons program in 2003 is a “declaration of victory” for Iran’s nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday.

Russia’s foreign minister, meanwhile, indicated that the U.S. report’s findings undermined Washington’s push for a new set of U.N. sanctions against Iran.

The U.S. intelligence report released Monday concluded that Iran had stopped its weapons program in late 2003 and shown no signs since of resuming it, representing a sharp turnaround from a previous intelligence assessment in 2005.

“This is a declaration of victory for the Iranian nation against the world powers over the nuclear issue,” Ahmadinejad told thousands of people during a visit to Ilam province in western Iran.

“This was a final shot to those who, in the past several years, spread a sense of threat and concern in the world through lies of nuclear weapons,” Ahmadinejad said, drawing celebratory whistles from the crowd.

But what happened in 2003?

17 March, 2003 – US President George W Bush gives Saddam Hussein and his sons 48 hours to leave Iraq or face war.

20 March, 2003 – American missiles hit targets in Baghdad, marking the start of a US-led campaign to topple Saddam Hussein.

In the following days US and British ground troops enter Iraq from the south.

9 April, 2003 – In Baghdad, a symbol of Saddam’s power tumbles.

14 December, 2003 – Saddam Hussein captured in Tikrit.

Almost anybody, living next door, would have thought very seriously about locking away their weapons program. Keep all the parts and pieces, though; things may change up the road a bit.

As for Ahmadinejad, he clearly likes it up there on the high wire, and he is undoubtedly positioning himself for his next election.

He was declaring victory for himself, and then generously sharing it with those who will, hopefully, return him to office in that next election.

Dentists and Tomatoes

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Never yell at the dentist, especially while he is working in your mouth.

Try not to distract him from his task.

One of the nice things about hearing aids is that you can turn them off, when you’re doing something that requires careful attention and good focus.

Would a dentist wearing hearing aids do better work than one who didn’t?

How about people who work in intelligence agencies?

Does getting yelled at affect their ability to do a good job?

Can an incoming cloud of rotten tomatoes affect the output of intelligence workers?

Whatever their motives for getting into intelligence work, what makes them stay?

If you know anybody in that line of work, ask them why.

Might not mention any recent Hollywood movies on the subject.

Resources

Diplomatic, intelligence agencies win praise for recruiting

MI5 Careers

Careers — Central Intelligence Agency

US spies face uphill battle in ethnic recruitment

More? Start here.

Busan: Busy Place

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Naval Operations Command Relocates to Busan

Korea’s Naval Operations Command recently relocated to Jakjeon Naval Base in Busan from Jinhae, Gyeongnam Province, and will complete the move on December 1.

On that day, there will be a ceremony to celebrate the event, and on December 3, around 800 people, including Chief of Naval Operations Song Yeong-moo, Busan Mayor Heo Nam-shik, heads of major organizations, and resident representatives will attend to celebrate the relocation on the drill ground.

The base will serve as the headquarters of the Korean navy. Its main job is to protect 321,000 km² of sea, 3.2 times the size of South Korea, as well as about 3,000 islets.

The base, completed last June, can hold 30 naval vessels, including 7,000-ton Aegis ships, at the same time, and is expected to serve as the main base for Korean naval assets.

Ahn Gi-seok, vice admiral and chief of Naval Operations Command, said, “The relocation of the command headquarters to Busan has made it possible for the Navy to launch fleets more quickly to counter conflicts at sea. I will develop the Korean Navy into a maritime protection force by strengthening the effectiveness of our operations and security.”

Naval Operations Command, created in Jinhae in August 1952 during the Korean War, has executed several successful operations, including naval transport operations during the Vietnam War, the defeat of North Korean spy vessels and submarines, and the naval clash with the North in 1999.

China Eastern to launch new route from Nanjing to Pusan

BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) — China Eastern Airlines will launch a new route from Nanjing, a major city in east China, to Pusan City of the Republic of Korea, via Yantai on China’s eastern coast, on Dec. 9.

Two flights a week, on Wednesday and Sunday, will fly to ROK’s largest port city. Airbus A320 aircraft with a capacity of 158 passengers will be used in the new service.

Airlines already operate routes between Nanjing and Seoul, and between Yancheng City in Jiangsu Province and Seoul.

N. Korea’s spy chief visits Busan

Nov. 30, BUSAN, South Korea — Kim Yang-gon (R), director of the United Front Department of North Korea’s ruling Workers’ Party, on Nov. 30 makes a toast at a luncheon hosted by Busan Mayor Huh Nam-sik. Kim arrived in Seoul on Nov. 29 for a three-day visit aimed at an interim evaluation of an inter-Korean summit in October. (Yonhap)