Korea | Common News Update

Apr152023 by adminNo Comments

Yellow dust: Sandstorms bring misery from China to South Korea

Science

NEWS1By Yuna Ku, Joel Guinto and Fan Wangin Seoul and SingaporeFrom his high rise office window, Erling Thompson watches the Seoul skyline fade into a yellow-grey cloud as fine dust from sandstorms in China blankets South Korea.On the streets below, people wear face masks and hooded jackets to ride out another dust-covered day that is no less miserable and unhealthy, even if it is expected at this time of the year.Yellow dust is a seasonal ordeal for millions in North Asia, as sandstorms from the Gobi desert that borders China and Mongolia ride springtime winds to reach the Korean peninsula and this year, farther east to Japan.It aggravates air pollution and puts people at greater risk of respiratory disease as the particles are small enough to be inhaled into the lungs. "You don't feel ha...

Apr112021 by adminNo Comments

Tottenham condemn ‘abhorrent’ racial abuse of Heung-min Son after defeat to Man United as South Korea forward becomes latest Premier League star to be targeted online

Sports

Tottenham have condemned the ‘abhorrent’ racial abuse directed at Heung-min Son on social media after their 3-1 loss to Manchester United. The South Korea forward gave Spurs a 40th-minute lead, before second-half goals from Fred, Edinson Cavani and Mason Greenwood turned the game around on Sunday. Getty Son was racially abused on social media on Sunday evening But Son was in the spotlight before his opener when he went down under contact from Scott McTominay in the build-up to a Cavani goal, which was disallowed by referee Chris Kavanagh after a VAR review. Son has since become the latest Premier League star to be subjected to vile racial abuse online as Rhian Brewster, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford and more have suffered the same f...

Apr92021 by adminNo Comments

Kim Jong-un warns of North Korea crisis similar to deadly 90s famine

World

EPANorth Korean leader Kim Jong-un has urged citizens to prepare for hard times ahead, following warnings from human rights groups that the country faces dire food shortages and economic instability.Speaking at a party conference, Mr Kim appeared to compare the situation to a deadly famine in the 1990s.North Korea has shut its borders due to the coronavirus pandemic.Trade with China, its economic lifeline, has come to a standstill. This is on top of existing international economic sanctions over Pyongyang's nuclear programme. Imagine a North Korean family...North Korea's sidelined human rights crisisThe South Koreans enslaved in the North's minesWhat did Kim say?In a rare admission of looming hardship, the authoritarian leader of the single-party state on Thursday called on officials to "w...

Mar122021 by adminNo Comments

North Korea sanctions slow, but don’t stop nuclear development, analyst says

World

March 12 (UPI) -- A former director at the International Atomic Energy Agency said international sanctions against North Korea worked to slow weapons development. Sanctions had a definite impact on Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, but it has not stopped the Kim Jong Un regime from continued development, former IAEA deputy director general Olli Heinonen said, according to Voice of America's Korean service on Friday. Advertisement Heinonen also said economic embargoes had an indirect impact on the North's weapons program. Sanctions blocked sources of North Korean foreign currency earnings and hit the regime's exports. Those changes had an effect on state funding for the nuclear program, Heinonen said. While sanctions are not entirely ineffective, Heinonen said it alone does not prevent ...

Feb242021 by adminNo Comments

Analysts: Biden administration should engage with North Korea soon

World

SEOUL, Feb. 24 (UPI) -- Despite a host of pressing domestic issues, the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden should take the initiative in restarting diplomacy with North Korea as soon as possible, analysts said during a webinar on Wednesday. "I would contend that there's a very strong case to be made for starting a process with the North Koreans earlier rather than later," said Suzanne DiMaggio, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. "I think it's better to take the initiative before the North Koreans make a provocative move." Advertisement The webinar was co-hosted by Washington, D.C.-based think tank the Stimson Center and the Seoul-based Sejong Institute. DiMaggio pointed to the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama, which was placed on the de...