Liveleak.com Rss Feed -

Man Tries to Take Advantage of Drunk Korean Girl on Seoul Subway

FB-RAMBO — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:20:45 -0400

Man Tries to Take Advantage of Drunk Korean Girl on Seoul Subway Line 2 of the Seoul Metro is notorious for sexual harassment, particularly during commuting hours. According to police reports, there have apparently been 2,075 cases committed on the line since 2008, many of which involve drunken victims. The following video was recorded by a passenger who happened to see one of those cases on a Line 2 train. Netizen comments mostly criticise both the molester, but also accuse the woman of not properly defending herself.

Truth of Japan Military Sex Slave - Claimed by Korea

Shiba-inu Japan — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:40:09 -0400

In order to avoid misunderstanding about Japan, I am writing this issue. Now of these days, most of people on internet were born after the world war II. However, Koreans are making big issue in U.S.A. &amp;amp; all over the world about sexual abuse by Japanese military, so called comfort women (they changed the words to Sex Slave now), is it true ? Comfort women, crossing river after Japanese solders. Comfort women, recruit advertisement issued by news paper in Korea.

Let's change North Korea through the Korean Peninsula Trust Process

jason16 — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:10:49 -0400

South Korean President Park Geun-hye and US President Barack Obama agreed never to tolerate North Korean threats and provocations, stressing that such bad behavior will only deepen Pyongyang's own isolation. Park made the remarks during a joint news conference after her first summit talks with Obama since taking office in February. The meeting came as the North has shown signs of softening its war rhetoric after threatening nuclear attacks against the South and the US for weeks. Seoul and Washington will work jointly to encourage North Korea to make the right choice through multifaceted efforts, including the implementation of the "Korean Peninsula trust process. " Park and Obama also discussed a need to forge multinational approach to bring peace and stability in the region, such as through Park's proposal to establish the Northeast Asia initiative similar to the Helsinki process of Europe in the 1970s. Dubbed the "Northeast Asia peace and cooperation initiative," the plan calls for Asian nations to enhance cooperation, first on nonpolitical issues such as climate change and counterterrorism, before expanding the trust that was built through such cooperation to other areas. (http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2013/05/07/43/0301000000AEN20130507001151315F.HTML)

Seoul, Washington negotiating nuclear accord

cathy winslow — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 15:13:55 -0400

There are increasing reports that at next month's US-South Korean summit the conservative government of Park Geun-Hye will demand permission to enrich uranium, or perhaps even for nuclear weapons. If South Korea takes such a step it would appear to signal recognition that North Korea will never give up their small nuclear arsenal. But many South Koreans believe that increasing nuclear proliferation won't boost their security or help achieve the reunification that the South overwhelmingly supports. There is increasing recognition that the West's continued hardline stance has lost them the chance to disarm North Korea. In 2007 Pyongyang took major steps to end its nuclear program, but international acceptance was never given in return. North Korea has been shut out of the global economy, repeatedly sanctioned by the UN and may now feel that their only political leverage is their atomic bombs. Solidarity for Peace & Reunification of Korea - The North has stated constantly that it will give up its nuclear weapons if only the US would withdraw its hostile policies. However, these days, it seems that the North has changed their stance. The North Korean possession of nuclear weapons is the result of hostile American policies and the stationing of the US Army in South Korea. Analysts note that South Korea has signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and that if they did acquire nuclear weapons they could be subject to international sanctions. Many believe that if the US gives Seoul nuclear bombs, they'll have to give them to Tokyo as well. But such a decision would certainly cause continued outcry against the spreading militarism which many feel has been created, and perhaps intentionally provoked, by the Obama administration's so-called "pivot to Asia". http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/04/20/299363/seoul-washington-negotiating-nuclear-accord/

Has plastic surgery made these beauty queens all look the same? Koreans complain about pageant 'clones'

Omar-knows — Sat, 11 May 2013 17:14:23 -0400

DailyMail UK By STEVE NOLAN - PUBLISHED: 13:10 GMT, 25 April 2013 South Korea's growing obsession with plastic surgery became apparent when pictures of a group of aspiring beauty queens posted online prompted claims that cosmetic procedures have left all the contestants looking the same. Pictures of the 20 Miss Korea 2013 finalists were posted on Reddit fuelling speculation that many of them had undergone surgery and prompting users to criticise the Asian nation's growing trend to go under the knife. South Koreans currently have more plastic surgery than in any other country according to recent figures, with the craze particularly popular among 19 to 49-year-olds. The popularity of surgery, particularly among the young, has been blamed by some on a desire to look more 'western' fuelled by an obsession with celebrity culture. All of the women vying for the crown of Miss Korea 2013 have dark, perfectly trussed hair, either tumbling over their shoulders or neatly tied up, pale skin, bright eyes and a perfect bright white smile. And their apparent similarity prompted Reddit user ShenTheWise to post their pictures online, suggesting that many of those vying for the Miss Korea title this year have had similar surgery. He captioned the image: 'Korea's plastic surgery mayhem is finally converging on the same face.' The post saw more than 3,000 people comment in response, debating the merits of widespread plastic surgery. Reddit user HotBrownie, who claims to hail from Seoul, said: : 'Those women in fact do look unnervingly similar and yes, Koreans think so too. 'This is called the Korean plastic face look. In certain areas of Seoul, you would think all the women are sisters because they look so similar due to same surgeries. 'Without the plastic surgery, korean women are very diverse looking and easily can be told apart. 'The surgery takes away their individuality and uniqueness and its sad. Most are beautiful without it but telling them that their Korean ethnic features are in fact lovely is as effective as screaming at a brick wall. 'They wont believe you because they've been brainwashed to think westernization of their features is superior, I don't think they want to look white, but a mix of white and Asian and definitely less Korean.' Another Reddit user, Forevertraveling, added: 'I live in Korea and older women complain how girls don't look Korean anymore because of all the plastic surgery. 'It's so common to the point if I meet a girl, I just assume she has had something done. 'Girls here consider eye surgery just like using make up. ' But others on the social networking site said that all the pictures served to prove was that there is a 'cultural divide' between the east and west in terms of plastic surgery. HerpDerpDrone commented: 'Western women want to exaggerate their features with plastic surgeries (fuller lips, bigger boobs, bigger butts) while Asian women want to refine their features (smaller chins etc) so there is definitely a cultural divide when it comes to plastic surgery.' Miss South Korea Yu-Mi Kim admitted having cosmetic surgery saying: 'I never said I was born beautiful' The pageant sparked controversy last year when pictures emerged of winner Kim Yu-Mi before she had undergone plastic surgery, with many claiming that cosmetic procedures give contestants an unfair advantage. The student revealed her plastic surgery secret after photos emerged of her looking very different at school, but she said she hadn't misled anyone. But she defended her crown telling the Korean media: 'I never said I was born beautiful.' South Koreans have more plastic surgery than any other nation according to figures released in January. Those in the Asian country have more treatments per members of the population, with one in every 77 turning to the knife or needle. The figures, from the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (ISAPS), show that in 2011, 15 million people across the globe turned to plastic surgery to enhance their looks. While the popularity of cosmetic surgery in South Korea may come as a surprise to many, the industry there is in fact booming. Last year, 20 per cent of women aged 19 to 49 in the capital city of Seoul admitted to going under the knife. One of the most popular surgical procedures is double eyelid surgery - which reduces excess skin in the upper eyelid to make the eyes appear bigger and make them look more 'Western'. It is believed that the rise of the country's music industry is behind the boom, and many patients visit clinics with photos of celebrities, asking surgeons to emulate American noses or eyes. Singer PSY, whose song 'Gangnam Style' became a global hit, said his record label had urged him to get plastic surgery.

Largest Container Ships Help Hyundai Heavy Crack China: Freight

Detroit Iron — Fri, 10 May 2013 07:55:28 -0400

By Kyunghee Park & Jasmine Wang - May 9, 2013 9:26 PM ET Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. (009540) failed for eight years to win ship orders from China . That ended when it pledged to build the world's biggest container carrier.China Shipping Container Lines Co. (2866) this week said it chose Hyundai Heavy to construct five vessels that can each carry 18,400 20-foot boxes. The world's biggest yard, which has already won orders for five 14,000-box vessels this year, beat Chinese builders for the $683 million contract. Rising demand for bigger and more fuel-efficient ships from lines including A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S (MAERSKB) will help South Korean yards boost profits amid an overall slump in orders caused by a vessel glut. The nation's shipbuilders have dominated the construction of mega ships that are longer than Eiffel Tower as they built almost all such vessels in operation. "Making these ships isn't easy," said Park Moo Hyun, an analyst at E*Trade Securities Korea . "South Korean yards are the only ones that have proved these big ships can be built on time. Chinese shipyards are still way behind and that gap is only going to get wider." Since 2010, yards in South Korea delivered all except one of the 143 vessels that can carry more than 10,000 boxes, according to Clarkson Plc , the world's biggest shipbroker. Hyundai Heavy dropped 1 percent to 201,500 won as of 10:21 a.m. in Seoul trading. The stock has fallen 17 percent this year, compared with a 1.7 percent decline in the benchmark Kospi index. 14,000 BoxesA South Korean yard previously won a Chinese order for container ships in August 2007, Park said. Samsung Heavy Industries Co. (010140), the world's second-largest shipbuilder, got the contract, also from China Shipping, to build eight vessels with a capacity to haul 14,000 boxes each. The ships were delivered by the first half of last year. Hyundai Heavy's previous order from China was in January 2005 for four container ships that can each carry 10,000 boxes, the Ulsan, South Korea-based company said. The vessels were all delivered by 2008. China Shipping placed the order with Hyundai Heavy after a tender in which Chinese yards also participated, the carrier said in an e-mail. As much as 70 percent of the price would be paid when the ships are delivered. The company favors Chinese builders when conditions and offers match, it said. "Korean yards do have the capability to build better, giant ships," said Sarah Wang, a Shanghai-based analyst at Masterlink Securities Corp. "China Shipping may have placed the order because of the technology." New EngineThe new ships will use an engine that can automatically control fuel consumption to suit speed and sea conditions. The technology will help improve fuel efficiency , reduce noise and cut emissions. Delivery will start in the second half of 2014. "It's true we never built ships that can carry 18,000 boxes, but that doesn't mean we don't have the technology," said Wang Jinlian, secretary general of the China Association of National Shipbuilding Industry . "We just don't have the experience, but everything has a beginning." Chinese yards had an orderbook of 218 million deadweight tons in 2008, overtaking South Korea as the world's biggest shipbuilding nation, according to Clarkson. At the end of March, their backlog dropped to 106.5 million tons, compared with South Korea's 62.3 million tons, according to the shipbroker's data. Spot RatesChinese shipping lines should be encouraged to place orders with local yards, Wang said. Some shipping lines are in talks with Chinese builders for vessels that can carry 16,000 containers, he said without elaboration. After China Shipping announced the latest purchase, the China Shipowners' Association said new orders will exacerbate the overcapacity in the industry and spur a further deterioration in the market. Spot rates for cargo hauled to Europe from Asia have fallen 35 percent this year to $796 per box last week, according to the Shanghai Shipping Exchange. "If the massive order continues, even five years will not be enough for the market to see the light," Zhang Shouguo, executive vice president of the association, said in a May 7 statement on the group's website. "Fuel-efficient vessels are the future, but banks, financial institutions, shipowners and cargo owners should take an extremely cautious attitude toward shipping investment." Hurting MarginsShip prices have plunged because of the overcapacity and industrywide losses, hurting margins at shipbuilders. Prices for a vessel that can carry as many as 13,500 boxes have fallen to $106 million in April, the lowest since Clarkson started compiling the figure in June 2008. Global orders for all type of ships dropped 38 percent to 51.1 million deadweight tons last year, the lowest since 2001, according to Clarkson. Shipping lines have sold older vessels and non-core assets as they posted losses for a second year in 2012, according to Alphaliner . Companies are also sailing slower, with the average speed of container ships dropping 16 percent in the past three years to 10.04 knots, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Reducing the speed of container ships by 10 percent can pare fuel consumption by as much as 30 percent, according to ship assessor Det Norske Veritas . While overcapacity is a concern, it won't stop shipowners from ordering more advanced vessels that will help pare fuel costs and reduce emissions, according to Um Kyung A, an analyst at Shinyoung Securities Co. in Seoul. "Cutting costs is very crucial for shipping lines," Um said. "During these difficult times, who can make money and who can't will pretty much depend on who can cut costs more effectively." To contact the reporters on this story: Kyunghee Park in Singapore at kpark3@bloomberg.net ; Jasmine Wang in Hong Kong at jwang513@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Vipin V. Nair at vnair12@bloomberg.net http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-09/largest-container-ships-help-hyundai-heavy-crack-china-freight.html?cmpid=yhoo

Banking Mafia Exposed !!

omniradar — Thu, 09 May 2013 14:15:42 -0400

These are the very people trying to take over Syria & Iran & then impose a central banking system. and the very ones who stole lb6 billion of gold from Libya, the biggest physical robbery ever carried out ! The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (hereinafter - the Committee) is closely associated with supranational organisations like the Bank for International Settlements in Basel (BIS), which is often called the <>, the <> of central banks or the <>. The Committee's office is situated in the BIS building. At the end of 1974, following the disequilibrium of international currencies and banking markets caused by the collapse of the Herstatt Bank in West Germany, the heads of central banks in the G10 countries established the Committee under the auspices of the BIS to develop common international rules with regard to banking supervision. The Committee formulates common standards for banking supervision and recommendations for their implementation, on the assumption that national authorised bodies (first and foremost central banks) will push them forwards in their own countries. With regard to G10, this is the group of countries that signed a general agreement on borrowing with the IMF in 1962 (Belgium, Great Britain, West Germany, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, the USA and Japan). Switzerland, which was not a member of the IMF, joined in 1964, but the name of the group remained as before. Representatives from Luxembourg were also included in the Basel Committee from the very beginning and, from 2001, the Committee has included representatives from Spain. At present, the Committee includes representatives from central banks and national authorities on banking supervision from 27 countries (the 13 countries already mentioned along with Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Africa and Turkey, which all joined the Committee in 2009). Over almost four decades of its activities, the Committee has published tens of documents on different areas of activity, including general issues on the organisation of supervision, capital adequacy, all kinds of risk, the corporate governance of lending and borrowing organisations and so on. The Committee's key area of activity is the definition of standards on capital adequacy for banks. All of the Committee's documentation is centred around an incredibly simple ratio: equity : a bank's capital = capital adequacy ratio. Kabbalists of the money world are looking for this ratio's magic number, which would guarantee the stability of the banking system. In fact, the Committee is seeking to legitimise what is a crime. In Europe, a system of so-called partial, or incomplete, coverage of obligations by banks as borrowing and lending organisations has already existed for a long time (at least since the 18th century). Figuratively speaking, this system allows banks to make money <>. For example, for every 1 dollar of lawful money that depositors place in a deposit account, banks are allowed to release 5 or 10 dollars of non-cash (credit) money by way of credit. This used to be called counterfeiting and was strictly punishable by law. Nowadays, it is called the <> or <> of banking, legalised by national laws, and in economic textbooks it is known as the <>. The principle of <> coverage (reservation) is <> by a supranational structure called the <>, which lends the principle an appearance of respectability. No cunning standards and formulae will remove the main effect of the <> coverage (reservation) of obligations - the banking crises. In the almost four decades that the Committee has existed, the world has been witness to a countless number of banking failures and crises. In order to prevent such problems, obligations need to be covered 100 percent, but then banks would be deprived of the opportunity to engage in their own <>. There is a strict taboo on the honest and frank discussion of <> reservation both in central banks and the Committee: they are trying to convince the public that it is possible to invent a <> for capital adequacy so that banks can continue to make money <> as before. This is outright deception. Basel I and Basel II - straws for the drowning Up to the end of 2012, two fundamental documents had been implemented by the Committee that defined the <> for capital adequacy and recommended that this formula be used by national authorities on banking supervision - Basel I and Basel II. The first of these came into existence in 1988 and had the very respectable name of the <> (Basel I). This agreement defined the minimum capital adequacy ratio as 8 percent, calculated as the ratio of equity (regulated by the supervisory authority) to risk weighted assets. Only credit risks are taken into account (although a bank's capital can be made up of investments as well as credits). In fact, the Committee gave the go-ahead for a financial-monetary orgy, respectfully called <> in economic textbooks. The markets began to <>, the <> began to burst and the real economy and ordinary people suffered the most. To date, more than 100 countries in the world adhere to the rules of Basel I, according to the official declaration. At the turn of the century, a new version of the standard began to be prepared called Basel II, which was to start in 2004. The new version contained extremely feeble attempts to take account of new banking risks (besides credit risks), especially in view of the rapid development of derivatives markets, the emergence of hedge funds and other institutional speculators, with which banks were extremely closely linked. At the height of implementing the new standard, the financial crisis of 2007-2009 broke out. It once again demonstrated that the Basel standards are no more than a fig leaf covering the tyranny of the world's usurers. Basel II was unable to cure the world's moneylenders of their greed, the global banking giant Lehman Brothers sank to the depths in front of everybody's eyes and, in order to save others, America was forced to spend upwards of three trillion dollars from the public purse, with Europe spending about the same. There were even attempts to prove that it was the implementation of Basel II that had caused the start of the financial crisis, since in order to make up for the lack of equity, banks decided to use extremely risky methods to attract capital and had to go as far as falsification and outright deception (accounting offences, the use of off-balance sheet transactions, etc.). During the financial crisis, the Committee began to spasmodically introduce changes and amendments to the Basel II standard. The features of Basel III At long last, a new document emerged called Basel III. Proposals for Basel III were approved at the G20 Summit in Seoul in November 2010. Participants at the Summit also approved the timeline for the phased implementation of the standard. 1 January 2013 was given as the start date. The new document is exceedingly complex and voluminous, numbering nearly 800 pages. I would like to draw your attention to the following features: 1. The timeline for implementing the standard stretches to 2018; in other words, the standard is not <>, it gives banks enough time for manoeuvre; 2. The bar for the capital adequacy ratio of banks was raised, but not so much that it would avoid new crises; 3. The role of the <> in the assessment of banks by supervisory authorities was increased; and 4. Within equity, a special role has been given to gold as a financial asset. In my opinion, the last feature is the most important; it is a high-quality innovation that distinguishes Basel III from Basel II. In previous Basel standards, only cash (which comes under the heading of <> in all countries) and government debt securities - Ministry of Finance and Treasury bonds - were regarded as high-quality equity. Moreover, this did not include all bonds, only those given the highest rating by leading international rating agencies. For a long time, the highest quality form of equity was considered to be US Treasury bonds. In other words, the banks in those countries that took part in Basel I and Basel II must have been helping Uncle Sam by purchasing US bonds and covering up the holes in the US budget, thereby supporting the US dollar and working against gold as the main rival to <>. <>: the partial rehabilitation of gold Before the 1970s, when the Bretton-Woods currency system existed in the world and there were not yet any <> standards, everything was different. Banks were principally valued in terms of the amount of gold in their equity. The more gold there was relative to the total amount of capital and the total amount of assets, the safer the bank was believed to be. It was all simple, clear and logical. However, those good old times came to an end with the collapse of the gold standard and the IMF's decision to carry out a full and final demonetisation of gold. Gold was demoted to a run-of-the-mill exchange commodity like oil, wheat or coffee. As a last resort, banks could use gold as an investment medium, but the metal stopped being regarded as a valuable financial asset. Up to now, the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has stored the gold in its <>, so to speak. On the whole, the rules of the game were such that there was no benefit in banks hoarding their gold. At best, bankers regarded the yellow metal with the eyes of speculators buying and selling gold to make short-term profits. Basel III has raised the status of gold dramatically. New rules have been provided to transfer gold to a bank's tier 1 capital at 100 percent of its value. Banks now have the opportunity to replace their paper assets (primarily US Treasury bonds) with gold. Experts have calculated that such a practice will create additional demand for the precious metal to the extent of at least 1700 tonnes. There have been even higher estimations of up to 3000 tonnes. A number of experts believe that the development of Basel III was carried out with powerful lobbying from the Rothschilds, who have an interest in restoring the monetary status of gold in the world. For the last two centuries, the Rothschilds have had control over the main gold reserves, been involved in the extraction of gold and are <> in the precious metals market. In September 2012, before the Basel Committee's new standard had even come into force, the heads of one of the world's largest banks, Deutsche Bank AG, which falls within the Rothschilds' sphere of influence, made a public statement that gold had again been transformed from a commodity into money. The statement caused a painful reaction on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, first and foremost in the US Federal Reserve System. The chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, once again issued a standard statement that gold was far from the best type of money. It is not difficult to see that Basel III is a blow to the US dollar and the American economy. America's reaction was sufficiently prompt and harsh. At the end of last year, America's monetary and financial regulators (the Federal Reserve system, the Deposit Insurance Agency and the Office of the Comptroller of Currency) reported that they had been sent a petition by leading American banks stating that the new Basel standards were crippling for lending and borrowing organisations. After this, the Federal Reserve System and other US financial regulators went to the Committee and announced that the introduction of Basel III in America was being postponed, and no date for transition to the new standard was given. At this point, European banks started to feel anxious, believing that if they began the transition to the new standard, they would find themselves uncompetitive in comparison with American banks. Therefore, they also refused to shift to Basel -III. So who exactly has embraced Basel III since 1 January 2013? The list is not very long, with a total of 11 countries in all: Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, China, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Thailand, Switzerland, South Africa and Japan. It is also possible to add India here, which announced it would be joining Basel III from 1 April 2013. It is remarkable that the list contains just four countries from the <> zone: Australia, Canada, Switzerland and Japan. Turkey's absence from the list is mysterious. The country actively encourages the wide use of gold in banking operations, and the proportion of gold in the equity and assets of Turkey's banks compared with other countries is high. In reality, the Turkish banking sector is completely ready to implement the Basel III standards. As the London newspaper the Financial Times observed, the policy of the governor of the Central Bank of Turkey, Erdem Basci, has yielded impressive results for Turkish banks: they have attracted 8.3 billion US dollars in new deposits through gold programmes over the last 12 months and are now able to channel these resources into lending. One can observe that nearly all the leading gold producers are on the list given above: China, South Africa, Canada and Australia. A number of the countries on the list are leading importers of gold (China, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia and India). China, which has been included on the list of <> leaders, has long been hinting at the possibility of transforming the Yuan into a gold standard. Switzerland, meanwhile, is pushing forward a project to introduce a parallel currency within the country in the form of a gold franc. <>: banks' U-turn on gold The implementation of the new Basel rules could lead to a radical change in the positions of individual countries' banks in the global financial system. To begin with, it is expected that the positions of Chinese banks will become stronger, bearing in mind that for several years in succession, China has ranked first in the world in terms of the volume of gold both extracted and imported. The positions of those banks that bravely embraced Basel III will also become stronger, since the price of gold over the last 12 years has shown an unprecedentedly high growth rate - an average of 17 percent per year. In 2012, a troy ounce of gold cost 1700 dollars. According to many gold traders, meanwhile, the <> (<>) value of metal is at a level of no less than 5000 dollars. Whoever managed to get on the <> by buying low-cost tickets will be much more likely to find themselves on the global financial Olympus tomorrow. Even those banks that have still not entered the zone of Basel III activities understand that their future depends on how quickly they will be able to turn towards gold. IMF and World Gold Council statistics do not give a clear picture of gold purchases by the entire banking sector. However, there are statistics for the purchase and sale activities of central banks in the gold market. Following the collapse of the Bretton-Woods currency system, central banks across the world sold more gold than they bought for more than three decades. After the recently concluded financial crisis, the situation changed dramatically. In 2011, net purchases of gold by the world's central banks amounted to 457 tonnes. This is more than 10 percent of the total demand for precious metals on the world market (4400 tonnes). During the 15 years preceding the crisis, meanwhile, net purchases totalled an average of 400 tonnes per year. Thus, the central banks made a sharp about turn and started to purchase gold in the kinds of volumes that had not been observed since the 1960s. Last year was a record year in terms of the amount of net purchases of gold by the world's central banks since 1964. According to preliminary data released by the World Gold Council, a new record will also be set in 2012: the net purchase of gold by the world's central banks rose to 536 tonnes. With regard to commercial banks, before the introduction of the Basel III standard they only saw gold as a way to increase their own profits through speculation and/or investment, but they had no incentive to establish their own considerable reserves of precious metals. I think their attitude to gold is going to change in 2013, they will buy it for themselves with a view to improving the sustainability of their business and attracting clients. The validation of the Basel III standards in a number of countries in 2013 is a serious indication that gold has returned to the world of money. We are not yet talking about the classical gold standard, of course, whereby banks are able to freely exchange paper money for metal. But metal may become more widely used to cover banks' liabilities and be a financial asset of the <>. Who knows, maybe in the future, when banks have accumulated enough gold, the issue of the reinstatement of the gold standard will be put back on the agenda...

Park Geun Hye visits the US

jason16 — Tue, 07 May 2013 02:32:38 -0400

South Korean President Park Geun-hye arrived in Washington on Monday for her first summit with President Barack Obama and a speech before a joint session of Congress. Park flew in from New York, where she held talks with South Korean-born U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and met with South Korean residents. Upon arrival in Washington, she headed directly to Arlington National Cemetery and paid her respects. The White House summit, set Today, is expected to focus on how to deal with North Korea. The meeting comes as Pyongyang has toned down war rhetoric and begun talking about the possibility of dialogue with Washington after weeks of nuclear strike threats and other menacing bombast against South Korea and the United States. But in inter-Korean relations, no signs of a breakthrough are in sight as Pyongyang has spurned Seoul's calls for talks about saving the suspended joint industrial complex in its border city of Kaesong from permanent closure. I hope that Park and Obama use the summit to try to forge a united front on the North. (http://ph.news.yahoo.com/parks-first-u-trip-packed-agenda-040009234.html)

Australia smashes South Korean spy ring

Pakistani — Sun, 05 May 2013 03:14:44 -0400

SYDNEY (AFP) - A South Korean spy ring has been uncovered in Australia trying to cultivate public servants to obtain trade secrets, a report said Thursday, but officials insisted relations with Seoul remained robust. The Sydney Morning Herald said previously suppressed information revealed that South Korea's National Intelligence Service (NIS) had sought "to obtain sensitive information" on trade negotiations between Canberra and Seoul. It reported that the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) alleged that a senior Australian agricultural trade specialist was involved in "foreign interference" by the Korean spies and had been "successfully cultivated". Source: http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/249661-australia-smashes-south-korean-spy-ring.html#ixzz2SOrYifpW http://au.news.yahoo.com/latest/a/-/article/16976400/australia-smashes-south-korean-spy-ring-report/ Australia smashes South Korean spy ring

HOW MUCH DID SHEILA JACKSON LEE'S 'ROUND-THE-WORLD TRIP' COST YOU?

cajunmojo — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:21:10 -0400

Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, a noted anti-gun advocate and staunch opponent of voter ID laws , in February took a "round-the-world trip" that cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $23,646, Roll Call reports. The February 16-22 trip included commercial flights to Korea, Vietnam, and Cambodia, according to the House Committee on the Judiciary. "Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee did not travel over or back with CODEL Landrieu that included several members of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption," Roll Call notes. "The delegation was to meet with local community leaders, adoption officials, and other government officials, such as the Vietnamese Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs," it adds. The report continues: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee took commercial flights over and caught up with the delegation in Seoul, South Korea. After visiting South Korea, Vietnam and Cambodia she then left the delegation early for her return commercial fight through Frankfurt Germany. The trip costs included $19,970 for transportation, $1,292 for per diem, and $2,385 for other purposes. This is your government hard at work. - Follow Becket Adams ( @BecketAdams ) on Twitter

A Look at North Korea's Military Capabilities

USMC5816 — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 21:02:37 -0400

North Korea's military, founded 81 years ago Thursday, is older than the country itself. It began as an anti-Japanese militia and is now the heart of the nation's "military first" policy. Late leader Kim Jong Il elevated the military's role during his 17-year rule; South Korea estimates he boosted troop levels to 1.2 million soldiers. The military's new supreme commander, Kim Jong Un, gave the Korean People's Army a sharpened focus this year by instructing troops to build a "nuclear arms force." Yet the army is believed to be running on outdated equipment and short supplies. The secretive army divulges few details about its operations, but here is an assessment from foreign experts of its strengths and weaknesses:ARTILLERY: North Korea provided a chilling reminder of what its artillery is capable of when it showered a front-line South Korean island with shells, killing four people in November 2010 and underscoring the threat that its artillery troops pose at the disputed sea border. South Korea says North Korea has more than 13,000 artillery guns, and its long-range batteries are capable of hitting the capital Seoul, a city of more than 10 million people just 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the border. "North Korea's greatest advantage is that its artillery could initially deliver a heavy bombardment on the South Korean capital," Mark Fitzpatrick, a former U.S. State Department official now with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said in an email. South Korea's defense minister estimates that 70 percent of North Korean artillery batteries along the border could be "neutralized" in five days if war broke out. But Sohn Yong-woo, a professor at the Graduate School of National Defense Strategy of Hannam University in South Korea, said that would be too late to prevent millions of civilian casualties and avert a disastrous blow to Asia's fourth-largest economy. SPECIAL FORCES: Experts believe guerrilla warfare would be the North's most viable strategy in the event of conflict, since its conventional army suffers from aging equipment and a shortage of firepower. Seoul estimates North Korea has about 200,000 special forces, and Pyongyang has used them before. In 1968, 31 North Korean commandos stormed Seoul's presidential Blue House in a failed assassination attempt against then-President Park Chung-hee. That same year, more than 120 North Korean commandos sneaked into eastern South Korea and killed some 20 South Korean civilians, soldiers and police officers. In 1996, 26 North Korean agents infiltrated South Korea's northeastern mountains after their submarine broke down, sparking a manhunt that left all but two of them dead, along with 13 South Korean soldiers and civilians. "The special forces' goal is to discourage both the United States and South Korea from fighting with North Korea at the earliest stage of war by putting major infrastructure, such as nuclear plants, and their citizens at risk," said Kim Yeon-su, a professor at Korea National Defense University in Seoul. "The North's special forces are a key component of its asymmetric capabilities along with nuclear bombs, missiles and artillery. Their job is to create as many battlefronts as possible to put their enemies in disarray." ON LAND, BY SEA AND IN THE AIR: In March 2010, 46 South Korean sailors died in a Yellow Sea attack on their warship that Seoul blamed on a North Korean submarine. Pyongyang denies involvement. Separately, since 1999, North and South Korean navies have fought three bloody skirmishes near their disputed western maritime border. Experts say those battles show while the South has an edge in naval firepower and technology, the North relies on the element of surprise. North Korea has 70 submarines while South Korea has 10, according to Seoul's Defense Ministry. The most menacing threats from the North's navy are small submarines that would deposit commando raiders along the South Korean coast, said John Pike, head of the Globalsecurity.org think tank. North Korea also has 820 warplanes, more than South Korea, though Seoul is backed up by American air power. The South says most of the North's aircraft are obsolete. North Korea also suffers chronic fuel shortages that have forced its air force to cut sorties, experts say. "North Korea would not be able to prosecute a full-fledged war for very long," Fitzpatrick said. "Its biggest problem is that North Korea would quickly lose control of the skies because of the vastly superior (South Korean) and U.S. air forces. The reported number of North Korean aircraft is meaningless, because many of them cannot fly, and North Korean pilots have little training in the air." The U.S. stations 28,500 U.S. troops in South Korea and has recently flown nuclear-capable stealth B-2 bombers and F-22 fighter jets during joint drills in a show of force aimed at deterring North Korea. Logistics and supplies are another issue. Heavy equipment deployed by naval and air forces requires extensive repairs, especially on rugged terrain like the Korean Peninsula. South Korea's Defense Ministry estimates North Korea's wartime resources, mostly stored underground, would last only two to three months. "North Korea's only chance of winning any war depends on how quickly it can end one," Sohn said. North Korea could try to compensate for its lack of effective equipment with sheer manpower. North Korea, a country of about 25 million, has an estimated 7.7 million reserves. MISSILES AND NUCLEAR WEAPONS: North Korea says it needs to develop nuclear weapons as a deterrent against U.S. aggression. It has conducted three underground nuclear tests since 2006, the most recent in February. Pyongyang is believed to have enough weaponized plutonium for four to eight nuclear bombs, according to Siegfried Hecker, a nuclear expert with Stanford University's Center for International Security and Cooperation. He doubts Pyongyang has mastered the technology to tip a missile with a nuclear warhead. "I don't believe North Korea has the capacity to attack the United States with nuclear weapons mounted on missiles and won't for many years," he said on the website of Stanford University's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies this month. Bruce Bennett, a Rand Corp. expert, said earlier this month that it's very unlikely the North has a nuclear missile capable of hitting the U.S. but said there is a "reasonable chance" that Pyongyang has short-range nuclear missile capability. CHEMICAL AND BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS: North Korea denies it runs any chemical and biological weapons programs. South Korea claims that Pyongyang has up to 5,000 tons of chemical weapons. The IISS says that although the figures are "highly speculative," the North probably does possess chemical and biological arms programs. "Whatever the actual status of North Korea's chemical and biological capabilities, the perception that it has, or likely has, chemical and biological weapons contributes to Pyongyang's interest in creating uncertainties in Washington, Seoul and Tokyo and raises the stakes to deter or intimidate potential enemies," it said on its website. North Korea is not a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention, but it has acceded to the non-binding Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention. Semper Fidelis

North Korea turns to Iran for Help

cathy winslow — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 02:50:43 -0400

The UN sanctions against North Korea continue to wreak havoc on the nation, as fears of upcoming food shortages have forced Pyongyang to call its ally Mongolia for food aid. How North Korea can ship the food to needy citizens is a concern, as UN sanctions have made oil just as scarce. But a North Korean delegation is visiting Iran's 8th International Oil, Gas, Refining, and Petrochemical Exhibition in Tehran to secure a steady supply of oil exports to help end the famines which have plagued the country for years. Some view Pyongyang's interest as a consequence of the massive US-led military buildup in East Asia, which may have pressured China into temporarily suspending crude oil shipments to North Korea in February. Analysts do not expect that an oil deal would cause resentment from Seoul, as South Korea has become Iran's fourth-largest oil customer. Other than being the targets of heavy sanctions by Western nations, North Korea and Iran have little in common and few formal ties, although last year the two did sign a an agreement to collaborate in the fields of science and technology. Proponents of sanctions on Pyongyang usually avoid discussing the human costs of economic warfare, but the forced shortages of food and oil have led to who knows how many thousands of deaths. But many believe that imposing such hardships on ordinary people has always been among the main goals of the many UN and many bilateral sanctions on North Korea. http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/04/23/299897/facing-food-and-oil-shortages-north-korea-turns-to-iran/