On August 11, the U.S. island territory’s Homeland Security Office of Civil Defense posted a website fact sheet entitled “In Case of Emergency … Preparing for an Imminent Missile Threat” in response to North Korea’s threat to launch a volley of ballistic missiles in Guam’s direction. The fact sheet included a warning reminiscent of late […]
South Korea
Posted inNation / World, sj-web, Uncategorized
Rex Tillerson says pre-emptive force an option with North Korea
SEOUL, South Korea — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday it may be necessary to take pre-emptive military action against North Korea if the threat from their weapons program reaches a level “that we believe requires action.” Tillerson outlined a tougher strategy to confront North Korea’s nuclear threat after visiting the world’s most heavily […]
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Posted inOp-Eds
South Korea learns a difficult lesson
The latest closure of the jointly-administered South Korea-North Korea Kaesong Industrial Region illustrates the limitations of over-reliance on “soft power” — in this case, Seoul’s well-intentioned economic and diplomatic power — when confronting a vicious dictatorship that relies on “hard power” military might and terror for survival and prestige. That describes the North Korean regime […]
Posted inObituaries, sj-web
Bruce E. Lindberg
1951 – 2015 HAMPDEN — Bruce E. Lindberg, 63, lost his battle with lung cancer on Thursday, Oct. 8, at Eastern Maine Medical Center surrounded by his family and friends. He was born Oct. 30, 1951, in Rumford, the son of Virginia (Glover) Lindberg and D. Leonard Lindberg. Bruce grew up attending Mexico High School […]
Posted inNation / World, sj-web
North, South Koreas trade artillery fire at border
SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea fired dozens of shells Thursday at rival North Korea after the North lobbed several rounds across the world’s most heavily armed border and threatened to take further action unless Seoul ends its loudspeaker broadcasts. The North was backing up an earlier threat to attack South Korean border loudspeakers that, […]
Posted insj-web, Specials
Captain of sunken S. Korean ferry, 2 crew arrested
MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — The captain of the ferry that sank off South Korea, leaving more than 300 missing or dead, was arrested early Saturday on suspicion of negligence and abandoning people in need — three of whom were seen lifeless in the drowned vessel by a diver who was unable to get them […]
Posted insj-web, Specials
Fears rise for 289 still missing more than 24 hours after ferry sinks off South Korea
MOKPO, South Korea (AP) — Strong currents and bad visibility hampered rescuers Thursday in the search for 289 passengers still missing more than 24 hours after their ferry flipped onto its side and filled with cold water off the southern coast of South Korea, causing fury among families waiting for word of passengers who were […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Austin Bay: South Korea will no longer just take it
No one died on March 31st when first North Korean and then retaliating South Korean artillery units fired some 800 rockets and shells into disputed boundary waters along the peninsula’s western coast. The absence of human fatalities is welcome news. So is the South’s tit-for-tat firepower display. For the last two years South Korean leaders […]
Posted inOp-Eds
Austin Bay: Disputed islets test Pacific diplomacy
Vice-President Joe Biden’s strong reaffirmation of the U.S.-Japan alliance is better news following bad. The bad news is what made the American reaffirmation necessary: China’s latest act of “barbed wire diplomacy,” the extension of its Air Defense Identification Zone to include a disputed chain of Japanese-administered islets northwest of Okinawa. The Japanese call the disputed […]