A TALE OF TWO KOREAS
S.Korea's disgraced ex-president Park freed after nearly 5 years in prison

FILE PHOTO: S.Korea's disgraced ex-president Park freed after nearly 5 years in prison

Thu, December 30, 2021
By Hyonhee Shin

SEOUL (Reuters) - Former South Korean President Park Geun-hye was released from prison on Friday nearly five years after being convicted of corruption, fuelling debate over whether she would play any role ahead of a March presidential election.

Park, 69, was the country's first democratically elected leader to be thrown out of office when the Constitutional Court upheld a parliament vote in 2017 to impeach her over a scandal that also led to the imprisonment of the chiefs of two conglomerates, Samsung and Lotte.

South Korea's top court in January upheld a 20-year prison sentence imposed after Park was found guilty of colluding with a friend, who is also in jail, to receive tens of billions of won from the companies, mostly to fund her friend's family and non-profit foundations.

President Moon Jae-in granted a special pardon to Park last week, citing her deteriorating health and expressing hope to "overcome unfortunate past history and promote national unity".

Justice ministry officials delivered the pardon to Park at the hospital where she has been staying for a month at midnight on Thursday, the Yonhap news agency reported, adding she remained there on Friday. The hospital declined to comment.

Her lawyer has said Park, the daughter of a former military ruler, had offered an apology for causing public concern and thanked Moon for making a "tough decision".

Park's release comes as her old party, the main opposition conservative People Power Party, and Moon's Democratic Party are in a tight presidential race.

Her imprisonment divided the country, with right-wing, pro-Park groups staging weekly rallies to denounce Moon and his policies and call for Park's release, until COVID-19 distancing rules stifled the rallies last year.

Hundreds of Park's supporters braved freezing temperatures to flock to the hospital where she was staying late on Thursday to celebrate her release, with more than 1,000 bouquets of flowers arriving.

About 200 people held a protest in downtown Seoul against her release, Yonhap reported.

It was not clear if Park would resume any political activity but she said in a memoir released on Thursday that her conviction was politically motivated and she expressed hopes to "meet the people again one day".

People Power's presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol, who investigated the Park scandal as prosecutor-general, said on Friday he had done his job as a public servant, adding he would like to visit Park when her health improved.

(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Robert Birsel)

N.Korea's Kim talks food not nukes for 2022


North Korean leader Kim Jong Un speaks during the Eighth Conference of Military Educationists of the Korean People's Army at the April 25 House of Culture in Pyongyang


Fri, December 31, 2021
By Josh Smith

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un capped off his 10th year in power with a speech that made more mention of tractor factories and school uniforms than nuclear weapons or the United States, according to summaries by state media on Saturday.

North Korea's main goals for 2022 will be jump starting economic development and improving people's lives as it faces a "great life-and-death struggle," Kim said in a speech on Friday at the end of the 4th Plenary Meeting of the 8th Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK), which began on Monday.

The meetings coincided with the 10-year anniversary of Kim effectively assuming leadership of the country after the death of his father in 2011.

Kim has used previous speeches around the New Year to make major policy announcements, including launching significant diplomatic engagements with South Korea and the United States.

But summaries of his speech published in North Korean state media made no specific mention of the United States, with only a passing reference to unspecified discussions of inter-Korean relations and "external affairs."

The domestic focus of the speech underscored the economic crises Kim faces at home, where self-imposed anti-pandemic border lockdowns have left North Korea more isolated than ever before.

"The basic tasks facing the part and the people the next year are to provide a firm guarantee for implementing the five-year plan and make remarkable changes in the national development and the people's living," Kim was quoted as saying.

Kim spent the majority of his speech detailing domestic issues from an ambitious plan for rural development to people's diets, school uniforms and the need to crack down on "non-socialist practices."

He cited unspecified military advancements as a major achievement of the past year and discussed "militant tasks" facing national defence in 2022. The tractor factory he discussed in the speech is also likely to be used to build launch vehicles for missiles, foreign analysts have said, and North Korea is believed to have expanded its arsenal despite the lockdowns.

The big focus on rural development is likely a populist strategy, said Chad O'Carroll, founder of NK News, a Seoul-based website that tracks North Korea.

"Overall, Kim might be aware that revealing sophisticated military development plans while people are suffering food shortages and harsh conditions outside of Pyongyang might not be such a good idea this year," he wrote on Twitter.

(Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Chris Reese)

Unidentified person enters North Korea from South in rare border breach: Seoul
Issued on: 02/01/2022


Demilitarized Zone Laurence CHU AFP

Seoul (AFP) – An unidentified person entered North Korea from the South on New Year's Day, the military in Seoul said Sunday, a rare breach of the heavily fortified border between the neighbours.

Years of repression and poverty in North Korea have led more than 30,000 people to flee to the South in the decades since the Korean War, but crossings in the other direction are extremely rare.

The person was detected by surveillance equipment in the Demilitarised Zone -- which divides the Korean peninsula -- at 9:20 pm local time on Saturday, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Sunday.

It sparked a search operation by the military, but to no avail.

"It was confirmed the person crossed the Military Demarcation Line into the North," it added.

The person has not been identified yet, a JCS official told reporters, adding South Korean authorities sent a message to the North on Sunday regarding the incident.

No unusual activity by the North Korean military has been detected, he said.

In 2020, North Korean troops shot dead and burned the body of a South Korean fisheries official Pyongyang said had illegally crossed the maritime border.

In the same year, a North Korean who had defected to the South three years earlier sneaked back across the heavily fortified border.

His crossing prompted North Korean officials to put the border city of Kaesong under lockdown over fears he may have the coronavirus.

The vast majority of North Korean who escape first go to China before making their way to the South, usually via another country.

Only a few have dared to cross the DMZ, which is riddled with landmines and has a heavy military presence on both sides.

© 2022 AFP