"US vows to back South Korea at UN; China expected to block moves against North" by Choe Sang-Hun and Mark Landler, New York Times | May 27, 2010
SEOUL — Military tension increasing daily....
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton acknowledged a complicated task facing Washington and Seoul when she said the allies have to work on two tracks simultaneously. She spoke of the “immediate crisis’’ of the sinking that “requires a strong but measured response’’ and of a “longer-term challenge of changing the direction of North Korea....’’
That SOUNDS LIKE REGIME CHANGE!
“This was an unacceptable provocation by North Korea and the international community has a responsibility and a duty to respond,’’ Clinton said....
Unless it is ISRAELI PIRACY!!!
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Also see: Clinton Issues Clarion Call For Korean War
"N. Korea warns South on military exercises; For public, crisis renews old tensions" by Blaine Harden, Washington Post | May 28, 2010
SEOUL — In a college cafeteria here in the South Korean capital yesterday, three civil engineering students wolfed down rice with spicy soup and watched a large-screen TV flash breaking news of the naval exercises....
The students fretted about what that sneak attack portends for their professional future. Echoing fears of many young people in this rich, wired, and achievement-obsessed country, they said that never before in their lives has North Korea loomed so large — as a potential threat to personal safety and as an irksome complication in career planning.
“If this crisis continues for much longer, it will hurt my chances of getting a job,’’ said Yoo Youn-seong, a 24-year-old senior at Chung-Ang University. “The stock market has gone down, and international investors may decide to stop putting money into South Korea. I am also a little bit afraid the North will attack.’’
The March 26 sinking of the Cheonan warship has metastasized in the past week into a major international security crisis....
But the ship-sinking crisis has another dimension, one that is especially disorienting to young people in South Korea. Many of them have grown up thinking of North Korea as yesterday’s irritant, one that their grandparents and parents had more or less salved.
Three years ago, in a poll conducted before a presidential vote, only 3 percent of voters named North Korea as a primary concern.
They were much more concerned about economic growth and higher salaries.
The young in South Korea, many polls suggested, were particularly indifferent to North Korea and the fulminations of its odd dictator.
A “sunshine policy’’ that began after a North-South summit in 2000 had seemed to defang Kim’s menace.
South Korea bought itself peace of mind by showering the impoverished North with food aid, fertilizer, and economic investment.
Polls here suggested that despite North Korea’s periodic petulance — exploding small nuclear devices in 2006 and 2008 and launching a flurry of missiles — most South Koreans viewed Pyongyang as a manageable worry.
The ship-sinking crisis, however, appears to have significantly altered that view.
“I never before factored in the possibility of a war,’’ said Kim Sun-young, 32, a researcher in molecular science at Yonsei University in Seoul.
“But I am very now very nervous and worried, especially if there is a nuclear attack. It would mean the end,’’ he said. “Maybe I will have to move to a different country.’’
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"China tiptoes around Korean warship crisis; Beijing reviewing inquiry findings before it acts" by Blaine Harden, Washington Post | May 29, 2010
SEOUL — China now appears to be alone among veto-wielding members of the UN Security Council in questioning the findings of the investigation.
See: Sinking the Chances of Korean Peace
Russia announced this week that it will send a team to examine evidence gathered by investigators, and South Korean officials said they believe that Russia is likely to accept their findings.
So far, China has made no similar commitment to send its scientists to look at the evidence....
China is South Korea’s most important trade partner, the primary focus of its foreign investment, and its leading tourist destination.
North Korea’s most powerful state organ said yesterday that South Korea faked the sinking of one of its own warships and warned that the Korean peninsula was edging closer to war....
See: Beijing suspects false flag attack on South Korean corvette
How you liking the lies, readers?
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Related: South Korea dials back tough talk over Cheonan sinking
I guess that's why we start getting filler like this, folks:
"Couple convicted in starving death" by Associated Press | May 29, 2010
SEOUL — A couple were convicted yesterday of abandoning their newborn daughter, who starved to death while they addictively played an online game raising a virtual child.
The husband, a 41-year-old taxi driver, and his 25-year-old wife were sentenced to two years in prison, but the woman’s term was suspended because she is pregnant....
A real healthy relationship.
The girl, who was born prematurely and weighed 5 pounds, was often fed rotten formula and was beaten when she cried out of hunger, prosecutors said in an affidavit....
Had to keep the virtual kid alive.
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FLASHBACK:
"Couple arrested after baby dies
SEOUL - A South Korean couple addicted to an Internet game about raising a virtual child were arrested last week for neglecting their real 3-month-old daughter and letting her starve to death, news reports said. The couple spent between four and six hours every day at Internet cafes in Suwon, a city just south of Seoul, and bottle-fed their baby only once a day, the Yonhap news agency and other South Korean media reported, citing police.
Yeah, but we should legalize gambling because it brings jobs.
The couple found their baby dead on Sept. 24 when they returned home after playing online games at a nearby Internet cafe all night, Yonhap reported (AP)."
Yeah, and don't look at that Internet; it will kill you:
"South Korea seeks to aid Internet addicts; Government says 2 million people hooked online" by Sangwon Yoon, Associated Press | May 30, 2010
SEOUL — Day and night, Lee Mi-hwa’s son stays on his computer, slaying dragons in his online fantasy world while his dinner and homework sit untouched.
Lee says the 15-year-old fights her attempts to get him to log off, screaming and physically lashing out at her entreaties. She pulls up her sleeves to reveal bruises she says come from his blows.
Her son is among some 2 million people classified by the government as “Internet addicts’’ in South Korea, a nation of 49 million considered one of the most technologically wired in the world.
I think the sparse post total reflects the fact that I do not suffer from that particular addiction.
Some are becoming increasingly violent.
What, he piloting Predator drones for the U.S. military?
Last month, a couple let their 3-month-old starve while they raised a virtual child in an online game, spending most of their days at an Internet cafe instead of caring for their newborn, police said.
The baby looked like “a mummy’’ because she had not been fed for so long, according to a Suwon police officer who investigated the case.
In February, a 22-year-old bludgeoned his mother to death for “nagging’’ him about playing Internet games, police said. He then played games online for hours, paying with his mother’s credit card, a police statement said.
Such incidents have alarmed the country, with the public calling for better measures against gaming addictions....
Internet addiction may not be recognized as a medical condition or psychiatric disorder, but it often serves as a symptom of more serious underlying mental disorders such as attention deficit disorder and depression, said Dr. Kim Tae-hoon, a psychiatrist who treats teenagers.
So they are ON PILLS, is that it?
Kim said the Internet is almost too readily available in South Korea. More than 90 percent of homes have broadband Internet access, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In addition to widespread broadband, Internet cafes known as “PC rooms’’ are open 24 hours throughout the country.
And here Obama wants to wire the whole country!
“In South Korea it’s easier for citizens to play online games than to invest in their offline personal relations through face-to-face conversations,’’ he added. “People are becoming growingly numb to human interaction.’’
Yeah, who would ever want to talk to anyone?
All assholes anyway, from what I've seen and heard.
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