[South Korean] Gymnast Son Gives Heart to Hospitalized Cambodian Kids

Rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae meets Cambodian kids who had free heart surgery at a hospital in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province on Wednesday.

Sep. 20, 2012
Chosun Ilbo (South Korea)

Rhythmic gymnast Son Yeon-jae, who has gained national fame since her successful performance at the London Olympics this summer, visited Sejong General Hospital in Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province to cheer up Cambodian children on Wednesday.

The kids, who all had free heart surgery at the hospital, are the beneficiaries of a project led by the Salvation Army, Kookmin Bank and the Financial Supervisory Service.

Cambodia clears man over N. Korean's disappearance

Sep 11, 2012
Excerpt

SEOUL (AFP) - Cambodia has released a South Korean man arrested in April on charges relating to the disappearance of a female North Korean restaurant employee, a government official said on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old, surnamed Kim, arrived in Seoul earlier in the day after Cambodian authorities decided to release him for lack of evidence, the official said on condition of anonymity.

According to the Yonhap news agency, Kim was arrested on April 25 at Phnom Penh airport on suspicion of human trafficking and sexual exploitation.

A former North Korean refugee who became a South Korean national, he had been sought by Cambodian police after a 25-year-old North Korean woman, who was last seen leaving a hotel room with Kim, went missing in June last year.

South Korea braces for second typhoon

August 30, 2012
AAP

A TYPHOON barrelling towards South Korea has forced rescuers to suspend the search for seven missing crew members of two Chinese fishing boats wrecked in a previous gale.

Typhoon Bolaven - the strongest to hit the country for almost a decade - left a trail of death and damage this week.

A fresh typhoon alert was raised early on Thursday over the Yellow Sea off the west coast as Typhoon Tembin was 200 kilometres southwest of the southern island of Jeju and moving north at a speed of 41km/h.

N. Korea military move spurs Seoul speculation

Saturday Jul 21, 2012
By Foster Klug and Sam Kim - The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea — The surprise news set off a predictable wildfire of speculation and rumors south of the border.

Almost as soon as North Korea announced this week that its army chief had been dismissed due to “illness,” the aggressive South Korean media went into hyperdrive. By Friday a newspaper, citing “unconfirmed intelligence reports,” said Ri Yong Ho may have been wounded or killed in a blaze of gunfire when soldiers loyal to him resisted an armed attempt to detain him.

So which is it — illness or a gun battle? Perhaps neither. North Korea watchers are skeptical of the illness claim, but even an unnamed government official cited in the South Korean account said the firefight “has still not been 100 percent confirmed.”

This is what happens when insatiably curious journalists in Seoul are starved for information about their tight-lipped, isolated rival to the north.

Mysterious disappearance to North Korean restaurant in Cambodia explained?

North Korean waitresses (Photo: The New York Times)

Jun 16, 2012
By Nathan Schwartzman
Asian Correspondent

Original article in Korean is at this link.

A man who defected from North Korea and now has South Korean citizenship has been arrested on charges stemming from the kidnapping of a female worker from a North Korean restaurant in Cambodia last year. However, the woman is shown in a video to have been not kidnapped but rather asking the South Korean man who has been arrested to take her to the border. The video is expected to free the man, who is currently detained by Cambodian authorities. Below is a TV Chosun report.

[Anchor]

Last year a female worker in a North Korean restaurant in Cambodia disappeared. A Korean man has been arrested by Cambodian police on charges of kidnapping the woman, and is currently detained. Appearing to have vanished, the woman was mistakenly thought to have been kidnapped.

[Report]

The Korean man, Mr. Kim visited Cambodia last month and was arrested by police at the airport.

One year ago, the woman, Ms. Mun, disappeared while working in the North Korean restaurant in Cambodia, apparently because of Mr. Kim. A North Korean official residence released the security camera evidence from the restaurant which led to Mr. Kim being accused of kidnapping and murder.

However, Ms. Mun has reappeared after one year — on video.

ANALYSIS: North Korea nuke fears spare China on U.N. resolution violations

June 13, 2012
By YOSHIHIRO MAKINO/ Staff Writer
Asahi Shimbun (Japan)

Security experts suspect that Cambodian-registered ships operated mainly by Chinese crews have been used to provide underground support to such nations as North Korea, Myanmar and Laos.

When North Korea held an elaborate parade to show off its military might, it inadvertently provided further damning evidence against its only ally.

Images of the April 15 parade in Pyongyang, held to commemorate the centennial of the birth of North Korea founder Kim Il Sung, featured large 16-wheeler transport vehicles carrying ballistic missiles.

The vehicles were believed to have come from China, the same ones mentioned in a shipping report obtained by the Japanese government.

Japan, the United States and South Korea had solid evidence to prove that China, despite its repeated denials, had violated a U.N. Security Council resolution banning weapons exports to North Korea.

But the three countries decided not to pursue the matter in the Security Council, underscoring the complexities in international horse trading.

Ship flying Cambodian flag of convenience used to transport missile vehicles from China to North Korea

In this April 15, 2012, file photo, a North Korean vehicle carrying a missile passes by during a mass military parade in Pyongyang's Kim Il Sung Square. The enormous 16-wheel truck used to carry the missile was found to be exported from China. (AP photo)

Document confirms Chinese firm sold missile transport vehicles to N. Korea

June 13, 2012
THE ASAHI SHIMBUN (Japan)

Japanese government sources have confirmed that a Chinese company exported four large vehicles capable of transporting and launching ballistic missiles to North Korea last August, which would be a violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution.

While the Security Council mandate prohibits the sale of major weapons systems to Pyongyang, the official Chinese government position continues to be that it has never broken such a resolution.

Because the United States, Japan and South Korea need Chinese pressure on North Korea to prevent it testing a nuclear weapon for the third time, the three governments have not pressed Beijing on the issue, sources said.

On the urging of the United States, the three governments also decided not to publicize the shipment of the vehicles to avoid publicly embarrassing China.

The Japanese government obtained a document last October that recorded the export of the vehicles from China to North Korea.

The four vehicles believed to have been exported were likely the same ones that were prominently displayed by North Korea at a military parade in April commemorating the centennial of the birth of Kim Il Sung, North Korea's founder.

According to several Japanese government sources, the four vehicles were transported aboard the 1,999-ton Harmony Wish, a cargo ship registered with Cambodia.

Cambodians workers on their way to South Korea - Video by Theary Seng

An average of about 100 workers are leaving per trip, 3-4 times per week.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHWgnJ8BhhM

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: The Korean

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Cambodian campaigners receive justice and peace Award

Campaigners from Cambodia call on South Korea to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Mine Ban Treaty. Photo credit: Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munitions

2012-03-28
Source: http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/news/?id=3589

The Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines and Cluster Munitions, a member of the ICBL-CMC, was awarded the 15th Tji Haksoon Justice and Peace Award 2012 on 14 March 2012 in recognition of their dedication to the welfare and rights of landmine victims. During the visit, campaigners took the opportunity to urge the South Korean government to stop the manufacture of cluster munitions in the country and to join the Convention on Cluster Munitions and the Mine Ban Treaty.

Sister Denise Coghlan, the Director of the Cambodia Campaign and Director of Jesuit Refugee Service Cambodia, and Song Kosal, Youth Ambassador to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, accepted the award at a ceremony in Seoul. The award is named after the deceased Bishop Tji Haksoon, who offered his entire life to peace and justice in South Korea.

Cambodian campaigners urge land mine ban

Mar. 26, 2012
By UCA News

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA -- While in Seoul for an award ceremony March 13, campaigners from Cambodia urged the South Korean government to ban using land mines and to scrap its stockpiles of mines and cluster munitions.

Mercy Sr. Denise Coghlan, founder of the Cambodia Campaign to Ban Landmines, and one of its activists, Song Kosal, were recipients of this year’s Tji Hak-soon Justice and Peace Award.

“We beg the world to stop making and laying mines and to help us rebuild our country,” they said during their acceptance speech.

Koreans, North and South, Train Cambodian Olympic Hopefuls

Cambodian Wrestler Chov Sotheara trains with another wrestler while a North Korean Coach watches, Phenom Penh, Cambodia, February 2012. (Photo: VOA - Daniel Schearf)

http://www.voanews.com/templates/widgetDisplay.html?id=142400805&player=article

March 12, 2012
Daniel Schearf | Phnom Penh
Voice of America

Cambodia has never won an Olympic medal, but at this year’s games in London, the country will try to break the streak with some Korean help.

Two of Cambodia’s Olympic hopefuls have Korean coaches - one from the South and one from the North.

Chov Sotheara is one of only a few Cambodian athletes who could qualify for the London Olympics. Driven to win in a sport dominated by men, she says her strict North Korean coach, Pak So Nam, gives her an edge, despite the language barrier.

“We use sign language," Chov said. "In this sport there are hand signals and grabbing. So, he shows us each movement and then all of us just follow him. And, if we make mistakes he corrects us.”

Sacrava's Political Cartoon: Neutrality

Cartoon by Sacrava (on the web at http://sacrava.blogspot.com)

Hun Xen can't choose between his Viet masters and his Chinese bankers

China claims the highlighted portion of the South China Sea. Many other governments also claim all or part of the South China Sea. (Photo: Courtesy of University of Southern California)

Hun Sen Affirms Neutrality in South China Sea Conflict

Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Chun Sakada, VOA Khmer | Phnom Penh

“If Cambodia does not want to interfere in the South China Sea conflict, Asean members won’t be happy.”

Prime Minister Hun Sen met with senior diplomats on Tuesday, reminding them that Cambodia will remain neutral in regional conflicts, including those in the South China Sea and on the Korean peninsula.

Cambodia is the head of Asean this year, and as such, “plays a role as coordinator in various conflict in the region, but not to side with one side or the other,” Hun Sen told reporters after meeting 26 ambassadors and eight consuls, according to a spokesman.

A number of Asean countries have conflicts with China over maritime territories in the South China Sea, and Cambodia retains friendly relations with both North and South Korea.

Korea Girls' generation's gift to Cambodian girl [Khmer sub]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVcan0gSdxs

Where Koreans Go to Reunify (Hint: It’s Not the Koreas)

North Korean waitresses and performers sang for South Korean tourists at Pyongyang Restaurant in Siem Reap, Cambodia. (Adam Ferguson for the International Herald Tribune)

South Korean tourists watched North Korean performers at the Pyongyang restaurant in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Pyongyang is a chain of restaurants owned by the North Korean Government with outlets in Bangkok, Jakarta, Pattaya, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Vientiane (Adam Ferguson for the International Herald Tribune)

A North Korean waitress and performer at the restaurant, which is called Pyongyang after the capital of North Korea. (Adam Ferguson for the International Herald Tribune)

The performers say they work for three-year stints. (Adam Ferguson for the International Herald Tribune)

January 18, 2012
By THOMAS FULLER
The New York Times
Siem Reap Journal

SIEM REAP, Cambodia — At a roadside restaurant here near the sprawling ancient ruins of Angkor Wat, busloads of South Korean tourists file in to witness an unexpectedly exotic spectacle: doll-faced North Korean women performing everything from saccharine ballads to a rousing number from Bizet’s “Carmen.”

South Korean tourists watched North Korean performers at the Pyongyang restaurant in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Pyongyang is a chain of restaurants owned by the North Korean Government with outlets in Bangkok, Jakarta, Pattaya, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap and Vientiane.

On the frosty Korean Peninsula, relations between North and South are perennially tense. But here amid the balmy breezes of this Cambodian tourist town, Koreans from both sides of the border are enthusiastically fraternizing at the North Korean restaurant as if reunification were just days away.

Asean Leaders Willing To Facilitate North Korea Talks

Thursday, 12 January 2012
Vong Dara, VOA Khmer | Siem Reap, Cambodia

"Asean is also ready to negotiate with the nuclear weapon states to sign onto a South Asean nuclear weapon-free zone."

Cambodia’s foreign minister said Thursday Asean was ready to help six-party talks with North Korea during a regional forum in Phnom Penh later this year.

Asean ministers are meeting in Siem Reap this week to prepare for the forum, which will be held in July. Cambodia currently holds the rotating presidency of the regional bloc.

Foreign Minister Hor Namhong told reporters Thursday that Asean leaders could help ministers of North and South Korea meet on the sidelines of that forum.

In Kim’s Death, an Extensive Intelligence Failure

December 19, 2011
By MARK LANDLER and CHOE SANG-HUN
The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Kim Jong-il, the enigmatic North Korean leader, died on a train at 8:30 a.m. Saturday in his country. Forty-eight hours later, officials in South Korea still did not know anything about it — to say nothing of Washington, where the State Department acknowledged “press reporting” of Mr. Kim’s death well after North Korean state media had already announced it.

For South Korean and American intelligence services to have failed to pick up any clues to this momentous development — panicked phone calls between government officials, say, or soldiers massing around Mr. Kim’s train — attests to the secretive nature of North Korea, a country not only at odds with most of the world but also sealed off from it in a way that defies spies or satellites.

Asian and American intelligence services have failed before to pick up significant developments in North Korea. Pyongyang built a sprawling plant to enrich uranium that went undetected for about a year and a half until North Korean officials showed it off in late 2010 to an American nuclear scientist. The North also helped build a complete nuclear reactor in Syria without tipping off Western intelligence.

Cambodia's fashionable rebels

Cambodian youngsters are becoming increasingly fashion conscious and are trying new looks

8 November 2011
By Guy De Launey
BBC News, Phnom Penh

As the sun sets, the rebels come out. Their favourite form of transport is the Scoopy motorbike. Their destination is Phnom Penh's riverside branch of Pencil.

On the face of it, this is an unlikely venue for youthful insurrection.

This nondescript, low-rise building in Cambodia's capital was, until recently, a slightly shabby supermarket. But where the shelves of food and household goods once stood, the rag trade has taken over.

This is what the rebels have come for. You shall know them by the brevity of their skirts and the blondness of their hair.

Email from abroad: Soy Sambocheyear writes from Korea

Wednesday, 02 November 2011
Soy Sambocheyear
The Phnom Penh Post

My name is Soy Sambocheyear, and I would to like to take this opportunity to talk about my experience of South Korea.

I got the opportunity to achieve my dream to study in Korea on a Korean Government Scholarship (NIIED) awarded to me because of my good academic record, among other things.

I studied computer science and engineering at the Royal University of Phnom Penh and graduated in 2010.

It was then I was selected as one of the NIIED scholarship awardees. I chose to to study e-business in Daejeon. In late August, I boarded a Korean Air flight which took about five hours to fly from Cambodia directly to Incheon international airport, which is about 70 kilometres from Seoul, the capital of South Korea. I have found my life in Korea is really interesting and challenging.

First of all, I would like to share my experience of different seasons. Because it was autumn, the weather was similar to that of Cambodia, so that I easily adapted to it. But now winter is coming and the temperature fluctuates. Frankly, it surprised me when the temperature reached 0 Celsius. In order to protect myself from this low temperature I was advised to have some necessary items such as winter clothes, body lotion and make sure I exercise regularly. Winter in Korea is a new challenge, but it has become my favourite season, despite my not having experienced it before.