5112개의 게시물을 찾았습니다.
The following is the full text of the joint statement issued today by the foreign and "defense" ministers of S.Korea(ROK) and the United States (source: Yonhap):
ROK Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Yu Myung-hwan and Minister of National Defense Kim Tae-young, and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates met in Seoul on July 21, 2010, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the outbreak of the Korean War, which gave birth to the ROK-U.S. Alliance.
The Ministers reflected on the shared sacrifice and dedication to defend freedom and democracy during the Korean War, and acknowledged that the ROK-U.S. Alliance has promoted peace and stability not only on the Korean Peninsula, but also in Northeast Asia, and has evolved into a strong, successful and enduring alliance.
They also noted the historic significance of the Joint Vision for the Alliance of the Republic of Korea and the United States of America adopted by the two leaders in June 2009 and pledged to continue to advance alliance cooperation bilaterally, regionally, and globally.
The Ministers reaffirmed the mutual responsibilities and steadfast commitments of the two countries founded on the ROK-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty, which has served as the bedrock of the allied partnership. They committed to maintain a robust combined defense posture capable of deterring and defeating any and all North Korean threats, including through recently announced bilateral plans to conduct a series of joint military exercises over the coming months in the ROK and off the east and west coasts of the Korean Peninsula. They also pledged to develop the alliance's vision for future defense cooperation.
In support of their Presidents' recent decision, the Ministers also decided to complete a new plan, Strategic Alliance 2015, by this year's Security Consultative Meeting (SCM), including the transition of wartime Operational Control (OPCON) to the ROK military in December 2015. The transition of wartime OPCON is to proceed through close coordination between the two countries to sustain and enhance the Alliance's combined defense posture and capabilities.
The Ministers welcomed the UN Security Council Presidential Statement (S/PRST/2010/13) on July 9, 2010 condemning the attack by North Korea, which led to the sinking of the Cheonan. They shared the view that such an irresponsible military provocation poses a grave threat to peace and stability not only on the Korean Peninsula but also in the region. The Ministers urged North Korea to take responsibility for the attack. They also called upon North Korea to refrain from further attacks or hostilities against the ROK and underscored that there would be serious consequences for any such irresponsible behavior.
The Ministers urged North Korea to abandon all its nuclear programs and its pursuit of nuclear weapons in a complete and verifiable manner, and to demonstrate its genuine will for denuclearization with concrete actions. They also urged North Korea to improve human rights conditions and living standards for its people in cooperation with the international community.
Building on the June 2009 Joint Vision, the Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to broaden and deepen the scope of Alliance cooperation. They shared the view that growing political, economic, social, scientific, technological, and cultural bilateral cooperation will increase the mutual understanding and respect between our citizens on the basis of common values and trust. They also committed to work together more closely and comprehensively at the regional and global levels.
Reaffirming the utmost importance of the KORUS FTA, they pledged to work towards ratification as discussed by the two Presidents in Toronto last month. They also pledged to work towards a new ROK-U.S. Agreement for Cooperation on Civil Uses of Atomic Energy in a mutually beneficial way in order to meet the challenges of climate change and energy security in the future.
Furthermore, the Ministers welcomed the close mutual cooperation on a wide range of issues within regional frameworks including the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and committed to work closely together to further promote peace, stability and prosperity in the region. They also discussed the Northeast Asia regional security environment and ways the Alliance can evolve to address new challenges in this dynamic region.
Meanwhile, the Ministers exchanged ideas about ways to meet the global challenges of terrorism, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, financial crisis, transnational crimes, climate change, epidemic disease, energy security, and promotion of green growth, and decided to continue joint efforts in this regard. They also exchanged views about how development assistance can increase stability and security, and decided to increase coordination of development assistance programs around the world to help achieve our shared goals.
The Ministers shared the view that they would draw on the lessons learned through the rebuilding of the ROK in the decades following the devastating Korean War to strengthen cooperative efforts for stability and reconstruction in Afghanistan, and around the world. The U.S. side welcomed the ROK's sending of a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) to Afghanistan, and the ROK side reaffirmed its determination to support security, governance, and development in Afghanistan. They also welcomed ROK-U.S. coordination and cooperation in other areas including the efforts to combat piracy near the Horn of Africa and peacekeeping efforts in Haiti.
The Ministers noted the two countries share mutual views on how to face global challenges, as evidenced by the United States previously hosting the Nuclear Security Summit and the G20 summit, and the ROK hosting these events in the future.
The Ministers concurred that today's Foreign and Defense Ministers' Meeting was very productive and useful, and decided to hold foreign and defense officials' meetings at the deputy minister/assistant secretary level. They also pledged to continue to develop the existing ministerial consultations of Strategic Consultation for Allied Partnership (SCAP) and Security Consultative Meeting (SCM) and to consider holding further Foreign and Defense Ministers' meetings, as necessary.
Related articles:
☞ US announces fresh North Korea sanctions (Guardian, 7.21)
☞ Korea, US vow combined defense (Korea Times, 7.21)
☞ US imposes new sanctions on N. Korea (al-Jazeera, 7.21)
Today in front of Seoul's Myeong-dong Cathedral: A coalition of organized migrant workers, street vendors and homeless people held a press conference to protest against the planned/already ongoing pre-G20 crackdown campaign by the LMB administration.
A call to join the struggle against the pre-G20 crackdown campaign is supported by many civil/human rights organisations, trade unions, ('left') political parties and resistance groups, e.g. the Buddhist Solidarity to Protect Human rights, KCTU, DLP, National Alliance of Evictees etc. (*)
Today's (bourgeois) Korea Times reported the following about the press conference:
Migrant workers decry crackdown
Michel, the chief of the Migrants’ Trade Union, speaks during a press conference
condemning the government’s crackdown on migrant workers, street vendors
and the homeless in front of Myeongdong Cathedral
Black balloons bearing messages against the G20 summit scheduled in November were popped in protest by migrant workers, street vendors and homeless people, showing their objection to the government’s recent clampdown before the big international event.
Civic groups against the government’s oppression of human rights of social minorities held a press conference Tuesday in front of Myeongdong Cathedral.
The government said it would clamp down on unregistered foreigners until August as part of its efforts to boost security ahead of the G20 summit. However, migrant workers organizations refuted the idea as it condemned all unregistered international residents as possible terrorists.
Michel from the Philippines, the chief of the Migrants’ Trade Union, said the government should protect minorities such as migrant workers, street vendors and the homeless.
“The Korean government is using the G20 summit as an excuse to attack minorities,” he said. “We want the government to end their oppression. Stop the crackdown!”
Lee Young, executive secretary of the Joint Committee for Migrant Workers in Korea, said the government considers these socially weak people as potential criminals and wants to expel them under the name of the G20 summit.
“If Korea wants to be a real multicultural society, it should provide stronger social safety nets and promote social integration. However, the government encourages social conflict, not unification,” Lee said.
The Homeless Action and the Korea Street Vendors Confederation also opposed the government’s plan.
Afterward, they started campaigning on the streets of Myeong-dong against the crackdown.
A passing citizen who read their brochure said he was too ignorant regarding the G20 summit.
“I didn’t know the government was driving these people out of the country due to the sake of hosting the G20,” he said. “I couldn’t understand why people protested against the G20 in Pittsburgh, PA., last year. But now I understand that the G20 summit has some dark sides as well.”
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/07/117_69827.html
Related reports:
☞ 부자 살리는 ‘G20’ 때문에 없는 사람들 내쫓아 (NewsCham, 7.20)
☞ “‘이주노동자, 노점상, 노숙인’ 단속 중단하라” (KCTU, 7.20)
☞ "G-20이 뭐라고 우리를 몰아내나요?" (OMN, 7.20)
☞ G20을 빌미로 한 단속추방 반대 농성 두번째 소식 (MTU)
* 주최 : 이주노동자권리지킴이, 한국불교종단협의회인권위원회, 공익변호사그룹공감, 구속노동자후원회, 노동자의힘, 다함께, 문화연대, 민주노동당, 민주노동당서울시당, 민주사회를위한변호사모임노동위원회, 민주주의법학연구회, 민주화를위한교수협의회, 불안정노동철폐연대, 건강권실현을위한보건의료단체연합, 사회진보연대, 서울경기인천이주노동자노동조합, 이주노동자인권연대, 이주노동자운동후원회, 전국민주노동조합총연맹, 전국철거민연합, 학생행동연대, 한국비정규노동센터, 전국비정규노조연대회의, 인권단체연석회의, 노동사회과학연구소, 노동전선, 노동해방학생연대, 대학생사람연대, 성동광진이주노동자인권지킴이, 전국빈민연합, 전국학생행진, 전국해고노동자자복직위원회, 진보신당, 이주노동자의방송(MWTV), 외국인이주 노동운동협의회)
빈곤사회연대(공공노조 사회복지지부, 관악주민연대, 광진주민연대, 금융피해자연대 해오름, 노들장애인야간학교, 노숙당사자모임한울타리회, 대학생사람연대, 동자동사랑방, 민주노동당, 민주노동자연대, 민주노총, 민주화를위한전국교수협의회, 반빈곤네트워크(대구), 반빈곤센터(부산), 사회당, 사회주의노동자정당건설준비위원회, 사회진보연대, 서울복지시민연대, 성공회나눔의집협의회, 성동장애인자립생활센터, 성북장애인자립생활센터, 장애여성공감, 전국공무원노동조합, 전국불안정노동철폐연대, 전국빈민연합(빈민해방철거민연합‧전국노점상총연합), 전국장애인차별철폐연대, 전국학생행진, 전국철거민연합, 정태수열사추모사업회, 주거권실현을위한국민연합, 주거권실현을위한비닐하우스주민연합, 중랑장애인자립생활센터, 진보신당, 천주교빈민사목위원회, 천주교인권위원회, 최옥란열사추모사업회, 한국백혈병환우회, 한국빈곤문제연구소, 향린교회, 현장실천사회변혁노동자전선, 홈리스행동)
노점노동연대 / 민주노점상전국연합 / 전국노점상총연합 / 인권운동사랑방 / 진보신당 서울시당
Yesterday's Yedioth Ahronoth, Israel's (conservative) "number-one newspaper", published the following nice piece about creative solidarity:
Bloggers get Palestinian village water
Israeli activists hold online campaign to convince authorities to connect village to water supply
Hundreds of Israelis managed to overcome years of bureaucratic battles in only two and a half months – without ever leaving the house.
The viral activists used blogs, emails and social networks in order to pressure authorities to connect a Palestinian village to running water.
"We wracked our brains over how to reach people beyond the bureaucracy. We thought about the typical Israeli and how to appeal to him, and then decided to open a blog and act through the internet." Ehud Uziel from the Association for Civil Rights in Israel told Ynet.
The group, in cooperation with Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights Foundation, launched a blog entitled 'One action a day', with the aim of getting the Palestinian village of al-Tawana, located on Israeli territory south of Mount Hebron, water.
Aside from the blog, the activists launched social network groups on sites such as Facebook, and called volunteers to apply pressure on different bodies in order to advance the cause.
Eventually a group of some 1,000 activists formed, of which between 60 and 200 people participated in the 55 daily actions carried out during the past 11 weeks.
As part of their campaign, the activists "bombarded" Communications Minister Moshe Kahlon, Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilani, and several MKs with letters relating to the subject.
The activists also appealed to Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, urging him to connect the village to running water "for the sake of Israel's global PR campaign."
Some activists offered creative solutions by filming water faucets and uploading videos, participating in an activism festival, creating a Wikipedia entry and a computer game, and even organizing a group visit to the village.
After two and a half months of activity, the tables finally turned. Two of the activists received phone calls from head of the Civil Administration Brigadier General Yoav Mordechai, who thanked them for the numerous letters and said the Civil Administration plans on connecting the village to a water supply in the near future.
"Truthfully, we didn’t think we would succeed. We simply wanted to raise awareness to one of the village's many problems. We were pleasantly surprised," said Uziel.
Despite the optimistic outcome, Uziel said their achievement will not be completed until water is flowing in all the village's faucets.
"We have proven that there is a civil democracy in Israel," said Uziel, and noted that they plan to continue their activities in the matter.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3921620,00.html
The Juche Trinity
Daddy(left), mommy(right) and the wayward son(center)
Related articles:
☞ Kim Jong-il cast in bronze for first time (JoongAng Ilbo/Yonhap, 7.17)
☞ Rare Statue of Kim Jong Il Unveiled in May (DailyNK, 7.16)
☞ 죽을 날 얼마 안남았나? 북한 김정일 동상 최초 공개 (열린북한방송, 7.16)
Last weekend in Hamilton(Ontario/CN): More than 200 activists from 28 countries attended LabourStart's first ever "Global Solidarity Conference"(*)...
LabourStart(LS) correspondent Stuart Elliot wrote about the event the following report:
Online Activists Gather From Around Globe to Jumpstart Labor Movement
Sometimes it's hard to understand the importance of an event or an organization when you're involved in it. As a volunteer correspondent for LabourStart.org and a participant in its “Act Now” campaigns, I obviously think LabourStart an important project. But I really didn't really comprehend its potential until I attended the first public LabourStart conference at McMaster University's School of Labour Studies in Hamilton, Ontario.
“As unions confront a 21st century global capitalism, which is imposing a race to the bottom to union-free environments, unions must use new technologies to create a new labor internationalism," said Eric Lee, founding editor of Labour Start. "The mission of LabourStart is to promote those technologies and to practice a consistent internationalism.”
LabourStart is an international labor news and campaigning site, run on a shoestring and powered by nearly 800 volunteer correspondents. Every day the site publishes links to labor news in 23 different languages, and its news feeds appear on more than 800 union websites. It conducts e-mail campaigns in eight different languages.
There was some trepidation among LabourStart leaders about whether an Internet-based, low budget union news and campaigning site could attract an audience of union activists oustide its most committed corespondents. Particularly since, unlike the recently concluded ICTU conference, this was not a delegated meeting.
But the conference was able to attract over 200 participants from more than 28 countries. Attendees ranged from presidents of national unions, to representatives of Global Union Federations, to local union officers, to staffers, to grassroots activists.
Adam Lee of United Steelworkers International thanked LabourStart for its “tremendously effective” campaign on behalf of Vale nickel miners strikers, who settled a year-long strike just days before the conference began. On the first morning of the strike, which began in July 2009, more than 1,000 emails were sent to the Brazil-based multinational company. Two-thirds were from outside Canada, in eight languages from 80 countries, Lee said, It provided a “real boost” to the workers. And Brazilian workers for Vale were able to win a better than expected contract because the company didn't want to take on two international campaigns at the same time.
Robin Alexander, director of international affairs for the United Electrical workers union, said that when she got an appeal from workers at PEMEX, Mexico's state-owned petroleum company, the first place she turned for help was LabourStart.
As Lennon Ying-Dah Wong, a union leader from Taiwan, spoke on a panel about China, I loooked to my left and saw Benedicto Martinez Orozco, co-president of the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo. Michael Eisenscher of US Labor Against the War, Amjad Ali of the General Union of Oil Employees in Basra (Iraq), and Erin Radford of the AFL-CIO's Solidarity Center spoke on a panel about unions in Iraq. Other panels were devoted to Mexico, Eastern Europe, and Iran.
Unfortunately, some people were unable to attend the conference—but the reasons why are enlightening. A leader of Bangladeshi textile workers union canceled his visit because of a monumental campaign in his home country—more than 50,000 workers there are on strike, protesting the lowest wages in the textile industry.
Representatives of independent unions in Egypt and Algeria were, at the last moment, denied visas by Canada. (AFL-CIO Solidarity Center representatives ably filled in at a workshop on the revival of unions in those countries.) The ham-handness of Canadian authorities may backire. Derek Blackadder, national representative for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, said that there was so much outrage at the exclusion of the Egyptian and Algerian unionists and so much excitement about their pioneering work that Canadian unionists will be exploring ongoing solidarity work on their behalf.
Of course, connecting disparate unionists, spread across different levels of different unions, to unite in international solidarity is no easy task. But LabourStart's global network of 800 correspondents and 70,000 Act Now e-mail activists will continue to be a part of that effort, which must be a central component of the future of the labor movement.
* For more about the conference, incl. reports, pictures, videos etc. please check out: http://www.labourstart.org/2010
Amnesty International(ai) has released a new report outlining the dire state of health care in North Korea and accusing its 'leadership' (i.e. the 'Dear Leader'!!!) of comprehensively failing to “respect, protect and fulfill the right to health of its citizens.”
The report, “The Crumbling State of Health Care in North Korea”(*), was presented today at a news conference in Seoul by Norma Kang Muico(Asia-Pacific researcher for ai) where she criticized the N.Korean government’s reluctance to seek humanitarian aid from the international community.
“Food and security remain a critical concern for millions of people in North Korea,” she said. “This has been compounded by the reluctance of the government to seek assistance.”
The situation worsened after NK’s 'currency revaluation' in December last year, she said.
The price of rice more than doubled and thousands of people starved to death between January and February in one province alone, an NGO was quoted as saying by the report...
Today's Guardian(UK) writes the following about the ai report:
North Korea facing health and food crisis
Human rights group calls on international community to help end regime's 'systematic neglect' and prevent humanitarian disaster
A desperate picture of the health of North Korea's population is painted by a report describing a country of stunted children, where the hungry eat poisonous plants and pigfeed, amputations are conducted without anaesthetic and doctors are paid in cigarettes.
Almost two decades after it was hit by a famine that killed an estimated 2 million people, North Korea again faces widespread food shortages and is unable to provide even basic healthcare for its people, according to the report, published today by Amnesty International.
The human rights organisation accuses the North Korean regime of systematic neglect and calls on the international community to intervene to prevent a humanitarian disaster.
Based on interviews with aid workers and North Korean defectors, the report says hospitals lack essential equipment and drugs, which forces the sick to treat themselves with medicines bought from markets. Major operations are routinely conducted without anaesthetic, while malnutrition has paved the way for a tuberculosis epidemic.
"North Korea has failed to provide for the most basic health and survival needs of its people," said Catherine Baber, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Asia-Pacific region. "This is especially true of those who are too poor to pay for medical care."
According to the latest World Health Organisation (WHO) figures, North Korea spent just ¢50 per person a year on healthcare – a tenth as much as Burma.
The report identifies children, elderly people and pregnant women as "particularly vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition due to their dietary needs".
The state's failure to feed its people has produced a generation of stunted children, with almost half of under-fives suffering from the condition, it says.
Last year Unicef said that between 2003 and 2008, 45% of North Korean children under five were stunted, while 9% suffered from wasting and a quarter were underweight.
The report says many hospitals lack essentials, such as sterilised needles. It also cites cases of major surgery being carried out without anaesthetic.
Hwang, a 24-year-old man, described how his left leg had been amputated from the calf down without anaesthetic after he crushed his ankle in a fall. "Five medical assistants held my arms and legs down to keep me from moving," he said. "I was in so much pain that I screamed and fainted from the pain. I woke up a week later in a hospital bed."
Doctors are routinely paid in cigarettes and alcohol, while the lack of medicines is forcing the sick to buy drugs, often of the wrong type and dosage, from private traders. "This is especially worrying as North Korea fights a tuberculosis epidemic," Baber said.
The report attributes the return of widespread TB infection to poor nutrition and healthcare. At least 5% of North Korea's 23 million people are sufferers, it said, while the WHO estimates 15,000 people died from the disease in 2007.
Other defectors offer graphic evidence of a health service in crisis, contradicting official claims that the country has properly funded, free and universally accessible healthcare. "People in North Korea don't bother going to the hospital if they don't have money, because everyone knows that you have to pay for the service and treatment," said a 20-year-old woman. "If you don't have money, you die."
The situation has worsened since last year's currency revaluation, which wiped out private savings and sparked rapid inflation, leaving many people unable to afford food.
Good Friends, a relief organisation, said the price of rice doubled and thousands starved to death in January and February in one province alone.
Hunger is forcing people to risk their lives. Park, a 27-year-old man, said he became seriously ill after hunger drove him to look for food in the mountains. "I almost died eating poisonous mushrooms," he said. "I also ate food we normally feed to pigs."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jul/15/north-korea-health-crisis-amnesty
* The complete report you can read here (PDF file, 54 pages)!
Somehow related article:
☞ Coalition calls for rice aid to N. Korea... (Hankyoreh, 7.15)
Yesterday's Hankyoreh 'editorial' proves once again that the so-called "Four Major Rivers Restoration Project" is nothing more than an ENVIRONMENTAL CRIME!!
Four Rivers restoration through
asbestos-contaminated stones
An environmental group has confirmed that stones contaminated with asbestos, a Group 1 carcinogen, have been used in the creation of an ecological stream as part of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project in Jecheon, North Chungcheong Province. The stones stacked on both sides of the stream as part of levee construction are caked in white clumps of asbestos, and nearby, there were fragments of broken-off stone and asbestos powder scattered around.
As is widely known, asbestos is a Group 1 carcinogen whose production and use has been completely banned since last year. It is shocking in itself that asbestos would be used in an unrestricted manner for the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project. In particular, in the 15th district of the Han River, where the stone coated with asbestos was used, is where an ecological stream will be created with insects, a lotus pond and walking paths so that locals can engage in recreation and relaxation. If construction continues as is, it may become not an ecological stream, but a stream of death.
The polluted rocks were produced at a quarry in nearby Jeongok Village, Susan Township, Jecheon, the location of a closed asbestos mine. People have pushed several times for the quarry’s close because of the possibility of asbestos contamination. Workers at the quarry have reportedly continued to produce rocks with clumps of asbestos while wearing no protective gear, including masks. It is an immediate certainty that the workers at the quarry will suffer fatal damage to their health. Beyond that, it is clear there will be secondary contamination in locations where the rocks are placed.
Asbestos is designated a Group 1 carcinogen (carcinogenic to humans) by the World Health Organization (WHO) through the International Agency for Research on Cancer, since it leads to lung cancer and malignant tumors if it becomes airborne and is breathed into the lungs. Its use is banned, and materials with more than 1 percent asbestos, when thrown away, must be separated and processed separately. It is outrageous that despite this, the quarry continues to operate without any control and the rocks mixed with asbestos coming from it have been used in an array of construction projects, including the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project. The quarry must be shut down immediately and the construction area where the polluted rocks used restored completely. Going further, the construction sites that used the rocks must be found and all the rocks removed.
This episode illustrates the extent of the negligence with which the current Four Major Rivers Restoration Project is being conducted, with no regard for the environment or for safety. The Lee Myung-bak administration must fully understand that the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project construction, with which it is pushing ahead despite the opposition of the majority of the public, may bring about a huge disaster instead of saving rivers.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_editorial/430108.html
Well, it seems that the eviction of thousands of residents (incl. the "1.20 Massacre") in Seoul's Yongsan district was for nothing at all, as you can learn from the following piece, published in last Saturday's Korea Times:
Yongsan 'dream project' a pipe dream?
Seoul's ambitious plan to turn a 530,000 square-meter site around Yongsan Station into a global business district is about to fall apart, a victim of the sluggish property market.
The real estate owner and the biggest investor KORAIL has threatened to cancel deals with builders if they do not submit a detailed plan to honor overdue payments for use of the real estate by next Friday.
Builders are having difficulty making leasing payments as financial firms have turned negative on projecting financing following a prolonged slump in the construction industry.
KORAIL said it sent an official letter Monday to Lee Kun-hee, the head of the Samsung Group whose construction unit is leading a consortium of 17 builders engaged in the project.
This is the first time the public railway company has sent such a letter to the business tycoon, not the company itself, an apparent move to put pressure on Samsung. The letter reportedly irritated Samsung Group.
The Yongsan developers' consortium, dubbed "Dream Hub" consists of Samsung Corp. and 16 other construction companies as well as 13 other investors, including KORAIL, KB and the National Pension Service.
Builders were to pay a total of 8 trillion won to KORAIL for the use of its real estate, where an old station warehouse was located.
However, the builders have failed to honor the payment of the 701 billion won first installment due last year.
The daily interest arising from the delay is about 180 million won and the total amount of installment payments amount to 4.7 trillion won.
The builders have requested KORAIL to put back the payment date till completion; exempt interest; and ease other building restrictions.
However, KORAIL refused, and instead demanded the 17 companies to come up with payment guarantees.
KORAIL officials said they have relaxed repayment terms several times, but builders are not delivering on their promises.
"KORAIL is a public corporation and the breach of contract means that they are fooling the citizens," it stated.
Construction firms said they might not be able to meet the terms required since the real estate market has tanked over the past couple of years and financing has become ever more difficult. "Since the project is the largest in history for a government-civilian development project, it is a huge risk for the developers, too," a representative from a construction firm said.
With KORAIL threatening to halt the project, the rosy picture of cramming Yongsan with skyscrapers housing hotels, shopping centers, leisure facilities and other amenities now seems in limbo. The construction was supposed to commence in 2012.
Analysts say a cancellation of the project will be a massive blow not only to the real estate market but society as a whole. They note that fewer people will be prepared to make investments, further damaging the market.
The builders have already paid 1 trillion won in non-refundable guarantees.
Some real estate experts say the Seoul Metropolitan Government needs to share responsibility.
The rather "humble" project of redeveloping the KORAIL warehouse grew into a 30 trillion won giant when the city administration pushed to link the Han River Renaissance project to it.
The river renaissance is the major pet project of Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon to fill the river's banks with skyscrapers and state-of-the-art leisure facilities among others.
Some pointed to civic movements opposing the projects. "Oh may face further resistance from local residents who feel they have been thrown off of their home ground," a civic group representative said.
Last year, five residents who were being evicted from the area as part of the redevelopment project died during violent clashes with riot police.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/07/116_69137.html
The following Hankyoreh report(7.10) illustrates how the MB administration (possibly??^^) is trying to shit the S. Korean public:
Japanese experts say Four Rivers sites
resemble canal construction
The experts question the rationale behind the intense dredging and high number of weirs being constructed
Japanese river and stream experts who visited the site of the Four Major Rivers Restoration project said they understand it to be part of canal construction, no a measure to prevent floods or secure water resources.
On Friday, some 15 Japanese, including environmental movement NGOs, civil engineering and environmental law scholars and environmental lawyers launched their second three-day, two-night on-site investigation of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project with Korea Wetlands NGO Network. The first was conducted in March. Kyoto University Emeritus Professor Imamoto Hirotake, a 73-year-old river engineering scholar, visited the Nakdong River from the Sangju Weir to the Dalseong Weir, where the Four Rivers project is in full swing. Hirotake said he could not understand at all why someone would do so much dredging and construct so many Weirs at once to prevent floods, boost water quality or secure water resources. He said he understood it to be part of the canal-building process.
He said if the construction is not being carried out for a canal, as the government has stated, then within a decade, demands will grow for the levees unhelpful to preventing floods and improving water quality to be removed and the river to be returned to its natural state. He warned that while construction is underway, if a flood strikes, the levees blocking the flow of the river could fall like dominoes and create a major disaster downstream.
Endo Yasuo, an activist with a water resource development issue group in Japan, said the South Korean government needs to closely consider whether it can maintain and activate without a hitch, particularly in the flooding season, eight movable weirs on the Nakdong River alone. The visitors were at a complete loss for words seeing Gyeongcheondae, a site on the river known for its beautiful scenery, and the Haepyeong wetlands, a resting spot for migratory birds, turned into desert-like sand dunes due to heavy equipment. Lawyer Hori Ryochi, joint head of Ramsar Network Japan, said the construction is already largely underway, but for the ecological destruction to stop, the construction must be suspended and the fundamental issues calmly discussed.
These individuals were at the lead in resolving major environmental issues in Japan such as suspending the construction of the Shitara Dam and bringing about a lawsuit against the land reclamation project at the Ariake Sea, the model for South Korea’s Saemangeum project. Along with South Korean environmental groups, they plan to point out the problems of the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project at the Convention on Biological Diversity conference, set to launch in Japan in October.
http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/429771.html
1. The North Korean envoy to the United Nations, Shin Son-ho, called the statement condemning the sinking of the S. Korean warship Cheonan, which the Security Council passed unanimously Friday, “our great diplomatic victory” according to NYT(7.09).
2. The following is the full text of the "Presidential Statement" adopted last Friday(7.09) by the U.N. Security Council on the March 26 sinking of South Korean warship Cheonan:
The Security Council notes the letter dated 4 June 2010 from the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Korea (ROK) to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2010/281), and the letter dated 8 June 2010 from the Permanent Representative of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) to the United Nations addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2010/294).
The Security Council deplores the attack on 26 March 2010 which led to the sinking of the ROK naval ship, the Cheonan, resulting in the tragic loss of 46 lives.
The Security Council determines that such an incident endangers peace and security in the region and beyond.
The Security Council deplores the loss of life and injuries and expresses its deep sympathy and condolences to the victims and their families and to the people and Government of the ROK, and calls for appropriate and peaceful measures to be taken against those responsible for the incident aimed at the peaceful settlement of the issue in accordance with the UN Charter and all relevant provisions of international law.
In view of the findings of the Joint Civilian-Military Investigation Group led by the ROK with the participation of five nations, which concluded that the DPRK was responsible for sinking the Cheonan, the Security Council expresses its deep concern.
The Security Council takes note of the responses from other relevant parties, including from the DPRK, which has stated that it had nothing to do with the incident.
Therefore, the Security Council condemns the attack which led to the sinking of the Cheonan.
The Security Council underscores the importance of preventing further such attacks or hostilities against the ROK or in the region.
The Security Council welcomes the restraint shown by the ROK and stresses the importance of maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula and in northeast Asia as a whole.
The Security Council calls for full adherence to the Korean Armistice Agreement and encourages the settlement of outstanding issues on the Korean peninsula by peaceful means to resume direct dialogue and negotiation through appropriate channels as early as possible, with a view to avoiding conflicts and averting escalation."
The Security Council reaffirms the importance that all Member States uphold the purposes and the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.
3. NK's FM on Presidential Statement of UNSC on "Cheonan" Case:
A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry on Saturday gave the following answer to the question raised by KCNA as regards the issue of the presidential statement of the United Nations Security Council on the "Cheonan" case:
The south Korean authorities brought up the case for discussion at the UNSC, but it concluded the discussion on this issue by issuing its presidential statement devoid of any proper judgment and conclusion without adopting any resolution on it.
A particular mention should be made of the fact that the UNSC took heed of the reactions of the countries concerned including the DPRK which clarified that it had nothing to do with the case.
The discussion could not have ended up otherwise as the UNSC hastily tabled and handled the case before the truth of the case has been probed.
This clearly proves what a foolish calculation the U.S. and south Korea made when they were recklessly behaving in so great haste to do harm to the DPRK for no reason.
We take note of the presidential statement saying that "the Security Council encourages the settlement of outstanding issues on the Korean Peninsula by peaceful means to resume direct dialogue and negotiation through appropriate channels."
The "Cheonan" case should have been settled between the north and the south without referring it to the UN.
The DPRK remains unchanged in its stand to probe the truth about the case to the last.
The south Korean authorities should strictly preserve the scene of the incident including the state of seabed as they were till the inspection team of the National Defence Commission of the DPRK reaches there.
The recent development in which the overall situation on the Korean Peninsula reached a point of explosion in a moment due to a conspiratorial farce once again reminds us of the danger of the present cease-fire and the urgency to establish a peace-keeping regime.
The DPRK will make consistent efforts for the conclusion of a peace treaty and the denuclearization through the six-party talks conducted on equal footing.
If the hostile forces persist in such provocations as demonstration of forces and sanctions in contravention of the presidential statement which calls for "avoiding conflicts and averting escalation" on the Korean Peninsula, they will neither be able to escape the DPRK's strong physical retaliation nor will be able to evade the responsibility for the resultant escalation of the conflict.
http://www.kcna.co.jp/item/2010/201007/news10/20100710-09ee.html
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