UPDATE: Yonhap reports that South Koreans are shocked by the incident, but beyond that, lots of hand-wringing about how tragic it was (that being said, it’s still too early to tell how this will play out with the Korean public). My favorite comment, however, was by an official from the Korean Progressive Alliance — yes, the very same Korean Progressive Alliance which had its office raided in connection with the US beef protests — who said:
Geumgangsan is North Korean territory, and we must adhere well to the standards set by North and South… Concerning the person who died, we cannot help but feel regret, but it’s not desirable for North and South to debate right and wrong over this matter.
After all, she was only an unarmed civilian shot in the back by Stalinists. Not like she died from eating US beef or anything.
The Ministry of Unification, meanwhile, said it will suspend tourism operations in Geumgangsan until the North Koreans explain what exactly happened. That being said, the language they used was responsibly measured.
LMB is getting static, too, since he apparently knew about the incident when he addressed the National Assembly today and called for the resumption of full-scale talks between the North and South Korean governments.
ORIGINAL POST: Yonhap is reporting that a 53-year-old South Korean tourist was shot dead by North Korean soldiers in the Kumgangsan Mountains tourism zone.
According to North Korean authorities and Hyundai Asan, the tourist — identified by her family name of Park — was shot in the chest and leg after she entered a North Korean military zone during an early morning walk near Haegeumgang Beach.
The North said Park had crossed over wire entanglements and ignored several orders to stop issued by a soldier on guard. When she tried to flee, the soldier first fired a warning shot, and then shot her dead.
Park was shot at 4:30am, died at 5:00, but North Korea waited until 9:20 to tell inform Hyundai Asan of what happened. The body was shipped back to the South in the afternoon and is now in storage at Sokcho Hospital.
A Hyundai Asan official said he understood Park had met with tragedy after she unwittingly entered a prohibited military zone, and that they were talking with the North about how to handle the incident.
97 Comments
Cancel that tours, that how you handle the incident
I read the article, the victim is “she,” not he.
Slight correction: According to the Korean article linked above, the dead tourist was a woman.
Quick, break out the candles…..
Ooops! What was I thinking, no foreigners involved, gotta sweep this one under the rug….
such impeccable timing by Kim Jong Il.
I suggest all the men named Kim, make chastity vows. Who knows? If Kims are prevented from being born, maybe we’ll never have another Kim Jong Il on earth.
#2,
Are North Korean soldier so weak that they can’t overpower a woman?
#5,
Had the little freak not drowned his brother when he was a kid, North Korea might be a very different country.
That was a very early morning walk if she was already shot at 4:30.
#6 Shouldn’t be with all the food the South has been sending their army under KDJ and Roh.
“That was a very early morning walk if she was already shot at 4:30.”
That’s probably because it makes it appear as if she was acting suspiciously. I bet she was in fact shot shortly before NK informed Hyundai at about 10 am.
For now, they want to get those tourists out of there as soon as possible. The truth will probably come out after they have returned home.
I don’t understand how a NK solder could shoot her without hesitation. She posed no threat–just a 53-year-old woman.
She was clearly all hopped up on that mad cow beef that’s been selling so well. I wonder if there’ll be a protest about this in GwangHaMun anytime soon.
What do they care? They already got what they wanted, the US has lifted sanctions.
#10 No doubt. A search for US beef will probably the focus of the autopsy since fan-death can be ruled out here.
A. She was prolly still pissed from all the Makkeolli and Soju she had been pounding with the other quasi single 50 year olds.
B. There are umpteen warnings about showing some respect and not wandering off and especially going into restricted areas from the tour operators.
C. The North Korean Soldiers probably acted strictly to protocol. At that time of day it could’ve been a James Bond type surfing through on the off-shore break, no?
Basically this is just a tragic accident.
OMG it’s fun to laugh at someone getting shot! So fun! I could do it all day… but I won’t. Jerks.
#14,
Right, and Kim Jong Il hit a whack of holes in one on his first try at golf.
#13 Who’s laughing? My bet is that it won’t take 48 hours for some Korean idiot to find a way to blame this on US beef.
At the very least, the nutizens will pin this incident on the US by dredging up the “Secret Taft-Katsura Treaty” or the post-war partitioning arrangement or USFK’s presence or blah-blah-blah……
Anything but blame a Korean! This stuff always plays out according to script here.
One does have to wonder what she was doing out there at that hour. My brother-in-law is a tour guide up there. Groups coming from the South leave starting around 5 am, so she must have been an overnight guest.
Probably not going to be much fun working up there over the next few weeks.
You know Hyundai is only worried about the effect on the bottom line that this might cause.
BTW, in the last paragraph, the official “understood” the situation means:
a) “Everyone knows this is tragic, but please understand the soldier” or
b) “that’s all the information I have right now”?
#13 my sentiments too…
There’s no need for Hyundai to worry about the bottom line. The tours are money-losers, and the Korean government reimburses Hyundai for losses (I read ‘the North Korean economy’ by Eberstadt).
More interestingly, will the new Pres have a new take on this? If this were last year, Roh would already have announced a gift to North Korea of $100 million to apologize for the inconvenience caused by this incident.
While I doubt that we’ll ever know what really happened, I’m inclined to agree with #12 on the drunk hypothesis. Could sleepwalking be another plausible explanation? Less likely: She was a spy. Even less likely: She was trying to defect.
“they were talking with the North about how to handle the incident” Sounds like the under-the-rug-sweeping is well under way.
Perhaps the stubborn old woman thought she could find her relatives and ignored warnings.
A bit sad really.
I’m reading a lot of “Where’s your precious candle rally on this NK aggression” sort of response directed against the MDC instigators in the comment section of the linked article.
I don’t understand how this woman was allowed to cross the barbed wires in the first place. No S. Korean soliders patrolling their side of the line? This isn’t like US Mexico border. You cross into NK illegally, and you die.
Gosh, I’m surprised. I am under the impression that the North is like a misunderstood, wayward brother who needs a helping hand.
I’m shocked, truly shocked.
Let’s update our scorecard for the year:
S. Koreans killed by US beef: 0
S. Koreans killed by N.Koreans: 1.
Surabol, the casualty was on North Korea territory, a military installation no less. She didn’t cross the DMZ barbed wires that separates the North from the South. She simply crossed into a military zone, of which there are thousands all over the North and the South.
Baekdu boy, the woman wasn’t even born at the time of the armistice. I doubt she took it upon herself to “find her relatives” when she crossed the wired entanglements.
If she crossed barbed wire fences, she knew what she was doing was wrong. Any sane person would immediately go back at the first sign of problems. We all know that if we stray into NK territory, we get shot. Very simple. My opinion is she was just snooping around because she wanted to.
Either that, or the facts will be revealed later and the report is all NK propaganda and face-saving. I’d say both are equally likely at this point.
Man that sucks and sad too.
Down through the years the Norks have lied about huge international incidents. Bombings and kidnapping and nukes oh my! If you are taking any of what is being said by the Norks about this at face value you are not living in reality. We don’t know what really happened but if it would reflect badly on the Norks they are going to lie and for political reasons President Lee may have to accept their lies. Truly sad.
I know the full story, and bigrich and Surabol have misunderstandings about the incident, but I’ll just pass because of what anti-US beef protestors did to me (I’m Korean, BTW.). I can never forgive them.
I won’t do anything beneficial to Korea (either north and south). lol
Oops~ north “or” south ㅋ
Is there a way to sue the butts off of the People’s Republic of China for millions and millions of deaths and misery and poverty surrounding China proper in East Asia?
If there is way, might as well dig up Mao Zedong from his grave, and defile it.
The Chinese and their wars. Nothing but misery. Worse than East Europe.
No one talks about Chinese war crimes.
Hopefully the truth will come out, especially given Lee’s anti-North stance… but more likely, it won’t. She probably saw something she wasn’t supposed to see and killed to keep the secret. The NK guards have likely already been relocated or punished so as to avoid being interviewed by SK officials.
And yeah, this will play out like a script… and quickly swept under the rug.
Well, there was no public outcry whatsoever when the North ambushed a South Korean patrol boat in 2002, killing six sailors and wounding 18, so this unfortunate woman will probably not get a single candle lit in her honor.
Perhaps she was just another ajumma that assumed the rules and regulations do not apply to her, and decided to ignore the warnings …
I assume that these South Korean tourists are told before they cross over into North Korea what they can and cannot do, and this particular woman decided to ignore them and suffered the consequences…
I would like to know what possessed this woman to leave her group and go out alone?
I feel sorry that she lost her life, but soldiers are trained to follow orders, and this woman seemed to be clearly where she was not supposed to be and paid dearly for it.
Who knows what the real facts really are concerning this tragic event…
http://www.amnestyusa.org/annu.....&c=PRK
In case anyone is self-indulgent enough to be shocked, get reaquainted with North Korea, whydontcha?
Also, there is nothing funny about this. A woman was killed by an ignorant, brainwashed man who was almost certainly afraid that if he didn’t fire, his own ass would be shot.
WJK, talk about non sequiturs….
I have noticed that no one in South Korea ever talks about Chinese war crimes, like how they divided the Korean Peninsula, so maybe you’re on topic after all.
#38,
There was some, but it was quickly swept under the rug with the help of a fatal traffic accident involving USFK personnel…and boy was that an ugly one. That’s why many of us long-term residents of South Korea are curious to know what will come of this incident.
Is this too paranoid an interpretation?:
NK is always looking for chances to take shots at SK (the murder at the DMZ, the patrol boat massacre). With the anti-NK LMB on the political ropes at home this was a good chance to take a free one?
Shot that is…
11 July 2008, 1900 hours; not a peep about this incident at OMN or the Hanky.
But sometimes, mental acrobatics take time….
Yeah, maybe the norks abducted from her bed, dragged her out of the hotel and then shot her. Then they set it up to make it look like she was encroaching on a sensitive military area. That’s why it took them 4 hours to figure their story out. Otherwise why didn’t they call Mr. Hyundai Asan chairman on his cell phone?
One Southie down 49 odd million to go.
Damn those Norks!! Always looking to take one down for the Dear Leader.
Didn’t read most of the comments…
This is old and highly tangential to this news, but….
Back in the mid-1960s, when there were frequent shootings at the DMZ (and elsewhere in South Korea) as North Korea stepped up infiltration activity and provocative acts…
…there were a couple of shootings by GIs on guard duty that killed South Korean civilians.
One incident took place near the DMZ at a river. Sentries stopped a group of Koreans who claimed they were collecting reeds. When some of them bolted after being stopped, two were shot dead.
The other incident was at a US base where a group of South Koreans said they were trying to penetrate the base in order to steal stuff and one was shot fleeing.
In both of those cases, some politicians called for the US soldiers to tried for murder in a Korean court. In one of the cases, the National Assembly voted — unanimously — demanding the soldiers be handed over to a Korean court and the SOFA be revised to include statutes on criminal offenses.
I can’t find the links to the images of the NY Times articles I put up on my site a few years ago…
Here are the headlines you can find in the NY Times Archives, but you’d have to pay to read them:
KOREA ASKS U.S. INQUIRY; Demands Joint Investigation of Slaying of 2 Woodsmen
14 Feb 1962
Gen. Park’s Foes Create Issue Over Slayings by U.S. Sentries
13 Feb 1964
The incident happened at Mount Kumgang, a popular Seoul-funded resort on the east coast of North Korea
well i guess popular resort description will pretty much do a 180′
or maybe it wont????
#44,
Yes, but those events in South Korea and this does not. There’s something called sovereignty that prevents South Korea from making the same demands. Besides, do I need to remind you that 10 years ago South Koreans soldiers shot a man and a woman who were in a restricted area along the coast late at night for..hmm, hmm…sightseeing?
Dammit…
Yes, but those events took place in South Korea and this one did not.
Tripod, I was here in 2002 and remember the whole anti-U.S. frenzy well.
I really expect no public outcry about this incident.
Tripod, I was here in 2002, and it was ugly. I don’t expect this news to make much of an impact in S.K. though. Hope I’m wrong but I doubt it.
Someone walking alone in the morning at 4 am makes this suspicious. BUT.
I can see that easily happening. Older Koreans like to go out and collect wild plants for dinner table and for traditional medicine. So didn’t she know she was in North Korea? Perhaps 10 years of Left wing rule in South Korea has psychologically removed many of the current generation of South Korean’s fear and suspicion of North Korea.
OR
this is just a story made up by North Korea to cover up for the shooting.
I guess she spoke ill of Kim Il-sung or Kim Jong-il.
I echo the opinion of some others that we should not take the North Korean account at face value, especially since there is a five-hour gap between the reported time of the shooting and the notification to Asan officials.
I would also like to request that commenters please leave out the irrelevant issue of US beef.
Agreed, Sonagi we have no real information to work from. Yes, it could have been a South Korean agent (yes they do exist) but Occam’s razor is usually correct. Yes, a lamentable accident happened. In all likelihood it was an accident but also in all likelihood we will never know. The obfuscation from both north and south makes any clear answer well… unanswerable.
The victims photo has been released. Must be an old passport picture because she doesn’t look a day older than 45 in it, certainly not the little old lady that some people seem to think that she was here.
It’s sad whenever an innocent person dies.
However: what was this woman thinking? I’m sure she remembered the time the North Koreans kidnapped a Geumgangsan tourist for merely telling a North Korea that she wished he could meet her in Seoul one day.
Everyone who goes to Geumgangsan should know to shut up and stay with the tour group. Even if she wasn’t a spy, her behavior would have made it easy to assume she was.
Apparently they used up all of the candlelight marches protesting against US Beef… None left for a ROK woman murdered by DPRK thugs…
Who, BTW, provide the candles and rhetoric for the mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers anyway (and probably out of the funds generated by Kumgangsan)…
No question about this at all… I’m not going back until either the South grows a spine or KJI gets the Moscow Flu…
Reminds me of this incident: a Korean professor was visiting a U.S. national park with his wife. A sign right in front of them clearly warned all park visitors: “Danger! Do NOT enter this area.” Or some words to that effect. Well, you guessed it: she immediately waltzed inside the restricted area, and a buffalo charged her, but luckily she survived relatively unscathed. Moral of this story: (fill in the blank) _______________.
Only this week. Cuz the overall score is more like 0 to millions.
The NK side evidently considers it impossible that a South Korean might be trying to defect to NK. That much makes perfect sense.
But if they really thought she was a spy, wouldn’t they have tried to capture her instead?
A sad incident.
What was she doing around 4:00 am?
I guess she was a Mudang, Korean female Shaman, worship the spirits of Kumgang San and want to get some spiritual energy which could be used her practice when she returns home.
Why? I heard there were so many incidents that these Shamans got into trouble as they enter restricted area in mountains in Korea.
Hyundai will compensate her family and resume the Kumgang San tour soon. Candlelight vigil will be held by old Vets and conservative group against NK. Stupid politicians will waste all tax payers money again on this incident. The incident will be erased completely on our memory, unless touched by MBC PD Diary, and ordinary Korean’s life goes on as usual. The lefty continues, barking on beef issue. The Hole will be continue to attract the world with “Korea sucks” or “Korea Only” stories or incidents.
TGIF!
Park Hyun: “It is sad whenever an innocent person dies. However: what was this woman thinking?”
As I have observed in street protests as well as in citizens’ dealings with the police, the authority of South Korean law enforcement officers is generally disregarded, and I believe this disregard was generalized to N Koreans - a fatal mistake.
Back during the anti Cheon Doo Hwan demonstrations, the game was to push, taunt and challenge the riot police. At that time I was in Daegu and the job of the police surrounding the campus was to keep the students from spilling onto the street. The protesters essentially disbelieved that their fellow countrymen would respond with violence against them - “sulma!” I warned those with whom I spoke of potential repercussions for pushing Cheon Doo Hwan too hard, and tried to explain the difference between a rally and a demonstration. Watching the increasing boldness of the students, I was filled with a feeling of unease.
My fears were realized in Kwangju, where the demonstrators ran amuk, burning, robbing an armery and riding around in military vehicles. The Kyeong San Do black berets, who had a general dislike for the Cheola Do folk were called in. The resulting massacre is history. I sympathized with the victims, but not with their provocative behavior. They pushed too hard and brought tragedy upon themselves.
More recently, I have seen ajuma physically assault traffic policemen. This is one of the manifestations of an attitudes of entitlement that I have been critical of.
Even after a long list of crazy stuff that DPRK has done in the past, they never cease to amaze me in their retarded actions…
I can’t believe people blame the woman. Maybe as previous poster wrote, maybe she was a mudang with special attachment to geumgangsan. Or maybe she has her long lost mom or dad in DPRK. Maybe she was thinking, “only if I cross this barbed wire I can see my mom…” Or maybe she was like the rest of us just dying with curiosity to know what “real” North Korea was like.
Only thing we know for certain, is that the DPRK guard who shot her, will get a medal and probably a fruitbasket from “dear” leader.
Hyundai’s compensation should be F@CKING HUGE. If any of that comes out of ROK treasury, Hyundai executives should be summarily executed. No more military procurement projects to Hyundai at all costs…
The fact that she crossed a “military” zone mean nothing to me. That whole damn country is one gigantic military base. You can’t move anywhere without military permits.
Speaking of the 2002 sea incident, North Korea media called the south Korean sailors who got killed “riff-raff” in an official posting earlier this week who met a dog’s death. North Korea has no remorse for its unacceptable actions.
Some more details are coming out. She didn’t cross any wire entanglements, because there are only light-green colored fences separating the tourist area from restricted area on the beach. The fences are pretty high (2 meters), but it’s possible to go around them in low tides. Hyundai also says that they have the closed-circuit TV footage from the hotel surveillance cameras, and it shows her leaving the lobby by herself around 4:30 AM. Also, the North Korean soldier chased her for over 1 kilometer before shooting her dead. Other tourists who were in the same group with the dead woman are complaining that Hyundai didn’t warn them about the beach being a restricted area.
# 58,
Hit the nail right on the head. It would make sense she was a mudang. They are crazy anyways.
# 61,
I wouldn’t pay any attention to NK’s media. If you want to speak to someone, you talk to his/her face, not it’s ass.
NK’s media is one big giant asshole spewing shit 24/7.
why does everything have to come back to “US BEEF.” yes it is a relevant issue, but its becoming like Letterman and Leno going on and on about OJ Simpson or jokes about Lewinski’s dress.
A person, doesn’t matter if its a woman or a child or a freaking ninja, went somewhere they shouldn’t have on a border that Clinton once called the “scariest place on earth.” She got shot. NK soldiers aren’t born and bred to have second thoughts. It is a tragedy, but nothing can be done about it. It is a wake up call. Touring near the NK border is not picnicing and the woman shouldn’t have even had the notion nor the opportunity to reach that point.
“Touring near the NK border is not picnicing and the woman shouldn’t have even had the notion nor the opportunity to reach that point.” From what I’ve heard, South Koreans have been brainwashed the past ten years into believing that there northern brethren are not threat at all. How can you blame her after a decade of warm fuzzy sunshine.
“LMB is getting static, too, since he apparently knew about the incident when he addressed the National Assembly today and called for the resumption of full-scale talks between the North and South Korean governments.”
Well, this certainly shows that the so-called amti-US beef protests orchestrated by Pyongyang to destabilize or bring down the LMB administration have worked 100%, with LMB now kissin’ ass.
r.i.p. to this lady.
i don’t buy the n.korean explanation. they lie about everything.
like someone said earlier, she may have spoken ill of the dear leader.
i can picture such a scenario because i’ve seen youtube videos of n.korean tours where the “guides” threaten tourists with “severe repercussions” for the even slightest criticism/offenses.
unfortunately the only truth we know is that she is dead and was shot twice from behind.
unless NK lets CSI types onto the crime scene with permission to gather evidence and forensically test the gun that was used……
EVERYTHING IS HEARSAY.
the truth will never be found. it’s just the way it is in NK and it won’t change until the current regime changes first (never).
Doh, I forgot mount Keumgang was in North Korea. Slipped my mind.
Still, I wonder why South Korean soldiers (or someone) were not stationed near areas considered off limits to visitors. From what I’ve read so far, the woman was neither drunk or defiant to NK orders. The linked article mentions that she was running away.
As tragic as the incident is, the woman in questions shouldn’t have entered the supposed restriced zone.
One of the things one always remembers when traveling to a country with a paranoid security system is to be very very careful not to draw attention from the said security services.
Not that I think the NK action is deplorable. The soldier could at the least have scared her away instead of opening fire, but on the other hand the guy was probably under orders to shoot any intruders no matter who they are.
I agree. If the area is restricted, why go there in the first place?
But then again, maybe she thought she’d get a ‘free pass’ because she’s Korean? I mean after all, they’re taught that the US is the real enemy, not NK.
At 4:30 in the morning she probably did not notice any restricted area signs. Nor would she have thought that NK soldiers barracks would be stationed so near a tourist resort on the beach.
the simple question is what would be SK reaction if any citizen was killed in any way shape or form by an american soldier???????
I seem to remember plenty of righteous indignation two or three years back when American soldiers had the effrontery to lay hands on a demonstrator who intruded onto a US military base.
Let us just imagine what would happen if South Korea’s “main enemy,” i.e. its ally the USA, shot a South Korean citizen for trespassing. It wouldn’t matter how much barbed wire she crossed, or how many big signs she overlooked, or how many warning shots she ignored. You’d need three Gwanghwamuns to hold all the demonstrators.
I feel for her family and friends. Horrible event (cannot say accident).
There will, however, be no candles lit or demonstrations of any significant size. The pinkos are the driving force behind the majority of the demos here and this, of course, is not something on their agenda.
I hope I am wrong.
I imagine that this sort of cowardly back-shooting will serve as an example to South Koreans about who they are really dealing with.
People will remember this because shooting an adjuma in the back is bad, bad, bad.
If there is a demo, I will be there, for Ms. Park and her family only, politics or restrictions be damned.
What is significant to me is that the media is using the term “accident” instead of “tragic incident” or “military misstep” or any of the other terms that could imply that it was a serious inter-Korea incident. The traffic accident in Kaesong where the driver killed a North Korean after having soju was treated with a greater degree of seriousness than this incident.
It seems the press has already made up its mind that this will not be treated like an international incident.
Although I agree that it’s not smart to go wandering around in a country that’s one big militarized zone, I’m a bit more sympathetic than I would if she, say, knowingly took a stroll through a bombing range.
I mean, really… you’re at a resort, on vacation, on the beach… most people wouldn’t be thinking, “I’d better not wander a hundred yards too far down the beach or a soldier will shoot me in the back!”
Unless you’re in North Korea, of course, which gets me to the point of the silliness of creating a resort there. Makes perfect sense: lets build a luxury resort surrounded by “restricted” areas patrolled by armed soldiers who will shoot trespassers.
What’s next, a casino in the middle of the DMZ?
Elgin: People will NOT remember this, because no foreigner was involved.
#78 Not a year after the schoolgirl accident of June 2002, a taxi driver in Taegu firebombed the subway murdering around 200 innocent people on Feb 18, 2003. The banners I saw draped over city hall and elsewhere referred to the mass-murder as an “accident”.
English isn’t the only language Koreans have problems with.
A few withnesses are coming forward with different versions of what Hyundai Asan is saying. There’s a disturbing discrepancy whether there really was a green fence to mark off limits. The tourists are also saying they were never warned of the off limit areas.
You know what I think? The woman went for a walk on the beach at dawn. There was no off limits area. There were no green fence or signs. Since the entire North Korean peninsula is an armed military camp, the North Koreans shot her in the back, mistaking her for a spy (after all, what North Korean in their right minds take walks in the semi dark mornings?). And Hyundai Asan is trying to cover this up so that their tour and aid to North Korea can continue without any bad effect.
You also have to doubt, knowing the S.Korean inclination to ignore signs, whether this is really the first time anyone has strayed out of bounds. I bet it isn’t, and that the Norks are trying to put 2MB in his place. As if to say: “What are you going to do about this, tough talker? Nothing? Thought so.”
Interestingly, we seem to have a great deal of comments indicating fact from fiction, and in actuality we haven’t verifiable information at all.
I’ve read reports that she had been shot in the chest, and others indicating she had been shot in the back -sure makes a difference.
Some are claiming she was running, others that a soldier had been chasing her for a km –I didn’t know there were any witnesses to verify that fact, nor did I realize how porous the border had become all of a sudden.
Others are claiming the restricted area wasn’t cordoned off properly –well how would people know that if it’s indeed a restricted area?
Although, I do find it interesting that the newspapers have already determined it to be an ‘accident.’
Lots of assumptions, little facts to back up our comments –mine included…
First Korea-related news I’ve seen/heard since arriving in Canada a week ago. I think you have to take the North Korean account with more than just a grain of salt. I doubt there was any kind of plan to deliberately shoot a South Korean tourist, but this kind of incident could suggest lapses in training, procedure, and/or discipline on the part of the Northern military.
I’m curious about one thing: How well are South Korean tourists briefed about wandering into restricted areas, or in the event of an encounter with soldiers, how to deal with a confrontation?
Apparently that same beach had similar incidents last year when a preacher took a walk, and got captured by North Korean soldiers. There were no signs or warnings from the tour operators. Apparently a lot of people thoughtlessly take walks on the beach without realizing the danger - and no one warns them about the dangers.
http://news.chosun.com/site/da.....00475.html
A witness who saw the woman walk go past him, heard 2 gun shots in a row, minutes later. This directly counters North Korea’s claim that the woman had run 4.8km in half an hour and that there were warning shots. This man saw the North Korean soldiers checking out the body.
http://news.chosun.com/site/da.....00394.html
The North Koreans have demanded South Korea apologize and have they said they will suspend all tours until they do. North Korea will not only cooperate, they want an apology.
I don’t know about anyone here, but I’m getting a sneaking feeling after the US beef protests masterminded by North Korean sympathizers, and now this, there is something going on here with North Korea trying to manufacture crisis to discredit and pressure Lee Myung Bak’s government.
Meantime, the left wing Korea Jinbo Yondae has issued a regret over this incident but hopes that the North and South relationship will not be negatively effected. F*ckers.
So it looks like there will be no candle light vigils for this woman, anytime soon because the shooters weren’t Americans.
Once again, this is splitting the country right down the middle, the right who condemns the north, and left - who excuses them.
http://news.joins.com/article/.....l?ctg=1203
It speaks volumes when Hyundai Asan website says absolutely zero about this incident. I guess they won’t say anything about it at all forever. Someone at Hyundai Asan should die.
I live in Harlem. There are a lot of African immigrants who get gated by NYPD. Usually NYPD just ask them to stop and show them ID, but the immigrant start running away out of fear. Maybe they are illegal immigrants. Maybe they heard that NYPD likes to engage in sodomy. Either way, the dude runs and NYPD basically assumes because he runs he is guilty. When the dude tries to get his wallet to show ID, the NYPD thinks it’s a pistol and puts about 50 caps in his body.
Why do I tell this tale? DPRK is like 100x worse than NYPD, and the poor woman had every reason to run like a fugitive when a scary DPRK guard is waving AK-47. Hyundai Asan should have seen this coming. They are 100% responsible. She could have been a South Korean conservative with a martyr complex. Even if that’s true, Hyundai Asan is still 100% responsible for her death.
#88,
Thousands of people have been on that tour. It wouldn’t be difficult to find out if the restricted areas were clearly marked or not. (see #90)
#91,
Yes, it’s probably not an accident. I’m sure tourists have been walking where she was shot for years. It’s probably not a coincidence that she was shot shortly after the US agreed to remove North Korea from its list of countries that support terrorism.
#93,
What’s clear is that South Korean civilians have no place being in the mountains in North Korea.
What a bunch of cowardly hypocrites the S. Koreans are today. I also remember the Daegu firebombing “accident” that killed over 100 people. No candles for the victims then either. I’m sure the Taegu firebomber probably had a hard life though.
tripod, what should be clear is that Hyundai Asan is legally liable for her death. In most countries, people don’t have right to shoot and kill trespassers without good reason for doing so. Being an “assh0le” isn’t a good enough reason to be killed.
maekchu man, indeed south koreans are hypocrical, but I think your sense of proportionality here is waaaaay off. the current young generation is like a french revolution mob minus the intellectuals to really give the mob a justification. it doesn’t always target expats as have been seen in the case of dogsh1t girl.
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