Sunday, January 18, 2009
South Korean Army on Alert
South Korean Soldier Jailed in Spy Sex Scandal
A South Korean army officer who was caught in a honey trap set by a North Korean spy has been sentenced to three and a half years in a military prison.
The 27-year-old first lieutenant, identified only by the last name Hwang, was court-martialed on charges of assisting North Korean spy Won Jeong-hwa’s espionage operation and failing to notify the upper chain of command that he was aware of the spy’s identity.
Hwang was convicted on Tuesday, and Lim Choung-bin, the Army chief of staff, confirmed the decision yesterday.
Can Appeal
Hwang has a week to lodge an appeal.
The 34-year-old spy was indicted in April 2008 for a series of National Security Law violations, including using sex to extract confidential military information. The so-called “Korean Mata Hari” scandal rocked the nation, but North Korea said the espionage allegations against Won were a “complete fabrication by the South.”
Won, who identified herself later as an agent of the North’s Ministry of State Security, entered the South by posing as a defector in 2001. She slept with several South Korean military officers, including Hwang, to get confidential information.
Her other missions included planning to assassinate Hwang Jang-yop, former secretary of the North’s Workers’ Party and the highest North Korean official to defect to the South.
The spy was convicted last October and sentenced to five years in prison. She didn’t appeal.
Mysterious Disappearance
Won’s stepfather, Kim Dong-sun, 64, was also indicted last year on charges of posing as a defector and funding her espionage operation. His trial is currently ongoing, but unlike Won, Kim has denied most of the charges.
Meanwhile, Yonhap News Agency reported last week that the prosecution and intelligence authorities are searching for another of Kim’s stepdaughters. She disappeared during their investigation.
According to the Suwon District Prosecutors’ Office, the woman is in her 30s and is a witness for their case against Kim. Prosecutors said the woman entered Korea with Kim in 2006 as a defector and accompanied him on trips to China in 2007 and 2008. Kim was found to have met with North Korean agents during those trips.
- By Ser Myo-jaDid 'Three Stooges' Stab Israel in the Back?
Foreign Confidential....
Israeli soldiers returning home from Gaza are starting to speak out--and what they have to say is terribly troubling.
The soldiers are angry about the sudden ceasefire. They wanted to continue fighting in order to really defeat Hamas (officially designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. State Department). Instead, the soldiers were pulled out too soon, and Hamas is certain to rearm and rebuild. (Scroll down for the story).
It seems that Israel's worst-ever prime minister, Ehud Olmert, worst-ever Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, and most mediocre Defense Minister, Ehud Barak, have effectively stabbed the state in the back, betraying the people's trust, sending their youth into harm's way without a truly well-thought-out plan and, most important, exit strategy.
Lebanon redux, the soldiers say.
We agree. Not for nothing do many Israelis call Olmert, Livni, and Barak the "Three Stooges."Iran Publishing Holocaust Denial Book
Foreign Confidential....
An Iranian publisher plans to launch English- and Arabic-language versions of a book of caricatures and satirical writings about the Holocaust.
The book purports to expose "big historical distortion" of the Holocaust. English and Arabic editions will be published at a ceremony in Iran's capital, Tehran, on January 27. The event will include reading of a message from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The 108-page book has 52 caricatures and satirical writings. It will be published by Martyr Shahbazi Publications and the Islamic student movement of the Science and Industry University.
China Confidential analysts say the book, following a Holocaust denial conference in Tehran that included leading overseas neo-Nazis, is part of an Iranian propaganda campaign aimed at demonizing and delegitimizing Israel ahead of a major military confrontation with the Jewish state after Iran acquires nuclear weapons.Israeli Intelligence: Hamas Will Rebuild Tunnels
Foreign Confidential....
As Israel pulls out of Gaza ahead of the Obama inauguration, Israeli intelligence and security sources say Hamas can be expected to resume smuggling arms into Gaza within a few months, despite Israel's recent destruction of many tunnels used for this purpose.
Sources say Hamas will soon rebuild the tunnels, which were destroyed during Israel's 22-day offensive against Hamas in Gaza.Eastern Europe Facing a Violent Spring
Foreign Confidential....
Jason Burke's article in The Observer is must-reading. He writes:Eastern Europe is heading for a violent "spring of discontent", according to experts in the region who fear that the global economic downturn is generating a dangerous popular backlash on the streets.
Hit increasingly hard by the financial crisis, countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and the Baltic states face deep political destabilisation and social strife, as well as an increase in racial tension.
Last week protesters were tear-gassed as they threw rocks at police outside parliament in Vilnius, capital of Lithuania, in a protest against an austerity package including tax rises and benefit cuts.
In Sofia, Bulgaria, 150 people were arrested and at least 30 injured in widespread violence. More than 100 were detained after street battles between security forces and demonstrators in the Latvian capital, Riga.
According to the most recent estimates, the economies of some eastern European countries, after posting double-digit growth for nearly a decade, will contract by up to 5% this year, with inflation peaking at more than 13%. Many fear Romania, which joined the European Union with Bulgaria in 2007, may be the next to suffer major breakdowns in public order.
Click here to continue.Israeli Energy Companies Soar on Offshore Gas Find
Foreign Confidential....
Shares of listed Israeli energy companies soared Sunday after an exploration group led by Noble Energy (NBL.N) said it discovered more than 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas off Israel's Mediterranean coast.
Among Israeli partners in the Yam Thetis consortium, Isramco (ISRAp.TA), with a 28.75 percent stake, led gainers with a nearly 130 percent surge.
Delek Drilling (DEDRp.TA), which holds 15.625 percent of the group, jumped 48 percent, while Avner Oil Exploration, also with a 15.625 percent stake, (AVNRp.TA) was up 36 percent.
Delek's parent, Delek Group (DELKG.TA), rose 54 percent.
Isramco described the discovery as "extremely significant"--in fact, the largest-ever discovered in Israel, worth $15 billion.
"Subject to receipt of further data from the drill site, the estimated reserves of natural gas are likely even to increase," the company said in a statement.
Drilling is difficult. The sea floor is 1,700 meters below the surface of the water and under the sand is a 1,400-meter thick stratum of salt.Qatar Closes Israeli Trade Office
Qatar, the only Gulf Arab state with ties to Israel, closed Israel's trade office Sunday and ordered its staff to leave because of the Gaza conflict.
Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported that the director of the Israeli trade office was summoned to the Foreign Ministry Sunday morning and given a memorandum containing the decision to close the office.
QNA said the office's staff have seven days to leave the country.Hamas Announces One-Week Ceasefire
Foreign Confidential....
Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced a one-week ceasefire Sunday after Israel began a unilateral halt to its Gaza offensive.
After exchanges of gunfire and an air strike punctured what Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert acknowledged was a "fragile" ceasefire, Gaza's Islamist-terrorist rulers said they would stop shooting for the next seven days to give Israeli troops a chance to withdraw from the Palestinian enclave.
But Israel said it will not consider a timetable for withdrawing all of its forces from the Gaza Strip until Hamas and its allies cease their fire.
"We can't talk about a timetable for withdrawal until we know the ceasefire is holding," said Mark Regev, spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, rebuffing U.N. calls for setting a timetable.
"If there is a danger Hamas is going to deliberately torpedo the ceasefire, and we will have to reinitiate offensive actions against Hamas, for that reason we have to be reticent about withdrawing our forces."
"If the ceasefire holds, we can start a process of moving out," Regev added.
Monday, 19 January 2009
The South Korean army is on alert after a threat of military action by North Korea.
Propaganda AIms to Prepare Public Opinion for Israel's Destruction
Foreign Confidential....
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