12.01.2018

By Gim Seonghan

KBS News

Today, dust has been seen in skies all over the country. As the fine dust has reached its highest concentration this year, a high dust warning has been issued in the western area including Seoul. Tomorrow (13^th of January) emergency dust reduction measures will be implemented for the first time this year.

All of Seoul city center has been covered with fine dust.This outdoor skating rink was shut down, and

citizens who had waited for the weekend to use it have been turned away. One disappointed customer, Baek Eungyeong, said “I came out to skate, but I think I should go home because of the dust.”

Along with the Seoul metropolitan area, a dust warning was given to the Chungcheong and Jeonbuk areas. The concentration of ultrafine dust was up to 5 times the normal level – the highest this year. Due to the high pressure in the West Sea, the flow of the atmosphere is stagnating, while the east wind blows high concentrations of fine dust mainly into the western region. Tomorrow (the 13th), the high concentration fine dust is set to continue.

Coal and heavy oil power plants in the Seoul metropolitan area and Chungcheong province operate with reduced power generation and pollutant emissions are limited in the workplace. Bak Jeonghu from the National Institute of Environmental Microscopy said: “This high-concentration fine dust will lead to atmospheric congestion until the day after today, and it is expected that concentration will increase due to the influx of foreign dust on Monday afternoon.” Looking at the fine dust prediction model, it’s expected that the high concentration of Chinese dust will continue to flow and the Korean peninsula will continue to be [coloured] red

[from the dust]

. If the emergency reduction measures continue until Monday, there will be restrictions placec on the operation of public sector vehicles and older private vehicles.

06.01.2019

By Yun Jin

KBS News

Japanese Prime Minister Abe has further fanned the flames of controversy [between Korean and Japan] and the conflict is now spreading to the international community. The battle has been spreading online. The [Korean] Ministry of Defence plans to distribute a video in eight languages, including English, Japanese and Chinese as well as Korean [which will out forward their side of the argument].

The [Korean-language] video of the hostage incident, which supports the [Korean] Ministry of Defence’s argument, has exceeded 1.6 million views in just two days. Videos produced in English [by the Korean Ministry of Defence] are also attracting a lot of attention, with over 400,000 views a day. Tens of thousands of comments have been left, especially those from Japanese netizens criticising the Korean Ministry of Defence. Korean netizens are countering those criticisms and [accordingly] a fierce struggle is taking place online.

Despite the release of the Korean MoD’s video, Japan has not refuted the claim that the Korean Navy has locked targeting radar on a Japanese patrol craft [the original controversy]. On Japan’s NHK Sun Discussion television programme Prime Minister Abe said “the Korean MoD has already launched an investigation into the launching of a fire control radar.” Abe and Japan have failed to point out that the Japanese aircraft was flying at threateningly low altitude.

The Korean and Japanese defence authorities have been in contact to organise a practical discussion of the incident, but have yet to confirm the date and place of the meeting. However, even if such a meeting does take case, it is unlikely that Japan will withdraw its allegations, and relations between Korea and Japan will remain tense for the time being.

Analysis: The original incident took place on the 24^th of December, and nearly two weeks later it’s still an important news item in Korea and, presumably, Japan. Abe’s right-wing tendencies and need for support from more extreme elements of the Japanese political scene make it important for him to leverage these kinds of incidents – even if the video does appear to support Korea’s version of events.