south korea Archives

South Korea’s ex-leader jailed for 24 years for corruption

April 6, 2018 by administrator

A South Korean court has sentenced former President Park Geun-hye to 24 years in prison after she was found guilty of corruption, Al Jazeera reports.

The disgraced former president was found guilty of several corruption charges, abuse of power and coercion in a verdict issued on Friday. She was also fined $16m.

It was alleged in the trial that Park, 66, colluded with a friend, Choi Soon-sil, and a former presidential aide, in pressuring big businesses to donate to two foundations set up to back her policy initiatives.

She was also charged for soliciting bribes from the head of the Samsung Group for government favours.

Park was acquitted in at least two of the charges, including abuse of power relating to forcing Hyundai automobile company to run ads for the company owned by Choi.

The sentencing phase of the trial is under way.

South Korean state news agency Yonhap reported that Park did not appear in the sentencing trial.

She has been in prison for more than a year, but has refused to appear in court for most of her hearings.

Park is the third former South Korean leader to stand trial for corruption.

In December 2016, South Korean lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to impeach Park, but she refused to resign offering instead an apology while denying any legal wrongdoing.

Three months later, the eight-member Constitutional Court then voted unanimously to remove her from office.

She was charged and detained soon after her dismissal from office.

She is the daughter of another president, Park Chung-hee, who seized power in 1961 and was assasinated eight years later.

Armenian delegation at 2018 Winter #Olympic Parade in Pyeongchang

February 10, 2018 by administrator

#Armenian athletes at the #Winter #Olympics! flag waving at the opening ceremonies

The opening ceremony of the 23rd Winter Olympic Games kicked off in Pyeongchan, South Korea.

The Armenian delegation has already participated in the Olympic Parade. Mikayel Mikayelyan was Armenia’s flagbearer. Head of Delegation Gagik Bolshikyan, Olympians Katya Galstyan, Ashot Karapetyan, as well as coaches of skiing and ski racing Armenian national teams Arthur Mikaelyan and Seyran Harutyunyan and Secretary General of the Armenian Ski Federation Gagik Sargsyan also participated in the Olympic Parade.

As reported earlier, Armenia has three representatives at Pyeongchan 2018: cross-country skiers Mikayel Mikayelyan, Katya Galstyan and alpine skier Ashot Karapetyan. Katya Galstyan participated in Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Armenian athletes will compete on February 13. Mikayel Mikayelyan and Katya Galstyan will perform first.

Russian athletes took part in the Olympic Games in the parade under the Olympic flag.

Due to the Russian doping controversy, the International Olympic Committee will only permit certain Russian athletes to compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics under the designation Olympic Athlete from Russia (OAR).

South Korean and North Korean delegations took part in the parade together, although both countries are in war.

A total of 102 medals will be up for grabs this year in 15 events.

A total of 2,925 athletes from 92 countries will take part in PyeongChang 2018, and this is a record number in the history of Winter Olympics. Ecuador, Eritrea, Kosovo, Malaysia, Nigeria and Singapore made their WinterGames debut at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018.

The competition schedules of Armenia’s representatives are as follows:

Katya Galstyan: Ladies’ Sprint Classic Qualification, February 13, 12:30pm (Armenia time)

Mikayel Mikayelyan: Men’s Sprint Classic Qualification, February 13, 13:05pm.

Katya Galstyan: Ladies’ 10km Free, February 15, 10:30am

Mikayel Mikayelyan: Men’s 15km Free, February 16, 10am

Ashot Karapetyan: Men’s Giant Slalom Run 1, February 18, 5:15am

Ashot Karapetyan: Men’s Slalom Run 1, February 22, 5:15am.

North and South Korea to march under unified flag at Winter Olympics

January 17, 2018 by administrator

North and South Korea have agreed to make a joint entrance under a unified Korean peninsula flag at the opening ceremony of the upcoming Winter Olympics. They will also send a combined women’s ice hockey team.

After intense negotiations, the two Koreas announced on Wednesday that they will make a joint entrance to next month’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Following a meeting in the truce village of Panmunjom, the latest in a string of recent talks between the two nations, Yonhap news agency reported that the countries will also send a united women’s ice hockey team to the Games. The plan is still subject to approval by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

It has also emerged that a North Korean delegation will visit the South next week to take a look at facilities for the Games, which begin on February 9. Furthermore, South Korea will send some of its athletes to Masikryong, a ski resort in the North.

Last week, Pyongyang agreed to send athletes, officials and various performers to the Winter Olympics south of the border. The Pyeongchang Games are to take place just 80 kilometers south of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that divides the nations.

South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in has expressed his support for the united ice hockey team and the countries marching together while, before the talks, the North’s chief delegate Jon Jong-Su said he “hopes that ties can open” between the countries.

However, not everyone has greeted the news so positively. Japansese Foreign Minister Taro Kono said the world should not be naive about North Korea’s “charm offensive” over the Olympics.

“It is not the time to ease pressure, or to reward North Korea,” Kono said. “The fact that North Korea is engaging in dialogue could be interpreted as proof that the sanctions are working.”

mp/kl (AFP, DPA, Reuters)

South Korea MPs visit Armenian Genocide Memorial

July 17, 2015 by administrator

YEREVAN. – A delegation from the South Korea-Armenia Friendship Group at the National Assembly (NA) of South Korea, and led by the head of this group, Noh Young-min, is in Armenia on an official visit.

The delegation on Friday visited the Armenian Genocide Memorial in capital city Yerevan. The South Korean MPs were accompanied by the head of the Armenia-South Korea Friendship Group at the NA of Armenia, Samvel Farmanyan, as well as Armenia’s Ambassador to Japan and South Korea, Hrant Poghosyan.

The South Korean deputies—on behalf of the South Korea-Armenia Friendship Group—placed a wreath to the Armenian Genocide Monument, placed flowers near the eternal flame, and stood in silence in memory of the holy martyrs of this tragedy.

The guests also visited the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute, got familiarized with the documents attesting to the fact of the genocide, and viewed the respective photographs and exhibits.They also signed the guestbook of the museum institute.

South Korea: 2015 Summer Universiade: Armenia wins first gold medal

July 7, 2015 by administrator

Team Armenia have won their first medal – a gold – at the ongoing 2015 Summer Universiade in Gwangju, South Korea.

In gymnastics Armenia’s Artur Tovmasyan on July 7 outperformed all rivals in the competition on the rings, becoming champion of the Universiade.

A total of 12 Armenian athletes are competing in six sports (judo, gymnastics, fencing, tennis, swimming, taekwondo) in Gwangju. The Universiade will finish on July 14.

Amnesty calls on South Korea to suspend tear gas exports to Turkey

December 15, 2014 by administrator

Police forces use pepper spray to disperse protesters who gathered in Ankara to commemorate Berkin Elvan, 15-year-old boy, died a year after being hit by a teargas canister fired by the police during last summer’s Gezi protests, (Photo: Today’s Zaman, Ali Ünal)

An international human rights watchdog has called on South Korea to stop a planned shipment of large amounts of tear gas to Turkey, which it said abuses the use of riot control equipment during mass protests.

In a press release Amnesty International (AI) issued on its website on Monday, it said South Korea is planning to ship around 1.9 million tear gas cartridges and gas grenades to Turkey and the first delivery will take place in mid-January, citing an anonymous and credible source.

“All shipments of tear gas and other riot control equipment to Turkey must be suspended immediately or they risk fuelling further repression and abuses,” Marek Marczynski, head of Military, Security and Police at AI said, according to the release.

The human rights organization asked South Korean authorities to send a clear and urgent message that it won’t send any arms to Turkey “where abusive and arbitrary force is being used against protesters.”

“Turkey has a woeful record of misusing tear gas during demonstrations, frequently firing gas canisters directly at protesters. No responsible government should be fuelling abuses on this scale,” Marczynski was quoted as saying.

The human rights organization said that 1,898,515 “less lethal” chemical irritants — 1,509,015 tear gas cartridges ranging from four different sizes and 389,500 gas grenades — will be delivered to Turkey. While the first part of the shipment, which contains 550,000 items, is scheduled to be in Turkey in mid-January, the rest of it will be delivered by mid-May, AI said.

Amnesty cited the 2013 Gezi Park protests and May Day demonstrations in Turkey, during which riot police repeatedly used abusive and arbitrary force against peaceful protesters. It underlined that at least four demonstrators died due to the police’s use of excessive force, including two people who were hit in the head by tear gas canisters.

“Right now, no government should be supplying the Turkish authorities with the tools to crush further peaceful demonstrations. All transfers of tear gas and other riot control equipment must be suspended until the Turkish authorities can ensure such repression will not be repeated, and commit to carrying out thorough, impartial and independent investigations into past abuses by the security forces,” Marczynski said.

The way Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) handled the nationwide protests of last year drew harsh criticism from international human rights organizations as well as European Union officials. During the Gezi Park protests, which broke out at the end of May 2013, thousands were injured and some died due to police violence involving tear gas and tear gas canisters. Organizations at home and abroad accused the government of committing human rights violations on a large scale during the protests, which started because of environmentalist concerns to protect a green space in the heart of İstanbul.

During the almost one-month-long Gezi protests, which spread all across Turkey, more than 10,000 people were injured, with some losing an eye, due to the excessive use of tear gas, water cannon and plastic bullets, based on data from the Ankara-based Human Rights Association (İHD). According to the Taksim Solidarity Platform, in just the first 15 days of protests, the police had used 150,000 gas bombs.