North Korea arrests US tourist: KCNA

SEOUL: North Korea arrested a US tourist last month for violating visa regulations, Pyongyang´s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Friday.

The tourist was arrested on April 29 and has since been undergoing questioning, it said. He is believed to be the third US citizen currently detained by the North.

Race to recover bodies from Korea ferry as storms loom

SEOUL: Dive teams raced Friday to pull more than 100 bodies from a sunken South Korean ferry as storm clouds loomed and the victims´ families angrily pressed officials to wrap up the recovery effort.

The confirmed death toll stood at 183, but 119 people remained unaccounted for -- their bodies believed still trapped in the submerged vessel that capsized on April 16 with 476 people on board.

Although all hope of finding survivors has been extinguished, there is still anger and deep frustration among the relatives over the pace of the recovery operation off the southern island of Jindo.

Gentle tides and good weather have helped the dive teams in recent days, but the search conditions inside the ferry are still challenging and rescuers are only managing to retrieve around 30 bodies a day.

Making up the bulk of the passengers on the 6,825 tonne Sewol when it sank were 325 high school students -- around 250 of whom are either confirmed or presumed dead.

On Thursday evening, a group of irate parents stormed into the Jindo office of the deputy head of the South Korean coastguard and roughly manhandled him down to the island harbour.

He was kept there most of the night, sitting on the ground, along with coastguard chief Kim Seok-Kyun and Marine Minister Lee Ju-Young, while the relatives accused them of lying about the recovery operation and demanded they bring in more resources.

Police made no move to intervene and the three made no attempt to get away, reflecting a reluctance to antagonise the relatives in any way at a time of widespread public anger over the official response to the disaster.

The bereaved families have said they want all the remaining bodies removed from the ferry before the weekend -- a demand that is unlikely to be met, especially with a bad weather front moving in.

"We know that weather conditions will worsen considerably and currents will become stronger from Saturday," a coastguard spokesman told a press briefing.

An earlier coastguard statement said storm warnings could be issued on Saturday or Sunday for the area around the rescue site.

Rescuers have not found a single survivor since 174 people were pulled to safety on the day of the accident.

It took divers working in difficult and dangerous conditions more than two days to get into the sunken ferry and two more days to retrieve the first bodies.

Many relatives believe some of the victims may have survived for several days in trapped air pockets, but perished in the cold water after no rescue came.

As a result some have asked for autopsies to be performed, to see if it would be possible to determine the precise cause and time of death.

The Sewol´s captain, Lee Joon-Seok, and 10 crew members have been arrested on charges ranging from criminal negligence to abandoning passengers.

The captain has been particularly criticised for delaying the evacuation order until the ferry was listing so sharply that escape was almost impossible.

Prosecutors have raided a host of businesses affiliated with the ferry operator, the Chonghaejin Marine Company, as part of an overall probe into corrupt management.

Body found of boy who made first call from Korea ferry: report

SEOUL: The body of a high school student who made the first distress call from a sinking South Korean ferry was recovered from the submerged vessel on Thursday, news reports said.

The student, identified by his surname Choi, had called the emergency 119 number at 8:52am on Wednesday last week, three minutes before the crew of the 6,825 tonne Sewol sent their first distress signal.

The timing of his terrified message -- "Save us. The ship is sinking" -- has fuelled anger over the slow response of the Sewol´s captain and crew as the disaster unfolded.

The confirmed death toll stood at 162 on Thursday, with 140 still unaccounted for -- their bodies believed trapped in the ship that capsized in circumstances that have yet to be fully explained.

Yonhap news agency said divers had retrieved the boy´s body from inside the ferry on Thursday morning and it had been identified by his parents.

A DNA test was being carried out to formally confirm his identity, Yonhap said.

The boy was one of 325 students from the same high school who were on the ferry, bound for the southern resort island of Jeju, when it capsized.

During his 119 call, Choi was bombarded with questions about the ferry´s coordinates and the number of people on board.

A coastguard official later told reporters that emergency services had mistaken him for a crew member.

The captain and 11 crew members have either been arrested or taken into police custody awaiting charges.

Heartbreaking texts from students on sinking S Korea ferry

SEOUL: Heart-wrenching messages of fear, love and despair, sent by high school students from a sinking South Korean ferry added extra emotional weight Thursday to a tragedy that has stunned the entire nation.

Nearly 300 people -- most of them students on a high school trip to a holiday island -- are still missing after the ferry capsized and sank on Wednesday morning.

"Sending this in case I may not be able to say this again. Mom, I love you," one student Shin Young-Jin said in a text to his mother that was widely circulated in the South Korean media.

"Oh, I love you too son," texted back his mother who was unaware at the time that her son was caught in a life and death struggle to escape the rapidly sinking vessel.

Unlike many others, the exchange had a happy ending as Shin was one of only 179 survivors rescued before the ferry capsized and went under the water.Others were not so fortunate.

Another student, 16-year-old Kim Woong-Ki sent a desperate text for help to his elder brother as the ship listed violently over to one side.

"My room is tilting about 45 degrees. My mobile is not working very well," Kim messaged.

Seeking to reassure him, his brother said he was sure help was on the way.

"So don´t panic and just do whatever you´re told to do. Then you´ll be fine," he messaged back.

There was no further communication and Kim was listed among the 287 people on board still unaccounted for.

Sadly his brother´s advice was similar to that of the crew who controversially ordered passengers to stay put when the ship first foundered.

Angry relatives said this resulted in the passengers getting trapped when the ferry keeled over, cutting off routes of escape.

That grim scenario was encapsulated in the texts of an 18-year-old student, identified in the local media by her surname Shin.

"Dad, don´t worry. I´m wearing a life vest and am with other girls. We´re inside the ship, still in the hallway," the girl messaged to her father.

Her distraught father texted her to try and get out, but it was already too late.

"Dad, I can´t. The ship is too tilted. The hallway is crowded with so many people," she responded in a final message.

Some parents managed a last, traumatic phone call with their children as they tried to escape.

"She told me the ship was tilted over and she couldn´t see anything," one mother recalled of a panicked conversation with her student daughter.

"She said ´I haven´t put on the life jacket yet´, and then the phone went dead," the mother told the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper

Pakistan offers free trade accord to S Korea

 

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday offered South Korea a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and strategic business partnership for the next three years and expressed the resolve that the South Korean investors would be provided with all the facilities in Pakistan.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif extended these commitments during a meeting with the Republic of Korea Prime Minister Chung Hongwon, who called on him along with a high-level delegation at the PM House.

Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan was happy to witness the progress and development of the Republic of Korea and they were interested to learn from the Korean experience.

“Moreover, the two governments must promote interaction and cooperation between their private sectors and regular interaction between the respective Boards of Investment and chambers of commerce and industry,” he added.

While discussing the economic prospects, he said that it was heartening to note that the trade between the two countries had reached $1.6 billion in 2012. “Pakistan has proposed a comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that covers trade, investment and services so that trade between the two countries could be further enhanced,” he added.

Nawaz Sharif appreciated the ‘Joint Business Forum’ organised by KOTRA (Korea Trade Investment Promotion Agency) and Board of Investment, Pakistan, on the sidelines of this visit and expressed the hope that as an outcome of the Business Forum, the Korean companies would be engaged in energy, infrastructure development, railways and telecommunication sectors. He stressed for preparing a Country Partnership Strategy between the two countries for the next three years (2013-15). “The Lahore- Islamabad Motorway bears testimony to the mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries and we want to replicate and enhance such cooperation in other fields,” he added.

Nawaz Sharif said that Pakistan offered huge opportunities to the Korean business companies in energy generation, including hydel, wind, solar, biomass and coal generation and Pakistan would appreciate if the Korean companies participated in initiatives such as the Gadani Power Park and Quaid-e-Azam Solar Park. He said that construction of offshore and onshore LNG terminals also offered investment opportunities to Korean companies and Pakistan would welcome and facilitate Korean capital and technology in these sectors.

He said that the Free Economic Zone, along with the Pak-China Economic Corridor, also offered investment opportunities to Korean investors. “In this Economic Zone, Korean SMEs can establish JVs in manufacturing sector to cater for a large and growing domestic market as well as Korean and regional markets,” he added.

He invited Korean financial institutions to start their operations in Pakistan adding that opening of a branch of a Korean bank in Pakistan would boost business between the two countries.

Cooperation in science and technology, bio-engineering, information technology and exchange of human resources and other areas of common interest with Korea were also discussed. The PM thanked the Korean government for looking after 900 Pakistani students and expressed the hope for increasing scholarships being offered to Pakistani students.

The Korean prime minister thanked PM Nawaz Sharif, the government and the people of Pakistan for extending a warm welcome during his visit. Chung Hongwon said that Pakistan and Korea should expand their trade, economy and energy sectors and enhance the bilateral relations by increasing personnel exchanges in the private sector. Views were also exchanged on regional and international issues.

Earlier, the two prime ministers witnessed the signing of three MOUs between Pakistan and Korea on trade, industry and energy. The MOUs were signed by Muhammad Shahzad Arbab, Secretary Commerce from Pakistani side, and Han Jinhun, Vice Minister for Trade and Energy from the Korean side.

Before the delegation-level talks, the two premiers held one-on-one meeting. While welcoming the Korean PM, Nawaz Sharif said, “We are very happy to host you as the first-ever Korean prime minister to visit Pakistan since the establishment of our diplomatic relations 31 years ago. It is my government’s resolve to strengthen and expand the relations with the Republic of Korea in all fields,” he added. He said that the traditional cordial relationship between Pakistan and the Republic of Korea needed to be transformed into a substantive partnership in trade, investment, energy and infrastructure.

Later, the PM hosted a lunch in the honour of the visiting delegation. Dr Song Jong-hwan, Korean Ambassador to Pakistan, Cho Taeyul, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Han Jinhyun, Vice Minister for Trade and Energy from the Chinese side, and Engineer Khurram Dastagir, Minister for Commerce, Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning, Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to PM on Foreign Affairs and National Security, Syed Tariq Fatmi, Special Assistant to PM from the Pakistani side, attended the meeting.

NASA images from space show North Korea shrouded in darkness

(CNN) -- Give an astronaut on the International Space Station a digital camera and you're bound to end up with some astounding images -- especially if they're flying above North Korea.

When the space station passed over East Asia one night recently, a member of NASA's Expedition 38 crew took a series of photographs that show just how off-the-grid the Hermit Kingdom really is.

While thriving cities and major roads are seen glowing across South Korea and China, the landscape between the two countries is so dark that it's difficult to tell where the sea ends and North Korea begins.

Pyongyang "appears like a small island," says NASA, noting that the light emission from the North Korean capital is equivalent to the smaller towns of its neighbor to the south.

The space agency, which turned the images into a timelapse video, says city lights at night are a good indicator of the relative affluence of cities.

Looking at the images, it's hardly a surprise that energy use is dramatically different on either side of the 38th parallel. In South Korea, per capita power consumption is 10,162 kilowatt hours while in North Korea the figure is 739 kilowatt hours, according to World Bank data.