Former President and Nobel Laureate Kim Dea-jung passes away; South Korean satellite launch a failure; Australia: Rocket-propelled grenades among other weapons found on an Australian-owned ship seized by the UAE traveling from North Korea to Iran
  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Email
  • Whatsapp
  • Linkedin
  • Print
  • Former South Korean President and Nobel Laureate Kim Dae-jung passed away on August 18 in Seoul after a month-long battle with pneumonia and other related complications. The 85-year old Kim had served as president from 1998-2003, and was the principal author of the ‘Sunshine Policy’ that was followed vis-à-vis the North1.

    The South Korean Ministry of Education, Science and Technology stated that a satellite launched on August 25 was lost shortly after blastoff due to problems in the payload fairing system. While the first and second stage rockets separated as planned after launch from the Naro Space Center, one of the two fairings covering the satellite did not fall off properly2. President Lee Myung-bak visited the country's space centre on August 28 and encouraged researchers, to “learn from their mistakes to achieve a greater goal3.”

    US Ambassador on the Korean nuclear issue Stephen Bosworth is expected to travel to Asian capitals “to consult with the key countries of the region” who are part of the Six Party Talks. The State Department however stated that neither going to Pyongyang nor meeting North Korean officials was on his itinerary4.

    Australia's transport minister Anthony Albanese stated on August 30 that rocket-propelled grenades among other weapons were found on an Australian-owned ship traveling from North Korea to Iran. The ANL Australia was stopped by authorities of the United Arab Emirates earlier in the month on charges of carrying a shipment of North Korean arms5.

    In other developments, Russia has deployed a missile defence system near its border with North Korea and was studying other measures to protect its population from stray missiles. Russia shares a small border with North Korea in the Far East and its main Pacific port of Vladivostok, with a population of 600,000, lies only 150 km from North Korea6.

    Top