ASIA / PACIFIC
Page 4 n THE ASIAN REPORTER
January 20, 2014
North Korea dismisses South
Korean family reunion proposal
By Hyung-jin Kim
The Associated Press
S
TOUGH ROLE. Hong Kong actor Donnie Yen smiles during a press
conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The action star plays a small role
in the upcoming fantasy epic The Monkey King, which will be released in
China and Hong Kong on January 30, before the Lunar New Year holiday.
(AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin, File)
Donnie Yen finds ‘Monkey
King’ a test of endurance
HONG KONG (AP) — Donnie Yen found playing the
Monkey King in the upcoming fantasy epic The Monkey
King to be a test of endurance.
The action star spent six hours in the makeup chair
daily during filming. “After the makeup is done, then
comes the pressure of wearing the armor,” he said. “It’s
very painful.
Yen and the film’s director, Cheang Pou Sui, presented
the latest trailer for the film at an event in Hong Kong.
Yen, barely recognizable, is seen in full costume as the
Monkey King fights off evil and shows off superpowers.
The story, based on Chinese mythology, is about the
pilgrimage of the Monkey King, who accompanies a
Buddhist monk to retrieve a sacred Buddhist text. The
Monkey King battles the Bull Demon King, played by
another Hong Kong A-lister, Aaron Kwok.
The 50-year-old Yen, whose films include Zhang
Yimou’s Hero and the comic Hollywood crossover
Shanghai Knights, acknowledges that his strength as a
lean, mean fighting machine is not the same as before. But
he said he still can fight the bad guys on the big screen.
“I think to shoot a movie takes stamina,” he said. “I don’t
think that has anything to do with age. It’s all right. At
least I feel that in the past two years, my body has no aches
and pains. I can still keep going.”
The Monkey King also features Chow Yun Fat and Kelly
Chan and will be released in China and Hong Kong on
January 30, before the Lunar New Year holiday.
EOUL, South Korea — North Korea has dismissed
a South Korean proposal to resume reunions of
families separated by war, but used an usually
mild tone that indicated it still wants better ties with its
rival to help boost its struggling economy.
The reunion program has been stalled amid tension
between the rival Koreas since late 2010. The Koreas had
agreed to resume the humanitarian program last
September but North Korea abruptly cancelled the plan.
North Korea wants to link the reunions to a restart of a
lucrative joint tourism project at its scenic Diamond
Mountain, according to Seoul officials. But South Korea
wants to deal separately with the tourism project, which
provided a legitimate source of hard currency for the
impoverished North before it was suspended when North
Korean soldiers fatally shot a South Korean tourist there
in 2008.
South Korea offered to hold talks about resuming the
reunions around the Lunar New Year holiday this month,
saying it could help improve strained ties. The Lunar New
Year is celebrated by both Koreas and is traditionally a
time when relatives get together.
North Korea responded that the talks could take place
“at a good season” if the South is willing to discuss “the
proposals of our side,” an apparent reference to the
tourism project.
The North’s Committee for the Peaceful Reunification
of Korea also said the reunions could not occur this month
because of annual springtime military drills planned by
South Korea and the United States, saying the separated
families could not have “reunions in peace amid gunfire,”
according to the North’s official Korean Central News
Agency.
However, North Korea’s statement did not include its
typical harsh rhetoric against Seoul, and proposed that
the countries could meet later if conditions are met.
Analysts said this suggests that North Korea doesn’t want
to completely cut off ties with South Korea because it
needs outside investment and assistance to achieve leader
Kim Jong Un’s vow of developing the economy and
improving living standards.
“It’s like rejecting the South Korean offer in a very
euphemistic manner,” said Lim Eul Chul, a North Korea
expert at South Korea’s Kyungnam University. “Cutting
off ties with South Korea would be burdensome for North
REUNION RENEGED. North Korean refugees and their family
members bow out of respect for their relatives in North Korea to celebrate
the Lunar New Year at Imjingak Pavilion, near the demilitarized zone of
Panmunjom, South Korea, in this file photo. North Korea has dismissed a
South Korean proposal to resume reunions of families separated by war
during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon,
File)
Korea.”
North Korea urgently wants to restart the tourism
project because “South Korean investment would set the
tone for drawing other foreign investment,” said Chang
Yong Seok of the Institute for Peace and Unification
Studies at Seoul National University.
South Korea expressed its regret over the North Korean
decision.
“The North must show its sincerity by actions rather
than talking about improvement in South-North Korean
relations only with words,” the Unification Ministry said
in a statement.
North Korean leader Kim called for better ties with
South Korea in his annual New Year’s Day message, but
also warned of possible nuclear war.
Millions of families have been separated since the
1950-1953 Korean War, which left the two Koreas divided
by a tightly militarized border. The reunions are highly
emotional because most participants are in their 70s or
older and are eager to see their relatives before they die.
Tensions rose sharply last spring when North Korea
issued a series of threats of nuclear strikes against Seoul
and Washington. Prospects for inter-Korean ties became
uncertain last month after North Korea’s execution of
Kim’s uncle, Jang Song Thaek, on treason charges, with
South Korean officials saying the North might launch
provocations against the South to boost internal unity.
Give
blood.
SORE SPOT. A hot-air balloon that Japan’s 11th Regional Coast
Guard says a Chinese cook took for a ride is seen in waters near the East
China Sea islands known in Japan as Senkaku and Diayou in China. Xu
Shuaijun, 35, who crashed into the sea after hitting turbulence while ap-
proaching the islands claimed by both China and Japan, was rescued by
the Coast Guard. (AP Photo/Japan’s 11th Regional Coast Guard)
To schedule a blood
donation call
1-800-G IVE-LIFE or
visit HelpSaveALife.org.
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Chinese cook crashes on
balloon to disputed isles
TOKYO (AP) — A Chinese cook who crashed into the
sea while trying to fly on a hot-air balloon to islands
claimed by both China and Japan has been rescued by
Japan’s coast guard.
Xu Shuaijun, 35, crashed after hitting turbulence as he
approached the islands, known in Japan as Senkaku and
Diayou in China, according to the coast guard.
The coast guard said it received a missing-person report
from Taiwanese officials and that one of its helicopters
spotted Xu about 12 miles from the islands.
He was picked up by a boat and later handed over to a
Chinese patrol ship, the coast guard said.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Xu
was in good condition.
Qin disavowed any official ties with Xu. “I note that he is
a hot-air balloon enthusiast,” he said.
The islands have been a sore point in bilateral relations
for years, and nationalists from China, Taiwan, and Hong
Kong have occasionally tried to sail to them.
A recent visit by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to
a Tokyo shrine that honors World War II war criminals
has outraged China, adding to the bilateral tensions.
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Difficulty level: Medium
#45672
Instructions: Fill in the grid so that the digits 1
through 9 appear one time each in every row, col-
umn, and 3x3 box.
Solution to
last week’s
puzzle
Puzzle #17359 (Easy)
All solutions available at
<www.sudoku.com>.
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