Daily Kor for Thursday, June 16, 2011

Who says the Cold War is over? It's déjà vu all over again, as the US criticizing not just Pyongyang but Beijing over human rights in their respective countries. And then there is the latest in a ripple-turning-into-a-wave of Boat People™ risking their lives to cross the disputed NLL that divides north and south off the west coast. Expect some testy times ahead.

1. Nine North Koreans in a small boat cross the Yellow Sea's Northern Limit Line, the de facto inter-Korean maritime border, in effort to defect (AP via WaPo, CNN, Yonhap, Korea Times, Joongang Daily)
2. US tells UN Human Rights Council it wants to hold North Korea, China, and twelve other nations accountable for alleged human rights violations (AP via WaPo)
3. Chairman of Presidential Commission on Green Growth says ruling and opposition parties agree to approve an emissions trade bill in a upcoming parliamentary review (Reuters)
4. Hyundai says increased production capacity will allow it to sell a record 600K cars and light trucks in US this year (Bloomberg)
5. South Korea's unemployment rate drops to six-month low in May (WSJ)
6. Prime Minister Kim Hwangsik calls for stricter discipline of public officials in wake of growing bribe-taking and influence-peddling scandal from troubled Busan Savings Bank (Yonhap)
7. South Korean tax agency tracking 1.8 trillion won moved to Swiss accounts from 2006 to 2008 (Bloomberg)
8. LNG imports jump 22 percent from a year earlier in May due to rising crude oil prices (Reuters, Bloomberg)
• Coal imports increase 33 percent in same period (Reuters)
9. US Chamber of Commerce announces fresh plans (and website) to push through free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama (USA Today, Reuters)
10. Seoul to install 10,430 outdoor wi-fi hotspots by 2015 (Yonhap)
11. Former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi enlists help of Ultraman to take back Tokto once and for all, plans to install Yasukuni Shrine annex on East Islet (Yonhap)