About two hundred people were injured in Taiwan as a result of Typhoon Quino, which swept through the Hengchun Peninsula, and heavy rains are expected to continue in the south and east of the island until Friday, while millions in many cities were forced to miss work and school.
Typhoon Quinu struck southern Taiwan on Thursday, injuring 190 people but causing no deaths, and causing some damage to buildings.
Heavy rains and strong winds forced millions in many cities to miss work and school, although the capital, Taipei, was not affected and was operating as usual.
Typhoon Quinu made landfall on Taiwan's Hengchun Peninsula as a Category 4 hurricane, indicating winds of up to 252 kilometers per hour, but weakened once it crossed the Taiwan Strait and headed toward the Chinese province of Guangdong, according to the Tropical Storm Risks website .
The typhoon reached the Taiwan Strait this morning, but heavy rains are expected to continue until Friday, most of which will be in the south and east of the island.
The fire department revealed that 190 people were injured, without deaths, and some damage was caused to buildings.
There were reports of further damage to Orchid Island off the coast of Taitung in the Pacific Ocean, which is home to about five thousand people.
Pictures on social media showed cars drifting on roads and fishing boats sinking in a port.
Two North Korean women punished for making phone calls to South Korea
Authorities in Ryanggang Province, North Korea, are strengthening punishment for residents with ties to South Korea, such as meeting family members in South Korea over the phone or receiving money. Two women were also punished in September. Reporter Ahn Chang-gyu reports on news from inside North Korea.
North Korean authorities treat people who escape North Korea for any reason, whether they escape to avoid starvation or because they dislike the North Korean system, as traitors. In particular, since Kim Jong-un came to power, authorities' crackdowns, controls, and punishments have been greatly strengthened to block the escape of residents, connections with South Korea, and the Korean Wave.
A resident source in Ryanggang Province (requesting anonymity for safety reasons) told Radio Free Asia on the 3rd, “Two women who had links to Korea over the phone were punished not long ago,” adding, “One is Baek-am, who received money after talking on the phone with her daughter who had gone to Korea. “She is a military woman, and the other is a Hyesan woman who helped (mediate) this.”
This case was not treated as a secret by the North Korean authorities, so the details of the trial were known to the general public.
The source said, “A woman in her 60s living in Baekam-gun was sentenced to three years in prison for receiving money from her daughter who rebelled against her country and ran away to Korea.” “A woman who helped her call her daughter was also sentenced to one year in labor training and sent to a rural area.” ) The family was punished by deportation,” he explained.
He added, “They were intercepted by security guards as they came down the mountain after talking on the phone and were investigated for over a month.”
The source said that security officers who discovered the two women coming down the mountain were suspicious that they were not dressed for firewood or field farming, so they cracked down on them and searched them. A Chinese mobile phone was found and they were taken to the Ministry of Security and Safety.
When North Korean residents, including the families of North Korean defectors, connect with their families in South Korea or their counterparts in China, they go up to the mountains rather than at home and make cell phone calls to avoid surveillance by the authorities, including wiretapping.
The source said, “During the interrogation process by the Ministry of Security, it was revealed that a woman from Baekam County received 12,000 yuan (USD 1,600) and 7,000 yuan (USD 960) in Chinese money from her daughter who went to Korea twice last year and this year.” “I sent it to my mother, who was suffering from an illness and whose family circumstances were very difficult, so that my daughter could use it to pay for medicine and living expenses,” he said.
Remittances from families in South Korea to North Korea are made through smugglers linked to China or Chinese Chinese living in North Korea, and a fee must be paid to them. Due to the border closure and strengthening of authorities' control due to the coronavirus outbreak, the fee, which was previously 30% of the remittance amount, has now soared to 50%.
In relation to this, another resident source in Yanggang Province (requesting anonymity for personal safety reasons) also reported on the same day, “In mid-September, there was a trial for two women who received money after talking on the phone with South Korea.”
The source explained, “One woman was sentenced to three years in prison for meeting her daughter in Korea over the phone and receiving money from her, and another woman who brokered this was also sentenced to one year in a labor training camp and deportation of her family.”
The source said, “Compared to the woman who met her daughter in Korea and received money, the woman who helped her make the phone call to Korea received a light punishment. It seems that this woman who lives in Hyesan has power (background) and used a lot of bribes.” I estimated it.
This is because the person who received the money and the person who relayed it should receive similar punishment, and in the case of intermediaries who made phone calls or worked on money transfers to Korea, the level of punishment was mostly high.
He continued, “No matter how much Korea is an enemy country, three years in prison for receiving money from a daughter is too much,” adding, “Parents can meet their children far away, or they can receive money sent by their children out of concern for their parents who are having a hard time making a living. “Isn’t that right?” he asked.
The source continued, “There are quite a few people who went to other countries after the Arduous March, but if their families in North Korea legally receive money sent from South Korea or the United States, the money will circulate domestically (North Korea) and help not only their families but also many people. “It will work, but the authorities are focused on strengthening control and punishment,” he added.
According to a survey by the North Korean Human Rights Information Center, a South Korean human rights group, the number of North Korean defectors who had experience sending money to their hometowns in 2019 before the outbreak of the coronavirus reached 61.3% of the 431 people surveyed, and the average remittance amount per time was 1.61 million won (about 1,340 USD at the exchange rate at the time).
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