- China angrily reacts with threats after South Korean missile defence decision
The 30 British victims of a shooting at a hotel in Tunisia were unlawful killed, a UK inquiry found on Tuesday, with the judge severely critical of “cowardly” local security forces but not concluding that neglect had caused the deaths.
A gunman murdered 30 Britons and eight other nationals on a Tunisian beach resort in 2015, having walked nearly two miles on his killing spree before being shot dead by security forces.
Islamic State claimed responsibility.
The British victims had booked their trips through Thomson Holidays, which is owned by TUI Group, a multinational travel and tourism company.
Summing up after the six week inquest, Judge Nicholas Loraine-Smith said that the tourists were not dependent on the tour operator or hotel, so he could not rule that there had been neglect.
However, he did severely criticise Tunisian security forces saying that their response had been “at best shambolic, and at worst cowardly”.
In Britain a coroner’s inquest establishes the facts of an incident but does not assign legal blame or guilt. Loraine-Smith found that the deaths were the result of “unlawful killing” by gunman Seifeddine Rezgui, who was shot dead by police.
In the meantime, Chinese state media has reacted with anger and threats of boycotts after the board of an affiliate of South Korea’s Lotte Group approved a land swap with the government that will enable authorities to deploy a U.S. missile defence system.
The government decided last year to deploy the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, in response to the North Korean missile threat, on land that is part of a golf course owned by Lotte in the Seongju region, southeast of Seoul.
The board of unlisted Lotte International Co Ltd approved the deal with the government on Monday.
China objects to the deployment in South Korea of the THAAD, which has a powerful radar capable of penetrating Chinese territory, with Beijing saying it is a threat to its security and will do nothing to ease tension with North Korea.
Influential state-run Chinese tabloid the Global Times said in an editorial on Tuesday that Lotte should be shown the door in China.
“We also propose that Chinese society should coordinate voluntarily in expanding restrictions on South Korean cultural goods and entertainment exports to China, and block them when necessary,” it said in its English-language edition.
The paper’s Chinese version said South Korean cars and cellphones should be targeted as well.
“There are loads of substitutes for South Korean cars and cellphones,” it said.
The WeChat account of the overseas edition of the ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily said late on Monday that cutting diplomatic ties should also be considered.
“If THAAD is really deployed in South Korea, then China-South Korea relations will face the possibility of getting ready to cut off diplomatic relations,” it said.
The official Xinhua news agency also said in a commentary late on Monday that China “did not welcome this kind of Lotte”.
“Chinese consumers can absolutely say no to this kind of company and their goods based on considerations of ‘national security’,” it said.
South Korea’s defence ministry said on Tuesday it had signed a land swap deal with Lotte on the golf course in exchange for providing military property. A South Korean military official told Reuters the military would begin installing fences and soldiers would patrol the area.
The Lotte Group said on Feb. 8 Chinese authorities had stopped construction at a multi-billion dollar real estate project in China after a fire inspection, adding to concern in South Korea about damage to commercial relations with the world’s second-largest economy.
Asked if South Korea had demanded the Chinese government suspend any economic retaliation, South Korean Defence Ministry spokesman Moon Sang-kyun said: “We have continuously persuaded China so far and will keep continuing efforts to do so.”
South Korean government officials have said THAAD is a defensive measure against North Korean threats and does not target any other country.
South Korea’s central bank said this month the number of Chinese tourists visiting the tourist island of Jeju had fallen 6.7 percent over the Lunar New Year holiday from last year, partly because of China’s “anti-South Korea measures due to the THAAD deployment decision”.
Additional report from MSN
