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The story
Following a large grassland fire earlier this month in eastern Mongolia that burned through a nature reserve, the Mongolian government has signaled it will seek damages from those responsible. The fire broke out while a convoy of vehicles carrying Japanese executives from Mobicom, KDDI’s local subsidiary, was traveling through the area. KDDI apologized on the 23rd while maintaining that it has “confirmed no legal violations by its employees.” On 5ch, discussion centered on whether the Ministry of Environment had actually granted permission to enter the reserve, whether the fire was caused by a vehicle malfunction or a carelessly discarded cigarette, and whether the earlier reports that the group was on a fishing trip were really fake news after all.
[Beijing, Jiji Press] After a large grassland fire broke out in early October in Dornod Province, eastern Mongolia, burning through a nature reserve, the Mongolian government held a cabinet meeting by the 24th and signaled plans to identify those responsible and pursue damages for the destruction.
Mongolian state broadcasting and other outlets reported the news. Deputy Prime Minister Nomtoibayar reportedly said, “An apology alone won’t settle this.”
The grassland fire broke out while Japanese executives from Mobicom — KDDI’s Mongolian telecom subsidiary — were traveling in a vehicle convoy. KDDI released an apology statement on the 23rd. While pledging full cooperation with the authorities’ investigation, it also stated that it “has confirmed its employees did not violate any laws or regulations.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
[Cognitive Warfare] Numrug District, Mongolia fire: Chinese media (Xinhua) report confirmed to be fake news [662593167]
https://hayabusa9.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/news/1792891608/
All because they wanted to catch a taimen (イトウ, a giant Sakhalin trout prized by anglers) lol
https://www.newsweekjapan.jp/articles/-/337724?display=b
>13 people from Mobicom, including Japanese executives, split across 5 vehicles and entered the core zone of the nature reserve
https://newsroom.kddi.com/news/detail/kddi_nr_s-80_4786.html
>Two of the vehicles belonged to Mobicom, carrying 7 employees total (including 2 drivers)
Most of the group were Mobicom employees.
And a Mobicom company car caught fire while on Mobicom business.
Does 'only one Japanese person' somehow make Mobicom less responsible?
Where's this report from?
It flat-out says 'arson'—
what's going on?
A Mongolian online news outlet.
https://eguur.mn/697633/
'Arson' came out of machine translation, though, so it might be a mistranslation.
Seems like what KDDI's been saying here in Japan doesn't match what's circulating inside Mongolia.
No English version either?
They could at least cite a major Mongolian domestic outlet, c'mon, 'eguur.'
It's just the accused side calling it fake.
Of course they'll only say what's convenient for them.
Go ahead and show a source proving it's true, then.
So that means it's Mongolia's fault, then?
But only Mongolia's Ministry of Environment can authorize entry into the reserve's core zone.
And the Ministry says it never issued that permit.
So there's a good chance this was unauthorized entry — basically forcing their way in.
There's also a chance they left those arrangements up to the Mongolian side, so it's hard to say for sure.
That would mean the Border Guard itself forced its way in, though.
That's probably exactly what's being investigated right now.
What KDDI says it got permission for is from the Border Guard and the Border Checkpoint Authority — permits tied to border matters.
But entering a nature reserve requires a Ministry of Environment permit, and the fact that KDDI never mentions that is what bugs me.
Feels like the whole world's been disrespecting Japan lately — maybe it's time we knocked some sense into it.
But did they actually enter without permission?
Having a bunch of executives, local power brokers, and relatives of former lawmakers tag along makes 'signal survey' sound like a pretty weak excuse.
Maybe not literally fishing for taimen, but they were probably out there sightseeing for fun.
If I had to call it an incident vs. an accident, I'd still file it under accident.
Re: #667
I get the sightseeing theory, but I think it's more like Mongolian insiders scratching each other's backs.
The Japanese staff were basically just brought along for form's sake.
Still, since it's the subsidiary that screwed up, KDDI will probably do something once the investigation wraps up — they're the parent company, after all.
Even with entry permission,
if you start a fire once you're in there,
you're obviously still liable for negligent burning.
This might just be a Gemini hallucination, but apparently Mongolia has no law exempting accidental fires from liability.
So even negligence doesn't get you off the hook for damages.
Whether it's negligent or intentional, you're apparently on the hook for 100% of the compensation.
only inside the engine bay, around the spark plugs.
There are parts that get hot, like the muffler, and some air-cooled part whose name I'm forgetting, but none of that catches fire. At worst it just scorches.
My bet's on some chain-smoker flicking a lit cigarette butt. These telecom types always strike me as the shady-salaryman type.
My theory is a driving mistake caused a rollover that started the fire.
Would burning underbrush alone really be enough to flip a car?
https://news.tv-asahi.co.jp/articles_img/900202433_img_96765e5bf2ddf6d78259132e7542b1e456438.jpg
Whoa, that Nissan really is flipped over.
Putting that fire out must've been rough.
Even if it turns out to be fake news, public sentiment won't change.
Who cares, honestly?
>Mongolians are furious at the Japanese over this.
That's just wishful thinking from China.
And #1 in 'countries Mongolians dislike' is China, lol.
China and Mongolia have been killing each other on and off for thousands of years.
It's unsettling that some Japanese people don't know this — it's literally taught in compulsory education.
China gets feared. Japan just gets disrespected.
You expose your own ignorance in Re: #804 and still talk like that?
They say that when people insult others, they're really just saying the thing they themselves don't want to hear — guess that's true.
Go back a few years and you'll find it's burned before. Doesn't really seem like the kind of 'pristine nature' everyone's making it out to be?
Background and Key Points of Debate
This fire is tied to KDDI’s ownership of Mobicom, Mongolia’s largest mobile carrier. The thread split over whether the group actually had permission to enter the reserve’s core zone: KDDI has only pointed to authorization from border authorities, and posters noted it hasn’t addressed the Ministry of Environment permit normally required for entry. There’s also a mismatch between Mongolian domestic reporting — which describes the fire as “arson” — and KDDI’s account, though questions over machine-translation accuracy mean the facts remain unsettled. Many posters flatly dismissed the initially reported “fishing trip” angle as fake news, but as of this writing, Mongolian authorities have not released a final finding.
※ This article is composed of excerpts and summaries from the 5ch (News Express+) thread “[Grassland Fire] Mongolian Authorities Seek Damages, KDDI “No Legal Violations” Part 4 [Weeping]” (original thread title appears corrupted/mojibake in the source).
A couple of translator’s notes: イトウ (ito/taimen) is a giant, endangered freshwater trout-like fish native to Hokkaido/Siberia/Mongolia and a prized sport-fishing target, which is why posters kept bringing it up as the rumored real reason for the trip. “警備員[Lv.7][新]” is a 5ch “trip”/rank gimmick tied to certain boards (a running joke title, not a real credential) — I rendered it loosely as “Guard [Lv.7][Rookie].”
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