Author: GIKorea

It appears the Kim regime wants the Moon administration just to bust international sanctions without the approval of the US:

 A North Korean propaganda outlet accused South Korea of what it claims to be stalled inter-Korean cooperation on Friday, saying that Seoul cannot make a single step it wants to due to pressure from Washington.
The criticism comes as Seoul and Washington held their second “working group” meeting in Seoul to discuss coordination on how to deal with North Korea and its nuclear weapons program.
“South Korean authorities should feel responsible for depressing the inter-Korean relations on the back of the U.S.’ maneuver for sanctions and pressure before talking about its ‘driver theory,'” the website Uriminzokkiri said, referring to President Moon Jae-in’s pledge to take the initiative by sitting in the “driver’s seat” when handling North Korean affairs.
“Nothing would be resolved as long as (Seoul) continues to curry favor with the U.S., tied by its dependence on outside powers and blind following of the U.S.,” it added.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

It seems to me that going on strike and denying taxi service to customers only encourages those same customers to use ride sharing apps:

Tens of thousands of taxi drivers in South Korea protested in front of the National Assembly Thursday, calling for a ban on Kakao Mobility’s ride-sharing service.

The app was set to move from beta testing to full operation this month, but the company put those plans on indefinite hold after a taxi driver self-immolated in protest in front of the National Assembly and later died.
 
Taxi industry and labor groups waved banners and held up photos of the deceased driver near the legislature, complaining that such ride-sharing apps pose a direct threat to the livelihood of taxi industry workers.

At least four taxi industry and labor groups took part in the rally, the third of its kind in the past three months. Police estimated 40-to-50-thousand were on the streets.

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link.

Long time Korea watcher and a ROK Drop favorite Donald Kirk has an article in the Daily Beast that claims that the Moon administration’s North Korea policies may be derailed by the rise of the Korean right:

The resurgence of the right automatically jeopardizes such dreams as the pendulum of public opinion, in the pattern of modern Korean history, shows unmistakable signs of shifting yet again.

It’s assumed that, partly for that reason, Kim did not respond to President Moon’s entreaties to please come to Seoul this month. 
The fact is no North Korean leader has visited the South Korean capital since Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, was said to have gone to Seoul after his troops overran the capital at the outset of the Korean War. Three South Korean presidents have visited Pyongyang—Kim Dae-jung in June 2000, Roh Moo-hyun, whom Moon accompanied as his chief of staff in October 2007, and then Moon in September.
Violence surrounding a visit to Seoul by the North Korean leader is no paranoid apparition as the opposition threatens to call for his overthrow and death. Defying rows of policemen, they also shout imprecations against their own President Moon. 
Rightist foes of both Moon and North Korea promise a mass outpouring of protests if Kim ever shows up in Seoul. Under the circumstances, an official at the Blue House, the presidential office and residence complex, told me Kim and his omnipresent bodyguards had to be worried about security.

Daily Beast

You can read more at the link, but if Kim Jong-un did show up I would hope there would be mass protests against someone that in recent years has ordered the murdering and wounding of dozens of ROK troops and civilians. Plus his regime still keeps hundreds of kidnapped South Koreans detained in North Korea.

As much as President Moon tries, Kim Jong-un should never be considered a respectable world leader.

Another example of the poor safety culture in South Korea:

Police said Wednesday that they had found a ventilation defect in a gas boiler at a holiday home in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, tentatively concluding that carbon monoxide poisoning killed three high school students and left seven unconscious the day before.

During an investigation of the two-story property, police tested the gas-powered boiler and found that its ventilation pipe emitted a high level of fumes. 

The test came after police set up an ad-hoc investigation headquarters and inspected the vacation home. They found that the gas boiler’s ventilation pipe was not properly connected and this was the probable cause of the incident. 

This backed up an earlier finding that the level of carbon monoxide in the students’ room was 155 parts per million (ppm), well above the standard 20 ppm.

In examining the three dead students, pathologists found that the carbon monoxide levels in their blood were far above the fatal level, adding no other toxic substances were detected. 

“We conducted combustion tests repeatedly and found that the boiler emitted a large quantity of exhaust fumes from the faulty pipe,” said a police officer, adding investigators plan to do more tests on the boiler jointly with the National Forensic Service (NFS) and the Korea Gas Safety Corp.

In addition, there was no alarm system for gas leaks at the vacation home ― although this was not illegal.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

It looks like the Trump administration may be giving into ROK demands to provide humanitarian assistance to South Korea. I wish someone would ask President Moon why a country with a massive military, a nuclear weapons program, and the regime elite living lavish lifestyles needs humanitarian aid?:

Hopes are growing for a possible breakthrough in the stalemate in denuclearization talks between Pyongyang and Washington, after a key U.S. official visiting South Korea referred to possible resumption of humanitarian aid to the North.

U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said the U.S. is reviewing possible exemptions to the ban on U.S. citizens traveling to North Korea regarding humanitarian aid. He also referred to improving 70 years of hostile relations after arriving at Incheon International Airport. 

“We will also review American citizens’ travel to North Korea for the purpose of facilitating the delivery of aid and ensure that monitoring in line with international standards can occur,” he said.

Improving bilateral relations is among the agreements North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump reached at their historic summit in June.

The U.S. official had refrained from making any public remarks on his previous visits. His statement this time is seen as a message from Washington to Pyongyang. Biegun stated the review on the travel ban for humanitarian aid purposes was a direction from U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

In N. Korea, we had 3 cards to play:
– "maximum pressure" (then Trump dialed it back to "medium")
– deterrence (then Trump canceled US-ROK exercises)
– KJU's pariah status because of crimes against humanity (then Trump "fell in love" with him)
He gave it all away for nothing. https://t.co/GJGiPTw4b2

— Joshua Stanton (@freekorea_us) December 19, 2018

Considering all the media attention surrounding this case I be this guy thought he would get a bigger pay out than this: 

The Seoul Western District Court ordered Korean Air, Wednesday, to pay former chief flight attendant Park Chang-jin 20 million won ($17,779) in compensation for his suffering from the so-called “nut rage” incident. 

However, the court dismissed his claim for compensation from the carrier’s former Executive Vice President Heather Cho, the elder daughter of the conglomerate’s owner.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

I don’t find this survey very helpful when the term discrimination is not defined.  I have not been picked up by taxi cabs before, is that discrimination?:

One of out of every five foreigners in South Korea suffer discrimination, due mainly to their nationalities, government data showed Wednesday.
The data compiled by Statistics Korea showed that 21.2 percent of 1.3 million foreigners said they were discriminated by South Koreans. 
Among them, 60.9 percent said they were discriminated on the basis their nationality, while 25.7 percent said they faced discrimination on the grounds of their lack of Korean language proficiency.
The data showed 6.6 percent cited appearance and 2.6. percent pointed to occupation as the reasons behind discrimination.
The statistics agency did not provide details on the nationalities of foreigners who they said were discriminated against.

Yonhap