Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.
Can you imagine how many US politicians would be sent to jail for defaming former Presidents if Korean defamation laws were implemented in the US?:
Deputy National Assembly Speaker Chung Jin-Suk was convicted Thursday of defaming the honor of late President Roh Moo-hyun with his derisive remarks about Roh’s tragic death.
Judge Park Byung-gon of the Seoul Central District Court sentenced the fifth-term lawmaker of the ruling People Power Party to six months in prison, a ruling heavier than the prosecution’s demand for a fine of 5 million won (US$3,793). He was not taken into custody immediately.
If the sentence is confirmed by the Supreme Court, Chung will lose his parliamentary seat.
The charges against Chung stem from a post he made on his Facebook account in September 2017, commenting on Roh’s suicide death in May 2009 amid a corruption investigation.
Chung claimed Roh’s wife, Kwon Yang-sook, and their son had received millions of dollars in bribes from a businessman close to the president.
He further claimed that following an investigation by the prosecution into the allegations, a domestic dispute ensued between the couple and she left their home. On that night, Roh, left alone, took his own life, Chung wrote.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link.
Just when you thought the Jamboree fiasco could not get any worse now Korean Scouts are claiming racism over their accommodations:
Korean Jamboree Scouts protest being treated like “asylum seekers” in own country: they were taken to church auditorium with no showers while foreign Scouts offered plush accommodations at corporate retreats with own rooms, showers and fitness center
370 of the Korean Scouts were assigned to an auditorium of a Christian church in Yongin, Geonggyi Province, for their post-Saemangeum accommodation. They are not happy with this Jimjilbang-style facility and their parents are protesting “reverse discrimination.”
Obviously, there are no beds at the auditorium so church administrators brought in mats to have them sleep en masse in one large area. The Korean Scouts charge the mats are too thin to sleep comfortably on and that there are no showers at the church. They claim to be using garden hoses attached to faucets to wash themselves.
Some told their parents that they would rather go back to Saemangeum than put up with the church-provided facility: “They told me that they are being treated like asylum-seekers in their own country. We can understand that we need to treat our foreign guests well. However, this is unacceptable.”
Donga Ilbo
You can read more at the link.
One way of looking at this is that this is one of the best aspects of Korea is how people can come together to protect the country’s image. Can you imagine what the reaction in the U.S. would be if the President asked private companies to accommodate a bunch of Scouts and provide tour programs for them because of government incompetence?:
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| GS E&C employees put up tents on a football field at the company’s training center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday, for Scouts from Greece, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Zambia and Botswana. Courtesy of GS E&C |
The abrupt relocation of participants of the 25th World Scout Jamboree on Tuesday from the Saemangeum campsite in North Jeolla Province to lodgings in eight other regions around the country has not only confused public servants nationwide, but also drawn complaints from employees working at privately owned companies which have been drafted to offer their facilities.
Korea Times
Amid the efforts of domestic firms to minimize damage to Korea’s reputation by offering an additional labor force, plus other basic necessities, due to the poor management of the global event, workers have been objecting to being forced to do tasks that are not relevant to their roles and responsibilities.
“We received a call from the presidential office on Monday night to prepare suitable accommodation, tourism programs and plans to transport the Scouts to the K-pop concert and the airport,” a GS E&C employee wrote on Blind, an anonymous chat forum app for verified employees. “After the abrupt request, my colleagues had to prepare tourism programs and put up tents for the Scouts.”
You can read more at the link.
Here is the latest on the Scout Jamboree fiasco which now apparently can’t figure out what they are going to do for the closing ceremony:
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| Scouts hoist the Jamboree and the 25th World Scout Jamboree flags at the opening ceremony of the event in Saemangeum, North Jeolla Province, Aug. 2. Courtesy of World Organization of the Scout Movement |
The 25th World Scout Jamboree got off to a disappointing start due to poor preparations and facilities management amid a heat wave that sparked outcries from participants and parents. The global youth event is likely to be the source of more embarrassment as the government is not fully ready for a flag handover ceremony to the next host country.
Korea Times
Although the Korean government took control of the remainder of the quadrennial event, whose participants exited the campsite due to the rapidly-approaching Typhoon Khanun, government ministries and organizers are still undecided on how to deliver the Jamboree flag to the event’s next host, Poland, at the closing ceremony on Friday.
The Korean government created a team led by Prime Minister Han Duck-soo to handle the rest of the Jamboree event to ensure that the Scouts can enjoy Korean culture during the remaining period of the event. However, government ministries and organizers are passing on the responsibility to other agencies, especially involving matters related to the flag handover ceremony.
When The Korea Times inquired about the flag handover event, an official at the prime minister’s office in charge of the Jamboree said the matter should be referred to the organizing committee.
You can read more at the link.
What a fiasco the Scout Jamboree has turned out to be. It is not like it couldn’t have been predicted that the weather in August in South Korea is miserable:
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| German Scouts and adult volunteers participating in the 25th World Scout Jamboree arrive at Myongji University’s dormitory in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Tuesday, after leaving the main campsite in Saemangeum, a reclaimed tidal flat in North Jeolla Province, as all participants were relocated across the country amid a typhoon threat. Yonhap |
About 37,000 Scouts participating in the 25th World Scout Jamboree left their campsite in Saemangeum for Seoul and seven other regions across the country on Tuesday ― four days ahead of schedule due to the rapidly-approaching Typhoon Khanun.
Korea Times
Interior and Safety Minister Lee Sang-min said the government mobilized more than 1,000 buses to relocate about 37,000 people from 156 countries.
The global youth event initially drew over 43,000 Scouts from 159 nations, but the 1,500-member U.S. and 4,400-member U.K. delegations, along with participants from Singapore, pulled out of the campsite earlier citing risks posed by a heat wave.
“Four police helicopters and 273 patrol cars were also mobilized for the safe movement of the participants,” Lee said during the last media briefing held in Saemangeum, a reclaimed tidal flat in North Jeolla Province that has served as the venue for this year’s World Scout Jamboree.
According to the government, the participants were scattered throughout 128 accommodations across the country, including 64 in Gyeonggi Province, 18 in South Chungcheong Province, 17 in Seoul and eight in Incheon.
Most of the places are college dormitories or government and corporate training facilities.
You can read more at the link, but maybe the government should have let the military plan this instead of civilian authorities who seemed more interested in taking lavish trips abroad.
