Author: GIKorea

Disney+ is coming to South Korea soon and they are using a popular South Korean show to help launch it:

A spin-off of long-running South Korean television show “Running Man” is among the Korean originals to be released on Disney+ after the service’s launch in the country on Nov. 12, its operator said Thursday.

“Outrun by Running Man,” the first official spin-off of the SBS TV variety show, will star three members of the show’s original cast — Kim Jong-kook, Haha and Jee Seok-jin, the Walt Disney Company said during an Asia-Pacific content showcase of the streaming service. 

But the original show’s main cast member Yoo Jae-suk will not participate in the spin-off series.

“Running Man,” which revolves around emcees and guests competing with each other to complete missions at a landmark in Seoul, has been hugely popular for over a decade in Korea and other Asian countries.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Here is an interesting academic corruption nugget from the Korea Times:

Nearly half of all underage co-authors listed in research papers from Seoul National University (SNU) were the children of SNU professors, a ruling party lawmaker said, Thursday, calling for harsher disciplinary action against misconduct involving research by professors abusing their status. 

According to Rep. Seo Dong-yong of the Democratic Party of Korea, who is on the National Assembly Education Committee, the university’s 22 research papers that listed minors as co-authors were concluded as cases of misconduct. Among them, nine involved children of SNU professors.

Among the nine cases, four professors listed their own children as co-authors, while five listed children of their colleagues. 

Other than children of SNU professors, there were more cases involving children of their acquaintances, such as friends and relatives, Rep. Seo said. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but this is a clever way that these professor are giving their children a leg up on college admissions by showing their have published research articles when really their parent likely did all the work for them.

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

It did not take long for this case to come to its inevitable conclusion of a guilty verdict:

 A Marine officer pleaded guilty on Thursday to several criminal charges in connection with viral videos he posted criticizing senior officials during the messy U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying that he knew he was being disrespectful and wanted to call out what he perceived as “incompetence.”

Lt. Col. Stuart Scheller, a combat veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, testified that he knew he was defying orders and that his life began “spiraling” after he posted his first video in August. He said his wife left him, fellow Marine officers turned their backs on him and the Marine Corps opened an investigation into his actions. Scheller said he continued posting after receiving positive feedback from backers, including elected officials.

“Many Gold Star families, junior enlisted Marines and members of Congress reached out to support my statements,” Scheller said, referring in part to the families of service members who died in the line of duty.

Scheller pleaded guilty to charges that include disrespect toward superior commissioned officers, willfully disobeying a superior commissioned officer, and dereliction in the performance of duties. An agreement reached between Scheller and the Marine Corps holds that a military judge, Col. Glen Hines, can sentence him to no more than a letter of reprimand and a seizure of two-thirds of his pay for up to 12 months, which would cost Scheller tens of thousands of dollars.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Just think former President Park was impeached and jailed for far less and the police can’t even get an arrest warrant for this guy that cheated the Seongnam government out of $92 million:

A Seoul court on Thursday rejected an arrest warrant for a key suspect at the center of a snowballing regional development corruption scandal, dealing a blow to the investigation into the case that has become the hottest topic in South Korean politics.

The Seoul Central District Court denied the prosecution’s request to arrest Kim Man-bae, owner of an asset management firm, Hwacheon Daeyu Asset Management, on bribery and other charges, citing an insufficient explanation of the need to detain him.

Kim, a former journalist, has been under investigation in connection with how his previously little-known firm reaped massive profits from a 2015 project to develop the Daejang-dong district in the city of Seongnam, south of Seoul, into apartment complexes.

The former journalist allegedly colluded with Yoo Dong-gyu, then acting president of Seongnam Development Corp. in charge of the project, to engineer a contract between the two sides to remove a clause limiting the amount of profits that the firm could take from the project.

Prosecutors alleged that Kim caused more than 110 billion won (US$92 million) of losses to the Seongnam city government by removing the clause. He was also accused of giving Yoo 500 million won as part of a deal to pay him a total of 70 billion won.

Yoo is considered a close aide to Gyeonggi Gov. Lee Jae-myung, the ruling party’s presidential nominee, and Lee served as Seongnam mayor from 2010-2018. Kim also interviewed Lee seven months before setting up his asset firm.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I am sure the irony is not lost on the Kim regime complaining about preparing for a war of aggression when they are the ones that have repeatedly fired missiles at Japan and even over the country in recent years. If the Kim regime as well as their buddies in China were not conducting such massive and provocative arms build ups the Japanese would not be expanding their military capabilities in response:

North Korea on Wednesday condemned Japan‘s recent push to build up its military, branding it as “preparations for a war of aggression.”

A commentary carried by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) noted Japan is planning to import over 20 U.S.-made reconnaissance drones, and pushing to possess aircraft carriers and introduce the latest stealth fighters.

“The gravity of the issue lies in the fact that Japan pushes ahead with such arms buildup under the pretext of coping with ’threats from neighboring countries,‘” the state media said.

“This shows that Japan is stepping up the preparations for a war of aggression in order to realize the ambition for overseas expansion at any cost,” it added.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.