Security specialists described how the Blue House petition gets fake "agree" clicks. Get imaginary foreign phone numbers on line. Use them to create fake fb & Twitter acts. Then access the BH website and click for each acct. Then use hidden browser and click again. Voila! https://t.co/VhrH9o01UZ
— Tara O (@DrTaraO) April 30, 2019
This is pretty dramatic how these once financially healthy public institutions are now losing huge amounts of money:
“Moon Jae-in Care,” as the president’s health policy has become known, is driving a major decline in the profits of state-owned institutions, as is his energy strategy.
Joong Ang Ilbo
According to a Ministry of Economy and Finance report released late Tuesday, the net profits of 339 public entities plummeted 84.7 percent from 7.2 trillion won ($6.1 billion) in 2017 to 1.1 trillion won in 2018.
The net profits of these institutions have been on a steady decline, falling from 15.4 trillion won in 2016.
The National Health Insurance Service was hit hardest. After reporting 368.5 billion won in net profit in 2017, it posted a 3.9 trillion won net loss last year.
The dramatic change is largely blamed on the president’s health policies, which went into effect in July 2018. Moon Jae-in Care increases the range of medical treatments covered by national health insurance.
The goal is to raise national insurance coverage from 63.2 percent of treatments in 2016 to 70 percent by the end of 2022.
President Moon in August 2017 promised to improve national health insurance coverage, as Korea’s coverage rate falls far short of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average of 80 percent.
Public energy company net profits shrunk as a result of the changes in energy policy.
Korea Electric Power Corporation’s (Kepco) net profit fell from 7.1 trillion won in 2016 to 1.4 trillion won in 2017. Last year, it reported a 1.2 trillion won net loss.
The five affiliates of Kepco all reported net profit declines.
Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power reported its first net loss in five years. In 2016, before the Moon administration began, the company reported 2.45 trillion won in net profit. Its net profit decreased to 861.8 billion won in 2017, and the company reported a net loss of 102 billion won last year.
The loss is considered to have been the result of the government reducing the use of nuclear power while increasing power generated from renewables, including solar and wind. Alternative energy is more expensive than nuclear power.
You can read more at the link.
Every time I watch any Western documentary about Korea – in this case, Netflix's "Street Food" – regardless of the subject matter, people always end up talking about "the tragedy of the Korean War," and it annoys me to no end. Just how many Koreans actually think about the war?!
— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) April 28, 2019
On April 19th, Michael Breen, who has been writing about Korea for years, wrote a column for the Chosun Ilbo, a conservative daily newspaper. He voiced his opposition to building a memorial for the victims of the Sewol at Gwanghwamun Square. https://t.co/9foBiYl5A7
— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) April 23, 2019
With all the scams out there I generally do not trust charities either and highly recommend that everyone do their homework before donating:
Close to 60 percent of Koreans are hesitant to make donations to charity organizations as they don’t trust how the funds are being used, a recent survey showed.
Korea Times
The Korea Association of Fundraising Professionals (KAFP) released the results of its survey, Tuesday, conducted at the request of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. The KAFP surveyed 1,052 people over the age of 19 from October to December.
According to the survey, 424 people, or 40 percent of the respondents, had given donations at least once in the past year, and 56.8 percent of them said they didn’t know how their contributions were spent.
The people who had not given any donations during the period were allowed to give multiple reasons for their decision. Of this number 65.3 percent said they did not donate because of economic reasons and 61.5 percent said because they could not trust the charity organizations.
You can read more at the link.
Some old wounds from the ROK military’s involvement in the Vietnam War are being reopened:
On Apr. 22, Nguyen Thị Thanh, 59, a victim of civilian massacres by South Korean troops during the Vietnam War, visited Korea to participate in a “citizens’ peace tribunal” held to uncover the truth about the massacres. The tribunal was organized by MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society and the Korea-Vietnam Peace Foundation.
A plaintiff in the citizens’ tribunal, Nguyen claimed that she’d been shot on the left side of her body by Korean troops near her home in the village of Phong Nhị, Dien Ban District, Quang Nam Province, on Feb. 12, 1968. After the massacre, she received an operation to reconnect her severed intestine and still suffers from the aftereffects of her injury today. Five of her family members were killed in the massacre, and her 14-year-old older brother was grievously injured.The citizens’ tribunal concluded that the Korean troops had committed a massacre and ruled that the South Korean government ought to compensate the plaintiffs according to the conditions of the State Compensation Act and make an official apology to restore their dignity and reputation. That’s what Nguyen wants to hear from the South Korean government, but Seoul has never taken an official stance on this matter. Is there any chance of Nguyen’s wish coming true?
Nguyen submitted a petition signed by 103 victims of civilian massacres to the Blue House on Apr. 4 and is planning to sue the South Korean government for compensation, represented by MINBYUN attorney Lim Jae-seong, within the year. That will be the first time that a victim of the Vietnam War has filed a lawsuit against one of the aggressor states. Nguyen is spending a week in Korea on this trip to prepare the documents that are necessary for the lawsuit.
Hankyoreh
You can read more at the link, but the Minbyun group of lawyers are hard core leftists. In the past they have attacked the USFK base relocation, tried to bring back the US beef issue, and tried to have North Korean defectors forcibly returned to North Korea.
So why would hard core leftists be bringing up this issue now with a left wing government in power? They are likely going to use this issue to attack and blame conservative ROK politicians, since former South Korean strongman Park Chung-hee was in power at the time.
Notices how the goals of all these plans are always way out in the future when no in power will be held responsible for not meeting them:
South Korea’s industry ministry said Friday it will significantly cut the country’s dependency on conventional energy sources, such as coal, and move toward environment-friendly resources for sustainable growth.
Yonhap
During the public hearing for a draft of the country’s energy master plan, the Ministry of Trade, Industry, and Energy said it will expand the portion of renewable sources to around 30 to 35 percent in its portfolio by 2040, significantly up from 7.6 percent posted in 2017.
The master plan is renewed every five years with a 20-year goal.
The ministry is expected to draw up details on the scope of the reduction in its energy supply plan that will be announced later this year.
The proposal is in line with the Moon Jae-in government’s push to move toward clean and safe energy sources to meet the country’s demand for electricity.
“The new policy goal will focus on reforming the structure of energy demand instead of expanding the supply,” the ministry said, claiming the master plan aims to build a high-efficiency and low-consumption energy market.
You can read more at the link.
Don't get me wrong. I actually like soju. But "clean and neutral taste" are not words I would ever use to describe soju.
— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) April 16, 2019
Maybe "a cheap drink that tastes of broken dreams and desperation, but, man, does it get the job done." https://t.co/uFNGaPOkCE
One of my favorite defector groups, Fighters for A Free North Korea have been quiet during the Moon administration which is not friendly to defector groups. The Korean police have been sent to stop their balloon launch operations while at the same time the Moon administration allows protesters to blockade the THAAD site which is there to defend the country.
However, it appears that with the steep drop in President Moon’s popularity and the fact more people are realizing that the Kim regime will not denuclearize has given them an opportunity to restart their balloon operations:
The group, Fighters for a Free North Korea, flew 20 balloons carrying 500,000 leaflets from Yeoncheon, north of Seoul, at around 2 a.m., it said.
Yonhap
The balloons carried leaflets slamming the Kim Jong-un regime, as well as one-dollar bills and booklets.
Park Sang-hak, the head of the organization, said earlier this month that it plans to send the leaflets because the North’s leader “did not keep his promise” to give up the country’s nuclear program.
The Seoul government has urged local activists to stop their leaflet campaigns, saying that they go against efforts to reduce tensions and improve ties with the North.
For those that don’t remember Park Sang-Hak is the leader of the group that has faced assassination attempts by North Korean agents and had leftist thugs assault him to stop his balloon protests.
Honestly, I’d be grateful if they just conducted the summit via Skype or FaceTime and saved all of us time, money, energy, commotion, pollution, and annoying motorcades and sirens all around town. The end result will be exactly the same. https://t.co/mFF9h6BU6X
— 🇰🇷Edward Oh🇺🇸 (@EdwardHBOh) April 9, 2019
