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
There has been talk for years about revising the abortion laws in South Korea and this court ruling gives the politicians the cover they need to do so now:
The Constitutional Court ruled Thursday that the country’s strict abortion ban is unconstitutional, a landmark decision that signals major change in various aspects of society.
Yonhap
The nine-justice panel made the ruling in a 7-2 vote, in response to a 2017 complaint filed by an obstetrician standing trial for performing multiple abortions. A vote of two-thirds is required to reverse a ruling.
The court found that an outright ban on abortion under the criminal law is against the Constitution and ordered allowing termination in the early stages of pregnancy.
Thursday’s ruling requires the parliament to revise the related laws by the end of next year.
You can read more at the link.
The National Pension Fund should simply sell underperforming stocks, not change out managers & try to run the companies. KAL actually was doing well, great service, in black. But the Moon Jae-in admin's goal is to take over private companies. This is sad & scary at the same time. https://t.co/URknVclnxB
— Tara O (@DrTaraO) April 8, 2019
Is anyone surprised that President Moon is pushing for sanctions relief on behalf of North Korea before any denuclearization happens?:
Moon Jae-in plans to ask the U.S. to ease sanctions on North Korea when he meets President Donald Trump at the White House this week, say unnamed South Korean officials cited by the Korean Times.
The South Korean president is visiting Washington D.C. for a summit on North Korean nuclear diplomacy, where the two leaders are expected to discuss how to achieve the denuclearization of the north and peace on the Korean Peninsula.
“Moon plans to embrace the risk of personal diplomacy by asking Trump to grant reciprocal measures after Seoul and Washington laid out the necessary groundwork via working-level discussions,” a South Korean official told the Korea Times.Although it remains to be seen which sanctions Moon might ask the U.S. to revoke first, officials said he is likely to focus on those that impact the country’s citizens.
TIME Magazine
“It’s likely President Moon may raise the lessening of sanctions that affect the lives of the North Korean people,” an official said, according to the Korea Times.
The only reason sanctions are impacting the lives of ordinary North Koreans is because the Kim regime allows them too. They have enough money to fund a nuclear weapons and ICBM program, which means they should have enough money to spend on the welfare of their own people if the regime wanted to.
