Category: Korea-General Topics

In today’s day and age you have to be careful about every word you say as the ROK Defense Minister recently found out:

Of all the remarks to boost the morale of South Korean soldiers protecting the inter-Korean border, he picks the wrong one.

Making a sexual remark may boost male soldiers’ morale, but Defense Minister Song Young-moo chose the wrong place at the wrong time when he visited the Joint Security Area (JSA) Monday.

Two weeks after a North Korean soldier was shot five times when he dramatically escaped to the South through the JSA in the Panmunjeom truce village, Song visited the scene.

Besides checking out the scene, he met and encouraged South Korean soldiers for managing the incident well.

Song met the soldiers at a lunch in a mess hall, where he arrived late. Being apologetic, he cut short his talk so the soldiers would not have to wait long before eating.

“It’s not fun to listen to someone haranguing on and on before a food table,” Song said. “People say that the shorter speeches and miniskirts are the better, right?”

The soldiers replied with a thunderous “Yes, sir. ” Song finished his speech by saying he had come to the JSA to deliver the public’s praise for them for saving the badly wounded North Korean.

But Song’s “miniskirt” comment made headlines that suggested his choice of words was sexually offensive.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but add that to the list of banned speech that you can’t tell people you like miniskirts.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out because I would think Korean Air probably retaliated against him after closely consulting with an army of lawyers on how to legally do it:

The whistle-blower who exposed the actions of the Korean Air chairman’s daughter who forced a plane to return to its gate in a tiff over macadamia nuts is suing her and the airline, accusing them of illegally demoting and ostracizing him.

“My case illustrates how those who say no to economic power in South Korea come under a systematic attack from their organization,” the whistle-blower, Park Chang-jin, said during a news conference on Monday. “I hope my case will help our society to think about the dignity and rights of common workers.”

The 2014 episode, which became known as a case of “nut rage,” led to international condemnation and ridicule of the chairman’s daughter, Cho Hyun-ah, after she became angry that a first-class flight attendant served the nuts without first asking her, then in an unopened package rather than on a plate, according to court documents.

Ms. Cho was vice president at the company at the time.  (…..)

Mr. Park took a leave of absence to recover from a psychological trauma. And when he returned to work in May of last year, Korean Air demoted him from cabin crew chief to flight attendant, citing what it called his poor English. He and his lawyers said the demotion was an illegal retaliation against his whistle-blowing.  [New York Times]

You can read more at the link.

For those that didn’t know abortion is still illegal in South Korea, but the law is hardly ever enforced.  The Moon Jae-in administration is now going to conduct a review on whether to legalize the practice of abortion:

Cheong Wa Dae said Sunday it will review the legitimacy of the nation’s anti-abortion law.

Cho Kuk, the senior presidential secretary for civil affairs, said the government will begin the task by collecting more facts through research next year.

The announcement came after more than 230,000 people signed a petition against the law, which carries a sentence of up to one year or a maximum fine of 2 million won ($1,850) for a woman who has an abortion.

“The fetal right to live is critical, but the current law pushes abortions underground,” Cho said.“Besides, the law holds women accountable only, excluding men who are also responsible.”

“Based on the outcome of the research, we can take a step forward and begin a new debate.”

According to the government’s latest survey conducted in 2010, about 169,000 abortions were performed that year ― most of them (94 percent) were done illegally, but only about 10 people were indicted.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

The North Korean soldier shot while defecting to South Korea across the JSA will live.  However, his poor medical condition before he was even shot is drawing increased scrutiny in South Korea:

The revelation that the man had a severe parasitic infection — Lee said he had never seen such a case except in medical textbooks — and that his stomach contained raw corn kernels prompted widespread shock in South Korea. North Korean front-line soldiers were supposed to be elite troops, yet this man had worms not seen in South Korea since the 1970s and had been eating uncooked corn?

Oh also has tuberculosis and hepatitis B, Lee said. And, at 5 feet 5 inches tall and weighing about 130 pounds, he is several inches shorter and 20 pounds lighter than the average male 18-year-old South Korean.

There is intense interest in the soldier, and military intelligence officers reportedly are eager to question him about his escape, but Lee has been fending them off. The soldier is showing signs of depression and post-traumatic stress, and it will take about a month before he is well enough to answer questions, the doctor said.  [Washington Post]

You can read the rest at the link, but just think there are 25 million people in North Korea with probably many other bad health conditions which will need to be considered in a unification scenario.

By the way the soldier’s trauma surgeon Lee Cook-jong is a bit of celebrity in South Korea:

This is not Lee’s first time in the spotlight. The surgeon became a national hero in 2011 when he saved the life of a ship captain who had been shot by Somali pirates.

After pirates seized a chemical freighter near the Gulf of Aden in 2011, South Korean commandos stormed the ship and the pirates shot the captain six times during the rescue attempt.

Lee was waiting at a hospital in Oman and saved the captain’s life, earning a reputation as the country’s leading trauma surgeon. There was even a popular medical drama based on this story, “Golden Time.” The title was a reference to Lee’s frequent reminder that it is the hour after a severe injury that is most important for saving someone’s life.  [Washington Post]

Anyone want to take any guesses on what business 85 South Koreans were being flown into Atlanta to do?:

Eighty-five South Korean travelers were ordered to fly back after they were denied entry into the United States earlier this week, foreign ministry here said Tuesday.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the South Korean Consulate General in Atlanta was notified on Monday that 85 South Korean passport holders were refused U.S. entry at Atlanta International Airport in Georgia on Sunday and were ordered to leave the country.

The travelers arrived at the airport via two separate flights. All of them tried to enter the U.S. through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA), a travel document under the South Korea-U.S. visa waiver program.

ESTA permits citizens of South Korea to travel to the U.S. for tourism or business for up to 90 days without a visa, but U.S. authorities found that they tried to enter the country for other purposes, according to the foreign ministry. The ministry, however, refused to give the details of their visiting purposes, citing privacy reasons.

“The South Korean Consulate General in Atlanta contacted the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) to find out why our citizens were denied entry and were ordered to leave,” an official with the foreign ministry said. “We’ve checked whether the travelers received translation services and other amenities in the process.”  [Yonhap]

Via a reader tip comes this article showing the amount of illegal weapons that are seized at airports in South Korea:

Nineteen people have been caught this year trying to bring guns onto planes in Korea, a sharp increase from just one from last year.

According to Rep. Park Wan-su of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party, Monday, 25 such cases occurred at airports across the country between January 2014 and this September.

The number changed little from two in 2014 to three in 2015 and one in 2016, but it has soared at an alarming rate over the past nine months.

During that period, 25 guns, 1,368 bullets, 395 knives and 1,374 other weapons such as stun guns have been seized.

“All the nation’s airports and related institutions should beef up their security in response to an increasing number of such attempts,” Park said.

According to Rep. Park Chan-woo of the same party, 34 people were caught at Incheon International Airport trying to smuggle guns into the country between January 2012 and this August.

During that period, 2,819 illegal weapons, including 1,483 bullets and 426 knives, were seized. The lawmaker said 45.8 percent of them came from the United States.   [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but I wonder how many of these guns found are from people forgetting they had one packed in their bag or were they legitimately trying to smuggle it into Korea?

It has been 10 years since the Taliban took a group of South Korean missionaries hostage.  They killed two of them and sexually assaulted some of the women before releasing them in return for millions of dollars in ransom money and the withdrawal of ROK troops from Afghanistan.  The hostage taking was of course used by anti-US leftists in South Korea to further push anti-US sentiment.  In recognition of the 10 year anniversary of the hostage taking, Al Jazeera thought it would be a good time to interview Muslims in South Korea and see what their thoughts are about Islam in the ROK:

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Korean hostage crisis in Afghanistan, which was a turning point in the history of Islam in Korea. Today, South Korean Muslims make up a tiny minority, 0.2 percent, of the predominantly Christian and Confucian society.

As South Korea is opening its doors to Muslim tourists, trying to fill the vacuum left by the declining number of Chinese tourists following the debacle launched with the deployment of the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system, various generations of native Korean Muslims reflect on their double identity as Koreans and Muslims in South Korea.

The number of Muslim tourists coming to the country saw a 33 percent increase last year from 2015 and is expected to reach 1,2 million people by the end of 2017, as revealed by the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO).

Tapping into this economic potential, the country has increased the number of Halal certificates for its restaurants and prayer rooms, and the Seoul Tourism Organization is promoting a series of videos showcasing Muslim-friendly restaurants around the capital.

Islam and the Korean Peninsula share a history of mutual fascination and curiosity. From the era of the Silk Road in the 9th century to today’s modern interconnected world, the bonds that were once forged through maritime travel have now been passed on to a new generation of young Muslim Koreans, who try to find a balance between their Korean culture and newfound religion.

Retracing the history of Islam in Korea and its reintroduction to the country by Turkish troops during the 1950-1953 Korean War, Al Jazeera spoke with several generations of South Korean Muslims, who expressed the difficulties they face in the Confucian Korean society dominated by class, age hierarchy, a strong drinking culture, and a distrust of Islam.  [Al Jazeera]

You can read the interviews at the link, but it is more of the religion of peace talking points which is a bit ironic considering the interviews are in recognition of the 10 year anniversary of the kidnapping, murder, and sexual assaults caused by Islamic extremists on South Korean missionaries.

I have always felt that if a major earthquake struck South Korea it would be devastating and this 5.4 magnitude quake hopefully serves as a wake up call to improve building standards in the country:

A series of powerful earthquakes struck the southeastern city of Pohang, Wednesday, shaking many parts of the country, including Seoul nearly 300 kilometers away.

The first major quake ― 5.4 in magnitude ― struck Pohang at 2:29 p. m. , the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) said. The epicenter was measured about nine kilometers north of Pohang and nine kilometers beneath the surface.

The quake was followed by aftershocks of lesser intensity, including a 3.6-magnitude one at 3:09 p.m. When a 4.6-magnitude quake occurred 8 kilometers north of the city at 4:49 p.m. , residents across South Gyeongsang Province feared whether the tremors had yet to end. Fire departments in Changwon city 130 kilometers away from Pohang received dozens of calls from worried citizens.

Nuclear reactors in Ulsan, some 80 kilometers south of Pohang, operated normally with no sign of radiation leaks, Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

This is absolutely ridiculous that nurses had to subject to this.  I wonder how prevalent this exploitation of nurses is in South Korea’s hospitals?:

Nurses are up in arms over allegations that their colleagues at the Sacred Heart Hospital at Hallym University were forced to perform a “sexy dance” at an internal event.

The Korean Nurses Association vented its fury on Monday, calling for a thorough investigation and merciless punishment of those responsible.

“This is a grave challenge to the vocation and self-esteem of nurses,” the association said in a statement.

“There are numerous nurses who endure an intense workload, low paycheck and frequent overtime with their sense of duty and vocation.

“Considering this, the scandal was defamatory and offensive to these nurses.”

The association urged the government to tighten regulations to prevent sexual offenses against nurses and to protect their human rights.

The scandal flared up last week after a nurse posted a letter of complaint on social media with photos of nurses in short pants and figure-hugging tube tops performing a sexually suggestive dance during an annual sports event in October.

“Those forced to dance are usually the newly hired nurses, who are unable to refuse such orders,” the whistle-blowing nurse wrote on social media on Friday.

“We were forced to dance in front of high-ranking officials of the firm, who sat side-by-side at a long table.”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

It figures that the Moon Jae-in administration would find a way to stick to the Japanese during President Trump’s visit:

The rightwing government in Tokyo was duly incensed when Korea served U.S. President Donald Trump shrimp caught near Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo, to which Japan maintains a flimsy colonial claim.

Worse in the eyes of the nationalists in Japan was the invitation to a state dinner for Trump on Tuesday of a victim of imperial Japan’s sexual enslavement of women during World War II.

Tokyo protested through diplomatic channels that Cheong Wa Dae’s invitation of sex slavery victim Lee Yong-soo to the state dinner is “against the purport” of a 2015 agreement to compensate the women, which was once described as “a final and irreversible resolution,” according to the Yomiuri Shimbun on Wednesday.

The controversial deal, which trades indirect compensation for a promise to remove memorials for the victims from the vicinity of Japanese diplomatic missions, makes no mention of what events the victims of the atrocity can or cannot be invited to.

The new government of President Moon Jae-in wants to reverse it.   [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but why were the victims of Chinese and North Korean atrocities not invited to the state dinner?