Lee Kyu-nam (L), the head of Korean Air pilots’ union, and Lee Sang-joo, the head of the airline’s union, express opinions on their planned strike in Seoul on Dec. 21, 2016, one day before their labor action. The unionized pilots earlier decided to go on a 10-day strike, demanding a pay rise. (Yonhap)
South Korean protests have a track record of causing crazy people to do stuff like this. I don’t what this guy expected JTBC to do? The tablet with the files on it was legitimate news that they couldn’t simply ignore because it would lead to mass protests against the sitting President. If this guy wants to be pissed off at anyone he should be upset with President Park and her friend behind this scandal Choi Soon-sil:
A truck driven by a South Korean man in his 40s slammed into the main gate of broadcasting channel JTBC on Monday, whose initial reports on President Park Geun-hye’s alleged documents leaks led to her impeachment earlier in the month.
The 45-year man surnamed Kim crashed his 1.5-ton truck into the main entrance of JTBC in Mapo in western Seoul at around 7:25 p.m. apparently in protest of the television channel’s reports on Park, according to the police.
Wearing the Marine Corps uniform, Kim tried to break into the gate by driving his truck back and forth some 10 times, but his vehicle was stuck between the doors before the police arrested him at the scene.
The incident left JTBC’s glass doors broken and the door frames warped, but caused no further damage, according to the firefighting authorities.
At the time of arrest, Kim was carrying a letter for JTBC’s president and a placard on his truck, which satirically recommended the JTBC head as the next South Korean president.
The police quoted Kim as saying that “The entire country is in a bind because of (JTBC’s) reports on a tablet PC.” The police said they will interrogate him to find out the exact motive. [Yonhap]
President Park Geun-hye, center, takes a photo with U.S. President Barack Obama and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte after the afternoon session of the the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on April 2. / Korea Times file
Why was President Park Geun-hye so sensitive about a toilet’s cleanness? With the impeached leader the only person to know the answer, there are allegations her “exorbitant” attachment to a bacteria-free toilet led to a diplomat blunder early this year.
Park missed a ceremonial group photo of state leaders at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in April. Back then, the government said Park was in the toilet during the photo shoot, not knowing the event was rescheduled for the summit’s smooth progress.
But the explanation was missing details, according to Rep. Kim Kyung-jin of the minor opposition People’s Party. The lawmaker said Park “deliberately” missed the photo event to use the toilet at her hotel room, instead of the public restroom next to the meeting venue.
“Park walked away from the meeting room all of a sudden when the meeting was under way,” the lawmaker said, based on information he secured from unidentified sources. “Later, it turned out that she left the venue to travel to her hotel to use the toilet at her room. She didn’t want to use the public one.”
Park returned to the venue and had her photo taken with U.S. President Barack Obama and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte when the afternoon session ended. [Korea Times]
Via a reader tip comes the latest slogan disaster from South Korea, this time from the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics:
“It’s you, PyeongChang.”
It makes sense grammatically, but what does it mean?
Many foreigners scratched their heads after reading the sentence featuring in an advertisement in major newspapers on Monday meant to promote the nation’s first winter Olympics in the mountain city of PyeongChang in February 2018.
The Gangwon Province government that created the ad said “It’s you, PyeongChang” was intended to promote that every member of the global village, Koreans and non-Koreans alike, has a role to make the event a success.
Yet few seemed to have found the message from it.
“The phrase doesn’t reach me in anyway,” said Celeste Kriel, a South African living in Seoul. “It can be interpreted in so many ways that it’s hard to grasp the message.”
An American teacher in Seoul said, “It sounds like they are really missing PyongChang… Maybe PyongChang is their long lost lover?”
Several other foreigners told The Korea Times that the message “unclear” and bewildering. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I wonder how much money they paid for some PR firm to come up with this slogan. Should have just asked us here at the ROK Drop to come up with slogans. Does anyone have any slogan suggestions they want to share?
It is just amazing to me that Choi Soon-sil would leave a tablet computer with so much sensitive information on it in her former office with no password protection for anyone to open up and check out:
JTBC reporter Shim Su-mi reports where and how she found the tablet PC Thursday night. [JTBC]In its evening news program on Thursday, JTBC refuted rumors concerning how its reporter discovered presidential friend Choi Soon-sil’s tablet PC in October before anyone else, which proved to be a crucial piece of evidence against her.
Ko Young-tae, former head of The Blue K, a shell company suspected to be headed by Choi, accused JTBC during the parliamentary hearing on Wednesday of changing its statement on how it came to possess the tablet.
“JTBC first said that it found the tablet in a trash can in Germany, and then changed its statement to say that it found the tablet PC among things that Choi threw out of her house after being informed by Choi’s household manager,” Ko said in the hearing. “And then it changed its statement once more to say the tablet PC was found at my desk at my company.”
JTBC Newsroom anchor Sohn Suk-hee and JTBC reporter Suh Pok-hyun on Thursday evening provided explanations to rumors surrounding how the tablet was first discovered by its reporter.
An explanation was provided the first time that JTBC reported on the case, which was on Oct. 24, when Suh said during Newsroom, “JTBC reporters searched one of the offices that used to belong to Choi, and in one of them we found her tablet among things Choi left behind.”
Sohn and Suh provided the same explanation during the program on Thursday evening, and added that the tablet was first obtained by JTBC reporter Shim Su-mi, who visited the office of The Blue K in Sinsa-dong, southern Seoul, on Oct. 18.
According to JTBC, Shim found traces that both The Blue K and Widec Sports appear to be owned by Choi and found the former office of The Blue K before any other journalists. Shim received permission from the building manager and entered the office, finding a desk and the tablet there.
“The office was on sale for two months, and real estate agents could enter freely,” Suh said. “So the reporter entered an office that was not owned by anyone at the time.”
Shim, in finding the tablet, saw its charger was missing. She bought a charger for the tablet model, came back and opened six files, examined them and left the tablet there, according to JTBC.
She then returned two days later, for fear that the evidence inside could be destroyed by Choi or her confidants. She copied the files inside, and broke the news on Oct. 24. That same day, she handed the tablet over to prosecution.
At the parliamentary hearing Wednesday, a few lawmakers demanded JTBC reveal how it came to examine the tablet in the first place, as rumors that Ko or Choi’s ex-husband, Chung Yoon-hoi, chief of staff to Park from 1998 until 2004, gave it to JTBC. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
An Asiana Airlines flight from Incheon to New York was delayed for about an hour after two pilots were involved in a fight. / Yonhap
Asiana Airlines has come under fire for letting a co-pilot injured in a bloody fight, operate a flight bound for New York from Seoul last week, risking the safety of 275 passengers.
According to reports, a quarrel broke out between two co-pilots of flight OZ222 that was supposed to depart from Incheon International Airport for New York at 11 a.m. Friday.
The two punched and kicked each other, leaving one taken off the flight for medical treatment. Departure was delayed for about one hour.
The other co-pilot was also injured, but the company’s safety director left him on the flight after checking his condition. [Korea Times]
Things have gotten worse for the girl that started the down fall of the President of Korea by cheating at school, she has now lost her high school graduation diploma:
Chung Yoo-ra
The education office in Seoul has annulled the high school graduation of Chung Yoo-ra, the daughter of President Park Geun-hye’s confidant Choi Soon-sil, after finding out her grades and attendance were fabricated and she had not fulfilled the requirements to graduate.
It also asked the prosecution to investigate Chung, Choi and 10 others involved in the irregularities in managing Chung’s attendance, tests and grades, including teachers and school board members at Chungdam High School.
The decision came about two weeks after the Ministry of Education ordered Ewha Womans University to cancel Chung’s admissions due to the university’s favors in admissions and grading.
In her third year at the high school in 2014, Chung, a dressage competitor, was absent for 141 days with the excuse that she participated in competitions or training overseas. She submitted related documents to prove her participation and the school acknowledged her absence.
“Of the documents, those for 105 days of absence were fabricated,” said Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education (SMOE), in a briefing, Monday.
The Korea Equestrian Federation falsely issued the documents although there was no training during the stated periods, he said. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but I think it is pretty ridiculous that anyone that would miss 141 days in one school year would be allowed to graduate no matter what the excuse is.
Considering the media attention this is getting it seems somebody is bound to find this cat:
The U.S. ambassador’s plea on social media for help finding a missing cat has generated a furry furor in South Korea’s media, which has taken up the effort to find the feline.
Ambassador Mark Lippert posted a picture of a cat named Nike on Facebook and Twitter, saying it had befriended his dog Grigsby and needs to be safely returned. The owners are offering a million won (about $855) reward for the cat, which went missing on Yongsan Garrison several weeks ago.
“Grigsby’s favorite US Embassy cat friend is missing!” the post says. “Please find Nike and return Grigsby’s best cat friend to him!”
South Korean media and online communities quickly took up the cause, publishing numerous stories and pictures of the flier. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more about the missing cat at the link.
