Category: Korea-General Topics

The argument that illegal immigrants in the United States will not self deport is often made to explain why they should just be given amnesty.  As the case with South Korea shows illegal immigrants there self deported once they had a viable option to seek legal status:

An amnesty program for overstaying foreigners is having an unexpected consequence: Korea is suddenly short of nannies, restaurant help and construction workers.

In April, the Ministry of Justice announced an amnesty for people who overstayed their visas or illegally immigrated. It said that they could apply for overseas Korean visas, known as F-4, if they left Korea and went home in the next six months.

This was the first time the ministry has promised to allow all overstayers to apply for visas to return to Korea.

The amnesty is working. Over 12,000 foreigners who were in Korea illegally left the country from April to May, twice the 5,300 who left in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Justice.   (…………)

“When I went to Incheon airport at 5 a.m., the third floor was crowded with illegal immigrants waiting to leave,” said Lee Byung-chun, who works for the Han-a administrative agency.    [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read the rest at the link, but the big different though with South Korea compared to the US is that there isn’t an entire political party trying to lock in the illegal immigrant vote.  This is likely why Korea was able to successfully implement immigration reform and the United States cannot.

This is just another example of why South Korea has such a low birthrate, couples are getting married much later in life:

The average age of the first marriage for South Korean men and women rose by over two years over the past decade.

Local matchmaking firm Duo on Tuesday released a report on 15-hundred couples who tied the knot between June 2014 and May this year through its services.

According to the report, the average age for the first marriage for men and women came to 35-point-eight years and 32-point-seven years, both rising two-point-four years from ten years ago.

Twenty-three percent of the men earned 40 to 50 million won a year on average, while 36 percent of the women earned 30 to 40 million won a year on average.  [KBS World Radio]

I was actually a little surprised at how high the marriage age number was.  However, when one considers the wedding expenses and the costs to buy a home in South Korea couples are going to need more time to save money to afford to get married.

Meanwhile in Turkey:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=167&v=oX18hF3iHsg

A mob of about 20 Turkish nationals attacked a Korean-operated cafe in Istanbul because alcohol was being consumed at fan meeting there.

The store owner was taken to hospital with minor injuries after being beaten at the meeting, which was held to mark the release of rock band Radiohead’s new album.

The fans were drinking beer while enjoying music.

“You should be ashamed for drinking during Ramadan,” said one attacker.

During Ramadan, Muslims worldwide fast for a month during daylight hours to commemorate the first revelation of the Koran to Mohammed.

None of the attackers has been arrested. [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

I never understood the need to build another brand new airport outside of Busan considering how many “ghost airports” South Korea already has:

Amid fierce rivalry growing over a new airport in the nation’s southeast region, the government dropped the multitrillion won project on Tuesday and said it would extend the facilities of Gimhae Airport in Busan instead.

After conducting a feasibility study on candidate cities in South Gyeongsang Province, the government has reached a conclusion that extension of the existing Gimhae Airport is “the optimal choice,” rather than choosing to build a new airport on Gadeokdo Island or in Miryang, South Gyeongsang Province.   [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

Another year and yet another cheating scandal in South Korea:

Operators of the ACT college entrance exam on Saturday canceled the tests for students in South Korea and Hong Kong at the last moment over what they said was a verified breach of test materials.

The cancellation affected about 5,500 test takers who will receive refunds of test fees, according to ACT spokesman Edward Colby, who said the company believes it was the first time the exam was canceled for an entire country.

The ACT, an Iowa-based nonprofit organization, had planned to administer the tests at 56 different locations in South Korea and Hong Kong on Saturday morning. The ACT decided to cancel the test soon after it received “credible evidence” that the test materials had been leaked, Colby said.

“We are extremely concerned about any activities that could impact the fairness and integrity of the test. When individuals attempt to profit by stealing test materials and selling them, it can hurt thousands of students who did nothing wrong, as it has in this case,” Colby said in an email conversation.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

1. You can read more at the link, but cheating on these standardized tests has been a long term problem.  It seems some Koreans tend to believe in the old military saying of “if you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.”

Korean Air doesn't mess about when it comes to back of the seat entertainment… pic.twitter.com/A0qyPpwMvK

— Paul Matthews (@ajosshi) June 10, 2016

It is that time of year again when the Christian groups come out to protest the Korea Queer Culture Festival in Seoul:

Queer Culture Festival image via Wikipedia.

A conservative Christian nongovernmental organization protested the 17th Korean Queer Culture Festival to be held today and condemned Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for supporting sexual and gender minority rights in front of Seoul City Hall on Friday.

“Homosexuality out! Park Won-soon out! Ban Ki-moon out!” a pastor from the Jesus Foundation shouted on a stage at Seoul Plaza. “Antidiscrimination law out! Islam out!”

A flier in front of a tent erected by the foundation read, “Homosexuality is a sin that challenges the order God has created!”

The Jesus Foundation has been conducting protests of the annual gay pride parade in front of Seoul City Hall for over 400 days and collecting signatures on a petition to propose an anti-gay marriage bill. The foundation stepped up its demonstration a day before the opening of the biggest festival in the nation to advocate the rights of the so-called LGBTAIQ, or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, asexual, intersex and queer, community.

The size of the festival has grown from only 50 people in 2000 to 30,000 in 2015. Some 65,000 are expected to participate in today’s parade, and a police force of about 2,000 will be dispatched to oversee the event.

The event will be held from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Seoul Plaza.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

As usual these protesters always produce some funny quotes:

The foundation denounced Park and Ban for their active support of gay people. “Homosexuals in Korea enjoy the most privileges in the entire world; they are like VIPs,” Rhim said, despite the fact that gay marriage is still not recognized in Korea.

You can read more at the link, but I wonder what VIP privileges Mr. Rhim is referring to?

With the recent passing of Muhammad Ali I figured it was as good as time as any to remember the Champ’s visit to South Korea back almost exactly 40 years after ago in 1976.  Ali visited South Korea after participating in a celebrity wrestling match with famed Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki.  Incredibly Ali threw six punches in the wrestling match and earned $6 million for it.

Pacific Stars & Stripes, June 26, 1976

Ali landed in Korea at Gimpo Airport and a motorcade took him on a tour of downtown Seoul where an incredible one million people it was estimated greeted him.  Here is what Ali had to say about the welcome he received in Seoul:

“When I go back to America and throughout my tours I will tell people of the world how nice Korea is,” Ali said.

Pacific Stars & Stripes, June 29 1976

Ali also had good things to say about US troops stationed in South Korea:

“I’ve many American brothers over here, black and white who fight for the freedom of the world and are doing a job we can’t pay them for,” he said.  “I am a fighter myself and I realize how lonely it is when you’re in combat-how lonely you are in training.”

After the motorcade tour of Seoul, Ali was next driven north to Camp Casey where he boxed and entertained 2nd Infantry Division soldiers:

Ali fought exhibitions for the U. S. 2nd Infantry Division after receiving a hero’s welcome in downtown Seoul from hundreds of thousands of Koreans.

“One million dollars a punch,” Ali said of his 15-round draw Saturday with professional Japanese wrestler Antonio Inoki, who spent most of the bout on his back trying to kick Ali down.

“And you are going to see hundreds of punches for nothing,” he told more than 2,500 American soldiers at the Shoonover Bowl outdoor theater 12 miles below the demilitarized zone between South and North Korea.  [Stars & Stripes, June 29, 1976]

So for soldiers stationed on Camp Casey the next time you are at Shooner Bowl remember that decades ago Muhammad Ali once entertained US soldiers there.  Here is a cool story from the visit:

“All right, fellows. Do you have any boxers out here?” Ali asked.

Specialist Fourth Class Gerald Noble, 28, stepped out. The 202-pound soldier was a Michigan State heavyweight champion in 1967.

They agreed to a five-minute round, in which Noble tried hard but was no match for Ali. The champion danced in and away and landed scores of accurate but soft punches on the soldier-boxer.

After the fight, in which Ali patted Noble on the seat of the pants with his right fist after forcing him into a corner, the champ declared the soldier one of the best men he has fought.

The soldiers booed, and a 149-pounder volunteered to “put up a better fight, if not knock you out.”

The challenger was Private First Class Larry D. Rice, 20.

Ali faked being knocked down twice in a five-minute round with the welterweight, drawing big cheers from the crowd. In the end, however, it was Rice who became exhausted and gave up.

“Ali is a great fighter but today he turned out to be a greater entertainer, too. We love him in this remote area. He must be second to none in every sense,” an enlisted man said. “Second to None” is the slogan of the division.

What an awesome story Gerald Noble and Larry Rice were able to tell for the rest of their lives of boxing Muhammad Ali.  It is such an incredible story they probably had a hard time getting people to believe them.  I am sure the Koreans and GIs that saw Ali back in 1976 will never forget his visit much like many people in the world will not forget the legacy Muhammad Ali left before his passing.

After getting Uganda to cut relations with North Korea I have to wonder if South Korea is now trying to get Cuba to do so as well:

South Korean Foreign Affairs Minister Yun Byung-se sat down for a face-to-face meeting with his Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez here on Sunday, the first foreign ministerial meeting between the two countries in nearly six decades.

The 75-minute closed-door meeting was held on the sidelines of the seventh summit of the Association of Caribbean States (ACS), which ran for three days since Friday.

Yun departed Seoul on Saturday to become the first foreign minister from South Korea to visit Havana since diplomatic ties were severed in 1959 following the Cuban revolution.

Havana is a close ally of Pyongyang, and diplomatic analysts say restoring ties will not be easy. Cuba is one of four countries Seoul has yet to normalize ties with. The three others are Syria, Kosovo and Macedonia.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

This is just an example of why Korean youth have such a hard time finding employment when retirees over 60 with no job training are given jobs they have no skills for:

Seoul Metro, which has been outsourcing maintenance work to reduce costs, pressured subcontractors to hire its own retirees at triple the salary of regular mechanics.

And many were hired to do mechanical work for which they had no training.

The influx of untrained Seoul Metro retirees over the age of 60 resulted in the real mechanics being forced to work alone, as was a teenaged maintenance worker who was killed by an arriving train at Guui Station on May 28.

Internal records of Eunsung PSD, the subcontractor who employed the 19-year-old accident victim, showed that Seoul Metro has been pressuring such subcontractors to hire its retirees.   (……..)

“The situation today is no different to and perhaps worse than the social hierarchy of the Joseon Dynasty,” said the Saenuri Party’s floor leader Chung Jin-suk. “How is it possible that a 19-year-old young man receives 1.44 million won while a Seoul Metro retiree rakes in some 4 million won per month?”

The history of so-called revolving door appointments – the finding of cushy jobs for people retiring from government corporations – between Seoul Metro and the subcontractor does not end there.   [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.