Category: Korea-General Topics

Image via KBS World Radio. 

What strikes out at me in regards to President Park’s visit to Iran is that she is wearing a veil.  What made this jump out at me was that I remembered that she did not wear a veil when she visited Saudi Arabia last year:

President Park Geun-hye (left) meets with Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the king of Saudi Arabia, during a bilateral summit. They discuss ways to strengthen bilateral relations across a range of sectors. [Korea.net]

She is not only wearing a veil, but one that is covering not only her hair, but her entire neck.  According to this Korea Times article President Park was trying to show respect for Iranian customs and culture.  How about the Iranian government show respect to her and understand she is a head of state of one of the world’s great country’s and should not be subjugated to Iranian customs.  If Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ever visits South Korea does anyone think we will see them dressed up in a hanbok in respect to Korean culture?

Maybe while President Park is in Tehran she can tell the ayatollahs to stop selling missile and nuclear technology that is being used to threaten the existence of her country:

South Korean President Park Geun-hye left for Tehran on Sunday on a historic trip meant to boost political and economic relations between the two countries.

Park is set to meet with her Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, on Monday in the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations in 1962.

The summit will set the tone for relations at a time when the Islamic Republic has emerged as a promising market following the lifting of international sanctions earlier this year.

“We expect the trip to serve as an occasion to take a new leap forward in bilateral ties, which have been stalled due to the international sanctions,” said Kim Kyou-hyun, a senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs.

The U.N. has lifted sanctions on Iran in a follow-up to a nuclear deal reached with the United States and five world powers over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

South Korea's embrace of craft beer now extends to washing yourself in it. pic.twitter.com/ciamWXydOY

— Alastair Gale (@AlastairGale) April 29, 2016

I am wondering who is paying for all the food for all the refugees they have living in the airport:

Some 150 foreigners are trapped in a single room in Incheon International Airport after their attempts to enter Korea were blocked. They have access to toilets and showers, and are given one blanket each. They eat fast food sandwiches and Coca-Cola – three times a day.

They may be here for a while.

“There is no way we are going to return to our country, which is still at war,” said 28 Syrians caught at the airport in a lawsuit filed in the Incheon District Court last month. It called for a revocation of the immigration office’s rejection of their refugee-status applications.

The 28 Syrians are sharing the 470-square-meter (5,060-square-foot) deportation room with people from nine other countries who have been refused entry, including Thailand, China, Egypt, Kazakhstan and Pakistan. The room is designed for 30 people.

Omar Muhammad (a pseudonym) is one of the Syrians trapped in the terminal. Since leaving the Aleppo region last December, Omar transited through Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates and then flew on to Korea. All of what he has seen of Korea is the eastern end of Incheon airport.

The immigration office at the airport decided not to submit his refugee-status application to the Ministry of Justice for “lack of clear reason for entry” into South Korea.

“Often, we cannot determine the exact reason for the applicants leaving their home country, and the airport needs to filter these applicants out,” a Justice Ministry official said.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest education reform being pushed in South Korea:

South Korea will reduce the size of high school classes to match international standards as part of an effort to provide a better educational environment, the government said Monday.

Under the envisioned plan, the class size of an average high school will be reduced to an average of 24 students by 2022 from last year’s 30, the Ministry of Education said.

Also, the ratio of high school students to teachers will be cut from 16.6 to 13.3, according to the plan.

The plan is in line with standards set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Rolling fields of rye, Anseong Farmland. iPhone photos by Robert Koehler of SEOUL, where, in the upcoming May… https://t.co/VuQQ4qd2Jj

— Seoul Selection (@SeoulSelection) April 21, 2016

Korea’s tax benefits for families with children low among OECD countrieshttps://t.co/oPMH1z86n2#OECD #tax #Family pic.twitter.com/WEkttQ8nLN

— The Korea Herald 코리아헤럴드 (@TheKoreaHerald) April 17, 2016

I would hate to think what would happen in South Korea and especially North Korea if the peninsula was ever hit by a major earthquake because of the amount of buildings that appear would not withstand a strong earthquake:

Domestic earthquake experts have warned that the recent quakes in Japan will likely cause a tremor with a magnitude of five to five-point-five on the Korean Peninsula within several years.

Director Chi Heon-Cheol of the Earthquake Research Center under the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources on Monday presented the projection, citing that Kumamoto Prefecture hit by the recent quakes and the Korean Peninsula are located on the same tectonic plate.

Professor Hong Tae-kyung at the Department of Earth System Sciences at Yonsei University also warned that the peninsula could come under additional pressure if strong earthquakes occur around it. He said that South Korea cannot be certain of safety from quakes.

Hong said that when a strong quake occurs, its aftershocks can continue for five to eight years, increasing the number of quakes.   [KBS World Radio]

Doesn’t the State Department have bigger priorities other than criticizing South Korea for what textbooks its government wants to use in its schools?  What would most Americans think if South Korea released a report criticizing the US for government for its No Child Left Behind and Common Core educational mandates?:

The Park Geun-hye administration’s plan for introducing state-issued history textbooks was singled out as a matter of concern in a US State Department human rights report.Section 2 on “Respect for Civil Liberties” in the department’s “2015 Human Rights Report” published on Apr. 13 included two new references to South Korea’s middle and high school history textbooks in an item on “Freedom of Speech and Press.”“In October the Ministry of Education announced plans to require middle and high schools to use only Korean history books authored by the government-affiliated National Institute of Korean History starting in the 2017 school year,” the report noted in a subsection on “Censorship or Content Restrictions.”

“This would end the right of schools, since 2010, to choose from a range of textbooks approved by the ministry,” the report continued.The textbook issue was mentioned again in another item on “Academic Freedom and Cultural Events” in the section on “Freedom of Speech and Press.”“There were no government restrictions specifically targeting academic freedom or cultural events. However, a government plan to end middle and high schools’ right to choose Korean history textbook [sic] raised concerns about academic freedom,” the report noted.  [Hankyoreh]

You can read more at the link.

11 Romantic Places to Take a Walk This Spring in Busan https://t.co/erxUSrgGlK #korea #busan #travel #health pic.twitter.com/ZAaOowhZNn

— Haps Magazine (@hapsmagazine) April 4, 2016