Category: Korea-General Topics

First of all you have to be stupid to believe you are being drafted into the military based on a random text message that pops up on your phone.  With that said the prankster deserves whatever punishment the authorities give him:

South Korean police vowed Sunday to sternly take action against the spread of groundless draft rumors amid escalating tensions between the two Koreas.

The move came after a series of false conscription text messages and rumors were massively circulated after the North fired artillery across the border last Thursday.

A 23-year-old college student surnamed Kim was arrested Thursday for spreading massive draft texts. The message said “discharged men aged between 21 and 33 will be drafted once the war is imminent,” adding that all should check their designated military camp’s website on the ministry’s homepage once the war declaration is confirmed. The message was sent under the name of the Defense Ministry.

Kim reportedly claimed that it was a prank. [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

As cheap as plastic surgery already is in South Korea, it is about to get even cheaper:

The plastic surgery capital of the world is stepping up its game to attract even more clients.

South Korea is now offering tax breaks to tourists for undergoing cosmetic surgery procedures. The government plans to give 10 percent of the costs back to these consumers.

The procedures listed in the new policy include breast augmentation, liposuction, nose jobs and liposuction just to name a few according to Bloomberg News.

The motive behind the plan is to boost tourism after the industry was hit hard during the Middle Eastern Respiratory Virus (MERS) outbreak in which 36 lives were lost and hundreds more were infected. In fact, the country saw a 40 percent drop in tourists compared to a year before in the month of June.

Relative to other nations, South Korea has the highest amount of plastic surgeries done per capita — almost double that of the United States, which is second on the list — according to the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery.  [Korea Times]

#ROK stages Nation Wide civil defense drillhttp://t.co/9nQcK9tF6h

— Nathan J Hunt (@ISNJH) August 19, 2015

Anonymous Joe writing over at the Marmot’s Hole thinks so:

My immediate, one word reaction to Park’s statement is dismay.

Park followed the formula of her previous year’s address and that of her predecessor by ignoring America’s contributions, only crediting the “selfless struggle” of  “the Korean people” who “at last achieved the liberation of their fatherland.”  She offered not even a hint that America and 8 million American soldiers actually did the liberating in the Korean people’s  selfless struggle for liberation.

(Here’s Park’s sole reference to America, Americans, or the United States:  “As the recent normalization of ties between the United States and Cuba and the Iranian nuclear deal attest, the international community is in the midst of a sweeping tide of change and cooperation.  But North Korea is treading the opposite path.”)

Park’s speech with it’s overarching emphasis on the economy rather than liberation, freedom, and democracy had the nuts and bolts of a state of the union address.  Rather than sing to the lofty aspirations of a maturing democratic republic, Park got weighed down by graven consumer goods and electronic gadgets:  “Today, we have become a country producing some of the world’s finest electronic goods, automobiles, steel, ships and petrochemical products, and we stand tall as an economic powerhouse with export figures that are the sixth largest in the world.”

Given that Park had omitted America’s role in Korea’s liberation, she  obviously could not articulate the role that America played in the miracle on the Han.  Apparently, no thanks is necessary.  [Marmot’s Hole]

You can read the whole posting at the link, but yes she should have at least mentioned something about the sacrifice of US servicemembers to defeat Imperial Japan.  With all the complaining about revisionist history taught in Japan it is little things like this that cause Koreans to have little credibility when they do the same thing.  With that all said I am not in the least surprised by Park’s speech.  Like many recent ROK leaders she does not want to appear to be an American lapdog as the North Koreans and the leftists in Korea like to paint conservative ROK politicians.  Likewise I believe many South Koreans do not like to be reminded that their liberation from the Japanese was the result of foreigners and not by themselves.

What does everyone else think, should President Park have included the US’s role in Korea’s liberation in her speech?

I have no issues with this craze though I wonder if the plastic surgeons will find ways to make women look fit:

Today, Korean woman are seeking more of a “healthy and sexy” image. A sharp increase in fitness centers in what seems to be every building in Seoul has brought about a “fitness syndrome.” Moreover, a number of fitness gurus, such as the 46-year-old Jung Da-yeon, are now as popular as celebrities.

It used to be all about the so-called “S-line,” which refers to the curve of a woman’s waist to hip. Korean women would take pictures from the front to show off their “wasp” waist and big hips, but the current trend is to take pictures from the side, to show their “apple hips” they worked on in the gym.

Current representatives of this new beauty standard include Yoo Seung-ok, Yeh Jeong-hwa and Nancy Lang. Their muscular bodies are more distinct compared to those of traditional Korean beauty models.

Yoo Seung-ok became popular immediately after photos of herself in an international fitness contest went viral. She came in fifth at Fitness Universe Weekend, the first Asian woman to place in the top five.  [KoreAm Journal]

You can read more at the link.

Obesity emerges as major health threat in South Korea http://t.co/yEGCAho2V3 #Korea #Health #Obesity pic.twitter.com/RUGYpSji3z

— The Korea Herald 코리아헤럴드 (@TheKoreaHerald) August 13, 2015

The comfort women issue appears to be bringing out the crazy in people now, just like the Dokdo issue:

An elderly man set himself on fire near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul Wednesday and is in critical condition, a police officer said.

The incident took place around 12:40 p.m. when Choi Heon-yeol suddenly set himself on fire in front of the embassy before being put out by people nearby.

More than 2,500 people were holding a weekly rally there for the elderly Korean women who were forced to serve as sex slaves for Japan’s World War II soldiers.

The 81-year-old has since been transported to a hospital specializing in burns in southwestern Seoul, where he lies unconscious.

“More than half of his body is burned, 40 percent of which are third-degree,” doctor Yang Hyeong-tae of Hallym University Hangang Sacred Heart Hospital said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

For some people thinking of moving to Korea this health insurance change needs to be something to be aware of:

The government will strengthen national health insurance eligibility requirements for overseas Koreans and foreigners beginning in October to prevent abuse of the system.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare said Wednesday that it will enact revisions to ordinances so that overseas Koreans and foreigners who enter the country for work will only be eligible to enroll in national health insurance after a three-month stay.

However, those who enter the country for study, marriage or other purposes that make it clear that they are going to stay in the country for more than three months may continue to immediately join the health insurance.  [KBS World Radio]

You can read more at the link.

Busan City Launches New Music Video “Really Like Busan” http://t.co/9QLYXAtfBx

— Haps Magazine (@hapsmagazine) August 11, 2015

https://twitter.com/SouthKoreaDaily/status/630435412230586368