<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p>Video: Visiting the Mr.Toilet Museum in Suwon Korea <a href=”http://t.co/hcOjGJkQud”>http://t.co/hcOjGJkQud</a></p>— Christine Kaaloa (@grrrltraveler) <a href=”https://twitter.com/grrrltraveler/status/562132051587907584″>February 2, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
It looks like the squid industry on Ullengdo is on the verge of collapse due to overfishing by Chinese boats:
Once abundant squid stocks in the East Sea have now almost been depleted by Chinese fishermen who operate in North Korean waters. This has caused tremendous hardship among fishermen on Ulleung Island, Korea’s most famous squid fishing point.
“Only five years ago the market was brimming with boxes of fresh squid every morning, but now we can no longer talk about it with any pride,” said 59-year-old trawler captain Lee Ju-hyuk.
The Jeodong market near the pier, where all the catch is gathered and traded, was one-third empty around 6:30 a.m. on Monday. But at this hour five years ago the catch was so abundant that people had to put spare boxes in nearby buildings.
Bright squid-lure lamps lit up the horizon off the island all night. When the boats arrived at dawn, workers cleaned the squid and middlemen bought and loaded them on their trucks.
But on Monday only about 30 middlemen and workers hovered around the fish collection point, and most of them had to turn back empty-handed. Around this time of year, squid used to be dried everywhere — on the seawall, in front of the door and on the tin roof of every household. Now that is history.
People here put the blame squarely on Chinese fishermen, who started fishing in northern waters in 2010. [Chosun Ilbo]
You can read more at the link.
It is hard to believe there has never been a woman in charge of one of Lotte’s Department stores until now:
Although women play a limited role in management at conglomerates, their presence is slowly growing. Lotte Department Store named two female department store managers on Monday.
Women have headed smaller stores and outlet malls for the group before, but none have ever been put in charge of a department store branch.
Promoting the two women reflects Lotte Chairman Shin Dong-bin’s announcement last year that he would put more women in higher positions.
Lee Min-sook will be the chief manager of Lotte Department Store in Gwanak District, southern Seoul, while Lee Joo-young will take the top position at the Ansan branch in Gyeonggi. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link.
I hope they give him at least a good middle name he can fall back on if this doesn’t work out:
Famous StarCraft player Lim Yo-hwan announced he will name his child Marine after the infantry unit in the game’s Terran species.
In an interview with a local news outlet Wednesday, the 36-year-old eSport legend said he couldn’t think of other names aside from the popular unit from the real-time strategic computer video game. His wife, actress Kim Ga-yeon, 44, agreed to the name, he added. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link.
I don’t smoke, but it seems to me that the business owners are making a good point about the legality of the ban:
Twenty owners of restaurants and bars will ask the Constitutional Court to review the smoking ban imposed on all such establishments.
An online community of smokers, I Love Smoking, said Friday that some of its members who run eateries will file a petition with the court next month as they believe the new law, which bans smoking at all cafes, restaurants and bars, regardless of their size, infringes on their basic rights.
The move came after the restaurant owners saw a sharp decline in sales after the expanded ban on smoking took effect on Jan. 1.
“Sales have dropped more than 30 percent since the law went into effect. It is threatening my livelihood,” Kwon Huck-nam, who runs a restaurant selling grilled beef tripe in Seoul, told The Korea Times.
Like Kwon, many owners of restaurants, especially meat restaurants and bars where many patrons smoke while drinking, have faced similar difficulties due to the regulation.
“Given that cigarettes and alcohol go together in most cases, many customers are leaving their old hangouts because they cannot smoke there any longer,” Kwon said. “In this regard, the regulation is unfair and too harsh for people like us. It infringes on the freedom of business and the right to property.” [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but is it a stretch to imagine someone in the future wanting to ban alcohol in business establishments as well?
There is no place in the classroom for teaching pro-North Korean propaganda and hopefully this teachers were all fired from their jobs:
Four teachers received suspended jail terms Friday after a Seoul court found them guilty of engaging in pro-North Korea activities.
The four, who are part of a progressive teachers’ union, were indicted in February 2013 on charges of holding two lectures endorsing North Korean ideals from January 2008 to May 2009. The lectures, prosecutors said, took place in front of prospective teachers and fellow members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, the country’s second-largest teachers’ union.
The four were also charged with the possession of original North Korean texts and the distribution of excerpts from a memoir by North Korean leader Kim Il-sung in violation of the National Security Law.
The law bans any activities meant to praise, promote or propagandize North Korean ideals.
The Seoul Central District Court found them guilty of these charges and gave them 18-month sentences with a two-year stay of execution.
“The court finds them guilty of possessing documents that praise North Korea’s ‘songun’ and ‘juche’ ideologies,” Judge Cho Yong-hyeon said in a ruling, referring to the North’s military-first and self-reliance philosophies. “It is inappropriate for South Korean citizens, let alone teachers, to have such documents in their possession.” [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but for those that don’t know the Korea Teachers’ Union has been filled with North Korean propagandists and sympathizers for years.
We Need A Clinical Data Revolution In Healthcare: A Lesson From South Korea http://t.co/NV9olKJFIz
— South Korea Daily (@SouthKoreaDaily) January 20, 2015
Could you imagine what the outcry in the US would be if tax deductions such as for children and mortgage interest were eliminated?:
Many salaried workers will be disappointed with their year-end tax settlement for 2014. Tax refunds are expected to shrink after tax code revisions made in 2013 went into force this year.
Some are even angry because they have to pay additional taxes. Their monthly deductions didn’t cover the amount they owe under the new tax laws.
Mr. Kim, a 33-year-old married worker at a conglomerate who has no children yet, breathed a sigh of relief after he learned that he will receive a tax refund of 430,000 won ($400) this year. Kim’s salary has been fixed at 37 million won since 2013, but his estimated tax refund is almost half of that last year.
“I feel lucky because at least I don’t have to pay more,” he said. Many of my superiors are panicking because they found out they owe taxes.”
Mr. Park, a senior manager at another conglomerate, is upset. Park used to receive about 800,000 won in tax refunds. He was taking care of his retired parents, but last year his younger brother decided to look after them. As a result, Park is no longer eligible for the tax deduction for taking care of his parents. As a result, his total tax refund this year sharply dropped.
“I heard from our finance team that I might end up paying an additional 1 million won in taxes,” he said.
Since the National Tax Service opened its website for year-end settlements on Jan. 15, complaints are exploding among office workers and other company employees.
In July 2013, the former economic team of the Park Geun-hye administration led by Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok announced a tax reform plan.
Its main idea was to do away with deductions from taxable income of spending in four areas: education, medicine, charitable donations and insurance premiums, including the national pension system.
Under the new system, those forms of spending will instead be deducted at a new rate from tax owed, not from taxable income as a whole.
They are the major income tax deductions in Korea.
The measure was aimed at raising government revenues amid an economic slowdown, while keeping the president’s promise that the government wouldn’t raise tax rates. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link.
I am willing to bet like many foreign jihadis this teenager is probably a loser who spends a lot of time in front of his computer and feels like joining ISIS is some kind of way to feel empowered:
A South Korean teenager who recently vanished in Turkey may have crossed the border into Syria to join the Islamic State (IS), a Seoul official said Tuesday.
The whereabouts of the 18-year-old Korean, identified only by his surname Kim, have been unknown since he arrived in Turkey on Jan. 10. A local Turkish newspaper claimed that he had exchanged e-mails with IS before traveling to the country.
Citing CCTV footage obtained by Turkish police, the ranking South Korean foreign ministry official said Kim took a van together with an unidentified man after meeting him in front of a hotel in Kilis, a city situated near the border with Syria.
Kim and the unknown man then got off near a refugee camp in Besiriye, about 18 kilometers southeast from Kilis, on that day, the official said, adding the van with a Syrian plate is an unlicensed taxi.
“Their whereabouts have not been known since they got off in Besiriye,” the official said, asking not to be named. “There are also no records showing that they crossed the border at a checkpoint.”
There has been no clear evidence so far supporting that Kim might have joined the IS group, but Seoul doesn’t exclude such a possibility, the official said.
“The government cannot presuppose a possibility (that Kim might have joined the IS), but (if it is confirmed), it is a very worrisome situation,” he said. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but ultimately I am willing to bet this teenager will regret doing this.
Trailer for new documentary: "Us & Them: Korean Indie Rock in a K-Pop World" http://t.co/WhWKsMfk10
— Michael Bourdaghs (@sayonaraamerika) January 15, 2015
