Category: Korea-General Topics

Koreans are trying to come to terms with the latest public safety disaster:

“Are we living in the Republic of Disasters?

This Internet post captures the fear, anger and frustration felt by a nation that was shocked by a fatal accident during an outdoor concert, when it is still recuperating from the Sewol tragedy.

A ventilation grating collapsed and 27 people standing on it fell 20 meters into an underground parking lot in the middle of a pop concert in Pangyo, south of Seoul, Friday evening.

Sixteen people were killed and 11 others were seriously injured.

“All we have heard since the Sewol ferry sinking is about how to improve safety,” said Lee, a 27-year-old man, who refused to reveal his full name.

“Every time, it’s same. The same headlines, the same government reaction and what not. The newspapers blame lax safety measures as the cause of yet another disaster and the saddest of all is that it all could have been prevented,” Lee said.

“What’s next?” Lee asked himself, and answered: “Some high-ranking government official bows in front of the cameras. Someone resigns, and it seems to quiet down. And another accident happens. It’s so cyclical that mentioning the problem seems boring.”

A 30-year-old office worker who identified herself as Kim suggested that a few security guards on site could have prevented the accident.

“The victims were trying to get a better view of the performers on stage. And I guess those people probably didn’t think too much about whether the grate was strong enough to support them or not. They were just being enthusiastic concert-goers, right?” she said.

“Maybe if someone had warned them, they wouldn’t have risked their lives,” she said. (Korea Times)

You can read more at the link, but like one netizen said in the article would the crowd have listened if there was security there?

It will be interesting to see if these medical teams will actually treat Ebola victims or just do training like the US military medical teams:

South Korea’s foreign ministry and related government agencies were to hold a meeting Monday to discuss details about the dispatch of medical workers to Ebola-hit West African countries, officials said.

Last week, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said that Seoul plans to send a group of medical workers to West African countries in a bid to lend support to the global efforts to contain the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

Cho Tae-yul, Seoul’s second vice minister of foreign affairs, plans to preside over a meeting later in the day with officials from the health ministry and other related agencies to exchange views about plans to send medical personnel to the affected African countries, according to the foreign ministry. (Yonhap)

You can read more at the link.

(Image from KoreaBANG)

Saenuri lawmaker Rep. Kwon Seong-dong using company time and bandwidth to explore extracurricular pursuits.  [Via Marmot’s Hole]

You can read more about who Rep. Kwon is checking out at the link.

South Korea tries to ease cyber surveillance fears http://t.co/nKiVFvsjlC #KoreaNews

— Korea News Summary (@ROKreport) October 16, 2014

Hopefully this conference is able to go smoothly in Korea without any ebola transmissions.  You would think though that the attendees from the three West African countries would voluntarily not attend conferences like this until the outbreak is under control:

Concern is mounting about a possible outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus just days before the opening of a global telecommunications conference in Busan.

The International Telecommunication Union is set to start next Monday in the southeastern port city and runs until November 7. More than 3,000 government officials and 600,000 attendees from 193 countries are expected to visit. More than 170 attendees hail from West Africa including Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, the epicenters of the current outbreak.

The government has placed a request to the three hardest-hit nations not to visit and has intensified quarantine and monitoring at the Gimhae International Airport, where most visitors are expected to arrive.

The Ministry of Health and Welfare staged a response-preparation drill on Thursday for conference personnel and health staff at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center meeting venue if a visitor demonstrates Ebola-like symptoms. Five fever detectors have been deployed at the venue.

Still, the precautions haven’t quelled fears over possible transmission. Over the past few weeks, local civic groups and politicians have called on the government to establish more thorough measures to prevent an outbreak.

In a meeting with relevant ministry officials on Thursday, Rep. Cho Kyung-tae from the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy party, urged the government to block the entry of African delegates from the three nations.

“Running an international event smoothly can’t take priority over public health,” argued Rep. Cho.

Another lawmaker from the same party, Rep. Bae Jae-jung, on Wednesday cited the lack of adequate medical facilities and experts at local hospitals as a primary concern.

“We don’t have a special ward to properly isolate a patient who might contract the disease,” Rep. Bae said.  [Wall Street Journal]

You can read more at the link, but this was mentioned in the Forums that isn’t it ironic that telecommunications conference cannot have participants from these three African nations participate via telecommunications?  Discuss more over in the Forums Ebola Open Thread.

A ROK Head was kind enough to post this over in the Forum:

A ventilation grille near an outdoor concert venue collapsed on Friday in Gyeonggi Province, and appears to have killed at least 14 people and injured 11, police said.

You can read more and discuss at the Forums.

This doesn’t seem like too much to ask someone to do to be granted Korean citizenship:

Any foreigner seeking Korean citizenship must be able to sing Korea’s national anthem during a naturalization interview.

The Seoul Administrative Court ruled in favor of the Ministry of Justice, which declined to grant a woman born in China citizenship in 2010, citing she couldn’t sing the national anthem. She also failed two other tests during her interview.

The woman, surnamed Choi, filed a suit with the court, demanding a reversal of the decision.

“We found the interview criteria and the interviewers’ evaluation were fair. Not only did Choi fail to sing the national anthem, she also failed two other tests. Therefore, we find there are no grounds to call the ministry’s decision unfair and illegal,” said a judge.  [Korea Times]

It seems that if she wanted Korean citizenship so badly she would take the time to study and learn the anthem.

Kakao is now in the cross hairs of the Korean government:

KakaoTalk, South Korea’s most-used messenger app, has once again become the center of national attention, stirring up controversy over its announcement that it would not accede to laws allowing authorities to inspect its user data.

The issue over the platform’s privacy policy has split the nation, with some people posting online comments that its new security measures have been long overdue, while others accused it of arrogance and believing that it can operate above the law.

The legal community, however, seemed to be adamant that Daum Kakao’s outright defiance of the law would simply be illegal, and that it would face charges for obstruction of justice.

Although legal sources said that no company executives had been sent to jail for not immediately responding to prosecutors’ warrants, they had faced mounting charges as no prosecutors had shown to walk away that easily from any case or investigation.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but Kakao has been losing users to foreign companies because of the fear the government will be accessing user data.  Kakao probably thinks they have to take this tough stand to defy warrants in order to try and keep the users they currently have even if it means violating Korean law.  ROK Heads may remember that this whole issue began because the Park administration has started to crackdown on online rumors.  So to find out who is passing false rumors the government wants to access Kakao data of those passing them around.

For all you ROK Heads living in Korea a highly successful woman is available:

The eldest daughter of Samsung Electronics Co. Chairman Lee Kun-hee is going through divorce proceedings, the company said Saturday.

Ending a 15-year marriage, Lee Bu-jin, 44, filed for divorce mediation with her 46-year-old husband, Im Woo-jae, at the Seongnam branch of Suwon District Court on Wednesday, according to the company.

Mediation during divorce is a way of finding solutions to issues such as child custody and spousal support without a formal trial. When an agreement is not reached amicably, a divorce trial can take place.

The younger Lee currently heads Hotel Shilla, the group’s hotel unit, while Im serves as the vice-president of Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co.

Born in 1968, Im joined Samsung C&T in 1995 and met the younger Lee in May of that year while performing extension work. The two married in 1999 and have one son.  [Yonhap]

[Industry] Half of major firms’ board members come from SKY, overseas schools http://t.co/3xs99IH0pG #industry pic.twitter.com/KhJUgtcVgv

— 코리아헤럴드 Korea Herald (@TheKoreaHerald) October 10, 2014