Category: Korea-General Topics

Yes the headline is accurate, you can’t make this stuff up:

Japan expressed “deep regret” over the South Korean prosecution’s decision to indict a Japanese journalist for allegedly defaming President Park Geun-hye, underscoring the different stances toward press freedom and signaling that the nations’ already soured bilateral ties might hit another rough patch.

“(The indictment) is deeply regrettable in terms of the freedom of press and relationship between the two countries, as Korea ignored voices of concern repeatedly expressed by our government and by media inside and outside Japan,” Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters.

“It is in stark contrast to the common value of the international community, which is to respect the freedom of speech as much as possible and carry on with law enforcement only in a reserved manner.”

Later in the day, Tokyo’s Foreign Ministry called in diplomat Kim Won-jin from Korea’s embassy in Japan and expressed deep regrets for the indictment while adding that it was “deeply concerned about the situation.

Tatsuya Kato, head of the Seoul bureau of Japan’s Sankei Shimbun newspaper, was indicted Wednesday on defamation charges after he put out a report speculating that Park and an unidentified man might have had a secret meeting on the day of the deadly ferry disaster in April.

Citing an earlier opinion piece by Korean media, the 48-year-old said that Park’s whereabouts were unknown for seven hours, which incited rumors on the supposed secret meeting.  [Korea Herald]

You can read the rest at the link, but I think the Park administration is actually using this reporter as a preemptive strike to stop online rumors like the mad cow lies passed around online by the Korean left that deeply damaged the prior Lee Myung-bak presidency.  Notice that this Japanese reporter simply passed along rumors that the Korean media had already reported.  However, the Park administration knows that it is unlikely that anyone on the Korean left will come out and defend a Japanese journalist which is why they are indicting him and not anyone in the South Korean media.  This then will allow them to move forward with their planned Internet crackdown.

Did anyone in Korea get any good pictures of the eclipse?

Total Eclipse begins: Oct 8 at 7:27 PM Total moon eclipse starts – completely red moon.

Maximum Eclipse: Oct 8 at 7:55 PM Moon is closest to the center of the shadow.
Total Eclipse ends: Oct 8 at 8:22 PM  [Via Korea Noodles]

If this guy wants to see real racism he should travel to North Korea:

A U.N. special rapporteur on racism and discrimination on Monday recommended that South Korea ratify the international convention on protecting rights of migrant workers, saying that there are “serious problems” of racial discrimination in the country.

Mutuma Ruteere, U.N. special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, is in Seoul to do research on situations involving racial discrimination, marking his first visit to South Korea. He has met with officials from the government and civic groups during his eight-day stay.

Ruteere said that South Korea has made “important progress” in addressing the issue of racism and xenophobia, given its history of ethnic and cultural homogeneity.

The country, however, now confronts “emerging challenges” due to an influx of foreigners and migrant workers who are contributing to social change and a shift from a migrant-sending country to a migration destination.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but there is going to be incidents where migrant workers are going to exploited especially if they are illegal immigrants.  Fortunately conditions are much better for immigrants in Korea compared to a decade ago.  For example the conditions the juicy girls in the villes used to live in were horrible compared to today.  If the UN is so concerned about racism in Korea than the best thing they could do is advocate against illegal immigration which allows unscrupulous employers to exploit workers.

Unless the Korean government wants to become like China and start banning foreign websites cracking down on Internet rumor mongers will never work:

South Korea’s president is cracking down on rumors in cyberspace in a campaign that threatens the popularity of Kakao Talk, the leading social media service in a country with ambitions to become a global technology leader.

Prosecutors announced the crackdown two weeks ago after President Park Geun-hye complained about insults directed at her and said false rumors “divided the society.”

That rattled users of Kakao Talk, a smartphone-based messaging app used by 35 million of South Korea’s 50 million people. It prompted a surge of interest in a previously little-known German competitor, Telegram.

Rankey.com, a research firm, said an estimated 610,000 South Korean smartphone users visited Telegram on Wednesday, a 40-fold increase over Sept. 14, before the crackdown was announced. The company said its estimate was based on a randomly selected group of 60,000 people it follows regularly.

On Friday, Telegram was the most downloaded free app in Apple’s App Store in South Korea. On Google Inc.’s store, Telegram was the No. 2 downloaded free communications app, behind only Kakao Talk.

South Korean users left reviews on Telegram saying they left Kakao Talk to seek “asylum.” They asked Telegram to add a Korean language service.  [Associated Press]

You can read more at the link.

You would think that Koreans would have learned from the US housing market crash where eased mortgage lending was a major factor in the crisis and not to replicate the same conditions in Korea.  However, just like in the US it appears political expediency is more important than sound financial judgment:

South Korea recently relaxed restrictions on mortgage lending to jump-start its housing market. While it’s too early to judge the impact, there have been some initial signs that sales are picking up.

The move has also made some economists nervous about already high household debt levels turning critical. South Korea’s household debt has more than doubled over the last decade to almost $1 trillion. The debt-to-disposable-income ratio in South Korea of over 160% is much higher than that of the U.S., Germany, France and the U.K.

Among those worried about the ever increasing amount of borrowing is South Korean lawmaker Park Won-seok of the opposition Justice Party. Mr. Park recently released data from the Financial Supervisory Service showing how Koreans use money they have borrowed in the form of mortgage loans.

Out of the total 67 trillion won ($63 billion) in mortgage loans made during the first seven months of this year, 32 trillion won, or just under half was used for purposes other than home buying.

According to Mr. Park, the pattern of mortgage loan usage is a concern because eased lending rules will encourage Koreans to take on more borrowing for things like living expenses, business costs and education. That will likely make those living on borrowed money even more vulnerable to falling into a debt trap of borrowing to keep repaying debt in an unsustainable way. [Wall Street Journal]

You can read more at the link, but it is pretty amazing that almost half of the mortgages are not even for home purchases.

So would these same people not stand for the Chinese national anthem as well since they killed more Koreans during the Korean War than the Japanese ever did during the colonial occupation:

Etiquette is a pivotal part of sports.

By this standard, the ongoing Asian Games leave a lot to be desired.

At the kickoff of the Korea-Japan quarterfinal soccer match, few Korean fans bothered to stand up when the opposing team’s national anthem was played.

A plea was repeatedly made through the public announcement system for the fans to stand up when the anthems were played at Munhak Stadium.

The fans’ behavior reflected the bitter memories of Japan’s 36-year occupation, but it is worth thinking what effects the Korean fans’ standing up in respect could have had on their image as the hosts of the Games.

It also marked a contrast to a group of Japanese fans remaining on their feet while the Korean national anthem was played after theirs was over.

“It is disrespectful to stay seated while other countries’ anthem is played,” said Na Kyung-im, a fan from Incheon. “If some foreigners sit and do that while Korea’s anthem is being played, do you think that makes you feel good?”  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

This was a pretty good ploy by this guys to smuggle themselves into the country:

Immigration officers are on the hunt for 77 Indian Hindus who illegally came to Korea in July by disguising themselves as pastors of Christian churches, local media reported Monday.

Eighty two Indians reportedly arrived in Korea early July by falsely claiming that they were church leaders invited to attend the “World Religious Leaders Forum,” which was held in Busan by the International Youth Fellowship (IYF).

“We arrested and deported five of them, who were illegally working for an auto parts factory in Busan,” a spokesman for the Korea Immigration Service said.

“Seventy seven of them are still missing.”  [Korea Observer]

You can read more at the link.

Did anyone see a naked woman walking around Gangnam last week?:

A viral video of a naked woman on the streets of Gangnam, southern Seoul, uploaded to YouTube last week, is prompting a slew of false rumors.

When the video went viral on Thursday, netizens spread the rumors about how she ended up in her birthday suit. They also claimed that the woman had been questioned by police.

However, Gangnam police said the video had been uploaded four days before, and went viral due to the rumor mongering.

“It seems as if someone deliberately made up stories about an existing video to get attention,” said the police.

“Once we receive reports from the woman or another relevant party, we will find who first spread the video and consider punishment.”  [Korea Times]

So let me get this straight, if you take a video of someone walking naked in public in Korea and post it to the Internet, you are the one that gets in trouble?

Haeundae beach as seen from above. http://t.co/dMa9luKl34 via @WSJ pic.twitter.com/QuUmc8GvnV

— Groove Korea (@groovekorea) September 26, 2014

This is what happens when everyone goes to college and want the same jobs:

Last year, 71 percent of high-school graduates went on university, but only 59.3 percent of university and college graduates were able to find jobs. The number of unemployed people between 15 to 29 years of age has surpassed 400,000.

Now young jobless people often cause a headache for their parents who still have to support them.

Yet young graduates continue to insist on jobs with major conglomerates in Seoul, which are not only growing scarce but extremely competitive, while small businesses have a tough time finding people to work for them.

A study by the Ministry of Employment and Labor shows that there will be a shortage of high-school graduates to the tune of 320,000 by 2020 and more than 500,000 excess university graduates.

Unless university graduates lower their sights and seek a wider range of job options, the day may come when a degree becomes utterly useless. (Chosun Ilbo)

You can read more at the link, but I think it is arguable that college degrees with a few exceptions in both the U.S. and Korea have been devalued to where they are becoming glorified high school diplomas.