Category: Uncategorized

I would love to see these hackers try and hit Korea:

The National Police Agency’s cyber terror department said yesterday it had received a tip that Islamic hackers would launch attacks on Korean Web sites on or near March 20, the third anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.

“Six Islamic hacker groups have attacked about 1,800 Web sites around the world since the Iraq War started in 2003. We are especially cautious of a group named Q8Crackers, which reportedly consists of Kuwaiti hackers,” a police statement said. Police added that Q8Crackers was anti-U.S. and had broken into at least 10 Internet sites last year.
The police said the hackers may also work through Korean network systems ¯ as Korea has a stable high-speed Internet network ¯ to attack other foreign sites. They added they would monitor local and international Web sites and open a reporting hotline.

Could you imagine the cyber attacks Korean hackers could inflict back on Kuwait if they ever tried to hit Korea?

This is really no surprise but Moscow has come out and defended North Korea against US sanctions:

Russia opposes any kind of sanctions against what the United States calls rogue states such as Iran and North Korea, Glev Ivashentsov, Moscow’s top diplomat to Seoul, said on Tuesday.
His remarks came as U.S. and North Korean officials were to hold a meeting in New York later in the day amid Washington’s financial sanctions against Pyongyang for the communist state’s alleged counterfeiting of U.S. dollars.

“In principle, we are against any economic sanctions because they do not work,” Ivashentsov told The Korea Times after a forum hosted by the Korea News Editors’ Association in Seoul.

“There should be dialogue, there should be consultation, but sanctions do not work neither against North Korea, nor against Iran, nor against any other country,” he said.

Sanctions don’t work? Sanctions and the threat of armed force worked well with Libya didn’t it?

Russia is just eager to keep selling nuclear technology to Iran and they have to defend North Korea against sanctions to protect their investment in Iran which could face similar sanctions due to their illicit nuclear activities.

Apparently barber shops in Korea are having a hard time making ends meet:

According to the status report on the Public Sanitary Business released by the Ministry of Health and Welfare, the number of beauty salons and barbershops are drastically decreasing. Last year alone, the number of barber shops operating was 26,904, and the number of beauty salons was 81,663. The number of barbershops and beauty salons which shut down last year has reached 5,300 and 2,100 respectively since 2000.

There are a series of barbershop closures because middle aged men have started to haircuts at beauty salons, and barbershops have been affected by depression. The number of barbershops is less than that of beauty salons while the sharp reduction in barbershops is much larger.

Here is the reasons why:

“Massage parlors and resting-tels for men are attracting customers with neon signs,” an official of the association said and argued, “For this reason, the image of neon signs is damaged. So many customers are reluctant to visit barbershops which are a good model.”

“Neon signs are the international symbols which represent barbershops. In this regard, the government should impose legal controls on the reckless use of neon signs,” he said.

Neon signs are the international symbol which represents barbershops? I think this man is referring to a barber pole because often in Korea barber poles are used to represent a business that offers “extra” services to go along with the haircut.

In America we have the song, It is Hard Out Here Being a Pimp, in Korea I guess they are singing, It is Hard Out Here Being a “Barber”.

Here is another Korean poll for you:

Bigwig’s mouths water for mudfish soup (Chueotang) while lower-ranking employees could do without the dish. A recent survey conducted by the office catering business Samsung Everland that studied 5,071 workers between their teens and 50s on their favorite dishes at the canteen proves that might just be true.

According to the poll, mudfish soup made the top ten list with a score of 74.5 out of 100 among deputy managing directors and managing directors, but only managed a score of 55.6 among lower-ranking employees. Grilled flatfish and ox-blood soup were also picked as favorite dishes among directors while they were far from popular among rank-and-file employees. By contrast, kimchi stew with tuna and grilled ham were tops among the staff while they were not enjoyed among company execs.

One question, who cares?

Since North Korea isn’t making as much money anymore from counterfeiting due to the recent US sanctions, so I guess they got to make ends meet some how:

Iran is reportedly stepping up development of long-range missiles. According to an intelligence report given to Reuters by a non-U.S. diplomat, Tehran is pursuing a program code-named Project 111, whose aim is to arm Iran’s Shahab-3 missiles, which experts believe have a maximum range of 2,000 kilometers, with nuclear warheads. The Shahab is based on North Korea’s Rodong missile technology. The report could not be independently confirmed, and an Iranian official who asked not to be named denied the charge.

Reuters also said a German diplomat, citing his country’s intelligence data, confirmed that Iran had purchased from North Korea 18 disassembled BM-25 mobile missiles with a range of 2,500 km, which would render them capable of reaching Israel and Turkey from Iran. Quoting Alireza Jafarzadeh, an Iranian exile in Washington, Reuters said Tehran sharply increased production of the Shahab-3 missiles from less than 20 to around 90 a year.

Have the field grades finally gotten to Mark?

What am I going to do without Mark’s posting about his simcenter wars?

North Korea says it will not return to nuclear talks:

North Korea reiterated its pledge not to return to nuclear disarmament talks after a meeting with U.S. officials about the communist regime’s alleged illicit financial activity, a top North Korean diplomat was quoted as saying Wednesday.

At Tuesday’s meeting in New York, the Americans emphasized that moves against a Macau bank where Pyongyang held accounts were part of regulatory moves “to protect the U.S. financial system from abuse, and not a sanction on North Korea,” according to a U.S. Treasury Department statement.

“Our position is consistent that (North Korea) cannot return to the talks in the midst of the continued pressure (from the United States),” Ri Gun, director-general of North Korean Foreign Ministry’s American affairs bureau, said after the talks Tuesday, the Yonhap news agency reported.

How come I find myself caring about this as much as I cared about my prior posting on Korean eating habits?

Where were the hate groups? Are they losing influence in Korea society because I expected a bigger fight?:

South Korean riot police and protesters clashed Monday over contested farmland outside the U.S. Army’s Camp Humphreys, according to South Korean officials.

About 1,100 Korean riot police were on hand early in the morning as about 60 officials served a mandatory eviction notice to people living on land purchased by the South Korean government. The government took control of about 2,000 acres of farmland outside Camp Humphreys in 2005 so the U.S. military eventually can transform the post into its main installation in South Korea. Under an agreement between the United States and South Korea, the camp will triple in size by 2008; its population is projected to grow from more than 11,000 to about 45,000.

About 250 residents gathered at the Daechu-ri elementary school, site of many protest rallies, on Monday morning to protest the planned eviction, according to the Ministry of National Defense. Police officers moved in to forcibly evict the residents after they were warned three times to disperse but refused.

Pyeongtaek police said they had removed about 20 people who were guarding the school’s gate. They also cut the chains off of seven or eight protesters who’d chained themselves together to act as a human shield.

Police officials, contacted late Monday, said the violence was ongoing and they were unable to comment on the number of arrests or injuries among protesters or police.

From the Chosun:

A 23-year-old man hopes to blaze a trail for gay rights by becoming Korea’s first serving conscript to refuse to remain in the armed forces because of his sexual orientation. Yoo Jung Min-Seok announced his decision to the press on Monday.

“My identity, the duty my country demands and my rights as a citizen are in conflict in a world where it is regarded as compulsory for men to be masculine,” Yoo Jung Min-seok told reporters in Jongno’s Zelkova Tree Cafe, in Anguk-dong, Seoul. “I reject the harm done by the macho barracks culture and an army that produces aggressive, belligerent men.”

I don’t know about the belligerent part, but I would hope the ROK army is producing aggressive soldiers. Also as I have seen a few times in the US Army, soldiers pretended to be gay in order to get chaptered out of the Army because they just don’t like it. Who knows with this guy, but a difference I see between the two militaries is that a homosexual in the US Army can still get discharged honorably while the soldier in this article claims that he is getting an dishonorable discharge. Just makes me wonder if there is more to this story then he is letting on.

I’m beginning to wonder if there are any other units stationed in Korea because the 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade is always in the newspaper and it usually isn’t for anything good. Except this time this article is about a program they started to keep their guys who are always in trouble, out of trouble:

The Army’s Patriot missile brigade in South Korea has moved to curb accidents and misconduct through a program that rewards incident-free units with a plaque and a day off for soldiers.

The 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, headquartered at Osan Air Base, maintains 14 batteries in South Korea, some of which fire Patriot missiles.

Under the brigade’s “Good Order, Discipline and Safety” program, batteries must go for 90 consecutive days without blemishes in any of three categories: accidents, alcohol/drugs and serious reportable incidents.

I guess these guys aren’t getting a day off any time soon.