At least somebody in South Korea is willing to challenge both the South Korean government and the North Koreans over the laters counterfeiting activities:
Kim Moon-soo, a member of the conservative opposition Grand National Party, produced a U.S. $100 note dated 2003 that he said was counterfeit and had been bought from a North Korean intelligence official in Dandong, China, earlier this year. He said the North Korean was working in a cover job as an official at the North’s Shinheung Trading Company. Mr. Kim said he paid $70 for the $100 note, which he said had not yet been examined by government officials here.
“In South Korea,” he said, “an increasing number of bogus $100 bills are being discovered. There were 189 found here in 2001, 286 in 2002, 544 in 2003 and 667 in 2004. And last year through September alone, 1,900 fake bills were found in Korea.”
He demanded an explanation from Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan, who was attending legislative oversight hearings, of conflicting remarks by Seoul officials about the counterfeiting.
Lee Tae-sik, Korea’s ambassador to the United States, has acknowledged North Korea’s role in counterfeiting, he reminded Mr. Lee. But, he continued, Kim Seung-kyu, who heads the National Intelligence Service, has said he knows nothing about any North Korean counterfeiting since 1998. He complained that Seoul should not be defending North Korea on the matter.
No North Korean since 1998? I wonder what he thinks of the fact a North Korean diplomat was picked up with possible counterfeit US currency in Mongolia?
I wonder if Hines Ward is thinking twice now about that planned Korea trip too?:
The statement said a Korean reporter had been calling nonstop to say he knows who Dawson’s biological parents are but did not identify himself or say which media outlets he works for. He even called U.S. broadcasters NBC and ABC to say Dawson has found his biological parents. Spinello said Dawson wanted to look for his parents quietly after the games finish. He added Dawson was still proud of his Korean heritage.
Dawson has received more than 200 e-mails and a constant barrage of phone calls and is worn out, the statement said. But it said no-one had taken a DNA test that would prove their paternity.
North Korea has agreed to discuss the abduction of South Koreans to North Korea over the past 50 years:
To date, a small number of South Korean families whose family members are believed to have been abducted by North Korea had been briefly reunited in the family reunion sessions of the two Koreas. Officially, however, North Korea flatly denies to have kidnapped any South Koreans during and after the war.
The South Korean government estimates that more than 500 South Korean prisoners of war (POWs) and some 480 civilians, mostly fishermen, are still alive in the communist North.
“We consider it progress in that the North agreed to work toward resolving the issue of confirming the fate of South Korean POWs and abductees, which it has been denying until now,’’ an official at the Unification Ministry said. “We will continuously make efforts to resolve the issue on the government level including the ministerial-level talks as well as the Red Cross talks.’’
It is an absolute embarrassment that South Korea has done so little to secure the release of so many of their illegally kidnapped citizens, especially after Japan was able to win the release of some of their kidnapped citizens.
I wonder if this development has anything to do with this?:
South Korea has informed North Korea that it will provide 150,000 tons of free fertilizer to the impoverished communist country to help it enhance its agricultural productivity, the Unification Ministry said Wednesday.
Seoul’s decision came three weeks after the North requested 450,000 tons of fertilizer from South Korea, which has so far provided 1.9 million tons to North Korea since 1998.
The ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said decision was made “on humanitarian grounds to ease food shortages of North Koreans by increasing agricultural productivity.”
Coincidence? I think not. South Korea gives aid in return for meaningless talks of reconciliation from North Korea to show the “Sunshine Policy” is working though it really isn’t. I have seen this game one to many times but the South Koreans love to fall for it so I can’t blame the Norks for continuously scheming to get aid from the South Koreans.
Here is an interesting article from Yahoo News that talks about the protest culture in Korea. Here is a sample:
Down the street from the Japanese embassy protest, a group of about 20 South Korean victims of World War Two and their relatives demanded more compensation from the government.
Less than a minute away, a solitary man was holding a protest in front of a mobile telephone company over a high telephone bill he says led his son to suicide.
At the next building, there was a protest against an insurance company over perceived unfair practices.
Those protesters would change places at the spot by the nearby U.S. embassy with a new group of demonstrators attempting to thwart free trade negotiations between Seoul and Washington.
Diagonally across the street, Chinese residents of South Korea were protesting at a building that houses Taiwan’s mission, while a group of Taiwanese faced the crowd of about 100 and held their own signs in protest against the protesters.
“Protests are just a part of life in Seoul,” shrugged one police official.
What I am wondering is how is the cell phone company responsible for the suicide of someone with a high phone bill?
I have been meaning to get to this, but I have now answered the tag put on me by the Nomad and the Katolic Shinja. With no further wait here it is:
Four Jobs I’ve Had
McDonalds (This job can best be described as hell.)
Holiday Inn (I was a busboy/waiter/cook/front desk/etc. and made good money working there for 3 years.)
Country Bar Bouncer (I took this job my last year in college and every night could best be described as interesting.)
Obviously I have moved on to bigger and better things since I am in the Army now.
Four Movies I Watch Over and Over Again
Dumb and Dumber (My favorite comedy)
Tombstone (I love westerns and this is the best one)
Star Wars (Best sci fi movie series ever)
Lord of the Rings (best fantasy movie series ever)
Four Places I’ve Lived
Colorado (native)
Arizona (went to college here and would love to live there again)
Korea (multiple tours here)
Iraq (I don’t know if this really counts for a place I have lived, more like survived)
Four TV Shows I Watch
Sopranos (currently watching the season 3 DVD)
Survivor (for whatever reason Survivor just doesn’t get old like the other reality shows)
South Park (This series is even funnier if you are from Colorado)
Lost (my current favorite series)
Four Websites I Visit Daily
Numerous K-blogging sites (you know who you are)
Mudville Gazette (the founder of milblogging)
Coming Anarchy (let the anarchy begin)
Japundit (the best Japanese blog out there)
Four Places I’d like to Be Right Now
Korea (I’m on temporary duty stateside now and believe it or not I can’t wait to get back to Korea)
Japan (I wish I could get stationed there. I have enjoyed every trip I have taken there)
Australia (I have never been there but have always wanted to go)
Colorado (God’s Country)
The next victims:
Gangwon Brian
Skippy-san
Maybe in the spirit of the Sunshine Policy, South Korea can send people like this to a North Korean gulag for castration:
Shocked by the gruesome murder of an 11-year-old girl on Friday, the Justice Ministry said yesterday that it would try to convince Korea’s courts to impose curfews on convicted child molesters and confine them in their homes from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m.
Late Sunday evening, Yongsan police announced that they had arrested a suspect in the case, and also had the man’s son in custody as an accomplice to the crime. Police said the girl was abducted on the street and as the man tried to molest her, she screamed. The suspect allegedly then stabbed her to death and, an hour later, called his son to help him dispose of the body. The son and the father placed the girl’s body in a box, rode to the Seoul suburb of Bucheon and burned the body in a rice field.
The older man had been convicted last July of molesting a 4-year-old girl, but was released on probation in September.
Let me get this right, this guy was released after two months after molesting a 4 year old girl? WTF? I thought only Vermont gave light sentences to child molesters?
Here is another reason why I will never see a social security paycheck:
The age of retirement should be lifted to 85 by 2050 to keep up with increases in life expectancy, according to a U.S. expert.
The advice by Stanford University biologist Shripad Tuljapurkar, has particularly serious consequences for South Korea, one of the world’s fastest ageing societies.
Tuljapurkar told the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in St. Louis that medical advances could raise life expectancy dramatically over the next 20 years.
“Some people believe we are on the brink of being able to extend human lifespan significantly because we’ve got most of the technologies we need to do it,’’ Tuljapurkar said.
But this will put heavy strain on national economies unless retirement ages are also lifted, he said.
I can’t imagine working at 85 years old. Especially as bad as my body aches already.
I like kimchi but the glorifying of kimchi is getting ridiculous:
As the health benefits of Korea’s representative dish are being touted all around the world, Kimchi is emerging as a “super food†in the U.S. The Washington Post published a special feature article on kimchi in its Sunday edition that featured an interview with Korean food expert Shin Hi-soo (69)
(…)
The Post also dealt with the efficacy of kimchi in preventing illnesses in a supplementary article entitled “Kimchi: A Superfood?†“Kimchi has long been touted as health super food that can cut cancer risk, lower cholesterol, improve skin, aide digestion and fight infection,†it reported. “Kimchi’s fermentation process produces beneficial bacteria that destroys harmful microbes. Crushed garlic yields compounds linked to reducing blood pressure and infection.â€
The paper also published a report on Dec. 31 last year that said that as kimchi had proved to be effective in preventing bird flu, sales of kimchi in U.S. markets were increasing.
It looks like Toby Dawson may have found his birth parents in Korea:
A man from Busan on Sunday went public with a claim that he is the father of U.S. freestyle skier Toby Dawson, who took bronze in the men’s mogul competition at the Turin Winter Olympics. Kim Jae-su (52) said he got calls from relatives and friends who told him Dawson looked just like him. “So I looked at the papers and confirmed it myself,” Kim said. “There is no doubt that this is the son I lost 25 years ago.”
This is how he claims he lost his son:
Kim lost his son in 1981, when the boy became separated from his mother in the crowd at a local market. Dawson was found near the same place and taken to an orphanage, where he lived until he was adopted by an American couple.
The Kims say they searched high and low for their lost son. “I didn’t think reporting it to the police would be of any help, so I went around looking for him myself,” Kim said. The couple covered most orphanages and markets in the city but could only search on their days off and got around on foot or by bus, so their progress was slow.
Some how I don’t think they looked for him as hard as they claim, especially if he was sitting in the most obvious place, a local orphanage, but who knows. However, the resemblance between Dawson, Mr. Kim, and his son is uncanny:
Where are these stadiums located?