I'm sure it happens all the time in the Middle East and in former Soviet republics, but I never really put South Korea in the same category until recently. This is the hallmark of an authoritarian state. Democracies don't behave this way. https://t.co/nYABICUFPs
Former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder (R) and his wife Kim So-yeon walk together during a wedding celebration event in Seoul on Oct. 28, 2018. (Yonhap)
You can read more about how they met at this link.
Depending on one’s point of view, this has to be the worst or best demonstration of CPR ever:
Men’s magazine Maxim Korea recently came under fire for putting a sexual twist on its video about the life-saving procedure of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
Critics have lambasted the video, saying it “crossed the line.” A Twitter message critical of the video has been retweeted over 17,000 times with the criticism spreading to other social networking websites.
The 2 minutes 24 seconds clip shows two bikini-clad women demonstrating CPR with captions explaining the key steps to be taken in an emergency. [Korea Times]
Dr. Tara O, one of my favorite Korea analysts, has an article published about the prosecution and eventual conviction of a cartoonist and journalist which is just another example of the war on conservative journalists by the Moon administration:
Cartoon that led to libel conviction.
On September 11, 2018, the prosecutor proposed a 1-year sentence each for Mr. Yoon Seo-in, a cartoonist, and Mr. Kim Se-ui, a journalist, for libel at the final hearing at the Seoul Central District Court presided by judge Choi Mi-bok (최미복).
This libel lawsuit follows another libel lawsuit against a journalist, Mr. Byun Hee-jae, for defaming JTBC, a cable TV broadcaster. JTBC aired the tablet PC story, which played a crucial role in the former president Park Geun-hye’s impeachment. Byun has called out JTBC’s tablet PC story as fabricated. Byun’s characterization was corroborated by the special prosecutors’ own forensic report. However, Byun was sued for libel, and the Seoul Central District Court jailed Byun prior to trial. It is an unusual move to jail a journalist in South Korea, especially prior to a trial, although numerous political opponents have been jailed prior to trial since early 2017. Byun’s trial is currently underway.
Another worrisome event is that Moon’s Deoburreo Minju Party has submitted a “broadcast law reform” bill to regulate individuals who post videos on Youtube and other video sites as “mass media.” If this bill becomes law, then the individuals who post videos become “subject to government review” and if it does not like them, the government can “simply get rid of them,” criticized National Assemblyman Kim Jin-tae, Liberty Korea Party. This is after the Moon administration, along with Media Workers’ Union, took control over major broadcasters MBC and KBS. [East Asia Research Center]
You can read the whole thing at the link, but just like Byun Hee-jae who was jailed for writing something true, Yoon and Kim put together a cartoon that was true and were convicted.
Seoul court fined a cartoonist Yoon Seo-in & journalist Kim Se-ui $6,150 each over a satire cartoon in a libel suit. The Moon administration dislikes them for speaking out about Moon's policy toward North Korea, economy, security, etc. #FreedomofSpeechhttps://t.co/hnRwcLCCUO
An interesting fact from the article was how the South Korean media that was taken over by the Korean left through labor union violence, has slanted their coverage of the story. Even more interesting is that MBC after being taken over then had the architect of the phony US beef riots of 2008 put in charge as President.
You would think with the jailing and fining of journalists the international media would be rushing to cover this, but for one minor New York Times article there has been little coverage of this.
Via a reader tip comes news that the Korean left has found another issue to criticizes the United States with:
The U.S. Embassy in South Korea has not paid rent for using its site since 1980, a ruling party lawmaker claimed Thursday, citing data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Rep. Shim Jae-kwon of the Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) said the South Korean government owns the site of the U.S. Embassy in central Seoul.
The amount of rent over the past 38 years exceeds 90 billion won ($79 million).
The lawmaker insisted that operations of the United States Agency for International Development-Korea (USAID-Korea), and its predecessor United States Operations Mission (USOM) have long since come to an end, and this removes legal grounds for free use of the embassy building.
The foreign ministry stated in 2008 that it is discussing the matter with the U.S.
The lawmaker noted the countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in 2005 regarding the relocation of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, and signed an implementation agreement of the MOU in 2011, but no tangible efforts or progress have been made on the matter since. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but if the North Koreans establish an embassy in South Korea does anyone think they will pay rent?
All this criticism over the US embassy rent is about promoting anti-Americanism with the Korean public. We saw these same type of criticism happen during the Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun administrations as well. I would not be surprised if in the coming months we start seeing claims about out of control GI crime, unpaid parking tickets, and USFK environmental pollution which are all from the Korean lefts playbook of how to promote anti-Americanism.
It’s one thing for polisci experts to discuss unification and denuclearization. But another pressing assignment, for sociologists esp, is to rly start thinking about what the post-unification national discourse should look like. And it shouldn’t be like this: misogyny and racism https://t.co/UYTMmpgYBW
I always figured that the Trump administration would try and keep the perception of progress going with North Korea up to the mid-term elections. Limiting damaging information leaks seems to be part of this strategy:
The Trump administration is drastically cutting back on who on Capitol Hill gets to see intelligence reports on North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, according to multiple congressional sources.
Under the new rules, only each party’s House and Senate leaders, along with chairs and ranking members of foreign relations and intelligence committees, get direct access to the reports. It is a drastic change from previous distribution of North Korea related intelligence reports which, for the most part, gave access to the entire committees and the staffers on those committees.
The fear on Capitol Hill is that the limited distribution, which has been implemented over the past few weeks, will leave Congress largely in the dark when it comes to what U.S. intelligence has collected about North Korea’s motivations and nuclear developments. Some on the Hill, citing President Trump’s outreach to North Korea, worry that the White House is limiting the flow of information because the reports might indicate Pyongyang is accelerating its nuclear program. [CBS News]
KCNA: "Australia is seeking to destroy the hard-won peaceful atmosphere of the Korean peninsula and the region. It has become clear that Australia is displeased with the trend of peace in the Korean peninsula and the region."
North Korean football teams arrive in South Korea on Oct. 25, 2018, to compete in an international youth tournament. The North sent three teams to the 5th Ari Sports Cup, organized by the South-North Inter Korean Sports Association, that this year drew eight teams from six countries. (Yonhap)
.jpg?zoom=2&resize=620%2C419)
