Despite the Moon admin saying it's "routine, the #SouthKorean banks are deathly scared of potential secondary sanctions. So should Moon and his circle, if they care about #SouthKorean economy. https://t.co/Nzwy8i8Yz2
It wouldn’t be Korea if somebody wasn’t protesting something:
Anti-carpool protesters raise pickets reading “Illegal carpool app service OUT,” “Illegal personal vehicle service in disguise of carpool OUT” and “Keep passenger transport industry ordered.”
A walkout by thousands of taxi drivers in protest against a commercial carpool service disrupted commuters heading to works during morning rush hour on Thursday.
The stoppage began at 4 a.m. to protest against the recent launch of Kakao T Carpool, a ride-sharing service designed to connect ordinary drivers to passengers during the morning and evening rush hours. The taxi drivers claim the top mobile messaging company’s service will kill the industry. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but the ride share apps are a threat to the established taxi industry across the world. The way I look at this is that this would be like retail store workers protesting against Amazon instead of evolving with the times and making a better service or product to entice consumers.
Ambassador Harris recently made a very subtle message to the Moon administration in regards to sanctions on North Korea:
South Korea and the United States should have a “common voice” in dealing with North Korea rather than putting priority on improving inter-Korean relations over denuclearization, U.S. Ambassador to Seoul Harry Harris said Wednesday.
“We are, of course, cognizant of the priority that President Moon Jae-in and his administration have placed on improving South-North relations. I believe this inter-Korean dialogue must remain linked to denuclearization, and South Korea synchronized with the United States,” Harris said during a seminar co-hosted by the Asan Institute for Policy Studies and the Wilson Center.
“There, of course, remains a lot of work to be done, but I believe that if the United States and South Korea continue to approach North Korea with a common voice, we can turn the commitments that were made in Pyongyang, Panmunjeom and Singapore into reality.”
He made his remarks amid the recent dissonance between South Korea and the U.S. in dealing with easing sanction against the North. He reiterated Washington’s stance of maintaining sanctions against Pyongyang, while expressing discontent over Seoul’s move to prioritize improving inter-Korean relations and easing the sanctions.
The two countries have been showing different approaches to achieving the denuclearization of North Korea. President Moon Jae-in, on a state visit to European countries, has urge them to ease the sanctions somewhat. Meanwhile, the U.S. has been warning South Korea that lifting them, along with related actions, should only take place with Washington’s approval. [Korea Times]
Park Young-shik (R) receives an identification certificate for his late father, Park Tae-hong, from Lee Hak-ki, head of the defense ministry’s remains excavation and identification task force, during a ceremony in Yangju, east of Seoul, to mark the return of the national hero on Oct. 16, 2018. PFC. Park was killed in action there during the 1950-53 Korean War, and his remains were excavated from a hill in Pohang, 370 km southeast of Seoul in 2009. (Yonhap)
Another year and yet another article claiming the at Filipinas working in bars in South Korea were tricked into working there. In today’s age of the Internet a simple Google search can inform Filipinas what they are potentially signing up for by applying for one of these visas. What is ironic this article from the Korea Times is very similar to one written in 2012 by the Korea Times and they are still saying these girls don’t know what they are getting into coming to South Korea on these visas:
A Durebang agent talks with women in prostitution at a juice bar in an entertainment district near USFK Camp Casey in Dongducheon, Gyeonggi Province. Courtesy of Durebang
Bargirls, mostly Filipinas, working in the entertainment district near United States Forces Korea’s Camp Casey in Dongducheon hardly go a day without alcohol. With bars opening after 6 p.m. and not closing until the last patrons leave, usually in the early morning, the girls treat customers to whatever they want ― from canoodling and lap dancing to oral sex. Some customers suggest heading out for the night-off, which is not so good for the girls, but good for the bar owners because a customer must pay a bar fine to take out a bargirl.
These migrant women’s desperate business depends on about 2,000 soldiers from the camp, about 60 kilometers north of Seoul. The soldiers’ curfew is 11:30 p.m., previously 1:00 a.m. When they return to camp, migrant workers replace them, but there are not so many.
Job agencies have told the bargirls, working with a Hotel and Adult Entertainment Visa, or E-6-2 visa, they would find work as singers, with most of the girls unaware they would end up in red light bars.
“There are about 200 foreigners in prostitution working at some 70 clubs in Dongducheon,” Joyce Kim from Durebang, a NGO dedicated to helping bargirls working near USFK camps, told The Korea Times. Having watched over the migrants for more than five years, she said bargirls, some of whom are Russians, live above the bars with only one day off every month. The visa allows them to stay in Korea for two years if they do not quit and keep their working contracts valid.
The bars are owned and managed by Koreans, who do not hesitate to threaten the girls and push them to earn more money, forcing them to work through until as late as 10 a.m. This affects their girls’ health, including their menstruation cycle.
Bargirls are paid based on a monthly quota. All Dongducheon bars use this system, which requires the bargirls to collect 300-350 points every two weeks.
“Otherwise the bar owners cannot earn enough,” Kim said. “Owners use points to humiliate the girls with poor sales records by comparing them to girls who earn more points.”
The system works like this: a $10 glass of “juice” that a girl sells to patrons is worth one point. To complete the quota, each girl must sell $3,000-$3,500 worth of juice in two weeks. If girls reach their quota, they get paid a bonus called “drink back” worth around $300-$350 in addition to their regular monthly wage of 400,000 won ($354). [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but every USFK soldier knows that participating in prostitution is illegal and has extreme consequences if caught. This is not a USFK problem, this is a South Korea problem. If South Korea really wants to stop the human trafficking of Filipinas they should just end the entertainment visas for them.
Hopefully “progress” with North Korea’s denuclearization doesn’t reach a point where Secretary Mattis has to become the one to make it happen:
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said there is progress on dismantling North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, although it remains a difficult issue.
Mattis told reporters traveling with him to Vietnam Monday that the efforts to denuclearize North Korea continue to be diplomatically-led.
He cited U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent trip to Pyongyang, where the top American diplomat met with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to push progress on denuclearization and plan a second summit between Kim and U.S. President Donald Trump.
“There is progress,” Mattis said. “We know it’s going to be difficult as they deal with this difficult issue. No surprise there.” [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but this was a pretty vanilla statement about the “progress” being made.
Seriously? South Korea agreed to enforce the North's writ against defections? Isn't that essentially China's refugee policy & an agreement to tear up the 1951 Refugee Convention? https://t.co/LMeHeXmuKT
U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Harry Harris holds a copy of the U.S. TIME magazine featuring popular K-pop band BTS during an experts forum at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul on Oct. 17, 2018. (Yonhap)
