Apparently some Korean guy needs to learn to keep his hands to himself when on vacation:
A man was arrested and charged over the weekend after six women told Fish Eye Marine Park employees about a man in yellow shorts who touched them inappropriately while they were swimming, according to a magistrate’s complaint filed in the Superior Court of Guam.
Officers arrested Myeong Seop Lee, 34, who was wearing yellow shorts but denied that he touched anyone. He said he was at the park with his family, documents state.
Police met with the Fish Eye manager on Friday. The lifeguards told the manager about a man touching six women while swimming, but by the time police arrived four of the women had left, documents state.
Police spoke with the remaining two women, the magistrate’s complaint states. [Pacific Daily News]
You can read more at the link, but the women pointed out Lee to police as the groper and incredibly he was snorkeling at the marine park with his family. I can only imagine what his wife had to say about this.
Here is interesting anecdote if true from a comment made by a ROK top presidential aide to Kim Jong-un:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is a heavy smoker. But in a country where making a suggestion to the young dictator of anything against his will is considered a blasphemy that deserves heavy punishment, nobody would put one’s life at risk to ask him to quit smoking. This Dec. 12, 2012 file photo shows Kim puffing a cigarette at the satellite control center in Pyongyang. / Korea Times file
Top presidential aide Chung Eui-yong advised North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to stop smoking during a dinner Kim hosted for Chung visiting Pyongyang as President Moon Jae-in’s top envoy early last month.
Chung’s advice made the atmosphere at the head table in the banquet tense at least for a moment when the face of Kim Yong-chul, the North’s top intelligence officer, hardened in displeasure by Chung’s uncalled-for action.
It was Ri Sol-ju, the North’s first lady, who cheerfully clapped her hands and said, “He doesn’t listen when I ask him to quit smoking.” That defused the tension. The young leader himself did not mind Chung’s behavior.
Japan’s Asahi Shimbun reported this account recently, quoting knowledgeable sources, about what happened at the March 5 banquet. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but it was a good catch by Ri Sol-ju to break the tension with her comment. The way I look at it let Kim Jong-un smoke as well as eat away as much as he wants. His poor health may be what ultimately drives him out of power.
It was only a matter of time, but with the Park Geun-hye trial and sentencing out of the way, the Moon administration can next focus on Lee Myung-bak:
Former President Lee Myung-bak was indicted on bribery, embezzlement and other charges Monday, becoming the latest South Korean leader arrested or entangled in scandals at the close of their terms or after leaving office.
Lee’s indictment came three days after his successor Park Geun-hye was sentenced to 24 years in prison for a separate corruption scandal.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said in a statement that it charged Lee with taking a total of 11 billion won ($10 million) in bribes from the country’s spy agency, Samsung and others. [Washington Post]
You can read more at the link, but he is likely going to jail as well. Remember that Korea is not a rule of law society, but instead a rule by law. This means those in power have enormous influence over legal proceedings. The Korean left has long wanted to take down Lee Myung-bak because of the corruption investigation he initiated on former left wing President Roh Moo-hyun. Roh ended up committing suicide after his corruption came to light under the investigation led by the Lee administration.
Here is an article about a teacher allegedly behaving badly in Busan:
An American professor at Pusan University fled the country after police started investigating sexual harassment allegations against him.
The university admitted Thursday that the professor allegedly verbally and sexually harassed several female students in front of a bar near the school on March 28.
He then allegedly kissed a student’s cheek and said inappropriate things, including sexual insults, to other students.
The students put up a hand-written poster about his behavior and remarks.
Some students wrote in protest, “I’m not going to have sex with you” on the blackboard before his lecture, following remarks he had made.
The school ordered him to appear at a disciplinary session but he fled the country after sending a resignation email. The school department fired him and his photo was removed from the faculty list. [Korea Times]
A sign with Donald Trump's face at the demonstrations in support of disgraced former South Korean president Park Geun-hye: "All Koreans love USA. Please save Korea's ex-president PGH" https://t.co/5umsrnQbLPpic.twitter.com/0xWtFcwGU0
Participants watch a congratulatory cultural performance during the first Jeonju Queer Culture Festival at a public square in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, on April 7, 2018. The event drew about 700 visitors, according to a provisional tally from police. [Yonhap]
It appears Vladimir Putin does not want to be left out of the current negotiations that are occurring before the ROK-DPRK and US-DPRK summits:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has received an invitation to visit Russia, according to U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Dan Coats.
Coats’ claim adds to speculation that Kim may meet Russian President Vladimir Putin to bolster diplomatic leverage on North Korea’s nuclear program before a planned inter-Korean summit on April 27.
Kim, who visited Chinese President Xi Jinping in late March, is scheduled to send his Foreign Minister Ri Yong-ho to Russia next week.
Russian news agency TASS reported that on Wednesday Coats mentioned Kim’s invitation to Moscow when asked about the possibility of resuming the six-party talks on North Korea’s denuclearization in the wake of the Kim-Xi meeting.
TASS said the DNI chief told reporters in Washington, D.C., he is trying to discover what the North Korean leader intends to discuss in Russia. [Korea Times]
Over at One Free Korea here has a very interesting posting up about how liberal South Korean administrations target certain think tanks to fire employees or lose funding:
Robert Gallucci
Contemporary press reports alleged that Roh’s people directed the funding cut because they didn’t care for what TAE wrote, and because they really didn’t care for Nicholas Eberstadt (interviewed at this blog eons ago). One of the TAE authors called for an “amicable divorce” of the U.S.-Korea alliance, something that even most anti-American South Koreans fear. If this were to happen prematurely, it could cause capital flight, crash the KOSPI, and undermine the political support left-wing politicians build by profiting from the anti-American demagoguery of their simpaticos without openly propagating it themselves. Clearly, these issues are important matters of public policy for Americans. [One Free Korea]
Here is the most recent example of a liberal administration trying to influence a think tank:
Paradoxically, USKI is best known for publishing the reliably soft-line, anti-anti-North Korean, pro-“engagement” 38 North blog. It’s the last outlet you’d think Moon Jae-in’s people would mess with. (…………)
Not surprisingly, USKI and the KIEP have different explanations for KIEP’s funding decision, and by the end of this post, you’ll see why. KIEP says the National Assembly demanded the cut over questions about the transparency of USKI’s budget. But Robert Gallucci, the Director of USKI, says the real reason is that the Blue House wanted him to fire Jae Ku, one of the few right-of-center thinkers at USKI. (Mr. Ku gave an interview to this blog way back in 2005. I hope I’m not doing him any more harm by calling him a friend.) Later, Gallucci says the Blue House also told him to fire Jenny Town, a co-founder of 38 North. [One Free Korea]
I highly recommend reading the whole thing at the link, but it looks like the people at the Blue House involved in cutting the funding have ties to the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) organization.
Hong and his boss Jang spent 6 years at People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy: it's an activist group ostensibly opposed to abuses of power by government & chebols. But it also put on anti-US beef (mad cow disease) demos and called for alternative Cheonan investigations pic.twitter.com/f4OW0Vay6u
So who is PSPD? They are a group that has long championed anti-US causes to include opposing the US-ROK FTA, the Camp Humphreys expansion, exploiting the No Gun Ri issue, wanting SOFA changes, and closing the Kooni Bombing Range. The most ridiculous issue they helped to lead was the 2008 anti-US Beef Riots. Most recently PSPD has been one of the major groupsbehind the anti-THAAD protests in Seongju.
The way I look at it the Korean government has every right to cut funding to think tanks they support. However, then they should release from jail the people imprisoned for the so called cultural blacklist during the Park Geun-hye administration. If the Park administration could not blacklist certain cultural organizations than shouldn’t the Moon administration not be able to blacklist certain think tanks?
