N.K. leader Kim Jong-un (4th from L) attends an art performance in Pyongyang for the participants of the conference of chairpersons of ruling party primary committees in this photo published by the North’s Korean Central News Agency on Dec. 29, 2016. It was Kim’s first appearance in 14 months to the performance by the Moranbong Band, an all girl band that he founded, who shared the stage with the State Merited Chorus. The Moranbong Band has been a source of interest for its lack for visibility, its last reported performance being in May this year. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
A highly pathogenic strain of bird flu was discovered in two dead cats on Saturday, a provincial government official said, marking the first infection of the virus found in mammals in two years.
The H5N6 strain of avian influenza (AI) which has infected chickens across the country was found in the bodies of the cats in Pocheon, some 46 kilometers north of Seoul, the official said, citing information from health authorities.
The cats were found dead earlier this week some 2 kilometers from a chicken farm where the strain of the virus was first reported last month. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but this seems pretty significant because if the bird flu spreads to cats it is an animal that people are more likely to handle than chickens.
If these pastries are such a hit you would think these bakers would want to keep selling them:
Choi Soon-sil pastries
Pastry parodying the jailed friend of President Park Geun-hye and central figure of the Choi-gate political scandal, Choi Soon-sil, has become a hit with consumers, but was discontinued on Dec. 23.
The creators of the duly called “Choi Soon-sil Kkam Bbang,” which is a play on words using the Korean slang term for prison (gambang) and bread (bbang), said they were forced to discontinue their hit product at their bakery in Daegu since they “didn’t have any time to bake any other breads” due to the pastry’s popularity.
While they originally sold 10 to 15 of the pastry per day when it was first offered for sale on Dec. 10, they were soon selling over 100 a day due to viral popularity on social media. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
I have always thought that South Korea is sitting on a massive real estate bubble considering all of its empty apartments that so many people have borrowed money invested in. According to this article the debt problems in South Korea is far worse than just the real estate market:
One of the important aspects that gets missed about Korean exports is their overall lack of diversity. About 48 percent of all Korean exports consist of electronics and related components while 31 percent are transportation goods (cars, boats, and related parts). A game-changing shift in the playing field for any product area could spell a slow but steady downward spiral for the entire Korean economy. Even a 10 percent drop in exports would literally shrink the economy by 5 percent, costing tens of thousands of jobs that ultimately depend on export revenue, exacerbating the already high underemployment rate of 14 percent and youth unemployment rate of 9 percent.
With a retinue of Chinese firms like Huawei and Oppo hot on the heels of Samsung, a potential decline becomes even more plausible considering the fact that Korean corporate culture is not always the most favorable for fostering the development of next-generation ideas and technology, often the easiest (and sometimes only) way for technology companies to remain competitive. This lack of forward thinking is most striking in the clean energy field, where Korea has been completely left out of the latest developments, despite its global reputation for being a technology powerhouse.
Another key area of concern is corporate debt. South Korea’s total corporate debt is worth about 171 percent of its GDP. Although this high percentage is not unique to Korea (the U.S. and China have about 304 percent and 169 percent, respectively), Korea is more susceptible to adverse consequences for a number of reasons. The first is the high prevalence of “zombie companies,” corporate entities that have been unable to repay debt for at least three years running. It is estimated that about a quarter of all Korean corporate debt is held by zombie companies, unlikely to ever be repaid. [The Diplomat]
The cover of a North Korean calendar for 2017, obtained by Yonhap News Agency in Shenyang, China, on Dec. 29, 2016, features pilots and flight attendants of its flag carrier Air Koryo in what observers describe as a bold move considering that previous calendars mostly carried bland photos of scenic views and cultural sites. Next year’s calendar has photos of cabin crew at work during flights, such as giving safety instructions and pouring beer. The calendar marks as holidays the birthdays of the country’s former leaders but not that of current leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)
It seems this guy should face far more serious punishment than what Cho Hyun-ah faced in the Nut Rage Incident:
Lim Bum-jun
Police on Tuesday requested an arrest warrant for the man who drunkenly attacked passengers and crew members on a Korean Air flight from Hanoi to Seoul for violating the Aviation Safety and Security Act.
The man, a 34-year-old named Lim Bum-jun, was seated in prestige class (business class) on Dec. 20 when he struck another passenger in the face and attacked cabin crew who tried to restrain him. He was subdued only after the crew and others, including American pop singer Richard Marx, tied him to a seat.
“Police requested an arrest warrant for Lim for wreaking havoc on the plane and violating the Aviation Safety and Security Act,” said a police officer. “This is a graver charge than a mere disciplinary action for violence on a plane.”
The charge is the same that former Vice President of Korean Air Cho Hyun-ah received in 2014, over the infamous “nut rage” tantrum. She was sentenced to one year in prison in her first trial, but in her appeal was sentenced to 10 months with two years of probation. Suspects charged with violating the Aviation Safety and Security Act can be sentenced to up to five years in prison. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link, but Korean Air confirms this is the second time Lim made trouble on a flight and have thus banned him for life from flying on the airline.
This plan to build a cable car from Osaek to the summit of Seorak Mountain would just be a disaster. For people who don’t have the mobility to hike there is already a cable car built at the National Park entrance that provides fantastic views of the park. Installing a cable car at Osaek seems unnecessary to me. I have hiked up to the summit of Seorak Mountain from Osaek before and saw how many people already hike up this mountain. In fact there are so many hikers there is a lodge near the summit to house them. A cable car would just bring that many more hordes of tourists to the top of mountain spreading trash everywhere and generally ruining what is a great hike to the summit Seoraksan:
Picture of Seorak Mountain’s summit with the lodge in the foreground.
A government panel on Wednesday rejected a proposal to set up a cable car on a popular mountain range near the country’s eastern coast, a plan that has been criticized for its potential harm to the regional environment, government officials said.
The project calls for a 3.5-kilometer-long cable car system to be built in the southern region of Mount Seorak in Yangyang County, some 215 kilometers east of Seoul, providing a means of convenient transportation all the way up to the peak of the Osaek area hiking course.
According to the officials, the panel under the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has assessed that the project is feared to do harm to cultural assets and the habitat of the region.
The panel will review the plan again if the county proposes a revised version.
The cable car project has been a controversial issue among environmentalists here, who have argued that the mountain’s natural environment must be preserved.
The county government had submitted its cable car construction plans in 2012 and in 2013, but was rejected both times due to issues that the structure’s design could pose a threat to the habitat of some of the wildlife in the area.
Advocates, on the other hand, say that the cable car will help to boost tourism and thereby add to the economic development of the region, especially ahead of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, located just south of the county. [Yonhap]
As I have said before, the installation of this statue is needlessly provocative against Japan which has apologized an offered compensation multiple times for its past wartime activities. If these activist groups really cared about sexual slavery then they would be putting up a statue in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul in protest of the modern day sexual slavery of North Korean women in China. However, that would take real courage because China will retaliate unlike Japan that these activists know will just continue to take it:
This photo, taken on Dec. 30, 2016, shows people installing a statue of a girl representing victims of wartime sex slavery by the Japanese military in front of the Japanese Consulate in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan. (Yonhap)
A civic group installed a statue of a girl symbolizing the victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery in front of the Japanese Consulate in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan on Friday after the Dong Ward municipality gave its approval.
The ward municipality agreed earlier in the day to let the civic group install the statue on the sidewalk about 40 meters away from the consulate’s back door.
It marked the second of its kind established in front of Japan’s overseas diplomatic missions after one was installed in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
“We will not stop the civic group from installing the statue in front of the consulate if they wish to do so,” Park Sam-seok, chief of the municipality, said at a press conference. [Yonhap]
