Members from various workers’ organizations gather in Pyongyang on Dec. 15, 2016, in a ceremony observing the fifth anniversary of the death of Kim Jong-il, the late leader of the country and the father of current leader Kim Jong-un. (Yonhap)
American elementary children go play dodgeball during physical education periods while in North Korea their elementary students are used to go break and haul rocks to repair a railway line:
Grafting in the blazing sun, Kim Jong-un ’s child slaves load heavy rocks into sacks as others mend railway tracks with hammers.
Taken out of lessons and forced to carry out back-breaking work, they toil for up to 10 hours a day.
The footage of North Korea ’s human rights abuses, uncovered by the Daily Mirror, will shock the world.
Yet in his palace hundreds of miles away, despot Jong-un enjoys a life of luxury and thinks nothing of enslaving innocents as young as five.
Michael Glendinning, of the European Alliance of Human Rights in North Korea, said: “The footage obtained by the Mirror is startling in its documentation of one of the worst abuses the North Korean state inflicts – child labour.” [The UK Mirror]
President Park Geun-hye, center, takes a photo with U.S. President Barack Obama and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte after the afternoon session of the the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington on April 2. / Korea Times file
Why was President Park Geun-hye so sensitive about a toilet’s cleanness? With the impeached leader the only person to know the answer, there are allegations her “exorbitant” attachment to a bacteria-free toilet led to a diplomat blunder early this year.
Park missed a ceremonial group photo of state leaders at the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in April. Back then, the government said Park was in the toilet during the photo shoot, not knowing the event was rescheduled for the summit’s smooth progress.
But the explanation was missing details, according to Rep. Kim Kyung-jin of the minor opposition People’s Party. The lawmaker said Park “deliberately” missed the photo event to use the toilet at her hotel room, instead of the public restroom next to the meeting venue.
“Park walked away from the meeting room all of a sudden when the meeting was under way,” the lawmaker said, based on information he secured from unidentified sources. “Later, it turned out that she left the venue to travel to her hotel to use the toilet at her room. She didn’t want to use the public one.”
Park returned to the venue and had her photo taken with U.S. President Barack Obama and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte when the afternoon session ended. [Korea Times]
This is pretty much the typical political platform from the Korean left, THAAD is bad and lets talk to North Korea:
Moon Jae-in
“It is inappropriate for the THAAD deployment process to go on under the current political circumstances,” he said.
The commander of U.S. Forces Korea said last month the THAAD battery would be deployed to South Korea within eight to 10 months.
Moon held out the possibility of renegotiating the agreement to deploy the system, saying doing so would not damage relations with the United States. He said if elected, he would work to maintain strong ties with the United States, which has 28,500 troops in South Korea.
Moon came top in a poll of possible presidential candidates released on Thursday by Realmeter, with 24 percent, compared with 19.5 percent for outgoing U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is widely expected to enter the race though he has yet to declare his intention to do so.
Moon, who is a liberal, criticized the conservative Park’s policy on North Korea for failing to end its nuclear program.
He said a two-track approach involving more talks would be more effective, adding he would be willing to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, if certain conditions were met. [Reuters]
Considering how densely populated Seoul is I just don’t see how more bike lanes will help reduce traffic? Plus the risk of an accident and just dealing with inclement weather is another major turn off from using bikes in Seoul. Additionally I don’t see how more bike lanes will cause increased use of an already heavily used mass transit system:
Darren Bean, left, a representative of the Seoul City Foreign Residents Council, which comprises 38 representatives from 23 countries, presents a policy recommendation to the Seoul Metropolitan Government on Wednesday at the Seoul City Hall. [PARK SANG-MOON]The Seoul City Foreign Residents Council gathered once more this year at City Hall to address how the city can improve for all Seoulites, proposing policy recommendations to the city government on Wednesday.
Created on Dec. 18, 2015, in celebration of the United Nation’s International Migrants Day, the committee is the first one in Korea to be affiliated with a local government and comprise only foreign residents, totaling 38 people from 23 countries. Unlike the first general meeting in July, the propositions voiced at the meeting on Wednesday concerned not only foreigners but Koreans.
“I have been in Korea for three years,” said Karolina Zasadzka from Poland, speaking in Korean, “but I still cannot get used to the terrible traffic jams and air pollution.”
“The city needs to encourage more people to bike to work or take public transportation to cope with the worsening environmental pollution,” she said. “In Europe, there is a system called Park & Ride, where people can drive their car or ride their bike to a subway or train station near their house, park their vehicles for free or at a low cost, and get on the public transportation to get into the city for work.”
She added, “And for more people to bike to work, I think the mindset of Korean people needs to be changed, because not many are very careful drivers who would stop for a person crossing the street, and most bike lanes remain blocked by parked cars.” [Joong Ang Ilbo]
South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo (R) and U.S. Forces Korea Commander Gen. Vincent K. Brooks exchange opinions on the post-impeachment security situation at the Defense Ministry in Seoul on Dec. 13, 2016. (Photo courtesy of Defense Ministry) (Yonhap)
I can’t imagine a scenario where Chung Yoo-ra, the person who started the ROK Presidential scandal, ever steps foot on Ewha Women’s University ever again. If she was a dedicated student that went to school the current ROK Presidential scandal may have never come to light:
Chung Yoo-ra
The Korean Equestrian Federation signed off fake documents for presidential confidante Choi Soon-sil’s daughter, Chung Yoo-ra, to excuse her absences from high school and offer credit for social volunteer work she never did, according to a joint investigation by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee on Wednesday.
The Culture Ministry requested that the Korean Equestrian Federation punish every official who gave the 20-year-old preferential treatment. It also pledged to fully cooperate with the independent counsel that is currently digging into the influence-peddling scandal surrounding her mother and President Park Geun-hye.
The Korean Sport and Olympic Committee will soon be forced to penalize Chung, an equestrian athlete who gained admission to the prestigious Ewha Womans University last year after applying for a spot available to students with special sports talents, said the ministry.
The university has yet to kick Chung out, although its board of trustees demanded earlier this month to “eternally expel” her and punish 15 school officials who gave her leeway in admission, test scores and class attendance records. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but like I have said before who else is getting special treatment?
Via a reader tip comes the latest slogan disaster from South Korea, this time from the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics:
“It’s you, PyeongChang.”
It makes sense grammatically, but what does it mean?
Many foreigners scratched their heads after reading the sentence featuring in an advertisement in major newspapers on Monday meant to promote the nation’s first winter Olympics in the mountain city of PyeongChang in February 2018.
The Gangwon Province government that created the ad said “It’s you, PyeongChang” was intended to promote that every member of the global village, Koreans and non-Koreans alike, has a role to make the event a success.
Yet few seemed to have found the message from it.
“The phrase doesn’t reach me in anyway,” said Celeste Kriel, a South African living in Seoul. “It can be interpreted in so many ways that it’s hard to grasp the message.”
An American teacher in Seoul said, “It sounds like they are really missing PyongChang… Maybe PyongChang is their long lost lover?”
Several other foreigners told The Korea Times that the message “unclear” and bewildering. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I wonder how much money they paid for some PR firm to come up with this slogan. Should have just asked us here at the ROK Drop to come up with slogans. Does anyone have any slogan suggestions they want to share?
