It is pretty ironic that North Korea is making this request at the same time they are promoting their obesity cure:
North Korea has made a state request to officials in China pleading for them to stop referring to ‘glorious leader’ Kim Jong-un as fat.
Ministers have reportedly asked their neighbours to refrain from referring to the chunky Swiss cheese fan as Jin San Pang or ‘Kim Fatty III’ in media or conversations.
Apparently ‘Kim Fatty III’ is a widely used nickname for Kim in China along with Jin Pang Pang (Kim Fat Fatty) or Jin San Fei (Kim Abundant III).
Now According to the Apple Daily in Hong Kong, terrified North Korean government officials have called on their old comrades to take action before heads roll. [FOX News]
Congrats to the US Ambassador to Korea, Mark Lippert:
The wife of U.S. Ambassador Mark Lippert gave birth to a second child Monday.
“It’s a girl! Mom & baby are great!” Lippert tweeted with a photo of his wife Robyn and the baby. He also added in Korean that he and his wife are happy parents. [Chosun Ilbo]
North Korea’s researchers have obviously not tested their obesity cure on Kim Jong-un:
North Korean scientists have announced that they have invented a pill that cures obesity, in an article published by the country’s state media on Monday.
The article, entitled “Researchers in Metabolic Diseases,” outlines the ten-year research project which resulted in what’s described as “the Golden Pill Against Obesity.”
The new pill is supposedly superior to other treatments and allegedly works without lifestyle or diet changes.
“As it decreases the body-weight and the thickness of subcutaneous fat without applying any diet or exercise cure, the pill is believed to be superior to existing remedies of obesity or foreign pills or other means of treatment,” the article reads. [NK News]
It does seem pretty hypocritical that the supposedly progressive Hollywood continues to have non-Asian actors play Asian roles:
A live action remake of Disney’s “Mulan” is set to release in 2018. For now, Disney hunts for actors and actresses with the potential to play the heroic roles of the movie. It was rumored that Disney set its eyes on famed actress Jennifer Lawrence for the role of Mulan. Lawrence is known for many heroic roles, including Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games trilogy. It is also rumored that actor Zac Efron will be playing the role of Li Shang from the original animated film. Despite both celebrities having great success in such movie roles, they are terrible candidates to take roles in the film, all due to racial background.
In the original story, Mulan is portrayed as a young Chinese woman taking her father’s place in serving in war by disguising herself as a man and secretly leaving her family. In recent days, heroic lead roles in Asian settings have been given to American actors. The upcoming 2017 American-Chinese fantasy epic, “The Great Wall”, stars Matt Damon (The Bourne Saga) as the lead role. The main question to stress is if the film industry is discriminating and disregarding people of color and the culture they represent.
Since there are several films where whitewashing has occurred, the main and only intent of the film industry is money. [Korea Times]
This opposition by the Korean left to the ROK-Japan military intelligence sharing pact is not surprising. Japanese Prime Minister Abe could apologize for everything from the Hideyoshi invasion of Korea to World War II and then commit seppuku on top of Mt. Namsan and the Korean left would still oppose this pact simply because the Korean right wants it:
Defense Minister Han Min-koo
Opposition parties Tuesday set in motion a campaign to oust Defense Minister Han Min-koo over a controversial military pact with Japan that was tentatively signed by the two sides late Monday.
Making good on their pledge, the three groups — the Democratic Party of Korea, People’s Party and Justice Party — decided to submit a parliamentary motion to recommend the minister’s dismissal on Nov. 30 and put it to vote at a plenary session slated for Dec. 2.
Its passage is likely, since the opposition bloc controls more than a majority of seats in Parliament.
A provisional deal was reached in Tokyo on Monday evening on the General Security of Military Information Agreement, which aims to enhance cooperation in coping with North Korea’s growing nuclear and missile threats. It does not require parliamentary ratification.
A previous effort to sign the deal was derailed in 2012 in the face of strong public disapproval in Seoul.
The opposition parties have threatened to unseat the defense minister if he pushes through the deal this time, without public consensus.
The tentative signing came less than two weeks after talks reopened between the two countries on military intelligence sharing. The first working-level meeting was held on Nov. 1. Seoul and Tokyo had made official the negotiation’s resumption on Oct. 27. [Korea Herald]
This is the lowest I can remember any Korean President’s approval rating going:
A citizen holds a picket that says “Park Geun-hye Out” in front of barricades made of police buses in central Seoul on Nov. 12, 2016, during a massive rally to demand the president’s resignation over the latest influence-peddling scandal involving her confidante. (Yonhap)
Investigators have been declining to comment on possible investigation into Park, and they have not suggested that she profitted from the scandal either.
Despite suspicions by many in the country that Park profitted from the scandal, no president since Roh Tae-woo, who left office in 1993, has ever been implicated in using the office to amass personal wealth, although relatives and close associates have done so, with many going to jail for their misdeeds.
Park’s approval rating remained at a record-low 5 percent this week, according to local pollster Gallup Korea. [Yonhap]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (C) smiles during his inspection of an artillery unit of the Korean People’s Army on Mahap Islet near the western sea border with South Korea, in this photo released by the Rodong Sinmun, the North’s ruling party organ, on Nov. 11, 2016. The paper didn’t say when he visited the unit. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
