A hologram concert of late singer Kim Kwang-seok is held in Daegu, the singer’s hometown in southeast South Korea, on June 10, 2016. Kim gained a large following after debuting in 1984 for his philosophical songs, but ended his life in suicide at the age of 32. (Yonhap)
The whole issue with the succession issues and now government raid of Lotte Group is playing out like a Korean television drama:
Investigators carry out confiscated documents after raiding the headquarters of the Seoul-based Lotte Group on June 10, 2016. (Yonhap)
Prosecutors raided the headquarters of South Korea’s retail giant Lotte Group, as well as its six affiliates, on Friday over allegations of embezzlement and malpractice.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office said it sent some 200 investigators to 17 places, including the group’s headquarters in central Seoul, its major affiliates and the homes of some executives.
Hotel Lotte Co., TV channel Lotte Homeshopping and its key retail unit Lotte Shopping Co. were all raided.
Prosecutors said they confiscated computer hard drives, accounting books and other documents in their asset transactions.
Travel bans have been put out for some of the company’s senior officials, according to prosecutors. Some of the executives are accused of making secret funds by exaggerating unit prices in contracts with their subcontractors.
Prosecutors also suspect the group created slush funds while making transactions between its affiliates.
“We could no longer postpone the raid as there have been tips that evidence was being destroyed,” a senior prosecutor said.
The conglomerate, which has sprawling businesses in both South Korea and Japan, has been riddled with a series of scandals from last year, including a high-profile fight between brothers for managerial control and the recent prosecutors’ probe into the group’s duty-free business unit.
Hotel Lotte Co., which has been preparing to list its shares later this month, postponed the proposed initial public offering (IPO) to next month as its senior officials have come under investigation over alleged bribery.
Prosecutors raided the hotel unit and the house of Shin Young-ja, the head of Lotte Foundation and daughter of group founder Shin Kyuk-ho, over the allegations last week.
The 74-year-old Shin and other company officials are suspected of receiving kickbacks from Jung Woon-ho, chief of the scandal-ridden cosmetics brand Nature Republic, in return for favorable space in Lotte’s duty-free shops. Both Shin and Hotel Lotte flatly denied the allegations. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I wonder if we see Mr. Shin show up in court in a wheel chair?
So does this mean that we have to have a third bathroom built around the country? Maybe we should just all go to one bathroom that would be much easier:
An Oregon judge ruled Friday that a transgender person can legally change their sex to “non-binary” rather than male or female in what legal experts believe is a first in the United States.
Multnomah County Circuit Court Judge Amy Holmes Hehn legally changed 52-year-old Jamie Shupe’s sex from “female” to non-binary.
Nancy Haque, a co-executive director for Basic Rights Oregon, called the ruling a “momentous day for genderqueer Oregonians.”
“It’s really exciting for the courts to actually recognize what we know to be true: gender is a spectrum,” Haque said. “Some people don’t identify as male or female.”
Shupe, an Army veteran who retired in 2000 a sergeant first class, began transitioning in 2013 while living in Pittsburg. Shupe knew then that neither male nor female fit. Shupe chose “Jamie” as a new first name primarily because it is a gender-neutral name. Shupe prefers to be called “Jamie,” rather than by a pronoun.
“I was assigned male at birth due to biology,” Shupe said. “I’m stuck with that for life. My gender identity is definitely feminine. My gender identity has never been male, but I feel like I have to own up to my male biology. Being non-binary allows me to do that. I’m a mixture of both. I consider myself as a third sex.” [The Oregonian]
It just makes me wonder where all the money is coming from for the Kim regime to build up their nuclear, ballistic missile and conventional military strength like this? Here may be the most important modernization that did not require any money to get:
Joseph S. Bermudez, an expert on North Korea’s military, told The Washington Post: “I get a sense that when Kim Jong Un came to power, he looked around and said, ‘We have all these old guys running things who haven’t been in the field for 15 or 20 years. We need people who know what they’re talking about.'”
“Before, you had leaders of special forces who couldn’t run a mile. Now, we see artillery division commanders that actually have an artillery background,” Bermudez continued. [Business Insider]
The Joong Ang Ilbo has an article published that shows some of the details of the foreign tourism industry in North Korea. Like I have always said I encourage people to not travel to North Korea because the money is used to subsidize the Kim regime and not some misguided sense of engagement some may think their travel to North Korea is offering. I will travel to North Korea one day when the Kim regime is gone and the Korea’s are reunited:
Canadian businessman Michael Spavor, who hosts sporting exchanges with North Korea.
The eyes of the world were upon Pyongyang when the former NBA player, Dennis Rodman, visited the city with the Harlem Globetrotters, an American exhibition basketball team, on Feb. 26, 2013. The North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally threw a welcoming party for the American athletes.
Another visit was made by retired Japanese wrestler-cum-lawmaker Kanji Inoki, more widely known by his ring name, Antonio Inoki, who appeared at Pyongyang Sunan International Airport with his fellow wrestlers in August 2014. An international competition was held in Ryugyong Chung Ju-yung Gymnasium, built by the South’s Hyundai Group in an effort to initiate inter-Korean sports events. The event signaled the return of pro-wrestling to North Korea for the first time in 18 years.
Behind both these events was Michael Spavor, the head of Paektu Cultural Exchange, a “non-profit organization that facilitates cultural exchanges and business with North Korea,” according to its website. The Canadian enterpriser maintains a close connection with Kim, hosting not only sports exchanges, but investment briefings for foreigners, as well.
As inter-Korean relations experience a chill, foreign influence is rapidly squeezing through the gap, pervading cultural, political, economic and social domains, helping define the country’s change under Kim Jong-un’s leadership. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Members of the North’s Korean Children’s Union (KCU) enjoy free time at a water park in Pyongyang in this photo released by the Korean Central News Agency, the country’s state media, on June 8, 2016. The report said the young children took a tour of the capital city as they celebrated the 70th founding anniversary of the KCU. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)
I am a bit surprised that it has taken this long for a North Korean defector to serve in the ROK military:
A North Korean defector recently completed his mandatory military service in South Korea, according to Korea Hana Foundation, a state-funded organization helping defectors, Thursday.
Kim Ji-hwan, 22, was discharged on Feb. 23 after serving two years as an Air Force sergeant in the 8th Fighter Wing in Wonju, Gangwon Province.
Kim is the first North Korean defector to have completed military service here, according to the Military Manpower Administration (MMA).
All able-bodied South Korean men aged between 19 and 37 are subject to compulsory military duty. But those who escaped from North Korea can legally refuse the draft under the Conscription Law, the MMA said.
Despite this, Kim applied for service in the Air Force. There are no other North Korean defectors serving in the military.
Kim fled to South Korea with his family in 2005. [Korea Times]
I don’t think there is any more danger for women on Korean mountains than there would be in the city. That is why I don’t think these recent murders should cause people to avoid hiking in Korea:
When a 55-year-old female hiker was found dead this week on a mountain in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi, police officers didn’t want to think she was murdered.
Just 10 days before and 7 kilometers (4 miles) away on a different mountain, a 60-year-old woman was stabbed to death by a man recently released from prison. Murders are hardly common at spots where people hike, a favorite Korean pastime.
But on Thursday, police acknowledged that the 55-year-old appears to have been choked to death. Autopsy results found bruises “all over her body.”
A sexual assault is also possible.
Police are now wondering whether lone female hikers have become new targets for brutal killings.
“When a murder case unfolds on a mountain, very rarely can you find a witness,” said Lee Yoon-ho, a police administration professor at Dongguk University in Jung District, central Seoul.
The police have no suspects in the alleged murder case on Mount Sapae (1,808 feet), where the 55-year-old was choked, which is one of the most popular hiking destinations in Gyeonggi.
A lot of women say they are less keen to go hiking alone.
On a recent visit to the scene of the crime on Mount Surak (2,100 feet), where the 60-year-old was stabbed, very few people were spotted. Even male hikers admitted they were feeling slightly anxious. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read the rest at the link, but the article calls for CCTV camera to be set up along popular hiking trails to protect hikers. It seems a bit overboard to me to put up CCTV cameras all over the country to protect against crimes. If people are so concerned for their safety than carry some pepper spray for personal protection.
The Washington Post has an interesting article that looks into an Inspector General investigation on why a US Army Special Forces sergeant was denied the Medal of Honor. In the article it explains the bureaucracy a Medal of Honor packet goes through, but the reason the sergeant was denied the award was quite interesting:
Sgt. 1st Class Earl D. Plumlee, assigned to 1st Special Forces Group, is presented the Silver Star for his actions in Afghanistan on May 1, 2015. (Spec. Codie Mendenhall/ Army).
Joe Kasper, a spokesman for Hunter, said that the comments of members on the decorations board show “enormous amounts of personal prejudice” in how valor awards are approved.
“In essence what he’s saying is, ‘If this was a private, it would rate the Medal of Honor, but because we expect our NCOs to do valorous things, it doesn’t,’” Kasper said. “That person should be looking at the actions alone.” [Washington Post]
