North Korea’s top leader Kim Jong-un (in black) watches a firing contest by the military’s artillery units in this photo released by the North’s newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Jan. 5, 2016. As is customary, the reports did not specify when Kim viewed the contest, but it is presumed to be his first military-related field guidance of the new year. (Yonhap)
This is pretty predictable that the political opposition in South Korea would twist anyway that it could the comfort women agreement between the ROK and Japan to its political advantage:
The main opposition party on Tuesday called on the Seoul government to renegotiate last month’s agreement with Tokyo to settle Japan’s wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women and apologize to victims for the “unilateral” deal.
Four senior lawmakers of the Minjoo Party of Korea including its floor leader Rep. Lee Jong-kul made the demands during their hour-long talks with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se at his office in Seoul.
The lawmakers also said that Seoul should not accept Tokyo’s contribution of 1 billion yen ($8.38 million) to form a foundation to support the victims, and that the foundation should be funded with civilian donations.
Under the agreement struck on Dec. 28, Japan expressed its apology and contrition for its colonial-era atrocities, and agreed to provide 1 billion yen for the foundation to be established by the Seoul government.
Criticizing the government’s failure to secure consent from the victims for the deal, the lawmakers demanded that President Park Geun-hye and Minister Yun visit each victim and tender an apology for “unilaterally” reaching the agreement.
In response to the lawmakers’ demands, Yun said that the government does not consider any renegotiation given that the agreement was announced before the international community though it is not a formal treaty. [Korea Herald]
Could you just imagine the whinging in the US if a mandatory service requirement was mandated and conscripts were making less than $200 a month?:
Salaries for conscripted soldiers will go up 15 percent on-year in 2016, with sergeants earning 197,100 won a month, according to the government.
All able-bodied South Korean men must carry out compulsory military service for about two years in a country that faces North Korea across a heavily fortified border. (Korea Herald)
I was a bit surprised by this news because it was only a few years ago that Stephen Bosworth was the key person in the Obama administration making North Korea policy:
Stephen Bosworth
Stephen Bosworth, a long-time Korea expert who served as U.S. ambassador to South Korea and as Washington’s special representative for North Korea policy, has died. He was 76.
Bosworth died at his home in Boston on Sunday, according to Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies. Bosworth had served as chairman of the U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS until recently. SAIS did not give the exact cause of his death, but the former diplomat suffered from prostate cancer.
Bosworth served as Washington’s top envoy to South Korea from 1997-2001 and special representative for North Korea policy from 2009-2011. He also served as executive director of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization from 1995-1997.
KEDO was set up to implement a 1994 deal with North Korea under which the communist nation promised to freeze and then ultimately dismantle its nuclear program in exchange for energy-producing light water reactors and other concessions from the U.S. and other partners.
That deal later fell apart as the North was found to have run a clandestine uranium-enrichment program in violation of the agreement. [Korea Herald]
You can read the rest at the link, but condolences to his family.
Another day and another strange story involving North Korea; this time two doctors strangely killed in Cambodia:
Even by the standards of news about North Korea, this story is bizarre: Two North Korean doctors working in Cambodia died over the weekend, apparently after they got so drunk that their wives, also doctors, injected them with some mystery liquid to counteract the alcohol. Both men then had heart attacks, according to a report in the Phnom Penh Post. [Washington Post]
According to the below article an increasing amount of young Koreans are trying to leave the country. It was interesting to learn that many of these young Koreans were very concerned about how European countries namely Germany accepting Syrian refugees would impact their own immigration plans. My advice to anyone thinking of leaving Korea is to understand that the grass is not always greener on the other side:
There are young people all over the country who have already made their “South Korean escape,” at least in spirit, though they may not be ready to leave just yet. There are quite a few groups of people raising funds to immigrate or learning how immigration works. On a website called Hell Korea (hellkorea.com), various individuals have posted tips about getting out of the country on the site’s “Escape Korea” message board. Some typical posts are “The Pros of American Citizenship” and “How to Immigrate to Canada as a Skilled Worker.” One netizen who succeeded at immigrating to Canada as a skilled worker shared [his] experience. “I was working at a web agency, which is regarded as the absolute worst place to be in the IT industry. You wouldn’t believe the exhaustion I was dealing with because of my long working hours. I decided to get a work visa as a welder in Canada, because of the educational and medical benefits there, and I spent about six years being trained and gaining experience,” [he] wrote. [Hankyoreh]
These photos carried by North Korea’s ruling party newspaper Rodong Sinmun on Dec. 29, 2015, show the country’s leader Kim Jong-un at a commendations ceremony for fishermen. According to the report, Kim lauded the exemplary fishermen and fisheries officials for their remarkable successes. (Yonhap)
