Cho Hee-yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, leaves the Seoul High Court on Sept. 4, 2015, after the appeals court convicted him of running a smear campaign during last year’s election but suspended his sentence. If the Supreme Court confirms the ruling, Cho will be able to keep his job. A lower court in April fined Cho 5 million won (US$4,600) for spreading false rumors about his rival, Koh Seung-duk, during the election campaign. (Yonhap)
Below is a good read in the Financial Times about Cheju’s female divers called “haenyeo” for those that have not read about them before. I think what will end the haenyo tradition is the small pay the hard work earns. A top haenyeo earns up to $25,000 a year, most earn half that number according to the article requiring them to often work second jobs as farmers:
Each of the elderly women utters a distinctive cry as they surface around me from the bitterly cold East China Sea, clutching fistfuls of seaweed. From my left comes a sound like the bleating of a goat; ahead, a determined groan of endurance. All of them are whistling too, an ancient technique to expel carbon dioxide from the lungs. Occasionally, the wetsuit-clad grandmothers exchange a few words after depositing their seaweed in sacks tied to orange buoys beside them. But none of them rests for more than a minute before plunging to the seabed once more — a rhythm they maintain for five hours.
These are the haenyeo (sea women) of South Korea’s Jeju island, who have dived in search of seaweed and shellfish since at least the 17th century. Their work is one of the country’s most celebrated traditions but one that many islanders fear could soon be consigned to the past.
Traditionally a job handed down from mother to daughter, haenyeo life has been shunned in recent decades by nearly all the girls born in Jeju’s seaside villages, who have tended to favour more comfortable lives in the island’s two cities or on the mainland. From more than 14,000 in the 1970s, the number of haenyeo has dwindled to fewer than 4,500 today. [Financial Times]
You can read the rest at the link and I recommend watching the video included with the article as well.
It seems that every time the North Koreans decide to act out that President Park is the one that benefits as she yet again gets a boost in the public opinion polls:
SEOUL — President Park Geun-hye’s approval rating topped the 50-percent level for the first time in one and a half years, apparently boosted by a positive public view of her policy on North Korea and diplomatic issues, a poll showed Friday.
The survey by Gallup Korea showed 54 percent of South Koreans approved of Park’s accomplishment, while 38 percent was negative. [Yonhap]
Female soldiers salute the national flag during a ceremony in Seoul on Sept. 4, 2015, to mark 65th anniversary of the establishment of South Korea’s Women’s Army Corps. After the ceremony, they took part in a seminar on how to instill gender equality into military culture. (Yonhap)
I did not realize the ROK military segregated their female servicemembers into their own Women’s Army Corps:
South Korea’s female troops have grown to nearly ten-thousand in number but gender discrimination continues to be a problem.
In a Friday seminar hosted by the Defense Ministry to discuss ways to realize gender equality in the barracks, Kangwon National University Professor Cho Seok-hee called for defusing gender discrimination against female soldiers.
Cho, who was discharged in 2011 after serving as the head of Women’s Army Corps School, cited disadvantages in the commission rate of women. She also said verbal abuse and remarks on one’s appearance still persist in the military.
She proposed scrapping the current guidelines on the use of female military personnel and creating a new department exclusively dealing with female troop personnel affairs and difficulties.
The Women’s Army Corps was founded on September 6, 1950 and celebrates its 65th anniversary on Sunday. The number of troops has grown to some 97-hundred as of July. [KBS World Radio]
Below is a post I thought some of you may find of interest from Reddit Korea in regards to a man visiting Korea for the first time with his Korean fiance’. I think his concerns of confrontations with other Koreans due to being with a Korean female is overstated. 10 years ago I think this is more of a concern, but no longer. It doesn’t mean however that it won’t happen. If something was going to happen it would more than likely be on the subway with some older drunk ajeosi. It is best just to walk away and not get into a confrontation with one of these people which is best advice I can give. Something that may take some getting used to though is the stares. I get this even when not with my wife, but it is even worse when I am with my wife. Anyone else have an opinion on this?
One of my favorite Anti-English Spectrum cartoons from 2005.
My Korean fiance and I are going to Korea soon and she is freaking out as she heard stories about locals (usually (old) men) expressing hate towards Korean girls that date foreigners.
She left Korea when she was very young, but still speaks perfect Korean and understands the culture fairly well.
The things she is scared of are…. 1. her extended family judging her for dating a white male as it is considered “prostitute-like” 2. Strangers on the street verbally abusing/staring at/swearing at her for being with a white guy. 3. People assuming that I am a white-trashy dude who is with her for cheap sex.
She says that every single one of her Korean friends (all three of them :p)that visited Korea with her Caucasian husband/bf got verbally abused on the train/bus by total strangers and apparently one of them has been physically attacked by an old man on the train in Seoul.
I find it hard to believe that it is that bad and want to know how true this is.
Do they really hate Korean girls dating outside their own nationality? If so, why is that?
What are the chances of noticing/experiencing the hate towards us when we visit Korea?
What can we do to minimise the chance of getting physically/verbally abused? [Reddit Korea]
I guess the good news is that if you take the Chinese government at their word they are not planning to send troops into downtown Seoul again to destroy the ROK. On the other hand I think everyone knows peaceful reunification is never going to happen as long as the Kim regime remains in power in North Korea:
President Park Geun-hye on Friday said South Korea and China could quickly begin various discussions on how to achieve a peaceful unification between South and North Korea.
“Peaceful unification is the fundamental and the quickest way to resolve nuclear and other issues,” Park said in a press gaggle aboard Air Force One on the way back to Seoul from a trip to China, referring to tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Tensions persist on the divided peninsula over the North’s pursuit of its missile and nuclear weapons program. The communist country has a track record of staging provocations against South Korea.
The North — which conducted three nuclear tests — has repeatedly vowed to develop its economy and nuclear arsenal in tandem, viewing its nuclear programs as a powerful deterrent against what it claims is Washington’s hostile policy against it.
South Korea “would cooperate with China for a peaceful unification,” Park said. “Various discussions could begin as soon as possible on how to achieve a peaceful unification.” She did not provide a specific time frame. [Korea Herald]
