At the military parade in Beijing marking the seventieth anniversary of China’s war victory over Japan, from right to left, former Chinese Presidents Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin, current President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South Korean President Park Geun-hye, Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev, Uzbek President Islam Karimov, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Sep. 3. (by Lee Jeong-yong, staff photographer) [Hankyoreh]
Considering that the North Korean leader did not attend the parade I think that his delegate deserved to get the second class status he received from the Chinese:
North Korean Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae watches a military parade in Beijing, marking the seventieth anniversary of China’s war victory over Japan, Sep. 3. Choe was seated far away from President Park Geun-hye, who was seated near the center. (Yonhap News)
The North Korean delegation that attended China’s military parade was headed by Vice Marshal Choe Ryong-hae.On Sep. 3, Choe was present at the military parade on the parapet of Tiananmen – the Gate of Heavenly Peace – in Beijing. Choe was standing almost at the end of the line of dignitaries, to the right side of Chinese President Xi Jinping. This was a sharp contrast with Park Geun-hye, who was only one person away from Xi.There is speculation that China‘s decision to position the North Korean envoy toward the end of the line of dignitaries reflects China’s relations with North Korea, which have been chilly in recent years.Another interpretation is that China placed Choe at some distance from Park out of consideration for the South Korean president.But it‘s also possible that, considering that Choe was just an envoy, and not the leader of North Korea, his position on the parapet should not necessarily be seen as a snub. When China announced on Aug. 25 the figures who would be attending its ceremony commemorating the victory over Japan in World War II, its inclusion of Choe in a list of 30 national leaders including Park and Russian President Vladimir Putin was regarded as a sign of respect. [Hankyoreh]
Also unsurprisingly is that the North Korean state media did not report President Park Geun-hye’s attendance at the military parade where she received the VIP treatment.
A US Marine officer who recently served in South Korea has earned the scorn of Deadspin.com for what was basically a publicity stunt reunion during a St. Louis Rams preseason game:
During last weekend’s preseason St. Louis Rams game, a familiar ritual played out: With a stadium full of fans and a television audience watching, Rams cheerleader Candace Ruocco Valentine was surprised by the arrival of her husband August Valentine, a Marine Corps first lieutenant, who had just returned home from service abroad.
As a series of visuals, shown in the video below, it was a sterling example of the genre. The All-American cheerleader literally drops her pom-poms to run toward her husband, relief written across her face as she does; the happy young couple embraces; and Rampage, an anthropomorphic ram, looks on approvingly at their release from anxiety and fear.
As a set of facts, though, the heartwarming moment was basically bullshit, despite which the viral glurge machine went ahead and ran with the story of a joint triumph for the Valentines, the St. Louis Rams, the NFL, and the Pentagon. [Deadspin]
You can read the rest at the link, but 1st Lieutenant August Valentine is part of the Busch family of Anheuser-Busch beer fame and his wife’s first game as a cheerleader just happened to be when he makes his surprise arrival back from Korea. Anyone think this was just coincidence? According to this Fox News interview his wife knew her husband’s unit recently came back from South Korea which made me think he may have just been over there for UFG and not even on a long deployment like most other servicemembers. Also of interest is that Mrs. Valentine’s mother is running for an Illinois State Representative seat and using the publicity of this reunion to help her campaign. I am willing to bet this was all setup by Busch family connections to be the publicity stunt that it became.
Despite all this what gets me is that Mrs. Valentine is also a Marine officer. You would think that with all the sexual harassment and assault criticism that the military has received that cheerleading which sexually objectifies women would be frowned upon. Then again with all the issues of alcohol abuse in the ranks, the military allowed itself to be used to sell beerduring the Super Bowl. Guess who was also involved in that controversy, you guessed it Anheuser-Busch.
With all the negative press that Japan constantly gets beaten with over historical issues it is actually a bit surprising that Japan is not only the most favorably viewed nation in Asia by other Asian nations, but by a wide margin over #2 China. I was surprised to see China at #2 considering the various territorial land grab schemes they have going on with various neighboring countries:
The coming decades promise to be the Asian Century, when the most populous region, with some of the world’s fastest growing economies, is likely to become the global nexus of commercial, cultural and geopolitical activity. For this reason, how people in the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia, see each other and their leaders is of growing importance.
Overall, despite historical and territorial frictions, Asia-Pacific publics tend to view their regional neighbors in a positive light, with Japan judged most favorably. But these same publics also express limited confidence in the region’s most prominent national leaders when it comes to their handling of international issues. These are some of the findings from a new Pew Research Center survey of 15,313 people in 10 Asia-Pacific nations and the U.S. conducted from April 6 to May 27, 2015.
No Leader Has Majority’s ConfidenceA median of 71% in the region have a favorable view of Japan, with positive views exceeding negative sentiment by more than five-to-one.1 A median of 57% voice a favorable opinion of China. Roughly half (51%) see India in a positive light. And just under half (47%) give South Korea a thumbs-up, in part due to a higher proportion of those surveyed who express no opinion. Nevertheless, favorable views of South Korea outweigh negative sentiment by two-to-one. [Pew Research Center]
You can read more at the link, but something else of interest from the poll is that 61% of South Koreans have a favorable view of China and only 25% have a favorable view of Japan. This shows the power the media and the political class have had in South Korea in shaping public opinion about Japan. China is the nation with its own territorial squabble with South Korea, tried by military force to destroy the Republic of Korea, responsible for the killing of more Koreans during the Korean War than Imperial Japan ever committed, continues to enable the Kim regime committed to destroying the ROK, interferes in ROK internal affairs, and maintains a modern day comfort women system of Korean women. This is all overlooked by the ROK public because of the constant sensationalism given to Dokdo and historical issues with Japan that pail in comparison to what the Chinese have done to Korea more recently.
This photo released on Sept. 2, 2015, by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, shows North Korea’s national female choir Chongbong staging a performance, along with the North’s State Merited Chorus, at the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow on Aug. 31, 2015. It marks the first time the all-female band, founded by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in July 2015, has performed to the public. (Yonhap)
While Maxim here in the U.S. has done well to rejuvenate its image, Maxim Korea is headed 100 mph in the wrong direction with this disturbing cover. The cover depicts a man casually enjoying a cigarette while a woman’s dead body is stuffed in the trunk of his car. The image is for Maxim Korea‘s September issue, which has a “bad guy” theme, and features an actor notorious for playing villains, Kim Byung-ok. Next to Byung-ok is the copy, “So girls like ‘bad guys’? This is what a bad guy looks like. Dying for him, right?”
Unsurprisingly, the offensive cover has prompted an online petition that calls for Maxim Korea to pull the magazine from newsstands, Cosmopolitan UK reports. [Yahoo News via reader tip]
