Why don’t Japanese People wear Wedding Rings? http://t.co/0IbkuqKWQ6

— JamesTurnbull (@JamesTurnbull) October 27, 2014

Actress Kim Tae-hee smiles at a promotional event for a cosmetics brand in Seoul on Sunday. [Chosun Ilbo]

A man in Wonju came home to find a burglar robbing his home and proceeded to put a beat down on him that has now cost him his freedom:

A 20-year-old man is serving his jail term that he received for assaulting a 50-year-old burglar, YTN reported Friday.

Choi received an 18-month prison sentence in a trial on charges of making the thief brain dead by hitting him with a drying rack.

The thief, identified as Kim, broke into Choi’s house in Wonju, Gangwaon Province in March. Choi came home at around 3 a.m. after a drink with friends and found the thief rifling through drawers. Choi called the police and fought off the intruder.

He claimed self-defense in assaulting the 50-year-old man with the “light, aluminum” drying rack, but the court ruled against him.

The court found the drying rack was a “dangerous material” to use to defend himself against the thief who was unarmed and trying to run away.  [Korea Observer]

You can read more at the link, but the beat down he put on the burglar resulted in him going brain dead.  So the judge felt this was excessive force.  If a criminal is in your house and you surprise him how is the home owner supposed to know what this guys intent was?  This guy could have had a knife for all he knew.  When it comes to crimes like this I definitely lean towards favoring the home owner rather than the criminal.

Via One Free Korea comes the latest example of North Korea’s racist attitudes and lack of regard for human rights:

North Korean officials making a rare appearance at a United Nations human rights event on Wednesday laughed among themselves at the testimony of former labor camp detainees and referred to the ambassador of Botswana with derogatory racial language, according to Korean-speaking sources who overheard their conversations and spoke with VICE News.

The special session featured an awkward and testy exchange between Kim Ju Song, advisor for political affairs at the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s mission to the UN, and Michael Kirby, the retired Australian judge who headed a recent UN commission of inquiry into North Korean human rights abuses. The commission released a report in March that cited forced labor, starvation, persecution of religious believers, and a massive network of political prisons holding up to 120,000 people among various violations and crimes against humanity committed by North Korea’s government.

Speaking along with Kirby were the ambassadors of Australia, Panama and Botswana — whose delegations co-sponsored the hearing — as well as two former North Korean detainees whose experiences were featured in the commission’s report.

At one point, members of the North Korean delegation were heard referring to Botswana’s UN Ambassador Charles Ntwaagae in Korean as “that black bastard,” sources who were nearby told VICE News. They also chuckled at the testimony of Kirby and the two prison escapees, Jung Gwang-il and Kim Hye Sook. Those in the room with the North Korean delegation who later spoke with VICE News insisted on anonymity due to fear of reprisal.  [VICE News]

You can read more at the link, but people shouldn’t be surprised by the racist attitudes if they have read B.R. Myers book the Cleanest Race.

I haven’t done one of the round up links in quite a while, but I figure I would start doing this again more regularly in order to share stories from other blogs. If anyone has a blog they want to add to my sidebar drop a link in the comments section.  I hope everyone had a good weekend.

The Koreas

• Why the OECD is wrong in stating South Korea has the worst labor productivity.
• How World War I affected Korea.
• A wildfire has reportedly burned down Kim Jong-il’s former home.
• For fans of heavy metal there is a metal bar in Itaewon for you.
• A look at South Korea’s biggest baseball fans.
• The 10 weirdest places to visit in Korea.
• Do Koreans deserve freedom of speech?
• Is Anthony Bourdain in Seoul now?
• Teacher explains what it is like to teach at Pyongyang university.
• North Korea rebuilding on site of building collapse.
• So what are 1st Cav troops doing in Korea?

This Week's Tongil Sinbo is out | @KCNAWatch http://t.co/YGXR54t2C2 pic.twitter.com/tZxDdIeANL

— NK NEWS (@nknewsorg) October 25, 2014

I think it is pretty accurate that President Obama has a close relationship with a the new US Ambassador to Korea:

U.S. President Barak Obama made a surprise appearance at the swearing-in ceremony Friday of new U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert in a show of his closeness and friendship with the new envoy, officials said.

Obama showed up at the end of the ceremony at the State Department, South Korean Ambassador to Washington Ahn Ho-young said during his own reception for the new ambassador later in the day. Ahn quoted Obama as telling him, “Give Mark Lippert a lot of bulgogi.” [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

Please leave anything you want to discuss in the comments section.

I also recommend checking out these new postings in the Forums this week:

• • Is the IRR Going to Be the New “Back-door Draft”?
  • Harry Roque cries ‘special treatment’ over Pemberton’s air-conditioned detention
  • Why America’s Army Will Not Be Ready for the Next War
  • Immigrant shackled during labor could get special visa
  • North Korea Reportedly Building A New Submarine
  • What to Do When Visiting Sejong City
  • Why America Needs Big Army
  • West Point Criticized for Recruiting Players with Alcohol and Women
  • Ft. Benning Battalion Commander Relieved for Wearing Fraudulent Tabs

Three more female Marines were dropped out of the Infantry Officer Course for failing a road march:

Just weeks after three women passed a rigorous day-long test qualifying them to potentially lead US Marine infantrymen for the first time in history, news came that all three women have been asked to leave the course.

They were physically disqualified from the training last week for falling behind in hikes while carrying loads of upwards of 100 pounds, says Maj. George Flynn, director of the Infantry Officers Course (IOC) at Quantico, Va.  [Christian Science Monitor]

It should also be noted that three men also were dropped from the course for failing the road march.

Instead of activist groups thanking the Marine Corps for treating the women trainees the same as men they instead are demanding standards be dropped for them:

Retired Army Col. Ellen Haring, an advocate for women in combat, says that although the entire formation was supposed to complete the hike in three hours, it took most of the group closer to four hours.

“Despite the fact that none of them could keep the pace that was set that day, they were considered failures. But the whole unit failed to meet those parameters, not just those six people,” she says. “Who maintains the rate of the march?”

The Marines haven’t always been clear about the parameters for the course, says Greg Jacob, policy director for the Service Women’s Action Network.

At the enlisted training school, Mr. Jacobs, who served as a Marine, recalls that students were told they could walk no faster than three miles an hour, and every hour they had to take a 10-minute break.

In the IOC, “it’s up to the person in front to set the speed of the hike,” he says. “There doesn’t seem to be a standard around these movements.”

As a result, he adds, “it seems like the goal posts just keep moving.”

If there is any goal post moving it is to make the course easier for female trainees to pass. Due to the political pressure the female trainees were probably given every benefit of the doubt before they were removed from the course. It was a 7.5 mile road march and an attendee had to fall 75-100 meters behind before being dropped.  This is not that far of a movement and giving a leeway of up to a 100 meters is a very far distance to fall behind the rest of your unit. Every trainee was briefed on the standard before the road march and six did not meet it, end of story.

As I have always said I support women being able to compete for Infantry positions, but they should be expected to meet the same standards as men.  In this case they didn’t and were dropped. So instead of cheapening the accomplishment by lowering standards keep the standards the same and there will eventually be a female Marine that will meet it.  The Marines shouldn’t care about this happening on the political timetable that the activists want.