Via One Free Korea comes this interview with 21 year old North Korean defector Yeonmi Park that explains what life was like for her in the “Socialist Paradise”:

In an interview with the Irish Independent, Yeonmi told how her first memory is of being told by her mother at the age of four “not to even whisper because the birds and mice could hear you”.

“That’s what I learned from my mum and that was really early – so that’s the way she could protect me from that terror,” said Yeonmi.

People are not really “living” there, she says of life in that country. “They are surviving there, and surviving is not that easy actually.”

When she was nine, she was forced to watch her best friend’s mother being executed on the street before her eyes.

Her only crime had been she had watched a James Bond movie and shared the DVDs with neighbours.

Watching her body crumble to the ground was a seismic moment in how Yeonmi viewed the world.

“She was a very nice, gentle mother,” she said.

“Always I knew that in North Korea when they kill the people, they justify themselves by saying these are criminals trying to destroy our socialist paradise.

“But I knew that lady. She was not that bad. She was not going to destroy our country,” she said.

“She was just being killed because she watched the Hollywood movie, James Bond. And that’s why she got killed.”

That same year, Yeonmi’s life changed catastrophically when her father, a mid-ranking civil servant, was arrested and imprisoned for selling precious metals to China on the black market.

Her mother, too, was interrogated and thrown into jail. Yeonmi and her sister, Eunmi were left to fend for themselves, at the age of nine and 11, foraging on the mountainsides for grasses, plants, frogs and even dragonflies to avoid starving to death. “Everything I used to see, I ate them,” she said.  [Irish Independent]

You can read more plus watch a video interview with Yeonmi at the link. Make sure to read One Free Korea’s commentary as this link as well.

Unsurprisingly the North Koreans are blaming the ROK for the latest border clash despite their soldier intentionally violating the MDL:

North Korea has threatened to retaliate against South Korea if the South continues to make a military response against its patrol activities around the heavily armed inter-Korean border, the defense minister said Monday.

In a telephone message, the North denounced the South firing shots against its soldiers after warning broadcasts, claiming its activity around the military demarcation line (MDL) was just patrols, the ministry said.

The North also said it will continue to patrol around the MDL in the future.

The North’s response came after its second straight provocation around the border between Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, about 10 North Korean soldiers who were approaching the MDL near Cheolwon, a central border city of the South, returned to their side after warning shots were fired by the South’s soldiers. On Sunday, other North Korean soldiers advanced toward the MDL near Paju, a city located about 40 kilometers northwest of Seoul to cause warning shots from South Korean soldiers. The North’s soldiers exchanged fire with the South’s soldiers before going back.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but this is just another example of how the North Koreans continuously try and keep tensions high to pressure the South Koreans to make concessions as well as to make international headlines to show the world they are still a threat.  The latest concessions they want is for the ROK to stop the balloon launches and modify the NLL.

How come I am not surprised by this news?:

Two years ago, when Mrs. Lee’s 20-year-old son was found to have lied on his college application papers and later got expelled from his university, she was furious. But she wasn’t angry because he had acted immorally; rather, she was more upset because, in her mind, it was useless to blame him for something everyone else did, too.

“In Gangnam, everyone does this,” Lee reportedly told police. “Why is he the only one getting in trouble?”

Further investigation proved that her son, surnamed Sohn, also had an accomplice – his teacher.

When authorities looked into the case, they found that Sohn had received an undeserved award in an art competition for a piece he hadn’t created. His teacher switched the boy’s name with another student and submitted the work on Sohn’s behalf.

His teacher recommendation letter also included details of volunteer work he had never completed.

Sohn applied to college in the early admissions process, which assesses an applicant’s transcripts, extracurricular activities, academic awards, volunteer work, recommendation letters and grades.

In Korea, regular admissions normally evaluate applicants’ scores on the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), a standardized exam held every November. Thirty-five percent of the seats available at local colleges next year will be chosen via regular admissions, while the remaining 65 percent will be selected through early admissions.

One in every four early admissions slots will be determined through criteria similar to that which determined Sohn’s admission. But if Sohn’s case is any indication, university officials are mostly helpless to verify certain information, and similar fabrications often fly under the radar.

“There’s really not much we can do but believe whatever documents were authorized by the high school,” said one university admissions officer, who asked for anonymity. “It’s hard to tell which paper was fabricated when you have students and teachers collaborating in the scheme.”  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but probably most disturbing about this is that the teachers are helping the students to lie on the applications.

A giant yellow rubber duck sitting on Seoul’s Seokchon Lake has captured the hearts and minds of thousands of South Koreans, while carrying the hopes of a local retail giant trying to dampen public fears over a controversial construction project in a posh Seoul neighborhood.

Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s rubber duck, weighing seven tons with a concrete anchor and pontoon that supports it, arrived at the Seoul lake last week in time for the opening of Lotte World Mall, a disputed high-rise developed by Lotte.

In addition to its familiarity as a bath time toy and the gigantic size that is hard not to notice, the art installation has garnered public attention for its Lotte affiliation.

Critics charge that the conglomerate invited the public art project to Seokchon Lake, which faces Lotte World Mall, to mitigate public unease over the new shopping complex.

While no clear link has been confirmed, the appearance of sink holes and a fall in the lake’s water level have spurred safety concerns over the development where construction of a 123-story skyscraper is still underway. The lower floors of the complex opened last week.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

The government(US) wants to study ‘social pollution’ on Twitter http://t.co/hrPg63sOYY

— Tammy 陳(Chen) (@KungPaoKimchi) October 18, 2014

Koreans are trying to come to terms with the latest public safety disaster:

“Are we living in the Republic of Disasters?

This Internet post captures the fear, anger and frustration felt by a nation that was shocked by a fatal accident during an outdoor concert, when it is still recuperating from the Sewol tragedy.

A ventilation grating collapsed and 27 people standing on it fell 20 meters into an underground parking lot in the middle of a pop concert in Pangyo, south of Seoul, Friday evening.

Sixteen people were killed and 11 others were seriously injured.

“All we have heard since the Sewol ferry sinking is about how to improve safety,” said Lee, a 27-year-old man, who refused to reveal his full name.

“Every time, it’s same. The same headlines, the same government reaction and what not. The newspapers blame lax safety measures as the cause of yet another disaster and the saddest of all is that it all could have been prevented,” Lee said.

“What’s next?” Lee asked himself, and answered: “Some high-ranking government official bows in front of the cameras. Someone resigns, and it seems to quiet down. And another accident happens. It’s so cyclical that mentioning the problem seems boring.”

A 30-year-old office worker who identified herself as Kim suggested that a few security guards on site could have prevented the accident.

“The victims were trying to get a better view of the performers on stage. And I guess those people probably didn’t think too much about whether the grate was strong enough to support them or not. They were just being enthusiastic concert-goers, right?” she said.

“Maybe if someone had warned them, they wouldn’t have risked their lives,” she said. (Korea Times)

You can read more at the link, but like one netizen said in the article would the crowd have listened if there was security there?

It will be interesting to see if these medical teams will actually treat Ebola victims or just do training like the US military medical teams:

South Korea’s foreign ministry and related government agencies were to hold a meeting Monday to discuss details about the dispatch of medical workers to Ebola-hit West African countries, officials said.

Last week, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said that Seoul plans to send a group of medical workers to West African countries in a bid to lend support to the global efforts to contain the spread of the deadly Ebola virus.

Cho Tae-yul, Seoul’s second vice minister of foreign affairs, plans to preside over a meeting later in the day with officials from the health ministry and other related agencies to exchange views about plans to send medical personnel to the affected African countries, according to the foreign ministry. (Yonhap)

You can read more at the link.

North Korea is trying to pressure the Obama administration to give them free money in order to return these remains:

North Korea said Monday that the remains of American soldiers killed during the Korean War were being neglected and “carried away en masse,” in an apparent effort to pressure Washington to resume recovery efforts that could also lead to much-needed money for the impoverished country.

The United States suspended efforts to recover the remains of thousands of U.S. soldiers who died during the Korean War because of the North’s plans to launch a long-range rocket in 2012. The U.S. at the time was just starting the process of resuming excavation work that had been suspended in 2005 when Washington said security arrangements for its personnel working in the North were insufficient. North Korea would have received millions of dollars in compensation for its support of the work.

About 8,000 U.S. service members are listed as missing from the 1950-53 war, and some 5,300 of the missing are believed to be in North Korea.

On Monday, an unidentified North Korean military spokesman said in a state media dispatch that the remains of American soldiers are “left here and there uncared and carried away en masse” because of building projects, land reorganization and flood damage.  [Fox News]

You can read more at the link, but the North Koreans know exactly where the bulk of the remains are because the US military buried a large number of casualties in marked cemeteries before evacuating North Korea after the Chinese intervened in the war.

To be able to repatriate these remains to their family members the North Koreans have been demanding inflated prices which just shows how low the Kim regime is willing to go to make money.  The work to recover the remains ended in 2005 and so far does not look like it will begin again any time soon until the North Koreans become more reasonable in their demands.

Meet the men and women who help rule North Korea from the shadows. https://t.co/jDwRnM6Mp1 via @vicenews #NorthKorea #DPRK

— NorthKoreaRealTime (@BuckTurgidson79) October 18, 2014

Seen at the Army Ten Miler today~

AR 670-1 (Effective date: 15 September 2014):
“Glasses may not be worn on top of the head at any time.”

Wasn’t he the SMA that over-saw that particular addition to the eyewear regulation? [Rally Point]

I wonder if anyone correct the Sergeant Major of the Army on his uniform violation?  By the way I don’t see his reflective belt either?