Why would the average Korean know what the emigrant experience is like?
— the oranckay (@oranckay) August 10, 2019
The kimchi and chopsticks thing tho. It’s one thing if they think I’m a tourist but it’s a whole nother level of dumb when I’ve already introduced myself.
Condolences to the friends and family of the victims of this terrible accident in Sokcho:
Three people were killed and three injured as an elevator fell at an apartment construction site in Sokcho, Gangwon Province, Wednesday morning, rescue workers and reports said.
The three were riding in the elevator when it dropped 15 floors to the ground at 8:28 a.m. The fourth also in the elevator survived the fall and was transported to hospital.
The remaining two ― foreign workers from Uzkekistan ― were on the ground and hit by debris when the elevator fell. They were also taken to hospital. All casualties were workers.
It was not immediately known what caused one of the two elevators, installed outside the 30-story building, to fall. Police said that the workers were working to dissemble the elevators.
Korea Times
It is strange times in Korea when the conservative politicians are complaining about President Trump and the Korean left don’t like him either, but they really don’t know why:
Korean conservatives are generally pro-U.S. and advocates of a strong Seoul-Washington alliance.
Yet their alliance appears to be cracking following U.S. President Donald Trump’s remarks on issues crucial for South Korea. The real estate developer-turned-politician has expressed his interest in trading the blood-forged alliance for an increase in national revenue and appears to favor North Korea over the South.
Last Friday he even made fun of South Korea ― along with Japan and the European Union ― mimicking the Korean accent before his deep-pocketed supporters.
Their sense of humiliation has seen even pro-U.S. conservative politicians speak out to slam Trump. Some lashed out at the president, calling him “empty-headed” or “too inept to figure out what’s right and wrong.”
“With the ‘money is everything’ mind of a merchant, Trump seems to be confused about what is his ally and foe,” Rep. Cho Kyung-tae of the main opposition Liberty Party of Korea (LPK) said on a radio show Tuesday.
Korea Times
You can read more at the link.
Some ruling party politicians in Busan are demanding an investigation into a tower that honors UN nations that fought for South Korea in the Korean War, because they think — hold your breath — it resembles Japan's rising sun flag https://t.co/LDqvJKnqCi pic.twitter.com/Q1kcGmPNnt
— Sam Kim 김혜성 (@samkimasia) August 12, 2019
Here are the defense upgrades that the ROK government plans to invest in:
South Korea plans to add two more ground-based anti-missile early warning radars and begin building three Aegis-equipped destroyers in the next five years in an effort to better detect and intercept incoming missiles from North Korea, the defense ministry said Wednesday.
The plan was one of the key projects that the ministry unveiled in its five-year defense blueprint for 2020-2024 amid heightened concerns about North Korea’s missile capabilities in the wake of a series of test-firings of what Pyongyang claimed were new weapons. (……..)
It will also seek to enhance its multi-layered interception capabilities by deploying the improved version of interceptors — Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC)-3 and Cheolmae-II missiles, while wrapping up the development of L-SAM, a long-range surface-to-air missile.
With a goal to boost its “strategic target strike” capabilities against nuclear and missile facilities, the ministry vowed to secure more precision-guided missiles to be launched from the ground, the sea, submarines and fighter jets.
The development of additional non-lethal weapons will also be pushed for, such as electromagnetic pulse bombs and blackout ones, to neutralize North Korea’s electric power system in contingencies, according to the ministry.
In order to “significantly” boost reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities of its own, the ministry also vowed to deploy five military satellites by 2023 and multiple mid- and high-altitude drones over the next five years. South Korea plans to add two more ground-based anti-missile early warning radars and begin building three Aegis-equipped destroyers in the next five years in an effort to better detect and intercept incoming missiles from North Korea, the defense ministry said Wednesday.
The plan was one of the key projects that the ministry unveiled in its five-year defense blueprint for 2020-2024 amid heightened concerns about North Korea’s missile capabilities in the wake of a series of test-firings of what Pyongyang claimed were new weapons. (……..)
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but does anyone really think the Moon administration will purchase all these capabilities? This announcement almost sounds like a negotiating tactic to stop the Trump administration from demanding that the ROK pay more for the upkeep of the US-ROK alliance.
As far protests go, only getting a supposed 20,000 people to show up in the middle of Seoul is pretty weak. Maybe the supposed anti-Japan sentiment in South Korea is not as great as the media and politicians lead people to believe:
The weekly protest rally demanding Japan’s apology to victims of its wartime sex slavery marked its 1,400th edition Wednesday amid an escalating diplomatic and trade row between Seoul and Tokyo.
Nearly 20,000 activists, students and other citizens assembled to participate in the 27-year-old protest in front of the former compound of the Japanese Embassy in central Seoul at noon.
Politicians, including Rep. Sim Sang-jung, head of the progressive Justice Party, and Rep. Nam In-soon for the ruling Democratic Party also attended the historic event.
Yonhap
You can read more at the link, but I am still waiting for an anti-China protest in regards to their destruction of the Korean peninsula during the Korean War which was more recent than Japan’s World War II offenses against Korea.
Sanctions, what sanctions? Chinese traders and investors on the border with North Korea are preparing for a boom. It's just a matter of time, they think. Our report from Dandong: https://t.co/LceVmqwEat
— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) August 9, 2019
