This seems like a political stunt to me because I doubt a member of parliament can’t find child care:
National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang
National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang has decided not to endorse a female lawmaker’s request to bring her six-month-old child to a plenary session.
Speaker Moon explained in a letter sent Thursday to Liberty Korea Party Representative Shin Bo-ra that his decision was inevitable, given the impact it could have on other lawmakers and deliberations on bills.
However, he positively evaluated her request and efforts to raise public awareness about childcare and the social need to create family-friendly working environments finding balance between work and family.
Speaker Moon promised to seek cooperation from the House Steering Committee to ensure discussions are swiftly held on revising the parliamentary law to reflect the lawmaker’s request.
Shin sought permission last week to bring her baby to work with her when she briefs other lawmakers on her proposals for two bills aimed at improving the conditions in which women work and take care of children.
Honestly, I despair of politics. Everywhere has gone mad. Or is there still a good country on this earth, where thinking voters elect honest, wise leaders, who debate civilly and rationally, consult widely, seek unity not division, and do sensible things? Is there? Anywhere?
Dr. Tara O has an article posted about the April Fool’s Day posters that were put up on college campus around South Korea lampooning people to overthrow the Moon administration on behalf of Kim Jong-un. The posters were put up by the Jeondaehyeop organization that many members of the Moon administration were once part of:
Satire posters criticizing the Moon Jae-in administration popped up all over South Korean university campuses to coincide with April Fools’ Day. The heading on the posters stated “Letter to South Korean students” and “Let’s overthrow the South Korean system” with Kim Jong-un and Jeondaehyeop (전대협) listed at the bottom. The group claimed they posted in about 450 universities nationwide.
There are two Jeondaehyeop organizations. The older Jeondaehyeop, also known as the National Council of Student Representatives, was a university student organization formed in 1987. It was controlled by the “NL” (National Liberation) faction. This group, whose members are now in their 50s and many of whom are in the Moon administration and the ruling party, worshipped Kim Il Sung and looked to North Korea to usher in socialism/communism in South Korea and to unify the Korean Peninsula. They saw the U.S. as an obstacle to this goal, thus were (and still are) active in anti-U.S. activities
Im Jong-seok (임종석), President Moon Jae-in’s former Chief of Staff, was the third president of Jeondaehyeop and led many prominent pro-North Korea activities, including arranging for another student Lim Su-kyung’s (임수경) illegal visit to North Korea in 1989. When Im was called a communist, he sued another citizen for libel. The fourth president of Jeondahyup Song Kap-seok (송갑석) said “North Korea is the only legitimate government on the Korean Peninsula, which guarantees justice and sovereignty, and only the unification by North Korea is the genuine motherland unification” (3:09). Song is now a national assemblyman, Deoburreo Minjoo Party. Song was also the Deputy Chief Administrator of Moon Jae-in’s presidential campaign and the Chairman of the Gwangju Regional Committee of the Rho Moo-hyun Foundation.
You can read much more at the link, to include the full English translation of the poster. Something I did not realize is that the Jeondaehyeop organization which was once pro-North Korean is now an anti-North Korean student group.
Besides the group changing its political leanings, what is so ironic about this is that the Moon administration is investigating Jeondaehyeop under the National Security Law, when they have allowed openly pro-North Korean rallies in the middle of Seoul.
When you read the English translation of the poster it is pretty clear why the Moon administration is hitting back at this group hard because much of what is said in the poster may resonate with many Koreans.
Ulleung IslandThis photo, provided by the North Gyeongsang provincial government on April 4, 2019, shows the country’s eastern Ulleung Island. The province is seeking the island’s inclusion on the UNESCO natural heritage list. (Yonhap)
If tensions are so reduced as claimed by the Moon administration, then why the need for security for people hiking these trails?:
Anchor: South Korea will open a series of hiking trails leading to the Demilitarized Zone(DMZ), the heavily-fortified border that separates the two Koreas. The move comes as part of ongoing efforts to reduce inter-Korean tensions, and precedes government plans to establish a peace park in the border region. Kim Bum-soo has more.
Report: The South Korean government will establish three public hiking trails adjacent to the demilitarized zone(DMZ) beginning this month.
The interior, tourism, unification, environment and defense ministries on Wednesday held a joint news conference to announce the plan.
[Sound bite: Kim Hyun-ki – bureau chief, Ministry of the Interior and Safety (Korean)] “The opening of the trails demonstrate the reduced military tensions on the Korean Peninsula following the September 19th military accord [of the inter-Korean summit last year].” “Visitors will be thoroughly protected by our military under tight safety guarantees.”
You can read more at the link, but I think hikers interested in these trails better hurry up and check them out before North Korea decides to start yet another provocation cycle.
Over at One Free Korea he has a good round up about from the State Department report that criticizes the Moon administration for their on going efforts to censor criticism from their opponents:
In December, I was a panelist at this event at the American Enterprise Institute. You can read the transcript here, or watch it on video here. In my remarks, I tried to put the censorship of South Korea’s left and right into that country’s recent historical context, noting the signs that left-wing leaders who emerged from a nominally pro-democracy movement were now engaging in a strategic and systematic campaign to silence defectors, vloggers, and political critics through internet censorship and defamation suits. The Korean Embassy sent its resident propagandist to that event to denounce this as “fake news,” a phrase that Donald Trump has sown in the lexicons of authoritarians everywhere. You can see me harangue him near the end of the event, after each panelist speaks and after Professor Sung-yoon Lee’s more extended comments.
As it turns out, I was not the only one who noted some of the same events with concern. The State Department’s annual country reports on human rights also mentioned a number of them:
Responding to question on what Kim Jong-un wants most from the US, GEN Brooks says “An economic guarantee from the US to protect it from China.” #JFKJrForumLive@harvardiop
Coal at N. Korean portThis satellite photo, taken by DigitalGlobe on Feb. 24, 2019, shows North Korea’s Rajin port. Stacks of coal are visible at the port’s Pier 2, apparently for shipment. Coal is an embargoed item under U.N. sanctions on the North’s nuclear and missile programs. 38 North unveiled the photo on April 1. (Yonhap)
Here is what the ROK Defense Minister had to say about any possible reductions in the size of USFK:
South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo has ensured there will be no reduction of U.S. troops in South Korea.
Meeting with reporters during his visit to Joint Base Meyer in Arlington, Virginia on Tuesday, the minister addressed speculations of a possible downsizing of U.S. Forces Korea triggered by ongoing upgrades of South Korea’s military weapons system.
He said the augmentation of the forces is to further enhance the South Korean military’s capacity.
You can read more at the link, but as I have always said, any reduction of USFK would likely happen after a peace treaty is signed. The left wing activist groups in South Korea will use a peace treaty as an excuse to protest the continued presence of USFK. These protests would be intended to make life difficult for US troops just like it currently is for the troops stationed at the THAAD site in South Korea.
This article makes me wonder what the old 2ID command bunker at Camp Red Cloud will be used for in the future with the closing of that camp:
A tank covered with a colorful blanket stands in front of Peace Culture Bunker in northeastern Seoul. / Courtesy of Hallie Bradley
For more than half a century, the Demilitarized Zone in Korea has been the site of clashes, skirmishes and tension. However, a new age is dawning on the Land of the Morning Calm and sites that were once used as bunkers and military installations are being converted into community, arts and culture spaces given back to the community at large. Sites that had previously been surrounded by barbed wire are seeing a transformation as the metal fencing is taken down and architects and artists come in to breathe new life into decaying structures.
Citizens are able to walk in and use spaces that have been off limits for decades and with that, new communities are developing.
Last October, the Peace Culture Bunker was unveiled just outside of Dobongsan Station on Seoul Metro lines 1 and 7. Originally constructed between 1968 and 1970, the structure was a defensive shelter for tanks on the first floor and featured housing on the second.
The third and fourth floors were meant to disguise and conceal the weapons within. Covertly named “Simin Apartment,” there were five buildings with three residential floors and each floor had six units. It was originally planned as a military housing complex to enable quick mobilization in the event of conflict.
