Here is another legacy of the prior Lee Myung-bak administration that the South Korean left has been hoping to tear down:

Experts and environmental groups argued that the weirs of the four-rivers restoration project just had to be opened and the water quality and ecosystems would return to normal.

That, according to a report last month from a special committee of 43 experts, didn’t happen.

Based on government monitoring between June 2017 and Feb. 20, 2019, the chlorophyll a (Chl-a) levels at the Seungchon weir on the Yeongsan River rose from 46 milligrams per cubic meters to 52 milligrams. A high concentration of chlorophyll results in algae bloom.

The chemical oxygen demand (COD), also another water-quality metric, increased from 8.5 parts per million to 10.7 parts per million. The fish assessment index (FAI) at the Seungchon weir fell from 28.8 to 28.2. This means that the ecosystem has worsened.

Readings from the Juksan weir, also on the Yeongsan River, also suggested a deterioration. The Chl-a level there was up from 59 milligram per cubic meters to 84, while the COD level rose from 9.1 parts per million to 9.3 parts per million. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read much more at the link, but one of the reasons the Four Rivers Project was initiated was to improve water quality and this study tends to confirm that it has done that. However, the environmentalists say they are going to go back and find a way to get better data.

It makes me wonder if these scientists would look for more data if the initial data gave them the results they wanted?

Another alternative energy project with unintended consequences:

South Korea’s second-most destructive earthquake, which struck the southeastern city of Pohang in 2017, was probably triggered by an experimental geothermal power plant, the government said Wednesday.
The government-led teams of experts, from both South Korea and abroad, concluded that a series of earthquakes, reaching a magnitude of 5.4 on Nov. 15, 2017, could have been brought on by efforts to harness energy from the ground.

The study is the first official government finding that indicated the possible cause of the tremors that resulted in considerable damage in and around the industrial city, located 375 kilometers southeast of Seoul. 
Fluids are injected at high pressure into a hole about four and five kilometers deep at the geothermal power plant, which may cause the surrounding rock to crack, the scientists said. During the process, seismic activity can occur, which could cause earthquakes.

“A series of micro-sized earthquakes occurred when fluids were injected by excavating a geothermal well at the geothermal power plant, which eventually triggered the Pohang earthquake,” Lee Kang-keun said

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

The country where “The Simpsons” cartoon is animated was finally featured in the long running series:

Popular animated sitcom family The Simpsons have been all around the world. They went to Japan where Bart and Homer became fluent in Japanese in prison and they nearly died on a game show, Australia where Bart escaped the country’s supposedly brutal justice system, and Brazil in an episode that had the local tourist board threatening a lawsuit over its depiction as a crime-ridden slum. Now in their 30th season, the Simpsons have finally made it to Korea, the country where they are animated.

In the episode aired March 17 U.S. time, Bart goes to Seoul to participate in an esports tournament. The whole family comes along after Lisa, a practicing Buddhist, expresses interest in visiting Jogye Temple for its salt mandalas. On arrival, they drive past the “Simpsons Animation Studio and Casino” and stay at the “Courtyard by DMZ.”

At Jogye Temple, parents Homer and Marge both achieve “zen” by making salt mandala portraits out of salt and destroying them. Monks, including one voiced by Korean-American actor Ken Jeong, admire Homer’s sudden enlightenment and compare him to a portly Buddhist statue at the temple.

The episode ends with the esports match at Sangam World Cup Stadium broken up by riot police and robots as the theme to “M*A*S*H” plays. 

Like past Simpsons vacation episodes, the story is entertaining if not examined closely. But The Korea Times got David A. Mason, a professor at Sejong University, and history researcher Matt VanVolkenburg to watch the episode. 

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, if you want to read an overthinking by experts about The Simpsons episode.

The responses on these surveys are dependent on what the question is. What do people think the response would have been if they respondents were asked if South Korea should restart the Kaesong Industrial Park and Gumgang Mountain tours if the money is used by North Korea to develop their nuclear and missile programs?:

More than 60 percent of South Koreans are supportive of the resumption of two suspended cross-border projects, saying they could contribute to the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, a survey of a presidential consultative body showed Tuesday.
According to the survey conducted by the National Unification Advisory Council on 1,000 adults, 62.4 percent said that restarting an industrial park in the North’s border town of Kaesong and a tour program to Mount Kumgang on the North’s east coast will help achieve denuclearization and boost the local economy.
South Korea closed the Kaesong park in 2016 in retaliation for the North’s nuclear and missile provocations. The tour program to Mount Kumgang was halted in 2008, when a South Korean tourist was killed by a North Korean soldier.
Seoul is seeking to resume the two symbolic projects on the belief that more cross-border exchanges could create a peace mood and help move the stalled denuclearization talks forward following last month’s summit breakdown between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Their resumption, however, requires sanctions relief on North Korea and Washington has balked at it, worrying that the global sanctions regime could be undermined at a time when the denuclearization process remains stalemated.
The survey showed 54 percent supported easing sanctions in association with progress in nuclear talks, with 41.6 percent saying that sanctions should remain in place until complete denuclearization.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this is clearly just another attempt by the Moon administration to shape public opinion to support their efforts to restart the two cross border projects. They need the public support in order to pressure the US to allow their “ethnic exemption” to sanctions.

People who pretend the North cares about peace get excited at minor incremental things. (“OMG a US-NK summit! Historic! Historic!”). NK always wanted a US sunmit.

3 SK presidents have visited P’yang.

Wake me when an NK leader finally does that “reciprocal visit” to Seoul. https://t.co/F1iXGwkJ9f

— the oranckay (@oranckay) March 19, 2019

Whose fault is it that people are starving in North Korea? If they can afford a nuclear and ICBM program the Kim regime can assuredly afford to buy their people food:

Humanitarian activities for millions of hungry and sick people in North Korea are at risk of being scaled back due to economic sanctions and donor fatigue amid nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang that struggle to make tangible progress.

One of the world’s poorest countries, with over 43 percent of the population undernourished, the North’s food production touched its lowest point in 10 years last year.

Tough sanctions slapped on the country by a number of countries and international bodies are believed to be deepening the economic recession as they ban its key exports and imports, including fuel and machinery that could be used for enhancing the communist nation’s nuclear capability. 

Such international restrictions adversely affect humanitarian programs, especially the pre-operational procedures as approvals for traveling to North Korea are often delayed. They also hamper the delivery of life-saving assistance as related materials are subject to sanctions waivers that take time to process.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised if the Moon administration tries to get around sanctions on the Kaesong Industrial Complex by claiming it is a “humanitarian” project. That is why I think the Trump administration is really trying to tighten sanctions to stop people from coming up with ways to get around them.

Hopefully North Korea heeds John Bolton’s warning:

John Bolton, the U.S. national security adviser, warned that North Korea resuming its nuclear and missile testing will “not be a good idea” in a radio interview Sunday. 

Responding to North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui’s recent remarks critical of Washington, Bolton told the WNYM radio in New York, “They issued an unhelpful statement that they’re thinking of going back to nuclear and ballistic missile testing, which would not be a good idea on their part.” 

Last Friday, Choe said Pyongyang may suspend further denuclearization negotiations with the Washington, and that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un could rethink the country’s moratorium on nuclear and missile tests. 

Notably, Choe blamed Bolton and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo for creating an “atmosphere of hostility and mistrust” that “obstructed” the negotiation efforts by the two countries leaders. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.