Via a reader tip comes this interesting CBS News report about an English teacher murdered in Seoul back in 1988 and how her alleged killer is free back in the US:
Wanda Abel holds one of the last pictures taken of her sister, Carolyn. CBS News/Wanda Abel
Imagine a loved one brutally murdered in a foreign country — allegedly by another American. Correspondent Peter Van Sant and his team have investigated the disturbing 1988 murder of Carolyn Abel, an American teacher in South Korea, and the loophole in U.S. laws at the time that mean the suspected killer may never face trial.
For writer and author Nancy Bercaw, flying to South Korea last winter reopened a painful chapter in her life: one of murder, loss and fear.
You can read the whole thing at the link, but the suspected killer of Carolyn Abel was her boss at the English school she worked at named Kathy Patrick. Patrick was gay and supposedly was angered when Abel rejected her advances and decided to kill her. After killing her Patrick then flew home to Washington State. Since there was no extradition treaty between the US and Korea at the time, US authorities could not arrest her for murder.
Since the murder Patrick has lived as a free woman in Washington state and she actually currently works at Western Washington University advising students.
So much for the free market deciding winners and losers. This decision would be like the DVD rental industry complaining about online streaming services and the government only allowing them to stream at certain times:
Democratic Party Lawmaker Jeon Hyun-heui, third from left, who led the ruling party’s task force to resolve the carpool issue, Kakao Mobility CEO Jung Joo-hwan and representatives of the taxi industry pose for a photo at the National Assembly in Yeouido, western Seoul, on Thursday. After months of discussions, they finally reached an agreement in a meeting Thursday to allow carpooling services with limits on operating hours. [YONHAP]
The government, Kakao’s mobile transportation service affiliate and the taxi industry clinched a breakthrough agreement on Thursday to allow Kakao Mobility’s carpool service to operate at limited times.
The successful conclusion of the three-way discussions ends months of bitter disputes that led to the suspension of a beta service and immolations by three taxi drivers, two of whom died as a result.
Kakao’s new service will be available only during weekday commuting hours between 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. It will not operate on weekends or public holidays.
You can read more at the link, but judging by the above picture the Kakao Mobility CEO Jung Joo-hwan does not look happy about this agreement. I fully expect this fight between Kakao and the taxi driver union will come up again in the future.
This reeks of “were doing something” when the Moon administration knows as long as China continues to pump out pollution there is really nothing they can do:
Fine dust in Seoul this week.
President Moon Jae-in ordered the government on Tuesday to take extraordinary measures to fight fine dust pollution that has choked the country for days. Moon received an urgent briefing from Environment Minister Cho Myung-rae on particulate matter problems for about 50 minutes, a presidential spokesman said. Moon called for interagency efforts to curb the pollution and reduce damage, including the installation of high-capacity air purifiers in more daycare centers and schools. “The government should respond immediately, rather than clinging to long-term responses, to people’s demand when it explosively increases,” he was quoted as saying by spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom.
You can read more at the link, but the measures include having more government meetings to discuss the problem and asking China to please stop polluting. Good luck with that.
I like this idea of having elevated bike paths, much safer than sharing the road with cars, especially in a congested city like Seoul:
The computer generated image of “UNDER the C,” a cycling path attached to an elevated expressway between Seokgye Station and Jeongeung Station in northeastern Seoul, which won first place in the Eco-Bike Line design competition hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. Courtesy of Seoul Metropolitan Government
Seoul has announced the winners of an architectural design contest for elevated bike paths that can provide cyclists a more continuous and safer ride around Seoul.
The first prize went to a submission titled “UNDER the C,” which drew up plans for a bike path beneath an elevated expressway in northeastern Seoul. If built, this elevated bike lane will connect cyclists in the Jeongneung Station area to the Jungnang stream, whose bike paths eventually connect to those along the Han River in the south.
If Kim Jong-un was going to visit on any day, I am sure the Moon administration would love for it to be March 1st. The hope will be that conservative protesters against Kim’s visit will be muted because of a large dislike of the Japanese in South Korea that tends to reach a crescendo on the March 1st Independence Day which celebrates an uprising against Japanese colonial occupation back in 1919.
Is North Korean leader Kim Jong-un visiting Seoul on March 1?
Reports of this began circulating Wednesday, citing unidentified government sources. Some had plausible details: for the leaders of the two Koreas to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the March 1 Independence Movement Day ― on the date and at the same location.
The uprising on March 1, 1919 ― celebrated by both Koreas ― is recorded as one of the marquee grassroots independence movements during the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Thursday denied reports that Kim would visit Seoul on the historically symbolic day. Nevertheless, the speculation continues.
You can read more at the link, but if this visit does in fact happen I would expect there to be a large anti-Japanese buildup to try and unite most South Koreans before the Kim Jong-un visit.
The more the native English-speaking waygook thinks these (admittedly horrible) slogans are horrible the more it’s apparent the waygook in question doesn’t know what he’s talking about, because he obviously thinks that if it’s in English he’s the target audience. https://t.co/RJYm35kr6n
Han River partly frozenThis photo, taken from the observatory of the 123-story Lotte World Tower in Seoul on Jan. 2, 2019, shows the Han River, which bisects the South Korean capital, partly frozen. (Yonhap)
After the suicide of a taxi driver who set himself on fire to protest the introduction of a ride sharing app in South Korea, 100,000 taxi drivers will surround the National Assembly on Thursday. I was pleasantly surprised that someone in the media is actually reporting on what I believe these taxi drivers should be doing instead, evolving with the times:
Taxi drivers protest in front of the National Assembly at Yeouido, Nov. 22, at the second major rally against ridesharing apps. Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han
But taxi drivers say Kakao’s planned ridesharing app steps outside legal boundaries. The app allows users to hail rides at any time of day, rather than being limited to rush hour.
The app would also charge around 70 percent to 80 percent of the normal taxi fare, which means it could easily take customers away from taxi drivers who are already facing long work hours and small incomes.
“I’m sacrificing my life in the hopes taxi drivers can earn livable wages one day,” Choi wrote in a suicide note.
Despite such strong protest from taxi drivers, public sentiment has mostly been in favor of the ridesharing app due to dissatisfaction with the availability and quality of taxi services. It is common for taxi drivers to refuse passengers going short distances late at night, especially in crowded areas of Seoul like Hongdae, Gangnam and Itaewon.
But the problem can be solved within the taxi business itself, Lee said.
“We actually have too many idle taxis, so the number of operating taxis in the country is virtually 200,000, not the registered 250,000,” Lee said. “We are working to resolve this by creating our own cab-hailing app that sends taxis to where they are most needed. The app will also hide the intended destination of passengers from the driver, so they can’t pick and choose between passengers.”
You can read more at the link, but there is nothing hard about making a rival app for taxi drivers, the hard part is changing the taxi driver culture which is causing the demand for a ride sharing app in the first place.
