This is a bizarre incident that of course President Duterte of the Philippines was the cause of during his visit with Filipino workers in South Korea:
In this video from PTV taken Sunday, June 3, 2018, Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte leans in to kiss a Filipino worker at the podium during a town hall-style meeting with overseas Filipino workers in Seoul, South Korea. PTV VIA AP
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s mouth has landed him in hot water again, this time for kissing a married woman on the lips in front of thousands of his cheering supporters.
Duterte, known for his verbal outbursts and other antics, is being slammed by critics for the kiss, which took place Sunday during a town hall-style meeting with overseas Filipino workers in South Korea. One senator called the act “a despicable display of sexism and grave abuse of authority.”
Duterte sought a kiss from the woman after he called her on stage to give her a copy of a book at the event in Seoul. When Duterte asked if she can explain to her husband that the antic was just a joke, and she said yes, the president leaned in and kissed her as thousands erupted in cheers. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but according to the article the kiss was a joke towards the end of Duterte’s two hour long rambling speech in Seoul to Filipino nationals living in South Korea. The woman that allowed him to kiss her is married to a South Korean man and has two kids. No word on what he thought of all of this.
Something I plan to do more of is post various articles of interest that I see while browsing through the historical archives of the Stars & Stripes. Below is an article I saw about a bizarre hostage incident that occurred in a Seoul teahouse that was published in the April 12, 1972 Stars & Stripes.
Example of a teahouse in a historical hanok structure at the Korea Folk Museum in Seoul.
The incident involves a 19-year old teenager who took six people hostage in the teahouse before blowing it up with TNT. Twenty buildings were burned in the resulting fire with nineteen people injured. Fortunately no one was killed. Amazingly the teenager survived blowing up the teahouse and claimed he did it because “He did not want to live anymore.” You can read more details of the incident in the below article.
Just another example of something I can point to the next time someone tries to tell me that South Korea is a conservative Confucian country:
South Korea held its first ever drag parade this weekend, a small but significant step for rights activists in a country that remains deeply conservative when it comes to gender and sexuality.
Dozens of drag queens and kings marched through Itaewon on Saturday, a suburb of Seoul best known for its nightlife and a nascent but vibrant gay scene.
Carrying rainbow flags, they cheered and strutted their best outfits, receiving shouts of support and the odd baffled look from those they passed.
While homosexuality is not illegal in South Korea, same-sex marriage is not recognised and people cannot legally change their birth gender.
The country is home to a large evangelical Christian community and LGBT people feel pervasive pressure to stay closeted.
“When it comes to South Korea, human rights guarantees for sexual minorities are insufficient,” Yang Heezy, a drag queen and the organiser of Seoul Drag Parade, said.
“Today’s drag parade and more queer culture festivals should take place to bring attention to sexual minorities and help those who are not from those minorities learn more,” he added, sporting a flame red wig and floral dress. [South China Morning Post]
Protesters stage a rally in front of the Government Building in downtown Seoul on May 24, 2018, to demand the government introduce measures to fully display the ingredients of genetically modified organism (GMO) food products. (Yonhap)
A poledancer performs at the Seoul International Poledance Championship (SIPC) in Seoul on May 13, 2018, in this photo provided by the SIPC organizer. (Yonhap)
Thai tourists pose behind a welcome sign set up at Myeongdong Street in downtown Seoul on April 25, 2018. The Seoul city has launched the 2018 Spring Welcome Week for foreign tourists, which will last until May 6. (Yonhap)
Pretty interesting profile below from Yonhap about a man in Seoul fighting to keep his home after his neighborhood was selected for redevelopment:
Cho Han-jeong’s two story house is the only one in Jangwi-dong’s seventh zone still inhabited. (Yonhap)
In the morning of Jan. 20, 2009, six people — five protesters and one police officer — were killed in a blaze atop a gutted building in Yongsan, central Seoul. The five civilian victims were protesting against a forceful eviction by the authorities for a mega urban renewal project.
Nine years has passed. And one man has risked his life for a similar reason: to protect the house that he built in 1986 in Jangwi-dong, northern Seoul. On November 7, he stabbed himself in the abdomen when officials came to forcibly remove him and his wife from the two-story brick house. (…….)
The redevelopment project divided Jangwi-dong into 15 zones and Cho’s house belongs to the seventh zone. On March 20, 2009, the zone’s redevelopment union was established after 76.61 percent — slightly over the minimum requirement of 75 percent — of the land owners approved the plan. Those opposed had to sell the house according to real estate values determined by certified public appraisers.
In Cho’s case, along with those of many others, the value failed to properly reflect market prices. Having injured his back while serving in the military, he doesn’t have a regular income. His family lives on the rent from the tenants of four small shops on the first floor and one in the basement.
With the cash compensation, it is impossible to find a house that can provide him with similar monthly income, as the redevelopment project has pushed up real estate prices in nearby areas. [Yonhap]
You can read much more at the link, but Mr. Cho’s house now has become a hardened fortress complete with activists protecting it to stop people from trying to evict him.
In Seoul, the epicenter of K-dramas and K-pop, you can now 'Rent An Oppa', who are supposed experts of architecture, food and/or cultural, to take you around the city https://t.co/jhbevdTwBG
