Tag: South Korea

You have to be a Korea watcher for many years to understand the significance of this delivery:

South Korea on Monday took delivery of its first Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, vastly expanding the range of its aerial surveillance to include the entirety of the Korean Peninsula and beyond.

The high-altitude RQ-4 Block 30 Global Hawk drone, built by U.S. defense manufacturer Northrop Grumman, arrived at an Air Force base in Sacheon, South Gyeongsang, at around 5 a.m. – the first of four such aircraft Seoul acquired in an approximately $1.2-billion deal.

Seoul’s earliest attempt to acquire the drone from the United States took place in 2003 – when North Korea was in the early stages of its nuclear development program – and it was only in 2014 that the acquisition was finally approved by Washington. While the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was expected to be delivered by early 2018, the United States delayed the transfer owing to cybersecurity issues. Then errors with the drones’ radar and electro-optical or infrared sensors caused further delays this year.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but this sale has been in the works since 2003 because of the delays caused by concerns that technology and information would be leaked to North Korea.  Now with the US wanting the ROK to take on more of their defense responsibilities the sale was approved and hopefully whatever concerns of technology leaks has been mitigated as well.

This is the Korean version of a filibuster:

Following a violent protest by the main opposition party and its supporters on the premises of the legislature, National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang scrapped a vote Monday on fast-tracked bills. 

“I will not open a plenary session today because it won’t be possible to smoothly operate a session,” Moon said in a statement. “The ruling and opposition parties must reach an agreement on contentious bills, designated as fast-tracked items, as soon as possible.” 

The Liberty Korea Party (LKP) started a rally in front of the National Assembly’s main building around 11 a.m. to criticize the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and its legislative allies for attempting to railroad through bills revising the electoral system and weakening the prosecution’s powers. 

The National Assembly turned into mayhem after a violent scuffle took place between protesters and police at a rally hosted by the LKP. The party’s Chairman Hwang Kyo-ahn, floor leader Rep. Shim Jae-cheol, chief policymaker Rep. Kim Jae-won and other lawmakers attended the rally. Thousands of LKP members and supporters also participated. 

Before the rally started, LKP lawmakers complained that the National Assembly’s security team was restricting entry to the premises. LKP Secretary General Rep. Park Wan-su lodged a formal complaint to National Assembly Secretary General Yoo In-tae, and the legislature decided to open the main gate. 

Thousands of LKP supporters rushed in along with members of conservative groups and ultra-conservatives who support impeached President Park Geun-hye known as the “Taegeukgi Troops,” for the Taegeukgi, or the Korean national flag, they always wave. 

“Your rage will impact the National Assembly,” Hwang told the protesters in encouragement. “You’ve already won a victory.” 

The protesters waved Korean and American flags and shouted slogans such as “Let’s kill Speaker Moon Hee-sang” and “Let’s destroy the National Assembly.” Although the LKP repeatedly told the participants they must not enter the Assembly building, some rushed the doors. As the police tried to block them, violent scuffles took place. The main entrance doors were partially broken in the scuffles. 

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

There was deadly driving conditions this past weekend in Gyeongsangbuk-do:

Two massive pileups occurred within moments on a highway in the country’s southeast early Saturday, killing at least five people and injuring more than two dozen others, officials said. 

The first crash occurred at about 4:40 a.m., when some 10 vehicles, including cargo trucks, collided on a highway en route to Youngcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, 301 kilometers south of Seoul.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

South Korea continues to work on their illegal immigration problem:

The Ministry of Justice said Tuesday it will allow illegal aliens to re-enter Korea if they voluntarily leave the country by next June.

In an effort to tackle the rapid increase in foreigners who stay here illegally, the ministry also said it will toughen punishment for those hiring people who do not have the proper visas.

From July, people who are caught staying here illegally will be fined and may not be able to re-enter the country for years, the ministry said.

Departure can be delayed under certain circumstances, including recent births, pregnancy or other health conditions, it said.

Korea Times

I am not sure how popular this supposed movement actually is in South Korea, but the declining birth rate is probably little effected by it when compared to other factors like the cost and stress of educating children:

Bonnie Lee doesn’t care about finding a boyfriend or a fairy-tale wedding, and will decide her own happily-ever-after: “I’m a straight woman who is no longer interested in having relationships with men.”

She is not alone.

A growing number of South Korean women are banding together to reject rigid patriarchal norms and vowing never to wed, have children or even date and have sex.

“I’ve always felt that as a woman there are more disadvantages than advantages to being married,” said Lee, a 40-something professional who lives with her dog near Seoul.

Now she has gone even further, embracing the nation’s radical feminist movement called 4B, from the “four nos”: no dating, no sex, no marriage and no child-rearing.

Japan Times via a reader tip

You can read more at the link.

If politicians in the U.S. want to know what real election meddling looks like they should read this article from ROK Drop favorite Dr. Tara O about the alleged meddling going on in South Korean elections by the Blue House:

A former Blue House inspector Baek Jae-young (백재영) was found dead on December 1, 2019 just hours prior to the time he was due to appear at the prosecutor’s office to answer questions.  He was a key witness in the ongoing investigation about the alleged Blue House manipulation of the election in Ulsan Metropolitan City in 2018.

Baek Jae-young, a prosecutor, was seconded to the Blue House, and worked under Baek Won-woo (백원우) (the same last name, but not related) during the time when the Blue House is suspected of ordering an investigation against the Ulsan mayor Kim Gi-Hyeon (김기현), Liberty Korea Party, during Kim’s mayoral election campaign in 2018.  The grounds for this investigation appear questionable, and while Kim Gi-Hyeon was ultimately found innocent, the investigation appears to have prejudiced voters against Kim, who was ahead in the polls prior to the investigation, and played a role in his defeat.  Other conservative mayoral candidates in the province faced similar criminal investigations.

East Asia Research Center

You can read more at the link, but this alleged election interference in Ulsan is just the latest example of how the Korean left interferes in election. ROK Heads may remember the Druking Scandal to rig online opinion for Moon in the last ROK Presidential election. President Moon’s close friend was sentenced to jail for two years and then quickly let out.

This is on top of the irregularities involving the tablet computer that led to the impeachment of former ROK President Park Geun-hye that caused the last presidential election to occur.