A ROK Drop favorite, Robert Neff has an interesting article with historical pictures of Suwon. It is hard to believe that just about a hundred years ago that Suwon looked like this:
Paldal Gate in Suwon, circa 1900-1920.
Twice, between early October and November 1884, George C. Foulk, an American naval ensign attached to the American legation in Seoul, traveled to Suwon.
The first time was in an open chair carried by two Korean coolies ― or servants ― and the second was part of his larger exposition to explore the southern half of the Korean Peninsula.
The road between Seoul and Suwon appears to have been kept in good repair and the ever-critical Foulk apparently even complimented the scenery along his path:
“The last four miles of road before Suwon were lined with picturesque old pines and numerous memorial stones. At one place was a resting place and pleasure resort for the King by a small lotus pond.”
If a Korean conservative politician did the same thing does anyone think the reaction would be different from the Korean left?:
Opposition parties denounced the ruling Democratic Party (DP) Friday for its decision not to take any action against one of its lawmakers who is alleged to have speculated in real estate. The DP’s leadership decided Thursday that it will not punish Rep. Sohn Hye-won based on its judgment that she had not intended to make a speculative investment in real estate in Mokpo, 410 kilometers southwest of Seoul. Sohn is suspected of having mobilized her relatives and aides to buy properties in an old district of Mokpo before authorities designated it as a cultural asset site, according to media reports. She is alleged to have used inside information she obtained while serving on the parliamentary culture committee and to have provided money to her relatives for the purchases. Sohn has denied the allegations, claiming that she encouraged her aides to buy properties as an act of goodwill to revive the city.
It will be interesting to see if hydrogen fuel cell car technology takes off in South Korea or not:
President Moon Jae-in listens to a Hyundai Motor manager explain hydrogen-powered vehicles and drones before attending an event on hydrogen power in Ulsan on Thursday. [YONHAP]
The government hopes the so-called hydrogen economy will create 420,000 jobs by 2040.
On Thursday, the government laid out a roadmap to making hydrogen-related technologies a key new growth engine for Korea.
The government wants to boost the hydrogen economy, which is currently valued at 1 trillion won ($890 million), to 16 trillion won in 2022, 25 trillion won by 2030 and 43 trillion won by 2040. Jobs in the industry are supposed to grow from the current 10,000 to 100,000 in 2022 and 200,000 in 2030.
At an event in Ulsan attended by President Moon Jae-in, Trade, Industry and Energy Minister Sung Yun-mo and the Hyundai Motor Group heir apparent and vice chairman, Chung Eui-sun, the government described plans to raise the sales of hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles (or FCEVs) to 810,000 units in total by 2022. That figure includes 670,000 sold in the local market and 14,000 units exported. This year alone, the government is hoping for more than 4,000 FCEV unit sales.
You can read more at the link, but the big problem with hydrogen fuel cells cars in the fueling infrastructure to support them. It is very expensive to open a hydrogen fuel cell station compared to a gas station or even an electrical vehicle charging station.
Domestic gasoline and diesel prices continued to drop for the tenth straight week.
According to Opinet, a Web site on oil price information run by the Korea National Oil Corporation, the average price of regular gasoline sold at filling stations nationwide fell an average 20 won per liter to one-thousand-355 won in the second week of January, the lowest in 34 months since March 2016.
The price of gasoline has dropped 335 won in the past ten weeks since late October.
The price of diesel for automotive fuel also fell more than 19 won in just one week to one-thousand-253 won per liter, the lowest since August 2017.
Neither Seoul nor Pyongyang will pass up this opportunity to reinforce "Uri minjok kkiri" (By the Korean People Exclusively) kinship vs foreign imperialists of the past & imagined present. Pyongyang's narrative will be more restrained, as Kim Il Sung was all of 7 yrs-old in 1919. https://t.co/5XaMfniT7F
I wonder how long it will be before these F-35’s are in a photo op flying over Dokdo?:
South Korea will acquire two stealth fighters from the United States in late March, allowing the country to fly the latest fifth-generation aircraft in the world, sources said Sunday.
The two F-35A jets will arrive in Seoul, and they will likely be assigned to combat units that defend the country starting in April or May, several insiders familiar with the matter said.
South Korea has agreed to purchase 40 F-35As in a 2014 contract. The jets are designed to evade detection and have the latest electronics suite that can allow them to be effective even in well defended airspace. A single plane is reportedly priced at around 120 billion won (US$107.5 million). Korea may buy 20 additional F-35s as the Air Force has requested more assets.
This is so anti-Black and imperialist, I can't even. In fact, I'd argue that K-pop, esp the inclusion of rap, is in many ways Koreans adapting Black musical forms as a reaction to their own experiences with racist colonial oppression by Japan. https://t.co/RL1b3ffpxS
— Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🙅🏽♀️ 🇧🇧🌈 (@IBJIYONGI) January 9, 2019
(ATTN: RECASTS headline, lead; ADDS more info about collision in paras 2 and 7) TONGYEONG, South Korea, Jan. 11 (Yonhap) — A fishing boat carrying 14 people overturned after colliding with a cargo vessel off the country’s southern coast, leaving three people dead and two missing, authorities said Friday. (Yonhap)
Moon Jae-in at a press conference: #SouthKorea's "gap btwn the wealthy & the poor and inequality have become the worst in the world." On what basis? Is that what his new head of Korea Statistics said? After all, Moon fired his predecessor for being too accurate. https://t.co/UgXM2G4osr
For those that have not been following this issue, the Japanese side does not dispute the forced labor claim, what they dispute is that they already paid compensation with the 1965 treaty. Instead of handing out money for individual compensation, the ROK government used the money to develop the economy instead.
In this Nov. 29, 2018, file photo, victims of Japan’s forced labor and their family members arrive at the Supreme Court in Seoul, South Korea. A South Korean district court said Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019, it has decided to freeze the local assets of a Japanese company involved in compensation disputes for wartime Korean laborers. The sign reads ” Mitsubishi Heavy Industries apologize and compensate victims.” (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
A South Korean court said Wednesday it has ordered the seizure of local assets of a Japanese company after it refused to compensate several wartime forced laborers, in an escalation of a diplomatic brawl between the Asian neighbors. Japan called the decision “extremely regrettable” and said it will push for talks with Seoul on the issue. In a landmark ruling in October, South Korea’s Supreme Court ordered Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. to pay 100 million won ($88,000) each to four plaintiffs forced to work for the company when Japan colonized the Korean Peninsula in 1910-45.
But the company refused to follow that ruling, siding with Japan’s long-held positon that all colonial-era compensation issues were settled by a 1965 treaty that restored diplomatic relations between the two governments. Japanese officials said they could take the issue to the International Court of Justice.
You can read more at the link, but is the ROK government going support someone who makes a compensation claim against China for their role in the destruction of South Korea during the Korean War that killed tens of thousands of South Koreans?
By the way Joshua Stanton over at One Free Korea makes a good point, I wonder how much the sagging Moon administration approval ratings have to do with this?
I haven't read the news today. Are the South Korean president's approval ratings down? https://t.co/Tway5G267Y
