Korea’s smokers will now have even more gruesome images to look at every time they buy a pack of cigarettes:
Tougher anti-smoking warnings will be applied to cigarette packages from Sunday.
KBS World Radio
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said that it is replacing all the eleven graphic warnings on cigarette packs starting from Sunday. Tobacco companies will now have to insert new warnings on the packaging of cigarettes including electronic cigarettes.
You can read more at the link.
"Art" display in Seoul–#KimJongUn
— Tara O (@DrTaraO) December 22, 2018
with a gun pointed at Trump, who is on the floor. Is this "artist" Lim Young-sun on #MoonJaein admin's "white list," receiving #SouthKorean tax payers money? https://t.co/88G8uowoC3
Here is another example of South Korea needlessly raising tensions with Japan:
Japan’s defense minister protested to South Korea Friday after one of Seoul’s warships allegedly trained a weapon-guiding radar on a Japanese patrol plane over the Sea of Japan.
Nikkei Asian Review
The incident, which took place the day before, resulted from “extremely dangerous behavior that could create unexpected consequences,” Takeshi Iwaya said.
He said that Tokyo would “strongly urge” Seoul to prevent it from happening again. The Japanese government lodged a protest with South Korea through diplomatic channels.
This is the first time the Japanese government has publicly leveled such accusations at South Korea. The incident could exacerbate already-strained relations between the neighbors, after a string of South Korean court rulings ordering compensation for citizens who were forced to work for Japanese companies during World War II.
At about 3 p.m. Thursday, a South Korean Gwanggaeto the Great-class destroyer locked its fire control radar on a P-1 patrol craft belonging to the Maritime Self-Defense Force, according to the Japanese Defense Ministry. The plane, based out of the Atsugi Air Base in Kanagawa Prefecture, was patrolling inside Japan’s exclusive economic zone off the Noto Peninsula and was “at a distance” from a disputed set of islets called Takeshima by Japan and Dokdo by South Korea, the ministry said.
You can read more at the link, but I doubt this was a mistake considering that South Korea has been busy executing a Dokdo defense drill this month against the imaginary Japanese invasion of Dokdo while ignoring the very real threat of a North Korean invasion.
It appears the Kim regime wants the Moon administration just to bust international sanctions without the approval of the US:
A North Korean propaganda outlet accused South Korea of what it claims to be stalled inter-Korean cooperation on Friday, saying that Seoul cannot make a single step it wants to due to pressure from Washington.
Yonhap
The criticism comes as Seoul and Washington held their second “working group” meeting in Seoul to discuss coordination on how to deal with North Korea and its nuclear weapons program.
“South Korean authorities should feel responsible for depressing the inter-Korean relations on the back of the U.S.’ maneuver for sanctions and pressure before talking about its ‘driver theory,'” the website Uriminzokkiri said, referring to President Moon Jae-in’s pledge to take the initiative by sitting in the “driver’s seat” when handling North Korean affairs.
“Nothing would be resolved as long as (Seoul) continues to curry favor with the U.S., tied by its dependence on outside powers and blind following of the U.S.,” it added.
You can read more at the link.
Long time Korea watcher and a ROK Drop favorite Donald Kirk has an article in the Daily Beast that claims that the Moon administration’s North Korea policies may be derailed by the rise of the Korean right:
The resurgence of the right automatically jeopardizes such dreams as the pendulum of public opinion, in the pattern of modern Korean history, shows unmistakable signs of shifting yet again.
It’s assumed that, partly for that reason, Kim did not respond to President Moon’s entreaties to please come to Seoul this month.
Daily Beast
The fact is no North Korean leader has visited the South Korean capital since Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, was said to have gone to Seoul after his troops overran the capital at the outset of the Korean War. Three South Korean presidents have visited Pyongyang—Kim Dae-jung in June 2000, Roh Moo-hyun, whom Moon accompanied as his chief of staff in October 2007, and then Moon in September.
Violence surrounding a visit to Seoul by the North Korean leader is no paranoid apparition as the opposition threatens to call for his overthrow and death. Defying rows of policemen, they also shout imprecations against their own President Moon.
Rightist foes of both Moon and North Korea promise a mass outpouring of protests if Kim ever shows up in Seoul. Under the circumstances, an official at the Blue House, the presidential office and residence complex, told me Kim and his omnipresent bodyguards had to be worried about security.
You can read more at the link, but if Kim Jong-un did show up I would hope there would be mass protests against someone that in recent years has ordered the murdering and wounding of dozens of ROK troops and civilians. Plus his regime still keeps hundreds of kidnapped South Koreans detained in North Korea.
As much as President Moon tries, Kim Jong-un should never be considered a respectable world leader.
I don’t find this survey very helpful when the term discrimination is not defined. I have not been picked up by taxi cabs before, is that discrimination?:
One of out of every five foreigners in South Korea suffer discrimination, due mainly to their nationalities, government data showed Wednesday.
Yonhap
The data compiled by Statistics Korea showed that 21.2 percent of 1.3 million foreigners said they were discriminated by South Koreans.
Among them, 60.9 percent said they were discriminated on the basis their nationality, while 25.7 percent said they faced discrimination on the grounds of their lack of Korean language proficiency.
The data showed 6.6 percent cited appearance and 2.6. percent pointed to occupation as the reasons behind discrimination.
The statistics agency did not provide details on the nationalities of foreigners who they said were discriminated against.
Increased wages and prices have caused fried chicken, a favorite snack among South Koreans, to go over ₩20,000 (approx. US$18). Naturally, sales have fallen.
— John Lee (The Korean Foreigner) (@koreanforeigner) December 16, 2018
I wonder where all those people who said they'd happily pay more for increasing the minimum wage have gone? https://t.co/hgg3aRfYYS
Anyone surprised by this news?:
Accusations that the Moon Jae-in Blue House spied on private citizens broadened on Tuesday after a local broadcaster reported that the presidential office’s special inspection bureau looked into a corruption allegation about Airport Railroad, a private operator of trains connecting Incheon International Airport and downtown Seoul.
Joong Ang Ilbo
After Channel A ran a report on its evening news show on Monday, the Blue House said it was a mere mistake: The bureau’s head erroneously thought the firm was a public company due to its “name and characteristic of work.”
Opposition parties aren’t buying that explanation. The Liberty Korea Party threatened to bring the case to the National Assembly for a parliamentary investigation unless the Moon Blue House clears everything up – instead of blaming mistakes or rogue elements.
You can read more at the link, but the only thing that I would surprised by is if anyone in the Moon administration is held accountable for the domestic spying. As we have seen with other Moon administration scandals they will go to great lengths to defend their allies.
As we have seen repeatedly the Moon administration is willing to go great lengths to protect their friends and punish their enemies. Now they are targeting a corruption whistleblower and letting the media know they will go after them as well if they continue to report his claims:
A former investigator with the Blue House special inspection bureau accused President Moon Jae-in’s top aides of covering up bribery allegations against Korean Ambassador to Russia Woo Yoon-keun and said he was kicked out of the prestigious Blue House team for looking into the case.
Joong Ang Ilbo
Kim Tae-wu, an investigator with the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office who was temporarily dispatched to the Blue House last year to work for the special inspection bureau, told local media on Saturday that he was victimized for targeting Woo, a high-profile figure in Korean liberal politics who formerly served as a lawmaker in the ruling Democratic Party (DP) and has close ties with Moon. In an email to several media outlets, Kim said he wanted to shed light on the truth and recover his tarnished reputation.
Both the Blue House and Woo adamantly denied Kim’s claims that the envoy was bribed. In scathing remarks, Yoon Young-chan, Moon’s senior secretary for public affairs, referred to Kim as a “loach” in a written statement issued to Blue House correspondents on Saturday, saying the investigator was “completely muddying stream water” now that he’s been cornered.
Yoon added that the truth will soon be revealed and the Blue House will “certainly” press legal charges against Kim for the spread of false information and defamation. Yoon went on to express “deep regret” for the local media outlets who were writing stories based on “unilateral claims” from Kim. Kim was one of 20 to 30 members of the so-called special inspection bureau under the office of Cho Kuk, presidential senior secretary for civil affairs.
You can read more at the link, but the last paragraph is another example of how the Moon administration uses the nation’s libel laws to silence and imprison critics.
