Tag: South Korea

Tweet of the Day: Mandate to End South Korea?

| December 19, 2018

South Korea Launches Tax Probe Against Google Korea

| December 19, 2018

Not one mention in the below article that the tax probe only came about after Google would not take down conservative Youtube channels critical of the Moon administration: 

Anchor: The National Tax Service has launched a tax probe on Google Korea amid controversy that many multinational IT firms in the nation are not paying enough taxes compared to the profits they reap. 
Our Bae Joo-yon has more on whether it’s possible to impose further taxes on such companies. 

Report: National Tax Service inspectors secured account books and electronic data Wednesday from the Seoul headquarters of Google Korea. 

Some market observers say the inspectors are probing tax evasion allegations involving high-income content creators on YouTube, the global video streaming service owned by Google.

Others say authorities are probing whether Google Korea may be involved in offshore tax evasion. 

The probe comes amid controversy that Google Korea has been paying too little taxes. 

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link.

President Moon Modifies His Minimum Wage Hike Plan

| December 17, 2018

This was never going to go well and it seems President Moon has finally realized this:

Anchor: President Moon Jae-in has acknowledged problems of his key economic policies, calling for ways to break the shock of minimum wage hikes and reduced work hours. This comes as the government forecasts the economy will be sluggish next year as well.
Kim In-kyung has the details.

Report: The government has decided to revise the minimum wage decision-making system by February and implement it from 2020, adjusting its pace of increase. It will also spend a record-high 61 percent of its budget in the first half of the year in 2019. 

KBS World Radio

You can read more at the link.

President Moon’s Plane was Blacklisted by the US

| December 15, 2018

Via a reader tip comes news that President Moon’s official aircraft was blacklisted by the US for traveling to North Korea: 

President Moon Jae-in (center) shakes hands with Czech Presidential Office chief Jan Novák (left) on arrival in Prague on Nov. 27. /Newsis

President Moon Jae-in’s official airplane has been blacklisted by the U.S. because it had flown him to North Korea, it emerged Wednesday. The official plane even had to be cleared for a visit to the U.S. in September after it was slapped with a 180-day ban. 
One diplomatic source said, “A blacklisted plane can only travel to the U.S. by special permission.” 
U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in September 2017 that bans all aircraft that traveled to North Korea from entering the U.S. for 180 days. But exceptions can be made. 
A U.S. government official confirmed that Moon’s plane had to receive authorization even when Moon went to New York on Sept. 24 to attend the UN General Assembly and meet Trump.

Chosun Ilbo

You can read more at the link, but by getting the rail and roads connected with North Korea like President Moon has been pushing hard to do, he can avoid the aircraft blacklisting problem.  

ROK Holds Dokdo Defense Drill Against Imaginary Threat

| December 15, 2018

It is ironic that South Korea is holding defense drills against a threat that will never happen from the Japanese while at the same time opening up the DMZ and not training against the North Korean threat that is an actual threat to attack the entire country, not just a pile of rocks in the ocean:

Despite bad weather, South Korean troops kicked off a regular exercise Thursday to hone their combined capabilities to defend Dokdo, a pair of rocky islets in the East Sea.
The two-day maritime drills involve the 3,200-ton Gwanggaeto the Great destroyer and several other Navy and Coast Guard ships.
The military canceled a plan to mobilize such aircraft as F-15K fighter, P-3C maritime surveillance plane and UH-60 helicopter on the day due to inclement weather, according to a Navy official. It has also postponed a Marine Corps landing exercise until Friday.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Cambodian Bride Becomes Champion Billiard Player in South Korea

| December 13, 2018

Here is an unusual story of a Cambodian woman who entered into an arranged marriage with a South Korean man 29 years old than her.  The man taught her how to play billiards and now she is a champion player:

Srong Pheavy. Photos courtesy of LifeTimePhoto/Billking Korea

When the daughter of a potato farmer came to Korea from Cambodia in 2010 to start the second chapter of her life as the wife of a Korean man 36 years older, Srong Pheavy, like any other marriage migrant woman here, had no idea what was coming.

She did not know back then that she had a knack for carom ― with the potential to play for international titles. She also did not know that she would be Cambodia’s heroine to whom building a school for children would not be a far-fetched lifetime goal.

Pheavy, 29, who lives in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, is now in hot demand. After winning the women’s tournament at the 2018 ZANCA-Championship Asia 3-Cushion Open, Nov. 26, she extended further her already established reputation inside Korea. She was invited to appear on “Sugeun Lee’s Channel” on YouTube in November, run by one of the country’s top comedians Lee Su-geun, and played a friendly scotch double match with Korean celebrities where she wowed male players. 

In Cambodia, she is “received as highly as Korean figure skating queen Kim Yuna,” according to the JoongAng Ilbo.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

Tweet of the Day: Leftists Post Wanted Posters All Over Seoul

| December 13, 2018

Tweet of the Day: No Trade Break for Moon Jae-in?

| December 11, 2018

Japan Increasingly Using English Words for Subway Station Names

| December 8, 2018

In Japan the increasing use of English words in subway station names is drawing some criticism:

 

Following a recent naming trend that mixes Japanese and English words, Tokyo Metro Co. has announced that a new station set to open ahead of the 2020 Games will be called Toranomon Hills.

Toranomon Hills is the name of a skyscraper housing a business complex in the namesake district of Minato Ward. The station is under construction in an area between Kasumigaseki and Kamiyacho Stations on the Hibiya Line, seven minutes on foot from the supermodern, 52-story structure, which opened in June 2014.

The announcement Wednesday came a day after East Japan Railway Co. announced that a new station on the Yamanote Line between Shinagawa and Tamachi stations would be called Takanawa Gateway. JR East’s new station is scheduled to partially open in the spring of 2020, with full operations beginning in 2024.  [Japan Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but it seems to me that using English for stations linked to the 2020 Olympics makes sense.  Even nearby Korea uses English words for subway station names in Seoul such as “Seoul-forest”, “Ttukseom Park”, “Konkuk University”, etc.

However, some people have had fun with the English names for Tokyo subway stops by offering these recommended changes:

Does anyone have any good recommendations for changing subway station stop names in Seoul to English? I guess an obvious one would be to rename Itaewon Station to “Hooker Hill Station”.

Tweet of the Day: Prosecutors Want 5 Years in Jail for Journalist Who Reported Facts

| December 8, 2018