Tag: South Korea

Here is another example that Americans in Korea should take note of, you don’t have the same right to self defense in the ROK as you would in the US:

A man has received a prison sentence for assaulting a driver who attacked him first.

The Seoul Eastern District Court sentenced the man, 39, to eight months in prison Saturday for retaliating against a driver, 52, who hit him first with a weapon after an argument about the driver’s driving style.

On the other hand, the court gave the driver a suspended prison sentence.

According to the prosecution, the driver hit the younger guy with a “blunt weapon” in anger last September after repeatedly being told to drive slowly.

But the younger man took the weapon from the driver and attacked him back with it, leaving the older man with injuries requiring six weeks of medical treatment.

The younger man claimed he acted in self-defense, but the court said he had other options, including simply running away from the situation. Judge Jang Dong-min said the behavior should be considered an assault that was obviously beyond what should be allowed under the self-defense law.  [Korea Times]

The bottom line on self defense in Korea is that if you have to defend yourself, use as little force as possible even if someone is trying to kill you.  There have been numerous examples over the years of victims of criminal activities being convicted by a Korean court for defending themselves.  The self defense law is even worse for foreigners when the Korean assailant can just lie and the police will likely blame the foreigner for the altercation.

Here are a few examples involving USFK servicemembers:

• The 2006 Dongducheon Taxi Brawl
• 2004 Shinchon Stabbing Incident
• 2002 Seoul Subway Kidnapping
• 1995 Seoul Subway Brawl

This all validates my long held advice that foreigners need to swallow their pride and walk away from confrontations with Koreans.  This is because the odds are high that the police will side with the Korean if the foreigner fights back.  Probably the most ironic thing about Korean self defense law is that if you are being raped and don’t fight back enough they will let the rapist go free.

Further Reading:

The Moon administration is trying to get South Korean conservatives to attend the Inter-Korean Summit later this month in Pyongyang:

The presidential office Cheong Wa Dae on Monday asked the parliamentary speaker and heads of all five political parties in South Korea to accompany President Moon Jae-in on his upcoming trip to the North.

The invitation came from Moon’s chief of staff Im Jong-seok, who currently heads a summit preparation committee.

The Moon-Kim summit is set to be held in Pyongyang from Sept. 18-20.

“The preparation committee for the 2018 Pyongyang summit seeks to invite National Assembly Speaker Moon Hee-sang and vice speakers … as special parliamentary delegates,” Im told a press briefing.

The heads of all five major political parties, including Lee Hae-chan of the ruling Democratic Party and Kim Byong-jun of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP), have also been invited.

Those invited also include Rep. Kang Seok-ho of the main opposition party, who currently serves as the chairman of the parliamentary committee on foreign affairs and unification.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but the South Korean conservatives have declined the invitation calling it a political stunt:

The LKP criticized the government’s proposal as a “political tactic.” The party’s interim chief Kim Byung-joon refused to accept the invitation. The National Assembly speaker’s office said the speaker would also not be part of the delegation.

Only the minor liberal party for Democracy and Peace and the most-progressive Justice Party accepted the invitation, alongside the DPK.  [Korea Times]

A sign is installed at Seoul National University Hospital in Seoul on Sept. 9, 2018, asking visitors to contact staff if they are suspected to have been infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS). Health authorities said the previous day a 61-year-old man was confirmed to be infected with the lethal virus after returning from a business trip to Kuwait via Dubai of the United Arab Emirates. It marked the first case of the disease here since 2015. (Yonhap)

President Moon needs to have his third Inter-Korean Summit hurry up and happen this month so he can get some more smiling pictures with Kim Jong-un to improve his rapidly dropping approval rating.  It dropped another six points this week because of economic woes:

A new survey finds President Moon Jae-in’s job approval rating has slipped below 50 percent for the first time.

Gallup Korea surveyed one-thousand adults nationwide, out of which 49 percent of respondents said the president is doing a good job. That’s down four percentage points from last week when the figure posted a new low.

It marked the first time for the president’s approval rating surveyed by Gallup Korea to stand in the 40 percent range.

Among those who had positive opinions about Moon’s performance, 16 percent picked improved relations with North Korea as the reason for giving a positive evaluation. Some eleven percent cited Moon’s North Korea and security policies while ten percent said they think the president gives his best and works hard.

Meanwhile, 41 percent of those who had a negative view about the president’s job cited lack of progress in addressing economic and livelihood issues as the reason for their evaluation. Some eight percent pointed at inter-Korean ties and seven percent at the minimum wage hike.   [KBS World Radio]

Is There a Spy Camera in That Bathroom? In Seoul, 8,000 Workers Will Check https://t.co/V9zmwBgVSh

— JamesTurnbull (@JamesTurnbull) September 4, 2018

Moon's budget bill for the NK Human Rights Foundation is set to $0.72m down 92.6%; budget for the organization's database set to $0.43m down nearly 71%; assistance to the defectors has been reduced by more than 31%. This is huge. https://t.co/ofLPR7nLnF

— North Korea & Human Rights (@rghkim) September 4, 2018

The main objective of this delegation was to figure out a way to continue denuclearization talks between the US and North Korea.  Good luck with that:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met with a special delegation of South Korean President Moon Jae-in Wednesday, possibly reaffirming his commitment to establishing peace on the Korean Peninsula and denuclearizing his country.

“The special delegation met with Chairman Kim Jong-un to deliver the personal letter (from Moon) and exchange their opinions,” Seoul’s presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said in a brief statement.

The statement came hours after Chung Eui-yong, top security adviser to Moon and head of the presidential National Security Council, arrived in the North on what is still expected to be a one-day trip.

“The special delegation is scheduled to leave (Pyongyang) after attending a dinner,” Cheong Wa Dae spokesman Kim Eui-kyeom said, adding it was not clear who would host the dinner.

The Cheong Wa Dae spokesman said the outcome of the delegation’s trip to Pyongyang will be released Thursday, considering their late return.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

A group of bicyclers starts their five-day trip to the Demilitarized Zone bisecting the two Koreas on the opening day of the 2018 Tour de DMZ in Gangwha, west of Seoul, on Aug. 31, 2018, in this photo provided by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety. (Yonhap)

Via a reader tip comes news that a South Korean think tank is recommending one of the worst Inter-Korean ideas yet, a single currency between North and South Korea:

South and North Korea should use a single currency to form an economic union in the mid to long term, the Korea Institute of Finance (KIF)noted in a report Sunday.

“When investment increases in North Korea along with inter-Korean trade of goods and services, the flow of capital will naturally follow. It will lead to problems such as settlements and which currencies should be used,” said Lee Yoon-sok, a senior research fellow at the KIF.

To deal with such problems, the two governments may allow residents to exchange their money with other currency when traveling North or South.

They may also allow the currencies of the two countries to be freely used in both countries. The researcher added that some North Koreans are known to be holding South Korean currency, expecting economic integration.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but if we thought North Korean counterfeiting was bad now, just wait until there is a single currency the Kim regime can control and print at will and call it inflation.  I wonder who’s face would go on the bills?

Also of interest is that the KIF believes that sanctions will be eased on North Korea before the mid-term elections by President Trump to give him a foreign policy win.  As long as North Korea does not commit to real denuclearization I don’t see sanctions being dropped, but I guess we will see what happens.

It looks like President Moon is responding to declining approval ratings and increasing criticism to his economic policies by increasing welfare spending:

Starting this month, basic pension payments will rise and more families will be eligible to receive childcare subsidies.

The Health and Welfare Ministry has increased the monthly basic pension from 200-thousand to 250-thousand won for people 65 and older who fall in the bottom 70 percent income group.

Most families raising a child aged five or younger will also receive 100-thousand won each month from September. For a household of three, combined income will need to be below eleven-point-seven million won a month to be eligible for the benefit.

Those who are eligible for the childcare stipend can apply at local administration offices or at the Web site bokjiro.go.kr. The first payment will be on September 21st.

Monthly benefits for people with serious disabilities will also rise 50-thousand won to as much as 250-thousand.  [KBS World]