This reminds me of the old Keys to the Kingdom book that used to be sold in Korean villes to GIs a long time ago:
Major book retailers have stopped selling an “obscene and racist” book about Filipinas.
Online retailers, including Aladin, Yes24 and Bandi & Lunis, have removed the e-book, “How to Treat Bar Hostesses in the Philippines.”
This move came after a tweet about the book was widely spread earlier this month. Many people have taken issue with the contents, which objectify Filipinas from a Korean man’s perspective.
“Once you go to the Philippines, you will soon be attracted to nightlife and meet many kinds of women there. Language won’t be a problem. A few words will be enough to communicate with them,” the book’s author, identified just as “Kevin Cho,” writes.
“Even if you are not a womanizer in Korea, you will definitely be one in the Philippines. This is not the case only for Koreans but also Japanese and Americans. The fact that the Korean Wave is sweeping across Asia makes you feel even more proud. While studying English there, women can be either medicine or poison.”
In the book, published three years ago by Scene in the Moonlight, Cho urges readers to “make the best use of Filipinas, who can give unforgettable memories.” [Korea Times]
It's remarkable how far down you have to read in some news articles to see that these “reunions” are closely monitored & brief visits, terminated by the abductee’s return to captivity & isolation. What a heartbreaking “reunion” that must be. https://t.co/WgCK1McSnQ
South Korean participants arrive at an immigration office on the east coast to cross into North Korea for a reunion event for families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War at the Mount Kumgang resort on the North’s east coast on Aug. 20, 2018. The family reunion event, the first of its kind in nearly three years, will be held there till Aug. 26. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
You would think that with all the media attention on BMW cars catching fire that the owner of this vehicle would have had his car inspected and repaired by now. The cynic in me thinks we may be at a point where owners want their cars to catch on fire to launch lawsuits against BMW:
A BMW sedan caught fire in South Korea on Monday in the latest in a series of similar cases that have sparked a police investigation the German carmaker’s massive recall in Korea.
The fire broke out in the 520d sedan around 4:49 p.m. as it traveled on an expressway in the city of Mungyeong, 155 kilometers southeast of Seoul. Firefighters put out the blaze and no one was hurt, officials said.
It was the latest in more than 35 similar fires that have affected BMW vehicles this year.
Police have launched an investigation after a group of BMW owners filed a complaint accusing the carmaker of negligence and other charges. BMW has blamed defects in the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) for the fires. [Korea Times]
Here is an update on the Inter-Korean family reunions that the North Koreans are currently holding at the Kumgang Resort on the country’s east coast:
This photo taken by Joint Press Corps shows Lee Keum-seom (L), 92, with her son during a family reunion event held at a Mount Kumgang resort on North Korea’s east coast on Aug. 20, 2018, after nearly seven decades of separation caused by the Korean War. (Yonhap)
The first session of reunions will be followed by a dinner to be hosted by the North Korean side later in the day.
Some of them appeared to be a little uncomfortable at first, apparently reflecting the decades without contact, but the awkwardness soon melted away and they engaged in conversation, asking each other about how they have lived.
On the second day, the families will be granted more time to meet, helping them become closer. They will see each other again Tuesday morning and have lunch together in their hotel rooms, the first time the separated families will have had such a private meeting since the start of the reunion event.
They will have six meetings totaling 11 hours by Wednesday, according to the unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affair.
In subsequent reunions planned to take place from Friday to Sunday, 83 North Koreans will also meet their relatives found to be alive in the South. More than 300 South Koreans will travel to the venue later this week for the event.
The two rounds of family reunions are a follow-up on an agreement the leaders of South and North Korea reached in April to address humanitarian issues arising from nearly seven decades of division caused by the Korean War.
The event came amid a thaw in relations between the two Koreas after a yearslong hiatus and tensions heightened by the North’s continued pursuit of nuclear and missile programs. [Yonhap]
You can read much more at the link, but I have to wonder how much money was transferred to host this event? Family reunions has long been used by the Kim regime as a bargaining chip to get what they want from the ROK and a cottage industry to make money. We know that South Korea had to renovate the Kumgang Resort for the North Koreans. How much did that cost?
Members of a unified Korean men’s rowing team catch their breath after finishing last in their qualification group in the team’s Asian Games debut at Jakabaring Lake inside Jakabaring Sports City in Palembang, a co-host city of the 2018 Asian Games along with Jakarta, on Aug. 19, 2018. (Yonhap)
It looks like the heat wave in South Korea will be ended by this typhoon:
Powerful typhoon Soulik is on course to strike the Korean Peninsula this week, the state weather agency said Sunday, warning people on Jeju Island and in southern coastal areas to prepare.
Soulik, classified as “strong” with maximum gusts of 144 km/h and central pressure of 955 hPs, was 830 kilometers east-north-east of Guam at 9 a.m. Sunday, and was moving northwest at 34 km/h, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA).
The typhoon is expected to hit southern Japan on Wednesday and the peninsula’s southern coast on Thursday morning. The southwestern city of Yeosu is expected to bear the brunt of the typhoon. [Korea Times]
This seems an awful lot of fencing to be removed from the border areas:
South Korea’s defense ministry plans to gradually remove more than half of all coastal and riverside barbed wire fences across the country to help ease residents’ inconveniences, officials said Thursday.
The move, which is part of the Defense Reform 2.0 initiative aimed at creating a smaller yet stronger military, came amid Seoul’s push for inter-Korean cooperation and rapprochement.
The ministry plans to inspect all fences across the nation, which measure about 300 kilometers in total, to determine which can be eliminated in a way that does not hurt the country’s coastal defense.
“At this point in time, we think that some 57 percent of the fences can possibly be removed,” a ministry official said, declining to be named. “We will take action this year as to the sections that the military can eliminate on its own, while we plan to take care of other fences in stages.” [Korea Times]
Korean Sex Crimes: Sharing the public information of a sex offender = 3 million won fine (£2000~). Sharing the naked pictures of your girlfriend online without her consent = 2 million won fine (£1400~). Laws are fascinating. I should've studied law. #regrets#korea#phdlife
