Tag: South Korea

I don’t think six people protesting in front of the Chinese embassy means much of anything:

Public sentiment toward China is worsening here after two Korean photojournalists were beaten by more than a dozen Chinese security guards during a trade event attended by President Moon Jae-in in Beijing, Thursday.

The incident came a day after a dispute about Moon being greeted by Chinese Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs Kong Xuanyou upon Moon’s arrival at Beijing for a state visit.

Kong’s rank is disputed because China previously sent its vice foreign minister or upper-level officials to greet heads of state visiting the country.

Under the circumstances, the attack on Korean photographers agitated feelings here that China is still humiliating and mistreating Korea despite the agreement they reached in October to end the row over the U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery deployed in Korea.

Citing a statement issued by the Korea Professional Photographers Association in protest of Thursday’s attack, the opposition accused China, Friday, of “committing violence against the Republic of Korea.”

“It should be made clear the pride of our people is severely bruised,” said Ahn Cheol-soo, chairman of the second-largest opposition People’s Party. “Korean diplomacy cannot hang its head in shame.”  (……)

Main opposition Liberty Korea Party (LKP) Chairman Hong Joon-pyo echoed a similar view separately.

“The Chinese leader was not there after inviting a state guest. This is no more than paying tribute to a Chinese emperor,” he said.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but could you imagine what the reaction in South Korea would be if the Japanese government snubbed ROK leaders and beat down journalists?  I guarantee there would be more than six people protesting in front of the Japanese embassy.

My opinion is that South Koreans are more hesitant to protest China because they know the Chinese will respond.  The current THAAD retaliation and the how the Chinese government sent thugs to beatdown people in the streets of Seoul back in 2008, or the Great Garlic War of 2000 are perfect examples.  The Japanese on the other hand are easy targets because you can protest them, bash them, and put up statues everywhere and they do little to nothing in retaliation.

I guess these South Korean journalists forgot they are in a country without freedom of the press:

More than a dozen Chinese security guards beat and injured a South Korean photojournalist who was covering a business function attended by South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Thursday hours before his summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The incident occurred at a convention center in Beijing where a trade fair was held involving some 200 South Korean firms and 500 prospective Chinese buyers. Moon is currently on a four-day state visit to China that began Wednesday.

A group of 14 South Korean journalists was covering the event when the Chinese guards blocked them from following the president who was then visiting various booths of South Korean firms at the fair, according to pool reports.

The journalists protested the blockage and one of them, a photojournalist, was taken outside of the venue by some 15 Chinese security guards.

The journalist took a severe beating while being completely surrounded by the guards despite strong protests from his colleagues and South Korean officials, including those from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae.

The journalist was taken to a hospital after Moon’s medical staff examined him and said he required intensive treatment, according to Cheong Wa Dae pool reports.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I doubt anything is going to happen to these security guards.  The Chinese government had mobs go and beat down Koreans in the streets of Seoul before and nothing happened to them.  They were instead considered national heroes.

I would not be surprised if the assault was deliberate to send a message to South Korean journalists which the Chinese state run media has been criticizing over their coverage of President Moon’s visit to China.

These photos provided by the Seoul City government on Dec. 11, 2017, show South Korean comfort women who were taken to the South Pacific island of Truk. City officials said they found U.S. military documents and other material that show 26 Korean women were taken to the South Pacific island as sex slaves for Japanese soldiers during World War II. The Japanese military had a naval fleet on the island. (Yonhap)

Over at Korea Expose they have an article posted about the growing problem of South Korean men fathering children in the Philippines and leaving the mothers by going back to Korea:

Kristi, 23, met a South Korean man in the city of Makati, Philippines, through a blind date. “It was love at first sight. We were dating for a few months. Soon enough, I found out he was already married with kids. It broke my world so I decided to end it there.”

But things didn’t work out for Kristi: Shortly after their break-up, she realized she was pregnant. “He told me ‘Don’t worry I’m here for you, I won’t leave you,’ but one month before giving birth, he just disappeared.”

It’s a recurring theme: South Korean men go to the Philippines, have relationships of varying degrees of commitment with local women, father children, and then at one point or another flee back to South Korea severing all ties and leaving the mothers alone with the children.

Kristi is one of many thousands of Filipino women who are left to rear their children alone because of absent South Korean fathers. A number often floated around by organizations and media is 30,000, but there has yet to be a clear count or study on the issue.

Kopino — a portmanteau of Korean and Filipino — is a term said to have first been createdin 2004 to refer to a child born to a Filipino mother and a South Korean father — who has often run away.

Kopino children face a number of difficulties in terms of child support, acquisition of nationality and visa issuance. In many cases, the mother — often from a poor background — has no contact with the father, and no knowledge of her former partner’s private details, be it a South Korean phone number, an address, let alone a Korean name. This leaves her to pay all child rearing expenses, even though the South Korean father has a legal obligation to provide support according to South Korea laws.  [Korea Expose]

You can read the rest at the link, but I would not be surprised if this is more than just a Korean problem in the Philippines considering its reputation for sex tourism.

It looks like the North Korean women’s soccer team does not need to be concerned with being sent to a reeducation labor camp after beating South Korea:

North Korea beat South Korea 1-0 in a women’s inter-Korean football match in Chiba on Monday.

Kim Yun-mi scored the only goal of the match as North Korea collected their second straight victory at the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF) E-1 Football Championship at Soga Sports Park in Chiba, Japan.

North Korea, two-time defending champions of the regional women’s competition, beat China 2-0 to open their tournament last Friday. South Korea, however, suffered their second straight loss, having lost their first match to hosts Japan by 3-2.

The two losses mean South Korea can’t win the four-nation tournament. Yoon Duk-yeo’s side was looking to win the regional crown for the first time since 2005. They will try to close out the tournament on a high note against China on Friday, also in Chiba.

There were more than 300 North Korea fans gathered at the stadium on Monday, compared to about 10 people in the South Korean supporters section.  [Yonhap]

That last sentence is probably the most amazing thing to me about this game, that South Korea only had 10 fans show up to the game.

Some classic Korean email addresses: pic.twitter.com/eA8I07MgGQ

— Walter Foreman (월터 포어맨) (@Walter_Foreman) December 7, 2017

Most of the world and the IOC fought to keep Apartheid South Africa out of the Olympics, but North Korea a country with a far worse human rights record and a threat to world peace has South Korea and the IOC literally begging them to participate:

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach is seeking to visit North Korea to discuss its participation in the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games, South Korean government sources said Friday.

“The IOC is believed to be discussing with North Korea a possible trip by President Bach to Pyongyang for talks on the country’s participation in the PyeongChang Olympics,” a source said.

The IOC is seeking the visit based on close consultation with the South Korean government.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the North would accept Bach’s visit despite heightened tensions over its nuclear and missile tests. The North last week test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile that appeared capable of reaching Washington DC.

“There is no guarantee that the visit will take place. But if it does happen, it could be interpreted as a positive sign for North Korea’s participation in the PyeongChang Olympics,” another government source said, adding that there was a possibility of a lower level official of the IOC making the trip instead of Bach.  [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link.

Condolences to the friends and family of the USFK soldier killed in a recent traffic accident in South Korea:

A U.S. soldier was killed when a truck slammed into a military ambulance and a car that had pulled over to the side of a highway after an earlier collision south of Seoul, officials said Friday.

The Eighth Army confirmed that a 35th Air Defense Artillery Brigade soldier died of injuries suffered in a vehicle accident. The soldier was not further identified pending family notification.

“Medical aid was provided on the scene until the soldier was transported via ambulance to the Good Morning Hospital,” the 8th Army said in a statement. “The incident is under investigation.” (…..)

The deadly chain of events began when a car rear-ended the U.S. military vehicle on an interchange, prompting the soldier to get out to examine the damage. An 8-ton cargo truck then slammed into them, according to the regional fire service.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but imagine what the response would have been if it was a US soldier that killed a Korean civilian in a traffic accident?  The usual suspects would be protesting and demanding apologies from the US President.

It appears that 2019 is the timeframe that the Moon administration will push to get a freeze deal agreed to with North Korea:

South Korea should push for a summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the first half of Moon’s term, a senior ruling party lawmaker said Thursday.

Rep. Lee Hae-chan of the Democratic Party made the suggestion in a speech set to be delivered at a security conference, saying 2019 will be good for a summit because the year is meaningful as the 100th anniversary of the 1919 nationwide uprising against Japanese colonial rule and the establishment of a provisional government.

“If possible, it’s important to push for a South-North summit in the first half (of Moon’s five-year term),” Lee said during the conference organized to mark late former President Kim Dae-jung’s winning of the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize following the first inter-Korean summit ever earlier that year.

“If a summit takes places in the second half, it would be difficult to guarantee its effectiveness,” he said.  [Korea Times]

That last sentence leads me to believe that the Moon administration has little confidence that what they have planned will be popular enough with voters to elect another liberal President to follow through with whatever is agreed to at this summit.

This composite file photo shows an aerial view of Mallipo Beach (top) in Taean, South Chungcheong Province, covered with crude oil from a supertanker after it collided with a maritime crane on Dec. 7, 2007, and, at bottom, the same view of the beach on Dec. 5, 2017. The collision took place in waters off Taean, leaking 12,547 kiloliters of oil that subsequently hit the country’s pristine west coast, devastating fish farms and beaches. The western coast and sea recovered with the sacrifices of more than 1.2 million volunteers a decade after the country’s worst-ever accident of its kind. (Yonhap)