This is a house on South Korea’s southeastern Geoje Island where newly elected President Moon Jae-in was born. The house is currently used for storage by a neighbor. (Yonhap)
A ROK Drop favorite Robert Neff has an published in the Korea Times that explains how the yellow dust problem that has been plaguing Korea has actually been worse in centuries past than what has been seen recently:
Namdaemun circa 1911.
For the past several days, the air quality in Korea has been horrible _ filled with dust and pollution. Many blame desertification in China due to its rapid industrialization but this phenomenon is not new _ it is one that has plagued the Korean Peninsula for hundreds of years.
Historical records from the Three Kingdoms period indicate dust storms occurred at least as far back as 174 A.D. One powerful dust storm in the early sixth century left the capital of Baekje shrouded in darkness as if it were night and a couple of decades later, Silla suffered one that lasted for five days. Perhaps the strangest of these weather phenomena took place in 644 when a red-tinged snow fell in Pyongyang.
The Annals of the Joseon Dynasty provide even more examples.
In November 1412, a horrendous dust storm mixed with fog blanketed the land. The visibility was so bad that people could not even see the person standing in front of them and the sudden spring-like weather melted the ice on the rivers. [Korea Times]
Mr. Neff provides more examples of the bizarre weather created by the yellow dust at the link. What I found of interest was that if this same bizarre weather happened today people would be claiming it is because of global warming.
I hope some journalist at some point asks President Moon why doesn’t Kim Jong-un honor the promise his father Kim Jong-il made and instead travel to South Korea? Why does the ROK President always have to be the one traveling to North Korea and serve as a Pyongyang propaganda puppet?:
President Moon Jae-in took the oath of office Wednesday, and offered to visit Pyongyang if conditions were met to help resolve the deadlock over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
In a message to the people delivered at the National Assembly, he said he would also go to Washington as soon as possible if necessary.
To address security problems on the Korean Peninsula, Moon said after taking the oath, “I’ll fly to Washington, Beijing and Tokyo soon if necessary. And I’ll go to Pyongyang if conditions are met. I’ll do everything I can for peace on the peninsula.” [Korea Times]
It looks like the honeymoon for Lieutenant General H.R. McMaster is over if the media is to be believed:
McMaster’s allies and adversaries inside the White House tell me that Trump is disillusioned with him. This professional military officer has failed to read the president — by not giving him a chance to ask questions during briefings, at times even lecturing Trump.
Presented with the evidence of this buyer’s remorse, the White House on Sunday evening issued a statement from Trump: “I couldn’t be happier with H.R. He’s doing a terrific job.”
Other White House officials however tell me this is not the sentiment the president has expressed recently in private. Trump was livid, according to three White House officials, after reading in the Wall Street Journal that McMaster had called his South Korean counterpart to assure him that the president’s threat to make that country pay for a new missile defense system was not official policy. These officials say Trump screamed at McMaster on a phone call, accusing him of undercutting efforts to get South Korea to pay its fair share. [Bloomberg]
You can read more at the link, but who knows what the real story is when this is all sourced from anonymous leaks from officials in the White House probably eager to undercut General McMaster’s influence with President Trump.
Good luck with this because chaebol reform has been something that Korean politicians have tried in the past and it never seems to create much change in how they are run:
Moon Jae-in, who is sure to be South Korea’s next president, is expected to focus on the country’s four biggest conglomerates as he pushes for a broad corporate reform drive, his economic aides said Wednesday.
The new Moon government has two major goals in reforming the business giants: one is to keep growth and wealth from being concentrated in large family-run companies known as chaebol, and the other is to improve their governance structure for transparency and fair competition, Moon’s chaebol policy adviser Kim Sang-jo told Yonhap News Agency.
South Korea’s four largest chaebol groups — Samsung Group, Hyundai Motor Group, SK Group and LG Group — currently account for half the assets held by the country’s top 30 companies.
In his campaign pledges, Moon vowed to “gradually but fully” achieve his reform goals during his five-year term in office that began Wednesday, a day after the people voted him in. [Yonhap]
This photo taken on May 8, 2017, shows a fire-fighting helicopter that made an emergency landing in Samcheok, 290 kilometers east of Seoul, on the day. A maintenance worker who was on board the helicopter fell unconscious and later died after being taken to a nearby hospital. (Yonhap)
Koreans will be waking up with Moon Jae-in as their new President:
Moon Jae-in, the presidential candidate of the liberal Democratic Party, speaks to his supporters and party officials at the National Assembly after an exit poll showed him set to win South Korea’s presidential election held May 9, 2017. (Yonhap)
Moon was estimated to have garnered 41.4 percent of all votes, according to the exit poll conducted by three major local broadcasters — MBC, KBS and SBS.
The front-runner was followed by Hong Joon-pyo of the conservative Liberty Korea Party with 23.3 percent.
The outcome of the exit poll was announced as the one-day voting came to an end at 8 p.m.
Apparently seeing no possibility of the actual outcome of the vote being any different from the exit poll, Moon said his election, if confirmed, would mark the people’s and the party’s victory. [Yonhap]
What surprised me about this election was how far the software mogul and populist candidate Ahn Cheol-soo dropped by getting 21% of the vote when at one point in the campaign it appeared he was challenging Moon Jae-in’s polling numbers. Something else surprising is how well the conservative candidate Hong Joon-pyo did considering the drag that the scandal plagued former President Park Geun-hye created for conservative candidates.
I think what this means that instead of conservative voters rallying around Ahn Cheol-soo to deny Moon an election victory, they instead voted for Hong. Hong and Ahn’s numbers together would have been enough to defeat Moon.
Here is what Moon Jae-in had to say about his election victory:
Seemingly moved by the overwhelming support, he threw his hands up to the sky and gave his symbolic thumbs-up gesture, prompting thunderous applause from party members and supporters there.
“This crushing victory was expected and is a victory of longing,” Moon told jubilant party members. “‘I will achieve reform and national unity, the two missions that our people long for.”
He went on: “The results will come in hours, but I truly believe that today is the day that opens the gateway to a new Korea. I will embody the public’s passion. Your sweat and tears will never be forgotten within me.” [Korea Times]
I am not sure what the new Korea is going to look like, but everyone will find out over the course of the next five years of Moon Jae-in’s presidency.
South Korea is well known for its affordable and expansive cosmetic surgery industry, but still this number seems extremely high to me:
A vast proportion of Korean women have had either botox or filler treatments, a study out last Friday suggests.
Pharma giant Allergan polled 450 women aged 21 to 55 here, and 42 percent admitted they have had the cosmetic treatments. And a quarter of the women who have not had the treatments yet would be willing to have them in the future, while 17 percent said they would think about it.
Only 16 percent said they had no intention of getting the treatments, which either plump up the face to make it look more youthful or immobilize facial muscles so no laugh lines or other wrinkles form. [Chosun Ilbo]
