Tag: South Korea

I am sure the US Secretary of State will have plenty to talk about with his ROK counterparts next week considering all the domestic political and security issues between the two countries:

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is to visit South Korea later this week for meetings with senior government officials to discuss issues of mutual concern including the growing nuclear and missile threats from North Korea, officials said Sunday.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will stay in South Korea for two days from March 17 during which he will meet with Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se and other senior government officials.

Tillerson’s talks with Yun will be held on the first day of his stay in Seoul. They are expected to discuss mostly the North’s nuclear threat and cooperation in applying more pressure and sanctions on Pyongyang, according to the officials.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

For people who have followed South Korean politics for many years what former President Park was removed from office for is something that past Presidents have arguably done.  How many shady corruption scandals have past ROK Presidents’ family and friends been involved in?  For example Park’s shady friend is no where near as bad as former President Kim Dae-jung’s cash for summit scandal with North Korea.   The ROK Constitutional Court says it has decided to end the bad political customs that have effected Korean politics with their ruling.  I guess we will see if in the future every ROK President is now impeached for corruption scandals involving close friends or relatives:

“The president must exert her powers in respect to the Constitution and laws and her performance of her public duty must be transparently revealed for public evaluation,” Lee said. “But Park completely hid Choi’s intervention in state affairs. Whenever suspicions were raised, she denied and even criticized those raising the questions. Therefore, the checking and monitoring ability of constitutional institutions such as the National Assembly and media failed to function.”
(……..)

The court also announced supplementary opinions regarding Park’s alleged nonfeasance during the Sewol ferry’s sinking, in which 304 passengers died on April 16, 2014 due to a weak government rescue operation. Although the judges agreed that her nonfeasance during the tragedy could not be used as grounds for dismissal, Judges Kim Yi-su and Lee Jin-sung said Park did fail her constitutional duty to faithfully serve as the president and a public servant. Judge Ahn Chang-ho also gave the opinion that the impeachment trial was not an ideological contest, but a matter of protecting the constitutional order, and dismissal was necessary to end bad political customs. [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

This is just a horrible story coming out of Incheon:

A single mother’s twisted love has led to the tragic death of her three-year-old baby who was brutally beaten with a peach tree stick used by shamans for exorcism.

The 26-year-old mother identified by her surname Choi and her mother Shin, 50, have been arrested on charges of child abuse and manslaughter at their home in Incheon, south of Seoul, police said.

Choi and Shin were accused of whipping the whole body of their child with a peach tree stick and a hula-hoop for two days from February 18. After their shamanistic ritual, the baby was left abandoned to starve for three days.

It all started when Choi, who was suffering from depression, was captured by an illusion that her baby was possessed with an evil spirit. On recommendations from a shaman, she performed her own exorcism with a bible and a peach tree stick.  [Aju Daily]

You can read the rest at the link, but it seems pretty weird that a Bible is involved in Shamanistic ritual.

This photo, released by U.S. Forces Korea on March 7, 2017, shows parts of an advanced U.S. missile defense system being unloaded from a cargo plane at Osan Air Base, south of Seoul, the previous day. The deployment of the system, known as the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, began in South Korea, the U.S. Pacific Command said March 7. (Yonhap)

The time is set for the ROK Constitutional Court to announce their ruling on the impeachment of President Park:

The Constitutional Court will deliver its ruling on the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye Friday, a court official said.

The announcement will be made at 11 a.m. and broadcast live from the main courtroom, court spokesman Bae Bo-yoon said Wednesday.

If the court upholds the impeachment, Park will be permanently removed from office and South Korea will be required to hold a presidential election within 60 days.

If the court rejects her impeachment, Park will be immediately reinstated to serve out her term through February.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but I would not be surprised to see riots in the streets if President Park is not impeached.  On the flip side if she is impeached I am really curious to see what the evidence against her is?

Thaad deployment begins months early https://t.co/Hcg06qmdni pic.twitter.com/cLnHn25Y0r

— KoreaJoongAngDaily (@JoongAngDaily) March 8, 2017

Just another example of how the Olympics has become a professional sports league which even has its own free agency period:

Since the Canadian-born ice hockey player Brock Radunske joined Anyang Halla to become the first naturalized Korean athlete, five more foreign-born players have migrated to Korea. Matt Dalton, Eric Reagan, Brian Young and Michael Swift are all from Canada and Mike Testwuide is American-born.

The six foreign-born athletes are now playing for Korea’s national team, making the once homogeneous team diverse. Foreign-born athletes account for nearly 25 percent of the 25-member men’s hockey team.

Jim Paek, the national hockey team manager, said diversity has made the men’s ice hockey team stronger.   [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

Sung Yu-ri, a singer-turned-actress, attends a ceremony in Seoul on March 3, 2017, for the Taxpayers’ Day. Sung was one of the celebrities awarded at the ceremony as a model taxpayer. (Yonhap)

The next time someone gets drunk and violent on an airplane there are now tougher laws for South Korean authorities to punish them with:

The government is toughening penalties for violent behavior on passenger planes.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Thursday said the National Assembly passed a revision to aviation laws whereby violent passengers who threaten flight safety now face up to 10 years in prison, and five years even when their actions do not endanger a flight.

The revision, which mostly doubles the old penalties, came after a high-profile incident in December last year, when a drunk passenger went on a rampage on a Korean Air flight that carried 80s crooner Richard Marx and therefore made international headlines.  [Chosun Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Here is Breaking Bad South Korean edition:

A 32-year-old unemployed university graduate chose to run a drug lab rather than to find a job to make a living. However, his sweet dream did not last long as his underground business was uncovered by police about ten months later.

The man surnamed Hwang was arrested for manufacturing and selling 500 grams (17 ounces) of meth worth 1.6 billion won (1.4 million US dollars) from cold medicine, commonly found in drug stores, at his lab in Itaewon, a famous traveling spot in Seoul.

Hwang, an art university graduate, gave up his furniture workshop to go for a more profitable underground business in May last year by self-educating himself to make methamphetamine commonly known as ice from the scratch. He used a simple method by mixing the cold medicine and chemicals to produce pseudoephedrine, the basic material for ice.  [Aju Daily]

You can read more at the link.