Visiting South Korean Vice Defense Minister Hwang In-moo (L) and his Laotian counterpart, Onsi Sensuk, pose after signing a letter of intent on the dispatch of military attaches to each other’s country at their talks in Vientiane, Laos, on June 30, 2016. The defense ministry provided this photo. (Yonhap)
This issue between the ROK government and Google continues:
South Korea will not give Google a license to use South Korean maps unless the company blurs out sensitive military installations on its mapping service, Defense Minister Han Min-koo said Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the United States search engine provider requested permission from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to access South Korea-supplied maps as part of efforts to upgrade its Google Maps service on South Korea.
It was Google’s second attempt to gain access to South Korean maps following its first unsuccessful trial in 2010.
“Because of (security) concerns, security-related ministries are insisting that (a license) would be possible only after proper measures are taken,” Han told the parliamentary committee on defense affairs, indicating key military facilities should be blurred out first before Google is allowed to use South Korean maps. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link.
Is it time to scrap the KORUS FTA? US Presidential candidate Donald Trump thinks so, but the ROK finance minister disagrees:
Finance Minister Yoo Il-ho refuted remarks by U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that the free trade agreement between Korea and the United States (KORUS FTA) undermines the American economy.
Minister Yoo made his remarks a day after Trump lambasted the KORUS FTA as “a job-killing deal” and said the deal “doubles our trade deficit with Korea and will destroy nearly 100,000 American jobs.”
Yoo also said joining the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) is “very important” for countries in the Pacific region, a stance in stark contrast with Trump’s pledge that he will pull the U.S. out of the 12-nation body if he is elected.
“That will not help any people in the world,” Yoo said during an American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM Korea) General Membership Meeting.
Yoo said that Seoul acknowledges that some criticize the KORUS FTA citing the increased U.S. current account deficit, but stressed that the deal’s advantages “easily outweigh” the disadvantages.
“Trump’s remarks show that he does not understand the KORUS FTA,” Yoo said. “The sales of American automobiles in Korea soared by 28 percent annually, which makes Korea the second largest market for U.S. carmakers,” he said, adding that Samsung Electronics and Lotte Chemical have invested some $15 billion and $3 billion in the U.S., respectively.
Over Trump’s remarks, widely translated as protectionist, Yoo urged that the deal ― which marks its fourth anniversary this year ― should be consolidated further. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link.
Hopefully the relationship between Korea and Japan continues to improve where this summit does take place:
President Park Geun-hye plans to travel to Japan for a trilateral meeting with her Chinese and Japanese counterparts, according to Lee Joon-gyu, the nominee for Seoul’s ambassador to Tokyo, Wednesday.
This will be Park’s first trip to Japan since her inauguration in 2013. The visit is expected to spur normalization of the ties between the two countries, according to analysts.
This year, Japan holds the rotating chair of the trilateral talks, expected to take place in November following their foreign ministers’ talks in October, according to Japanese media outlets.
“The trilateral talks between Korea, China and Japan are scheduled to be held in the second half of the year in Japan and President Park’s visit for the meeting is expected to play an important role in bettering bilateral relations,” Lee said in a diplomatic forum.
“Both countries need to take advantage of this visit as an opportunity to advance bilateral ties.” [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link.
This study would have been more interesting if the follow up question was if they were having sex with someone else:
In a poll of 1,090 male and female adults nationwide, 784 married and 306 unmarried, 38.2 percent of respondents said they have sex once a month or less. An adult that has sex that infrequently is considered “sexless.”
For married respondents, the sexless percentage was slightly lower at 35.1 percent. Married people who have sex twice or three times a month comprised 30.4 percent of the respondents, followed by 19.2 percent who have sex once a week.
For married people in their 50s, 43.9 percent said they have no sexual relationship with their partners.
And yet nearly all respondents – 93.9 percent – said intimate physical interaction was a vital aspect of their lives and relationships with others.
Mr. Yoon, a 39-year-old office worker, is also in the sexless category, which he finds kind of natural.
“Since my wife gave birth a year ago, I haven’t had sex,” said Yoon, who lives in Seoul and has been married for three and a half years. “I would say the biggest reason is her pregnancy as she needed time to recover from giving birth.”
Yoon said such a way of life is common among his friends, especially after five years of marriage, and some even within two years, he said.
“My mother-in-law lives with us to take care of the baby, and that also hampers our ability to have sexual contact,” Yoon said. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link.
This test may not seem like much, but it is actually pretty significant because for the first time Japanese and South Korean naval ships were working together to share radar data as part of a missile defense exercise:
The US military said the drills, called Pacific Dragon, would enhance the “already strong relationship of all three nations participating”.
No missiles were fired, said the US Third Fleet, but each country tested its Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System and tested communications and data collection.
The Aegis system allows warships to shoot down enemy ballistic missiles while they are still in space, before there is any danger of causing any damage.
North Korea is banned by UN resolutions from any use of ballistic missile technology. [BBC]
You can read more at the link.
I like school uniforms considering some of the people I see now a days dressed like slobs going to school. School should be a professional learning environment which school uniforms help create. Really the only issue I see is the cost. Whatever uniform is selected should not cost parents more than it does to buy regular school clothes:
Seoul American High School is considering a new dress code that would require students to wear uniforms.
The draft proposal prompted heated debate, with supporters saying more needs to be done to rein in students who dress inappropriately and critics calling it too strict. Many on both sides complained the uniforms would be expensive and get little use since most students will likely be moving soon as part of the relocation of most U.S. forces in Korea.
Students would have to wear collared polo or button-down dress shirts in a choice of three colors — blue, white or black — with chino-style pants, according to a draft copy obtained by Stars and Stripes.
The policy would ban shorts, skirts and jeans, as well as flip flops, shoes with wheels and headgear. The principal reserved the right to make exceptions based on a student’s religious beliefs or documented medical conditions. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link.
This picture tells a lot about what is wrong in this country #SouthKorea pic.twitter.com/Kabp3Gd5kl
— Fabian Kretschmer (@FabiKretschmer) June 28, 2016
This is just more evidence that the Kim regime is using the Chinese fishing boats as an asymmetric warfare tactic against South Korea:
South Korea urged North Korea on Monday to immediately stop making military threats such as shelling the South’s Yeonpyeong Island.
North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency called on South Korea to stop “reckless military provocations” by continuing its crackdowns on illegal Chinese fishing boats in the neutral waters of the Hangang River estuary near the western sea border. The state-run news agency said that such actions could spark a retaliation from the North similar to the attack on Yeonpyeong Island in November of 2010 which resulted in four people dead and 18 injured.
South Korea’s unification ministry responded by saying such rhetoric is not appropriate and do not help improve inter-Korean ties . [Arirang News]
You can read more at the link.
Kim Phil-soo, new territorial commander of the Salvation Army Korea, poses prior to an interview with Yonhap News Agency at his office in Seoul on June 24, 2016. (Yonhap)
