Maybe while President Park is in Tehran she can tell the ayatollahs to stop selling missile and nuclear technology that is being used to threaten the existence of her country:
President Park Geun-hye talks to a foreign official before boarding the presidential plane at Seoul Airport on May 1, 2016, to leave for Iran. (Yonhap)
South Korean President Park Geun-hye left for Tehran on Sunday on a historic trip meant to boost political and economic relations between the two countries.
Park is set to meet with her Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani, on Monday in the first meeting between the leaders of the two countries since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations in 1962.
The summit will set the tone for relations at a time when the Islamic Republic has emerged as a promising market following the lifting of international sanctions earlier this year.
“We expect the trip to serve as an occasion to take a new leap forward in bilateral ties, which have been stalled due to the international sanctions,” said Kim Kyou-hyun, a senior presidential secretary for foreign affairs.
The U.N. has lifted sanctions on Iran in a follow-up to a nuclear deal reached with the United States and five world powers over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. [Yonhap]
Very good read over at KoreaBang in regards to the divided opinions Koreans have about the comfort women issue which makes pragmatic decision making involving Japan so difficult:
Was Minister Yoon Byeon-se some sort of a judge in a court? Some comments sound like criticism towards unfair law enforcement, not a negotiation. Was the Korean minister in the position of a judge while the Japanese minister was the accused? Honestly, the meeting wouldn’t even have happened if it weren’t for American pressure. A judge controls how to apply absolute public authority but a negotiator has to give and take. How on earth do you expect Korea to draw an unconditional surrender from Japan? If it was possible at all, why did all those competent presidents and ministers fail to do so?
How much leverage do we have against Japan? Economy? Military? The international community’s support? Do we have enough power to deal with Japan’s diplomatic power heads-on? Human rights? Do you know how inconsistent their attention to “human rights” is in the international community who aren’t exactly total angels? Do you think countries like Germany, the U.S. and France would bother confronting Japan because they love human rights so much? Really? For your information, countless political figures such as Merkel, the British crown prince, and Michelle Obama have visited Japan while dust was piling up at the gates of our Blue House. Do you think the world is on our side? For real?
I see comments like “It would’ve been better if they hadn’t reached any agreement then.” or “Do your job right.” One of the main complaints about our government was that they seem to be just waiting until all the victims passed away, wasn’t it? Every year about 10 victims pass away now. So what if we keep failing to reach any agreement? Is it better if we don’t negotiate at all then? You ask what right the government has to negotiate on behalf of the victims? Then should the government take a hands-off approach to the comfort women issue? Now will “the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan” [Jeong-dae-hyeop] handle everything on their own? Some criticize Japan for just throwing a billion yen at the problem. If Japan didn’t decide to pay at all, they would call it an empty apology or worse than the Asian Women’s Fund. Some say it is merely a billion yen. But if Japan decided to pay more, then they would say Japan is trying to bury the issue with money. [Korea Bang]
Below is a really good read in today’s Korea Herald that I recommend reading in full. It is about the history of mixed raced children in South Korea fathered by US military servicemembers. These mixed race kids definitely had a hard life growing up in South Korea. Of particular interest is the role that Korean brokers played in trafficking women into the sex industry. It makes me wonder if these were the same brokers who trafficked women to Japanese soldiers during the Japanese colonial period?:
Jang Yeon-hee is searching for her American soldier father, who left Korea while her mother was pregnant with her in the 1960s. (Claire Lee/The Korea Herald)
Jang is one of some 40,000 mixed-race Koreans born in South Korea from 1955-1969, many of whom were born to American soldiers who were temporarily stationed here. Many of the Korean women who gave birth to such mixed-race children were those who were trafficked by Korean brokers to work as prostitutes for the U.S. military.
Many fathers simply went back to the U.S. and never returned. Mothers relinquished their children, as many of them had no financial means to raise them, while suffering from severe social stigmatization for being sex workers. Most of the children were adopted into American families. For those who remained in Korea, like Jang, life was filled with a sense of alienation, racist attacks and longing for her birth parent. (………)
To this day, Kang doesn’t know if her father died that day or simply decided to leave her mother for good. After her father went missing, Kang’s mother had a number of live-in relationships with American soldiers, who supported her financially.
Her mother soon started working as a dancer for the U.S. military, moving from one base to another. Kang lived in almost every Korean city that had active U.S. military bases, including Dongducheon, Osan, Paju, Pyeongtaek and Uijeongbu. During these years, Kang witnessed many teenage daughters of sex workers being trafficked or forced to work as prostitutes by their mothers’ pimps and brokers.
“Those brokers should still be tracked down now and jailed. … It’s not too late,” she said. [Korea Herald]
Here is what President Obama had to say about the current way ahead with North Korea during an interview with CBS News’ Charlie Rose recently. It appears that the deployment of THAAD is very likely considering the US President is now commenting on upgrading the posture of missile defenses against North Korea:
In regards to North Korea, Mr. Obama described the regime as “a massive challenge.”
“Our first priority is to protect the American people and our allies, the Republic of Korea, Japan, that are vulnerable to the provocative actions that North Korea is engaging in,” Mr. Obama said.
He said North Korea is “erratic enough” and the country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, is “irresponsible enough that we don’t want them getting close.”
“But it’s not something that lends itself to an easy solution,” Mr. Obama said. “We could, obviously, destroy North Korea with our arsenals. But aside from the humanitarian costs of that, they are right next door to our vital ally, Republic of Korea.”
Mr. Obama explained how the U.S. has been preparing to fend off threats from North Korea.
“One of the things that we have been doing is spending a lot more time positioning our missile defense systems, so that even as we try to resolve the underlying problem of nuclear development inside of North Korea, we’re also setting up a shield that can at least block the relatively low-level threats that they’re posing right now,” Mr. Obama said. [CBS News]
Here is the latest education reform being pushed in South Korea:
South Korea will reduce the size of high school classes to match international standards as part of an effort to provide a better educational environment, the government said Monday.
Under the envisioned plan, the class size of an average high school will be reduced to an average of 24 students by 2022 from last year’s 30, the Ministry of Education said.
Also, the ratio of high school students to teachers will be cut from 16.6 to 13.3, according to the plan.
The plan is in line with standards set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) member countries. [Yonhap]
The Korail-operated No. 1517 Mugunghwa train bound for Yeosu derailed near Yulchon Station in South Jeolla on Friday morning, killing the engineer and wounding eight, including the deputy engineer. [NEWSIS]
It is always tough to run against candidates that promise free stuff to the public without the responsibility that goes along with paying for it:
President Park Geun-hye warned against the dangers of populist campaign pledges Friday, stressing that maintaining fiscal soundness is a key factor that the government should take into account in setting its 2017 budget proposal.
“Laws containing populist ideas will burden not only the current generation but the next,” Park said chairing the national fiscal strategy meeting at the presidential office. She added excessive spending on welfare could have an impact on the country’s long-term fiscal health.
The chief executive also advocated special administrative rules like the “pay-go” system. The system makes clear that any additional outlays must be offset by spending cuts or revenue increases.
“The problem of maintaining long-term fiscal soundness is something that is agreed upon by the people,” the president pointed out.
At the meeting that sets government guidelines on spending, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said it will maintain its expansionary fiscal policy mode for the next five years to prop up the economy. It, however, said every effort is going to be made to cut unnecessary outlays.
The ministry moreover has been moving to streamline the public sector to get rid of overlapping institutions. This can save money and lead to a more efficient fiscal spending structure.
The chief executive’s latest remarks apparently came after the political parties spearheaded different welfare pledges in the lead-up to the April 13 parliamentary elections.
Kim Chong-in, interim chairman of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, stressed the importance of “productive welfare,” saying that the expanded welfare policy will eventually induce growth in related industries, such as health and medical services. [Yonhap]
It looks like the US is getting closer to getting Japan and South Korea to final conclude an intelligence sharing agreement which from a military perspective makes so much sense considering the common threat posed by North Korea:
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken speaks at a news conference at the Foreign Ministry in Seoul on April 19, 2016. (Yonhap)
South Korea, the United States and Japan will look to expand their sharing of military intelligence in response to the growing threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs, a top U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.
U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken made the remarks in an interview with South Korean reporters, saying the three countries are boosting security cooperation to protect their citizens from any North Korean provocation.
“Information-sharing among us is one important element of being as safe and secure as possible,” he said. “And we will look for ways to deepen that information sharing as we move forward.”
The prospect of sharing military intelligence with Japan has been a sensitive issue in South Korea where there are still deep-seated reservations about the former colonial ruler. In 2012, the two sides tried to sign a General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) to share intelligence on North Korea, but the plan was scrapped, as critics accused the government of arranging the deal behind their backs. [Yonhap]
