A candidate running in local elections in 1952 is campaigning on a street in this photo included in a pictorial journal published by the National Archives of Korea on Oct. 27, 2015. The journal chronicles the history of Korea’s local elections starting in 1948 and includes photographs and documents obtained from U.N. archives. (Photo provided by the National Archives of Korea) (Yonhap)
US and ROK military forces need live fire training to maintain readiness and there is no where in Korea to do this as well as Rodriguez Range. I look at this as I would an airport. People need airports just like the military needs a live fire range. Should airports be closed as well because of noise and the remote chance of a crash? How come I have the feeling this has a lot to do with money?
A united group of villagers set fire to bundles of straw near the U.S. military firing range in Pocheon on Wednesday in protest against stray bullets from the range.
The Rodriguez Live Fire Complex, about 24 kilometers south of the tensely-guarded demilitarized zone, has been a source of grievances to the residents of neighboring towns following a series of ricochets that have come out of the firing range and landed on residential areas.
Most recently in October, a 105-millimeter anti-tank shell flew from the shooting range before ricocheting off a house in a neighborhood and landed on a farm.
Earlier that month, a practice projectile was found in a pine field following three similar cases of ricochets in proceeding months.
“Day and night, the sounds of firing never cease in Pocheon, the home to dozens of military bases, camps, a military airfield, ammunition dumps and the Eighth U.S. Army’s Youngpyoung (Rodriguez) firing range as well as the South Korean Army’s ranges,” the villagers’ committee on the ricochet issue said in protest.
The residents near the range started to desert their hometown in fear of stray bullets, they claimed in the protest rally near the U.S. military range. [Korea Herald]
I guess a slogan making sense in English was not high on the priority list for Seoul’s new slogan to market the city with:
“I.Seoul.You” has been selected as the capital city’s new slogan.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced Wednesday that “I.Seoul.You” beat the two other candidates ― “Seoulmate” and “SEOULing” ― to replace its current slogan “Hi Seoul.”
“Seoulmate” won slightly more votes than “I.Seoul.You” in an online poll. However, in an on-the-spot poll held in the evening at Seoul Plaza, all nine experts and 682 out of a total 1,140 citizens voted for “I.Seoul.You,” which beat “Seoulmate” with only 232 votes.
Lee Ha-rin, a Korean student who studies philosophy in college, is the winner of the slogan contest, in which more than 16,000 people participated.
Prof. Kim Yoo-kyung of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, marketing company Playground CEO Kim Hong-tak and Prof. Seo Kyung-duk of Sungshin Women’s University were among the experts.
“It was very meaningful that Seoul citizens participated in the whole process from making to selecting the new slogan,” Seo said.
Kim Min-ki, who was in charge of the project, said that the new slogan will be used to rebrand the city globally. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but many critics have already weighed in on how non-sensical this slogan is. Maybe the Seoul government thinks English gibberish will market well in China to get tourists from there?
For an English slogan for a city this has to be the worst I have heard. Can anyone think of any city with a worse slogan?
Buses carrying South Koreans to reunions with their North Korean relatives travel along the east coast on their way to the North’s Mount Kumgang on Oct. 24, 2015. (Yonhap)
I don’t see too many Jeeps in Korea so it will be interesting to see if their marketing strategy works:
FCA Korea president Pablo Rosso talks to The Korea Herald at his office in Seoul. (Chung Hee-cho/The Korea Herald)
The boxy and powerful Jeep sports utility vehicles have appealed to tough, adventure-seeking motorists with rather masculine exteriors for more than seven decades.
And despite the global trend for family-friendly and female-friendly SUVs, Jeep has no intention of changing its image, the U.S. carmaker’s Korea head told The Korea Herald.
“If I start selling Jeep as a family car, we would lose our personality, and believe me, we will lose sales,” Pablo Rosso, Korean market president at Fiat-Chrysler APAC, said in a recent interview.
“What people like about Jeep is that dream, that muscularity, that passion and authenticity of the dream of adventure. So that is the value that we stand for.”
And as a part of that authentic Jeep image, the company is highlighting its masculine and daring side with its newest compact SUV, the Renegade.
The boxier design creates a stark comparison to its predecessor Cherokee’s fluid and modern exterior, and is seen as a declaration from the carmaker of a retro direction.
Rosso thinks this masculine look appeals to women who defy norms and want powerful cars. [Korea Herald]
You can read the rest at the link but since being offered for sale in September, the Jeep Renegade sold 300 vehicles that month.
Since the liquor industry has to pay for this payment increase I can understand why they are not happy about it, but restaurants will definitely be making more money by recycling all their bottles:
The Environment Ministry’s decision to raise cash payments for used soju and beer bottles starting next year faces a slew of challenges, including protests from liquor companies, concerns about bottle supplies and worries that prices could rise as a result.
On Sept. 3, the ministry announced a new cash-for-bottles recycling plan, in which liquor makers would pay more for returned, used bottles.
The refunded deposits, as they are called, will rise from 40 won (36 cents) for a 360-mililiter (1.5-cup) soju bottle to 100 won, and from 50 won for 500-mililiter and 600-mililiter beer bottles to 130 won.
A recycling commission that liquor companies pay wholesale and retail distributors, such as restaurants and department stores, or individual brokers who collect empty bottles, will be raised from 16 won to 33 won for soju bottles and from 19 won to 33 won for beer bottles.
The ministry believes the bigger payments for empties will encourage recycling.
Currently, about 85 percent of nearly nine billion bottles used every year are returned to the makers, according to government data. The ministry expects the rate to rise to 95 percent under the new policy. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
That is what is being claimed in the below article to explain the reduction in subsidies that all the cell phone carriers in South Korea implemented for the release of the new iPhone 6S which has increased the overall cost of the smartphone:
Prospective buyers of iPhone 6s line up in front of the KT headquarters in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, on Friday. The increased cost of the new phones wasn’t enough to deter these anxious buyers who lined up for the latest Apple release. [KANG JUNG-HYUN]Apple’s latest iPhone 6s made headlines earlier this week when preorder sales sold out in a record seven minutes. But the smartphone and the larger iPhone 6s Plus are being sold with a subsidy that is roughly 40 percent less than the previous model that went on sale a year ago.
The new phones are also 20,000 won ($18) to 30,000 won more expensive than the earlier release.
The nation’s three mobile carriers – SK Telecom, KT and LG U+ – unveiled on Friday the subsidies and price of the latest Apple smartphones as they started official in-store sales of the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.
The mobile carriers set the maximum subsidies on both models between 120,000 won and 130,000 won – much less than the subsidy provided on the iPhone 6 last year, which was in the 100,000 won to 200,000 won range. In the case of KT, the maximum subsidy it provided on the iPhone 6 last year was 250,000 won.
The slashed subsidies went against earlier market expectations of substantial subsidies on Apple’s new smartphones due to keen competition among mobile carriers to hijack one another’s customers.
Mobile carriers and the Korean manufacturer gave different answers for reasons why subsidies have been slashed almost in half.
“It was largely the result of Samsung Electronics’ influence to keep Apple in check,” said a mobile carrier official, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The mobile carriers said the Korean smartphone maker made an unofficial request to limit the subsidies on iPhones, and the mobile carriers can’t refuse because Samsung Electronics is the biggest smartphone supplier. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
