If anyone has wondered what most of the South Korean population would do if North Korea attacks, this poll gives some indication:
Four out of 10 Seoul residents would simply flee to another country if another war breaks out on the Korean peninsula, a poll suggests. Also, more than 60 percent of Seoul residents said they have no idea what the instructions are in the event of a war.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government surveyed 3,039 residents earlier this month and found that 36.2 percent would escape to a safer place, while 5.6 percent said they would leave Korea. Only 11.6 percent said they want to take up arms to defend the country, and the remainder would be willing to give the military some auxiliary support [Chosun Ilbo]
The findings of bullying in the military is not surprising, but criticizing South Korea for limiting the political activity in the classrooms by their teachers? Does the State Department believe that South Korean teachers should have the right to teach pro-North Korean and anti-US propaganda to their students?:
An annual human rights report released on June 25 by the US State Department cited violence in the military and restrictions on political involvement by government employees and teachers as problem areas for South Korea. The department’s Human Rights Report for South Korea rated it as a country that generally respects human rights, but included the two new areas in addition to previous concerns about the National Security Law. “The primary human rights problems reported were government interpretation of the National Security Law, libel laws, and other laws to limit freedom of speech and expression and restrict access to the internet; the continued jailing of conscientious objectors to military service; and bullying and hazing [of new recruits] in the military,” the executive summary read. The mention of bullying and hazing in the military appears to be a reference to incidences such as the death of a private first class surnamed Yun in Apr. 2014.
“During the first half of the year, the Ministry of National Defense reported 37 suicides among military personnel, generally attributed to bullying, hazing, or inability to adjust to military life,” the report said. In regard to punishment in libel cases, the report mentioned the indictment of former New Politics Alliance for Democracy floor leader Park Jie-won after allegations that President Park Geun-hye used a “non-official system” to choose appointees. In terms of press freedoms, the report mentions the indictment of the Japanese newspaper Sankei Shimbun’s Seoul bureau chief for defamation over allegations about President Park’s whereabouts during the Apr. 2014 Sewol ferry sinking. While the State Department’s 2013 report had only mentioned restrictions on labor rights and interference with striking rights as problem areas, the latest report notes that “[r]estrictions on workers’ rights, including freedom of association and assembly and limitations on political engagement of public servants and teachers, were also problematic.” [Hankyoreh]
I just don’t see many of the South Korean chain stores ever making it big outside of Korean-American communities. Can anyone picture Paris Baguette in major cities when it would be competing against someone like Panera Bread?. Can anyone think of a Korean chain that could make it big in the US?:
Korean firms are scrambling to set up shop in New York City as a litmus test for how ready they are for the global market. With the growing interest in Korean culture in the U.S., they feel this may be the right time to make inroads into the market.
Cosmetics firms are leading the trend. Amore Pacific opened its store at Bloomingdale’s department store in Manhattan last week, a first for a Korean cosmetic firm.
“To succeed in the global market, you first need to advance into New York, the trend-setting city,” said a company spokesman. Amore Pacific opened its first New York store in 2003 and now operates 26 in the city.
Laneige also opened an outlet in a big supermarket in the U.S. last year. Tonymoly started in New York in August last year and already operates six stores there. [Chosun Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but I think a major luxury hotel brand like Lotte has a chance of gaining some market share in major cities but that is about it. Cosmetics may have a chance of gaining some market share as well, but I think even that will be challenging.
Whether or not he illegally entered North Korea doesn’t matter to me because this is the chance anyone visiting North Korea takes for going there in the first place:
South Korea confirmed on Sunday that North Korea detained a South Korean student of New York University, but said it was still unclear whether the 21-year-old New Jersey resident attempted to enter the North illegally.
An official from South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles affairs with North Korea, said his department was still trying to gather information on Won Moon Joo’s travels and the circumstances of his arrest.
“Our judgment is that Joo is being held in North Korea, but we are still trying to confirm the details of how he got arrested,” he said on condition of anonymity, citing office rules.
North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said Saturday that Joo was arrested on April 22 after trying to illegally enter North Korea by crossing the Amnok River from the Chinese border town of Dandong. [Associated Press]
It will be interesting to see how long this cooperation lasts:
Despite repeated attempts by reporters to bait him into dredging up lingering resentments against Japan, a senior South Korean diplomat bit his tongue, downplaying 70-year-old tensions at a trilateral meeting in Washington.
“Diplomacy is about trying to find a way to work together while we have healthy differences on issues,” South Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong told reporters at the State Department on Thursday.
Cho said South Korea had not changed its stance “on the issues of history,” but understood that cooperation between Korea and Japan was “beneficial to both governments.”
The press conference played perfectly into Washington’s Asia rebalance strategy, which relies on the U.S. mediating differences between Japan and South Korea in order to better coordinate on China’s economic and military rise in the region.
“We have an extraordinary array of shared interests and that’s built on a foundation of shared values,” Deputy Secretary of State Tony Blinken said during the joint press conference. “That was obvious to me in conversations we had over many hours today covering an extraordinary array of issues.” [Foreign Policy]
You can read the rest at the link, but I will get excited about cooperation when I see something more tangible happen between the two countries.
Members of civic groups stage a rally in front of the defense ministry in Seoul on April 10, 2015, to voice their objection to the possible deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in South Korea and the establishment of an integrated air and missile-defense system among the United States, South Korea and Japan to deter North Korea’s evolving security threats. (Yonhap)
Is banning prostitution denying someone their human rights? That is what sex workers are saying:
Activists hold a rally to demand a repeal of the anti-sex trade law in front of the Constitutional Court on Thursday. (Yonhap)
The debate on legalizing prostitution has heated up in South Korea as the Constitutional Court began reviewing the law that criminalizes the sex trade. The court held its first public hearing Thursday.
The antiprostitution law was enacted in 2004 to protect human rights, partly prompted by fire that killed 14 sex workers who were locked in a brothel in Gunsan, North Jeolla Province, in 2002.
The law stipulates that both purchasing and selling of sex carry a penalty of up to one year in prison or a fine of up to 3 million won ($2,747). It gives exemption to people forced into prostitution, leaving only voluntary sex workers ― many of whom oppose the law ― subject to the punishment.
A 41-year-old woman accused of selling sex for 130,000 won filed for a constitutional review of the law in 2012. The woman argued that punishing voluntary prostitution, especially when the sex worker has no other means of income, was a violation of fundamental human rights.
“Are we (sex workers) doing something that is worse than stealing? Is what we do worse than murder?” the woman said back in 2012.
Her request for a review was granted by the Seoul Northern District Court and eventually by the Constitutional Court.
Police crackdowns on brothels have also had damaging outcomes in recent years. Last year, a prostitute in Tongyeong, South Gyeongsang Province, jumped from a motel during a raid and died. A police officer had reportedly approached her while pretending to be a client.
Those who are against the antiprostitution law claim there is little evidence that punishing sex workers is effective in curbing the sex trade. According to government data, the number of female sex workers increased by 3.8 percent from 2010 to 2013, in spite of the law. [Korea Herald]
You can read the rest at the link, but I have to wonder if the foreigner in the picture knows that depending on his visa status he cannot participate in political activity in Korea?
