Month: December 2014

Korea Declines IOC Recommendation to Share 2018 Winter Olympics with Japan

| December 13, 2014

There has been funding battles going on between the national and provincials governments in Korea in regards to the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympics.  The IOC has now stepped in to recommend that Korea try and share the 2018 Games with Japan to reduce costs.  It appears the suggestion of sharing the games with their rival Japan has gotten the attention of Korea:

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The 2018 PyeongChang Olympic Games chief organizer confirmed Friday “there is no possibility” events will be shared with cities outside of Korea.

“Construction for all the venues for the PyeongChang Games has begun. At this juncture, it is difficult to adopt the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) reform package,” the PyeongChang Organizing Committee for the 2018 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (POCOG) President and CEO Cho Yang-ho said in a statement.

He said he “highly appreciates” the IOC’s initiative for the reforms because it will be very effective for the Olympic Movement down the road, but insists all events in 2018 will be staged in the counties of PyeongChang and Jeongseon, and the city of Gangneung.

The IOC Monday unanimously approved President Thomas Bach’s 40-point “Olympic Agenda 2020” reform package, which includes recommendations allowing cities to stage some events in different countries to cut costs.

The IOC is worried that a new sliding venue under construction in Gangwon Province may have little use after the Games and wants the POCOG to move sliding events to countries that already have venues, such as Japan. But, local governments and interested parties have insisted they have no intention of splitting the host role with other countries.  [Korea Times]

So the bottom line is that all the venues that will have no use after the Olympics will be built.

Increasing Number of Korean Critical of Mandatory Service Requirement

| December 13, 2014

Unsurprisingly more and more Koreans do not believe in the mandatory service required of all males to defend the country:

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More parents hope their sons can skip compulsory military service, which they consider a waste of precious years in their young lives.

According to a recent survey, seven out of 10 respondent or 70.2 percent, said they would encourage young men to “tough it out,” but the percentage was much smaller among people under 50.

Some 40.2 percent whose sons are nearing conscription age said they would prefer them to be exempt if possible. The proportion was slightly bigger among mothers than fathers with 42.5 percent as against 37.9 percent.

In a similar survey by a high school in Busan in August, 38.1 percent of respondents said they want to avoid conscription if possible. Only 34.5 percent agreed that military service is inevitable at a time when the nation remains divided, and even fewer or 27.4 percent agreed that it is “natural and honorable” to serve in the military.

That suggests some 70 percent do not see the point.

Asked why they do not look forward to their military service, 39.5 percent cited the hard life in barracks, 32.3 percent violence and bullying, and 28.2 percent said it would be a waste of time.  [Chosun Ilbo]

There has been baby steps in the past to professionalize the ROK Army, but the fact that the ROK government is able to maintain such a large force for little money is going to be hard to change because a professional army is expensive.  Just ask the Pentagon.

American Leftists Protest Construction of Cheju Naval Base

| December 12, 2014

The Korean authorities should have stopped these people at the gate of the airport and sent them home because it is illegal for foreigners to conduct political activity while visiting South Korea:

The Rev. Bill Bichsel, an 86-year-old Tacoma priest known for his acts of civil disobedience, has returned from a trip to South Korea to protest construction of a naval base there.

Just three months ago, Bichsel was seriously ill and in the hospital in Tacoma. But his health —while still frail due to a heart condition—improved to the point he was able to make the trip using a wheelchair.

He said his doctors didn’t try to stop him from traveling.

“They just shake their heads,” Bichsel said. “They know I’m going so they don’t make a big fuss.”

For nearly 40 years, the Jesuit priest known as “Bix” has protested against U.S. military programs and weapons. He’s been arrested dozens of times for trespassing during protests and jailed more than a half-dozen times.

He wasn’t arrested in South Korea, but he realized the 12-day trip could set his health back.

“I know I could go anytime,” Bichsel said.

He was weak upon returning Nov. 20, but has gotten stronger since then. And he was inspired by the trip.

Bichsel and nine other people —nearly all from the Puget Sound area—traveled to Jeju Island to commits acts of civil resistance against construction of a base by the South Korean Navy. The base has been under construction on the island off the southern tip of Korea for eight years.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but what gets me about the whole Cheju Naval Base issue is that the leftists complain about the base provoking China when the Chinese is busy making claims against Korean territory and the territory of other countries in the region and have constructed an aircraft carrier to help enforce those claims.  If the Chinese were not making aggressive territorial claims this base would have never been built in the first place and the leftists have the nerve to condemn the ROK government for provoking China?

American Detained In South Korea for Possibly Breaking National Security Law

| December 12, 2014

It will be interesting to see if the US State Department gets involved in this since this pro-North Korean stooge is a US citizen:

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A Korean-American woman has been temporarily banned from leaving the country amid an investigation into her alleged pro-North Korean remarks during a series of talk shows, police said Thursday.

The move comes after local conservative civic groups filed a complaint against Shin Eun-mi, 53, and Hwang Sun, the former deputy spokeswoman of the now-defunct Democratic Labor Party, with the police.

During the talk shows where guests and the audience exchange views on a specific subject, the two women, as guests, allegedly made remarks sympathetic toward the communist regime and painted the North Korean regime in a positive light.

The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency probing the case said it banned Shin from leaving the country for 10 days as she had disobeyed an order to appear for questioning.

Shin, who has published a book on her trip to North Korea, had reportedly planned to leave South Korea on Friday.

Earlier in the day, police also raided Hwang’s home and the office of a talk show organizer as part of their investigation.

Hwang is known for having given birth to a baby girl during a sightseeing trip to North Korea in 2005.

Police have reportedly been investigating the duo on suspicion of violating South Korea’s draconian National Security Law that bans any “anti-state” activities that attempt to praise, encourage or propagandize North Korean political ideals.  [Yonhap]

For those that don’t know the Democratic Labor Party was the political party in South Korea that was filled with a number of people who ended up being convicted for spying for North Korea.

Is Kim Yo-jong Being Groomed as the Next Leader of North Korea?

| December 11, 2014

It looks like Kim Jong-un may still be having problems with his feet:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is experiencing a relapse of his recent health problems, South Korean government officials said Monday.

According to the Ministry of Unification, Kim was limping severely in a video clip recently aired by the state-run Korean Central TV. He was limping particularly painfully at an event with female pilots that took place at the end of last month. The Rodong Shinmun, the Workers’ Party’s newspaper, reported Kim’s visit to the air base on Nov. 28 with photos, but no video was aired until Sunday afternoon.

The 30-year-old ruler of the North developed problems with his leg last spring. After his condition deteriorated, he withdrew from public activities for 40 days.

South Korean intelligence authorities have confirmed that Kim received ankle surgery by visiting French, Chinese and Russian doctors. The sources said there was a high possibility of a relapse after Kim quickly resumed his public activities.

Meanwhile, intelligence officials said Kim Yo-jong, the 25-year-old younger sister of the North’s ruler, has quickly risen in Pyongyang’s inner circle, possibly being groomed to succeed her brother in case of an emergency.

At the end of last month, Pyongyang revealed that she is a deputy director of the Workers’ Party’s Central Committee. It was the first time the North revealed her official title in a media report, although it did not say which department of the party she belongs to.

She is the youngest deputy director of the Workers’ Party in the history of North Korea. Her father Kim Jong-il became the deputy director of the Propaganda and Agitation Department in 1970 when he was 28. Her once-powerful aunt Kim Kyong-hui became the deputy director of the International Department when she was 30.

North Korea observers note that it took only three years for the youngest daughter of Kim Jong-il, who shed tears at her father’s funeral, to rise to a powerful position in Pyongyang’s leadership.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but it would probably be tough for all the long term leadership and military generals to accept such a young female leader even if she is part of the Kim family.  It would be interesting to see how this would play out if something did happen to Kim Jong-un.