Month: February 2015

Here we go again:

North Korea on Wednesday ruled out resuming dialogue with the “gangster-like” United States, and vowed to respond to any US aggression with nuclear strikes and cyber warfare.

The bellicose statement from the country’s top military body, the National Defence Commission (NDC), came after reported moves by Washington and Pyongyang to revive long-stalled six-nation talks on denuclearisation.

It also preceded the start in early March of annual joint US-South Korea military exercises that always presage a sharp spike in military tensions and rhetoric on the divided peninsula.

The NDC statement was an apparent reaction to remarks Barack Obama made regarding the eventual collapse of the regime in North Korea, which the US president called the “most cut-off nation on Earth”.

The NDC statement, which labelled the Obama administration a mud-slinging “cesspool,” said the president’s comments amounted to a threat to engineer the country’s downfall.

“Since the gangster-like US imperialists are blaring that they will ‘bring down’ the DPRK (North Korea)… the army and people of the DPRK cannot but officially notify the Obama administration… that the DPRK has neither need nor willingness to sit at negotiating table with the US any longer,” the NDC said.  [AFP]

You can read more at the link, but at least they didn’t resort to racist and sexist statements in this latest verbal attack.

I wonder if the topic of the Chinese fishing boats that keep violating South Korean waters will come up?:

China’s defense minister flew into Seoul on Tuesday for talks with his South Korean counterpart on North Korea’s nuclear program and ways to boost bilateral military ties, officials here said.

Chang Wanquan is scheduled to meet with South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo on Wednesday to exchange views on the security situation on the Korean Peninsula and North Korea’s nuclear issue, according to the officials.

Chang, who will leave Seoul on Thursday, is the third Chinese defense minister to visit South Korea. The last ministerial visit was made in 2006.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I don’t have much sympathy for Heather Cho, but to send her to jail for three for this is ridiculous when rapists in South Korea get less time or no time at all:

Prosecutors demanded a three-year prison term for former Korean Air Executive Vice President Heather Cho at her trial over the “nut rage” incident, Monday.

This came after the prosecution concluded she forced a flight from JFK International Airport in New York to change course, an allegation that has a maximum sentence of 10 years.  [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p>Video: Visiting the Mr.Toilet Museum in Suwon Korea <a href=”http://t.co/hcOjGJkQud”>http://t.co/hcOjGJkQud</a></p>&mdash; Christine Kaaloa (@grrrltraveler) <a href=”https://twitter.com/grrrltraveler/status/562132051587907584″>February 2, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Models pose with Korean melons at a Lotte Mart store in downtown Seoul on Feb. 2, 2015. (Yonhap)

It will be interesting to see if this death sentence is actually ever carried out:

A South Korean soldier who shot dead five of his colleagues and injured seven others has been sentenced to death by a military court.

The sergeant opened fire in June 2014 at his post near the North Korean border and fled, sparking a manhunt.

He was captured two days later after he shot himself during a tense stand-off with troops.

It reignited debate on military culture in South Korea, where all males must do about two years military service.

The conscript’s attack had previously been attributed by a defence ministry spokesman to his “difficulties in adapting to military life”.

He had been placed on a list of conscripts requiring special attention.

In July last year, the military completed its investigation into the incident and said the attack, at a post near the border town of Goseong, was in revenge for bullying in the army and at school.  [BBC via reader tip]

You can read more at the link, but no one on death row in South Korea has been executed since 1997.

Here is another example of a military retiree turned government civilian getting hammered by DOD for a mistake they made:

Christopher Garcia couldn’t figure out why we was being called into the civilian human resources department in Okinawa.

It had been two years since he retired as a Marine gunnery sergeant and took a job as the lead defense travel administrator in the III Marine Expeditionary Force’s disbursing office. The transition had gone so well, his office had been recognized for excellence.

But, it turns out, things were too good to be true.

Despite being promised a housing allowance when he was offered the job, the HR office was now telling him that the interpretation of the rules had changed and he no longer qualified.

Then, he essentially was handed a bill for more than $100,000.

“Regrettably, the previous determination of your eligibility for [living quarters allowance] was erroneous,” CHRO Director Deborah Summers wrote in a letter handed to Garcia on Jan. 20. “Because you have been erroneously receiving LQA payments, you are required to repay the LQA you have received.”

Garcia was in shock.

Not only was he on the hook for two years’ rent and utilities, but his housing allowance payments would stop immediately. He said it would be nearly impossible to afford his house now, and his family — with five children living at home — had just celebrated Christmas.

“When I see what this is doing to my family … It’s the betrayal of a loyal individual,” Garcia said. “I don’t have the disposable income to just throw down another $8,000 on a move.”  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but hopefully this gentlemen can get that debt waived because I can only imagine how much more difficult life would be for this family having to pay that huge debt back every month on top of trying to find a new place to live that they can afford.

It is the cold winter months in North Korea, so how do all those millions of North Koreans living in poverty keep warm?:

South Korea may have just started to prepare for winter, but the North – sometimes referred to as the “frozen land” – is already a few months in.

Winds from Siberia can mean that temperatures can dip to -13C (8.5F) in the capital Pyongyang, which sees an average of 37 snowfall days a year.

North Koreans start gearing up for the winter months in early autumn, and a lack of sufficient heating facilities means the process keeps them busy, say defectors.

Outside of the centrally heated apartment complexes in Pyongyang, people must find, and stock, their own firewood and coal for the winter. But most of the mountains are bare, devoid of firewood, and recent tree-planting projects mean there are restrictions on cutting wood.

Coal is produced in the North but is exported to bring in foreign currency, hiking up domestic market prices: as the weather gets colder, prices climb. Defectors say that even if people are able to burn coal in their homes, poor ventilation can lead to fatalities.

The common testimony is that the state has failed to issue any counter-measures against cold weather, even when cold waves are expected, the authorities fail to issue orders informing and helping people to prepare.

Kim Yeong-mi , 47, who defected to South Korea in 2012, told Daily NK how people prepare:

What is the most important part of the winter preparations?

Without a doubt it’s getting enough fuel to burn. In the northern regions, people prepare firewood, and in the central areas, it’s more coal-focused. Even further south, I’ve heard some use straws from rice. I lived in the central regions, where there used to be rationed coal. Now there’s no such thing, you have to buy it. After August the market prices of coal start to creep up.

How do people heat their apartments?

Apartments in the countryside usually have fireplaces to burn coal. In Pyongyang they use hot water from thermoelectric power plants to heat apartments – using the traditional Korean floor heating system, ondol.

If power plants grind to a halt, you can’t get hot water. But if you don’t use the pipes they can freeze and burst, so people have no choice but to use cold water – which exacerbates the cold.  [The Guardian]

You can read the rest at the link, but it sounds like North Korea is basically living like South Koreans did up to the 1970’s.

Here is an editorial in the Korea Herald in regards to the sex crime issue currently plaguing the ROK military:

The recent comments made by the Saenuri lawmaker Song Young-keun in relation to a sexual assault case in the military reveal why the country’s military is plagued by sexual crimes and misconducts.

Remarking on a case in which a brigade commander sexually assaulted a female NCO, Song, a retired Army Lt. Gen. who served as the commander of the defense security command, said that the brigade commander rarely went off base and suggested that the man, in his mid-40s, could have suffered from sexual frustration as a result.

The remark is deeply offensive to both men and women. Suggesting that men might commit sex crimes because of unresolved sexual needs debases men as creatures that are compelled to act upon impulse. It is bad enough that the sex crime occurred in the military, where discipline is a priority, but Song’s comment brings great dishonor to all men in the military.

Song’s comments also betray his attitude toward women ― as sexual objects ― that condones sexual violence committed against women. Song further incensed women by referring to the victim as the “sergeant agassi” which can be translated as “sergeant miss.” The usage of the word “agassi” fell out of public favor long ago as women find the term to be pejorative. In fact the term has limited usage today, often used in bars or room salons to refer to a bar hostess.

That a three-star general harbors such attitudes about women and sex crimes is greatly alarming. It is just such attitudes and thinking that perpetuate sex crimes in the military.

It is most unfortunate that Song was part of a National Assembly special committee charged with improving human rights in the military and revamping the military culture. He resigned from the committee on Jan. 30 “taking responsibility for causing trouble with inappropriate remarks.” However, more problematic than the remarks are the deeply embedded attitude toward about sex crimes and sexual objectification of women that the remarks revealed.

Perhaps such attitudes run deep in the military. Perhaps that is why some laughable guidelines ― men and women may not be in a car by themselves, men and women should only use one hand each when shaking hands ― have been suggested by the military in its effort to prevent sex crimes.

The military needs more than such superficial guidelines. It should create an atmosphere where men and women in the military can fight side by side as comrades in arms, regardless of gender. Regular gender equality training could be a starting point.  [Korea Herald]

Everything in the editorial is fair enough, but to really see changes in the ROK military in regards to women than there needs to be changes in Korean society as well.  Servicemembers do not enter the military and suddenly put aside all their sexist beliefs they learned while being a civilian when they put on the uniform.  A culture of not treating women as second class citizens and sex objects needs to be changed well before someone enters the military.  To be fair much has changed for the positive in regards to the treatment of women in Korea over the years and I expect these improvements to continue.

<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p>Livecams: <a href=”http://t.co/SALwnhTI3U”>http://t.co/SALwnhTI3U</a> RT <a href=”https://twitter.com/EarthUncutTV”>@EarthUncutTV</a> Mt Aso in ash venting mode now <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/volcano?src=hash”>#volcano</a> <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/Japan?src=hash”>#Japan</a> <a href=”http://t.co/DU0Ax9Sa3d”>pic.twitter.com/DU0Ax9Sa3d</a></p>&mdash; Steve Herman (@W7VOA) <a href=”https://twitter.com/W7VOA/status/562152879188746240″>February 2, 2015</a></blockquote>
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