The cancellation of the concert by Kim Jong-un’s girl band in China for some reason has become so controversial the Chinese Internet censors are deleting whatever posts they can find about the topic:
Fueling speculation about the cause of the sudden cancellation of a much-anticipated performance by the Moranbong Band in Beijing, Chinese authorities started censoring posts on portal sites and social networking services related to the North Korean girl band.
North Korea’s Moranbong Band was scheduled to perform at Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday evening as a part of a goodwill tour that was to last for three days. The band withdrew hours before the invitation-only concert began, returning to Pyongyang via Air Koryo. They had traveled to Beijing by train.
When the cancellation of the concert was first being reported Saturday, the news was on the front page of Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, and categorized as “Today’s hot issue.”
There were tens of thousands of posts about the band on Weibo. Some praised the beauty of the band members from photos snapped at their hotel in Beijing, including remarks such as, “They’re much prettier than South Korean girl groups.”
But starting from late Saturday, the messages started disappearing. By Sunday, they were gone, indicating that Chinese authorities were censoring any posts related to the Moranbong Band. Articles on the band disappeared from websites, as well. A photo caption from Chinese newspaper Huanqiu Shibao on Monday saying that “the effect of the cancellation of the North Korean performance is limited” suddenly disappeared from its mobile application. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Tatsuya Kato, a Japanese journalist accused of defamation against the South Korean president, walks into the Seoul Central District Court on Dec. 17, 2015, for his sentencing trial. The court found him not guilty, saying that while his article was inappropriate, it falls under the freedom of the press. Kato, former Seoul bureau chief for Sankei Shimbun, was charged with defamation against President Park Geun-hye for his report in August suggesting that she was with her personal confidant when the passenger ferry Sewol sank on April 16, 2014. The whereabouts of the president at the time of the tragedy are one of the criticisms leveled against the government by the family members of the victims and civic groups. The prosecution had demanded a 18-month prison term for the Japanese reporter. (Yonhap)
Ham Seo-hee (L), a South Korean UFC fighter, gets ready for a weigh-in in Seoul on Nov. 27, 2015. Ham goes up against Cortney Casey in the UFC Fight Night 79 on Nov. 28, the first time that the largest mixed martial arts promotion company is bringing its live event to South Korea. (Yonhap)
Not much really since the ROK is trying to balance showing action to their domestic audience and not broadcasting things that would upset the Kim regime to where it would make it very difficult for them to deescalate. The propaganda speakers are also a bargaining chip because the ROK right now is broadcasting little propaganda, but could threaten to broadcast more if things do not deescalate:
The loudspeakers that the military is using consist of 40 or so high-output 500 watt digital speakers that are around 4m by 3m in size. During the day, the broadcasts can be heard more than 10km away in the Kaesong Industrial Complex. At night, the sound carries as far as 24km. At the moment, the messages are broadcast intermittently. North Korea also began broadcasting propaganda into South Korea on Aug. 17. Since North Korea is using antiquated analogue loudspeakers, its broadcasts are reportedly hard to even understand in South Korea. The broadcasts that the South Korean military is sending into North Korea typically are not very political, focusing more on news in North and South Korea, world affairs, and the weather. One female defector from North Korea also takes part in the broadcasts, telling the story of how she defected and talking about her life in South Korea. But the fact that South Korea could use the broadcasts to criticize the North Korean regime if it so chose appears to be putting pressure on North Korea. [Hankyoreh]
It is about time that the government released the names of the MERS infected hospitals so that the public can make a choice on whether they want to go to that hospital or not:
South Korea identified all 24 hospitals affected by the deadly Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) on Sunday, saying it wanted to ensure the public’s safety with transparent information.
Acting Prime Minister Choi Kyung-hwan disclosed the names of the hospitals at a press conference. The government had earlier identified Pyeongtaek St. Mary’s Hospital, in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province, where the first MERS case was confirmed, and Samsung Medical Center in Seoul, one of whose doctors has been diagnosed with MERS and apparently contacted over 1,500 people.
The full list included five more hospitals in Pyeongtaek and five more in the nation’s capital.
“We’re disclosing the hospitals where patients have been diagnosed with MERS, so that we can ensure the people’s safety,” Choi said. “MERS has been spreading across these hospitals, and it forces us to impose strict control on them. Hospitals with confirmed MERS cases in the future will be identified as well.”
The government had been under fire for its refusal to share the names of affected hospitals. It’d reasoned that it didn’t want to generate unnecessary fear, though critics said the government had been doing just that by withholding the information. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but I am assuming the Korean government was slow to give out this information for fear of causing overcrowding at other hospitals by people avoiding these hospitals. Regardless until the MERS is under control it may be a good thing that the public avoids these hospitals.
SEOUL, South Korea — The U.S. government does not believe North Korea’s claim that it has developed nuclear warheads small enough to fit in a missile warhead, adding to the conflicting assessments of Pyongyang’s weapon and delivery capabilities.
“Regarding that specific claim of miniaturization, we do not think they have that capacity and our assessment on that hasn’t changed,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told a Wednesday media briefing in Washington. [Stars and Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but the North Korean’s military capabilities are probably exaggerated in other areas as well.
SEOUL, South Korea — Generations of soldiers have set off on this test of physical and mental endurance armed with what will be their most potent weapons: sturdy, broken-in boots and several pairs of thick socks.
On Wednesday, the decades-old tradition will come to an end when the 2nd Infantry Division’s 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment hosts its final Manchu Mile in South Korea as the unit prepares to inactivate.
“I think bittersweet is a good word to use,” Commander Lt. Col. Scott Knight said. “It’s the last one we’re doing on the peninsula. It’s in conjunction with our inactivation. It’s a lot of goodbyes that are involved, so it’s an awesome experience to go out on a high note.”
The 25-mile march with backpacks is held twice each year to commemorate the unit’s 85-mile march in China during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. The 2-9 will inactivate in July as part of a move toward increased use of U.S. rotational forces on the peninsula. [Stars and Stripes]
Via a reader tip comes this CNN report about a Korean family in Baltimore that lost their business due to the criminals that some in the media like to make excuses for by calling them protesters or rioters:
The day after rioting rocked parts of Baltimore, Matthew Chung stared in disbelief at a video clip circulating online, showing an older Korean woman sobbing as a man props her up to keep from collapsing.
According to the description, the woman was a shop owner who had just found out her store was destroyed by rioters.
That woman was his mother.
Confusion, anger and sadness gripped Chung as he started to realize that his parents’ wig and beauty store, which has been on Pratt Street for 30 years, was the target of looters on April 27. The protests that turned violent were in response to the death of Freddie Gray, an unarmed black man who suffered a spinal cord injury while in police custody.
Chung, 36, doesn’t usually visit Facebook — friends describe him as a private guy — but he felt compelled to write a passionate letter sharing his deep frustrations and sadness at seeing his parents’ livelihood destroyed.
“My parents came to this country with no money and worked hard to setup a little business that’s been in the same neighborhood in Baltimore City for over 25 years,” he wrote. “But just in one night everything they have worked for is now all gone.” [CNN]
You can read the rest at the link, but I always find it interesting how people who can even speak the language can come to this country, open a business, make a living, and be productive citizens while many American born here cannot.
That is what the writer’s at the Marmot’s Hole tried to determine by signing up for an account and testing to see if the Ashley Madison website is legitimate or not:
Now, according to the claims of Christoph Kraemer, director of international relations for Ashley Madison, “. . . Membership is growing quickest in India, South Korea and Japan.” (cite)
When I read about this, I checked and, yes, the site is accessible now from Korea and does offer support in Korean, however, since there are quite a few complaints of this service being fraudulent. Several people I know thought that this site was a typical dating scam setup, where there are fake accounts setup just to drawn in the unsuspecting, so we thought it would be a good idea to test this and to ascertain if previous complaints had any merit and the following is what we found. [Marmot’s Hole]
You can read the rest at the link, but basically they found the site to be misleading with bots posing as women to get people to sign up for accounts. They never did interact with any real women. I think their advice of learning some Korean and just being a pleasant person is much better way to meet people in Korea than depending on a website like Ashley Madison.
