Jon Dunbar from the Korea Times had a fun night in jail at the Trump Hotel in Naju:
The hotel, newly opened in July, has a glitzy neon exterior. And a prison cell theme room! What could they be thinking? I had to stay there myself.
So the next available weekend, I filled up my cats’ bowls and headed south, mum to friends about my destination.
Trump Hotel is a short walk from the station, right next to a Lotte Mart. Unsure how it works, I entered the building and took the elevator to the third floor, only to find no lobby. I met owner Hur Jung-oun, his wife Kim Hyo-won and Hur’s brother and co-owner Jun-chul and they kindly helped me check in. I got my wish, the prison cell room, for only 55,000 won. I did not identify myself or reveal intentions to write an article.
Guests are expected to enter through the garage, where they get a private parking spot and can walk up a short flight of stairs to the room and a check-in system. But non-drivers are welcome too. The garage displays the hotel logo — a bunch of playing cards. A reference to Trump’s failed casinos?
Once I was alone in the room, I pulled out my camera and took pictures of everything. Trump bathrobes, Trump bed sheets, Trump hairdryer and, of course, the prison bars. They were real metal and if you brought your own padlock you could lock someone in there. I imagined waking up in the morning to find myself locked in. [Korea Times]
Here is the aftermath from the mass panic caused on Hawaii from a fake North Korea missile attack notice sent to everyone’s smartphones:
The false emergency alert apparently happened because “the wrong button was pushed,” Hawaii House Speaker Scott Saiki said in a statement.
“This system we have been told to rely upon failed and failed miserably today,” Saiki said. “I am deeply troubled by this misstep that could have had dire consequences.”
He added, “Apparently, the wrong button was pushed and it took over 30 minutes for a correction to be announced. Parents and children panicked during those 30 minutes.”
The emergency alert was sent to people’s mobile phones in Hawaii starting at about 8:07 a.m. local time with the startling words all in caps, “Ballistic missile threat inbound to Hawaii. Seek immediate shelter. This is not a drill.”
Shortly after, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Command, Dave Benham, told ABC News in a statement that no ballistic missile threat to Hawaii was detected.
“Earlier message was sent in error. State of Hawaii will send out a correction message as soon as possible,” Benham said. (…….)
Gov. David Ige said at a press conference Saturday afternoon that the error happened during a routine procedure that occurs as workers are changing shifts.
“An error was made in emergency management which allowed this false alarm to be sent,” Ige said. “It was a procedure that occurs at the change of shift, enabling [us] to make sure that the system is working, and an employee pushed the wrong button.” [Good Morning America]
You can read more at the link, but you would think sending out an alert like this would not be as simple as clicking a mouse button to prevent a mistake like this from happening. Additionally the fact that it took so long to send a correction message shows whoever was coming on and off shift were not even aware of the error they made while everyone else in Hawaii was in a mass panic:
“We grabbed all the food and water we had, the kids grabbed their stuffed animals and we headed to the lobby,” Mulder said. “Kids crying everywhere, no one knew what was happening. We made our way to an internal bathroom and huddled there with some other people. It was probably 30 minutes between the alert and when we knew it was a false alarm.”
One video making the rounds on social media showed children being lowered into a storm drain for safety. [Fortune]
It is not good with the emergency management team for the State of Hawaii doesn’t even know there is an emergency going on to fix their error until 38 minutes after the fact. And if anyone was wondering, it did not take very long for Democrats to blame President Trump for this:
Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, one of the first to confirm that the missile alert was false, later said on CNN that Trump was “taking too long” to deal with tensions surrounding North Korea, which contributed to dialing up the panic from Saturday’s incident.
“You’d be angry just like I am,” said Gabbard, a Democrat and a member of the House Armed Services Committee. [Fortune]
Probably the worst thing about this is now people are not going to trust the warnings they receive from the State of Hawaii anymore because of this incompetence.
I saw this posted on Reddit. Whoever did the English translation did not do it correctly because the Korean actually says to not let your pet pee here.
Here is yet another example of someone in Korea doing something wacky to show their displeasure with something:
A 79-year-old man, identified only by his last name Lee, lies down on the floor after stabbing himself in the abdomen with a weapon in front of Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon (L) at the city hall on Feb. 24, 2017. (Yonhap)
An elderly man unsatisfied with the capital city’s development policy stabbed himself while Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon was delivering a congratulatory speech at an opening of an exhibition at the city hall Friday, municipal officials and witnesses said.
The 79-year old man, identified only by his last name Lee, approached Mayor Park with a weapon at around 10 a.m. and stabbed himself in the abdomen, after shouting “Can you say you are a mayor?” and “I need to die,” according to the witnesses. He was drunk when the incident took place.
Lee was rushed to a nearby hospital and is in stable condition.
He reportedly had conflicts with a district office after the city government decided not to carry out a development project. The amount of compensation suggested by the district office fell short of what was asked by a development committee headed by Lee. [Yonhap]
I asked a few months ago if the progressive term “cultural misappropriation” would eventually makes it way to Korea and now it has arrived over the wearing of a hanbok which the vast majority of Koreans love to see foreigners wear:
Maria, 20, studies the Korean language in Seoul. In her post, she included a caption referencing SHINee’s Taemin, who wore a similar hanbok in KBS’ variety show “Hello Baby”.
Apparently, not everyone was pleased to see Maria donning the dress. According to Koreaboo, some angered netizens accused her of cultural (mis)appropriation. One reportedly called her a “White Devil.” [Next Shark via King Sejong]
You can read the rest at the link, but I learned another new progressive term “white passing privilege”. If this is what people in college are concerned about no wonder they have a hard time finding a good job in today’s economy.
Not to pile on President Park’s already bad week, but this is a pretty strange story:
Rep. Song Young-gil (far left) talks about the President’s toilet episode at a YouTube live talk show organized by main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea at the National Assembly. / Screen capture from YouTube
And on Dec. 8, a lawmaker revealed for the first time the President’s other “more private” attachment: a bacteria-free clean toilet.
“The President visited Incheon City Office when I was city mayor (2010-14),” said Rep. Song Young-gil, of the Minjoo Party of Korea.
He made the comment on Dec. 8, as a guest on a YouTube live talk show organized by the main opposition party at the National Assembly.
According to the informant, the office had reported to the President during the morning about the city’s current situations and the mayor’s performance.
After a luncheon at the office, they went outside for local canvassing with her.
“At one time, officials from the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae had asked me if the President could use my room for a brief rest,” Rep. Song said on the show, at which four other lawmakers were guests.
“I gladly agreed to the request. But then, the presidential secretaries again came to me and said the President wanted to replace a toilet in a restroom inside the room.
“I was totally dumbfounded.”
The story was surprising enough to turn heads toward him, with the show’s host, former party member Choi Min-hee, being particularly loud about the President’s newly found “surreal” penchant for hygiene.
“I guess the President simply did not want to share my toilet,” Rep. Song said, laughing. [Korea Times]
You can read the rest at the link, but I have to wonder if President Park travels around with extra toilets and a plumber to install them as part of her entourage?
