As I have said before, the installation of this statue is needlessly provocative against Japan which has apologized an offered compensation multiple times for its past wartime activities. If these activist groups really cared about sexual slavery then they would be putting up a statue in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul in protest of the modern day sexual slavery of North Korean women in China. However, that would take real courage because China will retaliate unlike Japan that these activists know will just continue to take it:
This photo, taken on Dec. 30, 2016, shows people installing a statue of a girl representing victims of wartime sex slavery by the Japanese military in front of the Japanese Consulate in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan. (Yonhap)
A civic group installed a statue of a girl symbolizing the victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery in front of the Japanese Consulate in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan on Friday after the Dong Ward municipality gave its approval.
The ward municipality agreed earlier in the day to let the civic group install the statue on the sidewalk about 40 meters away from the consulate’s back door.
It marked the second of its kind established in front of Japan’s overseas diplomatic missions after one was installed in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.
“We will not stop the civic group from installing the statue in front of the consulate if they wish to do so,” Park Sam-seok, chief of the municipality, said at a press conference. [Yonhap]
Installing this statue outside the Japanese consulate in Busan seems needlessly provocative to me. If these activist groups are so concerned about sexual slavery then they should be putting up statues in front of the Chinese embassy in Seoul in protest of the modern day sexual slavery of North Korean women in China:
Members of a civic group confront police on the sidewalk near the Japanese Consulate in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan on Dec. 28, 2016, after attempting to install a statue symbolizing victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery. (Yonhap)
Dozens of members from a civic group without authorization attempted to install a statue of a girl symbolizing the victims of Japan’s wartime sexual slavery in South Korea’s largest port city of Busan, but the attempt was foiled due to opposition from officials and police.
The group tried to set up the statue on the sidewalk in front of the back door of the Japanese Consulate shortly after a weekly rally around 12:30 p.m. calling for the Japanese government to offer an apology and compensation for its wartime sexual enslavement of Asian women, many of whom were Korean.
As many as 150 activists from the group staged the rally to protest a Seoul-Tokyo landmark deal in December last year in which Tokyo apologized for its colonial-era atrocities and agreed to provide 1 billion yen (US$9.4 million) for the creation of a foundation aimed at supporting the victims, euphemistically called comfort women. [Yonhap]
An American teacher working at an elementary school in Busan and her family have been selected to receive a community service award from the city of Busan for helping to clean up Gwangalli Beach after Typhoon Chaba struck the city:
From left: Sisters Fiona and Stella Rupert and their mother Deanna walk on Gwangalli Beach in Busan which they cleaned on Oct. 5 after typhoon Chaba wrecked it. / Yonhap
An American family who voluntarily cleaned Busan’s Gwangalli Beach that was wrecked by deadly typhoon “Chaba” this month will receive an award for their service to the community.
The city’s Suyeong-gu District Office said on Monday that it would present Deanna Rupert, 38, and her two daughters, Fiona, 11, and Stella, 5, with an “award certificate for foreign residents” to honor what they did.
The three Americans — who live near the beach — and a group of Koreans cleaned up the beach for more than four hours on Oct. 5. They had brought their own equipment.
“Fiona told me the beach was our neighborhood, and that it was our duty to clean it up and protect its environment,” said her mother, according to Yonhap news agency. [Korea Times]
There is a lesson to be learned here, don’t except drinks from strange people you just met:
Police have arrested a man for allegedly drugging a Uzbekistani women and dragging her to a Busan motel to rob her.
Police said that on Sept 13, the man, surnamed Kang, 35, approached the victim at a bus station in Oncheon-dong. He had a vending machine coffee that contained zolpidem, a sedative primarily used for insomnia.
He introduced himself to the woman as a Japanese living in Korea. Kang told police he talked with her for about an hour before giving her the coffee. After the woman fell asleep, he dragged her to a nearby hotel and stole her belongings, including a gold bracelet, police said.
Kang also allegedly stole about 10 million won ($9,060) from 12 other victims using a similar method.
Police arrested Kang at a motel in the area after going through security camera footage. [Korea Times]
The people behind these scams are criminals that should be punished, but I am always amazed by how people keep falling for these email scams that are obviously fake:
A mother and her daughter from the United States, who are part of an international group that carries out various inheritance and investment-related email scams, were arrested for fraud by Busan police on Thursday.
The mother, 67, and her daughter, 46, took 97 million won ($87,080) from a 32-year-old Sakhalin Korean, a Russian of Korean descent from Sakhalin Island, surnamed Kim. The money was taken through a total of 16 occasions from March to August of this year in Haeundae District in Busan.
The scam started when Kim received an email in March from who appeared to be a U.S. bank employee. The email read, “One of your distant relatives had passed away and has left 12 billion won to you.” At first, Kim was skeptical but ended up believing the email because the relative’s name written on the email seemed familiar.
Kim replied to the email, “How can I receive the inheritance?”
Soon after, the supposed U.S. bank employee sent another email, recommending Kim a lawyer. When Kim contacted the lawyer from the email, she explained how to receive the money and asked for a commission. Each time the lawyer asked for her payment, Kim wired the fee to a certain bank account in the U.S. Kim received a receipt and an authentication certificate whenever he transferred the fee. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Considering the age of consent in South Korea the only way these two could be charged with a crime is if these teenagers were coerced into the relationships. Considering the position of authority of a police officer you would think this would be coercive:
Two policemen in Busan resigned after it was found they had sex with high school students they were in charge of monitoring, but they faced no punishment and even received their severance pay.
One policeman surnamed Kim, 33, had sex with a 17-year-old high school student he was supposed to look after and guide, inside a car after school on June 4.
The case came to light as the student reported what had happend to the school nurse, who then alerted a female officer who was managing students at another school, who then passed the case to Busan Saha Police Station.
The Saha Police Station’s section chief verified and confirmed the facts with Kim and the school, however, closed the case without reporting to higher authorities by advising Kim to resign.
Kim handed in his notice the next day, on June 9, saying he had “decided to continue his parents’ business.” He received no punishment and received his severance pay.
When the case belatedly erupted over social media on Friday, the section chief denied having had any knowledge of the incident prior to Kim’s resignation.
A 31-year-old police officer at Busan Yeonje Police Station also had a sexual relationship with a high school student he was supervising. The teenager reportedly contemplated taking her life after the incident. Whether the two had sex more than once is yet to be confirmed.
The case was discovered by a teenagers’ welfare organization that had had a consultation session with the student. When the organization attempted to verify the case with Jeong, he filed for resignation from his post on May 17, claiming that being a police officer did not “fit his aptitude.” [Korea Herald]
