South Korean activists give an anti-Japanese performance in front of the Japanese Embassy in downtown Seoul on Feb. 22, 2015, to condemn Japan’s territorial claim to South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo. (Yonhap)
The worst winter seasonal yellow dust in five years blanketed the Korean Peninsula on Monday, prompting the authorities to issue health warnings against the sandy, chemical-laden wind from China.
According to the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA), yellow dust warnings were issued at 10 a.m. in Incheon, Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and part of Gangwon Province with dust advisories in place for most other parts of the peninsula except some southeastern cities, including Busan and Ulsan.
The dust warnings in the capital area were to be lowered to advisories at 4 p.m. as the number of fine dust particles gradually decreased.
A yellow dust advisory is issued when an hourly average dust concentration of more than 400 micrograms per cubic meter is expected to last for more than two hours. More than 800 micrograms leads to a yellow dust warning.
People are advised to stay indoors when yellow dust advisories or warnings are in place. When going outside, they are advised to wear protective glasses and yellow-dust masks.
As of 4 a.m., Seoul’s atmospheric concentration levels of “particulate matter (PM)-10” pollutants soared to 1,044 micrograms per cubic meter. This marks the worst yellow dust that has hit the peninsula during a winter season since Dec. 25, 2009, when the level recorded 963 micrograms. [Yonhap]
I have always wondered how much of an effect on weather patterns that the yellow dust has in the region and there are actually scientists trying to figure that out. In fact these scientists think the increase in yellow dust could be responsible for up to 80% of global warming. Here is a map with satellite measurements of the yellow dust reaching the US:
For those that don’t know the yellow dust gets blown in from the Gobi desert where overgrazing of grassland is turning large areas of it into desert. To make matters worse a lot of industrial pollutants from China’s factories are dumped in the desert and contribute to the amount of air pollutants that get blown over neighboring countries. This is a provable man-made environmental catastrophe which little is done about.
Shirtless South Korean soldiers conducted an exercise in heavy snow in Pyeongchang, about 180km east of Seoul, in temperatures below -20°C.
More than 150 Chunma Special Force Army members stripped off their shirts and shouted army slogans during a physical strength training exercise. [International Business Times]
You can read and see more pictures at the link, but this picture is just asking for a caption contest.
Lawmakers will start debating Tuesday whether to make it mandatory for cigarette makers to print photos on cigarette packs showing the dangers of smoking.
The National Assembly Health and Welfare Committee will review the government’s proposal to revise laws so they require warning photos such as damaged lungs or rotten teeth. Currently, tobacco makers are required only to print a health warning.
Observers said there is a good chance the revisions will take place. The government has made 11 unsuccessful attempts to have warning photos on cigarette packs since 2002. [Korea Times]
Here is just another example of how South Korea is following the same road the US has gone down where people want government services without paying more in taxes and politicians keep promising that they can do this:
Civic groups hold a rally after the government scaled down support for pension plans and health care promised during the 2012 presidential election. (Yonhap file photo)
If broader welfare without a tax hike sounds too good to be true in a country where people live longer and give birth to fewer babies in an era of slow economic growth, it probably is.
Taking office two years ago with the promise of more social welfare, President Park Geun-hye said she will dig up the underground economy for tax revenue and eliminate unnecessary spending to finance welfare programs, such as child care, college tuition support and a pension plan for seniors.
So far, the government has done little to show results.
Considered too unrealistic by many economists from the outset, and even questioned by her own party, Park’s welfare goal may be derailed as her administration comes under growing pressure for a tax overhaul to meet growing demand for a better social safety net.
The government came under fire for its clumsily patched year-end tax adjustments that resulted in several tax deductions and other tax breaks being scrapped, diminishing the amount of tax refund for salaried workers and, in some cases, forcing them to cough up more. Officials defended the new system as having been designed to “collect less, return less,” but taxpayers blamed the government for tweaking the tax code to deliberately raise the burden on the middle class.
The government apparently lost the argument. President Park’s popularity rating dipped to a record-low 29 percent last week.
The extra cash from the tax refund may be small in amount, but coming after a sharp surge in tobacco prices and the ongoing push for residential and auto tax increases, the strong resistance forced the finance minister to apologize and the tax office to return part of the taxes retroactively, the first such move.
The tax refund fiasco is just one example of mixed challenges faced by Asia’s fourth-largest economy, which is struggling to strike a balance between a budget shortfall and rising welfare costs from the rapidly increasing elderly population.
Now nearing the midpoint of her single, five-year term, Park needs to make a critical political decision: raise taxes or discard welfare pledges, experts say.
“People were enraged because they felt the government lied about not raising taxes,” Shin Yul, a political science professor of Myongji University, said. “Welfare without tax increase was not a realistic goal from the beginning. If the government does not acknowledge this simple fact and sticks to its oxymoronic pledge, it would result in an early lame duck.”
South Korea’s tax rate is equal to 20 percent of the gross domestic production (GDP), lower than the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) average of 25 percent, while its public welfare budget is just half of the OECD average at 10 percent of the GDP. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but to complete this cycle the next thing politicians will likely do is turn to blaming rich people for not paying their fare share.
It’s that time of the year again that if you can spend time in Seoul instead of trying to exit the city with everyone else because it will feel like you have the city to yourself:
The mass migration for Seollal, or the Lunar New Year’s Day, has begun.
More than 16 million Koreans are expected to hit the road during the five-day holiday, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Expressways were clogged and airports and railway stations busy at the start of the traditional pilgrimage for family reunions and holiday-making trips.
The number of travelers is predicted to peak Thursday, Seollal, with 7 million likely to move.
Information on less-congested roads and other traffic situations is available through broadcasts, the ministry’s website (cyber.mltm.go.kr/traffic) and its mobile website (m.mltm.go.kr/traffic).
The government has increased the number of express buses, trains, flights and ferries to reduce traffic congestion during the holiday.
For Seoul citizens planning to return late Friday or Saturday, the city government will extend the operating hours of subways and intra-city buses to 2 a.m. [Korea Times]
If you go to a Duty Free shop in Seoul the chances are the employee is an ethnic Korean from China:
After graduating from college five years ago, Lee Ju-yeon came to Korea from China to live with her mother, a waitress, and father, a manual laborer.
They are Chinese citizens, but ethnically Korean, part of what is known in China as the Chaoxian ethnic minority.
They struggled here as minorities, and Lee’s parents never had the chance to earn college diplomas. She knew she wanted to do better, and capitalized on her higher education and bilingual ability.
“One day, my friend working at a duty-free shop sent me a job notice over the phone and suggested I apply to work as a salesperson,” said Lee, who requested that her real name not be used. “I applied for five positions at duty-free stores, and all of them asked for interviews.”
Her job put Lee among countless Korean-Chinese workers who, once concentrated in the labor and food service sectors, have emerged in multitudes in the retail sector.
Many work in small stores – most commonly duty-free shops – where Chinese-speaking employees are in high demand due to their ability to cater to the needs the throngs of Chinese tourists, known as Youke in Korea which means a “tourist” in Chinese.
“In our duty free stores in downtown Seoul, 70 percent of the customers are Chinese,” said a representative for Lotte Duty Free. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
Koreans in a bar would of course never resort to this kind of violence:
In December, about 20 Cambodian workers engaged in a bloody group fight inside a bar in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang Province.
The incident is belatedly becoming the talk of town after surveillance camera footage showing their brutal fight was aired on TV Wednesday.
Some of the Cambodian men, who all work in factories in Gimhae or Busan on temporary visas, sustained deep stab wounds and bone fractures that will require months of hospital treatment, police said.
During the fight, they smashed bottles of beer and soju, and threw dozens of chairs at each other, breaking dishes and glasses. The owner of the bar said he was lucky that they only cost him his tables and dishes, not his life.
“There were a lot of blood stains. I could have been hit by any of the bottles they threw,” he said.
Residents in Gimhae were frightened by the videos of the incident.
“I thought of foreign factory workers as being docile, hardworking and somewhat naïve. But this likely breaks that stereotype. They could be violent and dangerous, too. I’m afraid of them,” a resident said. [Korea Times]
It seems that McDonald’s workers in South Korea are also motivated to get themselves replaced by machines:
The leader of protests against McDonald’s “culture of exploitation” of young part-time workers vowed Monday to continue fighting until the firm corrects its practices.
“If the company doesn’t respond to our demands, we will continue to raise our voice on the streets,” Lee Hae-jung, secretary general of the Arbeit Workers Union (AWU), told The Korea Times. “After our protest on Friday, we are waiting for a response from McDonald’s. Another protest will be held.”
A group of part-time workers occupied a McDonald’s outlet in Shinchon, near Yonsei University, Saturday, to demand “higher wages, fair working conditions and union activities within the company.”
“We have received many favorable reactions since then, especially from those who work at other fast-food restaurants,” Lee said. “Many showed empathy when we said it is unfair that most of employees at one of the world’s biggest companies eke out a living on minimum wage.” [Korea Times]
In response, McDonald’s said it did not break any laws in hiring and managing its employees.
“What the union is saying is a complete distortion. McDonald’s clearly abides by the Labor Law,” the company said.
In December, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board’s Office of the General Counsel also filed complaints against McDonald’s, accusing it of labor violations.
Complaints were filed in 78 cases, claiming that McDonald’s workers in the U.S. were fired or intimidated for participating in union organizing and in a national protest movement calling for higher wages.
Most McDonald’s workers in Korea earn a minimum hourly wage of 5,580 won ($5.10). Meanwhile, the company had a profit of $5.5 billion on sales of $27.5 billion in 2012.
The AWU wants a wage increase to 10,000 won an hour. [Korea Times]
You can read more at the link, but I have already seen some restaurants experimenting with touch screen ordering. How hard would it be for McDonald’s to put up touch screens for customers to order from and then a worker brings the food out to them?
It appears that Airbus is about to try and enter the Korean defense market:
South Korea’s top carrier airline Korean Air Lines Co. (Korean Air) is poised to participate in a bid for South Korea’s fighter jet development program in association with Europe’s Airbus. Under the development program, code-named KF-X, South Korea will develop and produce about 120 fighter jets to replace its old models.
An informed official told several Korean media outlets, including Segye Ilbo, that Korean Air and Airbus reached a verbal agreement earlier this week to jointly bid for the development project.
The official’s comment was given anonymously, but it immediately brought media attention as the news is expected to open a new chapter for the government’s development plan. So far, Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) has been considered the strongest candidate for winning this project. [The Diplomat]
