Tag: Korea

Just another example of the growing military capabilities of the ROK Navy:

The South Korean Navy on Sunday inaugurated a submarine command as part of efforts to bolster its underwater capabilities and combat readiness against North Korea.

The fleet of the command, based in the southern port city of Jinhae and led by a rear admiral, is composed of 13 submarines under the Ninth Submarine Flotilla, the Navy said in a statement.

The Navy operates nine 1,200-ton submarines and four 1,800-ton subs, while planning to add five more 1,800-ton submarines to be built by 2019. In addition, it plans to deploy nine 3,000-ton submarines capable of launching ballistic missiles, starting in 2020.

The launch made South Korea, which commissioned its first submarine from Germany in 1992, the sixth nation in the world with a submarine command after the United States, Japan, France, Britain and India.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

I think former ROK President Lee Myung-bak was right to squash any summit hopes with such outrageous demands as this from the North Koreans:

When former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung met with the late Kim Jong-il on North Korean soil in 2000, it was seen as a landmark event and a huge step towards possible reunification. Whatever optimism the meeting inspired, however, was quashed when it was revealed the South Korean administration secretly paid hundreds of millions of dollars to make the summit happen.

According to former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, Pyongyang set even steeper demands for a summit when Lee began his own term, which ran from 2008-2013. In his memoir The Times of the President, which is set to be published next week, Lee writes that Pyongyang demanded $10 billion in cash and half a million tons of food as part of a deal for Lee to meet Kim Jong-il.

“The document looked like some sort of standardized ‘summit bill’ with its list of assistance we had to provide and the schedule written up,” Lee writes, according to excerpts obtained by Reuters.

The “conditions for a summit” included 400,000 tons of rice, 100,000 tons of corn and 300,000 tons of fertilizer. The $10 billion would go towards setting up a development bank.

Lee flat out refused. “We shouldn’t be haggling for a summit,” he wrote.  [KoreAm Journal]

You can read the rest at the link, but President Lee’s predecessor Roh Moo-hyun was able to get a summit with Kim Jong-il because he was actually paying the North Koreans more per year than what the ROK was contributing to the US-ROK alliance at the time.

Good luck to Kim Sang-a as she takes on the rigors of becoming a ROK Marine Corps officer:

Kim Sang-a, 24, a sophomore at Jeju National University, has become the first female Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) cadet for the Marine Corps. She will start to receive her training and education next month.

Until recently, female students have not been allowed to apply for the ROTC for the Marine Corps.

Kim, studying in the Department of Marine Industrial and Maritime Police, passed the ROTC screening test in June and completed her two-week military training on Jan. 16 at a Marine boot camp in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province.

Kim’s cadet enlistment ceremony is scheduled for Feb 17.

“Becoming a soldier was my dream,” Kim said.

Born and bred in Seoul, Kim entered the university on Jeju Island to become a female ROTC cadet.  [Korea Times via KoreAm Journal]

You can read more at the link.

A farming couple harvest tomatoes at their greenhouse on the outskirts of Busan on Jan. 26, 2015. (Yonhap)

President Park is continuing the trend of Korean Presidents quickly becoming unpopular with the public after they do not live up to their promises:

President Park Geun-hye’s approval rating has gone down to 30 percent, the lowest since she took office on Feb. 25, 2013, according to a survey released Friday.

The record low rate appears to have been prompted by the fiasco involving the government’s new tax settlement scheme coupled with Park’s no-compromise stance, experts said.

Gallup Korea conducted a poll of 1,001 adults between Tuesday and Thursday, which shows Park’s rating at 30 percent, down from 35 percent the previous week.

Respondents who negatively evaluated Park’s management of state affairs reached 60 percent, up from 55 percent. Among them, 17 percent accused Park of poor communications, while 15 percent cited the possible tax boost amid lingering controversy over the bungled tax policy.

“Last week’s falling popularity could be attributed to her New Year speech that only showed a gap between her perception and public expectations,” Gallop said in its statement. “The continuous decrease this week can be attributable to furious employees over income tax.”

More than 15 million employees are upset over a possibly increased amount of tax payment in their year-end tax filings, despite the government’s explanation that only high-income earners would have to pay more tax.

It was noted that a considerable number of those aged over 50, Park’s main support base, seem to have withdrawn their support.

The results show that only 38 percent of those over 50 still support the daughter of late President Park Chung-hee, while her over-60 supporters was reduced to 53 percent from 62 percent.  [Korea Times]

You can read the rest at the link, but I think this is the backlash from making campaign promises to get elected and then having to deal with reality when in power.  A perfect example of this is the promise not to raise taxes, but the government found a back door way to take people’s money without raising taxes by instead eliminating deductions.

I don’t smoke, but it seems to me that the business owners are making a good point about the legality of the ban:

Twenty owners of restaurants and bars will ask the Constitutional Court to review the smoking ban imposed on all such establishments.

An online community of smokers, I Love Smoking, said Friday that some of its members who run eateries will file a petition with the court next month as they believe the new law, which bans smoking at all cafes, restaurants and bars, regardless of their size, infringes on their basic rights.

The move came after the restaurant owners saw a sharp decline in sales after the expanded ban on smoking took effect on Jan. 1.

“Sales have dropped more than 30 percent since the law went into effect. It is threatening my livelihood,” Kwon Huck-nam, who runs a restaurant selling grilled beef tripe in Seoul, told The Korea Times.

Like Kwon, many owners of restaurants, especially meat restaurants and bars where many patrons smoke while drinking, have faced similar difficulties due to the regulation.

“Given that cigarettes and alcohol go together in most cases, many customers are leaving their old hangouts because they cannot smoke there any longer,” Kwon said. “In this regard, the regulation is unfair and too harsh for people like us. It infringes on the freedom of business and the right to property.” [Korea Times]

You can read more at the link, but is it a stretch to imagine someone in the future wanting to ban alcohol in business establishments as well?

There is no place in the classroom for teaching pro-North Korean propaganda and hopefully this teachers were all fired from their jobs:

Four teachers received suspended jail terms Friday after a Seoul court found them guilty of engaging in pro-North Korea activities.

The four, who are part of a progressive teachers’ union, were indicted in February 2013 on charges of holding two lectures endorsing North Korean ideals from January 2008 to May 2009. The lectures, prosecutors said, took place in front of prospective teachers and fellow members of the Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union, the country’s second-largest teachers’ union.

The four were also charged with the possession of original North Korean texts and the distribution of excerpts from a memoir by North Korean leader Kim Il-sung in violation of the National Security Law.

The law bans any activities meant to praise, promote or propagandize North Korean ideals.

The Seoul Central District Court found them guilty of these charges and gave them 18-month sentences with a two-year stay of execution.

“The court finds them guilty of possessing documents that praise North Korea’s ‘songun’ and ‘juche’ ideologies,” Judge Cho Yong-hyeon said in a ruling, referring to the North’s military-first and self-reliance philosophies. “It is inappropriate for South Korean citizens, let alone teachers, to have such documents in their possession.”  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but for those that don’t know the Korea Teachers’ Union has been filled with North Korean propagandists and sympathizers for years.

We Need A Clinical Data Revolution In Healthcare: A Lesson From South Korea http://t.co/NV9olKJFIz

— South Korea Daily (@SouthKoreaDaily) January 20, 2015

Shown is a 5.9-meter, 2-ton minke whale found dead after being caught in a fishing net in waters off Samcheok City, Gangwon province, on Jan. 20, 2015. (Yonhap)

Could you imagine what the outcry in the US would be if tax deductions such as for children and mortgage interest were eliminated?:

Many salaried workers will be disappointed with their year-end tax settlement for 2014. Tax refunds are expected to shrink after tax code revisions made in 2013 went into force this year.

Some are even angry because they have to pay additional taxes. Their monthly deductions didn’t cover the amount they owe under the new tax laws.

Mr. Kim, a 33-year-old married worker at a conglomerate who has no children yet, breathed a sigh of relief after he learned that he will receive a tax refund of 430,000 won ($400) this year. Kim’s salary has been fixed at 37 million won since 2013, but his estimated tax refund is almost half of that last year.

“I feel lucky because at least I don’t have to pay more,” he said. Many of my superiors are panicking because they found out they owe taxes.”

Mr. Park, a senior manager at another conglomerate, is upset. Park used to receive about 800,000 won in tax refunds. He was taking care of his retired parents, but last year his younger brother decided to look after them. As a result, Park is no longer eligible for the tax deduction for taking care of his parents. As a result, his total tax refund this year sharply dropped.

“I heard from our finance team that I might end up paying an additional 1 million won in taxes,” he said.

Since the National Tax Service opened its website for year-end settlements on Jan. 15, complaints are exploding among office workers and other company employees.

In July 2013, the former economic team of the Park Geun-hye administration led by Finance Minister Hyun Oh-seok announced a tax reform plan.

Its main idea was to do away with deductions from taxable income of spending in four areas: education, medicine, charitable donations and insurance premiums, including the national pension system.

Under the new system, those forms of spending will instead be deducted at a new rate from tax owed, not from taxable income as a whole.

They are the major income tax deductions in Korea.

The measure was aimed at raising government revenues amid an economic slowdown, while keeping the president’s promise that the government wouldn’t raise tax rates.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.