Tag: Korea

Hopefully this South Korean healthcare worker has not contracted the virus:

 
Ebola virus image via CDC.

A South Korean health care worker in Ebola-hit Sierra Leone left for Germany over a possible contraction of the highly contagious virus, South Korean officials said Saturday.

The evacuation by Phoenix Air, a U.S. air ambulance company, came after the worker was determined to be at risk of exposure to the virus while collecting blood from an Ebola patient, according to South Korean officials.

The health care worker’s left index finger “touched” a needle through a partly ripped glove. The worker did not sustain any external injuries and has not shown symptoms of infection such as fever or vomiting, they said.

Still, the health care worker will be closely monitored in an isolated unit at the unspecified hospital for up to 21 days, the maximum incubation period for the virus, they said.

The health care worker is one of the 10-strong medical team members sent by South Korea to an Ebola clinic built by Britain in Goderich, near Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown.

South Korea has reached preliminary deals with Europe and the United States to evacuate its health care workers from West Africa to Europe for treatment if they contract the virus.

Despite the evacuation, South Korea plans to send 20 other medical workers in coming months to the West African country.  [Yonhap]

This is actually old news because the slave labor like conditions on some of South Korea’s remote islands has been reported on before. Now will the AP go and report an update on the near slave labor like conditions at the Kaesong Industrial Complex and other places North Korean workers are used?:

Slavery thrives on rural islands off South Korea’s rugged southwest coast, nurtured by a long history of exploitation and the demands of trying to squeeze a living from the sea.

Two-thirds of South Korea’s sea salt is produced at more than 850 salt farms on dozens of islands in Sinan County, including Sinui island, where half the 2,200 residents work in the industry. Workers spend grueling days managing a complex network of waterways, hoses and storage areas.

Five times during the last decade, revelations of slavery involving the disabled have emerged. Kim’s case prompted a nationwide government probe of thousands of farms and disabled facilities that found more than 100 workers who’d received no, or scant, pay.

Yet little has changed on the islands, according to a months-long investigation by the AP based on court and police documents and dozens of interviews with freed slaves, salt farmers, villagers and officials.  [Associated Press]

You can read the rest at the link, but these islanders actually have recruiters that go around and pick up mentally disabled homeless people to bring to these islands as slaves.  Due to the remote nature of these islands the Korean authorities appear to have difficulty stamping out this practice.

Something I really like about Korean political leaders is how much they focus on setting quantifiable goals to improve their economy:

President Park Geun-hye started off her New Year’s address wishing all Koreans a healthy and happy 2015, in the Year of the Sheep. She said her top priority over the coming year was reinvigorating the economy.

“The government will endeavor to change the fundamentals of the economy so that it is centered on creativity and innovation, ushering in an era of $40,000 per capita GDP.”

President Park also addressed national security matters, promising to open an era of unification for the two Koreas.

“I will work to put an end to the 70-year-long division by building up trust with North Korea and urging change. The government will establish substantial and specific groundwork to achieve unification.”

She also promised to root-out irregularities in society to make Korea a safer place to live.
President Park said due to the spirit of the Korean people, she was confidant that Korea would be able to overcome any difficulty or challenge in the new year.  [Arirang News]

When was the last time you heard prominent American politicians set quantifiable economic goals like this?  And even if they did how many Americans even know what per capita GDP is?

Via the Marmot’s Hole comes this article posted on War is Boring by Kyle Mizokami who advocates for the removal of US troops from the Korean peninsula:

Imagine you possess the 15th-largest economy in the world. You have world-class cars and consumer goods, glittering streets and a lifestyle as good as any in the industrialized world.

Now, imagine you are being threatened by a hostile country one third as wealthy as Ethiopia.

Ethiopia.

In order to protect yourself from this economic juggernaut, you require the presence of nearly 30,000 American troops, the overpowering might of the U.S. nuclear arsenal and an American general to take charge in case this mighty opponent attacks
Laughable, right? Not at all. Welcome to South Korea.

It’s time for the United States to leave the Korean peninsula. South Korea can defend itself. [War is Boring]

You can read the rest at the link, but the removal of US troops from Korea is an issue that has been discussed repeatedly and will not happen as long as keeping USFK in place is in each country’s national interest.  I have posted about this issue long ago and these points are still valid:

• Korean economic impact
• Impact on foreign investment
• Korean defense spending
• Loss of Korean political influence in Washington
• Moderating American reactions to North Korea
• Political apathy
• Power of the status quo

As far as the US military goes the North Korean threat justifies maintaining certain budget levels in the Pacific and an additional four-star command.  For the US government USFK provides political influence with South Korea which prevents China from dominating South Korea’s foreign policy which has been the case for most of Korea’s history.

Then there is the nuclear weapons question.  If the US military withdraws it suddenly becomes in the national interest of the ROK to develop nuclear weapons to counter-North Korea.  If the ROK develops nuclear weapons would Japan do so as well?  To further compound this issue is that China would have to increase the amount of nuclear weapons they currently have to counter the US to also counter the ROK and possibly Japan.  A withdrawal of USFK could lead to a large nuclear arms race in the region.

Finally and most importantly people need to remember there hasn’t been a war on the Korean peninsula in over 60 years and there is a reason for that, USFK.  The US military is the strategic balancer in the region that is preventing one of the other three great powers from seeking hegemony over the region which has historically been the case.  Keeping a few thousand US troops on the Korean peninsula to maintain this balance is worth the cost to keep stability in such an economically important area of the world.  If someone wants to argue we have too many or not the right amount of troops in Korea I am open to that argument, but to completely remove USFK I do not see the benefit to the US or South Korea.

Anyone else have any other points they want to share on why the US military should or should not stay in South Korea?

There is a difference between open to talks and actually talking.  If the Kim regime feels they can get something for little to nothing in return then they will talk.  Kim Jong-il for the first Inter-Korean summit received $500 million for little to nothing in return.  In the mean time they can claim they are open to talks and look like the reasonable ones in the media and for their leftist supporters.  However, if the South Koreans do not give them what they want they can blame US-ROK military exercises or some other excuse to call their proposal.  In other words don’t get too excited by this announcement this is just business as usual for the North Koreans:

Could an inter-Korean summit happen soon? That’s what the South Korean government is hoping, in light of the North Korean leader’s latest speech.

“We see North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s speech as sincere and significant. Our government is looking forward to any form of inter-Korean talks in the near future.”

In Kim Jong-un’s [ ] nationally televised New Year’s speech, he said he’s open to talks with Seoul, even possibly with President Park Geun-hye.

“If the atmosphere and environment are right, there is no reason not to hold a high-level summit. We will make every effort to advance dialogue and cooperation.”

As North Koreans rang in the new year, Kim used his third annual address to speak on different issues, but spent the most time talking about improving ties with South Korea. Seoul is now urging Pyongyang to take steps to normalize relations, such as responding to its earlier proposal to hold talks this month.  The North Korean leader, however, also criticized South Korea’s military exercises with the U.S., calling them a source of tension.  [Arirang News]

This editorial in the Korea Herald explains why Koreans have such a hard time speaking and understanding English despite the amount of time and money they spend to learn the language:

When I first went to the United States to study in the summer of 1998, every trip to fast food joints was full of stress. I managed to submit my order, but had difficulty understanding what the clerks said to me. Only after several repetitions and after my face had reddened did they make themselves understood. Spending almost 20 years studying English at that point including experience at an English-related workplace did not save me from embarrassment. Indeed, for many of us here, the struggle with the English language is a never-ending story. After conferences and meetings, we hear many of our colleagues saying “if only it had been done in Korean.”

Koreans spend a lot of time and money studying English, as the term “English-fever” would indicate. English is first taught at kindergarten. Tremendous efforts are then poured into learning the language through elementary, middle and high school. The efforts continue in college to get good scores on standardized English tests such as TOEFL and TOEIC, so as to impress potential employers in the job market. Even office workers flock to morning and evening sessions of private teaching institutions so as not to be left behind.

And yet, Koreans’ English proficiency does not match the resources mobilized. In terms of English ability, Korea’s global ranking falls roughly in the middle, basically in the same group as countries where English is not so relentlessly taught as in Seoul. If the so-called principle of “10,000 hours” holds true, by the time students graduate from elementary school in Seoul, English should not be a problem. And by the time they graduate from high school, they should speak like BBC anchors. What then explains this meager outcome after all the time and effort? [Korea Herald]

You can read more at the link, but the editorial goes on to explain how the focus on written tests is why Koreans do not put any effort into listening and speaking.  The Korean government has even recognized this folly and decided to make the standardized test’s English section easier so parents do not have to spend so much money on English classes for their kids.

Especially of interest with this missile defense test is that Japanese intelligence may be included as part of the test:

South Korea plans to conduct its first missile defense drill in the first half of next year to test the effectiveness of locally developed defense programs in the face of North Korea’s missile and nuclear threats, a government source said Monday.

South Korea has been developing its own Kill-Chain and Korean Air and Missile Defense (KAMD) systems to better detect and respond to military provocations from the North.

“Military authorities are planning our first independent Korean Peninsula missile defense drill during the first half of next year,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

“I understand that the drill is aimed at testing the effectiveness of the KAMD and Kill-Chain systems that have been developed by our military and identifying any flaws.”

The drill is expected to run on the missile defense simulation model developed jointly with the United States, the source added.

The exercise is also likely to use military intelligence provided by Japan under a trilateral pact signed earlier in the day.
(Yonhap)

You can read more at the link.

I would not want to be the taste tester for this job:

Grasshopper croquette served with mealworm coffee sherbet, beetle powder-crusted fried chicken, and sweet pumpkin porridge topped with dried cricket, pickled larva and assorted vegetables.

These are some of the recipes submitted to a government-hosted insect cooking contest late last month as South Korea experiments with the culinary potential of six-legged creatures.

The event was the latest of Seoul’s efforts to foster the insect industry as it searches for new sources of livestock and ways to help cash-strapped farms find new profit makers.

In 2010, the government announced the legislation of a special law aimed at fostering the insect industry, valued at 168 billion won (US$151 million) in 2011 and forecast to reach 298 billion won next year. (Yonhap)

You can read more at the link, but that sure is a lot of money being project to get people to eat bugs.

Via a reader tip comes this article that explains how the Seoul government is trying to shutdown the ride sharing app Uber by indicting the company’s CEO:

South Korea has indicted the chief executive officer and local subsidiary of Uber Technologies Inc for violating a law governing public transport, becoming the latest jurisdiction to challenge the U.S. taxi service provider.

The Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office issued the indictment against CEO Travis Kalanick and the firm’s Korean unit for violating a law prohibiting individuals or firms without appropriate licenses from providing or facilitating transportation services, an Uber spokeswoman said.  [Fortune]

You can read the rest at the link, but the Seoul government has been trying to shut down Uber in Korea in order to protect their own taxi drivers and the domestic Daum-Kakao app that provides an Uber like service and is endorsed by the taxi union.  This indictment is probably being used to scare Uber out of Korea.  It will be interesting to see how this works out.

An unfortunate accident has killed three workers at a nuclear power plant in Ulsan that was about to go online:

The labor ministry has ordered two nuclear reactors under construction to be shut down to look into the cause of a toxic gas leak that killed three workers, a local branch said Saturday.

Three workers died Friday apparently after inhaling toxic gas at the construction site of a nuclear reactor in Ulsan, about 410 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

The state-run Korea Hydro and Nuclear Power Co. earlier said it suspected nitrogen gas leaked from an underground cable caused the deaths.

The ministry said it will cooperate with the occupational safety agency, the emergency management agency and police to conduct a joint probe into the site and summon officials at the state nuclear power company and contractors.

“We will promptly conduct an investigation and hold accountable those who are responsible (in the incident) if any irregularities are discovered,” Yoo Han-bong, who leads the labor ministry’s Ulsan branch, said.

The New Gori No. 3 reactor with a rated capacity of 1,400 megawatts was 99 percent complete for full operation scheduled for next June, and was undergoing a test run since last month to receive approval from the state nuclear watchdog. The New Gori No. 4 reactor was 98 percent complete, with commercial operation slated for 2016.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link, but it will be interesting to see if the investigation shows any sloppy safety practices led to this tragedy.  Also of interest in the article is that Korea’s nuclear power plants have also been facing cyber attacks and of course the IP address for the attacks was coming out of China.  North Korea is the suspected culprit, but the fact that China continues to allow them use IP addresses in their country shows how they are complicit in letting them conduct these cyberattacks.