- As we noted here yesterday, the Board of Audit and Inspection wants to hand out punishments to 24 high-ranking military figures, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lee Sang-eui, over their handling of the Cheonan sinking. Ye Olde Chosun notes that the Navy deliberately omitted info in its reports to the JCS and the JCS deliberately distorted information in its reports to Defense Minister Kim Tae-young. Why, you might ask? Well according to Ye Olde Chosun:
“Military officers deliberately left out or distorted key information in their report to senior officials and the public because they wanted to avoid being held to account for being unprepared,” a BAI official said.
The Hankyoreh, meanwhile, goes one step further by quoting military sources who claim JCS Chairman Lee was piss drunk the day of the sinking:
With regard to Lee Sang-eui’s personal responsibility, a number of military sources reported that following a military leaders’ forum at the Gyeryongdae compound the day of the Cheonan’s sinking, he traveled to Seoul by KTX in a heavily inebriated state following a group dinner.
The sources said that he reportedly arrived at the Defense Ministry command control room around 10:42 p.m. that evening and, after spending about ten minutes attending a situation assessment meeting supervised by the ministry, effectively abandoned his duties and fell asleep.
According to the Hani, the findings have infuriated President Lee — rightfully so, I might add — and he wants scalps. This also helps explain why the government may have seemed less the forthcoming about the sinking.
- Thank God someone is looking to stop this madness, although to be fair to the Koreans, the impression I get is that they typically return to Korea rather than become anchor babies.
- Yeah, well, I suppose she is cute. If you get your rocks off from North Korean propaganda, you can watch the video here (HT to Hamel).
- North Korea’s winding its people up… again. I really want to see the original Korean for this: “‘We will churn out as much steel as possible in the spirit of tossing the Lee Myung-bak group of traitors in a warmongering frenzy into the burning furnace,’ Ri Myung Nam, a worker at a steel factory said on a TV newscast on June 3.” That’s dope.
- LA K-town gets its own CGV cinema (HT to reader).
- Finally, on the fornication front, I’d thought Korea was — at least until recently — almost the only advanced democracy with criminal adultery laws. However, New York apparently has them, too. Check out the interview — very understanding husband, I’d say (even if he is a transgender).
Odds and Ends: June 11, 2010 — Somebody’s in Trouble
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{ 28 comments… read them below or add one }
She’s not that cute. Seriously, is that the best the NORKs can do?
Oh. Never heard of a real woman marrying a male-female transgender before. Hm. That DOES change things.
However, it still doesnt change the fact that it’s not a good idea to have sex
in a public park
during daylight hours
in front of parents
and kids.
By all means, get your freak on if you must, but not under those <strike?circus pantscircumstances.
She is looks like Nancy Lang and I almost thought it is one of her performance.
I really hope those
24 high-ranking military figures, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Lee Sang-euifucked up bastards do get most harsh Martial trial! Or whatever the trial that those bastards get maxium sentences.Someone from overseas asked me the day after the Cheonan sank what had happened. I said, “I don’t know what happened, but the one thing I do know is by the time this settles down the Defense Minister, CNO and head of the 2nd Fleet will be shitcanned.”
Ever wondered what happened to those Canadian experts dispatched to Korea just a few days before the official Cheonan announcement?
http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/06/10/did-canadian-experts/
Apparently nobody knows and no one in the Canadian government is saying anything. One article I read in the Korean-language press said they were “intelligence experts,” which might explain the secrecy.
Milton: well, the Canadian government has thrown its support behind the investigation’s findings and the South Korean government’s position:
“I spoke with South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan last Sunday evening and expressed our condolences for the lives lost on the Cheonan. Minister Yu thanked Canada for its assistance in this investigation, which concluded that North Korea was responsible for this act. I also reiterated to Minister Yu that Canada is fully supportive of South Korea, our democratic ally and friend.
“We are closely consulting with South Korea and our allies, and we will continue to support South Korea in the best way forward to take North Korea to task. We will call on China to take leadership and bring stability to the region. I want to reiterate our unwavering commitment to stand with the people of South Korea and to support President Lee Myung-bak in his decision to act decisively following the act of aggression by North Korea on March 26, 2010.”
The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Canada.
Canada, sorry chum, we’d forgotten about ya.
And right around that time…ever wonder what happened to bluejives!?
I ain’t sayin’, I’m just sayin’.
From the Chosun link above:
Do you know how they did it?
By drawing a ㄴ to fix the time from 15 to 45 !
I remeber when it first came out, and there was a dispute between some girlfriend of one of the soldiers who’d been texting back and forth at the couple-of-minutes interval that she’d stopped hearing back from him half an hour prior, and the military said “Nope. Wrong. Not possible”.
Looks like there is a reason why the South Koreans still remain one of the most suspicious people when it comes to trusting what they are told.
http://news.donga.com/Economy/3/01/20100611/29039530/1&top=1
I want to know if Dominos franchises located in its native country works so hard as to engage in practice drills in preparation for major sporting events. This is yet another argument clinching evidence which shows that immigrants are harder workers than natives.
“Under Pressure, Teachers Tamper With Test Scores”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/11/education/11cheat.html?hp
Imagining teachers going through the trouble of taking sneak peaks using the “tubing” method was just hilarious. Sorry but I couldn’t help myself.
Err, sneak peeks rather.
JW,
Dubner and Levitt in their book “Freakonomics” used econometrics alone to prove the exact same thing with test scores in the Chicago education system.
It’s funny how people react when you put economic incentives in front of them.
Gosh…. this NYT article on the North Korean currency devaluation is absolutely heartbreaking.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/10/world/asia/10koreans.html?pagewanted=1
Some very Korean traits… a high capacity of suffering… still very strong family bonds despite all the hardship.
A more darker and vain Korean trait however, especially with some Koreans who may come from a more spoiled background:
“Miller said many of these women have the babies, take them back to their home countries but then those children can come back to the U.S. as citizens and go to school here and later be able to bring family members here legally.”
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/miller-244177-fox-made.html
“But then”, what? What is the argument?
WangKon I agree the NYTimes article, front page left column btw, is extremely tragic — or rather the situation is.
The article also shows how Dr Lankov was wrong about the currency reforms. He believed that increased state salaries were causing inflation. I didn’t understand this because I couldn’t find evidence of salaries actually being paid. The NYTimes article shows clearly that the new inflated salaries actually aren’t being paid at all and indeed workers have to pay their companies!
My prediction that the currency reform would cause a new depression in North Korea has been born out. Inflation was caused by damage to the social status of and confidence in any DPRK currency rather than in money printing. Not to say that the gov’t doesn’t print money; they were before the currency
revaluationconfiscation. But the Nov 30 reforms caused massive destruction of the money supply which, in a vacuum, would cause deflation since there would be less money to spend. This is what I’ve thought the DPRK financial geniuses thought they’d be creating by essentially burning most of the people’s money. But(as predicted by yours truly) the loss of faith in the NK won caused a rush to own tangible goods and yuan or other hard currency, causing massive inflation which has since abated to some degree.
Gresham’s Law is an economic theory stating that “good money drives out bad money.” This means bad money like NK won that can be destroyed according to the caprices of Pyongyang will be spent immediately and not saved. For saving, necessary to invest in anything, people will prefer yuan, dollars or hard goods. This means NK won will perpetually trade at a discount and be more prone to inflation for socio-psychological reasons.
Anyway, blah blah blah. This stuff is important though. Way more than the Cheonan (even though SKoreans get upset about 46 South Korean victims of KJI but not about the other 20,000,000 of his victims, a dark dark dark stain on Korean honor about which I will not fail to remind my S Korean friends).
I maintain that the Great Confiscation (as Josh Stanton calls it) has turned the odds in favor an end to the Kim Dynasty. Already it appears a new Gang of Four has emerged as the future rulers/regents while Kim Jong-eun waits to be assassinated. They surely won’t all get along happily. Change is on the way. The first non-Juche NK leader will have the easy promise of +10% growth, perhaps the easiest way for him to maintain power, and something the Kims can’t allow because it would make NK more “memetically unimmune” as Minjokjuija used to enjoy saying.
Btw, where’s Lollabrats? WK did you chase him off? I liked his comments!
#13:
I’ve always contended that the blowhards who came up with this one got it from watching M*A*S*H™ — specifically Season VI, Episode 8, “Change Day,” (original air date: 11/8/77) — where Major Charles Emerson Winchester III, M.D., gets the bright idea to buy up everyone’s Army scrip for pennies on the dollar, so he can profit on the currency swap for new scrip before the deadline.
Problem is his greediness gets the better of him when he extends his buy-out plan into the neighboring villages. With the deadline looming, every manner of comedy ensues as he tries to make it back to camp with minutes to spare before the paymaster clears out. Incidentally, I got the entire 11 season, 251 episode 4077th gift set for Christmas two years ago from a well-meaning sister. As of today, I have yet to finish season I. (Don’t tell her though.;)
Anyhoo, I heard that that KJI had the financial genius who came up with this brainchild summarily executed after the backlash almost created a civil revolt. Can anyone confirm that? (Any other 4077th fans out there?)
86, the finance minister who was murdered (Pak Nam-gi) was probably just a scapegoat. If you remember, the reforms were heralded as the brainchild of Kim Jong-eun. That song was promptly forgotten and everything was blamed on Pak. This might have been also part of what appears to be an ongoing purge among the leadership, presumably to pave the road toward succession.
Miller didn’t elaborate, but my concern about overseas US citizens returning for an education is access to free K-12 public education and higher education scholarships, grants, and loans. Students at my former school included dual national Koreans living with local families or with one parent. My current district charges tuition of $6,800 a year for citizens and residents who live out of district and $11,000 a year for F-1 visa holders. Having a local family obtain legal guardianship of a US citizen or resident would eliminate tuition charges entirely. If these kids settle here permanently and put their education to work in the US economy, well, great, but many return home after graduation and perhaps a little work experience. Native-born and raised US citizens who take their taxpayer-subsidized education and settle permanently outside the United States are rare. I myself remitted back to the US about half of what I made overseas and I expect to spend the rest of my working life and retirement here.
Most opponents of unrestricted birthright citizenship are upset about “anchor babies” born to “illegals.” I’m more bothered by tourists and university students who conveniently pick up US citizenship for their children before taking them back overseas to raise them as foreign nationals. Citizenship confers lifelong rights and privileges. I don’t see how the US benefits by bestowing these rights and privileges upon people who lack significant family or residence ties to the US.
Love how the use of “loophole” is ever expanding.
Lex Soli / Jus Soli is the right of nationality due to having been born in the territory. Thus if unrestricted there is no loophole to use, only a right to be taken advantage of. Hence other countries such as UK, Australia have long since restricted the right of jus soli to restrict tourist babies.
Sonagi,
Surely unless they later take up residency in the US, and in the case of koreans and many other nations give up their blood nationality upon adulthood, then there are in practical terms few rights to be taken advantage of by dual nationals except the right to pay US taxes even when not resident.
<Surely unless they later take up residency in the US, and in the case of koreans and many other nations give up their blood nationality upon adulthood, then there are in practical terms few rights to be taken advantage of by dual nationals except the right to pay US taxes even when not resident.
Apparently, the many people who do it disagree.
How’s that? Are Domino’s Korea franchises staffed mostly by immigrants to Korea? I hadn’t noticed the deliveryman being Nigerian or Bangladeshi.
Hmm.. was the author’s point that developing country pizza delivery workers are harder working than industrialized country pizza delivery workers? What was the point?
I was just wondering the same thing myself…
Robin, great analysis. Regarding KJU, it’s interesting that they haven’t rolled him out publicly yet. He doesn’t appear with his father on “on the spot” inspection tours and the official media never mentions him, except euphemistically. Besides a propaganda billboard mentioning him by name (photographed by a Taiwanese tourist), most of the evidence for his succession is hearsay. This could indicate there is a lot of resistance coming from the cadres, I also wonder if he really is the the one true designated successor or if there are several candidates vying for the position. I’ve read speculation that Jang Song-taek, four years KJI’s junior, may in fact be the real successor (an NK version of Raul and Fidel), but as far as I know, there is not cult of personality surrounding him, a necessary prerequisite for NK leadership.
Funny how that little bit of common sense evades most elected officials.
My impression is that Lollabrats has othe responsibilities to attend to and has decided to spend less time online.
Nothing for anyone to worry about, I think, just a matter of aims and interests.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
“has other responsibilities”
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
So there’s a world outside of the Internet?
Do tell me, what is this mythical “offline” place of which you speak?
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