Somebody is either smarter than I expected, or reading this blog. Yesterday the government announced measures to fight inflation. Among them are reducing some tariffs on food products.
While I find it a good step, I find it curious at the same time the exact products and their new tariffs are not given. As I noted [...]
Many around me are disappointed I have not drank the Lee Myung-bak Kool-aid. Much like Obama-maina in the US at the moment, Lee is supposed to be “break” from the past, and more importantly is “different” then all before him. Somehow Lee is to waive a magic wand and cure all the problems with South [...]
While people have been sorting through candidates in America, Americans have had much consideration of where they went dead wrong during the last eight years. Amongst the dialog, there is one blog comment that caught my attention because one commenter made a comparison between Roh Mu-Hyan and Barack Obama that caught my eye:
. . [...]
artwork: plundered booty
There is a theme at work herein, from today’s media:
The Search for Hidden Money ExpandsMore Land to be Seized from Heirs of CollaboratorsShould People Be Ashamed of Their Wealth?
There is nothing about parrots however.
Lee Myung-bak has asked to be called “대통령께서” instead of 대통령님께서,” dispensing with the honorific 님 but keeping the honorific 께서. This sounds strange to my ears. Professional titles are almost always followed by 님, especially those of people high enough in status or formality to be addressed with 께서.
Long-term residents of Korea might [...]
Nam Joo-hong will NOT be the Unification Minister, it appears:
Nam, a former political science professor at Kyonggi University, has been at the center of a snowballing controversy over his hawkish North Korean stance.
Nam once called the 6.15 Joint Declaration, signed during the 2000 inter-Korean summit, “a document for North Korea’s maneuvering against South Korea.” He [...]
Other than the Daewoo/Burma affair, which was quietly allowed to slip away by Roh’s team, now it seems the NIS probably had a hand in fanning the BBK scandal.
The open letter has got to be one of the most pretentious exercises in a columnist’s bags of tricks. The whole idea of writing a personal letter to some world leader or another to give him or her advice just drips with self-importance.
So, being the big-head that I am, I naturally had to try one [...]
While we’re on the subject of Roh’s retirement, a sneak peek at his retirement home (pic below).
The village, where his retirement home is located, is in a festive mood, with the people there preparing a big party to welcome him. The new house, however, is not without controversy with allegations that 49.5 billion Won (USD [...]
Approximately 3 hours and 20 minutes from now, presidential power will officially pass from Roh Moo-hyun to Lee Myung-bak.
From the Korea Times:
Investigators expressed deep distrust in the Korean-American businessman Kim. Moon Kang-bae, an assistant prosecutor of the special team, summarized the BBK scandal as an incident where people were cheated by “a black-haired foreigner.” The term “black-haired foreigners” refer to Korean Americans who set up companies or funds in tax havens and purchase [...]
Sit down for this — the special prosecutor has cleared President-elect Lee Myung-bak of involvement with the 2001 “BBK” stock manipulation scam.
At times such as these, it’s always entertaining to review the video footage.
Anyway, not only is this good news for Lee personally, it also helps the Grand National Party ahead of the April parliamentary [...]
How do Korean voters keep getting stuck with crooks? What is going on with the Grand National Party nominations right now is a good illustration (my Korea Times piece):
The [General Assembly nomination] impasse was resolved last week when the sides agreed that politicians who were convicted, but not sentenced to prison, could run for office [...]
As per a recent thread regarding tourism in Korea and the 백두대간 (Paek Du Dae Gan) mountain hiking trail that runs through the most important mountains in Korea, it seems that LMB’s canal — which would cut through the Qi line of Korea, no less — is also intended to be a boon for tourism, [...]
The monster from “Host”?
No, only the oldest and most difficult monster to kill of all time: corruption. Both the DLP (Democratic Labor Party) — who voted to keep senior leaders that are in jail for espionage and Hanara (Grand National Party - GNP) has decided to allow GNP members who have been guilty of [...]
Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo, during a meeting with Pres.-elect Lee Myung Bak, “criticized” the current administration’s handling of the USFK’s move to Pyongtaek. Specifically, he stated that “because of the current administration bringing up the issue of the move first, the ROK was left in a position of burdening the entire cost of the move.” The Defense Minister [...]
Lone Star’s chief of Korean operations, Paul Yoo, was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. He was taken directly to prison from the courtroom. Ruling for the court, Lee Kyung Choon stated:
. . . Their activity constituted a grave fraud activity and severely damaged the interest of minority shareholders of KEB Credit [...]
“We demand that North Korea immediately stop interfering with a progressive party of the South” . . . really.
Brian Lee of the JoongAng Ilbo has an excellent article on the Korean arms market and, while the article highlights the quality and capability of Korean manufacturers, it also shows how arms manufacturers also engage in shady and illegal deals with the wrong countries, such as Burma (Myanmar) and Iraq:
Just last November, the former president [...]
The Chosun Ilbo reports that both of the leading parties are looking to replace their incumbents with younger blood in their respective regional bases.
Because the seats in those regions (Honam for the United New Democratic Party and Yeongnam for the Grand National Party) are pretty safe, they are highly coveted by politicians looking for a guaranteed spot [...]
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