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By David Alexander, June 9, 2013 12:46 am

Did I miss anything important? Have something to say? Comment here or on Facebook.

This week, in international news, North Korea came out of the blue to “just talk about it”. They’re meeting at Panmunjom soon to discuss the re-opening of both the beleaguered Kaesong Industrial Complex and the Mt. Kumgang resort, along with reunions of families that remain separated between the two countries.

This comes about a week after Seoul had rejected a North Korean offer to rejoin the six-party talks concerning nuclear disarmament.

It seems that issues like nuclear disarmament are off the table for these meetings, but the re-opening of Gaesong would be good (for some). Ban Ki-moon is considering visiting the complex himself. Previously, he’s expressed strong support for the complex, calling it a “successful example of inter-Korean cooperation”.

Others have criticized it as institutionalized exploitation of North Korean workers on behalf of the regime and wealthy conglomerates in the South.

In National news, meanwhile, defectors hiding in Laos who were threatened with extradition back to North Korea were moved to the South Korean embassy in an operation personally commanded by President Park Geun-hye. The President has earned firm approval ratings. The overall consensus appears to be that Park is a good leader, but bad at choosing appointees, all things considered.

The Financial Supervisory Service is collaborating with regulators in the US and Singapore to find assets hidden by Koreans in tax havens like the Cayman Islands. As usual, Investigative Journalists are the ones to prompt this renewed effort.

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A new study by SKTel has revealed the demographics of Korean social media – with unsurprising results. They show that the biggest group is in their 20s, followed by those in their 30s and 40s.

This is totally unsurprising – and accounts for all users who accessed social media more than once a month.

I think if they narrowed their focus to “more than once a week” or “more than once a day”, all those 60-year-olds wouldn’t outnumber the teenagers.

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And speaking of “more than once a day”, there is now a legal definition of Stalking that includes “requesting a date after three refusals” alongside other Creepy standbys as “following the other person” or “watching the other person from a distance”.

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For all Bloomberg’s blustering, Korea still has a very high entrepreneurship rate, and there are more “incubators” than you can shake a stick at. A now-dated article by Jung Ku-hyun at the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundationexplores reasons why.

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Have you thanked a plastic surgeon lately? “Let Me In”, a show on Story On Network, sponsors women to have work done, and films their experiences for a reality-tv audience.

Here’s a clip about a trans-girl.

And here’s another about a girl with a “big head and weird chin”.

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And in other news,

Two recent cases of mob thinking by Korean Protestants make me feel distinctly awkward about my own affiliation.

Ahn Cheol-su is founding a policy think-tank for progressive politics, though he denies the label.

He also didn’t know how much instant ramyun costs.

Textbooks in Korea might get a whole lot worse, if Kwon Hee-young has his way.

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By David Alexander, May 27, 2013 4:43 am

This week in the region, North Korea wants to play nice (again). When this doesn’t work, they’ll probably go and do something provocative (again). The Mayor of Osaka is getting an earful from surviving South Korean comfort women about his earlier comments. And Mount Kumgang is open again… but South Korea still won’t let its people go.

After their failed attempts to create a literal sea of fire – bomb the whales – provoke an international crisis that they could use as leverage to get more protection money international aid, North Korea is suddenly and totally unexpectedly willing to talk again. They’ve called further meetings of the six-party talks, which include China, Russia, Japan, the US, South Korea, and themselves.

Since they censor and catalogue all the outgoing mail in North Korea, Dear Leader Kim was forced to send his letter by personal courier. In this letter, he re-affirmed the strong, historical “friendship” between North Korea and China, making reference to the Chinese Revolution.

For its part, Seoul remains skeptical – but put the cart before the horse in its response, saying that before the nuclear disarmament talks can start, “North Korea should first reveal its intent to denuclearize.”

Elsewhere in North Korea, tourists are visiting Mount Kumgang Resort again. Since 1998, South Koreans and other foreign tourists have been allowed by the DPRK to visit Mount Kumgang. The South Korean government has banned its citizens from travelling there after a fatal shooting in July of 2008. Since then, very few people have visited the resort.

Unfortunately, the new wave of tourists are Chinese tourists. At Egypt’s 3,500 year old Luxor Temple, Ding Jinhao was apparently there. And at the Botanical Gardens in Taitung, Taiwan last year, 500 leaves on 30 agave plants were carved into, leaving such wisdom as “Henan province Wang Gang” and “Nanjing Xiao Su was here”.

According to the article, in Taitung, these vandals even argue with the groundskeepers when they tell them to stop destroying the plants.

In both cases, the netizen response was the same: anger at the vandals, and resignation that “This is how China is”.

Ouch.

Meanwhile, in Japan, Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto is being put through the wringer. Two former sex slaves have cancelled their plans to meet with him. One of them, Kim Bok-dong, said that he should resign. I agree.

In national news, while everyone is worried about danger from the North, we are more at risk of a lot of other things here. The citations Elgin put up on the Marmot’s hole are worth reading into, if you’re interested in the details and hard numbers that (should) go into decision-making.

Among advanced countries, for example, South Korea has the highest rate of industrial accidents. And among OECD countries, South Korea has the second-longest working hours. (Mexico has the longest.)

Whereas production on weekends in other countries means hiring more workers, for Korean companies it simply means telling your employees “you no longer have weekends off”.

And Korean workers are not taking this lying down – here in Ulsan, workers at the Hyundai car plant have been on strike for 11 weekends. The strike ended May 25th.

The ongoing dispute between major manufacturing companies in Korea and Labour Unions here has to do with how wages should be calculated for overtime and severance.

Overtime and severance are calculated based on base wage. Many companies artificially decrease base wage by putting 60% of it into monthly bonuses and contract-end severance pay.

This allows them to avoid paying much in overtime, since the base wage doubled is still only 80% of take-home pay.

This shortfall in overtime between what unions want [double take-home pay] and what currently exists [double base wage only] is so great that if the manufacturers here lose the court cases currently on the table, altogether they will have to pay 34 Billion dollars to cover three years of unpaid overtime, higher pension provisions, and increased overtime wages in the first year after the court ruling.

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By David Alexander, May 20, 2013 9:12 am

NEWS UPDATE 05/20/2013

First, regional news. North Korea’s missiles weren’t a big deal, Japan is going crazy, and China thinks the whole world belongs to China.

So, there’s more important things this week than North Korea launching a few missiles into the sea. Although there’s been no threats of nuclear annihilation lately, North Korea still refuses to talk about re-opening the Kaesong industrial facility, and the Southerners who work there are out of a job. And it doesn’t help that when the North said they could come back to pack up all their stuff and do maintenance on the machines, business owners in the South said no.

Meanwhile, the mayor of Osaka, who must be feeling quite cowed by pressure from everyone who’s not an ultranationalist, admitted he might have “lacked sensitivity” when he said that wartime sex slaves, the so-called “comfort women”, were necessary. Restoration Party member Nishimura said that he might go back to red light districts in Osaka to look for South Korean comfort women – propping up the not uncommon feeling among Japan’s conservative nationalists that South Koreans living in Japan must be either criminals or prostitutes.

Even level-headed, bloggers dedicated to mutual understanding between SKorea and Japan have started getting angry about Japan’s hard right turn as of late.

China, as a contender for “most likely to be begrudgingly put up with” in the World High School Yearbook, has claimed that Okinawa actually should belong to them – along with an ongoing dispute about some other islands also claimed by Japan, and some islands also claimed by the Philippines.

When it comes to any of these disputed territories, we will eventually be asked our opinion – either about Dokdo/Takeshima when we’re in Korea or Japan, or any of the others. My stock answer is this: “It certainly doesn’t belong to Canada.”

And, Domestically…

The Hankoryeh has a series of articles on Korea’s emerging problem of Elder Care.

As explained before, the social contract in Korea used to be that Parents would provide for their children until they retired, and then their children, now independent adults thanks to their parents’ guidance, would provide for them. But with “crisis-level” youth unemployment, and an inadequate pension program, old folks in Korea by and large don’t have a great time.

Meanwhile, Namyang dairy is under pressure and protest over their overuse of “mireonaegi” (밀어내기). Mireonaegi is a commonplace practice among people who sell through authorized retailers – like Coke or Pepsi. Often, these giants will include extra goods with an order, and (of course) charge the retailer for these extras. This is most often used to promote new products. According to the article, retailers expect about 20%-30% extra product with each order and plan accordingly.

But Namyang has been forcing its retailers to pay for as much as 900% extra on top of their orders, and to pay for products that are very close to expiry that they’ll certainly have to throw away.

They’ve already faced similar protests in 2006 and 2009, both times being ordered by the Fair Trade Commission and the court to pay compensation and change its business practices. But both times instead of paying compensation to the wronged parties, it continued to threaten retailers and even demanded bribes.

According to Namyang CEO Hong Won-shik, “having the largest market share is not possible without breaking the law”. Even back in 1998, Namyang was dedicated to illegal market manipulation – stockpiling products in warehouses, causing a price spike which they then took advantage of.

Park Geun-hye, a president who came to power precisely by campaigning against actions like this, has predictably said that these actions are intolerable. I think she should put her money where her mouth is. She campaigned on it, and:

Indeed, immediately after being sworn in as President on February 25, she delivered a speech that hinted strongly that she fully intended to keep the nation’s chaebols on a tighter leash.
“By rooting out various unfair practices and rectifying the misguided habits of the past which have frustrated small business owners… we will provide active support to ensure that everyone can live up to his fullest potential,” she said.

Link (here).

I’m optimistic. Whereas some politicians abandon campaign pledges as soon as they hold office, Park Geun-hye seems not to be.

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By David Alexander, May 13, 2013 12:13 am

In Korean news, this week:

Convenience Store market oversaturated

Is the world ending, or are people just making dire predictions about the Korean Economy?

Gord Sellar made that MBC Parody last year

Study of 1.5 million teenagers in 75 countries finds that girls are better at reading and boys are better at math

Is coverage of foreign teachers’ crimes really so much more? Yes, it turns out.

Yoon Chang-joong situation spirals out of control

“It wasn’t me”, says construction magnate accused of sex party bribes

And like a half dozen other things

CONVENIENCE STORE MARKET OVERSATURATED – ONLY HALF OF CONVENIENCE STORES ARE BREAKING EVEN

As reported in the Hankoryeh last week, over half of South Korean convenience stores average under one million won in sales a day. One-quarter of all stores have sales under 100,000 won for overnight shifts.

The data is helpfully broken down by zoning. That family-run convenience store on the corner near where you live? They’re probably losing money, if they hire staff and don’t run it themselves. Convenience stores are the most popular type of franchise for new small business owners. The government has ordered that new stores should not be allowed to open within 250 metres of each other.

Fun fact: did you know that convenience stores are required to be open 24/7? And did you know that “marts” do not have this requirement?

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BLOG POST CATALOGUES CELEBRITIES IN ADVERTISEMENTS IN MYEONGDONG. NEWS UPDATE EDITOR VOMITS.

Anyone who knows me knows I don’t like Myeongdong. It was one of the first places I was told about when I came to Korea – “oh, you should go to Myeongdong in Seoul. Many foreigners go there to enjoy shopping.”

Well, I did. But I hated it. Even Itaewon is better for the soul than Myeongdong’s overpriced faux-Korean style.

Well, Maze28 (aka 한국에 가자, or “let’s go to korea”) has been collecting photos of K-Pop idols in Myeongdong, and around Seoul and businesses like Tony Moly and outside of Seoul in Busan, for some unknown reason. I presume he collects these photos to atone for some past wrongdoing, or purely as an exercise in masochism.

If you’re one of the strange people who enjoy seeing advertisements with K-Pop Idols in them, then click the link above. Otherwise, consider it a warning not to go to Myeongdong.

Aside, if you’re interested in seeing the people that middle-school girls talk about, click on through and you can pair faces with names really easily.

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ALWAYS POPULAR TO PREDICT ARMAGEDDON

For the Huffington Post, the Korean economy has a few problems – he’s predicting Korea may fall into the same trap of Japan’s “lost decades”.

He cites this as evidence:

1. an aging population and lowest fertility rate in the world.
2. too many university graduates
3. high youth unemployment
4. high private debt load
5. persistent social inequality

I have nothing meaningful to add, except that solving any of these problems may help solve the others – solving recent-graduate unemployment would create more revenue for the pension program and lower privately-held debt.

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IT TURNS OUT GORD SELLAR MADE THAT MBC PARODY LAST YEAR

The title says it all, folks. Your friend and mine Gord Sellar was the one who made the parody video last year, after MBC decided to broadcast a hit piece vilifying interracial couples.

He had distanced himself from it until he had left Korea, which has a bad reputation when it comes to understanding western humour (i.e. satire).

In fact, Saturday Night Live Korea’s Weekend Update segment is being sued by Byun Hee-jae, the Korea Communications Standards commission reprimanded Gag Concert for not using honorifics when talking about the president, and depending on how these issues play out, we could start seeing either much better comedy in Korea or much worse.

I’m no Picasso posted something a month ago on international couples, and if you’re interested in a blog about such a thing, check hers out.

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GIRLS BETTER AT READING, BOYS BETTER AT MATH

Well, not exactly. Don’t worry, it’s more nuanced than that. What they found is quoted here, at length. You can find the executive summary of the study too.

When it comes to reading, sex difference is smaller at the high end of the performance continuum. That means among those who are best at reading, or best at math, there’s a smaller difference between boys and girls. But at the bottom of the scale, quote: “in 2009, the bottom 5% of boys scored 50 points lower than the bottom 5% of girls”.

But the opposite is true in math. For those who do poorly in math, there is little difference between boys and girls. But at the high end, the difference is much greater.

From the study:

“Interventions that focus on high-achieving girls in mathematics and on low-achieving boys in reading are likely to yield the strongest educational benefits.”

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FOREIGN TEACHERS’ CRIMES GET REPORTED MORE THAN SIX TIMES KOREANS FOR THE SAME OFFENCE

Popular Gusts of Feeling has a really interesting article for those of us who wonder if the media really has it in for Foreign teachers.

Long story short, in terms of number of articles on national news, that American teacher who was wanted on a warrant he fled 8 years ago when he came to Korea got more media attention than a middle school teacher who attempted to rape one of his students, a high school teacher who repeatedly molested a student, an elementary school vice principal who molested nine children, a law school professor who was dismissed for touching a law student, and an elementary school teacher who broke into someone’s apartment and tried to rape them – the single foreign teacher who was wanted for (alleged) rape got more news coverage than all of them put together.

If you’re interested in reading more, check out Popular Gusts’ articles here, connecting the news with North Korean propaganda, and here, for his translation of a Kukmin Ilbo editorial.

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SO MUCH DRAMA IN THE CHEONGWADAE

According to the victim, immediately after the Park Geun-hye’s first meeting with Barack Obama, on May 7th Spokesman Yoon Chang-joong was drinking alone with the female intern for the Korean embassy. After drinking, he groped her. She brought a friend, which defused the situation. But later that night, Yoon summoned her to his room. She refused and he screamed insults at her over the phone. When she did finally go to his room, Yoon answered the door in his underwear. She left and called the police after talking with her friends at the embassy. Yoon packed his bags and took the first flight to Seoul. Upon hearing about all of this, the Blue House decided to fire him on the spot.

But like any of these stories, there’s two sides. Of course, Yoon claims innocence in the whole matter.

The Presidential Chief of Staff, even, has apologized deeply for these allegations, calling it very shameful and unacceptable.

I have this to say.

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CONTRACTOR ACCUSED OF SEX PARTIES AS BRIBES SAYS “IT WASN’T ME”

Note: the English Dong-a Ilbo uses the word “Contractor”, which carries connotations of manual work. Rather, he was a business-owner who bid on government construction contracts.

Construction magnate Yoon, accused of a sex-bribery scandal involving high-ranking officials and who’s who types, predictably denied everything.

Police also have testimonies from ten women who said they went to Yoon’s vacation home to provide sex for patrons.

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IN OTHER NEWS…

One-woman anti-multiculturalism protest actually stirs thoughtful debate.

New York Korean-American rapper Awkwafina raps about her vag in a new music video

Life is still not super great for gays in Korea

An article about the bittersweet, romantic story of a full passport

Sixth North American Workshop on Korean Literature deadline is July 31st

Analysts say Japan isn’t trying to devalue its currency

Popular Gusts thinks noses look like dicks

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By David Alexander, April 24, 2013 3:03 am

Two dummkopfs in Daegu firebomb a hagwon

Why is YouTube slow in Korea?

Two volunteer opportunities worth getting involved in

What do you want to know about the North and South?

The Angel of Death comes to SKorean Chaebols

Teacher beats a student, then masturbates in the hallway.

All is calm on the 38th parallel – but that doesn’t stop a mom from worrying.

Singlehood, Elderly Suicides, and Youth Unemployment on the rise

DAEGU DUMMKOPFS FIREBOMB HAGWON

On Monday, two idiots calling themselves the “anti-American, anti-fascist struggle committee” dropped off a bunch of leaflets and threw what was apparently a molotov cocktail made with a soju bottle at a kids’ hagwon in Daegu. Apparently, they mistook the hagwon for an official American cultural outreach centre, showing once again that radical South Koreans pose a greater threat to foreigners than the radical in Pyeongyang.

The police have released surveillance photos, which you can see here.

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WHY IS YOUTUBE SLOW IN KOREA? IT’S BECAUSE THEY WOULDN’T PAY PROTECTION MONEY TO SK-TEL

In South Korea, all objective measures show we’re enjoying one of the fastest Internet connection speeds in the world. The average connection is 14 Mbps. So why do Youtube videos take so long to load? The reason is they’re being forced to host their servers in Japan and China because South Korea has completely disregarded Net Neutrality.

1. YouTube tried to set up their server in South Korea.
2. Internet Service Providers pressured YouTube to pay fee since YouTube sucks up so much traffic.
3. YouTube responded with “why do I have to pay since users subscribe and pay Internet fees to watch our content?” and decided not to install their own server in South Korea.
4. As a result, YouTube in South Korea comes from servers in adjacent countries.
5. Now, Korean Internet service providers have to pay traffic fees to other foreign service providers.
6. The outcome: Korean YouTube slowed down and Korean Internet providers wind up paying lots of money to other nations.

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TWO WAYS TO HELP

The Grand Narrative brought my attention to these causes – an opportunity for volunteering and a way to involve oneself in changing Korean culture for the better.

The Korean Unwed Mothers’ Families Association is an organization that promotes the rights of children and the rights of unwed pregnant women, unwed mothers, and their children.

Based in Daegu, they have opportunities to voluteer in that city and in Seoul.

As well, May 10-11 in Seoul is the 3rd annual Single Mom’s Day Conference. They have much the same goals. Link Here.

And last, Jeju Island has a unique Korean culture all its own. History has isolated it from the peninsula, and it developed a shamanistic, shrine-based religion that is in danger of being forgotten forever as the number of believers rapidly declines.

Giuseppe Rositano is putting together a documentary that highlights and documents the Jejuan religion.

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NORTH KOREA: WOULD YOU LIKE TO KNOW MORE? B.R. MYERS IS WHO YOU TALK TO

Myers is one of the foremost experts on North Korea – and Gusts of Popular Feeling has collected together some of the better interviews he’s done.

It’s really worth reading, if you want to know more about North Korea than most South Koreans do.

Meanwhile, The United States has rejected North Korea’s demand to be recognized as a nuclear power.

And as investigators deal with the mountains of evidence against the duo who bombed the Boston Marathon, North Korea felt it necessary to give the following statement: “Wasn’t us, we swear!”

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PARK GEUN-HYE MAKES GOOD ON CAMPAIGN PROMISE

The President, Park Geun-Hye, was elected late last year with support from moderates and leftists in Korea. She won their approval with her harsh rhetoric against the massive conglomerates, or Chaebols (재벌) that dominate the Korean economic landscape.

It appears she may be able to make good on her promises. The Fair Trade Commission’s Investigation Bureau is to be re-introduced after eight years of closure, bringing with it a new name: “Conglomerate Supervising Agency”.

The new agency will have the authority to examine internal company practices, investigate external dealings based on government regulations, and track down shareholding conflicts-of-interest.

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TEACHER BEATS A STUDENT, THEN MASTURBATES IN THE HALLWAY. AND HE’S NOT A FOREIGNER.

Part-Time teacher Mr. A discovered that one of his students was listening to music in class. So he beat him severely, then went out into the hallway, dropped his pants, and masturbated furiously in front of many of his students.

A spokesperson for the police commented, in part: “…the teacher does not appear to have any mental problems…”

엥 애때리다가 흥분해서 애들 앞에사 자위한 놈이 정신적으로 문제가 없어보인다고?

요즘 세상 컨셉은 돌아이인가..

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ARE YOUR PARENTS WORRIED ABOUT YOU BEING HERE? HOW DO THE FAMILIES OF SKOREAN SOLDIERS FEEL?

Even as we all know that the threat from the North is no more or less real than it is when they’re not making idle threats, the families of South Korean soldiers, especially the recent conscripts, are definitely feeling the tension more than most.

After all, for those in the military, reassurances about the complete air, ground, and naval superiority of the South’s armed forces in concert with the United States do nothing to allay the worry that’s only natural to feel for a loved one away from home in the army.

KoreaBANG has more here. Quotes from the article, that :

“My heart stops every time I hear the Jindo air sirens”

“for someone like me who has sent their only son to the military, I can’t even begin to describe my worry.”

and a couple little turds from the comments section:

“Bullshit…is it only your sons who go to the military??? Almost all of us have to go…the guys in there right now just have shitty luck.”

“I’m sorry to say this, but North Korea must be thrilled to see articles like this. They love to see South Koreans quaking in fear.”

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THE COSTS OF THE SOUTH KOREAN ECONOMY – ELDER SUICIDES AND YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT ON THE RISE

As we know, family is everything in Korea. Many of our Korean friends and romantic interests, even into their 30s, live at home with their parents. But according to the latest statistics, 1 in 4 Koreans were living alone – this is an even higher rate than in the United States and Australia. The Grand Narrative has more here, but suffice to say that most of these singles are lonely middle-class workingmen or impoverished women in their 60s and older.

Putting aside the oft-cited collectivism of Korean society (excellent disagreement here), we must acknowledge a recent quadrupling of the number of people 65 and older committing suicide, written about in the New York Times.

The Korean Pension plan that we all pay into barely affords the elderly basic living costs. And if someone was already retired in 1988 when the KPP was enacted, they get nothing. Some who kill themselves out of feelings of betrayal, when their successful children elsewhere in the country do nothing to support them.

Meanwhile, the government has approved a higher retirement age, saying it will allow experienced workers to contribute longer and reduce pressure on pension funds.

Elder suicides remain the symptom of a greater problem here – as some parents drain their savings to pay for hagwon fees and send their children abroad to become fluent in English, one in five people between 15 and 29 is unable to find work. Even doctoral degree holders and graduates of famous universities overseas are taking unpaid internships.

These remain huge problems for South Korea. It’s totally wrong-headed to pin the blame on some vague claim of “changes to Korean society”, as some have. But I know South Korea will either solve these problems soon or wait twenty or thirty years until the baby boom generation dies off.

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This week’s bonus content: a 2006 documentary about an American deserter to North Korea. Yeah, you read that right. Some South Koreans and Americans defected to the North. This guy’s been living there for 40 years now! Youtube Here.

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By David Alexander, March 1, 2013 11:08 am

Editors Note: As Marty has moved on, David Alexander will be taking over the News Tidbits column. We’d like to welcome David to the team (and apologize for the lateness of this posting).

Here’s some news tidbits for the week of February 18th, 2013.

A politician seeking to expose corporate corruption was ejected from office – for exposing corporate corruption. Specifically, Roh Hoe-Chan recorded conversations between Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee and his brother that revealed bribes paid by Samsung to public prosecutors, politicians, and presidential candidates. He posted the recordings online, and received a suspended prison sentence.
Now, he’s lost his seat in parliament too.

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A police investigation into an acid leak at a Samsung factory in January reveals the company lied when it said that the leak had been contained. When 10 liters of hydrofluoric acid leaked from a pipe at the main semiconductor plant in Hwaseong on Jan. 28th, it killed one worker and injured four others. Samsung claimed that there was no possibility of acid escaping from the plant itself. A fine of 1 million won (US$ 923) has already been levied on Samsung for not reporting the incident until after that one crew member died at a hospital.

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The new finance minister, Hyun Oh Seok has said he may set hard limits on the scale of fiscal stimulus to be provided to a faltering economy feeling the effects of the rising value of the won. The new president, Park Geun-hye has promised to expand social programs and welfare to the tune of 131.4 trillion won.

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Are you normal? What’s normal for a foreign English teacher in Korea? Christian Thurston has posted the results of a survey he conducted late 2012. It answers such questions as “is it true that foreign men date korean women more than foreign women date korean men?” (yes) “Who is happier in their job – the average Hagwon teacher, or the average Public teacher?” (Public, by a wide margin).

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Imports of luxury goods increased 2.93 per cent compared to 2011 – hitting a record high of US$ 8.6 billion last year. According to the article, sales of imported luxury watches such as Rolex, IWC and Breguet surged 20.6 per cent at Lotte, 26.3 per cent at Hyundai, 18 per cent at Shinsegae and 38 per cent at Galleria last year. One can only hope that this represents more executives retiring – freeing up room for advancement among Korea’s younger generations.

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A Japanese right-winger has (finally) been indicted for defacing public monuments in Seoul. You may remember when he defaced the monuments in June 2012(here’s an excellent article about it.)
Currently in Japan, he will be tried in absentia if he refuses to return to Korea. If he is sentenced to prison, Seoul can request his extradition under current treaties with Japan.

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According to a Gallup poll for Japanese paper Yomiuri Shimbun, 37% of Japanese feel South Korea is a military threat to their country. This has risen from 23% last year, and a major part of the increase is attributable to former President Lee Myung-bak’s visit to Dokdo, and aggressive posturing between Japanese and Korean politicians over the disputed island. In terms of “the biggest military threat to Japan”, China has taken that position for the first time in the poll’s history.

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By Martin Rehder, February 2, 2013 11:43 am

A few newsworthy items from around Korea this week:

• South Korea finally made it into the exclusive club of nations who have sent objects into space. While most countries would be pleased, a number of citizens in Korea are detracting from their success because it was done with old technology (liquid fuel) and Russian parts. This is the fifth attempt to launch a rocket: two failed launches and two abortive launches.  However, the Chosun Ilbo thinks that if this one had failed, it would have been the Russians who
  

  would have suffered a huge dent to its reputation as a leader in space development

  Because South Korea had nothing to do with it?  Congratulations to South Korea.  삼세번 (Third time’s a charm)
  .

• In what may be the beginning of a new era in fighting corporate crime, the chairman of SK Group is going to jail.  Other executives of Korean chaebols, the family owned conglomerates that control the vast bulk of the Korean economy, have gotten ceremoniously wrist-spanked for their corrupt activities. Chairman Chey (Choi?) Tae Won was busted for embezzling approximately $40 million.
• The foreign workers in South Korea can now enjoy life a little better. The minimum wage was increased by 5.76% to the stunningly low rate of 36,640 won per eight hour day.   I sincerely hope that absolutely no one is affected by this rate hike – the minimum is disgustingly low considering most of the foreign workers who are neither engineers or English teachers work the DDD jobs – dirty, dangerous and difficult. I hope they’ve all been getting far more than this rate, but given Korea’s bias towards immigrants with dark skin, I’m probably very wrong.
• And if you didn’t pay attention to my posts last year  about the very low exchange rate that had been happening over the previous 12 months, you screwed up.  I have been warning for several months that the exchange rate was far too low for the Korean exporting companies to make decent money. In December they would have had to incrase revenue by nearly 10% just to keep up with the falling exchange rate.  We’ll, it’s back up now, as predicted.   If you didn’t send your money home last month, you’re going to get a lot less this month when you do.  I sent the vast majority of my cash home at around 1070 won to the dollar, just before it took a huge leap upward.  I’m now patting myself firmly on the back for not waiting.
• Study hard in middle school and high school so you can get accepted to the good university.  Go to the good university and you can get accepted at a good company. That’s been the mantra for Koreans for decades.  But these days, 60% of Korean university graduates can’t find work here in Korea.  They don’t want the DDD jobs the foreign immigrants take – and who would at those low wages. They want the good jobs. There just aren’t that many. But never fear, young Korean – there are hagwons to take more of your more money and train you for a job overseas.
• And finally, most of last year the US government tried to impose sanctions on Iran and even impose sanctions on nations doing business with Iran. Since Iran is one of the larger petroleum producing nations, it’s not something that most countries can do without. There just isn’t a replacement source to buy that oil elsewhere.  The big players, like South Korea and Japan were granted waivers from the sanctions and continued to buy Iranian oil. However a large increase in purchasing of Iranian oil resulted in a shrug from the US.   Options exist to impose new sanctions against Korea later this year when a review in May occurs. My bet is that the US will firmly tongue lash those countries that continue to buy oil from Iran (but won’t name names) and will be forced to accept the inevitable that oil is far too valuable to give up for a political cause of an ally.

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By admin, December 7, 2012 8:50 am

A few interesting tidbits from around Korea:

• South Korea says it’s going to stop killing whales for research. For years, the country has conducted whale hunts ostensibly for research, killing the whales so they could be studied, but then selling the meat to the many whale restaurants in Ulsan. While some might think that this is the end of killing whales, think again – the Korean fisherman still employ a method called “by catch” where by whales can still be harvested if they are “accidentally” caught in fishing nets.  My money is on no slowdown in whale harvests – there’s a lot of whale restaurant owners in Jangsaengpo and Samsandong  that will be mad as hell if they can’t get the main meat their shop is named for.
• Sports and Politics don’t mix. That’s what the International Olympic committee must now decide. Park Jang Woo, who was denied his medal in the 2012 Olypmics for displaying a Dokdo flavored poster after Korea beat Japan in football is going to go on trial. Formerly denied the ceremony, now they will decide if he is denied the medal. FIFA has banned the player for two matches for his political display.
• Korean nuclear authorities have uncovered still more faked quality and safety certified parts for nuclear reactors. This is the third batch of faked papers. This time, however, authorities say the parts or for ancillary devices not directly tied to nuclear processing.
• Already dealing with a problem of Internet Addiction in Korea (see here and here), the country is now faced with yet another human psychological disorder – Digital Addiction. No longer just internet specific, this is about technology everywhere. Kids don’t take their teddy bears to bed any longer – they snuggle with their smart phone until they go to sleep and then fondle it some more the moment they wake. It’s an Obsessive-Compulsive disorder in which
  

  “I get nervous when the battery falls below 20 percent,” …. “I find it stressful to stay out of the wireless hotspot zone for too long.”…”Kids forgot to eat lunch, completely absorbed with smartphones and some stayed in the classroom during a PE class”.

  I predict more deaths from this – watching/playing with a phone when one should have been watching traffic, whether driving or walking.  I’ve seen a number of drivers with phone/pad on the wheel and several pedestrians nearly clipped by cars because they aren’t watching.

  And, in case you can’t get enough of your own digital devices, check this out:

• Today, December 7, the iPhone5 arrives in South Korea.  If you haven’t already gotten one on reserve, you might be waiting. Folllowing closely behind, the iPad Mini will arrive next week.
• If you missed it. Korea’s fourth attempt to launch a rocket last week fizzled out. Two failed launches and two failed attempted launches have left Korea as one of the few technologically advanced nations that can’t seem to get out of the atmosphere. The next launch attempt is scheduled for next year.
• Corruption in South Korea rises. Although the Korean Herald, apparently ashamed of their country’s stature, have chosen to misrepresent the data by manipulating the headline. Apparently, the news site understands that most people won’t read the story and simply skim the headlines.. Their headline states that “S. Korea’s corruption index falls” but what that means is that the country fell from 43rd place to 45th place with Denmark and Finland and New Zealand being the least corrupt countries. Go Kiwis!

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By Martin Rehder, November 16, 2012 11:22 am

A few newsworthy items around Korea:

• I don’t usually comment on Korean politics, but here’s something I’d vote for.  Presidential Ahn has promised to rid the nation of the dreaded “Internet Explorer Curse”. Ahn has been in the technology field with his experience in anti-virus software. But now he wants to tackle a problem that is the bain of  almost every expat’s existence here – other browsers simply do not work with internet banking, purchasing, etc, etc. One must use Internet Explorer and download additional unsafe plugins and applications to get most any commerce conducted in Korea. Despite Korea having one of the fastest Internets in the world, they’re hobbled by inferior  technology supplied my Microsoft and custom security application plugins.
• Korea’s Fair Trade Commission is getting serious about cracking down on false advertising. A website selling low grade beef as premium and another selling books as bestsellers were fined this week.  Now if they could just do something about the ab reducing exercise machines that fill evening TV ad spaces.
• In preparation for the presidential election (of course, it’s a serious concern they might attack) North Korea is building up their military forces on the west sea border. The Norks, however, do say that if the new president says nice things they might play nice.
• And on the economics front, the rising Won makes it better to send money home as we already mentioned in this week’s financial news thread. However, an added benefit of an appreciated won is that import prices go down. Import prices have declined 3.3% last month due to the rising won.  But since the Korean government is mostly fed by taxes from the enormous, export driven Chaebol conglomerates, don’t get all giddy and expect this to last for very long.

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By Martin Rehder, August 22, 2012 10:16 am

I believe I called this one way back in February of this year.  Back then, the US was pressuring all of its allies to stop importing Iranian oil in order to pressure the middle eastern nation to drop plans for nuclear weapons.  In February,  I said that Korea gets close to 10% of its oil from Iran and there were no alternative suppliers. And after a spring of shopping in other countries for a replacement source  (meanwhile buying as much Iranian oil it could before the deadline hit) and getting nowhere, Korea was granted a waiver from the US in the early summer, allowing to continue buying Iranian oil.

And when sanctions didn’t work, insurance kicked in and tried to make other nations stop buying oil.  With no insurance on tankers, some countries were forced to stop buying oil.

But fundamentals are difficult to get around. Iran still needs money, and Korea still needs oil and has built a dependency on it to a level that is impossible to replace. So despite insurance sanctions that will prevent European tankers from traveling to Asia, despite US sanctions to keep allies from buying Iranian oil, the game continues. Just as in Jurassic Park where “nature finds a way”, so too, does economics and energy find a way.

Beginning next month, Korea will resume purchasing Iranian oil. Iran will supply the tankers and ship the oil themselves.

India and Japan, along with Korea, are some of Iran’s biggest customers in importing oil.  And with energy as difficult as it is to come by, and as difficult as it is to maintain a stable power grid, these countries have done what they need to do and scoffed at US policy.

India and Japan have already added their own insurance to counter the loss of European shipping, Economics, particularly those related to energy,  trumps politics every time.  Despite Korea and the US being very close allies, Korea must do what it feels necessary to maintain its  energy budget and the underlying economy (i.e. cars, ships, off shore rigs)  it’s built on.