안주 Links for 4 March 2009
FREE AT LAST: “A South Korean fisherman who was abducted by North Korea while fishing in the East Sea in August 1975 has arrived safely home after 34 years…. Yun attempted to escape North Korea with his 68-year-old wife and 26-year-old daughter, but his wife and daughter were reportedly caught by the North Korean police. Out of 33 fishermen abducted along with him back then, only three others — Koh Myung-sup (65), Choi Uk-il (69) and Lee Han-seop (61) — succeeded in fleeing the North.”
SILENT NO MORE: “Vice Foreign Minister Shin Kak-soo said in a keynote speech at a meeting of the UN Human Rights Commission in Geneva, Switzerland, ‘We urge North Korea to abide by international laws regarding human rights and take necessary measures to improve human rights conditions.”’
BARACK OBAMA, “arch criminal.”
DREAM ON: The Grand Nationals still expect America to ratify the U.S.-Korea Free Trade Agreement.
WE ARE ABOVE THE LAW! The Korean Justice Minister warns members of the National Assembly not to brawl on the assembly floor, and gets this odd reaction from a ruling party member:
It is excessive to say that lawmakers should be dealt with in the same way as ordinary criminal suspects,” said a GNP lawmaker who is a member of the National Assembly’s legislation and judiciary committee. “I also doubt whether it will really be possible for him to act on his remarks when there are existing laws and guidelines for handling legal issues involving lawmakers. [The Hankyoreh]
How long before Korea will have to test its parliamentarians for steroids to assure a “good, clean fight?”
UZBEKISTAN, PARADISE for Korean pervs: Given the way so many Koreans tend to generalize about foreign soldiers and English teachers in their country (here and here), and how the Korean media promotes those generalizations, perhaps a little introspection is called for when we occasionally see how Koreans behave when they’re abroad:
Ten years earlier, only one Korean-style “room salon,” or brothel, was in operation. But such salons have mushroomed in recent years, offering packages such as W300,000 (US$308) getting male tourists a day of golf and a night of sex. The room salons bear names such as “Ace,” “CNN,” and “The White House.”
In 2003, a 25-year-old tour guide said, his company was able to attract 10 to 15 Korean tourists a month, but the number has since jumped to some 300 a month. He said some Korean tourists asked to visit such room salons as soon as they arrived.
A Korean businessman said, “The image of Korea is on the ropes. I have a hard time meeting Koreans [that have come here without alterior motives].” [The Hankyoreh]
GOOD RIDDANCE: It looks like the Tamil Tigers are on the verge of defeat.