ROK and Inter-Korean relations
January 2007
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Young Students Head for China, SE Asia
Young Koreans traveling overseas for study are increasingly choosing to study in China and countries in Southeast Asia rather than the U.S. and Canada, the traditional favorite destinations. It is predicted that the number of students who select China and Southeast Asia will outnumber those who go to the U.S., today's top destination, in one or two years.
The Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development said Monday that the number of elementary, junior high and high school students who left for China and Southeast Asia stood at 10,351 (6,340 to China and 4,011 to Southeast Asia) in 2005. The figure leaped more than five fold from 1,180 in 2000 to 6,340 in 2005 in China and more than four fold from 957 in 2000 to 4,011 in 2005 in Southeast Asia. Those students primarily chose Beijing and Shanghai in China or Malaysia just a few years ago but now are also going to the Philippines, Shenzhen in southern China and Singapore. As a result, the proportion of those studying in China and Southeast Asia has surged from 10.7 percent (5.9 percent in China and 4.8 percent in Southeast Asia) in 2000 to 29.4 percent in 2005.
According to the data, three out of every 10 young students who went overseas to study chose China or Southeast Asia in 2005. By contrast, the number of Korean students in the U.S. (down from 43.2 percent to 34.6 percent), Canada (down from 14.1 percent to 12.6 percent), New Zealand (down from 5.2 percent to 4.0 percent), and Australia (inched up from 4.6 percent to 4.8 percent) has fallen or gone mostly unchanged from five years ago.
[IM] [Education]
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1 Out of 5 N. Korean Defectors Swindled
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
One-fifth of North Koreans who defected to South Korea have gotten swindled here, according to the Korean Institute of Criminal Justice Policy. The majority of the swindlers were other North Korean defectors.
The report released Tuesday was based on a survey of 214 defectors over 20 years old conducted between July and September.
According to the report, 50 of the 214 polled had been the victims of fraud, theft or burglary. The victims constituted 23.4 percent of the total. Only 4.3 percent of South Koreans report having been the victim of similar crimes.
[Refugee reception]
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North Korea Offers to Resume Joint Inter-Korean Events
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter
North Korea on Tuesday offered to resume halted inter-Korean joint events in June and August, the North’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported.
According to the KCNA, Ahn Kyong-ho, the chairman of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Fatherland, said Pyongyang would invite a South Korean delegation to attend the 7th anniversary of the historic inter-Korean summit between former President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang in June.
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Civic Groups Oppose Dictator’s Name for Park
Civic groups and netizens gathered on Monday to oppose a local government's decision to name a park after a dictator in Hapchon, South Kyongsang Province.
Hapchon county said that it has decided to name the yet-to-be-built park ``Ilhae Park,’’ after former President Chun Doo-hwan’s pen name.
Chun grabbed power in a coup in 1981, and in 1996, was involved in a bribery scandal that took place during his presidency.
Hapchon county held a residents’ vote on Dec. 20 to name the park and the name Ilhae Park was the most favored. After the result was announced, many residents and netizens opposed the decision. [Human rights]
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Education Ministry Punishes Union Teachers
The Ministry of Education is taking disciplinary action against 2,286 members of a progressive teachers' union who protested a new evaluation system and performance-based pay plan by not going to work last November.
Of those teachers, the ministry singled out 300 who took part in more than four illegal annual strikes for more severe punishment, including reprimands, pay-cuts and transfers to other schools during a regular personnel exchange next month. This mass punishment is the largest since the dismissal of 1,500 teachers of the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers' Union in 1989.
[Human rights]
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Hallyu Forum to Be Held at Harvard
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
An academic discussion on hallyu and its broader geopolitical implications will be held on Feb. 16 at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., in the United States.
Jason Lim, the event organizer and a mid-career public administration student at Harvard, said ``Hallyu in Asia: A Dialogue” is the first forum held at Harvard to discuss the spread of Korean pop culture and its effects.
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N.K. defector slams gov't for revealing personal records
Concern is for fate of family members left behind
The biggest worry of many defectors from North Korea is about the safety of their family members left behind in the communist nation. Mr. Lee, 38, is no exception. He arrived in South Korea with four of his family members on March 18 last year, having traveled for over nine hours on a small wooden boat from Tongcheon in North Korea to Goseong-gun in Gangwon Province. He requested that his identity be kept anonymous when his discovery prompted the Ministry of National Defense and the police to launch a joint investigation. If it would be difficult to do so, he urged the authorities to return him to the sea or to send him to a third country.
His concern was for the safety of his family remaining in the North, which is known to send defectors' remaining family members to labor camps as punishment if their identities are uncovered.
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3 Million NK Refugees Expected in Crisis: BOK
By Na Jeong-ju
Staff Reporter
If at least one member of a North Korean household moves to South Korea after reunification, more than 3 million from the North may head south if the two Koreas are reunited, the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Friday.
According to the BOK’s Institute of Finance and Economy, if such an exodus takes place in North Korea after reunification, the South may face serious economic consequences, the report said.
If Koreas adopt a German model, in which West Germany extended financial support to East Germany before and after reunification, South Korea would shoulder a total of $500-$900 billion in reunification costs. If the money is spent appropriately, it will take 22-39 years for North Korea to top $10,000 in gross national income, the report said.
[Unification cost] [Collapse]
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Korea Univ. President Awaits Verdict
By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter
The Korea University Faculty Council on Friday held a closed-door conference to discuss charges of plagiarism against the university president.
The council, whose recommendations on personnel matters are weighted heavily but are not binding, is made up of 37 members of the faculty
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Retired Generals Slam Roh on NK Propaganda
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
A retired general, on the rostrum, who belongs to the Korea Retired Generals and Admirals Association reads a statement , in Seoul, Friday, calling on the Roh Moo-hyun government to speak up against North Korea's efforts to influence the Dec. 19 presidential election./Korea Times
A group of retired generals Friday called on the government to speak out against the efforts it said North Korea is making to influence the South’s Dec. 19 presidential election.
In a statement, the Korea Retired Generals and Admirals Association criticized the Roh Moo-hyun administration for taking a lukewarm attitude toward Pyongyang’s alleged interference in domestic politics and its development of nuclear weapons.
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The Minister of Unification Visits the Gaeseong Industrial Complex
Name : uni4101Date : 2007-01-23
January 23, 2007
The Minister of Unification Visits the Gaeseong Industrial Complex
For the first time since his inauguration, the Minister of Unification Lee Jae-joung visits the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) on January 24, 2007.
At the GIC, Minister Lee plans to visit the Gaeseong Industrial District Management Committee, the Office of Inter-Korean Economic Cooperation, infrastructure construction site, and enterprises such as ShinWon and Samdeok, extending his thanks to those concerned and asking them to promote the project smoothly.
[Kaesong]
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Findings shed light on dark period of Korean history
Gov’t commission reevaluates those punished under Park Chung-hee’s ‘Emergency Measures’
South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission recently published the results of its investigation into a particularly oppressive period of Korean history. The period of time in question, a total of 2,159 days between January 8, 1974, when Park Chung-hee’s 1st Emergency Measures were announced, to December 8, 1979, when the 9th Emergency Measures were lifted just after the dictator’s assissination on October 26, represented a strong crackdown by the dictatorial government on dissent.
The Emergency Measures were made possible through Park Chung-hee’s 1972 Yusin Constitution, which also essentially guaranteed him unlimited presidential office
[Human rights]
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[Feature] A North Korean defector’s journey ‘home’
Deep within the folds of Gangwon’s hills, an encounter between a journalist and a man with a long, lonely past
By Lee Ji-nu, Photojournalist
At one time, my workroom walls were veritably plastered in maps, drawn in 1/5000 scale. In 1994, the local maps of Gangwon Province hung in a prominent spot among those records of place, as I had decided to embark on a journey to explore a particular strip of land beside the shore.
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Roh dismisses speculation about inter-Korean summit
South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun said Thursday that his government will not make any effort for an inter-Korean summit until the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear weapons program are successfully concluded.
"An inter-Korean summit will be difficult for the time being," Roh said during his New Year's news conference.
[Dilemma]
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Why Do People Drink More Bottles of Soju?
Consumption of Popular Liquor Up 7%; Makers’ Scheme Appears to Be Most Responsible
By Park Hyong-ki
Staff Reporter
There’s nothing quite like the taste of soju to satisfy Koreans who often lead one of the most stressful lives with a low happiness level among OECD countries.
Even amid an economic recession, the nation’s soju market has grown 7 percent last year from the year before, according the Korea Alcohol and Liquor Industry Association (KALIA).
[IM]
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'Progress in Nuke Talks Prerequisite to Summit'
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter
Minister of Unification Lee Jae-joung, fourth from right, listens to a North Korean guide, right, with others, Wednesday, during his visit to the Sonjuk Bridge built during the Koryo Kingdom (918-1392) in Kaesong. /Yonhap
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung's first visit to an inter-Korean industrial complex in Kaesong and the town itself in North Korea, Wednesday raised hopes for thawing chilly inter-Korean relations, which have worsened since the North's first-ever nuclear test on Oct. 9.
The minister, however, said substantial progress in the ongoing six-party talks is a prerequisite for holding another inter-Korean summit.
[Dilemma]
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Plagiarism Claims Corner Korea University President
By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter
Lee Phil-sang
Korea University President Lee Phil-sang plagiarized in two research papers, and he is suspected to have plagiarized in three more, Korea University’s fact-finding committee reported Wednesday.
``We have concluded that two of Lee’s research papers are the result of plagiarism, and it is certain that other three research papers will also be confirmed to be the result of plagiarism,’’ the committee said Wednesday.
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7 Reasons Why Kim Jong-il Can’t Pay Return Visit
By Jang Sung-min
On January 18, two American officials gave interesting testimony before a U.S. House International Relations Committee hearing on North Korea: One was William Perry, former defense secretary in the Clinton administration, and the other was former U.S. Ambassador to South Korea James Lilley.
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Minister to Visit Kaesong Site
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung plans to visit the Kaesong industrial complex in North Korea Wednesday for the first time since he took office on Dec. 11, a ministry official said Monday.
During his one-day visit, Lee and his aides as well as reporters will visit the downtown area of the North Korean city, the capital of the Koryo Kingdom (918-1392).
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Teacher Held Over Pro-N.Korean Class Materials
A former teacher’s union official has been arrested for possession of pro-North Korean booklets for use in middle school. Seoul Metropolitan Police said Sunday it seized copies of a booklet titled “30 Questions and Answers about North Korea” from the social studies teacher, a folrmer Unification Committee chairman of the Seoul chapter of the Korean Teachers and Educational Workers Union. It is the first time a unionized teacher has been arrested for possession of pro-North Korean class materials.
The booklet echoes North Korea’s standard claims: the U.S. and South Korean conservatives have for 50 years brainwashed South Koreans into thinking that the North will invade the South; and North Korea’s nuclear ambition is a justifiable expression of its right to a deterrent for self-defense when the U.S. threatens a preemptive nuclear attack.
[Human rights]
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Non-Whites Face Discrimination In English Job Market
No Rules on Race Discrimination in Schools
By Park Chung-a
Staff Reporter
A 32-year-old American college graduate was refused a job as an English teacher in a private institute (hakwon) in Apkujong-dong, southern Seoul, last week, allegedly for her mixed race heritage.
Her resume (minus photo) was accepted on the first round but she failed her interview. She said she was told by the interviewer, ``I'm sorry but we only want to have white people. We want a native speaker that parents approve of.''
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‘T-Shaped’ Thought Key to Innovation
By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
Why have Korean companies failed to create such iconic devices as Apple Computer’s iPod or Motorola’s RAZR despite their technological prowess?
The answer by the LG Economic Research Institute to this crucial question is that Korean companies lack ``T-shaped people,’’ or those who have skills and knowledge that are both deep and broad.
The LG institute yesterday made the point while stressing that one of the most important tasks for domestic companies to create mega hit products like iPod or RAZR.
``To innovate … a product and business opportunity, we have to secure insights into both by having an observant and empathetic view of the world,’’ said Lee Jeong-bae, a senior consultant at the institute.
``Only T-shaped people, who have well rounded personalities and broad interests, can obtain such viewpoints. Sophisticated engineers who do not understand the market and customers will never produce products, which have a shot at becoming a grand slam,’’ he said.
Lee said Korean companies depend on ``I-typed’’ engineers who have skills in the relevant technologies but don’t know much about market trends or clients. This is a barrier to increased success.
[IM]
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The Ministry of Unification and the Republic of Korea National Red Cross Enter into MOU
Name : uni4101Date : 2007-01-17
January 16, 2007
The Ministry of Unification and the Republic of Korea National Red Cross Enter into MOU
* The Ministry of Unification and the Republic of Korea National Red Cross (KNRC) entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on January 16. By this MOU, the Ministry of Unification can commission the KNRC to carry out several works: projects regarding separated families such as reunion events and Integrated Information Center for Separated Families, humanitarian aid such as fertilizers and flood relief, and inter-Korean humanitarian projects like dealing with dead bodies of North Koreans.
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Deserved Punishment upon Provokers
Pyongyang, January 19 (KCNA) -- Forty years have passed since Escort Ship 56 was sent to the bottom of the sea while perpetrating provocations against the DPRK. The U.S. imperialists and the south Korean war-hawks had infiltrated 35 naval vessels of various types into the territorial waters of the DPRK on 28 occasions from December 30, 1966 to January 13, 1967.
On January 19, 1967 they sent Escort Ship 56 to the point of north latitude 38 degrees 40.7 minutes and east longitude 128 degrees 26.3 minutes for the purpose of spying out the coast defence forces of the DPRK, 3.9 miles north of the extension of the military demarcation line on the sea.
The warship bombarded scores of rounds of shells on coastal area of the DPRK.
A coast artillery sub-unit of the heroic Korean People's Army took a decisive self-defence measure to open fire on and sink the warship at 14:30.
This was a deserved punishment the KPA inflicted on those who were engaged in reckless provocations in gross violation of the Korean Armistice Agreement, defying the repeated warnings on the part of the DPRK side and the protest by the fair public opinion of the world.
The miserable end of Escort Ship 56 clearly shows that the foolish provocations of the U.S. imperialists and the south Korean war-maniacs are bound to meet fiasco and will be visited only with corpses and death.
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South Korea, Israel to Hold Military Talks
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Senior defense officials from South Korea and Israel will meet next week to discuss bilateral ties and defense cooperation, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said Friday.
Led by Lee Sun-hi, commissioner of the arms procurement agency, the five-member South Korean
delegation will leave for Tel Aviv this weekend to attend the meeting, the seventh of its kind, which is to be held on Monday, it said in a statement.
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Army to Develop Attack Helicopters
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The South Korean Army plans to launch a $6-billion arms procurement program to build about 270 advanced attack helicopters next year, in addition to the ongoing development of 245 utility helicopters.
The plan is part of efforts to upgrade the Korean military’s defense readiness in preparation for its exercise of independent wartime command within five years, as well as to replace the Army’s aging 500MD light attack helicopters, Army officials said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) approved the plan last June, according to sources.
[military balance]
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Why France Has a Higher Birth Rate Than Korea
France saw a birthrate of two children per woman last year. The entire country seems to be celebrating. That is the highest birthrate in Europe and almost double that of Korea’s (1.08 childer per woman). The BBC said France should be excused for showing off today.
At this rate, France’s 60 million population could rise to 75 million by 2050, outpacing Germany as Europe’s most-populous country.
In France, having children is something to be proud of.
[Ageing society] [IM]
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S.Korean Consulate ‘Failed POWs’ Families’
Nine family members of long-term prisoners of war in North Korea were sent back to the North after a South Korean consulate in China failed to protect them. The Consulate in Shenyang has already been given an official warning over its offhand response when kidnapped fisherman Choi Uk-il asked for help there last month. The Monthly Chosun published Thursday reports that nine relatives of three POWs were arrested by Chinese police only a day after they checked into a guesthouse near the consulate.
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South Korea to Buy 20 More Advanced Fighters by 2012
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
South Korea will introduce 20 advanced combat aircraft from 2010 to 2012, in addition to the scheduled delivery of 40 F-15K fighters from Boeing of the United States, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said Wednesday.
The decision was made at a meeting of the agency's supreme committee, chaired by Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo, in Seoul.
Under the second phase of the ``F-X'' next-generation warplane procurement project, the military plans to purchase 20 multi-role fighters from foreign countries via open bidding with an investment of about 2.3 trillion won ($2.4 billion), agency officials said.
[Military balance] [arms sales] [Friction] [US dominance]
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Ex-Hyundai Motor Union Chief 'Took Bribe to End Strike'
Ulsan prosecutors have requested an arrest warrant for the former leader of Hyundai Motor’s trade union on charges of taking bribes from company management to cancel a strike. Lee Hun-koo (46), is alleged to have received W200 million(US$1=W935.60) from a senior executive for ending a strike early and cooperating in wage negotiations. It is the first arrest warrant requested for a leader of Hyundai’s notoriously belligerent union.
The former vice president is in the clear since the three-year statute of limitations has expired. The Hyundai trade union professed itself “shocked” by the allegation, claiming that if true it proves the company’s strategy of managing labor relations with money. The union called for punishment of executives who paid the bribes.
[Corruption] [Double standards]
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Inter-Korean Tigers Have Love Cubs
A pair of white tigers, the female from South Korea and the male from Pyongyang's Central Zoo, gave birth last year to a litter of cubs, it has emerged belatedly. "Bera, a female white tiger that we gave to the North in 2004, and a male white tiger from the North, gave birth to three white cubs last August," Seoul's Grand Park Zoo said on Sunday.
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6-Year Prison Term Sought for Chung
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
The prosecution on Tuesday demanded a six-year jail term for Hyundai Automotive Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo for embezzlement and breach of trust.
Chung, 69, was arrested last April on charges of embezzling 110 billion won in company funds and causing 210 billion won in damage to the company through breach of trust. Prosecutors suspect Chung raised massive amounts of slush funds through six group affiliates since 2002 and used the money to illegally transfer corporate wealth to his family.
He was freed from jail on bail in June and has been back in his job as the chairman of the nation’s largest automaker.
[Corruption]
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Kidnapped Fisherman Returns After 31 Years
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
A South Korean fisherman who escaped from North Korea late last month after being abducted by North Korean agents 31 years ago returned safely to Seoul via China on Tuesday.
Choe Uk-il, 67, had been in the custody of the South Korean Consulate General in Shenyang, northeastern China, since Jan. 5, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said.
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Lee Faces Uphill Struggle in Inter-Korean Projects
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung has been on a bumpy road since he took office on Dec. 19, struggling to find a breakthrough to thaw chilly inter-Korean relations.
Relations were aggravated by North Korea’s first nuclear test on Oct. 9.
A series of critical reports on his remarks seem to have frustrated and frightened 63-year-old Lee, who in the past was a priest, professor, politician and philanthropist.
Last Friday, hours before the minister’s regular press briefing, reporters who cover news from the Ministry of Unification received a copy of the text of a speech.
A former vice president of the presidential National Unification Advisory Council, Lee usually makes speeches without relying on a prewritten speech. This time, however, the minister read the script without missing or adding a single word.
The minister also refrained from answering questions about sensitive issues, such as the government’s policies concerning North Korean defectors and the closing down of a few pro-North Korean Web sites, which former Unification Minister Chung Dong-young once vowed to do.
[Human rights]
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Speculation About Fresh Inter-Korean Summit Runs Wild
It was Prime Minister Han Myeong-sook who triggered speculation about an imminent inter-Korean summit when she told the National Assembly on Oct. 10 last year she was “reviewing” a potential exchange of special envoys and a summit. Sources in Seoul and Pyongyang as well as Beijing say representatives of South and North Korea met in Hong Kong late last year to discuss issues like the exchange of special envoys. There were also rumors that the two Koreas met in Dandong, Pyongyang and Mt. Kumgang. The fact that there was a strict news embargo ahead of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000 until the meeting was firmly agreed is only fueling the rumor mill.
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20 years later, father still seeks truth in son’s death
Student activist died during torture; no charges have been filed
» Park Jeong-gi on January 14 offers flowers to the soul of his son, Park Jong-cheol, at the spot, where his son was tortured to death. It was a secret facility of the police at the time and has turned to be the Police Human Rights Hall.
"Will my tears ever stop? As long as I am living, I cannot abandon my child. I can’t do so and I will never do so. Are you asking me why is it?’’
On January 14, 1987, nearly 20 years ago to the day, Park Jong-chul, a 23-year-old Seoul National University student, died as a result of being tortured by the police. During his interrogation, he had been "waterboarded," his head held underwater for long periods of time. Park’s death inspired the nationwide demonstrations demanding the democratization of the nation; eight months later, South Korea once again agreed to hold democratic elections after decades of dictatorial rule. With the passage of 20 years, democracy has been firmly established on the Korean peninsula, but Park Jeong-gi, 78, Jong-chul’s father, is nowhere near ready to let the bitter memories surrounding the circumstances of his son’s death fade.
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Regular Briefing by Minister of Unification
(January 11, 2007)
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung gave a regular briefing to local and foreign reporters on January 11, 2007.
Consistent Measures to Develop the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC)
Minister Lee said, "Recently, more and more visitors including inspection groups for investment are visiting the GIC. Also, the output is increasing and legal and institutional environments as well as infrastructure are being improved." He also said, "We will take proper measures to enhance the efficiency of the investment."
[Kaesong]
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Ministry Denies Push for 2nd S-N Summit
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
The Ministry of Unification on Saturday denied a report of an inter-Korean summit plan even though a local newspaper unveiled the ministry’s policy advice paper to President Roh Moo-hyun regarding a meeting with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-il this year.
The Hankook Ilbo, a sister paper of The Korea Times, reported on Saturday that the ministry drafted the document late last year to recommend the president push for a summit to find a breakthrough to the North Korean nuclear standoff.[Dilemma]
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Grey days of old age become golden years for the new grannies
January 13, 2007 ? Waiting for death used to be the main occupation of Korean women in their seventies. They spent their time in tedious occupations at senior welfare centers. They were treated as if their usefulness had expired. The high point of their lives was attending the funerals of each other's husbands. Now those times are changing. There is a new generation of young ‘grannies' proclaiming their independence and viality. After a lifetime of looking after their spouse and children they are blooming in new lives of their own choosing.
[Ageing society] [IM]
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N. Korea Returns S. Korean Ship
North Korea's Red Cross on Friday repatriated a 30-ton fishing boat and its engineer to South Korea later in the day, citing humanitarian reasons.
The 46-year-old engineer is believed to have stewarded the ship across the maritime border in the East Sea on Dec. 25, 2006.
The skipper reported the loss of the boat to the South Korean police, who detected the boat's satellite phone signal near Wonsan, off the North's east coast.
01-12-2007 19:20
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Two Koreas Should Continue to Talk
[Opinion] South Korea's interests can't be assured by six-party format
Jae Young Lee (ohmyjoshua) Email Article Print Article
Published 2007-01-12 13:33 (KST)
After North Korea's missile tests and nuclear experiment, the overall picture of its international relationships have seriously deteriorated, especially with the U.S. Although the resumption of the Six-Party Talks after a long, depressing deadlock held out some hope for relief, it turned out that there was no sign of a breakthrough.
Most recently, South Korea proposed to complement a U.S.-North Korean nuclear deal by providing humanitarian aid to North Korea, which remains deep in a deep economic crisis. In this way, South Korea seems to be achieving some success in taking a meaningful position among the six participating nations. Does this indicate that the role of South Korea is meaningful and satisfactory? Unfortunately, South Korea's proposal seems to indicate its lack of understanding of its own potential role, even though it has established a good standing under the Sunshine Policy since Kim Dae-jung's government.
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GNP's Groundless Accusation against DPRK over Its Joint New Year Editorial Refuted
Pyongyang, January 5 (KCNA) -- The joint New Year Editorial made public in the DPRK called on the people of different circles in south Korea to form a great alliance against conservatism so as to decisively eliminate all the treacherous pro-American reactionary conservative forces through the "presidential election." On January 2 a spokesman and the secretary general of the "Grand National Party" in south Korea let loose a string of vituperation terming this call "an interference in its internal affairs" and the like. The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland released in information bulletin No. 928 Thursday said in this regard: The smear campaign launched by the GNP against the DPRK over the joint New Year editorial is nothing but a foolish ploy to cover up the despicable nature of its frantic moves to gratify its greed for power through its subservience to its American master and acts of treachery and mislead the people's mindset and public opinion.
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‘Summit Must Be Held in 2007’
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter
Former President Kim Dae-jung, left, shakes hands with Speaker of the National Assembly Lim Chae-jung during Lim’s courtesy call to Kim’s house in Tonggyo-dong, Seoul, Friday. /Korea Times Photo by Shin Sang-sun
Former President Kim Dae-jung on Friday stressed once again the need to realize the second inter-Korean summit within this year so that the next administration could continue summit diplomacy between the two Koreas.
``It’s very necessary to continue inter-Korean dialogue on a regular basis,’’ Kim, the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said during a courtesy call at his residence in Seoul by Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung.
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The Presidents Words Are Scaring Us
Koreans had mixed feelings as they watched the government’s New Year greeting on Wednesday, with President Roh Moo-hyun in attendance. In photographs of the greeting, President Roh’s face was hardened as he was speaking, while his key officials next to him were staring down at the ground.
The president said he had hoped to receive a favorable response from the public, but he gave up on that completely last year. He said it would be better this year for him not to pay attention to how the public would view him. He added that he had never expected a favorable assessment by the press and that it didn’t matter to him how they treated him. If the president is not willing to listen to the public or the media, then what standards does he intend to use as a basis for his actions and if he is going down the wrong path, to whose voice will he listen for directions? Even though the president has been exercising virtually no restraint in his words since the end of last year, what he said on this particular day still made us scared. He said that all he has left now is his own pride and he would exercise his legal authority until the last day of his term.
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Shorter Military Service Is a Poisoned Chalice
Those who have rotted away in the military, as President Roh Moo-hyun would have it, know how hard it is to spend part of their youth when they might usefully study or work in mandatory military service. There are few who haven’t at one time or another felt a sense of grievance that they alone should shoulder the burden. I, too, feel I was rotting away there and think the shorter the military service the better. But the presidential remarks disparaging the military late last year, and the gift of shorter military service, were by no means music to my ears.
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A guilty conscience
Minkahyup, a civic organization comprised of the families of prisoners of conscience, holds its first regular Monday rally of the year in downtown Seoul on January 4. The group calls for all such prisoners to be released, saying that there are still 91 people languishing in South Korean prisons because of their beliefs.
[Human rights]
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‘Summit Must Be Held in 2007’
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter
Former President Kim Dae-jung, left, shakes hands with Speaker of the National Assembly Lim Chae-jung during Lim’s courtesy call to Kim’s house in Tonggyo-dong, Seoul, Friday. /Korea Times Photo by Shin Sang-sun
Former President Kim Dae-jung on Friday stressed once again the need to realize the second inter-Korean summit within this year so that the next administration could continue summit diplomacy between the two Koreas.
``It’s very necessary to continue inter-Korean dialogue on a regular basis,’’ Kim, the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said during a courtesy call at his residence in Seoul by Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung.
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Abducted Fisherman Escapes N.Korea After 31 Years
A crewmember of the squid trawler Cheonwangho abducted by North Korea while fishing in the East Sea in August 1975 has escaped the communist state after 31 years. Choi Wook-il (67) is waiting for help from Seoul while hiding at an undisclosed location in China, but the government here is dragging its feet. Choi told the Chosun Ilbo he left Kimchaek City in North Hamgyeong Province on Dec. 22, arrived at Hyesan on Dec. 24 and crossed the Yalu River the next day. On the arduous trip, he sustained a cut to his forehead after a car accident on the way to Yanbian in China. He was finally reunited with his wife Yang Jeong-ja (66) there.
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Lucky Gold Star Marking 60 Years in Business
They were the first to make cosmetics, toothpaste, radios, fans, telephones, black-and-white TVs and washing machines in Korea. March 27 sees the 60th anniversary of what was to become the mighty LG Group from humble beginnings as Lucky Chemical Industrial Corp. (now LG Chemical) and Gold Star (currently LG Electronics).
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Can the Korean Wave Crash Hollywood?
The Korean pop-culture wave has swept Asia. Now what? The challenges to Korean stars continue, and their next target is the heart of the international movie market, Hollywood. Park Joong-hoon, Lee Byung-heon and Jung Jun-ho already have their engines revving. With their dreams seeming to come into focus, the group of top stars may even be seen in Hollywood this year.
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North-South relationship must enter a positive cycle
[Editorial]
The "joint editorial" traditionally published by North Korea’s newspapers on New Year’s Day has talked a lot about the economy in recent years. This year, the specific goals it gives for "constructing an economically strong nation" are making sure the masses get enough to eat; a revolution in the country’s light industries; strengthening North Korea’s performance in the power, coal, metal, and rail transport industries; and expanding the country’s energy development. It shows you exactly what the North’s concerns are about its economy, since this means it is experiencing a shortage of food and needed materials and that its basic industries are weak. The joint editorial said the country needs to "manage its economy based on Korean strength, technology, and resources" in order to construct a "socialist paradise prospering thoroughly on its own strength." It’s the same old party line of "juche," or self-reliance.
The best way for North Korea to strengthen its economy would be to build an economic community on the Korean peninsula together with South Korea [In denial]
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Ministries Hesitate Over Condolences for Paek
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter
The government Thursday decided not to send Pyongyang a message of condolence after the death of North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun.
The North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Wednesday that Paek died at the age of 78, but it did not provide details on how or when the top diplomat passed away.
The Ministry of Unification, which offered its condolences regarding the death of Lim Dong-ok, North Korea's point man on inter-Korean relations, last August, steered clear of the issue.
``We'd like to extend our condolences to Paek while remembering his efforts during inter-Korean meetings in the 1990s, especially as a member of the North's delegation to the preparatory talks for an inter-Korean summit,'' the ministry's spokesman Yang Chang-seok told reporters.
Yang said it is the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, not his ministry, that should decide whether to send a message of condolences to the North.
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Inter-Korean Visits Jump 15.1% in 2006
The number of inter-Korean cross-border visits climbed 15.1 percent last year from a year earlier despite escalating tensions over North Korea’s test-fire of missiles and the underground detonation of nuclear devices, the Ministry of Unification said Thursday.
A total of 101,708 South and North Koreans visited each other’s country, compared with 88,341 in 2005, according to the ministry.
It said the number did not include South Korean tourists to scenic Mt. Kumgang in the North. Last year, 234,446 South Koreans traveled to the mountain resort, down 21.4 percent from 2005.
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Seoul Must Alleviate N.Korea’s Poverty: Minister
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung in a New Year's message on Tuesday said South Korea must assume responsibility for solving the poverty of North Korea. In the message e-mailed to all ministry officials, the minister said the South has to assume responsibility “as a country exporting US$300 billion worth of products and services around the world and one of the 10 largest economies and since its people share the same blood as the North Koreans.” Lee said, "Security on the Korean Peninsula will always be in danger, and we cannot guarantee peace on the peninsula unless we can find a fundamental solution to the problem of poverty in the North.”
Asked by reporters if poverty would be the motivation behind North Korea’s nuclear test in October, he said, "Poverty is one of the reasons the North did it.” The solution Lee has in mind appears to go beyond mere rice and fertilizer aid the South now provides. Pundits say Lee may be thinking of more large-scale projects. The remarks come amid increasing talk of a second inter-Korean summit in the ruling party as the election year gets under way.
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FM Says Door for Inter-Korean Summit Open
Foreign Minister Song Min-soon speaks to the Yonhap news ggency at his official residence on Monday.
Foreign Minister Song Min-soon has said that the door for an inter-Korean summit is always open. In an interview with Yonhap News before leaving for Washington on Monday, Song said an inter-Korean summit would help resolve the North Korean nuclear problem and pending issues between the two Koreas, and help bring peace to the Korean Peninsula. However, the foreign minister said the necessary conditions should be met before an inter-Korean summit is held since the two sides will be left empty-handed if they meet before the conditions are mature.
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N.Korea Calls for GNP Defeat in 2007 Presidential Poll
In a uniform editorial in three newspapers representing the North's party, military and youth militia, North Korea has urged South Koreans to prevent the opposition Grand National Party and conservatives from taking power by any means at their disposal. Commenting on South Korea's presidential election scheduled on Dec. 19, 2007, the editorial said South Koreans from all walks of life should form an anti-conservative grand coalition and take the presidential election as an opportunity to throw out "conservative, pro-American power." The three papers have regularly carried a uniform New Year's editorial since 1995 to sum up North Korean leader Kim Jeong-il's policy goals for the year.
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Most Koreans See a Bleak Future
Seven out of 10 Koreans were optimistic about the future 20 years ago, but now six out of 10 Koreans believe that the future is grim, a survey shows. Some 20 years ago, 69.3 percent of Koreans expected relations between the two Koreas to improve. But now, 70 percent think inter-Korean relations will get worse or remain unchanged. The survey was conducted by Gallup Korea at the request of the Chosun Ilbo and the Korea Association for Survey Research.
Koreans have increasingly opted for sustainable economic growth, while betraying signs of fatigue with the process of democratization. Twenty years ago, only 16.5 percent put rapid economic growth before stability and social harmony. But now, 55.6 percent choose growth over social stability.
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Former President Kim Dae-jung optimistic about inter-Korean summit in 2007
Former South Korean President and Nobel Peace laureate Kim Dae-jung said Tuesday an inter-Korean summit is more likely this year.
"The possibility of an inter-Korean summit is higher than ever, as President Roh Moo-hyun has vowed to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-il anytime, anywhere," the former president said in an interview with Buddhist Broadcasting System, a Seoul-based radio network.
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Kim Dae-jung Expects Summit in 2007
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter
Former President Kim Dae-jung said Tuesday that he sees a possibility for an inter-Korean summit between President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il this year.
``The possibility of an inter-Korean summit is greater than ever, as Roh has expressed his willingness to meet his North Korean counterpart anytime, anywhere,'' Kim, 2000 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, said in a radio interview.
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Minister Wants to Ease Poverty in North Korea
By Lee Jin-woo
Staff Reporter
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said Tuesday the government should make more efforts to help the North fight poverty and hunger.
He expressed his determination to encourage more private human rights organizations to send relief material to the impoverished Stalinist state.
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Opinion poll shows more than half of university students say U.S. hard-line policy caused Korea’s nuclear test
An opinion poll conducted by Research Plus showed that 50.7 percent of the south Korean university students polled thought that North Korea’s nuclear test was due to the hard-line policy of the United States against Korea, said Tongil News, an Internet news bulletin. The opinion poll was conducted by Research Plus, a research firm in South Korea, at the request of the National Unification Headquarters of Hungsadan (Hungmintong).
According to a Tongil News report dated Dec. 5, based on information released by Hungsadan on the same day, the largest group (32.44 percent) of the polled said that the main purpose of Korea’s nuclear test was to defend Korea, while 25.8 percent said that it was aimed at promoting dialogue with the United States. At the same time, 23.0 percent of the polled replied that the nuclear test was aimed at threatening the United States, while the smallest group (7.4 percent) replied that it was intended to threaten South Korea.
[SK attitude NK] [SK attitude US]
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Critics fear Seoul is losing clout in efforts to rein in North Korea
January 01, 2007 ? President Roh Moo-hyun envisioned at the beginning of his term that he wanted South Korea to play the role of a "balancing force" in the region, and sent Lee Jong-seok, his unification minister at the time, to Washington to explain exactly what that phrase meant.
? Envoys of the six nations as China's Wu Dawei (fourth from the left) reads a chairman's statement on Dec. 22 announcing a recess of the North Korean nuclear talks in Beijing. From left, Russian envoy Sergei Razov; Christopher Hill, Washington's representative to the talks; Kenichiro Sasa of Japan; Chun Young-woo, Seoul's top envoy; and the North's Kim Gye-gwan. [NEWSIS]
The trip, by the originator of the idea, was meant to convince perplexed Washington officials that it didn't mean a fundamental change in relations between the two countries.
[Friction] [Dilemma]
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‘End of War Ceremony Not in Sync With N. Korea’s Denuclearization’
By Park Song-wu
Staff Reporter
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Song Min-soon indicated that a signing ceremony to end the Korean War could be held if North Korea shows a clear readiness to dismantle its nuclear programs.
``It doesn't necessary flow in tight sync with the North's denuclearization process,'' he said in an interview with Yonhap news agency that took place before his departure for Washington on Monday.
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