ROK and Inter-Korean relations
December 2012
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Yoon hit by martyr's offspring
President-elect Park Geun-hye’s chief spokesman Yoon Chang-jung announces newly appointed members of the transition team at the headquarters of Saenuri Party in Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap
By Jung Min-ho
Yun Bong-gil
Patriotic martyr
President-elect Park Geun-hye’s incoming chief spokesman Yoon Chang-jung is drawing virulent responses from the descendants of patriotic martyr Yun Bong-gil’s, following a statement he gave Tuesday in which he claimed to be related to the historical figure.
“He is dishonoring the name of the national hero by selling Yun’s name with political purpose,” Patriot Yun Bong-gil Memorial Director Yang Byeong-yong told The Korea Times. “For the past 13 years working here, I have never heard of him.”
Yun is a famous Korean independence activist who died after bombing Japanese dignitaries in Shanghai in 1932.
The head of the organization also denied his statement, saying “According to his logic, there are 1.2 million descendants nationwide with the same family name.”
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Park has chance to break Korean impasse
Global Times | 2012-12-26 19:54:04
By Lee Dong-jun
On February 21, 1972, US President Richard Nixon said to Chairman Mao Zedong, "I think the important thing to note…those on the right can do what those on the left talk about."
Citing this comment, some US historians say that conservatives have more strategic choices than progressives do because the former face less resistance from their traditional supporters.
Actually, by maximizing his political advantages as a conservative, Nixon won Mao's trust
[Park Geun-hye]
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Change Without Meaning: The South Korean
Presidential Candidates' North Korea Policy
Suyeol*, Policy Director, People's Solidarity for Social Progress |
December 14, 2012 Bookmark and Share
Translation by Wol-san Liem
On December 19, South Korean citizens will go to the polls to elect their next president. Like the United States, South Korea is suffering from economic stagnation, and similar to the U.S. presidential debates, the economy is overshadowing national security and other critical issues.
Official campaigning for South Korea's presidential election began on November 27, and the two leading candidates have actively put forth their policy platforms and political visions. Missing from the discussions, however, are concrete policy plans to address North-South relations and wider East Asian stability. While both candidates have addressed the contentious Northern Limit Line (NLL), their coverage has been restricted to political attacks on the current Lee Myung-Bak administration, rather than offering real solutions to prevent clashes in the West Sea or a new North Korea policy.
The two leading South Korean presidential candidates have failed to address the heart of tensions on the Korean peninsula. These include U.S. policy regarding the Korean peninsula and North Korea's economic troubles. Pyongyang is ultimately looking for a security guarantee. Without an end to Washington's policy and threat of a pre-emptive strike, advances in inter-Korea economic cooperation remain fragile. No proposal for unification is viable unless it contains a solution to these fundamental political problems.
Second, North Korea justifies its nuclear weapons program as a means of self-defense in the face of a U.S. military threat and South Korea's superior conventional weapons arsenal.
[SK NK policy]
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Reunification Could Lead to 10-fold Rise in Welfare Spending: KDI
A new report shows that the reunification of the two Koreas could lead to a 10-fold surge in government expenditures for the needy.
The Korea Development Institute said that, in the event of reunification, the number of people living under the subsistence level would jump from the current 1.5 million to up to 20 million.
This translates into a 10-fold increase in government spending on welfare for the needy, based on South Korea's current welfare policy, with health care expenditures increasing by the largest margin.
To raise the revenue to cover the costs, the institute said the government would need to increase the individual income tax rate and value added tax.
DEC 01, 2012
[Unification cost] [Takeover]
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S. Korea lights up Christmas tower near border with NK
A giant Christmas tree was lit up near the tense border with North Korea on Saturday, a move that may anger the communist country.
It had been an annual ritual for South Korea to light a Christmas tree on top of a hill called Aegibong near the western sector of the inter-Korean border before it was suspended in 2003 as the then liberal South Korean government sought reconciliation with North Korea.
[Provocation]
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Why Madam president in South Korea may not be gender game changer
By Seungsook Moon, Special to CNN
December 22, 2012 -- Updated 0338 GMT (1138 HKT)
Park Geun-hye to become 18th president of South Korea -- its first female leader
Moon writes it's easy to look at Park's future presidency as sign of social change
Park's father's legacy has propelled her political career, writes Moon
Moon: Park's political record lacks support of policies promoting gender equality
Editor's note: Seungsook Moon is a professor of sociology and chair of the department at Vassar College. As a political and cultural sociologist, she is the author of "Militarized Modernity and Gendered Citizenship in South Korea" and a coeditor and contributor of "Over There: Living with the U.S. Military Empire from World War Two to the Present."
(CNN) -- Citizens of South Korea chose their 18th president this week -- Park Geun-hye, who will be the nation's first female leader.
Park, 60, was the candidate of the ruling conservative New Frontier Party, also known as Saenuri. To some observers' surprise, Park's campaign had repeatedly highlighted her gender as a marker of her superiority to her rival, Moon Jae-in, a 59-year-old candidate of the opposition Democratic United Party, who is currently a member of the National Assembly.
Seungsook Moon, sociology professor at Vassar College has published numerous articles on gender and citizenship.
For example, her television advertisements promoted Park as a prepped woman president who understands feminine leadership that is responsible and subtle. Park also made pledges appealing to women in workplace and family. She even equated the birth of a woman president with political cleanup and innovation in South Korea.
Looking at Park's future presidency from afar without considering its historical and social context, it is rather tempting to celebrate it as a sign of positive social change in the conservative Asian country -- women have finally arrived. Or have they?
[Park Geun-hye] [Gender]
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Man arrested for praising NK in court
By Kim Bo-eun
A local court issued an arrest warrant for a trial observer for praising North Korea and throwing his shoes at the presiding judge.
Cheongju District Court issued an arrest warrant Friday for a 51-year-old man with the surname Oh on charges of disrupting a trial as well as charges of violating the National Security Law.
The incident occurred during a trial at an appellate court for a 57-year-old named Kang, Dec. 14. Kang had appealed against a 10-month prison sentence handed down to him by a district court, after being indicted on charges of breaching the National Security Law.
Kang pleaded not guilty, arguing that the National Security Law goes against the Constitution which guarantees freedom of speech.
But the presiding judge refuted Kang’s claims and dismissed his appeal.
[NSL] [Human rights]
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N.Korea Issues Terse Report on S.Korean Election
The North Korean state media on Thursday reported the result of this year's South Korean presidential election.
The state-run KCNA news agency devoted one sentence to it. "According to domestic and international news reports, the ruling Saenuri Party candidate was elected as the next president after a fiercely close battle on Wednesday." It did not mention her name or comment in a separate editorial.
In 2007, North Korea did not react at all to the then-Grand National Party Candidate Lee Myung-bak's win until early the following month.
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Park Geun-hye: a Life in Pictures
In this undated handout photo, president-elect Park Geun-hye plays with her father and then-president Park Chung-hee and her mother Yuk Young-soo along with her younger brother and sister in Seoul, sometime in the 1960s. In this undated handout photo, president-elect Park Geun-hye plays with her father and then-president Park Chung-hee and her mother Yuk Young-soo along with her younger brother and sister in Seoul, sometime in the 1960s.
[Park Geun-hye]
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Security tops Park’s agenda
Global Times | 2012-12-21 0:50:06
By Hao Zhou
South Korea's president-elect Park Geun-hye made it clear on Thursday that she wouldn't seek a cursory reengagement with North Korea at the cost of national security, while urging reconciliation, cooperation and peace in Northeast Asia based on "a correct historical perception" - an apparent aside to Japan's incoming prime minister Shinzo Abe.
In her first policy address at the Saenuri Party headquarters after Wednesday's historic election that ushered in the country's first female president, Park underlined the "grave security situation" posed by North Korea's long-range rocket launch last week.
"I will keep the promise I made to you to open a new era on the Korean peninsula, based on strong security and trust-based diplomacy," Park said, according to AFP.
Park, the eldest daughter of South Korea's most divisive former president Park Chung-hee, is set to take office in late February. During her election campaign, Park distanced herself from the hardline policy of outgoing President Lee Myung-bak toward Pyongyang.
[Park Geun-hye] [SK NK policy] [Chinese IR]
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Park's Victory Upsets Conventional Wisdom
Park Geun-Hye waves after arriving at Saenuri Party headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday after being elected Koreas first female president. Park Geun-Hye waves after arriving at Saenuri Party headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday after being elected Korea's first female president.
Park Geun-hye's victory on Wednesday shattered a number of jinxes that had dogged previous presidential elections.
The first is that a higher turnout means a defeat for the conservative candidate. Since the 1997 presidential election, progressive candidates won all elections where the turnout was over 70 percent. In 1997, when the turnout was 80.7 percent, Kim Dae-jung beat Lee Hoi-chang. In the following election, Roh Moo-hyun beat Lee Hoi-chang with turnout at 70.8 percent.
But in 2007, when Lee Myung-bak triumphed over Chung Dong-young, the turnout was a mere 63 percent.
Yet on Wednesday, although the turnout was surprisingly high at 75.8 percent, Park prevailed, chiefly because she was able to galvanize massive turnout from older voters while young people were uninspired by challenger Moon Jae-in.
Secondly, it has been a rule of a thumb that losing Seoul means losing in the election. Since 1997, no candidate who lost in Seoul managed to win overall.
In 1997, Kim earned 44.87 percent of the votes in Seoul and beat Lee Hoi-chang, who garnered only 40.89 percent. In 2002, Roh won Seoul with 51.3 percent over Lee Hoi-chang’s 44.95 percent. Five years later, Lee Myung-bak scored 53.23 percent in Seoul, securing a comfortable lead over Chung's 24.5 percent.
Yet Park lost to Moon in Seoul with 48.18 percent to 51.42 percent but won the country.
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Election Highlights Generation Gap
One of the most striking features of Wednesday's presidential election was the generational standoff between voters. Vote results showed that traditional regional rivalry between voters in the Gyeongsang and Jeolla provinces has eased but ballots were clearly divided between urban and provincial residents.
President-elect Park Geun-hye won all regions except Seoul and South Jeolla Province.
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Park pulls off historic win
Global Times | 2012-12-20 1:25:06
By Park Gayoung and Hao Zhou
South Korea's presidential candidate Park Geun-Hye of the ruling New Frontier Party, waves after her arrival at the party headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday. South Korea elected its first female president as national TV predicted a clear victory for conservative Park Geun-Hye, daughter of the country's former dictator. Photo: AFP
South Korea's presidential candidate Park Geun-Hye of the ruling New Frontier Party, waves after her arrival at the party headquarters in Seoul on Wednesday. South Korea elected its first female president as national TV predicted a clear victory for conservative Park Geun-Hye, daughter of the country's former dictator. Photo: AFP
South Koreans are set to see the country's first female president after conservative candidate Park Geun-hye took a slim lead in the ballot tally in Wednesday's toe-to-toe election.
Observers said the new leader is expected to take the middle road in the Korean Peninsula issue and a more open approach with China, unlike her pro-US predecessor Lee Myung-bak.
The 60-year-old Saenuri (New Frontier) Party candidate Park, the daughter of late military ruler Park Chung-hee, won more than 50 percent of votes, the first time this has happened since South Korea adopted a direct presidential election system in 1987.
[Park Geun-hye] [SK China]
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NK likely to watch S. Korea's president-elect with caution: experts
North Korea is likely to watch South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye with caution as it tries to decide how to react to the new conservative leader, experts in Seoul said Thursday.
Park, the 60-year-old standard bearer of the ruling Saenuri Party, won Wednesday's election with just over 51 percent of the vote in a tightly contested race against Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party.
North Korea has not issued any formal response to Park's victory, although the communist nation blasted the conservative contender over her North Korea policy plans during the campaign. The country made no comment on the liberal Moon.
The president-elect has vowed to seek improved ties with the North without compromising the South's national security or sovereignty. Her pledges came amid soured inter-Korean relations that resulted from the outgoing Lee Myung-bak government's hardline stance toward the North.
"Rather than attacking Park, it looks like North Korea will first explore her policies on the North," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies in Seoul.
The communist nation could also demand the conservative leader clarify her position on two joint declarations adopted by her liberal predecessors -- Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun -- during their 2000 and 2007 summit meetings with then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, the professor added.
[Park Geun-hye] [NK SK policy]
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South Korea goes to the polls to elect new president
High turnout could give Park Geun-hye's leftwing challenger Moon Jae-in victory and signal thawing of ties with North Korea
Share 12
Reuters in Seoul
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 19 December 2012 07.26 GMT Moon Jae-In
South Korean presidential candidate Moon Jae-In votes with his wife Kim Jeong-Sook at a polling station in Busan. Photograph: Dong-A Ilbo/AFP/Getty Images
South Koreans have voted in freezing winter temperatures for a new president in a battle between the daughter of their former military ruler and a man her father jailed for political activism.
The next president of Asia's fourth largest economy will have to deal with a hostile North Korea, under young and untested new leader Kim Jong-un, and a slowing domestic economy.
[Election]
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Park Geun-hye wins presidential election
SEOUL, Dec. 20 (Yonhap) -- Park Geun-hye, the standard bearer of the ruling conservative Saenuri Party, has won the tightly contested South Korean presidential race, the country's election watchdog said Thursday.
The National Election Commission said Park secured the votes to become South Korea's first female president by defeating Moon Jae-in, the candidate of the main opposition Democratic United Party.
With more than 99.3 percent of the vote counted as of 2:30 a.m., Park had 51.6 percent against Moon's 48 percent. The gap exceeded 1 million ballots.
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Our Madam President-elect
President-elect Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party waves to her supporters as she walks out of her house in Samseong-dong, Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap
Park promises compassionate conservatism
By Kim Tong-hyung
Moon Jae-in, contender of the main opposition Democratic United Party, leaves his house in Gugi-dong, Seoul, for the party’s headquarters after conceding defeat in the presidential poll, Wednesday night. / Yonhap
Park Geun-hye was elected as the first female president of Korea, overcoming a ferocious challenge from opposition rival Moon Jae-in in a close race, Wednesday.
While the conditions seemed ripe for replacing the party in power, a sharply divided nation voted to give the conservatives five more years to get the economy straight.
Park, 60, the daughter of assassinated military strongman Park Chung-hee, and a Saenuri Party veteran, secured 51.6 percent of the vote versus the Democratic United Party (DUP) nominee’s 48 percent as of 00:30 a.m. Thursday, when about 90 percent of the ballots had been counted.
Replacing Saenuri Party alumni Lee Myung-bak as the country’s most powerful individual, Park will face the challenge of governing a deeply polarized nation struggling to cope with a frail economy, eroding living standards and social dysfunction.
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North Korea set to challenge new leader
North Korea’s Unha-3 rocket takes off on Dec. 12 in this photo released later by Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency. / Yonhap
By Kim Young-jin
President-elect Park Geun-hye will use her international profile and experience to deepen ties with Washington and improve those with China, while making security the bedrock of relations with North Korea, analysts say.
Her pledge to test dialogue with Pyongyang is seen as a referendum on incumbent Lee Myung-bak’s tough line on the North, which critics said was too passive.
The stance is part of a platform that will tweak Lee’s approach, which has prioritized relations with Washington, some say at the expense of those with China.
“Park will follow mostly what Lee has pursued in foreign policy,” Korea University professor Yoo Ho-yeol said. “While she will try to be more active on North Korea, her position is conservative and she will pay more attention to security and the alliance with the United States.”
[Park Geun-hye]
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Daughter of Dictator Wins South Korea Presidency
Kim Hee-Chul/European Pressphoto Agency
Park Geun-hye waved to supporters after she was declared the winner of the presidential election on Wednesday in Seoul.
By CHOE SANG-HUN
Published: December 19, 2012
¶ SEOUL, South Korea — Park Geun-hye, the daughter of South Korea’s longest-ruling dictator, was elected president on Wednesday, the first woman to win the post.
¶ Voters appeared to prefer stability and “motherly” leadership over her opponent’s calls for radical change in how the country addresses economic inequality and military threats from North Korea.
[Park Geun-hye]
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Park Geun-hye wins South Korea’s presidential election
View Photo Gallery — A victory by Park Geun-hye would be a major symbolic breakthrough in this country long dominated by boardrooms of men and ranked just slightly ahead of most Islamic countries when it comes to gender equality.
By Chico Harlan,
Updated: Thursday, December 20, 7:29 AM
SEOUL — Park Geun-hye, whose authoritarian father helped jump-start South Korea’s rise from poverty, was elected Wednesday night as president of a nation concerned about its slowing economy and mounting social problems.
Park, 60, becomes an unlikely leader: She’s the first female president in a nation dominated by men, and she’s a conservative selected by voters to address their largely left-leaning wishes, including greater engagement with North Korea and a major expansion of government welfare spending.
[Park Geun-hye]
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Voters Should Take the Presidential Election Seriously
Ruling Saenuri Party presidential candidate Park Geun-hye and main opposition Democratic United Party candidate Moon Jae-in must have made over a thousand policy pledges as they toured the nation on their campaign trails. But only around a dozen of them are likely to be realized during the five-year term of the next president, not because Park or Moon is incapable but because they will inevitably lack the money to implement them. A tight budget turns every president into a liar.
[Election] [SK NK policy]
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Saenuri Party allegedly trying to control foreign media’s word choice
Posted on : Dec.17,2012 12:13 KST
Park’s camp seeking to limit use of unflattering terms like ‘dictator’ to refer to Park Chung-hee
By Kim Oi-hyun, staff reporter
Controversy is raging after revelations that Park Geun-hye’s election camp asked foreign news outlets not to use the term “dictator” to describe her late father, former president Park Chung-hee.
An article in the Dec. 12 edition of the Washington Post made reference to a memo sent earlier this year by members of the Saenuri Party (NFP) presidential candidate’s camp.
“Park Geun-hye’s aides say they are sensitive about her connection to her father,” the article reported. “They sent a memo to the news media earlier this year asking that articles not refer to Park Chung-hee as a ‘dictator.’”
[Park Geun-hye] [Media]
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Prosecutors in possession of 2007 inter-Korean summit transcripts
State prosecutors said Monday that they have received classified documents related to the 2007 inter-Korean summit meeting that can help sort out the ongoing legal battle over allegations that late President Roh Moo-hyun disavowed the de facto sea border between South and North Korea.
The Seoul Central Prosecutors' Office confirmed it received transcripts of the summit meeting held in Pyongyang from the National Intelligence Service (NIS) as part of its ongoing investigation into claims and counter claims raised by political parties.
[NLL]
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Wine tops soju in sales
Lotte Mart reported Sunday that sales of wine at its stores have surpassed those of soju and other liquors for the first time ever. Korea Times file
By Kim Tae-jong
Lotte Mart, the discount chain of retail giant Lotte, said Sunday that its sales of wine exceeded those of soju, the traditional Korean distilled spirit, this year for the first time, by 4.6 percent as of Dec. 9.
Wine sales, which accounted for less than 30 percent of soju just 10 years ago, have drastically increased in Korea.
The discount franchise attributed the growth in sales to the country’s free trade agreements (FTA) with wine producing countries, which allow consumers to enjoy wines at more affordable prices.
“Overall, the sales of wine have been growing, which we believe shows the change in drinking culture here,” an official from Lotte Mart said. “FTAs with Europe and Chile seem to have accelerated the change, I think.”
[Wine] [FTA]
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South Korea to soften policy on North Korea after elections despite Pyongyang’s rocket launch
(Lee Jin-man/ Associated Press ) - South Korean soldiers cast their absentee votes for the presidential election at a local polling station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012. South Korea’s presidential election is scheduled for Dec. 19.
By Associated Press,
Published: December 13
SEOUL, South Korea — It is not too early to predict one sure winner of South Korea’s presidential election next week: North Korea. President Lee Myung-bak’s hardline approach to Pyongyang is going away, no matter who replaces him.
The question is: Just how soft will Seoul go?
Not even Pyongyang’s successful launch of a long-range rocket Wednesday has changed the determination of both the liberal and conservative candidates in South Korea to pursue policies of engagement, aid and reconciliation with the North.
This matters because whoever wins the presidential Blue House on Dec. 19 will set the initial tone for new North Korea policy not just in Seoul but in Washington, Beijing and Tokyo. Those countries are undergoing political changes and have been waiting for a new South Korean leader before making any big decisions on North Korea policy.
[SK NK policy]
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Alleged NK spies found innocent of espionage
Posted on : Dec.12,2012 15:33 KSTModified on : Dec.13,2012 07:28 KST
Two men acquitted due to lack of evidence after being accused of using GPS systems to spy for North Korea
By Jung Hwan-bong and Park Tae-woo, staff reporters
The Seoul Central District Court found two men, identified by their surnames Lee and Kim, 74 and 56 respectively, innocent of spying for North Korea. The decision means police will likely face criticism for the unfounded accusations.
The jury said, “There is a lack of evidence to demonstrate that the accused received any orders from North Korea” in explaining its ruling.
[Espionage]
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S. Korean Military Accused of Distorting Truth about "Cheonan" Warship Sinking Case
Pyongyang, December 11 (KCNA) -- It has been recently disclosed that the south Korean puppet military authorities distorted the truth about the "Cheonan" warship sinking case.
This was clarified by Sin Sang Chol who was a member of the former joint investigation team on the case in his book "'Cheonan' warship hit a rock" published on Dec. 3.
According to him, a report on the investigation worked out by the section for examining combat preparations of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after the occurrence of the case was submitted to its chairman.
[Cheonan]
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2 candidates condemn NK but slightly differently
By Kang Hyun-kyung
The camps of the two main presidential candidates slammed North Korea, Wednesday, for the launch of a long-range Unha-3 rocket that allegedly put a satellite into orbit.
Experts say that it’s hard to know which of the two will benefit more from the launch, although it was agreed no major impact is expected.
[Satellite] [Election] [North Wind]
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NIS accused of anti-Moon campaign
By Kim Rahn
The main opposition Democratic United Party (DUP) filed a complaint against the nation’s intelligence agency, Wednesday, for allegedly ordering its agents to upload postings denouncing the party’s presidential candidate Moon Jae-in.
“Along with the complaint, we submitted evidence we secured to the police. We urge the police to launch an investigation promptly,” DUP spokesman Jin Sung-joon said.
[Election] [NIS]
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1 Million College Students Interrupt Studies
Nearly 1 million university students have taken sabbaticals from their studies or a year off, according to figures released by the Korean Educational Development Institute.
KEDI said a total of 932,703 students had taken an extended leave of absence as of April 1. This represents one in three university students nationwide (2.98 million).
[Education]
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Countdown for the N.Korean Regime
North Korea announced on Sunday that "a technical glitch" is forcing it to extend the window for a planned rocket launch by one week until Dec. 29. It is rare for the North to announce a setback in such grand plans.
The U.S. State Department has already warned North Korea that it would pursue UN Security Council sanctions in conjunction with South Korea and Japan if it launches the rocket, which is widely seen as a cover to test long-range missile technology
Washington has also discussed with Seoul and Tokyo the possibility of freezing the North's overseas bank accounts. China also warned Pyongyang on Friday to act "cautiously." China's new leadership is feeling the pressure of international scrutiny over its ability to rein in North Korea. But the delay of the launch may really be due to a technical glitch as it claims, and not to international pressure
[Satellite]
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South Korea to starting charging North Korea on its debt
Posted on : Dec.8,2012 10:24 KSTModified on : Dec.8,2012 14:32 KST
NK missed first repayment in June for food loans from 2000
By Park Byong-soo, staff reporter
The South Korean government has notified North Korea that it will charge delay penalties for money North Korea owes for food loans.
Ministry of Unification spokesman Kim Hyeong-seok explained on Dec. 7 that the Export-Import Bank of Korea had sent a notice to North Korea's Chosun Trade Bank that day urging it to repay its food loans.
The notice include an announcement that the bank was being charged a delay compensation of 2% per year according to the loan contract, Kim added.
June 7 was the deadline for the first repayment of US$5.83 million from the US$88.36 million owed for the 300,000 tons of rice and 200,000 tons of corn the South Korean government lent to North Korea in 2000.
The government previously made repayment requests on June 8, July 17, and Sept. 27, but received no response from North Korea.
Analysts said the demand appears to have the aim of pressuring Pyongyang after the announcement of its upcoming rocket launch.
Indeed, Kim referenced the launch, saying North Korea was "preparing for a missile launch without repaying its food loans by the deadline, even when its own people are suffering from a food shortage. We hope to see this situation resolved swiftly."
The South Korean government provided a total of 2.4 million tons of rice and 200,000 tons of corn in food loans to North Korea between 2000 and 2007. The total was valued at US$720,040,000, which was to be repaid over 20 years at 1% annual interest, with a 10-year grace period.
The total amount owed by North Korea through 2037 is US$875,320,000.
[Debt]
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The origins and style of Park Geun-hye
Posted on : Dec.6,2012 15:28 KSTModified on : Dec.6,2012 16:15 KST
Conservative candidate’s inner circle say they’re scared she won’t win the election, but more scared that she will
By Seong Yeon-cheol, staff reporter
Park Geun-hye is the main conservative candidate in this month’s election. This is the second time there has only been one major right-leaning candidate since the direct presidential election system was revived in 1987. The last time it happened was in 2002. This time around, there is no second contender from the right like former prime ministers Kim Jong-pil and Lee Hoi-chang or lawmaker Rhee In-je. Park’s standing among conservatives is secure.
But the Saenuri Party (NFP) candidate’s leadership has been a mixture of light and shadow, with principle, trust, and moderation counted among her virtues, and uncommunicativeness and old-fashioned authoritarianism among her vices.
[Par Geun-hye]
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Expressing Concerns for Dictator’s Heir Accessing to Power in Presidential Election in South Korea in Dec. 2012
Dear friends and colleagues
In the spirit of envisioning joint efforts of intellectuals beyond borders or
'borderless intellectuals in Asia', the National Association of Professors for Democracy
(NAPD) in South Korea, wishes to undertake a signature campaign in ‘Asia’ and beyond in
order to create this region away from the dangerous rise of the second-generation of
dictatorship, presidential candidate Park Geun-hye, a daughter and heir of the late dictator
Park Jung-hee of South Korea.
We are expecting your contribution as endorsement of this statement as early as
possible.
[Park Geun-hye]
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Progressive candidate steals debate show by blasting Park Geun-hye
Posted on : Dec.5,2012 14:15 KST
From the left, Unified Progressive Party candidate Lee Jung-hee, Democratic United Party candidate Moon Jae-in and Saenuri Party candidate Park Geun-hye at MBC studios in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood for their televised Dec. 4 debate. (National Assembly photo pool)
Lee Jung-hee of the UPP knows she won’t be president, but came to first debate to “bring down Park Geun-hye”
By Lee Tae-hee and Shin Seung-keun, staff reporters
Presidential candidates Park Geun-hye, Moon Jae-in, and Lee Jung-hee clashed in their first televised debate on the evening of Dec. 4 over the issues of presidential leadership, political reforms, abuse of power, North Korea policy, and foreign policy.
During the debate at MBC studios in Seoul’s Yeouido neighborhood, Park presented herself as a “prepared female president who will work for the public’s livelihood,” while Moon, the Democratic United Party candidate, said he would be a “the first president of a new era” after unseating Park’s Saenuri Party (NFP). Lee, the Unified Progressive Party candidate, called on the public to put the NFP government on trial, saying her aim in appearing at the debate was to “bring down Park Geun-hye.”
[Election]
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Park gains, Moon loses and Lee smiles
From left, minor leftist Unified Progressive Party's Lee Jung-hee, Moon Jae-in of the main opposition Democratic United Party and Park Geun-hye of the ruling Saenuri Party listen to a host, unseen, explaining rules during their first of three televised presidential debates in an MBC studio in Yeouido, Seoul, Tuesday night. / Yonhap
DUP candidate delivers no decisive blow in 1st TV debate
By Kim Tong-hyung
Opposition challenger Moon Jae-in portrayed conservative rival Park Geun-hye as a defense and foreign policy amateur Tuesday, displaying a sense of urgency in using the first televised presidential debate to invigorate his faltering candidacy.
Park, the contender from the ruling Saenuri Party, hit back by accusing her Democratic United Party (DUP) rival of shifting positions on North Korea-related issues that would undermine the country’s stability at home and its security abroad.
The two familiar adversaries joined leftist Unified Progressive Party (UPP) candidate Lee Jung-hee in the first of three obligatory debates on national television ? the other two scheduled for Dec. 10 and 16 ? attempting to appeal directly to Korean voters ahead of the Dec. 19 poll.
With microscopic support that hovers around 0.5 percent, Lee was the distant third-wheel in the debate, but nonetheless seemed passionate about her self-imposed role as a Park spoiler.
[Election]
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Open Questionnaire of CPRK Secretariat
Pyongyang, December 3 (KCNA) -- Park Geun Hye, candidate for the "presidential election" from the "Saenuri Party" of south Korea, is making contradictory words in her commitments regarding the "policy toward the north". She called for "keeping promise" while not mentioning the north-south joint declarations, and talked about "summit talks", revealing her sordid intention for confrontation between social systems. She is also trying to resort to anti-DPRK nuclear racket and smear human rights campaign while vociferating about "trust" and "cooperation". She is openly revealing her intention to follow traitor Lee Myung Bak's "policy toward the north" while loudly speaking about "keeping distance from Lee", "change", "revamp" and "progress".
Which is real and which is sham?
[Park Geun-hye]
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