ROK and Inter-Korean relations
December 2014
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Hwang grilled for 'pro-NK' forum
Hwang Seon
By Lee Kyung-min
Hwang Seon, a former deputy speaker of the now-defunct Democratic Labor Party, was grilled by police officers Monday over allegations that she engaged in pro-North Korean activities.
She appeared on Monday for questioning in Jongno, central Seoul.
Earlier, local conservative civic groups filed a complaint against her for making remarks sympathizing with the North Korean regime during a public forum held in November. There, she allegedly praised the North's former leaders, Kim Il-sung, and Kim Jong-il, police said.
Along with Hwang, the co-host of the show, Shin Eun-mi, is also being investigated.
Their alleged "anti-state" activities are banned here and are crimes punishable under the National Security Law.
Before entering the police station for questioning, Hwang denied the allegations against her claiming she is the "victim of a witchhunt."
"This investigation is baseless and groundless. I am being questioned over an incident that was never what they claim it was. I have nothing to clarify since I did not do what I've been accused of," she told the press.
"They are investigating to find facts to fit a theory, instead of investigating to find out what really happened," she added.
A police investigation was expedited after a high-school student threw a pot of gasoline on fire onto the talk show stage on Dec. 10.
The student reportedly held right-wing extreme political views, and his crime was politically motivated, according to the police. He was arrested two days after the incident.
Right after the bomb incident, on Dec. 11, police raided Hwang's office and home to confiscate her computer and documents.
On Dec. 22, Hwang filed a complaint with the prosecution against President Park Geun-hye for defamation for referring to her forum as pro-North Korean.
As for Shin, police have imposed an overseas travel ban on her. With both Hwang and Shin included as defendants, police plan to refer the case to the prosecution in January next year.
[Repression] [UPP] [NSL]
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Seoul offers talks with N. Korea next month
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae announces South Korea's proposal to North Korea that the two sides hold talks on issues of mutual concern next month, during a press briefing in Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap
South Korea on Monday proposed minister-level talks with North Korea next month to discuss pending bilateral issues, including the reunion of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War.
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said his government sent a fax message to the North offering dialogue in January on "issues of mutual concern." The recipient is Kim Yang-gon, director of the North's United Front Department in charge of South Korea affairs.
[SK NK policy] [Divided families] [Ploy]
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After UPP ruling, prosecutors carrying out broad crackdown on progressives
Posted on : Dec.23,2014 17:02 KST
Members of civic and labor organizations and the Unified Progressive Party hold a candlelight protest at Seoul Plaza outside City Hall on the second anniversary of President Park Geun-hye’s election, chanting slogans protesting her government’s destruction of democracy, suppression of labor and disbandment of the UPP, Dec. 19. The placards read, “I can’t live like this” and express disapproval of Park’s first two years in office. (by Lee Jeong-woo, staff photographer)
Various groups now being probed on possibility of “aiding the enemy” and associating with North Korea
Police are investigating an attorney whose client was recently acquitted in a high-profile espionage case for alleged violation of the National Security Law, it emerged on Dec. 22.
The same day, police searched eight locations associated with the attorney, Jang Kyung-wook of the group MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society, including his office and home.
Meanwhile, prosecutors began considering whether to classify the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) as a “group aiding the enemy” following a Constitutional Court ruling last week to disband it. Many are viewing the events as part of an all-out security blitz in the wake of the UPP ruling, with long-standing cases among security authorities and accusations by conservative and far-right groups used to go after potential “threats.”
The second security division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency (SMPA) conducted search and seizure operations on the offices of Corean Alliance in Seoul’s Seongsan neighborhood and four other locations, including the homes of nine members. The group is being investigated for alleged expression of support for North Korea’s “military first” political regime through an internet cafe, which constitutes “praise and encouragement” for the enemy according to the National Security Law.
[UPP] [Repression]
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South Korea court bans 'pro-North' political party
Lee Jung-hee, centre, a head of the Unified Progressive Party, and supporters shout slogans against constitutional court's verdict near the constitutional court in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, 19 December 2014 UPP members, led by party leader Lee Jung-hee (centre), demonstrated against the decision on Friday
South Korea has banned a political party for the first time in decades, with a court ordering a party accused of supporting the North to disband.
The government had petitioned the constitutional court last year to ban the leftist Unified Progressive Party, which has five members in parliament.
Some UPP members were previously arrested for plotting a rebellion.
The move has sparked concern about freedom of expression and association in South Korea.
The decision was closely watched by political groups, with hundreds gathered near the constitutional court in Seoul amid a tight security presence of about 1,000 riot police.
Both UPP supporters and its opponents held demonstrations, shouting slogans and waving signs, reports said.
It is the first time South Korea's constitutional court has banned a political party since it was established in 1988, said AP news agency.
Eight out of nine judges agreed on Friday to accept the government's petition to disband the UPP, order it to forfeit its seats in parliament and ban an equivalent party from forming.
Chief Judge Park Han-chul said "there was an urgent need to remove the threat posed by the party to the basic order of democracy".
[UPP] [Repression] [Democracy] [Double standards]
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Public opinion mostly supportive of UPP disbandment
Posted on : Dec.23,2014 16:56 KST
Opinion polls on disbandment of the Unified Progressive Party
Left-wing party’s failure to capture public support is something Korean progressives now need to ponder
Public opinion polls are showing strong public support for the Constitutional Court’s decision to disband the Unified Progressive Party (UPP). This is hard to swallow for South Korean progressives, who believe the court arrogantly and violently trampled on the democratic principle that parties are chosen through public elections.
Public opinion polls show that support for the court‘s decision generally outweighed dissent by a margin of 2 to 1. In a poll conducted by the Joongang Ilbo newspaper on Dec. 19 and 20, 63.8% of respondents agreed with the court’s decision to disband the UPP, with 23.7% opposed.
In a poll that Real Meter carried out for Maeil Business Newspaper on Dec. 19, 60.7% of respondents thought that the disbandment of the party was the “right decision,” more than double the number who thought the decision was excessive (28.0%).
The results were similar in a Dec. 19 survey by polling organization Human Research. In this poll, 54.6% thought the court had chosen wisely, with 35.5% disappointed by its decision.
In general, experts are drawing two conclusions from these polling results. One is the inherent limitations of these polls, and the other is the political failure of the UPP.
The polls were limited, experts say, because the questions of all three polling organizations failed to address the complex political implications of the court’s decision. All three posed the simple question of whether respondents agreed or disagreed with the court’s decision.
[UPP] [Repression] [Public opinion]
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Forcible Disbandment of Legitimate Political Party Denounced
Pyongyang, December 22 (KCNA) -- The south Korean puppet forces committed such a fascist act of forcibly disbanding the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) and depriving lawmakers from the party of their membership as "National Assemblymen".
A spokesman for the Democratic Lawyers Association of Korea in a statement Monday branded the puppet authorities' act of disbanding the party by deliberately linking its programme with the DPRK and terming the party "a political party violating constitution through pursuance to the north" as a wanton violation of democracy and human rights and an unprecedented politically-motivated terrorist act.
[UPP] [Repression]
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Ex-UPP members face probe on NK ties
Former Unified Progressive Party Chairwoman Lee Jung-hee kneels down to apologize for failing to prevent the disbandment of the party, which she called "a retreat from democracy," during a meeting of progressive activists at the Franciscan Education Center in Seoul, Monday. Prosecutors have launched an investigation into members of the disbanded party to see if they violated the National Security Law. / Yonhap
By Jung Min-ho
Prosecutors have launched a probe into members of the disbanded Unified Progressive Party (UPP), including its leader Lee Jung-hee, to see if they violated the National Security Law.
Officials at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said Monday that the members were put under scrutiny following a complaint against them filed by a right-wing civic group on Friday.
The move came after the Constitutional Court ordered the dissolution of the UPP on Friday for its alleged pro-North Korea doctrine and removed all five of its lawmakers from the National Assembly.
The civic group claimed that all members should be punished for violating the anti-communist law.
[UPP] [Repression]
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South Korea: Ban on political party another sign of shrinking space for freedom of expression
19 December 2014
Judges in South Korea's Constitutional Court deliver their ruling to dissolve the Unified Progressive Party on 19 December 2014 Judges in South Korea's Constitutional Court deliver their ruling to dissolve the Unified Progressive Party on 19 December 2014
© Jung Yeon-Je/Getty/AFP
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The ban on the UPP raises serious questions as to the authorities' commitment to freedom of expression and association.
”
Roseann Rife, East Asia Research Director at Amnesty International
Fri, 19/12/2014
A decision by South Korea's Constitutional Court to dissolve an opposition political party could have chilling consequences for freedom of expression and association in the country, said Amnesty International.
The court found that the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) violated the country's "fundamental democratic order" after the government accused the party of supporting North Korea. The ruling also disqualified all sitting UPP lawmakers from representing the party.
"The ban on the UPP raises serious questions as to the authorities' commitment to freedom of expression and association," said Roseann Rife, East Asia Research Director at Amnesty International.
“The dissolution of a political party can have far-reaching consequences and should only be taken with the utmost restraint.”
The Constitutional Court considered the case against the UPP at the request of the government. This was the first such request from a South Korean government since the end of dictatorial rule in 1987. The last time a party was disbanded was in 1958.
[UPP] [Repression] [NGO] [Double standards][Weasel]
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[Editorial] UPP disbandment making South Korea an international laughingstock
Posted on : Dec.22,2014 16:31 KST
From left, then-Saenuri Party (NFP) candidate and now President Park Geun-hye, Unified Progressive Party candidate Lee Jung-hee, Democratic United Party candidate Moon Jae-in at MBC studios in Seoul‘s Yeouido neighborhood for their televised debate during the presidential campaign, Dec. 12, 2012. At that debate, Lee Jung-hee harshly criticized Park and said she joined the presidential race specifically to “bring down Park Geun-hye”, who she described as daughter of Japanese collaborator “Takagi Masao” (former President Park Chung-hee). (National Assembly photo pool)
The disbanding of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) was a Park Geun-hye “creation.” True, it was the Constitutional Court turned this tragic drama into fact, but the president is the one who supervised the project. Lacking any real results to show for her time in office, she landed the biggest one of all just in time for her second anniversary: turning back the clock on democracy by outlawing the UPP.
The ruling, Park said, was a “historic judgment that firmly preserves liberal democracy.” We’ll ignore the scholarly debate over the term “liberal democracy” for now and simply note that the decision was neither “liberal” nor “democratic.” Instead, personal freedoms and rights were trampled. Freedoms of expression and association were ruthlessly crushed, and representative democracy - based on the citizen’s right to choose - thoroughly repudiated. If Park wishes to congratulate herself on a job well done, perhaps it would better to call it a “victory for anti-Communist democracy.”
To be honest, Park’s aims in disbanding the UPP were never remotely about guarding democracy or upholding constitutional values
[UPP] [Repression]
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S. Korean Puppet Forces Slammed for Disbanding Progressive Political Party
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- The puppet Park Geun Hye group of south Korea committed such fascist violence as forcibly disbanding the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), a progressive political party.
On Friday the puppet constitutional court made a decision of accepting a motion calling for judgment for dissolving the UPP.
Claiming that "the objectives and activities of the party are like the north's revolutionary strategy toward the south in all aspects", the court declared that the party shall be disbanded and lawmakers from the party be deprived of their membership as "National Assemblymen" as this is contrary to the "constitution".
Thousands of members of the UPP, the Solidarity for Progress, the Confederation of Trade Unions, the Federation of Peasants Associations and other civic and public organizations held a candlelight rally at Seoul Square that day to protest against the decision of the court.
There happened something unprecedented in the political history of south Korea, speakers said, adding such racket which is little short of reviving "yusin dictatorship" is toughing off the resentment of all people.
[UPP] [Repression]
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Nation divided over disbanding of leftist party
By Jun Ji-hye
The Constitutional Court's unprecedented decision to disband the leftist Unified Progressive Party (UPP) and strip the party's five lawmakers of their seats has prompted a range of reactions from legal experts.
Some have welcomed the decision as "fair", and a move to protect the nation from a rebellious power faction that threatened the basic democratic order provided for by the Constitution.
However, critics say that the decision has damaged the nation's democracy, and describe it in terms of evidence of tyranny by the majority over the minority.
The Constitutional Court Friday ordered the dissolution of the UPP with an overwhelming 8-1 vote against what the judicial body's President Park Han-chul said was organizing activities with the hidden goal of creating a Communist country like North Korea.
[UPP] [Repression]
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Police in dilemma over pro-UPP rallies
Lee Jung-hee, center, former chairwoman of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), and other progressive activists shout a slogan against the Park Geun-hye administration at a rally at Cheonggye Plaza in Seoul, Saturday, a day after the Constitutional Court disbanded the party for "pro-North Korea" activities. / Yonhap
Law unclear about demonstrations for disbanded politcal party
By Chung Hyun-chae
The police are in a dilemma over whether to crack down on rallies held to protest against Friday's Constitutional Court ruling ordering the dissolution of the leftist Unified Progressive Party (UPP).
They now have to apply a clause on demonstrations for a disbanded political party for the first time, as this case was the first of its kind in Korean history.
According to the Ministry of Justice, all gatherings led by the UPP are now illegal because a clause in the law of assembly and demonstration banning "any assembly and demonstration organized to achieve a dissolved political party's goal."
The ministry also said it would regard demonstrations protesting the court's decision as illegal if the rallies were meant to achieve the UPP's ideology.
[UPP] [Repression]
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Democracy in South Korea Regresses Further
The decision by South Korea's Constitutional Court to ban the United Progressive Party (UPP, the photo above shows its rally in recent election), the first such measure in South Korea's history, is another blow to South Korea's hard-earned democratic gains. Without concrete evidence, the court yielded to the Park Geun-hye government's demand to dissolve the UPP, vaguely alluding that the UPP party platform calls for North Korea-style system in South Korea. In actuality, the UPP's platform resembles more of social democracy platforms of legitimate political parties in Western Europe and Latin America. This measure is in line with the Park government's attempts to label almost all opposition as being "pro-North Korea" and deemed to be prosecutable under the draconian Cold War vestige of the National Security Law.
In another development, a right-wing terror (small bomb thrown by a high school student) disrupted a talk show by Eun-Mi Shin, a Korean American housewife who were on a speaking tour to share her insights from visits to North Korea.
[Repression] [Democracy] [UPP]
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Christian Group Gives Up On Propaganda Christmas Tree
The Christian Council of Korea has given up on an attempt to put up a new Christmas tree on top of Aegibong Peak to twinkle a message of consumerism and born-again Christianity across the border to North Korea.
The old structure, a massive steel skeleton near Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province that lit up every festive season, was dismantled for safety reasons in October.
A Defense Ministry official on Thursday the organization "seems to have felt troubled by opposition from local people and the Gimpo city government."
Since the military dismantled the old structure, the council has made several efforts to restore it, including filing a petition with the ministry. Recently it announced a plan to set up a 9 m-tall Christmas tree with the ministry's approval at the exact location where the old one stood.
But the city government was worried that North Korea could take pot shots at the tree and cited unspecified "economic damage," presumably to tourism.
Discussions between the council and city officials and civic groups about a compromise solution came to nothing.
The North has repeatedly threatened to shoot at the tree, which used to sparkle brightly even as the lights in North Korea went out due to constant electricity shortages.
[Religion]
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[Editorial] The Constitutional Court’s deadly blow against South Korean democracy
Posted on : Dec.20,2014 14:27 KST
Constitutional Court President Park Han-chul (center) enters the court in Seoul’s Jongno district to preside over the final ruling in the disbandment of the Unified Progressive Party, Dec. 19. (pool photo)
The Constitutional Court ruled on Dec. 19 to disband the Unified Progressive Party. Lawmakers with the party were also stripped of their seats in the National Assembly. The decision was not based on any real evidence or definitive proof. It was a death sentence handed down on a small party for no other reason than that people didn’t like it. It was an utter repudiation of democracy, an institution founded on the core values of tolerance and diversity. Today, South Korea’s hard-won democratic system, the result of decades of struggle, now stands faced with the threat of disbandment and disintegration.
The Constitutional Court’s decision will go down as a huge black mark on judicial history. Decades ago, there were other cases where the courts were used as instruments for political suppression. There were the executions of People’s Revolutionary Party members by the Park Chung-hee administration in 1974, and there was the Rhee Syngman administration having Progressive Party presidential candidate Cho Bong-am put to death in 1959 for violating the National Security Law. That party was broken up when a government agency revoked its registration, but a 1958 Supreme Court ruling found neither its platform nor its policies unconstitutional. At least then there wasn’t the same far-fetched equating of the party’s major figures with the party itself that we saw this time. When party disbandment clause was introduced into the Constitution in 1960, the aim wasn’t to “guard against enemies of democracy,” but to protect party freedoms and guard the parties against the very threat of having their registration revoked by an administration. It’s a spirit that has carried over into the Constitution of today.
[Repression] [Democracy] [UPP]
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[Analysis] UPP’s disbandment casts a pall over South Korean politics
Posted on : Dec.20,2014 14:19 KST
Members of civic and labor organizations and the Unified Progressive Party hold a candlelight protest at Seoul Plaza outside City Hall on the second anniversary of President Park Geun-hye’s election, chanting slogans protesting her government’s destruction of democracy, suppression of labor and disbandment of the UPP, Dec. 19. The placards read, “I can’t live like this” and express disapproval of Park’s first two years in office. (by Lee Jeong-woo, staff photographer)
Disbandment apparently part of ruling party’s plan to stifle growth of smaller parties by isolating and dividing progressives
Aside from its historical significance and consequences, the disbandment of a political party through the unelected judiciary instead of a public referendum has cast a pall over the current political situation in South Korea.
Following the Constitutional Court’s decision to disband the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) on Dec. 19, South Korea’s two largest political parties - the ruling Saenuri Party (NFP) and the opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD) - are responding in different ways, with no one able to predict with certainty how the situation will play out.
One veteran politician offered the following view on the court’s decision. “No one knows what the results will be. Do you think that conservatives are happy about the decision to dissolve the UPP? Certainly not! Just as the opposite decision would not have been a victory for progressives, this decision is not a victory for conservatives. There will be some fallout from the decision, but we’ll have to wait to find out,” the politician said.
The remarks imply that we will have to wait and see what direction popular sentiment will move and what unexpected developments there might be. Another important variable is how South Korea’s leading political forces will react to the decision.
[Repression] [Democracy] [UPP]
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Constitutional Court rules to disband left-wing Unified Progressive Party
Posted on : Dec.19,2014 12:12 KST
Modified on : Dec.19,2014 14:50 KST
The decision is the first such move in South Korea’s constitutional era, since 1948
On the morning of Dec. 19, the Constitutional Court ordered the disbandment of the left-wing Unified Progressive Party (UPP), the first such decision made in South Korea’s constitutional era, since 1948.
The Court ruled to disband the UPP by an 8-1 majority and ban the possibility of the party reforming under a different guise. With the ruling, the five sitting UPP lawmakers will lose their seats, and the party‘s property will be seized by the government.
The final Constitutional Court hearing on the disbandment of the Unified Progressive Party, Dec. 19.
The government’s petition to disband the UPP stems from a controversy that arose earlier this year when several party members, including sitting lawmaker Lee Seok-ki, were accused of plotting an insurrection. The National Intelligence Service (NIS) acquired recordings from a meeting that took place in Seoul’s Hapjeong neighborhood where UPP members allegedly discussed ways of assisting North Korea in the event of a war.
The Ministry of Justice requested the disbandment ruling in Nov. 2013, claiming the UPP’s goals and activities violated the Constitution. The Constitutional Court has held 18 open arguments in the past year, with the party and ministry waging an intense legal battle.
[Repression] [Democracy] [UPP]
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CPRK Releases Information on North-South Relations
Pyongyang, December 19 (KCNA) -- The Secretariat of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea (CPRK) released information Friday to let the public at home and abroad know about the actual situation of the north-south relations this year and a lesson from it.
The information recalled that Marshal Kim Jong Un in the New Year address for this year expressed the firm will to bring about fresh progress in the movement for national reunification for this year true to the last instructions of President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il. Kim Jong Un also set forth the policies of rejecting outsiders, firmly maintaining the stand of By Our Nation Itself so as to defend the security and peace of the nation and create an atmosphere for improving the north-south relations, it added.
The DPRK has made every possible sincere effort for the improvement of the north-south relations since the outset of this year, it noted, and continued:
The positive measures taken by the DPRK for mending the north-south relations throughout the year would have brought about bigger progress in the relations if they had not faced blatant challenge and obstructive moves of the anti-reunification forces who have stood for confrontation with the north.
But to our regret, the reality has been quite different.
[Overture] [Rebuff]
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Possible disbandment of progressive party to be decided on Dec. 19
Posted on : Dec.18,2014 16:06 KST
Two days before a hearing on the possible disbandment of the Unified Progressive Party, party leader Lee Jeong-hee (far left) and other party members hold placards opposing the possible disbandment, at the National Assembly, Dec. 17. The placards read, “Disbanding a party is not democracy”. (by Lee Jeong-woo, staff photographer)
Constitutional Court will rule on whether the Unified Progressive Party’s mandate violated the constitution
The fate of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP) will be decided on Dec. 19 in a first-ever judgment in South Korean constitutional history on whether to forcibly disband a political party.
The Constitutional Court announced on Dec. 17 that a sentence in the UPP disbandment case would be handed down at 10 am on Dec. 19.
The judges set the date after holding a final conference earlier that morning. Sources reported that Constitutional Court president Park Han-chul asserted his authority to designate a specific date.
December 19 also happens the be the second anniversary of President Park Geun-hye’s election.
Disbanding a political party requires the agreement of six out of nine Constitutional Court judges. Once a decision to disband is made, it enters effect immediately.
[Repression] [Democracy] [UPP]
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N.Korea 'Keen on Dialogue with S.Korea'
Park Jie-won of the main opposition New Politics Alliance for Democracy visited North Korea on Tuesday to deliver a wreath commemorating the third anniversary of the death of North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il.
Park was accompanied by Cho Kun-shik, CEO of Hyundai Asan, which used to operate package tours to the North's scenic Mt. Kumgang.
Lawmaker Park Jie-won (right) and Won Dong-yon, a ranking member of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, pose for a photo with a wreath from Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, at the Kaesong Industrial Complex on Tuesday. /Newsis Lawmaker Park Jie-won (right) and Won Dong-yon, a ranking member of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, pose for a photo with a wreath from Lee Hee-ho, the widow of former President Kim Dae-jung, at the Kaesong Industrial Complex on Tuesday. /Newsis
The two met with Won Tong-yon, a ranking member of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, which handles inter-Korean affairs, at the joint Kaesong Industrial Complex.
"I got the impression that North Korea has a strong will for dialogue," Park told reporters. He added the North wants the South to stop flying propaganda leaflets across the border in order to "rebuild trust."
"Won said he hopes that the South and the North will promote reconciliation and cooperation next year, when they celebrate the 15th anniversary of the June 15 Declaration."
He was referring to a landmark agreement on rapprochement between former President Kim Dae-jung and then-North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during their summit in 2000.
Cho told reporters that the North hopes for cross-border tensions to ease next year.
[Overture]
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President now more adamant on NK
By Yi Whan-woo
President Park Geun-hye rarely changes her mind.
After her brother, Park Ji-man, was summoned for questioning Monday regarding the "memogate" scandal, she made no reference to the subject during a meeting with senior aides.
Instead, she talked in strong terms about comments recently made at a public forum on conditions in North Korea.
"The so-called pro-North Korea public forums have recently reached levels that raise concern over possible social conflict," Park said.
"It has become a problem because those who have visited North Korea have closed their eyes to the dire living conditions of the North Korean people and human rights violations. They have distorted and exaggerated their experiences and presented them as true."
Few will disagree over how the administration in Pyongyang will interpret this.
[Park Geun-hye] [SK NK policy]
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Korea to export 120 K9 howitzers to Poland
By Jun Ji-hye
A South Korean defense company will sign a deal with Poland, today, to sell 120 locally developed self-propelled howitzers, a military source said Tuesday.
"Samsung Techwin Co. will sign a contract with Poland's defense ministry at 7 p.m. in Korea to export K-9 self-propelled howitzers," the source said, asking not to be identified. "Under the contract, the company will directly supply 24 howitzers by 2017. The remaining 96 will be produced in Poland."
The total export value is estimated at about $320 million (347 billion won), according to the source.
[Arms sales]
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Park's popularity rating dips below 40%
By Jun Ji-hye
President Park Geun-hye's approval rating has dipped below 40 percent for the first time since she was inaugurated on Feb. 25, 2013, according to a recent survey.
Conducted from Dec. 5 to 8 by pollster Realmeter on a sample of 1,000 adults, the poll shows Park's rating at 39.7 percent, down from 49.4 percent in November. Cable channel JTBC commissioned the survey
[Park Geun-hye] [Public opinion]
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Korean Air Scandal Escalates
The Korean Air heiress who exposed the carrier to global ridicule with an attack of "nut rage" is resigning from all positions in the company on Friday.
Cho Hyun-ah earlier quit as head of in-flight services and hotel operations and, when that failed to quell criticism, also resigned from her position of vice president.
But critics pointed out that she holds other positions in the conglomerate for which her tender age and explosive temper leave her ill-suited. Cho has now caved in and will quit the Korean Air board of directors and resign as head of the carrier's hotel, leisure development and travel subsidiaries.
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High-ranking South Korean official: lifting May 24 Measures wouldn’t conflict with international sanctions
Posted on : Dec.13,2014 16:07 KST
Modified on : Dec.13,2014 16:18 KST
On the 200th day of relay one-person demonstrations, members of civic and religious groups hold a press conference in Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, calling on the government to lift the May 24 Measures and resume tourism to Mt. Keumgang, Dec. 12. (by Kim Kyung-ho, staff photographer)
Visiting the US, senior South Korean official says that improved inter-Korean relations could have positive effect for Washington
The US sent a message of support to Seoul for its efforts to improve relations with Pyongyang, including a possible lifting of the May 24 Measures, sanctions implemented after the 2010 sinking of the ROKS Cheonan warship, a high-ranking South Korean government official said on Dec. 11.
The official, who is currently visiting the US, shared the country’s position at a meeting with correspondents from South Korean media at the National Press Club in Washington, DC.
“An examination showed that lifting the May 24 Measures would not conflict greatly with the international community’s sanctions against North Korea,” the official said.
“We believe that the measures could be lifted if North Korea takes responsible steps,” the official added.
[Sanctions] [Ploy] [SK NK policy]
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Why ‘nut rage’ is such a big deal in South Korea
By Adam Taylor December 12 at 3:35 PM ?
The former Korean Airlines executive who held up a flight over the way her nuts were served apologized for the incident over which she was forced to resign. (Reuters)
As Heather Cho publicly apologized on Friday, she stared at the ground and rarely raised her voice above a whisper. "I sincerely apologize for causing trouble to everyone," the former Korean Air vice president, dressed all in black, told a crowd of journalists. Her contrition was not just verbal: It had earlier been announced that Cho had not only quit her job with Korean Air but had also been removed from all other posts at affiliate companies.
Cho, also known by her Korean name Cho Hyun-ah, had suffered a remarkably swift fall from grace over the past week. Just last Friday, after she was served macadamia nuts the wrong way (in a bag, without asking) on a Korean Air flight in New York City, she forced the taxiing plane to return to the gate so that the chief flight attendant could be kicked off. The flight was slightly delayed as a result.
In any country, the story would have caused a stink. "Nut rage," as it was soon dubbed, seemed a truly remarkable tale of arrogance and entitlement, the story of one first-class passenger with powerful connections inconveniencing more than 200 others over a bag of nuts. But Cho's public humiliation, almost a week after the story broke, and the continuing debate over what exactly happened on the plane, suggests that in South Korea this is a bigger deal than at first glance.
On part of the problem for Cho is that she wasn't just a Korean Air executive when she was on that plane. She is also the daughter of Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho, and thus an important figure in the family that runs South Korea's national carrier. In a country where family business dynasties are rife and controversial, that was a huge factor: On Tuesday after the story began to go viral, the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper published a damning editorial pointing to the privilege and arrogance among the tycoon families.
As Anna Fifield has written for The Washington Post, while North Korea's dynastic succession may get more attention, the way some South Korean conglomerates are run sometimes looks similar to Pyongyang. In sprawling, huge companies like Samsung, aging tycoons such as Lee Kun-hee are now prepping their younger generations to take over. “He is unquestionable,” one Samsung insider told The Post of the bosses in South Korea's "chaebol" conglomerates. “The word of the owner is like the word of the emperor, the word of God, and it can’t be refuted in any way.”
[Culture] [Inheritance]
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S. Korea's point man on N. Korea calls for engagement with Pyongyang
South Korean Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae said Wednesday that Seoul and Washington should make greater efforts to engage North Korea, saying that dialogues would make pressure on the communist regime more effective.
Ryoo made the suggestion during a keynote speech at a forum on Korean unification in Washington, stressing that the two allies should now explore "more creative and diverse approaches" to resolve Pyongyang's nuclear and human rights problems.
"Until now, Seoul and Washington focused on inducing Pyongyang to change by cooperatively putting pressure upon it. However, to make the pressure more effective, dialogues and cooperation are also necessary," Ryoo said during the forum at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
"Our two countries should therefore strengthen our coordination for engagement as well. We will need to show Pyongyang clearly what it can earn by giving up the path of provocation and isolation and choosing the path of dialogue and cooperation," he said.
[Engagement] [SK NK policy]
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Korean Air vice president quits over 'nut return'
By Chung Hyun-chae
Heather Cho
Korean Air Vice President
Korean Air Vice President Heather Cho resigned from all flight services-related posts Tuesday, bowing to the public uproar over her anger inflicted on a flight crewmember for not serving macadamia nuts in a "proper" fashion.
"I sincerely apologize for unintentionally causing public concern. I seek forgiveness from all those who have been hurt. I will take full responsibility for the incident and step down from my post," she said in a statement.
However, Cho will retain her positions as vice president and board member of the airline.
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Fewer and Fewer Koreans Study Abroad
The number of Korean students going overseas to study has dwindled for a third consecutive year, according to statistics from the Education Ministry.
Their number kept rising from 2008 to peak at 262,465 in 2011, but since then they have been on the decline, reaching 219,543 this year.
The figures also include exchange students, language learners and those on foundation courses.
The U.S. still topped the list as a destination for Korean students last year with 70,600 or 32.2 percent, followed by China with 63,400 or 28.9 percent and Japan with 17,200 or 8.3 percent.
Next came Australia (14,100 or 6.4 percent), Canada (9,800 or 4.5 percent), and the Philippines and the U.K. (7,000 or 3.2 percent each).
The numbers have dwindled in most countries, most drastically in the U.K. with a 44 percent drop from 2012 to 2013 and New Zealand with a 43 percent decline. But in the Philippines they rose about 2,000 on-year.
"It seems that an increasing number of parents feel they can't afford the cost of sending their children abroad after a protracted recession, while many college students are deciding not to go abroad because foreign diplomas or degrees are no longer the magic wand they used to be for finding decent jobs," a ministry official said.
[Education]
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N.Korea Scraps Wage Ceiling at Kaesong Complex
North Korea has unilaterally scrapped the legal limit for workers' wages at the joint-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex.
Uriminzokkiri, the official website of the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, on Saturday said Pyongyang made the revisions last month. The website said raises will be set every year by the supervisory committee overseeing workers at the complex.
The regulations, enacted in 2003, had stipulated that a North Korean working at the complex should be given at least US$50 per month and raises must not exceed five percent of the monthly figure.
The minimum wage has risen five percent a year to $70.45 now. South Korean manufacturers worry that higher wages could hurt their bottom line
[Kaesong] [Labour]
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Official: Seoul indicates a grand bargain on lifting May 24 Measures
Posted on : Dec.8,2014 14:51 KST
Almost two years into Park Geun-hye administration, relations with North Korea remain stalled
“Until we resolve the issue of the divided families, we aren’t doing our duty. If there is something we can give North Korea to make this a reality, we will give it serious consideration,” a high-ranking official in the South Korean government said.
“When we sit down for talks with North Korea, we need to talk about not only what we want but also what North Korea wants,” the official said in a press conference that was held on Jeju Island on Dec. 5.
The official also addressed the May 24 measures, sanctions that the South enacted against North Korea in 2010 after the sinking of the Cheonan warship. “If the two sides can meet to share various opinions about what can be done about the May 24 measures, I believe that the talks can serve as an opportunity to revoke the measures,” the official said.
These remarks are being taken to mean that a grand bargain could be made that would address areas of interest both for North and South. North Korea wants the May 24 measures to be lifted and tours to Mt. Keumgang resumed, while South Korea would like to settle the issue of the divided families and to move forward with the proposals made by South Korean President Park Geun-hye in the Dresden Declaration
[Sanctions] [SK NK policy] [Ploy] [Divided families]
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[Editorial] Time to break inertia in inter-Korean relations
Posted on : Dec.8,2014 14:43 KST
The South Korean government is apparently looking at holding comprehensive talks with North Korea on a number of issues, including a possible lifting of the May 24 Measures imposed in the wake of the 2010 ROKS Cheonan sinking. This is a positive step, in that it signals Seoul’s commitment to improving ties with Pyongyang. Hopefully, it can come up with an effective plan for putting that into practice with a consistent focus on improving inter-Korean relations.
A high-level government official also said on Dec. 5, “If there is something we [Seoul] can give North Korea to make this a reality, we will give it serious consideration.” This is more flexible than we’ve seen in the past from the Park Geun-hye administration, which has insisted on treating the issue - more part of the South Korean agenda than anything - separately from all others. The same official also talked about how “we need to talk about not only what we want but also what North Korea wants” if the talks happen. This is also a step in the right direction, since it suggests Seoul won’t be trying to duck the issues Pyongyang raises. Improving ties will be a tall order so long as the May 24 Measures remain in place.
[Sanctions] [SK NK policy] [Liberal]
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South, North head for dispute over Gaeseong wages
By Jun Ji-hye
The two Koreas are heading for a conflict over wages at their joint industrial complex in the North's border city of Gaeseong. This follows an announcement that the North has unilaterally removed the legal limit for wages there.
Uriminzokkiri, the North's major propaganda site, said on Saturday that Pyongyang had scrapped the upper ceiling on wages for workers at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.
Seoul called the move a unilateral act that ignored a requirement for consultation.
The labor law, enacted in 2003, stipulates that North Korean workers at the complex be paid at least $50 a month, and that the annual increase should not exceed 5 percent.
[Kaesong] [Labour]
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Learning about North Korea, South Korean kids discover differences
Daegu Sosun junior high school students participate in Unification Leadership Camp and play board game designed for the program at Commodore Hotel on Dec. 10, 2014 in Gyeongju, South Korea. (Shin Woong-jae/For The Washington Post)
By Anna Fifield December 6 at 3:30 AM ?
GYEONGJU, SOUTH KOREA — Concepts like political repression, debilitating hunger and torture are difficult for tweenage girls to grasp. But rules stipulating that their skirts must be at least knee-length? Restrictions on how long they can grow their hair? Now that gets their attention.
Here in the ancient capital of the Shilla kingdom, one of the realms of a fractured Korean Peninsula more than a millennium ago, about 120 students from a nearby middle school recently went on a field trip with a difference: They were learning about piecing together the current fractured peninsula.
At this “unification camp” run by an educational institute attached to the South Korean unification ministry, the 12- and 13-year-olds thought about what kinds of jobs there would be when the two Koreas reunite, they did art projects related to unification, and they watched a comedic skit in which a North Korean woman fell in love with a South Korean man. They shrieked when the couple lowered an umbrella in front of them and then wiped their smiling lips when they took it away.
But they also got a glimpse into just how different the two halves can be — when one, the North, regulates even personal appearance.
[Indoctrination] [Unification] [Media]
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Support for Compulsory Military Service on the Wane
More parents hope their sons can skip compulsory military service, which they consider a waste of precious years in their young lives.
According to a recent survey, seven out of 10 respondent or 70.2 percent, said they would encourage young men to "tough it out," but the percentage was much smaller among people under 50.
Some 40.2 percent whose sons are nearing conscription age said they would prefer them to be exempt if possible. The proportion was slightly bigger among mothers than fathers with 42.5 percent as against 37.9 percent.
In a similar survey by a high school in Busan in August, 38.1 percent of respondents said they want to avoid conscription if possible. Only 34.5 percent agreed that military service is inevitable at a time when the nation remains divided, and even fewer or 27.4 percent agreed that it is "natural and honorable" to serve in the military.
That suggests some 70 percent do not see the point.
Asked why they do not look forward to their military service, 39.5 percent cited the hard life in barracks, 32.3 percent violence and bullying, and 28.2 percent said it would be a waste of time.
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Reunification 'Would Bring Mass Migration South'
Some 1.8 million North Koreans would move south immediately if the two Koreas are reunified, and unemployment would soar to 50 percent, a study suggests.
Kim Bo-min at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy during a seminar in Seoul on Thursday explained the alarming findings of a joint study with Germany's Halle Institute for Economic Research.
Kim said the study suggests 7.3 to 7.6 percent of North Korea's 24 million people would immediately settle in the South following reunification. In Germany, 2.5 percent of the East German population of 16 million moved to West Germany after reunification, but migration slowed drastically two years later.
North Korean migration to South Korea would probably follow a similar pattern.
A large number of North Korean laborers would lose their jobs after reunification, which could temporarily send the unemployment rate to 30 to 50 percent. Kim urged the government to prepare job training and other proactive labor policies, just as Germany did.
A detailed development assistance plan is needed to get the North's economy on track, rather than simply waiting for the capitalist system to take root once the border is open.
Maike Irrek, a researcher at the Halle Institute, added Germany's potential economic growth rate took a temporary hit due to reunification, but the gains were far greater starting in the early 2000s. She said Korea too would reap the benefits of reunification if it is able to overcome initial teething problems.
[Unification]
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Seoul seeking to put NK human rights on UNSC agenda: sources
South Korea and the United States are moving to put North Korea's dismal human rights conditions on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council within this year in a bid to continue U.N. discussions on the issue and turn up the heat on Pyongyang, government sources said Tuesday.
North Korea's human rights situation has been in the spotlight as a U.N. General Assembly committee last month passed a resolution calling for the referral of the country's human rights violations to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The move came after a U.N. Commission of Inquiry (COI) published a report in February that accused Pyongyang of "systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights." The COI recommended that the Security Council refer Pyongyang's "crimes against humanity" to the ICC.
Sources said that Seoul and like-mined countries agree on putting the issue on the agenda for the Security Council as early as possible in a bid to keep pressure on Pyongyang.
"Putting the issue on the table can help keep alive momentum for global attention to the North's human rights violations," an official said, asking not to be named.
[UNUS] [Human rights] [ICC] [SK NK policy]
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Can gov't root out defense industry corruption?
The 3,500-ton Navy salvage ship Tongyeong sails off the coast of Busan on Nov. 26. The Navy and the shipbuilder Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering conducted test operations to see if the vessel's equipment, except for its sonar, worked properly. Its out-of-date sonar was one of the latest examples of corruption involving the defense industry. / Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
Tensions are running high in the military and at the defense ministry after the government recently launched a joint investigation team of prosecutors, military officers and government officials to root out corruption in the nation's defense industry.
The special team, launched on Nov. 21, is the largest of its kind, and is composed of 105 members from the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, the Ministry of National Defense, National Police Agency, National Tax Service, Korea Customs Service, Financial Supervisory Service, and Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation.
The team will be headed by Kim Ki-dong, an experienced senior prosecutor who heads the Goyang District Prosecutors' Office in Goyang, just north of Seoul. He is noted for his recent investigation into a web of corruption within the nation's nuclear energy industry that resulted in the indictment of about 100 people including a former vice president of the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO).
[Corruption] [MISCOM]
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Australia tries to boost image of wines
Australian Ambassador Bill Paterson speaks during the Australian wine tasting event at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul on Nov. 24. Over 170 premium Australian wines from 21 wineries were showcased during the Discover New Australian Wines 2014 event.
/ Courtesy of Australian Embassy
By Kang Hyung-kyung
French wine has a luxury image. So what about Australian wine?
Australia needs to answer this question to better position its wines in the Korean market, a wine expert, who joined the Australian wine tasting event at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul on Nov. 24, says.
"I think one of the key things we have to do is to work on the image of Australian wines," said Nicholas Heretiguian, general manager of Asia at Australian Vintage.
"I am thinking that right now we need to build more history around Australian wine," he said. "We have excellent wines, terrific winemakers in Australia."
Heretiguian, who was representing McGuigan Wines at the tasting, called on the Australian Trade Commission to team with its tourism board to build an image that Australian wines were high quality with a good price.
During the "Discover New Australian Wines 2014" event, 170 wines from 21 wineries, which are not yet available in Korea, were showcased.
It was the second time this year that the Australian Embassy in Seoul hosted a wine tasting event. Hundreds of Australian wines were showcased at a tasting in June.
[Wine]
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Former 1st Lady Puts Off N.Korea Visit
Lee Hee-ho, the widow of President Kim Dae-jung, is putting off a visit to North Korea slated for the end of this year for health reasons, an aide said Sunday.
Lee's doctor advised her not to travel in winter because of her age -- she is 93 -- and suspected pneumonia symptoms, New Politics Alliance for Democracy lawmaker Park Jie-won told the Chosun Ilbo.
The visit will be postponed until next spring.
Staff of the Kim Dae-jung Peace Center visited Kaesong on Nov. 21 to consult with North Korean officials about her trip.
[Kim Dae-jung]
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