KOREA-WIDE EVENTS

DOMESTIC EVENTS

January 2006

Ideological trends were measured on a scale of -50 to 50, where -50 was the most progressive and 50 the most conservative, by averaging out responses to questions in each sector. The pendulum swung from 4.1 in 2002 to its most left-wing in 2003 with 1.8, easing to 1.9 in 2004 and 2.9 points this year.

?Politics
In terms of politics alone, the swing was more marked, going from 12.7 points in 2003 to 14.7 points in 2006. It was clearer still in response to key individual questions, with 76.6 percent of respondents condemning unconditional support of North Korea, up from 67.4 percent three years ago. Conservative views were also reflected by the 62.1 percent who agreed that the two Koreas should only reunify in a free market economy and the 56.3 percent who want to keep the decades-old National Security Law intact.

?Society
On social issues, where views remained progressive, they also moved closer to the center, from -2.1 points in 2003 to -0.7 points this year. Conservative views predominated on issues like seniority, where 65.5 percent approved of deference even if the age difference is small and 52.5 percent said freedom of choice should be tempered with care not to embarrass one’s elder family members. Some 53.8 percent disapproved of premarital sex unless it is somewhere along the road to marriage.

?Economics
Popular opinion on the economy bucked the trend, shifting back further to the left of the spectrum. The overall index stood at -2.5 points in 2002, -5.2 points in 2003, -4.9 points in 2004 and -5.2 points in 2006.

Land ownership turned the biggest proportion of respondents into progressives, with 64.5 percent agreeing that there should be a ceiling on how much land one person can own to prevent ownership from being concentrated in the hands of a few. The majority also agreed that poverty originates from poor policies and social institutions (56.9 percent) and that workers are ill-treated by employers (59.7 percent).

But 55.4 percent took the conservative position that the government should emphasize growth over equal distribution, and while 36.4 percent agreed that public welfare should be improved with higher taxes, 49.6 percent gave a resounding no. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

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NSO Statistics: Divorce Falls, Remarriage Rises, Rice Consumption Drops & NSO Population Census Results (Jan 2006) NSO Statistics Fewer Korean couples got divorced in 2004 than the previous year for the first time in 17 years, while the number of marriages increased. The number of divorces amounted to 139,365 in 2004, down 16.6 percent from the previous year, according to a report of social indicators by the National Statistical Office (NSO) on 6 Jan 2006. The number of divorces revealed a steep increase from 42,116 in 1988. The NSO attributed the year-on-year decrease of divorces to an increased number of marriages, and improved institutional measures such as counseling services.

The number of marriages rose 2 percent to 310,944 in 2004, the first rebound in eight years. The number of remarriages also increased, up 16.1 percent to 44,355 in 2004. The average marrying age rose in 2004. For men the age was 30.6 years old, an increase of 0.5 years in 2004, while the average for women was 27.5 years, up 0.2 years.


NSO Statistics (Jan 2006) (Korea Times)

With young adults increasingly delaying their marriages, the average age of women delivering their first babies rose 2.5 years to 28.9 years old from 1994.

The report also showed that those aged between 15 and 64 years olds whom 100 Koreans have to financially support reached 12.6 persons last year from 12.1 persons the previous year. The number of elderly citizens aged over 65 amounted to 4.38 million at the end of 2005, accounting for 9.1 percent of the total Korean population. The population 65 years old and older rose constantly from 7.2 percent in 2000 to 7.9 percent in 2002, 8.7 percent in 2004 and to 9.1 percent.

On the other hand, the ratio of the productive population aged between 15 and 64, is stagnating at 71.8 percent. The ratio stood at 71.6 percent in 2000. The ratio of youth population, aged 14 and below, fell to 19.1 percent in 2005 from 21.1 percent in 2000. Following the changes, the economically inactive aged-to-productive population ratio rose to 12.6 percent in 2005, up 0.5 percentage point from a year earlier. The ratio rose 6.9 percentage points from 1970. The ratio means that every 100 people 15-64 years old has to financially support 12.6 elderly citizens aged 65 years old and older. The economic activities of senior citizens 55 year old and older increased at the same time. The number in that age bracket totaled 3.86 million, accounting for 16.9 percent of the newly employed in 2005. (NOTE: Another change in the demographics is the increasing reluctance of seniors to reside with their children. This has affected societal changes in inheritance and savings programs for retirement. There has also been a growing trend to target seniors with the building of "silver towns" in the satellite cities of Seoul.)

Meanwhile, largely due to aggravated financial conditions from prolonged economic doldrums, the number of reported crimes rose 3.8 percent to 2.08 million cases in 2004. The figure translates into 4,328 reported crimes per 100,000 people on average.

Amid a prolonged economic slump, more than 560,000 jobless South Koreans asked the government to give them unemployment compensation last year, the Labor Ministry said. The figure of 565,753 in 2005 was an all-time high and a 20 percent increase from 471,542 the preceding year. (NOTE: South Korea's top 10 business groups are expected to employ a combined 23,700 people in 2006, up 2.4 percent from a year earlier, according to online portal, Incruit. Despite the slight increase in hiring, job seekers may find it harder to land jobs in the conglomerates due to a change in selection standards, Incruit said in Mar 2006.)

However, the number of civil servants has increased by 22,000 since the current administration assumed power. (NOTE: Counting privatized industry losses with additions to other state-run industries, the total approaches 40,000 new additions.) Faced with public protest, the government is now “reviewing” plans to increase their number by another 15,900 this year. W300 billion (US$300 million) will be needed in five years under laws that shorten the period required for the promotion of police officers. Government officials now say the promotion period of firefighters will also be cut so they can keep up with police, despite earlier assurances that this would be it. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

People also turned to liquor and cigarettes to relieve their stress from worsened economic conditions. Korean adults aged 19 and older consumed 88.2 liters of alcoholic beverage in 2004, up 2.6 percent from 2003. Per adult cigarette consumption, which declined from 7.8 cigarettes a day in 1994 to 5.6 cigarettes in 2002, rebounded to 5.7 cigarettes in 2003 and 6.2 cigarettes in 2004. (Source: Korea Times.)

NSO Population and Housing Census (Jan 2006) The National Statistical Office (NSO) has revealed the results of its 2005 Population and Housing Census. The first census was taken in 1925. The census is an important indicator of how Korean society has changed over time. Korea's last census was taken in 2000.

As of November, South Korea's population was 47.3 million. It was an increase of 2.4 percent from five years ago. The census found that 48.1 percent of the population live in metropolitan areas, such as Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi. The population in urban areas increased by 1.38 million, or 6.5 percent.

NSO official Oh Kab-won said he was worried that Korea's agricultural communities could collapse. "The exodus of the rural population to urban areas is negatively affecting the farming communities," he said. "Senior citizens are the ones being left behind."

The census showed dramatic changes in Korean society. For the first time in 35 years, there are more women than men. The female population is 23.63 million, an increase of 2.9 percent from 2000. There are 23.62 million men, a rise of 2 percent.

Experts say that the longer life expectancy of women is the reason behind the increase in the female population. The census also found that families are getting smaller. The average family consists of 2.9 individuals, down from 3.1 in 2000. Experts say that the nation's low birthrate is to blame. (Source: Korea Herald.)

According to the NSO, national per-capita rice consumption shrank 1.6 percent to 80.7 kilograms in 2005. Per-capita rice consumption decreased by 1.3 kilograms in 2005 from a year earlier largely because of a change in lifestyle that forced working Koreans to skip breakfasts or dine out. The average daily per-capita rice consumption stood at 221.2 grams last year, meaning that Koreans consumed less than two bowls of rice per day.

Korea's per-capita rice consumption has dropped significantly since 1990 when it reached 119.6 kilograms. The figure contracted constantly from 88.9 kilograms in 2001 to 87 kilograms in 2002, 83.2 kilograms in 2003 and 82 kilograms in 2004.Nevertheless, Korea still consumes more rice than Japan and Taiwan. The average Japanese consumes 61.9 kilograms of rice a year while the average Taiwanese consumes 61.9 kilograms. The constant decline in national rice consumption has increased the government’s concerns over the growing cost of managing mounting rice stockpiles bought from local farmers and rice exporting countries. (SITE NOTE: In 2005, the government ended the rice subsidies to "buy high-sell low" as a means of price controls. The protectionist practice was stopped because the rice warehouses were over-flowing with rice -- until the ROK government figured out that they could ship the rice north as humanitarian aid. Though the WTO agreement implementation was delayed, the current WTO agreement has forced the opening of the market and created more problems as the government did not shift the farmers to specialty crops or other produce. The on-going violent farmer protests are a result.)

However, the NSO said Korea’s consumption of vegetables and fruits has increased from previous years thanks to the rapid spread of healthy diets and lifestyles. The statistics also showed that Koreans skipped two meals per month on average because of busy work schedules or health and appearance reasons. Korean females aged between 20 and 29 years skipped five meals a month on average. (Source: Korea Times.)

South Korean household income rose 4.1 percent in 2005 from 2004, but its growth slowed from a 6 percent annual gain the previous year, a government report said on 7 Feb. The average monthly income of households stood at 2.92 million won (US$3,007) last year, compared with 2.81 million won a year earlier, according to the report by the National Statistical Office (NSO). (Source: Yonhap News.)

Miscellaneous Stats (Jan 2006) Overcrowded roads, jaywalkers and motorcyclists who use sidewalks as shortcuts make South Korea the most dangerous place to drive among 30 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to a report issued in late December. The data, gathered from 2003 statistics, showed 137 car accidents per 10,000 cars on the road. South Korea also ranked worst for number of vehicle accident deaths for the year; for every 100,000 people involved in vehicle accidents, 15 died. South Korea has topped the list since joining the organization in 1996, according to Lee Ui-yong, chief of the Traffic Accident Analysis Division with the Road Traffic Safety Authority. (Source: Stars and Stripes.) (SITE NOTE: In Jan 2006, the police launched a campaign to ticket motorists who use cell phones while driving. Like most Korean campaigns this will be short-lived.)

The number of cars registered in Korea hit 15.4 million in 2005, up 460,000 from the previous year, the Construction and Transportation Ministry. Of the total, passenger cars accounted for 94.5 percent, or 14.6 million, with vehicles for commercial and public services numbering 783,965 and 57,563 respectively. By region, the Seoul metropolitan area accounted for 46 percent of the total, and Gyeonggi province had 3.5 million registered vehicles, the largest number. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

A survey by a multinational consulting firm said Korea's opinion leaders have more faith in the media than in the government and prefer newspapers to other media. Edelman surveyed 2,000 opinion leaders in 11 nations, including 150 Koreans. Nearly three in 10 of the Koreans said they had strong faith in government pronouncements, a confidence level that was worse only in Germany and Brazil. Just under half the Koreans said they trusted their local media, ranking third behind China and Brazil. About a third of the Koreans surveyed said they trusted their newspapers, and somewhat surprisingly said they trusted Internet news (26 percent) more than television (22 percent). Korea was one of only five countries in which those surveyed trusted the Internet more than TV outlets. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

South Korea's spending on oil imports grew more than 40 percent in 2005 from a year earlier due to high crude oil prices and an increase in oil consumption. According to the report by the Bank of Korea and the Ministry of Finance and Economy, South Korea spent US$42.7 billion, up 42.8 percent from the previous year.

South Koreans spent an average of five hours a day online in 2005, more than double the amount of time three years earlier, indicating that the Internet has emerged as an important part of their daily lives. According to the poll of 3,275 people by the state-run Korea Information Society Development Institute (KISDI), Koreans spent 297 minutes in cyberspace on average in 2005, compared with 148 minutes in 2002. (Source: Yonhap News.)

Miscellaneous Stats (Sep 2006) According to the CIA factbook, South Korea is the 26th most populated country in the world, while its territory ranks 116th largest, and it comes in 7th in terms of oil imports and 8th in military spending, according to the updated World Factbook published by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Updated on Sept. 7, the factbook says North Korea's population ranks 49th while its territorial area ranks 116th. The country has a higher birthrate (15.54 per 1,000), ranking 143rd, than South Korea (10 per 1,000), which comes in 202nd. North Korea's military expenditure is placed 22nd.

Countries whose information were not available were not included in the rankings list, so the total number of nations listed differ category by category.

In purchasing power parity, South Korea comes in 16th with US$965 billion, North Korea in 88th with $40 billion. The death rate in South Korea is 5.85 per 1,000, or 171st. It's 7.13 per 1,000 in North Korea, or 132nd. South Korea is the 13th largest electricity production country, with 342 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh). North Korea was not included in this category. In electricity consumption, South Korea ranks 13th at 321 billion kWh, while North Korea comes in 68th at 17.4 billion kWh. Neither of the Koreas are oil producing nations, but the South is 7th in consumption with 2.26 million barrels per day, and North Korea 42nd with 22,000 barrels. South Korea ranks 8th in military spending ($21 billion) based on year 2005 and North Korea 22nd ($5 billion) based on year 2002. (Source: Yonhap News.)

Aging Population accelerated as Birth Rate Falls (Dec 2006) The aging of South Korea's population accelerated notably in 2005 from five years earlier as the number of elderly people surged and the birthrate fell according to the NSO on 25 Dec. The number of the aged population grew at a much faster pace than the total population in 2000-2005, while the number of women aged 15-49 fell for the first time in the five-year period, the National Statistical Office said in its regular five-year report. In 2000, the elderly population were 3.37 percent of the population, but increased by 29.5 percent to 4.36 percent of the population in 2005.

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Birth Rate at All-time low (Jan-May 2006) The average family consists of 2.9 individuals, down from 3.1 in 2000. Experts say that the nation's low birthrate is to blame. (Source: Korea Herald.) This figure was later updated to 1.6 in 2004 in mid-2006.

Korea's major problem is that it now is considered a "non-viable" economy meaning that in the future, there will not be enough population to support the tax base. With the elderly is living longer, the younger population will be called upon to increase their share of welfare programs. Unfortunately, with the current birth rate, Korea cannot survive. Even now, the ROK is cutting their military forces starting in 2010 by 50,000 simply because it cannot maintain the manpower-heavy force -- with future reductions in the size of the inductee group. As a result the government has been forced to move to high-tech/low manpower intensive systems for its defense.

The country’s birthrate has dropped to the point where the average Korean woman is expected to have only one child throughout her life. The drop is the fastest in the world. If the trend continues, the population will drop some 8.69 million to 39.48 million by 2050, from 48.17 million as of 2005. A low birthrate is a serious social problem in many developed nations, but in most of them the rate has been slowly growing since 2001. The U.S. still has a birthrate of more than two, rising minutely from 2.034 in 2001 to 2.048 in 2004, while the U.K. saw births inch up from 1.63 to 1.74, France from 1.88 to 1.9 and Germany from 1.34 to 1.37 in the same period. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

The number of babies born in Seoul last year - 98,776 - was a record low since 1970 when the government began the nation's population tally. The number of newborn babies also dropped nearly 8 percent to 438,000 from a year ago, according to the statistical data. South Korea's fertility rate fell to a new record low in 2005 as more and more women engaged in economic activities and got married at older ages. The rate, or the average number of babies per woman of child-bearing age, was 1.08 in 2005, down from 1.16 in 2004, and the number of newborn babies fell by 38,000, or 7.9 percent, to 438,000, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO). (SITE NOTE: Korea has the world's highest abortion rate with some 350,000 terminations annually versus the birthrate with 438,000 births in 2005.)

Korea had the lowest birthrate of 1.16 in 2004, among the members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development who have also been struggling with chronically low fertility rates. It is significantly lower than the 2.1 needed to maintain the current population level in the country. The fertility rate in Korea began to drop after the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis, which forced the nation to help out its economy with the International Monetary Fund. (SITE NOTE: Japan, though better than Korea, faces the same problem of falling birthrates and a non-viable society. Japan is doing slightly better than Korea with a birthrate of 1.29, but it still created the new post of a Cabinet secretary taking care of the low birthrate last year. It also introduced a “free birth” policy, whereby the government pays for all the costs of childbirth. As one of the Cabinet's most pressing tasks, the government has decided in May 2006 on a plan to dip into a public employment insurance account to fund new countermeasures to battle the declining birthrate -- hundreds of billions of yen -- without adhering to the conventional budget framework. (Source: Yomiuri Daily and Chosun Ilbo.)) (SITE NOTE: Japanese births rose for the first time in six years in 2006, according to government statistics announced on 1 Jan 2007, offering a glimmer of hope for a rapidly aging society. Despite the increase, the rate is still far below the 2.1 rate needed to keep the population steady.)

More women are participating in society -- with no desire to bear their own children certainly has added to the low birthrate. As a result, women are postponing the age when they want to start a family. There are a multitude of sociological factors, but a significant portion of women now consider NOT having children as a life-style choice. In addition, every year the marriage rates have been declining showing that the younger people are postponing marriage -- or even considering a single life-style as an alternative. (Source: Korea Herald.)

The low birth rate is partly a result of the increased age at which the average Korean woman marries, the statistics agency said. The average age at which a woman first married was 27.7 last year, compared with 24.8 in 1990. As a result, women in their early 30s represented 41 percent of those delivering babies in 2005, a larger proportion than women delivering in their late 20s for the first time on record.

Impacts to Education System As the nation faces a drastic drop in the birthrate, the number of kindergartners in Seoul hit an all-time low last year. The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said the number of children below age 5 who attend public and private kindergartens in Seoul hit a new low of 85,302 for the year ending April 2005. The number has gradually decreased over a decade and dropped by two percent from a year earlier. "The number of kindergartners is the lowest in history at least since 1991," said Oh Wan-sook, senior supervisor of the primary school division at the office. "Because there is a fewer number of babies born each year, there are fewer children to attend the kindergartens." There were 331,625 c+hildren who were eligible to attend kindergartens in 2004, a number which decreased by 20,000 in 2005.

The impacts have been increasing in recent years. Starting in about 1998, the elementary schools in the rural areas have been closing or consolidating because of falling student populations. This situation was created by a combination of young families moving away from the rural areas combined with the falling birth rates. For example, in 2000, Kumgak Elementary School outside Osan AB closed and the remaining students bused to Pokchang Elementary School. Similar problems have now started to appear in the rural area middle schools throughout the nation as declining populations force rural students to relocate to "boarding schools" away from their homes. Throughout the nation starting in 2000, the many middle schools started to close and now in 2006, the high schools are likewise being impacted by lowered student populations.


Now closed Kumgakri Elementary School

The impacts are projected out into the future and it is plain that by 2008 the numbers of colleges will exceed demand. As a result the government is planning to reduce the number of national colleges -- though the way it is going about it is suspect. The majority of universities are private schools and the government is trying to control them as well. Analysts advise that universities need to switch to a market-economy style of operation whereby demand will drive the educational system. Survival will be based upon those colleges whose educational standards are the highest -- and in most demand.

Nationwide Plan to Reverse Low Birthrates To tackle the low birthrate, the government plans to spend 2.3 trillion won this year; 3.4 trillion won in 2007, 3.9 trillion won in 2008, 4.6 trillion won in 2009 and 5 trillion won in 2010. The government has allocated a total of 9.8 trillion won over the next five years to help parents pay for childcare and education.

It will also spend 5.5 trillion won to build more state-run childcare facilities across the country and subsidize operations of private nurseries to better help working mothers. Infertile couples wanting to conceive via in vitro fertilization are expected to receive up to 3 million won for each trial by the end of 2010, while pregnant women will receive more comprehensive medical tests to detect any abnormality in a fetus. The government will also provide 643 billion won to help companies pay female employees who take maternity leave for 90 days by 2010, up from the current 30 days. ``The spending plan includes a comprehensive package of measures to encourage married couples to have more children,’’ said an official at the health and welfare ministry. (Source: Korea Times.)

Some cities are proposing programs in a desperate effort to do anything -- no matter how frivious. Considering that lower marriage rates are the main problem, the Seoul municipal government will hold a dating event on Feb. 8 which promises diverse support including free wedding hall rental for those who end up getting married. Single men and women residents of Seoul aged under 40 are eligible to apply at cafe.daum.net/lovetrains. (Source: Korea Herald.)

Rural Areas Hardest Hit The hardest hit by the falling birthrates is the rural communities. The problem is that there are fewer young people willing to reside in the rural areas. This has been a problem since the 1980s as young people moved to the cities to find better paying jobs, leaving their parents behind to run the farms. By the 1990s, it was said that the countryside was filled only with graves and old people waiting to get there.

Local administrators are desperate because the amount of financial support they get from the central government depends directly on the size of the population. Less money translates into fewer employees. If the population under a regional self-government is lower than 50,000, two departments should be shut down under central government regulations. If it falls below 30,000, they should get rid of another department.

If the population of larger cities stays lower than the standards set by the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairsby 10 percent or more for two consecutive years, their municipal governments should do away with a division. North Jeolla Province had to integrate two departments after its population fell below 2 million in 2004. South Jeolla Province also faces the same risk if its population does not go over 2 million this year.

Regional administrators are taking desperate moves to encourage childbirth as their budget largely depends on population size. Most municipal governments in rural areas offer between 200,000 won and 300,000 won to a resident couple who give birth to their first child. The city of Cheongju in North Chungcheong Province decided to provide incentives to couples who have been registered as residents for more than a year - 300,000 won for the first child, 500,000 won for the second child and 1 million won for the third child from July.

In South Gyeongsang Province, Haman County and Namhae County endow those who have their third child with 5 million won and 3 million won, respectively. However, even the nation"s highest level of incentives didn"t work as these rural areas lack people young enough to have children. (Source: Korea Herald.)

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South Kyongsang Province Plan for Mail Order Bride Support (Jan 2006) South Kyongsang province planned to start a trial program in which it will give 6 million won ($6,113) to male farmers who marry foreign women. South Korean farmers have been turning to brides from other parts of Asia in recent years after struggling to woo local women, who are often less than enthralled with the prospect of rural life. (NOTE: This is a problem that has been plaguing Korea since the 1990s when rural men were started importing Chinese ethnic-Korean brides -- many of whom ran away. Then Koreans started to marry other nationalities which ran against the mold of a homogeneous society -- and entailed a mass of changes in the laws to allow changes in status of the foreign spouses and children born to these women. The attitudes of Koreans have changed greatly over the years where more parents are willing to accept a foreign partner for their children. It has become a popular theme in movies as well.)

"Young men in the countryside have a hard time finding brides and they started to look elsewhere," said Ryu Kum-ju, an agricultural policy official for the province, located in the southern part of the country. The province also plans to increase courses for foreign brides to help them adjust to life in South Korea. The local government estimates it costs about 12 million won for a farmer to pay all the fees and travel required to find a bride overseas. The number of South Korean men who have married foreign women has rocketed in recent years. It hit 25,594 in 2004, more than double the 11,017 in 2002, according to data from the Korea National Statistical Office.

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Roh Administration Seeking to Find New Tax Funding (Jan-Feb 2006) To come up with a shortfall of 10.5 trillion, the government plans to reduce a set of tax exemptions given to salaried workers and companies, and find more taxable sources, including larger numbers of self-employed. It will also minimize future wage increases for civil servants and more efficiently implement state-funded infrastructure projects. The government is considering introducing an earned income tax credit (EITC) in 2007, a refundable tax credit for low-income working families to narrow the widening wealth gap between rich and poor. The system offers low-income salary workers tax credits to offsets their tax payments to subsidize their incomes.

At the same time, the government has a plan to close tax loopholes. The government plans to revise the income tax rules to jack up the taxpayers’ ratio to 70 percent of the tax base in the mid to long-term from the current 51 percent. The move is aimed at securing enough cash to cope with the rapid aging society and low fertility rate, two factors that are eroding Korea’s economic growth potential and refurnishing government the coffer due to a sagging tax base. The government also planned to close the loopholes in the inheritance and gift taxes that allowed people to bypass the system. (Source: Korea Times.)

Cigarette Tax Not Considered The Roh government has scratched its plan to raise tobacco prices by W500 (US$0.5) per pack in 2006. The ruling Uri Party spokesperson Oh Young-sik on 30 Dec 2005 that there was a consensus that it would not be appropriate to raise the price of cigarettes in 2006 considering the economic recession, adding that there would be no further discussion on cigarette price hikes for the time being.

The Government Administration and Home Affairs Committee already passed the revised bill of the Local Taxes Act that included a W131 increase on cigarette excise taxes in Dec 2005, but the Assembly passed the bill by deleting the article concerning the cigarette price increase in the plenary session on 30 Dec 2006. The government had presented a bill to raise the tobacco price by raising taxes on tobacco consumption and the public health promotion tax in order to discourage smoking -- but really because it is a "safe" revenue tax. (Source: Chosun Ilbo, 30 Dec 2005.) (SITE NOTE: The past cigarette tax increases were supposed to be used to fund the Roh administration's educational plans, but instead got sidetracked into the general budget and lost. The public remembers this and any new attempt to raise a "luxury tax" will turn the publicity against the Uri Party.)

Tax Breaks for Donations and Educational Programs More civic groups will be authorized to receive donations, to which the government grants tax breaks for amounts up to 10 percent of the donor's income.

Companies may become more prone to provide training programs for employees thanks to increased tax benefits for expenses they incur to implement sessions with the help of authorized educational institutions. (Source: Korea Herald)

Self-employed Targeted -- Primarily Lawyers On 1 Jan 2006, the Finance Ministry announced it was investigating new reporting procedures for "self-employed." The major aim is lawyers who are paid mostly in cash -- and do not declare this income. However, it was also found that more than half of the self-employed did not file any form of paperwork. This is normally because small self-employed (such as street vendors) do not earn enough to even make the paperwork filing worthwhile.

The Korean government decided to toughen the tax-collecting guidelines for self-employed Koreans this year, ordering all businesses with one or more employees to submit wage receipts to tax authorities. With this rule, the government can expect to receive wage records from all of the 1.1 million sole-proprietorship businesses with one or more workers that have been largely unaccountable for taxes until now. Those failing to comply should brace for an additional 2 percent tax, said the Finance Ministry while announcing revisions to local tax laws. Currently, about 1.1 million of self-employed operations are in business here.

Home Deductions Reduced Fewer tax benefits will be offered to Koreans with homes priced at 300 million won or more as they are no longer eligible for deductions on interest for savings accounts used to secure additional property even if their homes fall into the "small" category of 25.7 pyeong or less. (One pyeong equals 3.3 square meters.) These and other changes highlighted the government's latest tax law revisions that were the first to be implemented this year.

But due to the rising spending pressure stemming from a rapidly-aging population and a low birth rate, experts had expected the government to resort to cutting tax deductions. The scope of tax deduction will be reduced for income earned from abroad, while those residing permanently overseas must sell their Korean homes within two years after leaving to be eligible for tax breaks. Also, the benefits apply only in the cases of families that own a single residence in Korea. Multiple homeowners are denied exemptions regardless of when the transaction occurred.

Eliminating the incentives for keeping multiple homes has become one of the government's top priorities as it seeks to fight speculation with a newer, stronger law. (Source: Korea Herald)

Roh hints at Tax Increase The disturbing news was that President Roh hinted at a tax increase in his New Year's speech delivered on 18 Jan 2006 to combat what he declared as growing disparity between the haves and have-nots. Roh told the country, "In order to tackle the issue of wealth disparity by creating more jobs and building a better social safety net, and to gird for the future, we need more funding,"

He stressed that the nation had an "absolute shortage of funding." "We need to find a fundamental solution," he said, noting the nation's tax bite as a percentage of gross domestic products is 27 percent, much lower than that in other advanced nations. However, his critics point out that this "class polarization fight" has been part of his agenda since elected and he has done little of substance to alleviate the problems -- and only harps on it when it is politically expedient.


President Roh's New Year's Address (18 Jan 2006) (Korea Herald)

Outside of the Uri Party, no one is happy with the news. Some Uri lawmakers came up with an idea to broaden the income tax base as a possible source for increasing state revenue. "Presently, only about 50 percent of Koreans pay income tax, so expanding the income tax base is an viable option," said Uri Rep. Rhee Mok-hee.

The point that Roh was evading was that in 2006, the government faced a shortfall of 10.5 trillion won and Roh was trying save EXISTING programs -- such as the giveaways to the North that have already been committed while disguising it as a NEW national need such as birth-rate and social welfare for the elderly programs. ``While mapping out the long-term fiscal plans until 2030, we found that finances are absolutely deficient no matter how we improve the effectiveness of the public financing and fiscal spending structure. A fundamental solution to the problem must be found,'' Roh said.

Roh said the government aimed to create as many as 130,000 new jobs this year and plans to allocate 6 trillion won in the next three years on various vocational training programs to help people get jobs. The critics rebutted that the Roh administration is aiming at creating more public sector jobs -- not ones in private industry. Vocational training amounts to more teachers and schools -- not jobs in industry. The critics respond that economic packages aimed at assisting small and mid-sized companies is what is needed for long-term growth.

The main opposition Grand National Party, which insisted on an 8.9 trillion won cut in the 2006 government budget, criticized the ruling camp's move. (NOTE: The 2006 budbet was passed as is without the GNP presence and reduced only for programs already killed.) "Levying heavier taxes on the rich and returning the money to the poor in the form of welfare programs may work in the short term. But in the long run, it could have a disastrous impact on our economy," said GNP Rep. Lee Bang-ho.

The GNP party insists that a more corporate-friendly environment will ultimately fix the problem of social polarization. Rep. Lee Hahn-koo of the Grand National Party (GNP) said President Roh's remarks overlooked the huge disparity in fixed expense-to-income ratio of Korea and that of other developed economies. ``Even now, foreign firms remain reluctant to move into Korea, complaining that (Korea's) tax rate is higher than that of other rival countries and domestic firms are also seeking to relocate their facilities abroad,'' Lee said in a radio talk show. ``How can government create jobs and resolve economic polarization in the middle of such developments?'' Lee criticized Roh's remarks.

Roh thrusts tax rates to politics' fore

Aides say higher levies needed to fund ‘income gap' programs

January 20, 2006 -- Taxes are suddenly on everyone's mind after President Roh Moo-hyun Wednesday evening told the nation he is serious about rectifying the growing disparities in Koreans' incomes.

Political observers say the issue could play a role in the local elections at the end of May and perhaps linger on until the presidential election late next year. One of Mr. Roh's aides suggested that he intends to make it an issue in the next presidential campaign.

In his address to the nation, Mr. Roh said additional government revenue would be required to provide a better living for Koreans at the lower end of the income scale. He denounced calls for tax reductions by the conservative opposition, but he was not specific on how he planned to raise the money he says he needs.

Yesterday, Uri Party and administration officials said the answer was simple: tax increases are inevitable, and will be imposed step by step. One official added, "President Roh's speech was addressing the controversy over tax increases or decreases. Next year's presidential election will depend largely on this issue, because each candidate will have to present policies in this regard."

Presidential contenders in the governing and opposition parties were talking with reporters about the question yesterday. The Grand National Party's chairwoman, Park Geun-hye, said, "Hardly any country with bright prospects increases taxes." Seoul's mayor, Lee Myung-bak, a rival of Ms. Park for the party's 2007 nomination, said, "More tax money should be raised by spurring additional business profits, not by raising tax rates." The Gyeonggi province governor, Sohn Hak-kyu, joined the criticism. "Increasing taxes is just a superficial policy that ignores the essence of income disparity," he said. The Grand Nationals' chief policymaker, Lee Bang-ho, echoed his colleagues' calls for what he called a "growth-driven policy." He called a tax increase a palliative that would doom Korea to slow economic growth.

The chief policymaker of the smaller Democratic Party, Kim Hyo-seuk, agreed. "Before demanding that the public share the burden," he said, "the government must make efforts to reduce expenditures." One of the strong presidential contenders from Mr. Roh's Uri Party, Kim Geun-tae, went even further than the president. He criticized the shrinking of the middle class, supported Mr. Roh's efforts to reverse it, and then went on to call for a constitutional amendment that would put Korea's land in the public domain.

Business circles, not surprisingly, were unhappy, and their mood was not improved by an announcement by the National Tax Service that it would begin a series of audits of large companies suspected of tax evasion. The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry issued a statement calling for a dialogue with Mr. Roh on the issue. Others complained about Mr. Roh's call for better treatment of part-time and temporary workers.

One staff member at the Federation of Korean Industries said, "When he only stresses the responsibilities of companies, it will lead to more burdens on companies and in the longer run a decrease in business activity.

by Lee Soo-ho, Lee Chul-hee (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

The government is currently conducting a study on long-term fiscal planning throughout 2030 and related tax reform plans. Experts predict that implementation of newly revised tax reform plans would ultimately result in increased tax burden. As the Ministry of Finance and Economy (MOFE) said earlier this month, the government's tax reform is forecast to focus on expanding the tax base and improving the equitableness of Korea's taxation system. The matter of concern and interest is on how the government's long-term tax reform scheme would affect the tax burden of the working classes in the low to middle income brackets.

It is probable that the government will first plunge its scalpel into income tax and value added tax to broaden its tax base as even a marginal hike in tax rate translates into huge additional tax revenue. In contrast, the government is unlikely to lift the corporate tax rate to avoid increasing the cost burden of Korean companies amid unfavorable external economic conditions such as high oil prices and protracted strong trend of the Korean currency. The government could once again draw up its card of instituting a new tax item aimed at raising funds required for coping with the low birth rate and the rapidly graying society.

``There are many ways to raise funds for the national coffer such as a tax rate hike, issuing of government bonds and redirecting tax evaders in the underground economy to return to the aboveground economy,'' said Rep. Rhee Mok-hee, chief of the Uri Party's policy committee for labor and environment. (SITE NOTE: These actions by the Uri Party and NTS are already underway.) ``President Roh only touched on the issue with the intention that the country should come up with the solution through public discussion as he must have thought that suggesting a direct method would bring about a great stir,'' Rhee advocated President Roh's position. (Source: Korea Times.)

Middle-class families: in danger but ignored

January 10, 2006 -- The turmoil of the 1997-98 financial crisis saw many middle-class families sink into lower-class wages and living conditions. These days, however, middle-class families are facing a fresh assault on their standard of living due to ongoing corporate restructuring and the soaring costs of housing and education.

But with the government preoccupied with improving the conditions of the working class, many in the middle class fear they are being overlooked.

"Greeting the new year, I hope politicians will take a greater interest in the situation of middle-class families," said Kim Ki-seop, 46, head of the product development team at the Industrial Bank of Korea. "It is not easy to make a good living."

Mr. Kim has worked at the bank for 17 years and now owns a 106-square-meter (126.5-square-yard) apartment in Ilsan, a new residential city northwest of Seoul. His annual salary has jumped by 7 million won ($7,160) this year because of his work team's successes last year.

Yet Mr. Kim does not feel financially safe. He is unsure that he can cover the soaring educational costs for his son in middle school and his daughter in elementary school. He is also concerned about his job. "I saw many friends my age being retired in the aftermath of the financial crisis," he said. "That might happen to me some day."

Like many of his peers, Mr. Kim is taking a course for a master's of business administration on weekends in anticipation of needing a new job.

The financial crisis hit white-collar workers especially hard. Of the 147 people who have applied since 2003 for training programs operated by the Korea Employers Federation, the Human Resources Development Service of Korea and DBM Korea, nearly 73 percent had been office workers or in the field of research and development.

Pressure on older workers to make room for younger people has grown as jobs have become scarce following the financial crisis. An oft-heard quip at local companies runs, "A man who remains in an office until the age of 56 has no shame."

"The administration is not making policies to help relieve middle-class concerns," Mr. Kim said. Many in the middle class feel that government policies aimed at helping those less well off often depict the middle and upper classes in a poor light, creating conflict between classes, experts said. Such attitudes won't help stabilize the nation's middle class, they said.

"Since the political influence of the middle class weakened, politicians have been busy attacking ‘vested interests,' without offering alternative proposals," said Lee Nae-young, professor of political science at Korea University.

"Most middle-class people are tired of ideological or class-based conflicts that have continued for two years under the Roh administration," said Kim Ho-ki, professor of sociology at Yonsei University.

Experts also said that the government must recognize that educational costs are the heaviest burden on middle-class households and should improve public educational services. "With the current administration's educational policies focusing on equality, they cannot meet middle-class people's demand for high-quality education," said Kwon Dae-bong, dean of Korea University's Graduate School of Education. "With the quality of public education deteriorating, more wealthy families will send their children abroad, which many middle-class families won't be able to afford. Accordingly, educational and economic inequality will worsen," Mr. Kwon said.

Economists are also urging the government to allow enough high-quality housing for middle-class families to be built. The Aug. 31 measures to curb real estate price hikes, they said, focused too much on reducing demand through taxation while neglecting to boost the supply.

"If the government loosens restrictions on reconstruction in southern Seoul, apartment prices there could rise in the short term but will stabilize as supply increases," said Kim Kwang-doo, professor of economics at Sogang University.

Other experts said government welfare programs will have to be reconsidered. "It is very dangerous to think that economic inequality can be solved only through welfare programs," said Keum Jae-ho, a research fellow at the Korea Labor Institute. "The government should focus its poverty relief programs on the aged and the disabled, while improving opportunities for other poor people by creating more jobs." In the Netherlands, irregular jobs with contracts of less than one year account for 40 percent of all jobs but few people complain, said Yoo Gyeong-joon, research fellow at the Korea Development Institute. "The government should focus on reducing discrimination against irregular workers rather than cutting irregular jobs. This would get more people in the workforce," he said.

by Special Reporting Team

About 20 education-related government agencies, including the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, unveiled yesterday the second round of a basic plan for national human resources development, which the government will drive forward by investing 51 trillion won from this year through 2010.

Early English education and change in the existing semester system proposed in the plan are attracting attention with a huge impact on society as a whole as well as the education sector.

Thanks to classes focusing on English starting from the third grade of elementary school and English-speaking programs accounting for more than half of all TV programs, 77 percent of Finland's population speaks English fluently. This is also an important factor of the country's national competitiveness which ranks top in the world.

Realizing the need for early English education in the global era, the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development introduced English education starting from the third grade of elementary school in 1997. Currently, third and fourth graders take a 40-minute English class once a week, while fifth and sixth graders have classes twice a week.

However, some have repeatedly pointed out that beginning English education from the third grade in elementary school is too late and that it leads children to lose interest in English because most parents have their kids learn the language as kindergarteners through private education.

The ministry believes that English education in elementary school is effective and intends to expand it, but it will conduct a pilot education of first and second graders first because of potential side-effects.

In fact, about 30 percent of the country's elementary schools are teaching English to their first and second graders through extracurricular classes regardless of the regular English class for the third graders.

Also, the ministry is planning to deploy 2,900 English native assistant teachers to all middle schools by 2010 and conduct a pilot-base "English immersion education" which teaches mathematics and science in English in elementary, middle, and high schools in the Special Economic Zone and Jeju Free International City starting from 2008.In response to low birth rates, the aging society, and globalization, the ministry decided to establish a public forum for a reform of the school system in the first half of this year and devise a comprehensive plan to push ahead with the school system reform by 2007. It is planning to change the existing semester system which starts in March into a September semester system. (Source: Donga Ilbo.)

The Ministry also decided to make English the language of instruction for math and science in all elementary and secondary schools in the special economic zones of Incheon, Busan-Jinhae and Gwangyang and the free international city of Jeju.


3rd Grade of Younghoon Elementary School head on Vacation (Dec 2005)

According to the recent report, the number of students going overseas swelled to 16,446 in 2004 from 1,562 in 1998. A soaring number of elementary school students have gone abroad during the six-year period amid the boom in early English education with less legal restrictions. The number of elementary students studying overseas has snowballed from 212 in 1998 to 6,276 in 2004, marking a 30-fold rise. The sharp rise is a reflection of a soaring demand for early English learning.

At the same time there is soaring interest in English, it is part of the efforts by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development to put the brakes on accelerating costs for private tutoring for early English education. However, Korean children are spending more time and money in studying English to get good scores on the tests. The English proficiency tests targeting children include Primary English Level Test (PELT), TOEIC Bridge, Junior English Test (JET), and the Junior General Test of English Language Proficiency (JR G-TELP). According to statistics, the number of elementary school children who took one of the four major English proficiency tests has been sharply rising from 380,000 in 2004 to 460,000 last year. This year, more than 600,000 elementary kids are expected to take the tests. The worry is that this preoccupation with test results may end up backfiring with children losing interest in English.



Amid the English test boom among children, the nation’s English education providers are vying to create new kinds of English proficiency tests. The Test of the Skills in the English Language (TOSEL) and the Spoken English Proficiency Test (SEPT Jr) have been recently developed by the nation’s English education providers. Private English cram schools are operating the classes, which are designed to prepare students for the tests. (Source: Korea Times.)

In response to low birth rates, the aging society, and globalization, the ministry decided to establish a public forum for a reform of the school system in the first half of this year and devise a comprehensive plan to push ahead with the school system reform by 2007. It is planning to change the existing semester system which starts in March into a September semester system.

The Korea Educational Development Institute proposed last year to change the 6-3-3-4 system into the 5-3-4-4 system. Kim young-sik, vice minister of education, said, "School age population and working age population are on the decline, but people start working at a later age than other countries. Against this backdrop, a reform of the school system is inevitable," adding, "As this issue cannot be delayed, we will come up with a reform measure by 2010 with a firm determination." (Source: Donga Ilbo.)

Two Saturdays off a Month From the new school year starting in March, schools across the country will close for two Saturdays a month, the second and fourth, the Ministry of Education confirmed of 22 Feb 2006. Parents in the Seoul had mixed feelings about having their offspring at home on March 11 and 25 as many work leaving the children unattended. The additional Saturday-off reduces school hours by only 10 percent or one hour a week for most pupils, but first- and second-graders will be taught the same number of hours. The ministry said it would expand after-school care for elementary schoolchildren both of whose parents work or who come from low-income households.

Korea to Start Independent Public Schools (Charter Schools) On 8 Feb 2006, it was announced that Korea would try a new model for schools similar to the U.S.’ so-called charter schools, which would be independently managed by companies or individuals once approved by education offices and local governments. The ministry said it would start a pilot project for the schools next year in the hope that the new model will introduce some flexibility to Korea’s one-size-fits-all public education that takes no account of differences in ability among students. Managed by businesses, religious groups and public school principals, the schools would be guaranteed autonomy in selecting students, hiring faculty and designing the curriculum but must have their charter vetted and are subject to fiscal audits. They will be funded in equal share by education offices, local governments and parents. It was planned for some 30-50 schools to participate in the pilot project, assuming that at least one elementary, middle and high school will be selected for each city and province.

ROK to Stop Producing Government Textbooks On 29 Jan 2006, the South Korea's government said had decided to stop the publishing of textbooks for elementary, middle and high school students and enable private publishers to produce most of them. To that end, guidelines on how publishers can get government approval for their school textbooks will be worked out within the year to facilitate the development of new textbooks from next year, the Education Ministry said.

(SITE NOTE: Though this may seem trivial, it is a major shift as it now deals with the approval of the CONTENT -- procedures for review and approval, the criteria utilized, and most importantly cost. Government textbooks are non-profit, but published textbooks deal with profit. The selection process will most likely follow those of Japan where the Ministry of Education approves the books submitted for review and the schools then select textbooks from the approved list prior to the school year. The biggest danger is that this measure allows the progressives and supporters of revisionist history to shape the content of text books. This will need to be monitored closely by conservative educators as progressive elements (i.e., Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union) may try to submit their "revisionist history" texts.)

E-learning Credits for Servicemen Considering that 85 percent of military servicemen are attending or graduated from a university or community college, the ministry plans to revise related laws to establish a system in which they can perform military duties while studying and allow them to gain up to six credits in a year through e-running.

Furthermore, the ministry also intends to change the transfer regulation which admits a three-year community college graduate as a junior of a four-year university into one that accepts such graduate as a senior. Under the new regulation, graduates from three-year colleges majoring in nursing science are expected to suffer fewer disadvantages in getting a job in U.S. hospitals or in salary. (Source: Donga Ilbo.)

Uri Party Plan to Merge National Universities in Trouble On 16 Jan it was reported that the national university merger plan proposed by Uri Party lawmakers was expected to trigger a strong backlash from the universities involved. Because the plan did not have legal basis, the Uri Party planned to present a bill, ‘Act on the Establishment and Operation of National Universities.’ This law will be more powerful than the current Presidential Decree on the Establishment of a National University. According to the bill, the current 40 national universities will be merged into less than 10 universities in accordance with geography, such as Daejeon/Chungnambuk, Gangwon, Busan/Gyeongnam/Ulsan, and Gwangju/Jeonnam.

Another stumbling block was the Uri Party was considering calling the universities: First National University, Second University and so on, instead of Seoul National University, Jeonnam National University, and Gyeongbuk National University. The bill was to be presented to the National Assembly in Feb 2006. Universities that have already started merger talks are stuck in the middle of negotiations, and some worry that if the titles of national universities are changed, current universities may lose prestige. (Source: Donga Ilbo.) (See Higher Education in Korea: A Slanted View of College Entrance (Nov 2005) for background information.)


Student Reviews her College Scholastic Aptitude Test scores at Gujeong Highschool (Feb 2006)

Top Universities Halve Freshmen Intake for Medical Schools High school seniors applying for medical college will face fierce competition since Korea’s leading universities are halving their undergraduate intake for medicine starting from the 2007 college entrance exam as part of plans to turn their medical faculties into U.S.-style graduate schools. They are Seoul National, Yonsei, Korea, SungKyunKwan, Hanyang, Chung-Ang, Catholic, Chonnam and Yeungnam universities.

Four others -- Chungnam, Chosun, Dong-A and Inha universities -- will stop admitting undergraduate medical students altogether. Halving undergraduate intake is the first step to converting to full graduate schools, a pet plan by the Education Ministry that has met with some resistance from universities.

The ministry said on 16 Jan that it will accept applications from universities that want make the conversion until Feb. 3, before the application deadline for the second stage of the Brain Korea 21 academic support project. It said Korea, Catholic, Dong-A and Inha universities already decided to make the switch, and SNU, Yonsei, SungKyunKwan and Hanyang - which have so far held out -- are expected to follow suit. The ministry says refusenik universities will not be eligible for Brain Korea support, which would mean a considerable loss of funding. (Source: Chosun Ilbo)

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See Private School Law Escalate into Nationwide Crisis (Jan-Dec 2006) for an on-going dispute over the Private School Law.

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Freedom of the Press: Korean-style (or "Gangster Press" Under Siege) (Jan-June 2006) The petitions for the controversial Newspaper Law and Press Arbitration Law was submitted to the full bench in closed sessions on 5 Jul 2005. The ruling of the Constitutional Court is anticipated in Jan 2006 -- six months after the petition was accepted -- though it may be longer because of the serious questions dealing with Constitutional law -- and the current moves of the Roh administration to stack the courts. The Roh administration's battle with major newspapers is based on his assumption that the newspapers have a "social responsibility" to not forment dissent -- meaning that they should not criticize the administration officials, policies and programs -- although it is a firm principle of +international law that public organizations and officials must accept greater scrutiny than private persons.

The Roh administration has had constant problems with the conservative press -- and blames it on poor public relations; ineffective communication of his agencies of their programs; and biased reporting on the part of the press. Roh personally blames the press for "filtering" his remarks and creates misunderstandings of his intentions. Roh has taken to communicating directly with the people through the internet. He personally responds to issues on the Cheong Wa Dae website.

Cheong Wa Dae yesterday (16 Jan) opened presidential blogs on three separate private internet portal sites to enable interactive communication between the people and the Presidential office. The three Cheong Wa Dae blogs will convey President Roh Moo-hyun's personal thoughts on a comprehensive blueprint for long-term national projects while touching upon contentious issues for the year. Six memos have been posted on the three websites so far including the President's comments explaining the inevitability of globalization, the controversial project to move government buildings to a new administrative city at Yeongi outside of Seoul and the national pension fund.

"Cheong Wa Dae aims to provide various information and news reports on the presidential office directly to netizens," said Kim Man-soo, spokesman of the Blue House. The website also opened a bulletin board that would allow citizens to add their personal comments to postings in order to include netizens' views on policymaking. "Even those critical of the president, are available on the section and presidential officials will reflect various opinions," added Kim.

Entitled "The thoughts of the President," the three Web logs are to provide the presidential message through a series of articles, graphics, flash media and moving pictures. Cheong Wa Dae has recently widened public relations activities through operating another Blue House section on a private internet service in November. The portal service, paran, an internet company manages and organizes the content that the presidential office provides without paying royalties . The main opposition Grand National Party has criticized Cheong Wa Dae saying it is providing the additional information service for political purposes. (Source: Korea Herald.)

SITE NOTE: The violation of Freedom of Speech by the Roh administration stretched farther than simply the newspapers, but onto the internet. Kwon, a 21-year old student, was arrested on 23 march, for doing no more than circulating pictures lampooning opposition politicians on the Internet. The police said he was charged with disseminating "false information." More than 70 of these pictures were posted on 15 sites during an election campaign. Another student, Shin Sang-min, was also arrested on 23 March 2004. On 22 Jul 2004, he was fined 1.5 million won (1,000 euros) for posting cartoons of national political figures online in violation of the electoral law, the country’s first such punishment of an Internet user. The Korea Times said he planned to appeal against the conviction. Reporters with Borders said that "making fun of politicians on the Internet cannot be considered a punishable offence." They were prosecuted under an 18 March 2004 decree stipulating that electoral law provisions concerning the news media should also apply to the Internet. The electoral law bans the media from modifying or hiding a fact or from inventing or circulating false information about a political party or candidate during an election campaign. It also bans the publication of opinion polls of voters’ intentions. The prosecution of these student clearly constituted a violation of free expression on the Internet, especially as the law said the election campaign does not start until two weeks before the elections, namely, on 1 April -- but the students were arrested on 23 March. (Source: Reporters Without Borders.)

Under the original newspaper bill, the three major dailies - the Chosun Ilbo, Dong-A Ilbo and JoongAng Ilbo - are not considered monopolistic because their combined market share is 44 percent. If only ten dailies published in Seoul are subjected to this calculation of their market share, with economic dailies, provincial papers, English dailies and sports papers excluded, the market share of the three papers jumps to 68 percent, therefore automatically condemning them to monopolistic status.

This is what the ruling party was effectively aiming to do in changing the revision bill. Put simply, Chosun, Dong-A and JoongAng would face the threat of extinction at the edge of a government-wielded sword, while the Hankyoreh and other minor dailies would openly receive monetary support through a newspaper development fund. The ruling party's objective in changing the revision bill was quite clear. (SITE NOTE: The Korea Commission for the Press unveiled the list of 12 beneficiaries of state subsidies for newspaper companies on July 4, including the government-friendly Hankyoreh and Kyonghyang, and the three online newspapers OhMyNews, Pressian and Issuei. On 9 Aug, the government changed the soft loans under the newspaper development fund to subsidies. It appears the ailing pro-government newspapers cannot put up the collateral. According to a revised proposal for the Newspaper Development Fund, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism asked the Ministry of Planning and Budget to reduce the amount of loans from W15 billion (US$1=W964) to W4 billion and increase simple subsidies by W7.97 billion, citing the chosen beneficiaries' poor financial health. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.))

Once the revision bill was made public, many scholars of the Constitution pointed out that legalizing the discriminatory regulation of newspaper firms according to their market share would infringe on two basic rights - the right to equality and the right to conduct business. As these are protected in the legal code, such a move would be unconstitutional. (Source: Chosun Ilbo, 1 Dec 2004.)

(SITE NOTE: To make a comparison, the Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star Bulletin combined their printing and distribution operations in the 1970s to remain commercially competitive in Hawaii -- though they are editorially different and at different ends of the spectrum in public opinion. However, because of their combined operations, this Korean law would have shut them down because their market share exceeded 30 percent. Using the Uri Party logic of excluding minor papers, the two papers would have a monopoly -- and taxed to death. If this law were in Hawaii, Hawaii would have NO major newspapers -- and only obtain their news from the TV news broadcasts. To Americans, this bill would smell like a communist plot.)

When the Newspaper Law was first proposed by the Uri Party, it was condemned internationally by most international press associations. The worldwide press freedom organisation, Reporters Without Borders, expressed concern about attempts by the majority to use the law to control the printed press sector stating, "This law intended to curb the influence of the three major conservative dailies, looks more like ideological revenge that an attempt to regulate the news sector." Though most international press organizations recognized that a monopoly or an oligopoly is not desirable for pluralism of news and information, South Koreans had a wide range of sources of news on top of the traditional dailies. Regardless, the National Assembly passed the controversial Newspaper Law and Press Arbitration Law on 1 Jan 2005, promulgated on 27 Jan 2005, and went into effect on 28 July 2005. (SITE NOTE: Though the world press organizations condemned this event with the Newspaper Law, the Roh controlled web information sources do not mention this event. See Korea Focus: Chronology Dec 2004-Jan 2005 and the Press Law is not mentioned.)

On 30 May 2005, President Roh delivered the opening speech for the 58th World Newspaper Conference in Seoul where he emphasized the importance of a system to control the abuse of press power by saying "certain newspapers with a special interest or a certain ideology should not dominate the press market." However, the next speaker, Gavin O'Reilly of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN), said that South Korean government made a press law to restrain the influence of the major newspapers and called the Seoul government's step "unwarranted influence." O'Reilly, President of WAN, said the media legislation is "...somewhat incompatible with internationally recognized standards governing the freedom to publish." (NOTE: WAN defends and promotes press freedom world-wide. It represents 17,000 newspapers; its membership includes 67 national newspaper associations, individual newspaper executives in 93 countries, 17 news agencies and eight regional and world-wide press groups.)

In the continuation of its grandiose 2003 probe, in April 2005 the FTC pressed forward with an investigation of 17 newspapers for "illegal" practices of free subscriptions and "freebie" giveaways. However, the investigation was specifically targeting the major newspapers that Roh had labeled the "Gangster Press." Some of the techniques of the FTC in obtaining newspaper mailing lists and using them to mail out questionaires verged on being illegal itself.

In April 2005, the Korea Journalists Club, a group of retired journalists, claimed the freedom of the press in South Korea shrank in 2004 due to new press laws, a journalists organization. "The country's press freedom index last year stood at 54.6 out of 100, down from the previous year's 60," said a report by the Korea Journalists Club. The group said passage of the new press law in 2004, which "curbs the freedom of the press from all directions," substantially narrowed the scope of government critics, "and the freedom of news gathering and publication is now subject to legal sanction."

The Dong-A Ilbo petitioned the Constitutional Court in February and March 2005 over the Newspaper Law. The Dong-A Ilbo petition claimed, “The main articles of the Newspaper Law and the Press Arbitration Law amount to improper exercising of law enforcement, violating the constitutional guarantees: freedom of press and publication (article 21 paragraph 1); freedom of vocation (article 15); and economic freedom (article 119 paragraph 1).” The petition was to be heard by the Constitutional Court on 2 Apr 2005. Then in Jun 2005, the Chosun Ilbo filed a petition against the Newspaper Law and Press Arbitration Law with the Constitutional Court as well. In the case of multiple petitions citing violations of the same articles, the Constitutional Court usually deliberates on them together. The petition was referred for a ruling by the "full court" -- meaning a quorum of seven or more judges, but because of the importance of this petition, it would probably be nine judges.

(NOTE: Perhaps the Joongang Ilbo did NOT join in the petitions against the Press Law because in 2005 Hong was nominated as Ambassador to the US by the Roh administration. Hong Seok-hyun, chairman and CEO of the JoongAng Ilbo of South Korea, was chairman of the World Association of Newspapers (WAN) in May 2002 and served as President until 2004. During this time, the "Gangster Press" -- including the Joongang Ilbo -- was under attack. However, on 16 Dec 2004 former JoongAng Ilbo Chairman Hong Seok-hyun was nominated as Korea's ambassador to the United States -- and approved on 16 Feb 2005. In April, Hong had to made an apology for an illicit accumulation of wealth and admitted that his late father had falsely registered his residency to buy farmland in the late 1970s. Hong topped the list of the nation’s public servants with properties valued at 73 billion won ($71 million). In July 2005 local television station MBC reported the contents of an illegally wiretapped conversation by the National Intelligence Service (NIS) between Hong, then the chairman of the JoongAng Ilbo, which was formerly affiliated with Samsung Group, and Samsung vice chairman Lee Hak-soo discussing to provide slush funds for presidential candidates ahead of the 1997 elections. The 1997 scheme by Samsung was to influence various politicians including GNP leader Lee Hoi-chang, by providing financial support to them in the presidential election of 1997. (NOTE: Hong and Lee were interrelated by the chaebol practice of intermarriages.) He resigned on July 26, 2005. The NIS wiretap scandal implicated the Kim Dae-jung and Kim Young-sam administrations by a special wiretapping unit of the NIS called "Mirim." In concluding its lengthy probe on the wiretapping scandal, however, the prosecution decided not to take legal action against high-ranking executives of the conglomerate, including Hong and the group’s chairman Lee Kun-hee, citing lack of evidence. (Source: Korea Times.))

The Constitutional Court said 6 Jul that it referred a petition by the Chosun Ilbo and others against the controversial Newspaper Law and Press Arbitration Law to the full bench on July 5, meaning full-scale deliberations were underway. (NOTE: 6 Jul is the date the National Assembly approved appointment of Uri Party nominee Cho Dae-hyen as a justice of the Constitutional Court.) The court said the petition met legal requirements and a quorum of seven or more judges would deliberate on it behind closed doors. The court has the discretion to hold public discussions in important matters. A petition against the same bills by the Dong-A Ilbo was referred to the full bench in April. When the Constitutional Court receives several petitions on the same article, it usually merges them for deliberation, a decision the court said it had yet to take at the time.

On 28 Jul 2005, the controversial Newspaper Law and Press Arbitration Law went into effect despite pending constitutional appeals by the Chosun Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo. The conservative newspapers have asked the Constitutional Court to rule on whether or not the laws violate the "pursuit of happiness, equality and freedom of expression." It has also been suggested that the National Assembly take action to either remove or tone down some of the most offensive revisions. Until a court ruling or legislative action takes place, the effects of the revision of press laws will be a watch and wait standoff.



The Chosun Ilbo said the two bills contain provisions that regulate the management, editing and sales of newspaper companies and therefore violate constitutionally protected rights and freedoms such as freedom of the press and publishing (Article 21, clause 1), property rights (Article 23), economic freedom (Article 119, clause 1), equality (Article 11, clause 1) and pursuit of happiness (Article 10). "The two laws justify themselves in terms of readers' rights and public interest, but by sanctioning the intrusion of state power into newspapers, they have turned back the clock in Korea’s press freedom,” Bang said. The petition argues the laws violate in all 48 articles and clauses of the Constitution. (Source: Chosun Ilbo, 6 Jun 2005.) According to the Chosun Ilbo, the following provisions are of particular concern:

• 'Social responsibility' of newspapers: The two laws attempt to posit a “public duty” in newspaper reports. That is exactly what the "Basic Law of the Press" enacted by the Chun Doo-hwan regime in 1980 attempted to do. The fear is that it opens the door to censorship of the press in the name of public interest.
• Ban on newspaper ownership of broadcast media: The laws seek to stop newspaper companies from owning broadcast media like cable TV and satellite DMB. That attempts to stem a trend of media convergence and could violate the right to know of readers who would like to see news articles in broadcast form. Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 15 state that a newspaper company cannot operate news agencies or media organizations. In today’s media, broadcasters’ convergence and media convergence via information technology are realized. Moreover, technological development has reduced the rarity of broadcasting. Therefore, prohibiting newspaper companies from running news agencies or media organizations curbs the variety of public opinion outlets and violates the rule of anti-excessiveness. (Source: Donga Ilbo, 24 Mar 2005.)
• Anti-trust regulations: The laws deem it “monopolistic” if the top three newspapers hold over 60 percent of the market share. In other industries, the bar is set at 75 percent, and no such regulation exists for the broadcast media. That only newspapers would be subject to a 60 percent rule has sparked suspicion that the laws specifically target Korea's three major dailies -- the Chosun Ilbo, JoongAng Ilbo and Dong-A Ilbo -- and that the government is attempting to manipulate the market. Article 17 states that fines can be levied on a newspaper company with a market share of 30 percent or higher and three newspaper companies with a combined market share of 60 percent or higher. The purpose of this article appears to regulate the oligopoly of the three newspaper companies (Dong-A Ilbo, Chosun Ilbo, and JoongAng Ilbo). However, the purpose of fair trade regulations is to prevent oligopolists from manipulating the price of the papers by engaging in a tacit collective activity. Each of the three oligopolists has its own voice and tone, and does not have capital or personal connections. (Source: Donga Ilbo, 24 Mar 2005.)
• Newspaper Development Fund and newspaper subsidies: The Newspaper Development Fund is funded by taxpayers’ money, which under the laws could be spent on only those newspapers that are sympathetic to the government, giving the administration another means of control over the press. In other words, the sympathetic Hankyoreh would receive support, but the conservative Chosun Ilbo would receive none.
• Press Arbitration Committee can recommend corrections: The law empowers the Press Arbitration Committee (PAC) to recommend corrections of news reports. In doing so, it can hear arguments nor merely from victims but also from third parties, enabling the government and civic groups to interfere with the content of press reports they do not like. The recommendations are not legally binding, but there are concerns they could hurt the reputations of newspapers.
  
  The Press Arbitration Law allows third parties including spouses, lineal relations, siblings and employees of individuals to demand corrections. The scope is so wide that they can demand corrections even where the report is factual and did not violate any laws provided they file a request with the commission within three months of the report. Experts say the demand for corrections that virtually nullify reports within three months will constrict the activity of the press, because that is not enough time to uncover all the facts in complex cases such as major corruption scandals.
  
  

  On 16 Feb 2006 President Roh Moo-hyun sued the Chosun Ilbo for "falsely" describing him as a liar in connection with a high-profile wiretapping scandal that rocked the country in 2005. Roh claimed in a written complaint filed with the Seoul Central District Court that the cartoon published in the daily on Aug. 9, last year, defamed him by carrying a false argument. He demanded the newspaper immediately release a "correction" for the cartoon or pay 5 million won (US$5,130) a day to the plaintiff in compensation, the court said.
  
  The cartoon said Roh's lie was disclosed during a news conference on Aug. 8 when he overturned his earlier remarks that he was not briefed by the prosecution on illegally wiretapped conversations in 1997 between a top Samsung official, Lee Hang-soo, and the former South Korean Ambassador to the United States, Hong Seok-hyun. Hong is also the former publisher of the Joongang Ilbo, part of Roh's "gangster press."
  
  In the complaint, Roh insisted that he had not been briefed on the contents of the intercepted messages and had not indicated to reporters that he was aware of them. "But the cartoon carried false information showing the plaintiff was aware of the contents when he was telling reporters," read the written complaint.
  
  This marked the president's third suit against the Chosun Ilbo -- which along with the Donga Ilbo and Joongang Ilb is described as the "gangster press" by Roh. (Source: Yonhap News.)

  Government Information Agency Under Attack In mid-Jan 2006, the Seoul Central District Court said that certain clauses in the media arbitration law could potentially violate the constitution, and filed a suit at the Constitutional Court. The particular clause it saw as going against the constitutional spirit is one in which people can demand corrections, regardless of the media's purpose in reporting certain facts. Giving the recent stem cell dispute as an example, the district court said that "excessive demands for corrections could cover up the comprehensive truth." (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

Press Freedom Oral Arguments Scheduled

MARCH 21, 2006 03:12 by Ji-Seong Jeon (verso@donga.com)

Oral proceedings in the constitutional complaint against the Newspaper Law, protecting the freedom and function of the press, and the Press Arbitration Law on press damage arbitration will open early next month, according to the Constitutional Court yesterday.

The court said, “Oral arguments will be held with claimants, including Dong-A Ilbo, and claimees, including the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, present.”

A Constitutional Court insider said, “The petitions against the two laws are creating great interest among the public, and they are already being designated as important cases. One can expect the claimant and the claimee to make their oral proceedings in an open trial.”

During the oral proceedings, the two parties will express their opinions and present evidence in front of nine justices, including chief justice Yun young-chul.

Legal battles are expected on the constitutionality of the social responsibility of newspapers, the ban on newspaper ownership of broadcast media, regulations on dominant newspapers, and the Press Arbitration Commission’s right to recommend correction measures.

Dong-A Ilbo, reporter Cho Yong-woo of the society section of the daily, and reader Yoo Jae-cheon of the Hallym Academy of Sciences filed a petition against the Newspaper Law and the Press Arbitration Law with the Constitutional Court March 23 last year.

On the four articles, including Article 17 of the Newspaper Law that limits the market share of newspapers, and the Press Arbitration Law, the newspaper argued that “a public power is violating constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the press and publishing (Article 21, clause 1), freedom to choose one’s job (Article 15), and freedom to pursue economic activities (Article 119, clause 1).”

Yoo said, “As the Newspaper Law restricts the freedom of choice for newspaper readers, the law violates the constitutional right of decision (right to choose a newspaper) derived from the right to happiness (freedom of the press), Article 10, and the right to knowledge, Article 21, clause 1.”

Currently, the Constitutional Court is hearing the three cases about the two laws, and one petition case about violation of the constitution. Lawyer Chung In-bong, the Environment and Construction Daily, and Chosun Ilbo filed a petition against the two laws, separately.

The department of the Seoul District Court in charge of press issues recommended on January 19 of this year that Article 14 Clause 2, Article 31, and Article 26 Clause 6 of the Press Arbitration Law, which the request from the National Intelligence Service was based on, be ruled unconstitutional. Since 2000, the court has held oral proceedings on issues with large ripple effects in society, including a constitutional complaint on a special law regarding the 1948 uprising and massacre on the Jeju Island, a case about the hoju system, a system recognizing only males as heads of family, and the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun. (Source: Donga Ilbo.)

The Korea Commission for the Press inaugurated in November recently issued an official notice to 140 newspapers across the country asking them to declare between May 15 and 30 "circulation and paid circulation, reader and advertising revenues, share details, and details of shareholders holding a stake of 5 percent or more." The declaration form issued with it then requires newspaper publishers to declare not only circulation and paid circulation but also circulation by region and bureau, bureau address, distribution area, plus the personal details and contact details of bureau chiefs. The commission will verify the data and publish them on its website.

But such information, experts say, is only required of government agencies and state-run firms. "This means the government is demanding that private businesses submit all details about their clients," said Dr. Choi Sung-no at the Center for Free Enterprise. "Not even government-financed agencies submit such detailed information." If the data is leaked to rival firms or used by the Korea Newspaper Circulation Serivce and other agencies, newspaper firms could sustain substantial losses.

Experts say it is also unconstitutional for the government to simply stipulate the scope of the business data to be submitted by newspapers in the declaration form rather than in any law. The Newspaper Law only calls for newspapers to make public their total circulation and paid circulation, and the enforcement decree specifies, “Data declaration shall follow a written format issued by the Korea Commission for the Press." But that format then demands detailed data not mentioned in the law. "It violates the constitutional ban on blanket legislation if you demand information capable of infringing on businesses' basic rights not under a law but under an enforcement decree," said Prof. Chang Young-soo of the Korea University College of Law.

Under the Commercial Law, companies submit annual audit reports to the Financial Supervisory Commission and publish financial documents including their balance sheet. They declare various management data to the National Tax Service as well. Experts say requiring newspaper publishers alone to submit additional information violates the constitutional principle of equality.

Nowhere else in the world do the personal details of shareholders or company staff who hold a stake over 5 percent have to be disclosed, experts note. "This demand is derived from the Stock Exchange Law stipulating that companies must declare any stake over 5 percent to protect investors in listed firms. But it’s excessive and without clear legal grounds to apply that to unlisted businesses," said Park Yang-kyoon with the Center for Free Enterprise.

Critics say the government attempts to divide the press into “them” and “us” using the Newspaper Law as a stick to weaken the critical function of the press and using financial aid in the form of the circulation centers and other agencies as a carrot. "The Newspaper Law reduces the freedom of business activities by imposing a duty to disclose excessive management information," said attorney-at-law Lee Seok-yon. "This demand for disclosure of business secrets from newspapers is a ploy to intervene in the public opinion market." The government will have a hard time countering criticism that it is trying to drive a wedge between media outlets in this way and to punish newspapers that do not follow its instructions.

(SITE NOTE: Though the remarks were callous and insensitive -- and the perpetrators should be smacked on the side of the head with a baseball bat -- we are dismayed that this has become a legal problem. This is a problem that people have discussed for over 10 years now as far I know -- Freedom of Speech and the Internet.

We wonder what world the prosecutors have lived in. The "flame wars" on Usenet is a common place occurrence with profanity, accusations of people's sexual preference and sexual behavior as long as the Usenet has existed. Usenet is NOT reality and bulletin boards are Usenet. The Prosecutors actions now verge on the Communist takeover of the press!!!

Bulletin boards are Usenet and such remarks are expected -- if not encouraged -- in a discussion format. We wonder why the Prosecutors did not attack the "internet news source" (newspapers) for their role. As "moderators" of the bulletin board, it is their responsibility to delete such comments. Moderated bulletin boards state that offensive comments may be removed by the discretion of the moderator. The responsibilty for content on the bulletin board falls to the organization or individual who puts up the bulletin board. However, the Prosecutor's Office has NOT levied charges against the "internet news source" (newspapers).

Even we are in danger of being attacked as we are users of "Hanvit.com" a Korea-based internet provider -- though our website is on a server is in the US. Many of the things said by us are uncomplimentary of the Roh administration -- though we also say unpleasant things about the USFK as well if deserved. However, because I do not operate a "blog" (bulletin board), people cannot comment on how stupid my remarks are.

We feel this specific action by the Seoul Prosecutors Office tramples on freedom of speech. We feel the Seoul Public Prosecutors Office should have thought this out before acting. If a person WILLING becomes a public figure courts throughout the world have established that they cannot complain about the "Papparatzi" press who hound them. If a movie star makes a film that stinks, can the star file a libel suit against a reviewer who pans the movie and destroys the star's career? Lim Soo-kyong became a public figure by her well-publicized actions in defiance of the ban on visits to North Korea. She has remained in the spotlight with her part in the 2001 visit to North Korea and her activism in human rights. Though what was said about her son was reprehensible -- and callous to the point of being revolting -- as a public figure BY CHOICE, she cannot complain.

We strongly recommend the Reporters with Borders, International Press Institute, and World Association of Newspapers condemn this act which tramples on the WORLDWIDE internet principle of freedom of speech. This is NOT a local issue as the internet is world-wide. South Korea claims to be a democracy, but the Roh administration has some strange ideas on Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Speech. Though 70 percent disagree with our view, 30 percent of online Korean users do agree with our view that this is a freedom of expression/speech issue.

It was interesting to read about the most wired nation in the world doling out fines of 10,000,000 won each to some 14 South Koreans last week. Their crime was vicious alright but we have to wonder just what is going through Roh’s mind when this is pursued in the face of glaring inconsistencies. Yes, there’s no doubt that writing malicious things just to hurt any parent upon the death of their child is wrong but some are wondering if this was actually the motivation for Roh’s/Prosecution’s legal retribution.

Apparently, you can’t write vicious things on the web in the South but you can support a vicious regime of death and horror if you’re a Southerner and heck, you can even pump money into that regime so that torture and murder can keep occurring every day. Doesn’t that make you feel good all over? Or perhaps you could think of it like this- You can’t write things where you rejoice in the death of others in the South because it’s morally reprehensible but if you’re a Southerner you can support the murder of humans in the North because that’s okay as North Korea has a bigger army.

I love these technical policies -- be they policies inconsistent with human values when you look at them technically, or policies that are here as a result of technology and questionable intentions. (Source: Korea Times.)

Student activist Lim Soo-kyong arrived in Pyongyang on 30 Jun 1989 to participate in the World Festival of Youth and Students, a socialist youth congress, as a delegate of South Korean university students. Lim's visit received a tremendous welcome from North Korea but stirred a vehement social controversy in the South as it was illegal. She became known as the "flower of unification." After she returned home through Panmunjom, the truce village on the inter-Korean border, the South Korean government gave her a three-and-a-half year jail term. Lim had taken a circuitous route to North Korea, flying to Japan and then to Germany before traveling to Pyongyang. She later worked with various civic groups and studied human rights at Cornell University. She is currently doing a Ph.D. in journalism at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies in Seoul, her alma mater. (Source: Yonhap News.) In 2001, Lim was part of the delegation of the Organizing Committee for 2001 Inter-Korean Joint Events that visited Pyeongyang. "It took exactly 12 years for me to be able to visit the North again," said Lim. (Source: Asian Human Rights Commission, 2001-08-17. She has remained in the spotlight with statements in the press dealing with sexual harassment and human rights issues.)

Trying to prevent anonymous attacks, the government said in December 2005 it would require Web sites to confirm users' real names before they can post. Many South Korean Web sites already require users to enter their national identification numbers to get accounts, which are verified through a government system. The government says a bill on the real-name authentication will be submitted to the National Assembly in the first half of 2006. (SITE NOTE: We have ranted against this practice since we started using the internet with regularity in Korea. If any site asks an American to enter his Social Security Number (SSN) it is a sure sign that the site may be something other than what it professes. RED FLAGS GO UP. Horror stories abound about those who foolishly entered their SSN on these sites. In Korea, we preached that this was a disaster waiting to happen. It came true when 140,000 people had their IDs stolen from an on-line gaming site in Feb 2006. To require the ID for blogs and other internet sites will only expand the problem. The "unsophistication" -- a polite word for stupidity -- of the Uri Party lawmakers is astounding.)

To Kim Bi-hwan, a political science professor at Sungkyunkwan University, cyberviolence won't be solved by official intervention. He said the maturity of country's Internet society hasn't kept pace with technological innovation. "Promoting a self-examination of Internet society should come before trying to restrict Internet users by any regulations," he said. "Otherwise the same problems will keep occurring in different forms."

Kwak Keum-joo, a psychology professor at Seoul National University who has studied the issue, said people who post malicious remarks often get hooked on the habit of seeing others respond to their inflammatory remarks. When they don't get the response they want, "they get angry and also tend to act more aggressively as they are granted anonymity," she said. (SITE NOTE: Geez, now the academics of Korea are studying the situation. For over a decade, USENET has had its "flame wars" with filth and profanity flying back and forth. The term "trolls" does not refer to ogres from Lord of the Rings, but people "trolling" (fishing) for comments on USENET. These trolls try to start up a situation -- and many time use false identities to sucker people into commenting. There is no cure as internet provides free access. However, the next step was "moderated groups" where a moderator or panel of moderators would approve posts before they got onto a newsgroup. The same is true of most blogs -- with the owner of the blog being the moderator.)

Some Web sites are taking matters into their own hands, seeking to actively filter comments. South Korea's Cyworld site, home to a hugely popular blog hosting service with 17 million registered members, has 115 employees who encourage proper Internet etiquette and another 20 monitoring for malicious remarks and slander. (SITE NOTE: This is the only responsible thing to do by a newspaper or bulletin-board service (bbs) operator. In Korea, however, we have noticed that some newspapers allow profanity and "flaming" as a means to stimulate interest in a topic...and thus increase readership. This is unprofessional and irresponsible -- but the government says nothing of these parties as they have teams of lawyers who would scream about "freedom of the press.") (Source: Las Vegas Sun.)

As more than five years has elapsed since his death, however, the state consistently rejected the family's demand for compensation. In Jan 2005, the lower court rejected the case on this premise. "In principle, the plaintiffs' right to claim expired when the statute of limitations on the case was over. But the state's claim is not acceptable because the plaintiffs had objective reasons for not exercising their rights (within the designated timeframe)," Judge Cho Yong-ho said.

The family was unaware of the truth behind the professor's death until the Truth Commission announced the results of its investigation, due to the cover-up by the KCIA, the judge explained. "It is unpardonable for a large state organization like the KCIA to claim the statute of limitations has expired when dealing with a case where the truth was systemically covered up and a torture victim was labeled an enemy of the state," Cho said.

The court confirmed that Tsche's death was at the very least indirectly related to the torture and ill treatment he received, but the KCIA falsely announced the cause of the death as suicide based on fabricated documents. (Source: Yonhap News.)

• Labor Law: The commission called for the revision of the labor law which bans public servants from union-related political activities to give more political freedom to civil servants and teachers. If the recommendation is adopted, the revision of the law is expected to stir up controversy because it runs counter to the Constitutional Court's ruling, that prohibiting teachers and civil servants from engaging in political activities is constitutional. Currently, school teachers and government officials are banned from joining political parties and conducting election campaigns. Progressive teachers called for the abolition of the law but the nation's highest court supported the prohibition as constitutional. Conservative groups criticized that the panel is risking damaging the political neutrality of public servants and teachers.
  
  The NHRCK has asked for the revision of the law, saying that the ban runs counter to the principle of equality because professors at national and public universities are allowed to take part in political activities while teachers at elementary, middle and high schools don't enjoy the same rights. (SITE NOTE: The professors fall under the same prohibition for NOT engaging in political action as "civil servants" but the government has adopted a "hands-off" policy for the university for fear of stirring up student unrest. As a result, the universities have been known as the unfettered breeding ground of government subversives. In fact, in 1992 a spy ring centering on Seoul National University professors was found -- and had been operating for over thirty years. Starting in the Kim Dae-jung administration, the Korean National Police was banned from entering the University property in pursuit of students fleeing rioting in the streets.)
  
  Political parties are also divided over the issue. Three political parties, the ruling Uri Party, the Democratic Party and the Democratic Labor Party welcomed the move, saying that it will enhance human rights in the country. However, the main opposition Grand National Party opposes it, saying that the recommendations will destroy the basic order of the democracy and shake the basis of the country.
  
  The panel suggested a reduction in the number of government-designated workplaces in which workers have restricted rights to collective action because disrupting their work could cause public harm. Critics point out that the Constitution defines public officials as "servants of the entire people." The Constitution stipulates the political neutrality of civil servants, and of education workers too. It also stipulates that the "people's freedoms and rights may be restricted by law for the purpose of national security, order and public welfare." The government also worries that the public servants' union with a 140,000 strong membership, the largest of any single unions in Korea, may emerge as a formidable force if public servants are allowed to engage in political activities. The once unlawful public workers' union will be legalized this year.
  
  Critics pointed out that the commission asserts that its ideas conform to supranational criteria set by UN conventions and the like. However, as far as political activities of public servants and teachers are concerned, for instance, the United States permits civil servants limited political activities like donations but bans political activities for teachers, while Japan bans both from any political activity. This prohibition has not stopped the "progressive" Korean Teachers and Education Workers Union (KTU) from teaching its anti-American and pro-Unification philosophies in the schools. There are complaints of the KTU fostering ideologically-based education.
  
  
  
  

  (SITE NOTE: The Korea Times on 27 Jan 2006 reported that the Korean Government Employees' Union (KGEU) with over 140,000 members joined the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), the country's second largest labor group, to demand full guarantee of their rights as unionists. The 140,000-strong KGEU, the bigger of the two labor unions of low-level government workers, is expected to play a leading role in the radical KCTU, currently led by carmakers' unions. This will give the civil servants' union extra strength and allow them increased leverage in negotiations with the government.
  
  The union has said that in protest against the Local Government Workers Act, which goes into effect at the end of January 2006, it would remain an outlawed organization without seeking approval for a legitimate labor union. Another government workers' union, the Confederation of Government Employees' Unions (CGEU) with a 70,000 membership, has also indicated that it would refuse to abide by the law, which prohibits public workers from taking collective action. But the CGEU has decided to establish a new umbrella labor group with the Korean Union of Teaching and Education Workers (KTU) and other public workers' unions.
  
  Under the new law, unionized public servants became legalized with about 300,000 civil servants officially allowed to join labor unions. The two labor unions have been in operation for years without the state's authorization. However, unions have argued that they cannot fight for civil servants' welfare without rights to strike. The public servants' law also prohibits a certain level of government official from entering the unions. Some 130,000 government workers out of the total 350,000 eligible for union membership would be barred from joining the union due to the law's restrictive provisions. The KGEU estimates 60,000 out of its 140,000 union members would also be forced to withdraw their union membership if the union decides to obtain legitimate status under the law. However, government officials say that it will not recognize public workers' unions unless they abide by the law.
  
  Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan said that the government will take stern measures against the KGEU and the CGEU if they decide to remain outlawed, adding that the government would not acknowledge their rights to union organization and collective bargaining. In October 2005, the Constitutional Court ruled the law banning civil servants from striking constitutional. The Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs said that it was illegal for civil servants to join the unregistered union and ordered the nation's 250 local governments not to sign collective bargaining agreements with the union. As of Jan 28, the central government still had not taken action.)

• Labor Rights: The commission is also seeking to get rid of the government's mediation in labor disputes and to lessen criminal and civic punishment of strikers. However, in 2003 emergency arbitration was upheld by the Constitutional Court. Kim Young-bae, vice chairman of Korea Employers Federation, said in a telephone interview with Dong-A Ilbo, "An attempt to judge economic issues by the standard of human rights amounts to the championing of egalitarianism," adding, "The NHRC's recommendation clearly went too far." Kim also said, "The incumbent government is taking larger, and even lopsided ideological moves compared with the initial stage of its term. Although we have just quietly watched, the five business organizations will closely cooperate with one another and actively respond from now on."
  
  
• Temporary Workers: The commission also advised the government to take necessary measures guaranteeing the same conditions and benefits given to regular workers such as wages, working hours and welfare benefits to non-regular workers. The Korea Employers Federation demanded the panel reconsider the proposal saying that such measures would increase the burden of cost for businesses and will thus negatively affect the national economy.
  
  

  (SITE NOTE: The DLP vehemently opposes the temporary workers being given status as it weakens the regular workers' job security. Businesses generally support the temporary workers use because of the reductions in costs. Thus the NHRCK recommendation that they be given the same status as permanent workers has created a furor and calls were made for the dissolution of the NHRCK by business leaders.)
  
  On 9 Feb 2006, the chairman of the Korea Employers Federation threatened the government with a mass exodus of businesses if it continues to favor trade unions. "If the government and politicians favor only trade unions, as they do now, businesspeople will go on a strike. In other words, we will quietly shut down and leave for China, India and Bangladesh, which will result in a shrinking job market and increasing unemployment,” Lee Soo-young told a press conference. "The problem with politicians is that they are not aware of and insensitive to difficulties faced by businesses,” Lee said. He added today's trade unions “are more political or ideological organizations than economic ones, which is very confusing for businesses.”
  
  The business organization is against a labor market law (supported by the NHRC and Roh administration) before the National Assembly that is designed to address discrimination and differences between regular and non-regular workers because it feels flexibility in the labor market needs to be protected. The KEF insisted that if salaries of non-regular workers are raised by law to the level of regular workers’, businesses will have to shoulder an additional W42.6 trillion (US$42.6 billion) in cost, of which W39.7 trillion will have to be borne by small and medium-sized enterprises. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.) (SITE NOTE: Another KEF estimate of the burden said W7.5 trillion (US$7.5 billion) a year. Of that, W6.8 trillion would have to be borne by smaller firms. No periods were mentioned.)

• Gay Rights: The panel also recommended that employers be prohibited from discriminating against job-seekers who are HIV-positive or carrying the hepatitis B virus. In addition, the panel recommended that sex change operations be gradually included in health insurance policies.
  
  
• Demonstrations: The panel recommended allowing night-time demonstrations. Currently night-time demonstrations are limited to "candle-light vigils." The Constitutional Court ruled in 1994 that restrictions on nighttime outdoor assemblies and demonstrations are lawful. Critics state "if we permit nighttime demonstrations, who would protect the rights of ordinary citizens not taking part in them, and who would solve the difficulties of the police who have to control them?"
  
  
• National Security Law: The human rights body also recommended the government abolish the anti-communist law, drawing an instant protest from the main opposition Grand National Party. The ruling and opposition parties have long been at odds over the draconian National Security Law. The ruling Uri Party has been trying to scrap or dramatically revise the law which was often used to repress democratic activists by military dictators in the past. But the GNP is firmly against the move, saying the law is the "last fortress of national security." The NHRCK recommended the abolition of the death penalty. However, in 1996 the Constitutional Court endorsed the death penalty.
  
  

  (SITE NOTE: Roh and the Uri Party have repeatedly attempted to do away with the National Security Law and castrate the NIS. The National Security Law (NSL) is a 25-article statute that allows pro-North Korean activities to be punished. The law stipulates that the formation of and admission to enemy-benefiting bodies, which prevents any acts praising the enemy. Violators of the law are subject to harsh punishment. The law which has been cited as a relic of the Cold War and military dictatorships. When Roh came to power the enforcement of the NSL was still in the hands of the NIS. The law earned notoriety when past military dictatorships punished many pro-democracy activists -- some now in Roh's cabinet or prominent in the Uri Party -- under charges based on it. Since the democratization in the late 1980s, however, no one of any political importance has been charged under the NSL law. The ruling and opposition parties have been opposed over the fate of the NSL.
  
  One of Roh's first acts was to appoint a "reformist" director of the NIS and "left-leaning" director for the NIS security planning agency (NASP) -- over the protests from the National Assembly. He then pushed through his agenda for having the NIS made responsible for external espionage and the Korean National Police responsible for domestic espionage. He then ensured the police was underfunded in this area -- and inadequately manned. In essence, the push to find spies in South Korea ceased. The once-powerful military Defense Security Command was subjugated and limited in its duties to investigating only military defense concerns of infiltration and subversion in the military. Responsibility for maintaining internal security lies with the National Intelligence Service (NIS), the National Police Administration (NPA), and the Defense Security Command (DSC). The NIS and the DSC are legally barred from involvement in domestic politics, although the NIS is authorized to investigate organizations believed to support the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).
  
  Once this was done, the ruling Uri, as part of its four reform bills (NSL Reform, Private School Reform, Press Mediation Law and Truth Committe Law), called for the scrapping the NSL. The issue of abolishing the National Security Law (NSL) and revising the criminal law, was pressed by the Uri Party in Oct 2004 when the bill to abolish the NSL was submitted by the Uri Party. In August 2004 the Constitutional Court ruled that the law did not excessively restrict human rights, but in October 2004, the ruling Uri party introduced legislation to loosen or scrap the law, offering the country alternatives ranging from revisions of the existing law to the drafting of an entirely new law. The move was part of the government's broader reform drive, but thousands of people rallied in protest, asserting that the law in its current form was still a necessary safeguard against security threats from North Korea. The GNP occupied the Legislation and Judiciary Committee's chambers to prevent Uri's version from being introduced for committee review.
  
  In Apr 2005, the GNP input a revision bill that eliminated some of the provisions but retained the NSL. The GNP proposed excluding "failure to report" pro-North Korean activities from the list of punishable crimes and limit the prosecution of "praise and encouragement" for the North to cases in which such activity is done with intent to aid the enemy. The GNP argued the law was still needed to protect national security, and revision was sufficient to prevent abuse of the law. The GNP cited the nation's security and the possibility of the outbreak of war as a reason for retaining the NSL. The GNP, in alliance with various groups, including the Korean Veterans Association and the Anticommunist League, launched a nationwide campaign to stop Uri's move to push the reform bill.
  
  In defense of the NSL abolition, the Roh administration attempted to "mobilize the people" to do away with the NSL, but the reception was luke warm indicating that even "progressive" elements felt the NSL needed to remain in place at least for the present. Then the Uri Party received a smashing defeat when it won none of the seats in the Apr 2004 by-elections, while the GNP won five of the six seats. Also the numbers of the Uri Party had dwindled because of election violations or corruption convictions. The Uri Party could only muster 107 votes from Uri and opposition legislators in favor of abolishing the NSL and the push failed. The Uri Party floor leader resigned over the "embarrassment." (Source: Asia Media.)
  
  In the midst of the NSL fight in Oct 2005, a leftist Professor Kang Jeong-koo, a sociology professor was accused of allegedly breaking the NSL. Kang posted an article on the internet which said that the North's invasion of the South in 1950 was an attempt to reunify the Koreas and that U.S. intervention hampered reunification. He also said U.S General Douglas MacArthur was a war criminal because his actions made Korea's civil war last for three years.Kang, 60, a sociology professor at Seoul's Dongguk University, was previously arrested in 2001 on charges of violating the NSL when he visited Mankyongdae, the birthplace of North Korea's founding leader Kim Il-sung in Pyongyang, and wrote a controversial message which said "let's achieve the great task of national unification by cherishing the spirit of Mankyongdae." The prosecutor office -- now handling domestic NSL violations -- was reluctant at first to arrest Kang, but the GNP pressure forced an investigation. The Justice Minister Chun Jung-bae took the unusual step to intervene citing his authority and the Prosecutor General Kim Jong-bin resigned in protest over the prosecution's investigative independence. Later a member of Roh's cabinet Kim Geun-tae admitted that he was a student of Kang's during his school years but he renounced his ideas. In the end, Kang was arrested without detention and the case was still pending in Jan 2006. (Source: Asia Media.)

  (SITE NOTE: The Seoul Central District Court on 26 May 2006 handed down a suspended two-year jail term to Prof. Kang Jeong-koo of Dongguk University, who famously asserted the Korean War was North Korea’s “war of unification.” Kang was found guilty of violating the national security law with remarks that, the court said, are capable of substantively harming the existence and safety of the Republic of Korea and its liberal democracy. Members of the Roh administration had defended Kang's remarks as falling under academic freedom and freedom of expression. But the court ruled such gems of Kangian insight as calling MacArthur a warmonger and his description of North Korean maritime intrusions in 2002 as “proper crossings” are not academic discourse but incendiary pro-North Korean propaganda. The court, however, decided to suspend the sentence since Korean society is healthy enough to bear discussing ideologies in the market of ideas, and that the verdict itself is likely to be punishment enough given its impact on Kang’s professional standing. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

  The "progressive" activist movement to abolish the NSL is not over. On 18 Dec 2005, 5,000 people gathered in Kwanghwamoon to hold a 'Candlelight March to Stop Anti-Communist Attacks and for Abolition of NSL' to "strongly condemn" the GNP. On 22 Dec 2005, the 'National Solidarity for Abolition of the NSL' condemned the leadership of the Uri Party while mobilizing campaigns in cyber space and mass candlelight demonstrations. "The leadership of the Uri Party has backed away under the formalistic rhetoric of normalizing the National Assembly, and has accommodated most of the demands of the Grand National Party. There are dangers now that they will attempt to revise or legislate alternative laws through 4-party talks. The weight lies on the opinion that it will in fact be impossible to abolish the NSL within this year." (Source: KCTU.))

• Conscientious Objectors: One of the thorny issues in the recommendations is to provide conscientious objectors with an alternative to mandatory military service. The recommendation, however, contrasted with a Constitutional Court decision last August that affirmed the current conscription law as lawful. The top court said religious beliefs couldn't come before national security. Recently, Defense Minister Yoon Kwang-ung said that his ministry plans to launch a pan-governmental committee to study alternative civil service for conscientious objectors. The ministry previously reacted negatively to the issue, citing a possible security gap resulting from the weakness of military manpower, as more young people could take on the alternative system to evade their mandatory service. (See Minister of Defense to Review Conscientious Objector Issue (Jan 2006) for details.) In Jan 2006, three conscientious objectors were arrested despite the MND review process.

(SITE NOTE: In our opinion, President Roh has used the NHRCK as his personal tool within the past months for justifying "truth commission" investigations, forcing the retirement of Police Commissioner Huh -- and installing the highschool and SNU classmate of Premier Lee Tae-han as the new Police Commissioner -- and pressing the investigations of Park Chung-hee with intentions to discredit his daughter GNP chairman Park Geun-hye. In Jan 2006, the NHRCK "forced" the conscientious objector status to be reviewed by the Ministry of Defense, even though the Constitutional Court had ruled that mandatory military service was constitutional.

In essence, the NHRCK has become a political tool. In this respect, it has consistently abstained from condemning the North for the human rights abuses that have been documented by those who escaped from the North, in the face of worldwide condemnation to reflect the policies of the Roh administration in not wanting to upset the North-South rapprochement process. South Korea's ambassador-at-large for human rights and senior member of the NHRCK, Park Kyung-seo, continued to maintain that the North Korean human rights issue was being used politically at the United Nations. "The human rights issue must not be used as a political means to attack a certain individual, group or a country," said Mr. Park. "Peace on the Korean Peninsula, which must take a higher priority than the human rights issue, must be achieved first," he added. In May 2004, he also said, "Human rights are violated in many places in the world now. We have to wait until North Korea can solve its problem by itself." In Nov 2005, he said the human rights issue should not be an item for discussion until the North and South Korea sign a non-aggression pact -- and again repeated this remark in Jan 2006. Park also argued in an interview conducted in Nov 2005, "I feel something wrong in calling for people's civil rights and political rights in front of North Koreans who are starving to death because of a lack of food." There is something surrealistic in his statements -- Kim Jong-il starves his people and it is not right to talk of human rights in front of him because the people are starving. This is the NHRCK.

In Jan 2006, the North filed a petition with the NHRCK demanding $1 billion in damages for North Korean spies imprisoned in the South, but released to the North as a goodwill gesture by Kim Dae-jung. The only reason the NHRCK was chosen was that it had a "sympathetic ear" to the North's demand. As a backlash, four fisherman who were abducted to the North and finally escaped through China filed a petition with the NHRC for compensation from the North. )

Their collective action came as a result of the NAP recommendation for the government to minimize the employment of non-regular workers (temporary workers) and reduce its right to intervene and settle labor disputes, among other things. The statement chided the commission for trying to deal with the issue of non-regular workers from an ideological point of view. ``It is an industrial issue and should be treated as one,’’ it said. Regarding its call for the removal of the government’s direct intervention, they claimed that it should be preserved as tool to protect the general public from harms that result from strikes in the nation’s key industries such as power stations and transportation systems.

The proposed NAP also called on the government to recognize conscientious objectors and allow teachers and public servants to participate in political activities. The business community took issue with these recommendations, saying, ``These recommendations, if implemented, would shake the national security to its foundation.’’ (Source: Korea Times.)

On 20 Mar 2006, Hun Joon-young, the former police chief who resigned late last year, said in an interview with a monthly magazine Shin Donga, Cheong Wa Dae pressured him to quit while under fire over police violence that led to the deaths of two farmers. He said that a presidential secretary told him to step down because the government needed to win support from the Democratic Labor Party to pass the budget bill. At that time, the minority party supported by farmers and labor unions strongly demanded his resignation. The main opposition Grand National Party was boycotting parliamentary proceedings in a separate dispute over private school reforms. "I accepted Cheong Wa Dae's proposal because I thought the official was conveying the president's will," said Huh. "I still don't believe that the police is entirely responsible for the deaths of the farmers," he said. The two farmers died after they were injured during violent protests against opening the country's rice market. In the interview, Huh noted that one farmer was in poor health and the other was in his 70s. "I'm not denying responsibility for their deaths. But it is inappropriate for a police head to resign over such an incident," he said. His remark drew angry reactions from farmers' groups. They threatened on 21 Mar to take legal action against him. (Source: Korea Herald.)

NOTE: After Huh resigned, Lee Taek-soon, the classmate (both highschool and college) of Premier Lee Hae-chan was appointed to the position, while the deputy police chief Choi Kwang-sik resigned under a cloud over a "loans" to jailed power broker Yoon Sang-lim.

The DLP refused to aid in passing the Uri Party bills and the 2006 Budget at the December plenary session unless he resigned. (See Police Commissioner Resigns after Human Rights Commission Ruling for details.)

In Jan 2006, the mothers of riot policemen protested in Seoul over the NHRC ruling that they claimed ruined the morale of the police, while endangering the young policemen as the rioters would not feel constrained to use dangerous methods to maim the police, while the police were restrained in their actions.


Mothers of riot police conscriptees protest in Seoul over the NHRC ruling that they claim ruined the morale of the police and endangered the police. (Jan 2006)

In Jan 2006, a police officer sent his uniform cap, as a symbol of his honor, in a parcel to Cheong Wa Dae to express his indignation that it forced the Commissioner Huh Joon-young to resign. He felt the NHRC had branded the entire riot police as brutes, regardless of the conduct of the protestors.

The Chosun Ilbo felt that it was not only irresponsible but cruel to tell young riot policemen to remain defenseless against violent protestors who assault them with sharpened bamboo sticks so they can target policemen's eyes through their stone-proof visors.

SITE NOTE: We feel this was a blatant misuse of the commission -- manipulated by President Roh to force the resignations of the National Police Commissioner who was against his effort to railroad the promotions of police officers based on seniority -- not merit -- and would burden the already over-strained KNP budget. Despite the Police Commissioner, Finance Minister and key aides advice, Roh signed the bill into law. After Huh resigned, a high school and college classmate of Prime Minister Lee was appointed to become the Police Commissioner.

The Human Rights Commission was created by Kim Dae-jung in 2001 with a political agenda. Given that the Human Rights Commission has been silent over the abuses of North Korea, but suddenly render a ruling on the injustices of two farmers injured while the farmers were attacking riot policemen with with splintered bamboo poles -- that act like razors -- and steel pipes makes it seem suspicious. Like a trained lap dog, the NHRCK responds to the policies and wishes of the Roh administration.

In 2004, there was a public outcry after farmers in Puan protesting the proposed nuclear waste dump in their area were found to be using steel pipes with the ends beaten down and sharpened into scythes to hook into the vulnerable neck area of the riot policemen. In the farmers riots throughout the year, numerous riot policemen have been hospitalized by thrown rocks and attacks with steel pipes. In Jul 2005, riot policemen were seriously injured when attacked by radical students wielding steel pipes and shredded bamboo poles as they tore down the fence at Camp Humphreys. These are recent events that the Constitutional Court seem to conveniently forget in rendering their decision of human rights abuses.

The police reportedly plan to make riot policemen wear name tags on their protective clothing. The plan is tantamount to accepting the assertion of civil activists that riot policemen are liable to resort to excessive force in quelling protests because their faces are covered with visors and their identity is thus safely concealed. The police must be under serious pressure to be willing to shackle itself to that extent. Last year alone saw over 740 young riot policemen injured in clashes with violent protestors. It is lamentable if politicians and senior officials can present the plan as a bright idea in these circumstances.

How can they conceive of asking riot policemen being threatened with steel pipes and bamboo sticks to effectively take individual responsibility if a problem arises? If masked policeman are a problem, what about masked rioters? How can the thinking of officials who are in charge of others' children be so shallow?

Though they talk about a protest culture, the essence of the matter is simple. Everything will be fine so long as both demonstrators and law enforcement strictly observe the police line. Demonstrators are free to express their opinions after announcing their demonstrations, but once they cross the police line, they should be punished in accordance with the law. Police likewise must not cross the line unless demonstrators commit illegal acts. That is how the demonstration culture works in developed countries.

Officers upset at public criticism, ex-chief's resignation

Police brass are struggling to stem growing discontent among low-ranking officers who are showing signs of taking action against what they regard as unfair criticism from civic groups and the public.

Two farmers who died late last year during a demonstration cast the police in a role they have struggled to discard - the state's machinery for oppressing the people. The deaths led to the resignation of the police chief Huh Jun-young last month who had spearheaded a campaign for the police to gain independent investigation rights from the prosecution in criminal cases.

The National Police Agency has issued a special order to tighten discipline among officers and keep watch on an association of retired and serving officers called "the Mungungwha Club," which is considered to be a center for defiant officers. This order was issued after support grew for a 37-year-old police captain who sent his cap to President Roh Moo-hyun as a show of defiance over Huh's resignation.

The officer, identified only by his surname Yoo, said in an accompanying letter that the government and political forces pressured the police chief to resign and that it has severely damaged the honor of police officers. "I hereby return this cap, symbolizing the honor as a policeman, to the president as the representative of the people," Yoo wrote. Cheong Wa Dae returned the cap without comment. Yoo questioned why only the police are being held accountable for the tragic deaths of the farmers, when the protesters should also be held accountable for the apparently premeditated violence.

The nation's human rights watchdog announced that the two farmers appeared to have died from police-inflicted injuries. The watchdog also criticized the police for violating regulations for controlling demonstrations. However, Yoo described the police response as necessary defensive action taken against the militant protesters who were armed with iron pipes and 3-meter-long wooden sticks. "If the police are to be held solely responsible for the incident, the exercise of public power will no longer be part of this nation," said Yoo in a letter he posted on a website.

The majority of the police, especially younger officers, seem to agree with Yoo's statement which would have been regarded as unforgivable in the past. "We definitely respect what Yoo did in a situation like this when nobody would dare raise their voice for fear of being sacked," said a police officer who declined to give his name. "He represented exactly what is in my mind," he added.

Experts say the comment reflects calls from younger officers in the organization, which operates through strict chains of command, to become more democratic. "In the past, it was unthinkable to express any dissatisfaction against the authority. But Yoo's case reflects changes that the police may have started to introduce by making various statements deliberately," said Kwak Dae-kyung, professor at the Police Administration Department at Dongguk University in Seoul.

Kim Dong-jin, a 40-year-old police officer, also sent his memoir to Roh asking the president and the public to consider the painful situation faced by ordinary policemen. The book, recounting his life as a police officer in Korea, describes how policemen are harassed and assaulted by protestors and people who don't seem to respect or fear public authority.

The resignation of the former police chief, has greatly agitated police officers, prompting an outpouring of anger against the public and the government for laying singular blame on the police over the recent troubles. Some police bitterly lament Huh's involuntarily resignation last month, even wearing black ribbon on their uniforms and declaring that the nation's police is dead. Charismatic and popular, Huh was widely respected because he confronted a range of problems, including the recent dispute with the prosecution over criminal investigation rights.

President Roh named Lee Taek-soon as the new commissioner general of the National Police Agency two days after Huh resigned. The organization is in a period of interregnum with Lee expected to take office later this month after a parliamentary confirmation hearing.

To counter the growing discontent, top commanding police officers decided to take disciplinary action against police officers, including members of the Mugunghwa Club. The Mugunghwa is Korea's national flower and a central part of the police force's badge seen on uniforms and vehicles. After the action was issued the group submitted a petition to the nation's human rights watchdog in protest, demanding that police command not to infringe their rights to freedom and speech after it urged members to leave the club. The nation's police chief, Lee Taek-soon, said on 15 Feb that he would administratively punish 12 police officers who complained to the Constitutional Court on 14 Feb about their job conditions. The group is upset that the Roh administration wants to reduce benefits to rank-and-file police officers in legislation that has been passed but is not yet in effect. At a briefing at the National Assembly, Mr. Lee apologized for the internal police dispute. He said he believed the officers who filed the petition violated the law forbidding "collective action" by civil servants. Lee Taek-soon later announced he would reprimand three police officers for filing a petition with the Constitutional Court saying the revision of the Police Law would be against the Constitution. The new legislation has several clauses favorable to junior police officers, including quicker and automatic promotions. The Blue House demanded changes; the policemen claimed it had no right to do so before the new law goes into effect. (Source: Joongang Ilbo (NOTE: Remember that Roh was advised by his staff, the Minister of Finance and others to NOT approve the legislation, but he signed it anyway. After the heat turned up over the problems, only then did Roh want changes in the law before it was implemented.)

The Mugunghwa Club, composed of present and former street cops, said they distrusted the young leaders who would be in charge of investigations if police ran them independently, rather than under the direction of prosecutors as is the case now. They said "much confusion" would be the result. “The Mugunghwa Club” (www.police24.or.kr) said on 17 Feb, “The club will raise emergency funds to hire a lawyer for the three policemen who were targeted by the commissioner general for disciplinary action.”

The revolt in the ranks was also a protest, observers said, against the administration's efforts to amend quickly a new law that would lead to speedier promotions for lower-ranking police. Although President Roh Moo-hyun has signed the bill, the Blue House has worried that the faster promotions would put other similar public servants -- firefighters, for example, or prison guards -- at a career disadvantage. The new law would lessen by a year the service requirement for working-level police officers to be promoted to a higher grade, and would also make many promotions automatic based on time in grade. The law is scheduled to go into effect next month, but the Blue House wants it revised before then. The group contends that it is illegal to amend a law that has already been passed by the National Assembly. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

The Uri-initiated law, passed by parliament early this month, aims to speed up the promotion of low-ranking police officers. However, cabinet members have raised a number of problems about it, saying it will create discrepancies in the promotion periods between police officers and other public professions and place a substantial burden on the already tight national budget. As well as curbing discontent in the ranks, the police authority is taking measures to appease public anger over alleged police brutality.

On Sunday, the police announced that name tags are to be put on the uniforms of riot police from next month in hope of reducing violent clashes by increasing accountability. The police also plan to introduce a set of guidelines aimed at minimizing physical contact with demonstrators by using water-cannons. This is also hoped to guarantee the safety of riot police officers.

Parents of young riot policemen and their supporters staged a protest calling for an end to the use of violence at demonstrations and better protection for riot policemen under threat from militant protesters.

(christory@heraldm.com) By Cho Chung-un (SITE NOTE: Article spacing only edited for internet readability.)

On 28 Feb it was announced that the governing Uri Party and the government agreed to enact from 1 March a controversial revision bill on police promotion, despite an earlier request from the Blue House for additional study. "We have reached an agreement with the president on the matter," a party member said. Under the bill, lower ranking police officers will be given faster chances of promotion. Currently, a lower-ranked police officer must serve seven to eight years to get an automatic promotion, but the bill reduces this to six to seven years. The Uri Party floor leader, Kim Han-gill, said, "We decided to keep the revision bill as drafted, in order to raise the morale of the police." However, some political analysts say the decision was a move to garner support among the 150,000-strong police force ahead of the May 31 local elections.

When the law is enforced, about 4,500 police sergeants will be promoted to lieutenant. About 3,200 policemen and 12,000 senior policemen will also be considered for promotion. Lee Taek-soon, the police commissioner general, said, "From March, there will be four promotion chances a year." Analysts question whether there is sufficient funding to pay the extra wages of the promoted officers. According to the Ministry of Planning and Budget, about 300 billion won ($309 million) in additional funds will be needed for the next five years. If the government considers equity in other related civil servant positions such as prison officers and firefighters, the amount needed will increase further. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

Public Takes Up Debate on Violent Protests On 19 Jan 2006, SBS ran a special on the "demonstration culture" and showed footage of the rice farmers attacking the police with steel pipes that had been beaten down with the ends sharpened into hooks. They showed the Koreans in Hong Kong attacking the Chinese police with splintered bamboo and using them as spears. The commentary from the Chinese in Hong Kong was that the Chinese were not used to the "radical" protests that the Koreans practice, and the Hong Kong version is normally peaceful. In other words, police presence is minimized, negotiations between the protestors and police take place prior to the protest to keep a balance of the protestors getting their right to speak their mind, while the police are allowed to maintain crowd control. In the interview with the Pyeongtaek police authorities, they showed footage of the police bleeding from eye wounds and head wounds in some of the violent attacks. As a result of the Hong Kong WTO protests, the world has again started to think of Korea as a violent society. The most surprising revelation -- in that it was allowed to be aired by the Roh government -- was that the numbers of demonstrations have increased since Roh took office. The numbers of injuries to riot policemen has increased during the same period.

Panel on Violent Protest Culture On 20 Jan, a panel was formed amid mounting concerns about escalating violence displayed in recent protest rallies. The civilian-government panel, co-chaired by Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan and Catholic priest and civic activist Ham Se-ung, includes nine government officials and 11 representatives from labor, legal, academic and civic circles -- and also includes parents of riot police. The panel will hold monthly meetings to come up with effective measures introduce a more peaceful rally culture in Korea. "The establishment of the panel is in response to a public demand to create a new dialogue channel to change the nation's violent demonstration culture," the Rev. Ham told reporters after the inaugural meeting. (SITE NOTE: It should be pointed out that the panel consists of the members of the activists organizations who stage the riots. In other words, the foxes are going to give advice to the farmer on how to protect the hen-house. Leading the panel is the Prime Minister most noted for his participation in the student protests against the Park Chung-hee administration.)


Demonstration Culture Panel led by Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan (20 Jan 2006) (Korea Herald)

Rev. Ham Se-ung stated that the panel recommended that conscriptees should not be used in riot control. Ham said that the panel proposed the riot police members, who are young conscripts serving the nation's mandatory military service, be replaced with those with expertise and experience. (SITE NOTE: This will eliminate complaints from the mothers. But look at the reality of the para-military riot police use and you can see how ridiculous this recommendation was. These forces were formed at the start of the Park Chung-hee era, but has remained because of the violent behavior of the students and activists. Reducing the riot police numbers is ridiculous unless you reduce the protestor numbers. As to use of "experienced" officers, where does the panel think they get their "experience"?)

The panel would also consider the position of police officers and draw up a new legal framework to provide them with better protection when they come under attack by militant protesters. Police officials announced that police officers would begin to display name tags on their uniforms and introduce a set of guidelines to minimize physical contact with demonstrators. (SITE NOTE: The riot police don't need legal protection after they have lost an eye or had their necks cut -- they need protection from the rioters themselves. The panel needs to address the prosecution of the rioters in the crimes against society when they commit acts of violence against the riot police.)

Then the members stated "only peaceful rallies should have media spotlight, but not the violent ones.'' Thus only peaceful demonstrations will be seen by the public and the problem will disappear. "The press should also take responsibility by encouraging those who conduct peaceful rallies while strongly criticizing those who use violence," Ham said. (SITE NOTE: This is in line with the activist method of NOT writing English (Yankee Go Home) on signs because the world press would pick up on these signs. This started in 2004. Instead the protestors use the generic term "American Soldier (Migun) Go Home." The activists are trying to shift the responsibility to the media in reporting about rallies -- while NOT condemning the rioters. The problem with the press idea is that the press that condones the riots are the Hangkyoreh, Tongil News and other sources that support the Roh administration. The conservative press condemns these riots -- but these are the ones that the Roh administration is trying to muzzle.)

``We're also considering signing a pact for peaceful rallies with all the relevant organizations participating,'' Ham said. (SITE NOTE: To mention this is stupid -- and redundant. The protestors do this when they apply for a demonstration permit and state that it will be non-violent. However, activists break this vow and blame it on individuals (i.e., the outlawed student union Hwangryeon members as in the violent Aug 2005 Camp Humphreys violence) -- not the rally organization committee. To be blunt, the governments since Kim Dae-jung have NOT supported the riot police -- but rather the activists. Roh has even gone so far as to try to remove the "outlaw" appellation of the Hwangryeon -- whose student leaders years back fled to North Korea.)

What is bothersome is that the proposals will likely be reflected in a package of measures aimed at setting a peaceful culture for demonstrations and mass rallies. The policy package is to be finished by April 2006. (SITE NOTE: This is another ploy of the Roh administration to use panels that make recommendations -- and then use them as justification to take political action. This is the same tactics used by the National Human Rights Commission which is nothing more than a tool to provide recommendations to give legitimacy to the Roh administration "leftist" causes.)

On 3 Feb an article appeared in the Stars and Stripes about the families of riot police requesting restraint from protestors.

Families of S. Korean riot police ask protesters for restraints

Countrymen get caught in the middle of protests against U.S. presence

By Hwang Hae-rym and Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Friday, February 3, 2006

SEOUL — Families of some South Korean riot police who guard government buildings are making a plea to their fellow citizens: When protests get out of hand, please remember that those police officers also are South Koreans.

In 2005, said the Korean National Police, 893 South Korean riot police were injured during protests, including about 100 at a summer protest in front of Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek and 218 during an autumn protest at the National Assembly in Seoul.

"Our young sons … don't get the fair treatment and respect they deserve as either servicemen or police officers," one police guard's mother, Kim Jin-mi, said last week.

Supporters of the riot police met in January with community leaders and government officials in Seoul to seek help in raising awareness about injuries inflicted on these conscript guards during protests. They also sought a review of a system relying on young men with minimal police training to guard South Korean and U.S. government buildings 24 hours a day.

The panel, headed by Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-chan and Ham Se-ung, a Catholic priest and activist, plans to make proposals by April addressing some of the concerns about riot police working conditions.

A USFK spokesman said no South Korean official has sought U.S. input on the subject. During large-scale protests, U.S. medical facilities are available to the South Korean guards, spokesman David Oten said this week.

About 40,000 men are in the riot police force, according to the Korean National Police. Their main job involves standing ready outside facilities including the Korean National Assembly, South Korea's presidential residence (the Blue House), public airports, the U.S. Embassy and U.S. military bases. Guards occasionally also supplement regular neighborhood police patrols, police officials said. Much of the guards' eight-hour shifts involve routine gate monitoring and occasional calisthenics to stay warm. But during protests, their role quickly can become dangerous, says mother Kim Jin-mi.

In summer 2005, she launched an Internet cafe called "Riot Police, Our Lovely Sons" after her son, a riot police guard, was beaten during a large protest at Camp Humphreys in Pyeongtaek.

Kim Tae-hyung, 23, chose riot police duty over soldiering to comply with South Korea's 26-month mandatory military service. His mother said the college photography student wanted to spend his conscription in a more urban setting where he could watch ordinary people interact.

During the 2005 summer demonstration at Camp Humphreys, protesters beat his right hand so severely that it now has begun to decay, his mother said.

Such riot police earn 65,000 won a month, about $65, a hefty raise from 2005's monthly pay of 39,000 won. Some, like Kim, select guard duty over regular Army duty because usually it keeps them in larger cities and they must wait only about three months for an assignment, Kim's mother said.

Kim Jin-mi said she understands why protesters can become enraged during demonstrations but not why that anger should be directed at the guards.

"If the rally is necessary, go for it," she said. "But no matter what, any rallies that end up being violent — with weapons to hurt people — are not tolerable."

The CEOS are still unhappy with government policy and regulations. Fifty-eight percent said they were dissatisfied with economic policies, as against a mere 4 percent who were satisfied. “Political leaders lack a correct understanding of the economic situation,” one commented. “The government has failed to gain the trust of players in the market.” A case in point is that even though the government has promised to ease regulations to create a more business-friendly environment, many companies feel that has yet to happen. Some 69 percent said there is still too much red tape, even if in some cases regulations have been reduced, while 11 percent said regulations are proliferating. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

NOTE: On 19 Jan 2006, the first three container berths of a total of 30, Busan New Port opened with a gala ceremony. The port is to become a driving force in making Korea a logistics hub in Northeast Asia. The old port opened 130 years ago has 21 container berths. Construction of the Busan New Port started in 1997 and will be completed in stages by 2011, with a total investment of W9.15 trillion (US$9.15 billion). The government hopes it will evolve into a comprehensive logistics hub, with surrounding space of some 3 million sq.m where cargo can be stored, packaged and processed, and a multi-level transport grid of roads, railroad and air routes as well as cutting-edge cargo-handling facilities. The three new berths are equipped with the most advanced cargo-handling and operating systems including nine container derricks capable of dealing with as many as 12,000 containers per cargo load, explosives detectors and pocket computer systems capable of handling cargo without paperwork.


Pusan Logistics Hub Opening (19 Jan 2006)

The Busan New Port was viewed by the government as the starting point of a so-called Iron Silk Road connecting the Pacific Rim and Eurasia, its complex logistics system connected with the Trans-Siberian Railway and Trans-China Railway. However, since the port opened a year earlier than scheduled to compete with its rival, the Yangshan Port of Shanghai, it has so far failed to secure sufficient ships calling there regularly, leaving the berths inevitably idle for some of the time. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

However, by 2005 the same limitations that stopped the idea of a Financial Hub also applied to the Logistics Hub. The problem of language barriers went unresolved, high land prices led companies to prefer leases to purchases; and expensive labor costs were also negative factors. However, the biggest factor was the red tape that existed in Korea that made operating in Korea frustrating -- and though the ROK government kept making promises upon promises to smooth the way, nothing was done. In addition, the railroad link through North Korea was "frozen" by the intransigence of the DPRK military to move forward on issues dealing with opening of the borders. The "Peace Railroad" was stalled indefinitely. The free trade zones had also run into a multitude of problems because earlier interest by foreign companies to set up shop in the zones were shelved. However, the biggest detractor was the persistent labor strife that increased the wages of the labor force until it severely impacted on the profitability of operations in Korea. The labor sector was too rigid in their demands, which deterred multinational companies from transferring operations to Korean soil. By 2004, things had gotten out of hand and many small and mid-sized businesses were relocating to China. By 2005, Korea was not looking promising as a Logistics Hub of North Asia. In 2004, a new problem has arisen in the Korean financial system. The credit card industry was on its way to becoming insolvent. The non-performing asset rate of the top eight credit card companies is at a high 13.5 percent, and the government stepped in to help bail out the largest of them. In 2006, there still is problems as the worst of the credit-card collapse has been cleared away -- but personal debt on the part of the general populace lingered on.

Then the Roh administration started to talk of a general plan for turning Korea into a North Asian hub for research and development (R&D), an idea that was aggressively pursued by the Roh administration, but "seems to be dying, a victim of bureaucratic inflexibility and a lingering mindset that the government knows best." Several experts pointed to inconsistent and vague policies as contributing factors in failing to lure new research operations or keep the ones already in Korea. One problem, they say, is that despite the strong rhetoric of the president and the prime minister about the need to lure new research centers, ministries and local governments have not been able or willing to turn that into attractive policies.

In addition, language barriers, high land prices and expensive labor costs have been cited as impediments to Korea's goal of becoming a place where high-tech discoveries are churned out. Even Jim Goodnight, SAS chairman, said multinational companies are taking interest in investing in China and India. IBM, Intel, Microsoft, Volkswagen and General Motors are among the multinationals now setting up research centers in China. There has been some success, critics concede, in attracting R&D operations to Korea, but they argue that the number and size of the operations are too limited to make Korea in any way a "hub" for the region.

Intel, the global leader in computer processors and other chips, set up a research and development center in Korea in 2004. The center was supposed to be the company's North Asian R&D hub, but Intel has now announced plans for a far larger research operation in Shanghai by the end of this year. Each of Intel's 18 centers around the world has an average of 60 researchers. In Korea, the number is less than 30.

Sooner or later, commentators come back to the same old recommendations "a loosening of regulations and more support for foreign research centers. Administrative red tape must be cut and competitive tax breaks offered. Other country's offer tax breaks far more attractive than Korea." For example, Singapore's tax breaks for R&D investments are four to five times more generous that those offered by Korea. But discussions always return to red tape where the regulatory burden in Korea is the biggest obstacle to investing. Though Seoul promises -- and promises -- and promises -- that the red tape will be eliminated, there seems to be no end in sight. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

To top it off, South Korea was showing signs of reverting to its traditional insularity and protectionism as a result of huge profits made by investors in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. The fact remains that Korea's financial system in particular falls short of globally competitive standards, and part of the reason for this is that it has still not fully tapped the potential within its borders and with countries in its immediate surrounding region. The legal and regulatory system also needed further liberalization. For example, it is still not possible for a foreign resident to practice law in the country.

However, the government has not given up on its idea of becoming a business and logistics hub for North Asia. (Source: KOREA AS A NORTHEAST ASIAN BUSINESS HUB: VISION AND TASKS, 2005, Lee Chang-jae,Korea Institute for International Economic Policy..) But the one item that the ROK cannot escape is that as long as the nuclear issue is left unresolved, the ROK will NEVER become the hub of anything -- and the fact is contained in every speech on the topic given by the OECD and every financial institution of the world. The name of the investment game is "security of the investment." With the North Korean threat, there is no security.

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PD Notebook Returns to MBC after "Hwanggate" (Jan-Feb 2006) MBC announced on 2 Jan that it would resume broadcasts of its controversial documentary program on 3 Jan with the first part of a three-part series on the country's disgraced cloning scientist and his research. PD Notebook, which raised questions about Hwang Woo-suk's once-celebrated scientific feat late in November, was suspended after it set off a storm of criticism from the public. Public boycotts of the sponsors forced the sponsors to cancel -- and the program was yanked from the air. Later the program was chastised for violating journalistic ethics when it "hounded" a researcher for information on the project. The producers remained adamant that their facts were true -- but public pressure from Hwang's fans dropped them off the air. Now that they had been vindicated, they felt that they could safely return. (See for details of PD Notebook revealing the Hwang Scandal. For the best post coverage on the Hwang fiasco, see Party Pooper. )


Supporters of Hwang on Candlelight Vigil (15 Jan 2006)

The 16-year old program appeared to relish flaunting the fact that they were right -- though they glossed over the ethical violation in their zealous reporting.

In a continuing story, Roh Sung-il of the MizMedi Hospital admitted that Roh paid $1500 each to women to procure their eggs at the START of the process. As a co-author of the paper, Roh admits that he was aware of the ethical problems that might arise -- though at the time, the ROK did not have a specific law preventing this. The problem came later when ova was procured from female researchers bringing up ethical problems.

The SNU panel then issued its final report that stated that Hwang's 2004 paper was faked as well. Chung Myoung-hee, head of Seoul National University's investigative panel, on 10 Jan. announced the results of his team's nearly month-long probe of dubious work by disgraced stem-cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk. He said almost all of Hwang's research were fabricated. However, Hwang's claim of having produced the world's first cloned dog was authentic. His 2005 Science paper which claimed to have developed custom-made stem cells was also proven as fake. The school authorities are also set to take disciplinary measures against Hwang and other key authors of the 2004 and 2005 paper. The 2004 article claimed to have achieved the world's first cloning of a human embryonic stem-cell line, bringing Hwang to prominence. However, the panel has concluded the stem cell was developed not by cloning, but by parthenogenesis - a process by which an egg develops on its own without fertilization. Overall, the panel said Hwang's team has no technology to develop stem cells which raised hopes for replacing cells damaged by diseases such as Parkinson's and diabetes. Science magazine, which had published the papers, moved to retract both papers in Jan 2006. At this point, the Prosecution entered the case to investigate criminal allegations on 11 Jan 2006. The scientist may face fraud charges given that his team received billions of won from the government between 1998 and 2005 for the research which has now been proven false. (Source: Korea Herald.)


Hwang Woo-suk, second from left, laughs as he embraces the world's first cloned puppy, named "Snuppy," at SNU. His colleague Lee Byeong-chun, left, hugs the original dog, of which somatic cells were used to replicate Snuppy, and Pittsburgh of University professor Gerald Schatten, right, holds a surrogate dog that gave birth to Snuppy in his arms. (Aug 2005) (Korea Times)

Another fallout from the scandal was the replacing of the long-time Science Minister Oh in the Roh Cabinet in Jan 2006 over the "Hwanggate" scandal. Along with him, the advisor on science information, Park Ky-young, announced her intention to resign in Jan 2006 to take responsibility for her part in "Hwanggate" -- especially after the 2004 paper which she is a co-author was proved to be faked. Later in Jan 2006 she admitted to having received 250 million won (US$253,000) in research funding from embattled stem sell scientist Hwang Woo-suk before taking the post at the presidential office in 2004. She said in a statement that the money was paid between December 2001 and November 2004, when she was serving as a biology professor at Sunchon National University in South Jeolla Province. She stated, "All the money was paid through the university and was spent in a transparent manner." (See for details of Park Ky-young, who advised President Roh Moo-hyun on science and information. )

Though the Korean scientific community has suffered incalculable damage from the Hwanggate scandal, it appears that the stem cell research internationally will not be affected because of the promise of miraculous cures for debilitating diseases. Dr. Robert Lanza, medical director of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT) will now actively resume his own stem cell research that was suspended when Hwang was believed to have achieved the research goal. The Hwanggate scandal has started a drive in the US to have such stem cell research conducted in the US under "controlled and regulated" conditions.

As the prosecution started its case, the accusations and counter-accusations between the MizMedi staff and Roh Sung-il and Hwang Woo-suk escalated. Both parties were playing their cards in the press much to the frustration of the prosecutors. In the escalating fiasco, the satirists started to enter the fray with cartoons and musical parodies.

The story continues on and on. In Jan Professor Hwang was stripped of his titles as "First Scientist" which entitled him to grants to be used for research. These monies were administered by Seoul National University. Monies from donations were administered by Hwang. The prosecution centered on investigating possible abuses of monies. The prosecutors stated that no stem cells were produced from the research -- but then the announcements get blurry as to whether Hwang was a party to the falsified results or if done by a researcher. Park Ky-young, formerly of the Roh staff, is also being scrutinized over the use of monies given to her by Hwang.

On Feb. 4, one crushed fan immolated himself in Seoul in front of a statue of Yi Sun Shin, a 16th century war hero to whom many South Koreans today are comparing Hwang. The man, in his 50s, had been seen scattering pamphlets calling on Hwang to continue his research. The individual was claimed to be drunk and despondent over debts. A few hours after the suicide, about 2,000 Hwang supporters marched nearby in frigid darkness carrying candles and waving South Korean flags.


Hwang Woo-suk Resigns from SNU (23 Dec 2005)

Some supporters argue that even if Hwang lied, the South Korean media shouldn't have exposed him because it will put the country at a disadvantage with the United States in the competitive biotech industry. "You're America's dog," fumed a Hwang loyalist in an angry posting on MBC's online bulletin board. "Those who buried the greatest scientist in the history of the Korean people will incur the wrath of the heavens."


The above parody, which is adapted from the movie poster of hit comedy ``Talmaya Nolja (Hi, Dharma),” depicts the counter-allegations made by defamed cloning scientist Hwang Woo-suk, third from left at bottom, and Roh Sung-il, middle at top, a former colleague of Hwang’s and head of Mizmedi Hospital. (17 Jan 2006) (Korea Times)

Hwanggate Just will not die In Feb 2006, the investigations were still proceeding, but the public has now settled down into accepting that Hwang was a fraud.

The Board of Audit and Inspection has concluded that Park Kie young, a former aide to President Roh Moo hyun, did not submit reports on her research project, which received 250 million won of Hwang's research funds. She stepped down from her post as allegations erupted over her connection with Hwang. The state run top watchdog also said that Hwang has misappropriated up to 6.2 billion won. A senior researcher from Hwang's team confessed that Hwang ordered him to fabricate stem cell samples for a study published in the Science in 2005, according to the prosecution.

The opposition parties in the National Assembly in Feb 2006 wanted to launch investigations into the Hwang case dealing with huge research grants and accountability by Cheong Wa Dae.

Hwang was also in a squabble with Professor Schatten over cloning patents applied for in the US in Feb 2006. Hwang has requested the SNU return the rights for patent applications to him so that he may apply for patents in Europe.

On 16 Feb, the prosecutors said "circumstantial evidence" suggests that Prof. Gerald Schatten was from the beginning involved in the faking of stem cell research. They said the University of Pittsburgh academic co-wrote a now discredited paper on patient-specific stem cells published last year although he knew that stem cell lines supposedly documented in the paper had become contaminated. The charge contradicts the University of Pittsburg's investigation, which cleared Schatten of any deliberate distortions. Seoul Central District Prosecutors Office quoted a witness, Prof Kang Sung-geun of Seoul National University, as saying Hwang told Schatten when they met at a seminar overseas in January 2005 that stem cells nos. 4 to 7 supposedly produced from cloned embryos had become contaminated. He said Schatten urged Hwang to go ahead with publication regardless since the stem cells had clearly been produced. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.) Schatten declined to appear for questioning in Korea at the Prosecutors Office, but stated he would respond to questions via email responses with legal counsel.

On 20 Feb protests by supporters of Hwang started demonstrations in front of the SNU Head Office wanting Hwang Woo-suk reinstated. On 22 Feb the Dean of research affairs of SNU Prof. Roe Jung-hye was attacked in broad daylight by an angry throng who appeared to be supporters of Hwang. The assault unleashed on Roe included twisting her wrists and ripping her hair out. Prof. Roe served on the SNU investigation committee which probed into Hwang's fabricated papers and announced interim findings as the committee's spokesperson.

On 3 Mar, the Prosecutors' Office stated three key assistants of Hwang Woo-suk might be charged with obstructing the scientist's research by deceiving him with fabricated data. Hwang can also be punished on charges of fraud or obstructing government affairs if he is found to have known that his papers were based on manipulated data before getting state funding for his stem cell research team, they said. Prosecutors are contemplating seeking an arrest warrant for MizMedi Hospital researcher Kim Sun-jong next week, as the charge he swapped stem cell lines is considered serious. The others are Yoon Hyun-soo, a professor of biology at Hanyang University, and Lee Yang-han, chief researcher at the western branch of the state-run National Institute of Scientific Investigation, who conducted the DNA test for the stem cell samples. Kim, Yoon and Lee, who all attended the same university, are suspected of manipulating the DNA test results. But it remains unclear whether a local court will take the unusual step of issuing an arrest warrant on charges of obstructing others' work.

However, Hwang may be arrested if he is found to have embezzled an enormous amount of the state funding for his research team. He was given a total of 24.6 billion won (US$25 million) in state and private research donations, according to the Board of Audit and Inspection. The amount breaks down into 18.6 billion won in government funds and 6 billion won in civilian funds. He is suspected of having embezzled 2.5 billion won of the funds. (Source: Yonhap News.)

The problems for Hwang Woo-suk continued as he was officially fired by Seoul National University -- terminating all privileges and benefits associated with his position -- after confirmation by the Prosecutor's office that he was responsible for the fabrication of data in his research, while identifying researchers involved. As a result, Hwang was officially stripped of Korea’s first "top scientist" title in a meeting of the committee that awards the title on 22 Mar by all seven members of the committee in attendance, out of a total of 10. The ministry as a result cancelled all privileges Hwang enjoyed as part of the honor. It already stopped research funding for Hwang on Dec. 28 last year.

The World Stem Cell Hub in South Korea, which once offered a light of hope to incurably sick patients based on the now-discredited work by disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk, was formally shut down. The hub at Seoul National University Hospital was transformed in March into a research center that studies adult stem cells, which are unrelated to cloning, and other developing medical technologies for clinical use. The Seoul-based stem cell hub was launched in October 2005 as an international project aimed at finding cures for hard-to-treat diseases, such as Parkinsons disease or damaged spinal cords, based on Hwangs purported cloning breakthroughs

As an epilogue, Snuppy the cloned pup which has not been disputed, celebrated his one-year birthday without any fanfare -- with only the staffers in whose care he was placed in attendance.

Hwang Scandal Continues (May 2006) Prosecutors concluded that former Seoul National University Professor Hwang Woo-suk’s research team never developed patient-specific stem cells and that researcher Kim Sun-jong smuggled in vitro-fertilized stem cells into the lab to make it look like stem cells customized for individual patients. They also said that the veterinary professor instructed data fabrication in person for his papers in the U.S. Science magazine in 2004 and 2005. Hwang even embezzled state and private sponsorship and illegally purchased ova for research.

Releasing its final report on the stem-cell research investigation, the special investigative team of Seoul Prosecutors’ Office arrested Hwang without physical detention on charges of fraud, embezzlement, and bioethics law violations. Prosecutors said that they did not charge Hwang with obstruction of justice, given that there is no precedent punishing data fabrication in research papers, and the primary loss falls on the Science magazine. The former SNU professor allegedly pocketed 640 million won from about 2.2 billion won worth of private sponsorship for personal use.

Prosecutors also arrested Kim Sun-jong without physical detention on charges of obstruction of justice and destruction of evidence, and SNU veterinary professors Lee Byong-cheon and Kang Seong-keun, and Hanyang University medical school professor Yun Hyun-soo on fraudulent charges. These professors were found to have appropriated tens of millions to hundreds of millions of won from research funds.

The prosecution also arrested Jang Sang-sik, chief of Hanna Obstetrics and Gynecology clinic, without detention for a breach of bioethics law and notified the National Institute of Scientific Investigation of its researcher Lee Yang-han’s charges on taking over two million won from Hwang for fingerprint analyses.

In the investigation report, the prosecution said that researcher Kim Sun-jong, out of psychological pressure and personal desire to establish stem-cell lines, smuggled fertilized eggs from Mizmedi hospital to the university lab and made them look like they were patient-specific stem cells. Prosecutors also speculated that Hwang had first known about Kim’s swapping of stem-cells late last October, a month earlier than when Hwang claimed he first heard about it.

Meanwhile, the Seoul National University officially reprimanded veterinary professors Lee Byong-cheon and Kang Seong-keun involved in the fake stem-cell research by suspending professorship for two and three months, respectively. (Source: Donga Ilbo.)

South Korean team produces cloned dogs (Dec 2006) A team of South Korean scientists once led by disgraced stem-cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk said on 17 Dec 2006 they had produced three cloned copies of a female Afghan hound. The same team at Seoul National University in 2005 produced Snuppy, the world's first cloned dog, also an Afghan hound. "This is being done to advance medical research and it is not yet intended for people to clone their pets," Lee Byung-chun, a veterinary professor at the university and who now heads the team, told Reuters.

Hwang and other members have since left their posts at the university after Hwang's team fabricated data in two papers on human embryonic stem cells that have since been debunked. Lee and other team members showed off to reporters the identical white and tan puppies, named Bona, Peace and Hope and born in June and July. "Lee's team plans to utilise the breakthrough in producing cell-treatment drugs as well as apply the technology in preserving animals on the verge of extinction," the government's information service said in a statement. It said the international veterinary journal Theriogenology had published the findings online. Dogs are considered among the most difficult mammals to clone because of their reproductive cycle. (SITE NOTE: There seems to be the same hype that led to the Hwanggate scandal in the press by promising breakthroughs in specific stem cell. Press statements started to appear that this was a first step and a breakthrough would be seen in a year and a half. In Nov 2006 Hwang attempted to regain his position at SNU and wanted to start a project to clear his name. He was rejected and took the matter to court.)

Hwang's success at cloning the first dog has been independently verified but he is facing criminal prosecution on charges of fraud and embezzlement related to his team's human embryonic stem cell research. Lee said his team had used the same technology as before under Hwang but had made it more efficient. Hwang has said that he chose Afghan hounds because of their striking looks. A total of 1,095 reconstructed embryos were transferred into 123 surrogates to create two living puppies last year -- Snuppy and another dog that died after 22 days from pneumonia. This time, 167 reconstructed embryos were transferred into 12 surrogate mothers to produce the three living clones, Lee said. (Source: Scotsman News: Reuters.)

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Ex-President Kim Young-sam Blasts Roh Moo-hyun (Jan 2006) Former President Kim Young-sam expressed his disappointment with the leadership of President Roh Moo-hyun, saying the public has lost faith in the progressive head of state. Kim Young-sam expressed his discontent with President Roh Moo-hyun, citing a lack of leadership. "I am discomforted by President Roh Moo-hyun, as he seems to be causing a lot of disappointing results recently," Kim said on a nationwide radio program. ``People no longer expect the Roh government to show improved leadership,’’ Kim said in an interview with the Buddhist Broadcasting System (BBS), a nationwide radio program. Kim denounced the Roh government for its lack of progress in solving critical issues, including the long-standing stalemate over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. He cited the worsening ties between South Korea and the United States as the biggest challenge the government now faces.


Former President Kim Young-sam

He went on to state that he felt his government had guided Korea on the path of democratic representation, but the following administrations of Kim Dae-jung and Roh Tae-woo had "distorted" the principles of democracy.

Kim expressed skepticism over the plan to send electricity to the energy-starved North, Seoul’s ambitious bid to coax the reclusive regime back to the multilateral nuclear talks, which include the two Koreas, the U.S., China, Japan and Russia. ``How can we transfer electricity to the North when even we are lacking it?’’ he asked.

Kim also voiced his opinion on the qualities the next president should have. The election is scheduled for 2007. ``The next president has to be trustworthy and fair...and also one who received necessary education,’’ the former president said. Roh’s credentials have been debated since he took office in 2003 as, unlike former presidents, he did not attend university. Roh graduated from Pusan Commercial High School and passed the bar exam through independent study. (Source: Korea Times.)

(SITE NOTE: Kim Young-sam's Presidency was one of disaster after disaster that no amount of bad luck could account for. An airliner crashed in Mokpo, a ferry sank with great loss of life, a department store building collapsed, a bridge collapsed, trains derailed, and there were strikes by the labor unions to tie up the country. Then when things couldn't get worse, the country went into a tailspin. The ROK tried to throw good money after bad to bouy up the won, but it was hopeless. In the end the IMF had to be called in to bail out the country. After its foreign exchange reserves dried up, South Korea received $58 billion in financial aid from the International Monetary Fund, ushering in an intervention by the world's biggest lending agency in the country's economic restructuring.

Former president Kim, who was in office from 1993 to 1998, is often held responsible for South Korea's 1997-98 financial crisis. Though Kim Young-sam is blamed, it was the cross-assurances on bad loans of the chaebols that propped up unsound businesses through faked the books, falsified documents submitted to the government agencies that led the nation to the brink of disaster. Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun promised to rein the chaebols in, but were so reliant on their political contributions that the promises came to naught. Currently, the anti-trust Fair Trade Commission stated that there are 1,006 businesses in the cross-share ownership ban. The government bans subsidiaries of 55 chaebol with assets of more than 2 trillion won ($1.9 billion) from having more than 40 percent of its net assets invested in its affiliates. But the chaebols continue to add and spin-off subsidiaries that effectively defeats the purpose of the "list." In the end, the chaebols emerged stronger than ever as they had grown to be above the law as "munchies" (multi-national corporations) -- and more of the chaebol operations are being moved off-shore. No one could touch them.)

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ROK Plan to Demilitarize the DMZ area (Jan 2006) According to the New York TImes on 15 Jan 2006, the inter-Korean border area was a ROK development target. The NYT stated that the heavily fortified border dividing the Korean Peninsula was no longer shunned or feared as South Koreans push northward in their economic expansion. In a story filed from Paju, a border city of Gyeonggi Province in South Korea, the paper described how the city, once known as an "end-of-the-line garrison town," is now the home of 300,000 people as South Koreans seek apartments that are cheaper than those in the capital. The province is also where LG-Philips invested US$10 billion to build a LCD plant, where a 65-acre English language theme park, "English Village," is scheduled to open in March, and where a new arts complex worth $300 million is drawing tourists. Choi Gwi-nam, director of Paju city planning, said the fear of a North Korean invasion is waning. "Across the board, that concern is gone," he said.

(Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

The stampede to what developers bill as the last best place near Seoul is propelled by the pressure of nearly 50 million people squeezed into South Korea, a country smaller than Virginia, and by an economy that looks to cap costs and compete with China.

South Korea's industrial production grew 12.2 percent in November while its stock market rose 51.2 percent in 2005, and South Korea's government now forecasts 5 percent growth in 2006. Unemployment, already a low 3.5 percent, is expected to fall further, pushing South Korean wages in the direction of Japan's. (NOTE: Not true. Unemployment figures in 2005 more than 560,000 jobless South Koreans applied for unemployment compensation, an all-time high.)

One way to cut costs is to move production to where land is cheap.

"The northern part of the province is really growing because of the real estate prices," said Sohn Hak Kyu, governor of Gyeonggi, the province that surrounds Seoul like a donut. Referring to one long-term projection for Philips's investment in the new plant, he said, "If Philips thought it was dangerous, how could they invest $10 billion?" Lee Bang Soo, a spokesman for LG.Philips LCD, said, "If we are looking at the southern part of Seoul, there are traffic jams and the price of the real estate is very expensive."

Paju, a border city known to two generations of South Korean army draftees as an end-of-the-line garrison town, has seen its civilian population double since 2003, to 300,000, as workers seek apartments that are far cheaper than in Seoul.

To cope with this migration north from the capital, construction workers are doubling the width of the Freedom Highway, to eight lanes. Seoul's subway system is to be extended here by 2008. City leaders are lobbying to get the KTX, South Korea's bullet train.

Across a new road from English Village, tourists can visit Heyri Art Valley, a new $300 million arts complex with galleries and artist studios. After a day spent inspecting ceramics and sculpture, they can retire to a hilltop gallery, sip a cappuccino and watch the sun set over North Korea, only a few miles away.

"A lot of artists, regardless of ideology, are pioneers; they do not care about geography," Sang Lee, manager of the expanding arts colony, said of the move to this long-shunned area. Three industrial parks and one planned city of 150,000 are going up, all within 15 miles of the southern edge of the DMZ. In the last decade, land prices here have increased tenfold, faster than in Seoul.

"The area near the DMZ is abundant in natural resources, environmentally friendly," said Choi Gwi Nam, director of the planned city, labeled Ubiquitous City because all the apartments will have high-speed Internet access. Referring to the uneasiness that South Koreans have held for investing in what was an invasion route for North Korean tanks in 1950, he added, "Across the board, that concern is gone."

The bottomline is that Koreans simply do not believe the North is capable of attacking the South. The US however, disagrees calling the Koreans, "latte-sipping Athenians who deny the reality of their northern cousins, unreconstructed Spartans." (Source: NY TImes.)

Under the Unification Ministry plan for 2006, the "Demilitarization of the DMZ" was to be a priority. The USFK and ROK conservatives note that the North has the world's third-largest standing army, 1.2 million soldiers," half of them stationed within 90 miles of the DMZ. Yet Paju has obtained permission to demolish the tank traps that have existed for decades to prevent the North's armor from rolling into Seoul unimpeded in case of war. The army completed the removal of land mines along the DMZ in 2005 and the Unification ministry wants another swath cleared to provide for power lines to provide electricity to the North.

South Korea is growing more confident about peace on the peninsula, when on 13 Jan 2006 Seoul announced it would ease or lift restrictions on 139 military reservations, areas being used by the armed forces or considered dangerous. These areas were reclassified were to be returned to the local authorities for development on their own discretion. The Chosun Ilbo stated on 13 Jan 2006 that the government would allow the public to take back control of some 139 military reservation areas covering 235.83 million sq.m from March. The Joint Chiefs of Staff they decided to lift military reservation restrictions in 108 areas and ease them from “control” to “limited” in another 31 to protect the public’s property rights and as part of changes to the military’s operating environment. That is the biggest change in 10 years in terms of the size of land, which is equivalent to 73 times the area of Yeouido, Seoul.

By region, Gyeonggi Province benefitted most with the affected size of land at some 115.7 million sq.m, followed by Gangwon Province with 42.34 million sq.m, Seoul with 32.37 million sq.m, and Incheon with 20.53 million sq.m. In the case of Gyeonggi, military reservation areas are mostly concentrated in the northern part of the province, so the new measure will help the province develop a new bedroom town. There are concerns that the lifting of restriction could lead to haphazard development and damage to the environment, especially since local elections due in May will tempt local officials to exploit their sudden freedom for political advantage. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

The property rights of local residents and landowners will be protected. Landowners have complained about the limitations on regional development and construction. They have filed collective petitions to the National Assembly citing inconvenience and other disadvantages. The new measures allow people to build, expand or dispose of residential and commercial facilities without having to obtain a permit from local military authorities. Yu said the government will take follow-up measures to prevent property speculation around the newly deregulated areas since the value of the property is likely to rise.

Some of the areas are part of the land returned to the ROK under the Land Partnership Plan (LPP) with the USFK as part of the pullback of the 2d ID from the DMZ area. The ROK military plans to designate a total of 9.2 million sq.m as new military reservation areas. The ministry has designated five new military reservation areas covering about 3 million pyeong to meet changed operational demands. The measure will reduce military reservation areas from 5.4 percent to 5.2 percent of the nation's territory. A total of 164,296 areas are designated as military reservation zones across the country mostly in Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Gangwon Province.

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Broker Yoon Sang-lim Scandal Expands (Jan-Feb 2006) Yoon Sang-lim has been detained by the prosecution since November unveiling dealings with prosecutors, lawyers, judges, police officers, senior government officials, construction companies and lawmakers. The prosecution has been questioning Mr. Yoon since he was arrested in November on charges of blackmailing a construction firm. Yoon is indicted on several accounts of bribery and blackmail. He was initially charged with taking 900 million won in kickbacks from a construction company by using his influence with police to start a corruption probe into a rival firm. Mr. Yoon, 54, established close relationships with military officials by making contributions to military morale funds in the 1980s. With some generals' support, Mr. Yoon allegedly had a hand in military supply contracts and construction bids and eventually broadened his personal ties. Prosecutors said that one motivation for Mr. Yoon's alleged shady dealings was an addiction to gambling. They said he lost a total of 3.9 billion won ($4 million) during 1,200 visits to a Korean casino from 2003 to 2005.

As the investigation continued, it became more twisted. On 21 Jan Police Lt. Kang Hee-do, an aide to deputy police chief Choi Kwang-sik, was found dead in an apparent suicide after he was summoned by the prosecution for an inquiry about his boss's involvement in a corruption scandal. Police said the 40 year-old official hanged himself to death after being summoned by the prosecution to answer questions about his boss's unsavory dealings with the broker.

The death has increased suspicions of Choi's corruptive ties with the arrested lobbyist, while heightening tension between police and prosecution amid the ongoing debate over investigation rights. Choi has been the acting police chief since former chief Huh Joon-young resigned in December for the deaths of two farmers killed during clashes with the police. In his suicide note, he condemned the prosecution for "manipulating the media to damage police honor" and indirectly expressed his anger at the ongoing media coverage of the prosecution's probe on broker Yoon Sang-lim and the connections between Yoon and his boss, Choi. Choi recently said that he wired 20 million won from the bank account of Park, his friend and a businessman, with Park’s help at Yun’s request in July 2005. Prosecutors have found circumstantial evidence that Kang Hee-do, Choi’s secretary who committed suicide, transferred money between Choi and Yun many times.

Mr. Choi, speaking at a news conference on 23 Jan 2006, said, "Investigate me as soon as possible." He allowed reporters to look at records from what he said were his only two bank accounts, saying there was nothing to support leaks from prosecutors that he gave 20 million won ($20,400) to Yoon Sang-lim via a friend of the latter man. Part of his anger at the prosecutors reflected the bad blood between the agencies; the police, with Mr. Choi in the fore, have been trying to gain a greater measure of independence in conducting criminal investigations, which are now under the tight control of the nation's prosecutors. Choi took an early retirement after being replaced by the new Police Commissioner Lee Taek-soon after hearings at the National Assembly.

The prosecution said it will start summoning 10 lawyers suspected of dealings with broker Yoon. Some lawyers included in the summons are former prosecutors and judges, and have wired up to 100 million won to Yoon's bank accounts. The government will decide in February on the debate between the police and prosecution over conceding independent criminal investigation rights to the police. Under current laws, police can investigate crimes only under the control of prosecutors.

Cheong Wa Dae, also suspected of having connections with broker Yoon, dismissed the suspicions on Saturday. "There is no evidence that the broker ever visited the Presidential Office and allegations that he frequently talked with presidential aides on the phone cannot be confirmed," said Moon Jae-in, chief presidential secretary for civil affairs. Grand National Party spokesperson Lee Kye-jin demanded the disclosure of Cheong Wa Dae's visitors' records, saying "there is news that Yoon Sang-lim has visited the Presidential Office and played golf with the prime minister. Cheong Wa Dae must disclose what ties it has with the broker." On 26 Jan the senior Blue House secretary for civil affairs, Moon Jai-in, said that his office had alerted prosecutors to Mr. Yoon's activities in 2003, when he approached Mr. Moon's predecessor to ask for help. After looking into Mr. Yoon's background, he said, his predecessor went to the prosecutors. His motive in discussing the matter was to counter suspicions voiced by the opposition that the Blue House might be involved in the widening scandal. "People who bring up unfounded speculation about the Blue House should apologize," he said. However, the evidence of the Cheong Wa Dae instigating the investigations is labeled "secret" according to the Blue House so the accusation issue remains in unresolved.

Joo Seong-young, chairman of GNP's truth commission, set up a probe into the Yoon scandal. Joo said that "The extent of Yoon's dealings amount to at least 100 billion won. But the prosecution has only disclosed what money Yoon has received; nothing has been revealed about the money Yoon has delivered." Joo also raised suspicions against Lotte Group's connection with the broker. "Broker Yoon was involved in the process of Lotte Group's lobbying for its second construction plan," he said, delving into specific instances. (Source: Korea Herald.)

The prosecutor-general, Chung Sang-myoung, was also drawn into the fray, saying that he would sue a Seoul newspaper for libel after it printed charges, allegedly by a senior police official, that "a top prosecution official" was involved in Mr. Yoon's influence-peddling. He said he would submit to a prosecutorial investigation himself if necessary to clear his name. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

As of 24 Jan, the Prosecution said it was also investigating two lawyers, both former prosecutors, who allegedly paid large sums of money to Mr. Yoon while they were members of the prosecution. The statement said an examination of bank records had found one politician, two judges, 10 police officials, 11 lawyers and 19 businessmen who had financial dealings with Mr. Yoon that seemed suspicious, but that all involved had denied any illegalities. Mr. Yoon's arraignment began on 23 Jan at Seoul Central District Court; where he did not enter a plea. The trial was postponed by the Prosecution until March 2.

Because Yoon has remained silent and uncooperative, prosecutors have focused on questioning other parties involved in money dealings with him. However, most of those questioned have claimed that the money wired to Yoon was "just a loan". "Those with social status have not been cooperating with the prosecution at all, fearing damage to their reputations or disciplinary action against them," the report said.

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Over 30 Million to Travel During 'Solnal' Lunar New Year Holiday (Jan 2006) More than 30 million people were expected to travel the country around the Jan. 28-30 Lunar New Year holiday, visiting their hometowns or taking vacations. Traffic congestion was expected, as many people living in Seoul and the nearby metropolitan area visit their family in hometowns in the provinces. As the holiday period was shorter than in past years, travelers were expected to suffer worsened traffic conditions. (SITE NOTE: For the first time, we are going to do things different. We live close to Seoul this year and my brother-in-laws and families will come here instead of us going up to Seoul. We thought that my sister-in-law would get to spend Solnal with her family in Pyeongtaek and my brothers-in-law could have their all-night go-stop games here. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way. One brother-in-law had to work and the other brother-in-law went to Taegu to visit his son in the ROK Army -- and the traffic jam was horrendous. It took him 4 hours to get from Taegu to Chonan. After 10 hours he got here to Pyeongtaek. After they got here late at night everyone was just too tired to think of a go-stop game.)


Rice Cake for the Solnal Holiday

More than 30 million people were to hit the highways, up about 5 percent from 2005. The number of cars to use expressways was estimated at 14.9 million, an increase of some 4 percent from 2005. About half of the respondents were to head for their hometowns on 28 Jan and return to Seoul on 30 Jan. It was estimated to take more than nine hours between Seoul and Pusan by car, six hours between Seoul and Taejon, and eight and a half hours between Seoul and Kwangju. The Ministry on Construction and Highways, the National Police Agency, the Korea Railroad, the Korea Highway Corporation, and local governments prepared measures to increase public transportation.


Seoul Exodus for Solnal Holiday (28 Jan 06)

To authorities presented measures against extreme weather conditions such as heavy snow. Local governments and road authorities will prepare snow removal facilities as a precaution. The ministry has also come up with heavy snow countermeasures for outside holiday times as well. The measure came after 900 cars were snowbound on expressways in Dec 2005 due to 50 centimeters of snow in South Cholla Province. The police and highway corporation opened median strips of the roads and recommended drivers to turn back. But many of the drivers refused and proceeded their way, or left the cars on the roads, causing greater disorder and disturbing snow removal works. The new measures were to ban cars without snow chains from entering highways, inform drivers of the authority’s plan to close roads in advance, and launch snow removal works when snow begins to fall at some roads which are often closed due to snow. Those who refuse to take the authority’s order to turn around cars werel to be subject to fines or other punishments.

It didn't snow so the precautions weren't need...but the predictions of the traffic snarls did come true.

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"Truth Committee" Again (Jan 2006) The "Truth Committee" of the National Intelligence Service (NIS) concluded that a 1967 case in which the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) accused some 194 academics, artists and students of spying for North Korea was "not a complete fabrication but grossly trumped up." In July 1967, Kim Hyong-uk, chief of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA), announced that 194 South Koreans, mostly scholars and artists, were involved in spy activities in East Berlin, which is pronounced in the old Korean way as ``Tongbaengnim.'' (Source: Chosun Ilbo.) The committee concluded that the case cannot be looked at as a spy case because some of the accused had in fact visited North Korea but did not engage in providing information to the North Koreans or spying activities. However, the commission said the case was not a pure invention, as many believed. “Some of the accused actually did receive money or special training from the North in violation of South Korean laws,” it said. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

In a news conference in Seoul, the investigators presumed that the agency's predecessor, the KCIA, tortured suspects to make them confess to their supposed involvement in the fictitious spy ring. Investigators recommended that the government apologize to the victims of the dictatorial regime and seek ways to redeem their honor. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

According to the committee, some Koreans living in Europe from the late 1950s contacted North Korea in one way or another, which constituted a violation of the National Security Law or the criminal code. Some 12 visited the North, 26 exchanged money and other articles with the country and 17 were specially trained by the Stalinist country. Three or four of them even let the North know that they safely arrived when they returned to South Korea. But the KCIA then went overboard, denouncing any contact as espionage and tortured suspects under interrogation, the commission said.


Defendants stand trial for allegedly spying for communist North Korea in this Chosun Ilbo file picture from Nov. 9, 1967.

The “Tongbaengnim” incident refers actions by the then Korean Central Intelligence Agency (KCIA) to accuse 194 scholars and literati, including famous composer Yun I-sang and painter Lee Ung-no, of engaging in pro-communist activities in Berlin. The "Truth Committee" said Yun I-sang visited the North, received money from the country and arranged visits to a North Korean Embassy for a friend at the North's behest. According to the National Institute of Korean History, at the time West Germany considered severing diplomatic contacts with ROK after several Koreans residing in Germany had been abducted to Korea for charges of spying for DPRK. One of them was even a German citizen.

The committee said that the KCIA illegally took 30 people related to the incident from Germany, France and the U.S. back to Korea. The committee added, “KCIA agents brought those associated with the incident to the Korean embassy in the countries by sending them a false invitation of dinner or to Korea. After bringing them in, the agents sent them back to Korea, using force on some of them.”

Germany sent three Korean diplomats packing for being involved in the abduction, but withheld further considerations of severing diplomatic relations after the assassination attempt on Park Chung-hee by DPRK commandos and the Pueblo incident in 1968. Pressuring further on the diplomatic relations issue would have endangered the efforts to release the abducted and hardened the ROK stand, was the German judgement. At the moment the East Berlin incident is mainly remembered as a major spy fabrication incident; what is true though are contacts with DPRK officials for various reasons and unification idealism among the "perpetrators". It's also clear that DPRK cynically took advantage of all that, sending operatives to approach South Koreans in Germany disguised as professors. (Source: Hunjang Blog.)

Six were given death sentence, Yun among them, but all were released after pressure from Germany and other governments. After a series of trials, 34 of the suspects, including composer Yun I-sang Yun and poet Chun Sang-byung, were convicted in December the same year. But all of them were granted amnesty in August 1970.

(NOTE: Composer Yun I-sang's Cold War image was a pro-Pyongyang dissident who was allegedly involved in the spy activities in East Berlin, which is described in old Korean way ``Tongbaengnim.'' In 1967 Yun was abducted form Berlin to Seoul by the Korean secret police, and was tortured and charged with high treason. In a political show trial he was sentenced to life imprisonment in the first instance, but released in 1969 after international protests. His release was reportedly possible thanks to the German government’s threat to sever diplomatic ties with South Korea. Disaffected by the South, he visited the North and wooed by Kim Il-sung. In 1971 he became a German citizen. He died in Nov 1995. (Source: Yun I-sang.) Yun's widow, Lee Soo-ja, is living in Pyongyang, North Korea, together with their daughter Djong, 55. Their son Wu-kyong (phonetic), 51, is residing in Los Angeles, the United States. (Source: Korea Times.)

The Committee confirmed that the late composer Yoon I-sang received a total of about $5,000 from North Korea on nine occasions and had visited the communist country. However, the committee concluded that it is hard to view Yoon as a spy, considering that he refused to join the Communist Party, resisted Pyongyang’s training for a secretive political party, and maintained a superficial relationship with the country. “It is unfair to apply espionage charges to passive activities related to Pyongyang and label Yoon as a spy,” the committee said. (Source: Donga Ilbo.) (NOTE: President Roh has invited the widow of Yoon I-sang, residing in North Korea, to visit the South. Lee Soo-ja, 79, widow of renowned composer Yoon Isang, wants to revisit Seoul soon after her husband’s honor is restored by an official apology from Seoul. (Source: Korea Times)

Poet Chun Sang-byung was born in 1930 and passing away in 1993 at the age of 63, Chun was a poet who lived to his highest ideal. Tortured on charges of participating in a North Korea spy case called Dongbaeklim in 1967 (which was only because one of his close friends was involved), he never felt ashamed of leading a poor life of his own choice, although he had been one of the lucky few who majored in business administration at Seoul National University. (Source: Korea Times.)

Go-Am Ungno Lee (1904-1989) was born in the Hongseong, Chungcheongnam-do in 1904. After the Korean War, Go-Am, criticizing the corrupt practices of the National Art Exhibition, came to be known as a dissident artist. In 1989, he died in Paris without fulfilling his dream of returning to his motherland. Go-Am, who had witnessed some of the most dramatic events in modern Korean history, such as the gaining of independence from Japan, the Korean War, and the nationwide movement for democracy, had continued his intensive artistic activities during those historic movements. His work was always bound to historic events on the Korean peninsula, and this is the reason why he has been called the most Korean of artists. (Source: Lee Ung-no.))

Not Fabricated Event The investigation by the committee confirmed that 50 people among those related to the incident visited East Berlin, and another 12 visited North Korea, violating the National Security Law. The committee also said that the 26 who received money from the North and the 12 who obeyed requests from the North also violated relevant laws, such as the National Security Law. The Korean CIA applied espionage charges and attempted-espionage charges to 23 of those related, and the prosecution also indicted them on the same suspicions. But none of the 23 were found guilty of espionage until the final trial in the Supreme Court was completed.

In addition, the Korean CIA said that a Seoul National University professor identified as Hwang was persuaded by the North to organize the “Nationalism Comparative Study Association” (NCSA) after coming back to Korea in an effort to topple the Park Jung-hee government. But Kim Hyung-wook, chief of the Korean CIA, acknowledged in his memoirs, “It was wrong to include the NCSA in the Dongbaeklim incident.” (Source: Donga Ilbo.)

"Probable" Torture Those associated with the incident and investigators presented mixed arguments about the possible use of torture. Some, including the late poet Chun Sang-byung, argued, “There were tortures, including beating, electricity, and water tortures.” But investigators refuted this, saying, “There was no need for brutal treatment because the suspects confessed without much resistance.”

But the committee said that there is reason to believe the Korean CIA tortured at least 14 suspects after considering the concreteness and consistency of the arguments of those who said they were tortured. (Source: Donga Ilbo.)

Song Du Yul Incident One of those involved in this incident was Song Du Yul, a professor at a German University. The "openess" of the Roh administration attracted home Song Du Yul, 59, a sociology professor at Munster University in Germany, after 36 years in exile dating to 1967. Though invited home by a private group, his pending arrival was tacitly approved by the Roh administration as it took no moves to block his entry. A German citizen, he left South Korea in 1967. He had been outspoken in his criticism of the regime of the South Korean military dictator Park Chung Hee during some of the darkest moments of the cold war. At first proclaimed in the press as a returning hero of democracy, everything went swimmingly. Then Hwang Jang Yop, the high-level North Korean official before his defection to South Korea in 1997, said that Song was known in North Korea under the alias Kim Chul Soo, and was the 23rd-ranking member of the Politburo. From there everything went downhill. He was arrested on 22 Oct 2003 and the prosecutor accused Song Du-yul of joining the North Korean Workers' Party in 1973, acting as a member of its Politburo in the 1990s, visiting Pyongyang more than 20 times, and accepting about 0,000 from North Korean government while staying in Germany. Indicted on 19 November 2003, the prosecutor cited an article from the National Security Law that stated, "anyone who is a member of any anti-national organization and serves as an executive member or leader of such group is punishable by law." Though a German citizen, in March 2004, Song was sentenced to seven years in prison under the National Security Act, under which sympathizing with communism or with Communists, or aiding antigovernment organizations, is interpreted as a crime. (Source: Asian Human Rights and Samuel Lent, IHT, "Academic sentenced for aiding Pyongyang," (March 30, 2004).)

President Roh Moo-hyun suggested Song should be treated with leniency although under South Korean law collaboration with a "primary enemy" is prosecutable as a capital crime. In July 2004, Song received a suspended sentence on minor charges after an appeals court ruled the Korean prosecution had not proven its main contention, that he was a member of the North Korean Workers Party Politburo. The prosecution filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, but the key element was that the prosecution did NOT impose a travel ban on him. True to form, in Aug 2004, Song departed for Germany without fanfare -- and as there is no extradition treaty, even if the Supreme Court did uphold his conviction, he will not return. The matter for Roh was swept under the carpet.

Historical Background But to understand the hysteria of the KCIA, one needs to view the "big picture." The roundup of 194 South Koreans aroused suspicion as it came just as student activists were staging fierce protests in Seoul against the military regime's illegal manipulations during the June 1967 parliamentary election. In May 1967, the KCIA started a roundup of student dissidents of the Inhyoktang alleged to be a communist inspired organization. Supposedly confessions were obtained by torture and there was a summary execution of 8 convicted "spies" within 48 hours after the Supreme Court upheld the convictions.

Against this background of anarchy in the streets, the North's insurgency was rising. During the late 1960s, the North had significantly escalated its subversion and infiltration activities against the South -- from about 50 incidents in 1966 to more than 500 in 1967. P'yongyang initially sent agents to gather intelligence and to build a revolutionary base in South Korea. However, the 1960s saw a dramatic shift to violent attempts to destabilize South Korea, including commando raids and incidents along the DMZ that occasionally escalated into firefights involving artillery.

The raids peaked in 1968, when more than 600 infiltrations were reported, including an unsuccessful commando attack on the South Korean presidential mansion by thirty-one members of North Korea's 124th Army Unit. The unit came within 500 meters of the president's residence before being stopped. During this incident, twenty-eight infiltrators and thirty-seven South Koreans were killed. That same year, 120 commandos infiltrated two east coast provinces in an unsuccessful attempt to organize a Vietnamese-type guerrilla war.

After the attack on the Blue House, the KCIA was seeing "communists" under every rock. After the attempt to assassinate Park Chung-hee, the Pueblo Crisis exploded a few weeks later bringing the country to the brink of war. The communists were everywhere -- and the KCIA exhibited growing signs of paranoia.

In 1969 over 150 infiltrations were attempted, involving almost 400 agents. Thereafter, P'yongyang's infiltration efforts abated somewhat, and the emphasis reverted to intelligence gathering, covert networks, and terrorism. (See Infilitration, Spies and Espionage for details on KCIA/NIS and DCS investigations.)

Background on "Truth Committee The act on fact-finding investigations on past events creating the "Truth Committee" was passed in 2005. In February 2005, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) Development Committee for Clarifying the Past, or "Truth Committee," led by Rev. Oh Choong-il, began to reinvestigate seven suspicious cases from past authoritarian regimes, including Inhyoktang. Roh defended it as a matter of utmost importance to redress the past wrongs that had been hidden in secrecy. The history law passed in May 2005 under the mantle of righting past wrongs will obviously play a key role in portraying privilege and former governments as enemies of the nation and the state. (See Roh to "Correct" History by looking into Past Wrongdoings of NIS for recent events.)

In Nov 2005, the "Truth Committee" issued its findings on the Inhyoktang and Mincheong Hangnyon organizations. The report condemned Park Chung-hee for his role in the executions of 8 protestors but it was a report based on "circumstantial evidence" and opinion -- not "proof." What stands out was that there were no confessions, no revelations, no proof -- despite the 20 "investigators" (activists hired to pursue their agenda). It was all circumstancial evidence and speculation.

The committee alleged that the Park Chung-hee regime had no evidence other than the forced confessions to prove that Inhyoktang was linked to North Korea. In addition, "its structure was not coherent enough to be called a party" and "it did not officially adopt a manifesto, pledging loyalty to Kim Il-sung, founding father of North Korea." The committee said the Inhyoktang was a small gathering-level organization rather than a party, and that there was no proof that the gathering had any intention to overthrow the government.

It also said that Mincheong Hangnyon was an organization of students fighting for a democratic government, and that there was no evidence of it having received any directions from North Korea. Investigators said the government should compensate the victims of the dictatorial regime and seek ways to redeem their honor. (Source: Korea Times, 7 Dec 2005 and Korea Herald, 8 Dec 2005.)

The agenda of the "Truth Committee" is very plain to see. Its purpose is to provide ammunition for the repeal of the National Security Law by focusing attention on the "evils" done by this law -- without addressing the security concerns the NSL covers. (NOTE: The majority of Koreans feel the NSL needs to be amended, but retained.) In addition, it seeks to elevate the status of the former activists in the Roh cabinet to the level of "freedom fighters" while painting as a demagogue Park Chung-hee and discredit his daughter, Park Geun-hye of the GNP by extension. Lee Hae-chan, Prime Minister, is listed as being "Imprisoned for Involvement in Mincheong Hakryeon Case" in 1974-1975. (Source: Korea Net.) Chung Dong-young, former Unification Minister, is listed as being "Imprisoned for Involvement in Mincheong Hakryeon Case" in 1973. (Source: Korea Net.)

The "Truth Committee" was to look into the kidnapping of Kim Dae-jung in 2006 in hopes of discrediting Park Geum-hye, Park Chung-hee's daugher and chairman of the GNP.

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Saemangeum to Restart in March (Jan-Apr 2006) The reclamation project began in 1991, but met strong opposition from the onset and was suspended in 1999 and 2003. It was stopped in 2003 when a trial court supported claims by opponents that the project was too costly in damage to wetlands and contamination of nearby sea areas. The lower court ruled against the project because of concerns that damage to the environment would outweigh the economic benefits. The high court overruled the lower court ruling earlier that ordered the government to scrap or alter the Saemangeum project, aimed at turning 40,100 hectares of tidal flats into farmland and a freshwater reservoir. The high court said that these concerns were not sufficient reason to justify cancelling the project. The work was due to restart in 2004, but protests by environmental groups and some residents of the area halted the work.

In February 2005, the Seoul Administrative Court ordered the government to stop or modify the Saemangum project, after a group of residents in North Cholla Province and environmental activists filed a suit in 2001.

But the government balked at the decision and quickly appealed the ruling to the high court. In Dec 2005, that decision was overturned again after an appeal by the administration. The Seoul High Court ruled that the government could resume the reclamation project, rejecting the environmental groups' claim that the project would create an environmental disaster without economic merits. It also said scrapping the project altogether would not make much sense when the government already spent a large amount of money, adding that changing the use of the land to be created by the reclamation work is not illegal as claimed by the environmental groups. The Korea Rural Community and Agriculture Corp. said it was ready to resume construction on a 33-kilometer (20.5-mile) embankment off the coast of Gunsan, South Jeolla province. Officials at the corporation said construction of the remaining 2.7-kilometer section would begin in March and would be completed in late April.

In Dec 2005, residents of Northern Jeolla Province and environmental organizations immediately filed an appeal to the Supreme Court after Seoul High Court gave the green light to the agricultural ministry to recommence work on the project which has already cost 2.16 trillion won.


Saemangeum Project (Jun 2003)

The interest to the USFK is that when completed Kunsan AB will be land-locked. Currently Kunsan AB and Kunsan Airport share the same runway. Land that extends to the sea will be in an overfly area.

(SITE NOTE: The impression is that the work ceased during the court injunction, but this is NOT correct. The ROK continued with the project but only left a 2.7 km section open to the sea. When we left Gunsan in 2004, the portions near Puan had been completed and the roads were being constructed. When completed the Saemangeum Project will completely enclose Kunsan AB. This project was NEVER stopped -- only blocked to the public's prying eyes.

Though the project doesn't really make sense after rice consumption dropped and the irrigation lake was going to become a stagnant swamp, the government had sunk too much money into it and the tidal plain reclamation process was impossible to revert. It simply had to be completed whether the environmentalists were right or not.


Saemangeum Protest (6 Jun 2003)

Supreme Court Public Appeal Hearings The Supreme Court held public appeal hearings starting on 15 Feb over a controversial state project to reclaim huge tidal flats on the southwestern coast. The Supreme Court's decision to hold the hearings illustrates the court's commitment to the principle of dealing efficiently with and giving first priority to cases of broad public interest. However, the construction on the final section of the sea wall is expected to be finished by March or April, so a decision as soon as possible was essential in order to prevent losses from delayed trials.

The plaintiffs (citizens) will call on Lee Joon koo, an economics professor at Seoul National University, Kim Jung wook, environmental engineering professor also from SNU, and Chun Seung soo, professor of oceanography at Chonnam National University. The defendants (the government) will call on Lim Jae hwan, professor of agricultural economics at Chungnam National University, Yoon Chun gyeong, professor of agricultural studies at Konkuk University and Yang Jae sam, professor of marine information technology at Kunsan National University.

Meanwhile an activist group opposed to the Saemangeum project disclosed that the government had information about the effects building a sea wall would have on the local ecosystem. The report predicted the damage that the sea wall would have on the ecosystem as it would reduce the numbers of benthos, organisms that live in the sea, beneath a healthy level. But the NGO group said Cheong Wa Dae and the prime minister's office ignored the report.

The environmental ministry report, written in 2004, concluded the results of the investigation on the characteristics of the ecosystem within the area, collected over one year by the National Institute of Environmental Research. The activists urged the prime minister's office to take responsibility for ignoring the environmental report, demanding the ministry find measures to leave the 2.7 kilometers left unblocked by the sea wall open to seawater. In response, the environmental ministry said that "we did not fully trust the results of the report as it was made during a period of six months. We decided just to use it as an internal informational source." The agricultural ministry will go ahead with the sea wall construction across 2.7 kilometers starting next month, unless the Supreme Court overturns the ruling by the Seoul High Court.

(SITE NOTE: I remember teaching English to a marine biologist professor at the Kunsan Fisheries College -- which later was incorporated into Kunsan University. He was tasked with doing the Environmental Impact Study in the early 1992 AFTER the project had started -- and I asked him how come they started the project without the study. He had no answer -- and the whole project has been like this over the years. The administration simply plowed ahead with really planning in detail. After the billions spent on this project, it's time to finish it. If anything, the land can be converted to low cost housing area, where people can build low-cost "container" homes (aluminum siding) and start a real-live bedroom community for Changhang and Kunsan. Small and mid-sized businesses could be attracted to take over the land at "cut-rate" prices. The infrastructure is in-place -- deep-water port for foreign export; land connection links now that the West Coast Highway is complete; a new airport needs to be resolved but with so much land, it is easy to site; ferry service to China is in place; etc. etc. etc. The environmental damage is now irreversible -- even if the project stopped today, the damage cannot be remediated. All that can be hoped is that the occurrence of red tides such as happened at Ulsan -- another example of poor environmental planning -- does not occur at Kunsan. It's is best to press forward.) (See High Court Approves Saemangeum Reclamation Project (Dec 2005) for high court decision.) (See Roh Moo-hyun: Environmental Policy and Saemangeum Project for background material.)

In Mar 2006 the Supreme Court was to hand down a final verdict on the fate of the controversial Saemangum reclamation, ending a five-year legal battle that has divided the country between environmental conservation and regional development. But experts said that whether or not the court sides with the government or environmental groups, the nation will still likely remain split over the 2.05-trillion-won ($2.1 billion) reclamation project, which began in November 1991.

The Supreme Court on 16 Mar gave the green light to a resumption of the much-delayed Saemangeum Reclamation Project. The full bench with a majority of 11 to two upheld a lower court ruling against an appeal by environmental groups and local residents who wanted the project scrapped. The bench found no flaws in the original permission for the massive land reclamation project given by the Agriculture and Forestry Ministry, while a string of viability, environmental impact and water quality studies showed the project was well above board. “There is no change in the situation that would justify demands for the minister to cancel his decision,” the majority judges said. However, four majority judges added a lacuna saying while the administrative measure by the minister is lawful, the ruling is not to be "interpreted as a policy assessment of the project's validity." They exhorted the government to "put greater effort into continuously reviewing the project to ensure that it truly contributes to the nation's economic development and becomes more environmentally friendly." (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

As the Supreme Court had ruled in favor of the reclamation project, the government could finally put all the troubles behind and push the project forward, free from a series of lawsuits by environmental groups that has impeded the reclamation for more than 10 years. Then, it would first complete an unfinished section of the seawall to trap freshwater from two rivers to create a reservoir. But the government would be ultimately responsible for the Saemangum project if it does not turn out as economically and ecologically feasible as it claims. (Source: Korea Times.)

Dissenting judges Kim Young-ran and Park Si-hwan in their opinion said the Constitution and environmental laws place preservation of the natural environment above economic development. “The project needs to be stopped in view of the potential environmental catastrophe if the quality of the freshwater lake created by the project falls below standards,” they said. If the court had sided with environmental groups, the government would have been forced to either scrap or significantly downscale the project, resulting in a waste of tax payers' money, which was already invested in reclaiming the lands and compensating residents in affected areas. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

Final Closure of Levee (21 Apr 2006) The final closure of the levee had to be planned carefully as the inrushing waters and outflowing tides made the operations treacherous. The operation for final closure had to be timed so that it would be done during low tide when the waters were not flowing swiftly. On 21 Apr 2006, the final closure of the levee between Kunsan and Puan was finished with a small gathering of workers and very little fanfare. The next step is to wait to see if the environmental disaster occurs as the environmentalists predict, economic failure that many Korean agro-economists predict as the need for rice lands are not great; or if this proves to be a success for the area which all hope for.




Saemangeum Final closure (21 Apr 2006)

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February 2006

Ho-hum ... Attacks on Park Chung-hee Again -- Kim Dae-jung Abduction (Feb 2006) On 3 Feb diplomatic papers were released after being sealed for 30 years by the Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon. Supposedly these and other disclosures were made public as part of the Foreign Ministry's "regular release of diplomatic documents" after a 30-year seal. Conveniently it coincides with the NIS "Truth Committee" investigation into the kidnapping of Kim Dae-jung -- and conveniently just before the 31 May local elections. The aim is to tarnish the image of Park Chung-hee -- and by association his daughter, Park Geun-hye, the chairman of the GNP Party. The document concerning Kim's kidnapping may develop into a political issue with attacks from the main opposition Grand National Party, which is chaired by Park Geun-hye, the eldest daughter of the dictator who was assassinated by the chief of the spy agency in 1979. Besides the protests from the GNP, some political analysts contend that what is behind the revelation of the document at this time is the advantage it may give the government and the ruling party in the local elections slated for May 31. (Source: Korea Times.)

The timing of the release of the documents being declassified coincides with the "Truth Committee" investigation into Kim Dae-jung-s kidnapping -- as well as the Strategic Flexibility controversy. The 191 documents were declassified in accordance with the rules requiring the government to make documents written more than 30 years ago public, with the exception of those which are regarded as encroaching on individual privacy or harming national security. But that they deal exclusively with Park Chung-hee and US dealings over ROK defense (at a time when the ROK is embroiled in the Strategic Flexibilty protests) and the Kim Dae-jung case (just before the NIS Truth Committee is to release the results of its investigation into the Kim Dae-jung case) causes one to wonder about the selectivity of Foreign Minister Ban in making them public.

The document, however, didn't prove whether the late President Park ordered his spy agency to abduct Kim at a hotel in Tokyo in August 1973 or not. It is believed that the incident could not have taken place without Park's instruction and the "Truth Committee" will probably again issue its "findings" using its circumstantial evidence techniques to "prove" Park's involvement. In March 2005, the dossier on the Kim Dae-jung abduction was supposedly "missing" documents as the commission could not locate anything that could have implicated Park Chung-hee. The most recent documents showed that Kim Jong-pil, then prime minister, settled the issue with Japan's Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka in November 1973. Though the document didn't mention it, it was reported that Seoul gave a huge amount of funds to Tanaka a few days before the case was politically resolved. (SITE NOTE: The alleged bribe of Tanaka has never been substantiated. However, during this period, the Park regime had resorted to "lobbying" and the use of bribes to gain its objectives. In America it resulted in "Koreagate" with allegations of bribery of Congressmen. In Japan, as it was in Korea at the time, the giving of "gifts" was considered traditional in greasing the skids.)

Meanwhile, the National Intelligence Service "Truth Committee" on investigating the past is set to reveal its papers on the Kim Dae-jung abduction in Mar 2006. The diplomatic papers did not add much that was not already known, but did add a footnote to how the kidnapping occurred by documenting Kim Dae-jung's testimony to the investigation team. (SITE NOTE: There are some inconsistencies between Kim Dae-jung's account and what was reported by perpetrators and the findings in other investigative news reports.)


Kim Dae-jung (2001)

The Kidnapping (Aug 8, 1973) The papers revealed that Korea and Japan agreed to a "political closure" regarding investigations into the kidnapping of then dissident leader and former president Kim Dae-jung. Kim was abducted from a Tokyo hotel on Aug. 8, 1973. There really isn't much new material.

Kim Dae-jung was leaving a hotel room in Tokyo, where he had been staying for a year while organizing opposition to Park Chung-hee's rule. He was attacked by five young Korean men in the hotel corridor, drugged, gagged and taken downstairs by elevator. He was then driven for five or six hours to an unidentified house, where the kidnappers robbed him of 200,000 yen in cash, his passport and a Rolex watch.

(SITE NOTE: According to the Yoimuri Shimbun on February 19, 1998, Kim Dae-jung was in Japan to stir up support for his pro-democracy movements. He stayed at Hotel Grand Palace in Chiyoda ward, Tokyo. On August 8, 1973, he held a meeting in his room with two opposition figures, Yang Il Dong and Kim Gyong In. After the meeting Kim Dae-jung came out of his hotel room, when several KCIA agents pounced on him and dragged him into Yang Il Dong's room right next to Kim's. There were two Japanese guests in the hallway and Kim shouted "Save me! These are murderers!". But the two Japanese believed they were witnessing a gangster feud and kept quiet. Kim was anesthetized in Yang's room and taken to an underground parking lot via an elevator. He was driven to a KCIA safe house, blindfolded and gagged. (Source: Kimsoft.)

What we find interesting of the latest Korean newspaper accounts is that the newspapers DELIBERATELY fail to mention the role the US Ambassador Philip Habib played in the saving of Kim Dae-jung. "Upon hearing of the kidnapping, U.S. Ambassador Philip Habib ordered his aides to find where Kim was being hidden. After finding that he had been kidnapped by South Korean agents, Habib hastily informed Park about what had happened. (Source: Wikipedia.) ... he called Park and warned him that he would face severe repercussions from the United States if Kim were killed. (Source: CNN, 2000.)

According to the Time Magazine article in 1998, "Only now are details of the kidnapping beginning to emerge. Last week, a top Korean official revealed that the kcia had planned the abduction, but he failed to explain the mysterious appearance of the plane. Time has learned that Kim's savior was the Unit ed States. According to Donald Gregg, then chief of the Central Intelligence Agency's Seoul station, the U.S. swept into action immediately on hearing news of Kim's abduction. Ambassador Philip Habib called Gregg into his office. "I know how things work a round here," said Habib. "They're going to wait 24 hours, and if we don't say anything Kim will be killed." As Gregg tells it, he called in as many favors as he could from among his Korean counterparts to verify the kcia's role in the kidnapping. The next morning, Habib went to the Blue House and warned President Park Chung Hee that Kim's murder would be a "terrible setback" for U.S.-Korea relations. The aircraft that buzzed the death ship that night was not American, says Gregg, but could have been Korean or, more likely, Japanese. In any case, its warning kept Kim from a horrible fate." (Source: Time, 2 Mar 1998.)

When the American CIA's Seoul bureau heard of kidnapping, its chief, Donald Gregg, immediately swung in action. He called up his Korean counterparts to find out as much as he could. Ambassador Philip Habib quickly went see Park Chung Hee, and warned that the relationship between the two countries would be gravely jeopardised if anything were to happen to Kim. Habib was sure that 'if [the United States] didn't say anything Kim will be killed.' Ambassador Habib was issuing a warning to all the ROK officials, including Park Chung-hee, in the middle of the night that no harm should befall Kim -- OR ELSE. (Source: Human Rights Solidarity.)

Kim reported in the declassified document that one night the abductors wrapped his face with a tape, tied his legs and hands together and moved him to a beach where he was then put aboard a ship. The kidnappers then ripped the tape from his face and instead wrapped bandages around his eyes and gagged him with a wooden stick. He testified the abductors then appeared to be preparing to throw him off the ship by tying heavy objects to each of his right hand and right leg.

According to the Yoimuri Shimbun on February 19, 1998, Lee Chol Hee contradicts Kim Dae-jung's claim that the agents planned to drown him. Lee said that his orders were to bring back Kim Dae-jung alive. Lee claims that he and his agents were against Lee Hu Rak's motive but they were forced to obey his orders. (Source: Kimsoft.)

According to Time Magazine in 1998, "By the following night, he had been transferred to a Korean freighter at sea. There he was bound again, his face covered in tape with air holes around his nose. As the ship moved off into the darkness, his captors roped Kim to a traditional Korean funeral plank for burial; weights were attached to his wrists. A devout Catholic, Kim saw the end coming and began to pray." (Source: Time Magazine, 2 Mar 1998.)

Kim said for an unknown reason they stopped what they were doing.

(SITE NOTE: We find it strange that the Korean accounts in the newspapers, do NOT mention an aircraft that buzzed the ship and saved Kim's life. There are conflicting stories dealing with the aircraft.

• According to Human Rights Solidarity in 2000, "There was suddenly an explosion. Kim heard a commotion on deck as the men scrambled about. Someone shouted, 'It's a plane!' Kim felt the boat picking up speed as if it was being chased. The men scrambled frantically and it was a while before things calmed down." (Source: Human Rights Solidarity.)
  
  
• According to a 1998 Time Magazine account, "Suddenly, as if in response, the rumble of aircraft engines swept over the ship. As crew members shouted "an airplane," Kim heard heavy objects falling into the sea. Then the ship turned so sharply Kim was thrown to the deck. "Are you Mr. Kim Dae-jung?" asked a voice, which Kim aides now believe belonged to the ship's cook. "I think the worst is over and you are alive." The fly-by had scared Kim's captors enough to save his life." (Source: Time, 2 Mar 1998.)
  
  
• According to the Yoimuri Shimbun on February 19, 1998, Whatever their plan was, the US CIA was tipped off by the Japanese intelligence and American warplanes circled over the KCIA spy ship with Kim Dae-jung aboard. An American helicopter got close to the ship and warned the Korean agents, in no uncertain terms, to keep Kim Dae-jung alive. (Source: Kimsoft.)
  
  
• Accounts report that an aircraft of unknown nationality buzzed the ship thus saving Kim's life. Donald Greg, then CIA Section Chief in Seoul and later Ambassador to Korea, stated it was NOT American -- and most likely Japanese. (Source: Time for former Ambassador Donald Gregg's article on Park Chung-hee.) However, all agree that it would have had to be American intelligence -- and radar tracking -- that pin-pointed the ship. Though the US policy was to remain silent on the ROK's internal affairs, low-level individuals were reported to have taken action on their own despite Sec of State Kissinger's policy.

After 53 hours on the boat, Kim was then taken to a house believed to be somewhere in South Gyeongsang Province, where he received medical treatment. After 129 hours of captivity, the kidnappers drove Kim to his home on August 13. Similar details of Kim's kidnapping had previously been revealed by a local newspaper in 1998. Kim was returned to his Seoul home, battered but alive, and spent the next nine years under house arrest, in jail or in exile.

Park Chung-hee

Aftermath of Kidnapping The feeling in Korea for sometime has been that the Japanese government and Park Chung-hee had an "understanding" whereby the Japanese police stopped its investigation into the Kim Dae-jung abduction case from the Japanese soil. It is felt that it was highly likely that the KCIA agents received inside help in Japan. It is viewed that it would have been difficult to grab a well-known figure from a large hotel, take him to a seaport and then load him onto a Korean ship - without the Japanese security officials' tacit approval. However, this has never been proven.

The abduction developed into the biggest crisis in relations between Seoul and Tokyo since the two countries established diplomatic ties in 1965. Angered by Seoul's lukewarm investigation of the incident, Tokyo cancelled a scheduled ministerial meeting between the two sides and threatened to sever economic cooperation. Tokyo's angry reaction was understandable because the kidnapping constituted a grave infringement on its sovereign rights -- but at the same time, the diplomatic immunity of one of the accused Kim Dong-un as first secretary in the ROK embassy complicated matters. The ROK refused to hand Kim Dong-un over to Japanese authorities for interrogation. Another thing that rankled Tokyo was the fact that it didn't know Kim's whereabouts after he was kidnapped until a vessel carrying him was spotted in Japanese waters a few days later upon intelligence provided by the United States. It is believed that Kim, who was taken to his house in Seoul five days after the abduction, might have been killed and dumped into the sea if Washington had not intervened. (Source: Korea Times.)

In a diplomatic memo titled "Solution to Kim's Case," the two countries agreed to seek a "political solution in a situation where the facts of the case are not verified, and under the circumstance that the case goes beyond an international criminal case in the midst of present bilateral relations, public sentiment, public views and domestic political situations." Questions still remain, however, whether the late president personally ordered the kidnap.

The documents showed records of a meeting between then Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil (who retired from politics in 2005 -- ending the "Three Kim Era" (Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung and Kim Jong-pil). Kim and his Japanese counterpart Kakuei Tanaka met in Tokyo on Nov. 2, 1973 and officially agreed to close the Japanese investigation into the kidnapping. The focus of the Japanese investigation had been on the then first secretary at the Korean Embassy to Japan, Kim Dong-un, suspected of being one of the kidnappers.

According to the Donga Ilbo on 5 Feb, "The documents reveal then-Prime Minister Kim Jong-pil, who visited Japan on November 2, 1973 to resolve the incident, told then-Japanese Prime Minister Tanaka Kakuei, “The Korean president [Park Jung-hee] will make efforts to prevent you from being embarrassed, so I would like you to leave the ‘Kim Dae-jung incident’ behind you.” In response, Tanaka agreed to end the Japanese investigation and leave the matter to Korean authorities, saying, “We will gradually pressure the Japanese investigation team and shut it down.”

Immediately after the agreement to diplomatically close the Japanese investigation, the case was passed to the Korean side but no further developments were made. Kim Dong-un was removed from office but no charges were filed against anyone allegedly involved in the kidnapping.

During the meeting Tanaka was reported as saying "I highly respect the Korean government's dedication (to investigating the kidnapping case) upon hearing the news (of reprimanding Kim Dong-un) and have received a formal understanding from the Cabinet council to close the Kim kidnapping case." Then Japanese Foreign Minister Masayshi Ohira, who also attended the meeting, was recorded as saying, "Upon receiving a letter from President Park Chung-hee and the cordial expression of regret from Prime Minister Kim, the diplomatic compromise has been completed on the Kim Dae-jung case."

A day before the meeting of the prime ministers, then Korean Foreign Minister, the late Kim Yong-shik, announced "The government will strip secretary Kim of his job and continue to investigate the case and take necessary legal action." The announcement was considered a denial that the government had taken any part in the abduction.

Kim Jong-pil was also quoted as saying during his meeting with Tanaka that his government had no part in the abduction and that with the investigation transferred to the Korean side, the case should not influence the Cabinet-level and other economic exchanges between the two countries.

Letters written by Park Chung-hee and Tanaka were also among the documents released yesterday. In his letter Park wrote, "It is deeply unfortunate for a conflict to have erupted momentarily between the two countries due to the Kim Dae-jung case. I pass on my regrets to the Prime Minister and the Japanese people."

Under the agreement, Park Chung-hee "promised" to investigate fully the affair -- as he had sworn that he personally was not involved -- and punish the violators. In this way, the Japanese did not have to force the diplomatic issue as Kim Dong-un, a first secretary of the ROK Embassy, was directly involved in the kidnapping. This is the same tacky problem that is faced by nations with North Korea diplomats who have been found depositing counterfeit currency or dealing in drugs. They cannot be touched -- only deported -- and then reprisals naturally follow to add to the tensions.

"After learning of American objections to the KCIA's use of torture, Park fired the intelligence chief, Lee Hu Rak." (Source: Wikipedia.) Lee Hu Rak was "punished" for the failed kidnapping -- and the "investigation" ended, though later news reports implicated 25 agents in the kidnap plot. (SITE NOTE: In Mar 2005, the "Truth Committee" stated that the KCIA director at the time, Lee Hu-rak, had admitted involvement in the kidnapping. Lee is also famous for being the first to start rapprochement with the North. In May 1972, Park secretly sent a trusted ally, intelligence chief Lee Hu Rak, to Pyongyang to meet with Kim Il Sung. Lee admiringly voiced his impressions of Kim: "Quite a guy, very strong, one-man rule!" ee Hu Rak visited Pyongyang from May 2, 1972 to May 5, 1972 and met with Pyongyang's Director of Cadre Organization Kim Young Ju; and Pak Sung Chul, the 2nd Vice-premier, on behalf of Director Kim Young Ju, visited Seoul from May 29, 1972 to June 1, 1972 and met with Director Lee Hu Rak. The parties exchanged their views on the mutual desire for the early peaceful reunification of Korea and made progress in mutual understanding of the other side's points of views resulting in the July 4th, North-South Joint Statement. Though the assassination of Park's wife by a Korean residing in Japan sympathetic to the North stopped the process, Park must get credit for being the first.)

The Yomiuri Shimbun reported on February 19, 1998 that South Korea's Agency for National Security Planning (ANSP commonly referred to as "KCIA") was indeed involved in the 1973 kidnapping of Kim Dae-jung from a Tokyo hotel. It reported that the Dong-A Ilbo had obtained a copy of a secret internal memo of the ANSP - contrary to Kim Young Sam's claim that the Agency had no documents on this affair.

The document retrieved by the Donga Ilbo claimed that Lee Hu Rak (the ANSP head in 1973 and the man who signed the July 4th North-South Joint Statement on July 4, 1972) ordered Lee Chol Hee, an operations group leader, to bring back Kim Dae-jung at any cost. The secret documents disclose the missions and names of the 25 agents involved in the abduction. The list includes then first secretary Kim Bong Chan (went by the name of Kim Dong Un at the time of the incident). Kim was the man who personally grabbed Kim Dae-jung from the Hotel Grand Palace in Tokyo on August 8, 1973. (Source: Kimsoft.))

Tensions over the Kim Dae-jung case impacted the "Japan-ROK relations in 1975, two Japanese citizens arrested in the Republic of Korea on charges of having violated the emergency measures were released in February and bilateral relations, which had experienced such difficult events as the abduction of Mr. Kim Dae-jung from Japan and an attempt on the life of President Park by a Korean resident of Japan, tended to improve. On July 22, the ROK Government sent a note verbale to Japan concerning Mr. Kim Dong Un, a former first secretary of the ROK Embassy in Japan, in connection with the Kim Dae-jung case. (Source: MOFA: 1975.) (NOTE: In May 1973 the KCIA arrested a Japanese couple and male Korean resident of Japan on spy charges. The two Japanese citizens entered Korea for espionage purposes, but were released to Japan in Feb 1975. The Korean resident of Japan killed President Park's wife in an assassination attempt on Park. The political solution to the Kim Dae-jung case was proposed in the "note verbale to Japan" concerning Kim Dong-un on 22 Jul 1975.)

(SITE NOTE: The Korea newspapers are attempting to make it sound like Park Chung-hee and Kim Jong-pil set up a situation to coverup the affair. This has been the feeling of the Koreans all along. However, sweeping this matter under the carpet with a "diplomatic solution" was in fact, probably the best solution to the problem -- given the international circumstances, national developments and diplomatic problems. The threat of the US withdrawing under President Carter in 1975 and the need of aid to fund the ROK Modernization Programs made patching up the differences with the Japanese essential.

• Diplomatic Problem Tension between the two countries flared when the Korean government refused - citing a lack of evidence - to hand over Kim Dong-un to Japanese investigators.
  
  Kim Dong-un (under the name Kim Bong-chan, first secretary of the ROK Embassy) had diplomatic immunity -- and the whole mess gets very tacky. Kim Dong-un had diplomatic immunity -- and as a matter of principle even if guilty beyond a doubt, the Korean government could NOT turn him over to the Japanese Police for interrogation. Though Park's refusal to turnover Kim Dong-un created friction between Japan and Korea, Park was absolutely correct in refusing. If Kim Dong-un was declared a spy by the Japanese -- because of the assumed name -- it would have gotten even more difficult. The situation was a "no-win" scenario for the ROK and Japan. A diplomatic solution whereby Japan turned the investigation over to the ROK was probably the best solution at the time.
  
  
• US Withdrawing and ROK Modernization Program Endangered In 1975, Park Chung-hee was anxious to improve aid and cooperation with the Japanese. Korea was still a poor country and monies was needed to fund the industrial growth in Korea. The ROK modernization program began in 1971 was estimated to cost $1.5 billion over a five-year period. With the US aid falling and Vietnam over there was a shrinking of funding by the US needed for Park's plans for Korea's industrial growth. There was growing criticism by Americans against human rights violations by the Korean government.
  
  In 1975, Jimmy Carter in running for President told the Washington Post that he saw no reason for American troops to be stationed in South Korea and that, if elected, he would pull them out along with the nuclear weapons stationed there. In the 1992 publication, Kim Young-Sam and the The New Korea (p99) it states, "Carter apparently wanted to removed the "trip-wire" U.S. force to avoid any possibility of an American entanglement in a future land war in Asia. But Carter also appeared to be motivated by his and his advisers' deep antagonism to the authoritarian government in South Korea and its violations of human rights. It appears that they were also heavily influenced by the so-called Koreagate scandal of 1971 involving a lobbyist for South Korea, Tong-sun Park, with ties to the Korean Central Intelligence Agency." (This is the same individual who in 2006 was indicted for the oil-for-food scandal.) Koreagate involved the dispersal of between $500,000 to $1 million annually in cash gifts and campaign contributions. President Jimmy Carter's plan to withdraw the ground troops of the US from South Korea caused grave concerns for the national security.
  
  
• Maintaining Japanese Trade and Aid Essential to Korea's Modernization Programs Two-way trade between Japan and the ROK in 1975 was limited to $3,600 million reflecting the global recession. This trade was declining from the previous year. Private Japanese investments made in the ROK in 1975 remained at a low level. Japan's economic cooperation with the ROK ($200 million in loans and $300 million representing grants) based on the so-called agreement on property and claims signed on June 22, 1965, was completed after achieving the planned targets when the 10-year period expired on December 17, 1975.
  
  In other words, trade was declining and the agreements for payments from the ROK-Japan normalization treaty were running out. Cordial relations with Japan were essential -- and papering over any tensions was essential for the welfare of the nation.
  
  
• Chaos Over Yushin Constitution There was chaos in the country as students took to the streets protesting the Yushin Constitution. On 17 Oct 1972, Park Chung-hee suspended the constitution and declared martial law throughout the country. The National Assembly was dissolved and political opposition eliminated. On 27 Oct 1972, Park presents a 126-article Constitution for a national referendum within a month. It dissolved the National Assembly and provided for the election of the President every six years by a 2, 395 person National Conference for Unification. It consolidated his powers as President. 91.5 percent of the voters approved the new constitution in a high voter turnout.
  
  First student protests against Park Chung-hee begin with arrests of students in 1973. President Park declared a "state of emergency" due to the increasing protests from students, religious, press and political groups. The special military tribunal would sentence up to 15 years any person protesting the 1972 Constitution that expanded Park Chung-hee's Presidential powers. 26 persons, including six clergymen, convicted by military tribunal with sentences of 3-5 years. In April 1973, Seoul National University students again protest for constitutional reforms. Park Chung-hee bans the Student Union. In October 1973, discord from Seoul National University once again rears its head with anti-government protests. Riot police break up the demonstrations. Protests spread for seven weeks to other universities and colleges who demand reforms to Park's "dictatorial" government. In December, Park orders the release of all students arrested and allows schools to reinstate those who were involved in the protests. (SITE NOTE: Premier Lee and Former Unification Minister Chung were activists jailed during this period. Many of first-third tier officials are activists from this period imported by Roh to fill the government with "progressives.")
  
  Citing a surge of national unity in 1974 following the attempt on his life and the death of his wife, President Park repeals two emergency measures instituted in January and April 1973 which had banned criticism of the constitution and outlawed support of the National Democraftic Student-Youth League, a Communist-backed subversive organization.
  
  If his ROK Modernization Programs failed, there would be anarchy in the streets. He needed to ensure the financial aid from Japan -- at that time emerging as an international industrial giant.
  
  
• Japanese Nationals' Involvement in Espionage and Assassination Attempt On 15 Aug 1974, North Korean armed agent Mun Se-kwang, a 23 year-old leftist Korean residing in Japan, attempted to shoot President Park Chung-hee, but the first lady was killed on 15 Aug 1974. He infiltrated security at Seoul's National Theater and fired a pistol at the podium, missing the President but fatally wounding Korea's first lady. A young choir girl also dies when hit by gunfire during the incident. Initial interrogation of the assialant revealed that he traveled to Korea earlier in the month on a Japanese passport issued under the name of Yukio Yoshii. The funeral march for Mrs. Park was observed by some two million people when she was buried in the National Cemetary. A ROK special investigation team alleges that the assassination attempt on President Park was directed by a NK agent and a ranking member of the pro-NI Chosen Soren (General Federation of Koreans Residing in Japan). According to initial reeports, the two collaborators provided the plans and funds for the incident which took the life of Madame Park.
  
  

Documents Declassified for "Truth Committee" The documents were blatantly "revealed" specifically for the use of the NIS "Truth Committee" -- Roh Moo-hyun's personal political tool. (See "Truth Committee" Again (Jan 2006) for the boring witch hunt to convict Park Chung-hee in the name of truth and justice. The 191 documents (approximately 17,000 pages) have been released for public viewing. According to the Donga Ilbo Though it has been more than 30 years since they were drawn up, some diplomatic documents written between 1947 and 1974 have remained classified due to national security and privacy infringement concerns.

A total of 191 diplomatic documents (approximately 17,000 pages) were de-classified. The 17,000 pages contained details of President Park Chung Hee's diplomacy, including his tug-of-war over military cooperation with the United States during the Vietnam War and his proposal to open a trade office in the Soviet Union. The de-classification was approved at a diplomatic document disclosure deliberation commission meeting in December 2005. The documents will be available to the public in microfilm form at the Institute of Foreign Affairs and National Security (IFANS) in Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul, starting 5 Feb 2006. Excerpts from major documents of some 7,000 pages will also be available to the public at www.donga.com.

The documents were required as there were large holes in the dossier on the Kim Dae-jung kidnapping case in Mar 2005. "The commission also found large holes in the dossier on the kidnapping of Kim Dae-jung which make it hard to get to the truth of the incident. However, the KCIA director at the time, Lee Hu-rak, has admitted involvement in the kidnapping. An NIS official said that if the two incidents happened at orders from above, there were unlikely to be many records to start with. He said any trail of documents would have been destroyed at a set point. Commission chairman Oh Choong-il said Wednesday not all NIS material pertaining to suspicious episodes were destroyed but neither did all of them survive." (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

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February 2006

Constitutional Court Rules on three laws unconstitutional (Feb 2006) The Constitutional Court ruled on 23 Feb 2006 that three laws, including the "Treatment and Support for Men of Honor Act" that give individuals a 10 percent score boost on the Level Seven and Level Nine local public service employee employment exams are unconstitutional. The court had previously ruled in 2001 that the articles do not violate the Constitution. In a nutshell, the petition by "4,300 middle and high school teacher employment exam takers, and Level Seven and Level Nine local public service employee employment exam takers" ruled the legislation that gave bonus points to "May 18 men of honor" was unconstitutional.

In addition it stated if the National Assembly does not amend the articles of the act, they will no longer be in effect starting July 1, 2007. (SITE NOTE: Article 31 of the Honorable Treatment and Support of Persons of Distinguished Services to the State Act gives preferential treatment to patriots, veterans, and their families. The problem we have is that the Roh administration has pushed to have a broader qualification of "patriot" to include North Koreans who were redefined as "freedom fighters" -- and the implied impact that their surviving North Korean families have "benefits" in the South.)

In another ruling, a Constitutional Court bench ruled unanimously that the "Instructors Rights Act" was unconstitutional as well. The reversal allows teachers of a private school to object to their schools' refusals to re-employ them and they can appeal. This ensures teachers are protected in case a school board abuses its right to oversee school personnel management.

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Cheong Wa Dae has "Deep Throat" in NSC (Feb-Mar 2006) In Feb 2006, an Uri Party legislator, Choi Jae-cheon, revealed classified National Security Council documents that he stated showed the Foreign Ministry in 2004 bypassed Cheong Wa Dae in discussions with Washington on so-called strategic flexibility for the U.S. Forces Korea. The U.S. and Korean chief diplomats finally reached agreement last month allowing the USFK to be deployed to trouble spots elsewhere but requiring consent from Seoul if they intervene in a regional conflict. The move by Choi was aimed at overturning the agreement with the US over Strategic Flexibility use of troops stationed on ROK soil. The classified documents allege that the US proposed the use of US-Korean forces in the regional role. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

Choi's release of the classified documents brings up a disturbing situation of a "Deep Throat" in the National Security Council (NSC) staff. The documents contain detailed information on bilateral consultations about permitting the USFK to be deployed to trouble spots elsewhere, and NSC discussions that are classified as a level 3 state secret. Another NSC document made public by Choi later is marked "strictly confidential." Under Chief Presidential Secretary Lee Byeong-wan stated that Cheong Wa Dae decided the situation is "critical" since the documents must have come from inside the NSC and it put the presidential secretary for civil affairs in charge of the investigation. The office believed the material disclosed by Choi is just the tip of the iceberg. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

(SITE NOTE: The Uri Party thinks that the hardliners include members of the 386-generation inside Cheong Wa Dae -- officials of the Office of Information and Policy Monitoring and Presidential Civil Affairs Secretariat, and National Security Council (NSC) insiders -- who leaked the confidential Cheong Wa Dae documents to Choi. A skeptic would suspect it was instigated by Roh himself as the "VIP" listed on the documents. He is the only one to gain politically by such a revelation to attempt to overturn the Strategic Flexibility initiative. This strategy of "mobilizing" the people is typical of Roh's political tactics -- only this time, he cannot be the lightning rod. However, on 3 Feb Roh stated he "personally" reviewed the final Strategic Flexibility documents countering Choi's charges that Roh had been bypassed and protecting his appointment of Lee Jeong-sok to Unification Minister.

There is a humorous note that Choi had previously condemned the GNP for using government documents (actually unclassified) as they were supposedly "state secrets." However, when he used classified documents, he claimed it was for the public's right to know. In addition, it was revealed that the news of the ROK not participating in the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) exercises in April 2006 was garnered from Choi's website -- not a Blue House press release. (The Roh administration later announced that it would attend as "observers" but would not take part in the exercise. However, on 29 May 2006, the Associated Press reported that the PRC and ROK have canceled participation in a multinational naval security exercise. The drills began on 27 May with Japan and three other participants -- the US, Canada and Russia. The ROK said it was because of concerns that part of the exercises may upset the DRPK) Humorously, we wonder if this could be classified as a breach of the National Security Law -- and since Choi is not a reporter, he cannot protect his sources. Of course, we also realize that under the Roh administration this would never happen as Roh wants to eliminate the NSL.)

The motivation of Choi's revelations were questioned. Some saw it as a party-infighting issue where hardliners like Choi seemed to be intent on attacking unification minister appointee Lee Jong-seok who was considered a "moderate." According to Choi the government’s confusion on foreign and security policy was due to Lee. On February 3, Cheong Wa Dae announced, “The president was concerned about the initial stages of the strategic flexibility issue, and the final document was personally reviewed by the president,” officially rejecting Choi’s claim that the report on strategic flexibility was not given to President Roh. Cheong Wa Dae spokesperson Kim Man-soo said, “This clarification from Cheong Wa Dae was ordered by President Roh’s.” Hence, it can be viewed that the hardliners’ attempt to discredit Lee, set in motion with Choi’s disclosures, is being directly blocked by Roh. Uri Party officials came away from a meeting with Lee with an acceptance of "most of" Lee's explanations and support for Lee.

The hardline self-reliance faction, led by Choi, claims that the current government said it would “say what it needed to be said to the U.S.,“ but that in reality, the government has been doing whatever the U.S. wants. In other words, negotiations on issues such as the strategic flexibility of U.S. Forces in Korea (USFK), USFK force reductions, the dispatch of the Zaytun unit to Iraq, and a free trade agreement between Korea and U.S. all ended with the acceptance of American demands. Angered by the "appeasement" by the government of the US, the political infighting has started. (Source: Donga Ilbo.)

Source of leaks The person who leaked NSC minutes on Korea-U.S. negotiations to Uri Party legislator, Choi Jae-cheon, was a Foreign Ministry official assigned to Cheong Wa Dae, it was revealed on 22 Feb. The official was identified as Lee Jong-heon who got the minutes from another Foreign Ministry official (Identified on 11 Mar as Lee Seong-hwan, President Roh Moo-hyun's interpreter and the son of Lee Tae-sik, Korea's ambassador to Washington.) and showed them to Choi Jae-cheon when they met at a hotel downtown Seoul in late January, where Choi copied them. Lee was to be sent back to the Foreign Ministry where disciplinary action was "promised" to be taken against him.

According to Cheong Wa Dae, Lee met a former presidential office administrator and Choi, with whom he had been acquainted, at a hotel in Seoul in late Jan. When the issue of strategic flexibility became the topic of the conversation, he showed the two the NSC meeting minutes from December 29, 2005. Choi, who thought that the minutes were important, copied them. Lee said, "I did not stop him because I thought that Choi would just use it as a reference without unveiling it.” According to Cheong Wa Dae, Lee received the minutes from another presidential office administrator identified as Lee on January 23 because he wanted to use them for his work. Cheong Wa Dae denied Lee's intentional leak, saying, “Lee said that he showed it to them when the issue of strategic flexibility was brought up in their conversation because he had it there.” Regarding whether Choi will be punished, Cheong Wa Dae said it would inform the ruling party leadership of its investigation results -- but who would take responsibility for the scandal within the presidential office was undecided. Lee said, “Cheong Wa Dae announced the whole thing. The scandal occurred quite accidentally. I thought that Choi would take issue with the minutes at the National Assembly. Although I did not give the minutes to Choi, my action was not proper, and I am ready to face the music as a government official.” (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

At first, the office stated that it had not yet discovered who leaked another classified document to Choi that discusses a Seoul-Washington agreement on strategic flexibility. (Source: Donga Ilbo.) Later it was discovered that Lee had gotten the materials from another staffer who thought Lee was using it for internal affairs.

(SITE NOTE: This whole coverup stinks worse than the act of revealing state secrets. In the end, the Roh administration has NOT rooted out the leaks -- and simply offered up a public scapegoat in Lee Jong-heon. The Roh administration is trying to sweep it under the carpet.

• The first problem as we see it is that Choi is NOT being punished for KNOWINGLY using classified material. The statutes under the National Security Law has provisions for releasing confidential material. When officials from the MND released "classified material" -- that everyone knew about including me -- they were punished. However, Choi of Roh's Uri Party escapes without even a censure from the National Assembly. Why even bother classifying material? The Roh administration has just made a mockery of "state secrets." Why would any world government enter into "secret" negotiations with the Korean government that has no mechanism to protect and punish such acts of revealing state secrets?
• The second problem is that the REASON Lee Jong-heon gave the "secret" documents to Choi was not revealed. The supposed political motivation by Choi to reveal state secrets as interparty politics is possible -- though we don't buy it -- but the motivation of Foreign Ministry official Lee to give the documents to Choi was NOT revealed. Though Lee said he showed the documents to Choi when the "topic came up in conversation," we do NOT buy that. One does not show classified documents to others simply because "the topic came up in conversation." In addition another "former administrator" who was present would also know better. This will NOT fly. Whether it was for money (corruption) or for misguided political reasons (as a Roh political appointee) or at the behest of Roh himself (in a failed attempt to malign the US in the classic Roh style of stirring up the people) was NOT revealed. For all we know this could be part of a North Korean cell operating to cause social disorder. (SARCASM) The point is that we simply do not know as the Roh administration swept it under the carpet.

Blue House investigation Results On 11 Mar it was reported that Cheong Wa Dae found that Lee Jong-heon, a foreign service officer working at the National Security Council, was the source of the leak. However, the it is still pondering his punishmnet. Another official involved in the case is Lee Seong-hwan, President Roh Moo-hyun's interpreter and the son of Lee Tae-sik, Korea's ambassador to Washington. Also a foreign service officer, he received only a verbal reprimand from the Blue House after the investigation showed that he gave the document to Lee Jong-heon with no intention or knowledge that the latter man would pass it on to the media and a legislator. Critics complain that Lee Tae-sik got off light because of the connections to his father. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

On 23 Mar Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon said a disciplinary committee at the ministry had recommended a three-month suspension for Lee Jong-heon, who at the time he leaked the documents was assigned to the National Security Council at the Blue House. The Blue House had asked the ministry for a heavy penalty in light of what it said was the serious nature of the leaks, which centered on negotiations between the United States and Korea to allow U.S. troops stationed here to be used elsewhere in the region. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

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Freedom of Expression: Roh Administration style -- North Korean Prison Camp Musical in Trouble -- Becomes Success (Feb-Aug 2006) In mid-Feb, a planned musical about human rights abuses in North Korea’s Yoduk concentration camp ran into massive obstacles, not least from officials fearful of upsetting the Stalinist country. The Chosun Ilbo had run a previous human interest story about a North Korean defector who was staging a musical. It was topical in that the South did not want to offend the North -- and refused to address the human rights violations that even the United Nations had condemned. "This is not a political activity. What we're trying to do is just let people know about human rights abuses in North Korea by producing the musical. We are ready to deliver the message in the right way to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il," the director Jung Seong-san said.

After the Chosun Ilbo ran the story, one theater abruptly canceled the run there and a company which had promised to invest W300 million (US$300,000) pulled out. A key member of the production team has quit, and the director Chung Seong-san, who happens to be a North Korean defector himself, has received death threats. Whether this is simply because the musical is bad -- or whether there is political pressure from the Seoul government is still to be seen, but there was a potential for a major scandal as the government allegedly invoked the National Security Law -- the same law that the Roh administration and Uri Party revile as archaic and anti-democratic. The Uri Party and Roh administration sought the complete abolition of the National Security Law -- but were blocked when the GNP proposed changes to the law and the public supported the move. If it is true that the government agencies did invoke the National Security Law, it would speak loudly of the type of opportunistic administration that is now in power. There was a potential for a major scandal dealing with censorship.


Director Jung Seong-san and cast rehearse for the musical 'Yoduk Story', which deals with human rights abuses in North Korea, despite government pressure to tone down the show's criticism of the Stalinist country. (5 Feb 2005) (Chosun Ilbo)

On 5 Feb it was reported by the Chosun Ilbo that South Korean government agencies -- though it didn't specify which agencies -- were demanding changes to the musical's storyline. According to the producers, the officialdom claims it dwells too heavily on the negative aspects of the camp. What makes this a newsworthy story is that the officials allegedly invoked the National Security Law to warn producers against showing a portrait of former leader Kim Il-sung and the singing of North Korean songs in the show.

''Yoduk Story" is not autobiographical, and Jung never served time in the concentration camp, which houses tens of thousands of people, many of them political prisoners. Although a defector, he was not particularly opposed to the North Korean regime. That changed in 2002, Jung says, when he got word that his father had been executed in North Korea. He believes his father was killed not only for Jung's defection, but for a television show Jung worked on that featured a North Korean defector. ''I became more serious after that," Jung said. He began researching human rights abuses in North Korea, interviewing former political prisoners, and conceived of the idea for ''Yoduk Story." ''This musical is a way of getting the grief out for my father's death."

The plot of ''Yoduk Story" revolves around an actress in Pyongyang who falls from political grace after her father meets with his South Korean brother, whom he hasn't seen since the 1950-1953 Korean War. North Korean law makes such contacts illegal and allows for entire families to be punished for the offenses of one member. And so the actress is seized in the middle of a rehearsal and shipped off with her father to Yoduk. At the end, she is raped by a guard, becomes pregnant, and hangs herself.

The story is fictional, but entirely plausible, North Korean defectors say. About half a dozen Yoduk survivors live in South Korea, most of whom Jung interviewed before writing the script. (Source: Los Angeles Times.)

Political prisoners carry pails of human waste from guard barracks at the Yoduk concentration camp in South Hamgyeong Province, North Korea in this video grab of footage shown by Japan's Fuji TV. (5 Feb 2005) (Chosun Ilbo)

According to the Chosun Ilbo, the “Yoduk Story” focuses on a camp where 20,000 inmates work more than 14 hours a day living on just one bowl of cereal and a spoonful of salt. Those who try to escape are executed by hanging or stoning because the authorities do not want to waste bullets killing them. The prison camp, more commonly spelled Yodok, is located in a remote, mountainous area of South Hamgyong province and is believed to have housed more than 40,000 people at one time, according to ''The Hidden Gulag," a report by the US Committee on Human Rights.

But the play's scheduled debut in March is now in jeopardy. Reportedly under official pressure, more than half its budget of W700 million has disappeared, making it difficult to feed producers and cast. "After reading our script, government officials demanded that we change part of the story, saying it’s too much,” Jung said. “I got a phone call, I don’t know if it was a government official, saying 'It's so easy to get you. You will be punished.'”

When Seoul KyoYuk Munhwa Hoekwan promised to show the musical in its theater last December, Chung borrowed W20 million ($20,000) against a contract to sell his left kidney. His father was publicly stoned to death in a Hoeryeong concentration camp in 2002. “I feel that my father is watching over our rehearsals,” Jeong says. Private citizens were also chipping in. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

The musical received international attention due to the political nature of the dark musical. According to an article on 24 Feb in the Los Angeles Times, "Perhaps not since Mel Brooks conceived ''Springtime for Hitler" in the comedy ''The Producers" has there been such an unlikely premise for a musical. Chorus lines of goose-stepping soldiers and emaciated political prisoners will prance across the stage when ''Yoduk Story," a tear-jerker about a notorious North Korean concentration camp, opens here next month. Among the catchy tunes that South Korean theatergoers might soon be humming are ''If I Could Walk Freely" and ''All I Want Is Rice." The tragedy of the divided peninsula is a familiar theme in South Korean popular culture. But the most successful offerings have been thrillers and spy flicks, an occasional shoot-'em-up war movie, or a syrupy drama about separated families. Few have dared tackle the harsher realities of North Korea, such as starvation or human rights abuses. And certainly not in the form of a musical.

The article went on, "But the biggest problem for Jung might be South Korean audiences. The musicals that are popular here at the moment are lighter fare, most of them adaptations from Broadway. On the marquees are Korean-language versions of ''Grease" and ''The Producers," in which an impresario trying to lose money decides that a musical about Adolf Hitler will be a sure-fire flop -- only to come up with an inadvertent hit. Jung envisions ''Yoduk Story" as a Korean version of ''Les Miserables." ''Even a dark and tragic story can be beautiful," he said." (Source: Los Angeles Times.)

EPILOGUE (July 2006): ``Yodok Story,'' a musical about the horrors of a North Korean prison camp, was to be staged with English subtitles at the National Theater in Washington D.C. from Sept. 25 to Oct. 1. The musical, which is based on the real experiences of North Korean defector Jung Sung-san, made its debut in Seoul on March 15, and more than 75,000 have seen the show. ``People like it because it is true. This is what is currently occurring in North Korea,'' Jung was quoted as saying in an interview on Sunday with the Washington Post. ``When I first started making it, I knew I wanted to bring it to the United States, because America is a country that values life.'' After the performance at the National Theater, the musical will be also be staged in other venues including Korean churches in New York until the end of October.

(Aug 2006) On 8 Aug the Chosun Ilbo reported that "Yoduk Story", the Korean musical about human rights abuses in DPRK's notorious Yoduk concentration camp was to be staged at the National Theater in Washington, DC on Sept. 21. The 165-year old National Theater is right on Pennsylvania Avenue, about 100 m from the White House, and is one of the national symbols. There will be 10 shows until Oct. 1 at the theater. The organizers said some US$1.3 million has been spent on the US performance of the musical, which has a cast and support staff of 70. Rights activists have collected contributions and invited sponsors to help the team. After the run in Washington, "Yoduk Story" will tour New York, Los Angeles and Seattle till November.

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Anti-Japanese Xenophobia Continues (Feb-Aug 2006) The prosecution has begun taking measures to confiscate properties acquired and owned by pro-Japanese collaborators during the 1910-45 colonial rule. As a first step, prosecutors have asked the nation's courts to dismiss lawsuits filed by descendants of pro-Japanese collaborators that demand the return of their ancestors' property. On 6 Feb 2006, Seoul High Prosecutors' Office said that they submitted an application late last month asking the Seoul High Court and the Seoul District Court to suspend four pending cases in which descendants of pro-Japanese Koreans are seeking to reclaim formerly-owned land.

The action was taken under the Special Law on Government-Vested Properties of Pro-Japanese, which took effect in Dec 2005 which allows the government to retain those lands. Under the law, the land in question must be investigated by the Investigation Commission on Pro-Japanese Properties if asked to do so by a court or agency. The National Assembly passed the law empowering the state to retain properties of pro-Japanese collaborators to prevent legal troubles arising from their families' attempts to regain their former wealth. The law stipulates that assets obtained by collaborators of the Japanese colonial government between 1910 and 1945 should be revert to the State.

The commission will confirm whether the land is the property of the descendants of pro-Japanese and decide whether to return it or not. The law allows for the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutors’ Office to ask the court to suspend trials on cases that involve “pro-Japanese” properties. According to the law, even land for which ownership rights have been confirmed after the nation’s defeat in court are subject to legal action if they are confirmed to belong to a descendant of a pro-Japanese Korean.

For cases in which the land in question was believed to belong to someone who supported the Japanese, the court has ruled only on the ownership rights of the land, regardless of whether or not the owner was pro-Japanese or not. The special law defines pro-Japanese property to include property obtained in return for cooperation with Japanese rule from the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 to the date of national liberation in 1945, or property that was inherited from that era. Pro-Japanese-owned land that was knowingly received as a donation is also included. Ownership rights for pro-Japanese lands unknowingly bought after being legitimately paid for will be respected, however.

The justice ministry also said that if the court rules in favor of collaborators' descendants, prosecutors would apply to courts for provisional disposition to prevent them selling properties. Government efforts to retain and seize assets of pro-Japanese collaborators are expected to ride bumpy roads as some descendant families have questioned the law's retrospective clause and plan to file against its constitutionality with the Constitutional Court.

The descendants of Japanese collaborators have lodged 26 petitions against the government since 1990, when descendents of Lee Wan-yong (1858-1926), the last prime minister of the Choson Kingdom (1392-1910) who had an influential role in the signing of the annexation treaty with Japan in 1910, successfully pushed a lawsuit against the government to claim the ownership of their land. The Ministry of Justice and prosecutors say nine out of 26 pro-Japanese property cases raised by descendants of pro-Japanese figures Lee Wan-yong, Song Byung-joon, Lee Jae-geuk, Lee Geun-ho, Yoon Duk-young, Min Young-hui, and Na Ki-jung are currently being reviewed, while the other 17 have already been decided. Among the 17 settled cases, the government won five lawsuits against families of Japanese collaborators, including Song Byung-jun (1857-1925), who worked as political advisor to the Japanese colonial government following the signing of the treaty. The descendant families also won five cases, regaining properties once acquired or owned by their ancestors from the government. Four other cases were withdrawn by the plaintiffs. Currently, nine lawsuits are pending nationwide. (Source: Donga Ilbo, 7 Feb 2006 and Korea Times, 6 Feb 2006.) (See Kimsoft for conflicting information on Yoon Duk-young in 1919. Lee Wan-yong, Cho Chung-ung, Kim In-sik, Song Byung-joon, Lim Tae-young, and Sin Hung-wu are listed as "Korean traitors.")


I Mar Independence Day Skit (Feb 06)

This anti-Japanese campaign spearheaded by the Uri Party and Roh administration has far reaching effects. In 2005, the Institute for Research in Collaborationist Activities released a list of about 3,200 notable pro-Japanese collaborators, including Former President Park Chung-hee and Korea University founder Kim Song-su. (SITE NOTE: The list included people with high-ranking positions during the colonial period, such as judges, prosecutors and police officers, as well as those who were involved in pro-Japanese activities without official posts. The primary factor for inclusion onto the list was if one subsequently became successful. For example Park Chung-hee was a lieutenant in the Japanese Army -- a minor rank -- from a humble background and was almost executed for his "communist leanings" during the Cheju Uprisings. However, he was selected NOT for his Japanese collaboration, but the fact that he became the despised enemy of the "democracy" movement. The list contains the names of the Who's-who of South Korean society. When questioned why they had released the list, the "institute" stated they did it to bring the "truth" to light...but the question remains as to "whose truth" are they talking about.)

A civic group called the Korean Issues Research Center is ready to name names this summer and expose those it says were complicit with the Japanese. It claims it has wide popular support, saying it has independently raised $500,000 for the project. The group's tone and mission suggest a vendetta, but it is possible that making public more information about the past may promote the thoughtful re-evaluation of history and help shape a more positive future. This could mean better relations with Japan and other countries in the region, and better chances of conflict resolution. The implication of many families, including some very powerful and prominent figures in contemporary Korean society, seems likely. Punishment appears out of the question, but public humiliation could be severe.

The tone of the "research" appears to be in the form of a "vendetta" against "collaborators." Given that President Roh Moo-hyun's progressives largely support the exposure initiative, while members of the conservative Grand National Party do not, the destructive politicization of what could be a constructive national historical exercise appears a distinct possibility. In late 2002, the organization first began publishing the names of alleged collaborators, and the first installments identified what it called 500 pro-Japanese groups and places of business in Korea. This was not too damaging, since it only identified organizations, not individuals. Names will come later. In 2003 the group published the names of 400 pro-Japanese Korea groups in China. This coming summer it plans to publish the names of pro-Japanese groups in the provinces outside of Seoul, in more detail than contained in its previous efforts. The publication of individual names - The Dictionary of Pro-Japanese Koreans - will be completed in 2006, the same year the US forces are to withdraw from Seoul and the DMZ to large base hubs in the south. (Source: Asia Times.)

Courts Deny Japan-Era Land Claims Controversial trials to claim back land of pro-Japanese collaborators under past colonial rule, filed by their descendants, have been suspended at the request of the Justice Ministry and the prosecution. The suspension request was made in line with a law to revert property ownership of pro-Japanese collaborators to the government, which passed the National Assembly late last year. A Justice Ministry official said, "All the pertinent trials will be suspended, until a decision is made by the Commission to Investigate Into the Properties of Pro-Japanese Collaborators, formed according to the law." Such claims by descendants seeking the return of their ancestors' land, as many as 26 in total, have led to heated controversy. Currently, nine cases are pending, all of which were suspended. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

On 26 Feb the Donga Ilbo reported by the Department of Justice that all lawsuits filed by the descendents of pro-Japanese collaborators demanding the return of their ancestors` property had been dismissed.

The Department of Justice announced on Sunday that High Prosecutors` Offices in each district requested the department reject suits filed by families of pro-Japanese collaborators. In particular, the Seoul High Prosecutors` Office requested the dismissal of five lawsuits, one appeal, and four appeals trials pending in Suwon District Court, including one filed by a descendent of Lee Keun-ho, the brother of Lee Keun-taek, one of the five traitors who had an influential role in the signing of the Korea-Japan annexation treaty.

The Seoul High Prosecutors` Office asked the Seoul High Court and the Seoul District Court to stop four lawsuits filed by families of Japanese collaborators against the government to recoup their ancestors` properties. The move is being followed up with a law that empowers the state to retain the property of pro-Japanese collaborators.

The Department of Justice launched a commission that will decide whether the properties in question were obtained by pro-Japanese collaborators and whether the assets in question should be retained by the government. Meanwhile, lawsuits filed by the descendents of Lee Keun-ho against Korea were dismissed.

Lee Keun-yoon, the head judge of the Seoul Western District Court, announced on Sunday that Lee (79), a descendent of Lee Keun-ho, lost his lawsuit demanding Han (63) return 5,300 pyeong of land in Gyeonggi Province that his ancestors had acquired during the era of Japanese colonial rule. (Source: Donga Ilbo.)

New "symbolic" court action against Collaborator kin land claims (Mar 2006) On 9 Mar, the Ministry of Justice said that prosecutors have filed several petitions with courts around the country to ban descendants of collaborators with the Japanese colonial government from selling real estate their ancestors had acquired during the occupation. The step, it said, was a prelude to a second effort to recover those lands, all of which had been left in the owners' hands by earlier court decisions that ruled against government efforts to seize them. New legislation to strip assets linked to collaborators took effect last December. It affects owners of property acquired between 1904 and 1945 and handed down to heirs of the original owners. But the action announced yesterday seemed more symbolic than practical, because, according to the ministry, it involved only about 1.3 acres of land in total.

A total of 23 lawsuits so far have been filed by descendants of pro-Japanese collaborators against the state, according to Justice Ministry statistics. Of these, 16 have been settled, and eight cases were won by the descendants. In the most representative case, the infamous Lee Wan-yong's descendant won a similar case filed against the state in 1990, regarding the ownership of his ancestor's land. Last year, a local court rejected a lawsuit filed by descendants of Song Byeong-jun, an infamous pro-Japanese collaborator in the Joseon dynasty, asking the state to return land that was owned by their ancestor. The descendents demanded the state return the land which they claim was forcibly taken from Song by the state at the end of Japanese colonial rule in 1945, but the court ruled against them on the basis that the descendants lack evidence proving that the land was wrongfully taken from their ancestor. Song Byeong-jun, (1858-1925) served as an agricultural, trade, industry and internal affairs minister under the Cabinet led by pro-Japanese collaborator Lee Wan-yong. The two officials played a key role in Japan's forced annexation of Korea in 1910. (Source: Korea Herald.)

Government Plans Agency to Confiscate Collaborator Lands (April 2006) The government plans to launch an agency as early as June that would confiscate property belonging to pro-Japanese collaborators during the 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea. The Ministry of Justice announced a set of plans on 20 Apr to create a governmental body that would seize the properties of Koreans who gained them by cooperating with the Japanese government in the early 20th century. "The agency is a response to public sentiment and will settle the inappropriate possession of property. Acquiring such assets was illegal at that time," said Kim Hae-woong, spokesman of the Justice Ministry. The ministry plans to operate the agency by inviting 94 officials from various government organs, including three public prosecutors, officials from the Finance Ministry, the Board of Audit and Inspection, National Tax Service and National Police Agency. Also, the Ministry of Education will dispatch researchers to help the new agency determine illegalities of the ownership of property through examining historical records.

The ministry said that the agency would also cooperate with other existing governmental panels including the Committee for the Review of Past History to Establish Truth and Achieve Reconciliation. The committee is conducting independent research into colonial inhumanities and abuse of state power under the successive dictatorial military rules.

The move comes after the nation's legislation branch passed a bill in December designed to stop the descendents of Japan collaborators from acquiring property obtained through pro-Japanese activities. Under the special law, officials will be able to ask foreign governments, most likely Japan and China, to cooperate with the South Korean government, the ministry said. (SITE NOTE: Do NOT expect much cooperation from Japan as the point of the action is aimed at the Japanese.) The new agency will be launched in early June after its enforcement ordinance goes through review by the Ministry of Government Legislation and finally by the Cabinet. The move signifies the government's effort to compensate victims of past atrocities from the nation's history. Activists have been calling for justice to be applied to the collaborators and clarify suspicions surrounding how much they accumulated through their pro-Japanese activities. (Source: Korea Herald.)

Assets of Japan Collaborators to Be Seized (Aug 2006) On 18 Aug the government started an investigation to confiscate assets of descendents who received financial benefits from 400 pro-Japanese activities in the early 20th century. The government stated that it marked the first time in 57 years that the government had taken action against Korean citizens who cooperated with Japan from 1910 to 1945. A similar move was foiled in 1949 due to strong protests from the collaborators. (SITE NOTE: Similar moves were taken against those who signed or abetted in the transfer of power to Japan in 1905.)

The Committee for the Inspection of Property of Japan Collaborators investigation started on Aug. 18 was a prelude to seizing the property obtained by collaborators during Japanese colonization. Its preliminary investigation started in April. The committee consists of 104 public officials from various government bodies such as the Ministry of Justice, the National Police Agency, the Ministry of Finance and Economy, and the National Tax Service.

Some 400 Koreans who are suspected of having gained property inappropriately by cooperating with the Japanese government will be investigated first. Also, the committee will collect materials, including documents, archives, and films, that prove collaboration with the Japanese authorities. The government will take away property owned by people with four types of ancestors according to a special law established in December to confiscate the assets of collaborators: traitors to the nation, high-ranking people in the occupying administration, those who played important roles for the colonial Japanese authorities, and those who received endowments from the Japanese government.

Estates under Japanese names will also be investigated. The Ministry of Finance and Economy is now sorting out data with the cooperation of the Korean Asset Management Corp. Based on the investigation result, the committee will decide whether the properties will be returned or not.

However, the committee is not facing an easy path. It expects the families of many collaborators to file lawsuits against the confiscation decisions, which would delay the seizure. Also, the committee has difficulty in tracking the estates that were given away by pro-Japanese collaborators. ``I regret that the `Special Law on the Inspection of Collaboration for the Japanese Imperialism' wasn't made in advance. Many collaborators' estates have already been disposed of and these lands are out of our purview,'' said Lee Joon-sik, the standing commissioner of the committee. (SITE NOTE: What he refers to here is that many families fearing the witch hunt and results, sold their properties. The law stated that if the land was bought in good faith, the transaction would be valid.

It is obvious that those Korean collaborators such as policemen and officials who did not make money will not be persecuted. The same is true of those who were teachers under the Japanese educational system. The list goes on and on as the farce of this movement goes on. It is sad that the Korean populace in their mass hysteria against the past cannot see the massive injustice it is doing to its own people who served under the Japanese. How about the thousands of Japanese who volunteered for the Japanese Army in WWII? (Yes, "volunteered" is used in the correct sense of the word as proven by historical documents.) Will they be collaborators as well? Not to this commission. It is apparent that if you were a poor collaborator, you are not of interest. However, if you were of the elite you were labeled as a collaborator.)

The project is expected to satisfy progressive activist Koreans' demands that property acquired by collaborators under the Japanese colonial authorities be returned. (Source: Korea Times.)

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ROK and Japan New Joint History Research Project (Feb 2006) According to Yonhap News on 3 Feb, historians from South Korea and Japan were to launch a joint research project in March to again try and narrow strongly differing views on the past that have often caused bitterness between the two countries. Dozens of scholars from the two sides will study differing accounts of history, including Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of Korea, under the government-sponsored joint history committee for two years beginning in March, South Korea's Foreign Ministry said.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi agreed in 2005 to revive the panel for further research after its predecessor ended its three-year study without much progress. The two countries set up the committee for the first time in 2002 under Kim Dae-jung after an intense diplomatic dispute in 2001 over a Japanese history textbook that Korea accused of whitewashing Japan's wartime atrocities, such as sex slavery and forced labor. A newer version of the text triggered mass protests in Seoul and riots in China -- even though the textbook in question had not even been approved by the Ministry of Education. The textbook was approved in 2005, but less than .01 percent of the schools accepted the ultra-national historical textbook. (SITE NOTE: In our opinion, the text book was simply a pretext to condemn Japan. The root cause was the deep seated hatred of Japan's WWII actions. In China, it got out of hand and rioting occurred with Japanese being singled out. In China, it was to divert attention away from internal problems within the Communist Party. In Korea, it was to stir up anti-Japanese feelings to divert attention away from domestic problems with a deepening recession and failing social programs.)

The first committee didn't deal directly with the textbook issue, but the new panel will do so after setting up a textbook subcommittee. However, the panel's influence is limited as textbook authors will decide whether to reflect the findings in their material. (SITE NOTE: In Jan 2006, it was announced that the Korean government would no longer publish textbooks and the historical textbooks will be procured commercially.)


Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura is convulsed with mirth at news that his Korean counterpart Ban Ki-moon will go to Tokyo and protest against visits of top Japanese officials to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors convicted war criminals. When he was education minister, Machimura approved textbooks Korea says whitewash his country’s imperial history, and he is one of three key right-wing figures in the government along with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and incumbent Education Minister Nakayama. (24 Oct 2005) (Chosun Ilbo)

A Controversial Correction of History After many complications and delays, the book: “A New Perception on the History of Liberation” (or "New Understanding of Post-Liberation History" -- Haebang Chonhusaul Chaeinsik) was released on February 8. The book was supposedly written to correct biased interpretations of modern history and what is known as an “overly leftist outlook on history.” This outlook was perpetuated by the six-volume history: “Understanding History Before and After Liberation,” (or "Understanding of Post-Liberation History" -- Haebang Chonhusaul Insik) which greatly influenced perceptions of Korean society, especially among members of the current government and the so-called “386 Generation.” The 1979 publication carried much significance with progressives and left-leaners in society, with its leftist stance on the country's history after Japanese colonial rule. Since 1979, the left-leaning book has sold more than a half million copies.

The new history book by a conservative group of scholars challenges the left-leaning classic of the same title, minus "New," published in 1979. However, the editors of the book claim the book represents a "balanced" and "ideology free" look at history -- neither right nor left. According to the Korea Times, "In fact, its 28 authors include not only the "New Right's" movement members, like Rhee Young-hoon and Kim Il-young, but also progressive members Shin Hyung-ki of Yonsei University and Lee Wan-bom of the Academy of Korean Studies, who co-authored "Understanding." (Source: Korea Times, Books, p15, Feb 11-12, 2006.)

The 1979 text was a must-read among students in the nationalist movement in 1980s, and greatly influenced the formation of the nationalist view of history. One essay titled "The Work and Demise of the Special Commission on Anti-National Activities" by Oh Ik-hwan that was published in October 1979 and stated the significance of purging pro-Japan elements from Korean society. "Once we were liberated from Japanese colonial rule with the August 15 Liberation, our immediate challenge was to revive the spirit of the people that had been suppressed by the malicious policies of imperialist Japan. . . . The way to do this was to eliminate and purge completely all traitors against the people and pro-Japanese elements from positions of power in every field of society." This is exactly what is occurring in Korea today with various "truth committees" to find the Japanese collaborators -- and the blessing of the Roh administration. (Source: Sekai Nippo, World Peace Herald.)

“A New Perception on the History of Liberation” (or "New Understanding of Post-Liberation History") emphasizes the complexities in understanding Korea’s modern history and criticizes the dichotomic approach to liberation shown in “Understanding the History Before and After Liberation.” The book contains 30 dissertations by 28 authors from both at home and abroad, and includes conversations among editors on how to overcome the problematic mindset of national supremacism and the belief in the necessity of the people’s revolution portrayed in the previous book on the subject, “Understanding the History Before and After Liberation.”

“A New Perception on the History of Liberation” (or "New Understanding of Post-Liberation History") is made up of two books. The first book deals with life in Korea during Japanese colonial rule and with the issue of Korean pro-Japanese activities (15 thesis papers, 780 pages). According to a review in the Korea Times (Feb 11-12) in a chapter on the nature of Japan's colonialism, Rhee Young-hoon, economics professor at Seoul National University, points out that most of Korea's hisotry books fail to catch the complexity of Japan's exploitation during the occupation by focussing only on the dichotomy between the exploiters and the explited. "This familiar exploitation scenario was a modern-day myth, fabricated by irresponsible historians," Rhee writes. According to him, Japan did not advance to the peninsula to exploit, but to permanently annex the territory. "They implanted a market economy syustem in Choson's traditional society, which they used to achieve industrialization and economic growth, " he writes. In other words, regardless of Japan's imperialist ambition, its colonization ended up laying the foundtation for Korea's modernization. Without this, Korea's swift democratization and industrialization after its liberation could not be understood." (Source: Korea Times, Books, p15, Feb 11-12, 2006.)

According to the Korea Times review, another chapter debunks the traditional viewpoint of a victimized Korea. It shows that Koreans owned only 25.8 percent of the industrial plants on the Peninsula in the 1910s, but their share rose to 60.2 percent in the 1940s.

One section that cause some hard comments is the "reunderstandings" approach to the sensitive issue of the comfort women. Soh Chung-hee, anthropology professor of San Francisco State University, suggests in a chapter a feminist approach to the subject. "Citing dictations from former comfort women, she contends that their agony stems not only from the forced sexual service but also from sexual inequality and domestic violence in their homes. ... According to Soh, it was not only national discrimination but also sexual and social ones that prompted the tragic sexual slavery."


Comfort Women Demonstration Japanese Embassy (5 Jan 06)

In other chapters, the book gives a "striking account on the gray area between the collaboration and the resistance, which was not very visible from the nationalist perspective. "or example, it strips from history the myth that the Choson Language Society (Chosono Hakhoe) was an independence movement body. Most Korean history books recorded that the society was a main force to protect the mother tongue against the Japanese imperialists' aggression on the national culture. However, a chapter on the academic group reveals that it kept amicable terms witht the government-general. More than that, the colonizers provided administrative support for the academic researchers to standardize Korean alphbets deven during the occupation. And it was the society that sought close cooperation with the Japanese authority to maintain upper hands over other rival academic language groups." (SITE NOTE: All the modern Korean history books we have read have given the account of the Japanese trying to stifle the Korean language. However, it is true that the Japanese mandated that all classes must be taught in Japanese after 1932 -- which is the same as stifling the language.)

The second deals with the division after Liberation, the effects of the Korean War, and an evaluation of the Lee Seung-man administration (13 thesis papers and conversation among editors, 696 pages). In addition to the content of the book, the process of planning and printing “A New Perception on the History of Liberation” is claimed to show that Korea is not free from doctrinal bias. Supposedly from the beginning, the editors of this book decided to choose only writings that have no political color and that had been objectively acknowledged for their academic value in order to correct the unbalanced historic perceptions in the 1979 text. However, many scholars avoided contributing to “A New Perception on the History of Liberation” supposedly fearing a backlash from society. (Source: Donga Ilbo and )

According to the Korea Times review, "Lee Chong-sik, politics professor at the University of Phennsylvania, writes that it was Stalin who gave confidential instructions on the establishemnt of a seaparate government on the norther half of the peninsula on Sept 20, 1945. It was even before Syngman Rhee expresssed an intention to set up a separate state on the southern part. So far, many progressive historians sympathizing with "Understanding" ahve criticized Rhee and the United States for masterminding Korea's division." (SITE NOTE: The US did in fact divide the nation at the Malta Conference with the US, England and Russia in attendance. That is fact. However, this agreement was based on the idea that the Japanese would fight to the end. Instead they simply laid down their arms and the Russians were rolling down in Korea. The US troops of the 6th ID were pulled out of the Philippines to Korea in the middle of winter wearing only their tropical uniforms. That was how much of a surprise it was. The 38th Parallel is a compromise that split Korea -- and then when the Russians did not support elections on their side of the DMZ, the stage was set for the split of Korea.)

The "New" book came out after more than a year's efforts by 28 scholars both in and outside Korea. Rhee Young-hoon, a Seoul National University professor of history and a member of the recently launched New Right group, is one of the initiators of the book. Mr. Rhee in his paper defined the 1979 book as the "background behind the birth of 1980s' leftist activists and communists." Mr. Rhee explained that, after reading the 1979 book, leftist activists came to plot a people's democratic revolution, in alliance with North Korea, against the South Korean government. According to Mr. Rhee, the 1979 book defined South Korea's first president, Syngman Rhee and his administration as "anti-revolutionary" forces, while considering the North Korean regime of its late leader Kim Il Sung as a base for democracy. Mr. Rhee also criticized Professor Kang Man-gil, currently the Chairman of the Presidential Committee for the Inspection of Collaborations for Japanese Imperialism, for his "nationalistic approach." (Source: Donga Ilbo and Joongang Ilbo)

Another featured author, Professor Park Ji-hyang of Seoul National University, wrote in the 2006 book's foreword, "In early autumn last year, President Roh Moo-hyun commented on the 1979 publication that his blood was flowing backward after reading it. (NOTE: In other words, he was angered by the injustices.) After reading that comment, we have reached a conclusion that we, as history scholars, must not leave such historical understanding at that. If we did nothing about it, it would be a dereliction of our duties." Professor Park, also a member of the New Right Network with Professor Rhee, said the book was not a "conservative understanding of history." "What we pursued in the book is not rightist but a balanced view of history," Professor Park said. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

The editors go on to claim that there is an overwhelming leftist perception regarding modern history in intellectual circles which could be seen from the process of the book’s release. The academic editors of the text complained that the "leftists" in the publishing business were thwarting the publication of the text. Since its announcement in Nov 2004, the book has been boycotted twice by its original publishers. And early in 2005, a publisher that had agreed to print the book later refused, stating that the book’s political color was too defined and thus not in accordance with the publishing company’s standards. Another publisher signed a publishing contract but withdrew suddenly just 15 days before the promised publication date. A related official from another major publisher that gave up on publishing the book due to opposition from some editors said, “It was a very rare thing, but some editors spoke out against publishing the book, saying they did not agree with its historical interpretations.” In publishing circles, rumors supposedly circulated that publishing companies refused to print the book because they believed the writers were too nationalistic and believed in unification’s importance over all else -- a statement which confuses us as it is a commentary of "progressives" views. (Source: Donga Ilbo and Joongang Ilbo)

Meanwhile, progressive and left-leaning scholars remained cautious about the new publication. A professor who was one of the co-authors of the 1979 book said, "I have to review the book first, then try to seek proper ways to deal with it." When approached for comment, another professor noted in the liberal camp, Seo Joong-seok, also said he had not yet read the book.

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Doosan Embezzles Millions and Receive "Get Out of Jail Pass" (Feb 2006) The troubles began when Park Yong-sung, 65, was named the group's new chairman at a family meeting on July 18. But the elder Park Yong-oh refused to step down, demanding Doosan Industrial Development, a de facto holding company of the group, be spun off to be run by his own sons. Park Yong-oh was ousted from the group's management in Aug 2005 after his demand for control of Doosan Industrial Development was rejected. By Aug 2005 everything looked rosy. Park Yong-sung was president of the International Judo Federation, member of the IOC, chairman of the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), chairman of the International Chamber of Commerce -- and chairman of the Doosan Group.

Then inspite Park Yong-oh filed a complaint with the prosecution to investigate allegations that his brother Park Yong-sung, chairman of Doosan Group, and other group leaders stashed 170 billon won in slush funds through accounting fraud involving subsidiaries. Park Yong-oh claimed Park Yong-sung pocketed 20 billion won of 45 billion won in slush funds that he collected through accounting frauds. He also alleged that Park Yong-maan accumulated slush funds amounting to 20 billion won by embezzling profits from Doosan Industrial. During an emergency family meeting convened after the complaint was filed, Doosan Group honorary chairman Park Yong-gon said Park Yong-oh is attacking his brothers out of greed. ``Park's behavior is a treacherous act against both the family and the entire Doosan Group. He is no longer a member of either Doosan Group or our family and he will be expelled,"' Park Yong-gon said.

The ongoing family feud took a new turn on Aug. 8 when the group admitted officially accounting fraud to the tune of $276 million by one of its subsidiaries Doosan Industrial Development Co. Doosan said in a public notice it had inflated sales figures from 1995 to 2001 to survive competition and the 1997 financial crisis when South Korea was brought under IMF bailout package, and decided to reflect the entire amount on the ledger in the second half of the year to correct the past malpractice.

It is not clear whether financial authorities were aware of the fraud. The ongoing probe targeted Doosan Chairman Park Yong-sung and 28 of his in-laws who were suspected of having embezzled nearly 14 billion won (US$13.7 million) from Doosan Industrial Development Co., a construction subsidiary of South Korea's 10th-largest conglomerate. The company was exempt from class action suits under a bill passed by the National Assembly in March 2005 that gave companies a grace period until the end of 2006 to voluntarily correct past accounting malpractices. Following the confession, share prices of Doosan Group subsidiaries fell sharply on the stock market.

By Nov 2005, things had completely fallen apart and Park Yong-sung resigned as chairman of the Doosan Group and KCCI accepting moral responsibility for Doosan's situation -- though he retained his chairmanship of the Korean Judo Association and a member of the IOC. Seoul District Prosecutors Office said on 9 Nov that it was indicting without detention four brothers of the family-owned Doosan Group on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust. The four brothers are Park Yong-oh, 68, the eldest, and Park Yong-sung, 65, both former chairmen of the nation's 10th largest conglomerate; Park Yong-man, 50, the former vice-chairman, and Park Yong-wook, 45, current head of the two Doosan subsidiaries, Nefs and Easaeng Group.

On 9 Feb a Seoul court yesterday gave what critics say are "lenient sentences" to the four Doosan Group brothers charged with embezzling 32.6 billion won ($33 million) of company funds for personal use. Seoul District Court issued suspended jail terms to all four Doosan group brothers and 10 executives involved in the embezzlement. The key figures in the scandal, Park Yong-oh and his younger brother Yong-sung each received five-year suspended prison terms and were fined 8 billion won ($8.2 million) apiece.

"The defendants created slush funds from their listed and unlisted affiliates several years ago and used them for living expenses and tax payments for major shareholders. They were also involved in financial window dressing, which tarnished the Doosan Group's credibility and the national credit rating," chief judge Kang Hyong-joo said in the ruling. "The damage is huge, but their loans and interests were reimbursed, and they made personnel changes (the resignation of the Doosan brothers involved in the scandal), so we took into account that they repented of their wrongdoings," he said.

(SITE NOTE: This is a showcase trial in which a person embezzles $283 million from a company and uses $33 million for their personal use -- and two are given $8.2 million fines each. Simple addition comes up with $16.4 million total for a net profit of $ 16.6 million along with suspended jail terms. Under the Roh administration this means no criminal record as these people will get a pardon on the next round of mass Presidential pardons. This is a case of how the Roh administration -- and the public -- accept the fact that there are two standards of the law -- one for the rich and powerful and one for the working classes. The court in this decision contradicted itself when it stated its earlier determination to "severely punish those involved in embezzlement scandals that has had a negative effect on society."

(NOTE: The Doosan Group’s embezzlement case was dubbed the “K High School case” during the trial because it involved judges and lawyers who graduated from that school. The trial judge and three lawyers who are former high-level judges are all graduates of K High School. Incidentally, the Chief Justice is also a former student of K High School. The general public view the "old boy" networks with disdain as it grants privileges to people of the higher social strata that are denied to working class people.)

Justice Minister Chun Jung-bae has vowed to have white-collar criminals, including high-profile businessmen and politicians, get heavier punishments to ensure that all people are equal before the law. Chun said that people think the law favors the rich and disadvantages the poor and that the nation should correct the bad practice. He also said white-collar crimes disturb the fundamentals of the nation's economy and thus should be dealt with more strictly.

However, top officials in the judiciary started to react to the public criticism by calling for a change to an immoral practice which gives light punishments to business leaders and political heavyweights. On 17 Feb 2006, Lee Yong-hun, chief justice of the Supreme Court, recently told senior judges that they should deal with white-collar crimes more strictly. His remarks followed the Feb. 8 ruling on the Doosan Group brothers who misappropriated 28.6 billion won ($29.3 million) in company funds received only suspended jail terms, although Lee did not directly mention the case. He reportedly added the public would not accept the rulings if courts send poor people to prison who commit theft due to financial difficulty, while giving suspended jail sentences to businessmen who embezzle much larger amounts of company funds or evade huge taxes. (Source: Korea Times)

But having watched Korean society for 15 years, these words are just smoke...that we've heard under every administration.

On 13 Feb the International Olympic Committee (IOC) launched an investigation into South Korean committee member Park Yong-sung who was convicted on 8 Feb of embezzling millions of dollars from his industrial conglomerate.

A Step in the Right Direction: Changwon Courts Guidelines on White Collar Crime For the first time in Korea, the Changwon District Court created sentencing guidelines on 27 Feb that strengthen punishments for white-collar crimes committed by government officials and corporation workers. It will also be the first court in Korea to implement them.

It was predicted that the number of white-collar crimes punished with a slap on the wrist, such as probation or conditional release, citing first-time offenses, contributions to society, or regret for the offense committed, will be reduced. With the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Lee Yong-hun strongly criticizing probation sentences to Doosan Group slush-fund case defendants, and Minister of Justice Chun Jung-bae pointing out that the court is too lenient on white-collar crimes, the newly established sentencing guidelines will likely affect other district courts. (SITE NOTE: Though we agree with the intent, we find a problem that the Guidelines was not initiated at the Ministry of Justice level and applied to ALL district courts. As it stands now, a bribery case will simply apply for a change of venue and be tried in a district without the guidelines. In effect, the guidelines are rendered worthless.)

The Changwon District Court held a meeting with about 70 of its judges chaired by chief justice Kim Jong-dae and announced “White Collar Crime Sentencing Guidelines” created by the Criminal Working Level Improvement Team led by Justice Moon Hyung-bae. These guidelines will be used in sentencing. The goal of the sentencing guidelines are to eliminate slaps on the wrist to white-collar offenses by sentencing actual prison time rather than probation and conditional releases, as well as maintaining similar sentences on similar crimes. The guidelines use the amount of money received or embezzled to determine minimum prison times in cases of bribery, embezzlement and misappropriation in office, malfeasance in office where money can be a measuring guide, as well as conditions that will aggravate or lighten the sentence.

But in bribery cases, if an organization or corporation with strong lobbying powers bribes someone in a “lower” position, or uses a government official’s weakness, then the defendant who gave the bribe will also serve time in jail. In addition, defendants who violate unfair competition prevention laws and business secret protection laws, even if they are first-time offenders, will be sentenced to prison as well as a fine if their crimes resulted in irreversible damage to their corporation and country.

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HIV Cases Rise (Feb-Jul 2006) The Ministry of Health and Welfare said on 13 Feb that 680 people were newly infected with the HIV virus in 2005, an increase of nearly 11 percent from the number of new cases in 2004. More than 3,800 HIV-infected people have been found in Korea to date; more than 700 of them have died. The number of new cases has increased gradually since 2000, the ministry said. All but 6 percent of the new victims last year were male, and a third of them were in their 30s. About two-thirds of those with new cases identified the origin; half the men said they acquired it through heterosexual intercourse and half through homosexual contact. One person, a woman, was infected by a blood transfusion; no one cited illegal drug use as the transmission path. Reason more men identified is that men are more prone to donate blood that is screened. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

(SITE NOTE: Dental clinics and nurses in Korea as a general rule still do not wear gloves when treating patients, giving shots or dealing with collecting blood samples. No comment on this practice -- but we certainly question the numbers of HIV positive people in Korea. 15 years ago they claimed only 60 people in Korea were infected with AIDS while the world had an epidemic on its hands. This was in 1990 and when I questioned a doctor, he finally admitted that the numbers at the time were at least 10 times greater -- if not a hundred times. Testing was done on foreign workers -- but not on Korean seaman who frequented ports where AIDS was prevalent. After 15 years, the number is now 3,000 in a society where the $2.8 billion sex industry thrives -- and where the crackdown has moved the prostitutes out of the redlight districts into the neighborhoods. I think someone needs to look a little closer -- but if it does can the society stand the reality if it turns out as I and a lot of Korean medical people suspect that the numbers are much higher. Notice that over 700 have died of AIDS -- which usually takes years to incubate -- but in Korea, it seems that it is accelerated -- or somebody's not telling the full story.)

In April 2006, it was reported that HIV/AIDS infection in the country exceeded 4,000 between 1985, when statistics started to be kept, and the end of March this year. The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday that the combined total number of HIV/AIDS infections stood at 4,021. Of these, 748 have died. Between January and March 2006, there were 192 new reported HIV infections -- 181 men and 11 women -- or an average of 2.1 people testing positive for HIV every day. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

The AIDS figures were updated on 13 July when it was reported that nearly 400 South Koreans were found to have been infected with AIDS during the first six months of this year, with more than two people falling victim to the fatal pandemic every day. In the January-June period, a total of 398 South Koreans were reported to have contracted AIDS, up 25.6 percent from the same period of last year, the Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC) said. (Source: Yonhap News.)

High School Students Contract HIV (Nov 2006) News that three high school students contracted the HIV virus this year has shocked Korea. All of them are men, a source said. The number of teenage HIV/Aids patients rose to 11 in all here, the youngest 14 years old. All except for the three new patients have left school and are either jobless or work part time. It is illegal to disclose patients' identity.

The Korea Center for Disease Control and Prevention said on 20 Nov 2006 there were 572 new HIV/AIDS patients here between the beginning of this year and September, 527 men and 45 women, or 2.1 new HIV/AIDS patients a day. This was a 13 percent increase from 506 a year ago. New infections occur in all age groups, with the majority of patients in their 30s with 176 or 30.8 percent, followed by 138 in their 40s and 112 in their 20s. Even among those in their 60s or older, the number of new HIV/AIDS patients was 56. It said the accumulated number of HIV/AIDS patients confirmed so far stood at 4,401, with 3,595 of them still alive. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

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Korean Orphanages in Danger of Elimination under Roh Administration (Feb 2006) According to the Korea Herald on 14 Feb, South Korea's orphanage system has come under attack from the United Nations for violating principles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which the country signed in 1991. Lack of funding and understaffing in many private institutions has led to children being raised in poor conditions. Police have had to shut down some orphanages following evidence that staff abused children.

In light of recommendations from the U.N., the government in 2003 introduced plans to phase out institutional care over a ten year period. Under the plan, children are to be allocated to alternative arrangements such as adoption, foster care and group home care.


Orphanage outside of Hill 180 Gate (1963) (Marshall Parker)

(SITE NOTE: THE ROH GOVERNMENT IS INSANE . THEY PLAN TO SHUT DOWN ORPHANAGES AND INSTITUTE FOSTER CARE...BUT THIS MAY LEAD TO EVEN GREATER ABUSES. To even suggest that this action is a result of UN recommendations is an affront to reason. In every advanced country in the world, orphanages exixt as a safety net to protect those who cannot protect themselves. SHAME ON THE ROH ADMINISTRATION!!!

We cannot argue that some institutions serving as orphanages were nothing more than jails -- and the orphanages were operated as a business -- not as a safety net for kids. However, this also applies to mental hospitals and clinics that operate as money making business. In these institutions, head counts meant money from the government. The higher the number the greater the profit. However, the vast majority of the orphanages are operated by religious orders or organizations like the Salvation Army. These orphanages operate on the principle of saving the children -- and not as money-making institutions. Over the years, these orphanages have saved countless young children from starvation.

Still most of the abandoned children found in train stations are severely retarded and require special care. These children are found predominantly wandering in train stations or bus terminals where their parents told them to wait -- and were never seen again. Some of the young children found "abandoned" claim they don't know even the city where they were lived -- indicating they are fleeing a home where life was hell.)

The Roh administration is doing what it does best with "hot potato" issues -- it delegates. Last year, the Ministry of Health and Welfare transferred the jurisdiction of child welfare matters to local governments. The lack of a uniform policy means there is inconsistency in the degree of attention given to the issue. "Local governments must have the will to pay attention to child welfare. Because of that, the attention given to child welfare can vary. Some programs may be demolished, some programs provided may be of poor quality," said Professor Noh Choong-rei, Department of Social Welfare at Ewha Women's University. Moreover, without financial assistance from the central administration, local governments are struggling to come up with funds to sustain individualized care programs. "Localization requires an assumption that local governments have financial independence. That can be feasible in Seoul where financial independence is possible. But in small towns they have difficulty coming up with the necessary money. There simply aren't enough tax payers there," Nho said

Over the last five years the number of children going into foster care has increased. In 2004 there were 10,198 foster children, compared to 1,722 in 2000. At the same time the number of children in orphanages has also increased, with 17,675 children in institutional care in 2004, compared to 17,342 children in 2002. (Source: Korea Herald.) (NOTE: This is a strange statistic since birth rates are falling which should equate to few children in orphanages, but instead there has been a slight increase. One possibility is the recession that started in 2003 and continues till today. It could be the credit card collapse in 2004 that left the majority of Koreans with household debts -- some pushed to committing suicide.)

It is hard to overcome the influence of orphanages in Korean society, which were originally set up to take care of children displaced after the Korean War. There were famous efforts like the Kiddy Lift that airlifted orphans from Seoul to Chejudo to save them from the advancing Chinese. The orphanages in Korea were everywhere. During the Korean War, there were 20 in Suwon and 6 in Pyeongtaek. After the war, the adoption of children continued unabated as it was very hard to raise children as a single parent or if one had an Amerasian child. Korea became known as a "baby market." However, after Korea became a G-12 nation, it still provided 25 percent of all children adopted in America. The problem is that Koreans will NOT adopt because of the stigma attached to not being a part of the family. The ruse whereby women depart an area for months and then return to the area claiming the adopted baby they have is their own -- and then the baby's name is entered on the family register. This is the reason that adoption in Korea -- though becoming more common -- is still relatively small when compared to adoption rates in other countries.


Orphanage in Pyeogntaek (Oct 2005) (USFK Forum)

The supporters of foster care over orphanages state that "most people have little knowledge of Korea's foster care system that adheres to the principle that children in need of welfare should be cared for in a family environment. Foster families provide temporary care for children when their biological parents are unable to do so, due to divorce or financial difficulties. The children usually return to their biological parents after a few years. In some cases they are formally adopted by their foster parents."

Kim Chung-sun, general secretary of the Korean Foster Care Association, said the individual attention children receive through foster care gives it a major advantage over institutional care, which "feels the same for each child, where there is an exact time for eating and sleeping." Whereas those in orphanages "feel abandoned" and have no specific role models, foster children are able to learn how families function through examples set by their foster parents. "If a child is a boy they can follow what their father is doing, working for his family and being responsible for his family. The child can see that and learn the functions of a father and family. That is a good example of differences between foster care and institutionalization," said Kim. (Source: Korea Herald.)

(SITE NOTE: We find this cause for foster care laudable, but we have seen enough exposes of high school kids taking care of their siblings (without parents) trying their best to subsist on meager government handouts. We also object to the picture that this article painted of orphanages being places where kids "feel abandoned." Too many American GIs who have visited regularly to play with the kids will attest that this is not so. There is love there from the staff. The kids have a home. They were for the most part abandoned by their parents -- or if orphaned, by their extended families. The others abandoned them and the orphanages embraced them. We object to the comments of "same exact time for eating and sleeping" as they imply that the life of soldiers and families with strict routines are somehow abnormal.

With the strong Korean sense of family, it is IMPOSSIBLE for any Korean to think of the foster child as a member of their family. The idea of role models in foster care is a farce. Notice how they avoid the term "foster home" and instead refer to the clinical "foster care" which is an administrative term for a business. The foster care system is NOT based on love -- it is based on financial gain. Korea is NOT America and foster homes filled mostly with caring individuals should not be equated with Korean foster homes. Americans tend to think of these kids as "disadvantaged" and just need love and support to grow. In Korea a foster home is a stop-gap measure to place the kids in cheap temporary lodgings without love or nurturing involved.

In addition, this idea of being "returned to their parents after a few years" is a fairy tale. If the financial conditions were so serious to entail giving up the child, then the chances of the parents attaining stability is very slim in Korea where poverty perpetuates poverty. If there were abusive parents involved, it is questionable if the children should ever be returned to such homes.)

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Koreans in Europe at OECD Criticized (Feb 2006) On 17 Feb it was reported that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) responded to Seoul's request for an evaluation of the officials it sent there for work and training with a polite but stinging rebuke. The organization said in a letter that it questioned the reasons for dispatching many of the Korean officials it received, and complained that too many of them were unqualified. The Board of Audit and Inspection (BAI) said on 17 Feb that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade had failed to operate the exchange program efficiently.

The South Korean mission at the OECD had asked the organization's personnel department in June for an overall assessment of its secondment program. The reply came promptly and while polite, it presented a candid and embarrassing portrait of Korean civil servants. Seoul joined the OECD in 1996, and began sending officials there to work since 1999. There are 21 Koreans on the organization's staff now. Seoul funds the salaries and moving expenses for its people, and last year sent nearly 4.9 million euros ($5.8 million) to the organization for their expenses. "It is not yet clear what the objectives of the program really are: training, information sharing or merely political assignments,"

Pierre Lebleu, the head of the OECD human resources department, wrote in the letter. He cited a lack of language skills and international exposure as two of the organization's concerns. Some of the officials could not write effectively in English. The OECD also complained about the number of officials being sent there to work. Mr. Lebleu said the 21 Koreans there are the equivalent of two divisions in the organization, "and you can imagine the management, supervision and administrative time spent on this program is very heavy to absorb." The organization also said many Korean officials were not living up to expectations about their performance, unable to work at the equivalent of their Korean grade -- a slap that said some officials were unqualified. Many, it added,believed that it was "politically incorrect to criticize the quality of [their] work" in evaluation reports. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

Korea is responding to an OECD complaint with new rules whereby civil servants working with international organizations are chosen in an open application and those who prove unfit for the position will be recalled. The new rules are part of a package the Civil Service Commission on 17 Feb said will boost selection standards after the OECD complained in June 2005. Under the new guidelines, the CSC must put such positions on public notice, and a select committee will test applicants’ language skills through interviews and writing exams rather than relying on standard proficiency test scores. The officials will enter into an initial one-year contract with the international organization, and the organization’s own evaluation will then determine if they stay on. Korea will in addition evaluate them twice a year with the help of legations abroad, and those who rate poorly in terms of work attitude and performance will be recalled by their ministries. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

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Massive ID Thefts from Online Game Site (Feb-Aug 2006) The number of reports of identity theft for signing up with the online game "Lineage" exceeded 224,400, the operator NCsoft Corp. said on 19 Feb 2006. About 170,100 reports were made over the Internet and 53,400 cases were reported via telephone, fax and e-mail, according to the company. The "Lineage" site currently offers a service which enables people to check if their personal information has been used for subscription on any of more than 10,000 domestic Web sites. Lineage has about 2 million users, and Lineage 2, its sequel, has about 1 million users. The National Police said its analyses of IP addresses of gamers using stolen personal information has revealed a majority of connections with the site was made in China. (Source: Joongang Ilbo.)

What is bothersome is that many of the "stolen IDs" were by people who did NOT register with "Lineage" -- meaning that their IDs were stolen elsewhere.

(SITE NOTE: In Korea, one must use your government ID number to register for game sites which has caused concerns in the past by analysts and cyber-experts over the potential for just this possibility. Though NC Soft, the operator of "Lineage," said that the victims would not suffer financial losses, experts say the ID thieves may use the information to access some restricted websites. With the information, the e-government system allows the access to information of address and other personal data.



The government is trying its best NOT to publicize the potential impacts to people who have had their IDs stolen. Though they government is talking of more stringent punishment of violators who steal online IDs, they still have not addressed the root cause as the requirement to use the government ID number in the first place. In America, the request to provide one's SSN through an online website -- no matter how it states it will be protected -- sends red flares up that there is an illegal operation in effect. With one's SSN, one can get a driver's license, apply for credit cards and make one's life a living nightmare. In Korea, it is the ONLY way one can register at most game sites.)

Symantec warns of further online ID theft damages in S. Korea (Mar 2006) On 7 Mar the Internet Security Threat Report by Symantec Corp., a U.S. publisher of anti-virus software, found that the most malicious computer threats around the world for the second half of last year were worms, viruses and trojan horses designed to steal users' personal information. The report showed that South Korean Internet users are increasingly becoming a target of computer hackers who seek financial gains by stealing online identities. (Source: Yonhap News.)

Hackers Stole 1 Million IDs for Online Game (Mar 2006) The online game Lineage has led to the online theft of no fewer than 1 million identities, a police investigation has revealed. The police’s Cyber Terror Response Center said on 13 Mar its analysis of Lineage accounts created between October 2005 and Feb.14 this year revealed that anywhere between 980,000 and 1.22 million of them were set up in the name of Internet users who never signed up to play the game. Most of them were created in China, a check of the IP addresses revealed However, police have so far been unable to discover which websites such a massive number of users’ names and ID numbers were stolen from, except that some 3,000 of them were leaked from a used-car trading site.

NCsoft, the operator of the online role-playing game Lineage, closed 175,000 game accounts on 12 Mar after finding that they had been opened by residents of China using stolen Korean resident identification numbers. The action was taken only after the police demanded that it do so. The police are also investigating the company on suspicions that it was aware of the stolen identities but did nothing about the matter. In September, the police also ordered NCsoft to close 120,000 accounts. The action resulted in angry demonstrations in front of the Korean Embassy in Beijing and a flood of threatening e-mails, saying the company had endangered the livelihood of Chinese workers.

Police said hackers using the stolen IDs routed their access to the game through the websites of schools and public bodies in Korea to conceal the fact that they operated from China because Lineage does not allow accounts to China addresses. Police have asked Chinese authorities for help in tracking down the hackers, who are suspected of conducting the massive fraud as a way of obtaining game weaponry and other virtual “items.” Enthusiasts of massive multi-player online role-play games, or MMPORG, pay surprisingly large sums of money for such items on trading sites to obtain shortcuts to new levels in the game. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

95,219 Korean IDs exposed on Google (Aug 2006) The Ministry of Communication and Information said that it has detected 95,219 South Koreans’ resident registration numbers that are open for fraudulent use on Google, the world’s most widely used Internet search engine. The number of possible victims swells to 903,665 when those whose ID numbers are partly exposed are included, the ministry said in a report, after conducting an online inspection last week. Google will be asked to remove the leaked personal information and the whole cleaning process will take up to two months, the ministry said. But the true number of victims could be much larger since there is no protection of personal information on international search engines such as Google or MSN.

``The resident registration number is a very important piece of private information that should be protected by law. However, as Google is a foreign operation, there was no way to enforce the law to it,’’ the ministry’s official Oh Jin-ho said on the phone. ``We invited Google’s Asia-Pacific representative (to meet with us) in June and explained the urgency of the matter. He gladly agreed to cooperate with us.’’

Oh said that most Korean Internet portals and search engines are now observing the government’s instructions on the privacy and protection of personal data such as the resident registration number. The 13-digit registration number is widely used as the means for personal identification at banks, service companies, government offices and many Web sites in South Korea. As it is easily obtained by using Google, the stolen registration numbers were often used in creating false IDs in various forms of cyber crime.

Even the ID numbers of South Korean president Roh Moo-hyun and prime minister Han Myeong-sook had been freely circulated on the Internet until last month, when United Liberal Democrat lawmaker Ryu Geun-chan brought up the issue, saying that the president’s personal numbers had been used 416 times for online verification and 280 times for adult verification at x-rated Web sites, probably by someone other than the president himself. (Source: Korea Times.)

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Second Korean cardinal (Feb 2006) On 22 Feb 2006, Pope Benedict XVI has named Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk, the archbishop of Seoul, as Korea's second cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, joining Stephen Kim Sou-hwan as one of the church's senior leaders. Korean Catholics and political leaders had appealed to the Vatican several times recently to appoint another cardinal here. Cardinal Kim, 84, retired in 1998 as Seoul's archbishop and, since he turned 80, has not been eligible to participate in conclaves to select a new Roman Catholic pontiff. There are about 4.5 million Roman Catholics in Korea.


Newly appointed Cardinal Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk with Cardinal Stephen Kim Sou-hwan (22 Feb 06) (Yonhap News)

Archbishop Cheong, 75, is the author of about 20 books on church law. He was ordained in 1961 as a priest, after graduating from Seoul National University as an engineer before entering a seminary to study for the priesthood. In 1970, he was named bishop of Cheongju, and in 1998 succeeded Cardinal Kim as archbishop of Seoul, with responsibility for the other dioceses in Korea. He is also the titular head of the Roman Catholic Church in North Korea, which is banned there but reportedly functions to some extent underground. Archbishop Cheong has also been an outspoken opponent of the stem cell research undertaken by Hwang Woo-suk, criticizing it as a "serious violation of human dignity" and the destruction of human embryos as "murder." "There was an issue of fairness in having only one cardinal in a country of more than 4 million Catholics and 16 dioceses," said Bong Du-hwan, a spokesman for the Catholic Center for National Reconciliation. Japan has two cardinals in a population of less than 1 million Roman Catholics, although the Philippines also has two among an estimated 60 million believers. Italy, with 20, has the largest number of cardinals. Archbishop Cheong will be invested with his new rank in a ceremony expected to be held on March 25 in St. Paul's Square in the Vatican, with the pope presiding. (Source: Chosun Ilbo.)

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Uri Party Aims for Giving Teachers Limited Law-Enforcement Power (Feb-Mar 2006) On 24 Feb it was announced that the ruling Uri Party is seeking to give teachers law-enforcement authority, as part of efforts to eradicate increasing school violence. The plan was discussed in a policy consultation meeting between party and government officials at the National Assembly. Among those present were members of the party’s ad hoc panel for school violence and ranking officials from the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, the Ministry of Gender and Equality and the National Youth Commission. Under the measure, teachers in charge of monitoring school violence would be entitled to investigate a certain case and be authorized to call in parents of ``problem students” for questioning. Under the plan, if those parents reject the summons they would subject to fines.

The Uri Party is using as its justification that current law allows the prosecution or police to give law-enforcement authority to other government officials when they have difficulty in investigating a case. Forestry, maritime, taxation, food, medical, railway security and environmental officials are currently empowered to exercise law- enforcement authority.

(SITE NOTE: Shades of Communism ... the Uri Party has now boldly gone over the edge. This system is used in the North where the Communist Party members enforce "social justice" edicts. Does the title "Commissar of Political Education" sound familiar? This is insanity -- and if the Korean people dumbly sit by while this happens they deserve all they get. The agencies that are currently given "law-enforcement" authority are those with rules, regulations or laws to enforce. These agencies enforce applicable laws for forestry control (green belt use), tax regulations (including fines and tax collection), laws governing food and drugs (public welfare to fine or ban hazardous products), laws for rail and environmental protection (enforcement of laws to protect public safety). That government ministries sat in on this committee and said nothing. It speaks loudly of their representation of the Roh administration agenda. To use the reasoning that they now police areas to as a sort of "morality police" is the most ridiculous thing we've heard.

WHAT LAW DOES THE TEACHERS NEED TO ENFORCE??? CRIME IS NOT THEIR JURISDICTION -- THE CRIME PREVENTION AND PROSECUTION FALLS TO THE POLICE AND PROSECUTORS' OFFICE. ENFORCEMENT OF ADMINISTRATIVE RULES FALLS TO THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND PRINCIPALS OF THE SCHOOLS. IF THE POLICE CAN'T HANDLE CRIMES IN THEIR AREA, THEY NEED TO BE REPLACED. IF THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION CAN'T ENFORCE THE EXISTING RULES, THEY NEED TO BE REPLACED. IF PRINCIPALS AND TEACHERS CAN'T INSTILL DISCIPLINE ON THEIR PREMISES, THEY NEED TO BE REPLACED.

The Uri Party is out of control. I predict that in the May 2006 elections, it will face a deservedly resounding defeat -- but unfortunately, I also believe this will only spur the Uri Party and Roh administration on to make more and more outrageous proposals to take the democratic controls away from the people -- and vest it in the hands of its "progressive supporters." The radical Korean Teachers and Education Workers' Union (KTU) is the beneficiary of this legislation.)

The measure is in line with the government’s push to crack down on four kinds of violence -- school violence, crime-ring violence, cyber violence and the distribution of malicious information. (SITE NOTE: The government had best look at its own regulations that have allowed the abuse of the internet. The government had best look at itself to find the answers for its rules that have attempted to emasculate and demoralize police and prosecutors. Mixed messages are everywhere as to what the government stands for. It needs to look at itself as the number one abuser of freedom of the press and freedom of speech. The courts in backing the popular trends have also started to trample of the issues they were sworn to protect. Under the current Supreme Korean court rulings anyone who says something nasty about Korea or a Korean ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD can be sued. That is how insane it has become in Korea. The Roh administration is starting to resemble George Orwell's "1984" with big brother watching everywhere. With this latest proposal, they will have the teacher police and soon the kitchen police.)

Prosecutors, however, are concerned about a potential abuse of power by teachers, infringing upon the human rights of students and parents. ``There is a high possibility that teachers, who are not professional, could abuse their power that includes the authority of investigation and sending suspects to the prosecution,’’ a spokesman of the prosecution said, requesting anonymity. He said summoning parents or imposing fines goes to far, encroaching on individual human rights, while adding the prosecution itself is seeking other ways to more effectively control school violence. (SITE NOTE: This is the only sound of reason. We wonder where the police stand on this issue -- and why they are silent. Has the new police commissioner been bought off? Are the police so incompetent that they cannot respond to reported crimes by the schools?)

The panel is scheduled to announce a package of measures to root out school violence "soon." Expected in the future will also be the screams from the GNP and conservative groups.

Teachers Given Right to Inspect "Harmful" Businesses On 9 Mar it was reported that schoolteachers were soon be able to take matters in their own hands when it comes to cracking down on establishments considered to be harmful to teenagers starting as early as this May. The Roh Administration and the ruling Uri Party in a meeting on Thursday agreed to introduce the measure as part of their plan to eradicate school violence. They will draw up a revised bill on the Youth Protection Law and submit it to the National Assembly during a special session in April.

The revision will enable teachers to keep an eye on the comings and goings at establishments deemed to be harmful to kids, as well as view such businesses' account books and other documents to see if they have admitted teenagers or employed them. If they find anything out of order, they can file a complaint against the establishment to the local government or prosecutors’ offices. The Education Ministry and educational offices will be granted the authority to do the same. (SITE NOTE: Who determines what is "harmful"? Now they will be able to demand account books? The Roh administration has stepped way over the limits. This is fodder for a constitutional challenge -- but first it must be enacted as a law.)

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Seoul to Compensate Wartime Forced Laborers (Feb-Mar 2006) On 24 Feb, the Asahi Shimbun reported that the Roh government would compensate the WWII Forced Labor victims themselves. In return, the Roh government asked the Japanese to confirm the names of those listed. Only those who were killed or maimed will be compensated. Decision on the amounts of compensation will be decided in March 2006.

Seoul to compensate wartime forced laborers

02/24/2006 By HAYAMI ICHIKAWA,The Asahi Shimbun

SEOUL--In an effort to resolve problems lingering since World War II, Seoul decided Wednesday to compensate Koreans who died or were injured while being forced to work for the Japanese military or companies during Japan's 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

Up to 100,000 South Koreans will be eligible for the individual compensation, government sources said. If those eligible have already died, their bereaved families will receive the payments. Forced laborers who returned to South Korea safely and without injuries will not be eligible, they added.

The South Korean government estimates that wages not paid by Japanese companies to the Korean forced laborers totaled 230 million yen. But Seoul will not ask Tokyo to cover those expenses. Instead, it will seek Japan's cooperation in confirming the names of those qualified for compensation through lists of wartime laborers kept by Japanese companies, they said.

(SITE NOTE: This would be a sly move to gain access to the lists and then the NGO activists groups will be able to file civil suits in Japan against the companies using this information. Up to this time, the companies have refused access citing that the normalization treaty ended all claims against Japan and them. We are wondering if the Japanese will see through this "side door" strategy. The acts of the Roh-inspired NIS Truth Committee in revealing documents of the Japanese colonial government encouraging Korean miners to extend their contracts in Feb 2006, coupled with the renewed Japanese "hate" campaign, should be evidence enough of the ulterior motives of the Roh administration. Besides, the Roh administration in 2006 doesn't have the money to pay off the claims so it is easy to make promises now.)

The decision by the government of President Roh Moo Hyun could affect lawsuits filed against Japan and companies by wartime forced laborers. The number of these lawsuits started increasing in the 1990s from Koreans demanding unpaid wages and other compensation from the Japanese government and the companies for which they were forced to work.

(SITE NOTE: In addition, Mitsubishi has faced a slew of lawsuits in Japan, the U.S. and South Korea for its extensive domestic use of Korean forced labor (KFL). Hundreds of thousands of Korean workers, including teenage girls, were conscripted and brought to Japan through various means of coercion and deception that grew more heavy-handed as the war progressed.

Corporations funneled their wages into mandatory "patriotic savings accounts" while withholding deductions for pensions and health insurance, and retaining full control of the relevant passbooks. Promises to send money home to families in Korea were mostly broken. Korean workers began demanding their unpaid wages immediately after Japan's surrender and continue to do so today. In 1946, however, the Japanese government quietly instructed companies to deposit the wages and related monies with state agencies including the Bank of Japan. Apparently, the funds were later commingled with unpaid wage deposits for Chinese laborers, but kept separate from money that was never paid out to Korean soldiers and civilians who worked for the Japanese military.

The KFL-linked funds are now held by the national bank in the amount of 215 million yen (or roughly $2 million, unadjusted for six decades of interest or inflation). Instead of informing the former Korean conscripts, Tokyo withheld vital information about the KFL deposits, their unpaid wages, in the years leading up to the Japan-South Korea normalization treaty of 1965 in order to avoid taking responsibility for this conspicuous feature of colonial rule.

The Seoul government, stymied in attempts to formally advance this compensation claim on behalf of its citizens, was forced to accept the intensely unpopular "economic assistance" formula that treated the unpaid wages as property claims to be waived at the time of the treaty.

In the past year, the long-running quest for KFL redress has been transformed. Under relentless pressure from South Korea's Truth Commission on Forced Mobilization under Japanese Imperialism, which continues to dispatch investigators to former worksites across the country, the Japanese government has asked corporations, municipalities and temples to cooperate in the belated search for name rosters and the repatriatio