I’m currently going through my 2017 press cuttings and trying to make sense of them, in the hope that as in (some) previous years I’ll be able to pull together a series of posts summarising some of the most newsworthy stories of the year. In case I don’t manage to get that done (after all, … [Read More]
Category: US relations
A few links relating to Trump’s visit
A few links relating to President Trump’s visit to Seoul before they are too out of date: His hosts used an official dinner to score two foreign policy points over the Japanese: One of the guests was former comfort woman Lee Yong-soo and the Japanese were said not to have appreciated it when Trump embraced … [Read More]
Looking back at 2015: Domestic news
Our final look back at 2015: mainly domestic news stories from South Korea. In the news After 62 years of adultery being a criminal offence in the ROK, the constitutional court decided to decriminalise it by a vote of 7 to 2. Four out of ten married Korean males heaved a sigh of relief and shares … [Read More]
A look back at 2011 – part 3
In the final part of our look back at 2011, we summarise some of the news stories which caught our eye. China This year the region’s biggest economy continued flexing its muscles: it conducted the first test flight of its new stealth fighter, announced that it had deployed stealth missile speedboats in the East China … [Read More]
US Congress approves KORUS FTA
US Congress finally passes the Korea-US FTA. Never thought it would happen. Nice present for President Lee on his visit to USA. But now comes the hard part: will Korea’s DP also say yes? http://t.co/whNpBbPi [Read More]
The last days of Daechuri
As a follow up to my previous post linking to Bum Lee’s project, here’s a link to a short film made by Chris and Shirley Gelken at Daechuri last weekend. Well worth a look. There’s some great written coverage and photos on their blogs. A sample of Chris’s photos is shown above. See the full … [Read More]
The art of Daechuri
Many thanks to David Kilburn for pointing out a video project by Bum Lee, animation artist and illustrator. It’s a short film that he shot at Daechuri, a farming village which is to be evacuated to make way for the expanded US base at Pyongtaek. David’s take: I found it creative both in film making … [Read More]
DPRK e-bulletin: American sanctions
Another e-bulletin which arrived recently: DPRK Foreign Ministry Spokesman Demands U.S. Lift of Financial Sanctions Pyongyang, August 26 (KCNA) — A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry released a statement on August 26 accusing the United States of more persistently escalating its financial sanctions against the DPRK. It said: In the wake of the publication … [Read More]
Explanation of Operational Control
Courtesy of Tom Coyner, here’s an explanation of what operational control is all about. The recent Washington Post article is a reasonably good survey of some of the current tensions between Korea and the U.S., specifically over their respective policies toward North Korea and over a number of alliance issues involving the U.S. military presence … [Read More]
Is The Host anti-American (spoilers)?
The packed performance of The Host at Frightfest on Monday went down well. We were told by the organisers that we were watching the longest possible print. Whether that means there are cuts in other theatrical versions I don’t know. One of the things about The Host is that it’s generated a lot of noise … [Read More]
Choi Min-sik to stage screen-quota protest at Cannes
Londoners looking forward to the delights of next week’s Korean film festival can be forgiven for overlooking that other festival which starts this week… in Cannes. The Korean film industry will take advantage of the event to publicise their opposition to the reduction in the screen quota. Here’s an article from today’s Korea Times: A … [Read More]