"Vote or Die"

Yesterday was Election Day in Korea. Most public schools (but not all private schools) are given the day off which made for a nice day of hiking Gwanaksan (Gwanak Mountain) which I will post within the next few days.

Today, I'm taking the time to talk about current events, especially the elections.

The elections in Korea can be summed up in one word. Annoying. Ok, maybe two words:

VERY ANNOYING.

There were many candidates running this year, and there were at least 8 positions to fill on the provincial and district levels, including governors, mayors, and other district personnel.

I think I'm going to have to make a list of things to discuss:

1. Promotions

In the U.S. it is normal to see some people holding signs, or have a poster on their front lawn. In Korea, the candidates hire crews of people to go all over the province or district and greet people, chant and sing, hand out business cards, and even dance. They do this for about 2-3 weeks, every day from 7am-10pm. The worst is that they have these huge trucks that blast their theme songs all day, and at night the candidates or supporters come and give loud speeches. It really gets to you when you live close-by or are trying to eat dinner and hold a conversation at a nearby restaurant.

This is what it is like:

2. The Cheonan

The elections also seemed to cause a lot of issues, including international issues. Some Koreans believe that the Cheonan incident which was blamed on North Korea (see my previous posts here and here) has been fabricated by the current ruling government (and possibly with the aide of the U.S). Some of the claims are that a U.S. sub actually destroyed the Cheonan via torpedo, a U.S. submarine crashed into the Cheonan by accident and it is being covered up out of fear of anti-American protests as the government feels the need to keep U.S. troops stationed here to help deter North Korea. Others state that the current conservative administration in South Korea fabricated the evidence to point the finger at North Korea to strengthen the party. (like how Fox "News" seems to always boosts the GOP and smear the left while being "fair and balanced")

3. Lee Myung-Bak

Continuing the above thought, the President of South Korea (Lee Myung-Bak) and leader of the conservatives, is pretty much despised as a leader by the majority of Koreans I know. Most of my students agree as I have heard them say many times "I hate Lee Myung-Bak!" They also compare him the George W. Bush, and using that analogy, I can completely understand their feelings of distaste for their elected leader.

4. North Korea

North Korea takes great interest in the elections as well. Once Seoul announced that North Korea was the culprit of the sinking and that Lee Myung-Bak stated he would be severing any business with the North, the DPRK retaliated by stating that they would sever diplomatic ties with the South until the "puppet" and "traitor" Lee Myung-Bak was out of office. North Korea has supposedly been using cyber-warfare to try to fight the current administration by smearing the leaders.



From the Chosun Ilbo:

South Korean intelligence agencies say North Korea has launched a cyber campaign using stolen IDs of South Koreans to plant propaganda claims on South Korean portals. Posts made under the names of South Koreans accusing their "traitorous" government of fabricating evidence linking North Korea to the sinking of the Cheonan are more or less identical to a statement by the North's National Defense Commission posted on a website operated by the propaganda apparatus.

Intelligence services say North Korea is trying to make it appear as if people in the South are questioning the evidence presented by the government.

North Korea is believed to have trained between 500 to 600 hackers and deploy them in cyber operations against South Korea. A so-called massive denial of service attack in July last year crippled not only major websites in South Korea for days but also the homepages of the White House and the New York Stock Exchange. Intelligence officers believe North Korean hackers stole the personal information of some 1.6 million prominent South Koreans over the last five years. 

The election results (as of today) have shown the current state of displeasure with the conservatives, as the democratic party has won and overwhelming amount of gubernatorial and district seats. You can read about them here and here.

I'm just glad they are over. I no longer have to listen to the annoying campaign music, I won't be awoken by the sounds of chanting 13 stories below me, and I won't have to dodge in and out of the gauntlet of campaign crews handing out business cards and literature on my way to and from work everyday! As if Gunpo wasn't loud enough every day...

As a side note, it is my one year mark! I will be posting a video within the next 2 weeks reviewing my adventures!

"Evidence"

Tension is mounting slightly these past few days due to the new reports coming out that North Korea is being held responsible for the sinking of the ROKS Cheonan on March 26th. (see my previous post here).

According to the Joongang Daily there was evidence of a North Korean serial number found on a torpedo fragment:

“A North Korean-manufactured torpedo that carried a 250-kologram [551-pound] warhead is confirmed to be responsible for the explosion."

The decisive evidence was torpedo fragments collected from the sinking site. The propeller of the torpedo was recently recovered and a North Korean marking was on it, the ministry said. The marking read “1 Beon” using the Arabic numeral and the Korean letter that means number.

The recovered components were identical to the designs of a North Korean sonar-tracking torpedo depicted on an arms export catalog of the communist regime.

The experts also based their conclusion on analysis of evidence collected from the site of the sinking, the hull of the salvaged ship, postmortem examinations of the dead sailors, seismic waves, simulation of underwater explosions and currents near the sinking site, the ministry said.

 Here is a decent overview from CNN:

The DPRK has denied the allegations:

North Korea immediately challenged the report and threatened to go to war if the South retaliates or imposes sanctions. The North's highest power organ, the National Defense Commission, chaired by leader Kim Jong-il, also said it intends to send a verification team to South Korea to disprove the probe's findings.

Last week, Kim Myong Chol, who is often called an "unofficial" spokesman of Kim Jong-il and North Korea, wrote the following as it was posted on the Asia Times Online website:

Mission impossible
There are four important points that make it clear that a North Korean submarine did not sink the South Korean corvette.

Fact 1.North Korean submarines are not stealthy enough to penetrate heavily guarded South Korean waters at night and remain undetected by the highly touted anti-submarine warfare units of the American and South Korean forces. A North Korean submarine would be unable to outmaneuver an awesome array of high-tech Aegis warships, identify the corvette Cheonan and then slice it in two with a torpedo before escaping unscathed, leaving no trace of its identity.

Fact 2. The sinking took place not in North Korean waters but well inside tightly guarded South Korean waters, where a slow-moving North Korean submarine would have great difficulty operating covertly and safely, unless it was equipped with AIP (air-independent propulsion) technology.

Fact 2: The disaster took place precisely in the waters where what the Pentagon has called "one of the world's largest simulated exercises" was underway. This war exercise, known as "Key Resolve/Foal Eagle" did not end on March 18 as was reported but actually ran from March 18 to April 30.

Fact 3: The Key Resolve/Foal Eagle exercise on the West Sea near the Northern Limit Line (NLL) was aimed at keeping a more watchful eye on North Korea as well as training for the destruction of weapons of mass destruction in the North. It involved scores of shiny, ultra-modern US and South Korean warships equipped with the latest technology.

The incident has become a huge issue, and is gaining momentum as the new evidence agreed upon by the multi-national team of US, Australian, Swedish, and South Korean experts that the North is the culprit and that the serial number discovered is the "smoking gun".

Relations are also being strained due to Kim Jong Il's recent trip to China where he was publicly embraced as China showed it still supports the communist dictatorship as it's friendly neighbor.  The trip had been anticipated for quite some time, and was made in early May shortly after the Cheonan's sinking, perhaps as a way to strengthen ties and support if it came to light that the North was involved.

President Obama has pledged his support to the South, as the two countries are very close. Obama phoned President Lee Myung-Bak. "The South Korean presidential office said Obama supported South Korea’s response to the incident and said he “fully trusts” the investigation conducted by a team of international experts."

From the Joongang Daily

“President Lee and President Obama agreed that North Korea must honor its international obligations under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1874 and its commitment to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs,” a statement by the Blue House read. “At the same time, the leaders said North Korea must stop its belligerent course of action and that they will strengthen their alliance.”

What's next for North Korea? Another CNN report:

As for the daily lives of the people of South Korea? It feels as though nobody is worried. This has been the manner I've witnessed all year. The North constantly has threatened war for decades that it has become second nature to hear it. People go about their daily lives and don't pay much attention to the posturing of the North, its propaganda.


Next post: Sports Day!

"Hymn to the Sea"

 

After a five day mourning period, the 46 lost sailors of the Naval frigate Cheonan were laid to rest today at the Daejeon National Cemetery.

South Korea's ROKS Cheonan (PCC-772) was sunk on March 26th, 2010 due to presently unknown reasons. However, at this point in time, it is believed to be an external explosion due to a torpedo or even a mine. The ship was on patrol on the hotly disputed Northern limit lines in the Yellow Sea. Since the area has been under dispute, and there is speculation of the North Korea's (the DPRK) involvement, as there have been multiple incidents over the last 10 years. In May of 2009 the "North stated that it 'will not guarantee the legal status' of five South Korean islands near the disputed inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea." Specifically, claims have been made that this may be retaliation for the incident back in November of 2009 which caused a North Korean vessel to sustain damage. The DPRK's vessel allegedly was on routine patrol, crossed the Northern Limit Line, and was chased back over the line by the South. (Apparently a flexing of muscles preceding President Obama's visit at the time).

Also, rumors have been abound that the DPRK is not denying the incident, and even bragging about it, as it strengthens it's military image as a force to be reckoned with and instills some fear in the much more prosperous South. Even claims that "human torpedoes" were used to sink the Cheonan. Again, this is all rumors and isn't backed up by any facts except for reports from what I personally consider unreliable newspapers.

The reasoning for the torpedo theory is because the ship was recovered from the sea floor in 2 parts. The metal from the ship was folded inwards, making an internal explosion an impossibility.

Before

After

The BBC also reported the following:

After an initial examination the following observations and explanations have been announced to the public.

• The skin of the ship was bent inwards, pointing to an external rather than an internal explosion, a conclusion given further weight by the fact that the ship's weapons storage area is intact
• There are no signs of scraping, or of a collision, ruling out the possibility that the ship ran aground
• There is no evidence of soot or melting on the skin of the ship, suggesting that the external explosion took place some distance away from the hull

The sinking of the Cheonan is indeed tragic and heartbreaking for South Koreans. 46 young sailors have died, not including a naval rescue diver who died during the week-long salvage/rescue attempt. Of the 46 dead, "thirty-eight were found in the stern, one in the funnel of the stern, and the remaining one in the gyrocompass room in the bow that was salvaged on Saturday. The other six may have been thrown off the ship in the explosion or swept away by tides."

This incident also has international complications. If the DPRK is proven to be at fault, how should the South react? Further military escalation would only worsen relations. The ROK and USA are two countries who do not want to see escalation. Seoul lies only a short way from the DMZ and is easily in striking distance and an all out war would cost millions of lives - quite possibly my own! Although, the case for that is relatively slim. If the North full-out attacked, it would mean the end of their regime as they would be driven back at a high cost of lives on both sides. If for some reason the DPRK took over the South, reunification would have no hope, and resistance would be fierce. The DPRK seems itching for the South to attack first. Maybe as to not be seen as the aggressor in international light, or maybe because it has realized that it is a dying country with food shortages and economic difficulties among other issues..

Personally, I suspect that the incident to basically blow over but never be forgotten. Yet another strain on an already tense situation.