Presidential Elections are Lacking Passion

As South Koreans prepare to elect its new president, media sources say that there is little drive to replace the current president despite beliefs of corruption. Yet as the 12th largest economy selects a new leader, there is a push for a president that will focus on the economics of South Korea. The BBC article stated that many fliers have been posted in downtown Seoul, in a last minute effort urging citizens to vote for "A President for the Economy Who Makes It Happen" or a " Clean Korea, Reliable President." Despite efforts to educate voters on the best presidential candidate to lead South Korea, little fervor for the upcoming elections trails that of the above legislators. The above photo shows a brawl that broke out this past Friday following allegations of corruption in the current administration. Analysts can't seem to put their finger on the real reason for the lack of fervor, as there are a number of reasons ranging from a less passionate right and left. To a seemingly clear lead for Lee former Hyundai construction company executive, or a growing disinterest for political issues. This is not a unique issue in South Korea, as over the years America has also struggled to get 50% turnout at the polls. It seems that we are living in an era that values, only what immediately affects their lives, and for some reason elections are not posing threats. Yet year after year there never fails to be disgruntled citizens whom did not vote. If you refuse to vote, then do you really have the right to complain? Respect for voting and understanding politics is dying, hopefully the American 2008 election year will prove different than the past, but who knows.

Japan objects to Chinese edit, and visa-versa

Japan protested to some edits made to documents in China. One was regarding how they wished China would revalue their currency along with a few other passages. China has been upset with Japan for years regarding their textbook representation of events in Japanese-Chinese history. The two countries hope to have better relations- maybe they should stop changing each other's writings, or quit complaining about it.

Media hype about Safety of Chinese products

With Christmas around the corner, we have heard more and more reports and warnings about cheap Chinese goods. From lead paint to faulty tires, no one seems surprised at the reports about harmful Chinese-made products. On Tuesday, 14 agreements were made between the U.S. and China on various economic issues. However, China says that the U.S. is guilty of "protectionism," claiming the media hype against Chinese products was overblown. Knowing the way U.S. media is, this is probably largely true- but we don't have control over what they say.

Breifing on Burma- human rights

A human rights special investigator reviewed Burma following the September events. He is reporting to the UN council today. He states that the government is definitely hiding a lot of facts about the numbers and what happened during the protest. He also says there are somewhere between 500 to 1000 people still detained.

Reconnecting the Koreas

The first railroad service in 50 years has just opened reconnecting North and South Koreas. It will transport raw materials and various goods across the two countries and will be of great economic benefit to both. This is one step closer away from a long history of dispute- really a great benefit.

Women in management in Japan

Women have had a hard time getting to positions of "authority" at the workplace in Japan. They could sometimes find themselves demoted into a clerical job after pregnancy. However, through the Equal Employment Opportunity Act passed in 1985, Japan hoped to get rid of this trend. Regardless of the effort, the employment of women in management positions only increased by 4% in 20 years. Is this a discriminatory issue or is it a decision made by the majority of Japanese women?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/06/world/asia/06equal.html

The "Peace Dam"

In response to a "water bomb" scare where North Korea would drown out Seoul with nuclear impact-like force with water, South Korea constructed the "Peace Dam"- a $429 million dollar project which now stands nearly 2000 ft. high. The Dam, today, holds no fuctionality, it simply protects them from North Korea. Silly.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/28/world/asia/28korea.html

Chinese and American attitudes towards eachother

The Committee of 100 just released results of a survey they took about attitudes of American and Chinese towards eachother. The results were very interesting. The general findings were that both have favorable attitudes about the other although China believes America is trying to keep them from becoming a world power. The survey looked at attitudes from various groups including the general public, opinion leaders, business leaders, and congressional staff.

Read more at http://www.survey.committee100.org/2007/files/c100Surveyrelease3.pdf

Korean Terrorists?

In a recent pole conducted by Gallup Inc, 76% of Americans believe North Korea should be kept on the list of state sponsors of terror. Overwhelmingly, Americans see North Korea as a serious international threat, even in the light of North Korea's apparent cooperation in dismantling its nuclear program.

Furthermore, only 22% of Americans believe the 6-Party talks to persuade North Korea to completely dismantle its nuclear program are working. According to the pole, American's thought the US government should instead work more closely with their Japanese allies. Similar results were found in surveys of the Japanese.

Dear Kim Jong-il, Your friend Bush

On December 6th, President Bush wrote a letter to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il, a man he has previously called a "tyrant". The purpose of the letter was to promise Kim that the US would normalize all relations with North Korea if they fully disclosed all nuclear programs, and got rid of the its nuclear weapons.

South Korean Oil Mess

Today marks an unwelcome record in South Korea: their largest ever oil spill. More 2.7 million gallons of oil spilled today of the coast of South Korea when an oil tanker crashed with a barge. This spill is more than twice the size of South Korea's formerly largest spill in 1995.

Animal and plant life if terribly threatened over the 11 mile stretch of coastline affected by the spill. This area also marks some of the best known, and most visited, beaches in all of South Korea. Luckily, there were not injuries in the crash, and already well over 2,000 troops, police and residents have swarmed to the area to get the situation under control. Of course, even with thousands of volunteers, many animals and plants will die, affected farmers throughout the region.

'08 Olympics: Spotlight on China

The 2008 Olympic Games will shine the spotlight on China and athletes from around the world. However, as Foreign Policy magazine points out, it will also shine the light on the policies of the Chinese ruling party. Surely, there will be countless episodes of Chinese police and activists from around the world protesting China' human rights record, lack of political freedom, and even China's contribution to global climate change. Other issues may include, China's unwillingness to intervene in the Darfur conflict, and of course, the continuing Taiwan issue.

With today's technological advances, millions of people in attendance at the Games and protests, will also be journalist, armed with picture phones and BlackBerries. The Chinese government has already begun intense intelligence work on international groups likely to protest in '08. Still, with so many foreigners pouring into the country, it will be nearly impossible to know if someone is coming to watch the Games, or protest the government. On thing is for sure, there are bound to be a lot of interesting YouTube posts that month!

China & India Go Shopping

In the most recent edition of Foreign Policy Magizine, the "In Box" section featured a brief article on the rise of Chinese and Indian consumers. In brief, by the year 2025 the two Asian giants will add 1 billion consumers to the global middle class.

Further examination was done to predict exactly what these consumers will be buying. Focusing just on China, by 2025 the Chinese will boast the largest middle class in the world. Their predicted spending preferences will fall on food and alcohol (roughly $375 billion), transportation and communication ($320 billion), and recreation and education ($300 billion). This compares to the 2005 spending of $80 billion, $30 billion, and $40 billion, respectively. So... invest wisely!

Chinese Oil Prices

What is a large driver in the price of oil in the past few months? Global demand- and China is the number one concern. With prices kept low to keep control of inflation, there is little incentive for Chinese firms to be mindful of what they use outside of country regulations. The growth in demand for oil has kept up with the growth in the country's economy. Seeing that the growth for the country's economy isn't expected to slow anytime soon- what does this mean for our oil prices?

China's Air

The major cities in China have air so dirty that you can't even jog outside for a long period of time. In a growing economy, trucks are necessary to the efficiency and logistics of moving goods around the country. China is no exception to this, however, their trucks burn diesel fuel that is 130 times more contaminated than what is allowed in the U.S. China wants to cap pollution but keep the economy going at the same time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/world/asia/08trucks.html?_r=1&ref=asia&oref=slogin

Myanmar governement "lying" over deaths September's demonstrations?

Burma's Junta has acknowledged 10 deaths in the crackdown on demonstrators in September. According to reports from the Human Rights Watch there were 20 documented killings with witness of hundreds more. This brings back a vague memory of the Burmese government's response to the earthquake in December 2004. All the numbers are unfortunate! Why lie about it?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/07/myanmar.crackdown/index.html

The Value of China's Companies

Recently, there has been much talk of the valuing of China's stock market and inherent value of many of China's large corporations. American investors and analysts believe that companies such as, Petrochina, which recently became the largest corpartion in the world, are overvalued in China's current system. The American investors all believe that in the next few years that China's economy will stumble and have a major meltdown due to overconfident investors. I believe that the American investors are speculating as to why they believe the corporations are overvalued. Petrochina and other corporations would not overvalue themselves, realizing that by doing so could cause their entire company to fall in the event a bubble occurred in China's economy. This entire ordeal is another case of people, especially those of the Western world, making assumptions not based on fact but based on what they believe to be true. Much like this blog, American investors are merely speculating at something which they have no clue.

Another mining incident in China

China should probably invest a little more into the safety of its mining operations. Earlier, 46 people were killed in an explosion at a coal mine in Shanxi province and at least 50 more were trapped. And this, of course, is nothing new. According to China's Xinhua news agency, there were nearly 2,000 coal mining accidents in October alone and more than 3,000 people were left dead. In 2003, there were 6,300 reported deaths. Granted, China has more than a billion people and there are countless mining operations and something like a new coal power plant being constructed every week, but surely the government sees the need to at least try to cut back on the number of accidents. If nothing else, surely this gets to be a little embarrassing.

Japanese opposition leader visits China

Prime Minister Fukuda announced he was going to visit China; leader to his party's opposition, Ichiro Ozawa, got there first. Ozawa took 44 members of his Democratic Party of Japan along with 400 members of the public with him in his trip and he is expected to meet with Hu Jintao to discuss trade and diplomatic relations. Ozawa told reporters he goes to Beijing annually. Fukuda plans to make his own visit later this year or early in 2008 and Hu Jintao plans to reciprocate by visiting Japan sometime early next year. While PM Fukuda said nothing about Ozawa's visit, Fukuda's party's chief spokesman criticised the timing of Ozawa's visit as legislation on the resumption of the Japanese Naval involvement in the US-led efforts in Afghanistan is up for debate. Still, Ozawa did beat Fukuda to the table.

Hong Kong Elects Pro-Democracy Legislator

Hong Kong has recently elected a pro-democracy legislator. I think this will allow more democratic influence to take over in Hong Kong and at least cause some democratic thinking in Beijing. I do not know if China sees this as a threat or not, but democracy does seem to be on the rise in the country. China was a country that started off purely communist, but it has become more socialist in thinking over the years, and hopefully some day soon it will become democratic.

The Taiwan Issue

The Taiwan issue is something that China needs to settle in the next few years. China's economy and Taiwan's economy are completely seperate. The citizens of Taiwan live completley different from their counterparts in China. China needs to let Taiwan go.

South Korea gives aide to North Korea

I read a article recently that discussed South Korea giving aide to North Korea to help its broken economy. My question for North Korea is why are you still living underneath the communist banner when it clearly does not work for you?

The North Korean government needs to take a lesson from China and liberalize. China is not 100% democratic, but a least Mao Zedong did not spend large amounts of the Chinese budget on massive statues of himself and grand performances. North Korea's brother South Korea has done well both politically and economically. It has become the Europe of th East. North Korea truly needs to reform itself or it will exist as a nation in the next century.

Singapore to further "Liberalize"

It seems that the Singapore government in attempt to bring more foreign cash to their shores will allow foreign law firms to set up in Singapore and higher local lawyers.

This seems to be just to be a way of making a quick buck. I do not think that the Singapore government is interested in truly making Singapore more liberal, but interested in making Singapore more rich. Singapore with its massive population is a market that law firms would probably flock to, but until the law passes all we can do is wait and see.

Bush and Kim pen pals

"W" and glorious leader Kim Jong Il seem to be on the fast track towards sending each other loving letter bombs. The Associated Press reports that Our Man Bush sent a "personal letter" to Kim Jong Il, glorious tyrant of North Korea. Apparently, the letter was delivered by US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill during his recent visit. One wonders if he did a little song to go along with it. Of course, Japan's Kyodo news agency reports that Bush sent letters to the other countries involved in the talks on North Korea's nuclear program but let's face it, nothings more fun than having a pen pal in the "axis of evil."

For more:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/asia/la-fg-bushkorea7dec07,1,233773.story?coll=la-asia&ctrack=1&cset=true
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7130528.stm

Racism against Ethnic Indians in Malaysia's

Recently there has been a incident in Malaysia with Indians killing a native Malaysian man. The man was apparently killed at a Hindu temple. Bail has been denied for the thirty suspects in the killing. The judge who decided bail said that the choice of whether or not to allow bail was not because of race.

I did not know that there was racism between ethnic Indians and native Malaysians, but it makes sense after I thought about it. Most native Malaysians are similar in race, and Indians being discriminated is probably because they are foreigners. Over 3, 000 people protested the denying of bail for the suspects, which shows how racism runs deep in this society. With racial so much racial conflict in the Malaysian society, I want to see how this legal case will turn out.

Juvenile crime rising in China

Apparently, the number of juvenile criminals in China has doubled over the past decade. According to a state-run newpaper, China Daily, the rise can be blamed on a decline in social values and the breakdown of the family. The paper states that the crimes being committed range from robbery to rape and that 33,000 young people committed crimes in 1998. The rate of the rise projects 80,000 juvenile offenders for this year. I wonder if anyone has any ideas on this? Is this just going to be another reason for the government to tighten its grip? What happens to juvenile offenders (ages 14 to 18) in China?

South Korean presidential frontrunner not corrupt, apparently

The presidential frontrunner in South Korea, Lee Myung-bak, has been cleared of charges in a "stock manipulation scandal." According to prosecutors, there was simply no evidence. Or, at least, someone simply "misplaced" the evidence but I'm just speculating. Mr Lee is the candidate for the conservative opposition Grand National Party. Should he win, it'd be the first time in 10 years that the Grand National Party held the South Korean presidency. Should he win, Mr Lee promises stronger ties with the US and a tougher line towards North Korea. And likely more subsidies for his old company, Hyundai. Again, I'm just speculating but its probably true.

For more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7128228.stm

Junta in Burma to draft constitution alone

An update from Burma -er- Myanmar. The military junta in power has refused to allow their opposition any part in the drafting of the country's long awaited constitution. By long awaited, I mean since the last one was ditched 14 years ago along with the election results which would have installed a pro-democracy government. The junta's new constitution is supposed to be part of its "seven stage path to democracy." Of course, that "seven stage path to democracy" is to be followed with no help from those dastardly pro-democracy partisans. If that's not a sign of good faith, I don't know what is.

To see more:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7125194.stm
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/12/03/myanmar.constitution.ap/index.html

Japanese Naval Mission in Debate

Japan's upper house is debating whether or not to allow the navy to resume its support for the US-led "war on terror" in Afghanistan. Today, PM Yasuo Fukuda pleaded with the opposition, saying that there has been progress made through the international effort. The Japanese Navy had been deployed to the Indian Ocean to refuel US and allied vessels. However, during the summer elections, the upper house went to the opposition. Subsequently, the Japanese Navy was withdrawn as the mission was seen as unconstitutional by the opposition who insists that Japan should not be part of "American wars."

For more on the debates see:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7126206.stm
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/071204/afp/071204083112asiapacificnews.html

Pro-Democracy candidate wins in HK special election

Anson Chan, a pro-democracy champion and former colonial official, came out of retirement to win a seat in Hong Kong's legislature during a key by-election. In the election, Ms Chan campaigned for full democracy in the territory as the CCP had promised when they took back Hong Kong from Britain in 1997. Of course, Beijing hasn't been very apt in delivering over that last ten years. Chan hopes the government will start moving and "listen to the genuine voice of the Hong Kong people."

For more see "Democracy champion wins HK poll" at BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7123477.stm

Britain accuses China of Digital Espionage

In some news from the BBC, it appears that Britain's intelligence masters at MI5 have been contacting British government agencies as well as CEOs and security experts at British banks and financial institutions to warn them of possible digital espionage from China. MI5 apparently is warning British companies that they are being targeted in attempts to gain technical and commercially sensitive information. They point the figure of shame at China. China claims innocence. Its always great fun to hear China and the UK have spy battles, even the mundane ones.

Rome Approves of New Chinese Bishop

In some news of Chinese church and state, the state-run Catholic Church of China (the Patriotic Church) has appointed a new Bishop but this time with the actual approval of the Vatican in Rome. The fact that the state is the one appointing the Bishop is nothing new as China's been selecting Bishops on its own for over 50 years. And, up until recently, their selection has ignored the wishes of actual Catholic Church in Rome. However, the appointment of the Rome-approved Joseph Gan Junqui as Bishop of Guangzhou and others recently seem to portray a new direction towards friendlier relations with the Vatican.

Seoul growing rapidly...maybe too rapidly

On November 30th, many Samsung executives were questioned because of allegations of business corruption. Prosecutors conducted a raid on Samsung Security, which is the financial branch of Samsung, and questioned over 40 executives for 8 hours. So far the company has denied any wrongdoing. Samsung has traditionally been notorious for business corruption, because over the past few years 7 Samsung officials have been convicted of corruption in their multi-billion dollar business. Samsung is the leading distributor of computer chips, mobile phones and TV sets all over the world. This goes along with Professor Hua's lecture on stealing in Japan and Korea, and how it has been looked at as acceptable when it is for a group or family. Nowadays, stealing is becoming more and more like the west in terms of punishment of the deed.

US Inspection of Nuclear Arms

Today, a US envoy arrived in Pyongyang to conduct an observation of North Korea's nuclear arms dismantlement program. So far the communist leader Kim Jong Il, has kept his word in removing his nuclear arms assembly complexes and has done well to maintain stability with his southern neighbors. North Korea has begun disabling it's plutonium-producing reactor and other nuclear assembly facilities under supervision of US experts. In return, the US will aid the North Koreans with economic and trade support. I'm glad to see how much influence the US is having on North Korea's plans to make Nuclear arms, also I'm happy that Kim Jong Il is being so sneakily cooperative. I'm beginning to believe that Kim Jong Il can be trusted, and I'm not really sure if that's a good or bad thing. By the end of this year all disabling measures, according to Kim Jong Il, should be completed with the exception of about 8,000 fuel rods which are difficult to remove because of technical reasons.

Upcoming election in South Korea in Peril

On December 19th South Korea will hold a presidential election. Just recently there were reports of North Koreans that were transmitting some of the South Korean candidates' speeches, and could possibly be learning of democratic ideals and values. This could pose to be a threat during election time because there is a good chance of many North Korean citizens that will illegally immigrate in order to barter for citizenship in the southern nation. I read this on the NY Times website and it had just been posted today, I don't think that the North Korean leader can really do anything to stop his citizens from listening in on the ever-growing, and increasingly more popular democratic ideals. Hopefully the election will run smoothly and possibly induct a even better president than the president now.

Seoul growing even more rapidly

I've been paging through the Korea textbook and I've come to realize that what the rest of the world sees today in the capital of South Korea, is by far, not what it used to be. It's a fact that South Korea is the country in the world with the most cell phones per capita. It's no wonder because brand names like Samsung and LG are two of the biggest cell phone distributors in the world. Many European football clubs like Chelsea FC and Aston Villa FC, use Korean cell phone companies as sponsors; this just goes to show how much industrialization and widespread success the city of Seoul has undergone. I visited Seoul, Jeju Island, and Daegu two summers ago and got to really experience, first-hand, how massive these once small cities are becoming. There's a market in an alley-looking area in Seoul where there is just so much business that goes on. Food vendors, clothing shops, music stores and electronic stores are all located on this small little stretch of road. So many citizens in Korea make a living by these types of 'outlet' mall style businesses. It's so awesome to see different cultures and how the middle class in a country thousands of miles away survives.

Samsung Corruption Probe

Here is a good example of possible business corruption and societies view on corruption in South Korea. Basically corruption runs rampant and the companies/suppliers are too important to the economy to do anything about it.

page 1: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/03/business/samsung.php

page 2: http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/03/business/samsung.php?page=2

China snubs US navy

China has refused to harbor US navy ships in Hong Kong ports. China claims that they refused to harbor the ships because the US has harmed relations with them. The US has harmed relations with China through the honoring of the Dalai Lama. China sees the Dalai Lama as a threat because he concentrates on the independence of Tibet. Basically, the US is supporting someone that China sees as an enemy.

A US envoy is going to North Korea in order to inspect continuing work on the disarmament program. It is still beleived that North Korea has Uranium, which is a major component in the creation of nuclear weapons. It is hoped that North Korea will be clean of all nuclear weapons, and Japan is practically counting on it.