North Korean Drones in Gangwondo

Three crashed drones have been found in South Korea suggesting that many more have traveled into and back out of South Korean airspace.  One of these Unmanned Ariel Vehicles crashed near Samcheok, which is quite a bit south of where I worked, already 80 or more kilometres south of the border.

Arirang video - autoplay - on the subject,

Dong-a Ilbo, which called the UAVs suicidal,

and the Marmot's Hole on the subject.

Four-rivers project a terrible boondoggle

Well, I'm leaving the country soon and one place I regret not visiting is Taebaek in Gangwondo, the start of two of South Korea's four major rivers.  While in Gangwondo and somewhat afterward, I was a keen observer of the Four Rivers project started by past president Lee Myungbak.  Now the project is mostly finished and considered a mess.  I still want to visit Taebaek, but perhaps the sights will not be as wondrous and natural as they could have.

People became suspicious of the project immediately, not due to evidence of poor planning but due to the connection to a previous proposal.  The first plan was to build a series of locks on the Han and Nakdong Rivers so that goods could travel by ship from Seoul to Busan via Daegu on an inland route.  When there was too much opposition, he proposed similar work for a different purpose.

From the Donga Ilbo, November, 2009:

In his 2007 presidential campaign, President Lee had pledged to build a cross-country canal in Korea, but strong resistance from the opposition and a faction in the ruling Grand National Party prompted him to give up the project to prevent dividing public opinion. He then suggested the restoration of the country’s four major rivers.

To me, this was definitely suspicious, but being ignorant of the details I had to accept that there could be some truth or idealism to President Lee's plan.  This statement of his contains both a reasonable rationale and remarkable naivete:

Some civic groups say that the four-rivers projects will hurt water quality, but it makes little sense to leave already polluted rivers alone without even trying to improve them. As the president remarked, would a head of state carry out a project to deliberately pollute the environment?

And so, at the start of the project, I was suspicious but unable to form a conclusion.  I used the 'foreigner card': "I can't vote here and can't read the relevant technical information; it is not really my country, I guess I'll wait."

One other possible defense of the project was flood control, including maliciously released water from North Korea.  It is not really on point, but here is a link to a post on the subject from 2009.

Before I get to the bad news about the four rivers project, let's look at what Arirang TV had to say.  Follow the link to the video.  Here is the 'About' info:

Published on Apr 29, 2012We take a look at Korea's multi-purpose green growth project, the Four Major Rivers Restoration Project, along with a group of special guests.

Well, Arirang is the national cheerleader station and nothing in the video is wrong.  I'm sure there are beautiful parts of the river and had personally enjoyed the riverside biking trails.  I guess I just feel they left a lot out.

Okay, enough suspense.  What are people saying now that a new report has been released.  Briefly, "Effed-up", "a train wreck" and a "Scathing study".

"Due to faulty designs, 11 out of 16 dams lack sturdiness, water quality is feared to deteriorate... and excessive maintenance costs will be required," the report said.
Silting would require another round of dredging at an estimated cost of 289 billion won, it said.
Driven by tight timetables, work was pushed through without proper inspection and the river bed protection of 15 dams has partially subsided or been washed away.

A common though minor complaint about the work was the algae outbreaks seen after construction.

Global voices reports:

However, mass algae-outbreaks have been reported in several rivers in 2012, which many believe somehow correlate to the construction.

Note the cautious language used.  The best phrase in this regard is "many believe somehow".

The Minister of the Environment rebutted the claim:

The Ministry of Land and Maritime Affairs and the Ministry of Environment convened a joint press conference yesterday. 
They said the reservoirs are strong enough to bear an influx of waters and the algae was not related to the project. 
“The appearance of algae occurred before the construction,” Yoo Young-sook, Minister of Environment, said. “We need to take a long-term perspective in evaluating water because it’s been only a year since the construction was completed. Water quality can be affected by many factors, such as weather conditions.”

While I don't know what the cause of the algal blooms is, they are reported world wide these days so I am willing to accept the minister's defense, for now.

At this point, January 22, it seems President-elect Park Geun-hye is taking a wait-and-see approach. it is probably wiser than leaping in.

As my in-laws farm on a floodplain, I hope the expectations of increased flooding prove exaggerated.

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Background at Gangwon Notes.

Seaways, Canadian and Korean

Time to learn about the four rivers project

How could government...

"Makeshifts" at the Pyeongchang Olympics

I have an idea for an Olympics-themed post but this is not it.  While my big idea percolates a little more, let me discuss 'makeshifts' a little.  From the Herald:

The Ice Hockey I arena for the men’s competition will be constructed at the Gangneung Athletic Complex as planned but in the form of movable makeshift so that the facilities will be relocated to Wonju, Gangwon Province, after the Games for use as a gym for ice hockey and other sports....“In a bid to provide the maximum benefit at the minimum cost, we are trying to build makeshifts as much as possible, for example, media centers. By doing so, we will be able to minimize problems in redeveloping Olympic sites after the Games,” Kim said.

In the context, I understand what a 'makeshift' is, but I have never seen the word as a noun before.


Provisionally, I like the idea.  In Canada, we may still be paying for the Olympic stadiums used in the '76 Montreal Olympics.  Olympic stadia are often underused after the games finish, so making the facilities transportable or temporary might be a good idea.  Indeed, if done well, my fading love for the games (and this is the concept for my 'big think' post on the Olympics) may well brighten again.

Government blacklist of Korean universities includes one in Gangneung

The news was apparently on Monday: now the English news is full of it.

I first learned of the blacklist from Asiaone:

The naming and shaming of 43 poorly managed universities by the Education Ministry on Monday has spawned confusion and concern among universities, with some decrying the label or expressing worries about next year's freshmen recruitment.

But a closer look and deliberate search finds the news everywhere.

Yonhap:

 Officials have said that an equal provision of funds to all schools would be a waste of taxpayer money and could end up as a lifeline for uncompetitive colleges. President Lee Myung-bak has also called for college restructuring as a condition for providing government money to universities.
   In South Korea, 80 percent of higher education institutions are operated by private foundations that rely heavily on tuition for revenue.

And also:

The ministry said it has chosen the universities in consultation with advisory bodies based on the results of a university evaluation that used criteria, such as the employment rate of graduates, the yearly enrollment rate and the number of full-time instructors. 

The Herald has copied the same press release as Yonhap.

The news has reached Malaysia, where Bermana reports:

The education ministry has selected 43 private universities that will have their subsidies partly cut or denied next year as part of a government drive to weed out poorly managed schools.

I find this big news especially as I just finished writing a big article saying that blacklists couldn't happen here.  I don't exactly have egg on my face, but perhaps on my freshly washed jacket.

My old university is on the list, which I cannot find in full anywhere - Asiaone names a handful of the schools in question.  I hope that my friends are okay, or will be okay during the next semester.  Time to dust off those resumes!

Obligatory Flood post

It seems too early yet to have a strong opinion, as a layman, on what the flooding and resulting deaths and property damage means.  Newspaper articles try to connect the weather to global warming and the damages to negligence or malfeasance by the Korean Meteorological Administration:  I don't know.  I do know the destruction was terrible but not how it relates to larger issues.

I am currently in Gangwondo and inconvenienced by the incredible rains, but my life and belongings have not at all been threatened.  In this, I am very lucky, compared to the people in Seoul, Chuncheon and elsewhere in Gangwon and Kyeonggi Provinces.

From the Dong-A:

Safety standards for flooding should be urgently raised. Unexpected heavy rain can fall at any time, so drainage ways, underground water storage systems and levees should be built in areas vulnerable to floods. Existing flood prevention facilities are ineffective against torrential rain because they were designed based on standards of the past. Accuracy of weather forecasts and public awareness of the danger of flooding should also be raised. The landslide in Chuncheon is akin to a manmade disaster. The Korea Meteorological Administration’s weather forecast was incorrect and residents in the affected areas were not evacuated though houses were deluged due to blocked drainage ways an hour before the accident. In Seoul, evacuation orders were repeatedly issued for people near Cheonggye Stream Monday night amid the forecast of regional torrential rain, but most of the people along the stream remained.

I remember the typhoon flood in July, 1998, almost exactly 13 years ago, that drowned many people camping on the banks of a mountain-fed river in Chilisan.  They were camping in places where camping was forbidden.  I haven't heard enough yet to say for sure that the Chuncheon deaths were due to any kind of malfeasance.


From The Hanky:

On the morning of July 27, an automatic weather station in Seoul’s Gwanak District measured 110.5mm of rain per hour (4.4 inches per hour), although this was not included in the Korea Meteorological Administration’s (KMA) official statistics.

Such powerful banks of rain clouds normally pass by in a few hours. This time, however, a cold anticyclone near Russia’s Sakhalin blocked their way. As this configuration of air pressure persists, heavy rain continues to fall.

In South Korea, the pattern of a monsoon season followed by a period of sweltering weather is being broken. Even after the monsoon front dies out, heavy and localized downpours, like the current one, resulting from atmospheric instability continue until September. There is no longer a long-term forecast of when the monsoon will begin and end.

The first paragraph of the Hanky's report reinforces the claim of the Dong-A article that some of the damage and deaths could have been prevented.  Why didn't the KMA report the weather correctly?

Surfers from Gangwon - and elsewhere - try to compete in Busan

The original post is here at my new blog.  Note the final few paragraphs where I discuss the typhoon's effect on Gangwondo and nationally.

Who is protected by Korea's libel laws?

The Joongang has an article about 'bad universities' and how they maintain their enrollment.

A reporter recently visited one of the schools, a four-year university in Jeju. The campus was eerily quiet, despite it being final exam time. “It’s a ghost town,” said a 72-year-old Jeju resident.

When the reporter finally caught up with some students, he couldn’t understand what they were saying because they were from China.

“It’s become so difficult to recruit students domestically, so the faculty and staff went to China and toured around its cities, pitching half-priced tuition for Chinese students,” said a university official.

Around 30 percent of the school’s 490 students are from China. The figure is 50 percent if you include students taking short-term Korean-language courses. Most of the Korean students pay 6.1 million won ($5,629) annually, an expensive sum by Korean standards. The Chinese pay half.

If a university's enrollment falls below a certain number, it loses out on government funding, so shipping in Chinese students to fill seats might work.  On the other hand, the Korean students are paying double!

The problem for me -well, the price is a problem, too - is that we can't be told what university this is. We also can't know the name of the university that here is "forced to cut costs to the bone. “The toilet in one building has no toilet paper, so students have to bring it with them,” said a 23-year-old student at a college in Gangwon. "


The university in Gangwon that I worked at had toilet paper back in 2009, so this article probably isn't about it.  Students, and their parents, should be able to learn these things, though.  It sounds like the Joongang attempted some good investigative journalism here, but the attempt is useless without the names.
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Sorta Related:  GI Korea wonders if Koreans are paying too much tuition.

storing electricity

As readers know, I have moved out of Gangwon Province and so post here much less frequently.  In addition, I was in Canada for a month, having recently returned - to Korea, not Gangwon, which I miss very much.

Consequently, I missed the whole "Corrupt Governor" story and now am commenting on an article that only slightly relates to Gangwon Province.

National Geographic has an article about ways to store electricity for utilities.  We are not talking about AA batteries, but ways to handle demand surges for large regions.  Storing electricity is important if new alternative energy production methods are to become mainstream.  Solar and Wind power can provide great quantities of electricity, but not consistently.

The article discusses using flywheels and compressed air as energy storage but also mentions pumping water uphill during off-peak periods.

Beacon's flywheel facility can dispense power for up to 15 minutes, but if a power plant wants to store energy for a longer period of time, it can do so by pumping water uphill. When the energy is needed later, the water flows back downhill, powering turbines that generate energy.

This so-called "pumped-storage hydroelectricity" is one of the most common forms of electricity storage now being used on the grid. But the DOE is looking into cheaper systems that rely on compressed air instead of water.

One thing I find interesting here is how this is not really that new.  As a scout, thirty-something years ago, at the electricity generating dam in downtown bracebridge, I was told how, during low demand periods, they reduced the amount of water flowing through the turbines and building up the 'head'.  I have to admit that the dam in Bracebridge could not have stored much water this way as stakeholders upstream would complain, but I do like the idea. Instead of having the water flow down to produce energy used to pump water uphill to later flow down again, just leave it up there.

I guess the pumping to a purpose-built reservoir would solve the complaints and environmental problems.  it is also the route Yangyang Gun in Gangwon Province took five or ten years ago.  Also, here (an excerpt although the rest is behind a paywall):

ANGYANG, South Korea, Sept. 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea has completed its biggest pumped-storage hydroelectric power station after 10 years of construction, a state-run electricity company said Monday. The power station in Yangyang, 215 kilometers northeast of Seoul, was constructed at a cost of 932.4 billion won (US$972.7 million) and is capable of generating a maximum of 1,000 megawatts ofelectricity an hour, according to the Korea Midland Power Co., one of the subsidiaries of state-owned Korea Electric Power Corp.A dedication ceremony for the facility, the country's fifth pumped-storage …

Not entirely on-topic, but still interesting is a discussion of how much power we will need in the future.

Or, you could close the door, I guess

The Herald has an article about saving energy by reducing the room temperature for businesses and government offices.

Banks, major retailers and hotels plan to keep their temperatures down at 20 degrees Celsius on recommendations, or some say indirect pressure, from government officials, who themselves have pushed their office temperatures down to 18 degrees Celsius to reduce power consumption.

In a meeting the Ministry of Knowledge Economy had with representatives from the services industry yesterday, a 5 percent decrease in power consumption was made as an industry-wide goal this winter.

Participants also agreed to encourage employees to wear long johns and turn off decorative lights.

"Most banks maintain their office temperatures at 20-22 degrees Celsius, but I expect more companies to join the nationwide campaign and lower it soon," said Shin Dong-gyu, chairman of The Korea Federation of Banks.

I've gotten used to teaching while wearing a winter coat.  somewhere I have a pic of me teaching while wearing a wool hat, scarf and gloves in addition to the coat.  18 degrees isn't anything like that bad and one could easily be comfortable without extreme measures.

I approve of trying to saving energy, but I think they are going about it wrong.  If citizens could be taught to close doors when they enter or leave a building, energy costs could be cut tremendously and rooms would be much warmer.

Another option would be to properly seal doors and windows to keep the heat in.  This option might be dangerous if gas powered heaters rather than electrical heaters are used.  There's a geek in Korea trying this out now.

Previously at Gangwon Notes:  controlling air conditioner use and open door policy(1, 2).

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Sorry about the lack of posts recently.  I just haven't felt like writing much lately.  I'm sure there will be more to come.

More Mulling! About the DMZ!

I recently wrote about plans to mull wine (and what a weird word 'mull' is after a few repetitions) and about the DMZ.

It's interesting that the Chosun has an article "Gov't Mulls Turning DMZ into Eco-Peace Belt".

The ministry laid out potential plans mainly focused on making the DMZ an eco-peace belt that would include biosphere preservation districts, geoparks and an ecology tour program. 

The ministry also plans to turn the 495-km line that runs between Ganghwa in Incheon and Goseong in Gangwon Province into a bicycle path, possibly holding an international mountain biking competition once it is completed. 

Areas surrounding the truce village of Panmunjom are to be turned into a symbol of world peace. Efforts to establish a United Nations peace conference center and a UN peace university are currently underway. 

I like the bicycle paths and the other plans but hate, HATE the idea of making the DMZ a symbol of peace.  That is as wrong as George Bush II's "Mission Accomplished" banner.  Make it a peace zone after there is peace, don't distract the people away from the horrors on the other side (this is what my previous post on the subject was about).

Solving the birthrate crisis.

Birthrate incentives need to focus of returning women to the workforce.

Korea's incredibly low birthrate has been in the news a lot lately and I recently promised a serious post on the subject.  I will try to keep this post 'serious' but I am not sure how deep or authoritative it will be.  It may be serious in tone, but not so much in length.  alright, it is finished and it is a serious length, I would say.

From the Herald:

The government will soon launch a nationwide anti-abortion campaign and aggressively seek more foreigners to come and settle down here as part of efforts to keep the country's population from shrinking, a presidential council said Wednesday.

According to Yonhap News, the move comes as the country again marked one of the lowest birthrates in the world this year.

Let me start with the bad.  I am moderately pro-choice: there are good reasons to have an abortion and there are terrible reasons for having an abortion.  With one exception, I would like to separate this the subject of abortion from birthrate.  That exception is abortion due to the gender of the fetus.  I may return to this point later.

The plans to increase immigration are interesting.  I've been in Korea for a long time, possibly too long, but am not sure how educated I am about the culture (Two humourous links on the subject: asktheexpat, dokdoisours - back to serious-stuff) but this contradicts everything I know about minjok and keeping bloodlines pure.  I like the idea of Korea being more multi-cultural and being more a part of the world than it currently is, but it's clear we aren't thinking about birthrates anymore.

From the Times:

Recognizing the grave nature of this matter, the Presidential Council for Future and Vision proposed Wednesday a package of measures to lift the birthrate and provide support for childcare and education. One of the steps is to offer incentives for families with three or more children which include special interest rates on their mortgages. Third or additional children can also receive bonus scores on college entrance exams and job applications

...

The government has so far announced a series of different measures to promote marriages and childbirth to avert a looming population crisis. But we have to admit that those measures have proven to be unsuccessful at producing tangible results.

The Times also mentions immigration and the seriousness of Korea's low birthrate, but that's not the focus of this post.

The news about mortgages and universities is definitely part of this post.

I can't hold back from saying that it is so weird reading about such a strong government involvement in increasing the birthrate, when in the recent past, having more than one child in China would invite negative government involvement.

Alright, mortgage relief does sound like a good idea and it directly addresses the problem of finding a home big enough for a large family.  Scholarship and financial assistance would also help.  On the other hand, boosting a university entrance exam score and moving a job application higher in it's queue sound terrible.

The Chosun describes two reasons for the low birthrate.  The first is the high cost of raising a child, and the second, related, is the high cost of being a senior citizen:

Advanced countries offer comprehensive welfare benefits. They not only support the cost of raising children, but also guarantee the financial stability of elderly citizens after retirement. But the situation is quite different for the average Korean worker, who faces the constant threat of layoffs, may have already cashed in his pension, and lives in a nation where programs such as annuity insurance to prepare for life after retirement are just budding. Everyone feels pressured to have fewer children so they can save for retirement.

Here is a point that sounds exactly right to me.  I already see myself working until I am grey and bent over, then moving into a grim storage locker for my final days.  I will spend whatever it takes to raise a great child, but fear the cost of a second child.

We've heard enough from the papers; here are my thoughts.

I like the increased immigration plan for a variety of reasons.  It will bring more productive people to Korea and possibly decrease overpopulation elsewhere.  There might be a win-win thing going here and that always feels good.  I hope that immigrants can send some money home and take home some expertise to further assist other countries.  Unfortunately, this would dilute Korean stock and culture - while I don't have much respect for 'pure blood', I don't like the homogenization, the McDonald'sification  of the world.  I guess this is a luxury that we must do without to better care for our seniors.

While I do like the financial aid, I don't think it is fixing the specific limiting reagent involved.  I am a feminist and know that, in my profession, women are at least as capable as I.  Yet, somehow, women must be convinced to give up a year of professional growth, and probably longer.  Indeed, it almost has to be longer; after a year away from work, upon her return, a women might reasonably be less efficient than a man who has not taken time from work.  Presuming this is a traditional family with a wife and husband, it makes better financial sense for the man to keep working and the woman to stay home as long as is best for the child.

I love my son and love most of the time I spend with him but I also enjoy working and my job.  Most women feel the same way, I expect.  If a woman is being asked to have two or three or more children, that is a long time away from the workforce.

All this means women need educational and employment assistance for themselves as much as their children do.

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Near the top of this post I mentioned abortion and new restrictions.  I can see that a lack of abortion services might raise the birthrate, but I foresee not only more children, but more miserable children.  I felt this way in the post leading up to this one - it described plans to lower the minimum age to enter school.  As a childish adult, I want to see happier children; children who are able to enjoy childhood, more than I want to see more children in general.  The Times touches on this point with "some education experts express concerns that the measure may bring about side effects such as children's difficulty in adapting themselves to school life at a younger age. They point out that education should not be tackled only from the point of economic efficiency."

Internet use guide for foreigners

Yonhap reports that:

South Korea launched Monday an interactive guide for foreigners wishing to use South Korea-based Web sites more easily.

The site in question offers assistance for foreigners wanting to use Korean sites that require using your ID.  ID numbers in Korea consist of two six-digit numbers; the first six are your birthdate and the second six, well, are mostly random.  However, the first digit of the second set reflects your nationality.  If it starts with a '5', you are a foreigner.  My son, with dual citizenship until he reaches eighteen,  has a different first digit, and my wife, Korean, has a different digit yet.  Shamefully, I do not know my wife's ID number, so I cannot tell you what the number is for Koreans.


However, I can tell you that it is the one that works on Korean sites, and the foreigner's number does not.


Anyway, the website describes itself as "Internet guide of identical person acknowledgement on alien in Korea".  Everywhere, the website confuses 'Identity' with 'Identical' in a really maddening way.


Amusingly, the Korean version of "John Doe" or "John Q. Public" is "Hong Gil Dong" - a local hero for Gangneung.


The scary thing is how free the website (and presumably, the Korean government) expects us to be with our passport number and similar data.


"In case you input wrong alien registration (or domestic residence statement) or wrong name and number with your passport  Alien shall input name and number same as that on the identification card (Hey, they used the correct ident.... word)  exactly.  And you shall input your name with English capital letters.


To keep my commentary simple, the site needs work.

H1N1 prevention measures: good work Korea

According to the Korea Times (my bolding) "South Korea's health authorities Tuesday reported two more deaths from the H1N1 virus infection, bringing the nation's flu death toll to 20."

I can accept that any death is one too many, but compare the death toll from Korea, population 50 million+, to that of Canada, population 32 million (my bolding):

FluWatch, will be published every Friday at 4 p.m. to provide a detailed analysis of the impact of the H1N1 flu virus in Canada. Bi-weekly and cumulative number of deaths due to Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, by province/territory, Canada, as of 15 October, 2009, 11h00 EDT

...Total 80

Ontario alone has had 25 deaths.

I understand that the flu appears to have started in Mexico (that's still the consensus, right?) and Canada shares a continent and a free trade agreement with Mexico so people and products are more likely to cross into Canada, but this might be support for the measures Korea has taken.

I didn't care for Korea's prevention measures and didn't like having a thermometer stuck in my ear when I got to work, but it may have saved lives.

Hmmm... Sounds good.

A few months ago, I helped, in a marginal way, with producing motivational slogans for an organization in Gangwondo. Based on the way it was described and the examples they gave from other groups, it seemed they felt slogans would be more cost effective than actually fixing things or making improvements. Improve attitudes and you don't need to improve facilities.

The Dong-a notes that,

To encourage childbirth, the Health, Welfare and Family Affairs Ministry has announced six slogans.

Here are two that particularly seemed interesting.

“Childbirth is touching, childcare is rewarding, and families are happy”; “The joy of childbirth, growing happiness, younger Korea”

I am the father of a usually wonderful boy and the highs I feel when things go right are very high. My son can make many things go right. He can make a similar number of things go wrong, however. My understanding is that parents experience highs and positive emotions in greater intensity than the childless can but that we also experience as much or more time at the negative side of the scale. Dealing with temper tantrums, endless negotiations for everyday things - everyday* - and guilt when you feel happy to get away for a time are all part of parenting, too.

I'm satisfied with being a parent and don't want to stop; being a parent is now part of how I define myself. Still, I'm not wearing rose-colored glasses; "families are happy" is an oversimplification, at best.

My favourite slogan, though, is the second one listed. "The joy of childbirth" -ha, ha, ha.

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* Every night, I spend ten or more minutes working to convince the little one to brush his teeth, or, more accurately, to let me brush them. Every night, there are tears - only his, but I sometimes want to shed a few, too.

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Not completely on topic: Kevin recently summarized a review of a book about over-dependance on positive thinking.

"My blog and Facebook account are private"

... or are they?

Government officials in bozeman, Montana are requiring job applicants, on their application, not merely to list their social networking sites, but also their passwords.

“Please list any and all, current personal or business websites, web pages or memberships on any Internet-based chat rooms, social clubs or forums, to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.,” the City form states. There are then three lines where applicants can list the Web sites, their user names and log-in information and their passwords.

I have been somewhat careful to speak well or neutrally about my workplace and seldom mention it by name at all.  This blog is not found by searching for me by name.

I think I would be comfortable with an employer or prospective employer reading this blog, but I would have to think about it before posting it on my resume, for example.

Facebook is another story, and especially with my password.  With my password, you can visit the pages of all my friends so it isn't even my privacy I would be concerned about.  Although I would be concerned about that as well.  Readers of this blog and visitors to my Facebook profile can easily see my thoughts on religion, although no student learns of them except occasionally after a direct question.

Cory Doctorow at Boingboing is up in arms and a Google search seems pretty full of relevant links.

UPDATE: Here is a link to the form - which may soon change, I suspect.

I wish Health and Welfare Minister Jeon Jae-hee the best.

According to the Joongang, two university freshmen died recently in Gangwon:

One freshman, identified only by the surname Kim, 19, was found dead on Feb. 28 after falling from the fourth floor of a resort motel while on an overnight outing for freshmen in Pyeongchang, Gangwon. Police said that Kim fell after he drank until 3 a.m.

Another death took place in the city of Gangneung, Gangwon, where one freshman, surnamed Park, 19, was found dead in front of his dormitory on March 4. An intoxicated Park fell from his eight floor room. He had been drinking with 20 peers during an initiation rite for freshmen.

These deaths took place after the Health and Welfare Minister sent letters to university student councils asking them to promote a healthier drinking environment on campus.

This is a serious issue and I wish the families of the deceased the best in this difficult time.

There was one somewhat accidentally-humorous line:

If we don’t take the issue seriously, I personally believe that students are likely to retain their bad drinking habits even after graduation,” she said.

Yes, some adults might very well have bad drinking habits.

A change in Korean driving patterns coming

A surprisingly good photo from my window, 3AM, two weeks ago.

Firetruck and car blocking access to hydrant at a friend's apartment complex.

The photos don't direct relate to the post below.

There were two articles in the Donga about a court ruling on criminal prosecution of insured drivers. The first, from the 27th is a news report, while the second, from the 28th, is an Opinion piece.

In the past, a driver in Korea with insurance could not be charged for causing an accident, except under 12 specific criteria (among them, drunk driving, speeding and hit-and-run)."[T]he traffic law served the legislative purpose of preventing the number of convictions from soaring and quickly resolving legal disputes" (2). The constitutional court found

the unconditional immunity for a driver violates the constitutional requirement to minimize encroachment on basic rights. The latest ruling was affected by the fact that most drivers are now covered by general liability insurance and that most drivers who cause accidents do not even appear before the victims, leaving all the damage-related tasks to insurers.(2)

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“Though there are multiple options in punishment such as formal, informal and suspended prosecution depending on the cause of injuries and the severity of the mistake, giving immunity to an insured driver is against the Constitution because this is overprotection of basic rights,” the court said.

“Korea has an extraordinarily higher rate of car accidents than other (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries, and such an immunity case is rare to find. (The immunity rule) tends to make drivers negligent in safe driving or leave what happens after the accident to insurance companies.(1)

I would be interested in what the 12 criteria for permitting criminal charges were.

It seems that drivers were able to walk away from accidents and not be held accountable. I think this is wrong. Ironically, my understanding is that if a car hits a pedestrian, the driver starts off being considered guilty and almost always faces charges. I think this is wrong, too. A drunk stepped onto the highway near Gangneung and my friend missed him. My friend would have been charged had she hit him.

Drivers are either too free of criminal charges or too threatened by them.

I have to admit that my experience with and complaints about Korean automotive culture relate more to low speed driving on back streets and where drivers think they can reasonably park. Still, this decision by the constitutional court seems a step in the right direction for making Korean roads safer.

ADDED Later: Welcome visitors from ROK Drop. There is a new article on the subject in the Korea Times, which I discuss here (honestly, the KT covers it well enough).

Uljin has an airport?

This story is a few months old but it is one I have been following on this blog.

The ill-conceived plan to build the airport was first hatched in the early 1990s. A series of local experts raised their voices in concern, saying there was simply not enough demand for airline services in the area. The Korea Transport Institute even presented a research paper that warned that the airport, once established, would see as few as 50 users per day...

Embarrassed government officials tried to come through with several backup plans, including turning the airport into an aircraft repair center or selling it to the air force. But there was not enough demand for repair services in the area, and the possible sale to the military faced intense opposition from local provincial governments.

“Everyone knew the airport was doomed,” said Lee Yeong-heok, a professor at Korea Aerospace University. “It was a highly anticipated failure choreographed by lawmakers who only cared about their own constituents and a government that did not do enough preliminary research.”

Uljin is in the middle of nowhere. I can't think of any city or population centre within an hour or two of Uljin. I guess nuclear engineers could fly in and out; Korea has a few reactors in the area.

I had to chuckle (in a grim way) at, " the possible sale to the military faced intense opposition from local provincial governments." I would like them to sell the airport to the military and move Gangneung's fighter wing there - I think they buzz our university specifically when I am teaching.

Another local airport in Gangwon Province faces the same fate. Yangyang Airport, built in 1997, is posting ever-bigger deficits as the number of travelers continues to shrink. Back when it started construction on the airport in January 1997, the ministry said it would replace those at Sokcho and Gangneung, two Gangwon Province airports that suffer from chronic delays due to the area’s foggy weather and weak infrastructure. They also insisted that the new airport, which officially opened in 2002, would greatly help in attracting tourists from China and Japan.

But now, all regular flights to and from the airport have been canceled due to the meager number of travelers. Aviation authorities have no clue what to do with the facility, which posted a deficit of 4.9 billion won ($3.8 million) in its first year of operation, a number that has now topped 10 billion won.

“Yangyang Airport was completely inappropriate in terms of its size and investment return,” said one official at the Civil Aviation Safety Authority who declined to be named.

Yangyang airport appears to be in a slightly better position than Uljin - Sokcho and Gangneung both are less than an hour away as are many tourist sites along the coast. As I recall, the airport was built to attract Chinese tourists and it opened right when SARS appeared; not many people were excited about Chinese tourists.

Yangyang Airpot previously on this blog: 2005, 2007

Slogan wrap up

I was asked by a Sinae Jeong, from the Gangwon Provincial Government to help with creating or choosing an English slogan for the province. She wrote, "You can help me by doing the following:

Let me know what you think of the candidates, and when you do this, please, don't be polite."

Thank you to Gord Sellar and to the commenters at the Marmot's Hole. In response to my request for comments on various slogans emphasizing Gangwon's natural assets, I received a few good suggestions, many sarcastic and negative comments and a few laugh out loud ideas.

Two of the suggested slogans, from the international affairs office of Gangwon Provincial government, used 'green' as part of the phrase. Many of the slogans suggested by bloggers and commenters also used 'Green'. The funniest one went, “Gangwon Green is PEOPLE! It’s PEOPLE!” (by Seth Gecko). The best ones used "evergreen" in the slogan (Evergreen Gangwon, by Jewook).

A few commented noted that most foreigners pronounce the 'gang' in Gangwon as "gaeng" - the same sound in "Gangs of New York" or "Gangster". Add 'Green' to that and you are discussing a horrible disease brought on by unclean conditions.

The negative posters were not (completely) unreasonable. Immigration (admittedly, part of the national government rather than provincial) has made few friends among E-2 visa holders for their poorly-thought-out requirements for criminal records checks (among other things, they have asked for documents that foreign governments don't even produce). Also, English is used the way Latin might be used in English countries, a cheap way to add style without adding substance.

I expect to hear, at some point, what was chosen and hopefully some further follow up.

Fast action needed

I received a comment on a previous post from a Miz Jeong, an International Relations Officer for Gangwon Province. She wants foreigner input for English slogans for Gangwon Province.

Unfortunately, I was at camp and didn't check my email and comments as often as I normally do and her deadline is tomorrow. If anyone can help, please leave comments here. Below is her message:

_____________________

I'm International Relations Officer at Gangwon Provincial Office and was asked to get inputs from foreigners living in Gangwon on the English slogan candidates the office came up with. I will really appreciate if you could help.

These are the candidates:

1. Green Future Gangwon
2. Gangwon UP! (yes, both capitalized)
3. Green up Gangwon (this time just small u)
4. O2 Gangwon

You can probably tell what Gangwon wants its slogan to express: it wants a slogan that reflects Korea's "Low Carbon,Green Growth" initiative and enhances Gangwon's brand-image as the greenest province (fyi, it has the most natural resources in Korea and is well known for its beautiful mountains, sceneries, winter sport resorts and green tourism).

A slogan needs to deliver Gangwon as a green province since Gangwon is heavily investing
in new and renewable energy such as wind power, etc. It already has the nation's biggest wind power plant in Dae-gual-lyung (대관령), which produces and supplies a considerate amount of electricity throughout Korea.

You can help me by doing the following:

1. Let me know what you think of the candidates, and when you do this, please, don't be polite.
The whole point of this is that Gangwon needs honest feedback.
(you can even suggest one if you would like to)

2. Please provide me with info of:
a. name
b. where you work
c. position

Please note that I need such info in order to add credibility to the opinions I will submit to Gangwon Provincial Office. In other words, I need proofs showing that I did not make them up.

3. If it's not too much to ask, can you please ask your friends to do the same?
The more inputs I can get, the better it is for Gangwon.

Phew, I don't think I ever wrote an email this long. Again, I really appreciate your help and
I will be collecting inputs/suggestions until this coming Sunday.

Thanks a bunch!

Sinae Jeong

___________________________

I am never sure about privacy issues, especially for government officials. It is a gmail account and she did ask for input, so you have two choices; leave comments here or email her at: drcine (at) gmail (dot) com I guess you could put "gangwon slogans" in the subject line.

I will send her my response (it is also in the comments in the post below) and any responses in the comments tomorrow (Sunday) evening.