The Actual Vote Counting Hasn’t Started Yet in 2012 South Korean Presidential Election As Only the Electronic Counting Was Done

The Actual Vote Counting Hasn’t Started Yet in 2012 South Korean Presidential Election As Only the Electronic Counting Was Done

http://2012skpreselection.blogspot.kr/2012/12/the-actual-vote-counting-hasnt-started.html

The Actual Vote Counting Hasn’t Started Yet in 2012 South Korean Presidential Election As Only the Electronic Counting Was Done

http://2012skpreselection.blogspot.kr/2012/12/the-actual-vote-counting-hasnt-started.html

Photo of NY subway death sparks furor Police questioned a suspect Tuesday in the death of a New Yorker who was pushed onto the tracks and photographed just before a train hit him ― an image that drew virulent criticism after it appeared on the front page of the New York Post. Investigators recovered security video showing a man fitting the description of the assailant working with street vendors near Rockefeller Center, New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said. Witnesses told investigators they saw the suspect talking to himself Monday afternoon before he approached Ki-Suck Han at the Times Square station, got into an altercation with him and pushed him into the train's path. Police took the man into custody Tuesday, but he hasn't yet been charged. Han, 58, of Queens, died shortly after being struck. Police said he tried to climb a few feet to safety but got trapped between the train and the platform's edge. The Post published a photo on its front page Tuesday of Han with his head turned toward the train, his arms reaching up but unable to climb off the tracks in time. It was shot by freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi, who was waiting to catch a train as the situation unfolded. Abbasi said in an audio clip on the Post's website that he used the flash on his camera to try to warn the train driver that someone was on the tracks. He said he wasn't strong enough to lift Han. "I wanted to help the man, but I couldn't figure out how to help," Abbasi said. "It all happened so fast." Emotional questions arose Tuesday over the published photograph of the helpless man standing before the oncoming train accompanied by the headline that read in part: "This man is about to die." The moral issue among professional photojournalists in such situations is "to document or to assist," said Kenny Irby, an expert in the ethics of visual journalism at the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based nonprofit journalism school. Other media outlets chimed in on the controversy, many questioning why the photograph had been taken and published. "I'm sorry. Somebody's on the tracks. That's not going to help," said Al Roker on NBC's "Today" show as the photo was displayed. CNN's Soledad O'Brien tweeted: "I think it's terribly disturbing ― imagine if that were your father or brother." Larry King reached out to followers on Twitter to ask: "Did the (at)nypost go too far?" The Post declined to share the photo when contacted by The Associated Press. Subway pushes are feared but fairly unusual. Among the more high-profile cases was the January 1999 death of Kendra Webdale, who was shoved to her death by a former mental patient. After that, the Legislature passed Kendra's Law, which lets mental health authorities supervise patients who live outside institutions to make sure they are taking their medications and aren't a threat to safety. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Tuesday that he believed that "in this case, it appeared to be a psychiatric problem." The mayor said Han, "if I understand it, tried to break up a fight or something and paid for it with his life." (AP)

Lukewarm! Ahn Cheol-soo, former independent presidential candidate, reacts while giving a speech during the disbandment ceremony for his election campaign headquarters in Gongpyeong-dong, Seoul, Monday.                                                                              / Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-keun Moon's standing likely to be weakened ahead of Dec. 19 poll   By Kim Tong-hyung Independent candidate-turned-king maker Ahn Cheol-soo broke out of his mini-hiatus Monday and supported opposition challenger Moon Jae-in over conservative ruling party candidate Park Geun-hye. However, Ahn’s dry comments felt like a telegraphed endorsement and as he appeared to be more focused on weathering the presidential elections unscathed and navigating his own path. Perhaps, his own political party will debut around the by-elections next year. Ahn, a computer software guru and influential public speaker, withdrew from the presidential race last month after the talks to merge candidacies with Moon, contending from the Democratic United Party (DUP), ultimately fell through. “When I announced my intention to withdraw from the race on Nov. 23, I asked you to support the single opposition candidate Moon Jae-in,” the millionaire businessman told a roomful of supporters.  This was the only time Ahn mentioned Moon during his seven-minute speech.  Ahn was significantly more passionate in criticizing the overly negative campaigning of Moon and Park, candidate of the ruling Saenuri Party, and provided more than a few hints that his career in politics has actually just begun. “While I am no longer a presidential candidate, I am here to express concern on behalf of a worried nation. This is shaping up to be a presidential election of backwardness. (Candidates) are stuck fighting about the past and are reverting to personal attacks and smear campaigning,” he said. Obviously, his attack targeted both Park and Moon.  “I, Ahn Cheol-soo, will continue to work (to be a better politician) and will continue to be with you in the road toward new politics you have paved for me. Nothing, no matter how difficult, will be able to compromise my will to be with you.”  With that, Ahn left without fielding any questions from reporters.  Hwang Tae-soon, a political analyst, said in a cable news program, “It is an expression of support at the level of principle,” pointing out the lack of enthusiasm may be related to Ahn’s ambition to boost his image as an alternative to the established politics. Lee Chul-hee, also on the same program, said that Ahn would be mistaken, if he thinks his political life would thrive on Moon’s election loss. “He won’t be free from the blame of an election loss,” he said.  Moon has been desperate for Ahn’s pitch as he probably doesn’t have a real shot at toppling Park on polling day without absorbing many of the supporters of his former independent rival. Ahn’s track record as a successful businessman has made him popular with conservative voters as well as liberals. It remains to be seen whether Ahn’s seemingly half-hearted support of Moon will be enough to reshape the outcome of the Dec. 19 vote. It was Park who had been favored in a three-way race and she continues to lead Moon by a narrow margin in recent opinion polls.  Park and Moon slimmed down their campaigning schedules in preparation of the first of the three presidential debates expected to air on national television from 8 p.m. Tuesday.  Woo Sang-ho, Moon’s spokesman, read a statement expressing gratitude to Ahn for extending his support to Moon. However, his colleagues watching the news conference live on television were reacting to Ahn’s words with sighs and sarcastic laughter moments earlier.  “We are determined to repay Ahn’s support by being successfully in our efforts to change the government,” Woo said at Moon’s campaign headquarters in Yeongdeungpo, Seoul.  The Saenuri Party offered a colorless reaction to Ahn’s public appearance.  “Former candidate Ahn Cheol-soo’s call for bridging the divided nation and bracing for further economic difficulties has been an agenda item that was consistently highlighted by the Saenuri Party and its candidate Park Geun-hye,” the party said in a statement.  During their talks to merge candidacies, Moon and Ahn frequently saw face-to-face but never eye-to-eye as they consistently quarreled about the method to select the single candidate between them.  The ill-tempered negotiations had liberal voters concerned about the chemistry between the two and all but assured that the union, or whatever it could be called, would be less than the sum of its parts.  Opinion surveys show that Moon is struggling to absorb even half of Ahn’s disillusioned supporters. Around 25 percent of Ahn’s supporters prefer Park over Moon, while the remainder remains undecided.

No.2. Mr. Moon Jae In, Presidential Candidate in Korea ( People First ! )

Painting on Park causes stir

Left-wing painter Hong Sung-dam caused controversy with his oil painting that features the Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate Park Geun-hye having just given birth to a child who is the image of her father, the late President Park Chung-hee. / Yonhap

By Jun Ji-hye

A left-wing painter caused a stir with his piece of art featuring Park Geun-hye having given birth to a child wearing sunglasses who is just like her father, the late president Park Chung-hee.

The oil painting by Hong Sung-dam was showcased at the Peace Museum in Seoul on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Yushin Constitution, an amendment in 1972 that paved the way for President Park to remain in power.

With the title of “Golden Time doctor Choi In-hyuk Salutes a New-born Mr. President,” the artist made fun of the broadcaster MBC, as well as Rep. Park with the painting.

“Golden Time” was a popular medical drama having aired 23 episodes through MBC from July to September this year.

In the drama, Choi was the lead actor who was described as an ethical and professional medical doctor.

In the painting, Park, the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate, is wearing a patient gown, sitting in the operating table, smiling while looking at her new-born child who wears sunglasses like her father.

Also, there is a notebook on the floor in ridicule of Park’s nickname, “the Notebook Princess,” dubbed by her political opponents degrading her practice of relying on memos when talking about sensitive issues.

Through the satirical painting, Hong alleged that broadcaster MBC tried to curry favor with the ruling Saenuri Party’s presidential candidate.

Hong became embroiled in controversy immediately after media reports detailed his work.

“Even doctors like Choi pays his respect to a new-born baby because he looks like Mr. President Park, the man who had long been in power in the past. I tried to depict the trauma of our age by using Yushin as a motif,” Hong said in explaining his painting.

Some stood by him, saying the artist has the right to express his ideas freely because he lives in a democratic country. But some criticized him, arguing he went too far.

The painting ignited controversy regarding to what extent the freedom of expression can be protected.

The ruling Saenuri Party condemned Hong for the controversial painting.

“Art has to be art itself. If it is used for political motivation, it is not art anymore,” said Kwon Young-se, an aide to Park, on Monday.

“Although many people say Hong’s painting is degrading women’s childbirth, he is just talking about the freedom of expression. The Saenuri Party will take strong legal action on behalf of Park and all women,” he said.

Regarding Saenuri’s response, the painter, who was imprisoned and tortured in 1988 for sending his work of art to Pyongyang, claimed “Even if they sue me, I will fight to the end for the freedom of expression and ask if it is a right thing to take away somebody’s freedom for the election.”

S. Korean Choi Na-yeon wins final LPGA event of year

South Korean Choi Na-yeon overcame an early double bogey and held off compatriot Ryu So-yeon to win the final LPGA Tour event of the season in Florida on Sunday.

Choi captured the CME Group Titleholders at the TwinEagles Golf Club in Naples, Florida. She shot a final round of two-under 70 on the 7,634-yard layout for a four-round total of 14-under 274. The 25-year-old took home US$500,000 for her second win this year.

Ryu, the 2012 LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year, also shot a 70 in the final round but ended two shots back of Choi in sole possession of second.

Choi clung to a one-stroke lead over Ai Miyazato of Japan to start the final round. As Miyazato stumbled with four bogeys on her first 10 holes en route to a 74, it became a two-horse race between the South Koreans playing in the same group.

Choi herself had a shaky start with a double bogey on the par-4 third, but erased that with an eagle on the par-5 fifth. She traded a birdie and a bogey on seventh and eighth to go out at 12-under.

Choi reached 13-under with a birdie on the par-3 12th, and Ryu pulled even with a birdie of her own on the par-5 13th.

Ryu dropped a shot on the very next hole, the par-5 14th, and Choi took a two-shot lead with a birdie on the 16th, a short par-4 playing at 275 yards in the final round.

Both players closed out with two straight pars as Choi claimed her seventh career LPGA win. 

It capped off another strong year for Choi. She won her first career major at the U.S. Women's Open in July and set a single-season career high with $1.98 million in earnings.

"I enjoyed playing on this course, and I had fun playing with Ryu So-yeon and Ai Miyazato in the final group," Choi said. "I won my first major this season, and I closed it with a victory. I am looking forward to enjoying some downtime during the offseason."

Choi and Ryu were the only Koreans in the top 10.

Fellow Korean Park In-bee finished in a three-way tie for 11th at six-under, but that was good enough to secure the LPGA Tour's money title and the Vare Trophy for the tour's lowest scoring average.

Park is the third South Korean to win the LPGA money title and fourth to win the Vare Trophy. (Yonhap News)

Envoy urges China to play ‘active role’ in Syria crisis

BEIJING (AFP) ― U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said Wednesday he hoped China would play an active role in helping end the violence in Syria as he met Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi for talks in Beijing.

Greeting Yang at the foreign ministry in front of reporters, Brahimi said he hoped “China can play an active role in solving the events in Syria” without elaborating further.

China is generally suspicious of intervention in the internal affairs of other nations, with state media last month accusing Western powers of hampering efforts to end the conflict.

Both China and Russia have exercised their veto in the U.N. Security Council to block resolutions aimed at putting more pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Meeting Brahimi on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York last month, Yang reaffirmed this stance, saying that “political dialogue is the only correct way to tackle this issue.”

Any political transition must be led by the people of Syria and not imposed by outside forces, he said.

Brahimi, who succeeded former United Nations chief Kofi Annan after he quit over what he called a lack of international support, is due to present new proposals for resolving the conflict to the U.N. Security Council next month.

His two-day visit to China, which ends Wednesday, came after he met Russia’s foreign minister in Moscow and described the conflict, now in its 19th month after a failed four-day truce last week, as going from bad to worse.

Romney, Obama clash on Middle East in last debate

Republican Mitt Romney warned Monday that Islamic extremism was not on the run, faulting President Barack Obama's leadership on the Middle East in their final White House debate.

Two weeks before Obama asks voters for a second term in the November 6 election, the rivals clashed on foreign policy in a final showdown with the capacity to reshape their neck-and-neck race.

"We certainly can't kill our way out of the mess," Romney said, bemoaning Obama's leadership in the Middle East amid the "disturbing" evolution of the Arab Spring, and warning Islamic extremism was rampant in the region.

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, left is greeted by President Barack Obama before the start of the third presidential debate at Lynn University, Monday, Oct. 22, 2012, in Boca Raton, Fla. (AP-Yonhap News)

The Republican called for a strategy to deflect Muslim nations from Islamic radicalism, which he warned "is certainly not on the run.

"It is certainly not in hiding," he added, in a clear swipe at the president's claim to have decimated al-Qaida.

Obama came out strong and hard against Romney, warning that his national security policy was "all over the map," accusing his foe of shifting positions and saying he had learned as commander-in-chief that clarity was paramount.

The president also seized on Romney's past comment that Russia was Washington's top geopolitical foe.

"The 1980s are now calling to ask for their foreign policy back because the Cold War's been over for 20 years," a mocking Obama said.

"Governor, when it comes to our foreign policy, you seem to want to import the foreign policies of the 1980s, just like the social policies of the 1950s, and the economic policies of the 1920s."

Republican Romney was seeking to erode the Democratic president's advantage on national security and to emerge as a plausible commander-in-chief as they also were expected to spar on Iran and China.

The rivals are neck-and-neck in national polls after Romney surged following his first debate win in early October and started chipping away at Obama's foundation in the swing states that will decide the election.

Foreign policy is unlikely to decide who wins on November 6, with the sluggish economy driving the election, but Romney is under pressure to show basic competence following a string of blunders.

It is unclear whether Romney's differences with Obama are more a matter of tone or substance, and whether the Republican, if elected, would follow up on tough campaign talk on China's economic "cheating" and Russia for example.

Obama's camp is making the case that Romney, who has little overseas experience, cannot be trusted to steer the United States through a treacherous world of belligerent emerging powers and national security threats.

"On foreign policy, Mitt Romney has nothing to offer except bluster, chest-thumping, and a commitment to endless war," Senator John Kerry, a possible secretary of state in Obama's second term said, ahead of the presidential clash.

"As tonight's debate will demonstrate, blunder and bluster are no substitute for strong leadership," said Kerry, who has been acting as Romney for Obama's debate preparations.

New polls released Monday had the race a cliffhanger with two weeks to go.

CBS News and ABC News had Obama up by two and one points in the national race, but a Politico/GWU/Battleground poll showed Romney leading by two points.

While national polls offer a snapshot of momentum in the race, the nine or so states that could swing to either side will define the outcome.

Obama retains several pathways to the 270 electoral votes needed to win on November 6, but Romney has chiseled away at his advantage with signs that Florida and North Carolina are slipping towards the Republican.

The president, currently polling around 70 percent among Hispanic voters, seems to be doing well in early voting in Nevada, with the result possibly hanging on a combination of close races in Ohio, Iowa, Wisconsin and Virginia.

Romney won the first debate after a lethargic performance from Obama, but the president's feisty showing on Long Island, New York last week made the third debate as a tie-breaker of sorts.

The Republican was likely make a new attempt to trip Obama over his administration's shifting stories on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on September 11 that killed four Americans.

The Republican has squandered several chances to jump Obama on the issue, after a hasty statement early in the crisis and a stumble in the last debate over the president's characterization of events in Benghazi.

Republicans claim Obama was reluctant to admit the attack was an act of terrorism, fearing an Al-Qaeda comeback would knock him off his pedestal as the commander-in-chief who had put the militants on the run.

Top Obama aides at first said the attack was a spontaneous act that arose out of anger at an anti-Muslim video.

Later assessments blamed heavily armed militants, but officials say the incident still seems more opportunistic than pre-planned.

The Republican will seek to pressure Obama over Iran's nuclear program, arguing that presidential weakness has emboldened Tehran.

Complicating one of the main topics on the eve of the debate, The New York Times said US officials believed Iran was ready for one-on-one talks with Washington, though the White House denied the report. (AFP)

US lawmaker reintroduces Korean Immigration Commemorative Coin Act

WASHINGTON (Yonhap) -- A U.S. lawmaker has renewed a push to issue coins to mark the 100th anniversary of the start of Korean immigration here, Congress said Tuesday.

Rep. Rob Andrews, a Democrat from New Jersey, re-submitted a bill last week requiring the Treasury Department to mint coins in commemoration of the occasion.

Since the first voyage in 1903, approximately 1 million Koreans have immigrated to the United States, the first group arriving in Honolulu, Hawaii. Many worked at sugarcane or pineapple plants.

The size of the Korean community has grown to around 2 million, with a growing number of Korean Americans playing a major role in American society.

"This commemorative coin will serve as a symbol of our appreciation for the significant contributions made by Korean Americans to our great nation," he said.

Andrews first submitted a bill on such coins in 2003 and re-introduced it in 2005. Congressional sessions in both years ended without the passage of the bill.

If his bill is passed this time as is, the Treasury Department will issue up to 20,000 "gold coins," each worth $5, and the maximum of 10,000 "silver coins," each worth $1.

Auto-interpretation app to invigorate tourism industry

Minister of Knowledge Economy Hong Suk-woo, center, poses with Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) President Kim Heung-nam, left, and Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) President Lee Charm after signing a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the promotion of an auto-interpretation application at the Tourism Information Center in Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap

By Yun Suh-young

Foreign travelers to Korea will be able to communicate easily with Koreans from now on even if they don’t speak the language, due to help from a new application.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) said Wednesday that an automatic interpretation application for smart phones, GenieTalk, which operates in English and Korean, is now available at app stores.

The interpretation technology was developed as part of a fundamental technology development project of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

The application has been on a trial service until now in limited regions but has now expanded its service to the entire country.

The application which was developed late last Month has been servicing Jeju Island since January and was also on trial service at the Yeosu Expo from May to August.

The name GenieTalk comes from the word “genie”, associated with the mythical magic lamp, combined with “talk.” It means that the application is a smart machine that makes people’s wish to communicate come true, acting much like the “genie” from the magic lamp.

The application offers 270,000 Korean words and 65,000 English words. It is claimed that the application’s interpretation accuracy rate is 80 percent, much higher than that of Google Translate’s 65 percent.

The application is available for both Android and iOS users and can be downloaded at the Android market or on Apple’s app store after searching “GenieTalk.”

The ETRI plans to develop services in eight other languages, including Chinese, Japanese and Spanish. It plans to make them available by 2018 when the PyeongChang Winter Olympics will be held.

The ETRI and the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) signed a memorandum of understanding Wednesday to cooperate in promoting the application and invigorate the tourism industry.

“The application is a success example of IT technology infused into tourism. We hope the application will improve the quality of tour in Korea through its high-quality interpretation service,” said Lee Charm, CEO of KTO.

The tourism organization plans to actively promote the application to attract more foreign tourists into Korea.

Minister of Knowledge Economy Hong Suk-woo and ETRI President Kim Heung-nam were present at the signing ceremony. 

Special counsel raids home of Lee's eldest brother

A special counsel raided the home and office of President Lee Myung-bak's eldest brother on Wednesday on suspicions he played a role in alleged irregularities in a now-scrapped project to build Lee's retirement home, officials said. The raid came as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations that Lee's son, Si-hyung, and the presidential security service violated real estate laws and used taxpayers' money to buy a plot of land for the retirement home, which was to be built in Naegok-dong on the southern edge of Seoul. Lee's eldest brother, Sang-eun, reportedly loaned some 600 million won ($542,000) to his nephew for the purchase. "(The raid) was aimed at securing the material we need to verify basic facts such as money flows and details of contracts," special prosecutor Lee Kwang-bum told a press briefing. Lee heads the counsel of 63 members, including two assistant counsels, police officers and special investigators. The special investigation team raided the elder Lee's home in eastern Seoul and his office at the headquarters of automotive seat maker DAS, where he serves as chairman, in the southeastern city of Gyeongju, officials said. The team also raided several other sites related to Lee Si-hyung and two real estate agencies that were involved in the land purchase last year. Opposition parties and civic groups have claimed the security service and the son did not evenly share the cost of the plot, which included land on which to build auxiliary facilities for security personnel. The security service paid a high price for the site for security facilities, effectively allowing the son to profit from buying the site at a below-market price, they claimed. The presidential office has flatly rejected suspicions it was an illicit scheme to help Lee's son profit. Lee later scrapped the project and decided to move into his existing private house in Nonhyun-dong in southern Seoul after leaving office next February. As part of the investigation, the Justice Ministry on Tuesday banned about 10 people from leaving the country, including the 34-year-old son and his 79-year-old uncle. The chairman, however, left for China a day earlier on what DAS officials said was a business trip. He is scheduled to return next Wednesday, they said. Special prosecutor Lee said his team has issued a summons for three people, including a member of the presidential security service, to appear for questioning on Thursday. Counsel officials said they are also trying to reach the land's 56-year-old former owner, identified only by his last name Yu, who is known to be in the United States after having left the country on May 12. The special investigation comes after prosecutors wrapped up an inquiry into the scandal in June this year without filing charges against anyone involved, including the younger Lee, saying all suspicions in the case had been resolved. The prosecutors said there was no evidence of malpractice in dividing the cost of the plot between the president's son and the presidential office. They also said there is no evidence that the president tried to buy land illegally in the name of his son. That decision sparked a wave of public criticism and led the ruling and opposition parties to agree to a reinvestigation.(Yonhap)

Psy mends rift; U.S. No. 1 proves elusive

Entertainers Kim Jang-hoon (left) and Psy publicly rekindle their friendship at the “Night of the Stars 2012” concert on Wednesday after a recent plagiarism dispute between the two. (Yonhap News)

It has been quite a week for the Korean rapping icon Psy. He and fellow entertainer Kim Jang-hoon appear to have solved their differences and Korea’s Ministry of Gender Equality and Family lifted the 19-and-older age restriction on one of Psy’s songs from 2010. However, not all of the news is good as it was also announced that U.S. band Maroon 5 has once again stopped Psy in his tracks in his quest for a U.S. No. 1.

For the third consecutive week Maroon 5 has kept Psy from topping the U.S. Billboard charts, and with “Gangnam Style” beginning to lose ground, it is beginning to look as though Psy will have to keep his shirt on.

Last week Maroon 5 bested Psy by less than 500 overall chart points. This week, however, the gap widened to a 700-point separation between Maroon 5’s “One More Night” and “Gangnam Style.” Although “One More Night” increased by less than one percent in overall points, “Gangnam Style” saw a decline of one percent. On the digital songs chart, “Gangnam Style” also fell 13 percent, slipping from the number two spot to number four.

Friendship reaffirmed
Meanwhile, as Psy was performing at the “Night of the Stars 2012” concert in Seoul, fellow entertainer Kim Jang-hoon made a surprise visit and publicly apologized on the stage for the recent conflict between the two performers.

Kim apologized to Psy for all the misunderstandings saying, “I felt bad that I was getting in the way of my loving brother’s prosperous path.” Psy also apologized for all the worry that he had caused. The two then took a “love shot” of soju and embraced one another in a demonstration of friendship.

The bad blood between the two singers started with accusations of Psy plagiarizing Kim’s stage production technique and performances. Kim had previously posted distressing messages on his me2day page that were later seen as being directed toward Psy, causing tension between the two.

MOGEF ban lifted
After recently updating its music censorship policies, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family announced that it lifted the restrictions on Psy’s 2010 hit song “Right Now.”

The song was originally deemed unfit for minors because of the lyrics which include the line “Life is a strong alcohol.” Under previous MOGEF regulations, all songs featuring words concerning drinking and smoking could not be sold to those under the age of 19 and could not be aired until after a certain hour.

The ministry lifted the restrictions on around 300 songs, including 2pm’s “Hands Up” and Jang Hye-jin’s “Drinking.”

By Julie Jackson (juliejackson@heraldcorp.com)

US deficit tops $1 trillion for fourth year

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. budget deficit has topped $1 trillion for a fourth straight year, but a modest improvement in economic growth helped narrow the gap by $207 billion compared with last year.

The Treasury Department said Friday the deficit for the 2012 budget year totaled $1.1 trillion. Tax revenue rose 6.4 percent from last year to more than $2.4 trillion, helping contain the deficit.

The government's revenue rose as more people got jobs and received income. Corporations also contributed more tax revenue than in 2011.

Government spending fell 1.7 percent to $3.5 trillion. The decline reflected, in part, less defense spending as U.S. military involvement in Iraq was winding down.

Barack Obama's presidency has now coincided with four straight $1 trillion-plus annual budget deficits _ the first in history and an issue in an election campaign that ends in Nov. 6.

Obama's Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, contends that Obama failed to achieve a pledge to halve the deficit he inherited by the end of his first term.

When Obama took office in January 2009, the Congressional Budget Office forecast that the deficit for that year would total $1.2 trillion. It ended up at a record $1.41 trillion.

The increase was due, in part, to higher government spending to fight the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s Tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed to the deficits.

The budget gaps in 2010 and 2011 were slightly lower than the 2009 deficit as a gradually strengthening economy generated more tax revenue. But the deficits still exceeded $1 trillion.

Obama is campaigning for a second term with a pledge to cut deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade. He says he would do so by ending the Bush-era income tax cuts for higher-income Americans and by restraining the growth of spending.

Romney has said he would cut spending growth to help narrow the budget gap. He would cap spending at 20 percent of the economy by 2016. Spending in 2012 accounted for about 23 percent of the economy.

The government borrowed about 31 cents of every dollar it spent in 2012. The string of $1 trillion-plus deficits has driven the national debt above $16 trillion. The magnitude of that figure has intensified debate in Congress over spending and taxes but little movement toward compromise.

Many fear the budget deadlock will send the economy over a ``fiscal cliff'' next year, when tax increases and deep spending cuts will take effect unless a budget deal is reached.

Obama wants to eliminate the income tax cuts for families that make more than $250,000.

Republicans in Congress and Romney have resisted. They argue that with the economy still weak, the government should not be raising anyone's taxes.

Congress may address the budget crisis during a lame-duck session of Congress after the November elections.
(AP)



US deficit tops $1 trillion for fourth year
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. budget deficit has topped $1 trillion for a fourth straight year, but a modest improvement in economic growth helped narrow the gap by $207 billion compared with last year.

The Treasury Department said Friday the deficit for the 2012 budget year totaled $1.1 trillion. Tax revenue rose 6.4 percent from last year to more than $2.4 trillion, helping contain the deficit.

The government's revenue rose as more people got jobs and received income. Corporations also contributed more tax revenue than in 2011.

Government spending fell 1.7 percent to $3.5 trillion. The decline reflected, in part, less defense spending as U.S. military involvement in Iraq was winding down.

Barack Obama's presidency has now coincided with four straight $1 trillion-plus annual budget deficits _ the first in history and an issue in an election campaign that ends in Nov. 6.

Obama's Republican challenger, Mitt Romney, contends that Obama failed to achieve a pledge to halve the deficit he inherited by the end of his first term.

When Obama took office in January 2009, the Congressional Budget Office forecast that the deficit for that year would total $1.2 trillion. It ended up at a record $1.41 trillion.

The increase was due, in part, to higher government spending to fight the worst recession since the Great Depression of the 1930s Tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan contributed to the deficits.

The budget gaps in 2010 and 2011 were slightly lower than the 2009 deficit as a gradually strengthening economy generated more tax revenue. But the deficits still exceeded $1 trillion.

Obama is campaigning for a second term with a pledge to cut deficits by $4 trillion over the next decade. He says he would do so by ending the Bush-era income tax cuts for higher-income Americans and by restraining the growth of spending.

Romney has said he would cut spending growth to help narrow the budget gap. He would cap spending at 20 percent of the economy by 2016. Spending in 2012 accounted for about 23 percent of the economy.

The government borrowed about 31 cents of every dollar it spent in 2012. The string of $1 trillion-plus deficits has driven the national debt above $16 trillion. The magnitude of that figure has intensified debate in Congress over spending and taxes but little movement toward compromise.

Many fear the budget deadlock will send the economy over a ``fiscal cliff'' next year, when tax increases and deep spending cuts will take effect unless a budget deal is reached.

Obama wants to eliminate the income tax cuts for families that make more than $250,000.

Republicans in Congress and Romney have resisted. They argue that with the economy still weak, the government should not be raising anyone's taxes.

Congress may address the budget crisis during a lame-duck session of Congress after the November elections.
(AP)

Chavez wins re-election, electoral council says

Accompanied by his daughter Rosa Virginia, left, Venezuela`s President Hugo Chavez gestures to supporters as he leaves the polling station after voting in the presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, Sunday. (AP-Yonhap News)

President Hugo Chavez won re-election Sunday, defeating challenger Henrique Capriles and gaining six more years to cement his legacy and press ahead with his crusade for socialism in Venezuela.

With about 90 percent of votes counted, Chavez had more than 54 percent of the vote, and Capriles had 45 percent, National Electoral Council president Tibisay Lucena said. She said 81 percent of the nearly 19 million registered voters cast ballots, one of the largest turnouts in years.

It was Chavez's third re-election victory in nearly 14 years in office, though by a smaller margin than in 2006, when he won 63 percent of the votes.

Fireworks exploded in downtown Caracas, and Chavez's supporters celebrated waving flags and jumping for joy outside the presidential palace.

Chavez won more than 7.4 million votes, beating Capriles by more than 1.2 million votes, Lucena said.

Capriles congratulated Chavez and told his supporters not to feel defeated.

“We have planted many seeds across Venezuela and I know that these seeds are going to produce many trees,” he told supporters in a speech late Sunday.

Chavez spent heavily in the months before the vote, building public housing and bankrolling expanded social programs providing benefits to poor families.

Capriles, a youthful state governor, became a strong challenger after winning a February primary and rallied an opposition that grew more united and better organized than in the past. But in the end, it was no match for Chavez's electoral prowess.

Just as polls closed on Sunday night, hundreds of young red-shirted Chavistas took to the streets on motorcycles and said they were ready to begin celebrating.

“Let them accept defeat,” Kleiver Gutierrez said of the opposition.

People holding posters of Chavez shouted to passing cars outside the Miraflores presidential palace.

One pro-Chavez voter, private bodyguard Carlos Julio Silva, said that whatever his faults, Chavez deserved to win for spreading the nation's oil wealth to the poor with free medical care, public housing and other government largess. The country has the world's largest proven oil reserves.

“There is corruption, there's plenty of bureaucracy, but the people have never had a leader who cared about this country,” Silva said after voting for Chavez at a school in the Caracas slum of Petare. “That's why the people are going to re-elect Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias.”

At many polling places, voters began lining up hours before polls opened at dawn, some snaking for blocks in the baking Caribbean sun. Some shaded themselves with umbrellas. Vendors grilled meat and some people drank beer.

Maria Leonis was selling CDs of Chavez's campaign theme music on a sidewalk next to a polling center. “Today I've sold about 100 CDs, just Chavez's song,” Leonis said, adding that she supported Chavez because “I want to keep seeing change.”

Chavez's critics say the president has inflamed divisions by labeling his opponents “fascists,” `'Yankees” and “neo-Nazis,” and it's likely hard for many of his opponents to stomach another six years of the loquacious and conflictive leader.

Some said before the vote that they'd consider leaving the country if Chavez won.

Gino Caso, an auto mechanic, said Chavez is power-hungry and out of touch with problems such as crime. He said his son had been robbed, as had neighboring shops.

“I don't know what planet he lives on,” Caso said, gesturing with hands blackened with grease. “He wants to be like Fidel Castro _ end up with everything, take control of the country.”

The 40-year-old Capriles, a wiry former governor affectionately called “Skinny” by supporters, infused the opposition with new optimism, and opinion polls pointed to him giving Chavez his closest election contest ever.

Chavez spoke little during the campaign about his fight with cancer, which since June 2011 has included surgery to remove tumors from his pelvic region as well as chemotherapy and radiation treatment. He has said his most recent tests showed no sign of illness. (AP)

Foxconn workers return to iPhone production after stoppage

Foxconn Technology Group workers returned to the assembly line in Zhengzhou, China, that makes Apple Inc.’s iPhone 5 after walking off their jobs Saturday, advocacy group China Labor Watch said.

A dispute occurred between the production and quality teams at the factory and that was resolved by Saturday afternoon, Simon Hsing, a spokesman for Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Foxconn’s flagship unit, said in a phone interview.

“Three to four thousand” production employees walked off the job at the plant Saturday, and they returned to work Sunday after the management said they’d be fired for a failure to turn up, Executive Director Li Qiang said.

Workers walk outside a Foxconn plant in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China. (Bloomberg)

The workers action happened after they were being made to work through a holiday week and being subject to “overly strict” product-quality demands without adequate training, the group said in a press release dated Oct. 5. The walkout was the result of demands placed by Apple on its manufacturer to improve the quality of the iPhone 5 after customers complained that the company’s latest handset had scratches, China Labor Watch said.

“What’s important is the implication,” said Daniel Chang, an analyst with Macquarie Securities Ltd. in Taipei. “At a time when China’s wage level is rising it’s creating big challenges for assembly plants like Foxconn.”

Louis Woo, a spokesman for Foxconn, denied there had been 4,000 workers involved in a strike or work stoppage, speaking in a phone interview.

The issue adds to the labor woes Taiwan-based Foxconn has faced in the past two years, after a fight among 2,000 workers at another plant in China resulted in a production stoppage last month.

Foxconn raised overly strict demands on product quality without providing worker training for the corresponding skills, China Labor Watch wrote. This led to products that did not meet standards and ultimately put a tremendous amount of pressure on workers, it said. (Bloomberg)

Psy tops Chinese online music chart

South Korean rapper-singer Psy has topped a Chinese online music chart, as the popularity of his global hit "Gangnam Style" spills over into the world's most populous country, a Web site showed Monday.

"Gangnam Style" ranked No. 1 on the music search service of China's largest search engine, Baidu.

The song has caught on with fans in China after Psy's popularity spread from the United States, where the single first went viral, to Europe and Latin America.

"Gangnam Style" became a global sensation just a few months after its debut, with the music video for it spawning numerous copycat videos and parodies on the Internet.

The video features the singer's trademark quirky style that amuses audiences of all ages, combined with a signature "horse-riding" dance.

Psy, whose given Korean name is Park Jae-sang, topped the iTunes Chart last month with his latest single, making him the first Korean artist to reach No. 1 on the U.S. online chart.

On the Billboard chart, Psy ranked second for the second consecutive week, according to Billboard.com. The song jumped to No. 1 on the British Official Singles Chart last week.

Although the song has few English-language lyrics, its music is familiar to Western listeners with its catchy pop melodies mixed with electronic dance beats.

Psy's combination of light music with his good-natured humor, easy-to-learn dance moves and the catchy chorus, "Oppan Gangnam Style," has created a worldwide phenomenon.

Renowned U.S. magazine New Yorker said the cultural impact Gangnam Style has made on the global audience drew envy from China.

"In China, the Gangnam phenomenon carries a special pique. It has left people asking, 'Why couldn't we come up with that?'" wrote Evan Osonos, Beijing-based writer for New Yorker, on the magazine's blog.

Chinese political leaders have been stressing China's need to boost its "soft power" in a bid to remake the country's international image, which is more inclined toward the "hard power"

of politics and economic size.

In 2007, Chinese President Hu Jintao defined "soft power"

development as a key national strategy.

Confucius Institutes, which promote Chinese language and culture across the world, were seen as one such initiative for advancing China's cultural influence internationally. (Yonhap News)

Psy offers bridge across world

Psy does his iconic horse-riding dance during a free concert at Seoul Plaza, Thursday. / Korea Times By Ana Nardelli In Latin America, we all refer to Asia as the Very Far East, and for most, Korea is a remote place of which we only vaguely remember the 1988 Seoul Olympics. That was of course, until a few months ago, when it became clearer than ever that the boundaries of style and cultural appreciation are becoming thinner and thinner. The guilty one is Psy with his “Gangnam Style”; the fact behind it is art is universal. It’s evident that this too authentic, too light-spirited, and not-so-young Korean pop star has broken into the U.S. and European markets. But let’s not forget, he has also taken hold over the dance moves of people all over Latin America: YouTube has parodies in Spanish that have gone viral, wedding bands are giving out “Gangnam Style” paraphernalia, the song is the number one selling single in Mexico — Psy is everywhere! Truth be told, we share more than family values and a taste for spicy food with the Koreans; we share the pride of a nation that yesterday took the form of one of the most significant cultural-musical trend events. Psy’s performance in the heart of Seoul Thursday showed us the true colors of the city: an international metropolis, with the youngest and eldest moving together with a mix of flavors that spiced the souls of the hundreds of curious onlookers that ended up screaming and dancing. It made me remember my hometown, Mexico City, also top in the list of the largest and most inhabited in the world, we have our own “plaza”, the Zocalo, to live and witness the most important events and to cheer along the most cherished international personalities and our best ambassadors to the world. But let’s face it, it is easy to imagine thousands of Latinos cheering and dancing with the brightest mariachi music, holding a beer amidst the sunny weather. But none of us could have imagined thousands of the best-known as hard-working white-collar Koreans, as well as expats from all walks of life holding cups of tea or coffee and having the same easiness in the midst of the Korean capital. Even though the song refers to the trendiest, jet-setter district in Seoul, the horse dance and the whole “Gangnam Style” phenomenon is just so authentic and easy going that it brings a breath of fresh air to anyone that lives it, and we all definitively need it in this stressful time: forget about hard news, style, conventions and pretentions. Ironically, this is what has created a new style, a bridge between Korea and the world, a new trademark that without trying has become more iconic than Haechi Seoul. I expected the event to run smoothly and in an orderly manner, as it did the whole way. But after watching everyone singing and dancing, laughing and cheering, it became evident that between East and West we also share a light and bright spirited side, something that brings us together to enjoy and take pride in ourselves, something that Psy has also been “guilty” of sharing with us. Ana Nardelli is an international journalist and anthropologist currently based in Seoul.

Gangnam Style’ sets new Guinness World Record

Psy to hold press conference on Tuesday in Seoul to talk about his success in the U.S., future plans

Korean pop singer Psy has broken the Guinness World Record with his smash hit “Gangnam Style.”

Guinness World Records has named his music video the most “liked” in history, earning over 2,295,231 “likes” on YouTube as of Saturday.

“Having been the ‘have you seen this?’ video of the last two months across the web, it’s great to be able to award a record for this tremendously popular video,” said Dan Barrett, community manager for Guinness World Records, in a statement.

Before “Gangnam Style,” LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” was the most liked video with 1,576,578 likes, ahead of Justin Bieber’s “Baby” with 1,328,914 likes and Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” with 1,247,030 likes.

“In years past, it was unthinkable that something would be viewed a hundred million times, and now ‘Gangnam Style’ has achieved more than twice this figure in just three months on YouTube,” Barrett said. The video has 230 million YouTube views and counting.

Korean rapper-singer Psy performs during the 2012 iHeart Radio Music Festival at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Sept. 21.(Yonhap News)

The music video that features a horse-trotting dance was posted on July 15 and went viral all over the world, including the U.S., the world’s biggest music market.

Psy, whose real name is Park Jae-sang, signed with Justin Bieber’s manager Scooter Braun and made several appearances on U.S. TV channels including MTV, NBC and CNN.

Even North Korea posted a video parody of Psy’s globally popular “Gangnam Style” on its official Uriminzokkiri website.

Over the weekend, the 34-year-old singer performed on the same stage with A-list stars for “iHeart Radio Music Festival 2012” held in Las Vegas. The list of global pop stars appearing at the show included Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Pink, Bon Jovi, Lil Wayne, Green Day, No Doubt, Pitbull, Linkin Park and Usher who had a private lesson for Psy’s horse-riding dance.

As Psy continued to gain momentum in America, Korean audiences haven’t a chance to see him on stage at home recently, except for a pre-recorded episode of “Super Star K” where he serves as a judge along with Yoon Mi-rae and Lee Seung-chul.

However, the good news is that Psy is returning to Korea this week.

He will hold a news conference on Tuesday afternoon in Seoul to talk about his tremendous success in the U.S. and his future plans, his agency YG Entertainment said on Saturday.

He is also likely to appear on a few TV shows and perform for some concerts and festivals he signed on for before he became an international star.

According to a festival organizing committee for Seowon University in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, Psy will perform four of his songs at the school’s annual festival on Wednesday evening.

The festival organizers booked Psy in July before he grabbed international attention and decided to go to the U.S. to test the popularity of the song himself.

“We were lucky enough to have Psy for our festival. We just contacted his agency (in July) because he had a great show two years ago at our school,” a student organizer was quoted as saying by Yonhap News agency on Sunday.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)

U.S. woman finds out her late husband was her father

(MCT)

A 60-year-old Ohio woman has made the horrifying discovery that her late husband was in fact her father, according to local news reports.

Valerie Spruill, a mother of three, found out about her true lineage six years after her father and husband Percy died in 1998 at the age of 60. Her uncle told her that the startling fact and a DNA test confirmed it.

This bizarre twist began when Spruill was sent to live with her grandparents when she was just three months old. She had been told that her grandparents were her parents and her mother was just a family friend.

At age nine, she found out the truth about her mother and her grandparents, but she was not told who her real father was.

Later she met Percy who was working as a truck driver and parking-lot attendant in Akron, and they eventually got married.

Spruill said that her father-husband was aware of the fact that he married his daughter but was afraid to tell her, although she does not know for certain.

The horrendous revelation has induced several serious health problems for Spruill, and she has been seeing a therapist to her cope with the situation.

Still, Spruill said that she decided to share her story in hope of finding her other siblings.

“My biggest goal is to find them and let ’em know that (their mother) loved them, no matter what … And (to say) ‘Thank God she gave you away like she did me, so you could have a beautiful life,’” she said.


From news reports
(khnews@heraldcorp.com)

Unlikely Korean pop star conquers the U.S. -- 'Gangnam Style'

(YouTube)

A chubby thirty-something with wacky dance moves, Park Jae-Sang falls far short of the prettified, teenage ideal embodied by the stars of South Korea's phenomenally successful K-pop industry.

But Park, known as "Psy," has succeeded where the industry-manufactured girl and boy bands have tried and failed, making a huge splash on the mainstream U.S. music scene thanks to a viral video and a rare sense of irony.

Since being posted on YouTube in July, Psy's video for "Gangnam Style" -- the title song of his sixth album -- has racked up more than 150 million views and spawned a host of admiring parodies.

The accompanying worldwide publicity has earned him a U.S. contract with Justin Bieber's management agency, a guest appearance at last week's MTV awards in Los Angeles and a spot on NBC's flagship "Today" show.

Earlier this week he was given the opportunity to school U.S. pop diva Britney Spears on his increasingly famous signature dance moves on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show".

The breakout success of "Gangnam Style" has been viewed with a mixture of pride and surprise in Psy's home country, with industry analysts scrabbling to identify the magic ingredient that made it such a phenomenal success abroad.

The Gangnam of the title is Seoul's wealthiest residential and shopping district, lined with luxury boutiques, top-end bars and restaurants frequented by celebrities and well-heeled, designer-clad socialites.

The video pokes fun at the district's lifestyle, with Psy breezing through a world of speed boats, yoga classes and exclusive clubs -- all the while performing an eccentric horse-riding dance accompanied by beautiful models.

Humor, especially satirical humor, is rare in the mainstream Korean music scene, and that coupled with the 34-year-old's embrace of his anti-pop idol looks has helped set him apart.

According to Simon Stawski, the Canadian co-founder of the popular "Eat Your Kimchi" blog on K-pop and Korean culture, Psy is the "antithesis of K-pop" and its stable of preening, sexualised, fashion-conscious young stars.

"K-pop bands are exceptionally controlled by their management. Psy doesn't buy into that at all, and that's partly why he's such a breath of fresh air," Stawski told AFP.

"Above all, Psy doesn't take himself seriously and uses irony and self-deprecation that are absent from K-pop," he said.

This, Stawski adds, is what has allowed Psy to jump the English language barrier and find a wider audience for a song which, apart from its title, is almost entirely in Korean.

In South Korea, "Gangnam Style" has won Psy a new fan base by appealing to those for whom the sanitised image of K-pop bears little resemblance to their actual lives.

"His somewhat 'normal' appearance makes him feel familiar, and the comic dancing and wacky fashion style give off a friendly image, branding Psy as someone people would want to party with," the daily Munhwa Ilbo commented.

Psy himself says he invites laughter, not ridicule.

"My motto is to be funny, but not stupid," he said in an interview with the Yonhap news agency.

"I want everyone who sees my performance to feel the efforts I've made so far as a singer rather than a lucky guy who got here without anything," he said.

A relative veteran after 11 years on the Korean music scene, Psy has always had a small but loyal fan base that has stuck with him through numerous ups and downs, including an early brush with the law for smoking marijuana.

In 2007, he was forced to serve a second period of compulsory military service after it was revealed that he had continued with his showbiz interests during his first two-year stint.

His overnight leap from relative obscurity to global sensation came as a personal, if welcome, shock.

"It's all so surreal to me," he told Yonhap. "I never thought such a day would come in my life as a singer."

It remains to be seen if "Gangnam Style" will prove to be anything more than a one-hit wonder, but its success so far, especially in the United States, is likely to prompt a review of marketing strategies in the Korean music industry.

"It's not going to be a revolution, but more of a baby-steps evolution," said Esther Oh, online news editor at CJ Entertainment, the country's largest media conglomerate.

"Psy has shown you can be successful as a human, regular guy with a touch of humor. Other artists and management companies are going to look at that and maybe rethink their own styles and strategies," Oh said. (AFP)

Investment limit should be expanded to top-30 firms

The opposition Democratic United Party calls for the strengthening of the equity investment ceiling as the core of its economic democratization measures, a key theme in the run-up to this year’s presidential election.

Party Rep. Kim Ki-sik said the regulation had little effect in the past because it was too loose.

A member of the parliamentary finance committee, the former civic activist issued a revision bill of the Fair Trade Act, banning the top 30 conglomerates from investing the equivalent of 25 percent or more of their net assets in other firms.

His is a reinforced version of the party’s, which set a 30 percent ceiling on the top 10 conglomerates.

“My core intention was not to tighten the regulations but to make sure that the law takes its proper effect,” he said.

The top 10 conglomerates will not be much affected by the ceiling system anyway as they are mostly invested as holding companies, according to the lawmaker.

“It is actually those in the upper-middle bracket which tend to expand themselves through cross-shareholding and encroach on the small and medium-sized companies,” Kim said.

“The system would be meaningless without including these firms in the subject range.”

He took the Kumho Asiana Group as an example of such blind spot.

“Kumho brought itself into a liquidity crisis in the past by taking over Daehan Express and Daewoo Engineering & Construction a in 2006,” the lawmaker said.

Rep. Kim Ki-sik of the DUP

“Such falls would lead to bad loans and also force the government to provide support funds with taxpayers’ money.”

The group was excluded from the ceiling restriction as it was not among the top 10 conglomerates.

“Some argue that the system goes against international standards, as it only exists here in Korea,” he said.

“But they need to understand that chaebol, or Korean conglomerates, are also unique.”

In no other countries in the world would conglomerates exercise such unlimited power, both economically and socially, he said.

“It is for this reason that some proactive measures must be taken on a state level in order to prevent the irreversible losses of small firms and self-employed businessmen.”

Kim also refuted the argument that the regulations will have a negative effect on the nation’s economy.

“Samsung and Hyundai managed to develop themselves into global organizations even under the equity investment ceiling,” he said.

“What the system does is prevent conglomerate owners from monopolizing the economy.”

The DUP lawmaker criticized the ruling Saenuri Party’s plan to limit the chaebol reform for restricting circular shareholding only.

“The right wing’s idea is to advocate the vested rights of the conglomerates, while pretending to back economic democratization.”

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)

Pregnant rape victim beheads rapist, leaves head in village square

Nevin Yildirim

A rape victim awaits trial as she shot and decapitated her rapist and left his head in her village square, according to news reports.

26-year-old Nevin Yildirim was raped multiple times by distant relative Nurettin Gider, 35, over a period of eight months after her husband left for work in another town in January. Gider allegedly blackmailed her with nude photos he had taken of her after sneaking into her bedroom at night. He also threatened to kill her two children, aged 2 and 6, if she did not cooperate.

After multiple rapes, on Aug. 28, Yildirim shot Gider as he was climbing up the back wall of her house to sneak in. He reached for his gun, but she shot him against in his groin area. She shot him ten times in total and stabbed him once in the abdomen. She then cut off his head and carried it to the village square at Yalvac, southwest Turkey.

She told onlookers, “Don’t talk behind my back, don’t play with my honor. Here is the head of the man who played with my honor.”

Yildirim was arrested after being reported. She told the police, “My daughter will start school this year. Everyone would have insulted my children. Now no one can. I saved my honor. They will now call children the kids of the woman who saved her honor.”

She is five months pregnant with her rapist’s child and is asking Turkish court for an abortion even though Turkey’s abortion laws have a ten-week limit.


From news reports

S. Korea suffers falling potential growth

South Korea's potential economic growth rate is estimated to have fallen to the 3-percent range on its economic slowdown stemming from the eurozone debt crisis and population aging, economists said Thursday.

The country's potential growth rate, or the maximum possible rate at which an economy can grow without triggering inflation, had remained in the range of 4.5-5 percent between 1998 and 2007, according to estimates by private think tanks.

South Korea's central bank has not officially announced the potential growth rate since 2005, but the Bank of Korea (BOK) said Korea's potential growth rate is estimated to stand in the upper range of 3 percent or near 4 percent.

"If an economic slowdown is protracted, denting facility investment, the underlying trend of the potential growth rate could fall," said an official at the BOK.

Analysts said the global financial crisis and the eurozone debt woes have led Korea's potential growth rate to decline to the 3-percent range, spawning concerns about the economic momentum.

"The potential growth rate is estimated to reach around 3.8 percent for now although we saw the rate reach an estimated 4 percent only six months earlier," said Yim Hee-jung, a senior economist at the Hyundai Economic Research Institute.

Yim projected that the potential economic rate had stayed at around 4.7 percent right after the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis.

A potential economic growth rate is highly affected by the structural changes in population and facility investment, gauges of labor and capital stocks.

The estimate came as Korea's quarterly growth rate more than halved to 0.3 percent in the second quarter on faltering exports and sluggish domestic demand. The full-year growth is widely expected to reach in the 2-percent range, down from 3.6 percent tallied for last year. More analysts bet on another rate cut by the BOK to 2.75 percent for September.

Korea's population growth is slowing down and the number of economically viable people aged 15-64 reached 35.64 million as of July after peaking at 39.6 million in 2008, according to data by the state-run statistics agency.

The country's fertility rate reached 1.24 last year, lower than an average birth rate of 1.74 among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Facility investment has showed weak performance as companies were reluctant to spend big amid heightened economic uncertainty.

The finance ministry said in a report that if facility investment remains sluggish, the economic recovery is likely to be delayed, raising chances that growth potential would be hurt.

In the second quarter, corporate capital investment contracted

7 percent on-quarter, a turnaround from 10.3 percent on-quarter expansion in the first quarter.

Some raised concerns that if the current trends go on, Korea's potential growth is feared to fall as low as to the 1-percent range someday.

But others claimed that the global financial crisis may not have given meaningful downward pressure on the potential growth rate and the rate cannot sharply fall to a worrying level as the government would not stand idle.

The BOK official said that the potential growth may fall to the 1-percent range in theory if the trend of low growth continues and the population ages.

"But inflows of immigrants and a set of the government's policies could prevent the potential growth rate from sharply declining." (Yonhap News)

Hackers claim 12m Apple IDs from FBI

WASHINGTON (AFP) ― A hacker group has claimed to have obtained personal data from 12 million Apple iPhone and iPad users by breaching an FBI computer, raising concerns about government tracking, but the FBI said it never had the data.

The group called AntiSec, linked to the hacking collective known as Anonymous, posted one million Apple user identifiers on Monday purported to be part of a larger group of 12 million obtained from an FBI laptop.


The FBI initially had no comment on the reports, but later in the day issued a statement which cast doubt on the purported data breach, saying it never had the data in question.

“The FBI is aware of published reports alleging that an FBI laptop was compromised and private data regarding Apple UDIDs (unique device identifiers) was exposed,” the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement.

“At this time, there is no evidence indicating that an FBI laptop was compromised or that the FBI either sought or obtained this data.”

A tweet from the FBI press office said: “We never had info in question. Bottom Line: TOTALLY FALSE.”

Peter Kruse, an e-crime specialist with CSIS Security Group in Denmark, said on Twitter that the leak “is real” and that he confirmed three of his own devices in the leaked data.

“Also notice that they claim to have fullname, addresses, phone numbers etc ... Big ouch!” he tweeted.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The fact that some user data was breached prompted a flurry of comments, some suggesting that the government or Apple was implicated in a vast invasion of user privacy.

Aldo Cortesi, a security consultant living in New Zealand, called the incident “a privacy catastrophe.”

“The vulnerabilities ranged from de-anonymization, to takeover of the user’s gaming social network account, to the ability to completely take over the user’s Facebook and Twitter accounts,” he said on a blog posting.

One website set up a database to help users determine if their device was on the hacked list of Apple unique device IDs (UDIDs).

Johannes Ullrich of the SANS Internet Storm Center said it was difficult to verify the report.

“There is nothing else in the file that would implicate the FBI. So this data may very well come from another source. But it is not clear who would have a file like this,” he said.

Ullrich said it is unclear why the FBI, if the report were true, would have the data.

“The size of the file ... would imply a widespread, not a targeted tracking operation, or the file was just kept in case any of the users in the file needs to be tracked,” he said.

“The significance of this breach very much hinges on the source, which as far as I know, hasn’t been authenticated yet. The data is, however, real based on some of the reports that people do find their own UDID in the file.”

In the posting, AntiSec said the original file “contained around 12,000,000 devices” and that “we decided a million would be enough to release.”

The group said it “trimmed out other personal data such as full names, cell numbers, addresses, zipcodes, etc.”

It said it posted the information to draw attention to Apple’s practices, which allow users to be tracked.

“We never liked the concept of UDIDs since the beginning indeed. Really bad decision from Apple,” it said.

It added “we have learnt it seems quite clear nobody pays attention if you just come and say ‘hey, FBI is using your device details ...’ FBI IS USING YOUR DEVICE INFO FOR A TRACKING PEOPLE PROJECT OR SOME S―-.”

The document posted on the website pastebin indicated that the data was obtained in March from the computer of an FBI Cyber Action supervisor through a “vulnerability” in the computer.

Eric Hemmendinger, a security expert with Tata Communications, said that if an FBI computer from a cybersecurity investigator was hacked, it would be “a pretty embarrassing scenario.”

Hemmendinger said the FBI’s possession of the data would be surprising, but that it should not be a surprise that Apple and its rivals would have detailed information on its users.

“This is yet another indicator that when you start to participate in social networking and applications that Apple and (Google’s) Android have propagated, you are the asset that’s being leveraged and monetized,” he said.

“It’s yet another reminder that when you join the social network world, your footprints are not private.”

Lawmakers rapped for jacking up own salaries

By Lee Tae-hoon Netizens are taking collective action to address the “brazen act” by lawmakers of increasing their salary by about 20 percent. The move came a day after Rep. Lee Hahn-koo, floor leader of the ruling Saenuri Party, revealed that there has been a hike in lawmakers’ pay. In 2010, then National Assembly Speaker Park Hee-tae proposed a pay hike, which was accepted by Reps. Kim Moo-sung and Park Jie-won, floor leaders of the ruling and the main opposition Democratic United Party, respectively. “Lawmakers of the 19th National Assembly are receiving 20 percent more in salary compared to those of the 19th Assembly,” he said in a meeting of senior party members. “We will be likely pressured to return our pay checks if we fail to do our job properly during the regular parliamentary session.” As of Wednesday afternoon, some 2,000 people signed up for an online petition that urges the public to voice concerns over lawmakers’ serving their own interests rather than those of the people in Daum’s Agora forum. Nearly 200 netizens left comments on the forum, many of which denounce the hypocritical behavior of parliamentary members and their failure to live up to a pledge to give up their privileges granted to them as lawmakers. “As always, lawmakers remain preoccupied by their own interests,” said a netizen with the ID “flying bird.” Another netizen pointed out that excessive authorities bestowed to lawmakers are allowing them to exploit tax payers’ money for their own benefits. “A new measure should be introduced to prevent lawmakers from handling legislation concerning their own interests,” said the netizen with the ID “River, Mountain and Ocean.” A different netizen lamented that he is puzzled by reluctance from legislators to hike the country’s minimum wage, which is currently 4,320 won ($3.9) per hour, while secretly raising their pay by two digits. “I demand to hike the minimum wage by 20 percent,” the netizen said. The majority of Saenuri lawmakers gave up their June salary after the leadership of the conservative party decided to lay down the "no-work, no-pay" principle, as a part of reform measures. An official of the National Assembly Secretariat says this year’s annual salary of lawmakers will be 147.4 million won, up 24 percent compared to 118.44 million won in 2010. The official noted that it will cost at least 638.6 million won of tax payers’ money each year to keep a lawmaker this year. “Lawmakers are allowed keep nine staff members, including two interns, to whom the government pays 393.1 million won per year,” he said. “On top of it, the government hands out 98.2 million won to each lawmaker in subsidies to assist their legislative activities, including 17.5 million won set aside for the running of a luxury car.” A civic group, Citizens United for Better Society (CUBS), expressed their disappointment over the pay hike, saying “the country has sent the fox to keep the geese.” “We find it lamentable that the lawmakers pledge for reform was a political show,” CUBS said in a statement. Apart from the paycheck, lawmakers are allowed to collect campaign funds of up to 150 million won per year that they can use to support legislative activities and other expenses required for running their office. Lawmakers can collect up to 30 million won of campaign funds during an election year.

leeth@koreatimes.co.kr