CONTACT US

CONTACT US

Click here !! for Mobile Phone Cases

Click here !! for Mobile Phone Cases
Mobile Phone Cases

World Clock

Monday, September 29, 2014

Catholicism most trustworthy, influential religion in S. Korea: poll

South Koreans regard Catholicism as the most trustworthy and influential of the major religions in the country, a survey showed Monday.

In an annual survey of public opinion on South Korean society, politics and religion, Catholicism placed first with 3.39 points in the category of reliability among the country's five largest religions.

A social research institute run by the Buddhist Jogye Order conducted the poll on 1,500 people aged 16 or more around the country in August. Those polled were asked to measure the reliability of each religion on a scale of one to five.

Buddhism came second with 3.32 points, followed by Protestantism with 2.29 points and Won Buddhism with 2.41 points and Islamism with 2.17 points.

The survey also revealed that Catholicism has the largest social influence among all five religions with 3.4 points. Next came Protestantism (3.32), Buddhism (3.27), Won Buddhism (2.37) and Islamism (2.14).

Questioned which religion has contributed to South Korea's social development the most, the largest portion, 31.7 percent, of those polled said "none."

Nearly 30 percent selected Buddhism while Protestantism and Catholicism received 20.1 percent and 15.8 percent support, respectively.

Compared with the 2011 survey, more people answered that no religion contributed to Korea's social development, reflecting the overall decline of social influence of religions in the country, the research institute said.

An overwhelming 59.2 percent chose Protestantism as the religion that triggers the most interreligious feuding while 15.9 percent and 7.9 percent selected Buddhism and Catholicism, respectively.

"The result of the survey reflects the trend in society where religions have become more personalized and conservative as a whole," the institute said in a release. (Yonhap)

[Editorial] Cyberexodus Threat of cybercensorship hurts IT sector


Published : 2014-09-28 20:50
Updated : 2014-09-28 20:50
As was expected, the country’s IT companies are feeling the impact of the government’s announcement that it will monitor cyberspace activities in real time.

On Sept. 18, the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office announced that it would establish a special team of five prosecutors and investigators within the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office to monitor cyberspace in real time in order to act “preemptively” against the dissemination of false information. Redistributors of false information would be penalized to the same extent as the original disseminator, the Supreme Prosecutor’s Office said.

The measures ― hurriedly announced following the remark by President Park Geun-hye at a Cabinet meeting on Sept. 16 that insults against the president have gone too far and that remarks in cyberspace are causing social divisions ― smack of an attempt to muzzle public opinion.

Addressing public concerns that even SNS messages will be scrutinized, the prosecutor sought to clarify on Sept. 25 that private communications through SNS such as KakaoTalk and Line would not be monitored. Speaking to reporters, a prosecutor from the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office said that actions will be taken in response to dissemination of false information in cyberspace such as portal sites, implying that community sites, bulletin boards and blogs that are part of Internet portals will be subjected to real-time scrutiny.

Yet, the assurance that SNS will not be monitored has failed to allay the fears of netizens who are reported to be migrating to overseas SNS to avoid possible government snooping. Ironically, Telegram, a messenger service application said to have been developed by a Russian to avoid censorship there, is seeing a steep rise in the number of downloads from Korea. Other SNS apps with servers located overseas are also seeing a sudden increase in Korean subscribers.

The exodus of netizens seeking cyber-refuge in foreign SNS has been prompted not only by practical concerns about privacy. The exodus is a form of protest against the measures, which are seen to be a restriction of freedom of expression. In the face of threats of government censorship, the public is engaging in self-censorship or seeking other venues in which to express themselves.

It is regrettable and worrisome that the IT sector is bearing the brunt of the government’s folly. Yet, the current mass migration should not come as a surprise to the government, which should have foreseen such an eventuality when it announced the de facto cybercensorship plan.

Continued defection of Korean SNS users to foreign SNS threatens the very survival of Korean IT companies. The threat of cyberspace censorship will most likely hurt the global expansion of Korean SNS as well. At a more fundamental level, the threat of censorship will dampen not only the growth of Korea’s IT sector but also stifle the growth of the creative economy espoused by the current administration.

Already, Telegram, which currently does not support the Korean language, is working on providing a Korean service. The government should stop its folly before the damage to Korea’s IT sector becomes irreversible.

Saturday, September 27, 2014

iPhone 6 Plus: The Bend Uncut


Yep, it bends! For anyone who doubted that Lewis Hilsenteger of Unbox Therapy really bent an iPhone 6 Plus, he has done it again—with witnesses. This time, instead of shooting the bend in the privacy of his video studio, he choose a busy square in his hometown of Toronto. As you can see in the video above, the results are even more dramatic and convincing than the first video.
Hilsenteger can be forgiven for seeming just a little bit defensive. He has been fending off charges that he somehow staged the bend or used some special equipment or other trick. Unless he is a Houdini-grade illusionist, he has now demonstrated a bare-handed deformation of an iPhone 6 Plus.
So again I will ask, why does this matter? If I had a brand new iPhone 6 Plus, I would not put it in my back pocket. I would not bend it as a party trick. I would treat it with reverence. But not everyone is me! For Apple AAPL +2.94%, this means that not all customers are ideal customers and they won’t necessarily behave in expected ways.
bendgate-iphone-6-plus-unbox-therapy-redux-7
But for Apple’s customers, they expect a new iPhone to behave like other iPhones. If they are used to slipping it in their pocket, then, pocket willing, they will do so with a 6 Plus too. The user experience equation is asymmetrical. The user is unpredictable so the product has to be predictable.
Apple finally commented publicly on “#bendgate” (as it is unfortunately known) yesterday in a statement, “With normal use a bend in iPhone is extremely rare and through our first six days of sale, a total of nine customers have contacted Apple with a bent iPhone 6 Plus.” Yet considering how easy it is to bend on purpose (as Hilsenteger has demonstrated now twice) it is hard to believe that nine customers are the extent of the problem. Nine out of 10 million would be an acceptable defect rate—if representative.
Mat Honan, wrote in his iPhone 6 Plus review in Wired that, “Like a lot of people, I have a bent iPhone 6 Plus. It’s almost imperceptible, but it’s there: a slight warp right at the buttons on the side. Put the phone screen down on a table, and it wobbles. I haven’t purposefully bent it and I don’t recall sitting on it (but I probably have).” The casualness of his description leads me to believe that the incidence of minor bends is likely far more prevalent than the all-out flexure in Hilsenteger’s videos.
In response, Apple gave Re/Code’s Lauren Goode access to their “secret testing lab.” This attempt to buttress the company’s rigorous image led to convincing photos and video (see original story), but questions remain. Apple’s statement refers to “custom grade of 6000 series anodized aluminum, which is tempered for extra strength [combined with] stainless steel and titanium inserts to reinforce high stress locations and… the strongest glass in the smartphone industry.” Yet how could Apple’s test lab not bent the iPhone 6 Plus with the same ease as a bearded guy in Toronto?
The bearded Hilsenteger himself points to the button cutouts as a possible point of failure. My colleague Mark Rogowsky wrote in these pages Wednesday that the new logo cutout on the back of the iPhone 6 Plus could have also been a source of trouble. These obvious weak points would seem to be exactly what those “stainless steel and titanium inserts” would be designed to reinforce.
This disjunction, this bend if you will, between what Apple seems to have tested and what consumers actually bought raises a more troubling possibility. What if #bendgate is a sign that Apple has lost control of its supply chain? Could the units that Foxconn sent to Apple for testing have been less than representative of the overall production run?
As a recovering magazine designer, I have been to many press runs. I know that the printers always sent the best copies to the publishing company, and those copies were often not representative of the entire press run. In the present case, what if not enough titanium was available in time for the production schedule and a lower-quality substitution was made for some portion of the run? And what if those units were sent to, let’s see, Canada instead of Cupertino?
This is just speculation. Manufacturing works this way in general, butnot Apple’s manufacturing. This is the reason for Apple’s reputation for quality, reliability and unsurpassed craftsmanship. The troubling aspect of the present debacle is not that some defective phones may need to be replaced. It is that the unity of Apple’s design and manufacturing may have just ruptured in a way that its extensive testing mechanisms did not detect.
I expect that as the complaints roll in, Tim Cook will not dismiss this as Steve Jobs did with “antennaegate.” Apple is now on a path to more openness and this is perhaps an opportunity to confront a vexing problem in a new way. As Hilsenteger says at the end of today’s video, “we’re expected to hold these phones for years, in some case, not just an afternoon. That phone [the iPhone 6 Plus] is weaker than many of the competitors.” This is not the image Apple wanted to project when entering the phablet market and it is not one it will allow to persist.

Ferry Disaster Weighs on South Korean President

Ferry Disaster Weighs on South Korean President
Relatives of the April 16 ferry disaster victims comfort students who survived the accident. (Reuters)
SEOUL:  South Korean President Park Geun-hye's voice trembled as she tried to comfort parents gathered near a makeshift morgue to identify the bodies of their children, among the hundreds drowned in a ferry disaster.

"I know very well the sorrow of losing a family member because I've experienced it," said Park, whose parents were both killed when she was in her 20s. "My heart aches thinking about how you feel."

It was a rare display of emotion from the usually stoic 62-year-old - too rare, critics say, given the anger and grief that erupted nationwide over the sinking of the Sewol ferry and what was widely seen as a botched rescue operation. About 300 people, most of them school-children, were killed in the disaster last April.

Park is still struggling to reclaim the initiative in Asia's fourth-largest economy. While she has more than three years left in office, South Korean presidents tend to become lame ducks mid-way through their single five-year term, adding urgency for her to lead the country beyond the tragedy.

Park's detached and wary leadership style, which confidants and analysts say seems rooted in her own tragic past in which her father, a former president, and mother were assassinated, has been a handicap in healing a grieving and polarised nation.

"She showed a really good gesture at the very beginning, but afterwards it seemed that she was not there," said Kim Ji-yoon, research fellow and head of the Center for Public Opinion and Quantitative Research at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies.

"She could have been more compassionate. That would help her, but maybe it's not really her style," she said.

Unfortunately for Park, the ferry disaster and the government's response have become the defining events of her term that began in February 2013 after a decisive election win. Her approval rating fell to as low as 40 percent in early July from 59 percent before the disaster, according to Gallup Korea. It recovered somewhat to 44 percent in mid-September.

Kim Jong-in, an economist and former legislator who advised Park during her rise to power and presidential campaign, said the ferry disaster was a missed opportunity to show leadership.

"She should have seen that for what it was, and jumped in to solve the issue, and had she done that, she would not be in this confusion," he said.

Son Sujo, an unsuccessful parliamentary candidate from the city of Busan for whom Park campaigned in 2012, said the president loathes conduct that can be seen as politically calculated, sometimes to her detriment, such as when she did not show more empathy in the days and weeks after the ferry sank.

"What was needed was not for her to resolve the problem instantly but to be there to listen," Son said.   

The sinking of the overloaded and structurally unsound Sewol encapsulated some of the worst aspects of South Korea's economic miracle set in motion more than five decades ago by Park's father: corruption, weak regulation, and lax safety standards.

"We were able to see as a result of this incident the need to engage in a thorough renewal of our nation as a whole," Park told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday. 

TRUST ISSUES

Her immediate challenges are dealing with a coalition of victims' families and supporters demanding an independent prosecutor to investigate the ferry disaster, resolving gridlock in parliament that has stalled other legislation, and expanding a limited pool of close supporters she can turn to for advice and appointments.

The small size of Park's inner circle was exposed when she was unable to replace her prime minister after the Sewol disaster. Two nominees were forced to withdraw from consideration, and she ended up sticking with the incumbent.

"It is probably her biggest weakness - that she likes to establish very close, strong ties with only a few selected people," said Choi Jin, head of the Institute of Presidential Leadership in Seoul.

"It worked when she was a presidential candidate because of security and trust issues. But now, it is a huge problem."

As a school child, Park craved normalcy and tried not to stand out as the president's daughter, one of her teachers said.

"Kids glanced at her lunch box and felt like she was no different from them after finding out she just brought sliced radish kimchi or an anchovy dish," Kim Jae-sook, a nun who taught Park for six years at a Catholic school starting in 1964, told Reuters.

Park cut short her studies in 1974 at the age of 22 when her mother, a beloved figure in South Korea, was killed by a bullet intended for her father. Park returned home from university in Grenoble, France, to take on the role of first lady.

Five years later, her father Park Chung-hee, who came to power in a 1961 military coup and is credited with dragging South Korea out of poverty but at a high cost in human rights, was murdered by his intelligence chief during dinner.

"She's endured and persevered. Some people focus on the aristocratic side of her leadership but I don't interpret it that way. They don't see the scars of Park Geun-hye's suffering, which is what made her quiet and made it difficult for her to talk," said Yang Young-tae, who was the family's dentist when the young Park was first lady and would play tennis with her.

RAGE BROUGHT HER BACK

Notes from Park's diary in a 1993 book speak of the mistrust she felt towards people seeking personal advantage and the sense of betrayal, after her father's assassination, by those whom she had been made to believe were loyal to the family.

"They say words are meant to express one's innermost feelings, but many people that I have dealt with talk to conceal their thoughts," she wrote.

Her entry into politics late in 1997 ended 18 years of seclusion and did not come easily. She anguished "with rage rising from the bottom of my heart" as the country slid towards default during the Asian financial crisis in 1997 before being bailed out by the International Monetary Fund, she wrote in a 2007 autobiography.

She is single, dresses simply and has a 1970s hairstyle that reminds people of her mother, who remains South Korea's most popular first lady, according to opinion polls.

Park is northeast Asia's first female head of state.

She is a rarity in a country where few women rise to the top of big organisations, and where the wage gap between men and women is the widest in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. North Korea has occasionally hurled sexist insults at her.

While campaigning for another candidate in 2006, a man attacked Park with a knife, gashing her face and leaving a scar.

Park was sweeping about ambitions for her presidency: leave a country that is economically resilient, culturally richer, better prepared for unification with North Korea and safer for everyone, she told Reuters in the interview.

Asked what she learned from her parents, Park cited her father's sense of duty.

"There is not a day when I don't reflect on myself and push myself," she said. "I have this desperate sense of urgency that I have to accomplish what I want to accomplish in the precious time that I have, so I find myself constantly pushing myself."
© Thomson Reuters 2014
Story First Published: September 22, 2014 11:54 IST

South Korean's crackdown on online libel draws fire - See more at: http://digital.asiaone.com/digital/news/south-koreans-crackdown-online-libel-draws-fire#sthash.yQG6afWF.dpuf

South Korean's crackdown on online libel draws fire

Concerns about greater state control over public opinion are growing as the prosecution is pushing to toughen its crackdown on those who spread false accusations online.
Saying that state intervention in online discourse should be minimized, critics argued that the prosecutorial campaign could seriously restrain online commentators' freedom of speech and expression.
Last Thursday, the Supreme Prosecutors' Office and relevant government agencies including the National Police Agency agreed to take "proactive" measures to prevent the spread of false and malicious postings on major portal websites.
They have decided to form a special probe team including five prosecutors with ample investigation experience. Under the new measures, the team will employ a zero-tolerance policy against those who defame others with groundless accusations.
If one causes a serious social controversy through false accusations and rumours, he or she will reportedly be detained while under investigation. Those who either create or relay false accusations will be punished.
The plan to institute the investigative team was announced just two days after President Park Geun-hye blasted malicious online commentators during a Cabinet meeting. Referring to online insults against her, she said defamatory postings would divide the public and damage social cohesion.
Observers said that the prosecution should take a "cautious, prudent" approach to its intervention in cyberspace.
"Basically, state intervention or interference should remain minimal with regard to people's expression of opinions and thoughts. Of course, there may be room for the state to step in when it comes to a serious case that damages one's reputation too seriously," said Yoon Pyung-joong, political philosophy professor at Hanshin University.
"(The prosecution) should remain cautious with its crackdown. Rather than pushing for a wholesale crackdown on what appear to be groundless accusations, it needs to take a prudent case-by-case approach."
Following the announcement of a crackdown, social media users started to accuse the government of attempting to control public opinion, and to look for safer foreign services to ensure their freedom of expression.
Some Korean social media users considered stopping using Kakao Talk, the nation's largest mobile messenger, and switched to Telegram, a Russian messaging application that cannot be accessed by state authorities.
Telegram was created to avoid the tight monitoring of the Russian security authorities. Whatever was talked about on it is not stored in the main servers and is strictly encrypted, which makes it difficult for outsiders to covertly monitor the content of messages.
As concerns rise over the tighter control of online chats, the prosecution stressed that its stricter crackdown only targeted "serious" online defamation cases, not regularpostings on the Internet. It also said that it would be impossible for it to deal with comments on social media.
Some, however, noted that there should be a deeper state involvement to stop the creation and distribution of ill-intentioned, untruthful online postings. In particular, false online rumours surrounding the sinking of the ferry Sewol caused social confusion earlier this year.
- See more at: http://digital.asiaone.com/digital/news/south-koreans-crackdown-online-libel-draws-fire#sthash.yQG6afWF.dpuf

Friday, September 26, 2014

[Editorial] Pres. Park’s UN remarks just make the inter-Korean stalemate even worse


President Park Geun-hye came out with a hard-line stance on North Korea in her United Nations General Assembly keynote speech on Sept. 24. That body looks to be just the latest battlefield in inter-Korean antagonisms that have been ongoing since the start of the year. It now appears it will be that much tougher to address problems for inter-Korean relations and the peninsula as a whole.
Park’s references to North Korea during the speech focused on three main arguments: the need for denuclearization before anything else can happen, calls to turn up the pressure on Pyongyang, and the belief in reunification as a panacea. At one point, she said South Korea and the rest of the international community would actively support the North‘s economic development if it decided to give up its nuclear program and introduce greater openness and reforms. In its substance, this is the same policy that her predecessor Lee Myung-bak served up with his “Vision 3000” - which only led to North Korea beefing up its nuclear capabilities. If anything, Park’s version is a step backward, since it doesn’t actually offer anything in terms of conditions or a process for denuclearization. At least Lee gave some kind of vision for a “grand bargain” with Pyongyang in his UN General Assembly address in 2009, the year after he took office.
Park asked for the international community to take “necessary actions” on human rights in North Korea. This could have just been a generality, but at a time when Pyongyang’s relations with Seoul and Washington are so poor, it’s inevitably going to sound like a call to raise pressure on the North. The North Korean Foreign Minister asked to attend a senior-level meeting on his country’s human rights situation that was organized by the US on Sept. 23, but both the US and Seoul said no. For the South to then turn around and invite the North for a bilateral “dialogue” on human rights sends a very inconsistent message.
As for Park‘s talk about how a “reunified Korean Peninsula would be the starting point for a world without nuclear weapons and a basic solution to the human rights issue,” that’s just an inverted version of the “unification as panacea” vision. The underlying assumption is that unification cannot realistically happen until the nuclear issue is solved, and the human rights issue cannot be addressed unless the North Korean regime is changed under the South’s leadership. Park also said nothing about the methods that would bring this reunification about.
At this point, efforts to address the North Korean nuclear and missile programs are at a standstill. Washington is ignoring the deepening issue because it’s more focused on going after the Islamic State (IS) in Iraq and Syria, and Seoul doesn’t seem much interested in doing anything about it either. Meanwhile, a number of new problems have recently surfaced in inter-Korean relations: disputes over the launching of balloons containing leaflets, heated exchanges over human rights, and conflicts over the North Korean cheering squad at the Incheon Asian Games, to name a few.
If things keep going this way, it’s only going to become more difficult to figure out a solution to these issues affecting the peninsula. Many people had talked about how the UN General Assembly should be an opportunity to turn things around; instead, it’s been the opposite. Seoul needs to find a way to truly improve inter-Korean relations and resolve the nuclear issue.
 
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

In S. Korea, the rich are innocent, and the poor guilty

Minister of Justice Hwang Kyo-ahn takes an elevator to participate in a plenary session of the National Assembly in Seoul, Oct. 1, 2013. (by Lee Jeong-woo, staff photographer)

Minister of Justice’s comments about letting corrupt chaebol chairmen off the hook weaken the rule of law

By Kwak Jung-soo, business correspondent
“I was in despair at the thought that I would have to spend three or four years in prison, and this news came as a breath of fresh air.”
After Justice Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn hinted that he would allow chaebol chairmen convicted of corruption to be pardoned or released on parole, hope is returning to the faces of chaebol executives who are in prison or on trial for breach of trust and embezzlement.
The Ministry of Justice is trying to shift the blame, claiming that it remains committed to the just execution of the law and that the media is reading too much into the remarks. But the chaebol are confident that they know Hwang, and that he wouldn’t make such remarks flippantly. A former public security prosecutor nicknamed “Mr. National Security Law,” Hwang is famed for his meticulousness.
At the same time, Choi Kyung-hwan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance and a major powerbroker in the government, endorsed Hwang’s remarks. “I wholeheartedly agree with what Hwang said in the interest of stimulating the economy,” Choi said.
The story made the headlines in the conservative media. The Justice Minister broached the topic, the Deputy Prime Minister picked up the baton and fanned the flames, and the conservative media is working to build public support. It is truly odd that all of these things are taking place while President Park Geun-hye is overseas.
It remains to be seen whether Hwang and Choi had worked this out in advance, whether the conservative media is spinning the story, and whether both sides are in cahoots. For now, though, we should stop to consider the pros and cons of going easy on corrupt chaebol chairmen.
During her presidential campaign, Park espoused strengthening the rule of law. She promised to strictly prosecute chaebol chairmen for embezzlement and other serious crimes, and she vowed to curtail the excessive use of pardons. This is almost the only one of her campaign pledges about economic democratization that remains intact.
The president does not have to keep her promises, provided she has adequate reasons not to do so. Choi said that the economic recovery is stalling because of sluggish investment. The groups in question are complaining that they are facing difficulties in deciding on new investments because of the absence of the group chairmen. But will releasing the corrupt company heads actually increase investment?
“The ratio of investment to GDP in South Korea is the second highest in the OECD. The main reason for slow economic growth is not that there isn’t enough investment, it’s that there isn’t enough consumption,” said Jang Ha-seong, professor at Korea University.
Some chaebols could temporarily increase investments in order to create a pretext for releasing the group chairmen. But that sort of abnormal investment is not sustainable.
Choi also said that it isn’t right to prosecute someone more severely simply because they are involved in business. However, the fact is that corrupt chaebol heads in Korea have never suffered from reverse-discrimination. If anything, controversy about weakening the rule of law has continued because these company leaders have been let off easy. It even gave rise to the new expression, “The rich are innocent, and the poor are guilty.”
“In the past, chaebol chairmen were still treated respectfully even after they got out of prison, but now it is a shame,” said Park Yong-man, chair of the Korean Chamber of Commerce. Park was emphasizing the need for patience, since change takes time. Letting corrupt chaebol chairmen off the hook could undo the progress that South Korean society has made in establishing the rule of law, the principle that everyone is equal before the law.
In the long run, pardoning corrupt chaebol chairmen could kill the economy instead of saving it. Kim Sang-jo, professor at Hansung University, believes that the fundamental issue with the South Korean economy is that the market economy has a weak foundation. In a society where the rules of the games are not obeyed, where corners are cut and laws are broken by those with money and influence, the economy cannot develop, and creativity and innovation cannot flourish.
Twelve years ago, Roh Moo-hyun was elected president on the pledge that he would become the first president to actually reform the chaebol. But Kim Jin-pyo, vice chair of the presidential transitional committee, made remarks to the opposite effect. “We will work on reform gradually and gently,” Kim said. Roh neglected to address this, and before long he made public his retreat on chaebol reform, admitting that the market - that is, the chaebol - had taken control.
Today, the South Korean people have a question for President Park. Is she going to take South Korean society back to the time when the rich are innocent, and the poor guilty?
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

"Sewol was a tragedy, Shame on you 박근혜.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRRLLgTBoh4

현장음] "Sewol was a tragedy, Shame on you 박근혜.(세월호 참사는 비극이다, 박근혜는 부끄러운 줄 알라)" 

캐나다 한인들에 이어 미국 한인들이 박근혜 대통령의 뉴욕 방문 이후 박 대통령을 따라다니면서 세월호 특별법 제정을 촉구하는 '그림자 시위'를 이어가고 있다. 

지난 22일 오후, 세월호 희생 학생들의 영정 사진과 특별법 제정을 요구하는 노란색 플래카드 등을 든 한인 10여 명은 박 대통령의 숙소인 맨해튼 아스토리아 호텔 인근에서 '박근혜는 부끄러운 줄 알라' 등 구호를 외치며 행진했다. 

[현장음] "Shame on you 박근혜, Sewol was a tragedy.(박근혜는 부끄러운 줄 알라. 세월호 참사는 비극이다)" 

시위에 참가하기 위해 근무 중 뛰어 나왔다는 한 시민은 "한국이 다시 군사 독재시절로 돌아간 것 같아 참담한 심정"이라고 말했다. 

[브루스 리/뉴욕 거주] "요즘 작금의 서울의 상황 돌아가는 것이 너무나 참담한 현실이라서 이렇게 일하다 말고 뛰어 나왔습니다. … 이명박·박근혜 정권, 새누리당 정권이 들어와서 다시금 박정희·전두환·노태우 군사독재시절로 돌아간 것 같아서 저는 정말 참담한 심정입니다." 

호텔 정문 앞에서 시위를 벌인 이들은 박 대통령이 호텔 정문이 아닌 다른 문으로 들어가 만나지 못했다고 밝혔다. 

이들은 23일 오전 박 대통령의 UN 일정에 맞춰 뉴욕 UN 본부 인근에서 '박근혜는 부끄러운 줄 알라' 등 구호를 외치며 행진시위에 나섰으며, 박 대통령 출국날인 24일까지 숙소와 UN본부를 번갈아 다니며 시위를 벌이겠다고 밝혔다. 

(* 영상 제공 - 김원식 <오마이뉴스> 시민기자/ 사진 제공 - 뉴저지 미씨)

Monday, September 22, 2014

Korean-Americans protest the Sewol_tragedy across the US as President Park GH is visiting the UN in NY on September 22nd.



Korean-Americans protest the #Sewol_tragedy across the #US as President Park GH is visiting the #UN in#NY on September 22nd.

President Park Geun-hye will be visiting the United Nations Headquarters in New York on September 22nd.

We will place yet another ad in the NYT during her visit to openly criticize Ms. Park and the South Korean government for their continued failure as President and government body in leading South Korea as a true democratic nation, and pressure them to enact a special bill that will enable an independent committee to investigate and indict those responsible for Sewol tragedy.

There are many questions Yet to be answered on the South Korean Ferry Sewol Tragedy.

On April 16th, the world watched as over 300 students helplessly lost their lives in the capsized ferry. 150 days have passed, yet we are still asking the same question: Why was not ONE rescued?

We are demanding the truth of Sewol tragedy. Please see below NY Times ads by angry Korean Americans (mostly moms/dads and individuals) and a crowd funding website to fund those three NYT ads.

3rd NYT ad
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-full-page-ad-for-truth-and-democracy-in-korea

2nd NYT ad
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/a-full-page-ad-promoting-the-sewol-ferry-act

1st NYT ad
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/full-page-nyt-ad-denouncing-the-south-korean-government

We are going to hold the banner of the painting
'Sewol Owol' by artist Hong Seong-dam.

This satirical painting was rejected at the Gwangju Biennale art exhibition and validated the ongoing media and art censorship of the South Korean government. The political art portrays Korean President Park Geun-hye as a maniacal scarecrow under a full control of her Chief of Staff Kim Gi-chun, and her own father and former dictator Park Chung-hee. Ms. Park is confronted by parents of school children who drowned in April's ferry sinking. South Korea's governmental censorship now extends to freedom of artistic expression on top of controlling mainstream media and suppressing freedom of speech.

Please read this NYT article on this issue:
http://nyti.ms/1ngBkNb

We urge President Park to stop destroying democracy, liberty and justice, and instead have the Congress pass the Sewol Ferry Act per the victims' families & Korean Bar Association's proposal.

We are protesting this Saturday and Sunday in several cities as follows:

Atlanta 9/20 Sat 3pm at CNN center/Olympic Park
Canada Toronto 9/20 3pm at North York City Hall,
Ottawa and various place
Canada Vancouver 9/20 Sat 2pm at Vancouver Art Gallery
San Diego, CA 9/20 Sat 2pm at Zion market
LA, CA. 9/20 Sat 5 pm at Korean Consulate General
Sanfrancisco, CA 9/21 Sun 1 pm SF City Hall - UN Plaza
NY, NY ( NJ and DC/VA/MD will join by bus) 9/21 Sun 4pm at NYT
Indianapolis IN 9/21 Sun 5pm at Indianapolis - Canal Walk (439 W Ohio St. Indianapolis IN 46202)