ROK and Inter-Korean relations
July 2009
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'Korea on Verge of Becoming Shameful Nation'
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
The outgoing human rights agency's chief said South Korea is on the verge of being degraded to a ``shameful nation'' because of the government's backpedaling on human rights and democracy.
Outgoing National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Chairman Ahn Kyong-whan urged President Lee Myung-bak to scrap a downsizing plan for the commission and to pay attention to the backlash from international communities.
[Human rights]
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President Lee criticizes former administrations for aid to North Korea
Analysts suggest President Lee’s comments to foreign press reveals intention to discontinue inter-Korean cooperation projects
President Lee Myung-bak issued what observers are considering his most forceful hardline statement to North Korea to date in an interview with a foreign journalist on Tuesday. Some are criticizing it as a virtual declaration of abandoning relations with North Korea, revealing he will no longer concern himself with his duty as the top manager of inter-Korean relations.
[Aid weapon]
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Suppression of the progressive pro-reunification organizations and personalities
We are sending this letter on the current south Korean authorities’ increasing suppression of the progressive pro-reunification organizations and personalities in their struggle for the national reconciliation and unity as well as the reunification of the homeland.
[NSL]
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Seoul may deploy wartime reserves in North Korea
The Defense Ministry is considering deploying 100,000 reserve forces in North Korea in wartime on a noncombatant basis to control and protect residents, sources said yesterday.
The plan is to compensate for the reduction in regular troop strength as envisioned by the Defense Reform Master Plan announced Friday.
The ministry will cut the armed forces in phases from the current 657,000 to 517,000 through 2020, while modernizing weapons, intelligence and operational systems.
These cuts will mean insufficient operations personnel to stabilize rear areas of the North during a potential war.
The master plan includes the creation of 10 special wartime divisions which would be filled with paramilitary forces, officials said.
They would be in charge of maintaining order, safeguarding civilians and deterring them from organizing militia against South Korea, the sources said.
The contingency forces would be mobilized within two months of a war breaking out, they added. A reserve brigadier general would likely be in command.
They will be modeled after Zaytun, the Korean unit dispatched to northern Iraq between 2004 and 2008 for post-war rehabilitation, job training and medical service, the officials said.
The ministry plans to enhance the training of reserves and to arm them with higher-capacity weapons.
It also decided to maintain their number at 1.85 million from 2020, readjusting the previous plan to reduce it from the current 3 million to 1.5 million.
Full-day training will be increased incrementally from the current 2-3 days, to 4-5 days, the ministry said.
North Korea currently maintains about 1.2 million regular and 7.7 million reserve troops, according to the ministry.
(jjhwang@heraldm.com)
By Hwang Jang-jin
[Takeover] [Military balance]
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Kim Dae-jung blasts Korea’s current levels of democracy
July 04, 2009
Former President Kim Dae-jung said he was “mortified and angry” with the crisis that democracy in Korea faces today, taking another verbal shot at the current conservative administration.
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Open sex club raises decency debate
A new type of sex club in the Gangnam area is heating up debate on sexual freedom in open spaces. A theme club which opened in a Gangnam street last month is gaining popularity by allowing members to openly have sex on the premises, said police officials yesterday.
The entrance is strictly restricted to couples who have received in advance their adult age certification through the club's website.
Under the club's motto that "all sexual taboos are taboos," visitors freely have sexual relationships with their partners or involve themselves in partner swapping or group sex, according to officials. The rest of the crowd is free to watch any other couple.
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Seoul to increase defense R&D spending
South Korea said Friday it will raise its funding for defense research programs by nearly one third over the next half decade to help counter North Korea's nuclear and missile threats, according to Yonhap News.
The share of research and development investment in the annual defense budget will rise from 5.6 percent this year to 7.4 percent in 2014, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement.
The mid-term National Defense Plan for fiscal 2010-2014 "prioritizes the procurement of defense capabilities against the nuclear and missile threat of North Korea," it said.
Last week, South Korea unveiled a 599.3 trillion won ($469 billion) program aimed at obtaining the ability to monitor every North Korean nuclear and missile base independently by 2020 and bomb it if necessary.
[Military balance] [Threat]
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S. Korea to Craft Defenses Against NK Nukes
South Korea will spend tens of millions of dollars to build up defenses against any North Korean nuclear attack, AFP reported Friday, quoting the Defense Ministry.
North Korea has vowed to build more nuclear bombs in response to a U.N. resolution which imposed sanctions for its May 25 nuclear test, the second since 2006.
The South will spend up to 100 billion won ($78 million) over the next five years to protect key facilities against electromagnetic pulse (EMP) waves from high-altitude nuclear explosions, according to AFP.
[Military balance] [Threat]
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Korean Banks Turn to Malaysia to Raise Funds
A growing number of Korean banks have been raising funds in Malaysia since early last year when the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis began to shake the world. The Korean government-backed Hana Bank issued US$284 million worth of bonds in Malaysia on June 22, and in February the Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) issued $60 million worth of three-year maturity bonds in the Southeast Asian nation.
Some $1.3 billion worth of funds have been issued in the Malaysian market by Korean banks, including KEXIM, Woori Bank, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, Industrial Bank of Korea, and Hyundai Capital Services. Last year Malaysia saw "an influx of foreign ringgit bond issuers," the Wall Street Journal wrote on June 22, "dominated by Korean banks."
What makes Malaysia so attractive to Korean financial institutions? The country offers advantages over not only the U.S. and European markets but also the Asian financial hubs of Hong Kong and Singapore. One such advantage is that Malaysia has become the first stop for Middle Eastern oil money interested in Asian markets. Thus, while Hong Kong and Singapore have been hit by the global financial crisis, Malaysia is enjoying a relative abundance of financial assets. With a view to becoming a financial hub for the Islamic world, Malaysia began issuing "Sukuk" Islamic bonds in 2001. As of late 2008, Malaysia's Islamic financial assets had grown to $51.83 billion, up 23 percent from the previous year.
[Halal]
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