Military Beat

A couple of Korean reporters who used to cover the Pentagon for the Joongang Ilbo seem to have got their panties in a twist over the South Korean Ministry of Defense’s plan to move the press room out of the building. They might want to take a course in persuasive journalism, however, as it starts off talking about the Pentagon system being international evaluated only to suddenly drop that angle, the only sources they quote are actually arguing in favor of the plan, and they sort of finish up without any real conclusion. If I were a J-school professor I would give this piece a C.

In Washington’s Department of Defense building the ‘Pentagon’ the briefing room is on the first floor. Next to that is the press room with facilities for reporters to prepare their articles and send them.

Other than that the Department of Defense offers separate press rooms for major news organizations such as CNN, ABC, and so on. The reporters making their way in and out of the Pentagon roam the halls as they please they can have a conversation with the Department’s workers and soldiers from the joint chiefs of staff. This Pentagon briefing system is hailed as an international public national defense information “Global Standard”.

What does Korea have? Korea’s Ministry of Defense is currently in the middle of pushing a plan to move its press and briefing rooms outside. On the 27th a spokesman from the Ministry explained “We’re examining whether to move the current press room inside the Ministry of Defense to a citizen’s service center building outside the grounds.” The spokesman added “If reporters intend to come into the Ministry of Defense, then they will have to announce their intent before receiving a temporary visitor’s pass. Moving the briefing room out instead of maintaining one in the Ministry of Defense is a principle for the government information agency.”

However, moving the press room outside the Ministry of Defense would in effect make it impossible to gather information. A different spokesman retorted that “Once the press room is moved outside the Ministry of Defense, if a reporter receives a visitor’s pass and enters the Ministry and requests an interview it’s all going to be on the record, and so who is going to meet up with reporters to answer sensitive questions?”

Even now at the Ministry of Defense there are strong limits on the gathering of data. The press and briefing rooms are on the first floor of the new government building but there are strict controls on entering the office and contacting employees. Since regular offices in the Ministry of Defense building are locked with security systems, reporters can’t just use their passes to throw open the doors and walk in. Also, by the regulations only a department chief or those of higher rank are allowed to meet reporters. Moreover, reporters have to call in advance and make an appointment and there must be a third party in the meeting including the director of public relations.

Naturally, active-duty soldiers mindful of promotions and so on avoid contact with the press. This is because they carry their awareness of the danger that they could receive some penalty if they make contact with the press without permission or reveal information disadvantageous to the government.

Gay Pride in Korea

Though you’d never know it from their near-total absence in public and the insistence of some Koreans that they don’t even exist, there is actually a growing movement for the acceptance of Korean gays and lesbians. One of the nation’s most well-known, if not exactly most popular, singers is one Ha Ri-su, who was born as a man but, ahem, isn’t one anymore. Anyone who’s been to Itaewon is certainly aware of the delicately-named Homo Hill, and that’s far from the only place to find a gay or lesbian bar or nightclub — the number of such in Seoul climbs to somewhere south of 300. There are several gay rights organizations, and perhaps the largest of them is chingusai.

As a still quite conservative society, though, most Korean gays remain firmly closeted and discrimination against those out of it is said to be fierce. And for the next week, as Yonhap News notes, Seoul is host to the 8th annual incarnation of the Queer Culture Festival. It’s our pleasure to bring you our first reader-requested translation.

On the second in the Berlin Grounds at the Cheonggyecheon-2 district of Seoul’s Jung-gu, the “8th Annual Queer Culture Festival” opened to celebrate sexual minorities.

‘Queer’, meaning strange or odd, is a term for calling homosexuals, transgenders, and other sexual minorities.

While flags with rainbows, the symbol of sexual minorities, were being hung at the periphery of the festival grounds, appeals were made for citizens to join together for the human rights of homosexuals and AIDS patients.

Before sings songs and so on at the festival in the Berlin Grounds, a parade led by a festival vehicle traveled 1.8 kilometers along the Cheonggyecheon.

Transgender Han Mu-ji (pseudonym, 28 years old) said “We hope this festival raises awareness of the suffering of sexual minorities and finds a solution to the misunderstandings and prejudices that people have about them.”

Movies, parties, and other diverse events will follow until the 10th.

Wikipedia Wars

The battle over Dokdo — which is mainly a one-sided affair — has spilled over onto the virtual pages of Wikipedia. The name of the article describing it has bounced back and forth between ‘Dokdo’, the Korean name, and ‘Liancourt Rocks’, the somewhat-standard international designation. A vote is in progress to potentially change it back to Liancourt Rocks, which has triggered the predictable round of tired debating points being trotted out.

This time, however, we have an amusing new wrinkle. A writer for the Chosun Ilbo wrote a piece describing the debate and went on to actually register a Wikipedia account and vote in favor of the name Dokdo, followed by a wave of brand-new users doing the same, disrupting a debate which had been proceeding relatively smoothly. The attentive reader may note that he blames a band of Japanese users, who did not exist, for creating a large number of Liancourt Rocks votes, which also did not exist.

On the internet encyclopedia Wikipedia, the current designation for Dokdo is ‘Dokdo’ but it is in danger of being changed to ‘Liancourt Rocks’. ‘Liancourt Rocks’ is the western name derived from the name of the French whaling ship ‘Liancourt’ which discovered Dokdo in January 1849. The trouble over Dokdo is from the US government, CIA, State Department, and others using ‘Liancourt Rocks’ as the standard name for Dokdo.

On Wikipedia, voting has been underway since the 21st (world time) on whether to continue using the name ‘Dokdo’ or change it to ‘Liancourt Rocks’ or something else. Currently on Wikipedia if you input ‘Takeshima’ or ‘Liancourt Rocks’ you are automatically redirected to ‘Dokdo’.

For the name change and redirect, on the 24th there were currently 19 votes in favor of ‘Dokdo’ and 22 in favor of ‘Liancourt Rocks’.

There was a mere one vote in favor of the Japanese style name ‘Takeshima’ or ‘Takeshima/Dokdo’, and four writings in favor of ‘Dokdo/Takeshima’.

Typically voting lasts 5 days but this vote is continuing without definite end.

However, it appears that the conclusion of the balloting will be to change Wikipedia’s formal designation of Dokdo to ‘Liancourt Rocks’. A large number of Japanese are writing insisting that the name ‘Liancourt Rocks’ be used instead of the name used by the internationally nearly powerless Korea.

In the beginning Wikipedia used ‘Dokdo’ as the English name for Dokdo. But in May of 2005 it was changed in netizen voting to ‘Liancourt Rocks’ and last June another vote changed it back to ‘Dokdo’. All 14 netizens in that voting period cast their votes in favor of ‘Dokdo’.

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia made by its numerous global users and which anybody can edit as they please.

If somebody makes an edit or a new section, the many participants around the world verify and improve it.

But for controversial issues like the name of Dokdo it’s not possible to make edits, and a voting is held to reach consensus. You can participate in voting after going to Wikipedia’s homepage and logging in.

Presidential candidate Lee Myung-bak says “be a Myung-Bak-tious”

With the intrigue of the election season fast approaching and the candidates jockeying for position, one can read no end of writers speculating about the outcome and tracking who’s up and who’s down. Keeping up with it is exhausting. We thought our readers might enjoy a lighter look at the most entertaining candidate, former mayor of Seoul and somewhat nutty guy Lee Myung-bak.

According to ohmynews, in celebration of Teacher’s Day on May 15th, Lee Myung-bak, former mayor of Seoul, served as a one-day honorary teacher at Daeshin high school in Daejeon. The emphasis of the mayor’s lecture included a Konglish phrase he himself coined. The mayor wrote proudly on the blackboard, “Be a MBtious”, as though being ambitious was simply not enough. Some may wonder what makes him full of himself.

Lee Myung-Bak is commonly seen as an exemplary, self-made entrepreneur. He was born into a very poor family in Osaka, Japan in 1941 and later moved to Pohang, Republic of Korea where he spent the latter half of his childhood years. At age 37, Lee Myung-Bak was appointed CEO of Hyundai Construction and maintained his leadership role in the corporation for 15 years. In 2002, he was elected as Mayor of Seoul. During his time as Mayor, Lee Myung-Bak implemented two large-scale projects that were both exposed to massive amounts of publicity during his 4 year term of office. The first project, the restoration of the river Cheonggyecheon in downtown Seoul, has been assessed as successful by many critics. The other project, the reformation of the public transportation system of Seoul, initially caused a great deal of confusion. However, it is generally agreed that the reformed system has created a better means of transportation and is symbolized as Lee Myung-Bak’s main achievement.

In addition to his long list of lifetime achievements, Lee Myung-Bak is also well known for dozens of awkward public statements that are almost as awkward as his grasp of English grammar. Like any other public official, he has earned a plethora of ridicules and criticisms that have resulted from his lack of finesse. One of his most well-known rhetorical gems was reported in this article:

“Seoul, the capital of the Republic of Korea, is a divine city ruled by God and Seoulites are God’s people. (……) I dedicate Seoul to God with young people’s hearts and efforts who dream of and pray for Seoul’s restoration and rehabilitation.” (at a prayer meeting at Seoul JangChung stadium on May, 31st in 2004.)

Here is another piece of protestant elder Lee Myung-Bak’s speech that has recently spawned controversy. When he was asked what he thinks of abortion, he replied:

“Basically, I’m against it, but you know, there are inevitable cases. For instance, if a child is to be born as disabled, it seems this inevitable abortion should be accepted. However, fundamentally I’m against abortion. It may sound conservative.”

MB’s official homepage (in Korean)
MBtious Cyworld (in Korean)