By Gavin Hudson •
June 25, 2008
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s public approval ratings took a dramatic nose dive last month when he okayed a deal with President Bush to import low-grade US beef — banned since the 2003 outbreak of mad cow disease – into South Korea. Demonstrations, first against US beef and then against the president himself, swelled throughout the country, climaxing at weekly protests 80,000 strong in the capitol. Oops.
So how do you make an angry populace happy again? President Lee decided that the best way to appease voters (and mark his 100th day as president) was to pardon 2.8 million petty thieves and scammers, and also to give drunk drivers a clean driving slate. Does anyone follow the logic here?
By Gavin Hudson •
April 5, 2008
It’s springtime in South Korea. Just a month ago the ground was covered in snow; today the hills are pink with cherry blossoms. Eager solar panels soak up the warm sunshine. On the mountain, wind turbines spin in the sweetly scented spring breeze. In the seaboard city of Gangneung, children’s delighted shrieks fill neighborhood parks.
Over the city, military jets cleave the sky.
The jets that weave all day long over Gangneung are a reminder that for the past 60 years Korea has been a country divided and at war with itself. Gangneung, with its windfarm, solar panels, and cherry blossoms, lies less than 100 miles (160 km) from the Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, the world’s last remaining Cold War border.
This week, as springtime blooms, a series of events unfolded which threaten to destabilize the delicate balance between the North and the South.
