In what version of reality would it ever be a good idea for Korea to propose the resumption of "scientific whaling"?

Dear Angry Reader: Yes, I know this is a picture of a protest against Japan and not South Korea, but that is part of the point if you will read past this shock-value photo of an anti-whaling demonstration. 

Despite the success of K-pop and the rest of the Korean wave, the warm-and-fuzzy image of South Korea the world now seems to have is still a bit tenuous.

And when the rest of the world sometimes confuses you with neighbors like China (which is bad), North Korea (very, very bad), Japan (mixed bag), or yourself in the past (potentially bad), we're talking tower-of-Jenga-blocks tenuousness.

And it is against that backdrop that I would like whichever Republic of Korea officials are responsible for South Korean proposals at the International Whaling Commission to please reconsider their proposal to resume so-called "scientific hunting" of minke whales.

See, when the BBC is reporting on you being a part of this loathed practice, that's a very bad sign:

South Korea is proposing to hunt whales under regulations permitting scientific research whaling, echoing the programmes of its neighbour, Japan.

Hunting would take place near the Korean coast on minke whales. How many would be caught is unclear.

The South Korean delegation to the International Whaling Commission (IWC) said the research was needed "for the proper assessment of whale stocks".

Many governments at the IWC meeting condemned the Korean announcement.

There are several different stocks, or groups, of minke whales in the region, and one of the them, the so-called J-stock, is severely depleted.

Given that fact, "we believe that scientific whaling on this stock borders on the reckless," New Zealand's delegation head, Gerard van Bohemen said.

But Joon-Suk Kang, the head of the South Korean delegation, said the programme was necessary to answer questions about minke whale stocks that non-lethal research had been unable to solve.

Questions they want to answer: Which minke whale stock is most delicious?

Korea's IWC proposal:
"It's a cookbook!"

Look, I get that down in Ulsan there is a history of whaling supposedly eight thousand years old, but even the froggiest of officials in the deepest of wells must realize that our buddies next door in Japan are hated around the world by many people because they keep trying to pursue "scientific" whaling where the carcasses of these giant sea mammals legally end up on dinner plates because it would be a shame for them to go to waste.

Why, oh why, would you want to drag Korea into that miasma of piss-poor international relations?

Let me put it another way, ROK officials at the IWC. Japan's obstinacy has been on display lately as diplomats and not just right-wing nut jobs try to pressure the United States to remove local memorials to the Comfort Women (brutalized World War II-era sex slaves, for those of you living in a wifi-less cave). Japan's unpleasant combination of boneheadedness and pigheadedness on that issue is exactly how much of the world sees Japan's intransigence on "scientific" whaling (it doesn't help that they kill dolphins in documentaries), and you would basically paint South Korea with the same blood-soaked brush.

Let me put it yet another way: If countries like Great Britain were willing to lead a boycott of the 1988 Seoul Olympiad over consumption of dog meat, do you think South Korea will be able to dodge threats of a similar boycott of the 2018 Pyongchang Winter Olympics? (One of the problems of hosting major international events is that it means your cojones are hanging right out in the open.)

Don't think for a minute that I am the only one who's thought of that. Ditto with campaigns against Hyundai, Kia, Samsung, and LG.

You can't win, ROK. If you strike me down, I shall become
more powerful than you could possibly imagine.

Ultimately you have to ask: Is it worth it? Is reviving or preserving the whaling industry in Ulsan worth the scathing bad press, tarnished national reputation, and potential economic losses that will likely be incurred from this proposal?

Sorry, even though I don't like other countries pushing South Korea around (and I see no small amount of hypocrisy that so many critics of whaling come from the US and the UK which hunted several species nearly to extinction), I have to say no on this one.

See, whaling conjures up notions around the world of brutal murder of not just sentient but highly intelligent creatures and thus it stinks of being morally wrong. And that means adding them to the list of such creatures your country kills for food is indelibly bad for the national image (as well as stinking of being morally wrong).

...

A man who might be more hated than Apolo Ohno?

If that were even possible (I'm just kidding... the Apolo Ohno thing is a rivalry, and there was a strong "We wuz robbed!" vibe during the 2002 Olympics, but hate is an awfully strong word).

Anyway, it seems one of South Korea's former short-track stars has decided the best way to get into the Olympics is to bypass the uber-talented group of skaters on the Korea Republic team by joining another country. Yeah, passport and all.

Ahn Hyunsoo has decided to obtain Russian citizenship in the hopes of bringing the gold to the host nation's team during the 2014 Winter Olympiad at Sochi.

Yeah, that Sochi, the one that beat out South Korea's Pyongchang for hosting rights, four years after Vancouver had barely beaten out South Korea. Yeah, that Sochi, the summer resort that's uncomfortably close to some very angry separatists who occasionally resort to terrorism.

With that still fresh in SoKos' minds (all grievances since 1592 are fresh in SoKos' minds, except those committed by China and North Korea — I kid! I kid!), imagine how popular Mr Ahn will be if he beats out South Korean skaters who are still South Koreans, and brings home gold for the Russians.

Expect Apolo Ohno to smirk. More than usual.

...

Daily Kor for the half week ending Wednesday, July 13, 2011

story #4

Been too busy on the Mainland for daily Daily Kor. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it. (And does anyone get the joke that it's supposed to be one letter off from "Daily Kos" in the hopes that people will wind up here when they mistype?)

1. North Korea's IOC member expresses interest in co-hosting 2018 Winter Olympics recently awarded to Pyongchang County near inter-Korean border (Monster Island, AFP, Reuters, AP via WaPo, Yonhap, Korea Herald)
2. South Korean unemployment in June remains at lowest level since November 2010 (Reuters, Bloomberg, Korea Herald)
3. Local governments to hire 7000 more welfare workers by 2014 (Yonhap, Joongang Daily)
4. Days of heavy rains from monsoons leave at least nine dead (AP via WaPo, Yonhap)
• North Korea reportedly discharges water without warning from dam near DMZ (Yonhap, Korea Herald)
• North Korea says Typhoon Meari caused significant damage and casualties (Yonhap)
5. US Trade Representative Ron Kirk confident that free-trade agreements with South Korea, Colombia, and Panama will be passed by August (Reuters)
• US Secretary of State urges quick passage of FTAs, saying good diplomatic ties are crucial to job creation at home (AP via WaPo)
6. Kim Jong-il holds dinner party for visiting Chinese delegation, pledging to maintain close ties with Beijing (AP via WaPo, Global Security Newswire, Yonhap)
7. US sees no problem in North Korea temporarily heading UN body on nuclear disarmament, amid Canada's announcement it will boycott organization while North Korea heads it (AP via WaPo)
8. South Korea to cut greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent by 2020 (Chosun Ilbo)
9. Ryu Soyeon wins US Women's Open (NYT, Reuters, Joongang Daily)
10. Lie detectors to be used in growing soccer match-fixing scandal (AP via WaPo, Bloomberg)
11. North Korea says it has developed world's largest smart phone (Yonhap)

Should North Korea co-host the 2018 Pyongchang Winter Olympics?

When Pyongchang (aka Pyeongchang) was selected to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, I knew it was only a matter of time before someone would make a serious suggestion that (a) South Korea and North Korea field a joint team, and (b) North Korea be allowed to host some of the events.

On cue, via AFP:

North Korea would like to share some events in the 2018 Winter Olympics with South Korea, a senior North Korean sports official was quoted as saying Wednesday.

Jang Ung, a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said it was "positive" for Asia to host only its third Winter Games, the South's Yonhap news agency reported from Tokyo.

Asked about the possibility of sharing some events with host town Pyeongchang, Jang replied, "I hope so."

"The political and military situations between the Koreas aren't good and they have to be improved," Jang was quoted as saying. "Otherwise, they could influence the Olympics."

Jang was visiting the Japanese capital for the general assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia.

Pyeongchang, making its third bid for the Winter Olympics, secured the right to host the 2018 event in an IOC vote last week.

The South's ruling and opposition parties have agreed to try to have North and South Korea field a unified team and train players jointly.

But Sohn Hak-Kyu, leader of the main opposition Democratic Party, went further Monday and said he would explore ways for them to co-host the event.

He said the Games should become "a turning point in the history of the divided Korean peninsula, as well as in global peace".

Should I start claiming the title of Kushibo the Clairvoyant? Hardly. What I predicted was the same thing that has been happening since the 1988 Seoul Summer Olympics.

Just as in past years, we have someone like opposition leader Sohn Hakkyu saying this would be "a turning point in the history of the divided peninsula." That's long been the selling point, even becoming a key part of the bid for the 2014 games.

But will we see this come to any fruition? In the past, the best that's happened (as I recall) is the North and South teams walking in to the opening ceremonies together.

In the end, the prospect of a joint team ends up being a bargaining chip for Pyongyang, and they themselves back out in the end. The only way I see a joint team going through is if we actually see reunification between now and February 2018.

But I could be wrong. And that begs the question: is fielding a joint team fair or wise? Athletes on both sides of the DMZ work very hard to make the team, and maybe it's not right that they should lose their spot to bring on someone from another country (even if the same nation). There's also the issue of team cohesion: a joint team put together in the last few months might not be able to practice and play together often enough to make an effective team for events that require it.

Pyongchang a frontrunner in the 2018 Winter Olympics bidding process?

According to AP (via WaPo), Pyongchang (p'yŏng•ch'ang, aka Pyeongchang) and Munich are the favorites in the run-up to the July 6 vote:

The two days of meetings with IOC members consolidated Pyeongchang’s longtime status as the city to beat, but also provided Munich a tangible boost as a serious challenger and gave Annecy hope to believe it still has a chance.

“The French are working well and trying hard, but I think very honestly it will be between Germany and Korea,” Swiss IOC executive board member Rene Fasel told The Associated Press.

Another senior board member, Richard Carrion of Puerto Rico, agreed.

“I think this one is a close race between the top two,” he told the AP.

Fasel said there is “no question” that Pyeongchang remains the favorite. The South Koreans, bidding for a third consecutive time after narrow defeats for the 2010 and 2014 Games, are pushing the case of taking the Olympics to a new winter sports market in Asia.

“I don’t think it’s that easy,” said Gerhard Heiberg, an executive board member from Norway. “It’s closer than what people say.”

Let's hope Kim Yuna can charm off the ice as well as on.

Kim Yuna off to Switzerland

Kim Yuna is heading for Lausanne, Switzerland, to directly promote P'yŏngch'ang's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics ('cept they're writing it as Pyeongchang).

Although President Lee Myungbak is also in Europe for a week-long trip to Germany, Denmark, and France ahead of the ratification of the EU-Korea Free Trade Agreement, he himself will not be attending the Swiss meeting to promote Urinara's bid.

Anyway, with all the snow that was on the ground the last time the IOC visited, and now the reigning ice queen demonstrating that winter sports are starting to arrive in East Asia, the Olympics folks will be quite attentive when Ms Kim tells them how South Korea would be such a great venue.

Korea to perform harakiri if Pyongchang fails to get 2018 Winter Olympics

Well, not quite. But they might as well have said that:

South Korea faces "national disgrace" if its third bid to secure the winter Olympics fails, the sports minister said Tuesday on the eve of an IOC inspection.

Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choung Byoung-Gug, speaking in the eastern alpine resort of Pyeongchang, emphasised the government's determination to back its bid for the 2018 event.

Pyeongchang lost out to Vancouver for the 2010 Games and to the Russian resort of Sochi for 2014.

"Considering our national power and achievements of winter sports on the international stage, it must be a national disgrace if we lost the bid three straight times," Yonhap news agency quoted Choung as saying.

Look, Mr Choung, winning bids are not made of tears, appeals for unification with psychotic neighbors, or, now, warnings that your country will face national disgrace. A successful bid shows that you've got the train service and other ground transport to get people to the facilities (check!), you've got massive infrastructure to handle all the visitors (check!), it's easy to get to the facilities from major airports (check!), there's a lack of any separatist movement that might cause trouble during the games (check!), you've got a good likelihood of snow when the Olympics roll around (or the ability to make it in case Mother Nature isn't being cooperative), or perhaps a threat that you will cut off energy supplies to IOC members' home countries.

Cut it out with the "national disgrace" rhetoric. Focus on the snow and the infrastructure (and maybe how awarding this to South Korea helps promote winter sports in East Asia), because on these factors, South Korea rocks.

And consider dropping that stupid e from Pyeongchang: if they can't pronounce it, they don't want to go.

Daily Kor for the week ending February 14, 2011: Let it snow!

With the IOC coming to check out Pyongchang in reference to their third bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, Mother Nature couldn't have picked a better time to belch over half a meter of snow all over Kangwon Province. Let's not forget that a lack of snow is a concern for the Winter Olympics, even in Vancouver and especially in places like the summer resort of Sochi, Russia.

On an administrative note, this blog reached 300,000 hits yesterday since I officially started keeping track. It was eight-and-a-half months ago that I hit 200,000, and eight-and-a-half months before that that I officially hit 100,000. That's only one-eight of Marmot's Hole's daily numbers, but still respectable, I think.

1. Inter-Korean talks end as North Korea walks out (NYT, LAT)
• North Korea rejects new talks with "sinister" South Korea (BBC)
2. Bank of Korea keeps base rate at 2.75 percent (AP via WaPo, WSJ, Bloomberg)
3. Washington and Seoul sign amendments to KORUS FTA (AP via WaPo)
4. IOC arrives in Korea for inspection of Pyongchang (Pyeongchang) facilities for 2018 Winter Olympics bid (Yonhap)
• February "snow bomb" may help bid (Korea Times)
5. SK and Samsung engineering arms win $2.5 billion construction order for major gas plant in Saudi Arabia (AFP, Yonhap) 
6. South Korea offers easier loans for tenants and tax incentives for builders in bid to curb rising rents (Reuters)
7. Foot-and-Mouth Disease spreading across North Korea (Yonhap)
8. In wake of Foot-and-Mouth Disease outbreak, South Korea plans to increase tariff-free pork imports (Reuters)
9. Democratic Party ends boycott of National Assembly (Joongang Daily)
10. Op-ed: Is angry Tea Party rhetoric to blame for Cupid's violent rampage? (MSNBC)

Is Sochi still a good choice for the 2014 Winter Olympics?

I'm going to sound like an insensitive jackass for saying this so soon after the horrible incident that left dozens dead, but the bombing at Domodedovo International Airport on the outskirts of Moscow has underscored concerns I've previously expressed that the Sochi venue for the 2014 Winter Olympics may have been a poor choice. In 2007, when the IOC met, the South Korean mountainous county of P'yŏngch'ang (Pyeongchang) lost out to the summer resort city of Sochi, Russia, when then-President Vladimir Putin showed up and tacitly threatened the European members of the IOC that there would be dire consequences if Russia was not awarded the games.

In addition to concerns about the weather in the palm-lined Russian resort city (which became an issue at the 2010 games in Vancouver, a venue that beat out Pyongchang four years earlier), I wrote about concerns that Sochi was just "a few hundred miles from Chechnya, a major producer of counterfeit American dollars and angry Muslim separatist suicide bombers with a serious score to settle with Moscow." Almost exactly a year after that post, the bombing at the airport has become the latest in a series of terror attacks that should make us seriously question (a) whether Chechen separatists will use the high-profile games or the FIFA World Cup four years later as a prime target and (b) whether Russian authorities are even capable of stopping that.

And I'm certainly not the only one thinking this. It's certainly on the IOC's mind enough that they issued a statement about it:

The International Olympic Committee has "no doubt" that Russia will deliver a safe Winter Games in Sochi in 2014 despite security concerns raised by the suicide bombing attack at Moscow's main airport.

"Unfortunately, terrorism is a global phenomenon and no region is exempt, which is why security at the games is a top priority for the IOC," the Olympic body told The Associated Press in a statement Tuesday. "At the Olympics, security is the responsibility of the local authorities, and we have no doubt that the Russian authorities will be up to the task."

FIFA also expressed support for Russia, which will host the 2018 World Cup in 13 cities. It will host the Confederations Cup as a test event in 2017.

"FIFA is confident that Russian authorities will ensure adequate security plans are in place," soccer's governing body said in a statement.

To be fair, the downing of Korean Airlines flight 858, an apparent terror attack planned by Kim Jong-il himself ten months before the 1988 Seoul Olympics, was no reason to change the venue of South Korea's showcase event, but South Korea was not the victim of repeated and seemingly constant terror attacks. Russia, on the other hand, seems unable to escape such events thanks to its on-going separatist war. The Guardian has a list of major terror attacks in the post-Soviet era.

And if the separatists are able to pull off such attacks in Moscow, at a place like an airport that is supposed to be relatively secure, imagine how easy it would be to visit such assaults in Sochi, which is only a few hundred miles away from Grozny, the capital of Chechnya. Moreover, the separatists who are remind the world of the carnage in Chechnya would want to strike at such a time when the entire world is watching. Sure, lots of innocent people would die, but these folks have shown that even killing schoolchildren is acceptable to them.

Now, don't get me wrong: this is not sour grapes and I certainly don't think that Pyongchang should be retroactively awarded the games. In fact, if a venue change were to come, it should not be now, but sometime later, with something else as a pretext. The terrorists should not score a victory this way. But I do think the IOC should come up with a plan whereby they declare the summer resort of Sochi just not on schedule or some such, and then have Vancouver or Nagano or Lillehammer or some other prior venue host the games. (Frankly, even if Pyongchang is awarded the 2018 games, I don't think its on-going preparations make it ready to host four years ahead of time.)

Switching already-chosen venues for world events is not so unusual. Or, at least, thinking about switching venues is not so unusual. Civil unrest in South Korea in the spring and summer of 1987 led then-mayor of Los Angeles Tom Bradley to suggest that L.A. would be willing to host the Olympics for a second time in a row if the IOC decided Seoul was too dangerous.

In 2002 and 2003, as it became clear Athens was way behind schedule for construction of venues for the 2004 games, some suggested moving the games to Seoul or Los Angeles, which had the infrastructure ready to go. Indeed, had that happened, perhaps Greece might not be in the debt crisis it now finds itself in.

More recently, some have considered whether or not Qatar should remain as the host of the 2022 FIFA World Cup if doing so would require a calendar change to January (which would interfere with regular soccer and the Winter Olympics), as FIFA head Sepp Blatter has suggested, to keep the players from dropping dead in the 45°C desert heat. Indeed, that last one underscores that Pyongchang and South Korea keeps losing out to places that probably should not have won the hosting rights for these events at all.

But let's be realistic: On February 7, 2014, we will almost certainly be watching the opening of the winter Olympics in Sochi. And I hope and pray that everything goes off without a hitch. Despite worries about attacks in 1988 and again during the Korea/Japan World Cup in 2002, the games were safe and secure (it was the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, I believe, that last saw a terror attack), although North Korea did try something out in the Yellow Sea just as the games were ending.

I do think Russia, if it sets its mind to it and takes this seriously, can do the same. But next time, IOC and FIFA, take this kind of thing a bit more seriously.

Third time's a charm?

The former governor of Kangwon-do Province, who oversaw P'yŏngch'ang County (aka Pyeongchang) get oh-so-close to hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics and then the 2014 games, has been brought back as an ambassador of sorts for the 2018 bid.

From AP, via USA Today:

Kim Jin-sun is the former governor of Gangwon province who led the unsuccessful bids for the 2010 and 2014 Winter Games. He was appointed by the South Korean government Tuesday as an "ambassador" to the 2018 committee.

The committee is lauding Kim's "valuable international experience" and his "network of global sporting community contacts." Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho is the head of Pyeongchang's bid.

Pyeongchang is competing against Annecy, France, and Munich. The IOC will select the host city in July.

I think our chances are good. Pyongchang had snow this year when Vancouver lacked it (one of the worries about the Pyongchang bid, we were told), and in the meantime South Korea has been working hard on putting in the railway infrastructure that would make getting out to its venue a breeze, whether or not the games ever get there.

Okay, okay. I have to stop paying so much attention to this or I'll jinx the bid again.

Rogge warrior

[above: The camera, spikes Lee.]

It seems that IOC head honcho Jacques Rogge thinks there's nothing wrong with former Samsung head honcho — who was convicted of tax evasion and then pardoned — regaining his seat on the IOC board. So says CTV:

Jacques Rogge on Monday defended the controversial reinstatement of former Samsung chief Lee Kun-Hee to the IOC, saying his amnesty by the Korean president on tax evasion charges meant he was cleared of wrongdoing.

The billionaire buisnessman, who voluntarily gave up his rights and duties as an IOC member in 2008 following his conviction, was pardoned by Korean President Lee Myung-Bak in December.

His reinstatement as a member of the International Olympic Committee came after a meeting of the body's executive board on the sidelines of the 2010 Winter Olympics on Sunday.

IOC president Rogge defended the move and dismissed concerns about the image of the Olympic body, which has long been tarnished by corruption allegations.

"Mr Lee was convicted in his country and was granted an amnesty. The amnesty alleviates the conseqeunces of the criminal office," he said.

While Lee was readmitted to the organisation, he was also issued with a reprimand and suspended from the right to sit on any IOC commission for five years.

I do wonder if Rogge's enthusiastic defense of Lee bodes well for Pyongychang's chances to host the 2018 Winter Olympiad. The third time's the charm!

Protesting against Olympic corporate culture in Vancouver

First the lack of snow, and now this.

Had they been given the nod for the 2010 winter games, does anyone think for a minute that the people of Pyongchang would have been protesting against anything related to the Olympics just days before they were to begin?

Note: For fun, type "snow vancouver" in the Google search field and about halfway through "vancouver" you'll get "no snow vancouver" as a suggested option. 

Global (sporting event) warming

Back in 2003, Pyongchang (평창/; aka Pyeongchang) narrowly lost the right to host the 2010 Winter Olympics to Vancouver, British Columbia (the one in Canada). Four years later, when Russian President Vladimir Putin showed up at the vote and threatened with his eyes to cut off energy supplies to Western Europe, Pyongchang narrowly lost the right to hold the games to the Russian Black Sea summer resort of Sochi, a southern city just a few hundred miles from Chechnya, a major producer of counterfeit American dollars and angry Muslim separatist suicide bombers with a serious score to settle with Moscow.

Indeed, the latter loss — and the footage of Pyongchanger children weeping in front of cameras — brought out a parade of people in the K-blogosphere and elsewhere telling us why this icy and mountainous county in Kangwon-do isn't ready for Olympic prime time. My favorite was by Mr James Card, a seasoned Pyongchang skier, who wrote that the lack of opportunities to urinate from the side of the slopes really hurt Pyongchang's chances:

There are no back-country, off-trail zones and the runs are blocked off in a way that it is tough to find a place to take a mid-slope pee in the woods.

Mr Card's own bladder-control issues aside, there were also concerns that Kangwon-do sometimes lacked piles and piles of snow. Here's what one Marmot's Holeian wrote:

The mountains are not Olympic caliber and the fact that they rely on largely man-made snow makes it a joke. They can plan to build all the hockey rinks and bobsled runs they want, but a good site requires topography and climate, neither of which can be bought.

True, perhaps, but guess what we have in store at Vancouver, which beat out Pyongchang the first time around: some venues are so lacking in snow that it's having to truck it in from other places. From the New York Times:

With seven years to prepare and a budget of about $2 billion, organizers have nearly everything in place for next month’s Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

A dearth of snow, and dim forecasts showing not a flake in the near future and temperatures too warm to manufacture it with machines, have forced Olympic organizers to go to the much-dreaded contingency plan at Cypress Mountain, where six skiing and snowboarding events are scheduled to be held.

The Games will go on, but not without some massive maneuvering. Snow, some man-made and stockpiled during the season, will be brought in from higher elevations by land (snow-moving equipment and dump trucks) and possibly air (a helicopter), according to the Vancouver Organizing Committee.

In some cases straw and wood forms will be used as foundations and topped with snow, further reducing the amount of snow needed. At least one helicopter is already in action, moving straw bales that will give shape to competition courses normally made entirely of snow.

They are assuring us that this is normal, and I believe them. At least Vancouver has some nearby snow to snag; I'm not so sure how Sochi the summer resort (whose train station is pictured at left, behind all those palm strees) will fare in four years.

I guess if all else fails, the games could be moved to Hawaii's Big Island. There's plenty of snow there.

Daily Kor for October 5, 2009

1. North Korean leader Kim Jong-il greets Wen Jiabao at Pyongyang's airport as Chinese leader makes rare and important visit to DPRK (AP, BBC, Yonhap, Reuters, Bloomberg, UPI, my take)
   
2. South Korea refuses to return eleven North Koreans who defected by boat (AP via WaPo, AFP with map)
3. India seizes North Korean ship but allows it to leave after finding "nothing incriminatory" (AP via WaPo)
4. South Korea to launch readily deployable 3000-member peacekeeping unit in 2010 (Yonhap)
5. South Korean crackdown on visa overstayers extended until end of 2009 (Korea Times)
6. South Korea's faster-than-expected pace of economic recovery ranked sixth out of G20 nations (Yonhap)
7. Weeping Chicagoans blame South Korean "crying coaches" for their city's failed Olympic bid: "We should never have followed that really stupid 'sobbing strategy'," laments mayor (Chicago Sun-Times)