The Telegraph plagiarizes Joshua's work at One Free Korea

Go here to see the case laid out. It's pretty clear-cut. Egregious and inexcusable.

Joshua's a lawyer, and a couple other lawyers chime in (including Brendon Carr), and they discuss whether Google Maps images that have been interpreted (i.e., painstakingly pored over and analyzed to locate key North Korea structures and facilities previously unknown to the public) and enhanced (e.g., arrows added to show where key items are located) are Joshua's or remain the property of Google.

But clearly the descriptions of the locations and the facilities that are provided by Joshua cannot even remotely be considered the property of Google. They are solely the work of Joshua and they are not on the maps.

Make no mistake, this is serious business. This is the kind of thing that gets undergrads kicked out of college, thank you very much. In the professional world, this is out-and-out theft: The Telegraph passed this off as their own research, and on that basis they sell subscriptions and advertising. They profited from Joshua's efforts. Shame on them.

The Telegraph owes Joshua a public apology, an explanation, and perhaps some cash.

UPDATE (next morning):
According to Joshua, The Telegraph is now crediting One Free Korea for its photos and descriptions. I think they should also issue an apology and explanation, but if Joshua is satisfied, then I'll let it go.

What... just... happened...?!

Apparently President Lee's party crashed and burned (a little).

Um, I thought the Hannara Party (aka the Grand National Party) had it in the bag, what with the Chonan sinking fallout and everything. Or are there that many people who are that cynical about the ruling party injecting Chonan-related sentiments during the campaign period (or so I've heard; I'm not actually in Seoul right now).

The ruling party won only six of sixteen governorships and mayorships of the provinces and metropolitan prefectures. The main opposition Democratic Party won seven. The remaining three went to two independents and one member of the Liberty Forward Party, which sounds like it was made-up.

So what happened? Could it be that while President Lee gets good marks for his mature handling of the Chonan response, these local elections had little to do with North-South issues? I guess it also bears noting that the most populous jurisdictions — Seoul, Kyŏnggi-do Province, Pusan, etc. — did in fact go to the ruling party.

Truthfully, though, if the conservatives want to hold onto the Blue House in 2012, it may be all for the best that the opposition has a chance to get hold of the provinces and screw things up there for a while. In Korea, incumbency is nearly a guaranteed ticket to disdain and unpopularity. (I said something similar back in 2006; a good read.)

Anyway, 13,000 foreign nationals with permanent residency voted, as did 80,000 naturalized Koreans. I wouldn't expect to see that kind of thing in California or Hawaii anytime soon. About half of all native-born Kokos, however, couldn't be bothered. Maybe they should stop making it a holiday.

UPDATE:
Marmot has a good round-up of news links related to post-election analysis.

A contest I missed

Well, the prize was a trip to Hawaii. I'd have to pay money to go somewhere else just to take advantage of it.

Election Day

I can't vote in Korea, but I did finally get my absentee ballot for California. I voted for Jerry Brown, who was governor back when I was a little kid.

And I voted YES on Prop 14 (which did pass), which allows for open primaries where the top two go on the November ballot. I think this will prevent us from getting Dems and Repubs that are too left or right if center, but it might also lead to entrenched incumbency.

JC on CC

[This is one of those posts that may make people rethink what they think about me.] 

I don't have cable TV, so I only watch programs like Jon Stewart's or Stephen Colbert's when I come across a good clip. I occasionally catch the watered-down-for-broadcast-television episodes of "South Park" that are stripped of the profanity, gore, gay sex, and animal orgies.

But I've seen enough to conclude that Comedy Central — and "South Park" in particular — pokes a lot of fun at Christianity and Christians (just as it pokes fun at just about everything). So it's no surprise that Comedy Central would be interested in making a half-hour comedy about Jesus, tentatively called "JC":

“A half-hour animated show about JC (Jesus Christ) wanting to escape his father's enormous shadow and to live life in NYC as a regular guy. A lot has changed in 2000 years and he is the ultimate fish out of water. Meanwhile his all-powerful yet apathetic father would rather be playing video games than listening to JC recount his life in the city. JC is a playful take on religion and society with a sprinkle of dumb.”

Actually, I could see them being so aware of their own ability to offend that they might go out of their way to be "religiously sound" and even relatively reverent in some respects, such that a lot of non-fundamentalist Christians (and even some fundamentalists) might actually enjoy the program.

Needless to say, some conservative Christian groups are not too happy. And they're not too happy enough that they're preemptively protesting the show:

Based on Comedy Central's long history of mocking Jesus Christ and the Christian faith, it is clear that this show is intended to further denigrate a religion practiced by 80 percent of Americans.

There is a very clear double standard in the way the media and the popular culture treat Islam with respect and deference while mocking and ridiculing Christians and Christianity at every opportunity.

I do take issue with their statement that "Islam and other faiths are treated carefully and respectfully by the media and Hollywood elite." Some of "the media" has been encouraging cartoonists to deliberately offend any Muslim who feels that it is wrong to depict the Prophet Mohammed, a big story they might have missed while poring over the Hollywood Reporter for the latest antics of Comedy Central.

TMTKR, despite some high-profile cases (also here) that occasionally occur, I feel that South Korea has a relatively high degree of religious tolerance, particularly for a place with as much religious diversity as Korea has. That has been encouraged through means that would almost certainly be considered unconstitutional in the US, including the official recognition of holy days from the major faiths as public holidays (Christmas, Buddha's Birthday, Ch'usŏk, Lunar New Year, etc.) and a heavy-handed approach when it comes to defaming various faiths. My point is that "JC" probably wouldn't fly if it ever made it out of a network brainstorming session.

By contrast, there are some who seem to relish the chance to skewer religious faith, for no reason other than they have the right to do so. I'm not making a value judgement one way or the other, just an observation, although I sometimes find myself agreeing with Patrick Buchanan's sentiment [HT to WC] — and God help me that I'm actually agreeing with Pat about anything — that while the Mohammed-related cartoonists should have every right to do what they did, maybe they ought to consider the ramifications of their actions:

If you wish to get along with a man, you do not insult his faith. And if you seek to persuade devout Muslims that al-Qaeda is our enemy, not Islam, you do not condone with silence insults to the faith of a billion people.

Can't we all just get along?

Kristen Stewart in Korea [updated]

... along with one of those other people from the Twilight franchise whose name is really not important to me, even though my oldest niece and my female teenage cousins all know everything about him.

Apparently fifty fans greeted them at Incheon International Airport, but the pair didn't take any pictures or sign any autographs (perhaps they had a tight schedule and they were fatigued after the long flight from Australia).

Note to the Korean press corps and Korean netizens: If Kristen Stewart gives a disinterested look and a vague answer that exudes an atmosphere of apathy and aloofness when she is asked about kimchi, Rain, or the Korean Wave, please do not be offended.

That is just the way Kristen Stewart and her on-screen persona Bella are. And since she says things like this, don't push her too hard. It wouldn't look good if her breakdown came at the hands of the Korean media.

Incidentally, I didn't realize Kristen Stewart was a girl until halfway through Panic Room. Won't make that mistake again.

UPDATE:
The media is finally catching up with this story (so here's another post). We have pictures of Kristen Stewart with Taylor Lautner (yep, I had to look that name up) coming from OK! Magazine, and more pictures from m&c, whoever they are. More pics here and here.

Here's one of the pics now:

That's Kristen Stewart at the premiere of The Twilight Sage: Eclipse at the ritzy Shilla Hotel in central Seoul.

I've seen both of the previous films (at my niece's behest) and I must say they aren't that bad. There are worst things to do than watch Kristen Stewart and several sexy female vampires for two hours.

Oh, here's a Korean-language video of their arrival. I'm only providing this as a value-added service for all the people who have come here by Googling "Kristen Stewart in Korea."

In Japan's future, everyone will be prime minister for 15 minutes.

Hatoyama's out. Who's next?

NYT on "the Chonan effect"

It appears that North Korea's murderous actions in the Yellow Sea and South Korean President Lee's cool-headed but stern reaction are earning support for the latter in the upcoming elections.

From the New York Times:

The sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan, apparently by a North Korean torpedo, has provoked an international crisis that has embroiled big powers like the United States and China. But here in South Korea, it has had another effect: buoying the country’s once embattled conservative, pro-American president, Lee Myung-bak.

Soon after taking office two years ago, Mr. Lee appeared at risk of losing public support, as he faced mass demonstrations on the streets of Seoul against the import of United States beef. Now, political experts are talking of the “Cheonan effect,” as polls show more than half of voters approve of the president and his tougher line toward the North.

Nowhere is the current upwelling of popular support more apparent than in local elections to be held across South Korea on Wednesday. President Lee’s Grand National Party, whose candidates once faced tight races in some districts, now appears poised to sweep the most important races, including hotly contested mayoral seats in Seoul and the nearby port of Incheon.

Some will no doubt see this as a sure sign that the sinking of the Chonan was a false flag operation (this is hinted at in a BBC piece). That is, that Seoul itself sank its own vessel in order to whip up support for the ruling party and/or against North Korea. They're standing cause and effect on its head, of course: President Lee's adept response is the reason for the rise in popularity; a hoped-for rise in popularity is not the cause of the attack.

Let's not forget that President Bush enjoyed a meteoric rise in popularity right after 9/11 (heck, the whole country did). Oh, wait, come to think of it, that would just put the Southers™ in the same ideological boat as the Truthers.

Let's try a different one. A beleaguered President Clinton enjoyed a rise in popularity when he was impeached — many felt unfairly or unjustifiably — for the Monica Lewinsky affair, and his party experienced an unusual gain in overall seats during the 1998 midterm elections.

President Lee did not want this nor ask for it, and while it's appropriate in a democracy to ask tough questions, it's sick to insist in the face of so much evidence to the contrary that someone in the ROK government deliberately killed these dozens of sailors for some hope for political gain in local elections.

I am not saying it's not possible, only that the idea becomes absurd the more it is analyzed. Setting all the physical evidence aside for a moment, the timing of the sinking (in March) isn't quite proximal enough for June elections, especially since the president's slow and meticulous response carried the risk of alienating and angering the population.

If one really wants to look for a possible ROK-engineered false flag operation in order to affect an election, check out the 1987 downing of the Korean Air flight 858 just days before South Korea's first democratically run direct presidential elections, supposedly by a spy named Kim Hyŏnhŭi ("Mayumi"). That story has major holes, but it, too, is probably true.

Is this what's wrong with America?

I was listening to PBS's "Newshour" this morning when they had a discussion about public outrage over the BP oil spill and the outpouring of ideas about how to fix it. It had Bill Nye the Science Guy on it, so it had a little less of the serious air a typical "Newshour" segment might have, but this comment by Amy Jaffe, a senior energy analyst at Rice University struck me:

Even myself, who has been in the -- watching the industry and writing about industry for 30 years, I just couldn't believe that people would go out there and drill these wells, and they didn't have a backup plan. I mean, I understand they had good prevention systems, but they didn't have a backup plan.

And now we're all watching in horror over the fact that there is no backup plan. And it does raise this question — I — I like what our other guests are saying — I work at a university that's known for its math and science departments and its engineering. And it — we find it very depressing that a lot of young people who are good in mathematics in this country have chosen to use that to develop financial derivatives that have actually hurt our economy — and we see it here in Houston with all the people who rushed to work for Enron — instead of going into concrete science that could be used today to shut this pipeline.

If we had more American children sticking with math and science and going to engineering, there might just be some young bright person out there who could come up with an idea of how to do this in a way that isn't the way we did it on land 50 years ago or 100 years ago.

We really need more science capability in this country.

I was a biology major back at UCI, and I was assured told that I would have permanent job security if I went into science teaching — not because it was in such high demand (demand is a static function based on the number of students, who are required to take science classes) but because the supply of willing and able science teachers was so low.

Contrast that with the situation in places like South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, where the Gini coefficient is low (31.3, 38.1, and 33, respectively, versus 45 in the US), indicating a more equal distribution of wealth. Some would argue that creates a situation where people can move into — and be attracted by — professions that pay wildly insane amounts of money, perhaps beyond or even counter to their social value.

That is to say, South Koreans, Japanese, and Taiwanese have less of a financial disincentive to pursue science- or math-based careers. Much is made of the incentive toward creativity in the American work place (and up to a point, I agree that it is a major factor), but you can only go so far with creativity when the underlying math and science skills are missing.

The school and work situation in South Korea (and I believe in Japan and Taiwan as well) is highly competitive, with a large number of qualified people pursuing a small number of spots. While this can lead to over-qualified (or rather, underutilized) people in some lower-level service industry positions, it also means that the businesses that can offer comfort and prestige (e.g., the chaebol) are flush with very smart people, which compensates for at least some of the creativity-sapping corporate structure (where it exists).

While South Korea could dial down the hyper-competitiveness a little (or a lot), it risks going off the rails if it does so too much (or too rapidly). On the other hand, the US needs to return to an era of Sputnik fear where students with promise in math and science were revered and rewarded.

I'll step down from my soapbox now.

Come to think of it, the couple in "Love Story" didn't make it either

It has been announced that after forty years of marriage, former VP, Oscar and Grammy winner, and Nobel laureate Al Gore and his wife Tipper will separate.

This will no doubt fuel rumors that he is an inconvenient poof who can't wait for the opportunity to pursue some hanging chad.

Okay, I'm done, because that's really all I've got.

TMTKR (to make this Korea-related), even if their marriages are in trouble, we rarely ever hear about Korean politicos and their family problems. Maybe the assassinations and the exile have something to do with that.

Seoul says it has persuaded Beijing (and Tokyo) to back financial sanctions against North Korea

The Tokyo part was easy. The Beijing part was almost certainly not (if true).

From the BBC:

Mr Yu had no criticisms to make of China for failing to condemn North Korea publicly for the sinking of the Cheonan.

On the contrary, he felt that China had been privately helpful and understanding during the three-way summit with South Korea and Japan, which ended on Sunday.

South Korea is hoping to make the regime in Pyongyang pay a heavy price for its actions.

It is invoking UN resolution 1695, passed in 2006, which makes it possible to introduce economic sanctions against North Korea for breaching its international obligations.

The government in Seoul wants all inflows of money to North Korea to be stopped.

If China, which has so far delayed announcing its own findings on the sinking of the Cheonan, does take part in the sanctions, it could make life even harder for President Kim Jong-il's regime.

If, if, if. And if pigs flew out my butt, I could open a deli. Or however that colorful Texpression goes.

Anyway, I don't know if this is face-saving by a Lee regime which is angered and embarrassed that Beijing seems unwilling to call a spade a spade and acknowledge this act of war by Pyongyang, or if this is Beijing privately saying, "Okay, we get it. We'll help you do something about it, but we can't make a huge production out of it."

Meanwhile, the BBC also has a video of one of their reporters, Sue Lloyd-Roberts of Newsnight, on a trip to the North Korean countryside. It's an old story and a familiar situation to anyone who has paid attention to the parade of journalists who take jaunts around the DPRK under the watchful eye of a guide-cum-minder who only takes them to where they're supposed to go and only lets them say authorized things to whom they're supposed to talk with.

But still, it's fun listening to her address the obstinacy of her guide. The bugger flat out refuses to translate some of her questions to the farmers she's interviewing when, say, a truck with an EU logo on it shows up, obviously calling into question the much touted "self-reliance" of the DPRK.

Hwang Woosuk tries to clone his career

And right on cue, he's baaaaaack:

Korea's discredited embryologist Hwang Woo-suk is looking to resume research on cloned human embryos here if he gets the green light from the government.

Professor Hyun Sang-hwan at Chungbuk National University, who acts as a de facto spokesman for Hwang, said Friday that his team will ask for government permission to restart this branch of cloning research.

This is my thinking: If any of his supposed triumphs was in fact valid (and I believe Snuppy is still considered legit), then I say we let him go back to work again. After all, even if he fudged data in the face of overwhelming pressure, he may have some skills that could help the greater good.

And if he is allowed to conduct research again, he will be the must scrutinized scrutinee in the history of scrutinization, so I'm not too worried about him cloning another scandal.

They're baaaack! (Or, the political experiment that would not die!)

It's a mainstay of horror films and television series: some staple within the fabric of the movie franchise or TV show that assures that — no matter what — the show will go on. Somehow, someway.

No matter how many times Freddy Krueger is buried, incinerated, electrocuted, top-killed, etc., he is always back on Elm Street in the next film. No matter how buildings Alice blows up or zombies she kills, the T-virus is always on the move. A new cell of terrorists always assured Jack Bauer would have gainful employment (and overtime pay) for at least another day, and a new crop of self-absorbed fame-seekers always guarantees another season of "Survivor."

And so it is with the Kaesŏng Industrial Complex just north of the DMZ, that political experiment borne of the Sunshine Policy. It just won't die, not even when frenemies Seoul and Pyongyang temporarily join forces to destroy it: the South by slowly starving it, and the North — fresh off another kill — by an avalanche of vitriolic propaganda and bad vibes.

Even as its obituary was being written about here at Monster Island and in other august halls of journalism, it is back.

So let's just call it the Jason Industrial Complex™.

Quoting the New York Times:

North Korea expressed its wish to keep an inter-Korean industrial complex in operation, South Korean officials said on Monday, while the South indicated that it could reconsider its decision to revive psychological warfare against the North.

The two movements combined showed that the two Koreas were carefully weighing the option of easing their confrontation, analysts said.

Tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula have deteriorated to their worst in years since a South Korean warship sank on March 26 in a blast blamed on a North Korean torpedo attack.

“Neither side can afford to keep building up tensions,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea specialist at Dongguk University in Seoul. “Both sides have been raising tensions the way you blow into your balloon, and now they need an excuse for each other to stop blowing so that the balloon won’t burst.”

Wait... What?! We killed the Jason Industrial Complex™ in the last film. In the wake of the report that the North was responsible for the sinking of the Chonan and the nearly four dozen deaths involved, President Lee cut off all trade — except for a reduced presence at Kaesong — but then North Korea swooped in with the coup de grâce and said, essentially, "If you're not going to kill it, we will!" and they were ready to send everyone home. Indeed, there were worries that the South Korean workers who had missed their bus back to Torasan might be held hostage.

But when it comes to North Korea, maybe there are no coups de grâce. For now, it looks like the Jason Industrial Complex™ will be back for a new sequel in the papers. Slice it, burn it, bury it, decapitate it, nuke it, feed it a steady diet of saturated fat, and it still comes back to life.

Now don't get me wrong, I think (as did South Korean leaders at the time) that Kaesŏng (that's what it was called before it morphed into Jaesong) was a noble effort to effect change in North Korea that was worth trying (after all, four decades of confrontation hadn't gotten us anywhere). It was meant as a little bit of a Trojan horse to infuse ideas of capitalism into the DPRK.

But Pyongyang had other Trojans in mind, and they prophylactically sealed off Kaesŏng-Jaesong as much as they could.

But eventually, like a once virtuous corporation in a what-could-possibly-go-wrong sorta horror film, Seoul had become invested in this unholy hybrid they had created in the lab. They would lose Sejongs and face if they aborted now, so they let it live. And soon it was sucking the blood supply away from good diplomatic policy, maiming it in the process. It gained a life of its own, becoming a radioactively hot potato, and about two or three sequels ago, Seoul could have killed it when it had the chance, but they were afraid of the fallout. And so it grew and grew, as did our dependence on its growth. And just when we thought that the two sides both finally had the will to terminate it once and for all, it's back. Back with a vengeance (I'm guessing). Will the two protagonists survive to the next reel?

[kushibo pauses, takes a deep breath]

Um... anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah: Kaesŏng a noble effort. (I've never bought the argument that Kaesŏng was propping up North Korea, since China has always been there with its wallet open to prevent a collapse.) The problem with Sunshine Policy, as I've stated before, is that it was all carrot and no stick. Even now, the Jason Industrial Complex™ is apparently being used by the conservative Lee Myungbak administration as a bargaining chip.

Now one could argue that Kaesong/Jason still has a purpose: not only as the aforementioned concession or enticement in future negotiations, but also as a conduit through which South Korean government and business can still keep their foot in the door in order to forestall a collapsed North Korea in the future from becoming China's Inner Cháoxiān Autonomous Region.

So Lee is basically giving us the classic, "This [evil character who keeps coming back] is worth more to us alive than dead." Or, if you prefer, "We'd better hold onto these [super lethal weapons that could easily wipe out a lot of people by accident] just in case."

I wouldn't expect anything less. Welcome to Monster Island (actually a peninsula).