Those Koreans got a lot of nerve

[Samurai_Jerk]

taegukgi.jpg

According to this "article," a school that was originally built by the Japanese government was damaged last year in Typhoon Haiyan and has since been rebuilt by South Korean troop. In the process they replaced a painting of the Hinomaru with one of the Taegukigi. The writer feels it took a lot of nerve for the Koreans to do that (自分たちで自国の国旗に変えるという凄い神経である).

[Russell]

I wonder whether it is the same school, because the roofs are different.

[matsuki]

Not that it matters, not like most Japanese (or Koreans for that matter) can read what's written there anyway

[Wage Slave]

I wonder whether it is the same school, because the roofs are different.

That's sharp eyed. What's the difference? I suppose the roof might have been an obvious victim of the typhoon but still. I was kind of wondering if the before picture was post typhoon or post another storm which explains the mud and water lying about the place. If the picture is post typhoon it doesn't look as though it needs much beyond a coat of paint - which the Koreans certainly gave it.

In both cases I fail to see the need for plastering that text all over the school. A plaque in the reception would be permanent and far more appropriate.

[Coligny]

Roof 1: /--\
Roof 2: /\

Also top photo show what looks like a wider building (maybee)

Only the color and the design of the text/flags make them appear to be the same building...

[yanpa]

Roof 1: /--\
Roof 2: /\

That's the camera angle playing tricks.

[Coligny]

That would explain the shadows angle over hinomaru...

[Wage Slave]

Roof 1: /--\
Roof 2: /\

That's the camera angle playing tricks.

That's what I thought too.

[Wage Slave]

That would explain the shadows angle over hinomaru...

Hmmm. Crappy lens too I think.

It's difficult to judge any perspective in that picture. Look at the difference in the apparent height of the lettering from the front to the back of the picture. And the divergence from parallel between the lines of text.

[Coligny]

The shadow is closer to the hinomaru at the right side of the picture, with the deformation of the lense it should be much upper if the roof was flat as perceived. Since it's visually closer despite the distortion, what appears as a flat section is in fact diving downward toward the right side of the pic...

Mix of crappy lense and bad photographer me think...

[Russell]

Roof 1: /--\
Roof 2: /\

That's the camera angle playing tricks.

That's what I thought too.

Hmm, I don't see how camera angle could lead to such distortion, because the highest point of the roof corresponds with a position in the lettering at one third from the left, which would be strange assuming that the lettering is painted symmetrically on the wall.

Coligny's description is right.

Of course, they could have reconstructed the roof.

You never know what those nasty Koreans are up to...

Edit: Fuck, when I type out the lettering I get this:

"THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT THROUGH A LOAN FROM"

The top of the roof is between the E and the N in GOVERNMENT. That's about half-way, not one-third. Could be the same building after all. Anyway, that's a hell of a wide angle lens.

[GargoyleTS]

Its the same building. Same shape, same roof, the sidewalk is in the same place in both picture (there are kids in front of it in the lower one is all, but it is there.)

Just a bad photograph in the first image. Bad exposure, wrong lens, poor composition, no retouching to try and correct any of that either.

The real story here is that no they ran such terrible pictures untouched. I get the whole journalistic integrity, but you do need to edit your images a little bit cause few shots are ever "perfect." Doing it on a computer with Photoshop is no different from using a darkroom and various techniques to clean it before submitting it to your editor 20 years ago.

Anyways, nothing lasts forever, Japan knows this. Any outrage over this should be because the J-peeps didn't step up to fix it again themselves if they felt it was so important.

[Samurai_Jerk]

The "article" says that 8 buildings on the campus collapsed in the typhoon. I'll admit the limits of my 中途半端 Japanese but from reading it, it's not clear to me whether the Korean troops painted that on the blank wall of a newly reconstructed building or if they painted over what was already there. Given the similarities my guess is it's the latter but then again I've seen signs like that all over SE Asia so it could just be par for the course in the world of development projects there.

[Takechanpoo]

Kimchi gov to sue Sankei

South Korea’s presidential office said on Thursday that it would consider taking legal actions against the Sankei Shimbun, a Japanese conservative newspaper, for allegedly running an offensive story about President Park Geun-hye.

Citing the Chosun Ilbo column, Sankei said a rumor was circulating that Park went missing for several hours on April 16, the day the Sewol ferry sank off Korea’s southwestern coast, and that she may have had a “secret meeting with someone” during that time.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20140807000977

and there is another rumor that current Kimchi president is still vergin

[Russell]

Kimchi gov to sue Sankei

South Korea’s presidential office said on Thursday that it would consider taking legal actions against the Sankei Shimbun, a Japanese conservative newspaper, for allegedly running an offensive story about President Park Geun-hye.

Citing the Chosun Ilbo column, Sankei said a rumor was circulating that Park went missing for several hours on April 16, the day the Sewol ferry sank off Korea’s southwestern coast, and that she may have had a “secret meeting with someone” during that time.

http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20140807000977

and there is another rumor that current Kimchi president is still vergin

So, that secretive meeting was then not very successful in deflowering her, wasn't it?

Unless she has a hymen made of steel (which wouldn't surprise me)...

[Samurai_Jerk]

Film on 1597 victory against Japan breaks Korean records

A film depicting a famous 16th century naval victory against Japanese invaders has set records at the South Korean box office, drawing the largest audience and becoming the first local movie to take more than $100 million.

[Russell]

Film on 1597 victory against Japan breaks Korean records

A film depicting a famous 16th century naval victory against Japanese invaders has set records at the South Korean box office, drawing the largest audience and becoming the first local movie to take more than $100 million.

It's now up to the Japanese to make a film of a victory over the Koreans and see how well that will do at the box office (and the political office)...

[Takechanpoo]

UNITED NATIONS, August 31 -- A recent and ongoing press freedom case in South Korea has echoed all the way to the UN in New York. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was a long-time South Korean diplomat before taking up his UN post. But he has been notably quiet about press freedom generally, and now strikingly, with regard to South Korea.

The government in Seoul has summoned Sankei Shimbun's Tatsuya Kato on possible charges of defaming President Park Geun-hye, and has blocked him from leaving South Korea in the interim.

It is particularly troubling that while Tatsuya Kato of Japan's Sankei has been targeted, the South Korean publication Chosun Ilbo from which he quoted is not being targeted. This disparate treatment of journalists, based on nationality or other factors, should not be tolerated.

http://www.innercitypress.com/skorea2ba ... 90114.html

[Russell]

Do you have any hobbies Takechan?

[Samurai_Jerk]

Do you have any hobbies Takechan?

The dude might post a lot of bullshit but that article is definitely not in that category.

[matsuki]

Yeah, if it's factual, that's more fucked than even how the J-gov operates.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Yeah, if it's factual, that's more fucked than even how the J-gov operates.

Here's The Economist's version of the story.

Mr Kato landed himself in trouble by writing about speculation as to the whereabouts of Ms Park on April 16th, when her country was struggling to deal with the sinking of the Sewol ferry. The disaster killed almost 300 people, mostly high school students. Ms Park was handling the aftermath badly, Mr Kato seemed to imply, because she had gone off for a tryst with a recently divorced man.

His article ran online on August 3rd. It said that Ms Park’s advisers had no idea of her whereabouts for seven hours, and quoted other reports to the effect that she was at an “undisclosed location” with the man in question. Ms Park’s office has denied the gossip to which he referred and insists she was at her post inside the presidential compound.

To deny it is one thing. The accusation of libel though has left many analysts scratching their heads. After all in his article Mr Kato’s was careful to quote only South Korean sources, including the conservative Chosun Ilbo newspaper and on-the-record comments that were made by Ms Park's chief secretary during proceedings of the national assembly. Someone who works at the Sankei said they were puzzled by prosecutors' interest in their case, but then offered a possible explanation: “The South Korean government hates us.”

The Sankei is a right-wing paper that has spent years campaigning to reverse a landmark apology that was made on behalf of Japan in 1993.

[matsuki]

Jeebus, all this time, effort and everything is obviously the most productive use of their time...

[wagyl]

They invented the movable type press, so they are so far in advance of the rest of the world they have the time to spare.

[matsuki]

They invented the movable type press, so they are so far in advance of the rest of the world they have the time to spare.

Apparently not:

https://www.google.com/publicdata/explo ... l=en&dl=en

...rack up another victory over Japan?

[Greji]

...rack up another victory over Japan?

I wonder if they sell Southern Comfort in any of their bars?

[IparryU]

...rack up another victory over Japan?

I wonder if they sell Southern Comfort in any of their bars?

So want some SoCo now!

[Ol Dirty Gaijin]

So want some SoCo now!

Want to relive being 18 again? Why?

[matsuki]

So want some SoCo now!

Want to relive being 18 again? Why?

The lemurs....oh the lemurs...

[Samurai_Jerk]

Korea activists target foreign English teachers

2-channers would be proud .... if he wasn't Korean

Sometimes, in his off hours, Yie Eun-woong does a bit of investigative work.

He uses the Internet and other means to track personal data and home addresses of foreign English teachers across South Korea.

Then he follows them, often for weeks at a time, staking out their apartments, taking notes on their contacts and habits.

He wants to know whether they're doing drugs or molesting children.

Yie, a slender 40-year-old who owns a temporary employment agency, says he is only attempting to weed out troublemakers who have no business teaching students in South Korea, or anywhere else.

The volunteer manager of a controversial group known as the Anti-English Spectrum, Yie investigates complaints by South Korean parents, often teaming up with authorities, and turns over information from his efforts for possible prosecution.

Outraged teachers groups call Yie an instigator and a stalker.

Yie waves off the criticism. "It's not stalking, it's following," he said. "There's no law against that."

[...]

"Why are they following teachers? That's a job for the police," said Dann Gaymer, a spokesman for the Assn. for Teachers of English in Korea. "What this group is up to is something called vigilantism, and I don't like the sound of that."

[...]

Yie says he has nothing against foreigners. Growing up near the city of Osan, he often rode with his taxi driver father and encountered foreigners who served at the U.S. military base there. "I learned to pick out the good guys from the bad guys," he says

In 2005, by then living in Seoul, he joined the fledgling activist group after seeing an upsetting posting on a website: claims by foreign teachers that they had slept with Korean students.

Yie, who is single and has no children

Surprise, surprise

"People were angry; most of them were parents with kids," he said. "We all got together online and traded information."

Gaymer says he doubts that such a posting ever existed. Instead, he says, Koreans were angry about photos posted on a job website showing foreigners dancing with scantily clad Korean women.

"They were consenting adults at a party with foreign men," he said. "They weren't doing anything bad or illegal."

Yie's group, Gaymer says, has used the incident as a rallying call. "They're posting online pictures of teachers' apartments and whipping each other into a nationalist frenzy, creating a hysteria against all English teachers, troublemakers or not," he said.