East Asia News & Politics Thread: China, South Korea, Japan...

AP: South Korea’s prime minister and top presidential officials offer to resign after election defeat

South Korea's Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, the Office of the President's chief of staff, and nearly all of the Office of the President's senior secretaries resigned after the ruling People's Power Party (PPP) lost the general election. Former Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon, the current interim leader of the PPP, also submitted his resignation.

Edited by minseok42 on Apr 10th 2024 at 7:39:46 AM

"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory Doctorow

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20240410/p2a/00m/0op/018000c

Mainichi mentions that the Imperial Family must have stability by having "enough" female family members. Even if it means allowing female Imperial family succession.

"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"

Green Justice party lawmaker Sim Sang-jung announced her retirement from politics.

Sim has lost her bid for a fifth term. She came in third place in the Gyeonggi Goyang-A constituency. Her party, the Green Justice Party, did not get any seats in the National Assembly.

"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory Doctorow

First Past The Post rears its extremely ugly head once more.

I despise hypocrisy, unless of course it is my own.

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15225715

An Asahi editorial mentions the view of German expat Marei Mentlein, who lived in Japan for 16 years. Based on her experience in seeing Germany accept immigrants/refugees who are not white/Anglo Saxon, Marei said that it's about time Japan accepts non-Asian immigrants in the wake of the "controversy" of Karolina Shiino.

The editorial mentions, in part, the "kikoku-shijo" (students who have returned from abroad). They're sometimes as "un-Japanese" as they grew up in a non-Japanese environment.

"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"

NHK World vid on the issue of population decline that towns could "disappear".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VZwI7hDrbw

Edited by Ominae on Apr 20th 2024 at 1:57:11 AM

"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"

Ugh, these earthquakes in Taiwan are such an annoyance.

Disgusted, but not surprised

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2024/04/e47a4d45d99e-feature-as-war-rages-on-ukrainian-refugees-ready-for-long-term-stay-in-japan.html

More efforts are being made to help Ukrainian refugees live in Japan for the long run.

Noted that one class is done by a Russian-speaking Japanese interpreter.

Edited by Ominae on Apr 23rd 2024 at 10:35:14 AM

"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"

https://www.ycaps.org/may-indo-policy-korea

In case peeps wanna watch the webinar on "Is South Korea’s Indo‑Pacific Strategy a diplomatic lame duck?" based on a Lowy article on the same article. Basically it's on implications of domestic political developments on South Korea's Indo-Pacific strategy (IIRC Seoul published their I-P strategy a year or so ago).

"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"

Random rambling.

-sighs- Does anyone know any (mostly) reliable East Asian news media? Like, I would like a Chinese/Japanese/Korean equivalent of Reuters or Associated Press, if it exists.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

Unfortunately, it's pretty difficult in the East Asian press environment. The three countries have issues with press freedom and independence to varying degrees, with the DPRK and PRC being the worst. Then there's also the language barrier. The best one can do is cross-check different news sources.

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The ROK Constitutional Court struck down the legitime law which guaranteed that the close family of the deceased can get at least a minimum portion of the deceased's property, regardless of the deceased's wishes. The Constitutional Court ruled that the clause guaranteeing that the siblings of the deceased can get at least a third of what they would normally get was unconstitutional, rendering the clause immediately null and void. The court also ruled that the clauses guaranteeing a minimum inheritance for the family of the deceased did not fit with the constitution as the law guaranteed the family a part of the property even in cases where they abandoned or abused the deceased. The Constitutional Court put an expiration date on the clauses that guaranteed a minimum inheritance for the deceased's spouse, parents, and children, meaning that the National Assembly must amend the law to conform with the Constitution by the end of 2025.

Part of the rationale for the law, when it was introduced in 1977, was that there were cases where people did not leave anything for their daughters and wrote that their sons will get all of their property when they died. The plaintiffs of the case mentioned the case of the late K-pop singer Goo Hara, whose biological mother inherited 40% of her property even though she ran away from home when Goo was young.

Edited by minseok42 on Apr 24th 2024 at 11:44:57 AM

"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory Doctorow

I know personally that Taiwanese news outlets tend to be rather tabloidy and of dubious reliability, while most press freedom in Hong Kong has eroded considerably following the forced closure of Apple Daily. Frankly for Chinese-language content I've found myself better off sticking with culture or tech news rather than politics.

https://archive.is/oN0tt

Trump mentioned that USFK troops in the ROK can leave if Seoul doesn't pay up (more).

"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"

The ROK National Assembly passed a bill to install a special counsel to investigate the death of ROKMC corporal Chae Soo-geun. The People's Power Party boycotted voting on the bill in protest.

Last year, cpl. Chae died during a search and rescue mission during a flood, and the chain of command was accused of criminal negligence. The President's office and the Ministry of National Defense allegedly tampered with the investigation to save the higher-ups, including court martialing the Marine Corps officer in charge of the investigation for insubordination.

The Corruption Investigation Office (CIO), the agency responsible for investigating crimes by senior government officials, opened an investigation into the then-Minister of National Defense, Lee Jong-sup. The CIO determined Lee was a flight risk and banned Lee from leaving the country, but Yoon appointed Lee as ambassador to Australia, and the Ministry of Justice lifted the travel ban. After public outcry, Lee resigned from his post.

"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory Doctorow