https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/12/18/japan/whaling-activist-denmark-free/
Tokyo "regrets" the release of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson.
VISA backed down on their decision to refuse payments for that Otaku Dating site.
Some sort of legislation for their recent actions will probably still be considered though, on top of the current Monopoly lawsuit their going through right now alongside Mastercard in the US.
Watch SymphogearFormer Korea Defense Intelligence Command (KDIC) commander Maj. Gen. Noh Sang-won, who is accused of plotting the coup at a fast-food restaurant, turned out to be a shaman.
The broadcaster JTBC found Noh's house near the burger joint where he plotted the coup. Said house was a soothsaying shop, and Noh started the business in 2019 when he was dishonorably discharged from the military after being convicted of sexual assault. A soothsayer who was his business partner said that Noh had studied fortune telling for more than a decade and that he had some spiritual talent inside him.
The Korea Times: Where were young men in impeachment rallies?
Young men are notably absent in the recent protests against Yoon's coup attempt. This may be linked to young men becoming more politically conservative.
Edited by minseok42 on Dec 19th 2024 at 10:09:26 PM
"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory DoctorowBeen a stabbing attack in Fukuoka inside a McDonalds. Police were able to attack the guy for attacking a couple of high school students. Investigation reported that it was a random attack since the students and the man who attacked them don't have a clear connection.
If memory serves, there was a scandal some time back about politicians including presidents becoming unduly dependent on a shaman. I'd imagine that's where attention comes from.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman![]()
In 2016, then-president Park Geun-hye was impeached for a corruption scandal where it turned out she was being controlled by the shaman Choi Soon-sil. She was removed from office and later imprisoned.
Yoon has been accused of being controlled by at least one shaman since his election. Allegedly, he decides to move the president's office out of the Blue House to the then-Ministry of National Defense building because a shaman told him the feng shui is better.
"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory DoctorowDemocratic Party lawmaker Choo Mi-ae says that she received information that the military brought hollow point ammunition, which is banned for use against enemies in wartime, on the night of the coup.
The Capital Defense Command's 35th Commando Battalion took 30 hollow-point shotgun slugs out on the day of the coup, along with flashbangs and C-4. Given that it is a war crime to use hollow-point rounds against the enemy during wartime and that hollow-point rounds are ineffective against body armor, they were likely contemplating shooting civilians.
On a side note, I just noticed that all of the ROK military units featured in Rainbow Six Siege participated in the coup attempt.
The Joongang Daily reports that shortly after the National Assembly voted to lift martial law, Yoon said that "We should have sent a thousand troops to the National Assembly"
Yoon visited the bunker under the Joint Chiefs of Staff building and asked then-defense minister Kim how many troops were sent to the National Assembly. When Kim replied that he had sent 500, Yoon replied that it was not enough and they should have sent at least 1000. He then told everyone except the defense minister and the chief of staff of the army to leave. When this article was published, Korean Twitter started posting Downfall parodies.
Yoon's election campaign staff say that Yoon suspected his own presidential election was rigged.
Edited by minseok42 on Dec 20th 2024 at 8:09:18 PM
"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory DoctorowI mean, really what other response can you have? (Well apart from screaming in existential terror...)
Jeez, how bad a persecution complex does this guy have?
Edited by KnightofLsama on Dec 20th 2024 at 5:40:51 AM
Acting president PM Han Duck-soo vetoed a bill that mandates the government to buy excess produced rice.
This led farmers to bring their tractors to protests against the Yoon administration. The police have barricaded a road entering the southern edge of Seoul to prevent the tractors from entering.
Protestors have been in a standoff with police for more than 24 hours.
Update: The police agreed to remove the barricades and let some of the tractors in. The protesters are saying they will move to Yongsan, near the President's office.
Reuters: South Korea's allies cheered Yoon's foreign policy, ignored domestic discord
Western diplomats sanewashed Yoon as some champion of freedom, human rights, and the rule of law. They did not bother to actually listen to what Yoon actually said, and now they're making a surprised pikachu face when Yoon tried to become a dictator.
Edited by minseok42 on Dec 22nd 2024 at 10:00:23 PM
"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory DoctorowThe confirmation hearings for the three Constitutional Court justices nominated by the National Assembly start today local time.
Three of the nine justices of the Constitutional Court of Korea will be nominated by the National Assembly and appointed by the president. Currently, two are nominated by the Democratic Party (which has a majority of seats) and one is nominated by the People's Power Party.
The People's Power Party is claiming that acting president Han Duck-su does not have the authority to appoint justices to the Constitutional Court, and says that they will file a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court if the Democratic Party will continue with the procedure of appointing the Constitutional Court Justices. This is despite the Secretary General of the Constitutional Court
and the PPP's own nominee for Constitutional Court Justice saying that the acting president has the authority to appoint Constitutional Court Justices nominated by the National Assembly.
So? That doesn't mean Yoon and the PPP is a defender of democracy and human rights. Any 'expert' who keeps doing so is being disingenuous. If anything, those analysts are being campists.
Former Korea Defense Intelligence Command commander Noh Sang-won, who is a suspect in the coup attempt, mentioned 'shooting politiicans to death' and getting North Korea to attack South Korea.
Police seized Noh's notebook. It said journalists, politicians, religious figures, labor union activists, and judges were to be 'taken away.' The head of the National Office of Investigation confirmed that there was mentions of shooting and killing in the notebook. The notebook also mentions getting North Korea to launch an attack in the Northern Limit Line, the maritime boundary between the two Koreas.
The National Office of Investigation is considering charging Yoon and former defense minister Kim Yong-hyun of benefiting the enemy by other methods, which can be punished with life or no less than three years in prison.
Edited by minseok42 on Dec 23rd 2024 at 10:17:25 PM
"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory Doctorow![]()
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Welcome to US foreign policy. It's okay if a "champion of democracy and human rights" is a murderous dictator so long as they're against communism.
What, you mean communism hasn't been a thing for generations? Nonsense, China's still communist!
The Democratic Party said they would start impeachment proceedings against acting president Han Duck-soo.
Initially, the Democrats said they would work with PM Han and refrain from impeaching him. However, Han is not signing the bill to establish a special counsel to investigate Yoon's insurrection charges. The Democrats gave him an ultimatum to sign the bill into law by today, and Han is saying that since the PPP does not agree with the bill, he is not signing the bill.
Unlike when impeaching the president, impeaching the PM only needs a majority vote of the National Assembly. If the National Assembly votes to impeach, Han's powers will be suspended while the Constitutional Court decides whether to remove him. In the meantime, deputy PM for the economy Choi Sang-mok will become acting president.
"Enshittification truly is how platforms die"-Cory Doctorow

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2024/12/17/japan/foreign-workers-program/
Japan's going to replace the Technical Intern program they have since 1993.
I'm not sure if it'll be a big change.