Oct 04
By Soorin Kim
Ever since I can remember, my dad wanted me to become a journalist like him. I said no. I knew nothing about being a journalist except for the fact that they deliver news for us. When I said I wanted to be a cartoonist, he asked me if I would like to become an editorial cartoonist. For me, editorial cartoons weren’t beautiful enough. I was just a kid who wanted to live doing what I liked in a quiet world.
However, when my dad was suddenly sent away to KBS Ulsan, something inside urged me to look more into what was happening here. I was in the middle of an exam period, but it didn’t matter. I closed my academic books and looked into why dad was gone. During this I discovered the dirty backstage and the complete situation. The new president Lee and his loyal pack of wolves, including the new CEO of KBS, wanted to retaliate against my dad for disclosing their dirty pasts during the election period, and to deter any further criticism. They wanted to silence him. Having exposed several secrets of the authorities of the nation such as the supreme court judge’s tax evasion that eventually got him to resign and the current president Lee’s cabinet nominees’ real estate corruption, he indeed was the sharpest pain in the neck for them.
Sep 26
By Iwazaru and Marie Kulik
The last six weeks have seen some peculiar turns in the case of Andre Fisher. The High Court ruling allowed for 3WM to come into contact with an assortment of individuals—some grounded and helpful, some bordering on cretinous and dishonest—who are working on and associated with the Fisher case. Again, because of the sensitivity of the case, 3WM cannot specifically name individuals but can say that certain legal obligations under Korean law were not honored by parties whose business it is to know and abide by the law.
More specifically, over the last six weeks, 3WM has faced intense obstruction (including profanity laced attacks) in attempting within the legal parameters to unearth some sort of clarity regarding the conduct and procedures that have been involved in the investigation and defense of the Fisher case.
Anonymous eye-witness accounts have also been provided to 3WM, reporting what is tantamount to legal officials breaching the law, obstructing both Fisher himself and individuals attempting to assist him.
Sep 12
By Donald Kirk
Bush may have talked tough about a “war on terror,” but he was only playing a game. How could it be otherwise for one who’d avoided Vietnam, barely bothered with his obligations as a pilot in the National Guard and had as his vice president for two terms that notorious draft-dodger, Richard Cheney, whose avoidance of military service during Vietnam did not stop the first President Bush from naming him defense secretary. These guys didn’t know what war was all about. They were too frightened to think of sacrificing political popularity by making people join the army whether they wanted to or not. They preferred to engage in torturing terrorists at Guantanamo . No downside there.
Sep 05
By John M. Rodgers
Some 215 kilometers or 133.6 miles off the eastern coast of the Korean peninsula sits an isolated cluster of rocks that were formed several million years ago by lava from underwater volcanic eruptions. Among the 35 islets stand two larger ones, Suhdo (the West islet) a sharp-sided rock nearly 100 meters high and Dongdo (the East islet) 174 meters high, which make up Dokdo (meaning “lonely island” in Chinese characters though some say the translation in Korean can mean “rocky island” as “dok” can mean “dol” (rock) in a different Korean dialect). Lonely or not, Dokdo has been at the center of a territorial dispute with Japan for more than a century with the last decade providing some of the most heated strife due to the Japanese government’s insistence that the island is theirs and the inclusion of this assertion as fact in school textbooks.
Sep 01
By Iwazaru and Marie Kulik
Yesterday afternoon, August 31, 3WM visited Andre Fisher at the Seoul Prison and can report that he is appealing his case to the Supreme Court of Korea. He is in good health and expressed renewed faith in his case since the rejection of his appeal last week by the Seoul High Court.
In the last week 3WM has become suspicious of several aspects of the case after speaking with Fisher’s attorney, requesting court documents, examining inconsistencies in evidential reports and speaking with Fisher yesterday about those details. 3WM is in the process of requesting the arrest report from that evening to further verify serious problems, especially with forensic investigation of the crime scene and evidence that Fisher was in possession of.
Aug 25
By 3WM
3WM attended Pvt. Fisher’s appeals hearing at the Seoul High Court where a visibly distraught Fisher had his appeal dismissed in six minutes. A vocal Fisher was escorted from the courtroom after saying, “I didn’t do anything…this shit is wrong…stop fucking pushing me.”
Fisher’s attorney told 3WM he will meet on Friday to discuss an appeal to the Supreme Court with Fisher.
******
Andre Fisher has been imprisoned several months for allegedly robbing a taxi driver of 88 dollars in Itaewon, central Seoul.
Jun 27
By John Kay
How can the Government of Orissa with one hand help ease environmental clearances for POSCO’s project while at the same time be responsible under the law to enforce POSCO’s compliance with environmental regulations? Is that not like being both the prosecuting and defense attorney? We can see that the Government of Orissa represented and embodied by the Nodal officer is quite literally working not for the best interests of the people of Orissa State but instead is working for POSCO. The Government of Orissa has, using the wording of one of the quotes above, made its best efforts (by hook or by crook; by fair means or foul) to move any obstacles, whether legitimate, legal or moral, to one side to let its pay master’s project trundle on regardless.
Jun 20
By John Kay
This is part 2 in a 3-part series on the POSCO-India captive port/plant and mine project.
Read Part 1.
Toward the end of last year I signed up to receive a regular news letter from the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Pretty soon after emails started to arrive I reached the conclusion that human rights violations must be a daily event in Asia, if these emails were any indication. Soon though I was suffering from a form of news fatigue as I read about the massacres of people on their way to vote in The Philippines, death threats and disappearances of journalists, human rights activists and whistle-blowers in Sri Lanka, and the abuses suffered by refugees at the hands of the authorities in Thailand; all seemingly without hope or an end in sight.
On January 28 of this year, I received an email from civil society groups in South Korea condemning POSCO’s planned steel mill/captive port and iron ore mines project in the eastern state of Orissa in India. An alarm went off within me and I was no longer fatigued but indignant and alert.
Jun 13
By John Kay
I think everyone has heard the phrase, If a tree falls in the forest but no one sees, does it make a sound? The eastern Indian state of Orissa is not located in the media fashionable Middle East and North Africa (MENA); it has no strategic significance nor does it have any deposits of oil. But the issues of corruption, inequality, human rights, democracy and dignity that have brought people out on to the streets of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Libya and Syria are the very same issues that have driven the inhabitants of Sundergarth, Keonjhar and Jagatsinghpur districts to oppose POSCO’s proposed captive port/plant and mine project continually over the last six years. The only difference being that India is supposed to be the world’s largest democracy, whereas the MENA are for the most part still ruled by monarchs or autocrats. The local fight against the amassed might and wealth of POSCO-India, the government of Orissa and the government of India, and their attempt to illegally push through this proposed port/plant and mine project is like the proverbial Zen tree in the forest.
It is my belief that a tree, whether or not anyone hears it, does make a considerable noise when it falls in the forest. Just because you haven’t heard of Orissa, Jagatsinghpur district, the Adivasis and their righteous opposition doesn’t mean that they don’t exist. If POSCO and the corrupt government of Orissa get their way, it is very probable that the Adivasis, their culture and way of life, not to mention the forest that they help sustain and that sustains them will be totally destroyed. This is one of the main reasons I’m bringing this injustice, this unfinished David and Goliath story, from unfashionable and underdeveloped Orissa in Eastern India to your attention.
Jun 07
H.D. Southerland
Before my back surgery on March 19, my hagwon company arrived unannounced and demanded that I pay rent that according to my pay stub I had already paid. Then they told me I would have to pay out of pocket for the next month’s rent that was due the next day. They asked for the money immediately (this included threats via IM that mentioned police connections). They had no paperwork with them to explain their claims, nor did they have proof of much of anything. The company worker told me I would have to pay a penalty, plus last rent, plus this rent but couldn’t explain why.
I explained about my surgery, and how I didn’t have the funds to pay that money yet. I explained that once I sold my furniture from my house, I could pay what he asked. He asked me if he could make a copy of my key so that he could show prospective tenants my apartment in order to avoid the penalty. I complied. As I sat in the hospital, he used the keys to enter my apartment without my permission and changed the locks (with my passport and daily medicine still inside).
May 16
By Mizaru
Editor’s Note: This Spring edition of The HBC Fest is Saturday, May 21. This is an up updated guide to the venues and the Fest street. To get to the Hae Bang Chon Fest get out of exit 2 in Noksapyeong Station (Line 6—next to Itaewon). Walk along the wall of the army base and turn left in front of the gate past the Kimchi Pots and up the hill with Seoul Tower as the Maypole in the distance.
The HBC fest is happening on the dung-slope drag in Haebangchon which is just 50 feet away from my front door and that’s Ok because when I’m out on the street I walk the way I want to walk, yet, maybe that’s not Ok because so does everyone else. It is impossible to have a mannerly trek up and down the boulevard of slap-dash dreams. Everyone becomes an audience for everyone else. ‘Who is watching me… How am I going to get recognized… Am I carrying the right heat-seeking guitar… Should I have got a bigger dog to walk… Should I stop and let this car pass me so when I make a speech into my phone more people can hear my either commanding or fabulous voice?’
May 02
By Iwazaru
We are not afraid to entrust the American people with unpleasant facts, foreign ideas, alien philosophies, and competitive values. For a nation that is afraid to let its people judge the truth and falsehood in an open market is a nation that is afraid of its people. – John F. Kennedy
On Friday morning, April 29, 3WM found that the Web site had been shut down. After contacting Bluehost support, 3WM found that someone contacted them requesting that their name be removed from the ATEK stories, thereby shutting down the site. The violation was labelled a “copyright violation” and 3WM was deemed in violation of the “Terms of Service.” Below is the chat session that occurred once 3WM saw that the site was down:
Apr 25
By Mizaru
Expat Art Careerists launch vol.1 of CONCRETE EXPERIENCE: Transposition
There is a tried and true Irish myth-lore that goes “when you want to be the career-man then you will find a ladder in your travels… at the top of the ladder will be a noose.”
On Friday night, April 15 at Laughing Tree Gallery along the up-top on the dung slope drag of Haebangchon, another expat in Seoul culture project was launched: Concrete Experience. It defines itself as,
Concrete Experience is a journal of contemporary photography and creative writing, published quarterly and aimed at pushing innovation in the way we think about the world around us through carefully curated interactions between diverse approaches to a common theme.
Three cheers to that as I dropped a business card from BestCheapAirTravel into page 59 of Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises” and closed it.
Apr 18
By Elena J.
Every winter and summer break, my college, Yonsei University, offers a program called “Global Career Tours,” arranging trips to companies in major cities such as London, Hong Kong, and New York. Essentially, students get a firsthand look at the future jobs they’re considering.
Last August, about 15 students (I was one) had the opportunity to visit diverse companies and organizations and meet employees working in different fields. Students had the chance to listen to two Korean American bankers’ stories of how they came to work for ING, to walk around the hectic trading floor of JP Morgan, meet ABC’s Juju Chang and take part in the live audience of Good Morning America, to ask questions about graduate school opportunities to the dean of Fordham Law School, and to converse with lawyers from White and Case, an international law firm.
Nov 08
by April Kim
This is what some people feel like about the the G-20 meeting: president mouse invites nineteen foreign mice to his mouse hole where a lot of mouse police are scurrying around on high alert. Two men, one of them a university professor, reportedly went as far as to go around painting rats on G-20 posters (see pic on right) supposedly as an “act of humor.” President Lee Myung-bak has been called “Gee,” a word meaning mouse (or rat) in Korean, by those who think he serves only the rich (and because he may share some facial qualities). So speaking of “G”-20…..
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