Immigration criticized by Human Rights Commission over negligence

It’s been many weeks since I last awarded a “Douche of the Week”, but after a long drought, we have a worthy winner: the Suwon Immigration office.

They have been criticized by the National Human Rights Commission for their negligence.

[A] worker in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, applied to change his visa type in September at the immigration office in Suwon and contacted them many times to confirm the approval.

Since no information on the visa extension was available for months, the 40-year-old, identified only by “K,” visited the office in April and found out that he had already overstayed his visa by three months and his status was now illegal, making any reentry impossible as a result.

He filed a complaint with the commission, arguing the office’s delay was to blame and urged the office to return him to his previous status.

The commission found that the office decided to reject the worker’s request on Jan. 9 and sent a letter, including the result, to his previous address.

With no recipient there, the letter was returned to the office, but it did not send the letter to his new address, the commission said.

The immigration office said “There is no evidence that the foreigner actually visited the office. Also, he provided insufficient evidence for us to believe that he was actually living in the new address.”

[ snip ]

The commission called the office’s allegations “groundless,” saying, “We have a witness who can confirm his visit to the office. Also, it doesn’t make sense that the office didn’t know where he lived.”

Yes, that certainly sounds like the Immigration that we all know and “love”.

Jessica Gomes thinks Rain is sexy

Jessica Gomes (pics via Grand Narrative) thinks that Rain is sexy.

“Rain’s body looks very healthy and overflows with sexiness. From what I heard, Rain is a work-out mania. I believe his well-sculpted figure is a charming feature of his.”

She might have to fight for him against Megan Fox, who wants Rain to find her and to sing to her.

Genetics Study: All East Asians probably migrated from Southeast Asia upwards

The Korea Herald has an article about a recent study, published in Science magazine on Dec 10, that indicates that all Asians migrated from Southeast Asia upwards. It contradicts theories that there had been multiple migration flows from both northern and southern routes.

The analyses proposed a model in which ancestors of today’s Asian populations arrived first in India before migrating to Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. From there, it suggested groups traveled north, mixing with the populations already living in these regions.

This accordingly suggested the ancestors of Koreans, Chinese and Japanese to be the latest to settle in East Asia. The study also revealed no meaningful genetic differences between the three ethnic groups, which together make up 1.5 billion people.

The study’s conclusions are supported by linguistic studies.

Scientists also disclosed the corresponding relationship between genetic ancestry and language groups.

“Our results show that genetic ancestry is strongly correlated with linguistic affiliations as well as geography. Most populations show relatedness within ethnic/linguistic groups, despite prevalent gene flow among populations,” they wrote.

The study found that, as expected, individuals who were from the same region, or who shared a common language also had a great deal in common genetically.
(from the BBC)

This study has been described as “[T]he first comprehensive study of genetic diversity and history of Asian populations”.

Dr. [Edison] Liu [executive director of the Genome Institute of Singapore and president of the Human Genome Organization (HUGO)] said that it was “good news” that populations throughout Asia are genetically similar.

This knowledge will aid future genetic studies in the continent and help in the design of medicines to treat diseases that Asian populations might be at a higher risk of.

And the discovery of this common genetic heritage, he added, was a “reassuring social message”, that “robbed racism of much biological support”.

Singer “Mr. Jeon” paid for sex with 16-year-old

Recently, Seoul police arrested pimps who prostituted 16-year-old runaways to clients. One of those clients was a famous singer, “Mr. Jeon,” who lives in the Jong-no district of Seoul.
When netizens began pointing out that Jeon Lee-soo (real name: Jeon Kwang-cheol), the lead singer of MC the Max, lives in Jong-no, the police changed the name of the suspect from “Mr. Jeon” to “Mr. J.”
So far, Mr. J has failed to obey a summons to the police station, and they may have to issue a warrant for his arrest.

Has H1N1 peaked? Are vaccinations safe?

According to this report, H1N1 may have peaked. Nevertheless, it’s estimated that 39% of the general population and 75% of infants and preschoolers are to be vaccinated against H1N1.
But are the vaccinations safe? A middle school boy fell unconscious from a cerebral hemorrhage after receiving a vaccination. Last month, an elementary school student died three days after receiving a similar vaccination. Of course, even if there is evidence of causality, it still doesn’t mean that there is cause for alarm, considering how many vaccinations there have been, and weighing these risks against those posed by the influenza itself.
In the Korea Herald, Dr. John Clemens, the International Vaccine Institute’s Director General, recommends that everyone get vaccinated.

“But to date, there are no worrisome indications that these vaccines cause more side effects than the ordinary flu vaccine, without a doubt, vaccines are the best way for individuals and for societies to brace against the pandemic,” he said.

Some have said that labeling this virus a pandemic conjures up visions of death and decay generally portrayed in Hollywood films but Clemens said that it is not the case.

“Pandemic is a useful term from a societal perspective,” he said.

[ snip ]

In this case, Clemens said that this pandemic does not appear to be particularly “severe but it could have been.”

Looks like someone contacted the Korea Times’ advertisers

An editor at the Korea Times has written a piece called “Setting the Record Straight.” Here’s a taste:

The Korea Times has recently learned about some “misunderstandings” regarding our coverage of foreigners in general and native English teachers in particular.

The excuse, “It’s a misunderstanding,” is second in popularity only to the “I was drunk” defense. It’s so commonly used that even foreigners begin to parrot it.

Since some of the misunderstandings[1] stem from inconsistencies in data, we want to make our rule clear that extra effort is made to crosscheck figures and facts[2] with more than two sources in dealing with sensitive stories.[3] But there are inadvertent and occasional exceptions: when these important pieces of information come from reliable sources, and we believe they don’t have any hidden agenda or axes to grind.[4]

When a case is made by the parties involved that raises a reasonable doubt about these fact sheets, we go back to the sources and double-check their stories.[5] We have an additional built-in vetting system with our foreign staff playing the role of addressing foreigners’ sensitivities in our coverage.[6]

(Numbers are mine.)

[1] There’s the word “misunderstanding” again. It’s repeated once more near the end.

[2] Gust of Popular Feeling would have a field day dissecting these so-called “cross-checked facts and figures.”

[3] Who would these two “reliable sources” be? Let me guess: Kang Shin-who (sorry, Reporter of the Month Kang Shin-who) and the editor.

[4] Why would false, made-up quotes lead us to believe that there might be hidden agendas?

[5] And then they promptly print a sincere retraction/correction. Oh wait, they don’t. Ever.

[6] I wonder a few things: a. Who are these foreigners, assuming that they’re not fictional characters? b. How much input/influence do they really have? c. How much do they earn? Because I imagine that putting your dignity and integrity up for sale should come with commensurate compensation.

Kim Yu-na ekes out victory at Grand Prix, falls to 2nd in world rankings

At the Grand Prix competition, Kim Yu-na finished in second place after the short program (KBS World, Korea Times, Chosun Ilbo). She was, however, able to establish enough of a lead after the free skate to take the title (KBS World, Korea Times).

In second place was Japan’s Miki Ando. She’s the 2007 world champion, the only woman to ever successfully complete a quadruple jump in competition, and came in third at the last world championship, behind Canada’s Joannie Rochette and You-Know-Who. She’s been suffering from inconsistency (possibly from injuries?), but if she can get back onto her game, she could easily become Kim’s biggest rival for the gold medal at the Vancouver Winter Olympics.

Speaking of rivals, do you remember Mao Asada? She won this competition last year, but didn’t even qualify this year. She’ll have to fight just to go to the Olympics.

Despite her recent victories, she is ranked only second in the world rankings. Who is in first? Carolina Kostner. I’m not a huge expert on figure skating, but I figured that someone who’s won world championships and set world records would outrank someone who hasn’t.

By the way, do you remember how her former coach and former doctor described what she eats these days?

For breakfast the world champion has a proper meal of steamed rice and soup, whereas red fruits like strawberries, tomatoes, cherries and protein-rich vegetables such as beans, tofu and soy milk are main items for lunch and dinner.

[snip]

Kim avoids meat during skating season, getting her protein from fish and vegetables, since although animal protein is effective in enhancing muscular strength, it may weaken muscular endurance.

At the Skate America competition, Kim talked about her diet.

Standing 164 cm tall and weighing 47-48 kg with a body fat ratio of just 10 percent, there is no special dietary regime she sticks to. Kim has Korean food prepared by her mother for breakfast, and salad or fruit, bread and soy milk for lunch at the ice rink where she practices.

For dinner, Kim usually eats fruit and cereal. “It’s in no way a miserable menu. There are people who pity me because they think I don’t eat well. But I do eat everything that I want, really,” she said. “But because I exercise a lot, when I go home after practice, I’m always hungry when it’s about time to go to bed.”

Ten percent body fat? Don’t women stop menstruating when their percentage body fat is that low?

(Updated) Child abusers face up to 50 years in jail; man receives 20 for raping an 8-year-old

The Korea Herald and Korea Times brings us the news that those who sexually abuse children face strict new punishments, including up to fifty years in prison.

The government and the ruling party are planning a bill that could put convicted sexual offenders targeting children behind bars for up to 50 years, force them to wear electronic monitors round-the-clock for 30 years after being released and, if necessary, undergo chemical castration.

Maybe this time they’re serious, because a man has been sentenced to twenty years in jail for raping an 8-year-old girl in a church bathroom.

Personally, I’ll take a wait-and-see attitude, given that, less than three weeks ago, a man was sentenced to a paltry, outrageous 8 months for raping a 7-year-old boy for 20 minutes.

Do you know the “Godfather of Soul”? It’s not James Brown

From the Korea Herald comes news of a big rap performance to be held in Lotte World next month. Among the stars described in the article is …

“Godfather of soul” Bobby Kim

Actually, even though I’m not a fan of rap, I do admire Tiger JK (formally of the group Drunken Tiger) for trying for commercial success while not selling out. His wife, Yoon Mi-rae (a.k.a. Tasha) is one of Korea’s best rappers. When four other female rappers heard that they would share a stage with her at the first Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), they became very nervous.

I guess we can now add “Korea’s ‘Godfather of Soul’” to “Korea’s Madonna” (actually, there are three of them), “Korea’s Pussycat Dolls,” “Korea’s Ricky Martin,” and all of the other Korea’s This-and-Thats.

First case of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 in Korea reported

According to Yonhap News and KBS World, the first case of Tamiflu-resistant H1N1 influenza in Korea has been reported.

A five-year-old boy was diagnosed with H1N1, and then prescribed Tamiflu. After five days, he continued to have a fever and difficulty breathing. He was tested again, and found to still have the virus. However, his condition improved after he was given Relenza, another drug used to treat flu patients.

The World Health Organization said that there have been 75 cases of people developing tolerance for Tamiflu since the outbreak was first reported in North America in April.