This just goes to show that North Korea isn’t as far behind the times as one would think, they are at least into 80′s music:

The video is from the Kum Song School in Pyongyang.  You can read more here.

Thanks to the ROK Head for the tip.

A pedestrian walks through heavy snow in Gwangju on Wednesday.

Via the Chosun Ilbo.

Despite the breathless reporting in the below article this really doesn’t change much of anything:

On Thursday, Pentagon rules will catch up a bit with reality, recommending to Congress that women be allowed to serve in morejobs closer to the front lines.

According to defense officials, the new rules are expected to continue the long-held prohibition that prevents women from serving as infantry, armor and special operations forces. But they will formally allow women to serve in other jobs at the battalion level, which until now had been considered too close to combat.

In reality, however, the necessity of war has already propelled women to the front lines — often as medics, military police orintelligence officers. So, while they couldn’t be assigned as an infantryman in a battalion or company going out on patrol, they could fly the helicopter supporting the unit, or move in to provide medical aid if troops were injured.

The officials said the new rules will change that, and formally allow women to be assigned to a battalion and serve in jobs such as medics, intelligence, police or communications officers. The changes would have the greatest effect on the Army and Marine Corps, which ban women from more jobs than the Navy and Air Force do — largely because of the infantry positions.  [Associated Press]

This seems more like election year politics more than anything.  Basically all this change means is that for example the S2 (intelligence officer) for an infantry battalion can be a female now.  Other combat arms branches already have females serving in these positions for years however I still see very few females filling these positions.

Of course the AP had to get a quote from SWAN to fill in this article with:

The Service Women’s Action Network said its response was mixed.

“On the plus side, this is a huge step in the right direction,” said Anu Bhagwati, former Marine Corps captain and executive director of the network. However she said it was “extremely disappointing” that the ban would continue on women becoming infantry.

“To continue such a ban is to ignore the talents and leadership that women bring to the military and it further penalizes servicewomen by denying them the opportunity for future promotions and assignments that are primarily given to personnel from combat arms specialties.”

“It’s time military leadership establish the same level playing field to qualified women to enter the infantry, Special Forces and other all-male units,” she said.

Actual the same level playing field is what I have been saying I think should be done.  If a woman can meet the physical requirements of being an infantryman than why not?  The problem is very few if any women will be able to physically handle being an infantryman. I think the easiest way to address this issue since the people who have never served in the Infantry are pushing it, is to have a standard test to determine fitness and ability to conduct Infantry work.  If a female can do things like carry a 200 pound person, road march 12 miles with a 70 pound ruck in a set time, meet marksmanship standards, etc. than they should be eligible to become an Infantryman.

The concern from Infantrymen I know is that with such a test few if any females will be able to pass and groups like SWAN who would need to find a new cause to justify their existence will complain that the test is biased against women and demand female standards just like females have separate standards for the physical fitness test.  This test doesn’t address the hygiene or issues with close quarters living either which will need to be debated.  Think about it if SWAN was so concerned about a level playing field for females how come they are not advocating for the same PT standards for women and men?  If they want a level playing field it seems having the same PT standards as males would be a good place to start.

Who knows where and what this waterfall pictured below is called?:

Korea Finder Leader’s Board:

1. Kushibo – 2

2. Ut Videam – 1

2. Sturgee – 1

2. Leon Laporte – 1

The person with the most points at the end of the year of the weekly Korea Finder contest will be rewarded with a book or DVD of their choice from Amazon.com. Also note that if you have a picture that you think would make a great Korea Finder feel free to send it in to me.  Note that the Korea Finder is posted every Thursday at 3AM US Pacific Time and 8PM in Korea.

I am real curious to see if this nearly billion dollar development ever gets built:

WORK on a $900 million Korean suburb on Hobart’s Eastern Shore will start within a year after winning final planning approval yesterday.

Billed as an “integrated lifestyle, education, and residential development”, ParanVille will be one of the biggest residential subdivisions developed in the state and promises to give the struggling building industry a massive boost.

It is expected to attract residents from Korea, China and Japan who are keen to escape harsh northern winters and the threat of nuclear accidents, its backers said yesterday.

The 158-hectare rural site between Howrah and Rokeby approved by the Tasmanian Planning Commission will become home to more than 2000 new residents and several hundred language students and will generate up to 1000 jobs during the 10-year construction period.

It will feature a language school and residence hall for students. The site was chosen because of Tasmania’s international image as a clean, green, safe and politically stable place to live and for its proximity to Hobart’s airport.  [The Mercury]

You can read a lot more at the link, but the development has been criticized for practicing cultural separatism.  The Korean man building the development, Paul Kim says that the development will be open to anyone to live in but is focusing on  attracting Korean students, retirees, and those who can afford a second home in Tasmania.  I think this development is going to be a hard sell because there are very few Koreans living in Hobart compared to Sydney and Melbourne that have large Korean communities.  Also as nice of a town as Hobart is once again it doesn’t carry the same amount of prestige as living in Sydney, Melbourne, or Brisbane.  If you are trying to attract rich people from Korea them bragging about their condo in Hobart is not the same as bragging about one in Sydney.  Then there is the climate; Hobart actually has some of the nicest weather on Tasmania, but it is not a warm weather location like Brisbane or Sydney that someone would traditionally want to retire to.

I think this all just combines to become a tough sell to get Koreans to buy property here.  The fact that the developer is trying to scare people by bringing up natural disasters and the Fukushima nuclear crisis as reason to move to Tasmania seems to smell of desperation to me.  Also the Greens in Tasmania are not making a stink about this development like they usually do with anything development wise, which leads me to believe they are taking a wait and see attitude as well on whether this development will actually happen.  The guy behind the project Paul Kim from what I found is a Pastor at the Korean Full Gospel Church in Hobart.  Pastor Kim was behind the redevelopment of the church which back in 2010 the Korean Ambassador to Australia attended its opening.  So the guy has political connections, but I am wondering how does a Pastor go from leading the redevelopment of a church to backing a near billion dollar residential development?

New North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (front) smiles during a visit to a military base in this undated photo released on Jan. 20

According to the Chosun Ilbo Kim Jong-un is trying to create a friendly image in North Korea.

Via a reader tip comes this interesting video of the Korean riot police conducting a very realistic training drill:

I had to chuckle at some of the comments left on YouTube about how they need to get these riot police to the UK and Egypt.

Via a Facebook tip come this story about how unsurprisingly the Iranians have no sense of humor when it comes to one of their nuclear facilities getting blown up in a comedy skit that just happens to involve the Samsung Galaxy Tab:

The Israeli government had nothing to do with the ad.

Samsung had nothing to do with the ad.

But an ad for an Israeli cable company featuring cross-dressing Mossad agents who blow up an Iranian nuclear facility using a Samsung tablet has caused a furor in both Iran and Israel. Iran has threatened to ban the sale of Samsung tablets and the commercial itself has now disappeared from Israeli television.

The ad, produced by the HOT cable company, features cast members from the Israeli comedy series “Asfur” dressed head-to-toe as Muslim women to infiltrate Iran. Wearing chadors and clutching purses, the four spies walk past missiles and giant portraits of religious leaders and into the city of Isfahan — the site of a uranium conversion facility and a mysterious explosion in November 2011. As they arrive, one of the travelers smears sunscreen on his face. When his companions look puzzled, he says, “Don’t you know how much radiation there is here?”

The spies then meet a jaded undercover Mossad agent waiting at an outdoor café and looking at his Samsung Galaxy tablet. He tells them that watching on-demand episodes of their comedy series on the tablet has helped him kill time during the two months he’s been in Isfahan conducting surveillance.  [ABC News]

This seems like an unenforceable regulation, what is the ROK military going to do, have smartphone inspections every week?:

Troops from two South Korean army units stationed near the North Korea border were recently ordered to delete applications from their smartphones that were deemed pro-North Korean or critical of South Korean president Lee Myung-bak, according to the Ministry of National Defense.

The commander of the Sixth Army Corps issued a ban on four pro-North Korean and six anti-Lee applications on Jan. 17. The ban was reported earlier this week in the South Korean press.

Apps banned for Sixth Army Corps officers include “North Korea World,” a source of travel information for the communist country; “Smart Card,” which criticizes the Lee administration’s unification policy; and “I’m a Petty-minded Creep,” a political satire about Lee. Officers’ smartphones were inspected in late January to make sure they did not contain the prohibited apps.  [Stars & Stripes]

In my previous Faces In Korea posting about Muhammad Ali one of the events he attended was the “Collision In Korea” professional wrestling event in North Korea.

On YouTube the then Pay-Per-View event that was held on April 28th and 29th, 1995 in Pyongyang has been uploaded for those curious enough to watch. After looking through these videos I think it is only fitting that fake wrestling was being done in Pyongyang in front of a fake audience.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6:

Part 7:

Part 8:

Part 9:

Part 10:

Part 11: