[5.8 magnitude earthquake] The Korean Meteorological Administration (KMA) has announced that “6.0 magnitude earthquake could occur anytime

Urgent meeting concludes, “An earthquake over 6.5 in magnitude is unlikely.”

The earthquake that struck Gyeongju is presumed to have stopped. The aftershocks have continued, but the size and frequency diminished.’

Epicenter and magnitude distribution chart.

The KMA has concluded that the largest earthquake ever [to strike the Korean peninsula], a 5.8 magnitude with an epicenter in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk Province has stopped and will not continue.

However, the KMA predicted that an over 6.0 magnitude earthquake is likely to occur, which would be the biggest earthquake ever recorded [on the peninsula].

On September 13th, Go Yoonhwa, KMA chairperson, reported this information in a consultative meeting for emergency earthquake preparedness held in the National Assembly.

Go announced that “The earthquake is likely to stop. However, from now on there is a higher risk of an earthquake of magnitude 5.8 to 6.0, or even greater. It could happen anytime.”

Go also added, “An earthquake of magnitude over 6.5 is less likely.”

Major stratum around Gyeongju

Regarding the earthquake that hit Gyeongju on the 13th, he explained that, “So far, there have been about 186 aftershocks, but their size and frequency are diminishing.”

Go also added that, “It is hard to predict for how long the aftershocks will continue. They could continue for days, so we’re keeping our eyes on the situation.”

“Opinions are divided on [what caused the earthquake]. Some experts think it resulted from an earthquake in Eastern Japan, others disagree and there are also other ideas,” he explained.

Article From Yonhap News:

2.4 magnitude earthquake in Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk Province with 310 aftershocks

On the 14th at around 10:31 p.m., a 2.4 magnitude earthquake hit 10 km towards south-southwest of Gyeongju, Gyeongbuk Province.

The KMA announced that this earthquake is one of the aftershocks from the 5.8 magnitude earthquake that occurred on the 12th.

A KMA representative reported that, “No damage from the earthquake has been reported thus far”.

He also added that, “Though the aftershocks continue after the larger earthquake on the 12th, as they are mostly under 3.0 in magnitude, there isn’t much need to worry.”

According to the KMA, by 10 p.m. a total of the 310 aftershocks occurred in Gyeongju.

If they are divided by their sizes, there were 295 aftershocks with a magnitude of between 1.5 and 3.0, 14 between 3.0 and 4.0, and 1 between 4.0 and 5.0.

Comments From Naver:

kai20133

Reading the KMA report that an earthquake is likely to happen makes me relaxed. I know they are always wrong…

tnrm****

Stop saying you guys are keeping your eyes on the situation ke ke ke What have you done so far?

kise****

Now that KMA has reported that the earthquake stopped, it will start again after a short break.

kimc****

Do they think there are many buildings in Korea built to resist a 6.0 magnitude earthquake?

ttsa****

The organization that can’t even forecast the daily weather now talks about an earthquake ke ke Our neighbor Japan, where earthquake occurs so frequently, can’t predict earthquakes like that even though they have decades of experience. You can call it a success if an earthquake is detected even a couple of minutes before it happens.

mole****

I remember the news I watched. One month ago experts suggested that we should consider creating some response measures as the number of the earthquakes was odd. The KMA responded, “There is nothing special about these occurrences.”

wate****

People with a lack of readiness said they know it can happen anytime. The first earthquake occurred around 7:40 pm and the first briefing wasn’t until 9:20 pm. Wow, it couldn’t be faster… tsk tsk.

redl****

Go also added ‘A magnitude over 6.5 earthquake is less likely to happen.’ How can he conclude that an over 6.5 magnitude earthquake is not going to happen when the KMA can’t predict it?? He appears to say that just because nuclear power plants can withstand up to a 6.5 magnitude earthquake. I can’t trust what he said at all. Will he take responsibility for what he said? Government organizations are not trustworthy…

ch31****

Give up your pride and hire Japanese geological experts to ask advice. Among Korean experts, analysis and solution change according to where they came from and which university they graduated from.

hr69****

The earthquake is likely to stop. However, there is a risk of a 6.0 magnitude earthquake. They really know how to play with their words.

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‘9 times higher salary guaranteed’…Stay alert, Korean ‘Brain Drain’ Flows to China

[Anchor]

Have you heard of the ‘1-3-9 condition’? It means semiconductor companies in China guarantee that they will pay 9 times the annual salary for 3 years to hire well-trained Korean workers. Due to these exceptional conditions, the phenomena is spreading to other industries including cosmetics and the game industry.

Journalist Han has more about Korean ‘brain drain’ to China, which can affect national competitiveness.

[Journalist]

Researcher Kim, department head in a Korean semiconductor company.

He has been considering an offer he got from a semiconductor company in China a few days ago.

It is estimated that there are about 100 Koreans who’ve received an offer like Mr.Kim.

China has declared an ‘talent hiring war’ by offering Korean talent a 9 times higher salary, a luxurious house, and an international school for their children.

The reason China hungers for Koreans is to keep up with the latest in semiconductor technology [without having to wait for Chinese workers to be as well trained].

Since China had made the semiconductor industry its core business, there aren’t enough workers, despite having invested 21 trillion won in the industry.

Korean researcher who moved to a Chinese semiconductor company: “It is true that there are a lot of these kinds of offers from Chinese companies to Korean technicians. Rather than how to run a factory, what kind of product that can be made is more important and this depends on the people that make it.”

However, they risk of changing jobs to Chinese companies.

Jaegeun Park, professor of semiconductor nano-processing at Hanyang university: (It needs to be considered) Whether (Chinese companies) pay what they have guaranteed. In the past, there were lots of cases in the past when LCD companies in China didn’t keep their promises. There is no Korean who continued working for that kind of company or came back to Korea with much success.

Despite these concerns, the rate of turnover to China is getting higher in industries other than semiconductors, such as the cosmetics, game, aviation, and petrochemistry industries.

Employment instability, excessive working hours, and a closed organisational culture were chosen as reasons for turnover by Korean researchers who moved abroad. The Korean government and private companies should consider those reasons.

Comments From Naver:

ted0****

Korean companies do nothing for their workers. How can they expect them to stay?

blue****

I bet cruel treatment toward natural sciences and engineering caused this situation. The treatment should be improved as soon as possible.

kimd****

Patriotism can’t feed you, so well done guys.

kkk8****

You can’t live on patriotism alone.. I understand them.

페이스북 최한나

It was real that Korean talent goes to work abroad.

yngw****

With those conditions who else doesn’t want to move out?

aved****

If you are competent enough, please leave. We need to change ourselves, shaking off our servile spirit, start thinking about our futures, and taking our rights back. And then, big companies and people in a higher rank will start to check themselves.

djar****

3 years x 9 times=27. Instead of working for 27 years you can get the same amount just working for 3 years.

jbpa****

Medium-sized businesses want to hire well educated people who have graduated from prestigious universities, but their treatment is horrendous. If you can, it is not abnormal to work abroad.

reds****

Korea gives you nothing back, even if you are patriotic. Grab a chance for your success and happiness.

amad****

Wasn’t it nice to exploit Koreans with low wages and treat them like disposable products? Now prepare for hell.

syc2****

Korea doesn’t do anything for us but if someone moves to China they’re regarded as a traitor.

leow****

The reason Korea is mooching off the world powers is they don’t invest in talented people. There is no concept of fostering talent in the long term.

disk****

What has Korea done for people? We hoarded gold during the IMF crisis and we have the highest average annual working hours in the OECD.. We are working so hard but where’s the reward from the government? Do you want us to collaborate like we did in 1988? Nope. In those times there was an idea of helping each other sharing food and etc but it doesn’t exist anymore. Patriotism already disappeared. Conservatives don’t seems to know this expecting Koreans will be like they were in the past. This country changed and people think about only themselves.

enej****

Damn Korea is losing technology, talented people and just everything, ke ke. If I ever get an offer I will leave this country right away.

1210****

So, what the government wants us to be paid in patriotism.

leec****

Salary, welfare… and other circumstances.. it’s an easy decision.

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Article from Liberalism:

Diplomacy is not conducted in consideration of your personal feelings

Sure, if comfort women were American, the Japanese Minister might have cried and begged for forgiveness in Washington like German Minister Brant did in Europe. Abe might have said “I am sorry” more often than “Good morning”. But the reality is that Korea’s national power is weaker than Japan’s. Isn’t it too childish to call Pres. Park Geun-hye an idiotic bitch and get all upset about the agreement? How on earth can we get an “unconditional surrender” from Japan?

Was Minister Yoon Byeon-se some sort of a judge in a court? Some comments sound like criticism towards unfair law enforcement, not a negotiation. Was the Korean minister in the position of a judge while the Japanese minister was the accused? Honestly, the meeting wouldn’t even have happened if it weren’t for American pressure. A judge controls how to apply absolute public authority but a negotiator has to give and take. How on earth do you expect Korea to draw an unconditional surrender from Japan? If it was possible at all, why did all those competent presidents and ministers fail to do so?

How much leverage do we have against Japan? Economy? Military? The international community’s support? Do we have enough power to deal with Japan’s diplomatic power heads-on? Human rights? Do you know how inconsistent their attention to “human rights” is in the international community who aren’t exactly total angels? Do you think countries like Germany, the U.S. and France would bother confronting Japan because they love human rights so much? Really? For your information, countless political figures such as Merkel, the British crown prince, and Michelle Obama have visited Japan while dust was piling up at the gates of our Blue House. Do you think the world is on our side? For real?

I see comments like “It would’ve been better if they hadn’t reached any agreement then.” or “Do your job right.” One of the main complaints about our government was that they seem to be just waiting until all the victims passed away, wasn’t it? Every year about 10 victims pass away now. So what if we keep failing to reach any agreement? Is it better if we don’t negotiate at all then? You ask what right the government has to negotiate on behalf of the victims? Then should the government take a hands-off approach to the comfort women issue? Now will “the Korean Council for the Women Drafted for Military Sexual Slavery by Japan” [Jeong-dae-hyeop] handle everything on their own? Some criticize Japan for just throwing a billion yen at the problem. If Japan didn’t decide to pay at all, they would call it an empty apology or worse than the Asian Women’s Fund. Some say it is merely a billion yen. But if Japan decided to pay more, then they would say Japan is trying to bury the issue with money.

Some say we should ask Japan to teach their students about comfort women to younger generations in their textbooks. We had a negotiation in Seoul. We did not occupy Tokyo and force them to sign an agreement. Even when we apologize to Vietnam about the war, do we promise that we will write about it in our textbooks for the next generation? Two nations reached an agreement. It is not like Japan is instructed by Korea to write an apology letter. In what kind of diplomatic documents in the world do you write “We will record our wrongdoings in our textbooks and teach them to our children for generations”? Please let me know if you know any such case.

Removal of the comfort woman statue? They only said “they will try to resolve the issue properly”. Nothing indicates that the statue will be removed. Also, it is not about all comfort woman statues. It is about the one that can cause a problem because of the Treaty of Vienna. Is it something sacred? Has it become Jerusalem? As a signer of the treaty, it is our duty to try to comply with it if there is an issue. Of course, they will investigate if the statue violates the treaty first. If not, it is likely that they will not move it. Even after all victims pass away, maybe some would continue their eternal battle using the statue.

Some say Japan just removed “moral” from “moral responsibility”. Do you not know the difference honestly? This is the first official document that acknowledges “responsibility” of the Japanese government. Japan admitted to military involvement and issued an apology on behalf of the Prime Minister. If this was such a shitty negotiation, what would be a good one? If there is another country that can receive such a response from a country that is several times more powerful, I really want to know who they are.

Honestly, it feels like listening to the howling of speaker feedback. More, more, more. The victims’ grudge will not be resolved even if Japan sinks into the sea and Abe died with his guts spilled out. However, such personal feelings cannot work in diplomacy between nations. If you are not happy with such negotiations, why don’t you go ahead and ask them to declare a war? Just what do you expect? If you think this is all because the ruling party and Park Geun-hye are idiots, show me what secrets the opposition party will use when they seize power in order to reenact the Tokyo War Crimes Trial. I expect them to show us the Japanese Prime Minister’s bowing on the ground.

Comments from Liberalism:
정원식

Korea’s extreme “seonbeeism” [ideological stubbornness without pragmatism] always led to a tragic demise. Did any of those who were obsessed with upholding pro-Ming policies during Gwanghaegun’s rule take any responsibility after the Qing invasion? The trap Korean journalists and citizens can easily fall into is this stubbornness. The attitude that regards any result that does not completely reflect their demands as a defeat. Koreans would still complain even if they take 9 out of 10 because one is missing. Considering Japan’s huge international influence and the 1960 agreement between the two nations, is it a small feat to receive an apology and compensations from their top leader? Those Koreans may not be satisfied even if Abe and his ministers come to Korea, kneel down on the ground and apologize. It is difficult to even put a single comma in diplomatic documents between the two nations. How can you downplay the politicians’ efforts so easily? Do you want to say Germany apologized sincerely? All lies. Sure, they apologized to the Jews. But they overlooked Ethiopia and other African countries where they also committed massacres. Receiving apologies is a privilege that comes with having power. Sure, Koreans. Keep on living like that. Stubbornly demand what is impossible with your cheap seonbee pride. It would surely feel nice to reach nowhere and miss out on everything.

Why should the government get approval from the victims? It is a matter where Northeast Asian politics, Korea-Japan relations, and the economy should be comprehensively considered. The nation should rationally seek for balance in the interest of every citizen. Of course, the victims’ personal feelings are intense, which may keep them from making a rational decision. Trying to get approval from the Sewol victims’ families. Trying to get approval from comfort women. Trying to implement immigration policies using marriage immigrant women’s opinions. If we keep doing this, balanced national polices are a pipe dream. We lose the ability to make judgements in light of the big picture. It will cause situations where we end up sacrificing national interests for a small group of people. We cannot ignore the victims’ opinions but it is also wrong to think their approval is essential when national policies are implemented.

We should not forget the tragedy of the comfort women in our history. But so many Korean men were drafted and killed or kidnapped in Korean War. Do we remember them, too? After all, our perceptions are biased due to political interests and stronger sympathy for women. We cannot soothe every single individual who was victimized in our long history. We cannot implement foreign policies listening to every victim’s personal opinion. Maybe the victims would feel a bit better if Abe commited suicide at Gwanghwamun Square and his children were beaten to death, but such things will never happen.

김종찬

Germany apologized? To the Jews. Has Germany ever apologized to and compensated African countries they colonized? Don’t make me laugh. If Jewish people were not so influential, would they have been able to get such apologies? Along with the Jews, gypsies were also massacred. The estimates range between 220,000 and 1.5 million. Has Germany apologized to and compensated them? In diplomacy, national power is the basis for receiving an apology. Do you think the world is on our side just because the US adopted a few resolutions and statues were placed for comfort women? Korea does not surpass Japan in terms of economy, military or technologies. If we call them Jap monkeys, do they really become stupid monkeys? It would be us who look like retarded monkeys on the diplomatic stage. How can we underestimate Japan and China when we don’t have the power to back it up? Those Koreans are merely acting like crazy people. If you want to receive an apology in the way you want, equal national power is the minimum requirement.

김규혁

Keyboard diplomats are fucking disgusting for real, kekeke. After drinking their heart out during the weekend, now they are emotionally yapping their mouth after reading a few lines on Facebook, kekeke. It should’ve been like this or that. This or that is regrettable. They try so hard to act like Enlightened Citizens although they know nothing about the complicated problems between Korea and Japan and how many countries’ interests are intertwined, kekeke. If you read comments on Facebook, it is like Korea has hundreds of Zhuge Liangs, kekeke. Why doesn’t our government hire them as diplomats so they can dig up Japanese war criminals’ graves and execute them again? Kekeke.

Gyu Hwan Shin

Those who are critical of emotionalism and in favor of the agreement commonly say there is nothing more we can achieve in this diplomatic matter. Of course, this isn’t completely wrong. It is obvious that we cannot get 100% of what we want ideally. Nonetheless, at least, since this was supposed to be the final official negotiation regarding the issue, should it not have included a clause that the Japanese government admits they share the responsibility? Of course, I know the negotiators did their best. But it is regrettable that ambiguous expressions could still cause discord. When there is a problem between two parties, the offender should apologize in order for both to move forward. Of course, we cannot say they did not apologize. But can we call it a true apology if there is room for ambiguous interpretation? Personally, I feel we took one and gave away 9 out of 10. It is so pathetic and irritating that this is the outcome of our full diplomatic capacity. At the same time, I do not understand those who bash the government at all.

Japan first denied any involvement of the military. After relevant documents were discovered, they admitted that the military was partially involved. The Kono statement emphasized the responsibility of the Japanese military, not the government. The current agreement did not really progress from that. If they argue that it was sole responsibility of the military, they can claim that they bear no responsibility. The original objective of the negotiation was to make the Japanese government admit their own responsibility. We couldn’t achieve that. So what was this about? Some say I didn’t even read the agreement properly, but I did. I checked the Kono statement, too. At least for a final resolution some time after the Kono statement, it is proper to stipulate an agreement without room for different interpretation. Compensation is a secondary matter.

Kim Jeong-hun

The government did not even ask the victims for their opinions. Formal investigations and a promise to write about comfort women in their textbooks among the seven demands Jeong-dae-hyeop has made are missing in this agreement. Investigations are needed to accurately measure the damage and it should be written in textbooks so that they will not have distorted views after generations have passed. Can we still say the issue was resolved? Japan brought up the comfort woman statue soon after they made an apology. Can you say the apology was sincere then? Abe didn’t apologize to the victims in person. He didn’t bow down in front of the media, either. Someone else read his apology. Can you say it was sincere? After all, can you not predict that Japan will officially have one less burden after this apology and push for exercising collective self-defense along with growing nationalism? Diplomacy cannot depend on emotions but even rationally, don’t you find it strange that Abe and his far-right wing figures changed their stance overnight? You ask if the world is on our side? Do you know that the UN Human Rights Council has criticized Japan’s handling of the comfort women issue every year? Also, Jeong-dae-hyeop and the victims do activities regarding the Korean military’s war crimes during the Vietnam War and all women victimized in wartime around the world. Do you think it is proper to claim that the issue has been resolved although you were not personally victimized or involved in any activities? Why is it our burden to understand Japan’s apology? I guess you guys would all just understand even if someone randomly hit you in the face as long as they say sorry afterwards?

Youngkyu Park

If we could defeat Japan heads-on, we might have received an apology in the way we want. However, I think our government did their best despite our lesser national power. Of course, it will not fully heal the victims’ wounds. After this agreement, I hope Japan reflects on their atrocities as Germany does every year and we should keep pressuring all symbols of their imperialism to get stigmatized just like how Nazism was banned in Germany.

Jaeho Lee

I see many who would still say Japan’s apology is not sincere even if Abe commits suicide at Gwanghwamun Square. I don’t fully agree with the writer, but why can we not be pragmatic with Japan even after we reconciled with China who was our enemy in the Korean War about 60 years ago? They say there is no eternal ally or enemy. If we pursue pragmatic diplomacy, we need to be more forward-looking with Japan. Also, an irreversible final agreement means Japan cannot officially claim comfort women are all lies and Japan had no responsibility. This negotiation was successful that there are even calls from other countries like Taiwan, Indonesia, and Philippines for the same level of apologies from Japan, too. If Japan overturns their position again, all blame will be put on their shoulders. Japan can be criticized from all sides if that happens. Now it is time to watch if the Japanese government properly implements the agreement.

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From Megalia:

Male-dominant sites’ responses to Megalia that I’ve seen.

“Megalians don’t seem to have any desire to co-exist with Korean men.”

“Megalians do not care about their own country even one bit.”

“Megalians are all crazy bitches.”

“This is the first time I felt deep grudges from a website.”

“Those bitches’ feelings towards men show murderous intent beyond animosity.”

“Megalians only think about women’s happiness.”

“Megalians blame men when innocent women receive misogyny. They also blame men when innocent men receive misandry for not fighting back for women.”

“Megalia is not even a humor site. It is an essence of grudges.”

“Megalians do not want to compromise with men. They just want to kill men.”

“Megalians have no desire to marry or date men around them.”

“Megalians consider men as their wallets or slaves.”

“Megalians’ ultimage goal is to turn men into livestock.”

“Megalians even call their own dads fucking kimchi men.”

They are all right about us. So what? There is just no need to refute them.

So why did you not crawl in front of women before these crazy bitches appear, you inferior dicks? ^오^

Hahaha, I feel so happy if I imagine I made at least one fucking kimchi man get one step closer to Jae-gi’s path today. ^^ [Seong Jae-gi was a men’s rights activist who died from a fund-raising stunt.]

From Naver KnowledgeiN:

Question: Why does this country not ban a website like Megalia?

Hell Joseon [Korea] is the only country that bans internet porn among the OECD member countries, which has brought ridicule from other developed countries. International group Reporters Without Borders even classified Korea as an enemy of the internet.

“The nation of South Korea is a world leader in Internet and broadband penetration, but its citizens do not have access to free and unfiltered Internet.”

The Ministry of Women and KCSC [Korean Communication Standards Commission] ban all kinds of adult content. But why do they not ban a nuclear waste site like Megalia? If you read their website, it is more disgusting than any porn site and harmful for the mental health of teens. These are some typical posts on Megalia.

From Megalia: [345 up votes, 0 down vote]

Do you know why Korean man bugs are upset about the comfort women issue?

It is not because of human rights or ethical reasons. They just hate that foreigners used Korean women who should’ve been raped only by Korean men. When police chief Kim Gang-ja rescued 14-year-old girls from a brothel in Miari, Korean man bugs complained that a cheap brothel disappeared.

From Megalia: [133 up votes, 0 down vote]

Let’s get an abortion if we become pregnant with a son ^^

Daughters have been treated poorly so far, right? Isn’t it mostly fucking kimchi men who commit sexual crimes or sexually discriminate? We should make them go extinct.

Pictures of severed male genitals are shared on Megalia.

Doesn’t this tell you that the true intention of the Ministry of Women’s ban on internet porn is not to protect teenagers but to oppress Korean men’s sexual freedom?

Best Answer:

I am a child of a female activist who devoted her entire life to gender equality. I also belong to social activist circles. I write this post regarding the current situation where some group’s extreme propaganda is brutally destroying Korea’s feminism that has advanced thanks to the sacrifices of many people.

Please listen, Megalians. You are inflicting indiscriminate violence under the slogan “Until the day misogyny disappears” that may sound legitimate. However, for most citizens who were not even familiar with the word ‘misogyny’, you are doing your best to strengthen misogyny as you claim you speak for ‘Korean women’ while displaying appalling behavior.

Ladies, let’s think a little bit. Your claim that misogyny is prevalent in society definitely has some truth. It is true that unreasonable statements have become prevalent on male dominant websites such as Ilbe.

But what about female dominant or female exclusive communities? Look at Women’s Generation with 600,000 members that caused controversy lately. Their problems that used to be completely concealed under the surface have been revealed. Misandry, misogyny, sexual harassment, pornography, copyright infringement, smuggling, selling drugs, etc. [The community demands proof of being female for membership and their posts are not open to the public.]

You complain about the sexualization of female idols, but even elementary school students would know which gender’s idol market is bigger. Attention to female idols’ chests is sexist but male idols’ shirt-ripping is just an acceptable sexy act?

You point out the gender wage gap in Korea is 13th among the OECD member states. But did you know that the Korean male suicide rate is the highest among the OECD (2.6 times higher than the Korean female suicide rate) and the suicide rate for Korean men in their 40’s and 50’s, who you call “dad bugs”, is overwhelmingly the highest in the world? Why does this phenomenon occur? Have you ever thought about the unfair burden Korean men have to take on as much as you thought about discrimination against Korean women? Forced gender roles inflict pain for all parties involved. I am not saying we should talk about who is more disadvantaged.

Most of you guys grew up in the 80’s and 90’s. There is lingering sexism. But in terms of dating, social life, entertainment, culture, or daily life overall, Korea today is a place where you cannot clearly say only one gender is discriminated against. In 2015, 75% of female students and 68% of male students advanced to university education. The highest leadership position in the country is taken by a female. Is Korea truly such a country where women are severely discriminated against as you depict?

You guys keep claiming that nobody paid attention to misogyny for the past 10 years and advances in women’s rights have been stagnant. Do you think people can have a normal social life if they reveal they are users of Ilbe or Soranet [a website for both men and women who indulge in sexual perversion]? Check the entry for Ilbe on Namu Wiki which you call a dick-sucking site. Check the incident part. So many incidents caused by them have been archived. Ilbe is already treated like a trash can. Soranet has survived only because they kept changing their URL and have servers outside Korea.

But you may think otherwise. “No, in Korea, women are discriminated against much more!” Sure, you are free to have your own thoughts. However, you seem to think your own ideology gives you an absolute right to stand above the constitution that protects anyone from violence and coercion.

Let’s say there is a person who has a huge scar on her face. It hurt so much and she hates when people look down on her. She hates the society that doesn’t acknowledge her pain. So she made a group with people who have similar scars and cut random people’s faces. And then she says, looking at the dripping blood. “It hurts, doesn’t it? You should feel the pain just like I did. Now you know how much I had to suffer.” Then the victim shouts, “It hurts! Why are you doing this to me?!” She says, “I know but what were you doing when we got hurt? You share the blame, too. In order to achieve our goal, I want you to endure it.”

Serial killer Yoo Young-cheol who killed women with an excuse that he wanted to give a warning to misbehaving women after satisfying his sexual greed. This is the true face of Megalia. They laugh at pictures of severed male genitals and say male babies should be ground to death as soon as they are born. They even call their own dads “sperm provider bug” or “dad bug”. Where is the noble value of social activism in this?

Indiscriminate violence that targets most innocent people who did not cause the problems in a strong belief that they are only doing the right thing. Ironically, you Megalians commit the worst discrimination against women. If a woman disagrees with you guys, you call them honorary dicks or dick-sucking bitches, which is even hard to say with a straight face. Your site already experienced divisions, which led to creation of the website “Just Between Us Pussies”. You label most women as “corset girls” or “chastity belt girls” who should be enlightened by you.

The most despicable thing is that in order to help spread your ideas and propaganda, you use sexual assault cases as your weapon, which inflicts indirect violence on real victims of sexual crimes. (Misandry using the comfort women issue. Women’s Generation’s sexual assault fabrication incident, K university’s female student committee’s fabrication about rape by a professor, S university’s sex crime committee incident, etc.) When you are faced with male victims, you justify your actions with the excuse that it is okay because you are socially vulnerable women.

“We should be honest, courteous, loyal and compassionate towards our own people. But we do not need to be this way towards other people.” – Heinrich Luitpold Himmler, Nazi SS chief and culprit for the genocide of the Jewish people

You lay down a smokescreen with a legitimate slogan that you just hate misogyny, while you set up the banner of female superiority calling men inferior animals. Then you purged internal dissenters first.

“The easiest way to rule over rationality is using fear and might.” – Adolf Hitler, Nazi leader

You completely shut down internal criticism using violence.

“Anger and hatred are the strongest power that fuels the crowd’s enthusiasm.” – Paul Joseph Goebbels, Nazi chief propagandist.

Sensational factoids your leaders created. Propaganda that keeps anger and hatred afloat. Indiscriminate violence you guys wield as a group. This is exactly in line with Nazi ideology. Nazism that was fanned by a victim complex after the World War 1. Radical feminism in Korea that used to keep a low profile. Femi + nazi. This is exactly the kind of feminism Megalians promote. […]

Females wearing Megalia bracelets.

Below are from Namu Wiki and Libre Wiki’s pages about Megalia. Many internet links and citations in the original article are not shown here. More controversies and surrounding arguments will be covered later.

From Namu Wiki – Megalia:

1. Overview

Korean internet’s ISIL that suddenly emerged in 2015. The one and only website in the world that is completely dedicated to hating the opposite gender where the administrator herself promotes misandry and public opinion manipulation.

Megalia was created on August 6th in 2015 claiming independence from DC Inside’s MERS gallery. They argue that they promote misandry as a countermeasure against misogyny. However, posts on the website cannot justify such a cause. […]

The name “Megalia” originates from DC Inside’s MERS gallery and the fiction “Egalia’s Daughters” where men and women’s traditional gender roles are reversed. This name was widely used through a Facebook page they were running before they created their own website. Initially, they also used the name “Megalia’s Daughters” but due to the opinion that it is sexist, they chose Megalian. They use both Megalia and Megalian to refer to their website. Contrary to the fiction writer and human rights activist Gerd Mjoen Brantenberg’s belief, Megalians hate male homosexuals, too. […]

1.1. Logo

A unique hand sign is drawn inside a green laurel wreath.

Megalia officially claims the hand sign means equality (=) for gender. However, in practice, it is used to belittle Korean men’s genitals. […]

[“6.9” is one of the core meme words for Megalians. The sign “6.9 warning” is put on any reported post on their website, meaning it must have been written by a man. They often imply 6.9 cm is Korean men’s average erect length, although it was a flaccid length in Professor Son Hwan-chul’s journal. Also, this is the journal that was incorrectly cited for the average erect length for many years. Once a blogger collected penile lengths around the world and published a table. He put measurements from different countries in a simple comparative table. However, it was found that the penile dimensions he put in the table were measured in significantly different methods by different groups in different countries. Some numbers were even from self-measurement due to the difficulty of getting the fully erect state in lab settings. For an unknown reason, he chose Prof. Son’s measurements of flaccid stretched length instead of erect length for Korea. Despite the lack of statistical integrity, the table went viral internationally for its simplicity and eye-catchiness, got reproduced as various infographics and repeatedly cited by internet media or even some publications. Initially, it was not actively debunked by Korean netizens due to the nature of the topic. The subject slowly came into Korean netizens’ consciousness mainly through their interaction with Japanese nationalist netizens (netouyo). Lately, Megalia users have been trying to popularize the “6.9” meme on female-dominant sites. This blog explains the context with multiple academic sources.]

A Megalian post that received a “6.9 warning”.

4. Tendencies

4.1. Misandry

Along with Ilbe, Megalia leads the wagon of domestic opposite gender hate. Megalia is even ahead of Ilbe, which is not dedicated to misogyny. They exhibit a female superiority complex beyond mere hate for Korean men these days. […]

In Megalia, there are numerous misandric comments and discussions for plotting crimes against men. This can be regarded only as misandry no matter what justifications they try to bring up. Similar examples can be found from the page for Shaminism [sham + feminism]. They absurdly claim it is “mirroring” of misogyny. Simply copying Ilbe’s language and creating a female version is not an objection to misogyny. If they truly want to oppose misogyny, they should hate Ilbe. However, Megalians hate all Korean men, make fun of their genitals because “fucking Kimchi men deserve sexual humiliation”, and say anyone who criticizes Megalia is a misogynist who should be “beaten for every breath”. They show indiscriminate hate for all Korean men, which exceeds Ilbe’s misogyny in its extremity. They employ the method of sexually ridiculing men even using unsavory pictures instead of logically arguing against misogyny. They enjoy seeing disgusting pictures of severed penises. Such posts do not get deleted but rather voted up. They enjoy such activities with an excuse that it is “mirroring” to abuse men sexually. It is analyzed that they project their anti-social and distorted sexual desires formed by their isolation from society onto their target of anger, men. […]

From Libre Wiki – Megalia:

2. Tendencies

Officially, they claim to support anti-misogyny. In practice, mainly misandric and shaminist comments are posted and voted up in their forums. Their nature is similar to DC Inside’s MERS gellery.

2.1. Organized activities

Avaaz petitions, donations, opinion manipulation on various websites and online promotion of their website. Most of their activities are implemented in an organized way as a group. That is why they are exerting a larger external influence compared to the small size of their community. For petitions, they exploit the fact that Avaaz’s system that does not properly block multiple entries from a single person.

Post-It movement by Megalians. “Are we either a ‘sensible girl’ or a ‘kimchi girl’? We are just humans.” “You have absolutely no responsibility to respond to your boyfriend’s sexual needs. Even between married couples, forced sex is punishable the same as rape.”

3. Controversies and criticisms

3.1. Expansion of misandry

Although Megalia users claim that their misandric posts are a countermeasure against particular misogynists, most of the ridicule target all Korean men. It is hard to distinguish whether they are truly doing it as a countermeasure or they simply enjoy making such posts. They even repeatedly copy DC Inside Baseball and Stock galleries’ racist jokes and jokes about dead people. Also, Megalia users consistently make posts whose level of extreme exceeds that of the websites that show a misogynist nature such as Ilbe. Such posts are also highly voted up. This makes one question whether they are simply expressing misandry rather than a “countermeasure against misogyny”. This is akin to getting slapped in Jongro and then making a fuss in Hangang.[This is old Korean saying expressing someone’s misdirected anger or complaints.]

Since June in 2015, they have claimed they are “mirroring” misogyny. Some say the fact that they have to keep on insisting it means such an attempt at justification does not work well with the general public. Even if they are truly trying to mirror misogyny with a definite awareness and calculations, it can still be a problem. Most internet users come across such posts without context. It can only come off as the advent of a female version of Ilbe. Also, as new users join the website without sharing the website’s initial cause, Megalia can end up being a venue where they can let out any hate comments for simple entertainment like Ilbe.

3.2. Problems of mirroring as a countermeasure against hate

There is an argument that hate is hate no matter how it is sugar-coated. It is highly likely to bring about a backlash rather than better awareness about misogyny. There is a criticism that they are not any different from Ilbe as they are even copying Ilbe’s language. In addition, some users openly admitted they are misandrists.

3.3. Mirroring is just an excuse

They try to justify their behavior saying they are mirroring misogyny. However, it is only exposure of misandry that has existed under the surface on female-dominant sites such as DC Inside Male Celebrities gallery and Women’s Generation and then turned into full blown misandry on DC Inside MERS gallery. It is an argument that although misandry has existed for as long as misogyny on the internet, it was less exposed due to the closed nature of female-dominant websites and thus mirroring is a simple excuse.

In fact, it is even hard to say Megalia brought about simple exposure of old misandry because their extremity exceeds it. They are also different in that they believe they are righteous and implement organized movements supported by some women’s rights groups. They have only found a target where they can unload their hate and anger, which resides in everyone. They just found a chance to let out “macho-ness” under the pretense of mirroring.

3.4. Double standards

[…] If a man is victimized in an accident or a murder case, they share the news site’s URL and make ridiculing comments. They coined the expression “jae-gi” from the name of the former representative of Man of Korea who drowned in a river. There was a post where they even called King Sejong fucking kimchi man. Regarding the Itaewon murder case, they said the Korean man bug deserved death. Ilbe is criticized for jokes about dead people but Megalia is not any different.

They waged a campaign to ban Soranet while highly voting up a post that suggests making a Megalia version of Soranet. They criticized the magazine Maxim’s cover where a woman is locked in a trunk by a man for beautifying a sexual crime scene. However, they praised another magazine cover where a woman is burying a man.

3.5. Fundamentalism

In fundamentalism, the world is divided in a single frame. Religious fundamentalism is a well-known example. Megalia disparages various types of minorities and does not cease to exclude any group that is not female-only. They claim female minority groups are the most oppressed over any minority groups. Minorities of any kind are considered to be oppressors with vested rights as long as they are male. This is well shown by the fact that Megalia doesn’t show a particular political orientation. They only want to attack men.

For example, they show a high level of hate for gay men. They even make distinctions between female-to-male and male-to-female transgender individuals and treat them differently. They overlook the fact that women are not necessarily more disadvantaged when they compare women who graduated from prestigious universities and men who graduated from no-name colleges or middle class women and working class migrant men, for example. This is a typical trait of fundamentalists. There are many instances of fundamentalism such as getting trapped in anti-Americanism to criticize American imperialism or in anti-communism. For sexual assault cases, there are many occasions where the victims are humiliated. But at the same time, sexual assault is one of the few crimes that can be punished only by the victim’s statement without direct evidence. The world is not simple. They often say other minorities’s rights and men’s rights regarding military duty should be taken care of by the directly involved parties. Then, they lose the basis to criticize men who were not actively critical of misogyny.

For these reasons, the leftist camp is slowly re-assessing feminism in Korea. No self-acclaimed leftist would object to feminism’s ideals, gender equality, and the goal of creating a society without sexual exploitation or violence. However, they are realizing that Korea’s mainstream feminism has been too sanctified and politicized in order to protect their own turf. It is self-reflection that they should not make the same mistake as holding hands with NL [a pro-North Korean group] while ignoring their faults. The movement for sexual labor rights was a topic that could not even be mentioned 10 years ago. For those who have been active in the leftist party, it is a widely shared sentiment that the female quota system has been demanded by the women’s interest groups within the party to protect their vested rights. If you criticized it openly, you could be buried alive for showing machismo. Even in such social activist scenes, reverse oppression exists. Megalia ignores situations like that.

3.6. Manipulation of public opinion

They share news articles’ URLs and manipulate comment sections, which is called “firepower support”. The problem is that this is not done by a few users, but led by the administrative team. In general, using any methods at all costs to achieve a goal gives the opposition good ammunition. They even suggest a guideline. However, their firepower support is usually limited to Naver and they refrain if they have to take a risk.

3.7. Unaccepting of criticism

Namu Wiki’s entry about Megalia was written in the most critical tone among Korean wiki sites. Most blogs also criticize Megalia. Instead of acknowledging the criticisms, Megalia’s administrative team and users ask bloggers to take down their critiques and constantly vandalized Namu Wiki’s entry. They try to shut down any criticism about them.

In fact, many progressive men feel uncomfortable with feminism because the framing of oppressors and the oppressed that distorts the reality of the oppressed themselves. They fear that the men vs. women frame may upset their support for male workers who are exploited by capitalists or citizens who fight against an oppressive government. This also applies to Megalia. They try to find the moral high ground inside the frame of gender conflicts. They feel uncomfortable and do not want to acknowledge situations where men are exploited (military duty) and where women can be oppressors with vested rights (disability, education, age hierarchy, etc.) This is in line with the victim complex supporting xenophobia around the world.

3.8. Do they really offer satires?

In order for their mirroring to offer satire as they claim, they should ridicule those who spread misogyny, bystanders and society where misogyny is prevalent. Their intention should be to bring down misogyny and realize gender equality. However, they make fun of Korean men’s genitals and call dissenting women dick-suckers or honorary dicks. They even enjoy seeing pictures of severed penises.

They defend female criminals who commit sexual crimes against men and leave comments that men must have enjoyed it. A post that claims Korean men should go extinct because they have small penises received 175 up votes and 1 down vote. There was a post with more than 300 up votes that said Korean men are upset about the comfort women issue because foreign men raped Korean women who should’ve been abused only by Korean men. A post received several hundreds of up votes even though it only blamed a man when his ex-girlfriend made a revenge porn video because he dumped her. Such hate posts that do not contain any clear satirical value constantly receive high numbers of up votes. Above all, it is the most contradictory to employ not the terms but the logic of patriarchy which they criticize. […]

3.9. Hate for male sexual minorities and outing homosexuals

Since November, Megalia users have been outing male sexual minorities with whom they used to be allied, blaming misogyny. This caused division of the community and a new site “WOMAD” was launched. Currently, both sites are outing sexual minorities. The extremist site WOMAD does outing for all gays while Megalia targets gays who “caused trouble”. It is a serious criminal act to reveal such personal information. This shows how they disregard minorities’ rights.

4. Supportive arguments

4.1. Mirroring is satirical

Supporters of Megalia claim that their hate comments are in the form of mirroring that should not be taken literally. They argue that Megalia’s mirroring brought fresh attention and awareness to misogyny that is prevalent on DC Inside and Ilbe. They claim that MERS gallery has shown that women have been subject to irrational hate while men have been free from such stigma.

It is hard to simply claim Megalia exhibits hate for hate because the subject and the object of hate are not on equal footing. Thus, Megalia’s hateful rhetoric functions as a satire until misandry becomes as much of a problem as misogyny. There is an argument that it is hard to say Megalia shows natural expressions of hate because their rhetoric is strikingly similar to Ilbe’s misogynist posts and it means they are intentionally copying it.

4.2. Megalia brought public attention to misogyny in a short period of time

Supporters claim that the fact that Megalia’s mirroring for several months drew so much attention while misogyny on various websites such as Ilbe has been overlooked for several years reflects the state of the problem. They point out that Women’s Generation, MERS gallery and Megalia’s misandry has been archived very frequently in detail on Libre Wiki and Namu Wiki, compared to other online communities’ problems.

However, it is questionable whether such publicity functions positively due to their extremism. Wikis do not tolerate vandalism on their entries. Enha-type Wiki editors get enraged at vandals who try to cover up their problems and thus archive even more criticism about them. As long as the critics have basis, any attempt to silence them backfires. This type of noise alone is not sufficient to draw public spotlight for legitimate social discourse. (Ilbe also received lots of public attention but…)

4.3. Anger to be respected

Philosopher Slavoj Zizek’s book “What Is Violence?” says Paris riots in 2005 were an attempt to gain attention. According to him, rioters felt they were marginalized from social and political scenes although they were French citizens. They wanted to send a strong message that they exist no matter how much you want to ignore them. The only way for marginalized people to take the lead requires aggressiveness sometimes. Respect comes from fear, not from sympathy.

Hence, it is analyzed that Megalians try to make women get respect out of fear in this society where they perceive misogyny is prevalent instead of becoming objects of sympathy. (Although you can use the same argument for terrorist groups.)

4.4. Feminist movement

● Donations

On August 11th in 2015, Megalia donated 5 million won to Korean Womenlink for anti-misogyny activities. Since August 15th, they have been collecting money from selling Megalian bracelets. On September 16th, they donated 5 million won to Aeranwon for single mothers.

● Publicizing voyeuristic video problems

Since August in 2015, they have been publicizing hidden camera problems. Coincidentally, culprits of the “waterpark hidden camera” incident got arrested on August 26th, which fueled the relevant discourse. On August 31st, the police decided to enact a law regulating hidden cameras.

Megalia’s anti-hidden camera campaign.

● Petition against Maxim

They publicized the controversial magazine cover for “beautifying a sexual crime”. They sent complaints to the company. The petition against the cover received more than 10,000 signatures and on September 3rd, Maxim promised to recall their September issues.

● Petition against Soranet

On September 9th, they began a petition with the goal of 100,000 signatures to ban Soranet and punish related offenders. Within 6 hours, more than 10,000 signatures were collected. On November 23rd, NPAD Lawmaker Jin Seon-mi cited this petition when she was asking the police chief Kang Shin-myeong to implement strict investigations into Soranet.

Besides all this, they prepare and implement events and activities for the improvement of women’s rights and gender equality.

The aforementioned activities can be regarded as feminist movements. However, under the administrators’ guidance, they make misandric comments and vote them up to top on various websites, especially on Naver News. The administrators even encourage their users to troll other sites. Since they do many activities that express extreme female superiority and misandry, they keep causing controversy.

Megalia’s administrator on SBS Special.

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The 2015 Korean Societal Trends Report from Statistics Korea

It appears that the proportion of couples in their late 30s among the number of childless homes has been quadrupled in the last 35 years.

On the 10th of December, the Statistics Research Institute, part of Statistics Korea, presented the 2015 Korean Societal Trends Report and according to this report, the number of childless homes in 1975 was 1.6% and rose to 2.1% in 2010.

During that period, the ratio of childless homes where the wife is between 35 and 39 years old increased from 1.1% to 4.1%, showing a dramatic increase.

Childless homes are defined as homes without a child where the wife is between 35 and 64 years old.

The rate of childless homes where the wife is between 35 and 44 continues to increase, along with the trend of marry at a later age.

As the time spent as a married couple gets shorter, the likeliness of not have children increases.

[The report showed that] in 2010, 36.7% of men in their thirties were unmarried, an increase from 12.4% in 1995. The percentage of unmarried women in their thirties rose from 4.6% to 19.9% in the same period.

Wives from childless homes show a tendency to have a higher education level and higher positions in their companies than the wives of homes with children.

While women with a higher education level are seeking more work experience and self-realization, they are delaying marriage.

In the 1975 Housing and Population census, the average education level of the wife from a childless home was below elementary school, while in 2010 the average was a high school education.

The percentage of wives from childless homes focusing on their career was 0.9% in 1975 and increased to 17.0% by 2010.

The number of childless couples with high educational backgrounds or who are focusing on their careers but wish to raise children was rather high.

Professor Kye Bong-oh from Kukmin University and Professor Kim Du-seop from Hanyang University mentioned that, “If the number of childless homes keep increasing, we really have to consider that the situation of low fertility will intensify, and as such, future policies aimed at increasing the fertility rate will have to be targeted to well-educated and high-positioned women.”

Comments from Naver:

eds****

The president is also unmarried, without children, and lives well, so why are we constantly being told to get married and have kids. Why is she pushing measures that are totally out of touch with reality.

hoog****

We’re told to have kids just for them to inherit our poverty… they want to make tax-paying machines … educational expenses for an elementary kid is 1.5 million won a month! Even if you are a double income family, this is hard to take… Politicians have money so they don’t really care… People who live paycheck to paycheck need to go into debt to pay for their kids’ education all the way up through university. They grow up to become tax-paying machines. It’s funny but sad.

iceb****

If you have kids its nice to see them, but raising them is hard, it doesn’t matter if you are a man or a women, as infant care puts a stop to your career, even if your parents say they’ll look after the kids, isn’t it too hard for them at their age? But sending them to a daycare center is also hectic, so its really true that raising kids is difficult. Then, is our country a nice place to live when you don’t have a double income? With the prices and the rent, raising kids is tough in Korea. But it’s worth living here as a DINK [Double-Income No Kids].

ats5****

Those guys born with a silver spoon in their mouth are telling us to be slaves and make babies? I will finish this circle of slavery in my generation.

skyb****

If you have a kid, you’ve got 10,000 problems. If you don’t have any you’ve got only one problem.

hdh2****

When you have kids, the most important thing is to raise them well and make sure they are successful. But if it doesn’t turn out that way they can become a nuisance. Not having kids can also be good fortune. After spending lots of money, it’s also a crap game when they graduate from university and are looking for a job, since life is hard, and it becomes completely useless after time passes by. Instead, the emptiness of not having kids can largely be compensated by the fact that you have more financial freedom. In the future if one of the two parents passes away you can just remarry. After all, life is all in vain – you come in the world with nothing and leave it with nothing. You just need to live in the least painful way.

atta****

The top 10% should make lots of babies, the lowest 50% should end their family line, and the ones in between should just do whatever they want.

trim****

It’s convenient to not have any children

byza****

Those who have wealth can just make one or two more.

civi****

While then encourage pregnancy, they are cutting the childcare subsidies by a lot… tsk tsk are they not cutting the salary of the members of the National Assembly?

warr****

Maybe if you completely remove private education and education becomes free at least up to high school… from the perspective of a person raising two kids, you can really regret it sometimes…

whqu****

Even without considering my financial status, I don’t feel the need to have a baby.

hope****

While the government makes a bunch of bad regulations and measures, there are too many things they are asking of the Korean people.

sh10****

This is so like Hell Joseon… as long as politicians and big companies act like that, will there be any change? They are trying to take advantage of good Korean people.

comt****

So what if you have a baby in your late 30’s? Raise them in your forties, get old, then help them study in your fifties, pay tuition in your sixties, and help them get a job in your seventies? It is terrifying just thinking of it. If you are going to raise a child, do it early, otherwise don’t do it at all.

lare****

Hell Joseon is really nosy about marriage and childbirth. Why do they fucking care? Annoying…

sunn****

Let’s acknowledge diversity here. There can be people who are not married, people with no kids, you don’t have to make them look weird because they are different… this is tiring.

ap13****

If you have the [financial] freedom to send your kids to a special-purpose high school, then you have babies.

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