American Buddhist Net

By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

Seoul Plaza, the Mecca for candlelit rallies over the last two months, is struggling to get back to normal. Under sweltering heat at noon Tuesday, dozens of workers were toiling to re-turf the round plaza and decorate it with flowers in front of City Hall.

The plaza is regaining its green, peaceful appearance as candlelit vigils are apparently waning, with civic groups and religious leaders positioned not to hold anti-American beef protests, at least not on weekdays.

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Where in Asia do people eat dog meat?

Monday July 7, 2008
By MAJORIE CHIEW

...In recent times, the bulk of dog meat has been produced commercially by dog breeding farms. Various breeds are reared but many farmers prefer St Bernards for their rapid growth, bulk and flavour. Today, however, they appear to have fallen from favour because of their substantial feeding costs.

Farmed dogs endure short, cramped, miserable lives. Brutal death awaits them. Many are said to be tortured or bled to death slowly. This results in adrenaline-rich meat which, according to folklore, makes men who eat it more virile.

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By Charles J. Hanley and Jae-Soon Chang, The Associated Press

Published: July 04, 2008 11:20 PM ET

SEOUL The American colonel, troubled by what he was hearing, tried to stall at first. But the declassified record shows he finally told his South Korean counterpart it "would be permitted" to machine-gun 3,500 political prisoners, to keep them from joining approaching enemy forces.

In the early days of the Korean War, other American officers observed, photographed and confidentially reported on such wholesale executions by their South Korean ally, a secretive slaughter believed to have killed 100,000 or more leftists and supposed sympathizers, usually without charge or trial, in a few weeks in mid-1950.

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One writer discovers that anonymity is the only way to explore Pyongyang, the North Korean capital

July 5, 2008

...Privacy was one thing I quickly learnt not to expect. Tourists are watched carefully by official guides, who report to the secret police. I was on a nine-day visit on a package offered by a British travel company - a handful offers trips - and I was monitored the entire time.

My guides, whose names I won't reveal in case I cause them trouble - which is why I am writing this article anonymously - were with me almost every moment I was not in a hotel room. They met me at Pyongyang's giant station, and hardly let me out of their sight.

The only time I was allowed to walk “on my own” from my hotel one afternoon, I soon discovered that X had been following. “You went farther than you said you would,” she admonished in a friendly way.

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VIDEO: Pyongyang traffic ladies

JULY 05, 2008

Following Roman Catholic and Christian priests, Buddhist priests finally held their own candlelight vigil to express opposition against U.S. beef imports.

The Buddhist Commission consisting of progressive Buddhist organizations such as the Buddhist Solidarity for Reform, Lotus World, and Solidarity of Buddhism and Environment Protection held “The Buddhist Ceremony to Protect the Sovereignty of the People and Encourage the Government to Repent” at Seoul Plaza, in front of Seoul City Hall, at 6 p.m. Friday.

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By Cathy Rose A. Garcia, Han Sang-hee,
Staff Reporters

Baekdamsa ? Spending a weekend at a temple is becoming increasingly popular these days, with more people seeking refuge from the noisy city to find peace of mind.

Many temples now offer weekend-stay programs, luring Koreans, foreign tourists and expatriates who want to experience the life of Buddhist monks at their picturesque sites dotted around Korea.

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Wednesday, July 2, 2008
By Bae Ji-sook

Seoul City is under heavy stress because of the huge number of tents pitched by religious groups supporting candlelit protests against the resumption of U.S. beef imports.

Christian groups Tuesday installed outdoor tents at Seoul Plaza, in front of Seoul City Hall building.

Protestant groups installed three tents next to those of the Catholic Priests' Association for Justice where priests are conducting a fast, causing a congestion of tents.

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July 1, 2008

SEOUL (UCAN): Buddhists in South Korea have protested what they see as the new government's bias against Buddhism and in favor of Christianity.

The Jogye Order, the country's largest Buddhist denomination, on June 24 issued a statement charging that Seoul's transport information system, Algoga (find your way), "intentionally" omitted mention of any Buddhist temples.

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July 1, 2008
By CHOE SANG-HUN

SEOUL, South Korea — A United States freighter began unloading tons of American wheat in Pyongyang, the North Korean capital, on Monday, as the government agreed to give international aid workers unprecedented access to its isolated, hunger-stricken territory, the United Nations World Food Program said.

The shipment is the first installment of 500,000 tons in promised American aid to be distributed by the World Food Program and American groups like Mercy Corps. The aid, and the North Korean agreement to invite 50 more food program experts and a consortium of American relief agencies, followed recent progress in efforts to end the North’s nuclear weapons program.

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SEOUL, South Korea: Police launched raids Monday on offices of two civic groups that have led weeks of street rallies against South Korea's resumption of U.S. beef imports, as the government pledged not to tolerate violent, illegal demonstrations.

Police officers searched the Seoul offices of the civic groups and confiscated materials and documents related to their rallies, said an official at Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, on condition of anonymity, citing an agency policy. He did not provide further details.

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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
June 26, 2008

...I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, find that the current existence and risk of the proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material on the Korean Peninsula constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat. I further find that, as we deal with that threat through multilateral diplomacy, it is necessary to continue certain restrictions with respect to North Korea that would otherwise be lifted pursuant to a forthcoming proclamation that will terminate the exercise of authorities under the Trading With the Enemy Act (50 U.S.C. App. 1 et seq.) (TWEA) with respect to North Korea.

Accordingly, I hereby order:

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By Richard Spencer in Beijing
Last Updated: 2:01PM BST 27/06/2008

North Korea has blown up the cooling tower of the nuclear reactor that provided the plutonium for its first atomic weapons test.

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The Seoul metropolitan area transport information system Algoga (“find your way”) is at the center of controversy after it was revealed that it omits the names of the major Buddhist temples. The Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the largest Buddhist order in Korea, argues this clearly represents the evangelical tendency of the Lee Myung-bak administration.

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June 23, 2008 at 7:51 PM

PYONGYANG, North Korea, June 23 (UPI) -- North Korea will blow up part of a nuclear facility Friday under an international agreement, officials said.

The Yongbyon nuclear reactor's tower will be destroyed as part of an agreement between the reclusive communist nation and the United States and five other nations, CNN reported Monday.

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By Heejin Koo

June 18 (Bloomberg) -- North Korea's cooperative farms, the main producers of the communist nation's food, are facing their hardest year yet, a Seoul-based aid agency said today, citing a speech by a North Korean government official.

North Korea will face an ``irreversible result'' in this year's farming, the unidentified North Korean official said in a recent public address, the Buddhist agency Good Friends said in its newsletter.

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47 min - Jan 16, 2008 public television - National Geographic

Undercover in North Korea, inside a mysterious, terrifying and the most isolated country on earth. Where the leader Kim Yon Ill rules as a God king.

WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - The Bush administration will welcome Seoul's top trade official on Friday in a meeting that aims to ease the uproar in South Korea over the deal to resume American beef shipments.

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Dear Senator Baucus: The original "deal" in the USA is the US Constitution, which Congress has failed repeatedly to honor or protect. See the article just below or linked here for more background on this issue: Meatpacker and USDA battle over right to test for mad cow disease. ABN
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Jun 11, 2008

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - South Korea must honor a deal to fully reopen its market to U.S. beef before the U.S. Congress will approve a bilateral free trade agreement, a top senator said on Wednesday.

"The ball is in Korea's court," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said. "We signed a deal. Both sides have to live up to the deal."

New South Korean President Lee Myung-bak's popularity has plummeted since he agreed in April to fully reopen South Korea's market to U.S. beef more than four years after mad cow disease was found in the United States.

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By HYUNG-JIN KIM – 7 hours ago

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's prime minister and the entire Cabinet offered their resignations to President Lee Myung-bak following widespread protests over the planned resumption of U.S. beef imports.

Spokesman Lee Dong-kwan did not say whether the president would accept the resignations.

The government agreed in April to lift almost all restrictions imposed on imports of U.S. beef over fears of mad cow disease. The decision sparked weeks of protests demanding the government scrap or renegotiate the beef deal amid the perception that it was not doing enough to protect citizens.

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09 June 2008

A South Korean human rights group has released what it says are video interviews with influential North Koreans to underscore their urgent plea for international food aid for the North. VOA Seoul Correspondent Kurt Achin has more.

"In some districts, workers have not received a month's worth of rations. This is the reason why workers are not coming to their factories,” an unidentified Korean said.

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Seems Koreans care more about their beef than Americans do about their Constitution. ABN
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Fri, Jun 6, 2008

Dozens were injured in the largest protest yet over an agreement to resume U.S. beef imports to South Korea, according to authorities and media reports Saturday.

A crowd estimated by police at 65,000 demonstrated in central Seoul on Friday night. Some marched on a road leading to the presidential Blue House but were blocked by a barricade of police buses.

Riot police later clashed with demonstrators who tried to march to the presidential office through a back alley.

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June 04, 2008

BEIJING — Food shortages are gripping North Korea amid signs that some of its citizens may already be starving to death, experts and rights activists said Tuesday.

Food rations across much of North Korea have been slashed, and the country's 1.1 million strong military reportedly halted major exercises so that soldiers could help raise crops, according to reports out of South Korea.

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Kim Jong Il Regime Acknowledges Food Problems, South Korea Says

Churches seal deals with telecoms

June 04, 2008

Korea's religious leaders are resorting to an earthly device to lure their tech-savvy Korean faithful: mobile phones.

SK Telecom, the nation's leading mobile phone provider, said in a release on Monday that it has signed a deal with the Catholic Archdiocese of Seoul to provide religious content for the nation's Catholics through a special mobile phone.

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By KWANG-TAE KIM – 2 hours ago

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea's president suggested Tuesday that his country would seek to ban imports of U.S. beef from older cattle amid a public backlash against his government over fears of mad cow disease.

Agriculture Minister Chung Woon-chun said earlier Tuesday that Seoul had asked the U.S. to refrain from exporting any beef that comes from cattle 30 months of age and older, considered at greater risk of the illness.

...A total of almost 60,000 people rallied in downtown Seoul over the weekend to denounce the government and call for the agreement to be scrapped. Police estimated 38,000 protesters turned out Saturday followed by 20,000 on Sunday.

Protesters claim U.S. beef is unsafe and say Lee is ignoring their concerns, behaving arrogantly and kowtowing to Washington.

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By Bradley K. Martin and Hideko Takayama

May 29 (Bloomberg) -- Video clips of a sprawling marketplace, smuggled out of North Korea by an undercover journalist, show women selling goods including garments with heart-shaped price tags. The most conspicuous man is a monitor who shoos away unauthorized merchants.

Women almost exclusively operate the private stalls in the jangmadang, government-managed markets that ruler Kim Jong Il allowed to spring up after famine contributed to the collapse of North Korea's economy in the 1990s. Late last year Kim lost his tolerance for these pockets of free enterprise, ordering many women out of the private sector and back into government- run factories.

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