Daily Kor for Wed & Thurs, May 23 & 24, 2012

I'm not sure what this is, but it sure looks ominous.

More news on nukes. Get used to seeing North Korea highlighted more and more as Kim Jong-un and Friends prepare for another nuke test and, in the absence of hard facts and solid evidence, the discussion mostly deteriorates into fat jokes and other juvenility.

Meanwhile, the news (story #6) that Korea ranks two-thirds down the list of happiest rich countries is hardly a surprise. I wrote this back in August 2011:

The ugly truth is that South Korea is full of malcontents who think someone else has always got it better and easier. It's the engine for self-improvement, nose-to-the-grindstone collectivism, and oh-so-much plastic surgery, but also the source of a semi-permanent malaise.

I call that the Kushibo Conundrum.

I'm sure some government official in some ministry somewhere is brushing it off this way: "Ignorance is bliss, and Koreans' lack of bliss means we are very, very well informed." Works for me.

1. Satellite images show North Korea upgrading old launch site to handle bigger rockets (AP via WaPo, UPI, CNN, Bloomberg, Yonhap)
• Pyongyang says it will expand nuke program in face of American hostility (CNN)
2. Seoul and Washington agree to grant Korean officials more investigative authority during preliminary stages of criminal cases involving US troops in ROK, allowing prosecutors to hold them before they are formally charged (Joongang Daily, Korea Times, UPI, Yonhap, Korea Herald)
3. ROK President Lee Myungbak says North Korean human rights more important than nuclear issue (AFP, Yonhap, Korea Herald)
4. South Korea carries out first ever chemical castration, on convicted serial rapist who preyed on young girls (Reuters, Korea Times, Yonhap)
5. Samsung and Apple fail to reach deal over patent feud, head for court (LAT, Korea Times)
6. OECD report ranks South Korea 24th happiest of 36 nations (Korea Times)
• ROK government launches drive to make Koreans most euphoric nation by 2019
7. Korean won (KRW) drops to five-month low on concerns Greece will leave euro (Bloomberg)
• Korean authorities intervene to bolster KRW (WSJ)
8. World Bank says South Korea and other East Asian economies need to boost domestic demand to offset weak US and Europe (AP via WaPo)
9. China launches probe into North Korea's detainment of twenty-eight fishermen (Korea Herald)
• Japanese newspaper says Chinese fishermen were beaten daily and "treated like animals" (Donga Ilbo)
• Fishermen incident is causing Chinese netizens to question Beijing's support of Pyongyang (WaPo)
10. Climate change deniers push House bill barring National Weather Service from tabulating hurricanes that occur before official start of hurricane season, claim Tropical Storm Alberto illegally entering Georgia (FoxNews)

Tropical Storm Alberto

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